A/N: This story is based upon the myth of Lancelot and Guinevere. In this story: Harry is King Arthur; Hermione is Guinevere; Draco is Lancelot. Muggle AU...no real magic.
The title and chapter titles come from a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson called Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere. While I did not take full inspiration from the poem, it is worth the read, and the last scene is heavily informed by the last few lines of verse.
Thank you to TheMourningMadam for hosting Where Gods Dwell Fest. I really enjoyed writing this story.
Thank you to my beta HollyBrianne; and alphas, stgulik and thehuntress53 for all your help with this story.
Chapter 1
In Forest Deeps Unseen
King Harry arrived swiftly at the camp that was hidden in a forest. The clanking of his armor annoyed him still, even after years of wearing it in battles. Couldn't the armories find something quieter to protect the knights? An army was announced hours before it arrived due to the sound.
His retinue stopped just behind him. He dismounted and looked around for a shock of white hair to find his second in command.
"Draco! Any news of Lady Hermione?" Harry asked as he entered the largest meeting tent.
"Sire, she is being held by Bellatrix Lestrange, in my father's castle. The man seems to think he will be second in command to Bellatrix if she takes the throne," Lord Draco spoke quickly, with venom in his voice when he spoke of his father.
Harry nodded and looked at the map on the table that Draco had in front of him. It had wooden figures on top marking the placement of enemy forces that had been reported by the scouts.
"How are we going to get her back? You know your father's castle better than anyone," Harry asked.
Lord Ronald, who had followed Harry into the tent, spoke up in an angry voice, "Sire! How do we know that Lord Draco isn't a spy for the enemy?"
Harry looked at Ronald annoyed. The man had been trying to sow seeds of discord about Lord Draco since Draco had joined Harry's knights a few years ago. But Draco had saved Harry's life more than a few times, and Harry trusted Draco more than most of his knights.
Harry moved to stand in front of the redhead. "Lord Ronald, are you questioning my opinion? I trust Lord Draco. He wants to rescue Lady Hermione almost as much as I do. Stop with the accusations or you will be sent on a quest. I believe that Sir Gawain is still looking for knights to find the Holy Grail," Harry spoke with command.
Ronald looked surprised at his king's words, but said, "Sire, I apologize. I will check on the troops." He left the tent hurriedly.
Harry shook his head in frustration as he watched Ronald disappear from his view. Harry noticed that Draco had not tried to bait the other knight during the exchange. "Draco, what do you suggest we do to get Hermione back? She and I have known each other since we were at our mother's breasts. Bellatrix can't keep her." Harry ran his fingers through his dark hair.
"Sire, there is a hidden passage that is in the pantry that I found when I was a boy. The servants are probably aware of it, but they will not want any harm to come to Lady Hermione and would be working to help her in some way. My father is a cheap bastard, and would not care about finding new servants who are not loyal to me, and you by extension." He pointed to a small portion of the wall that was on the outside of the castle. "I suggest we take a few knights and free her in the middle of the night. If we send in a few casks of ale, Bellatrix's forces will drink them and become inebriated. We can rescue Lady Hermione out from under them."
"Where would Bellatrix keep Hermione? In the dungeons?" Harry asked, pointing to the dungeons.
"Maybe, but I highly doubt it. Bellatrix would probably keep her in an out of the way room, away from the men, to keep her pure and able to be sold to the highest bidder," Draco spat the words out in disgust. "My father has a set of rooms for this purpose on the west wall. The narrow windows I'm sure you've seen are those. They are too narrow for even a small child to fit through, not to mention they are far from the ground." Draco pointed along the west wall.
Harry looked up at Draco and said purposefully, "We'll wait for the cover of darkness and go get her. Do you know of a local ale merchant?"
"The ale has already been sent, sire. Enough for a week of drinking," Draco said with a grin. "Lady Hermione was kidnapped three days ago. Bellatrix only plays with captives so long before she sells them. Or breaks them, and I don't want either to happen."
