Having taken care of their domestic chores, Lucius made true to his promise and apparated them to Hitsuyanagi-san's place. Hermione felt sick and dizzy. The world was spinning around and she grabbed his arm to steady herself. Her long nails left scratch marks on his white skin.
"Why couldn't we use the floo?"
"Because I own a wand and I prefer to use it."
"Men," she said rolling her eyes.
They walked the moss-covered stone pathway to the old wooden house. Little sleeping felines were just about everywhere. Some of the kneazles came towards them, circling their legs and marking them as their territory. While the young witch was delighted and showered the four-legged creatures with affection, the former death eater looked disgusted. Cat-hair was the last thing he needed on his fine robes and he did not want to reek of their pheromones either.
Hitotsuyanagi-san greeted the couple in a friendly manner and led them inside. The two English automatically removed their shoes and kneeled in front of the knee-high table. Their hostess served tea and sweets. The house was small and cramped, in every free corner wooden boxes were skillfully stacked and the sideboard was covered with an array of small figures. Surely Hitsuyanagi-san had to resurrect them after every earthquake.
Hermione had never seen so many useless items in such a small place and she had been to flea-markets with her parents and had broken into the pink nightmare Umbridge called an office. At least this room wasn't pink, but the few pieces of furniture showed clear scratch marks and the cushions were full of hair. Where ever you looked something could be discovered, mostly it was adorable kneazle having a nap.
Hitotsuyanagi-san's attempts at conversation could be described as awkward at best. She retrieved all her English, which wasn't much, certainly not enough to form a whole sentence. She filled in the gaps with Japanese. Every now and then, the old witch repeated a word over and over again as if someone would miraculously suddenly understand a foreign language if only spoken loudly enough.
And this was the real problem both of them spoke Japanese, at least well enough to not encounter any problems with the help of translation charms. Hermione tried to tell her, but she didn't listen. She went on and on talking to them as if they were small children. It was frustrating and made Hermione furious.
Lucius had his hand placed on her lap and petted her lightly. He smiled and nodded every now and then to give the impression that he was actually listening. After a while, the old witch showed them kneazles. Six felines later and Lucius was still not paying any attention.
"You're not even looking!"
"Honestly, there is only one pussy I find myself interested in," he whispered into her ear while his hand wandered higher up her thigh.
"Lucius!" Hermione shrieked.
After another 35 minutes of looking at prized kneazles, Hermione had still not found anything she liked. Her husband looked as if he had already surrendered and contemplated having a nap on the table, unfortunately, his wife wouldn't let him and he was wise enough not to upset the bossy witch at someone else's place. He could understand that choosing a familiar is nothing to be taken lightly, but why did he have to sit through this ordeal?
He did not know the young witch well enough to know what she liked and after decades of marriage, he learned that once a witch had fallen in love with something any answer diverging from 'It is perfect' or 'you have chosen wisely' would be futile. But since she needed him by her side he thought he could sacrifice an hour or two for the sake of their relationship. Having an agreeable wife is of great value and she had the potential to be an asset.
He still had some work to do. The dark wizard thoughts about the excessive amount of work that had piled up on his desk over the last couple of days, were interrupted by a warm sensation on his knee. He looked down and found a white kitten with green eyes licking his trousers. Disgusted and somewhat annoyed, he shoved the little feline aside.
The clever kneazle however, thought it to be a fun game and quickly returned. Lucius repeated this notion a couple of times. He soon became agitated enough to warrant the drawing of his wand. Contemplating the hex he was going to use, the kitten changed the game and hopped onto his lap. The former death eater grabbed the white creature with his thumb and index finger by its neck and dropped it an arm-length away from him. This, however, did not deter the kneazle from coming back. He once again grabbed its neck, only this time the little one meowed loudly and scratched his wrist. Lucius had run out of patience and threw the kitten at his wife.
"Get that beast away from me!"
Before Hermione registered what happened, the kneazle was already back on her husband's lap. She leaned over and petted the small creature. After a couple of minutes, the white fur-ball fell asleep. The young witch looked at her husband with pleading eyes. Her slightly blurred eyeliner only accentuated her beautiful warm eyes. She anxiously chewed on her reddish lips. Even after the lipstick had faded, her lips remained more red than normal.
"No definitely not," Lucius said in an authoritative tone.
"But Lucius, it looks like a real Malfoy…"
Knowing he had already lost the battle he attempted to reason with her. "It does not, all Malfoys have blue eyes."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Even if, there is no guarantee it will not grow up to grow ugly."
