Author note: Thanks to all the people who reviewed this story or marked it as a favorite, and apologies for the long wait. Comments, criticism and other opinions are always welcome.
One point that will make sense as you read: The events of a certain movie (and this story's last crossover) have yet to happen.
Thanks to Narsil for betaing this chapter.
Hogwarts, 23 Feb 2003
Dear Hermione,
Nothing new to report about the Heir at the moment. I met Sir Peter again yesterday while I was coming back from Quidditch practice (he must have waited to talk to me alone, more on this below). While he couldn't tell me anything we didn't already know about the Chamber of Secrets, we discussed for a while about the time when he was alive, many centuries ago. I could not help but think about Binns' drone then and how different Sir Peter is.
He really knows how to tell a story and he told me about when he was a knight in the suite of Robert Curthose of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror. He described the wonders of Constantinople and the terrible things he saw and did while battling the Turks in the Middle East, even fighting a jinni. He didn't tell me why he took part but… I think he regretted something and hoped to be killed while fighting for a worthy cause, that it would help him to be forgiven for something he did.
And I get all depressing… anyway, Sir Peter was in Hogwarts near the time of the Founders and he also told me about how it was then. He said that things in House Slytherin were different then and that there was (his words) 'no pureblood nonsense' then. Slytherin looked for talent and ambition and did not care at all about the blood. In fact, Sir Peter thinks that Slytherin would hate what his House has become. Likewise, he thinks that the Heir is twisting Slytherin's heritage to his or her own ends.
I told this to Ron… and he doesn't believe it. I can understand him. Unlike you and me, he grew up in the Wizarding World and he was always told the crap Malfoy and the others are spouting about Slytherin being all for purebloods. You and I already had to question everything we knew once, so it's easier to do it a second time. I think Sir Peter knew it and that's why he came to me when I was alone, so that we could talk quietly.
I hate that. Ron is the first real friend I had and now I feel like we're drifting apart. I hope we will be able to fix that once you are back, hopefully next summer.
Take care and send us any funny news you can have. I think we need them.
Harry
"Funny news…" said Hermione as she looked at Harry's short letter. "I will find something."
She had some pictures of Fei-Oh on her computer that she took during the flight tests in the Mirror Dimension… there would be the problem of her Fomorian features, but she could ask Fangfang to help her take a few new ones in the manor's park later today. As long as she didn't fly above the trees' canopy, it would be fine.
Another possibility would be to wait for her Mum to come back from Japan with cousin Moka on the 2nd of March… except that there were two problems with that. The first was that she would need to wait for several days and she felt like speed was better in this case. The second was that they wanted to keep Moka's presence in Hong Kong as discreet as possible, because of the Miao family.
"Pictures of Fei-Oh it is then… just have to omit the gore of the summoning ritual… right, and now the memory is making me hungry."
After the ritual, she had thought that she would freak out, that the fact she killed an animal with her bare hands and felt the blood spray on her would give her nightmares. Instead… oh, her dreams that night had been full of blood and gore all right, but they had definitely not been nightmares. Quite the contrary, she woke up pleased and with a ravenous appetite for bloody meat. It was only later, when she analyzed her behavior that she felt a sense of loss. Loss and not guilt, because she also understood that her subconscious had now accepted her body's new instincts and it meant that, just like her ancestors, she wasn't ashamed to be an apex predator anymore.
And this brings me back to the discussion I had with Mum and Dad about the differences between Lemurian and modern morality. Fomorians put together the first according to their own instincts and experiences and so did the modern humans for their own. The problem is how each species can adapt to the other's morality system, like with the position on murder. Modern morality sees murder as intrinsically evil while Lemurian one… not evil, but wrong. It's a crime because you didn't follow the procedure, not because of the act itself.
"As Dad said, Lemuria was such a wonderful mix of utilitarian and Nietzschean morals… all right, time to think about funnier stuff. Fei-Oh!" she called while taking her digital camera.
The familiar slowly uncoiled from its spot on her bed and floated lazily in her direction.
"Let's go outside," she continued as the monster put its head on her shoulder, its tail coiling around her waist. "I want to see if we can make that trick to turn a short movie file into a looping wizarding picture work."
