FIC: East of the Sun and West of the Moon [Harry/Draco]
Title: East of the Sun and West of the Moon
Author/Artist: khalulu
Prompt: #155
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, (side) Millicent/Pansy
Word Count: 5979
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None, although some characters remark often about nose length, which might be rude. But it will be seen that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Disclaimer:Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: This is a retelling, using Harry Potterverse characters, of the Norwegian folk tale East o’ the Sun & West o’ the Moon, as collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe and given a jaunty translation by George Webbe Dasent. A few lines are copied verbatim. I stayed fairly close to the original, though slashily and with a happier ending for the troll princess. Many thanks to the mods and my beta, A! The illustration, from 1914, is by Danish artist Kay Nielsen - just imagine that’s Harry on the bear’s back.
Summary: One stormy Thursday evening, a big white bear named Draco turns up to carry Harry away from the dreadful Dursleys. They get along fairly happily together until one night Harry’s curiosity gets the better of him, and Draco is whisked away to his wicked aunt’s castle, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. It will take a strong wind to bring Harry that far…..
Once upon a time there was a poor orphan named Harry Potter, who lived in a boring little village with his wicked uncle and aunt and his horrible cousin, the Dursleys. The Dursleys weren’t poor, but they only let Harry eat table scraps and gave him his cousin’s old clothes to wear, and they made him stay in a cupboard under the stairs when he wasn’t doing all the work around the house and garden.
One wild and stormy evening - it was a Thursday - the wind was blowing roughly outside, and tossing rain against the house. Harry was doing the washing up when there came three loud knocks at the front door. His Uncle Vernon answered it. A large white bear pushed inside and shook itself, sending drops of water flying.
"Where’s the youngest son?" the bear growled. "That can’t be him."
It flipped a dismissive paw in the direction of Harry’s cousin Dudley, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide behind Aunt Petunia.
"Harry!" Uncle Vernon bellowed. "Get this bear out of here!"
"Why me?" Harry asked, coming out of the kitchen with the tea towel still in his hand.
"Strange things that happen around here are always your fault!" said Uncle Vernon.
"Is that so?" asked the bear, regarding Harry coolly. "Well, you’re not what I expected, but I suppose you’ll have to do."
"I’ll have to do what?" Harry said. It was bad enough taking orders from his aunt and uncle. He didn’t see why he should take them from a bear.
"Come with me," said the bear matter-of-factly.
"No," said Harry. "Why should I?"
"Why should he?" said Uncle Vernon.
The bear turned to his uncle. "I’ll pay you. Make you rich."
"It’s a deal," said his uncle.
"What? No!" said Harry. "You can’t just buy and sell me!"
"No need to listen to him," Uncle Vernon told the bear, "we never do."
"Can’t be done unless he agrees," the bear said. "Pity, but those are the rules."
It cocked its head and looked at Harry. "Do you really want to stay here with them?" The bear gave a derisive snort. "Think it over. I’ll be back in a week for your answer."
For the next week his aunt, uncle and cousin seemed determined to make Harry’s life even more miserable than before. He would have run away, but his uncle kept him locked in.
"You’re not going to cheat me out of those riches! Not when we’re finally going to be repaid for all our care of you, ungrateful wretch!" cried Uncle Vernon.
The white bear returned the following Thursday morning. It ignored Harry’s aunt and uncle entirely and just looked at Harry. He looked back into its clear grey eyes.
They regarded each other for a long time, and then the bear turned to lick its fur, reminding Harry of a cat whose dignity has been slighted.
"I can’t be bought," Harry said.
"Understood," said the bear, facing him again. "But don’t you want to get out of here? See the world? Have an adventure?"
Put that way, the offer was tempting. And it was rather a good-looking bear. For a bear.
"Unless you’re scared…" the bear drawled.
"You wish!" Harry retorted.
They grinned at each other.
Why not? Harry thought, and stepped forward. They turned to leave together.
"What about the riches?" Uncle Vernon demanded.
The bear flicked its stump of a tail. Gold coins appeared from nowhere and clattered to the floor in heaps.
"They don’t deserve it," Harry said.
The bear shrugged. "It won’t make them happy anyway."
Outside, they began walking and soon left the village behind. It was a clear mild day, with birds singing. They walked through a forest until Harry’s feet, in ill-fitting hand-me-down shoes, started to hurt. He slowed down.
"Can’t you go any faster?" The bear sounded grumpy.
"No. Not unless you want to give me a ride."
"Oh, you want to ride me, do you?" the bear asked in a low voice, giving Harry a sly side-long look. Its mood seemed to have suddenly improved.
"Well, my feet hurt."
The bear huffed. "Such an innocent. All right, get on then."
"Let me take my shoes off first."
The bear peered at Harry’s swollen, blistered feet, and gave them a few unexpectedly gentle licks. A queer warmth spread through Harry at the touch of that tongue. He buried a hand in the bear’s thick soft coat and shut his eyes until the bear nudged him. Harry clambered onto its broad back, wrapping his legs around its solid warmth.
The bear stretched and ambled forward. After a while Harry rubbed it behind the ears, as he used to do with the neighbour’s dog, and it sighed.
They came out of the woods. A valley of wildflowers spread below them, with another mountain beyond it; streams sparkled; far off to one side were the towers of a city and a glint of ocean. Harry breathed deeply and drank in the wide world.
"Glad you came?" said the bear.
"Yeah," Harry said. "So far."
"Hold on tight," said the bear. "I feel like running."
Bears are very fast runners, Harry discovered, as they sped through a meadow. He was laughing with exhilaration by the time the bear skidded to a halt and he slid off. The bear ambled over to a brook to drink, and Harry did the same. The bear began eating berries that grew nearby.
"Is there anything else to eat?" Harry asked.
"Do you see anything else?"
"No, that’s why I asked."
"Berries not good enough for you?"
"I like berries fine. But you have to eat a lot of them to get full."
"So eat a lot of them," the bear grunted, efficiently stripping a mouthful from a bush.
After they’d both eaten berries for a while, the bear was in a better mood. "If you’re still hungry, I could try getting us some honey. The bees are likely to chase after me, though."
Harry wasn’t keen on the idea of being swarmed by angry bees. "I can wait," he said.
"There will be a good dinner when we get to the castle," said the bear.
"What castle?"
"My castle."
"Since when do bears live in castles?"
"You don’t know anything about me."
"I know you like to be tickled under your left ear," Harry said, demonstrating.
"Mmpf," said the bear, unable to deny it.
"But I don’t know your name. Do you have a name?"
"Of course I have a name," the bear said haughtily. "My name is Draco."
"Hello Draco. I’m Harry Potter. Isn’t Draco a strange name for a bear, though? Shouldn’t you be Bernard or something?"
"Draco is a powerful and elegant name."
"If you’re going to be named for a constellation, shouldn’t you be Ursa Major at least?"
"Ursa means she-bear and I am not a female, Potter. As I said, you really don’t know anything about me."
"Then tell me," Harry said.
The bear looked balefully at him and then sighed. "I can’t," he said. "We’d better get going if we want to reach the castle before nightfall. You can get some better-fitting shoes when we get there. Until then I suppose you can ride again."
They traveled a long way and finally as night was falling they came to a steep hill. The bear knocked on the side of the hill with one great white paw, and a door appeared. It opened into the hall of a castle, all gleaming with gold and silver and lit with candles.
"You’ll find a meal in there, and a little silver bell that you can ring for anything you want," said the bear.
Harry went in, but when he turned to look, the bear was gone. Inside the hall was a long table laden with food but set for only one. Harry didn’t see anyone else, so he sat down alone. Everything he tasted was delicious, and the dishes were never empty. He ate until he was full.
