Back in her room, Hermione puzzled over the organ's influence over the Beast. Was this interfering with her ability to work with him? Is this why he had such a hard time trusting her?
Hermione didn't know the Beast well enough to have a good sense of his normal personality. From what she'd heard from the staff, he had a good heart once you got to know him. He couldn't be all bad if he was the hero of a fairy tale. Right?
Hermione didn't know. What had she been thinking, switching places with someone from a story?
She knew what she'd been thinking. She'd wanted to get away from everything. Escape into a book.
Literally.
So Hermione had poured herself into creating the fateful spell that had brought her into this unknown world. This unknown time. This place where she didn't know how to do magic. She had no idea how to go back.
Hermione fell asleep mulling over her strange circumstances.
She dreamed that Bellatrix approached her with a knife with organ music blasting in the background.
"NO!" she yelled, and her dream shifted. The golden-haired woman appeared and lifted a veiled gate. Hermione stepped through and found herself in the same beautiful meadow as the night before.
Belle was already there. "Hello, Hermione," Belle said.
"Belle!" Hermione cried. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing well, thank you," Belle said. "Professor McGonagall filled in the other professors and they're helping me catch up. I had special lessons with her and Professor Flitwick today."
"Did you really?" Hermione asked. "That's wonderful. Professor Flitwick is such a dear."
"He's very kind," Belle agreed. "He's puzzled by how I can do magic without casting spells, but he's going to look into it. He said he suspects that I'm able to replace verbal spells with strong mental visualization."
"Fascinating," Hermione said. "Oh, I wish I could go to the library and investigate myself!"
"Speaking of the library," Belle said. "I discovered something."
"Oh?" Hermione asked. "What's that?"
"I realized after the previous night's dream, that my mother was a witch," Belle said. "And that she might have gone to Hogwarts. I found records in the library of her going to Hogwarts. She was sorted into Ravenclaw."
"Incredible," Hermione breathed. "I had no idea. That explains your natural magical talents. Did your mother ever teach you magic?"
"No," Belle said. "But memories have returned to me of magical occurrences around the house. It seems that now I've realized the truth, or at least part of it, memories are coming back."
"Fascinating," Hermione said.
"How are things going for you?" Belle asked.
"Oh, not much progress on my front," Hermione replied. "I checked on Philippe and discovered he's very well taken care of in the stables. There's a whole set of stable staff thrilled to take care of him. Philippe let me tell him some stories but kept his distance."
"Give him time," Belle said. "He'll warm up to you."
"I hope so," Hermione said. "I also discovered that there's an enchanted organ that the Beast goes to listen to. It seems like this organ might be manipulating him somehow."
"Really?" Belle said. "I suppose in that environment anything is possible. Do you think the music is enchanting him?"
"I'm not sure," Hermione said. "I think the music has some effect on him for sure. But it also seems like the organ knows how to play on his emotions and manipulate him. The music only amplifies that."
"That's not good," Belle said.
"Not at all," Hermione replied. "I need the Beast to cooperate with me if I'm going to be able to do anything about his spell and our situation."
"I wish I knew more to tell you to help," Belle said. "But I was only there a day."
"That's okay," Hermione said. "I'll figure something out. Is there anything else you'd like to know about Hogwarts or my world?"
Belle thought for a moment. "How are things with Ron?" she asked.
Hermione started. "You're asking me about that?" she replied, surprised. Hermione thought for a moment. "I don't know," she admitted. "I fancied him for years, but now that we're together it just feels…odd."
"Ginny said that you'd all been friends for a long time," Belle commented.
"Yes," Hermione said. "And we've only now become a couple in the past few months. It was exciting at first, but now I'm not sure how to feel."
"I think that makes sense," Belle said.
"Why do you ask?" Hermione said. "Ron shouldn't be around you very much. Except perhaps to visit on Hogsmeade weekends."
"Hogsmeade?" Belle asked.
"The wizarding village near the school," Hermione said. "We get days where we're allowed to go, but they're only about once a month or two. I suppose the next one is in a couple of weeks."
"Ah okay," Belle said. "I asked about Ron because Ginny and Harry seemed so happy. Ron seemed…tense. He got mad at me for letting Draco Malfoy talk to me."
"He gets jealous," Hermione said. "He's insecure about himself and lets it affect the way he treats other sometimes. Try not to worry to much about him."
"Um…okay," Belle said, feeling weird and awkward all of a sudden. This was a strange way for someone to tell her to behave around someone she supposedly loved. Maybe Belle had a lot more to learn about romance than she thought.
"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed. "We have a lot of homework already even though it's the second week of classes. I did a lot of it during the week, there's an Ancient Runes essay due on Tuesday. I missed Potions on Friday, so I'm not sure what you have to do for that. I started the Arithmancy assignment, but didn't finish it."
"Homework?" Belle asked. "Are those class subjects you just talked about?"
"Yes," Hermione said. "I take Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes. It's kind of a heavy workload, but I love all the subjects."
"Professor McGonagall gave me a schedule, but I didn't look at it in too much detail yet," Belle said. "She gave me a revised schedule with times for the additional lessons."
"That's very kind of her and the other professors," Hermione said.
"They say it's worth it because of all that you've done for the wizarding world," Belle replied.
Hermione felt her eyes fill with tears. "I didn't know they felt that way," Hermione said. "That's very kind."
"Overall, I've had good experiences with everyone," Belle said. "I'm excited to have a chance at a formal education, actually."
"Good," Hermione said, feeling relieved that there was a positive side to her meddling.
The world started to fade away into blackness.