Chapter 4: The Beast Within

Disclaimer: JKR rules.

Thanks to all those who have reviewed, and to the ones who read this before, you might notice I have added quite a bit, and clarified many points. The time line has also changed somewhat.

The Beast Within

"And the bug started, when?" Justin was in a roll. However his medical training to be compassionate had finally kicked in and restrained his tongue. He was ashamed of his behavior and slightly flushed to a light pink.

He had to bury the old hatreds and forget one of his best friends, Cedric; whose death was the Dark Lord's doing. He was a healer first and reigned over his personal feelings while Lucius stood in front of him, just watching him.

Lucius suddenly felt quite ill. He knew when the 'bug' had started, the precise moment. His mind wandered remembering recent events.

He would find daily reasons to go and see Draco, always hanging around until he was able to see HER. He wasn't at ease; as a matter of fact, he couldn't even breathe until he was able to see Miss Granger and was able to catch a whiff of her magnificent, glorious scent. True, true, though her scent aroused him until he wanted to attack her and have her; it also soothed the growing discomfort that he always felt when not in her presence.

And there were those horribly embarrassing occasions; the ones that involved 'borrowing' delectable pieces out of her bag of Yim or was it JYM? He was not sure of the spelling, but he often took in 'loan' some of the sexy stretchy garments she carried in the bag. Lucius had learned to be discrete, taking only one piece at a time. Dear Merlin, he hoped that she didn't miss them.

Draco had taught him how to do it, bless his heart. The clothing items brought him comfort. Remembering, he stuck his hand inside his pocket and held the lilac and green heart knickers he had pinched yesterday. He felt calmer by doing so.

He had been trying to figure out how to buy her new ones. He hoped that Madame Malkin had already contacted her with the anonymous gift to replace the items. He hoped the one thousand galleons was enough, if not he would gladly pay for the replacement. The garments appeared to be very expensive. Muddy had excellent taste for one of her kind, and her lacy undergarments were greatly appreciated by the Malfoys.

He then remembered how he started his new career as a lingerie thief; he had found Draco digging inside her bag at her office; at first he had been upset because, mistakenly, he had believed that it was the satchel were she kept office books; but no, what a bonanza his dear son had shown him, a real bounty. He had never done that before, but, well, it had been worth it.

Oh Merlin, if Draco were infected, or whatever, he must also be taking her clothes.

He flushed all kinds of red and remembered.

It had taken place right after he had collided against that insufferable Mudblood, ehem, Muddy, in the ministry halls. No wonder, now, he fully understood his secret stalking of Miss Granger, which had started around the same time.

He remembered the Incident, twelve weeks ago in Ministry of Magic at exactly 13: 34.

Draco, standing right behind Harry stretched his hand out to him. "Please Potter, it is my father, let me look first." He bent and touched his father's back with his wand. "Father, father, stop what are you doing."

Not in his lifetime would Lucius forget his son's look of disgust and horror. The pensive showed a memory collected from Draco, the one that was later shown to him. What made it worse was the fact that he was unable to experience any sort of remorse for his actions, not even a tiny smidgen, nada.

Okay, perhaps a modicum of shame, not much, very little, moreover, the effect of reliving the moment, gave him an unexpected bonus; it actually made him quite hard and wanting more. Thus, he had requested a copy of the memory for his future defense, if necessary. Nothing else had excited him since that day.

He had been watching it daily. And told himself that he was looking for clues. In reality, once he was immersed in the pensive, he would allow his hand to take care of his immediate problem. And it was the only thing that worked for him, in that department. He could feel her under him, his hardness right where it should be. He squirmed while he stood.

And he saw it with his mind's eye. In the pensive, Lucius' mouth is covered with blood, his eyes glazed with lust and his teeth do look a bit too long. Blood trickles away from a very pale Granger. She appears stunted; her mouth is semi-opened, the lips lusciously moist, and is her rosy tongue peeking out the now open pouty mouth? Is it disgust or ecstasy? He hoped the later. Her chest is heaving up and down, and she is right under him.

Oh fuck, he can even remember the soft body and her overwhelming scent. Gods, the memory had aroused him beyond care, right in front of the young healer. He tried to compose himself, but it was difficult.

Lucius was now aware of the moment when 'It' occurred during the struggle, his mind traveled to the moment. It happened when he was being pulled away from Ms. Granger and fought six strong, adult wizards, that alone was a feat on its own.

