Later on, we finally did get hungry, so I used my nose to lead us all to the kitchen. What we didn't know then was that we were being followed.
Just as we entered through the kitchen doors, we could hear Mrs. Potts talking to the others:
"But if the master doesn't learn to control that temper, he'll never break the…."
"Splendid to see you out and about Mademoiselles." The mantle clock interrupted, noticing us behind them. "I am Cogsworth, head of the household…"
The candelabrum burst through the doors and cut in front of Cogsworth, taking Belle's offered hand.
"…This is Lumière." Cogsworth added reluctantly.
"Ashanti Cherie." Lumière said, kissing Belle's hand.
From the way he was kissing it, I was glad I didn't offer my paw.
"If there – stop that! – is anything – please! – we can do to make your stay more comfortable." Cogsworth said, trying to get Lumière to quit with the kissing.
He finally managed to grab Lumière and pull him away, but Lumière burned Cogsworth's hands with his own – Lumière's hands being candles of course – causing Cogsworth to let go in pain.
"We are a little hungry." Belle admitted.
I agreed, although I knew there wouldn't be that many dishes that I'd enjoy. I'm not Scooby or Shaggy obviously.
"You are?" Mrs. Potts said happily. "Hear that? They're hungry! Stoke the fire! Break out the silver! Wake the china!"
The stove, which also could talk, the silverware, and the china obeyed.
"Remember what the master said…." Cogsworth said in a reminding/warning tone.
"Oh pish-posh, I'm not about to let the poor children go hungry." Mrs. Potts interrupted. "Besides, Harry gave us permission."
I was grateful to Mrs. Potts, and liked her calling us children, but Cogsworth was starting to get on my nerves.
"Oh all right fine," Cogsworth said bitterly. "Glass of water, crust of bread, and then…."
Annoyed, I snapped at him, startling him and causing him to fall over onto his back.
"What do want me to do, get a heart attack?" Cogsworth said bitterly to me after he recovered.
"You need a heart before you can have an attack." I retorted.
Belle and a few others dropped their mouths open, though the kids chuckled.
"She is right Cogsworth, I am surprised at you!" Lumière agreed. "They aren't our prisoners, they are our guests! We must make them feel welcome here! Right this way mademoiselles."
Lumière led us through the swinging doors we entered through earlier, and we found ourselves in the dining room.
"Well keep it down!" Cogsworth said, catching up to Lumière. "If the master finds out about this it will mean our necks!"
"Of course, of course." Lumière agreed, starting to follow us through the door. "But what is dinner without a little…music?"
The swinging door hit Cogsworth just as Lumière left.
"MUSIC?" Cogsworth cried as he flew through the air into a bowl of batter.
Belle and I stood at one end of the table as my friends, still in Rip, sat on our right. Harry, who noticed us absent from our room just a few minutes ago, found us in the dining room and joined us.
"Ma chère Mademoiselles." Lumière said, grabbing a nearby match on the table to use as a cane and picking up an ashtray to use as a hat. "It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight, and now we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair, as the dining room proudly presents…"
Three chairs came by for Belle, Harry, and I to sit on as a whole bunch of platters and trays hopped onto the table.
"…Your dinner." Lumière finished.
LUMIÈRE:
Be…our…guest! Be our guest!
Put our service to the test
Tie a napkin around your necks, chéries
And we provide the rest
Soup du jour
Hot hors d'oeuvres
Why, we only live to serve
Try the gray stuff it's delicious
Don't believe me? Ask the dishes
They can sing, they can dance
After all, Misses, this is France
And a dinner here is never second best
Go on, unfold your menu
Take a glance, and then you'll
Be our guest
Oui, our guest, be our guest
During this, Belle put her napkin on her lap, but I allowed mine to be tied around my neck. Platters of the food that Lumière mentioned appeared, but only Belle tried the gray stuff. The last time I saw a food item that was gray colored was a pepper-flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean and I hate peppers. Dishes and silverware then entered and formed the shape of the Eiffel Tower as more dishes moved in a circle the bottom. Belle and I both unfolded our menus, but since it was written in French I couldn't understand it.
FLATWARE:
Beef ragout
Cheese soufflé
Pie and pudding en flambé
These foods too appeared, except they skip/danced in front of us while in their containers. Oh, uh, remember when Cogsworth fell into the batter earlier? Well unfortunately it was the batter for the 'pudding en flambé' so Cogsworth got flambéed too when Lumière set the pudding on fire.
LUMIÈRE:
We'll prepare and serve with flair
A culinary cabaret
You're alone and you're scared
But the banquets all prepared
No one's gloomy or complaining
While the flatware's entertaining
We tell jokes, I do tricks
With my fellow candlesticks
A large bowl of punch appeared with many spoons diving into it a few at a time. Lumière then did a juggling trick with his candlesticks as a fountain-like-wave of punch shot him out from the middle of the circle the spoons were forming in the bowl.
STEINS/FLATWARE:
And it's all in perfect taste that you can bet!
