'For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo,' Leon read, while blinking back tears. He and Rose had finished reading The Canterbury Tales and had just finished Romeo and Juliet, his second favourite Shakespeare tale, next to A Midsummer's Night Dream, to Cogsworth's relief.

It had meant that they wouldn't be using the bad British accents anymore, as he had watched them from the door in the library, like he had done the previous days.

However, he had been caught and shooed away by Mrs Potts, who had told him to 'leave Leon and the mistress alone, they're just having fun reading and if they want to use accents, so be it, they're not doing it to offend you and me.'

Cogsworth just had to accept it, although he was happy that they were getting along and when the spell was broken, he would be enjoying his long-awaited retirement by the sea, if the mistress's renewed manner was anything to go by.

Leon, no matter how many times he had read this tragic tale of two lovers and knew how it was going to end, still got teary at the end, especially at the part when Juliet stabbed herself, dying in her love's arms. Rose gently put her paw on his shoulder and patted it.

'You read that so beautifully, Leon,' she said, 'it's such a tragic tale of two lovers from quarrelling families who die in each other's arms. It's so sad.'

'I've read this many times before and I KNOW what's going to happen, that it doesn't end well for poor Romeo and Juliet, but it always makes me cry.' Leon said, slightly embarrassed.

'It's bound to make anyone cry, you don't have to be embarrassed about it, I'm not going to judge you,' said Rose, ' besides not all love stories end in tragedy, there are those that DO have happy endings, but Romeo and Juliet, as tragic as it is ,does have some beautiful quotes about love,'

'What is in a name?' Leon said, 'That we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, just like you, my dear Rose.'

Rose giggled and was glad she had fur otherwise Leon would have seen her blush as he was complementing her.

'That's so sweet, Leon,' she said.

'But soft! What light through yonder breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun,' said Leon, for that was another of his favourite quotes and Rose also giggled at that, but in a friendly way, not intending to tease him, which Leon knew she wasn't.

'Uh, Rose, I don't think Romeo and Juliet is meant to be a comedy. If anyone were to see that you were laughing at Shakespeare's greatest TRAGEDIES, they'll think that there's something wrong with you.' Leon said, as Rose tried unsuccessfully to hide her snickers.

But he liked the fact that she was laughing with him, not at him unlike everyone back in the village, who would do the exact opposite, as their snickers and ill-concealed giggles would echo in his ears, but he would just ignore it and keep reading his book.

'I know, but I love how you say them, Leon and don't think I'm laughing at you, because I'm not,' said Rose, 'besides, if we wanted to get the most terrible giggles from Shakespeare, we would've read A Midsummer's Night Dream instead.'

'That did make us laugh, especially when Bottom had a donkey's head!' said Leon, chuckling, 'and who would have thought that fairies would be capable of messing with people's love lives and their lives in general!'

'Yes,' said Rose, as she knew all too well, trying not to remember the Red Enchantress and her sadistic smile and evil laugh as she transformed her into the creature she was now and took her childhood and humanity away from her.

Yet the wicked enchantress's laugh still echoed in her head and had haunted her in nightmares for years, which made her grimace.

'Rose,' Leon said, which made her snap back into reality, 'what's wrong? You look like something's bothering you. You can tell me, there's no shame in it, you're amongst a trusting friend, like me,' which was what Jean-Luc had said to him in the meadow.

'It's nothing, Leon; I was lost in my thoughts again. My brain has gone to sleep from reading too much, and I really need to take a break.' said Rose.

'Speaking of which, why don't we go do some painting in the art studio? Sophie will be wondering why I haven't been playing with her and she'll love it if I come.' Leon suggested, 'and I'm keen to do some painting myself and draw a picture for Sophie, as she's wanted me to do one for her.'

'That's a good idea, Leon,' said Rose, 'and I can tell that Sophie really likes you. She's practically drawn pictures of you and pinned them on the wall in her room, that's how much she admires you,' as she felt a pang of guilt about having ruined her friendship with Sophie.

And she had been angry at how Leon had won her over so easily when she hadn't, instead shutting her out when she had tried to help and comfort her.

'Sophie likes you too, Rose. She told me last night when I was reading to her, that she was glad that you were being friendly again, like you had always been and that she would always be your friend, no matter what you have done.

You should go and see her and let her know that her friend is still with her.' Leon said, remembering what the little paint bottle told him in the studio, before pestering him to read to her.

'I know that, Leon, Sophie is incredibly loyal to anyone that she loves and never gives up on them and I cruelly shut her out when she tried to comfort me when..' Rose then realised what she had said and quickly stopped talking. Leon didn't need to know about the curse and that she was actually the lost princess underneath this beastly body.

