English

'thoughts'

'thoughts of Sesshomaru's beast'

"Kitten, there you are! I was beginning to worry that he did something to you", Sirius said as Hermione came in and embraced her.

The morning had gone quietly, after Nishi had finally led her to her work rooms. She hoped that it would get better, or that she would learn her way around the castle faster. Her plants were doing fine, even her magical ones. Maybe she would talk to Sirius and Mr. Flamel about the plants and other ingredients. Maybe they could procure the ones she was missing and brew all the potions she could not do yet. She did also some brewing in her laboratory. After that she had hurried here, so she would not miss lunch. But it seemed she was not the last one, Rin and Sesshomaru were still missing.

"Good morning, Padfoot", she greeted him.

She smiled inwardly. He didn't know yet that his nickname was quite accurate, even if she was a very big cat. Then she registered what he meant, and she glared at him.

"Lord Sesshomaru would never do anything to me, don't be stupid. He is very good to me."

Sirius just raised his hands defensively and sat back down.

"Oh? So Lord Sesshomaru can be something other than respectfully cold? But it is true, he was very defensive of you yesterday. Forgive me, Lady Hermione, but I could not help, but overhear", spoke Mr. Flamel.

Hermione blushed a little but could not say why.

"Well yes. There are a lot of different ways he can be. He can be very annoyed at his retainer and his half-brother. But he can also be very affectionate and protective with his daughter…"

"Wait, you two have a daughter?!", shouted Sirius and looked horrified at her.

Hermione squeaked: "What?! No! We aren't like that, Sirius. I am just helping him translate and teaching Rin. And he lets me use his library. Even if I have not seen it yet."

She sat down an held her burning cheeks. Remembering her lessons, she took out her fan and hid behind it to compose herself. Sirius starred at her trough narrow eyes but said nothing.

"I was not aware that Lord Sesshomaru had a daughter let alone a wife. And who is this Rin?", asked Mr. Flamel.

"Oh, Forgive me. Rin is actually Lord Sesshomaru's ward. But I believe they see each other as daughter and father, even if they do not say it. He took her in when her family and village was attacked by wolfs and wolf demons. Since she is human, he left her with Lady Kaede, a healer in the village where his brother lives, so she could teach her, and so Rin could spend more time with humans. Lady Kaede thought her to read and write but could not teach her to read mandarin. So I proposed to teach her, in exchange I could read the books he brought her."

"I can't believe it. You and your books. But you weren't you if it were otherwise."

Sirius shook his head exasperatedly. Before he could say anything else, Lord Sesshomaru and Rin entered the room.

Lord Sesshomaru sat down at the head of the table, while Sirius and his Friend sat at the other end. Hemione and Rin were seated at the sides. Rin seamed to be nervous to meet the guests, and Hemione smiled encouragingly to her.

"Rin, I want to introduce to you an old friend of mine. This is Sirius Black. He is someone from my time, I thought was dead. He is something like an uncle to me. And this is Lord Flamel, a businessman from England, where I lived in my time. May I present to you, Lady Rin, ward of Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands", she introduced them.

They greeted each other respectfully.

Then Sesshomaru started speaking: "This Sesshomaru hopes, you had a good night's sleep and found the food to your liking. If there is anything this Sesshomaru can do for you let Lady Hemione know."

Hemione translated and replied their answer to the demon lord: "They slept well, and don't need anything at the moment. But hey would like to see the castle a bit more."

"This Sesshomaru will show you the castle and gardens after we eat", he said, nodded and waved his servants with the food inside.

They ate while talking about Lord Flamel's life and business in England. Hemione translated continuously for Rin and Sesshomaru and also their questions for Sirius and Lord Flamel. Rin was a bit shy at the beginning but opened up more and more with a bit of time. Unconsciously she also started to teach them the other language and explaining words. Sesshomaru didn't say anything and just listened to her explanations, while Rin seemed to be very eager to learn. Lord Flamel seemed interested as well, but Sirius looked bored.

"Why do I need to learn this language? We will return to England in a few days."

