Bath Houses and Scotts
Ron's question just made Akihiko groan again. The young school boy turned to face the other people who witnessed his brother's bloodlust.
"That dumbass hasn't had any blood in months..... Mum's so gonna kill us." He said the last part into his hands, muffling the words slightly.
Hermione's shocked expression didn't get away from Akihiko though, even with his face burried in his palms. She looked at him and said in a serious tone, "He hasn't had blood for months? How is he still able to restrain himself. I always thought Veela get violent after not having blood for so long."
Akihiko removed his head from his palms and looked at her with an exasperated look, "They- We do." He put emphasis on the 'we' making sure to get the point across. "The only reason he hasn't attacked something yet is because when he was a kid, he was practically starved of blood for months at a time. I remember him telling me stories of how he used to sneak out of his bedroom window, scale down the ivy outside, and hunt for small animals like birds or mice."
"Why would he have to do that?" Ron asked.
Akihiko looked more frustrated than ever. 'How the hell is this one the dudes that saved the wizarding world?!' He thought to himself. "That prick of a sperm donor of his wouldn't allow him to ever do anything that wasn't Malfoy-like in any way. Which meant he wasn't allowed to be a Veela, or japanese, ultimately causing him an identity crisis, but that's for a later date. He wasn't allowed to drink blood, speek his native language, eat the foods he had been raised with to that point, among a lot of other things."
Ginny's enraged look made Potter hold onto her, no child should have to do that to survive, and she stated as much. "That's horrible. He can't help the fact that he's Veelan, he was just born that way.... And there's nothing wrong with that."
"I know that," Akihiko began. "We know that, everyone seems to know that except for Lucius Malfoy. And for some reason, he only ever came to terms with it whenever he was beating the shit out of Draco. If I ever see that nazi fucker again, I swear to Merlin, I will use every old European torture method on him until he breaks and admits what he did was wrong. Fuck that guy."
"Yeah," Fred and George agreed at the same time. "Fuck that guy."
The room was filled with a content silence before Draco cam trudging back down the hall, Tooru on his shoulder. He couldn't bring himself to eat the poor thing after he named her, she was too cute. He walked out wearing the same clothes he was earlier, with a towel over his shoulders and a change of clean clothes in hand.
"Smaoinich gu robh thu a’ dol a ghabhail fras? " Fred asked, forgetting Draco didn't speak Gaelic like the rest of his family.
Draco looked at him concerned for a second before asking Fred, "Do you smell toast?"
"...What?" It was just a back and forth between them at this point whilst everyone else sat back and enjoyed the show.
"Do you smell burnt toast?" He asked again.
"Di-" Fred barked out a laugh, realization hitting him. "Did you think I was having a stroke, mate?" He asked, stifling a laugh.
"I wasn't sure.... Oh, shit was that Scotts?"
"Yeah!" Fred laughed out.
Draco looked embarrassed, "I'm sorry, I've never heard it before."
George comforted him, "It's alright, he talks too fast for anybody to understand anyway." This, once again, earned a slap on the arm from Fred.
"Anyway," the other twin began, "I thought you were going to take a shower?"
"I am...?" Draco responded, confused.
Ron pointed down the hall, "Thought the rooms were that way."
"...they are..." Draco and everybody else were at an irredeemable state of confusion at this point.
Hermione looked at everyone with a tired look before she said, "They probably have a bath house, most hotels in Europe don't, so they've never seen one before. "
"Oh....ooohhh." The look of realization of Draco's face made Hermione slap her's. "You guys don't know what a bath house is?" He questioned.
Everyone shook their heads, while Akihiko just stalked off to find a first aid kit and a working telephone.
"'Mione?" Harry started, and at her hum of listening he continued. "What's a bath house?" He said it almost child like, it made Hermione not so harsh when she explained.
"A bath house is sort of like a communal shower, I think." She looked at Draco for conformation.
