Sleeping Beauty

Sleeping Beauty

Once upon a time in a land not all that far away, there was a kingdom unlike to ones you would normally see in fairytales. The kingdom wasn't particularly prosperous or even a popular tourist destination. But the people of the kingdom were all very happy, with very large families and they all made do with what they had.

The rulers of this fair and content kingdom were King Arthur and Queen Molly. They had many sons, six in fact, but what Queen Molly really wanted was a lovely little daughter to dress up and spoil.

One day, one of the kingdom's fairy godmothers, a caring but stern witch named Minerva, gave the queen a potion.

"Have Arthur drink this potion and I guarantee that your next child will be a girl," the fairy godmother had said.

Nine nauseating and often stressful but still joyous months later, a beautiful baby princess was born. The entire kingdom rejoiced and had celebrations for a whole week. On the final day of celebrations, a grand ball was planned and the guest list included the rulers of neighbouring kingdoms, magical creatures and of course, the fairy godmothers. The party was in full swing, people making new friends, eating good food and cooing over the baby princess. A giant hoard of presents lay behind the crib, guarded by a relatively tame dragon. The fairy godmother bestowed their magical gifts upon the little princess. Not useless things like beauty and grace and the voice of a lark, but useful things like intelligence and courage and enough backbone so that she wouldn't be let her older brothers bully her.

Just as Madame Hooch stepped off the platform after giving her bullying-proof gift, a terrible gale force wind blew through the hall. At the entrance to the hall stood Tom Riddle, the kingdom's evil wizard. Every kingdom needs an evil wizard of some sort.

"A party? And I wasn't invited?" Tom said quietly.

"You were!" King Arthur exclaimed. "But you kept shooting the messenger owls before they could deliver your invitation so we figured that you didn't want to come."

"Well," Tom pouted, feeling rather put out. "I'll have to do something evil here anyway."

"This is all your fault I hope you know," Minerva whispered to Dumbledore. "I told you to stop taking in random strangers from off the street."

"But he was so lonely and he followed me home," Dumbledore said attempting to look forlorn.

"Silence!" Tom thundered. "Know this, when the princess finally turns sixteen, she will die. And I'm not giving you any more details just so you won't be able to find a counter for it!"

Tom waved his wand around, uttered a few silent spells and stalked off. All rather anticlimactic actually... Well, except for the part where the baby princess was now cursed to die on her sixteenth birthday.

Before Tom's arrival, all of the fairy godmothers had been pushing and shoving each other hoping to bless the baby with their gift before someone else took their idea and they'd have to think up something else. In the confusion of the semi-polite catfight, a little fairy godfather had been pushed under the table and knocked unconscious. You see, not all fairy godmothers were female, there were quite a few fairy godfathers too but just so there was no confusion with the cartoon or the mafia movie, they were collectively known as fairy godmothers. Besides, it's traditional and the men liked to wear long flowing, often spangled, robes too.

The little fairy godfather, a happy little chap named Filius Flitwick, climbed out from under the table, rubbing his sore head.

"What happened? What have I missed?" he asked the babbling, confused crowd of fairy godmothers.

"Filius! You haven't given the princess a gift yet have you?" Madame Olympe boomed. Madame Olympe was a giant. All she could do was boom. It's not in their genetic make up to be quiet.

"Er...no, I don't think so," Flitwick replied, still rubbing his sore head.

"Perfect," Madame Olympe boomed, picking up the tiny man and putting him in front of the crib. "The little princess has been cursed to die once she turns sixteen and that wretched Tom Riddle didn't give us the specifics."

There was a rather loud agreement in the hall with everyone suggesting 'probable' counter curses and solutions, each one madder than the last.

Finally Queen Molly stood up and began lecturing the crowd in her infamous 'You know you're in trouble but you have no idea just how much trouble you're in yet so you had better shut up and pay attention because there will be a test later' voice.

"We are not going to hunt for the philosopher's stone so my daughter can live forever. She is not going to live in a plastic bubble or in a cottage with three fairy godmothers like peasants. We are not going to hide her on the top of Mt Everest, or the middle of the Sahara Desert, or in Santa's Village. If you cannot help us think of a realistic solution then I suggest that you remain silent."

The people murmured amongst themselves but no one had any ideas. Finally someone spoke up.

"What about instead of dying, she goes to sleep instead?" Lily Potter suggested. "It worked in Sleeping Beauty."

The king and queen thought about it and nodded.

So Flitwick began to carefully cast his spell, making sure that he covered absolutely everything. If the princess was poisoned, it would be countered. If she was suffocated, her lungs would continue to draw breath. If it was a physical attack, she would heal. The list went on and on. After about an hour or so of brainstorming, Flitwick finally put on the final clause of the spell: that despite whatever else may happen, the princess would remain asleep until she was woken by true love's kiss.

Everyone was happy with that spell but nobody was in the mood to party anymore so they all left.

