When Your Parents Tell You Bedtime Stories

Prologue

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."

~err...err...

"What's better, a lie that draws a smile, or the truth that draws a tear?"

~uhh...uhh...

Draco Malfoy put the little five-year-old into bed and pulled the covers up to under her chin. She looked at him with angry eyes and pouty little lips.

"If I told you a story would you feel better?" he asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I told you I didn't want my hair cut," she spat at him.

"It was getting obnoxiously long," he insisted tugging at her (now) shoulder-length curly black hair. "How about I tell you a story?"

"What kind of story?" she asked sitting up on her bed a little. "Is it real? Is it about mama?"

The twenty-three-year-old man swallowed a lump in his throat and rubbed his hand against the little girl's cheek. She doesn't even remember her mother, he thought sadly. "No, love, not about your mother," he said. "And it isn't real."

"Then what's the point," she said grumpily lying back against the pillow.

"I promise you'll like it," he said.

"Alright, but this better be good," she said scooting her legs over to give him more room.

"There was this land of fire rain and ashes, it was terrible. And in it there was this prince," Draco started.

"Boring, what's the prince's name?" she asked stubbornly.

"Does he need a name?" Draco asked not aware that characters needed a name.

"Of course he needs a name," she said as if it were the most obvious thing.

"Alright," he sighed. The day Draco Malfoy told a bedtime story and gave into a little girl; father must be turning in his grave right now. "His name was Betelgeuse; the prince's name was Betelgeuse."

"Betelgeuse?" she interrupted him again. "What kind of a name is that?"

"Are you going to let me tell you the story or just contradict me all night?"

"But you're not doing it right," she insisted.

"And have you ever been told a bedtime story before?" he asked raising one eyebrow at the girl. She sighed heavily and slumped back further into the pillows. He laughed at her stubbornness. "Are you ready now?" he asked.

"Well, get on with it then," she said.

Rolling his eyes he started the story again. "Some people said Betelgeuse, the prince, had no heart. They insisted that it was his fault their lives were so miserable. But Betelgeuse ignored them knowing his bitterness was because of another reason."

"What reason?" she asked before clamping a hand over her mouth.

"You'll find out," he said pulling her hand away. "Just listen. Now, in another world, far away, there was this commoner. Her name was Cassiopeia," he added when he saw her raised eyebrow. "Now, Cassiopeia came from a land called Apus, rich in wonderment. Unlike Betelgeuse's world the people were happy and at peace. Well one day Cassiopeia stumbled across and odd character."

"Does he have a name?" she asked seemingly becoming interested in the story.

"His name was Eridanus, and he was a shady character. He convinced Cassiopeia that he could take her to another world."

"She didn't go did she, dad?" Persephone asked.

"She went with him. Somehow they got separated in the passageway between the worlds and Cassiopeia ended up in Orion, the land where Betelgeuse lives."

"Did she meet him, dad?"

"I'm getting there," he said. "Now, Cassiopeia did run into Betelgeuse. She told him about how great her world is and gave him ideas of how his could prosper."

"Dad, what happened?" she whined impatiently.

"Well, eventually Betelgeuse fell in love with Cassiopeia."

"Eww," she said. "Who wants to hear that? I'm never loving any boy."

"Well, Cassiopeia was homesick," Draco continued ignoring her reaction. "So Betelgeuse tired to find someone he thought might be able to take her back to say goodbye, or to join their two worlds permanently."

"Did he find someone?"

"I'm getting there. He found an apothecary owner by the name of Horologium."

"What kind of a name is that?" she asked.

"Are you going to let me tell the story?" he asked.

"I suppose."

"Well, Horologium said he could take Cassiopeia back to say goodbye to her family. Betelgeuse was ecstatic. See, he had finally found what had been missing from his life; love. Orion was becoming a beautiful place by the time Cassiopeia left. But something went wrong. In the passageway she ran into Eridanus again. He kidnapped Cassiopeia and took her back to a world far worse than Orion. This world was a dead barren land with nothing but cruel people. This action caused the passageway between all worlds to close forever."

"Oh no," the little girl said her eyes widening. "What happened to Betelgeuse and Cassiopeia?"

"Well, Cassiopeia never returned and Betelgeuse became so depressed about he completely forgot about his world. Orion eventually became so horrible that people couldn't live there anymore. Eventually Betelgeuse died broken-hearted and Orion fell into nothing but history."

"So that's it? Their worlds never met?"

"Horologium realized that by attempting to cross paths of the two opposite worlds it had a catastrophic effect. The two worlds weren't meant to ever know each other. That's why some say Cassiopeia was kidnapped; she couldn't know what both worlds were like."

Sometime later Draco left the girl sound asleep in her room, her thoughts racing. He sighed heavily and made his way to his room, the story still buzzing in his head. He only hoped that she would remember the story ten years from now. "Hermione," he sighed throwing himself onto the bed into a fitful nights sleep.

Over the next few years Draco told Persephone several different versions of the same story, although she never realized it. All of them ended the same way; it simply wasn't meant to be.