"Yeah, they're baths for public use, they're not torist destinations though. Sometimes they have saunas and hot tubs, I think this one does, but it hasn't been in use for awhile." He said as he began walking out the door.
"Can we tag along, see what its like to get settled in?" Ginny questioned, eager to get comfortable into her new home for the night.
"Ofcourse," Draco responded. "You can leave your stuff here though, we'll get it when we get back." He put Tooru onto the ground and she scurried off towards where Akihiko left.
Everyone did as they were told and followed Draco back outside the hotel, eager to see the bathhouse.
Draco lead them through the yard, over a worn concrete side walk, and towards a part of the hotel that looked slightly different, but not enough to notice. The building was a lot smaller than the massive hotel, but you could tell the same architect worked on it. They walked up to tall, dark wood double doors, pulling them open and walking inside.
There was a front desk with soap of all kinds behind it on display. Their was a sign that read 'Hot Springs' on one side of the desk, while on the other side there was a sign that read 'Showers, Sauna, and Massage'.
Draco vaguely gestured to the signs and said, "They are written in whatever language the reader is most familiar with, so for you guys it might be English, for me it's Japanese."
"That's really inclusive." Harry quipped.
Draco smiled slightly before saying, "That was the reason the hotel was built. That's why there aren't any gendered showers or springs, but you can have a personal one, thanks to charms and spell work. This place has always been inclusive to everybody. Take a look at the hair products." He said the last sentence mostly to Hermione.
She looked at him with scepticism before walking around the front desk to take a look. Once she did, she let out a delighted gasp. Draco was right, everything was inclusive, down to the hair products they sold. There were products for straight hair, curly hair, all types of tight texture hair, and literally everything in between.
She picked up a bottle for 3a hair type, her hair type. She looked at the date of manufacturing on the side and was shocked. Her mouth was slack and her eyes like saucers. She looked at Draco while pointing at the bottle, he just had a smile on his face and shrugged.
"Care to share-" George began.
"With the rest of the class, Hermy?" Fred finished.
Her slack mouth quickly turned into an excited smile. "It says that this bottle of shampoo was made in 1928!"
"And?" Ron could be smart at times, this wasn't that time.
"And," she scoffed, "Not a lot of establishments even welcomed black individuals at that time. Not only did this place welcome black people, they did so with open arms and made sure we were comfortable. Or so I hope?" She looked over at Draco.
He only nodded and said, "Always. Nobody in the Veelan community discriminates around here without getting their ass kicked. My family pretty much put that rule into place hundreds of years ago by building a resting stop to anybody who just so happens to come across the place. Since then, everybody just does what they can to maintain that rule and keep the peace of the mountain."
"That's amazing!" Hermione said, excited, then her face became sombre before she added, "My parents would have loved to see a place like this. They were fighting for civil rights their whole lives and now they can't even remember why."
Draco was quick to comfort her. "There are a lot of potions and mind and memory healing options in Nikkō, and there is an Itakō in Okinawa that's pretty well known in the Veelan community. Maybe she could help. I could get into contact with her for you, she used to babysit me when I was small." He offered, and its true, he would do it in a heartbeat just to make sure he never saw that heart broken expression of Hermione Granger's ever again, and he didn't even know why.
She looked at him with teary, hopeful eyes, "You would?" She asked, barely above a whisper.
Draco just simply nodded and offered a kind, genuine smile. Fred fell a in love with him a little more at that moment.
Draco looked towards everyone else before stating, " I'm gonna go take a shower now, feel free to look around and pick whichever room you want to keep. Just please be careful of the antiques, if my Mum found out one of them broke, she would likely hang my head on a pole for a warning to the next poor fellow. Anyway, have fun!" He, surprisingly, said all of that with a smile.
He walked to the right and through the doors that said 'Showers, Sauna, and Massage', whistling a tune unfamiliar to everyone.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Gred?" George asked.
"I'm thinking exactly what your thinking Forge." His brother said back with as much mischief as his twin.
That looked at each other with bright smiles and said together, "Were going to have a lot of fun here!"