"All right then, follow me," said Hagrid and showed Arthur and Merlin out.
The warlock sighed at the thought that they were going to wander up and down those terrible stairs again. He was already tired and all he wanted at that time was to find himself back in Camelot, in Gaius' chambers where he had his room and his bed. He looked around. He couldn't remember any kingdom like this in Albion. The castle, as the giant called it — Hogwarts, was very magical as if it came from another world. Merlin started to analyse the spell he had said to save Arthur. What could go wrong? Suddenly, Hagrid's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"It's here," said Hagrid. They looked up.
They stood in front of a huge painting on which was a plump woman wearing a nice dress. She looked at Arthur and Merlin first and then at Hagrid.
"What're you looking for here, Rubeus?" she asked in a dignified tone.
"The Headmaster told me ter bring 'em to the Gryffindor common room," he nodded at them.
"Well, they have to tell me the password."
"But these two are not students."
"That's the rules," the Fat Lady said calmly.
Hagrid nodded slightly and scratched the back of his head. "So… there's no other way, yeh have to wait here fer someone ter let you in," he said, turning to Arthur and Merlin.
"Wait? How long?" the king asked.
"I don' know," Hagrid shrugged his shoulders and walked away without saying anything else.
"Wait!" Arthur screamed after him but the giant had already gone off down the stairs.
"We have to wait, Arthur. Not him," said Merlin, staring at the painting of the Fat Lady.
"What are you looking at?" the woman's voice sounded a little bit irritated now. The warlock shook his head.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you in any way. I'm just wondering… are you the door?"
"Excuse me?" she made a high-pitched noise. "Are you saying I'm…"
"No, no, no," said Merlin quickly. "That's not what I meant…"
"I apologise for my friend here," Arthur interrupted. "He has no idea how to behave towards women or a certain prince. For example, he insults me all the time."
"You're one to talk!" the warlock turned to him.
"And who's constantly saying I'm fat?"
They stopped their argument as they heard footsteps approaching. Soon they saw three young people in the black robes walking over to them. They frowned at Arthur and Merlin and then exchanged glances with each other. The boy with ginger hair began to giggle under his breath. Arthur caught it immediately and gave him a murderous glare. The boy instantly became serious as Arthur's reaction at that point reminded him of the expression on Draco Malfoy's face as he laughed at his stupid-sounding name.
"Could you, please, move?" snarled the one with the glasses ignoring their unusual clothes.
"Harry, don't be so rude," said the girl standing next to him.
"Yeah, she's got a point," Arthur stated.
"All I want now is to get myself shut in the dormitory and they're blocking the way," Harry replied angrily.
"I am really sorry for him," Hermione sighed. "We just had potions class, and Snape really has it in for him today."
"Whatever," he murmured and pushed past them. He said the password and disappeared behind the portrait.
Merlin and Arthur watched the whole scene with amazement, but the king was more surprised than the warlock.
"And you guys got off some fancy dress party or what?" asked Ron, getting their attention.
"No. What does it even mean?" Arthur looked at him.
"I don't remember you were students," stated Hermione watching them closely. "Who are you and what are you doing under the Fat Lady's portrait?"
"I'm Merlin and this is Arthur," the warlock replied.
Hermione's eyes widened. She opened her mouth but no word came out. Ron gave her a questioning look with no idea what's going on.
"Merlin the wizard and king Arthur of the Round Table?" she asked incredulously.
"Ha!" Arthur let out a cry of satisfaction that made everyone jump. "Finally someone who knows who we are."
"I don't believe it!" she squawked, shaking Ron's shoulders. "It's Merlin and king Arthur, Ron. How can you not be excited?"
She let go of Ron who barely kept his balance. He straightened his robe and stared at the men in front of him.
"Hermione, look. He's not Merlin, he's way too young and doesn't have a beard. He doesn't even look like him."
"Hold on, are you talking about my older self?" asked Merlin.
"Wait, you mean you were this dodgory old man?" Arthur turned to him.
"Well, maybe I'll explain later…," said the warlock, barely moving his lips. "And before all of you start to ask questions again, we better go inside and talk without those curious glances," he pointed at something behind Ron and Hermione. They turned around and saw some students gathering in the corridor and on the stairs.
"The man called Hagrid brought us here and told us to wait for someone who can let us in," Merlin continued.
"This was the order of your king," Arthur interjected. Everyone raised their eyebrows, even Merlin who had already begun to understand that things here work completely differently than in his and Arthur's world.
"All right," said Hermione after a moment. "Let's come inside."
She passed them, stood in front of the Fat Lady and spoke the password: "Fortuna Major." The woman nodded and the painting opened like the door to allow them to walk in.
After a while they found themselves in a spacious room with the colours of crimson and gold. It was warm and cosy there and Arthur and Merlin immediately felt like home. A sweet smell reached their nostrils and they noticed some students eating chocolate and sitting on a couch in front of the fireplace, the other four persons were looking through some old books at the table by the wall and two red haired boys, practically indistinguishable, were playing a card game near the window. Everyone gave them weird looks but ginger boys raised their eyebrows seeing Ron in such strange company. They followed them with their eyes until the whole group disappeared around the corner.
Arthur and Merlin breathed a sigh of relief as the feeling of observing eyes was gone. It was obvious, they didn't fit in and Arthur finally realised that this place isn't actually the place he had thought it was. They climbed up the stairs and walked into the room where five four-poster beds with red curtains had been placed. Harry was sitting on one of them and as he saw the group coming in, his head snapped towards them.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but I think we have something huge," stated Hermione.
She and Ron sat on the windowsill while Arthur and Merlin took a seat on one of the beds. Hermione told Harry who they were and then the warlock continued the story from the beginning, telling them everything from the moment he tried to save Arthur by using magic. The trio was intrigued by everything Merlin had said and Hermione immediately started to analyse what might have happened.
"And Dumbledore didn't want to help you?" asked Harry. He wasn't angry anymore. Merlin and Arthur's story cheered him up.
"Yeah, he said that there's someone who can deal with it better," Merlin replied.
"I bet he had us in mind," said Ron.
"All we want is to come back to Camelot."
"I'm afraid it could not be that easy," Hermione looked at Arthur. "Do you guys realise what year it is?"
Arthur and Merlin exchanged glances and the king saw something in his friend's eyes that made him worry. The warlock looked away and shut his eyes, nodding his head slowly.
"I was afraid that this might be it, but I didn't want to admit to myself that it might actually have happened," he said, facing them. "We travelled time, didn't we?"
Hermione nodded. "It's about fifteen hundred years after you lived."
Arthur's eyes widened. He started shaking his head in denial and murmuring some inaudible words. He locked eyes with his friend.
"Merlin, what have you done?"
"Who has done what?" Fred's head peered into the room and George's appeared as well. Probably they decided to check out who the trio smuggled to the dormitory and as they came in there was no way out, they had to be privy to the whole situation.
However, the problem of time travel faded into the background when Ron asked Arthur about chivalrous rules in order to verify if it was indeed as it has been described in the books. The king and the warlock were inundated with lots of questions, but they also asked the young wizards about Hogwarts or what magic in their time is like. It was immediately obvious that Arthur liked Ron's company, while Merlin began to get along better with the twins, who, with wide smiles on their faces, listened to the stories of how Merlin used to play tricks on Arthur by using magic.
They were so engrossed in talking that they lost track of time. Hermione realised that it was the late hour only when Merlin started rubbing his eyes.
"I just can't think right now…," Merlin murmured.
"We should all take some rest," said Hermione, glancing at Merlin and Arthur. "And don't worry, we will find a way to get you back to Camelot. We'll think about it tomorrow."
