Title: Beauty and the Beast

Author: Mjade

Summary: Draco/Mione fic. One year after graduation. Ron and Harry go exploring and when they don't come back Hermione begins to worry. I know the title is corny but I named it that because the plot line is based on that.

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and Walt Disney own Beauty and the Beast, the animation.

Rating: PG/Romance

Author's Note: Thanks to those who reviewed chapter 7. ~ The Charmed One, Angel, and Saf- Thanks for the encouragement! ~tk_dude-Yes, it would be great when Hermione does, 'eventually', fall for Draco!~ someone- like I kept saying: sorry it has to be corny. A light bulb just went on above my head and I landed with this idea. Besides, Hermione and Belle both like books.~ Icy Stormz- Thanks, I'm trying to put more characters from Harry Potter into this story.~ Draco's Queen, Darkangel009988, and DarkIllusion- I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! Keep reading! This chapter includes the song "Be Our Guest!" Need I say more?

With Draco Malfoy retreating to the west wing and locking himself in his misery, and Hermione Granger in her room refusing to talk or have to do anything with her longtime enemy-- the only place that seemed to be living in an almost empty, dark mansion, was the kitchen.



"I work and I slave all day, and for what? A culinary masterpiece gone to waste!" An elf with thick eyebrows and a chef's hat complained. He began looking over at the pots and pans that he already stopped re-heating.

"Oh, stop your grumbling. It's been a long night for all of us," Mrs. Potts said as she finished putting Chip to sleep.

"Well, if you ask me, she was just being stubborn," Cogsworth joined in. "Yes, Master Malfoy's temper was rising but he did say 'please'."

"But it's very hard to get rid of a high school grudge and the Master is not helping if he can't control that temper of his. If Hermione sees that Master Malfoy has a heart, then he may be able to break the sp--" Mrs. Potts stopped abruptly when Cogsworth said, "Splendid to see you up and about, mademoiselle! I am Cogsworth-- and this * ahem * is Lumiere," He finishes, annoyed by the fact that Lumiere butted in to kiss Hermione's hand.

"Enchante, cherie!" Lumiere says as Cogsworth continues, "If there is anything. . ." finally shoving Lumiere away. ". . . anything we can do to make your stay here more comfortable—Ouch!!" Cogsworth glares at Lumiere who burned him with a candlestick. Hermione relaxes more when she finds out she's among a pleasant crowd. "I really don't want to add more work for you, but. . .I am a little hungry."

"You here that? She's hungry!" Mrs. Potts tells the elf by the stove. "Start the fire and bring out the silverware!"

"Remember what the Master said," Cogsworth whispers to Mrs. Potts who ignores him.

"I'm not going to let the poor child go hungry!" Mrs. Potts replies.

"Oh, all right," Cogsworth said, after giving in. " A glass of water, crust of bread, and--"

Lumiere rolls his eyes and cuts in, "Cogsworth, I am surprised at you. She's not our prisoner. She's our guest! We must make her feel welcome here!" He then ushers a smiling Hermione into the great dining room.

"All right! Just keep it down. If the master finds out about this, it will be our necks," Cogsworth says, and looks around to make sure the Master isn't in sight.

"Yes, yes, of course. But what is dinner, without a little music?" Lumiere enters making the door swing and hit Cogsworth who protests, "MUSIC?!"

***



The dining room consisted of a long table, where Hermione stood at the head, and spotlight was shown on Lumiere.

"Ma chere, mademoiselle. It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that I welcome you tonight. And now, we invite you to relax. Let us pull up a chair as the house elves proudly present...your dinner!" Lumiere grinned at her and Hermione smiled back at him as she sat down.

" Be our guest, be our guest ! Put our service to the test, tie your napkin 'round your neck, cherie and we provide the rest!" More house elves served dishes as Lumiere sang. "Soup du jour, hot hors d'oeuvres !Why we only live to serve! Try the gray stuff, it's delicious! Don't believe me? Taste the dishes!" One house elf offers Hermione a dish of hors d'oeuvres and she tasted each of them happily. * I don't believe this! This is amazing! How did Malfoy managed to find such entertaining house elves? * Hermione thought, but she decided to push the name 'Malfoy' out of her mind for a while.

"We can sing, We can dance! After all, Miss, this is France! And a dinner here is never second best!" Lumiere continued as a chandelier appeared shedding light around the dining room. Surely, it couldn't beat the lights and the ceiling of the Great Hall in Hogwarts but the chandelier was so beautiful that it seemed priceless. Hermione gasped.

