Draco led Vi to the kitchen, despite wanting to drag her to his room and showing her how much he loved every centimeter of her body. As soon as her feet crossed the threshold of the kitchen, she transformed. Draco had never seen someone so adept at transfiguration aside from Professor McGonagall. In seconds, her uniform was replaced with what he could only guess was some sort of traditional Japanese outfit. Her long hair was also pulled back into a knot at the nape of her neck. She made her way around the kitchen with practiced ease despite being unfamiliar with it. Before he could blink, she had washed the rice and set it to cooking in a pot. She had several fish frying in another pan. Another pot had some type of broth or soup. There was some sort of vegetable dish too. Currently, she was making eggs but not in any way he’d ever seen them made before.
“What in the world is all this?” He asked her.
“What do you mean?” She asked tilting her head in confusion. “You have mahi-mahi, which isn’t typical but it’s what you had. Then there’s the miso soup and the rice. Over there is a spinach salad with tofu and a sesame dressing. Next to that you have natto and nori with pickled daikon and carrots.” She pointed out each dish as she mentioned it while still making eggs.
“What are you doing to the eggs?” He asked watching in fascination as she continued cooking.
“Oh, this is tamagoyaki!” She smiled.
“And that is?” He prompted.
“It’s a Japanese rolled omelette.”
She said that like he knew what she was talking about.
“Do you think your parents would mind terribly if we had a specific type of tea with breakfast?” She asked turning to him.
“I don’t think they’ll mind,” he reassured her.
“Good, though I’ll have to get Tatsu to make it,” she said more to herself than to him. “Do you know how to use chopsticks?”
“I don’t see why that matters,” he told her.
“It matters because there won’t be any other utensils for them to use,” she snapped whirling to face him again.
He held his hands up in surrender.
“Yes we can use chopsticks,” he answered.
She nodded to herself and began plating all the food. She then moved everything to the table. Every place had a bowl of rice, a plate of fish, a bowl of the salad, a small plate of the pickled daikon and carrots, a small bowl of nori, a bowl of soup, a small bowl of natto, and a plate that held several slices of the rolled omelet. In front of each place sat a teacup and to the right sat a pair of chopsticks on a rest. Moments after she placed the last dish down, everyone entered the dining room. He could see looks of surprise on the faces of his parents, Regulus, and Severus. While they were staring at her in shock, she was speaking with Hiro in rapid fire Japanese. Whatever she said caused his face to light up in a way he hadn’t seen before.
“Everyone please take a seat!” She exclaimed. “This is a traditional Japanese breakfast. If you’ll give my brother a moment, he’ll be back with some matcha tea. I won’t be offended if you don’t eat everything, especially the natto. You’re all taking a leap of faith letting me cook for you in the first place. I also realize that much of this may not be to your tastes.”
Draco shook his head fondly and took a seat. Hadrian took the open seat on her other side. His father, as per usual, sat at the head of the table. His mother sat to his left. That left him on his father’s right. Regulus sat to Hadrian’s right. Bastian sat across from Vi and on his mother’s left. Severus sat on his other side and across from Hadrian. That left Hiro on Severus’s left and across from Regulus. Bricriu was sat at the other end of the table, away from everyone else. Once everyone was seated, Hiro returned with a pot of tea. He poured everyone a cup before taking a seat.
“Itadakimasu!” Vi, Hiro, Bricriu, and Bastian said clapping their hands together in front of them.
Hadrian did the same without prompting. Draco, Regulus, and Severus followed along after a moment. His parents, however, just stared like everyone had gone insane.
“Is something wrong with the food,” Vi asked them setting her chopsticks back on their rest.
Everyone paused eating to watch the interaction.
“If you’re wondering what we said before eating, itadakimasu means ‘I humbly receive,’” Bricriu said. “It’s a thank you to whoever prepared the meal. I realize that none of it is smothered in any kind of sauce but do try it. It’s all good food and a good way to start the day.”
“I’m not used to having fish or vegetables for breakfast,” his mother replied.
“Understandable,” Bricriu told her. “Though typically the fish is salmon or mackerel, the mahi is a decent substitute. Spinach is known to be full of fiber and as such helps keep you full longer. The natto is fermented soybeans. It is an acquired taste certainly. Nori is seaweed and is very good for you. The tamagoyaki is a rolled omelette that is sweet and savory. The good thing about having mahi instead of salmon is that it’s much lighter than salmon. It’s also not as fishy. Please try it. My sister is actually a fantastic cook. I don’t get many chances to eat her cooking but she’s always known her way around a kitchen.”
“The seasoning is different than what I had the last time I was in Japan,” Regulus mused.
“Our mother brought seasoning from her people and this is the way she always made it for us,” Bastian told him.
“Her people?” His mother asked.
“Our mother was Comanche,” Vi answered. “She was very proud of her heritage even if marrying our father wasn’t what her family wanted.”
His parents began to eat hesitantly. As soon as they swallowed that first bite, they began to eat more. The table fell into silence for a while.
“How long ago did you visit Japan?” Bastian asked Regulus.
“You must have been a newborn,” Regulus replied. “Your mother and I were working on a creating a spell that combined Comanche magic with regular magic.”
Vi hummed, “that’s a difficult task.”
Regulus nodded.
