Author note: Thanks to all the people who reviewed this story or marked it as a favorite. Your opinions are always welcome.

The Mirror Dimension is actually an idea part of the Rosario+Vampire canon, but limited there to a copy of Hong Kong created by Touhou Fuhai. As I took inspiration from the Dr. Strange movie for some other things and given what I'm building with alternate dimensions, I decided to extend it.

Thanks to Narsil for betaing this chapter.

Disclaimer

See Chapter 1

"It's good to finally have you here," said Khany. "I mean, not in this particular room, but…"

Tenmei Mikogami nodded as he looked at the rows of recumbent effigies made to the likeness of his father, brother and sisters on each side of the room. This was the place where his family had been slaughtered so long ago, a room Khany and the Guardians had transformed into a crypt. There was just one thing that didn't fit. One corpse had not been put in a sarcophagus but its remarkably intact skeleton was still chained to the far wall. He knew that these were Khany's bones.

"Hermione asked me to think about what I would gain by delaying… and I realized there was no point anymore, not after what they told me of your encounter with them. In fact…"

"As we both will be interacting with them, it would be better to coordinate things a little bit?" she cut in with a smile. "You probably noticed that I kept some details out of the stories I told them about the 'good old times'."

"With the number of books you gave them, they will discover them soon enough… but you are right. It is better for them to discover those details through research, to understand by themselves why our ancestors built their civilization as they did. Had you just told them…"

"They would be tempted to consider that everything Lemurian was evil and should be rejected without considering the good parts… like the sapiens did so many times when encountering other civilizations built by other members of their own species."

"Yes… Did you know that I discussed this same issue with Francis Xavier? It was about Japan and Europe, of course."

"No. The fact you met him is not that surprising, but that you had a cordial conversation…"

"I was in human shape all the time and presented myself as a yamabushi," he replied with a shrug. "As you surely know, horns are not very helpful in gaining the trust of… let's say some Christians. Jesuits though, will rarely miss an opportunity to debate and teach. It was actually thanks to them that I understood how much Yokai Academy was needed."

"True. Why didn't you tell them that you were coming here?"

"I thought better to handle our first meeting in private."

"Sadly, true too. It's really a pity that my current state does not allow me to properly hug my manly son…"

"Do you want me to undo your bonds?" he asked, looking again at the ancient bones in front of him.

"Not yet. My clone still needs two months to properly grow. Destroying the soul jar before I am settled in it would be counterproductive."

"What will you do after that?"

"See the world for a few months. After that, find a way to help with that thing in England."

"Dumbledore will likely need a replacement for Lockhart next fall."

"Too risky. From my research, the rumor about Voldemort cursing the position is correct. It's an old Egyptian curse developed to handle succession issues among the various priesthoods of the time. Back then, the clergy of Wadjet asked for my help in developing a counter-spell. I can remove the one in Hogwarts but there is a catch: the curse cannot be broken by someone under its influence."

"Could Dumbledore do it?"

"According to the information I have, he already knows what to do but he is unwilling to pay the required price. The only way for him to gather enough power to undo a blood curse like this one would be sacrifices. I have other possibilities… and I am not as squeamish as him about putting the death of my enemies to good use."

He nodded, remembering the old Lemurian usages behind that statement. Lemurian culture developed very early habits of using all the parts of a slain animal, which evolved into a general loathing of waste. When you added to this a judiciary system primarily built to protect society and not redeem criminals, it led to things rather difficult to swallow for at least a part of modern humanity. No prison, but fines or a time of slavery enforced by a magical behavior controlling collar for minor things… and a 'useful' execution – like using said criminal as a sacrifice for a ritual – for anything else.

Even our funerary rites… this crypt would not exist if our family's situation was not so peculiar. In the old times, bodies were usually turned into fertilizer, or sometimes buried without a coffin under an orchard, in both cases so that they could still help things to grow after their death. Only noble families didn't abide by that rule and disintegrated their members' corpses, to ensure that no necromancer could get their hands on a body part. Thinking about old things…

"Khany, am I correct to think that you are perhaps the ultimate authority on the history of magic?" he asked, grinning.

"One could say… Oh! Very clever, Tenmei," she replied, returning his grin. "I guess it is time for him to go into… retirement. Mithra knows that students complained often enough about his ineptitude. I will have Azrael organize that. Can your contacts set up a… let's say American wizard identity for me?"

"Of course."

Ross Granger rubbed his eyes as he went once again through the summary Eisheth Blackrose prepared for him. He should have expected something like that. He remembered when his father-in-law had said that he had enough money for all of them, buying them the plane tickets to Hong Kong as if it was nothing.