Come on and lift your glass
You've won your own free pass to be our guest!
LUMIÈRE:
If you're stressed
It's fine dining we suggest
FLATWARE:
Be our guest, be our guest, be our guest!
A bunch of steins showed up and did a teeter-totter thing where the steins jumped and poured a liquid down each other. Cogsworth, after wiping the pudding off his face, tried to quiet everyone down, but ended up caught under a spotlight. Nervous, maybe even having a touch of stage fright, he grinned sheepishly and tried to slink away but Lumière pulled him back.
LUMIÈRE:
Life is so unnerving
For a servant who's not serving
He's not whole without a soul to wait upon
Ah, those good old days when we were useful
Suddenly those good old days are gone
Ten years, we've been rusting
Needing so much more than dusting
Needing exercise-a chance to use our skills
Most days, we just lay around the castle
Flabby, fat, and lazy
You walked in and ups-a-daisy!
Lumière held on to Cogsworth, who in turn blew out the candles that Lumière used for his hands. Suddenly, snow appeared to be falling on them! Confused, Cogsworth looked up, and found out it was really salt from saltshakers. Lumière dusted off Cogsworth while trying to keep hold of him, but Cogsworth pulled away hard and fell into a mold of Jell-O. Cogsworth wriggled, but couldn't get out until Lumière jumped onto the spoon that was in the Jell-O. This caused Cogsworth to fly through the air. Fortunately, he landed unharmed.
MRS. POTTS:
It's a guest, it's a guest
Sakes alive, well I'll be blessed
Wine's been pouring and thank the Lord
I've had the napkins freshly pressed
With dessert, she'll want tea
And my dear that's fine with me
While the cups do their soft-shoeing
I'll be bubbling, I'll be brewing
I'll get warm, piping hot
Heaven's sakes! Is that a spot?
Clean it up! We want the company impressed
We've got a lot to do
Is it one lump or two
For you, our guest?
Mrs. Potts actually was in the kitchen while she was singing, but luckily Camera recorded what she was doing. She sang as she passed some dishes being washed, some rolling wine bottles, in the middle of a circle of napkins, and pass some dancing teacups. She hopped onto the stove and looked at her reflection in a pot, which was how she saw the spot. A napkin wiped the spot off and tossed her onto a teacart, which rolled out to where we were sitting. Mrs. Potts poured a cup for Belle – she remembered that I don't like tea so she didn't pour me any.
ALL:
She's our guest!
MRS. POTTS:
She's our guest!
FLATWARE:
Be our guest. Be our guest
Our command is your request
It's ten years since we've had anybody here
And we're obsessed
With your meal, with your ease
Yes indeed, we aim to please
While the candlelight's still glowing
Let us help you, we'll keep going
A few flowerpots, flowers included, danced up to us and handed Belle and I each a flower. Then some feather dusters arrived to sweep up the fallen petals.
"People, people, song's over, over here, line up…." Cogsworth begun, only to run away screaming before he could be swept up too.
A line of bowing candles then unbowed and lead up to Lumière, who was dancing on a cake.
LUMIÈRE AND FLATWARE:
Course by course
One by one
'Til you shout, "Enough I'm done!"
Then we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest
Tonight you'll prop your feet up
But for now, let's eat up
Be our guest
Be our guest
Please…be…our…guest…!
During that last verse, a chandelier came down with dancing forks on it, causing some of us to gasp in an amazed tone! Around this point, Cogsworth started to get into the beat and even did a silly swaying dance until Lumière knocked him out of the way with a slide. Belle and the team and I clapped. I got to hand it to Lumière, he's a wonderful entertainer!
"Bravo! That was wonderful!" Belle said.
"Thank you, thank you mademoiselle." Cogsworth said.
Geez, he was barely even in the show at all, what was he talking about?
"Good show wasn't it everyone?" Cogsworth continued before looking at his face, which was a clock face of course. "Look at the time, now it's off to bed, off to bed."
"Oh I couldn't possibly go to bed now, it's my first time in an enchanted castle." Belle said.
"Yeah I've never been in an enchanted castle either." I agreed.
"Enchanted? Who said anything about the castle being enchanted?" Cogsworth chuckled nervously, and then he turned angrily to Lumière. "It was you wasn't it?"
He and Lumière started fighting.
"We figured it out for ourselves." Belle smiled, stopping their fight. "We'd like to look around, if that's all right?"
"Ooh, would you like a tour?" Lumière asked.
"Yes, please." I smiled.
"Wait a second, wait a second, I'm not sure that's such a good idea." Cogsworth said. "We can't let them go poking around in certain places, if you know what I mean." He hinted to Lumière.
"Perhaps you'd like to take us," Belle and I smiled to Cogsworth. "I'm sure you know everything there is to know about the castle."
"Oh, well, actually I, uh…yes I do." Cogsworth said.
Hermione noticed something about Belle's and my expressions…like as if what we said was a trick or something.
"I'm out of here." Harry whispered, winking at us.
"Why son?" James asked, but Harry had already left the room.