Disclaimer: Nothing is mine but the creativity and storyline. All rights go to their respectful owners.
Merlin's eyes flew open, awakening him from the best night's sleep he'd had in a while. At first, the source of his awakening was unknown. But as he sat up, groggily rubbing his eyes and stretching his arms, there was a loud thud from outside his door. Could this be the culprit for his consciousness?
He pondered for a minute about whether or not it concerned him to go out there. It was probably just Gaius, clumsily dropping another of his precious vials.
But when another thump was followed by a groan and a yelp, he leapt up from the bed he was sat on and flew out his door so fast he was a blur. When he got outside to the main room, he suddenly became aware of what had woken him.
Lying on the floor, struggling to sit upright, was a girl.
Her face was concealed by a mass of matted, dirty, curly hair, brushing over her face. She was wearing some very odd clothing.
Unlike most women, she was wearing trousers, instead of a dress. But they were blue, and decorated in odd buckles and shiny objects. And they were tight on her legs in an indecent manner. Her shirt wasn't like anything he'd seen, either. It was almost like an overcoat, but was a cream colour, thick and woolly; as if made from sheep's wool.
She gripped to the chair in front of her, groaning and wincing in pain as she struggled to pull herself upright. It seemed to take her immense effort to just merely reach up and grab it.
Merlin stood in his doorway for a minute, watching the girl with odd curiosity, before remembering his manners and dashing over to her to help her up. When closer up, he realised she mustn't have been as young as he'd contemplated, but a little older; perhaps about his age?
He reached out and took her upper arms gently, as she was clearly hurt and in pain, and ushered her upright to her feet. She flinched away from his touch, but then succumbed and collapsed into his arms in exhaustion.
He carefully lifted her up against him – gently holding her like you would a small child – and made his way over to the sofa. Just as he was placing her down on it to rest, a door creaked to make itself known as it was opened, and when he looked up, he met the perceptive eyes of Gaius. He was eyeing Merlin disapprovingly as if he'd just brought a night-walker into their home. Merlin ignored his criticizing gaze, and gestured him over to come closer. Gaius did so, and stood beside Merlin to observe this girl's face.
Even in the dim silver light of the moon streaming in through the small window, she looked radiant in its pale glow. As if she belonged to royalty itself.
Her face was a natural heart-shape, with perfectly planed cheekbones and full, crimson lips. She had thin, shapely eyebrows and long, black eyelashes. Her skin was a flawless shimmer, without a single blemish or freckle to spoil its splendour. And even with her eyes closed you could tell they would be brimming with intelligence, devotion, care...
Never before had Merlin set eyes upon something so utterly breathtaking in his life.
But when you have remarkable beauty, there's always going to be a downside.
Her face was blossoming out in buds of dark circles, blooming across her face like flowers, visibly growing and shrinking – bruises.
Gaius placed a hand on Merlin's shoulder, breaking Merlin's gaze, and nodded him over to follow him across the room. They sat at the table, across from each other, contemplating a disagreement that was about to follow.
"Where did she come from?" Gaius asked, keeping his voice down as not to wake her. Merlin simply shrugged his shoulders in reply and looked over his shoulder to observe her once more.
As he tore his eyes away from the goddess resting on his sofa, in his house, he murmured back to Gaius, "I don't even know who she is, let alone where she came from."
Gaius sighed. "Well she full well can't stay here." He hissed; a sharp edge to his whisper that always reminded Merlin of his mother.
Merlin's pulse raced. He couldn't picture this divinity anywhere but in his presence. "Why not!?" He snapped, a louder tone rising in his throat, "She needs us!" Gaius quickly hastened to try and hush him, but Merlin continued, growing louder in decibels with every syllable, "She is hurt! Where do you suppose we send her, Gaius? Just give her some water, and then wave her goodbye at the door?!Giving her up on a platter to whoever it is out there, waiting for her to finish the job they started?!"
