Hermione and Merlin were sitting side by side in the clearing in companionable silence, enjoying the peace of the moment. What with all the panic about Morgana escaping from the Crystal Cave, the Fight in Hogsmede and the resulting mix of Order meetings, emergency Aurora lessons and so on, they had next to no time to relax. In the rare moments of peace, though, they came to this clearing- an island of calm in an oasis of panic and fear.
Just then, the sound of a twig cracking made them turn around, frowning as they thought of where the others would be at this all, who else would find this clearing? Their question was answered for them as Morgana stepped out from between the trees.
"Morgana!" Merlin gasped, already reaching for the magic inside of him. He never got that far.
With a cry of "iacio!" Morgana sent Merlin flying through the air to the edge of the clearing, where he cracked his head on a branch and fell to the ground unconcious.
"NO!" Hermione yelled, running to Merlins side, cradling his unconcious form. She looked up at Morgana, rage in her eyes.
"Why?" she growled in a low voice, "Why do you not let him be? Why must you torment him, follow him, harm him?"
"Do not pretend to understand my ways," Morgana replied, her voice silky smooth and dangeous, "He will simply have what is coming to him. This is all because of his actions. He betrayed me!"
"Are you really so blinded by your hatred that you cannot see? All of this- you brought this upon yourself! Yes, you were poisoned by a man you called a friend, but you had allied yourself with Morgause, and whether or not you knew the details of her plan, you knew she wanted to bring about the downfall of Camelot.!"
Hermione yelled at Morgana, all her pent up rage at the witch spilling out.
"And yes, I know that you were afraid, and alone, and hated yourself for whom and what you were, but so have so many others! I know you only wanted to feel loved, but you did not even try to unembroil yourself from all that you were involved in! You let your ignorance turn to fear, your fear to anger and your anger to hate. You followed in your fathers footsteps!"
"Silence!" Morgana shouted, "You cannot possibly understand! He told me he cared for me! He told me he was only doing his duty to Camelot! He betrayed my trust! He lied to me!"
"You lied ,too- and you cheated and manipulated ! This man, however, tried to see the good in you. He did his best to give you a second chance- he trusted you, and you betrayed that trust. You tormented him, made him suffer, and all the while you told yourself it was vengeance- though it was much worse than that. You made him watch his friends die, hopeless to help. You pushed him too far, and then blamed him for your actions. You took this above and beyond anyone has ever- or will ever- do."
"And now he's come back to help. He did all he could. He showed himself to be compassionate, brave strong and true. He showed us he was exactly the same man he was hundreds of years ago. He truly is Merlin Emrys."
Morgana took a step back. "You know who he is? You know everything, and yet still you trust him? Even though he lied to you? Even though he betrayed your trust?"
"Yes, I do know. And yes, I do trust him. For while the ways we all found out were less than impressive or honourable, he was going to tell us. He was going to put it all out in the open. He was willing to put everything he had ever worked for at risk just so we would all know the truth. He torments himself with thinking what he could have done to help people- how he could have protected people more. He blames himself for you turning evil, you know. He blames himself for his friends dying. He lives by himself, afraid to make friends as he knows he will have to watch them grow old and die. He is just a pawn in a game, subject to the commands of the Old Religion. He has lived in this nightmare for too long. It's time for him to wake up- for tomorrow to finally come."