Professor McGonagall was speaking urgently, having just called all students to the Great Hall to evacuate them, now that Voldemort was about to attack the ancient school.
Suddenly there was a bang as the huge oak front doors opened. The castle groaned, and the teachers raised their wands, ready to protect the students from the Deatheater that had managed to evade the wards and gain access to Hogwarts.
However, the man that entered was no Deatheater.
He was stocky and well-muscled, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Strangely, he wore chainmail, and a red cape floated behind him. His hair was sopping wet, and little rivulets of water trickled over his armour. It was not raining outside, so the only way the man could have got so wet was by falling in the lake. The strangest thing about the man was that he appeared to be a muggle, carrying no wand, only an ornate sword.
As the man stopped and lifted the weapon above his head, the teachers raised their wands once more into defensive positions. He ignored them, and thrust the sword down into a stone slab in the floor. The surrounding sorcerers gasped as the sword glided smoothly in, sparks flying.
The man seemed indifferent to their exclamations of surprise and cried out in a commanding voice, "I am Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot. I am the Once and Future King, the man who united the land of Albion, and ruled over the greatest kingdom the world has ever known. It was foretold that when Albion's need was greatest I would rise again, and that hour has come. I call on the Knights of the Roundtable to aid me in my quest. Percival, the strong, Elyan, the brave, Leon, the honourable, Gwaine the true-hearted, Lancelot, the noble, Giuas, the wise, Guinevere, the good, and Merlin, the loyal. Rise, friends, for the love of Camelot!"
A moment of silence followed his words, and then the castle groaned once more, and the historic statues that stood on the perimeter of the Great Hall wavered. Everyone squinted, trying to work out what was happening, everyone but Arthur, who removed his sword from the stone and returned it to the scabbard at his side, before lifting his head to watch, like a golden lion surveying his territory.
The witches and wizards gasped, their dire sitsituation momentarily forgotten as they saw that the statues had disappeared, and in their place stood people, five of which wore the same uniform as their King. One of them, a knight with longer brown hair, seemed to have been hunched over in his statue, and now stood upright to stretch. There was an audible pop as the man bent his back straight, and he moaned.
"Bloody hell Merlin, you couldn't have just waited a second more till I was actually standing straight, could you?"
A young man climbed over the teachers table on the dais, grinning. He wore a blue shirt, a brown jacket and a red neckerchief was tied round his throat.
"I told you I was about to cast the spell because Godric and Rowena were about to come back, but you decided to irritate Percival about his height. That's not my fault is it Gwaine?"
Both men laughed and hugged.
"Good to see you mate. We'll have to go for a pint some time down at the Rising Sun, catch up on a thousand years of being a statue and listening to boring speaches."
The knights laughed knowingly as they made their way over.
Guias admonished them. "I really don't think Arthur called us back so that you could all drink ale together."
"What about after we save Albion?" Elyan asked persuasively, and they all grinned, even Gwen, who slapped her brother lightly before laughing at her friends.
As one, their heads turned towards their King, who until now had been doing an impressive job of maintaining a regal look as he watched his friend's antics. His expression changed to one resembling almost fear as they ran the length of the hall to engulf him in a hug (barring Guias, who walked sedately and patted him on the head, because he represented the older generation, and was not going to look immature now).
The group were laughing and hugging when they all dropped to their knees around Arthur.
"We are with you until the end, Sire." said Leon, who was better with words that the others.
They all nodded, and Arthur smiled mischievously as he lifted his sword, and called out "to the mouth of hell it is!"
Percival, Leon, Merlin and Gwen laughed, while the others just grinned, slightly confused.
They rose and seemed to recall that they were in the middle of the Great Hall, and that about a thousand students were watching them in amazement. The friends gathered in a circle and started whispering about their battle plans. Merlin suddenly spoke up, but many of the knights seemed unsure at his suggestion. However, after some debate, Arthur agreed, and Merlin sprinted out the hall, and skidded round the corner. There was a thud and a muffled exclamation as Merlin collided with the opposite wall, but he carried on, and Arthur just rolled his eyes before turning back to the conversation.
