When class assembled that morning, Hagrid looked quite eager to begin. This was usually a bad sign, and the students murmured nervously amongst themselves.
"C'mon, all o' yeh. I've got a real surprise fer yeh. She's a beauty." Ron winced. Hagrid had said the Thestrals were beauties too. Slowly, the students followed Hagrid inside the edge of the Forest, to a small clearing. What looked like a pile of fur lay in the middle of it.
"Er…Hagrid, that isn't some kind of furry mutant Lethifold, is it?" Ron asked.
"O' course not! She's-"
"It's a 'she', is it? Looks like a rug to me." Malfoy drawled. Hagrid winced. The fur shuddered, then stood up. It was a cat, much like a panther in appearance, but mottled black and orange.
"I assure you that I am no rug." The cat said. Its voice was female.
"A talking cat then." Malfoy shot back, apparently unfazed by the creature.
"Not quite. And I believe my skills are superior to yours, so you shouldn't speak to me in such a condescending manner. Can you do this?" The cat leaped at Malfoy, and changed on the way, becoming a seamless blend of woman and cat. Her tail twitched, as if she were about to pounce. "Or this?" The fur and feline features melted away into smooth skin and a black leotard. The black and orange coloring remained in her hair, which was black streaked with orange. When the change was complete, a girl who appeared to be about his age stood there, wearing an expression of superiority.
"Now, don' go scarin' 'em Crystal. You get back here." Hagrid chided. Crystal turned back at once, changing into the second form she had assumed as she went. Smiling adoringly, Hagrid tossed what looked like a strip of jerky into the air. Crystal leaped and caught it a good ten feet above the ground, then retreated to the base of a tree on the far side of the clearing to eat it. "Now, who can tell me what she is?"
"Some kind of shape shifter?" Hermione ventured. Hagrid shook his head.
"A werecat?" Someone in the back asked.
"There's no such thing, dummy." Someone else snapped.
"Why don't yeh give 'em a hint, Crystal?"
"I'm from Japan." She offered, flexing her claws lazily. The students remained quiet. "Not enough? It's two words, four syllables total, starting with N and Y." Still no response. "Can I just tell them Hagrid? This is boring."
"Yeah, go ahead."
"I am a Neko Youkai. That's Japanese for cat demon." There were murmurs of understanding and recognition from the students. "So you've heard of us, have you?"
"Only that you're really rare." Hermione whispered.
"Yes, well…our pelts are prized above most others. It's hard to keep off the endangered species list when you're over-hunted." Crystal muttered.
"You're hunted for your fur?" Ron asked.
"Yeah. Properly cured, it sheds water, and with the right spell, it'll repel and sometimes reflect just about any spell you throw at it. That and the fact that people like to keep us as pets makes life…interesting."
"But…if you're from Japan, what are you doing here?" Neville asked. Crystal smiled at him.
"You could say that I'm just a stray cat. Or, you could say that I go where the work is."
"You're getting paid for this?"
" Not for being a subject, no. I've taken a position in the Library. I expect I'll be seeing most of you again." Crystal seemed delighted by the incredulous looks the class was giving her. "So…before Hagrid gets into the actual presentation…any questions?"
"How strong are your claws?" Someone asked. Crystal grinned, and extended the claws on her hands.
"Strong enough," she purred. There were some disappointed murmurs. "You wanted to see me use them, didn't you?" Nods. "I'd rather not. But I will say that they're strong enough to remove limbs with a minimum of effort…" That earned her disgusted squeals from the girls and appreciative sounds from the boys. "Anything else?"
"You said something about being kept as pets?" Hermione ventured. "What did you mean by that?"
"There have been times that having a demon of some sort as a pet was fashionable. Not here, mind you. Most of Europe is devoid of any type of demon you might want to be around…The reasons are varied, but they're centered around the fact that we do make good guardians. Unfortunately, few people have the sense to ask first."
"Ask?"
"The most common way of getting a house-demon is to find a litter that's still dependant on the mother, kill her and her mate, and take the young. In cases where there are more young than the killer wants, the others are either killed or sold. Since the babies are still dependant on a mother-figure, they will grow attached to whoever feeds them, and will harbor an inherent loyalty to whoever took over their care. It's a sick trade, but effective. Once we choose a cause, or a place, or a person, we're loyal to the end. And then, of course, you have those who want us for…other reasons."
"Like?" Someone near Draco asked. Something occurred to him, and he decided to ask. He put his hand up.
"Pleasure slaves," Crystal said flatly. "Your turn Hagrid." She looked directly at Draco, and he knew that she'd seen his hand. This was her way of telling him that his remarks concerning what she was at the beginning of class had not been received well.
The rest of the class was spent in taking notes and sketching Crystal's forms. She was by far the most interesting subject they'd had in awhile, and since she seemed to have no interest in attacking any of them, she was also one of the safest.
Draco spent the next few weeks thinking his actions over. It wasn't that he'd meant to insult her; it was that he was deliberately making fun of Hagrid's teaching in order to get a rise out of Harry and his friends. This plan had failed, and now he had to deal with a touchy cat-woman whenever he needed help in the Library. He needed to do something.
A trip to the bookstore in Hogsmeade yielded A Guide to Japanese Demons, The Capture and Taming of Youkai, and Summoning and Surviving: How to handle angry demons and live. He had some serious reading to do.
