A/N: Thank you SO MUCH to everyone returning to this story. A lot has changed in my life since I began this story just over a decade ago. In that time, the final Harry Potter films have been released, and we've also seen the creation of the live-action film of Disney's Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson.

We are on the final few chapters. Chapter 26 is fully written and will be uploaded in 1 week. Chapter 28 is written, as is a one-shot that bridges this fanfiction and the sequel. The first three chapters of the sequel have been written.

So, over the next 2 weeks, it is my focus to write Chapter 27 and wrap up this affair by the end of the month. Thank you for your patience with me, and I hope you enjoy this story as much as I've loved writing it. It's been fun to see how my writing has progressed over time, and it feels AMAZING to be nearly complete with my very first novel-length project... doing it in a way where it's not rushed, and where it is quality.

After I complete this project, I will be focusing on some original fiction. If you are interested in following more of my work, please send me a PM and I can give you details.

Much love and light to you all. Thank you for your support.

25. Tale as Old as Time

Since that summer evening she shared with Adam in the library, Hermione had been spending more time in Auvergne with the prince and the castle's staff. She let go entirely of her ambitions with S.P.E.W., and she consistently spent four or five nights in the castle each week. Each morning that she was in France, she would wake up, have breakfast with Adam before joining him in the library. He would address business correspondence and matters of state while Hermione read and wrote letters, and then they would go out to the gardens together or, if it was cold outside, stay in the castle near a blazing fire and read to each other. Hermione treasured those moments, and she loved the time that she spent with Adam.

When she went down to the village in Molyneux, people only recognized her as Prince Adam's scribe and ambassador to England. But there were more and more whispers each time. If she grabbed Adam's hand, there would be a whisper. Even if they were just speaking close together and their lips were inches apart, there would be a whisper. Hermione felt under the microscope, like no matter what she did, people would gossip about it.

One day, she expressed this to Adam.

"I don't understand, Adam," she said, pacing the library floor. "You think they would have better things to do in their time than talk about what we're doing when we pass through the village. I feel like I can't touch you at all, especially next week when the king comes, and I don't think that's fair to either of us."

Adam nodded. "Citizens tend to be focused on the new and novel, and you, ma cherie, are very novel. People have not seen a person of your stature and bearing step into such a powerful role."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms. She did her best to say it in a non-confrontational way, but even so, Adam's eyes widened.

"Well," he started, "you have a British accent, for one. Second, you are still young. Third, you are a woman, and traditionally, it is only men who assist the prince or king in such a capacity. As a result, they are scrutinizing you to the utmost degree.

"And since some people might have noticed us kissing just before the ceremony reuniting the different portions of France, they might be extra wary to listen to anything you have to say unless it is aligned with their beliefs. Because right now, you have the scarlet letter emblazoned on you… they don't know if you're single or married, and they might perceive you as a temptation to the throne of the rightful king of this portion of France.

"And, as a result, they are going to dig in their heels about what works and what doesn't. And what would work best is if we chose to get married. For my part, I know I want to be with you a long, long, long lifetime. And if I know that, then we might as well move forward with it. That's the perspective of most others in this country. And every second that I spend around you is a moment I could instead spend with another woman who could become my wife, and for some of the wiser and more knowledgeable citizens, that's worth whispering about."

Hermione bit her lip.

"Look," Adam added, sensing her hesitation, "it's really nothing to worry about. I only mention this so that you understand where they're coming from. I'm willing to give you as much time as you need to make the best decision for you."

"Marriage is just a big commitment, Adam," she said. "Especially if I'm becoming queen. My whole life would change. I would join you in the pomp and fancy dresses and balls and social flattery that takes place. I would need to stay in France every single night. I wouldn't be able to get divorced here, so I'd need to be entirely sure.

Adam shook his head. "Your life would have to change less than you think it would. You've already attended many of the events that you would as queen; you would just be at my side and likely be speaking to more guests—"

"My point exactly," Hermione interjected. "I would be playing the social games that I don't need to play as your special adviser and scribe."

"—but other than that, very little would change. You already spend most nights here in the castle. And we've been intimate in certain ways thanks to that wonderful invention you brought back from future England—"

Hermione blushed. "They're called condoms."

"—and we would be able to do that more often, more consistently, without fear that you would get pregnant with my child. Because if you did, it would be within wedlock, and our citizens would celebrate it. And if you wanted to end our marriage at some point… yes, that would be more challenging, and I'm sure we could find a way for our marriage to be dissolved in a way that would allow you to go back to Wizarding England or to start over here elsewhere."

Reaching out to touch his elbow, Hermione kissed Adam on the cheek. "I love you, Adam. I'll think about it. I really will. Because you're right… I do enjoy being here at the castle, and I love being around you."