There was a little silver bell on the table. Harry stood and picked it up. He was a little sore from the long trip, and he thought a hot bath might be nice. He couldn’t remember ever having one, because the Dursleys always made him wash in cold water.
When he touched the bell it rang softly, the dishes disappeared from the table, and Harry noticed a door he hadn’t seen before. He passed through it and saw many splendid rooms with no one in them. Finally another door swung open and there was a silver tub, just the right size and full of hot water and soapy bubbles.
Harry took off his raggedy hand-me-down clothes and sank into his bath. It was so pleasant he let his eyes drift shut. When he opened them, he saw that his old clothes were gone, but there was a big fluffy towel and a linen night-shirt laid out for him, and a door leading into a fine bedroom.
"Who wears night-shirts?" Harry muttered. He left the night-shirt where it was and climbed into the bed. It seemed very big after the cupboard he was used to at the Dursleys. The candles went out by themselves, and he fell asleep.
He woke up when the bed shook as if someone had bumped into it.
"Ow!" Someone swore in the darkness, and then the bed dipped. "Budge over," said a familiar voice. "Do you expect me to sleep on the floor?"
"Bear?" Harry mumbled.
But the body next to his seemed closer to Harry’s own size, not a great big bear-shape.
"My name is Draco, remember?"
"Hmm." Harry couldn’t see anything, so he thought he’d better check. He stretched a hand over to feel for fur.
There was some short silky hair on his companion’s head, but other than that… His hand touched linen. Bears wore night-shirts? Harry felt his way down a thin arm, stroked down a side and thigh, and then the linen ended and he was skimming his hand along a human-seeming leg of smooth skin with a light sprinkling of hair.
"What are you…?" Draco spluttered - or at least someone who sounded like Draco. "Let’s see how you like being man-handled in bed, Potter." And then his hands - they definitely felt like hands, not paws - were running over Harry’s body, and it felt so unexpectedly good that Harry laughed in delight.
"You’re naked!" Draco exclaimed. He sounded shocked, which just made Harry laugh harder.
"Why aren’t you? Bear-naked!"
"Shut it, you," Draco said. Harry stuck his tongue out at him, which perhaps was not very effective in the dark, but then Draco’s hand was covering his mouth and Harry ended up pushing his tongue into Draco’s palm. Draco pulled his hand away with a gasp.
"Make me," Harry said, still giddy. Then a very unbearlike nose was bumping his, and some warm, soft, very human lips were pressed against his own, and soon Harry stopped laughing because kissing was even better.
The night passed very pleasantly.
The next morning when Harry awoke he was alone in the bed. He found some clean, nice clothes and put them on, and they actually fit him. Following the smell of something good, he found his way to the room with the dining table, which was again covered with all kinds of foods that tasted much better than anything he’d ever eaten at his aunt and uncle’s house.
After breakfast he wandered around the castle for a while, looking at rooms of splendid things, and then went outside where he finally found the white bear again.
"Bear!" Harry said.
"I told you my name is Draco."
"And you’re not always a bear."
"Says who?"
"Last night…"
"We can’t talk about that."
"But what happened? And why are you a bear again now?"
"I can’t tell you, Potter."
"Can’t, or won’t?"
"Look, I don’t make the rules, I -"
"Just enforce them," Harry finished bitterly.
"Am bound by them." The bear turned away sharply, his head down.
They sulked separately for a while, but that was boring, so they explored the woods around the castle together. Harry returned to the castle for meals. He never saw bear Draco inside the castle, and he never saw human Draco at all, because Draco only came to Harry’s bed in the dark.
A few months passed in this way.
After some time, Harry became restless. The nights were sweet, but there were so many things that Draco wouldn’t talk about, and Harry had no one else to talk to. He didn’t have any chores, which was nice, but also left him with a lot of time on his hands.
"I’m bored," he told Draco.
"Life’s not all beer and Quidditch, Potter."
"Quidditch? What’s that?"
"It’s..." The bear sighed. "It’s another thing I can’t tell you about. Yet."
"When will you be able to?"
"I can’t -"
"AARGH!" Harry screamed. "I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE WHO WILL TALK TO ME! I want to go home."
Bear Draco looked alarmed. "What? You can’t be serious! You want to live with those horrible people again? And leave m- … And leave?"
"I don’t want to live there," Harry said. "Just visit. Just have a little change of scenery, talk to some other human beings. In daylight. Is that too much to ask?"
The bear was pacing back and forth now, talking in an agitated tone. "They’ll slander me. People do, they’re very unfair to bears. They’ll try to turn you against me. They will, and you’ll leave me, and I’ll never… I’ll…. I’ll be…" He flung himself down on his belly and covered his eyes with his paws.
Harry felt bad. He came over to rub the bear’s head. "I’ll come back, Draco. I just need a little break."
Draco laid his paws on the ground, rested his head on them, and heaved a sigh. "I can’t keep you here against your will. You’re free to go back. But - I’m doing the best I can, Harry. If you could just be patient…. Please don’t listen if they try to come between us."
"Don’t worry," Harry said.
The next day Harry rode on the bear’s back through woods and meadows until they came again to the village where the Dursleys lived.
Harry’s aunt and uncle had used the gold to buy a much posher house. They didn’t look happy to see him. "A deal is a deal!" Uncle Vernon shouted at the bear. "You can’t return him now! And you’re not getting any gold back!"
Draco looked disgusted. "I don’t want your stupid gold, you stupid man. Potter wants to visit you for some stupid reason. You’d better not hurt him." He turned around and left while Aunt Petunia was still fussing about what the neighbours would think if they noticed a bear at the house.
Being wealthy hadn’t made his relatives any more generous or welcoming. He overheard his aunt and uncle arguing over where he should stay. Uncle Vernon didn’t want him dirtying the guest room where Aunt Marge sometimes stayed, but Aunt Petunia didn’t want the work of making space in a cupboard for him. Harry was already sorry he had come.
"I don’t know how you can live with a great nasty dirty bear," his aunt said.
Because you traded me to him for gold? Harry thought. "He’s not dirty," Harry said. "And he stays outside when he’s a bear. He’s not a bear when he’s in bed."
"You sleep with him? That’s disgusting," his aunt said, looking very interested.
"It’s not disgusting, it’s nice," Harry said.
"What does he look like?"
"I don’t know," Harry said. Draco wouldn’t let Harry light a candle while they were together in the bedroom.
"I would never sleep with someone if I didn’t know what he looked like," said Harry’s aunt. "He could be a monster."
Harry decided not to talk about Draco with his aunt anymore.
The next day, the bear came by to see if he was ready to go back to their castle yet. "Yes!" said Harry, and back they went.
"Did they say mean things about me?" asked the bear.
"Yeah, but I didn’t listen," said Harry. "I’d much rather live with you than with them."
"I should hope so," said Draco. He seemed to relax, all the same.
When they got back to the castle the bear disappeared while Harry went in for dinner. When Harry was in bed in the dark, Draco came back in his human form, and they enjoyed each other until Draco fell asleep.
Harry couldn’t sleep, though. He kept remembering what his aunt had said. He knew Draco wasn’t a monster, but he was curious. He knew the touch of Draco in his bed, and the sound of him, and the taste and the smell of him, and now Harry felt he couldn’t stand it, not to have the sight of Draco too.
Just for a moment, Harry told himself. I’ll shield the flame with my hand so the light doesn’t go in his eyes and wake him, and I’ll look just for a moment and then put the candle out.
