Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione, VERY PAST and MENTIONED ONCE Harry/Ginny
Summary: Harry is trapped inside the manor of a hideous beast, who has allowed him to write to his best mate. These are the letters.
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Warning(s): Implied bestiality but not explicit at all.
bEpilogue compliant?/b No, but compliant up to that point.
Author's Notes: Prompter, I re-wrote this fic many times over, at one point scrapping a 15k rough draft. Then I had a dream where I was Harry and wrote these letters...and I kind of went with it. I hope you (and the rest of the readers out there) enjoy the slightly more light-hearted version of my favorite fairy tale. Special thanks to Icicle33. for the beta, who betaed everything I sent her (even though I didn't even use half of it), as well as the smoochfest mods for putting up with me.
8 February, 2001
Dear Ron,
It's been several weeks since I've seen you guys. After many arguments and much begging from my side, he is allowing me to write you.
Life in this manor was not very fun at first. In fact, for the first week, he kept me locked in a tower. He was just so furious at me. Despite getting to know him better, I still don't understand him.
I'm getting ahead of myself, I know. So much has happened and I have to fit it all into one bloody letter.
After he released you (I still can't believe you managed to stumble across his manor and infuriate him by pissing on his rose bushes) in exchange for me, he tried to invite me to dinner. I probably should have said yes, but you know me. I refused and he dragged me upstairs to some bizarre prison. I know, a prison at the TOP of a tower? Who does that?
I was locked in there for seven bloody days. His house-elves, Mitzy and Nermal, took care of me. They fed me and walked me to the lavatory. Hermione would love them. Mitzy is Nermal's daughter, but she acts more like she's the one in charge. She doesn't care much for me, but Nermal always enjoys a chat. They make me think of Dobby and Winky. I even miss Kreacher a little bit. Please tell me that someone told him that I'm gone.
After about a week (honestly, I'm not even sure what day it was), he came up and told me I could go back to my quarters. It's not as though I can leave. I made an Unbreakable Vow to stay with him for eternity.
My room is great. It's enormous, probably about the size of my flat in London. And that's JUST MY ROOM. The walls are painted a blotched sand color. On the other side of the room is a door that leads to a balcony. There are two wardrobes that are somehow filled with clothes in my size. The bed is a four poster, but twice the size of those at Hogwarts.
In the far corner of the room is a large mirror propped against the wall. I know it sounds mad, but it's my favorite part of the room. It looks as though it had been poorly handled at some point. A corner is broken off and there's one long crack down the middle.
When I asked Nermal about it and why it wasn't fixed, he told me that they don't fix mirrors in the house.
At first, I thought it was kind of strange, but I suppose it makes sense. He wouldn't want to look at himself in the mirror anyway. So what would be the point of fixing something he would never use?
After that first week, things got a bit more normal. I joined him for dinner every night. He doesn't really talk much, unless it's to insult me. To be honest, it feels like I'm living with the Dursleys again. Only he isn't nearly as ugly as they are. See? A joke!
He is really insecure about his looks. I wonder what his childhood was like. Who his parents were? Why he grew up the way he did? How he learned magic? Unfortunately, whenever I ask questions like this, he throws something at me and tells me to get out before he rips my head off.
I want you to know that I made the right decision staying here. Don't worry about me. I can live through empty threats and an annoying roommate. This manor is beautiful. I'm working up the courage to ask him if I can work on restoring it. Nermal told me that since he came to live at the manor, the place has fallen into disrepair. It's been neglected.
Make sure to tell Hermione and everyone else that I love them, including Ginny. I know we didn't work out, but I still love her like a sister.
-H.
11 March 2001
Dear Ron,
It's been a month since I got your reply. I'm shocked that he didn't read the letter, but then again, we're getting on better. Let me tell you though, things were pretty mucky for a while.
It started right before I got your response. He and I were trying to eat dinner. I say "try," because we hadn't made it through a meal without him throwing something at me. Apparently, I eat my soup too slowly or cut my lamb wrong.