"And the last two weeks, you've really loved being around me. Out of fourteen nights, you spent thirteen at the castle." His smile shifted to a boyish grin, and he had a glint in his eye. "And you even spent the night with me in bed a couple times."

"Yes, and I don't regret it," Hermione said. "Like I said, I love you."

They kissed again, and Adam pressed Hermione gently into the wall. Her breathing began to grow heavy, and his hips were against hers. She could feel his body growing warm and hard against her, and she began moaning.

"Not… fair…" she gasped, and she gently pushed him away. "As much… as I would love… to go down that road… tonight… we can't. We're both getting up early, and I don't have any condoms on me, unfortunately."

Adam sighed and simply placed his hands on Hermione's hips. "Very well, my love. Thank you for letting me know where the boundary is tonight."

She smiled, placing a chaste kiss on his lips. "You're welcome."

And then, his arm still wrapped around her, Adam guided Hermione back to her chambers.

HP*BATB*HP*BATB*HP*BATB

The next morning, Hermione went back to Wizarding England. She needed a few perspectives on her current situation. After all, while she knew how Adam felt about things and she cared about him deeply and was enjoying being his… whatever she was… Hemione was confident that her friends could support her in knowing whether or not to marry him. While living in France or Wizarding England was still very changeable at this point, if she married him, it would require a greater commitment on her part in at least a few ways.

"Harry, are you free to talk?"

The dark-haired wizard looked up and his eyes widened when he saw Hermione. "'Mione, you haven't been here in two weeks. Is everything okay? What's going on?"

Hermione bit her lip. "Everything's fine." She paused. "Adam asked me to marry him. Not officially because he's letting me set the pace, and he explained why his citizens behave funnily around me. I don't know what to do, and I wanted some direction and support from my good friend."

Harry leaned back in his wooden chair. "Absolutely."

"Well, my biggest consideration is that I don't want to be royalty. I don't want to be in the limelight, and it just seems so regressive as far as politics go, having a monarchy. It just seems very anti-feminist, and it's only when a female ruler has been in power that she's taken seriously. For example, in Muggle history, that's been Queen Victoria or Queen Elizabeth I and II. Otherwise, when her husband is the ruler, she's a prop, little more than a figurehead and there to look pretty."

Harry looked at her. "Have you talked to Adam about this, Hermione? Have you said any of this to him just like you've said it to me?"

"Not in so many words, no," she said in a small voice. "I think it's one of those things I've got to work through my head rather than just go out and share it with him right away."

"I think you'll feel better once you talk to him about it."

Hermione bit her lip. "But I don't know, Harry. I don't know if he would understand the whole feminist bit. After all, he grew up in a culture that wasn't the most supportive of women, and he even said that's part of the reason his subjects have such curiosity about me… it's because I'm a woman and women are rarely in positions of leadership and authority."

Nodding, Harry stared off, thinking. "What would make this an ideal scenario for you? If you could create it anyway, how would marrying Adam be a win for you?"

"I don't know, Harry," Hermione said. "That's the issue."

"I don't think that's actually true, Hermione. I do think you know if you just look for a moment. You've spent so much time over there that I know you want to be with him, and it seems like you're open to and even wanting to cultivate a long-term relationship with him. The question is: what does that actually look like?"

Silent, Hermione thought about it, biting her lip again. She closed her eyes and visualized an ideal life with Adam. Really, very little would change.

"I think, what I would need," she said after awhile, "is I would need to know that he and others would still value me privately and publicly for my mind and my skills, not just my beauty or status as a royal. I'm afraid my deeper value as a human being won't be recognized."

"All right," Harry said. "That's a good start. So, what are you going to tell Adam?"

"The truth," she said. "What my fears are and why I've resisted getting engaged even though it's really what I want. Even though what I want is to spend my life with him. I mean, that's what I've been doing the last several months, in one way or another. There are so many things that seemed important that just aren't anymore. And my relationship with him has progressively meant more and more and I've wanted to spend more and more time with him."

"Good for you, Hermione." Harry stood up and gave his friend a long hug. "I'm going to miss you, though."

"I'll miss you, too," she said. "But I can still always come through the mirror to visit. Besides, we've shared too much for me to just let that friendship go."

"Thank Merlin for that," he said with a grin. "It'd be a shame if you decided to drop me all of a sudden."

Hermione rolled her eyes, smiling. "Like I said, after all we've been through, I wouldn't do that. The Golden Trio, remember?"

"Just promise to invite me to the wedding, okay?"

Crossing her heart, she nodded. "Promise."

HP*BATB*HP*BATB*HP*BATB

The next night, Hermione was pacing in the library, waiting for Adam to return from his trip visiting Clermont-Ferrand with the local dignitaries. It was nearly dusk by the time he met her there in the library. He walked towards her and greeted her with a peck on the lips.