No, I can't let him know about the curse, she thought, He may think that he's just a tool to break it when he is more than that. He's my friend, the best one I've ever had and I can't tell him my secret. The time isn't right. I don't want to spoil it.

'Shall we go to the studio then, Leon?' Rose said, 'We can start reading King Arthur and a few more fairy tales later; I'm keen to see Sophie and do some painting,'

She faltered at the last word as she knew that her paws would be unable to hold a paintbrush properly and any art that she did would turn out to be messy blobs, as she had said to Amelie the day she gave Leon the library, when she had suggested that Rose paint a picture for Leon.

But she was willing to do it, since she wanted to see Sophie and hoped that she would forgive her for her behaviour towards the paint bottle and how she cruelly shut her out, refusing her help when she needed it the most.

'That's a good idea, Rose, Sophie will be wondering why I haven't come and played with her today and I can do some drawing with her,' said Leon, then looked at the clock and saw that it was ten-thirty which meant..

'After some tea and cookies of course,' he said winking at Rose, who giggled as the familiar tea trolley rolled in the library with Mrs Potts and Rebecca, with the ever present and welcome sight of hot tea and freshly-baked cookies.

'Yay, Leon's here!' squealed Sophie, as Leon and Rose entered the studio, after he had changed his clothes in his room, so as not to get paint on the suit he had worn to breakfast and was now wearing a white shirt and black trousers. Sophie eagerly hopped over to him and he held out his palm so that she could hop into it.

'Hi, Rose, it's so nice to see you again,' she then said, looking at Rose, who smiled quite shakily at her, 'I've missed you.'

'I missed you too, Sophie and I'm sorry that I shut you out when you were trying to help me. You didn't deserve it and especially not what has happened to you,' she said, 'and I had thought that you didn't want to be my friend anymore.'

'I'll always be your friend, Rose,' said Sophie, 'no matter what, I still like you and always will. You and Leon are my friends and nothing will change that.'

'Thanks, Sophie, I'm glad that you forgive me,' Rose said, as she gently nuzzled her nose against the paint bottle who giggled.

'Want to see a neat trick?' said Sophie, as she called for a nearby easel to come; only it didn't.

'Sophie, I hope that you are not going to squirt paint out of you again because if I've said it once, I've said it a million times, it is not ladylike!' said Amelie, who made her way towards her daughter, Leon and Rose with Raymond nervously following her.

'Papa, why are you hiding?' Sophie said.

'I'm worried that the mistress is going to lose her temper again and I can't bear anymore shouting!' Raymond said, his voice shaking, 'My nerves are shot and my poor ears have suffered enough!'

'It's alright, Uncle Raymond, I'm not going to yell at you or anyone else. You have nothing to worry about, so come on out,' Rose said gently and the easel breathed a sigh of relief, as he came out.

'Thank goodness for that, Mistress, my ears thank you if I had them. But it's lovely that you are getting back to your old self again and that you aren't going to be yelling at us anymore.' Raymond said.

'We all are and Leon is definitely bringing out the best in her. She has never been happier and they are clearly having fun reading and mocking poor Cogsworth from what I have heard,' Amelie said, which made Sophie laugh and Leon and Rose snicker quietly to each other.

'The poor clock will soon start to think that he is nothing more than a source of amusement for you two, but I know that you don't mean to offend him and you're just having a laugh.' Raymond said.

'Now about you two do some painting?' said Amelie, carrying some smocks that she had found. She and Raymond had never used them, preferring their aprons, but since Rose and Leon were wearing nice clothes, the last thing that they needed was to get paint on them.

'Put these smocks on, you don't want your lovely clothes to be ruined, don't you?' Amelie said, as Rose and Leon did so, 'Paint is very hard to get off but clay is the worst and Remy moans his head off if he has to wash them.'

'And Katrine would be upset if the clothes she made for me were to get ruined, since she worked so hard on them.' Rose said.

'Indeed, Mistress,' said Raymond.

'I'd love to see what you can paint, Leon,' Amelie said, 'Don't worry if it's not a masterpiece, just paint what comes from your imagination.'

'But what about my trick with the easel?' said Sophie, pouting, 'I want him and Rose to see it!'

'Not now, Sophie, Leon and the mistress are busy at the moment,' said Amelie.

'You can show it to him later, darling,' Raymond said, 'Why don't you go and find some paints, palettes and brushes for Leon and the mistress? You know where they are, they're in the art box where you sleep and they shouldn't be too hard to find.'

'Okay, Papa,' Sophie said, sighing as she hopped over to the art box.