"I didn't realize that my father-in-law was that rich," he finally said, putting the summary sheet back on Eisheth's desk. "Though I cannot say I am surprised. He had centuries to hoard resources."

"Mikogami-sama is indeed a shrewd businessman, but, as you can see, he handled things differently than the Huangs."

Ross nodded. He was no business expert but from what he could see, the European holdings of the Mikogami clan were a labyrinthine network of pieces which were often not even aware that they belonged to the same whole. The discretion that came with these arrangements came at a cost, however: a lack of synergy between the pieces which sometimes even competed against each other.

"Ms. Blackrose," said a voice coming from the lawyer's intercom, cutting through his thoughts. "There is a Mister Adrian De Vries with credentials of the Viridian Veil Society at my desk. He said that he is here for the posting of Mentat Mr. Granger advertised for."

"A minute, Amy. Ross?" asked Eisheth.

"I never put such an ad… but the way he presented himself is an allusion to a conversation that had no witness. He's someone I met in Asia and who works for the Society. You can trust him," he replied prudently, preferring to disclose the least possible about Khany and the five Guardian Spirits.

"Clan secret?"

"Yes."

"Fair enough. Amy, you can let him in."

Ross wondered which appearance the Spirit had taken this time. Not the one of the Dark Angel that seemed to be his most common avatar or Amy's reaction would have been far different. Probably not the one of Thufir Hawat or Piter De Vries, the two Mentats of the first Dune novel, either, as it would have meant looking like an actor.

The door opened as a slightly blushing Amy introduced a man in the office. Tall and pale, he had that androgynous beauty he had often seen in Japanese comic books… or in some representations of angels. His hair was black and his eyes a strange shade of blue. As for his clothes… Ross raised a very intrigued eyebrow as he finally recognized the rather old-fashioned black suit and the white gloves. Azrael was dressed like a butler.

"Ms. Blackrose, Sir," said 'Adrian' with a small bow toward Ross. "I apologize for the subterfuge, but the Founder told me about the situation you were in and I volunteered to help."

Ross' mind started to race as he and Eisheth returned his greeting and the void spirit sat on a chair next to him. He knew that Khany shared the same stubborn character as his wife and his daughter. She was very likely to start something without asking for the person's opinion if she thought that it was for said person's own good. In this case, he could guess that Khany had reached the same conclusion that had been nagging him more and more since Christmas: the new situation needed him to think about his family's physical security.

"I am not sure I need a butler, Mr. De Vries," said Ross, deciding to let the spirit have his fun and try to convince him.

"If you decide to hire me, it would not be my only function, Sir, but first, please allow me to talk a little bit about a more innocent age. When your daughter left for Hogwarts, she quickly became a friend of Harry Potter. Had things continued as they then seemed to be, I am sure that you already deduced the risks it would cause in the long term."

"Because of the terrorists following Voldemort," he replied grimly, having thought a lot about the matter since Hermione had come clean with them about the wizarding world.

"Indeed. Oh! I am sure that the Lady Hermione would have kept quite a few things for herself, not wanting to burden you and the Lady Desdemona with it. She may even have been led to believe that some drastic measures were necessary to protect you both, because of that 'Muggles can't understand or do anything' mindset the wizards were teaching her."

He looked at the 'butler'. He understood now why Khany had chosen him as he remembered the way the four other Guardian Spirits behaved. Azrael was the only one of them who could fake being human. It was not only a matter of physical appearance but also of being able to play the part convincingly. Anael for example would never have been able to use his wife's and daughter's private names so casually.

"But things changed… In some ways they are worse, but at least we are aware of the danger and we can face it together. How do you suggest preparing for it?"

"Very perceptive, Sir. In general, I advise celerity. The factions that will oppose you have yet to truly realize that your family is much more than a muggleborn witch and her parents, but we have a few months at most before that changes. One of the most urgent matters is, in my opinion, the one of your residence. Your family house surely was a fine place for two dentists and their daughter. I am afraid that it is less apt to cater to the needs of four members of a Fae Noble House, if I include the Lady Moka into the equation."

"I have to agree," said Eisheth. "You have some practical aspects to consider first. For now, your family's magical activity has not been happening at home, but that will change and you're living in one of those 'decent' suburbs where things that are out of the ordinary are quickly noticed… unless you want to resort to wizard methods?"

"Definitely not," replied Ross with a sigh, "and I can easily imagine the mess if a fight erupts there," he added, thinking about the property damage that usually went with super-battles in comic books.

There was also the matter of Moka to consider. They had a spare room she could use but they also had nosy neighbors and a 'cousin from Japan' would lead to a lot of gossip Moka could do without.

