It was late, the night well shrouded in darkness, but Narcissa Malfoy didn't mind. The night was her friend, and the stars her companions. She had always felt the safest with their brightness blinking down on her from the glass domed ceiling above her. It was as if her family was looking down on her. Besides, the night brought comfort and relief from the attention she often received in the light of day. Her entire life she had loved being able to secret herself away in the night, away from prying eyes. When she was younger, the eyes sought her out of desire to look upon her beauty, but later she was viewed with the curiosity that comes with scandal and fear. As of late the looks had abated, but they still occurred. She was after all Narcissa Malfoy. However, at the moment, it was dark, and no prying eyes were around to bother her as she sat deep within the comforting stacks and shelves that made up the Malfoy family library, her favorite room in the manor where she had lived for the past sixty years.

She was contemplating calling her personal house elf to bring her some tea, but it was late, and Tuffy was getting on in years and probably abed. It would be better to go without and avoid the possibility of waking the elf. Setting her book down, she had resolved to get the tea herself, when she heard the door of the library slam followed by the sound of feet rapidly moving across the library floor. Astoria and Draco were traveling, and the footsteps were too light and quick to be her aged husband or her grandson. With all the dignified grace of her rigid upbringing, she slowly sought out the intruder on her late night reading session.

It wasn't hard to find her, because even after the sound of footsteps stopped, the sobs did not. In one of the deepest corners of the large library, Narcissa finally found her, wearing a pale blue dressing gown, her feet bare, crying in what she would be horrified to know was Lucius's favorite reading nook, deep in the wizarding history section. Narcissa was partial to the nook too, but not as fond as she was of the one in the herbology section she had just abandoned. She slowly lowered herself onto the divan where the sobbing figure was sprawled, careful not to startle her before reaching down and brushing her hand over the mass of curly hair, smoothing it a bit thoughtfully.

"Grandmother!" exclaimed the young woman sitting up as soon as her tears had slowed enough to notice the woman who was straightening her hair. "I'm… I'm dreadfully sorry… I didn't… I…"

"It's quite alright darling, now what has happened that you're in the library at two in the morning crying all over Lucius's favorite sofa?"

"I…. Nothing…"

"I can see you're rather reluctant to tell me, but let me assure you I have no disillusions about my grandson. I'm sure it was him, so let's hear it," said Narcissa matter of factly before she called for a younger house elf and asked for some tea. "What's that husband of yours done now, Rose?"

"I'm just so…. He…" Rose hiccupped, her eyes still watering. "He's been traveling so much for the company, and tonight, I thought I'd surprise him. I arranged for two handfuls of international floo powder between the two fire places for tonight. I showed up in New York by flooing into his suite at the hotel. He was on the veranda with her!"

"WHAT!?" exclaimed Narcissa, momentarily losing her legendary composure. "Who?!"

"I don't know! I headed right back through the floo. I…" Rose broke out in fresh sobs, and Narcissa felt she could do nothing but quietly comfort her sweet, normally so happy grand-daughter-in-law. "I just… I… I should have known that fairy tales didn't exists! I am much more practical than that! I'm Hermione Weasley's daughter for Merlin's sake!"

"Now, let's not jump to conclusions, there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation for why my grandson had a woman in his hotel suite that wasn't his darling wife. However, who told you fairy tales were impractical?"

"No one, but they are stories that trick us into thinking that love is real, goodness conquers evil, and prince charming does exist! Those stupid stories are a load of Hippogriff SHIT!"

"Now, I don't know about that. In my experience, love is real, goodness always has managed to conquer evil, and prince charming…. The wizengamot is still out on that one. But one thing I'm sure of is that fairy tales are not just stupid stories," replied Narcissa calmly summoning a nearby book.

"Of course they're stories! Made up by idealists and told to little girls who will one day have their hopes and dreams shattered!"

"Hear me out now, most stories have some basis in fact. The stories of your mother and her adventures in the second war will eventual be the thing of fairy tales. In fact, I happen to know that nearly every fairy tale is a true story. Wizarding history would have been much more interesting if I was teaching it instead of Binns. I'm of the opinion he had an unhealthy fixation with Goblins."

The prospect of learning something new and the shock that fairy tales were based on fact seemed to perk Rose up a bit. She sat a little straighter and watched as Narcissa opened the book she had summoned. "Really? You mean they're true stories?!"

"Well, mostly. I'm fairly sure most of them were modified to be muggle appropriate by the Grimm Brothers, the two wizards who made a mint publishing them for the muggle public. However, this being the fourth largest library in all of Britain, I have the wizarding version of several of the tales. The historical accounts. Let's see, now which would you like to hear first?"

"Snow White," said Rose.

"Ah, one of the first stories, and also one of my ancestors!...