"You know, Feihong, it's rather funny," said Desdemona. "I used portals to travel instantaneously over thousands of miles but, in a way, this is more impressing. I think it's because my old life can actually relate to… all this," she concluded, making a wide gesture toward the luxurious room around them, one that had more in common with a hotel's bar than with the economy class seats she had mostly used when traveling by plane.
The day before, while she had been busy planning an emergency trip to Japan following a call from her father about 'complications' at Moka's school, Feihong had just told her that he was – by total coincidence of course – about to pay a visit to the Tokyo branch of the Sanbao and that they could share the jet. It would also make things easier depending on the amount of luggage the girl would bring along.
"If you want to acquire one for your own use, I have several available offers, with or without magical improvements," replied Feihong with a smile. "Refitting jets like this Boeing 737 for corporate needs is one of the things my group does."
"For my… right. I really have to get used to being rich."
"As distances are shorter in Europe, maybe something smaller… I have a Falcon 20 that could do nicely, even more so now that you own one of Dassault's electronics suppliers from what I have seen of your portfolio."
"That's still… again, I will need a little time to get used to the fact that a few million pounds is not in the 'daydream about what I could do if I win the lottery' category anymore but in the 'yearly investment' one. I promise you to think about it. By the way, I thought the Sanbao was mostly a shipping and trading company?"
"Ah! We sure are! Have been since the time my grandfather Ning decided to trade tea and silk with the British in Guanghzou around 1820. We diversified when we started to establish an overseas office after we… well, let's be honest, our family had a hand in how the opium wars unfolded and Hong Kong was founded in part so that we could have a base free of Manchurian interference. My grandfather's idea was to stage a coup and put a Han emperor back on the throne."
"I suppose things didn't go as expected?"
"My grandfather's generation underestimated western technology, despite your father's repeated warnings on the matter. As for Great-grandfather, he was too busy with Viridian Veil business to get involved. We soon discovered that there are limits to how much we can nudge things. For example, our family was not able to prevent the communists from winning the civil war, just as your father could not prevent Japan from declaring war to the USA."
"He told me about that. Preventing the war would have required destroying the Statute of Secrecy, to reveal the power play of the ayashi factions behind the Black Dragon Society, similarly to how Grindelwald manipulated the SS in Europe… are there many like us, I mean rich yaojing who pull the strings of large companies?"
"A few. There are the Miao in China and Gringotts that you already know about. Speaking of Goblins, the Gunnarson clan – they're Dvergars, Scandinavian cousins of the Goblins – in Sydney have ties to several mining operations. Another one you will probably get in touch with is the K&H Trading Bank, which was founded in Zurich by two brothers, a wizard and a human, shortly after the end of World War Two. Finally, I would mention InGen as a transnational with a foot in each world."
She nodded thoughtfully. She remembered reading something about InGen in Eisheth's files… no, not directly about InGen but about the Hammond Foundation, a charity created by InGen's founder. The charity was well-implanted in UK and had a discreet foot in the magical world, mostly by helping disillusioned muggleborns to reinsert themselves into the human world. From what she had read, it was so because John Hammond himself had been in such a situation after Hogwarts.
And… yes, also something about Hammond's second wife, the one who made the tabloids' first page when I was pregnant with Hermione. As far as the magazines were concerned, it was mostly about Hammond marrying a young Japanese beauty and how he had lost it for giving her an important role in his company…
"Speaking of InGen, have you ever met John Hammond's wife?"
"Once. We had to discuss some of the more delicate points about the equipment they needed for a 'mixed' research center they set up on an island near Costa Rica a few years ago. The funniest for me was… well, traders from New York I know call her the Ice Queen because of how she never loses her cool. What those traders don't know is that Tsurara Hammond née Shirayuki is a Yuki Onna," he replied with a hearty laugh.
"And therefore a literal Ice Queen… to get back on our initial topic, not much more in America I suppose? From what I read lately, many magical communities there despise western civilization too much to play that game… but what about the Tawantinsuyu? The Incas cannot ignore the game."
