Regulus could feel the gaze of Hiro on him. He also knew the boy was studying him, neither of which bothered him. He was still heavily glamoured so it made sense the boy was wary of him. He was surprised that even with the glamour, the boy had been able to tell he was a submissive rather easily. What he said next, however, had everyone looking at him in surprise.

“Drop it,” he ordered. There was no mistaking that it was an order.

With a sigh and a smirk, Regulus dropped his glamour. The boy hummed in thought.

“Not what I was expecting,” he murmured more to himself than anything. “Not a bosorcoi or dhampir. Strange, very strange. You have the aura of a werewolf yet at the same time you don’t. Definitely not a kitsune. No it has nothing to do with his animagus for; that’s a bird which is hilarious because his creature is a cat of some kind.”

He seemed to be answering a question someone had asked in his mind. Hadrian barely contained a laugh. He was probably thinking about the fact that Sirius was a dog animagus.

“A werecat?” Hiro asked no one. “I thought they were just a legend! And an American legend at that, specifically Native American.”

“I think what you’re referring to are skin walkers,” Vi answered. “Each tribe has their own unique version of them but typically you hear about them more frequently from the tribes in the Southwest, specifically the Navajo and possibly Pueblo.”

“And werecats?” Hiro asked, his eyes still locked on Regulus.

“Hotoke it’s rude to stare!” Bricriu admonished him.

“I’ll put an end to your speculation,” Regulus told them holding up a hand to stop any further comments from them. “Young man you are quite adept at reading creatures’ auras for someone your age. I suspect it has a lot to do with your sister and the teachings at Mahoutokoro.”

“Actually, it’s not something that I’ve ever been taught,” Hiro told him sheepishly. “I’ve just kinda always had this ability.”

“Your sister is right though, I am a werecat,” Regulus hummed. “In a lot of respects we are similar to werewolves in that we can be infected and turned or we can be born as one. The biggest difference, aside from being cats of course, is that we have the ability to shift at will. Much like an animagi, we control when and where we shift. We also retain a lot of our human intelligence and reasoning while shifted. Panthers are the most common among werecats, but there are other big cats. Like other magical creatures, we have our own society. Our leaders aren’t the strongest werecats. They are, in fact, our smartest. Our queen is a cheetah. Our king is Snow Leopard.”

“How does that work?” Vi questioned. “Snow leopards are extremely solitary creatures and tend to shy away from people. Not to mention they’re found in a completely different climate than cheetahs.”

“You seem to know a great deal about our wild counterparts,” Regulus commented.

“I begged my otōsan for a cheetah for years,” Vi told them. “Then it was an Amur tiger because I thought it would keep me safe from my ojiisan. I did all the research on big cats that I could. That’s why I know so much.”

Regulus felt bad for the girl. She’d spent her whole life in fear of what her uncle would do to her. She was so afraid that she was asking for wild animals to protect her. The fact she was more afraid of a person, let alone a family member, than she was of a wild animal showed how dangerous her uncle really was.

“How did you know about werecats?” He asked.

“You hear things you’re not supposed to when you’re forced to hide in the shadows,” she shrugged. “Not that hiding in the shadows lasted long.”

“Care to explain why the back of your uniform is missing?” Draco asked, his voice dropping lower than Regulus had ever heard it.

“Fucking Ryoshi!” Vi mumbled. “I was talking with yours and Hadrian’s father about what the bastard did to me. That required me to show them, which is why I had the door shut and locked. But the fucker decided to try and get through the wards, making it necessary for me to rework the wards as I’m sure you noticed. Then these two clay-brained flap-dragons burst into the room. Then came Mr. Black followed by Hadrian and the lady of the house. Lastly came you and Hiro. Suffice to say with all the excitement, I fucking forgot that I’d even dropped the glamour I wear like a second skin.”

At this, everyone turned and their eyes focused on the mutilated skin of her back. At least until, with a wave of her hand, the glamour fell back into place and the rest of her uniform returned.