Don't be offended, but you seem to be one of those people who just attract accidents like a magnet. So… try not to fall into the ocean or get run over or anything, all right?"-Edward Cullen

"Fred? " I choked out, trying to see through the smoke that had filled the room. "George?"

"In here!" Fred's voice called from the corner of the room where the bed had been. Harry appeared at my side and we stepped into the smoke together.

I made it to the bed first, my leg bumping it and almost causing myself to fall over. I righted myself quickly, and felt around for either of the twins. I was still calling out their names, but I couldn't hear either of them.

"Fred?" I gasped out, not fighting the tears that flowed down my face. Strong arms grabbed onto mine and I felt myself being pulled into the strong chest of my boy friend, I let out a choked sob and held onto him.

"What happened?" Harry exclaimed, having found George beside me. "Why won't the smoke disappear?"

"I really don't know." George choked out, pulling Harry towards the door. Fred was doing the same with me, but he was having a harder time of it because I wouldn't let him go. My arms had locked into place around his torso and I couldn't have loosened them if I had wanted to. "We were getting ready to eat some lunch-I'd run late in getting it here-when I heard someone knock on the door." George explained stepping out into the hall. Fred had managed to get the two of us out there as well, and they both headed towards George's room with nothing more than a glance.

"We opened the door, expecting a guard or maid or something like that," Fred said, continuing where George had dropped the narrative, "a tall witch came in the room, she was the same witch that attacked you." He said to me, an angry look crossing his eyes as he remembered the prior attack. "I jumped out of the bed and George and I started throwing curses at her. She deflected them like it was easy and then sent that bomb at us. We tried to clear it up, but it just got thicker."

"Yeah, that witch put some sort of curse on it. It had a sleeping solution in it that we managed to dissipate." George said, sitting on his bed and taking a deep breath of the clean air. Fred led me to the bed, lowering me down beside his brother before sitting next to me. He wrapped his arm around me and pressed a kiss to my head as Harry sat on the floor in front of us.

"Don't know why she thought that she could pull something over us. We're the best pranksters around." Fred said, running his hand up and down my arm comfortingly.

"She ran away as we tried to clear away the smoke. Right chicken of her if you ask me." George finished, coughing at the end.

"We were attacked by Mordred at the same time." Harry said, a worried look on his face. Fred's grip on me tightened almost painfully, and I looked over to see him growing pale.

"What?" He sputtered, sounding shocked. George raised his head as well, looking tired all of a sudden.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Harry said, answering for me. "We were sitting in the garden, just talking, when he showed up and started throwing hexes. We brought him down and then he apparated away before we could stop him."

"So which of us were they trying to take out?" George asked, looking confused.

"I don't know, but does that really matter?" Harry asked. "Either way they still attacked us when we were split up. We keep playing to their game." He said in a thoroughly exasperated voice.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked, still holding onto me tightly. I brought my own arm around his waist and held him tightly, leaning my head into his shoulder and letting myself relax into his hold. I could feel his chest moving with each breath and I let my self calm down. He was alright, each breath was a reminder that he was unharmed, that Mordred and Morgana hadn't hurt him. They hadn't hurt any of us.

"We keep getting separated, they're hitting us when we're weak. Together you really can't beat us four. In pairs we're still pretty deadly, especially when it's you two and me and 'Mione. We're still weaker though. We also keep letting them get Hermione alone. That simply can't happen anymore. Starting now we're never leaving her alone. I don't care if we have to use a disillusionment charm or skive off our training, we're not separating." Harry's voice held a commanding note in it I had seldom heard, but it was one of a leader, one that no one would question.

"I completely agree. From now on we're always in pairs, and 'Mione above all else is not alone." Fred said, holding me tighter before turning towards George.

"How do we want to do this?"

"How about we both room together, and Harry and 'Mione take Harry's room? We can go to the one across from them. There haven't been any attacks near Harry's room, so we can use that as an excuse."

"Yes, during the day you two can go about your business as normal, just try and stay together. I'll keep Fred company, insisting that I don't feel well enough to go out after today's attack. I'll blame it on nerves or something like that. That way I can stay with Fred but no one will be any the wiser." In other words, that way Arthur wouldn't know about it. He was the one that would probably get mad and hurt Fred. I hated to think what he would do if he found out just how close we had become. I was actually surprised we hadn't heard from him yet.

"Yeah, that sounds goods." Harry said, looking thoughtful. "When you leave to go on your mandatory dates, err, dinners, make sure we know. The three of us will walk you to him, and then leave together, that way no one is ever alone. Have Arthur or Merlin walk you back, or call us via the galleon's." Fred tensed up by me as Harry spoke about my 'dates' and scowled as I nodded my heads. I didn't like that I had to go on these dates any better than him, but it still had to be worse for him. I'd have to spend some time with him this afternoon, remind him again that it was him I loved.

