"The Princess Frederica Eugenie de Ia Fontaine.
Miss Susan Bones, the daughter of General Stephen Bones."
The host called the name of the girls walking to the prince and curtseying.
Instead of indicating any interest though, the prince just stared at the girls poker faced and bowed to them before they turned away.
"Miss Ginevra Weasley of the Weasley family."
Ginny sauntered forward with a look of pride, dressed in a light green and pink gown as her mother beamed proudly at the moment her daughter was being introduced to her future husband.
Curtseying and making sure to expose some of her breast to him, she didn't notice the tiny grimace the prince had to hide as he bowed back to her. Or maybe she did, as she went back to her mother.
"He smiled at me mum!"
She squealed quietly to her mother.
Meanwhile, Ron was looking around at the beautiful women around him, noble or otherwise. There were even close to 5 princesses from nearby tiny kingdoms.
Not to forget the food he was seeing around him, all types he'd never seen before in his life and now he was going to have the opportunity to taste.
He spotted the Lady Brown in the arms of her intended. He snorted. Yup, the boy really looked like some pansy boy. With his golden brown hair styled on his head neatly that Ron was sure he'd spent close to 3 hours styling. He was dressed in an immaculate deep blue suit with gold designs on the hands.
Ron scowled jealously before looking at his own suit that looked like something his great aunt Muriel's husband would wear.
Oh how he couldn't wait to be rich.
A few feet away, Hermione rolled her eyes at the Family.
"Honestly, they're just sad to look at."
"Who?"
Luna asked, arms locked with her intended, Rolf Scamander, son of General Grant Scamander.
"Mrs. Weasley and Ginny of course!"
Rolf turned to Hermione with a raised eyebrow.
"They're still on about the whole marry the prince nonsense?"
"Yes! And it's really annoying."
Luna giggled.
"Well, I hardly think the prince would be looking her way ever, not with someone like Celeste around."
Rolf and Hermione shared an amused expression. Luna had always said things like that and Celeste always indulged her jokingly.
"Hey, where is she anyways? I'd thought she'd come too"
Luna said looking around curiously and Hermione frowned, looking at where the Dursley twins were preparing to walk up to the prince.
"I'm not surprised she couldn't make it. Possibly the Dursleys didn't allow her make it."
"Ah... the boy isn't cooperating!"
The king grumbled from up where he was stationed, a verandah all to himself as he stared down his delegates, the grand Duke by his side.
"Miss Daphne Greengrass, daughter of Lord and Lady Greengrass."
The king perked up as the pretty blonde curtsied but his son still bowed her away, turning to give his father a smug look and the king glared back at him.
"Argh! The nerve of him! He's doing this all to spite me! I can't understand it! There must be at least one who'd make a suitable mother!"
The grand Duke's eyes widened as he saw some people look up at the king curiously from below.
"Ssh! Sire!"
"Uh… suitable wife"
"The Missus Abigail and Charlotte Dursley, daughters of Madam Petunia Dursley."
2 girls walked up to the prince, pushing each other out of the way to get to the prince first before giving him a bastardized version of a curtsy and the king grimaced before slumping into his seat and sighing.
"I give up! Even I couldn't expect the boy to—"
"Well, if I may say so, Your Majesty. I did try to warn you, but you, Sire, are incurably romantic. No doubt you saw the whole pretty picture in detail. The young Prince... bowing to the assembly. Suddenly, he stops. He looks up, for Io, there she stands, the girl of his dreams. Who she is, or whence she came... he knows not, nor does he care. But his heart tells him that here... here is the maid predestined to be his bride. A pretty plot for fairytales, Sire, but in real life... oh, no... no. It was foredoomed to failure."
All through the time Slughorn was talking, the king watched in awe and curiosity as his son saw a maiden just out the verandah, looking around in awe. He excused himself politely from those 2 girls and walked over to her, asking for a dance.
Hearing Slughorn talk about 'Real Life', he huffed and laughed happily.
"Failure ey?!"
The king immediately dragged Slughorn over, pointing towards where is son was presently introducing himself to a beautiful dame.
"Take a Iook at that, you pompous windbag! Who is she? You know her?"
He asked excitedly and Slughorn furrowed his eyes in thought but soon shook his head.
"Apologies, sire. But I've never seen her before!"
The king chuckled happily, holding on to his stomach.
"That's one thing in her favor! Now! The waltz. Quick, the waltz!"
The king gestured hurriedly towards the band and they immediately sprang into action.
"Soft Iights. The Iights!"