That night though, things seemed to be going pretty well. We got through the whole meal without me saying something inconsiderate (or eating my food wrong) and he didn't lose his temper. I should have known that would be the worst night yet.
Even though I had been living in the manor for nearly a month, I'd only been to my quarters, which are in the east wing. I set out to do some exploring that night. I discovered the kitchens, which were filled with delicious food that I may or may not have helped myself to. Then I saw the stairs.
Those bloody stairs. Part of me is glad that I climbed them, but another regrets it entirely. The stairs led to a corridor that was filled with broken furniture. Mate, every fiber in my being told me to turn and go back to my quarters but…you know me, always curious. I ignored it and opened a door on my right.
I don't even know how to describe what I saw. There were piles of chairs and tables that were ripped apart. Obviously, he had done it, as I could see claw and teeth marks all over the wood. There had to be at least twenty mirrors – or at least what was left of them – in the room.
That was when I saw the portrait. It was a beautiful blonde woman holding a tiny infant. I stared at the young woman, who was looking at the baby with the ghost of a smile. She had long, flowing blonde hair that reached down to her waist and dark gray eyes. I felt as though I knew her, perhaps in another time or a previous life. This woman was gorgeous. You would have taken a mental picture to wank to, I'm sure.
But I was even more interested in that baby. He was perfect, with adorable blond locks and piercing grey eyes. I couldn't stop staring at it. Unfortunately, due to the state of the room, it was stained and ruined. I imagine the colors would have been even more outstanding had I seen it before it came to be here.
Behind it was another portrait – and Ron, you're not going to believe this – it was a portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black. What in Merlin's name would he be doing in a manor like this? I haven't asked him yet, but I guess they are somehow related.
There were other portraits that I saw propped against the wall, but I could see a light coming from the far corner of the room. Slowly, I made my way over there, careful not to knock into anything.
Emitting light was this odd rose raised in the air, its petals starting to wilt. Already, two had fallen onto the ground. It was strange to see a glowing rose Levitated in a corner of a room filled with broken furniture, so naturally, I touched it.
Rather, I tried to touch it. I was thrown across the room by none other than HIM, the Beast himself (I still feel strange calling him Beast).
He called me all sorts of names; names I had never thought existed. Names, I can deal with. He hadn't used my given name since the first night I came to stay here. Then, he started throwing things at me. Again, something that is manageable. When I didn't seem fazed by it, he pinned me against the wall and started choking me. That was when I broke down. I yelled back furiously and told him that even though he carried a wand, he was no wizard and for the rest of my life, I would work at finding a way to break the Unbreakable Vow.
Ron, you know me. I do tend to lose my cool quite frequently. He roared back some more insults and ended up breaking my wrist.
Even today, I still don't know how I managed it. It was obviously wandless magic, but how it happened, I don't know. One moment I was clutching my wrist and the next I was standing outside the gates of the manor.
As a pureblood wizard, you know more about Unbreakable Vows than I do, but one thing is for sure: if you break it, you die. Well, I had broken my vow. I had vowed to stay with him for the rest of my life and I left him. I left the manor.
It wasn't like being AKed by Voldemort. That was quick. I felt absolutely nothing. I didn't even realize I had died. This was more like fainting VERY SLOWLY. I was in a tunnel that seemed to be racing forward but going nowhere. I was dizzy, but I couldn't seem to fall over. My fingertips and toes started going numb and then creeping up toward my torso.
That's how I died, Ron. I'm having someone write this for me, because I'm a ghost and I don't have corporeal form.
Just kidding.
I woke up in my bed. My wrist was healed and I was most definitely still alive. He was sitting at the foot of the bed, crying. I guess he followed me out from the manor and took me back.
Even now, I'm still unsure as to why he saved me. It isn't like this benefited him at all. I had been awful to him (however rightfully so). Part of me thinks he just wanted company. The other part – the theory I like most – is that he saved me because something inside him has grown accustomed to me. He likes having me around, despite his aggressive exterior.