"I don't care."
The teenager carefully lifted the kneazle with both her hands. "What do you think we should name it?"
"We don't even know the sex," Lucius said.
"I don't think kneazle have a concept of gender identity."
As if to protest the little creature made a sound. Hermione turned the small feline around and looked between its hind-legs. The war-heroine came to the realization that it did not look male but considering that the kneazle was still young and everybody starts as a female, at least humans do, it couldn't be that different for kneazles, could it? In their early developmental stages that were not telling.
Lucius looked at the unusual witch studying the feline's private parts with scientific curiosity. He shook his head and pointed his wand at the small beast. An orange glow appeared over the creature and formed the sign of venus.
"I would say this settles it."
"I'm not so sure… what does this spell detect? Is it the chromosomal or the hormonal sex? Biological sex is a complex issue-" Hermione started.
"It does not matter. If there are biologically abnormalities she should not be able to reproduce therefore it is not my concern."
"I wouldn't be so sure, there a people, girls, who turn into a man during puberty."
"Again, male mammals do not bear young therefore it is not my concern," Lucius said.
"That is irresponsible and sexist. All pets who leave the house need to be neutered, especially cats as they have a tendency to wander off. Cats are a major threat to the existence of several species like birds, who often die of an infection following the encounter and the European wildcat due to hybridization… maybe we should confine her to the house. I've never allowed Crookshanks to roam freely when we stayed at my parent's house. I was too worried he'd get killed by a car in particular because he was not accustomed to traffic."
"I see, there are special necklaces with little charmed bells, to limit the space they can explore. I used one on Draco when he was little."
"You did what?!"
"Do not sound so alarmed. It was a practical solution. My little boy was an active child and there are areas in the Manor who are not necessarily child-friendly. You cannot keep an eye on him 24/7 and tying the bell around his ankle allowed me to have a good night's sleep. At least I would have had if my son had not woken me night after night at about three in the morning for about four years until he turned six."
"Are you telling me that little Draco was just as annoying as big Draco?" Hermione teases.
"This is not funny."
"I beg to differ. What are we going to do about our little one?"
Lucius coughed but Hermione's eyes remained fixed on the little kneazle.
"Do you want to hold her?" Not waiting for a response, Hermione placed the feline onto his chest.
The dark wizard looked at the long-haired fur-ball with a mixture of fear and disgust. Not wanting to have his expansive robes ruined by a set of tiny claws, he placed one hand beneath its small body. His other hand hovered above her head. "Remove that beast from my person!"
But the young war-heroine was too taken with the image ahead. There was this tall, strong, and powerful Death Eater holding a cute white kitten with caution as if it was a baby. He was sneering down to her and was acting a little jumpy. A grown man couldn't be afraid of a kitten, could he?
"What do you think of 'Shirona'?"
"Fine, just remove it from my person."
Hermione took Shirona back and kissed his cheek.
Having chosen a kneazle, the two English were more than eager to leave this place. They bowed before their host and walked to the genkan. Lucius put his shoes on.
"Can you hold her for a moment so I can put my shoes on as well?"
He sneered down at Shirona, "Fine, just hurry."
Before they flooed home the dark wizard thanked Hitotsuyanagi-san politely and in his best Japanese for gifting them with such an adorable new family member and handed her a pretty envelope. The lady looked dumbfounded.
Hermione wordlessly removed the ash from her dress and the little fur-ball. "You did this on purpose!"
"I do not know as to what you are referring to."
"You were submissive and polite, you only did it to humiliate the old witch. I don't even speak Keigo but you're the only one who would use it to show your opponent how unworthy of you and your attention they are!"
He chuckled. They have not been married for long yet the young witch saw right through him. She did earn her title as brightest-witch-of-her-age. "Dinner?" he not so elegantly deflected.
"Sure," she answered rolling her eyes.
Having kicked off her heels she realized how much taller he is. Looking up to the imposing wizard made her feel like she was twelve again and having spent a long day walking in those heels, she felt off balance without them.
After a filling meal, the businessman excused himself to his office. Hermione decided to join him and assist with his accounting. Little Shirona was sleeping in her lap. After they dealt with his affairs they got ready for bed. The young witch offered her husband to bath first and went to the library to pick up some light reading for her holidays. Having washed, she wanted to join her husband in bed. Reflecting on the day she found her first taste of married life was surely challenging but not as dreadful as she feared. Hermione quietly entered the room not wanting to wake him in case he had already fallen asleep.