When Bonny scuttled in with the roast lamb and vegetables hovering with magic in front of her, the room was dead silent. Hermione was glaring at the Master and the Master was glaring right back.
The elf returned to the kitchens after serving them, and Hermione stabbed into her meat with a vengeance, before letting her cutlery fall in her plate, and snarling,
"Will you at least tell me your name?"
The Beast sighed.
"It is a long story. Before I reveal anything to you, you must promise that you shall try to help me."
Surprised, Hermione thought a moment before asking carefully,
"And if I refuse to promise such a thing? Will you let me free?
"Or I will chain you up in the dungeons and leave you to rot," he growled back.
Indeed. She nodded slowly and replied,
"I promise to try, in that case. No-one says, however, that I shall actually manage to help you."
The Master sat back, and twirled his wine glass between his gloved fingers.
"Well," he started slowly. "You shall learn many things tonight. I know that you hate me, Miss Granger..."
"You have no idea," she breathed, but he still managed to hear it and smirked back:
"Oh, no, darling. I think that you have no idea."
He brought the wine to his lips and drank before adding,
"When I came to this world, I was cursed by a crazed, jealous witch to become a monster. And that happened quite well, which is why I am hooded. It is for your convenience. However, you must understand something else. I am also part Veela. I guess you know something about them?"
She instantly jumped to lecture mode:
"Of course! Veelas are magical creatures. They are sexual ones, too, and only promise lifelong love to one human being, called mate..."
His fingers came up and she stilled.
"I have no doubt that you know everything one could ever know about Veelas. In fact, I suspect you to know more about them, us, then we do ourselves. Anyway..."
She couldn't help but blush in pleasure at his comment. He noticed it, and held a smile in his voice as he continued:
"So I have a mate, indeed, Miss Granger. Now, I guess you know what I mean if I tell you that my twenty-fifth birthday is coming in June?"
She gasped, one hand flying to her mouth.
"You haven't found her yet?"
"No," he lied easily. "And even so, with my curse, I wouldn't be able to attract her to me."
"Oh, dear," she muttered, before brightening. "I know why you want me to help! I'm Head of Magical Creatures Department...you want me to help you find her!"
He seemed taken aback a moment, before hissing out slowly.
"I...yesss."
"Well, that is simple, really," she replied. "I should be able to look up the register in the Ministry and..."
"You don't understand," he cut through. "You are not leaving the Manor. You are not returning to the Ministry, darling. Not until my birthday."
Her jaw went slack and she uttered in disbelief,
"What? But, but...I need to..."
"The Manor's library is all yours," he replied while standing up. "Might be a bit dusty in there, but you'll have fun. I know it's your kind, Miss Granger. But you are not leaving the grounds."
With that, he strolled from the room, as she sat, mouth hitting the ground. Before anger washed over her in a wave. How dare he?
Bonny rushed in, and asked in worry,
"Whats did yous do to the Master? Oh, dears..."
She then blushed, strange sight upon her greenish carnation, and called out,
"Pumpy, Colty!"
Two cracks were heard, and two furious voices resounded in the room. Hermione's eyes widened as two elves appeared. One was tall, and seemed to think much of himself, whereas the other one was short, plump, and beaming.
"How dares yous," screeched the tall one into the short one's face. "I dids not permits yous to enter in my rooms!"
"Oh, comes on," answered the short one, still grinning. "Can't takes a jokes, now, good olds butler?"
"Stops it," cut in Bonny, glaring at the tall one before blushing under the plump one's gaze. "Colty, coulds yous please bring missus back to hers rooms? And Pumpy," she giggled. "Coulds yous please stop playing pranks and go sees my son in the kitchens? Bonny must attends to the Master."
With that she popped away. The butler, the tall, lean one, turned to Hermione, something akin to admiration in his gaze, and bent so low that his sharp, pointed nose wiped the floor.