Again, you know me, once someone's saved me, I can't really despise them anymore, can I? Since then, we've gotten to know each other a bit more. He revealed to me that he used to be a wizard, which explains a lot – how he can use a wand, for instance, why he has house-elves, etc. He hasn't given me any other personal information about himself, though.
Anyways, I just wanted you to make sure that you knew that I wasn't being mistreated anymore. His empty threats are even more empty now and they come rarely.
Who would have thought that I would befriend the Beast?
-H
23 March 2001
Dear Hermione,
Please DO NOT show this letter to Ron. He would give birth to pixies if he saw this.
I don't even know what to think about this, let alone write it down on paper. I'm so very confused and completely unsure how to go about dealing with this.
It started a couple weeks ago after he saved me from the Unbreakable Vow's curse. He got...well, he got nice. He shared his library with me. You'd love it here. It's enormous, half the size of the library at Hogwarts (but would overflow the Restricted Section)! I like to spend time there; it's actually where I'm writing this right now.
Then we started hanging out together.
We've made supper with each other several times, which has ensued in food fights that were for fun instead of trying to burn me with piping hot stew (which DID happen).
More importantly, he took me out to his Quidditch pitch. He has a bloody Quidditch pitch in his backyard. Who is this man?
It gets a little dicey, but we've figured out that as long as we are near each other and if we do have distance from each other but I have no intention of leaving, the Unbreakable Vow still holds. We've been doing research on them every once and a while – but that's for a different day.
Yesterday, we played a Seeker's game. Since you have no knowledge of Quidditch AT ALL, a Seeker's game is a round played between two Seekers. The Snitch gets released and then the players see who can catch the Snitch first. Typically, it's a two out of three rounds-type game.
We had a lot of fun. We played more like nine rounds. I won six of them, but really, who really keeps score? (He does.)
The strange thing that I wanted to tell you about happened right after the game. He touched my shoulder.
Now, I know what you're thinking. He touched my shoulder. How is that an issue?
The issue is that my body...reacted. Specifically, my cock (honestly, I don't even know what else to write). I got a hard on from a touch by the BEAST.
I think this has something to do with the fact that I haven't had sex in two months, but even so, he touched me. I can still close my eyes and feel his claws on my skin.
Yes, Hermione, his BLOODY CLAWS. He is a beast and I haven't forgotten how disturbing and disgusting that must seem to you. Hell, thinking about my feelings makes me want to vomit. Allow me to paint you a picture of what he looks like, as I'm sure Ron hasn't told you much.
He's well over a head taller than me and completely covered in brown fur. The closest animal I could possibly relate him to is a bear. Only - he has very human-like distinctions. Instead of paws, he has large arms, with fingers with sharp claws at the ends. His legs are smaller than the rest of his body, but with enormous feet that look like eagle talons.
I'm not sure how to describe his face. It's still covered in fur, but he has a large mouth with long pointy teeth, a snout, and horns on top of his head.
The beast's eyes are an icy grey. Honestly, I like them, as they are his most human-like quality. I know that at one point, he was a human – or rather, a wizard.
He isn't as concerned about his looks as he used to be. Or at least, he isn't ashamed of himself. He knows that I care about him, regardless of how he appears. Well, that amount is true, but it's more of how I feel that I don't care, if that makes sense.
I don't know what to do, Hermione. This is bestiality, isn't it? Even if he used to be a human, he isn't one now.
But then I think about all of the conversations we've had these past few weeks and the way he looks doesn't deter me from dreaming about him, just as he is. Does the creature I described above seem like someone you could be attracted to? I certainly am. I think.
This is wrong, whatever it is. Right?
Please, Hermione, tell me what to do.
-H.
2 April 2001
Dear Hermione,
I've done a terrible thing.
I kissed him.
I know in your letter, you told me that it was perfectly normal to become attached to someone who is holding you captive, but I promise you, bthis isn't what you're talking about/b.
