Accidents Happen

"Well, it wasn't your fault." The prince chuckled, stepping back over the rope and helping to put it back in place. "Who's bag is this?" he raised his voice, looking around the crowd and holding the small purse up.

An older woman, maybe in her sixties, raised her hand guiltily and apologizing profusely.

"It's alright, love. Here you go," he handed it back to her, eyes twinkling. After a moment of Sorry's and No, It's Fine's, Harry's eyes turned back to Victoria. "Are you all right?"

"Um, y-yeah," she stuttered, not able to look him in the eyes. This was the man she had had fantasies about! The man that was on the front page of every paper and magazine in London! "Yeah, I'm fine," she smiled, blushing.

"Well, that's good. Though, I think I might owe you something. A tour, maybe?"

She felt her breath hitch in her throat. She glanced up, saw him smirking at her and made her answer quick. "Okay," she squeaked. Not the kind of answer she'd had in mind, but an answer just the same.

"Come with me then, miss," he held out his hand and bowed down a little. She took it and let him lead her onto the road, before she remembered Joanna. "Um, I'm kind of here with my friend..." she started.

"Well then, she must come with us!" he beamed. "Where is she?"

"Er..." She paused, looking back into the crowd, where she spotted Joanna rooted to the spot with her mouth agape. Tori giggled and marched toward her. She snapped her fingers in front of her eyes, and Joanna jumped.

"What? What's going on?" she panicked, staring from Victoria to Harry and back again.

"We're going with His Royal Highness, Anna. You're going to need to hurry up though, the whole bloody parade has stopped for him!" In reality, Victoria had no problem with the parade stopping. What she was really worried about was how everyone was staring at her. Not just the fact that they were staring, but the way they were. There were women glaring at her everywhere she looked.

"We're going with..." Joanna trailed off, her eyes still fixed on Harry.

Tori rolled her eyes and dragged Joanna to the Prince. "This is my friend, Joanna," she explained, pointing a finger at her friend.

Harry nodded, taking the scene in. "We'd better get going then, I reckon we've held everyone up for long enough, and Gran's giving me a strong 'get moving' look," he winked, and led them to the front of the parade as it started up again. "You know, I know your friends name but not yours," he looked sideways at her with a small smile.

"Victoria, but everyone just calls me Tori" she blushed, not entirely sure how she was expected to act around a prince.

"That's a beautiful name," he winked, then turned his head to wave to three giggling little girls to the left. "Almost as beautiful as Harry," he puffed his chest out proudly.

She snorted. "Beautiful name my arse," she said before she could think properly, after which she was horrified. "I mean-"

She was cut off by Harry's roaring laughter. "No, I suppose it's not."

***********************

Harry couldn't believe his luck. Of all the people he could fall into, it had to be this woman. She was beautiful to say the least. He didn't know her, of course, but that was what he was going to change.

He led the two girls through the palace. When they reached the 'tea room', as his Gran liked to call it, he said, "I have to go for a moment. Will you be all right by yourselves for now?"

Joanna and the brunette girl merely nodded, and the prince made his way out of the room. He needed to have a word with gran about these girls.

"Sir," a guard nodded to Harry and made to move away, but Harry stopped him. "Yes?"

"Do you know where gra- I mean, the queen is? I need a word."

The guard nodded and pointed toward the left corridor. "Last I saw she was heading through there, Sir."

Harry nodded and thanked the guard before he weaved his way through the hallways and up one flight of steps. He knew where his grandmother was. She was always in the library, just like his mother had been. Maybe it reminded her of his mother, he would never ask. "Gran?" he knocked lightly on the big oak door. "You in here?"

"I am." He heard her small voice from the far corner, where he spotted her sitting in his mothers favorite chair. "What is it you want?"

"I would like you to meet the girl who I uh..." he paused, searching for an appropriate word, "... bumped into."

The queen frowned lightly. "Maybe another time?" she ventured. "I'm afraid I don't feel up to meeting anyone new. You may invite her for tea some other time."

The prince smiled politely. "That's fine, yeah I'll do that," he turned his back on the woman and quickened his pace as he hurried to get back to the waiting girls.

He stopped outside the door when he heard them talking. He recognized Joanna's voice, "How is it that you managed to get a prince to fall on top of you? I mean really, of all people it had to be my best friend!" he heard her high-pitched laugh.

Next came Victoria, "I don't know, maybe I just attract trouble?" she, in fact, sounded troubled herself. "I hardly even realized what was happening until we got in here. It's all happened awfully fast."

"Stop acting like this is just like another day, Tori. It's not. We are waiting for His Royal bloody Hotness to come back into this room!" Harry smiled at the embarrassing nickname.

"I agree, he's hot. In fact, he's smoking. Literally. Have you seen his hair? It's even more ginger in person." He had to stop himself from snorting as she continued. "Please could you calm yourself down a bit? I don't want the Prince of fucking Wales to walk in on us talking about how unbelievably attractive he is."

Harry took this as an opportunity to make himself known, "It's a bit late for that, ladies," he smirked, watching as the happy look on Tori's face turned to horrified. He continued, "Don't mind me though, keep on with your conversation. It's quite interesting."

I-I... Um," Tori started, but the prince cut her off.

"It's Tori, right?" He grinned, pulling a small packet from his pocket and making his way to the balcony doors. "Would you like one?" he held up a cigarette for them both to see.

Tori raised her thin eyebrows and nodded, following Harry out into the cold morning air. "Yeah. Victoria," she accepted the cigarette and lit it with his personal lighter.

"Hmm," he thought, taking a short drag and blowing smoke out of his mouth while he looked out at the palace grounds. "The name of one of our queens, is it not?" he turned to smirk at her. "I like it. As I said before, it's a beautiful name."