A/N: Whoa, ten reviews on the first chapter, not bad at all! My thanks to TrudiRose (and Caroline!), nikkibelle18, Remus'Fiance, LaFemmeDarla, Lyndsi05, Knux girl, shortstef, bellamegs, BookRose, and Imaginarylady. Personal notes - Remus: Yes, Fairly Odd doesbeautiful stories! AndI would so read your one shot; go for it!; Lyndsi: Good job for picking up on the lillies and roses; don't know how long this will be, but I think it will be a short story.

Chapter Two

The next morning, Cogsworth awoke feeling literally like a new man. Sleep normally worked wonders on his nerves, true, but this was a different, admittedly better sensation. With a pleasant yawn, he took a look around the room, only to be met by darkness. Only a tiny bit of light was coming from his window where the curtains had been closed. By whom, he had no idea; he never closed his curtains before bedtime. Nonetheless, he rose from his bed, reveling in how suddenly light he felt, and walked to the window to draw them open.

There, much better, he thought happily. But when he turned around, he found himself standing not in his room, but Lumière's. What in the world was he doing in here? Was this one of Lumière's ridiculous jokes? If it was, Cogsworth was certainly far from amused. He headed for the door, with the intent of giving that infantile jester a stern talking to!

But when he reached for the doorknob...he stopped, startled. The hand that reached out was not his own. In place of his own square hand and short stubby digits, he saw a slender appendage with long, tapered fingers.

He closed his eyes for a moment, squeezing them tightly shut; he must have been dreaming. But when he opened them again, nothing about the scenery had changed. He gently pinched himself on the arm, wincing in pain as he still found himself in a strange reality, but in horror, his gaze traveled upward along his arm…no, not his arm, but someone else's.

Racing to the mirror on a dresser, Cogsworth's eyes widened fearfully at what he found. Yes, he may have gone to sleep in his own body…but he had risen in Lumière's! He opened his mouth to scream but no sound had come out. Honestly, it had to be for the best. If he told anyone that he was trapped inside Lumière's body, they would certainly think him insane; he could hardly believe it himself! Maybe that was it: he had gone crazy. All of his hard work must have finally caught up to him! He had at last lost his mind, condemned to live out the rest of his days in the asylum also known as Lumière!

Get a hold of yourself, old boy, Cogsworth thought, trying desperately to calm down and solve this maddening mystery. There had to be a logical answer to all of this, much as he doubted there was one. Could it possibly have been another enchantment? He, like everyone else in the castle, was certainly not immune to such magic, after all. Whatever it was, he was determined to find out. Yes, that was it: find out what creature had caused this little mix up and force it to return him to his own body!

But then, another terrifying thought struck him: whose mind was currently residing in his body? When he returned to his room, who would he truly find waiting…?

Oh Lord, no; please not him, Cogsworth thought in horrified realization as he glanced at his reflection again. Of all people, it would not, could not have been Lumière! But as desperately as he prayed for it not to be so, he knew it was the only possibility. If he was in Lumière's body, then Lumière had to be in his.

There was only one way to find out then. Quietly, Cogsworth opened the door slightly, peeking out into the hallway. With his luck so far today, this would be the one morning that someone other than him would be walking about at this hour, and the last thing he wanted now was to speak to anyone. Thankfully, he was alone, and did not encounter anyone on the way to his room.

Upon reaching his door, Cogsworth hesitated for a moment, still not quite certain what exactly to say when he woke Lumière. Turning the doorknob slowly, stalling for as long as possible, he quietly tiptoed inside. Sure enough, there was his body, lying there on the bed with the covers pulled over his, or technically, Lumière's head.

"Lumière? Lumière, wake up," Cogsworth whispered, frowning as even a whisper did not disguise the hint of a French accent in his new voice. "Lumière, this is urgent; wake up!"

The covers moved slightly, and Cogsworth heard his true voice murmur, "Babette, ma plumette, it is too early."

"Lumière, wake up now!" Cogsworth hissed, pulling back the covers. Heavens, it was so eerie looking at himself like this without the assistance of a mirror!

Lumière, however, growled angrily as he reached for the covers and grew frustrated when he had to reach so far to get them. That did it, no more snatching pastry from the kitchen before bed.

When Cogsworth persisted in his battle to wake him, still trying to hide his voice, Lumière finally sat up, moaning at the effort it took to do so. The pastry must have caused more trouble than he thought if moving into an upright position was difficult.

"When will you learn that you are the only one who wakes up this early?" Lumière asked, knowing that his visitor had to be Cogsworth at such an ungodly hour.

