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Warning for Sleeping Beauty!AU, unconventional social norms, be potioned against one's will, and a slight bit out of character. The word count is 2,145 words. I hope you all enjoy The Tale of The Hedge Knight and The Prince.
Once upon a time, there lived a hedge knight. No one knew the name of the hedge knight or what they were hiding behind their steel-plated armor. They just knew that no matter what the hedge knight would be there to protect them no matter what. But something about today felt lucky for the hedge knight as they road down the small dusty street of Diagon Alley and they were soon to find out what that something was.
By chance, the hedge knight had passed a group of whispering men and women upon the road. They didn't want to listen in but they also couldn't help it if snippets of the conversation were to be overheard. It was by this very chance that the hedge knight found his luck.
"Did hear what happened up at the castle?" a woman with a grubby face and grimy hair asked, elbowing her walking companion amiably.
"No," the shorter woman answered, turning to look at her friend as they stopped in their tracks. "What happened?"
"They say that the Prince of the Longbottom kingdom has taken ill. They can't awaken the Prince no matter how hard they try. He just lays there in a deep slumber. Snoring and drooling and snoring some more."
"How did you find this piece of information out?" the hedge knight asked, making sure that their secret was safe.
"What does it matter to you, hedge knight?" asked the grimy woman, glowering at the hedge knight who towered above her on their horse.
"If someone is in need of help then I have a sworn duty to go and help the person out," the hedge knight explained as though speaking to a child. "Now, how did you find this piece of information out?"
"Ma sistah does the washing up at the castle," the woman answered, not taking too kindly to be talked down to. "She overheard the castle physician talking to the king and queen and then heard the queen wailing in grief. You don't think that Prince Neville is going to die, do you, hedge knight?"
"Not if I can help it," the hedge knight said, urging their horse towards the castle gates. They had to go and see if there was something they could do for the prince. Prince Neville mustn't die. Prince Neville couldn't die.
"Odd sort that one," the hedge knight heard the woman say and then go back to her conversation.
The hedge knight had known Prince Neville for a long time. Their father had been a knight of King Frank and Queen Alice's for as long as the hedge knight could remember. After he'd fallen in battle though they had taken up their father's armor and became a hedge knight in order to be just like their father. But there was the secret to contend with. One that would end their reputation as a hedge knight of great renown. The hedge knight could hear her father's voice in her head as she road headlong towards the castle at the fastest speed possible.
"It's not the armor that makes the man," her father's voice echoed in her head like a bell. "It's what the person under the armor does with that power. You must never do any harm to anyone who can't defend themselves, my dear, Hannah. And then the people will love you."
"I hope that you are right, Father," she said as she jumped off her stead before it could stop. "I must see the king and queen immediately," she addressed this to the castle's men at arms who had come running over upon her approach. She could their hands upon the hilts of their swords and told herself that next time when it wasn't an emergency she should stop and check-in at the gatehouse first. But this was an emergency. She had to get o Prince Neville and she had to get to him yesterday.
"Who needs to see the king and queen?" the leader of the group a large man with dark hair asked, pulling his sword from the scabbard as though he would fight her right then and there. "Take off your helmet, hedge knight."
"There isn't time for that now," Hannah insisted, drawing her own sword from its scabbard. If it came to it she would fight her way to Neville's side. If it came to that, that is. She hoped that it wouldn't.
"Isn't that…." one of the guards started but was stopped by his leader.
"It doesn't matter whose armor that used to be. That person is no longer alive and this one is a thief."
"I am no thief, sir," Hannah shouted, pulling her helmet off and feeling her long strawberry blonde hair fall freely around her shoulders. "This is my father's armor and my father was a friend of the king and queen's. If something has happened to their son I'm sure he'd want me to be by his friends' side."
"I don't know what you'd be able to do for them, Lady Abbott," the lead guard said, bowing his head in respect for her station as a lower-class lady. "But I suppose that you could go and give your condolences to the king and queen. They are with their son now. I'll take you to them."
"Thank you, sir," she said, putting her sword back into its scabbard and following after the guard who'd done the same.
The walk towards the Prince's chambers was a somber and quiet affair. Hannah had no idea what to say to this man who was leading her and thus she stayed quiet. The man in turn didn't know what to say to Hannah either. No one had seen the young Abbott girl since her father had fallen in battle. But then this hedge knight had appeared and now that the hedge knight had been revealed to be Hannah He just didn't know what to say. No one had ever heard of a lady knight before.
"Um….so…..you're a hedge knight," the man finally said as they entered the royal corridor.
"Yes, sir," Hannah said.
"What made you want to become a knight? You don't really see many lady knights out there fighting in battle."
"My father. He trained me like I was a son. He taught me the ways of knightly honor and justice and when he fell in battle I took up his armor."
"I'm sure he'd be very proud of you." The guard didn't sound as sure as he was leading Hannah to believe.
