Hermione awoke with a smile. She had not yet opened her eyes because she was still thinking of what happened the night before. Then it hit her. Was it a dream?
"Harry?" She opened her eyes and sat up in her bed. He was gone. Suddenly there was a knock on her door.
"Hermione! You can't still be sleeping!" called the queen through the door
"I'm not mother!" Hermione jumped out of bed and hopped carefully over to her door, trying not to hurt her ankle. She opened her door and her mother stood there along with Vanessa, the servant. Vanessa was holding a tray of food.
"Well, because of your ankle, I'm allowing you to dine in your room. Set Princess Hermione's breakfast down and then get the crutches please, Vanessa," said the Queen.
"Yes, your majesty," she said as she set the tray down and left the chamber.
"Prince Harry was inquiring about you at breakfast this morning," said the queen nonchalantly as she was grabbing some garment from Hermione's wardrobe. Hermione suddenly looked up at her mother with an interested expression.
"Oh?" She said trying not to sound to excited.
"Yes. He said that he would be happy to help you get around since you'll have to use those crutches for the next couple of weeks." Vanessa set the crutches down by the bed.
"That's sounds lovely, mother," said Hermione with a smile as Vanessa helped her put on her dress.
"It does, doesn't it?" said the queen. She sat down on Hermione's bed and looked her daughter in the eye. "Hermione, you like this young man, don't you?"
"What? Oh well, I don't—," Hermione began.
"Don't bother hiding it, darling. He's been here less than a day and already you two are making such eyes at each other."
"Is it that obvious mother?" said Hermione. She wasn't used to talking to her mother about this kind of thing. She could tell her father anything, but not her mother. She had always been afraid to talk to her mother about things like love.
"Yes, dear. But it's quite all right. He is quite a catch. I'd rather you fall in love with him and not those dreadful princes from last night."
"Dreadful?" Hermione thought she misheard her mother.
"Yes. Dreadful. You were right."
"I'm so glad to hear you say that, mother," said Hermione.
"Yes, well. I must go and attend to some business with your father. Try not to get into any trouble today." She kissed Hermione on the forehead and left the room.
Vanessa had started to fix Hermione's hair. Hermione was smiling because she was glad that her and her mother were on the same level for once.
"Oh wait, Vanessa. Can you fix it a little differently today? I want to look nicer than usual."
"Of course, majesty. I know just the style. I gather the reason has to do with a certain prince?"
"Yes. I'm hoping to spend some time with him today," she said as she grabbed a perfume bottle from her vanity."
"The perfume? Oh majesty, you must really be in love," said Vanessa.
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to look and smell my best is there?"
"Of course not. How's that?" She finished fixing Hermione's hair. She had styled it half up with curly tendrils falling at the sides of her face.
"Oh Vanessa, it's beautiful. Thank you!" She hugged her friend and then began to eat some porridge.
Harry had been sitting out in the courtyard of the castle admiring the beautiful flowers and statues and getting lost in his thoughts. He kept thinking about the night before. Finally he met a girl that he could have conversations with who was also beautiful.
"Harry?" called a voice from behind him. He turned around to see Hermione standing there looking possibly more beautiful than she had the day before.
"Hermione…" was all he could say at the moment. Her beauty had left him speechless.
"Is everything all right?" she asked after he said nothing more for what seemed like hours.
"Oh," he blinked and was brought back to reality. "Yes, of course." He had picked a flower and walked over to Hermione to give it to her.
"Thank you. How thoughtful of you." she said.
"My pleasure, princess." He kissed her hand. "I trust you slept well. I tried not to wake you when I left your chamber last night."
"I slept very well. When I woke up this morning, I was afraid that last night had been a dream."
"If it had been a dream, I would have never wanted to wake up," said Harry as Hermione blushed a deep shade of red. "Well, I can see you're going to have a hard time getting around even with those crutches, so I was thinking we could go out riding and you can show me the kingdom properly."
"That's a marvelous idea, Harry." She said as he walked over to her. She positioned her crutches to get ready to walk to the stables with Harry.
"Allow me," said Harry. To Hermione's surprise, Harry picked her up so that she wouldn't have to walk. "Shall we?" he asked. Hermione simply smiled as he began to walk with her in his arms.
