Beauty and the Beast

The mirror

Published: 24. October, 2021

Hermione sat by the window of an empty classroom. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her head leaned against the cold glass.

It was one of the older rooms that didn't seem to be getting too many visitors. The desks were covered in dust, the shelves containing the books were about to fall of the walls. At first, Hermione had tried to read the titles of the books, but age and the lack of care had made the covers and pages brittle. Why anyone would let books reach such a horrid state was beyond her.

Hermione bit her lip to hold back a sob. Today was her mother's birthday. November first. Before the war, Hermione had always made sure to send presents home to her Mom, plus tons of candy that she had left over from Halloween. The young witch couldn't remember where she had gone to school or where the war against Voldemort had occurred, which was another result of the magical accident that happened eight years ago, but she knew that she had obliviated her parents to protect them. The problem was, Hermione couldn't undo her own spell. Her parents were safe and far, far...far, far away. In Australia.

And she would never see them again. They would never remember that they had a daughter named Hermione, or that they used to live in London. They wouldn't remember that she used to have buck teeth or that she was a witch even though they were muggles.

Tears started collecting in Hermione's eyes and she closed them, feeling the water run over her cheeks.

Harry won't know what happened to me. Neither will the Weasleys. Or Bernie.

Will they look? Comb through the mountains in the hopes of finding my corpse?

She pictures their terrified faces, how worried they had to be by now. Hermione let her head fall forward and rested her forehead on her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs. Silent sobs started to shake her body and she squeezed her eyes together tightly.

I'll never come home...I'll be stuck here forever.

The Beast normally didn't pay attention to the others around him. He ate by himself, checked the grounds alone in the night and made sure to stay out of everyone's way. Yet this morning, when he was silently moving down a corridor away from the kitchens, he couldn't help but overhear Lupin tell Albus that Granger had been missing all day. That was none of the Beast's concern and he wasn't going to track her down for them. For all he knew, she was out by the blasted shield, trying to break through. But surprisingly, he found her scent in the dungeons, leading through the corridors to an old door that barely anyone used. The door led to a small tower, which held a few ancient classrooms.

The Beast was a little curious why the witch would go in there, so naturally, he checked. Anyways, the dungeons were his territory. He preferred knowing why intruders dared to venture down here and where they were going.

However, he was very surprised when he found her in top classroom. Crying.

The brown curls spilled over the young woman's shoulders as she buried her head in her arms. The Beast couldn't hear anything, but her shaking shoulders made it all too clear Granger wasn't going to jump up with a silly smile on her face.

Straightening up on his hind legs, he remained in the doorway.

I should just leave her. This is none of my business.

Yet, weirdly, it felt like it was his business. For the first time in eight years, the Beast felt his conscience tell him to help someone. The past month, Granger had actually made the effort to be nice to him. Or at least less annoying than in his class. She played the Chopin song almost every day, knowing he would listen. She even dared to ask him a question about Herbology or Potions books every once in a while, depending on how frequently they met in the hallway. Which was not that often.