Being from one of the older families in the wizarding community, the Gold's fortune was locked in a vault deep in the lower caverns of Gringotts bank. Despite Rumford's father's best attempts, Malcolm was unable to squander the large fortune away due to his more respectable elder sister's efforts. Morag and her wife Agnes more than gladly took Rumford away from him as well before he could manage to ruin the boy, and the witches had raised him as best they could. Gold was always grateful for those two women because they enabled him to care for his own boy as best he could without leaving Bae wanting for anything.

Making their way out of the large marble bank, their coin purses filled with galleons, Bae caught sight of a couple of his friends, Kristoff and Robin. After reminding Bae to meet him at Madam Malkin's for new robes, he let the boy run off.

Smiling to himself, Gold made his way over to Flourish and Blotts.

The shop was filled already with students and their parents buying school textbooks. Gold dodged a couple on his way to the Defensive Magic section of the store. Judging by the completely mystified look on their faces, he surmised they must be the muggle parents of a younger student. Sure enough, when he glanced around a bookshelf, he saw the Hufflepuff head of house, Archibald Hopper, helping a small girl pick out her books. Catching the red heads eye, he nodded a hello before continuing on his way.

Upon reaching the shelf he was looking for, Gold put both hands on his cane as he read the titles. Grabbing Jinxes for the Jinxed and A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions, he debated on whether he wanted to go pay now or browse some more. Figuring he needed to kill time before meeting up with Bae, he headed over to the potions section.

He gladly took his time browsing through the books, enjoying the fact that it was in a more secluded section of the store away from the majority of the hustle and bustle. He noticed his rival in the field, Zoso, had just released a new book with his theories on modern potion making versus the time tested methods. Rifling through the tome, Gold decided to purchase it, so he could peruse it later in the comfort of his office, preferably while enjoying a glass of fine scotch.

After deciding on four other new potions books in addition to Zoso's, Gold turned to walk to the register. Trying to balance the seven books in one hand as he navigated the winding shelves was enough of a task that he didn't notice the small woman walk around the corner. He crashed into her sending all his books as well as her equally large stack of books tumbling to the ground.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the small woman cried as they bent down to grab their books.

Gold was just about to grumble something about how she should have watched where she going when he looked up and saw the bluest eyes he'd ever seen.

Shaking his head, Gold quickly pulled himself together before replying, "No, no. I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings."

Gathering his books, he handed her the last of hers before carefully pushing himself back up with his cane while trying to make it look as seamless as possible.

A cautious smile skittered across her face as she watched him.

"Professor Gold?"

Gold blinked in confusion a couple times before realizing who this beautiful creature in front of him was.

"Miss French?"

Smiling beautifully, Belle nodded. "I didn't think you remembered me!"

Remember her? How could he forget? She had been one of his absolute favorite students. She was beautiful in mind and spirit in addition to having a pretty face, and always had a smile to spare for everyone, including him. While she didn't quite have the aptitude for potions, she always gave it a valiant effort in his class. Her essays though were always beautifully written and had a unique perspective that he found refreshing.

She was still quite beautiful. He was trying hard to not notice how she now filled her robes out quite nicely. She was wearing a blue dress with light golden trim and matching robes that fit her in a way that showed off her womanly curves just enough.

Out loud, he replied as they began walking, "Of course I remember. I happen to be very good with names you know."

Yeah. That sounded good, or at least, he didn't think it sounded creepy. When she giggled in response, he tried not to breath a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I remember." she said. She shook her head and looked down at her books, "Well, now I do at least."

She glanced over at the potions books in his arms and asked, "Preparing for the coming school year?"

Glancing at her face before looking ahead of him, he replied, "Yes, but not in the way you're probably thinking.

Her face crinkled adorably in confusion, and he continued, "I don't teach potions anymore."

"Wait? Really? You don't teach anymore?"

Gold thought for a second that she sounded slightly sad before he pushed the thought aside for being too ridiculous.

"No, I do still teach," he amended. "I just don't teach potions."

Gold explained how he had taken over the Defense Against the Dark Arts position and that Inally Jefferson was the new potions professor.

"Jefferson?" she said thoughtfully. "He was in Ravenclaw right?"

"Yes," Gold replied. "I believe he was a few years older than yourself."

"Yeah, he was," she said in confirmation. "Wow," she breathed, shaking her head, "I never would have thought of him as a teacher."

Gold nodded in agreement, "I was a little hesitant myself at first, but he proved himself. Not to mention, he definitely makes staff meetings more interesting."

"Well, I look forward to seeing that," Belle smiled.

Gold froze. He blinked at her before responding bewilderedly, "What?"

Belle turned back to look at him, and with a smile, she said, "I'm the new librarian."

"Really?" he blinked. "Since when?" And how come no one told him? He remembered something about the old librarian retiring, but last he heard, there were no decisions on who was going to replace her.

"Oh, I only just found out I got the position a couple of days ago," she said as they started walking again.

Gold hummed in understanding.

They continued to talk as they walked to the front. Belle asked about how he liked teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts versus teaching Potions, and he regaled her with tales of the students mishaps in his class, which occasionally caused her to giggle making him swell slightly in pride every time.

Gold was so entranced by his conversation with her that he barely noticed when they reached the front until it was his turn to pay. Fumbling into his coin purse, he hurriedly grabbed enough galleons to over the cost of his books.

It wasn't until he was following her to the door that Gold realized that their conversation would soon be cut short. Gold racked his brain to try and figure out a way to stretch out their time together, but everything he came up with sounded either pathetic or like an old lecher.

Belle's hand was reaching for the door when she suddenly stopped and turned to him, "I was going to stop by Fortescue's for some ice cream while I was here. I haven't been there in forever. Would you mind joining me?"

Gold was elated as his mind went blissfully blank at her question. She actually wanted to spend more time with him? How could that be? There had to be a reason other than spending with him. She probably just wanted some company so she wasn't there with nothing but students and their haggard parents. Yeah, that was probably it.

Realizing Belle was still staring at him waiting for an answer, Gold quickly nodded and, remembering his manners, quickly reached out to open the door. She beamed at him, crinkling her bright blue eyes adorably, and stepped through. He gulped before following her out.