He made another gesture, practically hanging over the balcony in hurried excitement of his plan finally working and Slughorn had to hold him down so he wouldn't fall over.
The king then turned to the grand Duke with a smug on his face as his son and the mysterious girl he had now dubbed his 'daughter-in-law' in his mind, danced and practically melded into one.
"Aha! Failure, eh!"
He watched them with a grin, before yawning and stretching, a look of content on his face.
"Well...now for a good night's sleep."
He said as he moved to leave, and Slughorn taking it as his cue to leave as well also stretched, standing up.
"Quite so, Sire. I believe I too—"
Before he could finish his sentence though, the king stopped him.
"You will stay right here. See they're not disturbed. And when the boy proposes... notify me immediately!"
He turned to go.
The Grand Duke glared at his back before doing a mockery imitation of him.
"Notify me imme—"
"And remember!"
The king immediately turned back with a glare, making Slughorn jump in fright, a squeak escaping his lips as he immediately did a salute, standing straight.
"If anything goes wrong…"
He made a neck slicing motion and Slughorn gulped in fear, nodding.
Immediately after that, the king's glare turned into a bright smile as he practically skipped out and off to possibly his chambers, singing wedding songs and cheering on a job well done while his guards kept quite, watching him.
Slughorn sighed as the king finally left, before turning to see the couple still waltzing around.
Hermione stared in awe as she watched her friend dance around the hall, looking as gorgeous as possible.
Her jaw dropped at the gorgeous piece of ball gown she wore, the way she twirled in the Prince's arms. The serene look on their faces made her feel there was… something, there.
But
"How…??"
She mumbled, before turning to a grinning Luna who seemed like she knew the whole worlds secret.
"Luna! How did you know?"
Even Rolf was looking at the prince and Celeste surprised.
"I would honestly like to know too. Because from the rumors I'd heard of the prince, people suspected he wouldn't dance with anyone this night. Apparently he would do that to make his father angry."
Hermione and Rolf looked at Luna who shrugged daintily.
"This is love."
She said, without adding any other explanation and they both sighed.
"But how come the Dursleys aren't… fuming with anger right now?"
Hermione spoke up again, staring at Petunia Dursley who was looking at Celeste with something akin to jealousy and curiosity.
Her daughters though, were just staring in outright jealousy and anger.
Which could be explained away by the fact that most of the eligible maidens there that night were also looking jealously at the dancing couple, even some men stared at the prince jealously.
Certainly understandable, Celeste Potter was a vision in that Ball gown.
She noticed Ginny stomping her feet in anger nearby, whining to her mom while Ron was staring or more like leering at a girl nearby.
Hermione glared at him in disgust. What she had seen in him before, she would never know.
All around the Ball room, similar questions were being asked.
"Who is that beautiful princess?... She's got to be a princess right?!""Wow! That lady is definitely the Belle of the Ball!""Have you seen her before?!""Psh! I'm more better looking than her!"
Meanwhile, with the Dursleys.
"Who is she mother?"
Charlotte whined in jealousy, glaring at the girl in question.
"Do we know her?"
Abigail added as she stared at the girl too, a sneer on her face, but Petunia was in deep thought.
She had never seen the girl before, but… there was just, something… about her.
"The prince certainly seems to know her. But I've never seen her before!"
Charlotte said and Petunia nodded. Not even realizing she was slightly following the couple already, moving behind the crowd to try and sneak after them.
"She certainly is… quite, familiar… but whe—"
She was stopped when the passageway the prince and the girl danced through was suddenly blocked by 2 guards who stared at her with blank faces.
Petunia cursed inside her head.
Celeste was currently on cloud nine as she danced around with the gentleman holding her close.
She had no idea who he'd been at the time, but she was beginning to suspect he was the prince.
She didn't care though, because as she moved with him, her heart danced around in her chest and butterflies fluttered in her tummy.
She couldn't look anywhere but him just as he didn't look anywhere but at her.
They both smiled at each other, looking like they were making a promise to each other, a promise for more.
Even when the second dance had begun, they still didn't stop, just enjoying being in the others' arms.
When they finally stopped, he sat her down in the beautiful courtyard by a giant fountain of a horse sprouting water from it's mouth. The night stars shone beautifully, reflecting in the waters and Celeste smiled as she brushed her hand lightly in it, watching the reflection blur.
The prince sat down next to her before taking her hand in his, a smile on his face and Celeste's heart fluttered.
He was really handsome.
With his jet black hair and blue-grey eyes.
