This was written for Camp Potter II, Week Five, with the mandatory prompt to write a fairy tale AU and the optional prompts of "You're hopeless," Sentence: He/she couldn't help but to smile, Disappointment, Bronze.
Once upon a time, there lives a king, a lovely gentleman who after his fair and kind wife passed away last month, marries the proudest and cruelest woman in all of the island kingdom.
This woman, whose name was Druella, had two daughters from her last marriage, Bellatrix and Petunia, who are every bit as horrible as their mother. They were spiteful women who were so full of themselves that one compliment given will have them toppling over each other to seize the words from the air.
Druella's new husband had a daughter from his previous marriage, named Lily. Lily was both beautiful and kind to everyone, from the poorest beggar to the high and lofty nobles. Far and wide, it was remarked that she was one of the most typical maiden girls in the kingdom.
Druella was quite jealous of Lily's beauty and goodness, and made her do all of the most menial and lowly jobs in the large cottage.
So, Lily washed the dishes, emptied chamber pots, scrubbed floors, and made beds. One day, they even made her sew clothes until the stroke of midnight, and when the clock chimed, she accidentally pricked her finger with the needle. After taking care of it she went right to bed with a yawn, not caring that she would be in trouble for skipping chores.
Her stepsisters wore beautiful gowns and enjoyed the luxury that surrounded them. They will do most anything for a laugh, sneering and playing mean practical jokes on her. The day Petunia wouldn't quit calling her blasphemous names and shouting things such as 'Witch!' and 'Burn her at the stake!" while she hung up the clothes on the line. Lily ran to her room and cried all night.
The next day, her only chore was to fetch the mail, as she had finished her others the night before. When she got the mail, Lily's eyes widened in surprise, and she ran the letter to her stepmother with great haste.
Now, as the King's son was looking for a wife, King Charlus decided to throw a ball, and invited all of the young ladies of marriageable age in his kingdom to attend.
Lily's stepmother and stepsisters were ecstatic about the upcoming ball, and would talk of nothing else, day in and day out. They employed the finest dressmakers in the kingdom to ensure that they looked as alluring as possible.
Lily, being the fair and generous soul that she is, offers to help her stepsisters prepare for the ball, for she has an excellent taste when it comes to clothes, and despite the cruel treatment that they subjected her to, Lily always gave them the correct advice.
As Lily helps her sisters, Bellatrix asked spitefully, "Lily, are you attending the ball?"
Lily lowered her head sadly in disappointment, and mumbled, "No, I have nothing to wear and couldn't ever hope to fit in with all the magnificent ladies. The prince wouldn't even pass a glance in my direction without something nice to wear. Might I borrow a dress?"
"Lend one of our fine gowns to such a dirty maid? We are not fools!" Petunia sneered.
"Everyone would laugh at the sight of you," Bellatrix mocked cruelly.
When the day of the ball arrived, Lily travels to the courtyard of the King's palace with her stepmother and stepsisters, and dissolved into lonesome tears as she watches them enter the wondrously grandiose ballroom.
As she wept for what might have been, and all that is unfair, a sparkle and a popping sound is heard, echoing loudly in the sob-torn air. Lily looks up to see a small, glittering human brandishing a pointy stick.
"Lily, why are you crying," Merryweather, the fairy godmother in a blue dress implored. "Don't you wish to attend the ball?"
"Yes, of course I do," sobs Lily.
The fairy godmother couldn't help but smile warmly and instructed, "Well, then, go into the gardens and bring me a pumpkin."
Lily went into the garden and brought back the finest pumpkin she could find, plus an apple because she feels terribly hungry and can eat without the disapproval of her family watching.
"Oh dear Lily, you mustn't eat any apples! You'll spoil your appetite, the prince has prepared a lovely banquet," The fairy godmother slaps the apple away before a bite was taken.
Merryweather, the fairy godmother, struck the pumpkin with her wand, and it became a magnificent coach, with plating done in silver, with a trim of bronze, and precious gems. It grew to five times it's original size and could now carry three people, if she pleased.
"Oh thank you! It's wonderful, and you mean for me to arrive at the ball in this?"
Merryweather smiled,"Yes. No one who's been fortunate and deserving enough to need my services will go to any ball by mere horse drawn carriage! Honey, the prince will love you when I finish here."
Next, Lily was instructed to grab the seven gnomes from the backyard , and when she did, the fairy godmother tapped each of them on the head with her wand, and they transformed into six fine horses and a coachman in turn.
"Well, are you not now able to attend the ball?" asked her fairy godmother.
"Oh, yes!" cried Lily, "but how can I attend looking like this? The prince won't be attracted by my rags, not one bit."
Her godmother lightly tapped Lily's torn, sagging clothing with her wand and it transformed into a fine white dress. It was the prettiest thing she has ever seen, and could very well have been made for a queen. It sparkled with diamonds, and the bottom fluffed out a little, and swung fluidly around her ankles. It was a dress so grand that she wouldn't have asked for it, even on her wedding day.
To complete the outfit, Lily's fairy godmother gave her a pair of glass slippers, the finest in the entire world for they were both comfortable and strong.