"Sirius, it seems you did not listen to me. I told you we will stay over winter", Lord Flamel said.

"All the same. We won't stay here forever, we will go back to England, I don't need to learn the language, I have Hermione, or I can understand the dog demons if they talk like dogs."

She translated for Rin and Lord Sesshomaru.

"So he is an Animagus like you? But a dog? How big is he? This Sesshomaru would like to see."

"Yes, he is a big dog, at least in our time, but not as big as you or even me."

Again she translated and asked Sirius if he would show his form later on.

"I will show mine, if he shows his."

"He will show you, but he wants to see you other form as well. I think I will surprise him and show him mine as well. He does not know yet and will be jealous that I am much bigger than him."

Sesshomaru smirked slightly and nodded.

After they finished eating, Lord Sesshomaru began to show them the palace. At first Rin accompanied them, but she got bored after a while and so Sesshomaru sent her to her lessons, which made her pout slightly, but she went without complaining.

A while later they came to the training grounds. Only one man was on the grounds training. Hermione recognised him as general Akio. The general stopped his training as he saw the group and walked to them. He bowed before them and greeted them.

"Lord Sesshomaru, Lady Hemione, what brings you here to the training grounds? Can I do something for you?"

"This Sesshomaru is showing his guests the castle and will be showing them his true form. Meet Lord Sirius Black and Lord Nicolas Flamel. Meet general Akio."

"Lord Sesshomaru introduced you and presents to you general Akio."

The english men bowed in greeting to the general.

"So? Will we get to see his dog form?", Sirius asked impatiently.

"Sirius! Don't be like that. You know, he is not the size of a normal dog, he is much larger than you. Don't think you can intimidate him or anything along these lines", she scolded Sirius quietly.

"Lady Hemione and Lord Black know each other, they are… friends. They did not know that both would be here at the same time since she believed him to be dead. You may stay and watch. They will show some of their powers."

The general nodded to his lord and stayed standing with them. Lord Sesshomaru made his way to the middle of the grounds and transformed into his dog form. She heard Sirius sharply taking in breath. Then he whistled.

"Wow, he really is a big dog."

Both Sirius and Flamel seemed impressed.

"Why don't you show your form now?"

After her suggestion, Sirius also made his way on the training ground and transformed into the big black shaggy dog. Hemione itched to transform as well. But she could not just let the both men alone. So she began to explain first to Lord Flamel in English then to general Akio in Japanese.

"I will join them, I will be back soon and continue translating", she excused herself.

With a grin she went to Sirius and transformed while walking to him and Lord Sesshomaru. As a grinning cougar she stood beside Sesshomaru and looked down on Sirius.

Sirius eyes seemed to bulge out and he starred at her unbelieving then he transformed back.

"Kitten! How…? Since when? Why didn't you tell me? Why are you so big?"

Hemione transformed back and laughed at Sirius expression.

"Well, I trained to become an Animagus after the war, since it could have been helpful. I didn't have the chance yet to tell you and I don't know why I am this big."

"Well, I looks like I picked the right nickname for you, Kitten. Even if you are a rather big one."

She laughed again and went back to the other two man and explained what just went on.

HxS

Akio had been surprised of his lords somewhat strange behaviour in the last few months. Now, he believed to have an answer. He observed his lord around Lady Hermione and could see a strange look in his eyes, when he looked at the woman. He did not know why his lord seemed so taken with her. It was a mystery to him.

He widened his eyes as he saw the little woman transform into a much bigger mountain lioness. But she was human, was she not? Well the other man could transform as well, but he was much smaller. Seeing her standing next to Lord Sesshomaru made him pause. Maybe… ? He would have to watch them a bit longer and decide then, if he could see the woman next to his lord in the future. It seemed this winter would not be as boring as the last ones.

AN: Thank you for reading the story, liking it and/or reviewing it, it means a lot to me. Know that I read all your reviews, even if I don't respond to them. If you have questions or ideas, let me know. I hope you enjoyed the you all so much for your support. I hope you continue liking the story.

This chapter is not betaed yet.