Kristin smoothed out the extremely pink outfit Madame Femme Gras picked out for her. She peered into the dining room to see the Beast just sitting there, waiting. She twisted her hands, wondering whether she should go in or not. It was very awkward after last night. In less than twenty-four hours, this Beast had gone from a monster to almost human. How was she supposed to react?

Well, she figured keeping him waiting wasn't a good way to react, so she walked into the dining room. "Good morning," she said, slightly nervous. The Beast looked up and smiled at her—at least, she thought it was a smile. After all, with those fangs, who could honestly tell?

Then he shocked her by standing and pulling out her chair, like a gentleman. "Thank you," she said, smiling. "Ever since last night—this morning—you've been a walking, talking surprise!"

The Beast sat down and looked her over. "I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not," he commented.

Kristin smiled down into the porridge placed in front of her. "A walking, talking good surprise," she mended.

"Ah, a compliment. Well you have pulled some surprises of your own," he responded. "Like returning back here."

"Well, I couldn't leave you out in the woods, injured," Kristin said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. "So, how's your breakfast?" she asked, trying to break into her bowl of porridge.

"A bit overcooked. How about yours?" he inquired, turning his bowl upside down and marveled at the fact that gravity hadn't taken hold of his breakfast yet.

"The same," she replied. They stared at each other before both yelling, "MRS. WEASLEY!"

The teapot came bustling out of the kitchen, huffing at the fact they both had called her. "What is the matter, you two?" she asked, a bit snippety. The late night had affected all but the two at the table.

"Um, the porridge is a bit overcooked," the Beast said, banging his spoon against his breakfast to prove his point. "If I were to leave a potion on as long as the cook obviously left this porridge on for, the dungeon would be no more!"

Mrs. Weasley stood aghast at the breakfast laid before the two. "I'll speak to the cook," she said. "But for now, I'm sure this will make it edible." She hopped over and poured some of her hot water into the bowls. "Bon appetit!" she called, returning to the table.

Kristin swirled her porridge after Mrs. Weasley had left. "Well, this certainly looks like an improvement," she said. She cautiously tried a spoonful. "And it taste is an improvement as well." The Beast smiled (she now assumed that was smile) again and the two dug in.


Severus sat snuggled in his favorite chair in front of roaring fire. A freak snowstorm had hit right after he and Kristin had returned to the castle, and it still hadn't calmed down. He heard footsteps sounding in the door and knew it had to be her coming to his room. He decided that a little bonding time was needed between the two.

Kristin walked in, still in that bright pink dress she wore to breakfast. "Is there room in front of the fire for two?" she asked, hands clasped behind her back. He motioned to the seat next to him. "So," she said, a bit nervously.

"So I thought we needed to get to know each other," Severus said. "After all, it looks like the weather is going to trap us inside here for awhile."

"I can do that," Kristin agreed. "So, do you have a name or am I going to have to keep calling you 'Beast?'" she asked, sweetly.

Severus relished this question. He had wanted to tell her but had been advised against it at the time, but he was now asked directly. "Don't laugh, but it's Severus."

Kristin's eyebrow went up. "Severus? Wow, pureblood wizard family?"

"How could you tell?" Severus was curious to know.

"The odd name. It seems to be some sort of tradition among pureblood wizards and witches," Kristin asked. "Okay, you're turn to ask me a question."

"So, are you a pureblood?" Severus asked, interest now increased with Kristin's observation.

She shook her head. "No, my dad is though. But my mother was a muggle-born witch. So I'm one-half," she said. "I hope that doesn't change your opinion of me."

"How could it?" Severus asked. "Your turn again."

"Goody!" Kristin said, suddenly pepped up. Severus smiled, despite his best effort not to. "This is easy: Were you always a beast? If you don't mind me asking."

Severus inwardly flinched. The one question he couldn't give an honest answer to. But he came up with a clever ruse. "A transformation gone wrong," he said, a hint of sadness in his voice. Kristin patted his knee in sympathy. "But," he continued, "I believe it is my turn. So, I unfortunately met your father. How about your mother?"

Kristin frowned and fiddled with her locket, which Severus noticed was gold, not silver like Harmony had said. "She died—in the epidemic outbreak a few years ago," Kristin explained. "So it's been me and Papa for a while now, especially since we moved to Hogsmeade. We moved there because Papa couldn't remain in our old house with all its memory of Mama."

"I lost my mother too," Severus said, glad he had someone else who could also commiserate with him. "In the first break of the epidemic. Her and my little brother," Severus said. Kristin placed her hand on his arm. "After that it was Father, Mrs. Weasley and me. Mother had done most of my raising," Severus found himself explaining, "so Father had no idea what he was doing and left me to my own devices with Mrs. Weasley's maternal eye on me."

Kristin was shocked to find out she actually had something in common with her captor—no, her host. He had sort of set her free the night before. She knew he had expected her to run and never look back, not to care for him back at the castle. But as he fainted, he had said he had ran out to make sure she wasn't seriously hurt—what monster would do that? She excused herself from the room and decided to go for a walk around the castle.


The next day, Kristin awoke to sunshine pouring through her windows. She had taken it upon herself the night before to magic the windows clean. She threw back the curtains to find that the storm had stopped and fresh, white, powdery snow lay all around the castle.