Chione White was born in Appleby, England in 1373. Her mother and father were wealthy pureblood nobility who had long hoped for a child. Upon learning of her pregnancy, Dionne White went to a seer, for she had been having terrifying dreams. The seer confirmed her worst fear that she would in fact not survive the birth of her child, a girl baby who would have her father's raven hair, her mother's clear gray eyes, lips as red as the blood her mother would shed giving birth to her, and skin as white the snow falling the day she was born. The seer predicted that she would be the fairest woman in all the isles and go on to produce a long line of powerful witches and wizards to color history. Greatly afraid for her life, but reassured that her daughter would live, Dionne returned home to her husband.

As she grew rounder and rounder with child, she could feel the strength leaving her, and knew there was something wrong with the pregnancy. However, she was reassured by the seer that her child was healthy. She came more to terms with what the old seer had told her, planning to accept death as an old friend as long as she could see her healthy child one time. It was nearly midwinter, when she saw the first snowflakes landing on the grass outside the manor. She knew her time had come, and gently called for the preparations to begin to welcome her child into the world.

The labor was indeed a hard one, and Lady White informed her husband that in the case she were to die, to name the child Chione, after the goddess of snow, for the beauty of the snow falling outside her window was one of the only things that kept her sane through the pain of her labor. Finally, the daughter was born, and Lady Dionne's last wish was fulfilled as she managed to hold her daughter in the minutes before her death.

By the time Chione reached eleven, she had grown into the beautiful daughter the seer had predicted. Her father had raised her well in accordance with customs and traditions, and she was good natured and loved by all she met. Upon her acceptance into Hogwarts, none were surprised when she was sorted into Hufflepuff, and her father was very proud but sad to see his daughter off to school.

Once in school, Chione proved to be a very formidable witch, but also a very beautiful one with the kindest of hearts. She was named prefect for three years, and earned OWLs and NEWTs in potions, charms, transfiguration, herbology, and astronomy. She was especially dedicated to experimental potion theory.

However, in this time, Chione's father became lonely, and eventually remarried during her sixth year, increasing the White family wealth by two-fold. His second wife, Regina Neckham White, was a part veela who came from the infamous Neckham family who was known for enchanting and producing the first enchanted mirrors in the 1100's. Regina was in fact in possession of a particular mirror which had been enchanted by her great grandmother and was known for being connected to every mirror in existence, essentially the mother of all enchanted mirrors. In this way, Regina could view the reflection of any mirror upon request.

A very vain woman, perhaps because of her veela nature, Regina had an unhealthy obsession with being the most beautiful woman in Britain. After Chione's graduation from Hogwarts in 1390, the young witch returned home to live with her father and stepmother whom she had met briefly on holidays. The veela became instantly jealous of the attention her new husband lavished upon his only daughter. Her primary consolation was that she considered Chione's dark beauty inferior to her own veela looks. However, she took a smaller pleasure in giving clothes to all seven of the White family house elves and forcing Chione to clean the family mannor.

Chione later claimed she was not unhappy living as a servant in her father's home. She had excellent training in Magical cooking from Hogwarts where she received an excellent grade in the subject she took until fourth year, and had no problem with cleaning charms. She spent her free time experimenting in potions. Eventually she developed a clear potion that she suspected would be good for cleaning clear and shiny surfaces including mirrors. We now know of this potion as veritaserum which Chione received the patent for in 1394, but her original intent for the potion was as a cleaning solution which she inadvertently used liberally on her stepmother's prized mirror.

Therefore, the very next morning when Regina White asked the mirror who was the fairest of them all, the mirror could not lie as it had previously. As the seer had predicted, Chione White was the fairest in the land. In a veela rage, it was all she could do to refrain from killing her stepdaughter herself. Using a compulsion spell, that is particular to veela magic, Regina forced the young stablemaster who cared for the family hippogriffs and horses to take Chione into the forest and kill her. However, the stablemaster was of strong will and the fact that Regina was only part veela weakened her magical hold on the young man. Once in the forest, he was able to tell Chione of her stepmother's plan to have her killed.

Chione fled, deep into the forest surrounding Appleby where her stepmother's enchanted mirror could not find her, for Chione knew her stepmother enjoyed spying on others via the magical window. She had been in the forest for two days with nothing but her wand and she knew the full moon was approaching. Fearing that much longer in the wilderness would leave her in danger of encountering a werewolf, she was relieved to stumble upon a small, almost miniature cottage.

Carefully shielding her face from any mirrors with her cloak, Chione entered to cottage to find it void of mirrors, but very much inhabited by filth. The house was a disaster of epic proportions, everything falling into disrepair and dirt. Presuming the small place abandoned, the young witch cleaned the place up in order to take shelter there that evening. By the time she had finished, she was exhausted from her forest journey and the work. When she awoke, she found herself surrounded by seven house elves she was quite familiar with since childhood.

Upon reunion with their mistress, the elves, who had fallen into drunkenness since their dismissal from the White household, were rejoiced to see their mistress well, for they had heard the rumor of her death which had been propagated by Regina already. Thus began a quiet existence in Appleby forest for Chione White and her seven elves. She continued to experiment with her potions, eventually discovering the true nature of veritaserum after accidentally allowing some to splash into her drink, but she strangely found her house elves to be unaffected by the potion.