"Why hasn't anyone come to check on us?" George asked, frowning at Fred. "we got attacked well over twenty minutes ag-" There was a loud knock on the door that rattled it. Harry hopped up, wand drawn as we all stood, withdrawing our own wands. Fred still had his arm wrapped around me and made no moves to remove it as Harry approached the door.

"Who is it?" He called, his wand aimed at the door.

"Merlin and Arthur!" Came Merlin's unmistakable voice. Harry stepped back and let the door open, lowering his wand when he saw it was Merlin and Arthur. Merlin stepped into the room first, his eyes scanning the room to see if any of us were in any way injured. Satisfied with what he found he stepped to the side and let Arthur in the room. His eyes scanned the room, stopping on Fred and me. He stared at him first then me, then his arm around me, then my arm around him. His eyes stayed at the last place longest, and a fierce frown worked its way onto his face.

Godric's ghost, couldn't he just get over me?

"Are you alright?" He asked, addressing only me despite the fact that Harry, Fred, and George, had also been attacked. I didn't say anything, tightening my grip on Fred instead to let him know that I wanted him to answer. He took the cue, straightening up and dropping his arm from my shoulder so that it rested comfortably on my waist.

"Yeah, we're all okay. Managed to fight the guys off. What happened to the extra security though?" His voice wasn't at all accusing, just curious. Arthur narrowed his eyes even more so that they appeared as little more than slits. His brown eyes were dark and appeared almost black in the dark light. It reminded me oddly of Molly when she was really upset. It was extremely unnerving.

"I'm glad to hear it. We've secured the situation, and reinstalled the security. We won't be having this problem again. I've started a man hunt across the kingdom. He won't escape us now."

"Wait," George said, stepping forward and looking angry. "You just started a man hunt?"

"No, I've just expanded it." He snapped.

"It won't do any good, he's a wizard. He can go anywhere he wants." Harry said in a tired tone. "What we need to do is put up some wards. I know you've got some, but we've developed a few of our own." He stopped, staring at me with a small smile. He didn't want to give away the fact that we were not from this time.

"Really?" Arthur said, his expression lightening up a bit. "That's interesting, what did you have in mind?"

"A few sensory charms, ones that can tell whether or not someone is a resident here. Things like that." Harry explained. Arthur nodded his head, glancing at Merlin.

"It's do able." Merlin said in way of answering. He turned towards George, so that his back was to Arthur and widened his eyes almost comically. I could practically hear the 'awkward' he was thinking. I completely agreed with him. Personally, I felt we had gotten past awkward and was well onto flat out miserable. Things really couldn't get much worse.

Could they? If they could, I really didn't want to know.

"Do you need anything?" He asked, turning toward me with a kind smile. "Anything we can help with?"

"Not that I'm currently aware of." Harry said diplomatically.

"No we've done fine without any help it seems." Fred said pointedly, frowning in obvious distaste. Arthur turned towards him slowly, looking like he was trying not to glare at him.

"Sorry we couldn't meet your standards, Sir Gideon." Arthur said, standing taller and appearing kingly suddenly. For almost the first time I found myself struck with just who he was. He was the once and future king, he was King Arthur. He was the most powerful king Britain had ever, and would ever have.

Fred straightened up just as much, his own eyes narrowing. He clearly wasn't impressed, or intimidated, or if he was he was hiding it. "I don't have standards, your highness. We would just have liked for something to have been done. You promised guards, but 'Mione has been attacked three times while she had been here, and not once have guards arrived till after the fact. The only time I've actually ever even seen a guard was last night and this morning, but they promptly disappeared." His voice never raised, but his displeasure was evident in his eyes. He looked taller, more majestic oddly. I could truly see him being a knight, I could believe he was of noble blood. I could see his long heritage, I could see the long line of wizards he had descended from.

I could see why it was I had fallen in love with him. He was incredible, and not to be trifled with.

"We're good, Sire." George said, stepping forward and bowing slightly before stepping next to Fred. He was being humble, but he was standing just as tall, and unbending as his twin.

Arthur nodded his head, sensing the fact that this was an argument he would not win and stepped back.

"Very well, I shall see you for dinner tonight, Hermione." He drew my name out, clearly getting pleasure from the fact I had to eat dinner with him. Merlin followed him out of the room, throwing Harry a furtive glance before shutting the door.

"That git!" Fred exclaimed, stepping forward with a furious glare. "That bloody git!" He turned towards me, his normally bright blue eyes dark with obvious anger. He muttered a few more words, but I couldn't make them out.

"Umm, Harry, we should go get your room ready." George said, tugging Harry's arm to lead him away. Harry nodded his head, throwing me a quick, worried glance before following George out under a disillusionment spell. Fred remained facing the door for a few moments after he left, a clear frown on his face and a heated glare darkening his normally happy demeanor.

