Chapter 2: Beauty and the Beast

It was the autumn of 1992. October 2, to be exact. Hogwarts was all abuzz. Some of the students were talking about the upcoming quidditch matches, some were talking about the upcoming Halloween feast, and others just couldn't wait until Christmas. All year round, I think you could expect what Hermione would be talking about. Yes, she was talking about school, homework, and books, et cetera et cetera, but there was one other thing she couldn't get off her mind.

For a while, she couldn't stop looking at an ad in the muggle newspaper. She'd been talking about the movie it was showing since she saw the trailer for it over the summer, and it was being released next week, while she was at school. But her parents promised that they'd take her out of school on one weekend to see it.

The movie that held her excitement was Disney's Beauty and the Beast. She saw the trailer for it over the summer, when she attended a family screening of Peter Pan, with her parents, along with the Potters, Weasleys, Lupin, Tonks, and Black.

For almost the whole month of October, she got no reply. For a while she worried that her parents had forgotten all about it. She didn't realize that she was forgetting that all along, she kept pestering her parents to take her to see it. It worried her so much, she almost forgot all about school, and this time, it was Harry and Ron who had to bug her about homework.

She sat through the Halloween feast and got the same enjoyment. She sat through the first Quidditch match and got the same enjoyment. All that was left to wait for was Christmas, but she still received no reply and she thought by the time Christmas came, the movie would no longer be out. But one day in early November, Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl, dropped an envelope into Hermione's hands.

She hoped this was what I thought it was.

"Harry, it's killing me!" She cried.

"Mione, just read the return address," Harry reassured her. .

She read it and opened the envelope. Inside, there were two tickets, one for herself and one for Harry. She wanted this to be something for just him and her to do together with their own families. The Weasleys would see this themselves another time.

The date set for them to see the movie was on Friday, November 20. Harry had to restrain Hermione from making a scene about it in the Great Hall. Their mothers would come and take them out of Hogwarts and their dads would meet them at the cinema.

By the time the big day came, Hermione insisted on being prepared. She wore a periwinkle blue button down blouse, like she wore last year on the first day of school, along with a maroon wool skirt, white tights, and black Mary Jane shoes. On occasions like this, she preferred to stay well-dressed, but not too girly. That was her roommates' department.

Also, she made sure to wear the beret that her parents bought her from Paris. This hat was her most prized possession, besides her well-stocked book bag, and never left home without it. It had all the same charms that Harry placed on his Lucky Lennon hat, including staying on her head when she needed it, and never getting dirty or withering away.

Speaking of which, Harry put on his Lucky Lennon hat and waited for Hermione in the common room. When he saw her coming down the stairs, he took his hat off rather gentlemanly and held out his arm. For some reason, they decided to walk arm in arm, as if they were on their way to a Royal Premiere. Hermione seemed to take this serious enough.

By the time they exited through the Portrait Hole, they found their mothers waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. As they made it to the bottom of the stairs, a familiar gristly looking man came running down the corridors.

"Aha!" He shouted. "Students out of bed…"

"That's because they're leaving the school premises with us, you blithering idiot," Lily snapped.

"Oh," Filch breathed as he put his finger down and moved out of the way.

The mothers took their children out to Hogsmeade, where Lily held her wand out. A large purple triple decker bus pulled in. Both mothers and their children stepped aboard to avoid a confrontation with the wisearse conductor.

"Well then, whereabouts are you headed?" Asked the conductor,

"The Leakey Cauldron," Lily requested.

They headed to the back of he bus as to not hear any wisecracks from the driver. By the time they got to the Leakey Cauldron, they firmly grasped the sides of the bed they were sitting on to avoid being hurled forward, face first into the front window.

They disembarked and entered, where they found a table with James, Sirius, Remus, Dora, Paul and Sarah waiting for them. Lily sat next to James, Jane sat next to Paul, and Harry and Hermione took the two extra seats next to each other, but not before hearing…

"Girlfriend Alert!" from Sarah.

