Hello to my new story which is really but a huge fluff with some sword fight and kidnappings here and there. I simply wanted to write something cute :) so don't forget, this is a fairy tale and totally different from the HP world as we know it.
So... enjoy!
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Chapter one: Once upon a time…
… in a land far, far away, there were two kingdoms.
The northern kingdom was ruled by the Potters, a dynasty that already went back over a century. James, the king, and his wife queen Lily, had a son: Prince Harry. The royal family had also taken in the king's niece: Hermione. Hermione's parents, the duke and duchess of le Grange died from a disease. Leaving young Hermione the title of Duchess of Le Grange and forcing her to take up residence at the palace and place herself in the care of her uncle, the king.
Hermione and Harry bonded rapidly. The prince was good natured and a natural in reading Hermione's mood. After only several months, it was as if Hermione had always lived at the court and now had a brother.
While Harry trained to become a future king, Hermione was schooled by her aunt to become a proper hostess and future mother. She learned to saw, to cook, to manage a household and other domestic skills on top of the lessons that taught her proper female behaviour. But what she really loved was to read. She often perused the books in the castle's small library. Knowing some of them by heart. At the age of 14, the king even allowed her to learn the art of arrow shooting so as to being able to fend for herself by hunting should she ever need to. Not long after mastering the bow, she and Harry often took off to hunt in the woods, stealing themselves away on horseback very early in the morning and coming back with pheasants, rabbits and sometimes a doe. More often than not, they were caught and told off. But that never kept them from doing it all over again the next day.
Hermione was happy and so was Harry.
The southern kingdom was ruled by the Malfoys, an even older dynasty that had to give up a part of their territory to the aforementioned Potters. At the time of the great war, as the event passed down in years had been called, the Potters were still only a nomad tribe, trying to settle down. On the Malfoy lands they finally found what they were looking for: fertile earth, water and woods that went as far as the eye could look. Of course, the Malfoys tried to protect what was theirs and so a war started, that eventually ended in a fragile truce. To end the bloodshed, the Malfoys let go of the land the Potters already won and let them be. But the rancour persisted, even more than a century after these events took place. Small attacks happened once in a while and people were abducted, either from one clan or the other, continuing the ever present hatred between both sides.
The Malfoy family only consisted of Lucius, the king, and his son Draco, the prince and heir to the throne. Draco's mother, the queen, died in childbirth, leaving her son in the care of her husband. Lucius never married again, Narcissa having been the love of his life. And so Draco grew up with only his father to educate and love him. And that he did, so much that many a servant murmured that the king was pampering him too much and the prince would turn out a coward and frail thing. These murmurs eventually ended up at being retold to the king, who accepted that his servants were right. He was spoiling his son and the child already showed some signs of disrespect and egoistical behaviour. All these traits were inadmissible in the character of a future king and so it was with a heavy heart that the king decided to send his son away to be trained in the arts of war at the home of one of his subjects, the Marshall Simon Nott.
Young Draco had a hard time adapting to his new life, but with time (and many a dishonouring situation) he took upon himself to grow a spine and steel himself. He made friends with both Theo Nott, the Marshall's son, and Blaise Zabini, the Marshall's foster son. He learned to properly ride a horse, wield a sword and other weapons, learned to read and write, although these lessons turned out to be the most boring ones as it included to read many a text about things like philosophy, astronomy, politics, religion and other scientific aspects. But there were also other texts like chronicles and strategic planning of battles that were more to his liking. The most challenging lessons, though, were what they called the life classes, in which the young men learned the fine art of courting a woman, dancing and proper manners.
When he was 20 years of age, a missive arrived, calling him back home. His father, the king, demanded his presence at the palace where he would finalise his training to become the future king. He asked his father to bring his two friends with him, a request that was gladly granted.