𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜,
𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚑𝚊𝚖,
𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟺.
"Have a look further to the left." Bella instructed firmly, watching as Harry gave a deep sigh before pushing himself over to the other side of the shelf he was resting on, William grunting as he moved.
"Bloody hell Harry, what have they been feeding you?" His elder brother asked, his face turning a deep beetroot as he supported Harry's legs. "Peter, you're going to have to take over."
Five of the seven elder grandchildren were currently squashed into a store cupboard in the roof of Sandringham, searching desperately for the hidden game. The other two, Beatrice and Eugenie, were stood outside, guarding the door for them.
"Are you sure it's here Bella?" Peter asked with a frown, already preparing to lift Harry up so he could reach the higher shelves.
"Yes!" She insisted, "Beatrice and I overheard Stevens and Walker talking about it, I'm positive they said it was in this one."
Seeing the doubtful looks on the faces of her cousins, she moved round Zara to the door, opening it up as quietly as she could. "Bea." Bella whispered, "it was this one, wasn't it?"
With a silent nod of the head from her cousin, Bella shut the door again, "carry on, it must be here somewhere."
Harry gave another sigh as he grabbed onto the shelves, "on three." Peter said, grabbing him around the legs so he could lift him up, "one...two...three."
A resounding thud went through the room as Harry's head hit the shelf above him, "fucking hell!" Harry exclaimed, a hand going to his head as Peter dropped him.
"For gods sake shut up or else someone will hear us!" Bella whispered to her brother who was now sat on the floor, legs splayed out in front of him.
"That was my head!" He whispered back just as harshly, giving it a tentative rub as he did so.
"It's alright it won't do any damage." Zara quipped, already sharing a laugh with William.
"Let me look." Bella huffed, pushing off the back wall towards the shelves.
"Oh no...no way you're being lifted up Harry Potter." William said, looking pointedly at the still deep red scar that ran from just next to the arch of her eyebrow, to half way up her forehead.
"Here," Zara began, laughing at Bella who had stuck her tongue out at her eldest brother in reply. Nodding to her brother, she continued, "lift me up, I'll see if I can find it."
With a lot more ease than with Harry, Peter lifted her up, Zara pushing herself up further by resting her arms on the shelf. She began to very carefully sort through the piles of spare linen, trying her hardest not to move anything.
"Aha!" She grinned, moving a pile of bedsheets to one side to reveal a very dusty monopoly box. Pulling it out, she replaced the sheets before nodding down to her brother who let go, this time with a bit more care.
"Well done Z!" They chorused, all of them grinning as they looked at the box.
"Honestly," Zara began, "we could have found it hours ago if these lot had had a woman's look."
♔♕
The sitting room that her grandfather was sat in was thankfully empty apart from him. He was sat in one of the chairs opposite the fireplace that was glowing at his outstretched feet. Far too intent on reading the book that was perched on his lap, Philip didn't even look up when Bella entered the room.
"Grandpa."
No response. Bella took a step closer and whispered, "Grandpa."
Again, no response. Taking a bigger step towards the chair where he was sat she repeated, "grandpa." this time a touch louder.
Finally, Philip lowered the book he was reading. Looking over the rim of his glasses, a small twitch at the side of his mouth gave all the sign she needed to continue.
"Yes?"
Bella took another step closer, resting on the arm of the chair she whispered, "we've found it."
"It?"
"The game."
He frowned slightly at first. And then, very slowly, his eyes grew wide and the book was placed next to him with his glasses quickly following suit. Sitting up taller, with one eyebrow raised, he asked, "really?"
Bella just nodded quickly, a smile already overtaking her face, "Zara's getting Aunt Anne, and Eugenie has gone to see if Edward and Sophie want to join in."
"And where is The Queen?"
"Gone out for a walk."
With that Philip practically sprang from his seat, "what are we waiting for then?"
♔♕
"Damn it!"
All ten of them were squeezed into a laundry cupboard, each of them hovering over the board. Peter and Zara, and Beatrice and Eugenie had been forced to double up so that everyone could play, a decision that was causing even more arguments.
"£50 please." Philip said with a grin, holding his hand out to Edward. He was the banker. Actually, according to everyone else he was a cheating banker but he was the banker no less.
With a huge sigh Edward handed over a £5 pound note to him. Half an hour ago they had decided to use real money, a decision that was now slowly leaving each of the grandchildren staring further and further into debt.
"At least it's only a tenth of the actual amount." Harry had whispered to Bella when the decision was made. A decision that, at the time, he had been happy with. Then it had all started to go downhill and now he was sat, frowning down at the last £10 note in his hand.
"How have you ended up with all that?!" Peter shouted across the board to Philip who had moved on from his son and was now gleefully collecting rent from Bella.