"Go on unfold your menu, take a glance and then you'll be our guest, be our guest, be our guest!" Lumiere sings as the house elves presented Hermione with more French dishes. Cogsworth finally rushed in through the doors his eyes wide while trying to get everybody to shut up, but he was left without success. He went in front of some elves singing "And it's all in perfect taste that you can bet!" waving his arms widely but he was defeated when everyone sang, "Come on and lift your glass, you've won your own free pass to be our guest, be our guest, be our guest! If you're stressed, it's fine dining we suggest! Be our guest, be our guest, be our guest!" Everyone leaves (except Cogsworth) and lights dim as a blue spotlight is centered on Cogsworth. When he is finally aware what's happening, he inches away but Lumiere holds him in place with Cogsworth's face plastered with a silly smile.

"Life is so unnerving, for a servant who's not serving," Lumiere sings sadly, "He's not whole without soul to look upon." Lumiere holds on to Cogsworth who struggles to get loose, "Get off!"

"Ah, those good old days when we were useful--suddenly, those good old days are gone," Lumiere continues then he pauses as if reminiscing on a childhood memory. White dust suddenly fell on Lumiere and Cogsworth. * Snow? * Cogsworth thought, but looked around to see a house elf on top of another house elf shaking salt around them. Cogsworth sighs. Lumiere continues, "Ten years we've been rusting needing so much more than dusting, needing exercise, a chance to use our skills! Most days we just lay around the castle, flabby fat and lazy, you walked in, and OOPSIE-DAISY!" Lights went back again and the rest of the house-elves came back and danced again. All house elves sang again, "She's our guest! She's our guest! She's our guest! Be our guest! Be our guest! Our command is your request! It's ten years since we had anybody here and we're obsessed!"

Cogsworth defeated and ignored by almost all the house elves drops his hands giving in. At that moment, he stops and starts enjoying the music as everybody sings, with Lumiere leading them, "One by one! 'Till you shout 'Enough, I'm done!' Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest! Tonight you'll prop your feet up, but first let's eat up! Be our guest! Be our guest! Be our guest! Please Be—our—guest!" The song (and dinner) ended with silverware flying across the table and caught by other elves, plates being passed around and the chandelier being lifted up again and Lumiere slides in and sends Cogsworth flying out of the table.

Hermione was just amazed. She recalled the last time she had a great feast and it was in her last and final day in Hogwarts, but this was something else. "Bravo, that was terrific! Why, you are the most talented and entertaining house elves I have ever met. I enjoyed the dinner very much! Bravo! That was wonderful!" Hermione laughed, and leaned back in her chair.

"Thank you, thank you, mademoiselle. Yes, good show, wasn't it everyone?" Cogsworth said smugly, as he shooed everyone away from the dining room. "Well, look at the time. Off to bed, mademoiselle!"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly go to bed now. I'd like to look around if you don't mind," Hermione said.

"Maybe you'd like a tour?" Lumiere offered, but Cogsworth would not have it.

"Wait a second, I don't think that's a very good idea," he then whispered to Lumiere, "We can't let her go poking around in certain places, if you know what I mean."

Hermione caught that last sentence and that just made her more curious. "Perhaps you could take me. I'm sure you know everything there is to know about the 'Malfoy's Mansion'.," Hermione said, emphasizing the last word.

"Well, yes, actually I do," Cogsworth said, "Most of the places anyway, but some rooms are restricted."

"I was Head girl in my seventh year at school; if there is anyone who'd cause a problem, I'd be the first to know about it."



***



The two house elves and Hermione walked through the long hallways up a couple of steps. Hermione grew tired of Cogsworth's lecturing and began to be lost in her thoughts.

*I wonder what happened to Malfoy. Awe, I hope I didn't make him cry.* She thinks sarcastically. Suddenly she felt a sick feeling in her stomach. *No matter how much I hate him, I never really got to start a conversation with him. Argh! Did we have to go through an argument the moment I saw him? Malfoy's sneer and drawling voice didn't change much— still he looked older and more matured. He still had that silvery blond hair that made him unique from everyone, but I couldn't help noticing pain through his cold gray eyes. And what happened to his father? Lucius Malfoy, worst death eater of the time of Voldemort? Malfoy could probably be in the west wing. There was just one problem, I didn't know where the west wing was. *

As she walked further down the hallway, she came upon a grand staircase. She let her curiosity lead her as she stepped on the stairs.

