Disclaimer: I own neither Merlin nor Harry Potter.

Snippet Fourteen

Title: Friend or Foe

Rain on his boots.

Gwaine cursed as the soft drizzle suddenly turns into a heavy downpour, drenching his cape, armor and boots. Merlin, hearing him, felt pity and instantly casted a recently learned drying spell followed quickly by the impervius charm, courtesy of his nightly lessons with Hermione.

The effect was instantaneous, cutting off the knight's complains.

"Thanks mate," Percival says, the smile on his face a solid tell that he's appreciative. The sentiment was easily copied by Gwaine.

Merlin just nodded at them and continued leading their way to the druid camp.

The warlock still has no idea why the druids sent him an invite, specifically stating that he'd have to come today of all days. Perhaps they need Emrys's help on something, or maybe they have news for him - either a pleasant one or a warning. Whichever way, Merlin would be a fool not to hear them even if it means saying farewell to his oh so much needed sleep.

It isn't the druids' fault that Uther, the bloody tyrant, decided to throw a week-long banquet to welcome their royal guest. Never mind that no one's ever heard of the kingdom of Gryffindor before, and never mind that Hermione herself isn't too pleased with having to play doll for that long. All she had to say is that her kingdom is located outside the seven kingdoms, and the journey is too long and involves complicated and dangerous trails, and suddenly, the whole court is understanding. But really, what sealed the deal was the amount of highly valued gifts she had presented them with. Talk about materialistic.

Their gullibility works to his and Athur's favor, of course, and for that, Merlin is thankful. He also rather likes having Hermione around, and is extremely grateful to her willingness to teach him magic. She'd certainly surprised him when she showed him the syllabus she'd worked on to ensure she doesn't miss anything he could find useful.

Merlin kicks on a rock and watches it fly, grumbling.

Her being nice still doesn't excuse Uther and the court's lack of caution. It makes being Camelot's protector all the more harder for him, knowing he could not even trust them to watch their own backs. How much less could he trust them to protect the citizens of Albion? He knows Arthur shares the same sentiment. They'd have to talk about it one of these days.

Merlin must have been too lost in thought, because the sudden arm around his shoulder is too much a shock that he'd have blasted the culprit if he didn't realize it's just Gwaine who apparently has been talking to him.

"You know I have nothing against the dame, I don't. But isn't it too suspicious how easy it is for her to get along with everyone? It's like she's enchanting them. Again, I'm not saying her friendliness is a bad thing, but come on mates! You have to admit it's worrying. The last time we had someone that pretty and kind and royal, it was Morgana who stole the throne and just about tied us and forced us to bow, else be killed on the spot," Gwaine cringes. "Not exactly good memories, mate."

"Yes, but I don't think Hermione's going to turn against us," Merlin says in answer to his friend's suspicions.

It is unexpected that of all the knights, Gwaine is the one most worried about Hermione's sudden closeness to him and Arthur, and yet Merlin couldn't help but commend his friend for his cautiousness.

He couldn't really blame him, since he used to be on his shoes. It took weeks of being around Hermione, and Kilgarrah laughing at his face every time he'd loudly wonder if she's a ticking threat waiting to explode before he accepted what his magic had recognized from the start.

Maybe she really was meant to come here as an ally.

After all, she'd already taught him a lot of things and even gave him a magical coin to communicate with him should he ever need help. One of these days, they'd have to gather the knights around a camp fire and tell them as much truth as they could about Hermione. The only thing they know so far is that she isn't from here and is need of shelter while they try to figure out how to bring her back.

Merlin rolled his eyes at the thought. As if they even know where to start looking. Anyway, they only keep it because the less people who knows she's really from the future, the better. Her claim is too dangerous to fall in the wrong hands and it's a wonder how she outright confessed it to them in the first place.

For someone who knows how unforgiving destiny could be, Merlin hates to think of the potential consequences of trying to tempt fate. But so far, nothing bad has happened.

"Maybe," Gwaine shrugs, still not sounding convinced but willing to let it drop for now.

They both turned to Percival who just cleared his throat to draw their attention.

"We're here."

"You know when king father said I should spend more time entertaining you, this isn't quite what I had in mind," says Prince Arthur, whose attempt to be nonchalant was dampened by the amusement lacing in his voice.

Hermione shushes him from her comfortable sitting position beside him. Unlike Arthur, she has no qualms abandoning monarch propriety in favor of sitting cross legged on the library floor like a barbarian. The Malfoys would glare, exasperated, if they could see her now.

"He just said we needed bonding time. This counts. If anything, blame him for not being specific." she reasons casually.

The lack of remorse has Arthur faking a cough just to hide his snort and laughter.

It's a good thing they're hidden between the shelves, and Anselm, the gruff and scary looking librarian, is rather fond of Arthur so they're left in peace. Any other witness who'd spot them like this might not be so welcoming. His king father would certainly look scandalized that he's behaving like a commoner and throw a fit of hysterics to scold him in front of the whole the court. Just the thought of it makes Arthur shudder.

He's already of age. No need to be ridiculed for something stuffy he'd learned as a child, even though he isn't practicing all those lessons. He blames the company, even if he is surprisingly enjoying his time.

Who knows all it would take to enjoy his reading is a magical book from the future on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

So yes, Arthur decided. This kind of wonder and information would certainly make him studious.

It's quite refreshing really.

From what little he knows, it seems Hermione lives in a time where magic is free roaming, and yet for someone as remarkable, she doesn't live restrained. Arthur wishes she'll be here long enough to influence his best friend. Surely then, he'd be able to see a vast improvement on Merlin's mental health.

Arthur is just about to mark a page when the book is suddenly ripped out of his reach.

