Hello and Welcome to Hogwarts School of Magic. A school for those who are magically gifted and want to become a great wizard or witch. A long time ago, however, we used to have a muggle with us here, and this is her story.

Rumplestiltskin Gold was back for his final year of wizardry school. After seven long and boring years, he was ready to be done with Hogwarts. In the Slytherin, you didn't have friends. You just have shaky alliances. Especially when your nom de guerre is, The Dark One. Rumplestiltskin headed down to the old wooden dining hall for the sorting ceremony for the new first-year children. Just as he remembered. The long tables, all crowded with hopeful wizards and witches hoping to even come close to legends of others before them.

He was glad it would be the last time he would have to see it. Regina, Jafar, Hook, Hades, Peter Pan, Zelena, Cruella, Gaston, Ursula, Ingrid, Arthur, and Maleficent were all sitting together with a seat open in between Regina and Arthur for him. He sat down in the seat but their conversation was unwaverd by his arrival. It was nice though, he could scout out the new competition without being bothered by idle chatter. He looked around at the other tables.

Gryffindor was as noisy as ever. Ravenclaw was grouping themselves together to make plans for the year. What caught his eye, however, was this seventh-year girl sitting at the farthest chair away from everyone at her Hufflepuff table. She had soft wavy brown locks that framed her porcelain skin. She was biting slightly on her bottom lip as she focused on what she was doing. She was wearing a nice blue dress that matched her eyes which happened to be looking into her book. Potions for Advanced Applications. That class ended years ago when not enough students were nominated for the class. He'd been nominated every year. He was just surprised that she had that book. He was also surprised that a girl as pretty as she was sitting as far away as she could. Hufflepuffs were shy but they often grouped with each other.

"Does anyone know who that lone girl at the Hufflepuff table is?" Rumplestiltskin asked the others.

They all took a quick peek at her to see who he was talking about. Regina spoke first, "That's Belle French. I have her next semester for broom riding. You have her in your potions class. I'm pretty sure we all have her in some class or another."

"How come I don't remember her from previous years?" he asked.

"I'm afraid the lass is quite shy,'' Hook started. "She tends to stay out of other people's ways. However, the young lady has always lent me something when I needed it."

"She's a very big bookworm," Gaston said. "Her nose is always stuck in a book."

"Smart though," Regina said. "Top of the class. Nervous like heck when she's called on to do anything other than potions in front of the class."

"Professor Snape's favorite,'' Hook continued. "He sticks up for her when the other teachers get... suspicious. Rumor has it, Belle's dad has a huge amount of magic and so does her mom but she supposedly didn't inherit any magic. Making her a muggle. Some say, she uses something to make it look like she has magic but no one has the faintest idea what it could be.''

"But why is she sitting so far away from the others?" Rumplestiltskin asked. "I thought Hufflepuff was all about being pals with each other. Yet not even one person is sitting by her."

"Like Hook said," Zelena began. "She stays out of everyone's way. I heard she tried being involved once and she messed up so bad that she didn't go back to her own room for the rest of the semester."

Rumplestiltskin looked back at Belle one more time. She had a half smile on her face as she turned the page.

"Why are you so interested in her now?'' Regina asked. "You've had seven years to ask about her. Why now?"

"I guess I never noticed her before," he answered.

Before anyone else could ask any questions Professor Dumbledore came out and went up to the podium. "Greetings everyone!''

Rumplestiltskin didn't really pay attention to the rest of the ceremony. All his attention was fixated on semi-staring at Belle. There had to be a reason she kept to herself. He wanted to know why. Maybe he could take those hugging Huffles down a couple of pegs. If it meant they lost a couple of points along the way, well, he wasn't against that either.

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