A bright light lit up the corridor outside, before winking out. Voices could be heard arguing, before they came to some agreement, and Merlin reappeared, a woman at his side. She looked uncertain, then almost angry as Merlin led her to stand before her King. The knights put their hands on their sword hilts, ready to protect him.
She looked in Arthur's eyes a moment longer, before dropping to one knee, her silk skirts pooling around her, head bowed in submission.
"Brother, I, Morgana Pendragon, High Priestess of the Old Religion, Bane of Camelot, and one-time Queen, offer my services to you, Arthur Pendragon. I take you as my liegelord to atone for my many mistakes and sins, and would join you in your quest against the tyrant Lord Voldemort."
Arthur waited a moment, then grinned and took her hand, drawing the woman to her feet.
"Sister, it is good to have you back on the side of the light once more."
She smiled shyly back at him, before Gwen enveloped her in a hug. The knights bowed to the Princess of Camelot, and then they took their places in the procession towards the dais where the teachers sat.
Arthur walked at the front, and slightly to the right, and a step behind walked his Queen, Guinevere. After her walked Guias, Merlin and Morgana, followed by a line of knights, their capes billowing out behind them impressively.
Arthur and Gwen dropped to one knee when they reached the bottom step, and a second later the others emulated them, fists over their hearts.
Arthur spoke to McGonagall. "I, Arthur Pendragon, King of Camelot, and Guinevere, Queen of Camelot, offer an alliance with your Kingdom of Hogwarts. We vow to protect it should there be an invasion, to aid the peoples of this land should any harm come to them, and to fight beside your knights, should the need arise. What say you to our terms?"
Not much could phase McGonagall, but this threw her slightly. However, she did a good job of attempting to look in control of the situation.
"I, Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts, accept your allegiance. I wish to inform you of an invader, a man named Lord Voldemort, or Tom Riddle. He has the aid of many sorcerers and the giants, and is extremely powerful. He will be here very soon."
The Medieval group stood, and Arthur pulled two of them to the front.
"It may look like we are not going to be much help. However, all of my knights have faced sorcerers and magical creatures, Guias and Gwen have healing knowledge, and these two, well you may recognise their names."
The two sorcers rolled their eyes at each other, making some of the kids grin, as Arthur said, "they are Merlin and Morgana, the two greatest sorcerers ever to walk the earth."
There were a few gasps, but most had already figured it out. The pair grinned and gave Arthur a mocking bow.
"Oh, brother dearest, how you flatter us!"
"Oh, but Morgana, he may be good at speeches, but can the dollophead dress himself?"
Arthur blushed as his friends grinned.
"Stupid idiot Merlin" Arthur mumbled.
McGonagall was the first to remember the situation. "Potter! What are you still doing here? Go, go! Argus, lead the first years to the Room of Requirement. Order of the Phoenix, team up with sixth and seventh years, professors, you too. Pendragon, your group will follow me."
Gwen grinned at Merlin as Arthur automatically followed her order, before they walked out with the others.
The knights, Guias, Arthur and Gwen listened carefully as McGonagall explained the battle plan to them. She turned to tell the two sorcerers their positions, but found they had disappeared. Arthur rolled his eyes knowingly, Gwaine laughed, and Lancelot stepped forward. "I know where they've gone, Your Majesty."
Guias frowned, then nodded with sudden realisation. "Look out the window." He suggested.
They all did, and they could make out two figures. One raised his head to sky, and gave a long guttural call in Draconic. They stood waiting patiently, and soon two huge dragons appeared above the snowy mountain tops in the distance. McGonagall commented that she had never seen dragons that big, and Guias reminded her that they were fairly old. The two dragons landed in front of the figures. One was white, and the other...
Leon frowned and turned to Arthur. "I thought you said you killed that dragon?"
Arthur rolled his eyes. "That's what Merlin told me."
Percival and Elyan laughed before Guias interrupted. "Merlin is the last Dragon Lord, son of Balinor. They are his kin, Kilgarrah and Aithusa. Aithusa came from the egg that you went to destroy, but Merlin smuggled it out of the pyramid. They are the last true Dragons. Your dragons come from Aithusa and Kilgarrah's offspring with wyverns."
Gwaine pretended to gag, and they all grinned.