Okay, after this one I want favorite Disney movies from you guys. Try to guess which one's mine! I wouldn't say stuff like Pocahontas or the Black Cauldron or Dumbo or anything because I remember absolutely nothing about them, probably because I didn't have the tape. (And yes I'm old enough to have watched stuff on tapes, I remember waiting up to tape Cinderella because it was only on once in my entire childhood and I would probably never see it again. And then I watched it and I think I didn't like the idea of a "proper" princess and so I didn't watch it too much.)

If I remember nothing about something I will tell you in the next chapter.


She was meant to be a lady. A fine, proper lady, who sat up straight and walked straight and enunciated clearly and was practically perfect in every way. She was meant to be graceful and elegant and demure. That's what her parents had hoped to see her be when she'd been born.

Of course, she was anything but. She sometimes slouched and sometimes mumbled under her breath and made faces and often tripped. She spoke the truth and what was on her mind, and refused to be told any different when she knew something for a fact. She was stubborn and headstrong and was a fighter, demanding and begging and pleading to learn how to fight with any weapon she could get her hands on. Her father was all for it, loving that his daughter was as strong and powerful as she was. Her mother, on the other hand, sometimes wished that she'd fit the 'lady' description.

"Hermione! Hermione!" she huffed, frowning at her daughter on her beloved horse, "Hermione Jean Granger! You have lessons!"

Hermione looked up from the horse and through her insanely curly brown hair and up at the window of the tower, where her mother currently stood, frowning down at her. She sighed and started to slowly steer her horse to the stable, "Hardly lessons when they're of no real use."

"Heard that!" she called, making Hermione blink before snorting and clicking her horse to go to a trot. "And ladies do not snort!"

Hermione kept her mouth shut, grinning when the horse stood up and she held on tighter, laughing when it tossed his head and practically pranced into its pen. Hermione hopped off, patting down her dark green dress before snatching an apple out of a nearby barrel, handing it to her horse before grabbing one for herself. She crunched it, making her way through the castle at a leisurely pace, chucking the core away as she stepped into the lesson room.

"G'mornin', mother," she smiled easily as she looked up from the chalkboard.

"Ladies use proper words and do not squish them together," she chided, making Hermione strain to keep her smile on her face. She sighed and sat down at the table, nearly slouching and putting her elbow on the surface before she remembered. Delilah smiled at her daughter before turning back to the chalkboard, opening her mouth and getting ready to write something down when Hermione's father burst in.

"Oy, Hermione, I've just learned a new maneuver – you've got to hold your arm like this and – " he cut himself off from showing his only child this oh-so-important maneuver, glancing at his wife before smiling, "'Lo, Lilah."

"Charles, you've interrupted a lesson," she frowned as Hermione bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"So I have," he said awkwardly before looking over to Hermione, "I'll show you later."

"Ladies should not need to know how to fight, if you ask me," Delilah huffed, sending a piece of black hair up into the air with it.

"Yeah, 'cept nobody did," Charles winked at Hermione as he made his way out, not without seeing the frown intense on Delilah's face.


"Marriage?" Hermione repeated, gaping at her mother, "Marriage? Mum, are you absolutely stark raving bonkers?"

"A lady does not gape nor call her mother 'stark raving bonkers,'" Delilah said before smiling, spreading out the letters as if they were playing cards, "And yes. Three young princes from neighboring kingdoms are coming to compete for your hand. Isn't that exciting?"

"Exciting? Mum, I am not some sort of prize to be won! How am I to get excited over – over selling away my freedom?" she asked. "Selling away my heart and my soul to someone I don't love!"

"You can learn to love, like I did," Delilah said.

Hermione could only gape at her mother, as how could she possibly not see how upsetting this was for her, as she stood and patted her cheek.


"Stupid George. Stupid Percy. Your turn to get the firewood my arse. It was my turn last time and the time before that. I hate chopping firewood. And it's not even close to being winter! It's May!" he grumbled, dragging the axe through the forest as he stomped along. He stopped and turned to a small clearing when he heard a horse thumping along before it skidding to a halt and a scream was heard. He stepped a few steps closer to the clearing as the girl flipped her hair out of her face, sobbing and frowning up at her horse.