"I took the liberty of scouting some possibilities so that we can gain time," said Azrael. "They fall into two broad categories. One could be to move in the Fae neighborhood of London. Organizations like the Kurono-kai could then contribute to your security."

"Eisheth, Stockton already knows about Hermione being a Fomorian and I bet that us taking Moka in will complicate things. How would he react in your opinion?" asked Ross with a frown.

"Knowing John, he will offer you the services of a vampire 'nanny' who will double as a bodyguard. Modern vampires are normally too prideful to serve anyone but a more powerful vampire, but with your family it doesn't matter: you are royalty to them. Their continuous presence would cause friction with the other clans like the Kurono-kai," replied the succubus with a wince. "Better to choose neutral ground where you can 'hold court'."

Ross gripped his chair's armrests, forcing himself to stay calm. He reminded himself that Eisheth had only hinted at how some of the Fae would consider their Fomorian creators in general and how Moka was pretty much vampire royalty as Akasha Bloodriver's daughter. The issue of course was that his wife and daughter were not just any Fomorian, but members of Lemuria's Imperial House.

"I suppose this is the second broad category you considered?" he asked, turning toward Azrael.

"Thankfully, this kingdom has no shortage of empty manors and castles, both mundane and magical, Sir," replied the dark angel, materializing a manila folder and handing it to Ross. "These are some of the possibilities I considered, with an estimate of the costs."

"Some of these have been empty for a while," he said, skimming through the dossier. "Refurbishing is going to be expensive… I suppose that magic will help?"

"Of course. Contracting the Goblins will probably be the best. They are experts at making such works look mundane to the casual observer. It will also help to foster respect between the Goblin Nation and your House, Sir."

He frowned, remembering the creatures he had seen at Gringotts' but his frown quickly became a small, bemused smile. The more he thought about it, the more probable it became that the Goblins would have acquired the human shape technique used by the Asian yaojing. Omitting to mention that detail to the Ministry was just another part of the con game they played with the wizards.

"I need to discuss those possibilities with my wife… but any of those mean that I will actually need a butler."

"Of course, Sir. To paraphrase a colleague serving another family in a faraway world, you will see that I am one hell of a butler," replied Azrael with a mischievous smile that sent shivers down Ross' spine. "The second matter you need to think about is the one of the various properties and participations your father-in-law transferred to your family. You probably already noticed their peculiar organization. While it will grant your House an interesting income, you will surely agree that you will need more than that in the near future."

"We need power," replied Ross, remembering a discussion where Feihong told him about the political weight the Huangs had through the Sanbao.

"True. Ms. Blackrose, am I wrong to think that Mikogami-sama planned for such a possibility?" asked the spirit.

"No, there is effectively a plan to merge the European assets of the Mikogami clan into an integrated transnational on the model of the yaojing-owned Asian companies," replied the lawyer after a short nod from Ross. "It's kept up to date by my financial department, but it needs at least a year to be fully implemented and the process cannot be stopped without doing a lot of damage once started. There will be some visibility for your family, though its exact amount will depend on how involved you will become in the operations of the new company and how quickly we do it."

"What would happen if I decided to become the CEO?"

"That would be tricky to put in place, but not impossible. There is the matter of your lack of experience, of course, but this can be solved with good advisors. As the plan supposes that Finch and Blackrose becomes the new company's legal department, I would be one of those."

"So, your law firm is somewhere in that list…"

"Mikogami-sama funded us when we started. Even before that, it was thanks to him that I could get the scholarship for my degrees. I am not the only Fae in this situation in the UK."

Ross once again had a vision of his father-in-law sitting behind a chess board and moving sapiens, magi and Fae-faced pieces with inhuman patience.

No, not chess. Rather putting dominoes in place. All we need now is to push the first piece…

"Adrian, you're hired," he said as he took a legal pad and started to write a short letter. "Can you have a copy of the mansion possibilities delivered to my wife with the note I'm writing?"

"Of course, Sir."

Desdemona was sitting at the desk of her room in the Huang mansion, taking notes as she progressed through some of the ancient Lemurian texts Khany gifted them. Contrary to what some people could have believed given its age and provenance, the book was no forbidden tome of unholy secrets but a copy of one of the former Empress' schoolbooks. For Desdemona, it had the advantage of being tailored for Three-Eyed Fomorians and that it also included a number of simple spellcasting exercises that she could do on her own.

What did Khany say? Yes, that the sorcerer who wrote them thought of the noble children who often had to wait in antechambers and made up a method so that they could use that time productively. Many of those exercises could easily be turned into games from what I can see… and speaking of 'seeing'.