He lit the candle and drew back the sheet and saw Draco lying there, just as pale and fair-haired as when he was a white bear. His eyes were closed, but Harry could see the pointy chin and nose and sharp cheekbones he’d so often touched or kissed or felt nestled against him. Draco’s night-shirt was open in the front and rumpled up around his waist, so Harry could see his skin and limbs. And whether he was handsome or not, he was Harry’s dear one, and Harry couldn’t stop looking. He thought he couldn’t live if he didn’t give Draco a kiss there and then.
But as Harry bent down and kissed him, three drops of hot candle wax fell on Draco’s night-shirt, and he woke with a cry.
"Oh, Harry, what have you done!" Draco wailed.
"It’s just a shirt," Harry said uneasily.
"If only you could have waited a year, I would have been free. My wicked aunt put a curse on me to be a white bear in the daytime and a man at night, because I wouldn’t marry the troll princess with the nose three ells long."
Three L’s? Harry wondered, distracted. "How long is that?"
"Too long for a nose! But that’s not the point, Harry. Now I’ve lost the chance to break the curse, and I have to go back to my aunt‘s castle for the wedding, and we can never be together again."
"I’ll come with you," Harry said.
"You can’t."
"How can I get to the castle, then? I’ll follow and find you."
"The castle lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and there is no way for you to get there. I’m sorry, Harry. Good-bye." And Draco was gone before Harry could see which way he went. Harry searched, and called, but Draco was nowhere to be found, and finally Harry was so tired he fell asleep.
He woke up next morning on the grass in his ragged old clothes. The castle had vanished. He set off to try to find the way East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
He walked a long way until he came to a freckled red-haired laddie about his own age, sitting by himself playing chess.
"Hello," said the laddie. "Do you play chess?"
"No, sorry," said Harry. "I’m trying to get to the castle that lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Do you know the way?"
"I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never been there. Why do you want to go there?"
"A prince is being forced by his wicked aunt to marry a troll princess with a nose three ells long."
"Ah, and perhaps you are the laddie who ought to have had him?"
"I am," said Harry.
"My friend might know how to get there. She’s very smart. I can lend you a horse to get to her - just tickle it under the left ear to send it back to me again. And take this - maybe it will help you."
The red-haired laddie gave Harry an apple made of gold. Harry would have liked a real apple better, since he hadn’t eaten breakfast, but he didn’t want to be rude so he put the golden one in his pocket. Then the laddie took one of the knights from his chess set, waved a wand over it, and there was a horse for Harry to ride. He thanked the red-haired laddie and off he went.
By and by the horse brought him to a lassie with bushy brown hair who was sitting reading a book.
"Hello," said Harry. "I’m trying to get to the castle that lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Do you know the way?"
"No," said the lassie. "Why do you want to go there?"
"There’s a prince there whose wicked aunt is going to force him to marry a troll princess with a nose three ells long."
"Are you the laddie who ought to have had him?"
"I am," said Harry.
"I don’t see why the length of her nose makes any difference, then," said the lassie. "And in any case I’ve never believed that castle was real. But I have a friend who believes in lots of things that no one else does. You could ask her."
"How can I find her? I need to return this horse to the red-haired laddie who sent me here."
The bushy-haired lassie waved a wand at her bookmark and it turned into a horse. "Ride this, it will take you to her. But it will turn back into paper in a few hours, so you’d better get started. Oh, and take this. It might come in handy."
She was holding out a golden brush to Harry. It looked too uncomfortable for a hair-brush. "It’s a carding comb," she said.
"Er - thanks," said Harry, wondering what he would do with it. "I guess I should return that laddie’s horse to him now. Unless you want to ride it over and play a game of chess with him? He might like some company."
"Hmm. Maybe after I finish this chapter," the lassie said.
Harry bade her farewell, got on the new horse, and rode on until he saw a golden-haired lassie sitting and spinning a golden spinning wheel without any thread. She had a dreamy look in her big googly blue eyes.
"Hello," said Harry. "I’m looking for the castle that lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Do you know the way? I need to get there before the prince marries the troll princess with a nose three ells long."
"Three ells?" said the lassie. "That must be inconvenient. Unless you could pick things up with it, like an elephant’s trunk. Then it might be quite handy, actually."
"He doesn’t want to marry her," Harry said. "His evil aunt is forcing him."
"Oh, that’s not right. How nice of you to want to help him."
"I’m the laddie who ought to have had him," said Harry.
"Well, I’ve never been to that castle myself, but you might ask the East Wind. She’s very keen and far-sighted, and maybe she could blow you there."
"How do I reach the home of the East Wind? Doesn’t the wind live in the sky?"
"I know a flying horse you can ride," said the googly-eyed lassie. "And here, take this, it might be useful." She started to give him the golden spinning wheel.
"Thanks, but I don’t know how to spin," said Harry, who wasn’t eager to carry all that heavy gold with him.
"I find it very calming just to watch the wheel turn round," said the lassie, "but I see that it’s a bit awkward to travel with." She waved a wand at it until it shrank down to a wee little thing like a toy, and Harry tucked it in his pocket. Then she whistled and soon Harry felt a little breeze and heard a horse nickering next to the lassie. She seemed to be petting something, but he couldn’t see hide nor hair of any horse.
"Where is it?" Harry asked.
"Oh, you don’t see her? Maybe it’s better if you shut your eyes. Here…"
The lassie took Harry’s hand and helped him get on to a warm bony back behind a pair of leathery wings, though he couldn’t see a bit of it.
"Tessie can take you to the East Wind. You’ll know when you’ve reached her home - the air is quite bracing. They call the wind Minerva."
"Thanks," Harry said, waving goodbye to the golden-haired lassie.
He flew and flew on the invisible horse, until they were slowed by a strong wind blowing toward them.
"Who’s here?" said a sharp voice, and the wind blew keenly all around them til they were stopped in place. "Speak up, laddie!"
Harry explained as politely as he knew how.
"I don’t hold with forced marriages," the East Wind said briskly. "I’ve never been to that castle, though I’ve heard of it. But my colleague the West Wind may know the way. He’s a mild-mannered fellow but his wits are sharp enough. Get off your horse and I’ll carry you to his house. I was going that way anyway."
"Thank you," Harry said, climbing off the horse and giving it a farewell pat. The East Wind picked him up and swirled him away.
After a time they slowed down and Harry felt a gentler wind on his face.
"Hello, Minerva." The calm words carried on the breeze. "Who do you bring?"
They explained again. "Ah. Love must find its way," said the West Wind. "I will help you if I can. I don’t know the way to this castle, but I can take you to my friend the South Wind. He’s a bit of a hot-head, but fiercely loyal to his friends and he doesn’t give up."
They bade good-bye to the East Wind, and then the West Wind carried Harry a long long way, until they felt the hot breath of the South blowing towards them.
"Remus, my friend! Who do you have here?" said the voice of the South Wind.
"This is Harry Potter, Sirius. He needs our help."
"I like the looks of him. You remind me of someone, Harry. What do you need?"
Harry explained.
"Evil relatives keeping you from a friend you love? Of course I’ll help. I can’t get you East of the Sun and West of the Moon, though - that’s a long way, and it’s beyond my power. You’ll need a giant of a wind to go that far. I’ll take you to the North Wind. He’s the biggest and most boisterous of us all."
"He’s a bit rough around the edges, but his heart is as big as the rest of him," the West Wind added reassuringly.
Harry agreed and said goodbye to the West Wind. Harry was tired by now, and the South Wind’s warmth was a comfort to him as they flew. By and by it grew colder, though, and the South Wind began to tire, because another wind was blowing toward them.
"HELLO! WELCOME! WHO’VE YOU BROUGHT TO VISIT?" boomed the North Wind.