Among the shocks she had when learning about magical history, the magical side of the European colonization of America had been one of the biggest. Had the native magicals been a little more united, a little faster to understand the danger… they would have put a stop to both the human and the ayashi attempts at colonization. Instead, people like Cortes and Pizarro managed to play on the internal divisions of the First Nations, often recruiting local sorcerers who helped while the conquistadores' priests looked the other way. A little later, the diseases the Europeans unknowingly brought with them had also been an enemy the local wizards could not fight on a large enough scale to really matter. Yet, things took another unexpected turn near the end of the seventeenth century, making things a lot harder for the magical Europeans than for their mundane counterparts.
Ironically, it had been the implementation of the Statute of Secrecy in 1692 that killed any chance for large magical nations to develop in most of America, including anything resembling a magical version of the USA. The magical natives quickly understood that they could take advantage of the Statute to prevent the European wizards from having human support. The guerilla war lasted over a century until things stabilized with magical North and Central America settling into a patchwork of isolationist, tiny rural settlements and a few larger urban communities in cities like New York, Mexico City, or Los Angeles which pretty much functioned like city-states. Those city-states maintained some relationships and agreements, like issuing bounties so that hunters like Xochitl Villareal could take care of magical problems in areas without a magical community, but they were definitely not united.
Most of South America followed the same pattern, with one big exception: the Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire. The reason why was very simple: The Inca, the Emperor, had always been chosen depending on his magical power and in particular his seer abilities. Incan history books said that a year or so before the Spaniards arrived, Atahualpa had a very powerful vision. Exactly what he saw was unknown but the orders he then gave had terrible consequences. He decided to fool the Spaniards, to let Pizarro conquer a shell while he would hide the true heart of the Incan culture. Mass obliviations were performed, all memories of the Incan writing – which interestingly used a script based on Naacal – erased from the people and texts moved to hidden vaults. The true capital city was moved to Machu Picchu, a temporary solution until the hidden city of Akakor that the Inca had foreseen could be built on the western slope of the Andes. Finally, Atahualpa obliviated himself, leaving those who would keep the heart of the Tawantinsuyu alive under the protection of his chosen heir.
"It's a little special there, given that the Inca Empire is a curious mix of feudalism and socialism. The Empire has state-owned enterprises that interact with the human world, but no private company. Also, their goal human side is to help the native populations and make sure the big human transnationals stay away from some areas, not profit. Even in the magical world, the Tawantinsuyu doesn't bother much about countries beyond South and Central America, not unlike what China repeatedly did throughout its history."
"So, while technically one of the most powerful magical nations, they are not an active one?"
"Sufficiently to be easily forgotten by the Europeans who are the most active members of the ICW. However… things are moving there. After centuries spent ignoring them, they finally opened negotiations with the Mexican werewolf clans. As the current Emperor has been in place for three decades, there must be something else in the works."
"The Incan Emperor is always a Seer: what if he had a vision and decided to prepare the Empire for the future he had seen?"
"That's what the Siberian covens think, and I have to agree it's a likely option. To get back on the topic of rich yaojing, how are the fusions going with your companies?"
"Well enough that some people at the London Stock Exchange are starting to sniff around, from what Ross told me in our last call. According to one of Eisheth's sources, a journalist of the Financial Times has started to ask questions in several of our subsidiaries and this will only intensify as our group exits obscurity."
"Have you decided on a name?"
"Yes. Mandjet Industries."
"Isn't that the name of Ra's solar boat… I see. I had forgotten how much you Fomorians also influenced the Egyptians. So, you decided to be blunt?"
"In part," she replied, thinking about the Mesektet division that they would likely set up for covert operations.
Desdemona took a deep breath. Even with the help of her third eye, she had a mere month of training with the human shape technique and going through customs would need her to stay inconspicuous. She felt her height lower and her mass compress, her self-adjusting Acromantula skirt suit following her changes.
Let's not think too much about how this very classy dark suit will just scream 'upper management' in corporatese… and is also better than Kevlar when it comes to stopping bullets.
She took out her pocket mirror, verifying that her face was all right. No trace of her horns or third eye which was good, but the technique still refused to give her an age corresponding to what was on her papers. She still looked like a woman in her twenties instead of her forties.
