Beauty and the Beast

Later on, Hermione regretted saying that she wasn't hungry, because truth be told, she was. Quietly as she could, she snuck out of her room and looked for the kitchen.

Sirius had not seen her leave, because he had left his guarding spot. Though a mischief-maker he was, Sirius could always be counted upon to be loyal- except when the feather duster, Emmeline Vance came around. Lately, he had been flirting with her.

"Be careful, Sirius. I know you have burnt me before. And it really hurts, you know!" said Emmeline.

"Of course I won't burn you, my dear Emmeli-" Sirius stopped speaking suddenly when he saw Hermione walk past him. "Oh no, she left!" He accidentally burned Emmeline, and she fell to the ground with a whimper as Sirius followed Hermione.

A second later, however, he returned to Emmeline. "Whoops, sorry about that. Didn't mean to do that, got to get going, you're quite cute you know, bye!" he said and ran off again behind Hermione.

Hermione had finally reached a pair of doors that looked like they belonged to the kitchens. She timidly pushed them open, and looked into the kitchens. "Hello?"

"Hello," said Snape, coming over to her. "I am Severus Snape, the offi- ow!"

Sirius had come bounding in, knocking Snape over, and didn't bother to apologize like he had to Emmeline earlier.

"And that was Sirius," Snape wheezed.

"Are you alright?" Minerva asked.

Snape shook his head. "Minerva, I actually-"

"Oh, be quiet, Snape. I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Hermione," said Minerva.

"Well," said Hermione. "I'm...er...rather hungry."

Minerva smiled. "Did everyone hear that? She's hungry!" At once, everything in the kitchen popped out.

"There's no need for all of this!" complained Snape, who seemed to have lost all interest in Hermione. "Give her a cauldron cake or something and tell her to go to bed!"

"No, no, Snape! She is our guest! And I had to think how you would treat your guests. If you ever had any, that is," said Sirius. "Just in there," he said to Hermione, gesturing to the dining room. "That is where your dinner will be served."

Hermione walked into the room.

"And what would dinner be without some music?" Sirius said, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Music?" Snape asked. "Black, what did I tell you about singing?"

But Sirius had already leaped into the room after Hermione. He gave a suave grin to her and said, "Hello. We are more than welcomed to be serving you your dinner. And, we invite you to be our guest." He grinned some more and began singing.

"Be our guest

Be our guest

Put our- mmmfffwhmit?!"

The third line of Sirius' song had been ruined, as Snape came in and covered Sirius' mouth. "No more singing! Not after you followed me around singing a shampoo jingle!"

Hermione began giggling at the two of them.

"Yes, well, I was just making a point," Sirius said simply.

"No singing!" Snape repeated. He glanced over at Hermione's giggles. "Well, enjoy your food. Without the annoying songs." Snape then pulled Sirius away from the table.

A while later, Hermione had finished eating a delicious dinner, and no songs had been sung. Sirius and Snape had come back into the room to see how she was doing.

"So? Did you like it?" asked Sirius.

"It was wonderful!" said Hermione. "And so delicious!"

"Good. It's time to go to bed now," said Snape angrily.

"Oh, but you know what I'd really like? A tour of the castle," said Hermione.

"Of course!" agreed Sirius.

"Absolutely not," said Snape.

"But I'd really like a tour," said Hermione told Snape. "And...I'm sure that you would be the one to...know everything there is to know about the castle."

Snape had been rolling his eyes and glaring angrily, but at Hermione's words, he paused.

"Come to think of it, I do."

Minutes later, Snape was leading the tour of the castle and adding very annoying commentary.

"And this, as you see on the upper left hand wall, is a painting of a Kappa. Kappas, as you know, are more commonly found in Mongolia."

"No they're not," Sirius contradicted. "They're from Japan."

"No, no, you mean Mongolia."

"Actually, I mean Japan."

"Mongolia!"

"Japan!"

"Mongolia!"

"Japan!"

As the two began to bicker, Hermione wandered off. She found a large set of stairs and was just beginning to walk up them when Snape and Sirius ran over and stepped in her way.