'That's a good girl,' said Amelie, 'now how about your painting, Leon? Show me what you can do. I won't criticise if it's not good, as long as it comes from you, that's all that matters.'

'Alright, Amelie, I'll do my best,' said Leon, as two easels waddled over to him and Rose and Sophie pushed two palettes with blobs of paint on them, much like Amelie had, two brushes, a jar of water and she squirted some pink paint on the palettes as well.

With Amelie, Raymond and Sophie watching him admirably, Leon started to paint the very first thing that was on his mind- him and Rose reading their favourite tale Rapunzel, in the library ,remembering every little detail and what he had learnt from his art books and practical work and the paintings and sketches he had done.

'Oh, that's so good, Leon!' said Sophie, seeing what he had painted as he added the finishing touches, 'it's really pretty!'

'That truly is an amazing and beautiful painting, Leon,' said Amelie, 'You make da Vinci and Michelangelo look like amateurs! It's so lifelike and you really do pay attention to every little detail!'

'And you really taught yourself how to do this?' said Raymond, 'It's incredible!'

'Thank you,' Leon said. It wasn't what he would call a masterpiece, but judging by the reactions of Amelie and Raymond, they would have thought that he had just painted the Mona Lisa from scratch, 'but it's just a simple portrait, it's not like it's going to hang in a museum or anything. I just did it to the best of my ability.'

'Don't be so modest, boy, it's better than Amelie or I could have done and that's saying something!' said Raymond chuckling, only to receive a dirty look from Amelie, like she had been insulted, albeit unintentionally.

'What about my painting, Raymond?' she said.

'I didn't say anything other than it is excellent cherie and we all know it,' Raymond said sheepishly, hoping to save face and Amelie gave him a relieved smile.

'That's what I thought you said, dear,' she said and kissed him.

'How are you going, Rose?' Leon said, noticing that she had hardly picked her brush up and was starting at her easel, unsure about what to paint and holding her palette and brush in her paws awkwardly, like she didn't know how to use them.

'It doesn't matter what it looks like, just remember what Amelie said, paint whatever comes from your imagination,' he said, 'I'd like to see you paint and don't worry about making mistakes, just do your best.'

'Okay, I'll try,' said Rose, as she painted. It was by no means what any artist would call a masterpiece or even a painting, as it mostly consisted of blobs of paint that looked like explosions and blobby paw prints when the brush had broken when Rose had gripped it too hard and had to use her paws.

'I knew this would happen,' she said, 'what was I thinking?'

Rose sighed as she looked at the finished painting. It was a mess and she knew it, as Raymond and Amelie tried very hard not to grimace at the blobby mess masquerading as a work of art and Leon slightly frowned at it, unsure about what it was supposed to be or trying to find the right word to describe it.

'It's…very unique,' he said, 'not like anything I've seen before, but it's quite good and very colourful, especially with the paw prints.'

'Oh, Leon, I know you're trying to be kind and that's very sweet of you, but it's nothing more than a HUGE MESS and it made me look like an idiot in front of you! But you try holding a paint brush with these paws, breaking it and making stupid blobs!' Rose said, dismayed.

'It is pretty, Rose,' said Sophie, 'I like the paw prints,'

'Yes, Mistress, its better what Sophie can do, your blobs have more shape than hers!' said Raymond. Hearing that, Sophie gave her father a look, which said, 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'But they are nice drawings that you do, darling,' he then said, feeling embarrassed and ashamed that he had insulted both his wife and daughter's art without meaning to.

'It's okay Papa, as long as you and Mama like them, that's fine and I'll keep practicing until I get it right!' said Sophie, 'just like Rose, all she needs is to practice more and she'll make more pretty pictures like Leon's!'

'Do you really think so?' said Rose, 'You see, it's been so long since I painted and..'

'Actually,' Leon said, looking at Rose's painting again, 'it doesn't look at all bad, if I make a few adjustments here,' picking up his paintbrush and turning the blobs into flowers by painting petals and leaves on them.

'That's better,' he said.

'Oh, so they're flowers now?' said Rose, 'They look great and thank you Leon for not laughing at my feeble attempt to paint and making it look better.'

'I don't think it's feeble at all, it's more like abstract art, like you are letting your imagination go and expressing yourself,' said Leon, 'and the flowers are daisies dipped in paint and the paw prints are Lila trying to 'help' you paint but really being a nuisance!'

'Exactly!' said Rose even though she knew Lila's paws were much smaller than hers but it was a good enough explanation, 'it really does look better than it used to be, that's for sure and your painting is really good too, Leon, I wish I could paint like that.'