Not that I mind looking younger, but it may make things awkward with my acquaintances in England… though it could have been worse. With the right makeup and haircut to make me look a little older, it should be near enough for most people.
"You look fine," said Feihong. "The people from the customs will focus on me anyway."
"Why… it's about your scars?"
"Yeah," replied the yaojing, a smile on his lips as he traced a scar on his right cheek. "Some people around here have a tendency to consider that if you have a scar on your face, you're necessarily a yakuza. Granted, I'm technically a Triad boss and my scars are combat-related, but it's the principle of the thing."
"Still technically, wasn't the Sanbao trafficking opium with some unscrupulous Britons?" she asked back with a smirk, remembering their previous discussion about a rather unsavory part of her own country's history.
"Historically true but we haven't done that for over a century," replied Feihong with a pout that made her think of a sad teddy bear.
"Just teasing, cousin. Lingling told us the day we arrived that the problem nowadays was because of how the Statute made transactions bridging both worlds look to the outside observer… and I realize we may need some tips on the matter as we will probably have the same issue."
"True. Now that your stage fright seems to be over…"
She nodded and they exited the plane. A few minutes later, she could not help but feel a little sensitive when her travel documents were checked, though she was surprised at how quick some things went and at the level of deference the officials showed. Her worry disappeared when she remembered that her way of arrival, the official documents from her father's office and her clothes made her a corporate executive on a business trip, not a simple tourist. The airport personnel were simply giving her the VIP treatment.
She said goodbye to her cousin as they left the international zone. They were unfortunately both on a rather tight schedule and her father had arranged for transportation. She took her bearings, remembering the plan and instructions he sent her and walked decidedly toward one of the parking areas.
"You must be the Bus Driver," said Desdemona with a smirk as she saw a man in a blue uniform leaning against a black Mercedes with tinted windows, right on the spot indicated by her father's briefing packet.
"Many people call me like that, Mrs. Granger," replied the mustachioed ayashi as he lit himself a cigar. "Given my relationship with your father, you can call me Nurari."
"Call me Desdemona then. How is Moka?"
"Not well," he replied, opening the car's door so that she could sit in the back. "What did you hear?"
She got inside while he did the same in the front and drove away. She let her transformation go, taking advantage of the tinted windows. It wasn't that maintaining it was that difficult. As her base shape was humanoid, she didn't risk 'moving wrong' like some of the yaojing at the Huang Estate or 'forget to hide her tail' like the foxes of the tales. The issue for her was that even with her incomplete mastery of her new senses, she felt blind with her third eye closed.
Note to self: research glamour spells. They may be more of a hassle to maintain but they mean my third eye can stay active.
"Form the short report I got, she was bullied at her school," she replied, relaxing as her perceptions readjusted. "One of her tormentors tried to get fresh with her and Moka reacted a little too forcefully, sending him to the hospital with a broken arm. My father was worried that the local ayashi faction would try to make an example of her, just because she's a 'high-and-mighty-vampire'. That's why we decided not to wait for the end of the school year."
"That's the main points. Currently, the human school she's enrolled in is trying to hush things and make it pass as an accident. I don't expect them to show much resistance if we tell them that Moka is transferred."
"The teachers didn't stop the bullying?"
"Her homeroom teacher tried, but the others just became sneakier and took advantage of the fact Moka was already shunned by most of the other students."
"Getting Moka out of there is sorely needed and if I had known it was that bad, I would have done it earlier. As for this incident, I will certainly not punish her for defending herself. I will however make sure she has all the training she needs to ensure she can neutralize a human without harming him if need be. My cousin Tiantian sees no problem in integrating her in the training she's giving to Hermione and me and combat training is something a healthy vampire just needs… because we built them that way," she replied while massaging the base of her horns.
"Interesting tone. You got around the fact that the Lemurian notions of Good and Evil have little to do with what the Europeans put in those little boxes?"
"I had a discussion with my father about it recently… do you think we're 'dark', Nurari?"
