It was nearing lunch time, and as enraptured as Belle was, she was beginning to grow hungry. Just as she was standing up from her long held position, Lumiére appeared in the crack of the door to announce his presence. "Mademoiselle, your meal has been prepared. I hope you do not mind being seated with the master" he said shyly. She smiled and shook her head. "Of course not, lead the way" she said, grabbing a few books and shoving them into her pocket. Lumiére grinned, his feet making small clinking noises as they tapped the marble as he led the way to the dining hall.

The beast had already been seated, an entree in front of him, already digging into his food. Belle kept from watching him out of modesty, and found her way to the other end of the very long table. Her food was steaming from warmth, enough on her plate to give a piece to everyone in her village. The food invited her senses to imagine the taste, and she sat down to explore what the servants had been raving about. The seat was cushioned in the finest material, the utensils and china were sparkling and arranged perfectly. Just as she was bringing a spoon of soup to her mouth, she heard the loud sound of slurping from across the table. When she looked up, the beast was covered in red while the soup drizzled off of his hairs on his face. Upon realizing she was staring at him, he grew embarrassed and slowly put the bowl back down on his plate. The servants' practically face-palmed, showing disappointment in their masters eating habits. Belle cleared her throat quietly, but smiled at him after returning to one of her books.

After their meal, belle slipped on her coat she got from Madame De Garderobe to head out to the courtyard. Her and the beast decided to go together to see the newly fallen snow, and Belle would be lying if she said she wasn't excited to go outside for the first time in a week. As they stepped outside, belle expected the sun the greet them, but the sky was overcast giving everything a gentle, almost inanimate appearance. They walked down the carved steps and stepped into the snow, softly crackling beneath their feet. The beast looked at Belle and reluctantly spoke: "here, this way," he gestured towards a cobblestone path. The cold began to nip at Belle's nose, and she wondered if he felt the cold the way she did. She was pulled from her thoughts when he asked her what the bulky object was hanging from her pocket, although he knew perfectly well what it was. "Oh, it's my book. Romeo an-"he stopped her, raising his eyebrows as if to say "are you kidding me?" She smiled, almost hearing his thoughts. "It's a classic, and I am going to read it to you." He rolled his eyes, almost going as far to say she was bluffing. As they began walking again, he was surprised to hear her voice change tone into a higher pitch. "Great" he thought, but that thought quickly faded into intrigue as she continued on to read. Their bodies slightly shifted closer as she kept reading, and as soon as Belle was going to recite her favorite line, she nearly ran into the beast while walking across a small bridge. She looked up at his face, seeing something she never had. His expression was full of longing as he stared out at the scene; the pond was frozen over, and the forest bled white snow downwards into the shrubbery. Snowflakes fell slowly in their own dizzy, spinning patterns and Belle felt the same trance fall over her. She no longer felt the cold. "It's like seeing it for the first time" the beast admitted quietly, wonder and softness covering his features. Belle gave him a half-smile, the cold pushing her to suggest they visit her horse, Phillipe. He had been allowed to stay will belle at the castle, given his own stable. The beast walked with belle cautiously to the timid creature, and he walked up to him thinking he wouldn't flinch from his beastly form. He was painfully reminded he was no longer physically human, but Belle pulled him from his saddened thoughts instantly; he almost gasped at her touch. She gently pulled him close to the horse, softly placing his paw onto its side. Amazed that the horse hadn't ran away, he looked over at belle, only a foot away and still placing her hand on the back of his. In this moment, he felt a rush surge through his body at the warm touch of her hand. They gazed at each other, both trying to tear their eyes from each other. Belle gave him a small smile and began to walk up the steps to the castle, watching and encouraging him to keep petting the horse. As soon as Belle was out of his gaze, she felt her cheeks burn against the cold of the snow. She gently pulled her hood over her head, and began singing to herself as she walked up the stairs, still glancing down at him. "There's something sweet, and almost kind… But he was mean and he was course and unrefined, and now he's dear and so I'm sure I wonder why I didn't see it there before." Just then, she got a devious idea; she stooped down, gathering a ball of snow in her hands and packed it together tightly. She ducked down slightly, grinning to herself. She pulled back her arm and threw the snowball straight at him, hitting his shoulder. He frantically whirled his head around, his ears drawn to a new sound; Belle's laughter. She was laughing so much that she didn't notice him pulling together a large snowball for revenge. She opened her eyes just in time to see a melon-sized snowball hurling her direction, and before she could move, she gasped when the strong force of freezing water smashed her face, knocking her entire body onto the ground. The beast was bent over laughing knowing he got his revenge; he hadn't laughed in years, and never like this. Not since his mother had passed away.

They went inside the castle library to begin sorting books, and the beast noticed Belle had been behaving slightly differently since their encounter. He was more shocked than anything that she would be so daring, while he had struggled to even ask her to eat a meal with him. "She glanced this way, I thought I saw, and when we touched she didn't shudder at my paw. No, it can't be, I'll just ignore…But then she's never looked at me that way before" the beast sang to himself. The beast decided to try and coerce the horse to befriend him, so he left Belle in the library and told her he would return soon. Belle watched as he left the room, trying her best to keep herself together. She shook her head, and for unknown reasons she couldn't stop herself from grinning so much. She stood up and gracefully walked over to the window, finding the beast in the courtyard with Phillipe. She clutched the hem of her dress while smiling down at the two, and felt herself overcome with emotion. "New and a bit alarming, who'd have ever thought that this could be? True, that he's no Prince Charming, but there's something in him that I simply didn't see" she sang to herself, the melody filling the library in a beautiful tone to match the falling snow.