Gaius had no time to retaliate, or even react to Merlin's harsh words, because there was a low grumble emitting from behind them, and they both quickly twisted in their chairs to see the girl tossing and turning on their sofa, her mumbles slowly growing louder and louder until they were haunted screams; an effect of the nightmare occurring.
Merlin was at her side before Gaius had even had a chance to get up from his chair.
He was grasping her shoulders, letting her know he was there, but also sort of pinning her to the sofa as she thrashed around, obviously terrified of whatever it was in her head.
"It's alright, it's alright, I'm here, I'm here," Merlin kept repeating in a soothing tone, with unfortunately no avail in her behaviour, "You're safe; we're not going to hurt you. You're here now, you're safe–,"
He stopped himself short as Gaius appeared, supporting the girl's head and struggling pouring a clear, thin liquid into the girl's mouth, with all the violent thrashing she was doing.
But one drop had done it.
She snapped awake quickly, her eyes darting around the room with no time to recover. She was still slightly moving against Merlin's hold, and small inaudible mutters escaped her lips.
Suddenly aware of Merlin's touch, she yelped and recoiled from Merlin's hold, almost falling clean from the sofa. He made no attempt to touch her again, but made every attempt to ignore the irritating pain in his chest.
She started to calm down as he stood up – his hands up, palm-outwards to her, in a surrender gesture – and backed away a few steps from her.
Once she realised she was fine, and that they were not going to harm her, she relaxed and slumped on the sofa, taking deep breaths to calm her palpitating heart.
Satisfied and happier, Merlin dropped his hands and a small smile tugged at his lips. But before neither he nor Gaius could approach the girl to introduce themselves, her deep breaths turned to gasps and quickly she was sobbing.
Both males didn't know what to do. It's not every day they come across a strange girl stranded in their home, having haunting nightmares and sobbing on their sofa.
After a few very uncomfortable minutes, Merlin slowly and carefully sat on the sofa, a safe distance away from her. He made no attempt to reach out for her, and just waited for her to stop crying.
But with the rate her body was racking as each shivering sob seeped to the surface, it didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon.
Gaius broke the silence (other than the girl's weeping) first.
"Um..." He began, visibly nervous, "...Milady–,"
He had no time to finish whatever it was he was going to ask because Merlin's gasp broke him off.
For the girl had looked up at him.
That was it. A simply movement of the muscles in the neck, and she had lifted her head to study him.
But her eyes were so extraordinary only a mortal man of an icy heart would have shunned them.
They were such a dark, hazelnut brown, chestnuts themselves would have envied them. And the tears that flowed down her cheeks and off her chin gave them a glassy look, and he had the strongest urge to reach out and wipe the liquid from her cheeks. But... they weren't brimming with that excitement and adoration he'd pictured. They had a haunted look about them; as if they hadn't seen a single good thing happen in far too long.
He shrunk back just then, only a little bit. But she never stopped looking at him, something pleading about her expression. But Merlin's eyes locked onto hers – brown burning into blue – and nothing in this world could have persuaded him to let go...
"Who are you?" He found a stranger saying with an exact copy of his voice.
The girl sighed into herself but never broke eye contact. It was as though she wanted to look beyond the blacks of his eyes and into his brain, past his memories and find his soul, and possibly his broken heart.
She spoke clearly, and confidently; as if she wasn't covered in bruises or just landed from nowhere in the middle of Gaius's study. Her voice rung in Merlin's ears like a symphony orchestra. "I'm Hermione Granger."
A/N: Hey, guys! So, I've wanted to do a Merlin/Harry Potter crossover for a while now, and nothing came of it until today. Now, I'm just letting the characters tell the story as I go along, and I'm still not sure what the solid storyline is, but I hope you enjoy this chapter for now :)
Um, I will open a poll to ask you all who you think Hermione should end up with (if that's the way it goes); Merlin or Arthur? Or maybe someone else?
Thanks, guys! :D I love you all! Please review.
Kelly xxx