Rumplestiltskin had finally gotten the spell he needed from the library and was ready to get to bed. It was after curfew but since when he care? Everyone was already asleep or pretending to be asleep in their respective areas so as long as he was quiet and the paintings kept their mouths shut he'd be fine. He started walking up the stairs but stopped when he heard voices. He couldn't remember the paintings being this chatty before. There was one voice, however, that caught his attention. An accent he wouldn't soon forget. Australian. He peeked around the corner to see who had one of the prettiest voices he'd ever heard. He was surprised to find Belle sitting on one of the unmoving parts of the stairs talking to the paintings.

"So Ms. Belle, do you have any plans for the future?"

"Not entirely," she answered. "First I have to graduate. Everyone's getting more suspicious of me by the day. I'm going to have to get some help soon or I'm finished."

Rumplestiltskin looked at her carefully. She looked genuinely worried as her head landed in her hands. something was digging slightly into his heart. He wasn't sure what or why but he didn't like seeing her this way. She was shivering. Rumplestiltskin had long ago made his cloak temperature controlled but she was out here in a thin pajama t-shirt and pants and everyone knew there was no heater.

"Oh Ms. Belle, You forgot to bring a blanket again didn't you?" the painting, Helena the Grey, asked.

"You... You know that it wouldn't do... do me much good any... anyway," she reminded him.

"Ms. Belle, you shouldn't be forced to stay in that gosh awful closet you make yourself stay in," he said.

Rumplestiltskin was shocked to hear that. The rumor was that she was there for the remaining of the semester, not… how long had it been? Zelena didn't say how long ago this happened. Though the painting said that she forced herself to stay in that closet. That would just reflect poorly on her, not Hufflepuff.

"Helena, You know that spell they use keeps me out unless they want me there and that's only on inspection day," she told him. "You know I can't break it."

That, would definitely, get some attention from the board. He felt this anger, seething, in his chest. This girl, sweet and charming girl, was locked out of the place where she should have been most welcomed. She was still shivering. Why hadn't she made herself a blanket yet? He couldn't take it anymore. He took out his wand and made her a blanket.

She gasped as the blanket appeared around her shoulders. "Oh no, Someone's here. Someone's been listening to everything I've said. What do I do now?"

"Run," he said. "Quickly. They may not recognize you yet."

The stairs were quick to move to where she needed to go. In her hurry, she left the blanket he'd given her. Her bare feet were pattering along the steps as fast as they could. He didn't mean to startle her, he just meant to stop her incessant shivering. It was distracting to him. He levitated the blanket he made for her back to him. He could use a locator spell to find her. That, however, would be left for tomorrow night. Right now, he needed to get ready to bunk down in the library tonight. He'd rather make himself known by the painting and having her scare the girl. Scaring the girl would only make her insufferable in her pleas to make her secret stay hidden. And right now, he was fairly certain that she had nothing he would want in exchange. And that, that made him slightly, not much but slightly, sad.