THE PRINCESS BRIDE
As preformed by the cast of 'Harry Potter'
Directed by Tokemi (Who does not in any way, shape, or form, own, or claim to own 'Harry Potter' or 'The Princess Bride')
PART II
"FIVE YEARS LATER, the main square of Florin City was filled as never before to hear the announcement of the great Prince Draco's bride-to be."
The square was packed with plebeians; farmers, merchants, mothers and their babies, children, and even the lowliest beggars. The nobility lounged around the wall area, while the royal family sat high on the dais that overlooked the mob.
Toward the back of the dais, in the right-hand throne was a man ancient, and good-natured (And also considered to be a bit barmy), with a beard he could tuck into his belt. King Albus's eyes twinkled merrily. Next to him was his wife looked sharp and stern, with her bun even stricter than usual. Queen Minerva was less much less enthused with the speech giver, her son.
And Prince Draco, the said son, was standing at the pulpit looking madly smug, while his overlarge bodyguards, Crabbe and Goyle, lurked in the shadows like particularly stupid pitbulls.
He cleared his throat and flipped back his blonde hair, and waited until every eye was on him before the Prince began his speech. "My people ... a month from now, our country will have its 500th anniversary. On that sundown, I shall marry a lady who was once a commoner like yourselves--" The smirk in his voice as he said commoner was practically tangible, and growing thicker. "-- but perhaps you will not find her common now. Would you like to meet her?"
The peasants cheered lustily, and were answered by a figure slowly making her way down the carpet.
"My people ... the Princess Hermione!" sneered the Prince.
Hermione was resplendent in a gown of delicate, floaty, periwinkle material. Her hair shimmered softly with large amounts of Sleakeazy's Hair Potion. Her smile looked a little fake, but that was lost in the mob's general enthusiasm.
The crowd fell to its knees as the new royalty passed and for a moment Hermione looked as though she'd love nothing better than to run away and sob.
"Hermione's emptiness consumed her. Although the law of the land gave Draco the right to choose his bride, she did not love him."
Hermione rides through the woods, clinging awkwardly to her horse, which has a stack of books strapped to it.
"Despite Draco's reassurance that she would grow to love him, the only joy she found was in her daily study."
Getting any reading done in the castle had proved to be impossible. Not even Hermione could study with maids, huntsmen, courtiers, and a murderous Lady Parkinson (who he had been courting until a rather blustery day had whipped off her hat and proved her quite bald) swarming around.
Thus the rather annoyed bookworm was forced to sneak out to the woods if she wanted to translate any Ancient Ruins. Her less than superb horse riding skills did not help matters.
It did not worry her too much today though, as she was contemplating larger things. Was it all right to marry without love? Without even like?
For she held not even the smallest measurement of respect or affection for the Prince. She rarely saw him, as he spent most times at hunting and her at 'princess lessons'. But she didn't think this was the problem, because even when he did see her, she felt...actually she felt he was a rather foul human being, and his Dogs (what she'd privately begun to call Crabbe and Goyle) were far worse.
Which brought up the second question- Was she still able to back out? After the Announcement she didn't think so. The way the people had looked and acted as she walked through the throng (1) had left her feeling responsible, slightly guilty, and warm in a way she hadn't felt since Ron had died. (This was not much but it was better than nothing.)
Also she had given her word, granted though, the Prince had promised an extremely uncomfortable death otherwise...
"Lady! A word?"
Distracted from her inner musings, Hermione managed to reign in a sigh and turned her horse. Honestly, if the nobility was going to follow her out here they better have something to say.
But the three figures that met her eyes couldn't have looked less like blue- bloods if they tried.
The leader of the trio was a man, tall and fragile looking, tan-skinned with sharp eyes and brown hair (A Slytherin?).(2)
Behind him was a giant of towering proportions, with a wildly overgrown black beard, and equally black eyes. Directly behind him was a monstrous black boarhound, huge enough to look comfortably sized by his master.
A pale, thin man with a sword stood in the mammoth's oversized shadow. He had a cat's green eyes, with a thin, jagged scar running down his forehead and hair that looked like it ate the last comb it came in contact with.
"We are but poor, lost circus performers. Is there a village nearby?" the Slytherin asked kindly.
Hermione sighed in exasperation. "There is nothing nearby; not for miles."
"Then there will be no one to hear you scream."
A cool smirk stole over the brittle man's face as his giant reached out and stole her chance to cry out before the theory could be tested.
He picked up the unconscious young woman and laid her across her horse. The swordsman looked questioningly at his leader, who merely set off toward the villains' boat.
OoOoO
His friend, the swordsman, scrambled over the ship, preparing it for launch, but the giant, his arms filled with the princess, was more interested in what the mastermind was doing.