She frowned a little bit, concentrating to see through her Third Eye. Hermione had told her that it would quickly become natural and, according to Khany, she would not even have to switch between the two types of sight at all after a while. The magical vision of her Third Eye would simply become a sixth sense that her brain would handle simultaneously to the five others. She had to admit that she was a little worried about the effect such a change would have on her remaining humanity.

The book's pages changed briefly as she exercised switching between her two sights. Part of the text and diagrams were written in a magical ink that was visible only to her Third Eye and she was betting that those headache-inducing pages were actually aimed at provoking the result Khany told her about. It was like those optical illusions where your brain had to superpose two different images to get the whole picture.

"Hmm… this is not going to be easy," she said, rubbing her eyes.

The dual ink is not the only problem. Thankfully, this is a beginner's book and the potion gave us an understanding of basic Naacal metaphors, but it's still something written by a vastly different culture. As much as wizarding culture drifted away from European sapiens culture, many of the basics remain the same, like the influence of the Greco-Roman world or even some concepts of Christianity that probably got in through muggleborns. The only common points between Lemuria and modern civilization are either a matter of coincidence or because Lemuria is a very distant source…

"Des-chan, may I come in?" asked a voice a second after a knock on the door.

"Father?" she asked, rising to open the door. Only one person called her that and she wasn't surprised to see the tall shape of Mikogami in the hall. "I thought that you would be busy until our planned trip to Borneo for the equinox… did something happen?"

"Nothing bad, I assure you. Ariel brought me some mail that we need to discuss together."

"Ariel… did you go see…"

"I did three days ago. Before you ask, I didn't tell you anything because it was for Khany and I to sort out. Neither of us wanted to involve you in case… some words were said."

"Fair enough," she replied, briefly hugging her father.

"Now let's… Mithra's Light!" he exclaimed, switching to Naacal as his fingers started to run almost fondly on the book Desdemona had been reading. "I remember those, though…"

His hand went to his brow, to the place where his Third Eye would have been. She did her best to stay unmoved. She knew from Khany's tale that compassion regarding his 'infirmity' was the wrong way to go.

"I actually had a question related to those books," she said in English, deciding that a clever distraction was needed. "How do you explain the difference between the wizarding sources which see us as the ultimate reference about dark magic and the reality of Lemuria?"

Here we go, thought Tenmei. Let's see how she handles this lesson.

"A very interesting question… and well played to distract me from past regrets, Des-chan," he replied with his usual 'evil overlord' smirk as he sat on the corner of the desk. "You have two points to consider. The first is how Lemuria ended. The atrocities of the berserker curse influenced later stories and the subsequent barbarity of the Onis hasn't helped either."

"But that's not enough. If it was only that, earlier sources would go against it and yet, when I read those old schoolbooks… there is something about the way they're written… I thought it was just because I'm not used to Naacal writing styles, but that's not it."

"It actually is, because the way a language is shaped is but a reflection of the culture that created it. What you are feeling is the dissonance between the values you were taught as a human child, the instincts of your new Kishin flesh, the fact you learnt Naacal using a potion with Khany's knowledge of it and that you are now reading a text written by Kishins for Kishins. Let me take a simple example: can you think about the word 'murder' in Naacal?"

"Okay, but… why does it feel like it carries a different meaning from 'murder' in English?"

"Because it does. In Naacal, 'murder' evolved from a portmanteau of the words 'unlawful' and 'slaughter'. This reflects a social reality in Lemuria. Because of the way you learnt Naacal, you're feeling this meaning."

"You can kill if you follow the rules… Khany told us about ritualized duels."

"Exactly. One key difference that you need to understand is that contrary to a common trend of modern human culture, our ancestors were neither ashamed nor hypocritical about their nature of apex predator. Instead, they developed strong sets of ethical rules that I could summarize as 'how to be a responsible predator' and taught this point of view to all the sapient creatures of Lemuria. The duels you mentioned were a development of those rules and their goal was to prevent the wastefulness of a full-scale House feud."

She closed her eyes as the pieces of the puzzle started to assemble in her mind. All the things that had disturbed her in the Lemurian books she had studied were starting to make sense now that she stopped interpreting them with her human knowledge. Using only the meaning that both her Fomorian instincts and the understanding of Naacal she owed to Khany's memory potion brought her, a different picture formed. She had been looking at the problem the wrong way, just like so many European explorers did when trying to interpret other cultures through the filter of their own values.

"Am I right to say that Good and Evil as they are defined by the modern western world had little relevance in Lemuria?"

"The idea exists but what's in those 'boxes' is indeed different. Again, etymology gives us a hint in this matter. In Naacal, 'Good' and 'Order' share the same root, as do 'Evil' and 'Chaos'. To take a more practical example, I am sure that you thought about the morality of creating or uplifting species…"

"Yes, and comparing what I read in the biomancy manual of this series with what we just discussed, I'm starting to understand the Lemurian point of view. The whole 'Frankenstein' issue is just not there. Someone killed by his own creation is a careless idiot, not punished for tampering with God's domain… in fact, there is no idea of sanctity of nature whatsoever in the Lemurian texts I read."

