Hey, thanx for the reviews! Means a lot. I'm going to be trying to update as much as I can. Work is being piled on me at skool. I'm doing the best I can.

Anyway, here's chapter 2!

Chapter Two

Beauty

Hermione Granger was lying in her bed when she heard her father yell inside. She had just woken up and could not understand what he was saying. So, she walked down the stairs and did not see either of her parents in the house. Then, she heard their voices outside, so she went to inspect. And sure enough, there they were. Her mother was kneeling next to a figure, while her father was standing over it. She walked outside to get a closer look. Once she could get a good view, she saw who it was and gasped. "Harry...?"

She watched as her parents and best friend looked at her. Harry smiled at her. She gave a confused one back and rushed over to him, falling next to him on the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"I-I don't know," he looked around confusedly. "I don't remember how I got here, or why I'm...naked." He blushed deeply.

"Harry, does Dumbledore know you're here?" she asked him.

He seemed to think really hard on this question. "I don't think so."

"Where are your glasses?"

"I don't know but I can see clear as day now. I don't know why I can, though."

"Come on, let's get you inside," she said helping him sit up. He adjusted the blanket so that it went around his shoulders and stood up. Hermione led him into the house, followed by Charlotte and Jacob.

"Harry, Jacob will get you some warm clothes," Charlotte said. Seeing her husband's confused look, she gave him a reproving look and he nodded. "I'll be...right back," he said and left the room.

Harry stood there with a far-off look on his face. "Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked placing her hand on his bare shoulder.

"I'm not sure," he answered after a while, still staring into space. "But I have a feeling that something bad has happened."

"Well, we'll worry about that later, Harry. You look very tired. I'm sure you slept long, but you might need more. Once Dad comes back with clothes, you'll change into them and we'll show you the guest room, okay?"

He nodded and gave her a smile.

"Oh," she remembered. "Happy Birthday, Harry!" She hugged him and kissed his cheek, making him blush, not going unnoticed by Charlotte.

"It's your birthday?"

He nodded again.

"Well, I'm going to have to bake a cake."

"No, ma'am, it's okay. You don't have to do that. I don't want to cause trouble."

"Oh, no, you won't, I promise. You are Hermione's friend and very important to us. I admit, finding you naked in my backyard is not the kind of introduction I wanted of you and is very misleading, but I trust the two of you," Hermione's mother said.

"Mum, are you saying what I think you are saying?" she blushed deep red. "Ha-Harry and I are just friends."

"I know, dear."

They couldn't continue the conversation anymore because Jacob came back into the room with a set of clothes for Harry. "Here, Harry, these should fit."

"Thank you, sir," Harry told him taking the clothes from his hands and Hermione showed him where the bathroom was. He decided to take a shower and changed into a pair of blue, plaid pajama bottoms and a plain, white t-shirt.

He dried his hair as best he could and walked out of the bathroom to find his best friend standing there. "You feel better?"

"I think so," he replied sleepily.

"You still can't remember what happened last night?"

He shook his head regretfully. He wanted to nod. He wanted to remember what happened to him.

"That's okay, we'll help you remember. Right now, though, you need to get some sleep. Come on," she led him down the hall to a bedroom that had a nice-looking beige bed and white walls. Harry really didn't pay attention to what the room looked like. He didn't really care. So he just laid down on the bed and Hermione sat down next to him on the bed, covering him up. "You warm enough?" He nodded and she smiled slightly.

"Harry, I'm going to be downstairs probably. I'll be helping Mum in the kitchen. Just come down if you need anything, okay?" He nodded again and he asked, "C-can you stay with me? I know it's sunlight, but I-I don't want to be alone." He looked everywhere but her face. "J-just until I fall asleep," he added quickly.

"Okay," was her answer and she waved her wand. The blinds closed tight and the curtains moved in front of the windows, covering the room in darkness. Hermione stood and made her way to the other side of the bed and got in. She laid down on a pillow right next to his face and she ran her hand through his hair. She watched as he closed his eyes at her touch and began to fall asleep. She began to hum a sweet tune to get him asleep faster.

When she heard his breathing even out, she knew he was asleep. She kissed his forehead and whispered, "Goodnight" even though it was morning and slipped out of the room. When she arrived to the kitchen, she saw her mother making breakfast and her father sitting at the table reading the newspaper.

"Hey, is he asleep?" Charlotte asked when she noticed her daughter in he room. Hermione nodded and sat down at the table.

"Do you think he could stay here for the rest of the summer? I don't think he would like to go back to his relatives."