"Don't be rude to your grandfather!" Anne snapped before turning to her father, "stop cheating Pa...I've been watching you with those pound coins, he keeps slipping a few extra in." She said with a satisfied nod to everyone who was listening in with fascination.
"Grandpa!"
"You see," he began, leaning forward towards his grandchildren, "these are important life lessons that I'm teaching you here..."
"Rubbish!" Anne replied, "you're cheating."
"Well if I'm cheating then so is Harry -"
"I'm loosing!"
"And Bella -"
"I've only been doing it to William and Harry."
"And Peter and Zara -"
"We're not cheating, it's called being tactical."
"And you." Philip finally finished, turning to his daughter with a pointed nod.
With that, the arguments began. William and Harry quizzing Bella over what exactly she had been 'doing' to them. Peter and Zara bickering about having to play together, and then arguing with their mum about them arguing. Philip, Edward and Anne squabbling about whether or not he had been cheating. And on, and on, and on.
So much so that when the door to the laundry room opened and The Queen stepped inside, no one noticed.
It was, of course, Philip who realised first. Stilling at the feel of his wife's presence, he turned to the open door and, placing an uneasy smile on his face, said with a very loud voice so that everyone else who was still bickering would stop, "hello darling!"
"Philip."
Her reply was short. Stilted. Tinged with annoyance. It made everyone else shut up though.
They all very slowly turned, wide eyed, to see her stood in the doorway with a face of complete disbelief.
"It was Bella and Beatrice that suggested it!"
"I'm still recovering from a head injury, you can't take anything I say literally...the doctors said it was a severe concussion."
♔♕
"Granny." Bella greeted with a smile as she entered the hallway. "How are you?"
"Good, what about you, how's the head?" Her grandmother asked as she wrapped a scarf around her own head and put her gloves on.
"Oh it's alright really, it just hurts a bit when I raise my eyebrows which is annoying because I do it quite a lot."
The Queen's initial frown turned into a chuckle at her granddaughter's words, Bella had always been able to shrug things off with a joke or two. It seemed her old ways were still working well.
"Sorry about yesterday." Bella said with a knowing smile.
Returning the smile, Elizabeth replied as they walked out into the grounds of the house, "there's a reason that game is banned."
"I know."
"But really, your grandpa, aunt and uncle should know better."
"Exactly!" Bella exclaimed, triumphant that her grandmother wasn't cross with her. "And it was them who suggested we play with real money."
♔♕
Bella dropped with a sigh onto the sofa that William was on, making him jump a bit despite her small frame.
"Don't mind me."
"I do mind actually." Bella retorted, watching William intently as he turned to face her.
"What?"
"Why are you hiding your girlfriend from me?"
She watched, feeling slightly gleeful, as the colour drained from his face.
"I...I don't know what you're talking about." He stuttered, flailing around trying to find the right words.
"Oh come off it William, it's everywhere! Harry's already met her."
"That's only because we were at a party together." William lamented, trying earnestly to come up with a plan of what to say. When Bella just sighed again in response, his mind was forced to go even faster.
"It's just...well...it's just that you, well...I really like her, honestly I do. And well...you can," Bella raised one eyebrow as she waited for him to finish, "it's just since..."
"Since I was surrounded by the paps and fell over, cutting my head open in the process.
"Yeah...it's just you've been...a bit scary."
"What?!"
"I don't want you to scare her!" He protested, desperately thinking of how to dig himself out of the hole he was in.
"Oh well that is bloody charming." She snapped back, "what do you mean I've been scary?"
"Sharp, I meant sharp." William insisted. "You know, normally you're funny and sweet and sarcastic, recently there's just been a lot of sarcasm."
"Oh well I'll try to recover the funny, sweet side of me if that would make you feel better...although just a warning, I might have to go back to Florida and scrape that part of my brain off the pavement."
Ignoring her brothers eye roll, Bella sighed and lent against him, her voice loosing all of its satire as she whispered, "it scared me."
"I know." He replied softly, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be daft...now, what's that girlfriend of yours doing the week after Christmas?"
♔♕
Christmas was fantastic.
Everyone quite rightly got absolutely plastered on Christmas Eve, with the night finally coming to a close after a rousing and rather long version of A Partridge In A Pear Tree by all of the grandchildren.
Christmas morning they just about managed to get most people up for the early morning mass. Although Bella was convinced that she was still actually drunk and going to sleep for a few hours had done nothing for her, a fact she was actually rather grateful for seen as it would be the first time anyone other than the family got to see the rather dashing Harry Potter scar on her forehead.
Her brothers managed to keep her distracted whilst they were walking back up to church later that day for the annual service. Between Harry telling her all of the stupid jokes in the crackers from yesterday, and William giving a running commentary on how he was too warm in his shirt, jumper, coat and scarf, Bella never even thought twice about the cameras and the people watching them as they wandered up the path.
