Inspiration has finally struck! I'm posting not one but two chapters today. Hope you lovely people all enjoy this and I'm hoping you like the second on even better.


Belle awoke that morning not to a cold, dingy, stuffy closet but to a warm soft bed that made her just want to go back to sleep.

"Come on Belle," Zelena told her. "We've got to get a move on if we're going to make breakfast."

"Oh, Why do you have to be right?" Belle asked as she reluctantly slipped out of bed. She went to the bathroom to freshen up. She walked back to her bed when she realized that she'd left all her other clothes in the closet. "Oh shoot, I'll be back. I forgot my stuff last night."

"Why don't you just use a spell? Certainly much easier than running all over the school for it," Zelena suggested.

"Nah, That's okay. It'll just be a minute and I'll be right back," she told her and began to walk towards the door.

"Darling, Wait a second," she stopped her. Belle turned back around so Zelena could see her face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just need to go and get my things," she answered.

"Belle, You're hiding something from me," she said. It wasn't an angry kind of tone just concerned. "Your voice went up, you're shoulders are all tense and you've got that look in your eye whenever you're really nervous."

Belle's head sank some and her gaze went to the floor. She didn't want to be caught. The Slytherin hated muggles. The minute she told them that she was as powerful as one of them they'd kick her out and send her back to her closet if they didn't get her expelled from Hogwarts all together. But what if they didn't. It would be nice to finally get this off her chest. She'd been holding on to this for so long. She hated this. She hated lying, dodging questions, being a bad friend. She wanted to tell them so badly. Desperately wanted to get some help and graduate. Finally be completely honest with Rumple, Zelena, Hook, Regina and everyone else.

"Whatever it is darling you can tell me," Zelena said in her most sincere and comforting voice.

Belle could see in her eyes that she meant it but was she ready to handle that burden? None of them had to wear this weight or be dragged under because of her. This was her burden and hers alone. She couldn't do that to them. "It's really nothing. I'm fine. Just a little bit under the weather. I don't want to risk sneezing in the middle of a spell," she told her.

Zelena looked into her eyes as if they had the truth written inside them. They didn't. She couldn't push. The way Belle was talking about it Zelena could tell that it wasn't just a small thing that she didn't want to complain about. No, This was something bigger and more complex. "Alright, but if you change your mind I'm always here for you. You know that right?"

"Yes of course," Belle hugged her. Zelena hugged her back and watched as Belle left to go get all of her stuff. After Belle had left, she went into the main area where most everyone was sitting. "She's hiding something. I don't think it'll hurt us but it's definitely hurting her," she told them.

"Mind explaining what the heck you're talking about?" Regina asked.

"Belle left her stuff in her closet and I suggested that she use her magic to get it but she just sorta shrugged it off and said she just wanted to go get herself but she had that worried and guilty look she has when she's keeping something from us like that time she hid the fact that it was Regina that had accidentally sent Emma to the hospital during an unauthorized duel."

"One of you guys need to remind me to bring her with me next time I go to a charity poker event with Robin," Regina said.

"Point being, the poor girl is hiding something and it's really big this time," Zelena said.

"This has happened before," Rumplestiltskin started. "The day I first sat down with her. She was shivering like crazy and I said she should just make herself something warmer but she said she didn't want to accidentally sneeze and have something go wrong."

"That's the excuse she gave me the second time," Zelena said.

"I brushed it off because she had been sneezing but now that I think about it, I've done all of the castings for our potions," Rumple said.

"She's never done any magic in my class either," Zelena added.

"I don't remember her doing magic in my class either," Pan said.

"Wait wait wait one minute," Regina stopped them. "Do you even hear yourselves right now? You're claiming that the girl doesn't have magic for Pete's sake. If she didn't have magic, she would have been kicked out year one for that. This is insane. You don't think that she quite possibly is horrible at casting spells. She hasn't had a casting class in the six years that she's been here. She's starting at the lowest level for a reason."

"Then why hasn't the lass asked one of us for help yet?" Hook asked.

"We're always the ones that turn to her. She has to be the best because otherwise she can't help us and her reason to be here has disappeared as she might think she will as well," Pan told them.

"It's possible," Zelena said. "I wonder what the extent of her casting is."

"I'll find out tonight," Rumple told them. "This'll all blow over soon enough."

"Before we dismiss for the morning we do have one more issue to discuss," Regina said. "How are we going to destroy Hufflepuff and win this before it's even begun? So far, they're winning and we're in third. If it weren't for that mishap in Ravenclaw we'd be in last."

"Like I said we have to take this slowly," Rumple started. "Belle's too good of a person to just flip on Hufflepuff like that. Even though she was forced every single day to live in that dungeon of a closet and suffer like some ..." He hated even the thought of her living in that dungeon. He still couldn't believe that she'd been able to stay hidden like that for years without someone…. "Wait, the first night I saw her, she was talking to a painting on the wall."

"Yeah what's the point?" Regina asked.

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

"We don't need Belle to confess if we can get that painting to testify for us," Zelena answered.

"Wait, What happens then?" Hook asked. "She never trusts again, all of what happened is retold and made very public that not only was she confined to a closet but that she nearly killed a kid. And what happens on the off chance that she doesn't have magic? They'll find out everything and she'll be shipped off. No one can rescue from the world out there. She'll be alone unable to fit in anywhere. We can't condemn the lass to an eternal misery like that."

They all looked at each other. They knew he was right. Belle wasn't just some object they could use to win this thing anymore. She was a real person who they all either liked or respected well enough to be concerned about her.

"It's a good thing I find out what's going on tonight," Rumple said. "Meeting adjourned. We'll reconvene as soon as Belle's out of sight and earshot." They all left to go take care of what they needed to do before they made their way to breakfast. No matter what happened, Rumplestiltskin would get to the bottom of what was going on.


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