Part I

"I can't believe I'm doing this," sighed Lady Hermione of Loxley and His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Harold of Gryffindor at the same time, though at opposite sides of their coutry, and unaware that one another even existed.

~~%@%~~

"Ron, not another princess," whined Harold of Gryffindor. "Come on, I've met Princess Fleur of France, Princess Hannah of Hufflepuff(A/N Seriously, there is a Hannah in Hufflepuff, and she was the only girl I could think of in it!), and Princess Krystenn of Bulgaria. Who else is left?"

"Princess Cho of Ravenclaw for a start," replied Ron. "And you need to find a bride. I know you want to fall in love, but even princes don't always get their way."

"I know," moaned Harry. "But why can't I just go at my own pace?"

"Because at your pace, by the time you find the right one, she'll have to be half your age to be able to give you a son."

"And what if I don't want a son?" asked Harry, raising his eyebrows and looking at Ron.

"Shhh!" Ron hushed quickly. "Do you wish the gods to curse you?!?"

"Oh please," said Harry boredly. "if the gods wanted to curse me, they would've done so already. And besides, you know what I think of your childish gods. It's utter nonsense!"

"Oh please don't say such things, your majesty!" cried Henrietta of Lancaster, one of Harry's traveling servents. She was very much religiously supersticious, and thourghly believed that the gods would punish any who did not bend to their will. She suddenly looked horrified at her rash words.

"Sorry, Henrietta," muttered Harry sincerely. Henrietta and Ron looked at Harry in horror. "What?" he asked, bewildered.

"She spoke directely to you!" said Ron, amazed that Harry didn't realize this.

"So?"

"'So?'?!" asked Ron, flabbergasted. "She's-"

"-my friend," finished Harry. "And I've never heard of friends who couldn't speak directly to each other, so drop it."

"Yes your majesty," said Ron stiffly.

"Ron, don't get like that," commanded Harry tiredly.

"Yes your majesty," he said again.

"Stop calling me that Ron!" shouted Harry. "I've got enough stress on me as it is! I have to make a peace treaty with Slytherin's Prince, organize a ball, as well as my wedding, and find a bride to stand by me at the wedding, and you're all giving me six months to do it! So stop giving me-"

The carraige they were in was suddenly jolted by a harsh bump in the road.

"What was that?" asked Harry quickly.

"Probably just a bump in the road," Ron assured him. "The coachmen would've seen if someone was in the road."

"Darn," muttered Harry. "I was hoping we'd have to stop, so we'd be late to meet the ship."

The royal carraige was decked in winter drapes to keep the cold drafts out, although there was a magical fire in the center, keeping it warm for its passengers. Inside sat his Royal Highness Prince Harold of Gryffindor, his best friend Sir Ronald of Burrow, and Henrietta, a traveling servant.

Ron laughed. "Come on, mate! You shouldn't be so depressed about this. Princess Cho is beautiful. And this marraige will seal the peace treaty between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. After that, we just have to sink the treaty with Slytherin. Now that's something to get depressed about!" he laughed again.

"Don't help Ron, you're not very good at it," said Harry dully.

"Come on Harry," prompted Ron eagerly. "Remember, we're going to the competition next week, where you'll get to sit in the in the flower box with all the beautiful prizes..."

"No woman is a prize Ron," said Harry sternly. "I don't care who wins, I still can't believe that those poor women are sold by their parents as bed flowers."

"Your highness?" asked Henrietta timidly.

"Yes?"

"Well, if you're the prince," she began slowly. "and the crown prince at that..."

"Yes?" prompted Harry.

"Well, if it bothers you so, why do you not just outlaw bed flowers?"

"Because so many of the nobles use them constantly," he said sadly. "Even Ron uses them. It's just one of the many things I don't like that they love. If I took away this too, they may revolt, seeing as how I am only a child. They believe that I am unfit to carry a kingdom's weight on my shoulders."

"Sir, if you don't mind my saying so," she said, looking at Harry for any sign of wishing her silence. "You are not a child anymore. I have grown up beside you, and I already am being considered for marraige. You too, are well past the age of wedlock. You are a man. A good, kind, unselfish, and very handsome man." She blushed very heavily as she reflected on her last comment.

