Beauty and the Beast

Once upon a time in the wizard world, there lived a young boy named Remus Lupin. Remus and his parents lived in a small house in the village. Remus was a very intelligent boy, and his parents prided him on it and thought him to be the best son in the village.

Then one night an old woman came to the Lupin family's home. She offered Mr. and Mrs. Lupin a single rose in exchange for a night's stay from the cold. Mr. and Mrs. Lupin declined and told her to leave. The woman told them that beauty had a way of deceiving, but Mr. and Mrs. Lupin did not care, and Mr. Lupin ordered her to leave again.

The old woman revealed herself to be the beautiful sorceress, Morgan LeFay. Mr. Lupin bowed down before her and tried to apologize, but Morgan had seen that he was very snobbish to outsiders and did not have a kind heart toward them. She cast a powerful spell on Remus, and he became a werewolf, doomed to become a monstrous wolf once a month on the full moon night.

Mr. and Mrs. Lupin told Remus what he was now, and because it was a matter of shame for them to have a werewolf for a son, they sent him away. Remus ran off and eventually found a castle to live in, but the spell continued onto the castle, casting it into darkness and the inhabitants into household items.

A few weeks after the spell had been cast, Morgan realized that she should have cursed Mr. and Mrs. Lupin instead of turning their son into a werewolf. However, what was done was done and she was not going to change it all back so fast. The rose she had offered was an enchanted rose, and she left it with Remus. The rose would continued to bloom for years, and if he could learn to love someone and have them love him in return before the rose completely wilted, the werewolf curse and the spell upon the castle would be broken. But if not, the people in the castle would remain household items and Remus would be a werewolf forever.

Days turned into weeks, which turned into months that turned into years, and Remus stayed unloved and shut up in the castle. He didn't leave, and viewed the world he was shunted from by using a magic mirror. As the days passed, Remus became more moody, depressed, and angered.

After all, who could ever learn to love a werewolf?

****************

In the village of Diagon Alley lived Hermione Granger. She had a passion for reading, and it was not very often that you would see her not reading a book. Today, however, she was leaving her comfy little home to take a stroll into town, and go to the bookshop.

Hermione stepped outside into the beautiful weather. The sun was perfect, bright, but not too bright, the air smelled sweet, the flowers were in bloom, and the town was relatively quiet. She started off down the road and began singing to herself.

"Little town

It's a quiet village

Ev'ry day

Like the one before

Full of little people

Waking up to say-"

Hermione had just reached the beginning of the center of the village, when the other residents began greeting each other.

"Hello!

Hello!

Hello! Hello! Hello!"

Hermione looked up at them, and then saw the daily routine was beginning already.

"There goes the baker with his tray, like always

The same old bread and rolls to sell

Ev'ry moment just the same

Since the moment that we came

To this poor provincial town."

The baker spotted her and greeted her. "Good morning, Hermione!"

"Good morning," she replied.

"Where are you going today?" the baker asked.

"The bookshop. Yesterday I borrowed a book, and it was the most wonderful story! Would you like to know what it's about?"

"That's nice," said the baker nonchalantly, not even replying properly to the question. He turned back to his shop. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some baking to do."

Hermione shrugged and set off down the streets of the town again. She wasn't that popular with the townspeople though. Everyone thought she was odd, just because she liked to read. She just didn't understand it.

And as she passed, some women began talking about her.

"Look, there she goes, that girl is strange, no question

Dazed and distracted, can't you tell?

Never part of any crowd

'Cause her head's up on some cloud

No denying she's a funny girl, 'Mione,"

Hermione ignored them and carried on walking, looking over at the people that she passed.

"Hello!" said a man to a woman passing by him.

"Good day!" the woman answered.

"How is your fam'ly?"

"Hello!"

"Good day!"

"How is your wife?"

A frantic looking woman stood by a cart.

"I need six eggs!"

"That's too expensive!"

Hermione sighed. "There must be more to this provincial life!"

She had finally reached the bookshop, and she stepped inside and found the owner right away.

"Ah, Hermione," said the bookseller, who was very used to Hermione coming to his shop.

"Hello," said Hermione. "I'm here to return the book I borrowed."

"You finished already?" asked the astonished bookseller. The book Hermione had borrowed was very thick.

"Oh, yes!" said Hermione. "I couldn't stop reading it. Do you have anything new here?"

"Not since yesterday," the bookseller laughed.

"That's fine," Hermione said, beginning to browse the shelves. She found what she was looking for and slipped it off the shelf. "I think I'll borrow this one."

"That one?" the bookseller asked. "You already read it five times!"

"Yes, I know," said Hermione. "But it's my favorite! The magic, the prince in disguise, the dangerous swordfights!!"

The bookseller laughed again.

"If you like it that much, it's yours."

"Oh, no, I couldn't!"

"I insist."

"Thank you! Thank you very much!"