"I never thought I'd actually end up dancing with any maiden tonight."
Celeste's grin widened.
"Really? And why is that?"
He shrugged.
"Because I knew this Ball was all a ruse by my father to make me take a wife."
Celeste's eyes widened and her cheeks reddened.
"Oh… uh, I see."
The prince chuckled at her startled look before changing the conversation.
"I have never seen you before miss… how is that possible? I'd have thought your beauty would be the talk of the land."
Celeste laughed, though she was inwardly pleased he thought she was beautiful.
"Maybe I'm not as beautiful then. Besides, you might have seen me in passing before."
He shook his head.
"No. If I had, then I definitely would never forget such a face… for it is a beauty to behold. And a seemingly soft heart as well."
Celeste smiled, looking down but the prince used his hand to lift her jaw so they stared really close to each other.
Suddenly, their faces drifted close to each other, and Celeste was super giddy.
She had no idea why she felt this way with someone she'd just met.
Was there really love at first sight?
As their lips touched slightly, unsure at first on her part, she pressed her lips on his with surety and it was like a thousand fireworks were lit around them.
When they drew back, they smiled at each other.
"Definitely not forget indeed…"
Celeste chuckled.
"Miss, may I ask what your name—"
*Ring*
Celeste's eyes widened as the warning bell for midnight rang, reverberating around her and she suddenly remembered her godmother's warning.
"Oh no! Midnight!"
The prince smiled, nodding.
"Yes. At least a minute, to be precise."
That was all Celeste needed to be told as she immediately bolted off, shouting towards the prince who stared in surprise.
"Goodbye!"
It took a few seconds for the words to sink in before he dashed in his feet, sprinting after her as she rushed into the Hall.
And he almost got her when he found himself surrounded by maidens asking him to dance or complimenting him on how good looking he was.
Hermione saw the alarmed look on her friends face as she rushed out of the hall and ran after her.
"Wait up!"
But before she could get anywhere near her, she slipped and would have landed dangerously, had a young brown haired handsome man not stepped in a and saved her just in time.
The prince was finally able to remove himself from the girls as he ran, the Grand Duke finally realizing something was off.
"Please! Stop her!"
The Grand Duke shouted at the guards but Celeste was already entering her carriage.
As she stepped in though, a glass slipper fell off and she had no time to make a grab for it as the carriage began rushing out of the palace.
"Wait!"
The prince shouted desperately at her and the Grand Duke sent guards after her.
"Young Lady! Senorita! Mademoiselle! Stop the carriage! Close the gates!"
But before the gates closed, Celeste had already made her daring escape.
And just a few seconds after leaving the castle, all the magic fizzled out, leaving Celeste surrounded by some animals and a broken pumpkin.
She smiled as she was finally able to make it, before turning to her mice friends and animals.
"I'm sorry. I... I guess I forgot about everything, even the time, but... but it was so wonderful. And he was so handsome, and when we kissed-- Oh, It was… it was… every and more!"
Celeste sighed as she remembered the prince…
Her heart fluttered just thinking of him, and she wondered if she'd be able to see him again.
"Celeste! Look!"
Jaq shouted out, pointing at something on her leg and she looked down, her eyes immediately widening.
She couldn't believe it!
She crouched down, removing it and gazed in awe at one of the glass slipper that remained on her feet as she dropped one earlier.
But… how was it still here?
Except
She smiled, hugging it to herself, thanking her godmother in her head for the wonderful gift.
It must have been real.
She'd hold it close and use it to remember her time with the prince.
"Thank you…"
She said earnestly before turning to look at the animals and her mice friends who she put inside the slippers.
"Well, come on guys… it's a long way home from here…"
Prince Blaise held the glass slipper in his hand as the Grand Duke bemoaned on how the king was going to kill him.
This was his only memento of his time with the mysterious angel.
Someone who suddenly made him feel different.
Made him feel whole.
Someone he wouldn't mind getting to know and maybe even getting involved with.
And yet, he hadn't even been able to get a name from her.
But those vivid emerald eyes… he couldn't get it out of his head.
He had to… needed to find her!
And as he stared at the slippers in his hand, seemingly magical, something singing in his head to trust the plan that was formulating in his mind, he set it into motion, turning to the Grand Duke with a determined look on his face.
"Slughorn, I have a mission for you…"
The Grand Duke sighed pityingly.
Just his luck his day wasn't going in his favor.
At all.
So what do you all think??
Should I continue or not??
Please review and favorite!
LovesAndKisses!*