Rapunzel

"Hi Mrs. Evans. Can Lily come out and play?"

"Why of course Stella. Why don't you all go out back? The tree house is finished!" Mrs. Evans replied with a smile. In a flash, Lily and Stella had rushed into the backyard.

"Isn't it neat? I can't believe Daddy built it all by himself!" Lily exclaimed.

Stella stood and stared in wonder. "You know what this reminds me of sorta? Rapunzel."

"Rapunzel?"

"You know, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair!" Mummy read it to me last night."

"I know who Rapunzel is. That evil witch locked her up in a tower, and then the prince came and-"

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair!" they cried out together, before bursting into giggles.

"Hi Lily," said a shy voice from the side fence. "Can I come play?"

"Remus! Sure! You can be the prince. You'll stand right there and look up and say, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair!" And Stella, you can be the evil witch, and I'll be Rapunzel."

"No! I wanna be Rapunzel!"

"It's my tree house, Stella. I get to be the princess."

"No, me!"

"No, me!"

"Children!" Lily's older sister cried out from her bedroom window. "Would you please be quiet? I'm on the phone. Sheesh."

Stella looked at Lily then Remus. Lily looked at Remus then Stella. They all giggled. "Sorry Petunia."

Finally, the girls set the whole game up. They stole Lily's dad's Halloween hat (he was Peter pan the year before) to put on Remus' head (it slipped over his eyes, and he couldn't see. When he tilted his head back, it fell off) and snuck out one of Lily's mum's dresses that she had worn to the company ball a few years earlier. For Stella they found an old black shawl and a stick that looked decidedly like a wand hiding in the coat pocket of Remus' grandmother's things and went back out to the tree house.

"I have locked you up in a tower my pretty and there is no way out! No stairs and no door! You are stuck up there until the end of time, do ya hear me, Rapunzel?" Stella shouted at the top of her lungs from the bottom of the tree house.

"Oh please, evil witch! Let me out! Please!"

"I will not! And you'll never see your little dog again either!"

"Um, Stella," Remus whispered, "that's from the wrong movie."

Stella giggled. "Oh yeah." She looked around wondering what was supposed to happen next. "I'm gonna cast a spell on you, so I can climb up your hair whenever I want!" Stella grabbed her stick that looked decidedly like a wand, pointed up at Lily and shouted, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Lily promptly reached for the rope ladder and dropped it out the window. "Marvellous," Stella cackled. "I'll be back."

"Stella," Remus whispered again, "that movie hasn't come out yet."

Stella looked over at Remus oddly. "What movie?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "I dunno."

Stella went to hide just on the side of the house. Remus started pretending he was riding a horse. Just as he came up to the tower, Lily started singing. He wasn't sure he knew where it was from (he was thinking maybe a Beatles song), and he was also thinking he didn't much like her voice.

And so, every few minutes, Remus would ride up to the tower to hear Lily sing, and then back into the forest. Eventually, the evil witch came out and cried, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" and Lily dropped the rope ladder. She tried climbing up it, but it was a bit difficult.

"I'll get you my pretty!" The evil witch growled halfway to the top. Remus, suffering from a bit of a hero complex, held the end of the rope ladder so the journey up would be a bit safer for Stella.

"Still the wrong movie, Stella," Remus muttered mostly to himself. If she wasn't going to catch on by now, then....

Once Rapunzel helped the evil witch in and pulled up the rope ladder, Remus rode around the back yard a bit more, before yelling, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair!"

The evil witch stepped up to the window. "Nope, sorry. I cut it all off. There is no way down. There is no way up. You'll just have to wait."

"Stella!" Remus whined. "I wanna go up now! Come on... please?"

"I'm sorry, but she can't come out and play."

The prince huffed. "Your no fun. I'm going home."

"Oh fine, you big baby!" But Remus was back by the side fence.

"It's just as well. None of you should be playing your little baby games, anyway. You're almost 7!" Petunia said from down below.

Stella glared at Petunia, and then stuck her tongue out. "Oh, what are you going to do about it? Huh?"

The evil witch threw the rope ladder down (by this time, Remus had come back to see what was going to happen next. He liked watching people get in trouble and had a feeling some would be coming) and started down it. Petunia made cat called to which Stella angrily replied, "Oh you'll get yours."

Stella whipped out her wand and yelled "Abra Cadabra!" Everyone stood silent.

"Oh, is that the best you can do? Ha! You're just a little baby playing baby games and nothing is going to happen. Lily's hair isn't going to grow, and Remus isn't riding a real horse, and dammit! There are no such things as witches!"

Stella's mouth fell open a bit. She looked over at Remus, feeling rather crushed. Remus, having a bit of a hero complex, decided to do the only thing he could do. He looked up at the tree house and yelled, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair!"

For a minute, there was a bit of scuffling. And then....

"Oh...my... gah..." A red cascade that was Lily's hair tumbled out of the tree house window, the ends just brushing the vibrant green grass below. For a whole minute, no one could move.

"Um, you guys... this is kinda heavy..." Lily complained.

Stella looked over at Petunia who was getting paler and paler by the second. "Um, Pet? Are you breathing?" Stella's question was answered by Petunia collapsing right on her face. Stella and Remus looked up at each other.

"Mrs. Evans! Lily had an accident!"