A/N: I've been sitting on this fic idea for so long, it's probably at least slightly unbelievable. I think I first began actually writing it sometime around midnight early July 2014. Imagine my surprise when Emma Watson gets picked to be the lead in the live-action Beauty and the Beast! I look forward to eventually posting the rest, maybe after I write it so that I won't keep you all waiting for updates. Tell me what you think!

| prologue |

The woman rolled onto her side in his bed to face him. She was bare, clad only in a bedsheet as she smiled up at him lazily. He did not smile back.

"I had a fabulous night Draco-"

"Malfoy." He corrected her, not missing the crestfallen expression that flickered on her face before she pulled it into smile.

"Malfoy. Yes well, I had a great night, and I was wondering if you'd like to maybe meet up sometime? Maybe tomorrow, over coffee-"

He didn't even wait for a reasonable quiet to settle, for her hope to collect, before he plunged straight into the rejection. "No." His gaze shifted away from her to the window, where he stood rod-straight. "The sun is coming up, I think it's about time to sneak back into your house. Get out."

He watched her lip wobble before she raced to retrieve her clothes and run out, with only a regret-filled glance at him. He didn't care. Sure, he might regret not keeping her for another night next time he was out with Blaise and his wife, who would question him mercilessly about his love life; but for now he was blissfully careless.

He found a silk green robe to wrap over himself as he prepared to go downstairs. His house elves could blush ever so when he wasn't proper. He mulled over the petty servants as he reached the top of the stairs, only to see a woman in white on the barrister. She turned to face him, and he felt his breath catch.

"Mother?"

The woman who bore the exact same features as Narcissa shook her head. "No sweetheart." She spoke, even though her voice made for an oxymoron. "Although I did choose this form for you." She gestured to her body, or rather Narcissa Malfoy's.

"Who- Who are you then?" The shock of seeing his mother for the first time in four years was slow to wear off.

Suddenly his mother, or whatever it was, was right next to him, his face in her hands as she rubbed his cheek with her thumb softly. "You wouldn't understand if I told you. Just know that I believe you can do this."

The last part included a catch in her voice, and the molten silver eyes that were so much like his own gazed at him with something he hadn't seen on the face in so long. Hope. With a pat of Draco's cheek, the apparition smiled at him before letting go and stepping back.

Her demeanor suddenly changed, and now her tone drilled into him. "But oh, Draco Malfoy, you have put yourself in a terrible place." Her tone was akin to the ones Draco had heard during wartime. Calculated and terrifyingly honest. "Over the past four years you have displayed an aloofness like no other. You have broken countless hearts with your seemingly careless attitude."

Draco snorted, breaking the scared character he had had up to now. "Seemingly? Mother, or whoever the hell you are, I can tell you for a fact that I really do not care. And that my late mum, of all people, is here to tell me that, is frankly, stupid. Please get out of my house before I wake the entire Manor. I don't know what this is, but I want it out."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "It is worse than I originally thought." Her eyes snapped to Draco, the same pitying look as before looking disconcerting of her face. "Now listen carefully Draco Abraxas Malfoy."

"Ponderus"

Draco dropped to his knees as the foreign feelings attacked his body. From every patch of skin it seemed white-blond hair was growing, making his loose robe stuffy. "What-What have you done?" He asked, spitting hairs from his mouth.

The empathetic look returned. "Your outward appearance has started to become your only positive attribute, and you have taken to using it for all the wrong reasons. I have changed it to now reflect that of your heart."

"How do I change back?" His whine changed into an animalistic growl. "Tell me how to change back!"

The woman smiled at him. "You fall in love." She said simply. She extracted something from her robes. "By the evening of half a year, getting a woman to return your affections shall return you human once more. This potion," She shook what appeared to be a miniature cauldron before placing it in front of Draco. "shall be your way of determining your progress."

Malfoy scoffed. "You must be as mad. No way anyone will ever want to look at me twice like this."

The witch's eyes twinkled but otherwise disregarded his protest. "Each time you fail to do so, the red liquid's amount will drop. If by the half year no more potion remains," She paused, and Draco could hear his own breath. "you will remain in this form forever."

A woman crouched next to him. His mother. "Good luck sweetheart." And then she vanished.

The house elves would find him in the same place hours later, his robes in shreds from the new-found claws.

Pondero is Latin for "reflector". I felt it suited.