"So yous is the ones, missus," he breathed snottily. "Please, follows me. Colty is most honored, most honored indeed, to meet the missus."
"Wait a minute," cut harshly Hermione. "I must see your Master. We have not finished speaking, him and I."
The elf cast her a superior glance.
"If the Master wishes to speaks to yous, he shalls do so," he retorted coolly. "It is nots the missus' place to seeks out the Master."
"He didn't even have the intelligence to present me with a name," insisted Hermione as the elf trotted before her.
"Yous may calls him the Master. Others calls him the Beast. However, I shalls have Bonny ask hims a names to give yous."
"Oh, just spit it out already," she grumbled.
"We is arrived, missus. Good nights."
"Good nights indeed," she muttered before slamming the door in his face.
.
"She does not want to stay here, Bonny. Should I let her leave? My inner Veela is tearing me apart for hurting her by keeping her against her will."
"She needs time," soothed the Beast's favorite elf. "And Master shoulds tells his inner Veela that if he wants her near, he wills have to go through the sufferings. Besides, it is said that missus has a great hearts, how could she resists helping the Master?"
"Do not forget that Miss Granger and I have history, Bonny."
"Well, yours turns to makes amends, then." decided the elf.
"If it is not enough?"
Bonny's ears drooped and tears brimmed in her eyes before she managed,
"Please, Master..."
"I am sorry, Bonny. Just a little...nervous."
He inhaled the air, shuddering.
"I need her body under mine..."
.
Hermione did not see the Master again for another whole week. She spent that time traipsing around the Manor, talking to the house elves, and helping them work to keep dust away and return to the place a little of its ancient beauty, essentially because she needed the elves' company. Bonny was clearly the mistress around when the Master was out of sight. She was his confident too, and looked after cooking and washing. She was nice, soft and gentle, and as Hermione learned, Dobby's young sister.
Hermione was delighted to find out that the elf had a son, named Laddy. She had never seen a cub before, and Laddy was so nice, so smart and so cheeky for a house elf, that he was Hermione's only source of laughter. He would get into mischief and play games with her to amuse her. Colty, the butler, also helped with the washing. He was, as the young woman had predicted, quite full of himself, and issued of a kind of elfish nobility. Then, Pumpy was the plump gardener, the apple of Bonny's eye though they were both too shy to make a move, and a born prankster, making him Laddy's best mate. They could often be seen together, chuckling and plotting, under the others' wary eyes.
And they were all devoted to the Master, no matter what.
But Hermione spent most of her time in the library. It was full of dust and dark, and she had tasked Bonny to help her sort things out in there. Though her nature screamed at her to throw herself on the offered books and guard them jealously, she only read about Veelas and how they found their mates. For now, though she had learned several things new, she didn't know how to help her captor find his mate and thus, set her free. To arrest the conniving, sly bastard, of course.
Then, one evening, Colty presented himself with a set of pearl grey dress robes at her bedroom door, telling her that the Master wished her presence for dinner.
This time, Hermione did not throw a tantrum. Instead, she greedily donned the robes without care, and ran all the way down to the dining room, banging the door open with a temper.
"You!" she shouted, pointing a finger upon the hooded, cloaked man sipping wine at the table.
He raised an eyebrow, though she couldn't see it, and smirked.
"Why, hello, Miss Granger. I am quite pleased to find that you resented my absence badly."
She ignored his sarcastic comment, and stalked up to him, hands on her hips.
"Where did you go? Why did you leave me alone at the table the other night? Why only give me half the answers? Why? What do you really want of me?"
His eyes clouded over with lust as she hovered merely a couple of steps away. From here, her delicious, feminine scent was overbearing, and his voice was rauque with desire as his body turned rock-hard:
"Did you miss me?"
She shivered without knowing why. His voice was even more raspy than usual, and he had tensed under his layers of clothing. An unexpected surge of delight ran through her, and anticipation made her insides run warm. Her heartbeat sped up, and she felt the odd urge to throw herself in his arms and offer her naked body to him...now, where did that come from?