During the skirmish, damn, double damn —Draco grabbed the sharp head of the snake away from him— (note: the cane was now in permanent retirement, he now carried a new one, with dulled fangs, the one from that day with Ms. Granger's blood, was in safe keeping; and he wasn't sure why, but he decided to keep it with the relics)— and at that moment Draco slashed both of his hands, and of course the darn thing was already covered with Hermione's blood, yes, the bloods were mixed, indeed.

Then, the Aurors moved Lucius to the side and in front of him— the young fool was cleaning the witch with goo-goo eyes; Draco was just as gone as he had been—damn and triple bloody tarnation. That must have been the moment, when he must have touched one or two of their bloods, and even worse, while trying to wipe his father mouth with his own hand, what a mess. AGGGHH, and then the blood from her neck…never mind, he would watch the pensive at home, just as he did daily.

"You have seen the pensive, haven't you? Tell me the truth, right now. What is your assessment? If you don't tell me, even if it is the last thing I do, I will curse you," demanded an excited and very scared, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy.

Justin shrugged his shoulders. "Of course, I requested to examine the files at the Ministry; I was actually being kind and did it on Draco's behalf." Justin's expression had softened at looking at Lucius anguished expression.

" I had heard about the incident. The rumors were flying around, all talked of you covering Ms. Granger in a rather amorous fashion. So, I went to the Auror's department and asked to look at a certain memory in their pensive. I explained it was to be used in the research of the health issues of a patient, Draco Malfoy. I had to give his name, but it has been kept confidential."

"And why is that kind? " Asked Lucius raising his eyebrow, the sick feeling still plaguing him, he already had his own answer. He had not only woken the thing inside, the beast, but he had also damaged his beloved son. His mind started ticking once again.

Now, they were both half-breeds. Wait a minute there, were Veelas considered purebloods, or where they not? If they weren't he would make sure the legislation he fought not to pass, became ratified. Moment there, only for the Veela, he sighed and reconsidered.

For werewolves as well, after all, who knew? With his luck during the last decade anything was possible; what if were bitten. Lucius was already plotting ahead.

"By your looks, I can tell you already have a partial answer. Yes, I wanted to see how there was a connection between you and your son. And secondly, I wanted to check your rights, and what could be done legally. I am a young wizard, and Draco, who is my age, is very ill. I have a heart; we Muggle born usually care for our kind, the Wizarding kind."

Justin wanted to give the dark Wizard, arrogant prat, a lesson in whose blood was the nobler; after all his family had belonged to the peerage since the early days. The bigotry that he had been exposed to, at Hogwarts, had changed his mind about the blueblood nonsense, or to a point, he guessed. Oh well, he reasoned, maybe we are a bit superior after all.

"And to save you precious time, I will share the information I found. Your marriage to Mrs. Malfoy will become null at exactly the moment you decide to claim Ms. Granger. Just say it aloud and will happen. But only one of you will be able to claim her. From what I have researched Veelas are extremely jealous creatures. So what will it be, you or your son? Albeit there is a slight chance that both of you might be lucky, of sorts?"

Justin's mirth had all but dissipated. His heart was full of compassion. He was a medical doctor and had taken an oath. What a hard decision, he would not know what he would do if were left up to him.

Unless, there was that slight chance that they belonged to a rare group of Veelas that was nearly unknown, and Veelas of that type had been last seen over two centuries before. It would also imply that Granger was truly exceptional. If that was the case, there was a witch he wanted to court. And, it would mean the Malfoys were no quite Veelas, they would be akin to Royalty, to better than all Magical beings; no, life couldn't be that unfair; would the Malfoys end up once again at the top of the food chain? Justin wondered and was conflicted.

Although, it could be the case since both were activated at the same time, there was only one way to know, and it was by trying. But he would let them figure it out on their own. No sense in giving them false hope. They would know when the time came, there was also another condition, but none of the books he read knew what the condition was.

Justin was deep in thought, and now he wished he wasn't involved in this case.

"Why is it that I had not heard of any of my family members being Veelas? That is just not right."

Lucius was agitated, pacing across the room. His arms were gesticulating, moving around as windmills, and his heavy robes swishing, and swashing at each turn. He looked ever a Dark angry wizard.

Twice Justin had to duck while a stream of angry currents of magic singed furniture and scrolls, on its wake. One had touched his hand and stung him.

"Calm down, Lord Malfoy, before your magic destroys my office, or even worse, it injures me. Please control your magic." Lucius heard Justin's voice far away.

"Ah, I had done some research during my studies; you must be a very rare kind of Veela, maybe not a Veela at all. Later studies argued they had been wrongly classified in the study documented by Sir Tarantulus Tarupidos who lived in the 12th century, his illustrations and studies of Veelas are the most extensive and comprehensive ever performed." Justin relaxed when Lucius quit pacing the office and listened.

