by Rapunzel
Summary: A retelling of the Grimm brothers' folk tale Cinderella, for the S.S. Pumpkin Pie H/Hr discussion thread.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Note: So, folks, here it is...the Cinderella H/Hr retelling for all you guys aboard the S.S. Pumpkin Pie. Some (okay, fine, most) of the text is borrowed from the brothers Grimm, and they're dead (...right?) so it belongs to everyone. I heard that Cinderella is actually a French tale, and instead of glass slippers they were actually squirrell fur slippers, but...*shrugs* For now I'm going by the brothers Grimm (in which there are no glass slippers at all). Oh, and it's PG for a bit of...amputation. *cough* You'll see. Enjoy, and Happy New Year's!
Once upon a time the wife of a rich Muggle dentist fell very ill, and as she felt her end drawing nigh she called her only daughter, Hermione, to her bedside, and said, "My dear child, be pious and good, and then the good God will always protect you, and I will look down upon you from heaven and think of you." Soon afterwards she closed her eyes and died. Every day the maiden went to her mother's grave and wept over it, and she continued to be good and pious; during this time, she discovered that she was a magical creature, and convinced her father to buy her a wand. But when the winter came, the snow made a white covering over the grave, and in the spring-time, when the sun had withdrawn this covering, the father took to himself another wife, who was magical and from a long line of famous pure-bloods.
The wife brought home with her two daughters, who were beautiful and fair in the face, but treacherous, prejudiced, and wicked at heart. Then an unfortunate era began in the poor step-child's life. "Shall the stupid goose sit in the parlour with us?" said the two daughters. "They who would eat bread must earn it; out with the Mudblood!" So they took off her fine robes, snapped her wand, and put upon her an old grey cloak, and gave her wooden shoes for her feet. "See how the once proud princess is decked out now," said they, and they led her mockingly into the kitchen. Then she was obliged to work hard from morning to night, and to go out early to fetch water, to make the fire, and cook and scour, all without magic. The sisters treated her besides with every possible insult, derided her, and shook the peas and beans into the ashes, so that she had to clean and pick them out again. At night, when she was tired, she had no bed to lie on, but was forced to sit in the ashes on the hearth. Because of this, and because her nickname was 'Mione, they teasingly nicknamed her Cindermione.
One day it happened that the father wanted to go to the fair, so he asked his two daughters what he should bring them. The two step-daughters wished for dress-robes and precious stones and pearls, but Cindermione only desired the first bough that knocked against her father's head. So he bought the fine dress robes, and the pearls and precious stones, for his two step-daughters; and on his return as he rode through a green thicket, a Whomping Willow bough smacked his hat, which he broke off and took with him. As soon as he got home, he gave his step-daughters what they had wished for, and to Cindermione he gave the Whomping Willow-branch. She thanked him very much, and going to her mother's grave she planted the branch on it, and wept so long that her tears fell and watered it, so that it grew. Thrice a-day Cindermione went beneath it to weep; and each time a little white Owl hovered above the tree (for landing upon it was fatal), and if she wished aloud, then the little Owl threw down to her whatever she wished for. She asked for her wand, and often asked for books, from which she educated herself about wizardry, and soon was as skilled and learned as any seventh-year from Hogwarts.
After a time it fell out that the honourable Professor Dumbledore appointed a public Yule Ball, which was to last three days, and to which all the seventeen-year-old witches in Scotland were invited, from whom his Head Boy was to choose the Head Girl. When the two step-daughters heard that they might also appear, they were very glad, and calling Cindermione, they said, "Comb our hair, brush our shoes, and fasten our buckles, for we are going to the Ball at Hogwarts." Cindermione obeyed, crying, because she wished to go with them to the dance; so she asked her stepmother whether she would allow her.
"You, Cindermione!" said she; "you are covered with dust and dirt - will you go to the Ball? You have no dress-robes or shoes, and how can you dance?" But, as she urged her request, the mother said at last, "I have now shaken into the ashes a tubful of beans; if you have picked them up again in two hours, you shall go."
Then the young witch left the room, and went out into the garden, and called, "You tame owls, and ravens, and all you birds of magick, come and help me to gather the good beans into the tub, and the bad ones you may eat." Presently, in came two snowy owls, and after them the ravens, and soon all the birds of magick flew down upon the ashes. They picked and sorted until the task was completed, and then flew away. Then Cindermione took the tub to the stepmother, rejoicing at the thought that she might now go to the Yule Ball; but the stepmother said, "No Cindermione, you have no clothes, and cannot dance; you will only be laughed at." As she began to cry, the stepmother said, If you can pick up quite clean two tubs which I throw amongst the ashes in one hour, you shall accompany them;" and she thought to herself, "She will never manage it." As soon as the two tubs had been shot into the ashes, Cindermione went out to the garden and repeated her request. Presently, the birds came again, and before an-hour passed all was picked up, and away they flew. Cindermione took the tubs to the stepmother, but stepmother said, "It does not help you a bit; you cannot go with us, for you have no robes, and cannot dance; we should be ashamed of you." Thereupon she turned her back upon the maiden, and hastened away with her two proud daughters.
As there was no one at home, Cinderella went to her mother's grave, under the Whomping Willow, and said, -
And silver and gold throw down to me."
The next day, when the festival was renewed, and her stepmother and her sisters had set out again, Cindermione went to the Whomping Willow and sang as before: -
And silver and gold throw down to me."
The third day, when her stepmother and her sisters had set out, Cindermione went again to her mother's grave, and said, -
And silver and gold throw down to me."
There's blood upon the shoe;
The shoe's too small, and she behind
Is not the Head Girl for you."
There's blood upon the shoe;
The shoe's too small, and she behind
Is not the Head Girl for you."
There's no blood on the shoe;
It fits so nice, and she behind
Is the true Head Girl for you."