"There's nothing up there that you would want to see," said Snape quickly. "The Shrieking Shack is just a nasty place, completely covered in junk..."

"Ah, so that's where the Shrieking Shack is," said Hermione keenly.

Sirius slapped Snape yet again. "Way to go, Snivelly."

Hermione was too busy gazing up the stairs to notice Sirius' action. "I wonder what he's hiding up there?"

"Hiding?" asked Sirius, his voice higher than usual. "What on earth would give you the idea that he's hiding something?"

"It wouldn't be forbidden otherwise," Hermione pointed out.

"Well...you haven't seen the History of Potion Making yet!" said Snape, trying to prevent Hermione from climbing any more stairs.

"Or...er...the library!" suggested Sirius.

"You have a library?" Hermione asked, turning around to look at them for the first time since she had been on the stairs.

"Oh, yes!" said Sirius. "It's just covered with books, isn't it Sniv- I mean, Snape?"

"Exactly," replied Snape in mock kindness to Sirius. "It's full to bursting."

"We should go now, shouldn't we?" asked Sirius.

"Yes, let's go," said Snape. He and Sirius unwillingly linked arms and walked off to the library, happily chattering about books. The only reason that they were linking arms and being so friendly was that they were trying to lure Hermione away from the Shrieking Shack. But Hermione wasn't following them.

Her eyes were back upon the stairs, and she climbed them to the Shrieking Shack. She stopped suddenly, knowing that she wasn't supposed to be here, but some sort of daring and need for answers seized her, and she opened the doors and walked inside.

Immediately, Hermione saw that the room had been torn, uncared for, and it seemed that someone had continuously unleashed their anger here. She had never seen such a room.

But what really caught her attention was something that was absolutely beautiful, something that stood out because it actually looked cared for. On a small table, incredibly bright, was the enchanted rose that Morgan LeFay had left Remus, the only hope he had for removing the curse. Hermione gazed through the glass case, and then had a desire to take off the case and smell the rose. She took off the case and was just about to touch the rose, but her hand was suddenly pushed aside, and the glass case immediately put back on the rose.

Hermione looked up and saw Remus looking her fiercely in the eye. "What are you doing here? I told you that you weren't supposed to come here!"

"I- I'm sorry..." Hermione stuttered.

"Get out!" Remus shouted "Get o-" He stopped abruptly. He wasn't looking at Hermione any more; instead he was looking beyond the window, his face full of fear, and his body very still.

And then it began.

Remus started yelling in pain as he began to transform into a werewolf, his snout emerging, his shoulders hunching, his hands curling into clawed paws.

It was like watching a car wreck. Hermione didn't like what was happening, she knew she would hate the result, but all the same, she couldn't avert her eyes. She stood there, wide-eyed, watching Remus transform until she had enough sense to run as fast as she could from the room.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sirius, who was back with Snape from the library, called as Hermione ran down the stairs toward the doors. "You were supposed to be coming with us to the library!"

"I can't believe that...that beast!" said Hermione, pulling on a cloak. "No, I'm sorry, I can't stay! He was a werewolf the whole time! No matter if I gave some stupid promise, I can't stay here forever!" She opened the door and ran off.

The winter season had come and the air was nippy, and Hermione ignored it as best as she could, because the only thing that mattered to her was getting herself as far away from that castle as possible. But soon her luck in the forest was as good as her father's. The Acromantulas were back.

"Hey look, food!" said one to another. "If we bring this back to Dad, we'll be his favorite sons for sure!"

"Yeah!" the other one agreed.

They chased up behind Hermione, and although she began running as fast as she could, the Acromantulas were much quicker and had gotten hold of her.

"Dad!" called one of them. "We have something for you!"

A very large Acromantula emerged from the forest, and Hermione trembled. This was it; the Acromantulas were going to eat her. She would be gone...that's the end...

And then, there was an echoing howl, and the next thing she knew, she had been pushed aside, free from the Acromantulas' grip.

Hermione rubbed her head, and then looked up. She could not believe that the werewolf Remus had actually come to save her.