"Such activation would require a fair percentage of Fae blood being spilled and would have to come from the chosen mate, it is said at least 50%. Therefore it would appear that Ms. Granger has been hiding something from all of us. It is possible that she isn't even aware." Lucius was listening to every word.

"The Dark Sithe, I am referring to, are very powerful and quite deceitful. They appear to be enamored of human women, magical and not. They are smitten with the human soul and in love with female beauty." He paused to look at Lucius whose activity had quieted down.

"I would dare bet that Granger's mother must be as beautiful as her daughter; of course, she must also be a protector of those in need and shares Granger's generous soul. She would represent a most desirable jewel to those greedy Fae, who love the soul just as well. If I am correct, then, both of them are in possible great danger."

At the world danger, danger to his Miss Granger, his heart did something strange and was totally unexpected, it contracted with fear. He didn't want anything bad to happen to Muddy, he couldn't bear the thought.

"And why is that, is Muddy, err, Miss Granger?" Lucius voice was fully charged with apprehension.

Justin growled, the ass, he called Hermione muddy, as if it were an endearment, whatever. He took a deep breath.

"I don't claim to be an expert. You should retain some counsel in experts on the Sithe and the Fairy lore. As you know there are many kinds of Fae, I have learned a lot. The type of opportunity you require will depend on many factors, and possibly you will need my assistance. You can find competent experts; I think Mr. Lovegood is one of them." Justin was sitting down and looking at Lucius right on the eye.

"The Sithe, Fae, or whatever they are, the ones that I am referring to, are powerful and considered a tad to the left of dark. Once they have children, it is just a matter of when, not if, they will claim both the mother and child, a female offspring is rare, where males are less unusual. I only found a handful of female children in the annals, but none for several centuries. From what I understand, females are only born to powerful Fae." He paused and observed Lucius, he was sure that the Dark Eater was calculating the odds.

"About the claiming, they are not in a hurry, after all they are immortals and can grant their spouses, as in multiple, and their progeny that gift. I have heard they will make them all young again, just to posses them. In Hermione's case is just a matter of time, the old scrolls don't have a record of one royal female, but that means nothing." Justin paused and poured glasses of chilled water for both of them.

"The daughters of their royals become princesses, of one of their multiple and wealthy realms. It is their tradition, and they have to eventually leave our world. Not every one of the children had liked the choice, but they are forced to comply. I and I would imagine if the child was a royal, well, their time in this earth is rather short." Justin wanted to let him know that it was bad news if Hermione were a royal, and that he should hope that wasn't the case.

Lucius stood to pull a flask out of his bag and squirted the amber liquid in his water. Justin shook his head when offered.

"By the way, don't think you can fight them, our magic is nothing compared to theirs. For thousands of years, cultures have called them Gods. Ah, some of the princesses are marked as queens. Not sure what makes them so, they have special abilities, or their father might be an exalted one, who knows; this part is not certain, mostly legend told to an old wise man over an thousand years ago." Justin concluded.

"You have said enough, I don't want to speculate, I will talk to my son and will decide. Now I need the potion, or the charm or whatever is that will grant me the longest time. I have much to be done. I want to retain your exclusive services for the next months, so I will talk to the management here. Whatever they pay you I will triple it plus any expenses. Do we have an agreement? "Lucius waited for an answer, he hoped to be affirmative, or he would make it so.

Justin didn't mind the idea of a sabbatical and getting paid triple, and he was sure it would be a cushy job. He stood up and shook Lucius' hand, then he went to a back room, where he extracted a compound he had prepared for them. It should attenuate the feelings to the point that they could function.

The longest duration they were expected to survive, with this potion, was twelve months from the activation; but it could be shorter. He would not yet share this with Lucius; maybe the cunning wizard would be able to get the witch. He gave the potion to Lucius with instructions how to take it, once was label Draco M, and the other Lucius M.

Lucius needed a plan, Draco was dying fast, and he apparently shared his fate. How could one to trap one slippery witch? He loved the hunt and the thrill, and he would get to stay alive as an added incentive. "Let the games begin." He said and with a regal swish of his robe and flowing silver hair, Lucius took his leave. Justin had to smile; after all, he was now working for the Malfoys.

A/N. Has anyone noticed that Lucius still thinks of her as a Mudblood? I decided that he should call her Muddy, as in a twisted term of affection. He doesn't love her; he is obsessed with her. Don't go thinking that he has changed because he hasn't; he is being pragmatic and realizes he needs her to survive. I must say I like this Lucius, rotten to the core, yet, yet…