"Personally? Never did. I'm old enough to know that things are never so simple and it's easier for us in Asia anyway. The 'Order and Chaos' mentality of your ancestors? We have a lot less problem with that way of thinking around here… thanks to your people in fact. The Nagas and the Yuki Onna respectively influenced Hinduism and Shinto and both people were originally Lemurian."
"It's a little more complicated with the Nagas from what I heard, as they were originally created by the Reptoids and begged my ancestors not to exterminate them… but it's true that they became model Lemurian subjects after that. To come back to the topic of Moka, I have enough Lemurian documentation to know what I'm doing biologically speaking. Culturally speaking, my husband will see John Stockton about a 'nanny'."
"Moka's lineage will be known, then."
"I am aware of the potential problems with Moka's stepmother. Honestly, how easy would it be for her to find Moka if she wanted to?"
"As long as Moka stayed in the human world without contact with the magical side of things… not easy but definitely doable for someone with Gyokuro's resources. The whole point however was that while Moka kept a low profile, the wicked stepmother was content to forget that our little princess existed."
"But in reach in case she needed her to further her political goals, of course. Well, we cannot have that, can't we?"
"You're definitely Tenmei-kun's daughter," said the Bus Driver with a laugh as the car entered a tunnel. Through her third eye, Desdemona immediately saw the warping magical fields and knew they were taking a shortcut. "By the way, did he tell you about the additional stop he would like you to do?"
"Yes, a former student of his I may be interested in recruiting for some projects my father and I discussed. We'll go see her after we fetch Moka. That's the most urgent thing now."
"I suspected as much," he replied as they exited the tunnel, soon entering in a small town.
The car followed the road until it stopped in front of a church she knew to be catholic from her briefing packet. She concentrated to take back her human shape and exited the vehicle.
"I'll go make sure a certain clique of locals does not disturb you," said Nurari, lighting a cigar. "Just in case, Tenmei warded the church."
She nodded and looked around. At first sight… a tranquil small mountain town, the kind of place she would have considered as a base for hiking. When you looked a little deeper, however, there was something, something that made this little town both a good hiding place and a problem for Moka. A passerby had looked at her in a certain way that had brought back a lot of bad memories, a way that said: 'you don't belong here'.
She knew that look. She had suffered from variations of it during part of her childhood, when too many people in their 'proper' neighborhood disapproved of her mother raising a child born out of wedlock alone. She remembered all the whispers, how some shopkeepers took a little longer to notice her than the other kids, how people made her feel that she was damaged goods.
She started to detail the façade of the church, wanting to distract herself from those thoughts. Her predator instincts were stirring, trying to convince her to flare her aura to make sure these lowly humans knew their place. If she started to think too much about it, she was sure that her transformation would slip. Remembering her father's counsel, she tried to convince herself that they were not worth her time and attention, that the Big Picture needed her to endure.
She heard the bark of a dog on her left and saw a little girl keeping it on a leash. Again, the predator in her stirred and she could not help but turn her head a little bit and look at the offending animal straight in the eyes. Its bark instantly became a pitiful whine as it laid on its back, presenting its belly to her, acknowledging her dominance. This pleased her, and she could feel that evil smirk that was the trademark of her family starting to creep on her face. Her eyes rose a little bit and fell on the girl. She was shaking, frozen in place by a fear she did not understand. The smirk died on Desdemona's face.
Me… she's afraid of me. Of the monster I am.
She turned her back on them and climbed the church's stairs, reining her youki in. She didn't speak enough Japanese to reassure the girl. She welcomed the single tear that ran on her cheek, knowing that there was still something left of her humanity. All she wanted now was… she was interrupted by a girl rushing outside of the church and stopping right in front of her, at the top of the stairs.
She was maybe thirteen, with long, light brown hair, big green eyes and aristocratic features that favored the European side of her Eurasian heritage. Desdemona could not help but notice the choker around the girl's neck and the cross hanging from it, probably the power seal her father had told her about. Her main attention was focused on other fine points of vampiric biology, however. The girl's skin was ashen, she looked too thin and her moves too jittery. She felt her anger for the people of the town rise again as she put those signs together, remembering the books Khany gave her. She climbed the last steps and went to hug the vampire girl, not caring at all about the big human guy who was now standing next to the little girl with the dog and looked at her disapprovingly.