* * *

Princess Ginevra, or Ginny, grew up to be a sweet, intelligent, courageous, inquisitive, (insert a bazillion other good things here) girl, who never let her brothers bully her. She was a very happy person but sometimes she wished that one of the fairy godmothers had given her beauty as well. She was cute but you wouldn't call her beautiful. Not like Fleur. Fleur was beautiful, gorgeous, exquisite, ravishing, resplendent, and it made Ginny green with envy inside. Even Harry Potter, secret love of her life and Ron's best friend, was infatuated with Fleur. Ginny wished that she could turn guys into insensible pools of pheromones but no she was just everyone's little sister.

Harry, on the other hand, was also secretly in love with Ginny. Of course he was infatuated with Fleur but that was only because he was male and he couldn't help it.

"Ginny's birthday's coming soon, isn't it?" Harry asked one day as he and Ron were walking to the Quidditch pitch for practice.

"Yeah, sixteen this year," Ron replied. "Mum's freaking out right now. She's planning a massive party but she's worried about the curse that Mad Old Tom had set on Ginny as well."

"I thought that she'd just go to sleep and that would be it."

"Nah," Ron shook his head. "Ever since Ginny was ten, Mum's been trying to set her up with every boy she knows hoping that Ginny will fall in love with one of them. That way once she falls asleep, the guy will kiss her and the spell will be broken. But we don't like any of the boys that Ginny's been dating. I think that Ginny's only dating them to spite us. One of those damn fairy godmothers gave her a rebellion streak."

Harry nodded his head in agreement. Neville had been too nervous and shy after the Yule Ball to ask her for a second date. Michael Corner was a sulk and a sore loser. Dean Thomas was the kind to forget everything once there was a football match on. If he had been obsessed with Quidditch then the boys may have understood but this was some strange Muggle sport that no one understood.

"Plan B was for everyone to line up and give her a pash," Ron shrugged. "But I'm not too keen about having so many guys pashing my sister though."

* * *

As the days went on, Ginny spent a lot of time harassing Sybil Trelawney, the fairy godmother that claimed to specialise in divination, to find out who her true love was.

"Princess Ginevra," Sybil sighed, looking rather worn out, "the fates do not reveal themselves to just anyone."

"You mean you don't know who it is," Ginny snapped. There were two things in life she hated: her name and being lied to. Having both said in the one sentence made her blood boil.

"The third eye is not yet clear to me. There are many different paths that could be taken. Wouldn't you rather wait for the path to reveal itself to you?" Sybil continued.

Ginny glared at the fairy godmother making her look like a small version of her mother and stalked off. She had been stalking out of Sybil's consultation room every day for the past fortnight. Her parents needed to hire a new divinations mistress. Or buy one of those mechanical fortunetellers in a box that gave you a card with some nonsense on it when you put a sickle in. Maybe she'd ask for one for her birthday. As long as she was awake to use it.

Ginny stalked back up to her room, took out her diary from under her pillow and grabbed a quill from her bedside table. Ginny loved her diary. It was called Tom. She had started it just a few months ago in hopes that when she went to sleep, someone would find it and know how to break the spell. Mostly she just scrawled: "I love Harry Potter" in it but on other times, like today, she liked to pour out her frustrations on the blank pages. Sometimes her diary wrote comments of it own as well but it usually ignored her "I love Harry Potter" comments. Ginny didn't worry about the comments as she'd seen diaries like hers at the bookstore. 'Sympathisers' they were called. But her diary had been left on her desk one day wrapped up in green paper with a silver ribbon around it.

* * *

As the day of Ginny's sixteenth birthday approached, the whole castle was in a frenzy trying to prepare of the party, held the day before her actual birthday, just in case. Party organisers were calling in at all hours of the day and night with 'emergencies' until King Arthur put Fluffy, a giant three-headed dog, to guard the gates and everyone had to make an appointment beforehand.

In the meantime, Harry Potter was tearing himself up trying to get the courage to tell Ginny how he felt. He tried to write a speech and then tried to write a letter when the speech became too difficult. Harry banged his head against the windowpane.

"Why is it so difficult?" he asked no one in particular as he banged his head against the glass. "Why? Why? Why?"

"Why is what so difficult?" Ron asked from the door.

Harry turned around so fast he fell off the window seat, landing awkwardly on the floor.

"So? What's so difficult?" Ron asked again.

"Uh...nothing," Harry lied. "I'm trying to think up new tactics for the next Quidditch practice."

"Really?" Ron asked, sufficiently distracted by his favourite topic.

Two hours later Ron had left for dinner, leaving Harry all alone.

"Why is this so difficult?" Harry asked. There was no answer.

* * *

Finally the night before Ginny's 16^th birthday arrived and everyone in the kingdom and the surrounding areas had arrived for the ball. And so they'd be able to tell everyone their version of what had happened to Princess Ginny later on. Eyewitnesses were very important you know.

Harry had arrived early that morning to help out with any last minute situations. Ginny had decided to hole herself up in her room away from everyone until it was time for the ball. She had been writing in her diary again, complaining now that she thought that Harry might be having an illicit affair with Hermione Granger, Ron's girlfriend. But hopefully that wasn't the case. Because there way no way that Harry would ever choose Hermione over her. Hermione was definitely not prettier than she was. That bushy haired buck teethed know-it-all...

