Priceless
Hermione needs money. Prince Draco's got it. The only natural thing to do is politely steal it from him. Wedding Bells will be ringing.
It was my father's job to supply for our family. He did it well, but even good men fall on rough times. He did things that he wasn't proud of. He got caught up with bad men. He took their money to keep his family eating. Only problem was... he had no way to pay them back.
That's where the trouble started.
"Hide the candles!" shouted my father. He propped his leg on the rough wooden table. He looked like a strong and daring sea captain facing the winds of war as he ordered his large family about with a tarnished candlestick holder waving in the air like a beacon of his superiority. His hair frosted over with wisdom swished in the wind coming from the open window.
"Close all the windows! Bar up the door!"
"With what?" screamed my mother, "our heads? There is nothing left in the house that they haven't already taken!"
"Bar the door, Woman!" my father refused to be reckoned with, but my mother had other plans.
"Fine!" she bellowed.
"Hand me that table your laying all over." she continued, as she marched over to him with her hands on her hips.
My father looked boggled for a moment. The table was the symbol of his authority, so to give it over to his wife was ultimate castration. "I don't think taking the table is necessary." He pouted.
"Table!" My father sighed and drooped his shoulders as he propped the heavy table against the door. The family sighed as they rested against the table, until a heavy pounding sent the door shaking.
"Granger! Come out here!" the ruthless voice of a loan shark echoed through our house.
"Kids…Wife," my father whispered, "hide in the corner. Do not make a sound."
"I know you are in there Granger."
"What do you want?" Father called.
"A night on the town…what do you think? I want my money, and if you don't have it, I'll take it out of your backside!"
My father gulped, and wiped the sweat off of his thin face. "Now there's no need for that. We can work this out."
"This isn't a negotiation Granger!"
"Surely, there must be something I can do…"
"How old is your eldest wench?"
"Fifteen."
"I want her."
"No," my mother whispered harshly. She pulled me to her bosom and held me tight. "Don't even think of giving that blackguard my daughter!"
"Of course not, Woman! What do you take me for?" Father whispered back.
"She's too young! You are too old!" He yelled to the loan shark.
"I don't want to marry her! Don't be a brick headed barrel of slop! Haven't you heard the news?"
My father's face grew red from the insult, and redder from not being able to do anything about it. "News of what?"
"News of Prince Draco and his search for his bride. He fell in love with her at some fancy ball, but the little twit run out on him before midnight. They say all the slop has of her is a glass shoe. Dumb princey can't remember what the chit looked like and only can identify her by her tiny feet. So, every Tom, Dick, and Harry's running around trying to get his daughter's little footsies into that slipper,"
"How does this affect my girl?"
"Don't be daft! I don't have a daughter, and I need one fast. The prince's men are coming into my town in a couple of hours and I need a girl, quick. So, how big are the girl's feet?"
"It doesn't matter! She's not going!" yelled my mother.
"I can handle this, Woman!" my father whispered.
"It doesn't matter! She's not going!" Father yelled. My mother and I exchanged annoyed looks.
"If I don't have myself a girl in one minute, I'll make one out of you. Get the picture Granger?" My father looked pleadingly at Mother, and she only glared with a vengeance.
"This is your mess, and it does not concern her. Fix it yourself."
"Granger… I'm ready to make a woman out of you!"
"Woman please! Listen to reason… if she gets picked, then think of the life she will have. Think of the life we will have!" my father said urgently.
"It may be a trick!" Mother yelled.
"He's a loan shark... but he is no crook." My father said defensely.
"Oh for pity's sake," Mother swore.
"Granger!"
"Please!" Father begged.
"I'll do it." I said. My father needed me, besides seeing him beg like a dog made me despise the world just a little bit more.
"Thank you Heaven!" my father sighed, as he shoved me out the door. I turned around to watch my father mumble a few words that sounded like: "Loveyoukeepyournosecleangodspeedbye." He then proceeded to slam the door in my face, after shoving a few items of clothing in my arms.
I turned around to look at the loan shark, and saw that he had brought his band of "enforcers" with him. All three of them looked rather scrawny and held their lusty prepubscent gazes on me. I could only imagine what sort of pain three twelve year old boys could inflict on a family of twelve with five hulking young men good at rough play. I loved my father but he truly was an idiot. The loan shark put an arm around my shoulder, and grinned at his boys. "Well boys, it looks like I've got myself a daughter."
"There now girl, show us your feet!" ordered one of the kids.
I lifted up my worn skirt and showed my feet to the little prat. They whistled, and commented that I'd win for sure.
"You had better win or Daddy's found a new housekeeper," The loan shark smirked in my face. I wanted to slam his grubby face in the ground.
"Greetings from the king, Country Baron." The regal voice of the King's messenger reached my ears. I sucked in my breath, as I saw the Prince's carriage and all of his men surrounding it.
"My warm greetings to his majesty. What can, his humble servant, do for the king?" The Loan Shark asked.
"Do you have a young woman in your household?"
"Only my maiden daughter resides here. How can she serve the king?" The Loan Shark lied.
"I shall need to try a very important shoe on her foot. Prince Draco is searching for his lady love, and I shall need to check your daughter's foot,"
"Whatever we can do to serve the king. Please, come into my home." The Loan Shark ushered the messenger into his home, and I waited for my cue.
"Daughter, come hither!"
My heart slammed against my chest as my voice cracked with my answer, "Yes, Father!" I paused for a moment before revealing myself. I curtsied to the men in the room. My "father" sat me down in a chair in front of the messenger. Without a word to me, the snooty messenger peeled off my dirty shoe, and easily replaced it with a shiny slipper. I was surprised that the shoe slipped so easily onto my waiting foot. It seemed all too easy, and moreover very anticlimactic. The whole process was over too quickly and I had expected a native dance and a few chants before the whole thing concluded. I was very let down. Where was the hype?
The messenger's eyes opened wide, and flies flew into the Loan Shark's open mouth, and time had seemed to stop. Suddenly, time seemed to speed up and I was barely able to keep up. The messenger looked all around my foot and made sure I had not in some way cheated. The Loan Shark began to count the number of new cloaks he was going to buy, and I still wasn't apprehending all that was going on.
The messenger then got up from his place beside my foot, and sprinted to the waiting carriage outside. The Loan Shark and I raced to the window to see what was going on outside. The messenger spoke to a few others outside the carriage, before one fine dressed man knocked on the carriage door, and whispered to the gloved hand that poked out of the carriage. The hand made a "bring forth" motion, and the finely dressed man began to walk towards the house.
The Loan Shark and I exchanged looks before placing ourselves back on the chairs. The man walked up to the door and smiled, before entering. "Princess,"