Remus began attacking the Acromantulas, and they attacked him back. Blood was flying, cuts and bites were made, but Remus was very fierce and after a while, the Acromatulas had fled back into the forest.

Exhausted, Remus' dazed eyes met Hermione's for a brief second, and memories flashed through his head. His parents, the horrible transformations, the shame, the anger. How he had been so cruel to Hermione, but he had never meant to, not really...the curse, the rose. Hermione. So beautiful...so much to believe...

And he collapsed to the ground.

Hermione was very unsure of what to do now; after all, her mind was very confused. She had always thought Remus to be a mean, uncaring brute. But maybe there was something more to Remus...or maybe she was out of her mind.

She gently prodded him, but Remus did not move. She checked his pulse, and knew that he was not dead. She decided that it would be a while until he regained consciousness, and that there was no way she would be able to take him up to the castle, so she set off to the castle alone, knowing she would see Remus later.

When Hermione entered the castle again, Sirius and Snape came running to meet her.

"Hermione! You're back!" said Sirius the same time that Snape said, "I see you realized that you cannot last out there."

Hermione didn't seem to hear Snape, though. "Yeah...well, I was out, and then these Acromantulas came...but then there was Remus, and he...came and saved me..."

"He did?" asked Sirius eagerly.

"Yes. And then...he fainted."

"That's to be expected," said Sirius. "Well...er...now you know. Remus is a werewolf. And the full moon and the transformation always takes a lot out of him. And then if he's been fighting...He should be back tomorrow. He usually comes around in the morning, but in this case, it might be the afternoon.

Hermione nodded, and then ran back upstairs to her room.

***

Sirius was right; it was around the middle of the afternoon that Remus came back to the castle. He looked a mess. His robes were all ripped and torn, as well as bloody from the cuts, scratches, and scrapes he had. There were dark bags under his eyes as well.

"I'm back," Remus mumbled as he slumped over to a nearby chair. His blood stained the chair, but that was the least of his worries now because...oh, he didn't even want to deal with it. Remus could feel his eyelids droop over his bloodshot eyes and it made him feel a little more tranquil, but his body still ached horribly all over. Full moons were absolutely awful, but they were never anything like this.

Well, that's because you saved her last night, didn't you? said a small voice in his head. Yes, yes he had. And why had he? Could it be because he- no, well, yes...the whole debate was annoying him and giving him an extremely bad headache.

Remus groaned, rubbed his head with his hand, and leaned back further in the chair.

Someone entered the room and walked over to him. "Whoa...I mean, do you feel alright?" It was Sirius.

Remus grunted as his answer.

"There's someone here who wants to see you now. So, I'll just go..." said Sirius.

Remus still didn't open his eyes, but he could hear Sirius walking away. Of course, he didn't know that Sirius, Snape and Minerva were standing in a hallway beside the room, eagerly listening to see if Remus had changed at all.

Another set of footsteps came toward him, and he slowly opened his heavy eyelids, and found that it was Hermione. He wanted to say something, but his voice was much too exhausted.

"Erm...hello," said Hermione timidly.

Remus swallowed and tried to get his voice to work. A hoarse, disgruntled sounding "hi," came out. Not the kind of tone that he had wanted.

Hermione didn't realize this, and took it that Remus wanted to be left alone. "Alright, I'll make this quick then."

Remus tried to make his voice sound more relaxed, and it kind of worked. "No, no, that's alright..."

Hermione did look a bit calmer. "I, uh...just wanted to thank you for saving my life. If you hadn't, I know I would be dead now. So...thank you."

Thank you. Remus hadn't heard those words in a long time. "Well...you're welcome."

Hermione was silent for a while, and then asked, "How did you know where I ran off to?"

Remus blushed, and it brought some color back into his pale face. He hesitated before answering. "Wolf...instincts," he said, aware of how stupid he must sound.

Hermione didn't seem to mind. Her eyes slowly flicked through all of his injuries. "Do you...do you want me to get you something? You know, for your injuries?"

"Um...sure. Thank you."

Hermione gave a small sort of smile at him, and then walked off. Remus closed his eyes again, feeling that maybe, just maybe, things would get better. Maybe.