“Particularly because the languages are so very different from one another as they developed completely independently,” she continued. “Most spells in Europe are in Latin as most of the languages are derived from Latin. Greece would most likely be an exception, as would Russia. Though in Russia ancient runes would be easier to use since they are more similar to the Cyrillic alphabet than others. It’s why many people not familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet have difficulty understanding the runic alphabet and thus struggle with ancient runes. I believe many of the Native American languages most likely have a common ancestor but it’s so far back that connecting them together today is impossible. Why do you think the Americans used Navajo during World War Two? Because they were significantly smarter than Germany and realized they had languages that no one else in the world spoke. They decided to use that against the Japanese and the Germans. It’s the only code of the war that was never broken. Got to respect the Americans for their ingenuity. Anyway, the fact that Comanche and Latin are not similar in their roots makes it difficult to combine them for a spell.”
“Many people said it was impossible,” Regulus told her.
“I wouldn’t say impossible,” Vi answered. “Extremely difficult, certainly. Impossible, I doubt it. It’s merely a matter of translating the right words from one language to the other. Of course someone who can speak and read both languages is essential for the whole process to work at all. That’s why you needed my mother. She was a polyglot who was the the only one that had knowledge of spoken and written Comanche outside of the reservation. So you followed her, am I right?”
Regulus nodded again, “I did follow her but your father kept me away from her until after Bastian was born.”
“A wise decision on his part,” Vi concluded. “Magic is particularly volatile during pregnancy. He must have trusted you to allow you into the palace.”
Regulus laughed at that, “your father is a smart man, princess, but even he couldn’t control your mother.”
“Yes, I’ve heard she was quite headstrong,” Vi mused setting her chopsticks on their rest and picking up her teacup. She took a sip of her tea and closed her eyes. “Tatsu, you’ve outdone yourself with the tea.”
The young prince beamed at her praise. A house elf popped into the room, causing Vi to scream and apperate to a corner of the room far away from the poor creature.
“Fuck,” he heard Bastian curse. “Please refrain from appearing suddenly near my sister. She associates the sound with Ryoshi and violence. Hence her very visceral reaction.”
“It’s a trauma response,” Regulus told them. “It can be very difficult to overcome especially one so very deeply ingrained.”
Hadrian sighed and stood. He made his way to where Vi was tucked into the corner. Draco turned his attention back to the house elf. The creature looked positively distraught at having caused a witch such pain.
“Dina, please inform the rest of the elves to not apperate directly into a room with Vi,” Draco told her.
“Dina didn’t mean to scare Mitress Oda,” Dina sobbed.
“Dina, come here,” Bastian told her.
Dina obeyed.
“Dry your tears, you did nothing wrong “ he sighed. “It was our fault for not addressing this issue sooner. Vi has had a very rough childhood. Our uncle abused her and I wasn’t able to protect her. She reacted like that because our uncle was very fond of apperating to wherever she was and beating her within an inch of her life. It made her hyper vigilant and absolutely terrified of apperating. She’s ok. You didn’t do anything wrong. Look.” He pointed to Hadrian and Vi. “She has good people around her now. They will help her overcome this trauma. But I need your help. Can you do that?”
Draco watched as Dina nodded vigorously. Bastian smiled at her. It was a truly beautiful smile.
“Dina will gladly bes helping you, young master!” Dina exclaimed.
Draco turned back to watch Hadrian and Vi. For some reason, Hadrian wasn’t as sure as he was that Vi was their mate. But just looking at the two of them, he wouldn’t have any idea about that. Thing was Draco was so sure she was their mate because of the way his own magic had reacted when she shook his hand. Hadrian was the more rash of the two of them but it seemed that in this instance he was being cautious. Perhaps it had something to do with the way his family treated him, except for his youngest brother. Draco focused back on his mates. Whatever his hesitation was, it seemed Hadrian did want to try to make this work. Also, it seemed that Hadrian understood Vi in ways he just couldn’t. For that , he was very glad. It wasn’t long before Hades had her sitting back at the table.
“Hadrian, after breakfast I would like to speak with you for a moment if that’s alright with you,” Snape’s voice startled him.
Hadrian turned to their head of house.
“If this has to do with the fact that you’re my father, then I would prefer it if I were not alone,” Hadrian answered turning his attention back to Vi.
“Your mates are welcome to join us of course,” Snape told him.
“Wait, you mean to tell me that you’re not James’ son?” Regulus gaped.
“I only just found out myself, Uncle Reggie,” Hadrian told him not looking away from Vi.
“How?” Draco thought it was his father who asked the question but since his eyes were locked on Vi he couldn’t tell.
“I told him,” Vi voice was quiet. Last night, in the common room, his eyes flashed in response to mine.”
“What do you mean?”
“As a kyuketsuki my eyes change color with my mood or in response to a threat,” she began. “There are other reasons for it to happen but they aren’t important. Because the Japanese don’t have a vampire mythology except what was brought over from Europe, I am more of a demon than a vampire. Now only bosorcoi, or moroi if you want, can flash their eyes in response to a threat or to show dominance. But some dhampir can do it briefly if mated to a bosorcoi. Hadrian’s flashed for no more than 0.2 seconds but because of the color they flashed, I had my suspicions that he’d been blood adopted as a baby.”
“Not to mention that the Potter family has no history of a creature inheritance much less a vampire one,” Draco’s father scoffed.
“But the Black family does,” Vi countered smoothly. “And James Potter’s mother, Euphemia, was originally a Black if I’m not mistaken.”
“You’re right, Aunt Euphemia was a Black before she married into the Potter family,” Regulus answered. “But she was from a branch that had more werecat inheritance than vampire. Though with how interconnected all the pureblood families are, it’s not out of the realm of possibility however unlikely.”
“Funny because his patronus is a stag,” Hadrian laughed.
“I wasn’t sure if the blood adoption would be completely gone before the bond was complete but when I woke up this morning, it was gone,” Vi concluded.
“And I’m bloody fucking glad it is,” Hadrian growled.