"Hello, Hagrid," said the South Wind. "This is Harry Potter. He needs to rescue his friend who’s being held in the castle East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and no one but you is strong enough to get him there."
"I BLEW AN ASPEN LEAF THERE ONCE, AND IT TIRED ME OUT FOR DAYS. BUT I’LL TAKE YOU, IF YOU’RE NOT AFRAID."
No, Harry wasn’t afraid. He said goodbye to the South Wind and slept the night, so they could have a fresh start in the morning.
Next morning the North Wind puffed himself up to a great size and carried Harry high up into the sky. They rushed along so fast that when Harry glanced down he could see stormy waves crashing in the ocean. He was a bit worried that they’d cause a shipwreck.
They flew on and on as if they wouldn’t stop until the world’s end, and the North Wind began to tire and weaken so he could barely keep them above the waves. It was night by the time the North Wind threw Harry ashore beneath the window of a castle.
Next morning, as Harry sat tossing the golden apple and wishing he could eat it for breakfast, a black-haired lassie popped her head out the window above him. He knew it wasn’t the troll-princess, because this lassie had just a little pug-nose.
"What do you want for your gold apple?" she asked.
"I want to see Draco, and be with him tonight," said Harry. "And I want an apple I can eat."
"All right," said the lassie.
So Harry gave her the golden apple, and at night she brought him up to Draco’s bedroom, where he lay sleeping. Harry gave him a little kiss, to wake him with a nice surprise, but Draco still slept. Harry called his name, and shook him, and called to him:
I rode an invisible horse for you,
I traveled as far as the four winds blew,
For you I crossed a stormy sea,
Will you not waken and turn to me?
But nothing woke Draco up. Finally poor Harry climbed into the bed, and if he cried a bit before he fell asleep, no one could blame him.
As soon as daylight came, the pug-nosed lassie was at the door. "Time’s up," she said.
Harry sat outside the castle and wondered what to do. He pulled the gold carding-comb out of his pocket and looked at it. He pulled it through his messy hair. It hurt.
"What do you want for that gold comb?" said the pug-nosed lassie.
"I want to go up to Draco again, and be with him tonight."
The lassie agreed, and took the comb, and that night she let Harry into Draco’s bedroom again.
But once again, Draco was fast asleep.
Harry tried to rouse him, and called:
It was really hard to follow you here
But I won’t give up because you’re my dear.
I combed my hair with a prickly comb.
Please wake up and let’s go home!
But no amount of calling or shaking or kissing could wake him.
When the grey dawn came, the pug-nosed lassie came and chased Harry away again. But he’d twisted a little ring from his hair that he’d pulled from the carding-comb, and he left that on Draco’s finger.
Outside the castle Harry pulled the little gold spinning wheel out of his pocket and threw it on the ground. With a pop it turned full-size again. He hit the wheel and spun it around angrily.
"What do you want for that?" said the pug-nosed lassie.
"What do you care?" said Harry. "I’ll bet you never spin."
The lassie shrugged. "Gold is gold."
"I want to see Draco, and spend the night with him."
"All right," said the lassie.
"It’s not all right. He’s always asleep, and he won’t wake up."
"You never said you wanted him awake. His aunt gives him a sleepy potion so he’ll stop fussing about the marriage."
"The marriage to the troll princess with a nose three ells long?"
The lassie sighed dreamily. "She has a magnificent nose."
"I don’t care," Harry said, "for I’m the laddie that ought to have had him!"
"Well, I’m the lassie who ought to have had her!" said Pug-nose.
They looked at each other crossly.
"Pansy!" came a deep voice, and Pug-nose turned and smiled like she’d seen her dear one.
Harry looked and saw a strapping big lassie dressed in leather with bits of bronze and copper. She had snapping dark eyes, short short dark hair, and a long long nose all neatly coiled and tied with a leather thong.
"Princess Millicent," Pug-nose breathed. "Isn’t she splendid?" And she hurried off to the troll princess and left Harry by his lonesome.
That night the pug-nosed lassie returned and took Harry back up to the bedroom where Draco was sleeping. Harry gave him a kiss and called to him:
Long-nose and Pug-nose make a pair,
So do Harry and Draco-bear.
Please wake up and make a plan -
We’ll escape, I know we can!
And Draco woke, and turned to him, and kissed him.
When they could pause from kissing, Draco said, "I found your ring, and then I knew my aunt must be giving me a sleepy potion, so I didn’t drink it. How did you find me, all the way East of the Sun and West of the Moon?"
So Harry told him the story, and then they kissed some more, and then they made a plan, because the wedding was to be the next day. And then they kissed again, and that led to other things, and there was great joy and love between them all that night.
The next day, when the wedding was to be, Draco said, "But Aunt Bellatrix, what if I want to marry a poor orphan laddie instead?"
"You cannot defile our traditions!" said his aunt. "This wedding will link our family to the house of the great Lord Trolldemort!"
She pointed to a mean-looking red-eyed troll with no nose at all.
"Well, if it’s tradition you want, I’m sure my bride will be willing to show me her domestic skills. I need my night-shirt cleaned before the wedding."
Draco showed them the shirt with the three spots of candle wax that Harry had let fall, that sad night in their own bed so long ago and far away. "Let her just wash three spots out of it. For I’m sure the one who can wash my night-shirt is the one I ought to have, and I’ll marry none other."
"Oh very well, that shouldn’t take long," said his aunt, taking the shirt and giving it to the princess.
"I will not!" said Princess Millicent, throwing the night-shirt on the ground. "Let him wash his own clothes! Who needs night-shirts anyway?"
Harry thought she made a lot of sense.
"If she can’t do it," Draco said, "perhaps this beggar laddie can."
Harry didn’t like being called a beggar laddie, even if it was part of the plan.
"Please?" Draco mouthed to him.
Well, Harry thought, it’s true that he was the one who got Draco’s shirt dirty. And he had lots of experience doing laundry for the Dursleys, though candle wax was hard to get out.
"Just this once," he mouthed back to Draco, and picked up the shirt.
Almost as soon as Harry touched it, the spots were gone, and Draco’s shirt was white as the driven snow. Harry didn’t know how that happened, but he liked it.
Draco looked pleased with his shirt, and then gave a happy yelp and clasped Harry in his arms. "Here’s the laddie for me, and I’ll have none other!"
"And Pansy is the lassie for me!" cried the troll princess, and kissed the pug-nosed lassie.
Draco’s aunt flew into such a rage that she burst on the spot, and that put the red-eyed no-nosed troll into such a rage that he burst on the spot, and then everyone else cheered.
Then they set free any other prisoners that Draco’s aunt had bewitched, and divided up the gold and silver that was lying around, and Pansy and Millicent went one way, and Harry and Draco went another, and they all flitted as far as they could from the castle that lay East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
♥ ʕ·͡ᴥ·ʔ ♥
Endnote: The first verse Harry calls to a sleeping Draco is borrowed and adapted from a song in a similar British folk tale, The Black Bull of Norroway:
"Seven long years I served for thee,
The glassy hill I clomb for thee,
Thy bloody clothes I wrang for thee;
And wilt thou not waken and turn to me?"
You may be wondering, like Harry, "How long is an ell?" There is no one clear answer, it depends on the time and place. Assuming that the nose of the Troll Princess was measured in Norwegian or English ells, it would be about 2 or 3 meters long, or about 6 to 10 feet. In any case, long for a nose.
The illustration by Danish artist Kay Rasmus Nielsen (1886-1957) from East of the Sun and West of the Moon (1914) is in the public domain in the U.S. and the Wikimedia Commons page for it may be found here. A copy of the creative commons license is here.