I love him.
-H.
10 April 2001
Dear Ron,
Judging from your last letter, you may have figured out that I have feelings for him. You may have also read that we snogged a bit.
I would like for you, wherever you are, to make sure that you are sitting down. It may also be wise to place a rubbish bin next to you, just in case you have a poor reaction to what I am about to tell you.
I am in love with Draco Malfoy.
Allow me to back up just a bit.
After my first letter to Hermione, which you clearly read (which she will pay dearly for when I see her again), I met up with him and we took our daily walk around the grounds. We are starting to restore the manor. At that point, we were still gardening and preparing for spring. He still didn't trust me with a wand, so I had to do manual labor (which wasn't all that bad). While he was planting seeds, I may have thrown some mud on him. This ended up in a mud fight and then, we kissed.
Don't ask me how it worked out...it just did.
At first, he didn't want to talk about it. He ignored me for an entire day. The nerve of him, right? If you kiss a bloke, you should bloody well talk to him about it.
I hope this isn't grossing you out too much; I just feel as though you need an explanation about what happened. Please, keep reading.
That was when I wrote the rather short letter to Hermione. I was furious at him and I needed someone else to know how I was feeling.
I finally cornered him in the sitting room (or one of them, I still haven't been in every room in the house). I demanded that he tell me what was wrong and why he didn't want to be with me.
"Who could love something as hideous as me?" he asked.
I stared at him in shock. Yes, I was floored and slightly disturbed at my feelings, but I still recognized that I had them. Somehow, I fell in love with him, talons and all.
So I took several steps toward him and placed my much smaller hands over his. I told him how I felt-that I couldn't help my feelings, that I didn't bloody care how he looked. It didn't matter how much of an arse he was to me; I still wanted him.
Then he kissed me.
Ron, I will spare you the details of your best mate snogging a disfigured creature, but let me tell you that it was brilliant. I've never been kissed like that before (and before you even think about it, I was not bitten once). This probably sounds incredibly cliché, but it was as though the world had stopped and it was us revolving.
Okay, that was pretty bad. Sorry, mate.
We sat down and had a conversation again. He let it slip that he knew me before this. Naturally, I badgered him until he revealed who he was.
Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.
He led me to his quarters (the corridor with the broken furniture) and directed me to the wall with the portraits on the ground. I was given simple instructions: to look at the portraits.
I saw the one of the mother and her baby again, as well as Phineas Nigellus. The next one I came upon was of a boy. A blond boy. A blond boy with grey eyes. A blond boy wearing Slytherin robes. (I hope you know who I'm talking about that this point)
A Slytherin named Draco Malfoy.
Naturally, I stared at him for about five minutes before he rolled his eyes and told me to say something.
When I found my voice again, I asked him how it happened.
He explained that after the war, he fled from the Aurors. His father had been sent to Azkaban and his mother had been sent to St. Mungo's for counseling. This manor was their summer home, one that they inherited from some rich uncle of Lucius'. Nermal and Mitzy were thrilled to have a resident in the home they spent so much time cleaning, especially given the chance to take care of the baby boy they remembered from so many years ago.
Several years later, an old lady came to the door, asking for a meal and a place to stay for the night. Draco refused and told her to leave, as she was dirtying his home (he was still a prick, yeah?).
The old bat transformed into a beautiful witch. She revealed that her father had been murdered by Lucius and seeing as Draco was clearly no better than his father, he would suffer. She raised her wand and told him that no one would ever love him. Before he had any time to react, she sent a powerful curse on him. It transformed him into a hideous beast.
He spent a year like that before you had your unfortunate encounter with him. He no longer took pride in his home and it fell into a state that was reflective of his own appearance. Nermal and Mitzy tried to get him to seek help to remove the curse, but he was so disgusted by the way he looked that he didn't want anyone to see him. He was so bothered that whenever he saw a mirror, he would crush it.