"Judas!" she said as she stood and grabbed her sword out of his saddle, ignoring the tears in the white dress and the dirt covering it and making her way to a nearby tree. She then began to hack at it with her sword while sobbing, "I don't want to get married to some stranger! I am not some prize, I am not some lady to be moved to some strange place that isn't home! I am not going through with this, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not…." She slid down the hacked tree, setting her sword down and covering her face as she cried harder. "Why can't she see that, why can't they understand…?"

Fred winced before taking a breath and stepping out into the clearing, her horse perking his head up and looking at him warily as he made his way closer. "Uhm…hullo."

She looked up and blinked at him, her eyes splotchy and red, and he saw that her hair had previously been in some sort of bun or braid, and that her dress seemed that it had probably cost a lot. He ignored it though and stepped a little bit closer.

"I couldn't help but hear you lamenting as you hacked down the tree, and I wanted to make sure you were alright," he began before arching an eyebrow, "Are you alright?"

"No," she choked out, wiping her eyes on the sleeve.

"I'm getting the sense it's about arranged marriage," he said softly, holding his axe behind him easily.

"Yeah," she muttered, hiding her mouth with her sleeves.

"Some lord, duke, baron - ?"

"Prince," she stated, effectively cutting him off.

"Heh?" he questioned smartly.

"I'm the princess, they want me to marry a prince," she said slowly.

Fred dropped the axe and took a step back, "That, I didn't know." He took a few moments before retaking his step, "I've actually never seen the princess before. Only heard the name – Herman or –"

"Hermione," she frowned.

"That makes a lot more sense than Herman," he decided. They stood there for a while before he seemed to remember something, "I'm Fred. Fred Weasley."

"Hermione Granger," she replied.

He paused for a moment before sitting in front of her, crossing his legs and looking at her curiously. "So, can you basically give me the run down on what's eating at you?"

She huffed and stood, dragging the sword as she began to pace, "She's wanted me to be a lady my whole life. I've been taking lessons on it since I could walk, like how to walk proper and talk properly and so on and so forth. Anyway, she said that three princes were coming to compete for my hand in marriage, but – "

"That's insane!" Fred piped up, his eyes wide as he whirled around to look at her, "Why would you marry someone you don't love?"

"Yes, see, thank you!" she exclaimed, "I mean it's not like – "

"You're not a bloody prize!" he nodded along with her.

"Right! And I didn't even stick around to see who won," she sighed, dropping the sword and running her hands through her hair.

Fred looked up at her before smiling and tilting his head, "D'you want to meet my family? We don't have to tell them you're, y'know, royal or anything." He stood and gave her a grin, "You can come pick on Ron with me. Ooh, and I won't have to chop firewood! That'd be great!"

She gave a watery laugh and nodded while her horse protested by nuzzling her head with his own, "Oh, Judas, shush. Stay here, don't wander away. I'll be back in a bit."

Molly Weasley was kind and she worried over Hermione a lot. She and Ginny had gotten her new clothes to wear and handed her a washcloth to scrub the dirt off of her face. She'd met George and blinked when she found that she couldn't tell him and Fred apart. Bill and Charlie were nice, but rather loud and teased their brothers, and Percy seemed rather snobbish. Ginny's fiancé was Harry, and he was nice and shook her hand and it was nearly like they'd known each other for forever, and Ron was nice but a little rude. Arthur was rather strange, but enjoyable. At the end of the day, when everyone was settling out where who would sleep and why and whatnot, Fred grabbed Hermione's hand and slipped with her outside.

"So what do you think about my insane family?" he asked with a grin.

"I really like them," she smiled back.

"Great," he smiled.

"Why is that?"

"Huh? Oh, no, that I got you to smile," he said, making her blink, "I hate when people cry. I always try to make them laugh or smile or something. It's weird."

"It's nice," she smiled before pausing a moment. He looked at her curiously before she pecked his cheek, "Thank you. You're a very good person, Fred."

He smiled back before looking worriedly at her, "What are you going to do? About the wedding and everything?"