"Hello Moka. I'm Desdemona."
She could feel the girl's unease… as if she didn't know what to do with a hug. An instant later it was as if something – probably all the tension of the previous days – broke and the young vampiress started to weep silently, her head buried against the Fomorian's chest. Desdemona kissed the top of her head and led her back inside the church. She soon noticed a human in a black clergyman habit who looked quite relieved to see them.
"Father Tanaka? I'm Desdemona Granger."
"Good morning, Granger-san. I must say I am glad to see you. Moka-chan was getting quite restless being stuck inside."
"The Bus Driver is taking care… of those people," she replied, knowing that the priest implied that Moka had to stay inside the wards for her own protection. "Moka, are you aware of the situation?"
The vampiress lifted her head. The moment her senses registered that woman's youki, her instincts had gone haywire. When Moka felt her being angry, she just wanted to destroy whatever caused it. When Desdemona hugged her, she instantly felt safe and cared for. It was as if… suddenly, she remembered the bedtime stories her mother told her when she was a small kid and she knew.
"You… you're one of the Masters?" she asked in what sounded to Desdemona like mangled Naacal. She tried to break the hug, to pay proper respect, but the woman held her tight with a strength she could not match in her famished state.
"In English, dear, and… we'll talk about this," replied Desdemona, kissing the top of her head again.
Moka felt utterly confused. If she was one of the legendary Masters, the creators of her race, why was she treating her like a… daughter? Shouldn't she be just a servant to her? Again, the woman's youki enveloped her as she felt her grow taller, probably because she released her transformation. Her concerns died as she basked in the so comfortable warmth, closing her eyes and resting against Desdemona's chest.
"I told her yesterday that a foreign Yokai family would take her in," said Father Tanaka, looking with interest at the three-eyed, horned 'demon' who showed so much affection for his ward. "Moka was preparing her luggage… I'll see to finish it while you talk to her."
"Thank you, Father. If your parishioners ask, I am her gaijin mother who finally managed to find her after a long search."
"Yes, it will do nicely… Granger-san, please do not judge them too harshly. It's just that… some old habits I am trying to break them out from. As you can guess, it's still a work in progress," he replied while leading them in the habitation part of the church.
He left them as they sat on the couch, Moka having found back some countenance.
"How do you feel about coming to live with me? Would you prefer to stay?" asked Desdemona.
"Of course, I'll come! It's not my place to de…"
"This is not what I asked," cut in Desdemona, silencing the girl by putting a finger on her mouth. "I asked you how you feel about it. Tell me what you want, not what would be proper just because your instincts are screaming at you that I'm one of the 'Masters'."
"I want to go away from here, so I'm fine with it," replied Moka, blushing with embarrassment. "The humans… I would be fine if I could never see one again. Maybe it would be different without the Statute of Secrecy… maybe I could show them why I cannot swim or take a shower at school… or maybe they would just try to stake me, I don't know. All I'm sure of is that the human kids hate me now and I heard that their parents are telling them to avoid me, that I am a kind of 'shameful child'. Even those who tried to be nice just stopped now, except for Father Tanaka. The things they say… I do my best not to listen even when they talk badly of Mother, but… I'm so sick of it!"
"Well, humans are a diverse sort. I'm married to one and I guarantee you that he is nice and doing his best to understand us, but I see what you mean. And your birth family?"
"I don't even know if Mother is still alive," she replied with a sniff. "One day, it was just after that earthquake hit the castle, she wasn't here anymore, and there was nothing left from her: no picture, no diary, nothing. I was sent away the same day. I know that it's because Father's other wife was back and she doesn't like me but… right now I would welcome even Kokoa-chan rushing in for her daily spar."
"Kokoa being your younger sister and Kalhua and Akua your elder sisters, right?"
"Yes. I miss them."
"Sadly, the situation hasn't changed and I can't promise you anything on this front… what I can promise you is that my daughter Hermione is eager to meet you and she hopes that you can be good friends. My husband and I will of course do our best to make you feel welcome in our family," said Desdemona as she took out a picture of she, Ross and Hermione taken during the spring festival. "This is my husband and my daughter. The picture was taken a few weeks ago in Hong Kong."