"That's why you're my second in command, you think on your feet. At dark then, the two of us will rescue the lady. Let me go check out the rest of our men and make sure they are prepared to attack the castle if necessary, no armor. We don't want to be detected before we get there." Harry walked out of the tent and through the camp. "Stupid clanking armor, damn liability if you ask me," he mumbled as he headed out of the tent to speak to his lieutenants.
Lady Hermione wasn't the type of woman who played the damsel in distress. Really, being kidnapped humiliated her. Thankfully, the imbeciles who had attacked her on her morning ride three days ago hadn't suspected she was hiding anything, so they didn't know she had a small knife sheathed on her outer thigh under her light blue dress. Although she hated riding in a dress and preferred the pantaloons that she had been allowed when she was younger, she was grateful because the dress hid a knife sheath so much better.
King Harry, who was more like a brother than anything else, had taught her how to use a knife to protect herself. Then, on her thirteenth birthday, she was gifted the knife in her sheath. It had a lovely grip and was rather sharp, due to her sharpening it obsessively when Harry was out fighting. For seven years, she didn't use the knife for anything more than practice. That would change today.
Three days ago, when she had woken up from being hit in the back of the head from atop her horse, she was in a room with red curtains and very tiny windows. There was a small cot, and the walls were made of stone. She decided that Harry had three days to rescue her or she was going to rescue herself.
Bellatrix Lestrange was as crazy as any witch could possibly be. Truly demented and without the knowledge of Mary or Jesus, the savior. Hermione prayed for the witch in the quiet of her room. What else was she to do other than plan an escape? The witch had come in that morning and informed Hermione that she had a buyer in line for the King's whore.
Hermione rolled her eyes at the assumptions made on her and Harry's behalf but decided that when the guard delivered her dinner, she would make her escape. She waited on the cot for the guard to drop off her meal tray. Earlier that day, she had torn the curtain from one of the windows as a ruse to get him in the room further than the table next to the door.
A quiet knock, followed by the guard opening the door, tray in one hand. "Evening, Lady Hermione, your dinner," the guard said gruffly.
Hermione stood and spoke kindly, hoping to display helplessness in her voice, "Sir, can you fix my curtain. I tugged on it to open it this morning for a little light, and it tore from the wall. Can you help me so I don't catch a cold in the night?" She held her hands in front of her submissively. She really hated playing the helpless damsel.
The guard looked at the curtain then back to Hermione who smiled gently trying to convey worry in her face at the same time.
"Yes, miss. Step back, please," the guard responded. He closed the door behind him and placed the tray on the table next to it. Hermione nodded and took a small step back. She waited until the guard had his back turned to her before silently slipping the knife from her sheath.
The guard had his arms raised, attempting to attach the curtain back to the wall, when Hermione silently walked behind him and said quietly, "I'm so sorry." Before she ran her knife along his throat, deep enough to kill him. The guard slumped to the floor in a heap at her feet. She wiped her bloodied hand and knife on the curtain in order to clean them.
Hermione walked to the door and listened for a moment. She didn't know how many guards were on this side of the castle but knew this guard would more than likely not be the only life she took tonight. The thoughts rolling through her brain at the guilt of taking a life almost caused her to vomit, but she ignored them and pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. When she was free she could think about her actions, but not now. The guilt could cripple her.
Determined to return to Harry, she slowly opened the door and looked out: four guards lay dead at various points along the corridor. Suspicious of what was going on, she stepped out and quietly closed the door. She heard a sound coming from the room to her right and readied her knife to attack. The door opened quietly and Harry and Lord Draco exited the room.
Hermione's mouth dropped open in shock, "Harry!" She screamed.
"Shhh!" Harry motioned to quiet her as he wrapped an arm around her in greeting. "How did you get free? We're here to rescue you."
"I...uh," she gulped, shook her head to clear the guilt again, and said confidently, "I killed the guard who brought my dinner."
"Oh, Hermione, are you ok?" Harry asked, pulling from the hug and looking Hermione in the eyes.
She nodded and looked between the two men in front of her. "How are we getting out of here?"
