Thumbelina
A/N: Hello there my lovelies!
Here is yet another one shot for the Quidditch League Fanfic Comp! I am Beater 2 for the Appleby Arrows. My job was to write or incorporate Thumbelina in my fanfic.
Here are my prompts:
~ Travel Log
~ Bleeding
~ Sore
Reviews are amazing! Enjoy!
"Molly! I'm home! Look what I found today, Tom bought it and asked if anyone would want it!"
Arthur Weasley's voice rung through the empty Burrow. He found his wife standing at the kitchen sink as she peeled potatoes.
"Hello dear," she smiled, kissing Arthur on the cheek. "What did Tom buy?"
"Well you see it's a muggle fairytale. Apparently these fairytales are told to kids to teach them lessons - they mostly have princesses and things in them. This one is about a girl who grows from a flower," Arthur explained, his eyes brows knitting together.
"And…?" Mrs Weasley asked.
"And I was thinking we could make our own version of it! I think it would be incredible! I mean we take the story and twist it so that instead of a bird, it's an owl and instead of a flower seed it's knotgrass and stuff!" Arthur demonstrated.
"But who would it be for?" Mrs Weasley asked, now tossing the diced potatoes into a frying pan.
"I dunno, but if we ever had a kid or two, this could be their special story book!" Arthur pushed.
"I think that sounds like a fantastic idea," Mrs Weasley smiled, hugging her husband. "We can discuss ideas after dinner."
"Perfect - I'll just go have a shower," Arthur said, excitement laced through his voice. He ran upstairs while Mrs Weasley chuckled to herself, wondering who on earth they would give the book to.
Little did they know, that in eleven years, they would have seven red headed rascals running around the house.
*21 Years Later*
"Ron! Where'd you put my teddy bear?"
Ginny Weasley's nine year old voice could be heard echoing throughout the near empty Burrow. She was standing in the living room, her lips pouted and her arms folded. Mrs Weasley was in the kitchen, preparing the big family dinner for the night.
"I didn't put it anywhere!" Ron shouted back from the first floor.
"Ron! Stop lying and bring Ginny's bear back right now!" Mrs Weasley yelled.
Ginny walked up the stairs and found Ron playing with her teddy bear. Her eyes grew wide and her teeth clenched together.
"I knew you had it!" she squealed as she ran towards him. The little nine year old jumped on her brother, wrestling him. Being one year older, Ginny was no match for him. He pinched her arm and Ginny burst into tears.
"Mum! Ron pinched me!" Ginny cried, running down the stairs and to her mum, hiding behind her as Ron followed, shouting defences at his sister's statement.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake! Sit down and read a book you two, or you know what? You'll be put in your rooms for the rest of the evening and won't be seeing anyone at the family dinner tonight! None of Fred and George's friends and none of Charlie's or Bill's, do you understand me?" Mrs Weasley yelled. The stress of cooking for nearly twenty people had been a bit overwhelming.
Everyone was coming back from Hogwarts that day as it was the start of the Easter Holidays. Fred and George were having their three friends, Angelina, Katie and Lee stay the night. Bill and Charlie also had friends coming to stay. The only one that didn't have company was Percy - but he wanted to study all holiday and have no distractions. Sometimes, Mrs Weasley thought he was a bit too serious.
"But mum - we've read all the books!" Ginny said, all traces of tears gone.
"Not this one," Mrs Weasley smiled, pulling down a book from the shelf. "This is a book called Thumbelina." Mrs Weasley held the worn pages of the book, which had been through five sets of little hands before her two youngest. She smiled at Arthur's drawing on the front page - a piece of knotgrass. "Why don't you two go outside, find a tree in the sunshine and read it together. You can take turn reading each page or two. Here are some cranberry and white chocolate cookies to take with you and some apple cider. Off you go," Mrs Weasley says, handing the two children and bottle of apple cider and three cookies each.
She could not have been more desperate to get them out of the house.
The two redheads took the book and food outside and found the big oak tree. They both sat down, staring at the book in front of them.
"Oh fine, I'll start," said Ron.
He picked up the book, turned the delicate pages, past the all the title pages and to the first page of the story.
"Okay, here goes.
Once upon a time, there was a beggar woman. She sat on the street of Diagon Alley, begging for change. One sunny morning, a woman walked by.
'Here, have this,' the woman said, handing the beggar woman some bread and butterbeer.
The beggar clutched at the food like it was the the solution to the hardest Ancient Runes problem.
'Thank you, deary. Here is a stem of Knotgrass. But it's not just any Knotgrass - you'll see. Take it, and a daughter she shall be,' the beggar said.
The woman took it, shaking off the weird feeling and the weird poem from the beggar woman and kept walking. Once she got home, she planted the Knotgrass in her beautiful garden. She watered it a little and fertilised it with dragon dung. She then went back into her home, exhausted after her day at the Ministry working in Magical Law.
That night, the Knotgrass rustled when there was no wind. In a sprinkle of shimmering dust, emerged a little girl. She was no bigger than the size of a thumb.
Her name was Thumbelina.
Okay, who wrote this? This is absolute rubbish! A girl from Knotgrass?" Ron exclaimed upon reading the last couple of paragraphs and taking a sip from his cider.
"Oh Ron, stop it. I think it's really good! I'll read the next chapter then seeing as you won't," Ginny said, as she snatched the book from Ron's hands.
"During the night of her birth, Thumbelina had found herself a bed in the leaf of a bubotbers plant. As she was sleeping, the next door neighbours toad had dropped by. On seeing the young girl, he wanted her to be the wife of his son. He picked up the tip of the leaf in his mouth and went back to his house.