"Now, if I may draw your attention to the flying buttresses above the. . . mademoiselle? Mademoiselle!" Cogsworth and Lumiere ran after Hermione and stopped right in front of her.

"What's up there?" Hermione asked, trying to sound innocent.

Cogsworth wished he didn't have to answer that question. "Where? Oh, up there! Ah, um. . .nothing! Absolutely nothing of interest at all in the west wing. Ugh! Dusty, dull, very boring!"

A mischievous smile formed on Hermione's mouth, "Oh , so that's Malfoy's forbidden place."

Lumiere who had been nodding with Cogsworth suddenly glared at him. "Nice going."

"I wonder what he's hiding up there?" Hermione said.

"Hiding? Master Malfoy is not hiding anything!"

"Well if 'Master Malfoy' is not hiding anything, then it wouldn't be forbidden," She said 'Master Malfoy' in a sarcastic tone and progress upwards but was blocked again by Cogsworth and Lumiere.

" Perhaps mademoiselle would like to see something else. We have exquisite tapestries dating all the way back to--"

"Maybe some other time," Hermione said, knowing she had seen enough tapestries to last her a lifetime.

"How about the gardens, or the library perhaps," Lumiere offered. That, fortunately for them, made Hermione stop.

"You have a library?" Finally, somewhere where she can relax, and if this was Malfoy's library, she could certainly read about charms, potions, and anything from the wizard and witch world.

"Oh, yes!"

"With books!"

"Gads of books!"

"Mountains of books!"

"More books than you'll ever be able to read in a lifetime! Books on every subject ever studied, books from transfiguration to herbology, by every author who ever set pen to paper!" Cogsworth and Lumiere headed for the library, Hermione begins to follow but her minds wander off back to Malfoy. She looks up, and starts climbing the stairs.



***



At the top of the stairs, Hermione begins to sense an eerie feeling. Something in the back of her mind was saying * Stop! Go back! * but the voice that overtook her was * Go on! Find out what's been going on with Draco Malfoy! *. Hermione takes a deep breath and pulls on the handles shaped as gargoyles. She opened the doors into the forbidden room and gasped. Broken chairs and shredded tapestries were scattered on the floor. No burning light seemed awake and the frost ghostly wind made Hermione shiver. She saw a torn up picture and tried to piece it together. It seemed to be Malfoy's family from what she could make out. Lucius Malfoy's face was the most torn up that she could vaguely see his head. * What happened here? What has happened to Malfoy?* She walked through the dark room and found a frame of a mirror hanging on the wall but the glass was shattered on the floor. Hermione carefully avoided the glass and pushed some dusty curtains away from her face. The balconies doors were wide open. * No wonder why it's freezing in here! * She went over and reached for one of the doors handles— a dark shadow made her freeze in terror. Standing right in front of her was Malfoy giving her a deathly glare.

"Why did you come here?" He growled.

She backed away slightly, "I'm sorry, I--"

"I warned you, Granger, never to come here!" Malfoy said, the anger rising in his voice.

"I didn't mean any harm, Malfoy. I just--"

"You just wanted to see if there is anything wrong with me? Come on mudblood, you're the know it all! You should figure out your self! You tell me! And since when do you care for Harry Potter's favorite death eater?" He spat out the last sentence.

"Malfoy, I was worried! But I should have known you had no feelings or heart! You're becoming the beast you're dreadful father was! Well, if you wanted to follow in his footsteps—you're doing an excellent job! Congratulations!" Hermione said sharply.

The topic about Malfoy following in his father's footsteps made him throw a chair across the room. Hermione gasped.

"GET OUT!!!" He hollered harshly at her. "GET OUT, YOU DIRTY MUDBLOOD!!!"

Hermione fled and slammed the door.



A/N: Sorry it took so long to upload, but hey I've got school and already a bunch of homework. At least this was the longest chapter I've written so far. Hope it satisfies y'all! So if you enjoyed it, you must REVIEW!!! Oh and I forgot to tell you I just watched Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" last weekend and the lines sort of came back to me.



Today was great. I was talking about how hot Sean Biggerstaff (Oliver Wood in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) looked in the movie before x'mas break and my friend gave me a portrait she drew herself (she's and excellent artist, btw) as a Christmas present. Damn! I don't have a scanner!