Yuletide Reveal

[geri_chan]

The story that I wrote this year was for the Hamster Princess children's book series, the second time that I've matched on this fandom, and it's one that I never get tired of revisiting!

Hamsel and Gretel (5983 words) by geri_chan
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hamster Princess Series - Ursula Vernon
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Harriet Hamsterbone, Mumfrey (Hamster Princess)
Additional Tags: Fractured Fairy Tale, Humor, Step-parents
Summary: Harriet goes off in search of adventure (and to escape deportment lessons), and is asked to find two missing children.

***

When I was trying to think of a fairy tale to rework Harriet-style, I remembered a line from the first book in which Harriet mentions saving a witch from children eating the rain gutters off her roof, an obvious reference to Hansel and Gretel, and I loved the twist of the witch being the victim instead of the children.

As with the previous fic, I had a blast writing Mumfrey's Quail-speak and Harriet being eager to find an adventure--which does not turn out quite the way she expected.

I also had fun writing about Drusilla, the gingerbread witch. I made her a guinea pig because, well, what could be more adorable and non-threatening than a guinea pig? Also, there is a good witch in the first book who helps Harriet who is also a guinea pig, so I figured that kind of set a precedent. Although now I'm trying to imagine what Drusilla's evil guinea pig relatives might be like!

The ending scene with Harriet and her mother was a bit of last minute inspiration--it was only after I started writing the reconciliation scene between the twins and their stepmother that I realized maybe Harriet and her mother could also use a bit of reconciliation, or maybe just to express their feelings to each other better.