The strip between the snow line and the mountain woods was a natural nursery for weeds. In the mountains north of Athens, late-spring snowmelt could sometimes irrigate a vast expanse of rouge-red flowers: Autumn Pheasant's-Eye. They ought to have been enjoying the sunlight behind high garden walls, yet fossils of their kind lay in the soil not far from those gardens. This had been their home long before humans appeared.
They arrived in Britain during the Neolithic Age. By the Middle Ages, Autumn Pheasant's-Eye grew everywhere in the fields, especially in areas with chalky soil, and it was therefore uprooted as a harmful plant.
Sixteenth-century gardeners and botanists adored its cup-shaped blossoms and the beauty-mark-like black spots at the base of its petals. Enchanted by its elegance, one of them obtained seeds from southwest Britain and planted them in his own garden. He called the beautiful plant "Red Ruby Rose." Two hundred years later, people sold the flower on streets near Covent Garden, calling it "Red of Morocco," and it became a fashionable addition to bouquets.
But by the end of the nineteenth century, new seed-sorting techniques had nearly wiped it out in Britain. Then, in 1971, a newly built road through Wiltshire happened to cut across a former field, allowing it to rapidly return there. Today, the plant was on Britain's list of species of special concern.
Pomona took a sip of black tea. She knew Severus would be going to Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire over the Christmas holiday to become Draco Malfoy's godfather, but compared with attending the Celestial Ball, she had never imagined going to Malfoy Manor.
"I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting," Minerva said as she entered the office and casually shut the door behind her.
"It's all right." Pomona placed the black tea