"Believe me, you must wake up now," Cogsworth replied, stumbling a bit over his newfound voice. "Although, when you see why, you may want to hide in bed again."

Lumière blinked a bit, confused. "Why do you sound so much like…?" Before he reached "me," his sentence had completely trailed into silence as he realized that his voice was not his own. Fully opening his eyes, Lumière looked down at his body, gasping in fear and jumping from the bed as if he had seen a rat scurry across the floor. When he looked at Cogsworth, he too had the odd, puzzled feeling that he was merely looking at his reflection.

Sensing a scream about to erupt, Cogsworth clamped a hand over Lumière's mouth before it did.

"I have no idea how this happened, but it is not a dream," he said, answering the unasked question. "All I know is that I too went to sleep as me and woke up like…this!"

Lumière scowled as Cogsworth disgustedly gestured to his new form.

"Finding out that I have become you is not a pleasant wake up call either," he replied, turning to a mirror. "I mean look at me! I am old, large, short…I am you!"

"I beg your pardon!" Cogsworth cried indignantly.

"You heard me!" Lumière said, unapologetic. "Really, mon ami, I know you said you would ask the master if we could switch places, but surely this was not what you had in mind!"

"Far from it," Cogsworth whined fretfully as he stood beside Lumière in front of the mirror, staring at it with abject horror. "Why did this have to happen today of all possible days? With the gala tonight, this is the worst time for some blasted, magical…thing to play games!"

In response to his words, the pair heard a giggle coming from the window, turning to find the imp, sitting on the sill and looking on with amusement.

"Just a 'thing'?" she asked. "Try an imp to be more exact."

Cogsworth glared at her angrily. "I will venture to ask, madam, if this is your doing?"

"How bright we are!" the imp cried, tauntingly impressed. "Perhaps my sister should have turned you into the candelabra." She broke into a fit of laughter as she added, "Although, in that body now, I guess she did!"

Lumière spoke up, thinking he had pieced the puzzle together. "Your sister? Then this is the enchantress' doing?"

"No, he is right," she answered proudly. "This is indeed my lovely work; my sister had absolutely nothing to do with it."

"All right, we have solved that mystery then," Cogsworth said impatiently, not wanting to waste anymore time. "Why have you done this to us?"

The imp shrugged nonchalantly. "Why not?"

Cogsworth and Lumière paused for a moment as if there was more for her to say, but she was silent.

"'Why not?'" Lumière asked. "That is all you have to say? You did this…for your own delight? Out of spite even?"

"'Spite' is such a strong word!" the imp laughed indignantly. "I think I much prefer 'help'."

"Help?" Cogsworth asked, slowly, deadly. "Help, you say? How in the world is this situation supposed to help us?"

The imp grinned mischievously. "You both said that you would easily switch places with each other, right?"

"Not to such extremes!" Lumière answered, emphasizing his previous point.

"Ah, but you must in order to fully understand each other," she said. "That is the only way to break the enchantment, after all."

"What do you mean?" Cogsworth asked, thoroughly confused.

"Only when you both have come to a true, mutual understanding of one another's lives will the spell be lifted."

"In other words, we are trapped like this forever," Lumière muttered sarcastically.

The imp's grin broadened. "I must say, this is going to be very interesting," she said, delighted. "Good luck, boys, and have fun!"

And with another hysterically giddy laugh, the imp vanished, leaving the pair alone once again.

Cogsworth sighed, even feeling his headaches in Lumière's body.

"Well that was certainly far from helpful," he said, bitterly. "I hate to admit it, but what's done is done, I suppose. All that is left is to break this confounded curse."

Lumière stared at him blankly. "You, of all people, are just going to sit here and be rational about this while I think you are out of your mind? She did a better job at switching us than I thought then; at least no one will notice anything is out of the ordinary."

Cogsworth reflected his expression. "Who said anything about everyone else seeing us right now?"

Lumière grinned; there was the paranoid, high-strung Cogsworth he knew so well, even if the man was in his body.

"I think they will notice that we have vanished, especially if the spell lasts for a few days or months even," he said.

Cogsworth cringed at the very thought, causing Lumière to scowl at him.

"Stop making those faces," he said disgustedly. "The last thing I need is my face frozen into one of your frowns."

Cogsworth glared at him. "I could say the same for your ridiculous smirks."

"At least my smirks will do your face some good," Lumière countered, smirking just to be a bother.

Cogsworth gradually increased his glare to the status of grimace. "Take that look off my face this instant, or I shall make yours frown on purpose."

Lumière looked him over, as if debating. "You would not dare…"

"Watch me."

