A/N: So, I'm watching the BBC series of Merlin, and I'm about half way through season three. I had an idea for a (three chapter...) one-shot, so I'll see what everyone thinks... it's set at the beginning of season three, just after Morgana has returned to Camelot, all proficient in her magic and whatnot. :3

Morgana's eyelids fluttered open, sensitive to the light that now streaming through the glass panes of her window. She sat up slowly, sleepily, and her vision adjusted - Gwen stood adjacent to the window, neatly arranging the fabric to one side, then turned her head and smiled.

"Good morning, my Lady. It's really beautiful outside." Morgana gave Gwen the sweet, yet tight-lipped smile she was becoming used to giving members of the court so frequently.

"Is it?"

Gwen's soft brown eyes brightened. "Yes, good for the knights and Prince Arthur to be practicing today."

Morgana frowned at this extra piece of information that was, really, hardly necessary to have added and yet the girl did so. Anyone would think she was going to be watching.

Gwen coughed, and shifted her weight. "You slept well?"

Turning her attention back to the serving-girl, Morgana nodded, and slipped out of the soft white sheets reluctantly, knowing Uther would want her promptly. She narrowed her eyes. Uther.

After allowing Gwen to dress her and style her hair in a way more befitting of a lady of the King's court and not a walking hedge, she made her way downstairs, leaving the serving-girl to bustle about and do whatever serving-girls did... it was going to be a long day, Morgana could tell, and she was less-than-excited to start it. But there was a bribe of breakfast included, and that wasn't to be missed; she couldn't get enough of the blackberry mead that her time with Morgause had been lacking.

Not that she was complaining. Her lips pulled up in a wry smile as she remembered Morgause in what could only be described as a rather compromising position, on one of the frequent breaks from her teachings in magic. It turns out Morgause was a brilliant teacher in more than one area.

"Oh!" She stumbled, catching her balance on the stair rail. Her head snapped up, eyes slits of jade for the low-life, ignorant thing that had caused her perfect balance to waver.

It was Merlin. Her mental description was a bit far off.

"Morgana! I-I'm sorry, I was going to get Arthur..." Morgana studied the boy's huge ears, wondering in a gross sort of fascination how they could possibly grow so large and someone not have cut them off yet.

She shook her head, that fake smile in place again. "It's fine, Merlin." He grinned and scampered off, leaving Morgana to rub her temples and shake her head a bit more. Men. Vile creatures. Pigs were better company. And... they smelled less.

She wrinkled her nose and carried on.

Morgana had been right - well, she always was, so this was no surprise, but still. It had been a boring day. In fact, it had been more than a boring day, it had been utterly dreary. She'd resorted to writing a book in her head named 'One hundred and one (or two, or three) ways to imaginatively kill Uther Pendragon, with whatever you spot first". Turns out that maybe a spoon had its uses, or a hairbrush. Or, if neither of those were on hand, there was always a strawberry.

She sighed, and Gwen paused her brushing of the thick black curls Morgana was rather proud of. Maybe she could strangle Uther with it, or cut it off and tie it into an intricate knot then hang him. Of course, that meant she'd have to sacrifice her hair.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes - sorry, Gwen, I was distracted. I'm tired."

"Of course." Gwen smiled and put down the brush. "I'll leave it at that - unless that's not all?"

"No, that's everything. Thank you Gwen."

As Gwen closed the door, Morgana decided that no one would suspect a strawberry. After all, they were decidedly unsuspicious.

Morgana lay in bed for a while, watching her room in darkness. It felt strange, and much like a past life that was far too long gone. The bed was cold, and she was cold, and the entire palace was cold. It was Uther's doing, that she was certain of, with his festering hatred... it filled the air with a negative energy that latched onto the souls living in it.

After an hour, she sat up, and lit her candle, vaguely remembering when her curtains had gone up in flames. But now she had her magic fully under control, and it was amusing to remember her bewilderment. She's been naught but a child then... true, she still had her juvenile moments, but she understood the world better, due to the lovely Morgause.