"We will live there?"
"For a while as we complete some training with our cousins, who are also looking forward to meeting you. The family patriarch, Touhou Fuhai, knew your mother well and I am sure he will be glad to tell you about her. After that, we will move back to our home in England."
She hugged the girl again and was glad when she felt Moka return the hug. Desdemona knew it wasn't enough, though. Motherly affection was not the only thing Moka was starved of.
But I need to wait just a little bit, wait for her to acknowledge our bond before I can offer it…
"Thank you… obasan. I really think I will like it," replied the young vampiress, hugging Desdemona a little tighter.
Obasan… ah yes, it translates as 'auntie' and can be used either for a blood relation or simply as a way to address an older woman. It will do for now.
"Good, then welcome in our family, Moka," said Desdemona with a smile as she slashed her left wrist with a claw. "Drink my blood. I offer it freely and of my own free will, to honor the bond between us."
Moka didn't need to be told twice. Her eyes had locked on the wound immediately. She took the Fomorian woman's wrist and started to suck. She could not believe how rich and powerful it was. There really was no comparison with the transfusion bags she usually drank from. She didn't notice the Ra-Mu sigil briefly flaring in bloody light on her brow as the first blood drops passed her lips, while, in Khany's Himalayan Hermitage, her name appeared on a certain tapestry, with a line linking her to Desdemona.
"What in Merlin's name is that thing!" asked Ron as he looked at the picture.
Harry sighed. He knew he should have waited for them to be alone to open Hermione's last letter instead of doing it here, during the breakfast in the Great Hall. The thing was that with how things were going with Ron, he had preferred to indulge his friend when he asked for it. Ron was now holding a picture that had come with the letter and they were both looking at it.
The picture was a moving, wizarding one. Hermione was lying face down, with her feet in the air and her chin resting on her raised hands, clad in black silk slacks, something that looked like black slippers and a tiger-striped short dress, smiling at the camera and sometimes petting the… creature she was lying upon. The creature was a thing of nightmare, a kind of demonic monkfish the size of a car with pale leathery skin and bony ridges. It was floating calmly in the air, its spiky tail swaying lazily. The worst was probably the fact that the monster only had one eye that shone from inside its maw, a maw filled with huge teeth. Yet, Hermione seemed very comfortable on it.
A second picture showed Hermione playing catch with a dog-sized version of the same creature. This time, Harry could not help but notice the strange belt around her waist, a sinister-looking thing of jade and black metal whose details seemed to subtly move in the picture. As the picture's sequence progressed, the creature curled its tail around Hermione's waist and rested its head on her shoulder while she waved at the camera.
Harry returned his attention to the letter, wanting to read it as quickly as possible. He knew that what she was learning there was far from normal by Hogwarts standard and he remembered the warning Flitwick had given some weeks ago. Yet, there was something fundamentally disturbing there. Even her way of smiling seemed… maybe darker.
Hong Kong, the 26th of February
Dear Harry and Ron,
I want you to meet Fei-Oh (It's written in a way that means Flying Jaw in Chinese). He comes from a dimension called Naraka and I bound him as a familiar as part of my summoning studies*. As you can see, he's big enough to ride as a flying mount. Oh, I don't pretend he's as fast as your Nimbus but there are some other advantages, starting with the fact he's piloting himself and smart enough to understand my verbal commands. If you wonder what he eats, it's more or less like a human (he's got a bit of sweet tooth for Chinese pastries actually). Another ability he has is that he can change sizes (the second picture is him in his 'pet' size).
I know he's not what most people (Hagrid is not most people, Ron.) would call cute but it's not what matters. Fei-Ho is affectionate and loyal and I hope you will get along fine when I'm back in England. I will write more soon. I have a field trip in Naraka starting tonight and I expect to take a lot of pictures I can send you.
Love
Hermione.
* If a teacher sees the pictures and they feel alarmed about them, you can tell them we filed the papers for him being a familiar demon as per the Prague Treaty of 1766, so everything's legal.
