Chapter 2 – Of Knights and Kings

The knight pushed up the visor on his helmet and gave them all a curious look with his dark blue eyes.

"Are you lost?" he said in a deep, good-natured voice. He had that odd old-English type of accent, the kind that makes you feel as if you're talking to someone important, even though you aren't.

"Uh…yes…we…um…" Ron stammered. Hermione finished it for him.

"We took a little stroll out here and we found that we couldn't find our way back," she said, cool as a cucumber.

The knight gave her a confused stare.

"A 'little' stroll, my lady? Why, you are at least four miles from the castle! Did your horses run away?"

"Um…yes." Hermione said.

"How very unfortunate!" the knight cried, sympathetically.

Harry, who had been in shock at seeing the knight, suddenly regained his senses and spoke up.

"Could you…er…take us back to the castle?" he asked.

The knight dismounted his horse and bowed at Hermione.

"Of course! Her ladyship can ride on my horse, whilst we accompany her on foot."

Hermione raised her eyebrows and tried to hide a smile. "Okay," she said cheerfully. Ron was giving the knight the kind of look he gave Hermione when she casually announced that she'd gotten a 134% on her Transfiguration exam.

"We have to walk four miles? And she gets to ride the horse?" Ron asked in disbelief. Harry nudged him in the side with his elbow.

"Shut it, Ron," he hissed. Ron turned to Harry and started to say something scathing, thought better of it, crossed his arms, and resorted to giving the knight disgusted looks.

"Come now, good sirs! The sooner we reach the castle, the sooner we can feast!" the knight said happily. Ron muttered something about how the knight seemed a little too happy, and Harry had to say that he quite agreed.

They began to follow the knight ~ who clinked and clanked with every step he took ~ lost in an awkward silence. It was awhile before Hermione decided to speak up.

"So, er…who are you?" Hermione asked the knight. The knight was a bit surprised at her question.

"I, fair lady? Why, I am Sir Lancelot! One of the Knights of the Round Table! Have you not heard of us?" he asked, curiously.

"Um…yes, I'm sorry. I didn't recognize you in your armor," Hermione said weakly, trying to cover up her obvious shock with a trembling smile. Ron covered his mouth with his hand to unsuccessfully hide a snicker. Ron had never heard any Muggle fairy tales ~ unless you counted the one about the Snow White lady and the dwarves, but he'd heard that a long time ago ~ and had absolutely no idea who Sir Lancelot was, although he did know that he was too bloody cheerful and had a funny name.

The knight turned to him and asked, confusedly, "May I ask what is so funny, good sir?"

Ron looked at the knight and fought to hide a laugh. "Well…it's just…" Harry and Hermione glared at him. "Uh…it's nothing…I just remembered something funny, that's all," Ron added quickly. The knight raised his eyebrows slightly, shrugged his metal shoulders, and turned back around.

They walked in silence (or, in Hermione's case, rode) until they came up over a rather large grassy hill and spotted a stone castle a little ways ahead of them.

"Ah," said the knight. "Camelot!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione gazed up at the castle. It was even larger then Hogwarts, but it didn't seem to radiate the same…magic…that Hogwarts did. This 'Camelot' was like a magic world unto its own.

The dark, grey stone of the castle contrasted oddly with the blue sky and the green grass, but it all seemed to just…fit. A few cottages were littered around the castle, while horses and cattle and other various farm animals grazed lazily near them. But there was something very odd about all of this.

"Where is everybody?" Harry asked, curiously.

Sir Lancelot once again looked surprised at the question.

"At the banquet, of course. His majesty leaves on a quest in a few days. We are wishing him good luck with a grand feast," Sir Lancelot said in a strange, solemn tone that Harry thought didn't fit him at all.

Harry nodded weakly, and looked back at the gate. He squinted, and saw a few guards in front of the gate to the castle.

"Open the gate! 'Tis I, Sir Lancelot!" Sir Lancelot yelled at the guards.

Harry could just make out the guards shouting at each other, "Open the gate, Sir Lancelot returns!"

It took them quite a while to open the gate, so Harry could understand why Sir Lancelot had asked them to open it even though they still had a way to walk before they were actually right at it.