"I don't know," she sighed, rubbing an eye, "My mother is probably throwing a fit. Whoever it is is probably throwing a fit. My dad is stuck with people throwing fits. I should probably – "

"How about you stay the night?" he asked, "I can't let you go out there all by yourself."

"But what about Judas?"

"I'll go get him, you go inside," he said, starting off down the path and urging her on when she looked worriedly at him. She headed back into the house and was urged to go to sleep in Ginny's room with her.


"Come with me," Hermione pleaded, still on top of Judas and looking down at a wincing Fred, who had walked with her to the castle walls.

"I dunno, Hermione," he said, "I don't think your parents will like me very much."

"Please," she pouted, making him snort and attempt to frown up at her, although with failed results.

"Fine, but if they try to kill me…" he warned before she grinned and leaned down to peck the top of his head. He sighed and climbed up onto Judas behind her, looking around as Hermione sheepishly lead the horse through the gates. She hopped down and Fred did too, leading Judas to his stable and handing him an apple.

"Miss!" Hermione's old nursemaid said, nearly tackling the poor girl in a hug, "Thank the heavens you're alive! Been gone for that long, we were so worried!"

"'Lo, Maudie," Hermione said as she pulled away and patted her arms, "Do you have any idea where my parents are?"

"Oh, yes, right this way," she said happily, grabbing her hand and towing her along, making Hermione reach back and grab Fred's. She led them to the great hall, opening the door and beaming happily. "She's back!"

"Oh, Hermione!" Delilah nearly overturned the table in her rush to her daughter, hugging her tightly and burying her face in her hair, "I was so worried."

Hermione hid her face in her mother's shoulder, hugging her back just as tightly, "I'm so sorry, Mum. I shouldn't have done that."

"Hermione," Charles said, wrapping them both up in a hug, "Thank God, you're alright."

Hermione smiled, glad to be surrounded by her parents, but froze when a new voice rang out.

"Yes, and now we can get straight on with the wedding," he said, making her pull back and blink at the newcomer. She pursed her lips and her mother saw this before acting rashly and whispering into her daughter's ear. She blinked and smiled at her before stepping away from her parents, walking gracefully to him.

"I suppose you're the prince that I am meant to marry then?" she asked as she batted her eyelashes, making Fred tilt his head curiously and lean against a wall to watch.

"Indeed, and I can assure you, Miss Granger, that everything will go according to plan," he said as Fred smirked and arched an eyebrow at Hermione.

"Well, good to know!" she said before humming, "Oh, by the way, nearly forgot – " She pulled out her sword and aimed it at him, making Fred grin and Delilah wince a little, "The wedding's off. Your country tries anything with ours, I'll knock your head clean off your shoulders. Understand?"

"U-understood, m'lady," he stuttered, knees knocking together.

She smiled, "Good. Off you go now." She sighed when he scampered out of the room, stowing away her sword, "Anyone who's that pathetic to run away from a fight certainly isn't marriage material."

Fred chuckled, grinning at her and bringing her parents' attention to him.

"Hermione, who is this?" Delilah asked.

"This is Fred," she smiled before grinning sheepishly, "We're, uhm…well, we're rather together now, Mother."

"What?" Charles began as Fred grew pale and started inching towards the door.

"Well, he found me in the woods, and I stayed with him and his family for the entirety of my absence, and we rather hit it off," she grinned.

"You were gone for two weeks!" Charles crowed.

"Yeah, know that, but – "

"Oh, Hermione, this is splendid!" Delilah cried, cupping her daughter's face, "This is absolutely brilliant!"

"It is?" the three chorused, looking at her curiously.

"Yes! Oh, if I'd have known you would've picked your own husband – oh, I'm sure you'll make an excellent queen one day!"

"Queen?" Hermione and Fred said, glancing at each other nervously as Charles threw his hands in the air and shook his head at his wife. Fred sighed and shot Hermione a weary smile, telling her he'd go throw with it if he had to. She smiled back, rolling her eyes as her mother began to chatter on.


I knew what I wanted to do with it earlier, honest.

Love,

Birdie