"Fred?" I questioned timidly, taking a small step forward and raising my hand to touch him on the arm. He turned towards me, still frowning fiercely. "I'm alright, we didn't get hurt. Harry was there and he helped take Mordred out. Are you really alright?" My voice quivered a slight bit as I spoke.

He crossed the room to me, wrapping his arms around me tightly and pulling me into his chest. I rested my head against him, taking immense comfort from the constant beating of his heart. "I'm fine, Mione. We both are." He sighed and stroked my hair, seeming to draw comfort from that simple act.

"I'm sorry I lost it. Just got a bit jealous."

"You have no need to be." I said earnestly. He nodded his head before resting it atop mine, holding me in a sweet embrace.

"I know, it's just hard. Especially when he comes in like that, and he keeps flaunting the fact that he can date you. You have no idea how much I would love to take you out to dinner, or out for a picnic, or even a ride. I'd take most anything really."

"Well," I said slowly, working the time out in my head. "I can't do anything about the picnic, not yet anyway, but I can think of something else we can do." I leaned back from him and ran my hands up his chest, slowly, teasingly. "What about you?" He gave me a smoldering look as his hands dropped to my waist.

"I have a few ideas."

-oOOo-

"What did you say?" George called over to me. I sighed and shook my head, refusing to smile. I was returning from an afternoon ride with George, and he'd been playing that game all morning. He'd somehow remembered that it drove me crazy when I had to repeat myself, and he'd been making me do it all morning.

"That you're a git!" I called over the stall. I was rubbing down my horse and he was in the next stall, giving his a rub down as well. I heard him laugh before I saw his head peer over the wall between us.

"Am not, well, not much at least."

I turned towards him, a smirk on my face. "Oh, yes you are."

"How does Fred put up with your abuse?" He asked in mock hurt. "I think you've permanently injured me."

"To bad, maybe I can get Harry to ride with me tomorrow then."

He looked at me with an upraised eyebrow, and incredulous look in his eyes. I stared at him for a moment, managing to keep a straight face somehow, I broke after a moment thought and let out a loud laugh.

" I can't do it," I gasped, "I can't even keep a straight face. He's a terrible rider."

"I know, I'm the best you've got." He said flashing me a grin. "You know most birds would flip at the chance to spend so much time with the handsomer twin."

"I do get to spend a lot of time with the handsomer time. I've gotten to know him very well." I said cheekily, offering my horse a carrot that she promptly swallowed almost whole. I patted her nose, smiling happily before I walked to the end of the stall. George was already at the end, leaning against the pole with his toothy grin.

"You two have been having fun, huh?"

"Yes."

He pushed himself from the wall and started walking with me outside the stable. He'd agreed to go riding with me after I had fairly near begged him. Harry was staying with Fred so that he wasn't alone. The two of them were doing who knew what, but it was probably going to proved dangerous for Arthur. He'd made Harry extremely annoyed with how much I was dreading the dates he kept forcing me to go on. That had united Fred and him on a common front. They'd been spending more time together, and since we had to stay in pairs, I'd been hanging out with George more, mostly riding.

It had been another three days since the last attack. No one had made any head way on finding out where Mordred or Morgana was, but I was getting used to that. I was beginning to doubt we'd ever know what they wanted. I was also beginning to grow worried about the possibility of returning to our real time. We'd been here for well over a month, and it didn't seem like anyone but us was working on returning us to our own time. I was working on making a time turner, but I still had to figure out a way to make it strong enough to transport all of us forward so many years. It was going to require a lot of spells.

Still, I was working on a prototype with George. He was the better inventor of the two twins, and he was excellent at charms. Fred preferred transfiguration, so he couldn't help too much with the time turner. We'd been having to come up with excuses for why we were hanging out so much. Arthur was starting to get jealous of George as well. He'd been giving him dirty looks and making him do extra drills. I felt awful that they were getting bad treatment just for talking to me, but there really was nothing I could do for it. Arthur had gone off the utter deep end.

"I think we're getting close to making a working model of the time turner." I said as we stepped into the castle.

"Yeah, we should figure out a way to test it."

"I can do a spell on it that will automatically make it go off for a certain amount. That way once we send it off we can bring it back. We can test it on an inanimate object and then maybe a bird or something."

"Sounds like a plan, 'Mione."

"Okay, how about we try it tonight?"

"After your date you can come to our room-bring Harry so he's not alone- and we can test it out. That'll give me enough time to get everything together."

"Alright, then we're all set." Tonight we'd know whether or not we had any prayer of actually returning home this way.

A/N: The end of this chapter is dedicated to Angelwhisper for the suggestion that I let Hermione get friendlier with George, hope that's what you were wanting. Thanks for all the reviews and keep them coming, we haven't got a whole lot left of this story :(