Morgause... Morgana shivered. She missed Morgause terribly already. How she loved the older woman's dark eyes.

And certain other aspects of her body.

Well, she had to find something to do whilst she endured her stay in Camelot. Contacting Morgause was not an option, and she'd made it clear enough to Morgana that if Morgana did contact her without a good reason, she'd give her hell - and not of the good kind, either.

Morgana's thoughts turned back to her earlier encounter with Merlin. The boy was clumsy, stupid, and such... such a cowardly girl. Perhaps she could have some fun teasing him, and Arthur wouldn't mind. He'd probably join in. All the same, he... wait...

A girl. Merlin. A girl.

Her smile grew obscenely wide.

What if she turned Merlin into a girl? That would be fantastic. And the funniest thing that would ever happen to her.

Was that even possible, though? And if Uther found out?

Well, screw him, She decided. It would only reunite her with Morgause faster. Though Morgause would undoubtedly scold her for ruining her chances of being future queen and whatnot, she'd soon be too occupied with getting Morgana's dress off. And if Morgana was lucky, she'd stab Uther before she called up a spell to whisk herself back to Morgause (even though unfortunately stabbing him wasn't too dramatic, it would have to do).

Morgana congratulated herself on her cleverness, and then set to work thinking up the words to transform Merlin.

*Merlin's POV*

He was tired. Very tired.

And his hair was all over his face.

No, it wasn't - he didn't have hair that long.

But wait...! He did. It was definitely all over his face.

Merlin sat up in bed like a bolt. Why did his body feel so light? And why were there masses of black strands in his face and eyes?

No. No. No. He swept the hair to one side, and then happened to glance downwards. He tore off his shirt.

He had two small, but undeniable, breasts. Breasts. He had... breasts. But women had breasts. Merlin did not. But he did.

Merlin thought about shouting for Gaius, but his throat was dry, and more to the point he was terrified about what his voice would sound like.

This could not be happening.

But from the feel between his legs, it was. Merlin got up, his boxers immediately too big for him and falling to the floor, but he gingerly made his way over to where he kept his bowl of water he used to wash his face in the morning, on new petite feet with tiny glossy toenails. And shapely legs that felt all trembly. With his last ounce of courage, Merlin looked into the water, and the face that looked back vaguely resembled him, but with features that were distinctly feminine.

Merlin was a girl.

"Kilgharrah!" He screamed with his mental (now girlish) voice, then remembered that the dragon was free, and long gone. He slid to the floor, wincing at the cold touch of the stone against things far too feminine for his liking. He sat there for twenty minutes, moaning softly and miserably more than once at his situation. There was nothing he could imagine that could make this any worse.

"Merlin?" That would be Gaius. Oh, how horribly wrong Merlin had been. It was about to get a whole lot worse.

The old man pushed open the door, then stopped, his eyes wide.

"Don't have a heart attack!" Merlin squeaked. "It's me, Merlin, Gaius! I woke up like this!"

There was stunned silence. Then, "You've outdone yourself this time."

"I didn't do anything," Merlin felt himself tearing up. Tearing up? Were girls always this emotional? "I honestly didn't cast any spells, I woke up, and I... I..." He began blubbering (to his internal disgust), unable to stop.

Gaius came over hesitantly, his eyes still unnaturally wide, then cleared his throat. "Put something on yourself, Merlin," He sounded out of his comfort zone, and Merlin's legs immediately snapped closed.

"I don't have anything to wear, Gaius," Merlin hiccuped. "All my clothes are too big for me."

With that, the old man seemed to snap back into the right dimension, and his forehead creased. "Ah. Yes... I'll call Gwen."

"Gwen?!" Merlin's voice reached an octave. "No one can know!"

"Merlin, it could be worse. You could be a frog."

"At least the frog would be male."