Hermione realized Lord Draco was looking at her with some emotion that darkened his grey eyes. She shifted her chin higher, almost daring him to challenge her, knowing she didn't look her best. Her hair was rumpled, having been swept up in a simple side braid to keep it out of her face, and her dress was dirty and torn in a few places. The need to leave this dreaded prison was paramount in her mind instead of how she looked to the handsome knight who came to rescue her.
Draco turned and led Harry and Hermione down the hall, their swords drawn and ready. Harry leaned in and whispered, "Don't sheath your knife. We will try to protect you, but use it if you have to." A nod in understanding was all she could muster as they walked behind Lord Draco.
They met no one until they arrived at the kitchens where Bellatrix was waiting for them. The evil woman's black hair was wild around her head, almost snakelike. Her clothes were more fit for a brothel than a manor house. Hermione shuddered at the sight of her captor.
"You think you can take my prisoner? She is mine to sell. Nephew, you betray your own blood for this filthy whore?" The insanity in Bellatrix's bloodshot eyes was clear. Fear shot through Hermione at the witch's words.
"You're going to die today, Bellatrix," Draco said confidently readying his sword to fight.
Lucius stepped out of the shadows. "No son, you will die today. You and your precious king. The whore will live to be sold." Lucius readied his sword.
Hermione looked between Draco and Lucius and leaned into Harry. "Lucius is Lord Draco's father? Why didn't you tell me? He's one of the men who ambushed me in the woods."
Draco glanced at Hermione and spoke, "My lady, this filth is no father of mine. It will be my pleasure to avenge you. My king, follow our plan. I will be along shortly." And he swung his blade at Lucius. The clang of swords jolted Hermione into looking around realizing the Bellatrix had slipped away into the darkness.
"Harry, she's gone. Bellatrix is gone," she said in a hushed whisper. Hermione looked around and tried to walk along the wall to the door on the other side, but Harry gripped her elbow to stop her from walking away.
"No, this way. Bellatrix will die, eventually. We need to get you out of here. Through here." Harry tugged her to the pantry door and the hidden passage.
She glanced at the battle between father and son and realized that Draco would win shortly; Lucius was an old man with little strength. The confident way Lord Draco fought stirred something in her, admiration maybe? She wasn't sure. It couldn't be attraction, right? Having listened to the old stories that spoke of love, she thought it may be that, but she didn't know the man.
Draco had never seen a more confident or beautiful woman in his life. Lady Hermione held the knife that killed her guard with surety. And while he knew she probably felt unattractive with a dirty dress and unwashed hair, to him she looked strong and beautiful.
Although he was one of King Harry's knights and could be found around Hogwarts regularly, Draco didn't have any sort of relationship with Lady Hermione. The older she became, the less she was allowed by her mother and aunt to be in the training areas or at the round table for meetings.
He had seen glimpses of the lady before, but no real conversations. She was feisty, strong, spirited. Harry talked about her often with him and a few of the closer knights. Hermione had a head for strategy. A few of their more successful campaigns were direct results of ideas and strategies Lady Hermione had come up with.
Now he was dueling his father. Knowing that Lucius was the reason for much pain and hurt would allow Draco to land a killing blow. The older man was slowing and wheezing as he swung his sword to block a downward swipe of Draco's sword. Lucius almost fell into the long wooden table behind him.
"Mercy, son! Mercy!" Lucius dropped his sword after a few more parries, lifted his arms in surrender, and dropped to his knees on the hard stone floor.
"No, I will show the same mercy you were going to show Lady Hermione, the same mercy you showed my mother." Draco lifted his sword and held it to the man's neck.
"Wait! I'm your father! You can't kill me!" Lucius said desperately.
Draco sneered, "Watch me." And he ran his father through, ending the deranged man's life. His mother had been dead for years due to Lucius's hand. He felt avenged by killing the man who had killed his mother and kidnapped Lady Hermione.
He wiped the blood from his blade on the leather attached to his belt and went to follow his king through the secret passage. He hoped they would be waiting for him at the camp and that nothing happened to cause harm to his liege and the lady.