"My spell will last until midnight, so you must leave the ball by then," Lily's fairy godmother warned.
Lily swore to return by midnight, thanked her godmother again and again, and headed off to the ball.
When Lily entered the ballroom, everyone froze as she bedazzled the crowds of people with her beauty.
No one recognized her, as her appearance had been completely transformed, no soot nor dirt clung to her.
Prince James, with mussed black hair and an imposing posture rushed over to greet her at once, and leads her to the place of highest honor at his side, and later danced with her and the two had a lovely evening. Prince James having earlier danced with other girls before Lily arrived, was now completely sure this is who he wants to spend the entire night with, not to mention the rest of his life.
No one looked to be as fair maiden as Lily, and instead of spouting off every type of dress or face paint she adored, the first thing she asked was,"Do you know how to dance? I was never taught, so I do sure hope I don't step on your toes."
"I'll lead," The prince chuckled. Which is funny, because the prince himself ends up stepping on her feet a few times, and the two laugh at his terrible skills, which are no better than her own.
"I only learned how to dance this morning, I'm sorry. My dear father had my adviser, Sirius, teach me. It was apparently an embarrassment to the royal family that I did not know ballroom dancing. Everyone just assumed that I knew how," James laughs one more. When the song ends Prince James left to get the two some wine.
Lily even dared to approach her stepsisters and wish them well. A full conversation happened and when she waved goodbye to her two stepsisters Petunia replies,"You must visit us one day and we'll catch up sometime!" They didn't recognize her one bit, and it's a sorry statement but true nonetheless.
The Prince never left Lily's side after the two enjoy punch together and make their way to the open buffet. Lily was having such a marvelous time that she's forgot to pay attention to the time and as the clock struck midnight, Lily returned to her senses and with a quick excuse of, "I need to be excused, sorry but the lavatories ... I'll be back in just a few."
She fled. Faster than she had ever run before, not wanting to get caught. Down the torrential stairs, she accidentally tripped and one glass slipper fell off, and she left it in her hurried wake..
The abandoned Prince attempted to follow her after he witnesses her go a different way from the lavatories, but the only trace remaining was a single glass slipper, lying outside the great entrance to the ballroom like a shard of moonlight.
Lily managed to get home, but was out of breath and wearing what she had been before she saw her fairy godmother.
She was laying in bed, pretending to be asleep when her stepsisters stumble into her room, half drunken and half jealous of every girl at the ball. They were carrying on like school girls, insulting other girls from the party.
"You were gone so terribly late!" Lily cried, acting like she had just woken up,"How was the ball? Did the prince notice you?"
At once the family of terrible women switched gears, no need to complain about how ugly every girl was to the servant girl, that was for their own ego fluffing benefit. They talk about how when they arrived and the Prince came to greet them, he said they had about just as much beauty as they did brains. The evil stepmother and stepsisters would have of course taken that as a compliment.
"If you had been there you would have see the most beautiful lady," exclaimed Bellatrix. "She was so nice to us and the Prince was absolutely besotted with her."
"No one knows from whence she came, and the Prince would do anything to discover who she was," Petunia said with not a small touch of sarcasm.
Two days later, the Prince announced that he would marry the woman whose foot fit in Lily's glass slipper.
His servants had all of the women of the court try it on, but the attempt was in vain because anyone who tried the slipper on would bend their feet to try and fit the small shoe.
A few days later, it came to Lily's home where Bellatrix and Petunia tried to make it fit with all their might, they tried all types of things like putting their feet into hot water beforehand, a home remedy to smaller, more relaxed feet. Bellatrix tried so hard to get her enormous, large feet into the small shoe that in the end, she sprained a toe.
When Lily saw it, terrified but politely she asked to try the glass slipper, "M-m-may I?"
Bellatrix burst out laughing at this idea, and said, "You're hopeless, Lily, you are an ugly and useless girl who shouldn't be allowed near any royalty."
But, the Prince had ordained that every maiden in the kingdom could try the slipper on, if they so wished.
When the servant man knelt down and took Lily's foot into his hands and placed the glass slipper on her foot, she fit the slipper perfectly. Her stepsisters stood aghast and utterly gobsmacked and Bellatrix immediately took the shoe from Lily's foot and smashed it on the cold, cobblestone floor.
Lily's fairy godmother appeared with a pop and flicked her wand at Lily, turning her into the mystery girl from the ball.
Bellatrix and Petunia dropped to their knees and begged for forgiveness for their cruel treatment over the past years, for they knew that he prince would marry Lily for her beauty and fairness and not them, for all their airs. Though, they both wanted to go live with her in the palace.
Lily embraced them, saying "You have my utmost forgiveness and never will I hold a grudge."
Lily was then escorted to her new home in the palace by the Prince, dressed in another one of Merryweather's gowns.
A few days later, the Prince, James Potter, asked Lily Evans for her hand in marriage. Months later, the many guests that had been invited to the wedding remarked that that Lily was by far the most beautiful bride they had ever seen for years.
Lily, being as good and kind as she was beautiful, gave her stepsisters and mother their own rooms in the palace and they lived happily every after.
The End.