'Well, all you need to do is practice and you'll get better at it each time, if you try hard enough,' said Leon, 'Why don't we practice by drawing with crayons? That's always a good place to start and it's not too messy.'

'A good idea, Leon, you can draw Sophie her picture and have a scribble competition like I used to do with her whenever I was in the studio,' said Rose.

They were about to take off their smocks when suddenly they were sprayed with pink paint on their faces and smocks, making them yelp in surprise.

It was coming off an easel behind them which they didn't know was there and that had caught them unawares and when they turned around, they immediately knew who the culprit was.

'SOPHIE!' they both said, as the paint bottle was giggling, having finally shown them her trick, even though they hadn't been looking and decided to surprise them instead.

'Gotcha!' she said, 'That was my trick that I wanted to show you but you weren't paying attention, so I decided to do it when you didn't expect it! I got the easel to shake paint on you!'

'Very funny, Sophie, you're just lucky we were wearing our smocks, otherwise we would've have gotten it on our clothes,' said Rose, pretending to be annoyed but she was snickering as she said it, 'but you did get it on our faces.'

'It is funny, Sophie, but since you have been a very naughty paint bottle and played a trick on us, I won't be drawing you a picture today or have a scribble competition with you and Rose!' said Leon, wiping the paint off his and Rose's faces.

'Oh, no, Leon, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get paint on you!' Sophie said, as her eyes welled up with tears, 'Please draw a picture for me and I want to have a scribble competition with you and Rose! I promise that I won't trick you again!'

'I'm just teasing you, Sophie, of course I'll draw with you and have a scribble competition, but you must promise me that you will never trick me, Rose or anyone else again. You may have thought it was funny, but other people might not think the same, okay?'

'It was funny, Sophie, I was teasing you too,' said Rose.

'I promise Leon,' said Sophie, 'I won't trick you again,'

Leon smiled at her as she hopped into his palm, after he and Rose had taken off their smocks and wiped the paint off their faces and they went over to a table where there were a tin of crayons, crayon stubs and a pile of paper was on it.

The crayons came out of the tin and squeaked, determined to be used to draw and jumped up and down to get attention.

'Take it easy, you'll get used soon, there's no need to be pushy,' Leon said, chuckling, as he sat down on a chair, while Sophie hopped on the table and Rose, after fighting an urge to lie down on the floor, sat upright on it, as she would break any of the chairs if she was to sit on them.

Leon drew Sophie her long awaited picture which was of her, Leon and Rose sitting together having a picnic, while the sun shone and Rose, with Leon's help, drew some flowers from growing from the grass and a rainbow above them.

Sophie loved the drawing, as the crayons jumped up and down, pleased with their work and got her mother to frame it and put it near the art box, so she could look at it when she went to bed, much like Leon did when he looked at the drawing she gave him.

Then, they had a scribble competition, drawing wild crayon scribbles on the paper, with Rose winning and enjoying herself, not thinking about anything but having fun with Leon and Sophie, as Raymond and Amelie watched, with the brushes and paint bottles jumping up and down, cheering them on.

'You know, we've learnt something today,' said Leon, 'and it's never to insult Amelie and Sophie about their painting and to have fun making art for art's sake,'

'That's true,' said Rose, 'and to watch your back in case a sneaky easel decides to shake paint on you when you least expect it!'

'Yes, especially if a certain naughty little paint bottle decides to play a little trick on you by getting said easel to get it on you!' Leon said, tapping Sophie's nose, which made her giggle.

'Isn't this nice, Amelie?' Raymond said, watching the happy scene as Leon, Rose and Sophie were drawing with the crayons, some of which were dancing on the paper, making them laugh, 'I'm so glad that the mistress is happy again and that she and the boy are friends and that Sophie is enjoying herself.

And they did it on their own, without our help!'

'It is, dear,' said Amelie, snuggling close to him, 'At this rate, it won't be much longer before we'll be free from this cruel misery. I can't wait to be human again, I'm sick of hopping everywhere!'

'And I can hug you and Sophie again and I won't have any more accidents!' said Raymond, kissing his wife as she giggled.

'Oh, Raymond, dear, you have accidents anyway whether you are human or an easel!' Amelie said, kissing him back.

They smiled as they looked at the painting of themselves on the wall, their wedding anniversary present and instead of feeling the misery every time they had looked at it, they felt hope for the first time in years.

'It's only a matter of time before they realise their love for each other. I only hope they don't leave it too late.' Amelie said

'Before the last petal falls,' said Raymond, as they watched their daughter having fun with her friends without a worry in the world and Amelie was hoping what she had said to Sophie before would come true.