1 (word) generic
14 (word) hate
Prompt: The Princess and the Pea Beater 1 Pride of Portree
A.N- The writing in italics is the Princess and the Pea story- predominantly written by Hans Christian Andersen and slightly tweaked by me :)
Rose's Princess and the Pea
(17 years after the War- Rose is 9)
It was leading up to Christmas and all the Weasleys were staying in the Burrow. It being cramped was an understatement; every possible floor space was filled, with all the children of a similar age sharing a room. All but one. Upset about James telling her that Santa wasn't real (Harry had scolded James before James began talking about Harry and Ginny's nightly activities… which soon made Harry give him a candy cane and telling him to go away), Rose had crept into the Ron's old room. Finding only Hermione wrapping a few last minute presents, she snuggled up to her on the bed. Her little voice murmured "Mummy please read me a story." Always thrilled at her daughter's interest in literature, however factual, Hermione agreed and asked Rose to pick a book. Rose shrugged saying she didn't mind. Tiring slightly of Christmas books and the wizard fairy tales (which she loved but it was hard to read them with enthusiasm 2 weeks in a row multiple times to different children), Hermione conjured up one of her old favourites. The Princess and the Pea. She began reading "In the middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old King himself sent to open it." Rose interrupted with a giggle as she loved any notion of royalty. Hermione smiled as she imagined the look on her face when on Christmas day she opened tickets for a tour of Buckingham Palace- she would be ecstatic.
Hermione continued the story. "It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and the storm. The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess." Shaking her head Rose asked "Why didn't she just use a spell to dry off or stopping the rain from hitting her- or just wear a coat and use an umbrella!?" Hermione reminded her of the princesses' muggle status and began reading again. "Doubting the princesses' claim, the old Queen wanted to perform a simple test. She went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses. This was where the princess was to sleep that night. In the morning they asked her how she slept.
'Oh terribly bad!' said the princess. 'I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. I feel terrible'. They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin. So the prince took her to be his wife, as now he was sure that he had found a real princess and they lived happily ever after." Hermione closed the book with a smile and looked at Rose. Expecting her to be asleep or at least to be looking drowsy, she was surprised to find her brow furrowed as she was deep in thought. After a few seconds, Rose snorted and sat up in bed, her previous sadness all forgotten. Undignified, she cried "No one could feel a pea that far down! It's physically impossible." Seeming impressed with her big word, she leaned back with her arms crossed- challenging her mother.
Before Hermione could reply, the door swung open. Unbeknown to Hermione and Rose, half way through the story Ron had stopped outside of the doorway and had been listening in curiously. Hearing enough, Ron had come into the room. In an exasperated stage whisper, Ron cried "What the bloody hell was that? I've heard a lot of your so called "fairy tales" (which rarely have fairies in at all) but that was complete and utter rubbish! No muggle, or wizard for that matter, could ever feel a pea! Hell I barely noticed sleeping on top of my potions book before, let alone a pea!"
Hermione replied "I suppose it is a bit of a generic princess story but Rose loves them and so did I when I was a child!" Ron huffed in annoyance "Yes but they make no sense!" Hermione quirked an eyebrow and muttered "Oh and Babbity Rabbity's cackling stump does now doesn't it? Honestly Ron, sometimes you can be so narrow minded." The two merely glared each other. The silence stretched on until Rose sweetly kissed Hermione's cheek and took the book from her hands. "Thank you mummy!" she whispered before tiptoeing back to her room. Having had time to think about the overall story, Rose had come to the conclusion that the princess must have looked for the pea and had instantly warmed to the intelligent character. She'd decided that the Princess and the pea was one of her favourites and couldn't wait to hear her Daddy read it in his funny voices.
After Rose had left, Ron was still muttering how silly the book was but soon stopped as Hermione walked into the bathroom. "Oh Ron, I hate it when we fight in front of her!" Ron pulled Hermione into his arms and said "I do too but that wasn't a fight!"
Jaw dropping, Hermione pulled away. "Yes it was!" To which a small little argument followed. It finally ended with Harry stamping on the carpet telling the quarrelling couple to stop arguing and go to bed.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH
Rose and Hugo's voice woke the sleeping couple up. "Merry Christmas! Present time!" Once all the family had gathered into the living room and the overspills into the kitchen the chaos of present opening commenced. Ron picked up the card from Rose and opened it to find a child's drawing of the Princess and the Pea. Hermione's lip twitched and at Rose's hopefully stare, Ron cleared his throat and told her "I love it! How did you know that the Princess and the Pea is one of my favourites?" Rose's smile could have lit up the Christmas tree.
Fin
A.N- Well that was a lot harder than I thought.