Disclaimer: Beauty and the Beast is not mine; it belongs to its respective creators. Harry Potter is also not mine - it's all J.K. Rowling's and other companies'. The only thing that I own is this fic.
Summary: He was the cruel, obnoxious prince. She was the plain girl who one night stumbled into his castle in search for her father. A retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," Harry/Hermione style.
Author's Note: I couldn't help but notice that while retellings of BATB using the HP characters run rampant on the web, with either Ron/Draco, Harry/Ginny, Draco/Ginny, Draco/Hermione, Harry/Draco or Ron/Hermione being the main ship, there hasn't been a Harry/Hermione version of the tale. (I could be wrong though . . . who knows?)
So I decided to write one. It's a bit different from the original - you'll see what I mean when you read the story. If I try to explain it, I'll just end up confusing people.
Enjoy . . I hope?
This is a birthday present for one of my best online friends, Courtney. Since she's been so patient and wonderful - I decided to write this as a thank you to her. Happy birthday, and keep on rockin', girl! =D
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The Beast and the Unlikely Beauty
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Prologue: From Bratty Prince to Hideous Beast
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In a kingdom right at the edge of southern England, there ruled a prince.
He wasn't your typical "Prince Charming," however - he was selfish, rude, obnoxious and cruel.
And he was neither blonde nor blue-eyed; rather, his eyes were a bright bottle green, his hair was of messy black and couldn't be tamed, and he was a skinny little runt. Even at eighteen, when this story takes place.
As a result, everyone in the castle, to appease him, did what they were told to do and were silent.
He was allowed to do whatever he pleased, and generally made all the castle servants' lives miserable because of his own misery that he wrought on them.
No one dared to go against him and his orders; their fate lay in the prince's hands, and they didn't want to meet a miserable end. So they kept on being quiet, except when they were talking amongst themselves whenever the prince wasn't near.
He hadn't always been this way; after his parents, the honorable King James and Queen Lily, had died from the plague when he had been one year old, and he had grown up knowing no parental figure who would give him love, he turned from the mischievous, cheerful boy he had been before to a selfish, superficial creature.
After he had reached the "marriageable age" of sixteen, it only got worse when the Honorable Lady Cho Chang, whom he had fancied for the longest while, rejected him in favor of the Honorable Lord Cedric Diggory.
This rejection caused his heart to go cold and he turned into a tyrant; becoming more recluse and vile than ever. One
fateful night, that all changed.
It was a frosty winter night; everyone in the castle was tucked up cozily in their beds, except for the prince.
He sat alone in the west wing; his favorite place to sit and think. He gazed out the window at the twinkling stars above - and cursed, even when he had done this many times before, the fact that his parents were dead, and he had no one to help him heal his anguish.
The only way he could hide his pain was to be mean to others; it didn't give him any pleasure though; it only made his hurt and sadness worse.
Suddenly, he tensed. Someone else was in the room.
He turned around; and was spooked to see an old crone gazing unblinkingly at him. It was creepy to feel those eyes on him; it was if they were scrutinizing him and his innermost thoughts.
"What do you want?" He asked politely, wishing those eyes would stop looking at him as if he were something interesting to inspect.
"I was walkin' though and happened to look on this castle; I was hopin' for a place to stay in for the nigh', as it's cold and an old woman like me can't sleep out there." A pause. "Can I sleep here?"
"No." His voice was flat.
"Surely you would take an old woman in for the nigh'?" She asked inquisitively. "Seeing as she can't survive out there in the cold by herself?"
She offered him a beautiful rose, hoping to tempt him and make him agree. Unfortunately for her, he had no regard for beauty now, after having sealed his heart to anything that was beautiful - including love.
And little did he know that it was an enchanted rose; one that he would depend his life on.
"No." He said again. His heart had hardened long ago; not even an old woman would make him charitable. "Find some other place to stay. You can't lodge here for the night."
At that, the old woman's eyes flared, and a WHOOSH could be heard. The prince could scarcely believe what
he was seeing; she was transforming right before his eyes!
When the sparkling swirls of magic disappeared, he caught his breath; for in front of him was not an aged, but a beautiful lady!
At that moment she didn't look beautiful, though, for her eyes were fiery and her face was contorted with anger.
Immediately the prince realized his mistake. "Please forgive me, I'm sorry; you can stay here as long as you want." He begged. He knew the lady for who she was now; she was an enchantress.
"I'm afraid you're too late," the lady replied coldly. "You're selfish and have closed your heart to everyone. Upon seeing me when I was weak and aged, you refused to shelter me here from the cold, but when you saw my true form, you're now offering me a refuge! I shall have to teach you a lesson - since you've learned to love no one, no one shall learn to love you."
The prince begged forgiveness again, but the lady, whose name was Narcissa, paid him no heed. Raising her hand, she created magical swirls that surrounded him. When she lifted her hand again, the swirls vanished, and uncovered a hideous beast; dark furred, yellow-eyed, and snarling uproariously.
"From now on," she fixed him with a steely glare, "you shall know what it's like to not loved and be loved back by someone else. In return for your kindness," she threw the rose on the floor, "I've decided to give you this rose, as your last chance to redeem yourself. You see how some of the petals are falling? By the time the last petal falls on your twenty-first birthday, you must have found someone who loves you for you, and see the true beauty that's inside you. If not, you shall remain a beast forever."
With this last declaration, she disappeared.
The prince, now turned beast, looked at the floor, and roared angrily. Now he knew his fate - there was no way someone would love him, and so he was to stay a beast, repulsive and vile, forever!
After all . . . who could ever learn to love a beast?
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