POV Hermione Jean Granger
They were just approaching a beautiful mansion, built in a mixture of oriental motifs and new-fangled "modern" with glass and metal. The front door slid aside and two girls and a slightly older man appeared on the threshold. One of the girls, with long and thick hair, beautifully styled and decorated with ribbons and bells, quickly jumped up to them and immediately bowed.
— Welcome home, Master! Junko-sama! Guest of the Lord! — The teenage girl smiled broadly in a friendly manner, openly delighted at their arrival. Hermione had never seen real servants before, but she had never thought that servants could be so happy to see their masters return. — Should they arrange breakfast? Or tea and goodies? Or anything else? — The girl said enthusiastically, making people smile.
— This is Momo-chan, this young witch's name is Hermione Jean Granger. — The girls exchanged smiles and nods. — And she has sworn an oath of service to the Hoshino family.
— I see, Master. — The girl nodded seriously, giving Hermione a strange look. — She will grow up to be a strong witch and bring much good to our family. Master is wise to be ahead of the others! — Momo smiled and looked at her master with great respect.
— Sora, who is this girl for you? — Hermione, who had not yet had time to fully understand her newfound abilities, was cautiously interested, but already she somehow realized that this girl was something "different," that there was something wrong with her.
— Momo-chan is our Zashikiwarashi. — For a few seconds, Sora obviously expected a reaction to his words, but the girl continued to look at him questioningly. Obviously, he was counting on the girl being familiar with the concept. — Zashikiwarashi are the guardian spirits of houses, they protect the house from all sorts of little evil things and take care of the inhabitants in their own way.
If there are wizards living in the house, Zashikiwarashi can physically manifest in the world thanks to their magic, and if the relationship between the family and the spirit is good, the housewife may agree to do some work around the house. — The boy paused briefly to place a hand on the slightly faded seal at her throat, which (inexplicably) regained its bright glow, and continued. — Please do not confuse the zasiki varasi with the local house elf — they are completely different creatures. In every sense.
Hermione nodded at the words, reluctantly comparing the house elves she had seen, ugly, low creatures with huge ears, noses and bulging eyes on skinny bodies. Not to mention their strange behavior and thinking. It was really sacrilege to compare a house-elf to this beautiful and energetic girl who obviously had excellent taste in outfits, jewelry and hairstyles.
— Hermione and I will be busy now, but feed your mother. — With a sly glance in the woman's direction, which everyone noticed, he looked back at Momo. — Let her keep her mouth shut and not be a nuisance while we're busy. — He didn't hide the grin. Hermione even thought they would continue to argue, and they did.
They bickered for the next few minutes while Momo introduced Hermione to Kiriko and Stanley, who, upon closer inspection, had cat ears and real tails on his head. The continued bickering of the relatives allowed
Momo to explain to his guest the meaning of the term "bakeneko," and then why the handsome young cat could not hide his distinctive features in human form, unlike Nanao. Hermione found out who Nanao was just a few minutes after entering the house, when a girl of astonishing beauty walked down the corridor, paying no attention to anyone, but sleepily disheveled, and wearing short shorts and a tank top that literally showed off her large breasts and shapely legs.
Hermione felt a pang of envy, for even her mother, a recognized beauty, had noticeably smaller breasts, and the curve of her hips and waist was not as perfect and expressive as Nanao's. In fact, the Bakeneko's beauty was a bit too perfect, as if she'd stepped out of the pages of a comic book, where everything was about perfect blondes with big breasts and so on. The cautious question was answered: Nanao was not another fiancée of the master of the house (Hermione was already aware that Sora had more than one fiancée) or a mistress, — at this point the girl even sighed in relief, but Momo continued, knocking the ground out from under her feet.
The girl said that the Lord's official mistress was away on important business at the moment, but promised to be back soon. What followed was a strange conversation in which Miss Granger discovered many new things, including things she had not wanted to know. At one point, Sora abruptly broke off the conversation with her mother and took Hermione somewhere deep inside the house.
The woman kept up with them, and somewhere along the way another girl joined them. Also very pretty, with dark, clear skin and coal-black hair. Unlike the others, she was extremely quiet, not even saying hello to anyone, and Granger only became aware of her presence when she noticed the dark-haired girl out of the corner of her eye.
They came to one of the farthest rooms, passing through several rooms and halls, and everywhere there were only sliding doors, and even more beautifully decorated with patterns and views of nature in an oriental style. Hermione had seen works of art like this before, when an exhibition of oriental culture had come to London, and she had been there with her parents before she entered Hogwarts.
One more thing: everyone had changed into slippers and Sora, Momo and Kiriko were barefoot. When they entered the room, or rather a small hall, the head of the house looked around, nodded, and a few more... no, Hermione couldn't tell at first glance how many amulets her master intended to use, but there were more than a dozen pieces of paper, that was for sure.
The pieces of paper floated through the air as if each one knew its place and wanted to take it as soon as possible, except that they were folded into a strange figure of an octagon with another octagon twice as small inscribed inside and a circle twice as small as the second figure. Each time the paper took its place on the floor, glowing lines were drawn from it, bending in patterns and hieroglyphics.
In a few minutes, a distinctly oriental ritual circle was completed before the audience, gently shimmering with several colors that did not mix, but kept their coloring only in a certain sector of the figure. Sora, who had been studying his work, was silent for a few minutes, then turned to her, even opened his mouth, but closed it abruptly, examined the girl from head to toe, shook his head sadly, and... sent Hermione herself, as well as Momo, who was supposed to help the girl quickly, to the bathroom.
The girl had mixed feelings about the last episode: on the one hand, she should have been offended by the way her appearance was judged, because it wasn't her fault that she looked so inappropriate, but on the other hand, she was grateful for the fact that she was given twenty minutes to take a bath.
The bathtub itself was not what she was used to: not stone, large, but not uncomfortably so. The whole interior was made of fragrant wood, which, as soon as the steam appeared, immediately filled the room with an amazing atmosphere and aromas. I wanted to spit on everything and fall asleep, sitting in the polished wooden bowl, feeling how the water in the bathtub, obviously with the help of magic, seemed to flow like soft waves, casually massaging the body. It felt so damn good.