Beauty and the Beast
Chapter 1: Beauty
A bushy-haired Gryffindor girl named Hermione Granger was walking down the long road to Hogsmeade Village. She walked alone. Harry and Ron had chosen not to return to Hogwarts to redo their 7th year. Instead they chose to begin learning how to be an Auror.
As she entered the village many people started whispering. She was used to it now. It was probably the same old thing. Everyone was feeling sorry for her since Ron had broken up with her and they'd all heard of the hardships she'd had to suffer over the past year.
Hermione made her way over to the bookstore. A bell rang when she opened the door.
"Mr. Bradley! I finished that book!" She called out to the apparently empty store.
A squat man waddled out from behind a bookshelf. "Already? But, it's got to be, what, 3,000 pages?"
Hermione laughed. "Well, I had nothing to do, so I read," she drifted over to her favorite bookshelf. "I'll take this one." She pulled a small, blue book down and handed it to Mr. Bradley.
"You've already read this one several times, Miss Granger."
"It's my favorite though. I love the far-off places, mystery, and romance."
"Alright, alright. If you love it that much, just keep it." He chuckled.
"Really?" her face lit up.
"Yes, yes, of course."
"Oh, thank you!" she wrapped the man up in a hug then dashed out of the store.
Hermione opened the book and began reading while she was walking through town. She didn't even notice the people whispering about her.
She also didn't notice Cormac McLaggen following her. He was so intent on his chase that he didn't notice the three girls staring longingly after him: Parvati, Padma, and Lavender.
"Hello, Hermione." He stepped in front of her.
"Oh, hi, Cormac." She tried to continue walking.
He grabbed the book out of her hands. She gasped. "Give it back, Cormac." Her voice took on a dangerous tone.
He smirked and threw it into a puddle of mud. "You should pay attention to the life around you. You shouldn't spend your life trapped in a book."
She pulled the book out of the sticky mud and began wiping it off.
"How about you and I take a walk over to the Three Broomsticks and I buy you a butterbeer?"
"No thanks, Cormac. I've got better things to do than sit around with you."
Parvati, Padma, and Lavender who'd been listening to the entire conversation gasped. Padma whispered. "What's wrong with her?"
"Well, goodbye, Cormac." She turned and ran in the opposite direction than she'd been headed.
She ran back up to the castle and all the way up to the Headmistress' office.
"Oh, Miss Granger, I suspect that you're here for your weekly meeting with Professor Dumbledore's painting, now?" Professor McGonagall asked when she answered the door.
"Yes, Professor."
"Well, alright, then." McGonagall stepped out of the office and let Hermione in.
The door shut with a soft click and Hermione knew that she was alone now. She'd been coming to Dumbledore's painting once a week since the beginning of the school year. She needed someone to talk to.
"How can I help you this week, Hermione?"
"Professor, I don't have anyone to talk to here. I shouldn't have returned."
"Surely there is someone you can talk to other than me or another professor? How about Miss Weasley or Miss Lovegood?"
"No, they're always busy studying."
"Well, how about Cormac McLaggen. He lives in Hogsmeade now, I hear, and you could visit him quite often."
"No, Professor, he is rude and conceited, and absolutely incompetent."
He looked disapprovingly at her.
"It's true! I personally don't understand how he made it out of first-year."
"Well, don't worry, Hermione, I'm sure you'll be fine."
She smiled and said goodbye then left the office.
Cast:
Beauty: Hermione
Gaston: Cormac McLaggen
Beast: I don't know who the beast should be. Please review and tell me who you think it should be. Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, or Tom Riddle/Voldemort?
Papa: Papa is Hermione's dad and at the same time Dumbledore because Dumbledore is like a father figure.