Author/Artist: khalulu
Prompt: #155
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, (side) Millicent/Pansy
Word Count: 5979
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None, although some characters remark often about nose length, which might be rude. But it will be seen that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Disclaimer:Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: This is a retelling, using Harry Potterverse characters, of the Norwegian folk tale East o’ the Sun & West o’ the Moon, as collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe and given a jaunty translation by George Webbe Dasent. A few lines are copied verbatim. I stayed fairly close to the original, though slashily and with a happier ending for the troll princess. Many thanks to the mods and my beta, A! The illustration, from 1914, is by Danish artist Kay Nielsen - just imagine that’s Harry on the bear’s back.
Summary: One stormy Thursday evening, a big white bear named Draco turns up to carry Harry away from the dreadful Dursleys. They get along fairly happily together until one night Harry’s curiosity gets the better of him, and Draco is whisked away to his wicked aunt’s castle, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. It will take a strong wind to bring Harry that far…..
Once upon a time there was a poor orphan named Harry Potter, who lived in a boring little village with his wicked uncle and aunt and his horrible cousin, the Dursleys. The Dursleys weren’t poor, but they only let Harry eat table scraps and gave him his cousin’s old clothes to wear, and they made him stay in a cupboard under the stairs when he wasn’t doing all the work around the house and garden.
One wild and stormy evening - it was a Thursday - the wind was blowing roughly outside, and tossing rain against the house. Harry was doing the washing up when there came three loud knocks at the front door. His Uncle Vernon answered it. A large white bear pushed inside and shook itself, sending drops of water flying.
"Where’s the youngest son?" the bear growled. "That can’t be him."
It flipped a dismissive paw in the direction of Harry’s cousin Dudley, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide behind Aunt Petunia.
"Harry!" Uncle Vernon bellowed. "Get this bear out of here!"
"Why me?" Harry asked, coming out of the kitchen with the tea towel still in his hand.
"Strange things that happen around here are always your fault!" said Uncle Vernon.
"Is that so?" asked the bear, regarding Harry coolly. "Well, you’re not what I expected, but I suppose you’ll have to do."
"I’ll have to do what?" Harry said. It was bad enough taking orders from his aunt and uncle. He didn’t see why he should take them from a bear.
"Come with me," said the bear matter-of-factly.
"No," said Harry. "Why should I?"
"Why should he?" said Uncle Vernon.
The bear turned to his uncle. "I’ll pay you. Make you rich."
"It’s a deal," said his uncle.
"What? No!" said Harry. "You can’t just buy and sell me!"
"No need to listen to him," Uncle Vernon told the bear, "we never do."
"Can’t be done unless he agrees," the bear said. "Pity, but those are the rules."
It cocked its head and looked at Harry. "Do you really want to stay here with them?" The bear gave a derisive snort. "Think it over. I’ll be back in a week for your answer."
For the next week his aunt, uncle and cousin seemed determined to make Harry’s life even more miserable than before. He would have run away, but his uncle kept him locked in.
"You’re not going to cheat me out of those riches! Not when we’re finally going to be repaid for all our care of you, ungrateful wretch!" cried Uncle Vernon.
The white bear returned the following Thursday morning. It ignored Harry’s aunt and uncle entirely and just looked at Harry. He looked back into its clear grey eyes.
They regarded each other for a long time, and then the bear turned to lick its fur, reminding Harry of a cat whose dignity has been slighted.
"I can’t be bought," Harry said.
"Understood," said the bear, facing him again. "But don’t you want to get out of here? See the world? Have an adventure?"
Put that way, the offer was tempting. And it was rather a good-looking bear. For a bear.
"Unless you’re scared…" the bear drawled.
"You wish!" Harry retorted.
They grinned at each other.
Why not? Harry thought, and stepped forward. They turned to leave together.
"What about the riches?" Uncle Vernon demanded.
The bear flicked its stump of a tail. Gold coins appeared from nowhere and clattered to the floor in heaps.
"They don’t deserve it," Harry said.
The bear shrugged. "It won’t make them happy anyway."
Outside, they began walking and soon left the village behind. It was a clear mild day, with birds singing. They walked through a forest until Harry’s feet, in ill-fitting hand-me-down shoes, started to hurt. He slowed down.
"Can’t you go any faster?" The bear sounded grumpy.
"No. Not unless you want to give me a ride."
"Oh, you want to ride me, do you?" the bear asked in a low voice, giving Harry a sly side-long look. Its mood seemed to have suddenly improved.
"Well, my feet hurt."
The bear huffed. "Such an innocent. All right, get on then."
"Let me take my shoes off first."
The bear peered at Harry’s swollen, blistered feet, and gave them a few unexpectedly gentle licks. A queer warmth spread through Harry at the touch of that tongue. He buried a hand in the bear’s thick soft coat and shut his eyes until the bear nudged him. Harry clambered onto its broad back, wrapping his legs around its solid warmth.
The bear stretched and ambled forward. After a while Harry rubbed it behind the ears, as he used to do with the neighbour’s dog, and it sighed.
They came out of the woods. A valley of wildflowers spread below them, with another mountain beyond it; streams sparkled; far off to one side were the towers of a city and a glint of ocean. Harry breathed deeply and drank in the wide world.
"Glad you came?" said the bear.
"Yeah," Harry said. "So far."
"Hold on tight," said the bear. "I feel like running."
Bears are very fast runners, Harry discovered, as they sped through a meadow. He was laughing with exhilaration by the time the bear skidded to a halt and he slid off. The bear ambled over to a brook to drink, and Harry did the same. The bear began eating berries that grew nearby.
"Is there anything else to eat?" Harry asked.
"Do you see anything else?"
"No, that’s why I asked."
"Berries not good enough for you?"
"I like berries fine. But you have to eat a lot of them to get full."
"So eat a lot of them," the bear grunted, efficiently stripping a mouthful from a bush.
After they’d both eaten berries for a while, the bear was in a better mood. "If you’re still hungry, I could try getting us some honey. The bees are likely to chase after me, though."
Harry wasn’t keen on the idea of being swarmed by angry bees. "I can wait," he said.
"There will be a good dinner when we get to the castle," said the bear.
"What castle?"
"My castle."
"Since when do bears live in castles?"
"You don’t know anything about me."
"I know you like to be tickled under your left ear," Harry said, demonstrating.
"Mmpf," said the bear, unable to deny it.
"But I don’t know your name. Do you have a name?"
"Of course I have a name," the bear said haughtily. "My name is Draco."
"Hello Draco. I’m Harry Potter. Isn’t Draco a strange name for a bear, though? Shouldn’t you be Bernard or something?"
"Draco is a powerful and elegant name."
"If you’re going to be named for a constellation, shouldn’t you be Ursa Major at least?"
"Ursa means she-bear and I am not a female, Potter. As I said, you really don’t know anything about me."
"Then tell me," Harry said.
The bear looked balefully at him and then sighed. "I can’t," he said. "We’d better get going if we want to reach the castle before nightfall. You can get some better-fitting shoes when we get there. Until then I suppose you can ride again."
They traveled a long way and finally as night was falling they came to a steep hill. The bear knocked on the side of the hill with one great white paw, and a door appeared. It opened into the hall of a castle, all gleaming with gold and silver and lit with candles.
"You’ll find a meal in there, and a little silver bell that you can ring for anything you want," said the bear.
Harry went in, but when he turned to look, the bear was gone. Inside the hall was a long table laden with food but set for only one. Harry didn’t see anyone else, so he sat down alone. Everything he tasted was delicious, and the dishes were never empty. He ate until he was full.
