A/N - Hi! It seems like in half the fics I read where Arthur knows about Merlin's magic, his response to everything is something along the lines of 'and what are you going to do about it, turn me into a toad?'

This is what I think would happen if Merlin actually did do that. Set in a tragically non-existent Camelot where magic is allowed and Arthur knows about Merlin's powers.

I don't own Merlin, and I don't own the idea of turning people into toads either (evil witches were doing it in fairytales way before I wrote this).

Hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

-JKelly


As he carried Arthur's breakfast tray down the corridor to his chambers, Merlin sighed. It had been a very long night for him. He'd had to get Arthur to bed (as usual, because for some reason he was incapable of doing anything for himself), help clean up from that evening's feast (how nobles managed to spill quite so much wine he'd never know), gather a very specific herb for Gaius that could only be found in the middle of the night on the first quarter moon (because no, not even herb gathering could be simple), stop an assassin who wanted revenge for Uther's reign of terror (or something like that, Merlin didn't really bother listening to their hate-filled diatribes anymore), and interrupt the raucous drinking session of a group of clurichaun who were rapidly drinking the Rising Sun out of business (Merlin shuddered to think how much further he'd have to travel to retrieve Gwaine if that ever actually happened). Of course, this was all a lot easier now that magic was legal in Camelot and people knew he was a warlock, but that didn't mean that staying up all night working wasn't utterly exhausting.

So when he magicked open Arthur's door and was immediately met with a goblet sailing in his direction, he was not in the mood. With a flash of his eyes, Merlin made the goblet fly back over to where Arthur was sitting, apparently having managed to get himself up and ready for his breakfast, and place itself back down on the table.

"And what time do you call this, Merlin?"

"Still morning..." Defended Merlin, placing the tray down.

"Just about..." Arthur muttered.

"Look, Arthur, I'm just not in the mood, ok?"

Arthur looked at Merlin incredulously.

"Touchy!" He admonished. "What are you going to do anyway, turn me into a toad?"

It was at this moment that Merlin finally snapped. You see, as well as the obvious changes such as his existence no longer being illegal and being allowed to use magic to do things, one of the biggest differences in his life now that people knew about his magic was that they kept saying some variation of that phrase. At first, this had both amused and bamboozled Merlin, a feeling that soon settled into annoyance the more he heard it. As most people were well aware, if he really wanted to do something to someone, he had much better things to do than turn them into toads - blasting them to bits, for instance, or throwing them into a tree. Besides, turning people into toads was pretty difficult magic - a novice magician was more likely to turn their own skin green than turn anyone else into a toad.

But Merlin was no novice magician, and Arthur had just pushed his sleep deprived mind past the point of all rational thought. His eyes flashed gold for a moment, and suddenly, instead of a king on the seat, there sat a large, green toad in the middle of a silver circlet.

"Croaaaak"

Merlin's brain took a moment to catch up with his surroundings, and when it did he instantly let out a groan of his own. He hid his face in his hands for a moment and mused over his own idiocy. A toad! He'd actually turned Arthur into a toad! That certainly wouldn't help his reputation as a toad mad warlock, and Arthur would most likely have him executed for this - well, probably not executed, but put in the stocks for the rest of eternity at least.

After a moment (or a few) of wallowing, Merlin decided it was time to face reality again, and looked up.

This time, the silver circlet sat on the chair alone.

Arthur was missing.