Hermione dismounted the horse at the gate and Sir Lancelot directed one of the guards to take it to the stables.

Sir Lancelot proceeded to take off his helmet, which revealed his shoulder-length brown hair and brown goatee. He took the rest of his armor off, each time handing it over to a guard who hurried to take it to the armory.

Without his armor on, Sir Lancelot looked to be a man in his late twenties who, despite his obvious status and title, was wearing the simplest clothing: a brown tunic and pants, a white linen shirt, and leather boots.

"Would you like to meet the king, then?" Sir Lancelot asked kindly, brushing a bit of unseen dirt off of his shoulder.

Hermione's eyes grew very wide. She looked like a frightened rabbit in a car's headlights ~ without the buckteeth, of course. She tried to say something, but it whatever it was, it came out as a high-pitched gurgle.

And then he gestured for them to follow him into a large banquet hall, where everyone was seated at a long mahogany table that stretched across the room. A few musicians were playing lutes and pipes in the corner, and everyone was laughing and having a good time.

Sir Lancelot led them over to the head of the table, where a man with short, curly blond hair and beard was seated, talking to a woman who was seated at the right of him. It took Harry awhile to realize that the man was wearing a jagged, yet modest, gold crown on his head.

"Who's that?" Ron hissed in Harry's ear. Harry shrugged.

"Your majesty," Sir Lancelot bowed low, and Harry and Ron followed suit awkwardly (Hermione curtsied, remembering her etiquette lessons from long ago). "I found three villagers lost in the meadows. I actually do not know whether they are of Camelot or not, but as you have said before, majesty, what would Camelot be like if it didn't welcome strangers?"

The man who wore the crown laughed merrily. "I imagine Camelot would be very dull without them, Lancelot," the king turned to look at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "May I ask for your names, good sirs and gentle lady?"

Hermione answered him.

"I'm Hermione Granger," she said. Then she pointed at Ron. "And this is Ron Weasley," she pointed at Harry. "And Harry Potter."

Harry noticed that no one even did so much as raise an eyebrow at his name.

Ron, who had been looking very irritated for the past few minutes, suddenly blurted out, "Who are you?"

The king looked a bit taken aback by this question. "I? I am King Arthur of Camelot. I truly am surprised that you haven't heard of me. This is my wife, Queen Gwenivere," he gestured at the woman he had been talking to earlier. She had long, curly brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a dark green velvet gown and a modest crown perched on her head. Arthur gestured to someone left of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "And this is Merlin, my head advisor; teacher; friend, and, as I'm a told, a rather good wizard."

A very old man with a long white beard and dark blue wizard robes and hat got up and smiled merrily at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry thought that he looked uncannily like Dumbledore.

"That's…Merlin?" Ron hissed in Hermione's ear. King Arthur heard him.

"Oh, so you've heard of Merlin, then?" he asked good-naturedly.

"Um…yes…he's very…er…well-known, where we come from," Hermione muttered, staring at her shoes.

"I have also heard of you," Merlin said with a mysterious air. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked extremely puzzled. King Arthur was still pointing out people seated at the table and stating their names.

"That is Lady Igraine of Cornwall, that is Sir Michael, and there is Lady Amelia and Lady Morgaine…" the king trailed on, now talking more to himself than to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "And, oh my, Sir Edward came along after all. I did rather think he was dead set on becoming a priest."

Merlin interrupted him.

"I need to talk to these visitors in private, Arthur. I hope you won't mind," Merlin said, winking at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were still very puzzled.

"Hmm?…Oh, no, not at all," King Arthur said, looking briefly up at them and then returning to pointing out other men and women of high status, perhaps because he was surprised he knew most of them.

Merlin smiled down at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"If you will follow me, then," he said solemnly.

He began to walk quickly over to a large wooden door, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked at each other and shrugged.

"I suppose we should follow him…" Hermione suggested timidly.

Harry and Ron nodded, and the three of them hurried to catch up with Merlin.

A/N: I told you I'd change stuff…but it happens later.

toodles,

Ron Weasley's Cutie