Hermione had been at the castle for a fortnight now, leaving it every day to explore the grounds, finding the greenhouses and gardens, and gasping in pleasure at them; her green thumb was only outshone by Neville Longbottom's, and soon the garden was glowing with the various plants no longer over taken by weeds while the greenhouses were in use to cultivate seedlings that she had Harry and Ron send over to her. Despite the chill in the air, she would spend hours outside, either handling the garden or reading, trying to find a counter to the curse, but having no luck in even identifying what it could be.

She had spoken to practically every occupant of the castle, even spent a few hours throwing a bone to the footrest dog, only to have to summon it back as he had no mouth. The throw cushion cat seemed to like curling up on her bed, an odd feeling but it reminded her of Crookshanks, who she missed dreadfully; he had been off with her parents. The only one she had not had extended time around was the beast, and that seemed to be due to his rarely leaving his west wing area, and she sure as hell wasn't going to go down there just to be roared at.

Today was a nice clear day with barely a chill in the air, so Hermione was relaxing beneath a large tree, once again reading a thick text on love-based curses. She was so into it that her attention was diverted and she didn't register him until he was almost on her and talking, "You have worked wonders with the garden."

"Merlin!" The witch clutched a hand to her chest in fright at the sudden words of Beast, "Don't do that."

Adam smirked, he had purposely been as quiet as possible just to frighten her, "It is my castle, I can do as I like."

"I don't care, don't frighten me, you could lose something important," Hermione waved her hand that held her wand; "I'm rather jumpy."

Flinching internally, the beast leant against the same tree Hermione did, "Must you always have that thing on you?"

"Yes, I don't even sleep without it with me, it could cost me my life," the witch sighed before coming back to his words that startled her, "Thank you for the compliment."

"You're welcome but what are those plants," pointing towards the greenhouse nearest them.

Hermione smiled, "Dittany, perfect conditions to grow it here, so I asked my friend to send me some cuttings that he was struggling to save. With it I can make Essence of Dittany, a powerful restorative liquid, and rather rare due to how hard it is to actually grow the plant."

"There are magical plants?"

The question stunned the witch for a second before realising that Beast had only had that one bad magical experience and was essentially a Muggle. Removing another book from her beaded purse, Hermione stood beside him and opened it to the page for dittany, "There are thousands of plants that are used in the magical world, most are mundane, or what can be found in the normal world like sage and even a few species of dittany, but then there are those that are completely magical, such as Honking Daffodils. See?"

Adam was fascinated by what he was seeing in the book before him, soaking in the information that was so new and unreal to him, "And what do you use them for?"

"Well, woods are typically used for wands or broomsticks; they get imbued with magical properties. Flowers are sometimes simply flowers, something to give to a sweetheart, but some are used as ingredients in potions."

"Potions? Like medicine?"

"There are medicinal potions, like Essence of Dittany, but others can be used for evil things, like Love Potions and poisons that will turn the drinker's insides into liquid. People who delve into that side of magic, they are going into the Dark, and while I've touched on it on occasion, there are some things that are not meant to be messed with."

"Like what?"

Looking up and seeing that he was actually interested in what she had to say, an odd occurrence, Hermione settled them both onto the ground and spoke, "Like magics involving forcing love onto people, or soul magic. Taking another's chance to live their life how they want it is one of the worst things that a magical practitioner can do to another. Love and your soul, they are hand in hand, but also separate and are two of the most powerful magical areas that people have no right to go into and yet they do. Love saved my friend from being killed when he was an infant, his mother's love for him, and the lack of it created one of the worst monsters to have been known in the magical community. That's why I'm so pissed of now."

"Why?"

She fumed, frustrated, "Because the curse that caused all of this was based on the requisite of love, and I can't find what the bloody curse is and therefore the counter to it!"

Adam was astonished, this witch, who he was holding prisoner, was nearly ripping her hair out in frustration at not being able to find a way to counter the curse placed on people she didn't know. Being aware of his claws, the beast carefully removed the clenched hands from the brown locks, "You shouldn't hurt yourself for not being able to find it."

A mirthless chuckle, "If you knew me, you would know that that is a really useless thing to say to me."