After enjoying a dinner of hamburgers and chips with butterbeer, the group made their way for the Odeon in Leicester Square, which made it seem even more like a royal premiere.

When they bought refreshments, popcorn was the only snack food Hermione's parents would let her have, being dentists. I forgot to mention that when they went to see Peter Pan, several months before, her parents let her have sweets and soda just for that. They didn't realize that there were times she ate them whilst at school. She used magical self-fixing toothpaste to hide it. To drink, she agreed to just get a bottled water. Harry agreed to get drink the same thing to not make Hermione unhappy.

Shortly before they went in, Hermione noticed the Beauty and the Beast cardboard display in the lobby, along with all the other movie displays. She ran towards the display, dragging Harry with her to pose in front of it.

And yes, you've figured out what I'm going to say.

Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer.

Both Lily and Jane pulled out their cameras and snapped a picture of the two kids. When they were done, the theatre doors finally opened. Hermione dragged Harry in as the parents watched and laughed.

They were seated in the best seats in the house. It was in the row in front of the balcony, so nothing was blocking their view. Hermione was about as giddy as she'd ever been in her life, which was a shock to Harry, as he'd never seen her like this before.

Soon enough, the lights went down and the previews begun. One preview was the trailer for Disney's next film, Aladdin, which was set to open in the U.K. the next year. Harry and Hermione made note to see that as well. Later, they heard the audience cheering for one of the previews, which was the final U.K. re-release of Disney's first ever feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This would be out the next summer and Harry and Hermione decided to bring everyone to see it, like when they saw Peter Pan the previous summer.

After a few more previews, the movie started. Harry could feel Hermione's excitement when they played the first note in the opening scene. But after the opening scene, where they explained how the Beast became who he was, Harry finally knew the real reason for Hermione's excitement.

Do I even need to say it?

While listening to that seven minute opening number, Hermione thought that she'd die to have a bookshop like the one Belle went to. She forgot all about the concept of a bookshop later in the film, when the Beast brought her into his oversized library.

It was this natural excitement that got her into the songs as well. After listening to the opening number, she decided she had to buy the soundtrack so she could listen to it over and over while she was reading. When Be Our Guest was being sung, she wanted to look for ways to enchant a set of dinnerware. In Something There, she decided she couldn't wait until winter so she could throw snowballs at everyone.

The real turning point when Belle and the Beast had their first dance together. As they danced, neither Harry nor Hermione noticed that their hands were touching as they reached for the armrest. Harry could hear giggling coming from behind him, but he thought it could have just been anyone giggling.

When the Beast was dying, of course, Hermione had tears in her eyes. When he turned back into a human, she was one of the few girls in the audience who didn't want to cut the Beast's hair. After all, she was perfectly fine with the hair on the boy sitting right next to her.

After that final note on the final song, the whole audience erupted with applause. Hermione hugged Harry for dear life,and he hugged her back, not noticing a junior catcall behind them.

Hermione had so much fun that night just acting like a little girl. If you think this was out of her character, remember, as a child she was known for her extreme giddiness that stemmed from over-enthusiasm. If you saw her that night, you'd think she was five instead of twelve.

Anyways, as they headed out of the theatre, Hermione noticed the poster. This poster too said, Visit the new EuroDisney Resort in Paris at the bottom. This made Hermione's yearning grow even stronger.

As they left the cinema, the parents gathered the children together before getting in the car.

"Kids, this summer, we're going to Paris for Harry's 13th birthday," Lily announced.

Naturally, this raised Hermione's giddiness level.

"And we'll be going to EuroDisney for a few days," James added.

Hermione just had to scream. Something she'd never done in her life.

They drove back to Liverpool, as the kids were tired from the trip, and they'd be sent back to Hogwarts on Sunday, so Harry wouldn't miss Quidditch practice. Hermione was in the car with the Potters and Sirius, while Remus and Dora drove back with Paul and Jane. Hermione snuggled up to Harry and Sarah was already asleep, so she couldn't tease them.

"Life is good," she thought. "Life is good."

P.S. Their trip to EuroDisney is another story.