"I certainly hope he would be proud of me."
They came to a stop outside the door where Hannah could hear King Frank and Queen Alice trying desperately to wake their son. She knocked gently upon the door.
"We'd like to be alone with our son," Queen Alice's voice floated through the oaken door. She sounded so terribly sad. So much so that it made Hannah feel incredibly sad as well. Queen Alice had a way about her that made you feel the same as she did.
"Queen Alice, I just came to visit and give my condolences," Hannah called through the door. She heard the scrape of a chair moving and footsteps moving towards her. Then the door was opened and King Frank was standing there his face tear-streaked with grief.
"Is that young lady Abbott?" King Frank asked, taking her in. She knew that she'd grown a lot since the last time anyone had seen her. She had been a tiny girl of ten back then and now she was a grown adult coming into her own.
"It is me," Hannah said, bowing before the royal in front of her.
"Enough of that nonsense. Come in. You and my Neville were the best of friends at one point in your life. If anyone can disturb us it's you." He led Hannah over towards the bed that Neville was on and the crying queen. "My love, look it's young laddy Abbott."
"I'm sorry, Hannah," Queen Alice said, trying to wipe her eyes clear of tears but failing. "I didn't recognize your voice." She turned to look at Hannah properly. "And what exactly are you wearing?"
"It's a rather long story, my queen," she answered, looking over at Prince Neville. "One that can be explained when we find a way to bring Prince Neville back."
She walked over to the bed watching Neville sleep peacefully upon his pillows. He'd grown into his looks. His locks were a warm chestnut brown. His face which had once had a plumpness to it now had a leaner look. A bit of stubble was growing upon his chin and she couldn't for the life of her imagine Neville with a beard. But everything that made Neville Neville was still there as far as she knew.
Hannah was about to kneel down beside the bed to whisper something to Neville when she noticed a tiny shiny particle on the floor. "Was something broken over here?" she asked, sinking lower to get a better look at what it was. "A pitcher or a water bowl?"
"A goblet was broken over there," King Frank said, looking questioningly at the girl in knight's armor. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
Hannah picked up the tiny shard of glass and sniffed at it hoping that some remnant of smell was left behind. She sniffed again and again. Then finally she got it. The Prince hadn't taken ill after all. He was helped into this state by someone who had the ability to enter the room.
"It's a very powerful sleeping potion that hasn't been used since the old days," she said, carefully disposing of the shard of glass so that no one else fell under its effects. "It's used a lot in the legends of years gone by. In many stories for that matter."
"How do you know that is what it is?" Queen Alice asked, sounding a little on edge that Hannah had seemed to know what the potion was by smell.
"My mother brewed the potion once just to show me what to look out for," Hannah explained, thanking her mother for all her teachings on Herbology. "It has no distinctive taste and a very light smell that must be smelled from up close which is how all those people in stories were fooled into drinking or eating it. Even pricking their finger on a spinning wheel needle dipped into the potion."
"Is there a cure?"
"An antidote or something like?" King Frank asked, watching his son with great worry.
"There's one thing that all the stories seem to agree upon and that's how to awaken someone from this particular potion," Hannah explained.
"True love's kiss," King Frank said, surprising both women with his love of romantic stories.
"Yes, my king," Hannah answered, feeling a blush crawl up her cheeks.
"Then what are you waiting for? Kiss him."
"Frank!" his wife scolded, giving him a severe look.
Hannah didn't pay much attention to the conversation that they were having. Had she been in love with her childhood best friend for this long without realizing it? She took a deep breath and leaned down and gently brushed her lips against Neville's.
She pulled and looked upon Neville expectantly as though waiting to see if the true love's kiss theory would work in real life. And for a second it looked like nothing was going to happen. She was almost about to walk away when she felt a hand upon her wrist stopping her.
"Hannah, what are you doing in my room?" Neville asked, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he sat up. "What is everyone doing in my room?"
"We'll explain later," his father told him, going to send the heralds out with the good news of his son's awakening.
In the end, everything turned out alright for Hannah the hedge knight, and Prince Neville. They were allowed to marry by royal decree. Which was a happy event for all who attended. The person who had used the sleeping potion upon Neville happened to be the sister of the grimy woman Hannah had encountered on the road to the castle. But she wasn't a grimy peasant. She was a royal from the royal line of Black who ruled over the Black Kingdom. Her oldest sister had used the potion upon Prince Neville so that she could take the Longbottom kingdom from them. Princess Andromeda and King Frank, and Queen Alice got together and decided upon a fair punishment for Princess Bellatrix. Her punishment was to go free and never return to the Longbottom kingdom upon penalty of death.
But that is neither here nor there. Because in the end, everyone lived happily ever after as they are want to do in Fairytales of old. And thus they did.
The End.
I hope you all enjoyed The Tale of the Hedge Knight and The Prince as much as I enjoyed writing it.