He watched the sun rise from the balcony outside the ballroom. He wondered, as he could remember wondering before, how the outside world could continue as normal when his own had stopped completely.

Was this it, now? At least before he had known why the Enchantress had done this to him, why she had felt justified in destroying his life and what he had to do to earn his freedom again. But now... nothing. He had done all she had asked of him, he had learned that there were things more important than himself, that there was someone worthy of his respect. Belle was his world now and he would have spent every second with her if he could. When he'd been transformed back into a human, his first thought had been for her, of how they could be together now, of how they could be together without feeling ashamed of how he looked.

He felt her approach behind him and slip her little hand into his paw, caressing his skin through the fur, then squeezing it tight. They stood like that in silence for a while, watching birds take off from the trees and arc through the pink-tinged sky.

"I'm sorry," he said, still staring into the distance.

"I know," she replied, quietly.

They could have asked each other what had happened, and why, and what could be done about it, but they didn't need to. They knew neither of them knew any more than the other, and so they just stood together, hand in hand, unaskable and unanswerable questions circling them like invisible butterflies. Eventually conversations would have to be had, decisions would need to be made but now, right now, this was all they could do.

Cogsworth skidded to a squeaky halt on the dance floor behind them and gasped for breath. "Your Royal Highnesses!"

Belle turned. The Beast didn't.

"What is it, Cogsworth?" Belle was puzzled by his urgency. What could possibly need their immediate attention that was worse than this?

Cogsworth straightened up and tried to compose himself but couldn't quite manage it. "You've got a visitor."

"Who is it?"

"I... I think you'd better come and see."

Belle hesitated, but it wasn't like Cogsworth to disturb them like this without good reason. She gathered her skirts and hurried to join him. They left the room together, the Beast following reluctantly a few paces behind.

There was a slight, blonde woman standing in the hall, dwarfed - as almost anyone would be - by the huge door. Belle started to approach her, opening her mouth to offer a greeting, but was abruptly cut off by a roar from behind her.

"YOU!"

Belle almost lost her balance as she whipped round in time to see her husband launch himself from the doorway to the ballroom, reaching the strange woman in a few bounds.

"HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE HERE?" he bellowed. Given his proximity to the woman's aforementioned face, the volume was somewhat unnecessary.

The Enchantress winced. She hadn't exactly been expecting to be shown in and offered a nice cup of tea and a comfy armchair, but she hadn't quite prepared herself for this. She took a few steps back. "Er... Good morning," she said.

"I'll give you a good morning," he snarled, pacing after her on all fours.

She moved back again. "I'd really rather you didn't."

Belle appeared at his side, laying a soothing hand on the side of his neck. "Don't hurt her," she said, gently. Her gaze hardened as she turned it on the stranger. "You must be the Enchantress."

The Enchantress gave a cautious nod. "And you're Belle." It wasn't a question, it didn't need to be. She'd watched their love story in her mirror, she knew more about Belle than Belle herself did.

Belle inclined her head. "You'll forgive me if I don't say it's a pleasure." She could feel her husband's pulse racing, the anger flooding through him. "Why have you done this to him? Again?"

The Enchantress took a deep breath. "Do you mind if I come in? There's something I need to talk to you about."

Back at the tavern, the headquarters of what had turned out to be a hugely successful operation, Gaston's celebrations had continued throughout the night. The drinks had been on him. And why not? He'd be a married man soon. Perhaps not immediately, but it couldn't be long now. No one would expect Belle to honour her marriage vows to a man who was now a hideous Beast. Their marriage would be an... annu... annul... ended, and she'd come running back to the village. There'd be no more playing hard to get after that. She'd no longer be pure, no longer be perfect - who else would have her? But Gaston was past caring about that. This wasn't about whether or not she was the most beautiful, the best. She had said no to him, to him, Gaston.

No one said no to Gaston. And he would stop at nothing to prove it.

All there was to do now was to sit back... and wait.

Cringeing away from the furious stare of the Beast, the Enchantress found she was getting even less fond of her former self by the minute. She'd had to make him ugly, but had it really been necessary to make him so huge and scary? Fangs and claws? Did he really need to have both? Her respect for Belle had risen infinitely. It frightened her to admit it to herself - if she had any more scope for fear - but she wasn't sure she could have said, hand on heart, that she could have done what Belle had done. She wasn't sure she could have fallen in love with someone who looked like that.