Mrs. Weasley brought breakfast to Kristin, saying that Severus had wanted to sleep late that day. Kristin didn't mind and nearly pounced on the bacon and eggs the teapot had brought up on her speeding tea tray. Madame Femme Gras tisked at Kristin's eating that morning, scolding, "You have to breath sometime, my dear. Besides, wouldn't you wish to eat at a normal pace and listen to be sing a famous aria?" This alone caused Kristin to eat faster.

Madame Femme Gras, not noticing the fact Kristin sped up when her singing was mentioned, offered to give Kristin a nice warm dress. "As long as it is not pink!" Kristin argued back, remembering the dress the wardrobe had squeezed her into the day before. This time, the Madame took out a beautiful blue wool dress, perfect for snow time weather. Kristin changed into it, also putting on a new cloak given to her by Severus the day before since the werewolves had ripped hers and it had been used as his first bandage. She pulled gloves over her hands, ran for the door and immediately jumped into the snow, sinking in down to her waist.


James and Remus hopped down the room, after being summoned by their master. "Remember the time we could just apparate around this caste?" James wheezed out as they made the journey.

"I barely remember having legs let alone doing magic," Remus responded. "Can we please slow down a bit?"

"Everyday life as it used to be becomes fuzzier and fuzzier. In the beginning I could vividly remember Lily's red hair, her scent, how she felt when I held her. I've lost that! It just seems like a good dream from long ago," James continued.

Remus had to agree. "I sometimes dream we are back in our human form. But everyone is a blur. Harmony's figure and her beautiful golden hair is all outlined in black fuzz. All faces—yours, Lily's, Mrs. Weasley's, Billy's, even mine—are all blacked out! It aggravates me that I can't even remember what I look like!"

James and Remus reached the room, but didn't enter right away. "We will break this curse one day," James said, trying to boost confidence in himself and his friend.

"How?" Remus asked, shaking his head. "Mrs. Weasley has told us that the rose is starting to wilt! His time is running out!"

"Hope, my friend, hope! If we lose hope, we lose any chance!" James said. "Now, let's go in before he gets angry."


After Severus awoke that day, he decided to go stand on a balcony, mostly because he had overheard Lily and James talking about Kristin being outside. Sure enough, the woman was out there in the snow, just sitting on it, since she couldn't walk anywhere without sinking. He watched her lay back and make a snow angel, smiling like a little kid.

Remus and James finally entered the room. Severus turned and motioned them forward. His two subjects hopped onto the balcony rail beside him. "Look at her," he said to them. "She had the option of leaving me, but she came back to the castle. I have to thank her. Any ideas?" he asked.

Remus' and James' mouths dropped open. Each was rendered speechless and it took a couple of minutes before Remus could stutter something out. "But, why us, sire?" he asked.

"Because you two have the experience," Severus said. "Remus, you have Harmony. James, you and Lily—and the fact you are the head of household flirting. I just need your help in this matter. So, what do I do?"

Remus hopped forward. "Well, there are many different methods for wooing a young woman. To each his own. There are the customary flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep…"

"My friend, if I haven't seen you with Harmony, I would say you didn't have a romantic bone in your body," James said, aghast. "You could do what Mr. Sounds Unromantic did and take her for a walk. You could do what Lily and I did…"

"Get locked in a closet and start snogging from the sexual tension?" Remus inserted with a snort.

"No, what we did after—you know, the romantic midnight ride with the carriage I took her on."

"That was you?" Severus asked, remembering that morning when he discovered the carriage had been removed. "But that doesn't matter now. How do I thank Kristin?"

"Well, she isn't the average woman," James said, in deep thought. "It would have to be something special for her."

"Do you take me for some sort of an idiot? Of course I know that!" Severus said through clenched teeth.

"Wait, her eyes lit up when we mentioned our library," Remus remembered. "She seemed interested—of course, her curiosity won out that interest, but there was still that interest."

"That's it then!" James said, excitedly. "You show her the library and give her free use of it for her entire stay!" he told Severus.

"She could have it. Merlin knows it's been a long time since I've been there. And I can't read books anymore, these claws tear the pages!" Severus threw down his paws in disgust. "I've had to do my potions from memory. But if she will accept the library, she can have it to herself."

"Well, sire, maybe you don't need as much help in this field as you think," James commented. "Maybe you could even give Remus some advice."

"How dare you! I do NOT need advice. My relationship with Harmony is just fine, thank you very much!"

"Well lately, it seems you two have hit a snag!"

"And you can't say that even yours and Lily's hasn't hit a rut recently!"

"What are you implying?"

"I think," Severus said, stepping in, "he's just voicing his frustration as are you, James. I've placed your relationships into this situation with my selfishness." He became grave. "And I'm sorry. I really am."


Kristin just laid there in the snow for a little while longer, not wanting to get up, when she felt a shadow pass over her. Opening up her eyes, she saw Severus standing over her. "Hello. Care to join in the fun?" she asked him. He didn't answer her, just staring at her with this sneaky look.

Kristin stood up, suddenly nervous. "What are you thinking of?" she asked, suspicious. Severus still didn't answer her but withdrew his hand from behind his back. Before she could blink, Kristin was covered in snow. "HEY!"

Kristin tossed back another snowball. The two began a snowball fight, complete with separate forts, that lasted for over an hour. When the two were finished, they walked back in dripping wet. Mrs. Weasley squealed in horror. "Severus, go to the dungeon and dry off in front of a fire. Kristin, you come with me and we will get you into a hot bath." The two suppressed their giggles and followed the raging teapot.