Dame De Westwell Chateau

by nick7745 (ao3)

Hermione traced her fingers across the jagged scar that stretched right from her shoulder across her abdomen and ended just above her left thigh. She closed her eyes, shuddering at the rough texture of the permanent reminder of her past.

She knew she wasn't one of the traditionally beautiful witches like her colleagues at Hogwarts, however this was something that hurt her in more ways than one.

The scars and the trauma from the war refused to heal festering in the deep recesses of her mind. She was still a successful witch at the Ministry of Magic perceived as anything but perfect, yet deep down she knew her imperfections, her constant fight with her own subconscious mind to keep her sanity in check.

"Madam?" an old man dressed in a traditional butler's uniform entered the room, his eyes downcast, "Still reminiscing the past?"

Hermione flicked her wrists towards her right barely acknowledging his presence, as her wardrobe opened, "Not really, just getting ready for the evening. Is everything ready, Wade?"

"Your guest for the evening has arrived. He's waiting in the parlour." the old butler added, "Do you need anything else Ma'am?"

"Perfect." Hermione pulled a dress off the wardrobe and placed it on her arm before turning towards him, "Make him comfortable, give him some of our good wine. It's his first anyway… I'll be down in a bit."

"He is currently enjoying one of our finest wines." He stood there, eyes downcast at the floor. "Is there a reason he's here? He seems like a nice kid."

"He's anything but nice." Hermione turned to take a peek at him while her hands were busy pulling on the gloves into a snug fit. "Ooh, the things I've seen. Remember Mr Beland? He was a saint compared to our guest."

The old butler winced at the mention of the foul-mouthed portly old man. He distinctly remembered the memory his mistress had shown in the pensieve. The visions still give him nauseous moments.

"Very well, Ma'am. I'll retire early for the night, with your permission of course." He added the last part hastily.

Hermione simply chuckled, "Of course. It's just a little date as usual. Let him know I'll be down in a few minutes."

The man bowed before leaving her suite.

A young man barely in his twenties sat holding his second glass of wine. Although not his choice of drink, he would rather have a pint of beer, he enjoyed the unique taste and the classy Victorian house.

He felt lucky to be invited by the woman who met him at the local pub. He was no virgin, even the thought made him laugh. Maybe the rich woman thought of him as that, he was happy to play along and maybe she'll end up like the others, after his pleasure that is.

The clacking of heels brought him out of his musings. He was mesmerized to say the least. Miss Mason as she introduced herself was walking down the wooden staircase that led to the parlour. 

He felt his breath hitch just watching her descend in a thick dark green almost black fur coat that covered everything from her knees right up to her neck. The plush leather high heeled boots and matching gloves gave her a stunning appeal.

"Mr Ted Burns, welcome to Westwell Mansion. I hope the car was on time to pick you. My apologies for making you wait." Hermione held her hand out which he shook gingerly.

"Uhmm, yeah the car was awesome. But I didn't quite recognise the route and yeah, your house err-Manor is wicked." He couldn't take his eyes off her and was almost drooling with anticipation.

Hermione smiled, picking up another glass of wine and circled him slowly "Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. This is a private property not many know of. Besides, you must be wondering why have I invited you here, right?"

"Yeah, 'was thinking about it. But I'm excited to be here, whatever reasons." He said.

"Yes, let's see how long that lasts. So I have a few questions, may I?" Hermione asked before he nodded for her to continue. "Do you believe in magic?" 

"Ah, you mean like the magic of love. Yeah I do" he answered with a cocky grin.

Hermione laughed heartily, "No, not that kind of magic. I meant real magic, you know like wizards and witches, that sort of thing. You think that exists?"

Now it was his turn to laugh, "You must be watching a lot of movies to believe that kinda trash."

Hermione smiled knowingly, "Let me give you a demo, Mr Burns… or is it Gavin Moss?"

"What? Who are you? How'd you know that name?" He felt slightly vexed, no one knew that name. At least none that were alive. Was she a relative or the police, he felt cornered and dearly wished he brought his pistol.

"I know so much more, darling. Patricia, Amy, Sonya, Michelle, little Eddie, Naomi, hmmm… tell me, you ever felt disgusted with yourself? Ever thought, God, why am I such a terrible being. Hmm, why would you? Even law couldn't prove you guilty but few people did want vengeance. Isn't that why you moved to London, right?" Hermione's expression morphed from anger to disgust before it settled to a sneer.

"Who the fuck are you and what's with this bullshit! Who told you this nonsense?" Ted exploded back at her, he just wanted to kill the woman and escape.

