“Good night.�

“Good night, Daddy,� the little girl replied.

Her father turned towards the door, hesitated, then faced the child for the second time.

“Will you be alright? Would you like me to close the window?� he asked, faking calm concerns which did not deceive the girl one bit.

“Daddy, I’m old enough to sleep in my own room, and with the window open,� she protested, snuggling deeper into her bed.

“Well, if Her Highness requires anything else from us, remember that your mother and I are just down the hall,� smirked the man, more to himself than to the redhead now lying quite comfortably in the folds of the pretty red and green chequered bedclothes.

“Actually, Daddy, I wanna hear a story,� the five-year-old requested with a half-smile that she already knew her father could never resist.

“You do, do you? Aren’t you too old for bedtime stories?� the man smiled back, already heading for the armchair by her bed, knowing that the battle, if there had ever been any, was already lost.

“Which book would you like me to read?� he asked once comfortably seated in the armchair, getting ready to Summon a book from the tiny bookshelf where the child stored all the tales she was allowed to.

“I don’t want any of those books, Daddy. I want a real story. Please,� she said with that half-smile once again.

“All right, what real story would you like? I have already recounted those of the Hogwarts’ Founders to you.�

“I dunno, something with a prince and a princess in it,� replied the girl as though it was the most common thing in the world to have a real story about a prince and a princess.

But instead of saying that real stories did not revolve around fictional characters and seldom ended happily, the man merely nodded, more obedient to his child than to anyone else in his entire life.

“Would a Half-Blood Prince suffice?�

“Sure,� the child shrugged, and the tale began.

~~~***~~~

“Since all such stories start with a ‘Once upon a time, in a land far, far away’, I suppose we had better start like that, although this beginning would be less than accurate – as this tale began, in fact, not a long time ago and not in such a faraway place.�

~~~***~~~

“Daddy, you’re doing it again.�

“What?�

“Criticising popular narrations. At least that’s what Mum said you were doing when you said that the potion Sleeping Beauty was given could never last a hundred years.�

“Who’s telling the story?�

“All right.�

~~~***~~~

“So, not very long ago, in a relatively nearby and fairly quickly reachable town, a boy was born to two parents – as any boy is born to two parents.

“However, this boy was not an ordinary boy. In fact, he tended to stand out most of the time. His mother thought it normal, his father a nuisance, but neither said anything to the boy in question. As a matter of fact, no one at all said much to the boy, and he grew up in his own company mostly.�

~~~***~~~

“Does that mean he was lonely?�

“More or less.�

“Okay, go on.�

~~~***~~~

“The boy spent his early years wondering what his goal, his purpose in life was. It is not something children normally ponder at such ages, but we have already established that this particular child was not normal.

“And then, one day, he met someone, and then he knew his purpose.

“For the sake of this story – don’t interrupt, Lily – let’s call her a Princess. And yes, a Princess she was, yet she was unaware of it. The boy, however, knew this when he first beheld her. But he also saw a problem. The Princess had an – though this term may not be entirely accurate – evil sister. A sister who was bound to ensure that the Princess never realised her true identity.

“Well, the boy couldn’t stand for that. Even at that age, he was… drawn to the Princess and didn’t want anyone to hurt her.�

~~~***~~~

“Did he love her, Daddy?�

“Love is a very strong word.�

“No it isn’t – Mum says it to you and me all the time.�

“Shall we get back to the story?�

“Okay.�

~~~***~~~

“Now, the boy did have a plan to show the Princess who she really was. In truth, she had realised it subconsciously, but her sister would not allow her to process the information properly – all right, Lily, I’ll stop getting technical now… So, all the boy had to do was show her what she really was. And he did this – by showing her how to do magic.

“In those days and particularly where she dwelt, magic was relatively unheard of and deemed abnormal, and she had been brought up with that knowledge. The boy took it upon himself to teach her all she needed to know.

“At first, the Princess was wary of this stranger and wouldn’t get close to him – very advisable, Lily, since getting close to a stranger is very dangerous and would disappoint one’s parents greatly – but eventually, she started trusting the boy and learning from him. And later on, they were both invited to a magical castle to continue their education.

“But there, another problem arose. The Princess, amazed by all she saw at the castle, began losing interest in the boy who had introduced her to this magical world. Of course, this was not her fault in the slightest, as people tend to do that, but the boy’s only defence was that he was amazed too, yet never lost interest in her...

“Also, the presence of certain individuals helped this along to no end. They started telling her that the boy wasn’t good enough for her, that she could do a lot better… and this got so far that even the boy himself started believing this.

“Yet still, he clung to the hope that things would return to normal one day, that the aforementioned certain people would go away, and the Princess would come back to him. But all was for naught.

“And one day, the boy just got tired of everything, as he had already tried everything in his power to make the princess see the truth of her “friends�, one of whom was actually a beast, unbeknownst to her... So, caught up in the moment, he said some things he regrets to this very day and will for the rest of his life.�

