A girl sat on a bed, watching her older brother with silent eyes.
"Your gonna be in trouble if dad finds out your jumping on your bed again L, remember last time? You broke the bed."
The boy grinned. "Ya I remember, that was funny." She shook her head.
"Not really, you got grounded for two weeks. It was horrible. You better stop." A man appeared at the door. The boy looked over, jumped once more and landed gracefully on his bed, smiling innocently.
"Hi dad."
"Hi yourself. I'll pretend I never saw that. You know that you can't jump on your bed until you get your letter to Hogwarts."
"We already got them and that's only a few days away, that's not fair."
"Hmm," he thought for a moment and looked back. "You're right, I almost forgot, i don't want you to go yet. I guess you can, just take it easy."
"Oh yeah! Who wins! I rule!" He started jumping again. The girl pulled on the man's sleeve.
"Can you tell me one last bedtime story? Before we go I mean. The one about the princes."
"Of course, I haven't told you that one in a long time." Harry sat down and tucked her in.
"Once upon a time there were two boys. They received their letters to Hogwarts, after a long time of waiting, and they were very excited. Now these two boys had no idea what house they were going to be in. One wanted Slytherin, the other Gryffindor. Now, the one who wanted to be in the house of the lion met two people on the train ride there. Do you remember who they were?"
"Hermione and Ron!" The boy jumped up on the bed and sat next to them.
"I thought you were playing?"
"I was, but I really want to hear the story."
"Okay. Where was I?... oh yes. They met Ron and Hermione. Now this boy made friends with them very quickly. The other boy hadn't made friends with anyone yet, and had his eyes set on the boy who was laughing along with the everyone else. When they got to the castle, he met with them on the stairs, extending his friendship with the boy, but no one else."
"It was because he was mean right?"
Harry sighed. "Lucius, do you really want to listen?"
Lucius nodded quickly. "Ya, I really do!"
"Then please be quiet. Yes, he was mean, but only because he thought he had to hide from everyone. Now, the Gryffindor boy wanted to be friends with him, but he said no. He didn't want to hurt his first friends, and the boy was making fun of them. In truth he was only jealous. When they got to the sorting hat they both got the house they wanted, and they were given the title of prince... What's wrong lily?"
Lily looked up at him, confused. "Why were they called princes?"
Harry smiled. "Because one was really handsome, and the other was special. The boy in Gryffindor was called the boy-who-lived, because a very bad man tried to kill him and he survived."
"What did the other prince look like?" Everyone missed the figure standing in the doorway smirking.
"Well, he was very good looking. He was pale, blond hair. He had grey eyes that looked the sea after a storm, and was tall and skinny. The prince of Slytherin was sad because of this and decided that this boy was going to be his enemy, even though he never really hated him. Several things happened between these two. The snake prince mocked the lion and his friends, and loved challenging him to duels. The only thing he disliked was when he would hurt young Gryffindor. He always cried after he did. It was the same when the lion hurt the snake. So in many ways they were alike and in many ways they had a love hate relationship."
"What's a love hate relationship?"
"In their case, it's where they wanted to be with each other, but neither of them knew it and kept it to themselves, pretending to hate the other. Now, this went on for many years, and lots happened to the lion prince. The man who had tried to hurt him came back many times, hurting many people he came to love. Each time this happened, him and his friends beat the man and saved everyone. The snake prince looked on in despair as each time he couldn't help, because everyone thought he hated the lion. In his heart he knew he didn't and wished he could, for once, let his nice side show. So, as they slowly grew he kept the face everyone came to know on, and every time he saw the lion, his heart would die a little more."
"The poor snake prince." Lily looked up at Harry with tears in her eyes. Lucius sniffled and pulled on Harry's sleeve.
"Was he okay? Did he tell the lion about his feelings?"
Harry chuckled, and the shadow at the door shifted, leaning against the frame. Silver/grey eyes watched his every movement. "We're getting there. The lion prince watched the snake prince just like the snake prince watched him, but they always missed the sad looks they gave each other, and just like the snake prince, his heart started to die. As they moved on to their last year..."
"There's only seven years right?"
"Yes, only seven. Now, as they moved to their seventh year, a war started to grow. You'll learn about this soon enough so I won't go into all the details. The man who had hurt the lion and his friends so much had finally had enough, so he pulled an army together. What he didn't know was that the lion and his friends had also started an army. It wasn't as big, but they had love and the other man didn't. As the fight started, it also started with the lion and snake. When one of the snake princes friends started a horrible fire, the lion and his friends Hermione and Ron found some booms and started to fly down the corridor. The lion heard a sad sound and turned back. The fire had trapped the snake prince and was closing in on him very quickly. So the lion prince flew into it and grabbed the snake by the back of his robes like this..." He grabbed Lucius and picked him up, placing him on his shoulders. "And put him on the back of his broom, getting away from the fire before it could eat both of them."
"Wow, so the lion saved the snake instead of letting him die?"
"Well duhh, they loved each other." Lily stuck her tongue out at Lucius.
"Your right Lily, that's exactly why the lion saved the snake. And the snake figured it out to. When the two landed they were alone. Somehow the lion was separated from his friends. The snake prince grabbed the lion prince and kissed him on the cheek quickly, blushing the deepest shade of red possible. The lion stared at him for a moment before grabbing his hand and holding it. The two walked out into the open, in front of the man who was trying to kill them. Together, along with their friends help, defeated him and stopped the war right then. It was over after months of fighting. The two finished school, and the snake prince was amazed that everyone liked him a lot. After that he kept his nice side out, not daring to look back at what he did when he was younger. The Lion prince and the Snake prince stayed together after that. They had a family and lived together happily ever after. The end."
"So the Snake and the Lion both got what they wanted. I'm happy for them." Lucius got off of Harry's shoulder and laid down on Lily's bed. "I mean, it would have sucked if they would have hated each other in the end, or either of them had died."
Lily nodded. "I wish I could meet the Snake prince and the Lion prince. They sounded like the perfect pair." Harry ruffled their hair and looked at her. He chuckled.
"Maybe you will one day. You never know what could happen. You'll probably hear the proper story at school I suppose."
Lucius's eye widened. "You mean they were real people!? Oh man I want to meet them now."
A voice called softly from the shadows. "Harry, I'm back. Are you done?"
"Ya." Harry got up and tapped Lucius on the shoulder. "It's time for bed young man. We still have to get your robes tomorrow or you won't be able to go. And you" He looked to Lily. "We have to get you a owl."
"Okay dad, night." Lucius jumped onto his bed and dove under the covers.
"Night." Lily lay back on her pillow and smiled.
"Night, I love you."
Harry walked out and closed the door, looking at the shadowy figure as they walked up the stairs.
"I can't beleive you actually remembered all that, i sure as heck don't, its been so long... do you think they'll get the whole story when they get there?"
"Probably. Hemione will definatly tell them 'cause god knows she won't let me forget." A pair of hands wrapped around his waist, warm lips on his neck.
"So Lion prince, want to tell me the story now. I can't quite remember what happened." Harry turned around, returning the kiss as they fell back on the bed.
"Mmm, Draco. I guess I could tell it again. Only for the Snake prince though." They fell silent as two voices rose up from downstairs.
"No way! That's impossible! It can`t be them!"
Draco grinned and kissed him again. "I think they figured it out. So, wanna tell me that story now?"
Harry smiled. "Well, once upon a time..."