Another two weeks passed, in which Draco read voraciously whenever he had the chance. He learned a spell to create a little ball of light so he could read at night, and carried one of his books with him for reading at meals. Pansy Parkinson took him to the Hospital Wing. The Draco Malfoy she knew didn't spend all of his free time reading, she said. Madame Pomfrey found nothing wrong with him and said that maybe he'd finally gotten his priorities straight, and next time, Ms. Parkinson, it had better be a real emergency.
Although he found nothing he could use to put himself back in Crystal's good graces, Draco did find something that might help him find someone who would know. The summoning of a kitsune, better known as a fox demon and legendary for its supposedly infinite wisdom, might yield some answers. According to A Guide to Japanese Demons, a specific offering could attract one of the creatures, and it might answer Draco's questions, assuming that it found the offering acceptable and that Draco went about asking properly.
The night before the full moon, Draco set up his offering. It consisted of a live chicken, tethered to a stake of peeled rowan by a leather cord exactly two feet long, a silver goblet of fresh chicken's blood (that had taken some doing to procure), and a wooden bowl of milk sweetened with honey. He set them in a triangle, with the bowl forming the point closest to the dip in the mountains he knew the moon would rise from. In the center of the triangle, he put his tie. This was so that the kitsune, assuming one came, would know his scent, and would know that he was the one who had put out the offering. When Draco was finished, he left. Just like the old saying that a watched pot never boils, a kitsune would never come if you watched for it…
The next morning, when Draco checked the place he'd left the offering, he was delighted by what he found. The bowl and goblet were empty and clean. The only thing remaining of the chicken was a handful of feathers. The stake and leather cord were gone. His tie was in the bowl, clean and intact. Apparently, the kitsune had approved. With a little luck, it would be back tonight
That night, Draco sat down and leaned against the wall where he'd placed the offering the night before. He watched the moon rise, waiting but not watching, until he heard the soft sound of someone moving through the grass towards him. He waited a little longer, until a tall shape was silhouetted against the moon.
"You're not as old as I'd expected." The voice was surprisingly deep, and rather friendly. "Most of the wizards who do this sort of thing are quite a bit older."
"I'm not most wizards," Draco said softly. The kitsune chuckled.
"And I'm not most kitsune. What is it you wanted me for?"
"I've got some questions I was hoping you could answer."
"Questions? How…unusual. Are you going to summon a light, or should I?" Having read the warnings about foxfire, Draco hurried to summon the light he used for nighttime reading. "Thank you. What did you wish to ask me?" The leather cord the chicken had been tethered with was looped around his neck several times.
"Your name, to start. Or at least what you'd like me to call you."
"I can't give you my current name, but Kurama will do. Next?" Kurama seemed totally at ease with the situation, lying on his back in the grass and watching Draco, with his neck in a very odd position.
"We have a…neko youkai working in our Library this year. I accidentally insulted her during class, and she's still holding a grudge. What can I do to get back on her good side, assuming I was on it to begin with?"
"You've certainly dug yourself in pretty deep," Kurama observed. "Cats are touchy creatures, and cat demons doubly so. I'd suggest a peace offering, for a start. Then you should apologize."
"That's it?"
"To start with, yes. Come back and call for me if it's not enough." Kurama rolled onto his stomach and absently raked his fingers through his hair. It was even redder than that of the Weasly's, Draco noted. "I doubt you've done enough damage to require any more than that. Afterwards, try being friendly. It's likely that she'll appreciate the gesture, and drop her grudge. Anything else?"
"About the offering…wait, am I allowed to ask about it?"
"I have no idea. Go ahead."
"Why a chicken and chicken blood? I mean, I assumed that chicken blood came with the chicken. If it doesn't, I'd like to know why nobody told me." That made Kurama laugh.
"The only blood I like hot is on the battle field. However, room temperature blood can be fermented into quite the drink. The chicken was for my dinner."
"And the milk?"
"It's just good."
"Oh."
"One thing you ought to know, Draco, is that we foxes are fond of playing tricks on people. The offering is by far my favorite."
"Then why the specifics?"
"Rowan wood absorbs moonlight, and, when peeled, it's a veritable beacon to those who know how to see it. Like me. The leather is two feet long because that's the space a healthy hen needs to peck around while she waits to be eaten. The silver goblet doesn't leave a funny taste in the blood, and the same does for the wooden bowl of milk. Is that all?"
"Yeah, thanks. So, if I still have problems, just come out here and call for me. I'll come." With that, Kurama got to his feet and vanished.
The next week, Draco snuck into the Library with his peace offering. He went straight to the back of the Library, to where he knew the door to Crystal's private rooms was. There was a lion's head knocker on the door, and he knocked carefully.
"Come in." The room the door opened on was of a size between cozy and spacious, and contained a fireplace, couch, armchair, and a desk. Crystal was at the desk, and looked up when he entered. "Oh. It's you." Somehow, she managed to put more into those three words then he could have put into a full paragraph.
"I…brought you something. I want to apologize, for what I said at the beginning of the year." Draco offered the basket he carried. Crystal took it, giving him a curious look, and then took the cover off. She began to laugh. Inside, on a bed of spun sugar grass scattered with chocolate leaves, lay a dozen gummy rats. "I just thought…with you being a cat and all…"
"They're wonderful," Crystal purred, and it was a real purr, a low rumbling quality to her voice that Draco found rather disconcerting. "Madame Pince keeps this place so clean that there aren't any rats or mice for me to chase, and I do miss it. Thank you." Draco grinned in spite of himself.