"Yes, I think that would be lovely. It would be nice to have another face around the house. He could help you with that shed you are supposed to be building, Jacob." Jacob gave her a mock-glare from behind his newspaper and they all laughed.

After a while, Jacob asked, "So, Harry has no idea why he came here?"

Hermione shook her head, "No, he said he did not remember anything. He is not lying either. I know him."

"Is he harmless?"

"Yes, he is harmless. Harry would not hurt an insect...unless it bit someone he loved," she said with a smile. "That's one thing I love about him. He cares about the ones he loves and protects them as much as he can."

Charlotte gave her husband a knowing look, one that he was confused about. "Hermione," she left her post at the stove, turning it off and walking toward her daughter. "You like him, don't you?"

"Of course I do. He's my best friend," she said obviously.

"No, you're in love with him, aren't you?"

Hermione thought about this for a minute. Was she? He was her best friend and cared for her, as she cared for him. She thought Harry was the perfect guy. He was selfless, very good-looking, great wizard, brave, loyal, and courageous. Perhaps she did have a soft spot for him in her heart. Perhaps she was in love with him. "I'm not sure," was her answer. "He is the perfect man, but I don't know if it is love."

Charlotte nodded and began to serve breakfast to her family.

All through breakfast, Hermione's mind could not get off of Harry.

Around two o'clock was when Harry finally woke up and stayed up. Hermione walked in his room to check on him and found him sitting up. "Hey, Harry, how are you feeling?"

He seemed to think about this for a moment. "Amazing, really amazing." He turned on the lamp on the bedside table so he could see her beautiful face.

She nodded. "Well, good." Her hands were behind her back, hiding something. " She brought them around to her front, revealing a well-wrapped rectangle. "Here, Happy Birthday, Harry." She held the gift out in front of him and he took it. Sitting down next to him, she watched as he tore the paper off and uncovered a photo album. On the cover it read, "Harry Potter Through the Years". He opened it and looked at the first page.

The first few pages were of his infancy. "I have been planning this since Fourth Year. When we went to Grimmauld, I asked...Sirius...if he had any baby pictures of you. He had some. So, I used them for this album. I hope you don't mind."

"No, it's okay." He grinned at seeing a picture of himself sitting in the sitting room of Potter Manor, playing with a toy train.

There was a big break in between his childhood, jumping to when they went to Hogwarts. There was a picture of himself and Hermione in the hospital wing. Harry had just woken up from his mini-coma after retrieving the Stone from Quirrel.

"Most of the pictures from Second Year on, Colin took with his camera," she informed.

Harry and Hermione looked through the rest of the album together, seeing Ron and the Weaselys in some with them.

As Harry closed the back cover, he looked at Hermione and said, "Thank you, Hermione. This is the best birthday present anyone can ever give me. I love it."

She blushed as he hugged her and kissed her cheek.

"You're welcome, Harry. Come on, let's go downstairs." She stood from the bed and held out her hand. He looked at it for a moment and then took it, letting her lead him out of the bed and down the stairs to the dining room, where Jacob was already seated at the long table.

"Hey, Harry, Happy Birthday, son."

"Thank you, sir."

"Here, Harry, you sit here," she pulled out the chair at the head of the table, thus releasing his hand, which felt cold to Harry when she slipped it out.

He sat down in the chair and then, Charlott Granger came out from the kitchen with a birthday cake with seventeen lit candles in the top. "Happy Birthday to you..." she began to sing and her family joined in. The cake was placed in front of him. It was covered in white icing with "Happy Birthday Harry" written in red icing.

When they finished singing, Hermione said from behind him, "Make a wish, Harry."

Harry closed his eyes and wished. Then, he inhaled and blew out his candles, blowing all of them out at the same time. The three Grangers clapped and cheered. Harry grinned at them.

"Thank you, all. Really. This has been the best birthday ever...even though it didn't exactly start out great," he told them as Charlotte took the cake from out in front of him to cut out four pieces.

"You're welcome, Harry," Charlotte said.

"No problem, son," Jacob clapped Harry on the back.

Hermione smiled and nodded at him and they ate their pieces of cake.

That night, the four of them sat around in the living room to watch the six o'clock news. Harry and Hermione were sitting on the couch. Harry had his head laying in Hermione's lap as she stroked his hair, which soothed him. Charlotte and Jacob were seated on a loveseat.

They watched a police chase, a reporter at a car crash, and a bank robbery. But it were the last few reports that caught the Grangers' and especially Harry's eyes.