Besides, his question itself was more than banter and bite. A raw expectation hid itself just behind the sensuous undertones of his voice, though she was unable of deciding what he expected, exactly. Strangely, her own voice was strained as she replied quietly,
"No. Not one bit."
She felt guilty without knowing why, especially when the Master's hand came up an instant to hover over his heart, as if physically wounded. She felt the instant need to comfort him. It was strange. Was this the Veela charm operating its twisted magic upon her, though he had warned her of his hideous appearance? She wondered how long the man hadn't had a woman. Probably since he came into his heritage. A sudden image flashed through her mind, unstoppable: herself, bent over the table, being thoroughly fucked by the huge, hooded Veela's even huger cock. She licked her lips before mentally slapping herself. She needed to get away. The Master's allure was working its wicked way into her already slightly damp knickers.
He didn't seem to notice her fluster, which was better, as he was glaring unhappily into his goblet of red wine. She rejected him, and it hurt.
However, as she stepped away to sit on her chair, he scented it, and instantly, his senses went in overdrive. The sweet, slick, tangy scent of arousal. Not any arousal either, Hermione's arousal. His eyes immediately snapped up to her, almost feral in their intensity, and it took all of his human willpower not to leap on her and mate her on the table. He could almost taste it, bitter and sugary, on his lips, as he watched her serve herself a portion of beef pie. She was acting like nothing was wrong, except maybe for two tiny blushes in her cheeks. So, she was playing innocent while her underwear was wet for him, was she? He wondered what exactly had made her aroused. And decided to play a tad more on that ground, though not forgetting that if she was to see his monstrous face, she would run off screaming blue murder. In fact, he mused, it might even be worse if he showed her his true face, that of...he closed his eyes a second and focused upon her.
"So, any news about research, Miss Granger?"
She shook her head woefully.
"No. Nothing to help you, though of course, I've read more about Veelas here then anywhere else. The library is so interesting."
"It is," he agreed. "I'm proud of it."
She shot him a wary look.
"Proud? You have no right to be proud. This is not your home, it is that of the Malfoy family."
She sneered, though against his presumed trespassing or the Malfoy name he didn't know.
"Notion of propriety is a strange thing, darling," he replied before leaning towards her, "but you'll see what I mean later on."
His voice was a sin, she decided numbly as she bit back a moan. His perfume washed over her: cologne that she might have scented years ago, earth, and undoubtfully male. His mate was going to have a good time. He was coaxing a response out of her body by simply talking. Another rush of wetness sogged her knickers and she squirmed awkwardly upon the chair.
"Stop that," she managed to back out weakly.
"Stop what, Miss Granger?" he blinked innocently.
"Stop doing that...thing..." she murmured.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," he answered slowly, before chewing a piece of meat. "Care to enlighten me, darling?"
"I'm not your darling," she snapped. "And stop using your Veela blasted pheromons to attract me sexually to you. I know you are doing this. You have a mate to find!"
"So, Miss Granger," he all but purred, "you are sexually attracted to me?"
"Shut up!" she retorted hotly, jumping to her feet and balling her hands into fists. "It would never happen would you not be able to pull that stunt! It's artificial. I mean, aren't there any laws against these things?"
He hummed in agreement, eyes sparkling.
"But you see, love," he finally answered. "When my curse was set to me, I also lost the ability of doing everything that could help me gain my potential female's heart. That includes looks, allure, and pheromons, dearest girl. So if your knickers are soaked through," he mocked in a low, growling tone, "it's all on you." He shovelled a piece of meat to his mouth before adding lewdly, "So, Miss Granger, you are sexually attracted to me?"
She had frozen, and upon hearing his mockery, turned suddenly and bolted for the door. As she reached the hall, still running and gasping, she heard his laughter follow her, and the last comment,
"Who's leaving dinner without answering correctly now, Miss Granger?"
.
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