There was a little silver bell on the table. Harry stood and picked it up. He was a little sore from the long trip, and he thought a hot bath might be nice. He couldn’t remember ever having one, because the Dursleys always made him wash in cold water.
When he touched the bell it rang softly, the dishes disappeared from the table, and Harry noticed a door he hadn’t seen before. He passed through it and saw many splendid rooms with no one in them. Finally another door swung open and there was a silver tub, just the right size and full of hot water and soapy bubbles.
Harry took off his raggedy hand-me-down clothes and sank into his bath. It was so pleasant he let his eyes drift shut. When he opened them, he saw that his old clothes were gone, but there was a big fluffy towel and a linen night-shirt laid out for him, and a door leading into a fine bedroom.
"Who wears night-shirts?" Harry muttered. He left the night-shirt where it was and climbed into the bed. It seemed very big after the cupboard he was used to at the Dursleys. The candles went out by themselves, and he fell asleep.
He woke up when the bed shook as if someone had bumped into it.
"Ow!" Someone swore in the darkness, and then the bed dipped. "Budge over," said a familiar voice. "Do you expect me to sleep on the floor?"
"Bear?" Harry mumbled.
But the body next to his seemed closer to Harry’s own size, not a great big bear-shape.
"My name is Draco, remember?"
"Hmm." Harry couldn’t see anything, so he thought he’d better check. He stretched a hand over to feel for fur.
There was some short silky hair on his companion’s head, but other than that… His hand touched linen. Bears wore night-shirts? Harry felt his way down a thin arm, stroked down a side and thigh, and then the linen ended and he was skimming his hand along a human-seeming leg of smooth skin with a light sprinkling of hair.
"What are you…?" Draco spluttered - or at least someone who sounded like Draco. "Let’s see how you like being man-handled in bed, Potter." And then his hands - they definitely felt like hands, not paws - were running over Harry’s body, and it felt so unexpectedly good that Harry laughed in delight.
"You’re naked!" Draco exclaimed. He sounded shocked, which just made Harry laugh harder.
"Why aren’t you? Bear-naked!"
"Shut it, you," Draco said. Harry stuck his tongue out at him, which perhaps was not very effective in the dark, but then Draco’s hand was covering his mouth and Harry ended up pushing his tongue into Draco’s palm. Draco pulled his hand away with a gasp.
"Make me," Harry said, still giddy. Then a very unbearlike nose was bumping his, and some warm, soft, very human lips were pressed against his own, and soon Harry stopped laughing because kissing was even better.
The night passed very pleasantly.
The next morning when Harry awoke he was alone in the bed. He found some clean, nice clothes and put them on, and they actually fit him. Following the smell of something good, he found his way to the room with the dining table, which was again covered with all kinds of foods that tasted much better than anything he’d ever eaten at his aunt and uncle’s house.
After breakfast he wandered around the castle for a while, looking at rooms of splendid things, and then went outside where he finally found the white bear again.
"Bear!" Harry said.
"I told you my name is Draco."
"And you’re not always a bear."
"Says who?"
"Last night…"
"We can’t talk about that."
"But what happened? And why are you a bear again now?"
"I can’t tell you, Potter."
"Can’t, or won’t?"
"Look, I don’t make the rules, I -"
"Just enforce them," Harry finished bitterly.
"Am bound by them." The bear turned away sharply, his head down.
They sulked separately for a while, but that was boring, so they explored the woods around the castle together. Harry returned to the castle for meals. He never saw bear Draco inside the castle, and he never saw human Draco at all, because Draco only came to Harry’s bed in the dark.
A few months passed in this way.
After some time, Harry became restless. The nights were sweet, but there were so many things that Draco wouldn’t talk about, and Harry had no one else to talk to. He didn’t have any chores, which was nice, but also left him with a lot of time on his hands.
"I’m bored," he told Draco.
"Life’s not all beer and Quidditch, Potter."
"Quidditch? What’s that?"
"It’s..." The bear sighed. "It’s another thing I can’t tell you about. Yet."
"When will you be able to?"
"I can’t -"
"AARGH!" Harry screamed. "I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE WHO WILL TALK TO ME! I want to go home."
Bear Draco looked alarmed. "What? You can’t be serious! You want to live with those horrible people again? And leave m- … And leave?"
"I don’t want to live there," Harry said. "Just visit. Just have a little change of scenery, talk to some other human beings. In daylight. Is that too much to ask?"
The bear was pacing back and forth now, talking in an agitated tone. "They’ll slander me. People do, they’re very unfair to bears. They’ll try to turn you against me. They will, and you’ll leave me, and I’ll never… I’ll…. I’ll be…" He flung himself down on his belly and covered his eyes with his paws.
Harry felt bad. He came over to rub the bear’s head. "I’ll come back, Draco. I just need a little break."
Draco laid his paws on the ground, rested his head on them, and heaved a sigh. "I can’t keep you here against your will. You’re free to go back. But - I’m doing the best I can, Harry. If you could just be patient…. Please don’t listen if they try to come between us."
"Don’t worry," Harry said.
The next day Harry rode on the bear’s back through woods and meadows until they came again to the village where the Dursleys lived.
Harry’s aunt and uncle had used the gold to buy a much posher house. They didn’t look happy to see him. "A deal is a deal!" Uncle Vernon shouted at the bear. "You can’t return him now! And you’re not getting any gold back!"
Draco looked disgusted. "I don’t want your stupid gold, you stupid man. Potter wants to visit you for some stupid reason. You’d better not hurt him." He turned around and left while Aunt Petunia was still fussing about what the neighbours would think if they noticed a bear at the house.
Being wealthy hadn’t made his relatives any more generous or welcoming. He overheard his aunt and uncle arguing over where he should stay. Uncle Vernon didn’t want him dirtying the guest room where Aunt Marge sometimes stayed, but Aunt Petunia didn’t want the work of making space in a cupboard for him. Harry was already sorry he had come.
"I don’t know how you can live with a great nasty dirty bear," his aunt said.
Because you traded me to him for gold? Harry thought. "He’s not dirty," Harry said. "And he stays outside when he’s a bear. He’s not a bear when he’s in bed."
"You sleep with him? That’s disgusting," his aunt said, looking very interested.
"It’s not disgusting, it’s nice," Harry said.
"What does he look like?"
"I don’t know," Harry said. Draco wouldn’t let Harry light a candle while they were together in the bedroom.
"I would never sleep with someone if I didn’t know what he looked like," said Harry’s aunt. "He could be a monster."
Harry decided not to talk about Draco with his aunt anymore.
The next day, the bear came by to see if he was ready to go back to their castle yet. "Yes!" said Harry, and back they went.
"Did they say mean things about me?" asked the bear.
"Yeah, but I didn’t listen," said Harry. "I’d much rather live with you than with them."
"I should hope so," said Draco. He seemed to relax, all the same.
When they got back to the castle the bear disappeared while Harry went in for dinner. When Harry was in bed in the dark, Draco came back in his human form, and they enjoyed each other until Draco fell asleep.
Harry couldn’t sleep, though. He kept remembering what his aunt had said. He knew Draco wasn’t a monster, but he was curious. He knew the touch of Draco in his bed, and the sound of him, and the taste and the smell of him, and now Harry felt he couldn’t stand it, not to have the sight of Draco too.
Just for a moment, Harry told himself. I’ll shield the flame with my hand so the light doesn’t go in his eyes and wake him, and I’ll look just for a moment and then put the candle out.