"How are you doing, my love?" he asked.

"I'm doing well," she said. "Can you sit down, Adam? There's something I want to discuss with you."

Moving to a plush, crimson armchair, Adam placed his feet square on the floor and his hands at the edge of the armrests. Even though they weren't in the ballroom or throne room, he still looked regal, royal. Majestic.

Hermione swallowed hard, and she took a deep breath. "So, I've been giving a lot of thought to the conversation you and I had the last time we were in the library together."

"Yes?" he said.

"What you shared about your subjects' assumptions and judgments made sense," she said. "And I'd like to talk about us getting married. Or at least, engaged. For the time being. But I have some things on my mind and heart that I need to share with you before I'm willing to move forward with that commitment."

He paused. "All right. Are you sure that's what you want, my love?"

"Yes, it is."

"Very well. And you'd like to have this conversation now?" he asked.

Nodding, Hermione twisted her hands back and forth as she paced in front of Adam.

"I don't know where to start," she admitted.

Adam smiled kindly. He stood up and crossed towards Hermione and kissed her again and placed his hands around her shoulders. "It's okay. I love you no matter what."

She kissed him back and took a deep breath.

"Okay. So, what I realized is that if I'm queen, I want people to respect me for my mind, skill sets, and other talents, not just as a beautiful face or figurehead or someone who accompanies the king. And I don't like the misogynistic thought that women can't have their own careers and be successful multitaskers in French society here."

"Love, I want you to be at my side in the same way and the same capacity. I truly see very little changing except that you can wear the crown and you'll explain that you are the scribe to the King, and that you still have very powerful, special privileges. Over time, people will see your powerful, positive influence, and it'll be great. I'm confident that my subjects will love you far more than you think they will."

Hermione bit her lip. "You're certain?"

Adam chuckled. "Well, it's impossible to know for sure, and I'm about as close to that as possible. They'll love you. I know it; I believe in it."

"I just wish I could believe that," Hermione murmured.

He grabbed her hand and held it to his heart. "Without you, I'd still be a beast. And without you, even if you hadn't broken the curse, I would still be miserable, beating myself up for my one mistake as a foolish prince, and I would be living a ghost of a life. A non-life. Something completely unrecognizable as anything worthwhile. I care about you, and I love you."

She sighed. "I know you do, dearly. It's evident in all you say and do. Your actions, time and time again have shown me that you care. Really care. And I value that. It's just that… well… this is such a big step."

"Hermione," Adam asked, "what can I say or do that would make you feel confident in your decision? Confident in deciding to marry me?"

"You can promise me that we'll invite Harry to the wedding," she said simply. "I recognize we can't have many people from the future or the Wizarding world present at our ceremony and reception because it would be very suspicious, and it would mean a lot if Harry and perhaps his girlfriend Ginny are there to celebrate our day with us. Because without Harry, I wouldn't have had such a rich childhood and teen years, and he saved my life on at least one occasion when a troll came after me."

"Certainly," Adam said, still holding her hands. "Anything else?"

Biting her lip, Hermione nodded her head. "You can promise me that if we have any children, we can raise them to be magical… if they have those abilities. That they can attend Hogwarts when it comes time, and that you won't limit the expression of their magic. That you'll trust me to support them through any challenges that they encounter related to their magic."

Adam gave her a long hard look. "That's a more challenging thing for me to agree to, Hermione. I don't know what it would look like to raise magical children… what to expect. Where is Hogwarts again? Is it in England?"

"It's nearer to Scotland," Hermione said.

"Is there a school in France for magical children?" he asked.

"There is," Hermione said slowly. "It's called Beauxbatons, and it's just outside Lyons. We competed against them in the Triwizard Tournament."

"Why couldn't any children we have go there instead of Hogwarts?" Adam countered. "I trust it teaches the same classes that Hogwarts does?"

"Well, yes, but it's different. The quality of classes is different. And believe me, I would know," Hermione added. "After all, I was near the top of my class and we had Beauxbatons students in our classes during our fourth year. None of them were close to keeping up with me."

"Love, do you think it's possible that you were just above most of your compatriots, and that the schooling at Beauxbatons was just fine?"

The silence was thick.

"It would mean a lot to me if any children we have could go to Hogwarts," Hermione said finally.

Silence again.

"And you're unwilling to bend on that?" Adam asked.

"I never said that," she said. "I just… oh, never mind. Maybe it was a silly idea."

"What was?"

She shook her head. "Thinking we could or should get married. We are from two different worlds, and this disagreement is really highlighting it."

"Is it something you'd be open to revisiting when we have children, if it turns out they're magical?" Adam asked.

