Hermione watched as the elves hurried around the kitchen, their little ears flapping behind them as they cleaned and cooked in preparation for the big Valentine's festival of the day. The Dark Lord had granted the Malfoys permission to celebrate Valentine's Day with a feast. Hermione was to oversee dinner preparations in addition to her normal duties of cleaning the manor. Leaving the kitchen for a moment, she headed out to the rest of the manor to be certain the rest of the elves were doing as they were supposed to. The decorations around the manor were to be in any and every shade of pink and red because Miss Narcissa refused to have any other color on the special day.
The young witch climbed up to the chandelier and grabbed a duster. Sighing, she began dusting the crystal to be certain that it sparkled and shined. Miss Narcissa wouldn't be happy if the manor wasn't spotless and if Miss Narcissa wasn't happy, then that would make her mistress upset as well, something Hermione wasn't too keen on. She was still recovering from the bruises she had received the last time something hadn't been cleaned properly. She was just getting near the top of the chandelier when a call startled her.
"Mudblood!" Hermione gasped and staggered on the ladder, forcing herself not to fall on the chandelier. In doing this, she stumbled backward and ended up falling toward the floor. Closing her eyes in preparation for the impact, she was surprised when she heard a lazy, "Wingardium Leviosa." Her breath caught as her descent was abruptly stopped, but she wasn't going to complain as she looked up at her Mistress.
"Y-yes, Mistress Bellatrix?"
"Muddy, could you make my bedroom presentable tonight?"
Hermione stared at her in confusion, wondering why she would need her bedroom presentable. "Is Mister Rodolphus coming tonight, Mistress?" she asked curiously, knowing how much Bellatrix hated her husband.
"Yes, but it's not for him. Fenrir and I are going to do a bit more of his training tonight. Just a touch-up really. Get to it."
"Yes, Mistress." Hermione strode quickly for her mistress' room, sighing as she found the room in semi-decent condition. Wishing she still possessed her wand, the brunette began dusting the furniture and artifacts around, picking up anything that had fallen and tossing around discarded clothing to the large basket she kept for the Dark Witch's clothing.
Contrary to what most might think, Hermione was actually happy in Bellatrix's service. She still missed her friends and family and hoped dearly that they were safe from the Dark Lord's rise, but she was fed, clothed and she could go anywhere on the grounds that she wanted. If you took away the fact that she had to serve and clean then it wasn't a bad life.
Once finished with her mistress' room, Hermione returned to the chandelier and finished dusting the top, wiping each crystal carefully in order to get the perfect shine. Leaping down, she moved to the next room, repeating the process of dusting and wiping every surface to get a good shine. As evening drew closer, she began getting chills all through her body, causing her to tremble.
Bellatrix took notice of this when Hermione served her a snack and the tea on the tray was shaking. "Is something wrong, Mudpet?" the Dark Witch inquired, taking the tea before it spilled.
"I-I believe so, Mistress." Hermione felt sweat forming on her forehead and she began to get clammy, feeling dizzy as she went about finishing up with the dining room. Stumbling slightly while trying to reach a high shelf, the lighter brunette toppled over a few books and sighed, attempting to keep her body in check long enough to place the books back in their proper places.
Bellatrix watched her with a speculative gaze and rolled her eyes. "Muddy, that's enough for today. You can finish up tomorrow. Head to the cellar."
Hermione nodded, her entire body shaking. "The-thank you, M-mistress."
Moving to the cellar, the brunette gasped and pitched forward onto the stone floor, her body spasming as she gasped for air. What is wrong with me? She wondered, looking up to the ceiling. Miss Narcissa had been kind enough to charm the ceiling the one at Hogwarts and this one even showed the moon.
Hermione glanced up at the moon now and realized just what was wrong. The moon was full. This was nothing new, really. What was new, however, was the fact that Hermione could never remember seeing the moon full since her first night in the manor. Every night after that, she didn't remember. But she was definitely remembering now and she was in pain.
Screaming out in agony, she gasped as the change took over and soon enough, her scream had morphed into a howl of hunger. Staring around at her surroundings, the werewolf snarled and ran at the cellar door, ramming it open with ease and making her way hurriedly up the stairs. Death Eaters all around gasped in horror as the werewolf charged through the manor, honed nose looking for meat. Without a second thought, all of them warded their doors against her, probably assuming she was Fenrir.
Hermione whimpered as she looked around, searching for food. The house-elves were too busy in the kitchen to notice the rampage above and so Hermione continued on, looking for food anywhere. Coming to the drawing room, she noticed a familiar scent inside and crept in, growling when she found a black-haired figure clad in a corset, dress and boots. The figure turned to her with a wicked grin and began walking forward, but froze.
Bellatrix's eyes widened in a small semblance of fear. At first, when she had caught sight of the creature, she assumed it was Fenrir, broken from his chains and she knew how to subdue him in his wolf form. However, though still muscular, this wolf was smaller and shaggier, obviously having more hair in their human form. This wolf also had brown eyes, whereas Fenrir had greenish yellow eyes. Naturally, it posed a problem since Bellatrix was unsure of how to subdue this wolf.