Hermione smiled at the bookseller, exited the shop, and opened the book so she could read it and walk at the same time.

A group of men and women spotted her, and like most people did, they began to talk about her.

"Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar

I wonder if she's feeling well

With a dreamy far off look

A her nose stuck in a book

What a puzzle to the rest of us, 'Mione,"

But Hermione had not heard them again, she was too absorbed in her book, and decided to sit down for a short break and continue reading. An escaped cat from the magical creatures shop wandered over to her, and she patted it on the head and began to talk to it.

"Oh, isn't this amazing?

It's my favorite part because---you'll see

Here's where she meets Prince Charming

But she's won't discover that it's him 'til chapter three!"

Hermione patted the cat once more, and then set off on her walk around town again, causing people to spot her and talk about her some more.

"Now it's no wonder that her name means 'Beauty'

Her looks have got no parallel," a woman told a shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper answered back.

"But behind that fair façade

I'm afraid she's rather odd

Very different from the rest of us,"

Some nosy people came over and joined their conversation.

"She's nothing like the rest of us

Yes different from the rest of us, 'Mione!"

Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy was strutting around the town, challenging people to duels, which he always won, and so then he would collect a prize from the person.

"You did it, Draco!" cheered Draco's friend Goyle as another person fell to the ground. "You sure are the best dueler ever!"

"That's right," Draco gloated.

"There's nothing that can stand a chance against you," grunted Goyle. "No beast, no kid, and no girl."

"Yes, that is true, isn't it? I've got my sights set on that one," said
Draco.

"What, the purple toad?" Goyle asked.

"No, you idiot!" Draco said, smacking Goyle on the back of the head. He pointed to Hermione, who was passing by. "I'm talking about Hermione."

"The dentist's daughter?"

"Yes, of course, how many other Hermiones do we know, Goyle?"

"Uh...."

"Goyle, stop that and shut up. Hermione is the most beautiful girl in town, and that makes her the best." Draco looked Goyle right in the eye. "And who deserves the best?"

"You do," said Goyle stupidly.

Draco looked over at Hermione again.

"Right from the moment that I met her, saw her

I said she's gorgeous and I fell

Here in town there's only she

Who is beautiful as me

So I'm making plans to woo Hermione"

Draco started making his way through the busy crowd with Goyle trailing behind him. They passed Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, and Blaise Zabini. Those three girls had always loved Draco, and as he passed they began to grin dreamily at him.

"Look, there he goes

Isn't he dreamy?

Draco Malfoy

Oh, he's so cute!

Be still my heart

I'm hardly breathing

He's such a tall, dark, strong and handsome brute!"

Draco looked over at them, and just for fun, he gave them a wink, which made the girls sigh and faint. He turned back around, after all, he was looking for Hermione. But the crowd was now so thick that it was hard to get through to her. And it was full of people shouting things too.

"Hello!"

"You move!"

"Hey you!"

"You call this bacon?"

"What lovely grapes!"

"Some cheese!"

"Ten yards!"

"Hey, move!"

"I'll get the knife!"

"Hey, let me through!"

"This bread!"

"Those fish!"

"It's stale!"

"They smell!"

"Madam's mistaken!"

"Well maybe so!"

"Good morning, oh good morning!"

Hermione looked at them all again.

"There must be more to this provincial life!"

Draco nudged his friend Crabbe.

"Just watch, Hermione will be my wife!"

And the townspeople continued to talk about Hermione as she walked along.

"Look, there she goes

The girl is strange but special

A most peculiar mad'moiselle!

It's a pity and a sin

She doesn't quite fit in

'Cause she really is a funny girl

A beauty but a funny girl

She really is a funny girl

'Mione!"

Hermione turned her head around from her book quickly. She could have sworn that everyone was crowding up on her and gossiping very loudly. But when she turned, she just saw the townspeople doing their business.

"There you are, Hermione," came a voice.

Hermione turned around to see whom it was, and sighed to herself.

"Hello, Draco."

"What is this?" Draco asked, coming over to her and taking the book. "Another one? Really, you read too much. You need a guy. Not this made up fairy tale rubbish." He threw the book down the street, where it landed in a large pile of mud.

Hermione frowned at him, but Draco didn't seem to notice. He was carrying on.

"Really, Hermione, it's not like you can marry those books, so why don't you go find yourself a nice guy. Such as me?"
Hermione had gone over to retrieve her book from the mud. The pages had gone all soggy and she tried to clean them off on her dress but the book was still rather wet and smelly.

"Draco, I don't want a guy. I'm contented as I am."

"Yeah, contented in your imaginary fairy tales. Come on, Hermione. What you want is standing right in front of you."

"Yes, it is. That is, if you mean my house. Goodbye, Draco." With that, Hermione turned around, walked the few steps to her house, entered it, and closed the door, leaving a scowling Draco outside.