"Well, I don't feel like answering your first question and the answer to your second is… wait for it… 'Magic!'" Hermione replied with a flourish of her hands in the air.

He felt extremely agitated and the wine made him slightly unhinged as he lunged towards her body in an attempt to strangle her neck.

Hermione saw this coming and thrusted her palm in his direction to blast him back by the force of raw wandless magic. The man flew back and crashed into the armchair breaking his fall. 

"See? This is magic. And Witches do exist." Hermione walked closer to him before bending low, "You know what? You're having the pleasure of meeting the meanest of them all."

"Who are you?" The man croaked trying to scoot back towards the door. "Leave me please."

Hermione casually walked towards the corner of the room before shedding her fur coat to reveal a full rubber suit covering every inch of her body apart from her face. She flicked her wrist mounted with a holster before a wand with a crooked handle slipped into her hand. 

Hermione turned around with a wicked grin, "Who, me? Well, today's Judgement day and I'm your executioner. Now enough talk, time for some therapy. CRUCIO!"

Hermione closed her eyes and focused her wand at him as a malicious red streak of magic shot towards the man. All the hatred and repressed anger she felt burst through the cruciatus.

Ear piercing shrieks and screams filled the room as Hermione felt a bliss wash over her. 

Over the years she learned things about herself, her eleven year old self would have scoffed and nauseated upon. She was a sadist through and through, partially of her own volition, partially because of what the muggle Psychiatrists say untreated PTSD.

Another one was that Voldemort wasn't the only demon, there were enough demons even in the muggle world to keep her bloodlust in check.

"Now we move to the good stuff. Let me prepare, it's going to be a little messy." Hermione twirled the wand in the direction of her face before a black rubber hood with demonic horns formed over her head and face. "Hmmm, this feels perfect. Now, let's get the star of the show. Accio bullwhip!"

Ted's whole body spasmed with the effects of the curse. Blood and spit pooled at his mouth, "Yo.. you're inssssane!"

Hermione caught the whip in her hands, "I've long made peace with that fact dear. Now be a lamb and stay still."

She levitated and tied him spread eagle to the wall. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Now, why don't we start with you Dolohov. I'll come back to Bella in a bit." Hermione rained lash after lash on his body, goading and yelling for him to scream for her pleasure.

A few hours later Wade walked into the room, "This one's the worst so far, Madam. I'm not really sure if I want to know the crimes he committed."

Hermione sat on a chair admiring her handiwork. Her rubber suit wasn't shiny black anymore. She was covered in blood and gore and resembled more like Satan incarnate than the Head of DMLE.

She turned her attention towards Wade, "Women. Kids. Boys and Girls." was all she said in a dead serious tone.

Wade shut his eyes in horror, he knew some people bordered on animalistic tendencies but this was just disgusting at a different level. He didn't want nor need to hear more than what her mistress said.

This seemed a tamer punishment for him even considering his naked mangled body was pinned to the walls. Blood and gore soaked the floor along with a smashed and decapitated limb.  

"May I ask something?" Wade continued as she nodded, "I understand why you do what you do, but I've never understood why you don the rubber attire considering you are a magical and can pretty much clean the blood off magically should you desire so."

Hermione ghosted her hands over her shoulder running it across her body, "You know, years ago I was a naive little girl with a dozen ideals and even more naivete. I fought wars the adults should have fought. Honestly, I was foolish enough to think I'm capable of defeating them. Two monsters, just two monsters it took to change my life irreparably. Both gave me pain that wouldn't alleviate and scars that never healed. I feel pathetic and weak whenever I look at it, whenever I feel it. It took me years to understand how to deal with it. I could have dated Ron, lived a full life but the monsters couldn't let me stay happy. I broke up with him within months of getting together. I tried to date others but the nightmares drove me crazy and I couldn't bring myself to love or live. This is my life now Wade, on one hand I'm the perfect Witch, War-Hero and on the other I'm a woman with a fractured mind and will. When I bring in these animals, I can't afford to be weak, I can't have a reminder of it. This suit, it hides everything, hides my weakness, hides my fears, hides everything that the demons can exploit. At that moment, I become their demon. I become their fear."

"So, the suit just makes it Smooth?" Wade inquired curiously, "Is it that simple?"

"Huh, Smooth. I spend 5 minutes taking you through a monologue and all you get is that. It's a rather simplistic way of putting it Wade, but why not." Hermione gave a throaty laugh, "Come on now. Clean this mess up. We have another guest to host next week."