The Slytherin ignored the giant's curiosity and continued pulling apart the garment in his hands.
Seeing his friend's preoccupation, the boy called out "What's that your ripping Zabini?"
"It is fabric from the uniform of an army officer of Guilder."
"Who's Guilder?" inquired the giant (he did not travel much).
The educated man pointed out toward the horizon. In a pained tone he said, "Hagrid (for that was the man's name).The country across the sea. The sworn enemy of Florin." Irritably he slapped the horse, sending the frightened beast running with the fabric wedged firmly in his tack.
"Once the horse reaches the castle, the fabric will make the Prince suspect the Guilderians have abducted his love. When he finds her body dead on the Guilder frontier, his suspicions will be totally confirmed." Blaise continued.
"You never said nothin' 'bout killin nobody!"(3) Hagrid looked alarmed and slightly ill about this.
Blaise hopped aboard the boat. "I've hired you to help me start a war. It's a prestigious line of work with a long and glorious tradition." He sighed, his voice once again tinged with exasperation. He hated working with imbeciles.
His body was weak, and he had known since youth it could never conquer worlds. So as his peers ran and played and worked, Blaise studied and slaved, taking his mind, filling it, training it, bringing it to heel. He was one of the greatest geniuses in the world, topped only by such as Confucius. His mind was near invincible, but his body was weak, and he loathed the hirelings he so depended on. His rather short temper was forever worn thin in irritation at their own small horizons.
This did not help matters much.
"I jus' don' think it's right killin' an innocent girl." Hagrid mused, peering thoughtfully at the unconscious teenager.
Blaise exploded. "Am I going mad or did the word 'think' escape your lips? You were not hired for your brains, you hippopotamic land mass!"
"I agree with Hagrid." Piped the swordsman.
Blaise truly lost it, and whirled to face the two. "Oh. The sot has spoken. What happens to her is not truly your concern -- I will kill her--" he began stalking toward the impassive man. "And remember this -- never forget this--" he was just inches away from the boy's face. "-- when I found you, you were so slobbering drunk you couldn't buy brandy--"
He whirled on Hagrid, who looked a good deal more upset than his friend. "And you -- friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless -- Do you want me to send you back to where you were? Unemployed in Greenland?"
Finished shrieking Zambini stalked off, muttering something about 'good help these days.'
"And you can't keep that mutt either!" he hurled over his shoulder.
"Fang?" whimpered the giant.
'Oh ye gods, he's named it.' Blaise was not going to allow this to turn into another Norbert. The stupid oaf had intercepted an illegal dragon egg, hatched, hid it with the help of his swordsman, Harry, and who got the bite? Who's hand turned swollen and green? Not one of theirs, oh no.
At least this dog only had one head— Fluffy was another well-forgotten memory.
"Turn it loose or I will toss it overboard."
Once the head conspirator was out of earshot, Harry leaned over to the distraught giant and murmured, "That Zabini, he can fuss."
He looked pointedly at the huge man.
"...fuss...fuss... I thinks 'e likes to scream a' us."
"Probably he means no harm."
"'e's really very short on charm."
"You've got a great gift for rhyme." Harry commented to the smiling giant.
"Yeah, some o' th' time."
Annoyed, Blaise called "Enough of that."
Cheerfully ignoring his leader, Harry asked, "Are there rocks ahead?"
"If there are, we'll all be dead!"
"No more rhymes now, I mean it!" ground out the Slytherin.
"Anybody wan' a peanut?"
"Agggh!"
OoOoO
1)- Remember Reading Reviewers; Always Avoid Alliteration
2)- Thank you, Blaise Zabini, genderless, soulless, character for all occasions.
3)- The authoress takes this note to make the following official disclaimer: 'I am not responsible for annoyance, frustration, and abuse, physical or otherwise brought on by my horrid accents.'
REVIEWS
Kaylyn- Whee! My first review. Sankou for pointing that out, I blame it on the fact it was 3 A.M. at the time.
Kerichi- Sirius makes a good boy. petpetpet
VietNaMaEnglish- BLUSH Thank you!
Bella- Both your reviews are lovely, this chapter should help flesh it out more.
MirkWoodMage- You hit me in a spot I was already guilty about, so this chapter's revamping is dedicated to you!
A/N: Yay! Second chapter done. I don't like it as much as the first, but whatever. It's still a lot of fun. I'll try to change more of the dialogue next chapter too. I'll probably post it in my live journal (AliceDear) before it gets all edited and posted here.
WARNING: My IE Explorer is 'corrupted' and I can't access MSN. And that means I have to use IE, which is swarmed with pop-ups, that can't be closed out of without closing the whole explorer. Apparently crashing my computer is the only way to fix this (Can anyone tell me otherwise!?!), so updates will be a little slower. But just a little! (I hope.)