"Now, that's an interesting point and to understand it, think about how our ancestors came to be."

"Of course!" replied Desdemona as she inadvertently snapped the pencil she was holding. "The Starstone! Fomorians always knew they were mutants! The first of our ancestors were probably far more diverse and a lot of the less viable mutations died out quickly. They could see natural selection at work! Even more: Khany told us about exposing infirm infants. In those times, it was necessary to weed out the undesirable mutations, to stabilize the gene pool. With the same probably being true for all lifeforms in the area where the Starstone fell… nature was never seen as constant or even cyclical, but as a chaotic, ever-changing mess in need of a guiding hand."

"You just summarized the second and third chapters of the Stanzas of the First Light. Knowing Khany, you should have a copy somewhere."

"I think I saw it. It's kind of the Mithraist Bible, right?"

"Really kind of. With what we just discussed, you can guess that the two religions have completely different opinions on many matters. For the one that concerns us right now, Mithraist Creation is not a one-time, sacred event. It is an ongoing struggle, Mithra fighting the forces of Chaos and the world being shaped as a result of a battle that will only end with the end of the universe itself."

"I suppose it is a believer's duty to help Mithra keep Chaos at bay and that people will be judged on their works in the afterlife?"

"Indeed. Between our ancestors' need for Order and control and a drive for excellency to please Mithra, things evolved into a pyramidal society that is technically a meritocracy. Families usually choose their leader based on magical power and talent. For someone raised in a western democracy, several unacceptable things become evident when you start to look at the consequences of this basic organization. The first is that, Lemuria being a multi-species society, the pyramid has degrees separated by biology. The Kishins are on top and the non-magical humans near the bottom. By this logic, uplifting becomes the moral thing to do, because it is a way to improve a species' position in the pyramid.

"The second problem is that the very idea of democracy is ludicrous to a Lemurian. Why should a leader have to listen to those below him? They are after all the best and wisest of all Lemuria and the only ones who can judge them are their peers or their superiors, if any. As a corollary, when your superior gives you orders, you obey without discussion. Things get a little muddled as belonging to a Noble House creates horizontal boundaries, making one able to refuse demands from superiors from a different House if they go against the orders of your House's superiors.

"Another crucial point is the one you mentioned with the old infant exposure custom. Lemurians had little pity for the weak. At best, they will be cast out to a lower degree of the pyramid, at worst, disposed of. Khany made quite a few enemies by being so lenient with me but, as the Empress, she was beyond judgment except by Mithra himself… until Balor decided to end a few thousand years of Ra-Mu rulership."

She nodded, unsure what to feel. In the end, the issue was not that either Khany or the wizarding sources lied. The issue was that the two versions were told by people who had a completely different worldview. Lemuria was an absolute monarchy where the Emperor had a religious role, not unlike the Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt or the Chinese Emperors, and a system of castes and noble houses that reminded her a little of the medieval feudalism, though complicated by the multi-species factor. The issue was that as evil as it may look from the point of view of a human raised in western democracy, a Lemurian would likewise consider the modern world evil. For a Lemurian, the western, consumerist society was a decadent culture that encouraged wastefulness and mediocrity.

Thank G… Mithra for my love of science fiction and fantasy. I need to reread Brin. His Uplift cycle seems more and more suited to my situation…

"Father… did you ever think of the modern world as some kind of decadent place?"

"On occasion. My 'infirmity' and how I was treated because of it made me less susceptible to that bias than others. Sometimes, however, I wonder if I shouldn't organize a coup in some nations and create an efficient dictatorship to clean out the Augean Stables. A little later, when my romantic impulse has cooled down, I remember that the only reason why it worked in 'modern' Lemuria was the weight of millennia of tradition. I would need to train a whole generation before I could even start to obtain a similar result."

"Hence the school…"

"Sort of, but not with the goal of rebuilding the old Lemurian social pyramid. Now, to get back to more present matters, Khany sent Azrael to Ross and the old reaper decided to play butler for your family. He came up with a few interesting points that we need to discuss. Is Hermione around today?"

"At this time of the day… she should be doing summoning training in the Mirror Dimension. Father, if Hermione had been raised in Lemuria…"

"Given her talent, she would have been groomed to be an heir to the throne… and her education would actually not be that different from what she's experiencing here, except for one thing. In Lemuria, she would already have killed. Hunting would have been the first step, starting at age five. As a royal, she would already also have acted at least once as an executioner," he replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The goal of that latter point is two-fold. First, it serves to make sure royal kids won't hesitate to kill in a real fight. Second, there is the fact that, as a royal, she should be ready to deal herself the punishment of any judgment she might have to make. Des-chan…"

She raised a hand to interrupt him as she winced, closing her eyes.