I listened to his tale (which was far longer than what I'm sharing with you now, as I'm sure your jaw has hit the floor already) and I found myself admiring him even more. I can't believe that after all of these years, I am in love with Draco Malfoy.
Mind you, I haven't told him yet. I suppose I should, but it is still kind of strange telling a monster you love him.
Ron, he's gotten better. The years spent alone have made him kinder. Even though I talk about you and Hermione openly all the time, he always refers to you by your surnames and not the…less pleasant nicknames he came up with.
I've gotten ahead of myself a bit. Let me gloss over more of the details to spare you the trauma.
We made love that night.
Why am I telling you all of this now?
I need you to understand...that somehow, he is a part of my life. There may never be a cure, and I need you to be okay with this. You're my best mate and you need to accept it. Please Ron, for me, accept me as I am, just as you always have.
We would like to schedule a visit with you and Hermione. That's right, he is letting me out of the manor. Now, we haven't quite figured out how to remove the Unbreakable Vow, but we believe that if he comes with me, I won't die.
I don't want anyone else to know just yet. Please don't tell your mum or anyone else. Hermione already knows and has hinted that Saturday is a possibility.
Get back to us soon.
Your best mate,
-H.
P.S. I know I'm asking a lot of you to do this, so Draco is including a Snitch signed by Carl Smith, the Seeker from the 1190 World Cup Champions from England. I hope this helps.
21 June 2001
Dear Ron,
I'm writing this letter from the beach in Sydney, Australia. That's right, we made it to our honeymoon just fine.
I can't believe everything that's happened since the start of this year. Draco Malfoy held me captive in his French manor for four months. Oh, and he was under a curse that gave him the appearance of a monster.
Luckily, your wife is the smartest witch to have ever existed. First, I can't believe that she managed to break the Unbreakable Vow. I know, I know, it all had to do with Draco's intent behind it, but she was still the one who found the way.
I was just reminded of your facial expression when you saw Draco again. I suppose you have a right to be angry with him, seeing as he handcuffed you in the prison for a day before I came along and offered myself in your place. It still makes me laugh though.
Right, back to the letter. I know that Draco was nervous that I wouldn't want to come back with him once the Vow ended. I think it had a lot to do with the promise I made that I would never stop fighting to find a way to break the Vow. He needn't have worried. I'd follow him to the end of the world if I had to.
Draco and I spent several wonderful weeks together, getting even more acquainted with each other. Even though he'll deny it if you ask, he was definitely my boyfriend.
And then came the second amazing moment Hermione had that year. She discovered the cure to Draco's curse. On the eve of his 21st birthday, the curse would become permanent if he didn't find someone to willingly declare their everlasting love for him.
How convenient that I was right there the whole time, no?
How inconvenient that I had a bit of a panic attack at that very moment and fled to my flat in London, yes?
As you know, I came around after YOU had a talk with me and helped me see straight. Mate, I don't think I can ever thank you enough for talking some common sense through my thick skull.
I rushed to the manor, found Draco and proposed right there on the spot. He yelled at me and even threatened to rip my head off (again), but naturally, he took the ring. The moment he put it on, he was lifted into the air and transformed back into the Draco Malfoy we know today.
You would think that nearly four years of being some kind of creature would have done something to his looks, but he's just as bloody fit as he was at Hogwarts, if not more so. I may not have cared much for his personality back then, but I could always appreciate a nice body.
As you know, we married several weeks after. Thanks again for being my best man. I am eternally grateful to you for keeping your cool when we snogged for an entire minute after we were pronounced married. Even though I loved Draco as a beast, I love him even more as a wizard. A wizard whom I can fuck and not get hair in my mouth. Or at least, not long hair.
Please continue being my friend, even though I intentionally tell you intimate details about my love life with Draco. I can't help it. It just comes out.
Well, I need to finish up. Draco and I are off to begin our happily ever after.
Corny, I know. Get over it, I'm the bloody Boy Who Lived. I can say what I want.
-HPM. (like the new initials?)
P.S. Dinner at you and Hermione's when we get back?