"A family of three was found dead today in their homes. But the strange thing is that the killer could have superhuman powers. Vernon Dursley was found dead in the hallway with an indention in the wall. His wife, Petunia, was found at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck. Their son, Dudley, was throw through a wall it looks like from upstairs in the hallway and landed by the cupboard under the stairs. The killer then ran into the spare bedroom and jumped through the window."

Harry sat up and gasped. "That's the Dursleys," he told Hermione. "They're dead," he said disbelievingly.

"Who are they?" Charlotte asked.

"Harry's relatives," her daughter answered.

"Is that where you were before you came here?" asked Jacob.

Harry nodded slowly.

"I think whatever attacked them has something to do with how you got here naked with no memory of how or why and those missing hours," Hermione said. "It was in your room, Harry. It could have attacked you." She widened her eyes and looked close to tears.

"But it didn't," he told her darkly.

"Delilah has a story on a creature sighting in West Kent that could link to the Dursley murder."

"Yes, I have here an eyewitness who said they spotted a large creature running through a field."

"He had black, rough skin and spikes on his arms and he was about eight feet tall. He was a Beast."

Harry could barely pay attention to the rest of the news. He stood up and walked to the archway into the room and leaned on the wall. Hermione noticed his disappearance and stood up and walked over to him. "Harry...? Are you okay?"

"My things. My wand. My trunk. Hedwig. Its all still over there. I need them."

"Right, I'll get them," she said and Disapparated.

A few minutes later, she Apparated back with his wand, his trunk, and Hedwig's cage. She gave him his wand. "Thank you, Hermione."

She nodded and he brought his trunk upstairs to the guest room. He set Hedwig's cage on the desk and let her out, opening the window so she could go hunting.

He sat down on the bed and stared into space, thinking. He was interrupted a second later by the door opening. Hermione stood there looking at him. "Hey, 'Mione," he said.

"Hey," she replied and walked over to him. She crawled on the bed behind him and put her knees on either side of him so that she was kneeling behind him. "You okay, Harry?"

He nodded and she began to massage his shoulders. His eyes rolled back into his head at her touch and he let his head droop, giving her more access.

"I just...I just want this to be over. I want to be free of all of this. I'm tired of people dying because of me," he told her.

She paused her massaging and looked around to his front to look at him. "Harry, nobody died because of you."

"Yes. They. Did," he said through gritted teeth. "Sirius died because I didn't listen to you. I was stupid. Cedric died because I told him to gab the cup. I saw Wormtail. I could have helped him. You...you almost died because I was stupid. When I saw you get hit with that curse, I lost it. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I was so angry. I wanted to kill Dolohov. I wanted to murder someone. But when Neville told me he felt a pulse, I felt elation. Happiness. I was happy you were going to be okay."

Hermione smiled and kissed his cheek. "Oh, Harry, it wasn't your fault. I promise you. I chose to follow you there. I got myself into that trouble. I wanted to help you. I should have seen it coming anyway." She went back to massaging his shoulders.

"You-you're really good at this," he said smiling.

She chuckled a bit. "Thanks. My Mum used to do this to me when I was younger and had nightmares. It would soothe me and calm me down."

After a while, Harry asked, "Hey, Hermione...?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you...do you think they will find that creature?"

She thought about this for a minute. "I don't know, Harry. It's tough to say. All I know is that I do not want to cross his path."

That night, Harry began to get that urge again. The urge to release the darkness inside of him. He felt his eyes change and his clothes get tighter. He remembered they were not his clothes so he hurriedly took them off in fear of ruining Mr. Granger's clothes. He laid there naked and changing into the Beast.

He stood up and opened the window and jumped down to the ground. He landed like a cat on his feet and looked around. Seeing nothing, he ran into the woods behind Hermione's house to complete his transformation.

The rough, black skin grew and he felt the spikes on his face and arms. He panted as his voice changed and he roared loudly.

His vision went black.

The Beast had the sudden urge to kill. It ran through the forest as fast as it could to find a victim. It found one. It was a man trying to break and enter a house. He was in all black and had a ski mask covering his face. The Beast ran over to him and grabbed him, throwing him across the backyard. The man screamed as it got closer and closer to him. "What are you? Why are you doing this?"

"Beast angry," it responded and crushed the intruder's bones, instantly killing him.

The Beast felt the pleasure of killing and smiled, showing its abnormal teeth.

The Beast then moved on to its next victim of the night, while its Beauty lay in her bed sleeping soundlessly.

TBC...

Well, there's chapter 2. Hope you liked it.

Pleez review!

DREWHHR