"I know," she said, pain clearly audible in her voice. "I would like to believe that she will be able to live a peaceful life and never have to kill… but I read the information Eisheth gathered for us on Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Before… before I became a Fomorian, I was managing to lie to myself. I could think that all this training was 'just in case' when I doubted. But Kishins don't work like that. It's just as you said: we were never ashamed of being apex predators. When I'm not careful, I start to think that the best way to protect my family is a preemptive strike. I fear that once I'm back in England, back in my territory, it will just get worse."

"I can't reassure you, Des-chan. What you are feeling is normal for one of us. What I can tell you is that back in the old days… appeals to mercy or what Europeans would consider common decency were not the right way to cool down a Lemurian Kishin's wrath. Those would be seen as weakness and likely to finish convincing the Kishin that her decision to purge her enemy from the gene pool is justified. The way we usually dealt with these things was to make the person think about the bigger picture. For example, when Ra-Mu led the Lemurian armies in the subterranean jungle of the Dragon Lords, Wadjet managed to save her people by offering her unconditional fealty to our House and convincing him that the Nagas would be useful and loyal to the Empire if it was fair to them."

"Which triggered the 'don't hurt the enemy's cattle, but add it to your own' rule… Bigger picture, the Greater Good. I can do that. About Wadjet: isn't that an Egyptian goddess?"

"Yes. The whole myth of Ra going to the underworld every night to face Apep likely comes from the events I just mentioned. As for Wadjet, she is the 'good snake' in Egyptian mythos and a protector goddess. I think you can guess why."

"I can… let's go see Hermione."

Shortly after she started her training, Hermione had wondered where the loudest parts would take place. Sure, the gardens of the Huang manor were big, but this was still Hong Kong. At first, she had thought that they would use a Portkey to go to some place owned by her cousins' company in the southern islands or in the Chinese countryside. When she started to delve into summoning, she understood that this wasn't a matter of place. It was a matter of plane.

The water portal in the Huang manor not only allowed a link with other similar portals like the one of the Society's Headquarters in Kathmandu but also to pass into other dimensions like the one she was currently in. The Mirror Dimension had been in some way stranger than the other, fully alien worlds she had gotten glimpses of so far. For starters, it was the first one she physically entered – if she excluded pocket universes like Diagon Alley and Yokai Academy – but there was also the matter of its nature. The Mirror Dimension was a distorted reflection of Earth, one of the main differences being that it was devoid of life. Standing in the deserted streets of Mirror Hong Kong had been very strange at first.

There were two main reasons for the summoning training to be held here instead of the mansion itself. One was that, contrarily to the members of the Huang family, she did not have an exception built into the mansion's wards to permit that. She didn't really mind, as it was one of those magical courtesy things that managed to make sense. Hogwarts had similar wards from what Khany had told her but there was an automatic exception for teachers and students. The second reason was security. As the Mirror Dimension was empty of life apart from visitors, a summon breaking its bonds and going on a rampage was a lot less problematic.

She could not help but wonder how the Hogwarts curriculum would broach the subject. To her, it seemed rather logical that the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes should tell them about the dangers residing in other dimensions and the Charms classes would have to cover at least some basic summoning spells at some point. Yet, she wouldn't be surprised if most of it was labeled as too dangerous or even 'dark' and reserved to specialists like the Department of Mysteries of the British Ministry of Magic or the Viridian Veil Society. All she could say for sure for now was that it wasn't covered by the second-year material and that what she was preparing right now would definitely not be taught in Hogwarts.

"The circle is fine, sifu," she said while checking her notes one last time.

"I agree. While I am curious to see how you manage with this Lemurian version of the calling and binding ritual, I must ask once again if you are sure you want to proceed, given its nature."

Hermione's gaze fell on the sleeping ox inside the circle. This ritual was no simple charm like Serpensortia but something both more powerful and with direr consequences. During a call she had the day before, Khany had confirmed that she had more than enough power for it and she did not doubt her skill. The only unknown parameter was her resolve.

"Yes," she replied, steeling herself as she remembered what she wrote Harry in her last letter. "Sifu… I know that it's only a matter of time before I have to kill my enemies. Better to harden myself now than risk failing later."

"So, you chose to test yourself in this way. A wise choice, but also a sad one. You can proceed with the call," replied Fuhai with a slight nod.