He lit the candle and drew back the sheet and saw Draco lying there, just as pale and fair-haired as when he was a white bear. His eyes were closed, but Harry could see the pointy chin and nose and sharp cheekbones he’d so often touched or kissed or felt nestled against him. Draco’s night-shirt was open in the front and rumpled up around his waist, so Harry could see his skin and limbs. And whether he was handsome or not, he was Harry’s dear one, and Harry couldn’t stop looking. He thought he couldn’t live if he didn’t give Draco a kiss there and then.
But as Harry bent down and kissed him, three drops of hot candle wax fell on Draco’s night-shirt, and he woke with a cry.
"Oh, Harry, what have you done!" Draco wailed.
"It’s just a shirt," Harry said uneasily.
"If only you could have waited a year, I would have been free. My wicked aunt put a curse on me to be a white bear in the daytime and a man at night, because I wouldn’t marry the troll princess with the nose three ells long."
Three L’s? Harry wondered, distracted. "How long is that?"
"Too long for a nose! But that’s not the point, Harry. Now I’ve lost the chance to break the curse, and I have to go back to my aunt‘s castle for the wedding, and we can never be together again."
"I’ll come with you," Harry said.
"You can’t."
"How can I get to the castle, then? I’ll follow and find you."
"The castle lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and there is no way for you to get there. I’m sorry, Harry. Good-bye." And Draco was gone before Harry could see which way he went. Harry searched, and called, but Draco was nowhere to be found, and finally Harry was so tired he fell asleep.
He woke up next morning on the grass in his ragged old clothes. The castle had vanished. He set off to try to find the way East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
He walked a long way until he came to a freckled red-haired laddie about his own age, sitting by himself playing chess.
"Hello," said the laddie. "Do you play chess?"
"No, sorry," said Harry. "I’m trying to get to the castle that lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Do you know the way?"
"I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never been there. Why do you want to go there?"
"A prince is being forced by his wicked aunt to marry a troll princess with a nose three ells long."
"Ah, and perhaps you are the laddie who ought to have had him?"
"I am," said Harry.
"My friend might know how to get there. She’s very smart. I can lend you a horse to get to her - just tickle it under the left ear to send it back to me again. And take this - maybe it will help you."
The red-haired laddie gave Harry an apple made of gold. Harry would have liked a real apple better, since he hadn’t eaten breakfast, but he didn’t want to be rude so he put the golden one in his pocket. Then the laddie took one of the knights from his chess set, waved a wand over it, and there was a horse for Harry to ride. He thanked the red-haired laddie and off he went.
By and by the horse brought him to a lassie with bushy brown hair who was sitting reading a book.
"Hello," said Harry. "I’m trying to get to the castle that lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Do you know the way?"
"No," said the lassie. "Why do you want to go there?"
"There’s a prince there whose wicked aunt is going to force him to marry a troll princess with a nose three ells long."
"Are you the laddie who ought to have had him?"
"I am," said Harry.
"I don’t see why the length of her nose makes any difference, then," said the lassie. "And in any case I’ve never believed that castle was real. But I have a friend who believes in lots of things that no one else does. You could ask her."
"How can I find her? I need to return this horse to the red-haired laddie who sent me here."
The bushy-haired lassie waved a wand at her bookmark and it turned into a horse. "Ride this, it will take you to her. But it will turn back into paper in a few hours, so you’d better get started. Oh, and take this. It might come in handy."
She was holding out a golden brush to Harry. It looked too uncomfortable for a hair-brush. "It’s a carding comb," she said.
"Er - thanks," said Harry, wondering what he would do with it. "I guess I should return that laddie’s horse to him now. Unless you want to ride it over and play a game of chess with him? He might like some company."
"Hmm. Maybe after I finish this chapter," the lassie said.
Harry bade her farewell, got on the new horse, and rode on until he saw a golden-haired lassie sitting and spinning a golden spinning wheel without any thread. She had a dreamy look in her big googly blue eyes.
"Hello," said Harry. "I’m looking for the castle that lies East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Do you know the way? I need to get there before the prince marries the troll princess with a nose three ells long."
"Three ells?" said the lassie. "That must be inconvenient. Unless you could pick things up with it, like an elephant’s trunk. Then it might be quite handy, actually."
"He doesn’t want to marry her," Harry said. "His evil aunt is forcing him."
"Oh, that’s not right. How nice of you to want to help him."
"I’m the laddie who ought to have had him," said Harry.
"Well, I’ve never been to that castle myself, but you might ask the East Wind. She’s very keen and far-sighted, and maybe she could blow you there."
"How do I reach the home of the East Wind? Doesn’t the wind live in the sky?"
"I know a flying horse you can ride," said the googly-eyed lassie. "And here, take this, it might be useful." She started to give him the golden spinning wheel.
"Thanks, but I don’t know how to spin," said Harry, who wasn’t eager to carry all that heavy gold with him.
"I find it very calming just to watch the wheel turn round," said the lassie, "but I see that it’s a bit awkward to travel with." She waved a wand at it until it shrank down to a wee little thing like a toy, and Harry tucked it in his pocket. Then she whistled and soon Harry felt a little breeze and heard a horse nickering next to the lassie. She seemed to be petting something, but he couldn’t see hide nor hair of any horse.
"Where is it?" Harry asked.
"Oh, you don’t see her? Maybe it’s better if you shut your eyes. Here…"
The lassie took Harry’s hand and helped him get on to a warm bony back behind a pair of leathery wings, though he couldn’t see a bit of it.
"Tessie can take you to the East Wind. You’ll know when you’ve reached her home - the air is quite bracing. They call the wind Minerva."
"Thanks," Harry said, waving goodbye to the golden-haired lassie.
He flew and flew on the invisible horse, until they were slowed by a strong wind blowing toward them.
"Who’s here?" said a sharp voice, and the wind blew keenly all around them til they were stopped in place. "Speak up, laddie!"
Harry explained as politely as he knew how.
"I don’t hold with forced marriages," the East Wind said briskly. "I’ve never been to that castle, though I’ve heard of it. But my colleague the West Wind may know the way. He’s a mild-mannered fellow but his wits are sharp enough. Get off your horse and I’ll carry you to his house. I was going that way anyway."
"Thank you," Harry said, climbing off the horse and giving it a farewell pat. The East Wind picked him up and swirled him away.
After a time they slowed down and Harry felt a gentler wind on his face.
"Hello, Minerva." The calm words carried on the breeze. "Who do you bring?"
They explained again. "Ah. Love must find its way," said the West Wind. "I will help you if I can. I don’t know the way to this castle, but I can take you to my friend the South Wind. He’s a bit of a hot-head, but fiercely loyal to his friends and he doesn’t give up."
They bade good-bye to the East Wind, and then the West Wind carried Harry a long long way, until they felt the hot breath of the South blowing towards them.
"Remus, my friend! Who do you have here?" said the voice of the South Wind.
"This is Harry Potter, Sirius. He needs our help."
"I like the looks of him. You remind me of someone, Harry. What do you need?"
Harry explained.
"Evil relatives keeping you from a friend you love? Of course I’ll help. I can’t get you East of the Sun and West of the Moon, though - that’s a long way, and it’s beyond my power. You’ll need a giant of a wind to go that far. I’ll take you to the North Wind. He’s the biggest and most boisterous of us all."
"He’s a bit rough around the edges, but his heart is as big as the rest of him," the West Wind added reassuringly.
Harry agreed and said goodbye to the West Wind. Harry was tired by now, and the South Wind’s warmth was a comfort to him as they flew. By and by it grew colder, though, and the South Wind began to tire, because another wind was blowing toward them.
"HELLO! WELCOME! WHO’VE YOU BROUGHT TO VISIT?" boomed the North Wind.