"Well I don't know you but you still shouldn't be like that"

"Too late to change now, the whole old dogs, new tricks thing"

A bubbling of anger rose in Adam's chest, "People can change."

Hermione nodded slightly, "Yes I am aware of that, what I mean is that I can't, I just need to hang onto sanity while I'm alive and pray for salvation afterwards. Excuse me."

The young woman rose and rushed from the tree, heading into the castle, forgetting her things. As he watched her race away, Beast was left contemplating what on earth she had been talking about, yet another one of Hermione's mysteries that he truly did want to crack. Damn Mrs Potts and her rule of being polite. Then he noticed the beaded purse, and the two books that lay on the ground. Being very careful to not ruin them, Adam took them into his arms and also head into the castle.

Just as he was about to knock on the ajar door, Adam heard Hermione sobbing as she spoke to someone, probably in that mirror, "Harry, what can I do? I have 4 months to find the answer or they're all stuck like this forever. I can't let any of them go through that, they're all so nice."

"Even the beast?" The same male voice as every other call asked.

A slight hesitation and then, "Yes, even him and his name is Adam, remember that. I may not be allowed to call him it but you are not to call him a beast, he's a human like we are who was simply cursed by an awful person."

Sigh, "Fine Mione, but what can we do here to help? All of us have been searching and not even the Unspeakables have heard of such a high powered curse that's reliant on falling in love to break."

"I don't know, but if I don't get an answer by Valentine's Day, I don't think that I'll be thinking much of myself as a human being. Oh Harry," more sobs and Adam strained to hear what was said, "I love it here, so much. Does that make me a bad person to you and my family?"

"No, you are one of the most kind hearted, loving and brilliant people I know Mione, and it wouldn't matter if you were in Timbuktu, you'd still be part of the family. Why do I get the feeling that even if nothing is fixed by February, you'll be staying?"

Silence, sigh, more silence, and then, "Like I said, I love it here. I'd better go but can you send me more books, try and hit the Unspeakables up for their research about that room in the Department of Mysteries, the one concerning love, maybe there'll be something in there to help."

"Fine. We all love you Mione"

"Love you too Harry, give Teddy bear kisses from me"

Adam waited a few minutes before knocking lightly on the door, hearing a rush about the room before a soft, "Yes?"

Walking in, he spotted the crumpled tissues instantly but didn't comment, just held out the three items, "You left these in the garden."

"Oh, thank you," Hermione took her things and put them away. Seeing the time, she asked, "Will you be eating alone again?"

He just nodded and walked out, leaving the witch to fall back onto her soft bed, groaning in frustration. Back in his rooms, Adam thought about what he had heard, and found that he no longer wanted Hermione to leave, not because she was a 'prisoner' but because even though this had been the first prolonged time together since her getting here, he felt her absence would definitely be noticed in himself and those in his employ. A quick look at the rose brought about another sigh, 4 months before he is forever like this, and yet the witch seemed intent on staying around even if she was unable to help.

The emotion welling up in him at her selflessness had his mind trying to find something to thank her for all the work she had been doing. He prowled about his wing, toenails clattering on the wooden floor, barely noticing that Mrs Potts had delivered his dinner, before spying the door closest to the staircase but still in his wing, and a large toothy grin spread across his face; that would work excellently but it would be hard work to get all together, work he would do by himself. With that plan in mind, Adam settled in and ate his meal while watching Hermione doing the same.

Curled up in front of the blazing fire, Hermione was sleeping, the book she had been reading before slumped on the ground, open to the page on love magic. Lumiere, Cogsworth and Mrs Potts were all watching intently from the second door as their master walked into the room and looked about, trying to see if anyone was watching, before carefully lifting the sleeping brunette into his arms and carried her out. Adam had spotted her passed out there and knew she would wake with an awful ache should she not be moved, so hurried down to do just that. Up in her room, he placed her on the bed, drawing the covers over her sleeping body, and was about to leave when he heard her whisper, "Goodnight Adam."

Turning his head back to see her eyes half-open, heavy with sleep, looking at him softly, and returned the gesture, surprised at the lack of reaction at seeing his many teeth, "Goodnight Hermione."