Beauty and the Beast: Hogwarts Edition
Chapter Four- Oh, Dearest Library in the Tower
Disclaimer: Only the plot and any OCs are mine.
A/N: Sorry about the wait, people complain about exams, talk about Junior year, whooo-weee. Anyway, one of my plot bunnies came back, so I now present to you the next chapter of cue music BatBHE!
The two of them had fallen in to some sort of a routine, avoid each other in the morning, eat a silent lunch together, occasionally discussing books, spend some time in the afternoon attempting to get along (a lot easier to achieve than first thought), and spend an evening meal together. However, today one of them will deviate from that routine.
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She was quietly reading in the sitting room with an empty plate next to her, wondering what the day held in store for her, and her captor. She hated to admit it, but she is wishing that she could break her promise, in an attempt to make a mad dash for the library. She suddenly became aware that there was now somebody else in the room, Beast.
He glanced at her, and said, "After you have taken care of your plate, please join me on the balcony." He walked out of the room.
Hermione weighed her choices, join him, or risk angering him. And he did say please…. She sighed, having made her choice, and stood up.
As she took care of her dishes, she thought back on her last encounter on the snow-covered balcony. It was snowing that afternoon, and Hermione just couldn't resist going out to play in the snow. Beast followed, obviously amused, only to be nailed by a snow ball, beginning a snowball war. She sighed, and went to get out of her pajamas.
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She was soon out on the Balcony, where Beast was staring off into space, with a look of longing on his face. It was indeed her turn to be the one who observed the other. If he were a human, he would be temperamental, secluded, and disliked, at first glance. But this moment altered those views significantly. He would most likely be passionate about his work, dedicated to all matters that he held most important, and be gentle, while guiding with a firm hand.
He noticed that she had arrived, and shook his head, and mane of fur, to rid it of the clouds. He began to speak, faltering at some places.
"Hermione, I wish to apologize for my unwarranted behavior when we first met. Not only that, but you have taught me that there is indeed more to the world than just fear and anger, you have taught me that there is indeed hope when there seems to be none at all. I want you to cover your eyes and trust me," he was grinning wildly.
She smiled, and, after a moments hesitation, closed her eyes. He reached out his hand, and captured hers in his, his roughly padded-furry fingers gingerly grasping her soft, work-worn hand. He purposely lead her around a couple of turns, to confuse her, eventually ending up outside a door inscribed near the top with the saying "De Nihilo Nihil" was situated on the right hand side of his room.
"Can I open my eyes now?" She asks, nearly overwhelmed with curiosity.
"Not yet," he says, as he opens the door into a room that appeared rather dark, due to the heavy cutains that shielded the room from the sun. He stopped her walking about dead center in the room. Beast swiftly went over to the windows and threw open the curtains.
She heard the noise, and smiled, and asked, "May I now open my eyes."
"Yes," he said, partially worried, partially enjoying the expressions that played over her face. They were in a huge library; its size could easily compete with the size of the Hogwarts' library.
"It's amazing," she said, astound by the sheer number of books alone. She asked then, "Why?"
"How many times have you reread your books since you got here? How many times have you wished that you just have access to the library many floors below? This is my way of both thanking you, and give you the opportunity to learn more," he said all of this, and left.
She knew that he was afraid of many things, but rejection had never seemed to fit the buck. She looked around and saw a couple of comfy chars, as well as a desk with an unmarked book and a potions book on it. The potions book was the NEWT year textbook, but it was the unmarked deep blue book that caught her attention. She walked over to the desk, and opened the book carefully, to avoid accidentally damaging the pages. It read:
يتايح نم لجس
س س ب
Seeing this made her rather curious, but as soon as she reached out for the next page she could feel the old wards protecting the book. She closed the cover, still curious of the contents. She continued to explore, but the books finally caught her attention, and she curled up in one of the chairs to read a book of Muggle origin, The Odyssey.
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A/N: I really am sorry about aking so long to update, but I will update when I can.