"Hey, no dog ears on my books!" she reprimands, forcing a nod out of him before he found the magical book back in his hand.

Arthur reminded himself to treat books with more care after that.

That's how the two royals passed the time - in comfortable silence, each engrossed in the book the other chose for them upon arrival.

"You know I never did thank you for what you do for my manservant," Arthur says, flipping the page to see it's about an erumpent which is supposed to look like a rhinoceros with thick hides.

Huh, Arthur muses. He's never even heard of what a rhinoceros is.

"What do you mean?" Hermione inquires without taking her eyes off her book.

Arthur tilted his head to lean back on the shelf. In his movement, he somehow manages to adjust his entire position, accidentally closing the already short distance between them and bumping his shoulders with her. He freezes for a moment, unsure if she'll find it offensive and an invasion of privacy.

But when she doesn't comment on it, he releases a relieved breath, but did adjust to leave her more space before she notices his turmoil.

"You, taking time to train Merlin on magic. I know he'd probably said thank you a million times at least, but he's not the only one thankful. Merlin is-" Arthur drifts, face scrunching on how to express his sentiments without sounding like a sap.

Apparently, he's taking his time because she ended up chuckling at him.

"What?" He asks, not yet knowing whether to be offended or not.

"Nothing. It's just-" she says then pauses, sparing a moment to think better of how to phrase her next words. It's odd, Hermione thinks, how much her new found friends remind her of those she'd left behind. Maybe it's why she isn't feeling so lonely. "Is it real too hard for you to acknowledge his importance to you in his face or in anyone's face for that matter?"

At that, Arthur startles, now offended and confused. "What do you mean?" he asked, suddenly defensive.

"Nothing bad. But Merlin's my friend too, and I know you don't mean harm, but you're still bullying him. It isn't nice. He has feelings too, you know. I think he's just really good hiding when he's hurt…" she muses, only to stop herself. Like someone else I know.

Fortunately, he doesn't seem to notice where her mind had led her.

When he looks about to refute, she just crosses her arms and raises a brow, daring him to continue.

Arthur's face shifts to show a mixture of different expressions. In the end, it settled for childish bitterness that she couldn't help but giggle.

"Hey, I'm your friend too!" is what he ended up retorting.

"That you are," she agrees easily. "But you're also a bully." She beamed then. "You know what I did to my last bully?"

Arthur doesn't answer, despite having an idea if her ridiculous pranks on him and the knights are anything to go by.

Her smile is showing all teeth, doe brown eyes looking too innocent, it adds to the fearful factor of how mischievous she truly is inside.

"I socked him in the nose. He squealed like a little girl," she admits in answer to her own question. But this time, he was watching her eyes and noticed her mood shift. He knows he wouldn't get a better chance to pry more.

"What happened to him?" he asks.

She sighs, shoulder slumping a bit despite the soft smile her lips curved to. Her leaning back carelessly, somehow ended up with her head resting on Arthur's shoulder.

His first reaction is to tell her it's inappropriate but the sad look on her face makes him stop.

Maybe the future is really different from their present. Maybe it's normal to show physical affection in the future, even if it's to give comfort to a friend.

Arthur finds he doesn't really mind sharing his shoulder. Like many other things happening around him, this is yet to prove to be a bad change.

"He fought on the wrong side of the war," Hermione answers, the teasing tone gone to something melancholic, like she's remembering a sad and painful memory. "It cost him a lot. But, he also realized the error of his ways later on. After that, he worked on his redemption. He apologized to those he'd wronged, even if some of them hadn't been accepting and had been quite rude to him."

"And now," she continues, tone lightening. "He'd became one of my closest friends and confidante."

Arthur couldn't help but smile at that.

"Makes up for a good story," he comments. She laughs, the sound too in contrast to the dark sky looming outside the window, thunder and lightning alternating.

"My whole life is actually."

"Care to tell me more?" he encourages.

She scratches the top of her nose subtly and blows a strand of hair so it flies but lands back on her nose again. She glares at the offending strand like it's her mortal enemy, making him laugh.

It's another odd quirk of her, he observes. Most girls he knows would be too conscious, too careful of their actions especially when in his presence. Yet here she is, unafraid to show her imperfections, careless enough to just be.

"Nah," she shrugs. "Godric, if I do that, we wouldn't be leaving here, and I know we've already been here for hours. I'm actually surprised you lasted. I thought I'd bore you to death by now."

The prince blinks, turning to the wall clock hanging on the wall across them. It only confirms what she'd said.

Would you look at that? They'd really been here for hours.

Throwing yet another glance at the princess with her freckled nose, embracing an antique book to her chest, the prince of Camelot finds he doesn't really mind. It's been raining nonstop anyway so going out to spar with the knights is out of the table.

Maybe they could even make this regular. Hermione did say she has quite the library hidden inside her magical pouch and doesn't mind sharing a few with them, provided they're not hinting too much on Camelot's or their own future.

"It's alright," Arthur says, surprising even himself with the honesty he said it with. "I had fun."

The prince and princess are on their way to their dinner with the king when they found a frantic Leon catching up to them in the halls.

"Sire, Gwaine and Percival are back. They have bad news."

Arthur's blood turned cold. "Tell us."

Leon gulps.

"Arthur," he says. "It's Merlin. He's been taken."

A/N: Hi guys! So I had a bit of a writer's block because of this thing called fear. I wanted my stories perfect and it ended with me not finishing things even if I do have the next bits lined up already.

In the end, like always, it takes a relaxed time to be able to enjoy writing again :) It's usually what it takes for me. So sorry for the delay. I've been busy. Right now, I just want to write without pressure and enjoy writing as I should have been doing in the first place.

Hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing! :D Thanks for waiting.