~~~***~~~

“What do you mean, ‘caught up in the moment’?�

“It means completely losing one’s senses.�

“Why do people do it then?�

“For the reason I mentioned above�

“I don’t get it.�

“One day you will, sadly…�

~~~***~~~

“This seemed to be the final straw for the Princess and her once-friend. She did not wish to speak to him again, nor did she want anything to do with him.

“However, she did not know that the boy was actually a Prince. Though admittedly, neither did the boy at the time – but strange things started happening to him, things that led him to this discovery.

“You see, it went unnoticed at first, as the boy put it down to the misery of losing his best friend – but later, it could not be denied that his health was slowly dwindling. He couldn’t eat, he couldn’t sleep, and he couldn’t even bother to notice either.

“People around him started noticing that something was wrong, but they put it down to sickness. They couldn’t possibly know the hurt he felt, the physical pain. It is a lot worse than when you fall down and scrape your knee, Lily... and you will never find out how bad it is, for the simple reason that I will make sure you never do.

“And that was when a Dark Wizard, who knew that the boy was a Prince, tried to take advantage of the situation. He told the boy that the only way to stop the curse from spreading further was to simply take out his heart, as it was the heart that appeared to be the cause of all his trouble. However, the boy argued that he would not be able to live without his heart – so the Dark Wizard suggested that he took out all the memories and feelings instead, or rather, locked them all away somewhere.

“The only problem was that the boy’s heart consisted entirely of the memories of the Princess. Nothing else was found and so, the memories of the Princess were locked away. After a time, however, the boy started feeling he’d sooner really have his heart taken out.

“And all this time, the Princess didn’t know that the boy was slowly fading away. She thought that he had forgotten her, and tried to move on. She made new friends and tried to keep him out of her mind.�

~~~***~~~

�She doesn’t sound like a very nice Princess.�

“She is – she just needed time.�

“Time for what, Daddy, to know that her best friend was sad without her?�

“Hush, the story isn’t finished.�

~~~***~~~

“The Princess tried her hardest to forget, but one day, the boy couldn’t take it anymore. His feeling of wanting to tear out his own heart rather than the feelings for the Princess it held, overcame him and overshadowed everything. He came to the Princess once last time to beg for her forgiveness and promised he would do anything in return.

“The Princess accepted his offer on one condition – that he would have to help her and her people defeat the Dark Wizard, his master that he had worked for all this time. The boy, of course, agreed without thinking even once.

“And so, a big battle took place in the kingdom, between the good people and the Dark Wizard’s army. Many people were hurt – some died, too. Throughout this whole time, it was the boy’s topmost priority to keep the Princess safe from any and all dangers, which was quite a hard task, as she was the one the Dark Wizard wanted.

“You see, the Dark Wizard wanted to destroy both the Prince and the Princess so he could take over the world. He thought he had succeeded in destroying the Prince by taking away all his memories of the Princess, and now he wanted the Princess destroyed as well.

“One day, while the Princess was tending to all the wounded in the great hall of the castle where they had grown up, the Dark Wizard came to her, disguised as a friend, and lured her out of the castle. He then abducted her and held her captive in his hideout.

“But the boy, naturally, came to save her... Actually, he came to save himself as well, because he could never have lived without her... So that could be counted as selfish reasons, but we won’t get into that.

“The duel that raged on was fierce, and I would never tell you the details for the fear of plaguing you with unnecessary nightmares, but during the duel, the villain let slip an important secret. Unwillingly, he let the boy know that he was the Prince, the one needed to complete the Princess, the one destined to be with her.

“And at that moment, there was such joy and love in the chamber upon the revelation, that the evil creature that lived off misery and despair was blasted into smithereens.�

~~~***~~~

“What happened then, Daddy? What happened, tell me quickly!� the child pleaded, too curious to remember the half-smile that had yet to fail her.

“Well, the war ended, the people went back to their ordinary lives, and things were happier all around,� the man smirked, teasingly withholding the information his daughter sought.

“I meant about the Prince and the Princess! Did they live happily ever after, forever and ever?� the child questioned persistently.

“Well…� began the man.

“They most certainly did,� interrupted a voice from the door, and the child immediately jumped and squealed.

“Mummy!�

“It’s way past your bedtime, Lily – and Sev, how could you tell her a story this late?� the red-headed woman turned to her husband, but failed to frown, settling instead for the half-smile that was the exact replica of her daughter’s.

“She wanted a story,� the man shrugged helplessly.

“And did it occur to you to refuse?� she asked, the smile slowly spreading on her face.

His response was yet another shrug, and she accepted that as his final say. She was well aware of what he was like with the little Lily… who had him wrapped around her little finger even at this age.

“Although I must admit, you have amazing talent in the creative arts. Who would have thought a Potions Master so inventive?� she winked.

“Well, she makes me discover a new talent every day,� the man responded, glancing at the sleepy child, all snuggled up.

“She’ll probably want to hear that story again,� the woman said, closing the door. “I know I would.�

“You know it well already, though,� the man replied as he followed her down the corridor.

“That I do, Sev. That’s why I wanted to ask you something...�

“Yes?..� he frowned, alarmed by the thoughtfulness in her voice. She stopped and turned to him, the half-smile playing on her face again.

“When you tell the story again… don’t hesitate at the ending.