"Yeah Harry," agreed Ron, grinning. "you're a man, so buck up and go meet that ship!"

"You're both right!" he said stoutly, "I am a man! And if I can run a country, then i can sure as hell meet a woman!"

"Yeah!" cheered Henrietta and Ron together.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," sighed Harry.

~~%@%~~

"I WILL NOT!!!" The shouts of Lady Hermione of Loxley rang through the main hall of Loxley Castle. The walls of the room, hung with dazzling tapestries and antique weapons seemed to shiver with the velosity of her fury.

"Hermione, my dumpling, dearest one-" started her father, but she cut him off.

"I will not marry that stinking Lord Murphy! He's a pig! He can't even read! What kind of imbecile can't read?!" (Victoria, I swear if you tell Murphy about his part in this story, I will kill you!!! In the most painful way I know how!! And since I don't know any painful ways to kill each someone, I'll make it up!)

"Hermione darling," said Lord Nathanial of Loxley firmly. "You are nearly nineteen! You must marry. Many girls a half-decade younger than you are married and producing heirs for their husbands."

"Is that honestly what you expect me to do father?" said Lady Hermione, looking at Lord Nathanial in 'that way.' "Live my life holed up in some dingy castle, only used for my fertile womb? You know I won't. I'd rather gnaw my left arm off then do that. Father, you know what I want. I want-"

"Adventure, love, and life," they said together, Lord Nathanial tiredly, but Lady Hermione excitedly.

"And happiness," added Lady Hermione.

"And that's all I want for you darling," said Lord Nathanial. "But you'd better find it soon, because if you get any older, no one will want to marry you. They'll all believe you cursed or worse-infertile-"

"Father."

"-if you're thought cursed, well, no one will ever again touch our family-"

"Father!"

"-and needless to say, that shall be the end of the line of Loxley, and-"

"Father!!"

"What?" he asked in surprise.

"Father, you're doing it again," she said warningly.

"What?" he repeated innocently.

"You're running my life, just like I said you were," Lady Hermione said, grinning. "I just want to fall in love on my own. Promise me Papa, no more marraige contracts, or I'll have to run you through!"

"But Precious," he protested. "Without a marraige contract, how do you presume to find a suitable husband?"

"I'm going to the market tomorrow with Emmie and I'll start a conversation with the local boys," she said simply. "They'll fall madly in love with me, and we'll live happily ever after!"

"'Happily ever after?'" asked Lord Nathanial, raising his eyebrows. "Where did you come up with that?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "but it sound just lovely, don't you think?"

"I think I have a better idea..."

"What?" Lady Hermione asked suspiciously.

"I know one young lad that you might like," he began.

"So...?" asked Lady Hermione. "If I meet him, you'll never set me up again?"

"Not entirely," he said grinning. "If you meet him and know that you could never love him, there's a jousting competition this week, and I'll take you myself."

"Really Father?" she asked happily. "You'll let me go?"

"Of course, I know how much you enjoy them," he replied.

"Who is he?" Lady Hermione asked suspiciously.

"You'll find out when you meet him, and not before."

Lady Hermione considered this for a while, then said, "When do you wish me to meet him?"

"He is away for a while, but he will return in time for the joust. He will be there," said Lord Nathanial.

"Alright," Hermione agreed at last. "I'll meet him. When do we leave?"

"In the first rays of the sun," said Lord Nathanial. "So you'd best get your clothes and...everything else you'll need for the trip."

Lady Hermione grinned broadly and ran to kiss her father on the cheek. "Thank you father!" She then raced up the tightly wound spiral staircase that led to her wing in the east or the manor. Suddenly the ludicrisnes of what she was doing occured to her. Trading a marraige contract for a jousting competition? She must have taken leave of her senses in the night. But what was done was done, no use wishing about it. She must go and pack. Yes, that was the sensible thing to do, and if Lady hermione of Loxley was anything, she was sensible. Still though, "I can't believe I'm doing this."

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A/N Chapter one of Once Upon A Time. Like it? Hate it? Love it? Tolerate it? Know how to make it even better? Tell me, by pushing that magic little button in the bottom left corner of your computer moniter.