Hermione removed her right finger caps. She had taken to wearing the Lemurian accessories and discovered that they also had a 'manicure' function for her claws. She lifted the head of the ox with her left hand and, gritting her teeth, ripped out the animal's throat with her right hand. Thankfully, the ritual did not need to have her victim awake and in fact insisted on keeping the kill as painless as possible.

"The blood of the victim is the key that pierces the Veil," she said in Naacal.

Below her, the ox blood had started to slither on the ground, spreading to feed the magical circle she had drawn as it started to glow with an ominous red light.

"My blood, used sparingly, is the key that binds," she continued, pricking her right index finger with her thumb's claw.

She started to draw a symbol on the ox's brow with her own blood. The eight-rayed sun that was her House's blazon and a few Naacal runes meaning 'Blackstaff'. She dipped her fingers in the slain animal's throat and brought them back to her mouth. As the taste of blood played on her tongue, she realized that she had never felt as fully Fomorian as in this instant. The hesitations she had been keeping in check since she started planning this were gone. For the first time since the incident with the Polyjuice revealed her true nature, she felt like if her body fully fitted her, as if her new instincts were hers.

Hermione knew that once she was not in the heat of the moment, she would probably freak out… but not now. Now, she calmly walked out of the circle, uncaring about the blood covering her. In fact, it was essential to the ritual, as it was one of the elements that would create the link between her and the creature she was summoning.

"A life has been extinguished so that another can come forth," she continued, facing the circle. "I call the Neverborn Beast through the Void. Formless One, come wear the flesh I sacrificed!"

The surface of the circle started to undulate with scarlet light, as if sinews were moving under it. Ghostly strands pierced through and speared into the ox's flesh, burrowing inside like undead worms. The sacrifice's flanks sank as its flesh was consumed from the inside. Thankfully for Hermione, she was too focused on the next step of the ritual to be grossed out. She had the image of a creature in mind and was projecting it through the link created by the ritual.

The ox's flesh shredded as a protoplasmic mass of flesh erupted from the corpse, consuming it. The shape changed, becoming more fish-like with an oval body the size of a sports car with thick, white skin and a long tail of white bony plates and spikes. Hermione gazed into the beast's huge maw as it floated in front of her, thinking that a tyrannosaur would have been proud of those teeth. Finally, a unique eye started to shine from inside the maw.

She flared her youki, sending all of her aura against the creature and smiled as she saw it lower the front of its body in a kind of bow. Hermione entered the circle and put her hand on its head.

"I name you Fei-Oh," she said.

The creature acknowledged, finalizing the bond between it and her mistress as, around it, the circle finished vanishing.

"Good," continued Hermione with a gentle smile as she rubbed her familiar. "Now can you shrink down a little bit? I promise we'll go fly together soon."

The beast's size immediately started to diminish, and Hermione stopped it once its body was a little less than a foot long, with another foot for the tail. She let it perch on her right shoulder, thanking her super-strength.

"How do you find it, sifu?" she asked.

"Fei-Oh, the Flying Jaw… straight out of the 3x3 Eyes manga. While I appreciate the gesture, I hope that pleasing me was not the sole reason for choosing this shape?"

"No. I hate brooms and I have been thinking about finding something better to use for flying for a good while. Fei-Oh is a very good solution and… I cannot help but find it cute in familiar mode," she said while stroking the head of her new pet.

On a nearby roof, Desdemona was thanking the fact that she was wearing her finger caps. She would probably have clawed through the concrete border without them. A few minutes earlier, when they arrived in Mirror Hong Kong, they had both sensed power gathering and hurried to the training spot, her father carrying her as he used a flying spell. They had arrived just in time to see Hermione tear the throat of an ox and observed.

"Something you weren't aware of?"

"I would like to say yes… but I have only myself to blame. Hermione asked me for the permission to test that ritual and I didn't check the details, too busy with my own studies. I know why she did it, thinking she has to harden… she can be so stubborn!"

"I'm afraid it runs in the family, dear."

"Is this ritual considered advanced material from a Lemurian standpoint?"

She knew better than to ask about the moral aspects, given what they had discussed a short while ago. Despite its gory aspect, the ritual had wasted nothing and 'exchanged' an ox unable to spread its genes for a servant that would be very useful for her daughter. For a Lemurian, that made it good magic.

"Not for a royal."

She nodded, feeling the bitterness in her father's voice. Deciphering the unsaid was easy, again because of the points he had explained to her earlier. Lemurian society had no place for pampered princesses. The higher the caste, the higher the demands of the education children received. Royals were expected to be geniuses.

"Tenmei, what would have happened to you without… what the traitors did?" she asked, switching to Naacal.