"Hello, Hagrid," said the South Wind. "This is Harry Potter. He needs to rescue his friend who’s being held in the castle East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and no one but you is strong enough to get him there."
"I BLEW AN ASPEN LEAF THERE ONCE, AND IT TIRED ME OUT FOR DAYS. BUT I’LL TAKE YOU, IF YOU’RE NOT AFRAID."
No, Harry wasn’t afraid. He said goodbye to the South Wind and slept the night, so they could have a fresh start in the morning.
Next morning the North Wind puffed himself up to a great size and carried Harry high up into the sky. They rushed along so fast that when Harry glanced down he could see stormy waves crashing in the ocean. He was a bit worried that they’d cause a shipwreck.
They flew on and on as if they wouldn’t stop until the world’s end, and the North Wind began to tire and weaken so he could barely keep them above the waves. It was night by the time the North Wind threw Harry ashore beneath the window of a castle.
Next morning, as Harry sat tossing the golden apple and wishing he could eat it for breakfast, a black-haired lassie popped her head out the window above him. He knew it wasn’t the troll-princess, because this lassie had just a little pug-nose.
"What do you want for your gold apple?" she asked.
"I want to see Draco, and be with him tonight," said Harry. "And I want an apple I can eat."
"All right," said the lassie.
So Harry gave her the golden apple, and at night she brought him up to Draco’s bedroom, where he lay sleeping. Harry gave him a little kiss, to wake him with a nice surprise, but Draco still slept. Harry called his name, and shook him, and called to him:
I rode an invisible horse for you,
I traveled as far as the four winds blew,
For you I crossed a stormy sea,
Will you not waken and turn to me?
But nothing woke Draco up. Finally poor Harry climbed into the bed, and if he cried a bit before he fell asleep, no one could blame him.
As soon as daylight came, the pug-nosed lassie was at the door. "Time’s up," she said.
Harry sat outside the castle and wondered what to do. He pulled the gold carding-comb out of his pocket and looked at it. He pulled it through his messy hair. It hurt.
"What do you want for that gold comb?" said the pug-nosed lassie.
"I want to go up to Draco again, and be with him tonight."
The lassie agreed, and took the comb, and that night she let Harry into Draco’s bedroom again.
But once again, Draco was fast asleep.
Harry tried to rouse him, and called:
It was really hard to follow you here
But I won’t give up because you’re my dear.
I combed my hair with a prickly comb.
Please wake up and let’s go home!
But no amount of calling or shaking or kissing could wake him.
When the grey dawn came, the pug-nosed lassie came and chased Harry away again. But he’d twisted a little ring from his hair that he’d pulled from the carding-comb, and he left that on Draco’s finger.
Outside the castle Harry pulled the little gold spinning wheel out of his pocket and threw it on the ground. With a pop it turned full-size again. He hit the wheel and spun it around angrily.
"What do you want for that?" said the pug-nosed lassie.
"What do you care?" said Harry. "I’ll bet you never spin."
The lassie shrugged. "Gold is gold."
"I want to see Draco, and spend the night with him."
"All right," said the lassie.
"It’s not all right. He’s always asleep, and he won’t wake up."
"You never said you wanted him awake. His aunt gives him a sleepy potion so he’ll stop fussing about the marriage."
"The marriage to the troll princess with a nose three ells long?"
The lassie sighed dreamily. "She has a magnificent nose."
"I don’t care," Harry said, "for I’m the laddie that ought to have had him!"
"Well, I’m the lassie who ought to have had her!" said Pug-nose.
They looked at each other crossly.
"Pansy!" came a deep voice, and Pug-nose turned and smiled like she’d seen her dear one.
Harry looked and saw a strapping big lassie dressed in leather with bits of bronze and copper. She had snapping dark eyes, short short dark hair, and a long long nose all neatly coiled and tied with a leather thong.
"Princess Millicent," Pug-nose breathed. "Isn’t she splendid?" And she hurried off to the troll princess and left Harry by his lonesome.
That night the pug-nosed lassie returned and took Harry back up to the bedroom where Draco was sleeping. Harry gave him a kiss and called to him:
Long-nose and Pug-nose make a pair,
So do Harry and Draco-bear.
Please wake up and make a plan -
We’ll escape, I know we can!
And Draco woke, and turned to him, and kissed him.
When they could pause from kissing, Draco said, "I found your ring, and then I knew my aunt must be giving me a sleepy potion, so I didn’t drink it. How did you find me, all the way East of the Sun and West of the Moon?"
So Harry told him the story, and then they kissed some more, and then they made a plan, because the wedding was to be the next day. And then they kissed again, and that led to other things, and there was great joy and love between them all that night.
The next day, when the wedding was to be, Draco said, "But Aunt Bellatrix, what if I want to marry a poor orphan laddie instead?"
"You cannot defile our traditions!" said his aunt. "This wedding will link our family to the house of the great Lord Trolldemort!"
She pointed to a mean-looking red-eyed troll with no nose at all.
"Well, if it’s tradition you want, I’m sure my bride will be willing to show me her domestic skills. I need my night-shirt cleaned before the wedding."
Draco showed them the shirt with the three spots of candle wax that Harry had let fall, that sad night in their own bed so long ago and far away. "Let her just wash three spots out of it. For I’m sure the one who can wash my night-shirt is the one I ought to have, and I’ll marry none other."
"Oh very well, that shouldn’t take long," said his aunt, taking the shirt and giving it to the princess.
"I will not!" said Princess Millicent, throwing the night-shirt on the ground. "Let him wash his own clothes! Who needs night-shirts anyway?"
Harry thought she made a lot of sense.
"If she can’t do it," Draco said, "perhaps this beggar laddie can."
Harry didn’t like being called a beggar laddie, even if it was part of the plan.
"Please?" Draco mouthed to him.
Well, Harry thought, it’s true that he was the one who got Draco’s shirt dirty. And he had lots of experience doing laundry for the Dursleys, though candle wax was hard to get out.
"Just this once," he mouthed back to Draco, and picked up the shirt.
Almost as soon as Harry touched it, the spots were gone, and Draco’s shirt was white as the driven snow. Harry didn’t know how that happened, but he liked it.
Draco looked pleased with his shirt, and then gave a happy yelp and clasped Harry in his arms. "Here’s the laddie for me, and I’ll have none other!"
"And Pansy is the lassie for me!" cried the troll princess, and kissed the pug-nosed lassie.
Draco’s aunt flew into such a rage that she burst on the spot, and that put the red-eyed no-nosed troll into such a rage that he burst on the spot, and then everyone else cheered.
Then they set free any other prisoners that Draco’s aunt had bewitched, and divided up the gold and silver that was lying around, and Pansy and Millicent went one way, and Harry and Draco went another, and they all flitted as far as they could from the castle that lay East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
♥ ʕ·͡ᴥ·ʔ ♥
Endnote: The first verse Harry calls to a sleeping Draco is borrowed and adapted from a song in a similar British folk tale, The Black Bull of Norroway:
"Seven long years I served for thee,
The glassy hill I clomb for thee,
Thy bloody clothes I wrang for thee;
And wilt thou not waken and turn to me?"
You may be wondering, like Harry, "How long is an ell?" There is no one clear answer, it depends on the time and place. Assuming that the nose of the Troll Princess was measured in Norwegian or English ells, it would be about 2 or 3 meters long, or about 6 to 10 feet. In any case, long for a nose.
The illustration by Danish artist Kay Rasmus Nielsen (1886-1957) from East of the Sun and West of the Moon (1914) is in the public domain in the U.S. and the Wikimedia Commons page for it may be found here. A copy of the creative commons license is here.
