Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The Moderately Handsome Prince

"One more, Daddy, please?"

Harry looked into his daughter's wide hazel eyes and could deny her nothing. He felt his lips tug up in a smile and sighed dramatically.

"I don't know..." he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "We've already gone through all your favorites. Your mother would not be happy if she knew I was keeping you up past your bed time."

Lily puckered out her bottom lip with the expertise of six-year-olds everywhere. Her little freckled nose crinkled up and Harry let out a single laugh.

"James and Al are up too," she pouted. "And Mama's not home, just don't tell."

Knowing that Lily would not relent without another story, and not feeling particularly inclined to enforce bed time, Harry decided that perhaps one more story was not such a bad thing. This was, after all, one of Harry's favorite parts of the day. And after all, Lily was already tucked snugly into her dragon sheets, her vibrant hair a squiggly mess on the pillow. The two of them had been there for over half an hour now as Harry told her bedtime stories.

"One more," he said with mock severity. "And that's it. Which one would you like to hear? We haven't done Babbity Rabbity in a while."

Lily wiggled further into her sheets and shook her head.

"Cinderella?"

Another shake of the head. Harry tried to think of another and could not come up with anything. "I don't think I know any more, Lily..." Shrugging his shoulders apologetically, he glanced around the room for any spare story books.

"Make one up," his daughter said excitedly. "One with dragons!"

A smile spread across Harry's face. No, not unicorns, not princesses; his daughter wanted a story about dragons. He glanced at the dragon covered sheets then at the pile of stuffed plush dragons at the end of the bed. Crayon drawings were pasted at random intervals around Lily's room, at least half of them depicting what might have resembled a dragon.

"You've been spending too much time with Uncle Charlie," he murmured. Lily just gazed at him expectantly. Harry looked back at her with an exaggerated pensive look, his mind working furiously to come up with a story about dragons.

"How does it start?" he asked Lily, who was always ready to contribute to story time.

"The dragon is guarding a treasure, of course," Lily answered immediately. "And the prince has to get the treasure from him!"

"Oh goodness, however will he do that?" Harry asked her.

But that was all the help Lily was willing to offer. She giggled. "No, Daddy, you tell it!" she insisted.

Harry chuckled and raised his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay. So, the handsome prince-"

"Not so handsome."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "The prince isn't handsome?"

Lily shook her head.

"Maybe just a little handsome?"

Lily scrunched up her eyebrows and then nodded. She waited for him to continue, a wide smile on her face and for a second Harry wished he could live in that moment forever. But of course, there were stories to tell.

"Okay, the moderately handsome prince entered the dragon's lair to take the treasure with nothing but a sword at-"

"What about his wand?"

At Harry's raised eyebrow Lily said, "Well, he's a wizard isn't he, Daddy? Muggles don't fight dragons."

"I thought I was telling the story," he reminded her. Lily giggled again.

"Right. So, the prince entered the lair with nothing but his sword and his wand, ready to fight the dragon for the treasure. He couldn't see any treasure in the lair but over in the corner was a huge ferocious dragon. The prince decided the dragon must be hiding his treasure. So he tried to sneak up but the dragon woke up and let out a ferocious roar!"

Lily let out a little gasp.

"And that's when the prince saw the nest of dragon's eggs behind the big spiky tail and he realized the dragon wasn't a he at all. It was a she, and she was also guarding her eggs."

"Uncle Charlie told me that the mama dragons are much tougher than the daddy ones."

"That's right," Harry nodded. "Much tougher."

Lily's wide eyes stared up at Harry's. "Was the prince scared?" she asked quietly.

Harry nodded seriously. "He was very scared. But he saw, in the middle of the mama dragon's nest was a dragon egg made of solid gold. And the prince knew that he had to get the golden egg from the nest somehow."

"Why?"

Harry paused, trying to think quickly. "Because... the golden egg was... the most renowned treasure in all the land. And the prince needed it to win the approval of his kingdom before he was allowed to rule it. Otherwise an evil scary warlock would take over."

Lily pulled the sheets up over her chin, her eyes never leaving Harry's face as she was enraptured by his story.

"What did the prince do?"

"Well, this prince was very clever," Harry told her. "He knew that he could never outrun the dragon so he transfigured his sword into a broom and flew into the air."

"That was smart!" Lily exclaimed.

"Yes, it was," Harry agreed with a wide smile. "And the prince was an excellent flier, but the dragon chased him. She thought he wanted to hurt her eggs and he had to fly faster than he ever had before. And then he dove down towards the nest, scooped up the egg and flew out of the lair without a scratch!"

"Wow!" Lily gasped. And then she yawned and Harry could see her eyelids beginning to get heavy. He smiled and decided it was time to wrap up the story.

"And then the moderately handsome prince won the affection of the whole kingdom and lived happily ever after."

At the end of the story, Lily suddenly looked thoughtful, and then a little mutinous. "You can't fly faster than a dragon!" she said and then paused. "But I liked the story anyway."

Harry chuckled. "Best I could do on short notice." He smiled warmly and tucked the sheets around Lily extra tight. Then he kissed her on the forehead and stood up.

"Goodnight, Lily. I love you."

"I love you too, Daddy. Just one more story?" she asked sleepily, her eyes drifting closed even as she fought to stay awake.

"Not tonight, Lily," Harry answered quietly. "But I'll tell you one about merpeople tomorrow."

AN. Just a short little moment between Harry and Lily. Not a lot of substance, just something sweet. But I would love to know what you thought if you have the time.