Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter. Or anything important, really.

A/N: Implied Dean/Luna

Characters: Dean Thomas and Lysander Scamander, son of Luna Lovegood and Rolf Scamander

Genre: Romance/Family

Enjoy!

. . .

Fairy-Tales

"Uncle Dean. Uncle Dean. Uncle De-ean."

"Wha-?" Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Dean took a moment to focus upon his four-year-old godson. "Oh . . . 'Sander, my man, what are you doing up?"

"Can't sleep. . . . Lorcan snores. Loud."

"Ah."

"Will Mummy and Dad be back soon?"

"In the morning, 'Sander, you know that."

"Oh. . . ." Even in the dim light, the boy looked absolutely pitiful; Dean's eyes softened.

"You want to sleep here for tonight, buddy? Away from Lorc's snoring?"

Lysander nodded eagerly, scrambling onto the bed and snuggling up next to his godfather. Dean chuckled.

"Comfy, are you?"

"Mmm." He sounded half-asleep already.

"'Night, 'Sander."

"Uncle Dean?"

"Hmm?"

"Will you tell me a story?"

"'Sander, can't this wait? Uncle Dean's really tired right now."

"But I can't sle-eep. Mummy always tells me a story when I can't sleep."

"Mummy does, huh?"

"Mhm. 'Bout Crumple-Horned Snorlacks an' Dribbling Humdingers an'. . . ."

It amazed Dean how his godson could have this much energy at two o'clock in the morning. Scouring his brain for all the Muggle fairy-tales he had heard as a child, Dean found himself drawing a blank. He supposed exhaustion did that to a man.

Too bad Hermione's not here. . . . Bet she and Ron never have this problem.

"Please, Uncle Dean?" Lysander's lower lip was wobbling dangerously.

But Hermione wasn't here. Only his tired, homesick godson.

"OK, OK." Dean fought off a yawn. "Once upon a time, there was a . . . princess."

"A princess?" Lysander pulled a face.

"Yep. But," Dean continued, "she wasn't just any ordinary princess. She could speak to animals. Witches and wizards from all over would bring her their hurt pets and she would speak to them to find out what was wrong. There were rats with, um . . . tummy-aches and owls that had hurt their wings. Once, someone even brought her a dragon."

"A dragon?"

"Yes. And he said, 'Princess, I am known all around the kingdom for my fire-breathing prowess, but now I can barely get out a smoke-ring. Please help.' So she looked down the dragon's throat and found . . . found a, erm. . . ."

"A hairball?"

"Exactly, 'Sander, yes. A hairball. So the princess removed the hairball and the dragon put on the best fire-breathing show the world has ever seen. He even took her for a ride on his back."

"Wasn't she scared?"

"Of course not. Animals loved her just as much as she loved them. Her subjects loved her too because she was so beautiful and kind. So many men wanted to marry her that, once she turned eighteen, the king decided to hold a contest."

"A contest?"

"Mhm." Despite his drooping lids, Dean found himself warming to the tale. "The king loved his daughter very much and wanted to make sure that the husband he chose for her would make her happy. So he called of the nobles of his kingdom together and ordered them each to find a magical creature as beautiful as the princess herself and bring it to the castle as a gift to her. Whoever's creature met was the most beautiful would receive the princess's hand in marriage.

"However, the princess did not want to marry any of the nobles. She had fallen in love with the royal groom, who loved animals as much as she did, and wanted to marry him instead. The princess wanted to tell her father but didn't want him to be disappointed in her for marrying such a low-born man."

Lysander's brow furrowed with worry. "What did she do?"

"Nothing at first. She was too afraid to talk to her father or to call off the contest. So when the noblemen returned, her father asked her to come see the creatures they had brought her. What she saw upset her so much that she burst into tears.

"The princess saw beauty in happy and healthy animals, but these animals were hurt. The phoenix's bright feathers were dim and drooping; it couldn't even make its beautiful music anymore. The unicorn's coat was dull and its head was hung in despair The nobles had had to capture the creatures in order to bring them to the castle, there was nothing beautiful about them.

"'Don't these creatures please you, daughter? Aren't they beautiful?' the king asked and the princess told him no, seeing animals in that amount of pain could never make her happy. 'If you want to make me happy, Father,' she said, 'tell your men to set these animals free.'

"The nobles obeyed the king but they weren't happy about it. 'Which one of us are you going to marry, then?' asked the handsomest of the men. He was the one who had captured the unicorn and had been sure he would win the contest.

"The princess finally looked nervous. She could deal with animals far easier than she could people. But she loved the groom, she didn't want to be trapped in a marriage like those animals had been trapped. Finally, she turned to the king and said, 'I'm sorry, Father, I don't mean to disappoint you, but I don't love any of these men. I am in love with the royal groom. . . .'"

"What was his name?"

"The groom?"

"Mhm."

"Erm . . . Thomas."

"Oh. OK."

"So she said, 'I am in love with Thomas and want to marry him. He loves magical creatures as much as I do and I am willing to sacrifice anything to be with him. Please, Father, do we have your blessing?'"

"And they got married!"

Dean laughed. "Jumping the gun a bit, aren't you, 'Sander? The king was a bit annoyed that the princess hadn't told him earlier since he'd arranged this whole contest. . . ."

"But they got married, right?"

"Yes, they got married."

"And lived happily ever after?"

"Ever after," Dean confirmed.

"Good." Yawning hugely, Lysander burrowed deeper into the covers. "'Night, Uncle Dean."

"'Night, 'Sander, my man."

"Uncle Dean?"

"Hmm?"

"What was her name?"

"The princess?"

"Mmm."

"Um . . . I dunno, buddy. Just 'Princess,' I guess."

"Oh. . . ."

Too tired to be argumentative, Lysander's soft snores filled the room minutes later – guess it isn't just Lorc – but Dean lay awake, watching his sleeping godson, wondering. How long would he dream of happy endings? Of fairy-tales?

How long before he understood Rolf's frigidity?

How long before the thumps in the night turned, seemingly inexplicably, into his mother's cries?

How long before he knew the princess's name?

Dean smoothed a hand over his godson's caramel-colored cheek and wondered.

. . .

A/N: Well, this totally mutated. Started out as a light-hearted "Dean tells Lysander a bedtime story which implies he has feelings for Luna" to . . . a much darker entity. Did the ending surprise you? It did me, and I was the one writing it. Scary. . . .

But seriously, am I the only one who thought it was a total cop-out that Jo paired Luna with a totally random guy. I mean, she and Neville had that fling after the Second War, but I really think she and Dean could have had something.

As always, let me know what you think in a review!

A/N: Next chapter will "star" Mrs. Zabini and Adrian Pucey from the Slytherin Quidditch team. I already have ideas for these guys so expect the next chapter out shortly.