Raising her wand, the Dark Witch kept eye contact with the wolf as it began circling her, whimpers and pants coming from it as claws scraped at the air and drool fell from the large, sharp white teeth. White teeth? I've never met a werewolf with white teeth before. Keeping her wand up, Bellatrix attempted to shoot off a Stunning spell. The werewolf saw the beam of light coming at her and snarled, rolling to the side to avoid it and using her momentum to jump at the Dark Witch.
Bellatrix gasped in horror, seeing her life flash before her eyes. Just as the werewolf was stretching out its claws for her, another larger wolf slammed into it from the side and propelled them both across the room. The larger werewolf, obviously Fenrir, growled angrily at the smaller wolf, who didn't back down and instead charged him head on. The large wolf wasn't prepared for such an attack and fell to the ground, feeling smaller, neater claws than his own slash into his side.
Roaring in pain, he flipped to his back and kicked the opposing werewolf off of him, slamming it into the walla dn clawing at its stomach. The smaller wolf howled in pain and swung its front paws, clipping Fenrir in the ear and cheek, making him back off. The pair circled each other, snarling and growling as they did. The smaller wolf charged again, but this time, Fenrir centered his weight and pushed the wolf back, smashing her into the wall once more.
However, the smaller wolf wasn't too keen on being pinned again and moved to the side when Fenrir charged her, causing him to slam into the wall and giving it an opportunity to attach itself to his back and bite down on his neck. Fenrir roared in agony and slammed the opposing wolf into the wall repeatedly until it was dazed enough to let go. Bellatrix watched as he leaned down and sank his teeth into the other wolf's left hindleg, eliciting a higher-pitched howl than one of his own. The wolf leaned down, twisting its body, and chomped on his back. Fenrir quickly raised his head, nailing the other wolf in the chin with it and using its momentary off balance to smash it into the wall and slam its head into the plaster, rendering it unconscious.
When he was certain it wasn't going to move again, Fenrir moved over to Bellatrix and began circling her, keeping his eyes on the other wolf all night until sunrise finally graced him with its rays. Changing back into himself, the large man turned to Bellatrix with worry written all over his face.
"Mistress!" Fenrir growled, unashamed to be naked as he knelt next to Bellatrix and checked her over for any injuries. "She didn't hurt you. You're safe and still pure."
Bellatrix nodded and they both glanced over as the sun's rays touched upon the other wolf. Shaggy fur receded into long bushy brown hair as the long body slowly shrank and molded back into that of a young woman. The other werewolf groaned and lifted her head, glancing around as she registered her surroundings. "W-where am I?" she coughed. "And why am I not in the cellar like Mistress Bellatrix wants me to be?"
"Because you broke out, you little bitch." Fenrir growled, moving over to stand above the smaller werewolf. Hermione squeaked as he picked her up by her neck. "How dare you attack my mistress on the full moon? Who do you think you are?"
"P-please!" Hermione gasped, cowering slightly. "I don't understand!"
"You transformed and attacked her!" Fenrir roared, pulling his fist back. "And you're going to pay dearly for it."
As he prepared to deliver a blow, Bellatrix called, "Wait." Both lycanthropes glanced over and Hermione relaxed in relief.
"Mistress is okay." She breathed happily.
"No thanks to you." Fenrir snarled lowly.
"Perhaps we can train her, Fenrir." Bellatrix murmured. "After all, she is a werewolf. It shouldn't be too hard to teach her the same way I taught you."
"I suppose you're right, Mistress, but she still deserves punishment for attacking you." Hermione nodded vigorously, agreeing with the larger werewolf and feeling guilt prick her stomach at the thought of her mistress getting hurt. She may not have agreed with Bellatrix on plenty of things, but Bellatrix was the only reason she was still living.
Bellatrix sauntered over to her slave and cocked her head. "Muddy, did you enjoy attacking me?"
Hermione attempted to remember the night before, but couldn't come up with anything and slumped in defeat. "If I did, Mistress, I wouldn't know. I can't remember a thing."
Bellatrix nodded, deep in thought. Finally, she glanced up at Fenrir and smiled. "Take her to my playroom, Puppy."
Fenrir gave a short nod and lowered his arm, dragging Hermione along the floor to the room he had broken out of to save his mistress. Why is it that no matter how hard I try, I can't shake this feeling of dread? Hermione wondered, fear knotting her stomach.
Coming to the room, Hermione was surprised to find it dark and wondered what was inside. Seconds later, she found out whrn Fenrir turned on the light and the room was revealed. Instruments were all over the place. Deadly looking instruments that Hermione assumed were used for torture. However, there were other things as well. Large chained handcuffs, a variety of whips, knives and paddles. Hermione gulped at this and turned as the door shut.
"Playtime."