"Why are you so troubled?" her diary asked.

"Because I'm afraid," Ginny wrote back. "I'm afraid that I'll be cursed to sleep forever and there'll be no one to wake me. And then they'll all forget about me. No one loves me."

"But I love you," the diary wrote.

"That's nice, but you're just a book. Even if you did really love me, I'll still be cursed to sleep forever because you don't have any lips to kiss me with."

"That's not entirely true, I'll show you," Ginny read before everything around her turned to black.

* * *

"Where is that girl?" Queen Molly grumbled as she checked the castle for her daughter. The party was about to start and still no one had seen her after she had slammed close her bedroom door this morning. Unfortunately, the Accio charm only worked on material objects and not on people.

"I can't find her!" King Arthur said, striding up the corridor towards his wife.

"What do you mean you can't find her?" Queen Molly shrieked. Missing children was an immediate cause of panic for the queen. Especially when it came to her precious daughter. Never mind her sons, I mean, there were six of them.

"I can't find her on the Marauder's Map!"

"But where can she be?" Queen Molly clenched her husband's robes in desperation. Her darling daughter was missing!

* * *

Harry was helping Hermione light the candles in the Great Hall when Ron burst into the hall.

"Harry! She's gone! She's missing! We don't know where she is!" Ron shouted.

"The princess is missing?" the servants in the hall gasped. Then practically fell over each other as they ran to spread the news without waiting to see if Prince Ron had any more details.

"I have a feeling that your parents would have wanted to keep this as quiet as possible," Hermione frowned.

"There's no time!" Ron continued to shout. "Ginny is missing!"

Harry dashed out of the hall with Ron following closely, leaving Hermione to deal with the rest of the candles before the flames got over excited and burned the whole place down.

Harry ran along corridors, down stairs and through various rooms.

"Harry! Where are you going?" Ron panted.

"Down to the dungeons!" Harry shouted back, never stopping or slowing down.

"But dad said that Ginny wasn't in the castle!"

"Did your parents update the Marauder's Map after they got the extensions put in?"

"No, I don't think they got to it yet. Too much going on with organising Ginny's birthday party," Ron panted. "Go on. I can't run anymore."

Harry kept running, leaving Ron lying against in the middle of the hallway. He kept running until he finally reached the underground dungeons. They had been built just a few months ago after some problems with thieves and there had been nowhere to keep them until the proper authorities had arrived.

Harry finally reached the painting of Jack the Ordinary, a particularly ordinary fellow.

"Please, is Ginny inside?" Harry panted.

"Yes she is actually, a fellow brought her down not long ago. They should both still be inside," Jack said, as he swung open.

"What are you doing here?" a voice shouted out form the darkness.

"I've come to save Ginny," Harry yelled back.

"Save her?" the voice laughed. It was a seductive and intoxicating laugh. Harry was beginning to forget why he was there in the first place. He could hear that voice laugh forever and never get tired of hearing it.

Candles lit up, slowly lighting up the room.

"You don't even deserve to know her! Her life would have been much simpler if you hadn't arrived!" a figure stepped out into the light.

"Who are you?" Harry asked.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," the figure replied. "I've loved Ginny all these long years, it should be me that wakes her up, not you."

"Well I guess there's only one way to find out. Where is she?" Harry demanded.

Tom waved his wand and the entire room blazed with light. Ginny lay on the cold stone floor, her face was pale making her look like a mannequin. Tom sauntered over to the sleeping figure and knelt down to kiss her. Harry tightened his grip on his wand and prayed to Merlin that it wouldn't work.

Nothing happened. Not a flicker of her eyelids or twitch of her fingers.

"Damn it, you give it a try then," Tom cursed.

Harry knelt on the other side of Ginny and pressed his lips against hers for a few seconds. It was his first kiss so he had no idea what was supposed to be happening.

Ginny sighed and opened her eyes.

"Harry?" she whispered, trying to sit up.

"It's alright," Harry said, sweeping her up in his arms. "Everything will be alright."

"This is not fair! He never loved you Ginny! I've always loved you!" Tom shouted.

"Who are you?" Ginny asked, a confused look on her face.

"I'm Tom! Your diary!"

"You're my diary? You never said that you were hot!" Ginny shrieked. She had chosen Harry over him?

"Let's go," Harry said darkly, carrying Ginny out of the dungeon, back up to the Great Hall where everyone waited.

Everyone cheered as the couple entered.

"Don't worry," Ginny whispered. "I'd still choose you over Tom. I've told Tom way too many embarrassing secrets."

And they lived happily ever after.

___________________

Authors Notes: Hi! *waves* Thanks for reading my fic! I hope you enjoyed it.

Requests: if there is a fairytale or similar kind of story that you really like and want to have re-written, just PM me the name of the story, a basic synopsis if it's a story that you think not many people may have heard of, and who you want playing the main roles. I can't absolutely guarantee you a story but I will try my best.

Again, thanks for reading and reviewing my fic. To me, it's like hot chocolate on a cold winter day.