It was nearly a year before anyone stumbled upon the happy dwelling. As it were, a young wizard, only just old enough not to have known Chione at Hogwarts, was hunting for Golden Snidgets to capture. Stumbling upon the beautiful witch toiling over a hot outdoor cauldron, he couldn't help but be infatuated. Starved for human companionship, Chione came to enjoy his visits, but never revealed her identity to him, fearful that somehow the information would get back to her stepmother that she had not perished.

The young man often brought gifts for his forest friend. He had finally resolved to marry her despite his suspicion that she was not a pureblooded witch as he would prefer, when he brought the fateful gift of a mirror. She enthusiastically opened the gift but was startled into dropping it, causing it to shatter when she saw her reflection. The mirror shards mocked her with her multiplied reflection, showing her shock and fear. She vanished the pieces, but it was too late.

Until now, Lady White had been content as the most beautiful in the land, having killed several more women who her mirror begrudgingly admitted were fairer than she. It was thus a surprise when her mirror announced one morning, nearly a year and a half after Chione's disappearance that the witch had been spotted in a mirror, and was thus the most beautiful of all.

Regina was enraged, and immediately set about correcting her past mistakes, ensuring the stablemaster's disappearance. She also seems to have decided to take matters into her own hands, perhaps because Chione was already presumed dead, she could not be implicated.

Lady White brewed a potion to carry out her evil deed. Disguising herself to look like the ugliest Hag in a nearby villiage, using magic to disguise herself, Regina made her way into the forest where she knew Chione to live. It was there that she encountered the beautiful girl, needing all her restraint from revealing her identity and killing her outright.

An apple freely given from the passing woman was a treat Chione could not resist, reminding her dearly of her home where orchards grew many apples, giving Appleby its name. No sooner had the apple, laced with Draught of Living Death touched the young girls tongue before she collapsed in deathlike sleep. Regina happily made her way home before the elves who spent the days gathering potions ingredients and building furniture to sell for food in towns made their way back to the cottage where in an odd reversal of roles, Chione cooked and cleaned for them.

Upon discovery of their mistress's body, the elves were overcome with sadness, and out of a final act of gratitude for her care and restoration of their self worth, they built her a glass coffin, for her body was as beautiful in death as it was in life. Weeks passed, and although their mistress was dead, all that showed of her passing was a slightness that seemed to come over her once healthy body. For that was Regina's plan, to have her waste away slowly in sleep as the potion did its evil work.

When Chione's young wizard returned, he was bursting with joy as he had finally found the perfect ring to give to his love. Planning to propose after finally gaining permission from his family, not without much struggle, to marry whomever he liked, he arrived to find the elves still mourning for their mistress. Seeing her body, still so well preserved, the wizard was suspicious, but overcome with grief for his love. Insisting he wanted to leave the ring with her as no other witch would be fit to wear it, he removed the glass lid of the casket to place it on her finger. However, as the lid was lifted, her body was jarred, and a bite of apple fell out of the witch's mouth, removing the contact her body had with the potion.

Weakened by her time asleep, Chione could barely speak. Overcome with joy, but realizing the implications of what had happened, the elves nursed their mistress back to health under the watch of her new fiancé. Knowing she could never be safe, even deep in the forest, Chione finally agreed to leave with Hyperion Black whom she married quickly and quietly before they returned to his family home near Godric's Hallow, England. Careful to avoid all mirrors, Chione went about obtaining a patent for her truth eliciting potion which she dubbed veritaserum.

Upon patent, its first use was in the summons of Lady Regina White before the Wizengamot in 1394. Lady White appeared before the court, not knowing of what she was accused, and after having a cup of tea proceeded to confess to the killings of thirty seven muggles, two witches, and the attempted murder of her stepdaughter on grounds that they were more beautiful than she. Unfortunately, as veritaserum in high doses can be lethal, she succumbed to death shortly after her interrogation and before she could be sentenced. It is unknown whether or not Chione Black knew of the lethal side effects from the potion, or if dosing safety had been established yet.

In any case, with her stepmother deceased, Chione went on to live a very public life with her husband Hyperion Black who served as a member of the Wizengamot while she continued to experiment with potions, developing several lesser known and outdated healing potions while raising seven children, all of which attended Hogwarts. To this day, the effects of washing a mirror with veritaserum can be seen in the continued compulsory honesty of Regina White's enchanted mirror which is kept on display in White Manor. It remains the most honest mirror in the land although its link to other mirrors remains largely lost due to the destruction of many of these older mirrors. It is also the most perpetually clean, as veritaserum is the most potent mirror cleaning and preservative known to wizarding kind. Its use is ill advised.

Originally I had mapped out a Rose-Scorpius fanfic and this was the sequel... let's be real... Probably never going to have time to write the story of how they got together. But I have a couple of these fairy tales written, and they are kind of fun. I only have a few of these, but I hate not publishing them. Let me know if you like them and I'm open to suggestions for future tales. Each is pretty much stand alone, but I tried to make up some wizarding history/ make up some interesting things about the wizarding world... which I think of things a lot. Up next is Beauty and the beast. Thanks, E!