Come morning light, Thumbelina woke up to quite a shock. She was surrounded by two toads. 'Oh she's marvellous!' said the female toad, batting her eyelids.
'I'm sorry, what?' Thumbelina asked, panic in her voice.
'We'll be back in a sec, we'll just go get my son,' the male toad said, bounding off with his wife.
Thumbelina looked around her. She had no idea where she was or what she was doing there. Just as she was about to cry, she heard a voice.
'Psst, over here.'
Thumbelina turned around and was face to face with a snowy white owl and gnome. They were hiding in the bushes.
'Kid, get on my back, we're taking you away from here. Those toads want you to marry their kid, Toad Junior, and he is not a pretty sight. Come on, get on and we'll take you away,' says the owl.
'Okay,' Thumbelina agreed, climbing onto the owl's back. They flew off as soon as she was secure, leaving the gnome and the three toads behind.
'Where are you taking me?' Thumbelina asked as they flew over houses, rivers, shops and parks.
'Far away,' the owl answered.
They flew for two hours with Thumbelina falling asleep. While she was still sleeping, the owl drops her onto the ground in another wizard's garden, leaving her to fend for herself.
What a mean owl!" Ginny cried, as the finished the chapter, "Owls are supposed to be nice, not mean!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll read the next chapter," Ron says, taking the book from his sisters hands.
"Oh, so you like it now, huh?" Ginny smirks.
"Shut up," Ron whines, beginning to read the next chapter.
"'Wake up!'
Thumbelina blinked, and opened her eyes, staring at a leech in front of her.
'Excuse me! What are you doing here?' she asked as she sat up quickly.
'I could ask you the same. Anyway, you're coming to meet my friends - and if they don't like you, off you go!' the leech explained as he dragged poor Thumbelina along to his friends.
'Who's this, Barney?' one of them asked.
'Dunno. Thought she'd be some fun,' Barney replied.
'Pft! She's tiny! No use for us - bye bye little one!' the same leech said.
'What are you doing - AHHH!' Thumbelina cried as she was chucked through the air from the force of the leeches tail hitting her little body. The cold wind carried her through different towns until she was dropped into a field. She heard a rustling and very quickly become frightened.
'Hello?' she asked.
A bright, red and golden phoenix appeared before her, coming out of the wheat in the field.
'Hello,' it coughed, lying itself down.
'Are you ill?' Thumbelina asked.
The phoenix nods it's head and closed it's eyes.
'Wait one second,' Thumbelina said and ran off. She found the fluxweed, soil and water to make the standard remedy for the phoenix. She mixed everything together in a nut shell and brought it back to the phoenix. Thumbelina poured it into the bird's beak, the phoenix slowly drunk the potion of sorts.
Two days later, the bird was ready to fly again.
'Thank you so much, Thumbelina for nursing me back to good health. I will be eternally grateful to you! Whenever you need me, just give me a call and I'll come. Bye bye!' the phoenix called as he flew away, above the wheat.
A few minutes later, a rat appeared.
'Oh darling! Are you lost?' he asked.
'No, I just don't have anywhere to stay, that's all,' Thumbelina replied.
'Well you can stay with me, my dear!' the Rat said, 'You would really love my good friend, the mole.'
'Oh, okay!' Thumbelina smiled and followed the rat back to his cosy home. She settled down in the bed provided for her and went straight to sleep.
Oh, for Merlin's sake! How many people does she come across?" Ron asked, finishing the chapter.
"I don't know - but I want to keep reading! Here, give me the book," Ginny replied, again, taking the book back.
"Huhmmm.
'I think she's perfect for you to marry, Mr. Mole! Now we just need her to say yes!' the Rat said as he and his good friend, Mr. Mole, watched Thumbelina sleep.
'Oh yes - definitely!' Mr. Mole replied. 'She's gorgeous!'
Five minutes went by and finally, after twelve hours, Thumbelina woke up.
'Umm…who is this?' she asked.
'This is your future husband, Thumbelina. You will then be known as Mr. Thumbelina Mole!' the Rat said.
'I don't want to marry a mole! I am repulsed by the idea that they live underground and never go above! No! No! No! NO!' Thumbelina cried, jumping out of the bed and running outside.
'CHASE HER!' she heard in the background.
'Phoenix? Phoenix?! I need you!' Thumbelina called as she ran through the wheat, hearing scampering behind her. Suddenly, she was picked up and in the air.
It was Phoenix who had picked her up.
'Oh, thank you!' Thumbelina called over the wind.
They flew over many fields and once Thumbelina found a flowery field that she liked, she asked the bird to drop her off. They said their good byes and Thumbelina was left on her own.
'Hey there - are you lost?'
Thumbelina turned around and came face to face with a male fairy.
'Oh, no - just don't have a place to stay, that's all,' she said.
It was love at first sight. Soon, they were both wed and Thumbelina changed her name to Maia which she liked better. She also got a pair of wings so that she could fly with her new spouse.
They lived happily every after!
The End!
That's it? But I loved that story!" Ginny said, as she closed the book.
"It was good! I loved it too!" Ron agreed, as they made their way inside.
"Did you two enjoy that?" Mrs Weasley asked, as they entered the kitchen.
Ron and Ginny looked at each other, then nodded, smiling.
Mrs Weasley grinned as she heard Ron and Ginny running upstairs, calling at each other to make a play for their parents. Molly knew that the book had last them twenty one years, seven kids and being reread over and over again. She thought back to when she was skeptical of who they were going to give the book too, laughing at her naiveness.
A/N: Hope you liked it!
Please tell me what you think!
Gin xx