Hermione bit her lip. "I suppose," she said. "I would want to have an in-depth and fair discussion about it, though. My fear is that, if we put it off, convenience or royal appearances will trump my preferences and they won't go to Hogwarts, or maybe any magical school at all, which would be even worse. So, then I'll be the one compromising. And their growth would be stunted."

Adam was silent for a moment. "This means a great deal to you."

"Yes, it does," Hermione admitted. "It really does."

"Here's what I can commit to right now," said Adam. "I can agree that if we have a magical child, that they can be raised with and educated with magic. And I can agree that they will attend a magical academy—rather than be privately tutored—until they reach marriageable age. With the agreement that we discuss the specifics on our child's eighth birthday.

"Can you agree to that?" he asked, looking at her.

Hermione felt her stomach twist into knots. Something felt very off, but she didn't know what. Adam was asking something very reasonable. His perspective made sense. Logically, she understood everything he was saying.

She shook her head. "No, I'm getting a strange feeling about that. I want them to finish their magical schooling—to be able to take their advanced tests—I don't want anything to come in the middle of that. Marriageable age is fourteen here. I'm not willing to let any child I have leave school after only three years of magical education."

"What if they were tutored?" Adam countered.

"Adam," Hermione said with exasperation, "there's as much social development that takes place at Hogwarts as magical instruction. At the very least, they'd need to complete their O.W.L.s and five years of instruction before having a private magical tutor in the subjects they wanted to continue studying. That would mean they'd be sixteen. There are no laws in your country requiring marriage earlier than eighteen, and even so, you're king and can bend those rules. There's no reason any child of ours would need to marry against their will."

Adam sat down in his chair. "So, what you're requesting is that, if we have a child who's magical, they attend a magical academy—either Hogwarts or Beauxbatons—for at least five years of magical education. After that, you're open to them being privately tutored as they learn to take on their duties as a royal and begin courting."

"Yes," Hermione said. The strange feeling was still there, but she brushed it aside. "And we would decide the specifics of where they would be educated no later than their ninth birthday—either Hogwarts or Beauxbatons—knowing that I have a strong preference for Hogwarts."

"And you're willing to agree to those terms?"

"Yes," she said. A pause. "If we have it in writing. And both sign it using my special, magical quill. If there are things in motion that contradict the terms of our agreement, the parchment will keep showing up in front of the offending party."

"Very well. Would you like to do this now?" he asked.

"Yes," Hermione said. She all but ran to her room to fetch the parchment and quill (she already had her wand on her) and in her loopy cursive wrote out the terms of the agreement: that no later than their child's ninth birthday, they would have decided which magical academy they would attend through their fifth year, when they would complete their OWLs, at which time the two signers would revisit whether or not their child would be privately tutored in advanced magical subjects. Prior to completing their OWLs, their child must not be betrothed or married. Should the agreement be broken, on either side, the two parties would be required to be within 10 feet of each other until the agreement was repaired or one of the two parties was dead.

Adam read the contract, and Hermione held out her quill for him to sign. "It seems a bit drastic," he said. "Are you sure this is necessary?"

She nodded. "This is really important to me. I know you're willing to have the conversation now, and I've also seen how much pressure being prince has put onto you. Who knows what may happen a decade from now when we're having this conversation? I want to make sure that my voice, my desires, my wishes are honored."

He gave her a long look, then smiled as he took the quill. Adam signed the parchment with a flourish. Hermione signed it as well. Then she wove her wand over it, and the parchment disappeared.

"What happened to the contract?" Adam asked.

"It will only appear physically if either one of us is taking actions that will lead to us breaking the contract. Until then, it's just something that exists between us. And for my part, I'm very clear on what we agreed to."

"Very well. Is there anything else?"

Hermione shook her head, then giggled. "I feel so light and free now! Those were my two biggest fears. And we've addressed them both." She knelt down on the ground. "Prince Adam, will you marry me?"

"Gladly, my dear," he said, and he lifted her up from the ground and kissed her.

As Hermione melted into her fiancé's arms, she brushed away the quiet feeling that something was still off. The kiss deepened, and soon all thoughts of anything but Adam's lips on hers disappeared. She moaned. Her skin was on fire.

"Shall we go back to my chambers and celebrate our betrothal?" Adam asked, his voice husky.

Hermione nodded, breathless and unable to speak. Adam picked her up and began carrying her to his bedroom. He set her gently on the bed, and the two of them descended into a night filled with scorching pleasure, sighs, and sweet nothings. As Adam lay on top of her at one point, pressing his bare skin against hers, Hermione moaned.

"Thank Merlin that Belle and I swapped places almost a year ago," she said.

"I agree," Adam replied, kissing her neck.

And then as he kissed her lips again, Hermione let the waves of orgasmic pleasure carry her away to a subconscious space of mystery and magic where time froze and all that existed was her and Adam. Forever. And ever. And ever.