My second piece for the 'Rubik's Cube Challenge' - fairytale!AU.
Harry had been very fond of fairytales as a young child.
For a boy that had been neglected and shut in a small cupboard by his terrible relatives, the magic and happy endings of fairytales had been a sweet hope and well worth the anger which came when his magic-hating relatives verbally attacked him for reading the 'female-orientated' magic containing books.
His nasty relatives had been vicious the one time they had found one of his fairytale books, but Harry had learnt to be protective of the few books he had managed to smuggle himself after the incident. Cinderella had sadly perished in a fire at the hands of his relatives that one time, but after that incident he had been much more careful and his copies of Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Pinoccio along with the few other he managed to keep, and had managed to lose himself in their well-loved stories for years.
When Harry's life turned into a fairytale at eleven after a birthday wish he found himself suddenly very much against the whole genre of books he had loved.
Being locked in a tower and magically leashed there until such a time when he was rescued was at first terrifying and then extremely boring; especially when his entertainment was meant to only be the fairytale books he had once so obsessively coveted. Having the view of bubbling lava was at times quite relaxing, but not worth the extreme heat which came with it.
Luckily he had managed to find a quite interesting past time which kept him entertained when all else failed- the dragon which lived in the mountain was quite an expert in magic, poetry and history. Had he or the dragon not spoken Parseltongue, he was quite sure he would have gone quite nutters before the first year was out.
Years passed, and though many had tried to access the tower in which he was held, none had managed to release him from his steaming prison. Slowly but surely knights and princes hoping for the clever beauty locked in the tower gave up hope, and the number of brief visitors he got dwindled.
By the time it happened, Harry had not expected to be woken up one morning to the press of chapped lips against his own.
Given his surprise, one should really have expected the fist which buried itself into the soft flesh of his rescuers jaw.
"Ow! What on earth was that for!" Green eyes had shot open to see the wincing face of the first person to ever access his tower apart from himself.
"What on earth are you doing here? How did you get up here? And why on hell were you kissing me?!" The dark haired boy shuffled away from the stranger in a knights get-up, panicked questions escaping him as he tried to put space between them.
"What do you think I'm doing? I'm here to rescue you! It certainly doesn't warrant a punch to the face."
Shock rushed once again through Harry's system. A rescuer! His dragon friend had never let them get this far before.
The dragon!
"How did you get up here? Where's my dragon?! You haven't hurt the dragon have you?" Blue eyes peered at him curiously through the gap in his silver helmet at the non-sequitur as the slender male ran to his only window, his eyes searching worriedly through the heated complex for any sign of his long-time friend and teacher.
"What dragon? There's a dragon here?"
"Yes; I have a dragon guarding me. You didn't kill him did you?" Harry finally turned back to his rescuer to see him still cradling his lower jaw below the edge of his shining helmet.
"No. I didn't even see a dragon here. You're quite viscous for some one so small- did you have to punch so hard?" Harry's cheek flushed as he moved closer to the silver clad figure.
"Sorry, Sir Knight. Is you're cheek okay?" A delicate hand reached up hesitantly towards the newcomer, but paused and lowered before making contact.
"It will be fine. Ready to go, little one?" Dark eyebrows burrowed at the endearment, but he nodded as the blue-eyed man offered a hand.
They made their way out of tower hand in hand, silently sneaking through the broken ruins despite there being no sign of his protective dragon.
When they finally escaped from the lava enclosed area half an hour later, Harry revelled in being out of the prison he had been kept in for a large portion of his life. There was a gentle breeze which brushed against his cheeks, and the smell of wild flowers the first he had smelled aside from brimstone in years.
"Enjoying being out, little one?" A teasing tone came from behind him as he gazed at the grassy hills he had not been able to se from his tower.
"Yes, more than you can know. You have my everlasting gratitude." Turning around, he finally got a look at his rescuer as the elder man removed his head-wear. "May I know your name, brave knight?"
Golden-orange locks hung around a freckled and tan face, and the blue eyes which had been partially hidden in the shadow of the metal helmet shone like gems in their place.
"Of course, little one. I am William Weasley of the western land. And you are Harold Potter, of the lost eastern family." A sad smile graced his face.
"That I am. I'm afraid I'm quite unaware of where I've been kept all these years, Sir William. Which direction are we to travel?"
"Just Bill will be fine, little one. This direction." As a calloused hang tentatively took his and tugged him south, Harry smiled thoughtfully at his rescuer.
Perhaps fairytales were not so bad after all.