Hesitantly, hating to give into Cogsworth of all people, Lumière wiped the look from his face.

"Right then," Cogsworth said, nodding at his victory. "You did have a point regarding everyone else. We can not hide from them, lest they begin to question our disappearance."

Lumière nodded. "So we simply…be each other until we break the spell, no matter what how long it takes?"

"Precisely, it can not be as difficult as it sounds," Cogsworth said. "I already understand how to be you."

Lumière raised an eyebrow. "I know I will regret asking, but I will. What do you mean by that?"

"Well it is simple! All I have to do really is laze about all day and…" Cogsworth turned bright red before he continued. "And perhaps wink at a few of the young ladies on staff. If I must compliment them, however, I, unlike you, shall at least be courteous and unassuming."

Lumière scowled at him until a look of realization struck at Cogsworth's answer. A threatening glare formed over his features instantly.

"If you even look at her twice, I do not care if you are in my body or not," he warned, dangerously. "I will have no doubts about giving you two black eyes."

"Her?" Cogsworth asked, not understanding.

"Babette obviously will not give me a second glance."

Cogsworth started at him wide-eyed nervously. "Oh, no; no no no! Do not let that woman anywhere near me!"

"Well what did you expect?" Lumière asked, gesturing to Cogsworth's appearance. "For all she will know, you are me!"

Cogsworth grew more flustered by the second. "Well…it is your responsibility, as me, to keep her mind focused on her duties! S-s-surely if you interrupt, she will listen to you!"

"Trust me, that will not work."

"Why not?"

Lumière gave him a knowing look. "Did you seriously think that we ever listen to you?"

Cogsworth sighed. "Good point."

Lumière looked thoughtful for a minute, as if trying to think of a plan, but he only shook his head solemnly. "There is no way around a meeting or two," he said, "But whatever you do, do not make her hate me, I beg you."

Cogsworth nodded in reluctant agreement. "Very well," he promised. "As long as you do not tarnish my good reputation with your intolerable laziness, you have my word."

Lumière smirked, much to Cogsworth's dismay. "Make everyone's lives miserable; that should not be too difficult."

"Lumière!"

"All right, all right!" Lumière said. "I promise!"

After they shook hands in agreement, Cogsworth spoke once again with authority. "Now, it is getting late; the entire household will be awake soon," he said. "I suggest we prepare for the day as best we can, and meet back here."

"Why can we not meet outside my room?"

Cogsworth frowned. "Because I said so! Really, Lumière, must you be so childish?"

"Call it instinct," Lumière replied with a shrug. "But, oui, back here as soon as we are ready, got it."

ooo

Some time later, Cogsworth knocked on his bedroom door again, very much on his guard as he heard the staff beginning to work downstairs. But when Lumière emerged from the room, the two immediately gasped, hardly caring who noticed them.

"What have you done to me?" they asked in perfect unison, obviously displeased at each other's appearance.

Both of the men were known to have their own distinct style when it came to fashion. Cogsworth always tried to look his utmost best, preferring subtle, earthly tones of brown. Lumière, on the other hand, also looked presentable but in a casual, loose manner with brighter colors and shades. Despite the current situation, each man had kept his own fashion sense, which of course caused the other much discomfort.

"You made me look like a buffoon!" Cogsworth hissed, referring to the awful red-and-white checkered coat that his Aunt Ida had given him one Christmas.

"No, you look like a priest!" Lumière noted, gesturing with disgust to the black suit that he could have sworn he had destroyed after his father's funeral years ago. "And what have you done to my hair? It looks awful!"

Cogsworth ran his new, slender hand over the slicked, curled coiffure he had put together. "I would personally call it an improvement, unlike what you did to mine. Not to mention the horror that I once proudly called a moustache!"

Lumière spitefully ran his stubby hands through the loose, side parted hair on his head, and twisted the newly curled moustache atop his lip.

"At least you do not resemble your former clock like self anymore," he replied. "Dieu, I thought that the arrows were supposed to vanish when we became human again."

Cogsworth snarled, "Well there is no time to change now; this will simply have to do for the both of us. But if this lasts any longer than today, I demand that you return my appearance to the way it was."

"Only if you do the same favor for me," Lumière promised.

"Deal," Cogsworth agreed. Looking towards the staircase, he sighed before he looked at Lumière again.

"Ready?"

"Of course not," Lumière answered, solemnly.

"Neither am I, but we must be," Cogsworth said in the same tone.

Lumière nodded. "Lead on," he said, stepping aside.

With that said, the pair walked bravely down the stairs, ready as they could ever be to face the day ahead.