Gaius shook his head and, despite further protests, disappeared off to find Guinevere. Merlin wrapped himself in his blanket, trying vainly to regain what dignity he'd lost, and wiped away the tears. To pass the time, he studied the baby-pink nails that were perfectly embedded on the tip of his fingers. They were cute and delicate, and Merlin did not like cute or delicate things, particularly not on himself.

He remembered all the times Arthur had called him a girl. What would he think if he knew his man-servant was now a fully-fledged woman-servant? Merlin scowled. Arthur would laugh and never, ever stop teasing him. As would anyone else who knew him.

With that, Merlin sank back into misery. These emotional ups-and-downs were going to kill him if someone else didn't first.

*Morgana's POV*

Morgana awoke, and by the faint hum of energy present in the air, she knew her spell had worked. Without further thought, she leapt - actually leapt - out of bed, then noticed that Gwen wasn't there, as she should have been. This only caused her smile to widen.

She hoped Merlin was enjoying his new form.

Morgana slipped into a gown that wasn't infuriatingly hard to button by herself, and brushed down her hair to a respectable level, unable to contain her juvenile excitement at the prospect of seeing that boy's face. The spell had been tricky, and she'd stumbled over a vowel or two, but the energy expended had merely caused her to fall back to sleep. Which was a bonus in a way, as she hadn't expected to get much.

She then proceeded to hurry downstairs, effortlessly making up some excuse as to why she would be visiting the Royal Physician. She stopped outside the wood door, took several deep breaths, then reached out to knock - yet the door opened, and Gwen stood there, a little shocked.

"Morga- my Lady. What are you doing here? I'm sorry I wasn't there this morning, I had an emergency," Gwen looked a little afraid Morgana would scold her.

"It's forgotten, Gwen, and I can take care of myself for one morning, you know." Morgana made no effort to hide her eager glance past Gwen. "I wanted to see Gaius, I had problems sleeping last night and wanted to know if he would make me up a sleeping draught."

"I don't know, he's slightly occupied right now..."

Morgana drew herself up to her full height, and fixated her best hard stare on Gwen. "I am the King's Ward, and I wish to consult Gaius. Do not refuse me this." Gwen appeared taken aback, and Morgana attempted a smile. "I shan't keep him long."

With a reluctant glance at the floor, Gwen moved to one side, and Morgana strode past her, skirts gripped tightly.

"Gaius." She greeted the old physician, and he turned, surprised - a girl with hair almost as dark as Morgana's, but certainly without her luster, and large blue eyes framed by dark eyelashes stared at Morgana. She wore a simple, earthy-orange dress, and had, to Morgana's disappointment, rather large ears. Morgana had hoped the spell would have solved that problem.

"My Lady Morgana," Gaius smiled, but the corners of his mouth twitched and his forehead held even more creases than usual. "How may I be of assistance?"

Morgana's eyes never left the other girl's. "I need a potion to help me sleep, I had the most frightful nightmare last night... who is this?"

"I-"

"She-"

"I'm Emilie." Merlin stammered out. A glance passed between the two, and Morgana raised her eyebrows.

"That's interesting. May I inquire as to why you visited dear Gaius so early? He doesn't usually see patients until midday."

"An infection of the waters, my lady," Gaius interrupted. "Young Emilie didn't quite know what was wrong, or as to why..." He trailed off, gesticulating vaguely. Merlin's cheeks flushed bright scarlet, and uttered a small squeak that Morgana assumed he'd hoped had been an intelligible sound. It took all her willpower to not burst into laughter at his humiliation.

"Poor, sweet thing," Morgana arranged her features in what she hoped resembled pity, and took a step towards the girl. "We all suffer from such things sometimes."

All Merlin managed was a curt nod, cheeks still pink.

Morgana turned slightly, as if to leave, then paused. "I'll come back later for my potion, if that's easier, Gaius," She announced. And with that, Morgana squared her shoulders, and left the room to retreat to her chambers; where she laughed until she lay panting on the floor, and had a rather vivid memory of something similar happening with Morgause. Then, she had other... business to attend to.