But then falling in love wasn't a question of ability.

Belle frowned at her. "So... the curse was wrong?"

"Basically," the Enchantress replied, struggling to meet those brown eyes, "Yes."

"And when we fell in love that broke the spell but it's not enough to break the new spell?"

"It's not a new spell, it was a test of the old one" she corrected her, then, wavering, "But essentially that's true, yes."

Belle shook her head. "I don't understand. You said yourself that you cursed him because he was spoiled and selfish and unkind and that he had to learn to treat others with respect and he has. He's so kind to me, so thoughtful, he's the best husband anyone could possibly be - how could any of that be true if he hadn't changed?"

The Beast interjected in a growl through gritted teeth. "I've done everything you told me to."

The Enchantress hesitated. This was a tricky bit - as if the conversation had been plain sailing up until now. "He's kind and thoughtful to you, Belle. He loves you like he always loved himself. But that isn't the change the spell was meant to make. I'm sorry."

Belle ignored the apology. "What do we have to do?"

The Enchantress held her palm out flat in front of her. Sparks began to circle above it. "It's been a little over twelve years since I cast the spell first."

Cogsworth, standing respectfully in the corner, couldn't resist joining in at this juncture. "Twelve years, two months, two days, an hour and twelve minutes fifteen seconds," he said. The Enchantress turned to look at him and he glared at her. "But who's counting?"

The Enchantress could feel her cheeks burning, but the quicker she got through this, the quicker she could leave. "Without reinforcement, magic of this nature lasts for thirteen years unless an earlier deadline is set, like the ten years I gave you for the first spell." More glares. "Ten is more usual for spells involving love," she added, quickly, but it was a thin explanation and she knew it. "Thirteen is a natural lifespan for magic, a kind of rule of thumb. After that, there won't be anything anyone can do about it."

"So we have until the thirteenth anniversary of the spell being cast? That means..."

"This Christmas," muttered the Beast.

"That's right. By then, you need to understand what it is to have respect for those around you, to care about the happiness of people besides you and Belle."

"I run a kingdom!" the Beast exclaimed. "I make decisions that affect everyone in it, and I do my best to make the right decisions."

"Yes, and you do that because it is your duty, and because bad decisions will damage your popularity and could ultimately cause you to lose everything. It's as much about why you do things as what you do."

Belle sighed. "This is ridiculous."

There was nothing the Enchantress could add to that. She glanced at her own outstretched hand. The sparks had been multiplying while she had been speaking and had now solidified to form a glass ball mounted on a golden base. Inside, a tiny replica of the castle nestled among miniscule trees. She held it out to them. "Take this. When the snow starts to fall, you have a week left."

The Beast snatched it from her, regarding it with sullen disinterest. "We do own a calendar, you know."

"It's a magic thing. I'm sorry."

Belle took it from him. "We'll look after it. Is there anything else?"

The Enchantress contemplated apologising again, but decided against it. The best thing to do seemed to be to leave them in peace. "No, that's it. I'll be on my way now. I'll keep an eye on things and help in any way I can." She stood. "I'll see myself out. Good luck."

And then she was gone.

Belle cradled the strange glass ball in her hands for a moment, then looked up at her husband. "It'll be alright," she said. "We broke the curse before and we can do it again."

He looked into her worried, hopeful face and wished he could believe her.

I'm so sorry about the delay! And I'd like to thank everyone who encouraged me to continue this, especially Trudi, whose message I only got last night. As I said to her, I've found it difficult to get on with writing this story for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's not what I find easiest to write, i.e. fluff with an abundance of wisecracks (although I hope to squeeze some of that in somewhere), so it's more of an effort. But also, looking over it after all these months (again, I'm really sorry!), I've realised that it could well be my best work so far, at least in terms of how well it's written, and the response from all my lovely reviewers has been great, so it's kind of daunting trying to write a new chapter because I'm afraid that I can't keep up the good work!

Having said that, I really want to see what I can do with this idea and what new stuff I can find in the story and characters by writing this, so I guess all I can do is try my best and hope you guys continue to enjoy it. Thanks so much for reading!