By the time the service was over, she had all but forgotten the deep scar on her forehead and the fact it was the first time anyone outside the family was seeing it. It was only when they went over to waiting members of the public that the realisation sunk in.
They were all watching her with the sort of sad expression that you give someone who is ill. Bella wasn't ill, in fact, she was fine now, apart from the annoying thing on her head.
"Happy Christmas." She said with a smile to one lady, trying her best to ignore the 'I'm sorry' eyes she was giving her. Passing over a bunch of flowers to Bella, the woman said very gently, almost as one would to a child, "I still can't believe what they did to you."
Trying to smile her words off, Bella glanced briefly at the flowers in her hands, "thank you." She replied, "and don't worry, I'm just thankful I had enough about me to fall on my worst side."
Ignoring the anxious chuckle that escaped from the woman at her words, Bella moved on, quickly making her way along the line of people.
"I need a drink." She muttered under her breath as William and Harry caught up to her at the beginning of the path back to Sandringham. Ignoring her brothers laughs, Bella continued, "I hope I wasn't too rude to any of them...it's just, well, do you think I best check with granny that the message to the press definitely didn't say I had brain damage?"
♔♕
"Catherine, this is my sister...Bella, this is Catherine, my girlfriend."
William introduced the two of them as the couple arrived at the door of Clarence House and, ignoring the hard stare that her brother was sending in her direction, Bella smiled, reaching an outstretched hand to the woman stood next to him.
She was beautiful. Dark hair, pale skin and tall. Taller than Bella, a feat that was not terribly hard. Unfortunately she, for some unknown reason that still troubled her, had not been blessed with either of her parents heights. Instead she stood at a not too shabby 5ft 6, which, whilst not small, in comparison to her two giant brothers, and William's girlfriend, made her look rather tiny.
"Lovely to finally meet you Catherine." She began, using her well practiced Princess smile to not give anything away just yet, "I was beginning to wonder if you secretly had three heads or something..."
"Bella." Her brother warned under his breath, giving her elbow a pinch as they began to walk through to the dining room.
"What?" She replied with a now very innocent smile. "It's the only reason I could think of as to why you were keeping such an obviously wonderful girl away from me."
"Ignore everything she says." William said quickly to Catherine who was watching the two of them with an amused smile, "she's still concussed."
♔♕
"So..." her eldest brother began hesitantly once lunch had finished and Catherine had left, "do you like her?"
"Mhm." Bella nodded firmly, taking a generous gulp from her glass of wine before continuing, "in fact, I think I actually like her more than you and Harry put together."
"I'll take that as a good sign I think."
"Take it as you will." She shrugged, swinging her legs out from underneath her so she could stand up from the sofa they were sat on. Just before she opened the door to leave the sitting room she turned back to him, sending a huge grin in his direction, "I'm just terribly sad that we'll never be able to share clothes."
♔♕
Bella had been a regular attender at the annual Powlett New Year's Eve Party since high school. Rose's family hosted it every single year without fail at their impressive family seat of Raby Castle, just on the outskirts of Darlington.
As usual, the live band were playing in the main hall, surrounded by more and more revellers as the time began to edge closer to midnight.
"So...what do you think of her?" Rose asked as she passed Bella a glass of champagne, "is she going to stay?"
"I don't know if she'll stay." Bella conceded, pausing as she took a swig from the glass, "but William definitely really likes her and I know Harry does, Pa probably will to."
"Yeah, but what do you think?"
"She's nice." She shrugged, "a bit quiet but I suppose you would be really wouldn't you."
"Yeah, if your boyfriend's dad is the heir to the throne, you're not exactly going to go round all nice and relaxed are you."
"Nope."
"Think she could handle it?"
"Let's pray for William's sake she can." Bella said quietly, watching her champagne as she swirled it round the glass.
"Come on," Rose urged, pulling her best friend from her thoughts, "we need to get to the balcony, it's almost time."
As they pushed through the throngs of people all heading for the balcony, the noise of the band reduced and the hushed voices filled with excitement increased.
"Where's your brother?" Bella whispered to Rose as they moved to stand next to her parents.
"He went back to uni straight after Christmas." Rose replied as she passed a champagne bottle to her elder sisters, "apparently he's got exams soon and he needs to do well so he can start looking at places at Sandhurst or Dartmouth or wherever it is he wants to go."
"So he definitely wants to join the military then?"
"Mhm." Was all Rose managed before the bell tower began to ring and the crowd started to count down from 10.
"Happy New Year!"
♔♕
𝗔/𝗡: 𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶'𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁! 𝗦𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻!
𝗔𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗻𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁.
𝗛𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱!