They watched first the binder than Amy leave through the fireplace. The still nameless witch followed shortly, undressing Hermione in the genkan and taking all the items, including the butterfly kanzashi she loved, with her. Hermione groaned. She stood there in nothing but her underwear and make-up, her hair was an absolute disaster. "Who was that?! And what have you done to her to warrant an assault like that?!"
"I do not know. Are you sure you did not upset her all by yourself?"
"With what?" Hermione asked.
"I actually do not know. But it is good to know that Japanese with terrible manners exist, that at least explains my son's unpolished behavior."
Hermione collected her clothes and shoes and tried to arrange her hair in a half-decent manner before she joined the older wizard in an informal sitting room. A bowl with some kind of boiled potato appeared before each of them.
"Eat. It is stewed taro, they say it is good for fertility, and for that reason, it is a staple at Japanese-festivities."
Hermione looked alarmed.
"Stop worrying. It is unlikely for you to conceive from eating this, not that you could anyway."
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
"The last year has been tough on all of us and you put your body through hell-" the young witch was about to protest. "- you better gain a few pounds, you are way too skinny."
"Why are you telling me this? I know what your ex-wife looks like."
"Mark the wort EX-wife. Since you are a Malfoy now you also need a new name seal, a trip to Kaimono-Shima is in order. I see no point in delaying it, we could look at some kittens on our way back."
How dare he just assume she would take his name! She was quite happy with the one she got and had never intended to change that. But it was kind of cute to share a name and it symbolized unity. Hermione thought she could have persuaded Ron to accept her name. After all, he had 5 brothers, 4 alive ones, she could never get used to the idea of not seeing Fred again, and when they would all pass their name to their children it would get confusing. Bill and Fleur were already expecting.
Thirty minutes of privacy before the adrenaline wore off after the battle was all it took and Percy, still upset that Penelope Clearwater left him, was looking at his marriage options to quote properly take over his mother's role as head of the family. George couldn't change his name as it was linked to his shop and therefore business success and Charlie was more interested in his 'babies' than in human interaction. While Hermione actually wanted to be a Weasley, just not in name, she certainly never wanted to be a Malfoy.
Yet somehow, without her even noticing, her initial reasons, the kind of reasons an 8-year-old comes up with after not understanding why her favorite teacher needed a new name, were gone. She was a witch and would never take over her parents' surgery.
Speaking of them, they also no longer knew they had a daughter. They went by Wilkins now and she hadn't had any contact with them in years. With them gone, her house, the place she grew up in, felt no longer like home and only reminded the teenager of what she had done to them. Being a witch had taken already so much from her and now it would also cost her muggle name.
She liked being a Granger, it came with no strings attached. Now it was replaced by an old name written all over history, usually not in a positive context. Maybe she should talk to her husband about it but she didn't want to argue right now.
"Sounds good," Hermione nagged.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. You didn't care about me at the manor," she snapped.
"To my defense, you had not been a Malfoy back then."
"Do you even care about someone else than yourself?!"
"Of course, I do," Lucius said.
"Someone other than your son or direct family?"
"Stop being ridiculous, they are not my responsibility."
"So essentially your loyalty ends with the 'Y' of your family name."
He smiled at her. "I knew you would grasp the concept effortlessly."
"You are impossible." The young witch groaned leaving a confused pureblood behind.
She went upstairs to brush the mess that grows out of her skull's skin. Closing the bathroom door behind her she leaned against the sink and sighed. That man was impossible. Empathy and caring are the keystones of every society. To be fair she never thought of him as the caring kind of person but hearing him say it straight out loud was hard.
She didn't know it would hit her like that. What was even harder was that the war-heroine had to come to terms with never having a Mr. Granger on her side, that her children won't be carrying her name. Not even she herself will keep it, a name she was always proud of, the name of her beloved parents. Maybe the price of this relationship was too high.
Oddly enough, Hermione was not bothered by the thought of being a Malfoy, a family of more than questionable ethics, but by losing a part of her own identity. How long will it take until Hermione Malfoy stopped resembling Hermione Granger at all or was it already too late to rescue her old self? Did she even want to be the insufferable, narrow-minded know-it-all?
Instead of losing herself to philosophical questions she went to the genkan and put her heels on. She had a glance at the mirror. Checking herself she could not help but think that this new Hermione might not be so bad at all and called her husband. "Lucius are you ready? I thought you wanted to go shopping."
They stepped outside the right fireplace. Hermione was still holding the map in her head and guided Lucius with confidence to their destination. The two English found themselves in a narrow alley with several shops offering Hanko on each side. Why is everything so difficult here? In Diagon Alley, there is only one shop offering each kind of product, but due to higher population numbers, Japanese shop owners have to specialize further to be lucrative.
"We should start here. You definitely need at least one of those standard ivory seals even our head elf has got one to confirm deliveries," Lucius said.
"No way! And you could at least learn the names of the creatures you're enslaving! It is Kiki, by the way. I will not contribute to the senseless massacre of endangered species. Did you know that elephants are highly self-aware? They mourn their dead. Although being able to recognize themselves in the mirror, was never proven with wild ones, probably due to humans having a strongly visual environment and the elephants adapting to that, they still show awareness. For example, they are interested in elephant skulls but ignore the remains of other species and there was this one magnificent elephant bull, who's name I forgot, who still had his big tusks, which has gotten rare due to poaching, who was acting shy, which is unbecoming for a strong male, and constantly keeping his head down hiding his tusks, knowing he would be murdered for them which eventually happened. Did you know that elephants can hear the difference between poachers and groups of tourists, they also know where one National park ends and the next begins-"
"They might have recycled a piano," the Death Eater said holding the petite witch by her shoulders and pushing her inside the store.
Hermione tried to fight him but the older wizard was much stronger than her and she didn't have enough grip on her heels. Standing in the store she looked at all the lumps of raw material and pre-shaped ivory stamps. The young witch felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of conflicting resources. How many elephants had to die just to fill those shelves? Big tears were falling from her eyes begging him to do something.
The older wizard was at his wit's end. The girl could not seriously cry in the middle of a shop. He contemplated hexing her but that would hardly improve their relationship. Will his suffering never end? He was rescued by the shopkeeper who congratulated him for having such a compassionate wife she would surely make a good mother. The dark wizard nodded, luckily the Japanese appeared to be experienced in dealing with emotional witches since he would not have known how to handle this incident.
Apparently, there are alternatives to ivory. The Tagua-nut felt similar to the real thing but its yellowish color would give it away. Sensing the foreign wizard's skepticism he picked up a special piece of ivory. It was 15-times more expansive than the other pieces on offer.
When those gentle giants age they go through a series of teeth, which will abrade with time, but the 6th set is their last one and elephants eventually starve to death. There are African suppliers specializing in so-called wisdom-ivory, they place tracking charms on old and already lean elephants and collect the remains after nature has taken its course. While it may be indistinguishable for muggle a trained wizard can pick up the difference in the material's magical core. Wisdom-ivory is believed to bring success to business endeavors and contracts which is why this material is so popular among business wizards.
"Marufuku-sama, May I injure which ivory was used for your Hanko? It must have been from an extraordinary clever elephant considering how successful you are in all your endeavors."
"I honestly do not now," Lucius admitted retrieving a small wooden box from his robes. He opened the box filled with little objects and pulled the cylindrical seal out. Presenting it to the wizard, he explained it had been gifted to him nearly three decades ago and was in use ever since. The shopkeeper found that indeed he had been right, it's magical signature was unmistakable and decided it needed recarving. Clapping in his hands he served tea and biscuits to his customers and started working.