"You are right to think that I would not have been able to be a normal member of the House. Becoming a full-time priest would probably have been the best solution to appease everybody… but it's no use bothering about what could have happened, Desdemona. Today's world gives us more than enough to worry about, don't you think?"

"Yes."

"Ojiisan, is that plan Dad talked about doable?" asked Hermione as she put down Ross' letter.

They had gone back to the normal world and were now sitting at a table near the pool. Fei-Oh was still perched on her shoulder, its tail coiling around her. Her Mum had not said much about the summon but Hermione knew that Desdemona had observed it and seemed a little sad… or rather resigned.

"Yes. There are not that many problems from the human side," replied Mikogami. "The official 'hole' in your mother's lineage gives us room to build a cover story and we have decoys we can sacrifice to pay for any succession rights issue that may arise. Wizard side… I kept things that way because I didn't want to catch the attention of some people in the Ministry. With your part of the family residing in England, this issue becomes irrelevant as the Ministry will notice you anyway. Creating the company will make you more visible, but also less vulnerable."

"And what do you think of the castle idea?" asked Desdemona.

"Eisheth and Azrael are right. A neutral place is the best solution. Once some the Fae clans understand that you are Kishins, your family being under one clan's protection would bring it immense prestige and create tensions with the others. It is far better for you to accept vassals of the various clans. A place in the countryside will also have the advantage that some things will be easier to hide or disguise."

"Couldn't we create a space like the one the Academy is in?" asked Hermione.

"Technically speaking, yes," replied Fuhai, "but the British Ministry of Magic will never allow for it."

"Correct," continued Mikogami. "The energies deployed by the Great Barrier generating the Academy's space are massive and I had to redirect several ley lines to power the thing. Putting everything in place also took years."

"And for something smaller?" asked Desdemona. "Enchanting a pouch for expanded space only takes moments and wizards do that kind of thing regularly, from what I understood."

"Yes," replied Fuhai with an enigmatic smile. "But this leads to a question you may have wondered about. Why didn't I do that here?"

"In case you have human visitors?" asked Hermione.

"It's one of the reasons. More recently, not being in a folded space also helps with having network for my cell phone. I'm sure Tenmei has stories about how fun it was to install land lines going through one of the access portals."

"As wizards are not relying on modern technology, they don't care, but apart from Diagon Alley… the Ministry building, maybe St. Mungo and a few of the old pureblood houses… all closed environments. Ojiisan, did you make the Academy space so big because of the ecosystem?" she asked, remembering some sci-fi books she read.

"It was a factor," replied Mikogami. "If you want to create an 'outside' space, then you need to think big so that the whole thing becomes self-sustaining. Otherwise, you end up with something like a greenhouse set inside a fallout shelter. Another factor to consider is the one that had Fuhai scrap the idea here: many of the efficient warding schemes he's famous for won't work inside a folded space."

Desdemona nodded. She had mostly launched that idea to make sure it was a bad one. Their suburban neighborhood near London was the kind of place where nothing happened and anything out of the ordinary would have people talk. A slip was only a question of time and there was no way she would start obliviating people just to stay there.

"Father, I suppose you looked at the list of houses Azrael put together. Which one do you recommend?"

"One caught my attention. It's an Elizabethan manor house that used to belong to a pureblood wizarding family. I heard about it when reading the info Eisheth gathered for me about Voldemort. The last tenant, Jasper Wilkes, was a known Death Eater who was killed by the Aurors a year before the incident with Harry. Without any remaining heir, Gringotts seized the house to make up for the family's debts.

"Nobody approached Gringotts about it, given the fee they ask to have their Curse-Breakers 'secure' the house. We won't have that problem of course. Both because we can do that ourselves – it will be an excellent opportunity to train your Third Eye – and because I suspect the Goblins voluntarily make things difficult for any pureblood buyers. What will cost is the refit to bring that house into the twenty-first century, but Azrael's estimations make it acceptable and the Goblins know better than to try to con Eisheth. One of the main advantages is that with the dark magic reputation of the house, nobody will notice if we make the wards… a little more aggressive. Another thing that makes it interesting is that it is situated near a village called Ottery St. Catchpole that Hermione surely already heard about."

"Yes, it's in Devon. It's where Ron's family lives."

"And I find the idea of using a blood purist's house for our needs very ironic," added Desdemona, her smile now in full 'evil overlord' mode. "To add insult to injury, I think we should rename it."

"Some would say it's bad joss," said Fuhai. "But in your case, it will be a central part of making the house and the land under it your home. I will give you the specifics of some rituals for that."

"There are Lemurian ones as well, specifically used when making an enemy land your own… What do you have in mind?" asked Mikogami, returning her smile.

"Graymalkin Manor. Ross will love the idea."