Author's Note:

Hiya, so first of all I apologize for the late arrival of this one, I had no internet for a week because I was on holiday, I also thought I might be able to write in that time, but it seems my mum and dad would actually prefer me to go on a twelve mile walk with them instead... Oh god, bad memory's, never again!

Second, I would like to apologize for the slightly cheese title, it's bad I know, but I honestly couldn't think of anything else apart from 'The Library' (creative right?)

Chapter 5: Finding the Way

The Bodleian library loomed in front of him, it's very essence leaked grandeur ; the place buzzed with knowledge, students bustled in and out, all in smart clothing, seemingly too busy to notice Merlin and his companion, who herself was positively beaming at the prospect of spending a few hours in a room full of books. Merlin on the other hand, was not.

"Why are we here again Hermione?" He sighed,

"You'll find out, and when you do, you'll love it!" She said; a lilt in her voice, as she bounced through the door of the great building, reminding Merlin of a little kid in a sweet shop.

"Will I?"

This was a muggle library, and though this building somewhat reminded him of the old days, there wasn't much in the muggle world that he liked, let alone loved, call him old fashioned but, he didn't trust it, any of it.

"Come on Hermione just tell me!"

But to that, Hermione gave a dragon grin and tapped her nose, making Merlin roll his eyes, god he hated it when people did that!

He had no choice to follow her though, so he walked, the emerald green carpet soft beneath his feet, as they turned down yet another ally of book shelves.

And that was when Merlin felt it, a tingling sensation that knitted the very air itself together; it was drawing him in, converging at the centre of a red and green, stain glass window. Merlin looked at Hermione who gave him a cute smile as if to say 'happy now?' and head held high, she walked toward a man in his late forties; which was weird, as Merlin could have sworn he hadn't been there a second ago.

The man looked up and nodded at them. Hermione cleared her throat slightly, as though at the beginning of a speech.

"Am I granted access today Baldwin?" She smiled curtly at him, something in her air had changed; she had become more formal, uptight even.

"Of course Miss Granger," he said in a rather obsequious tone, "but whom may I ask, is your companion?"

There was something odd about this man- Baldwin, was what Hermione had called him- but Merlin couldn't quite put his finger on it; was it in the way he deliberately slurred his words, which made Merlin uneasy? He didn't know. A shiver ran down his spine, he didn't like this man, not one bit.

"He's a friend; he came to help me out with something."

"Well I'm going to have to seem some sort of identification..." The man drawled.

Hermione tilted her head slightly, as if in some way she was disappointed by the man.

"Does the ministry not trust me? I helped make this library did I not? Or have they forgotten that?" She fluttered her eye lashes at the odd man, who sighed and raised an eyebrow.

"No of course not Miss Granger, security measures that's all,"

"So am I allowed through?"

The man smiled thinly and lent back against the wall, but as he did two huge doors seemed to grow behind him, they were made of solid oak and ended in a dome like point, reminding Merlin of the doors to the great hall of Camelot.

Baldwin clicked his fingers and disappeared, as the doors swung slowly open.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, letting her body sag back to its usual posture. Boy, she hated that man.

She turned round to see Merlin staring.

"It's beautiful," He muttered. Hermione looked up at the ceiling; it was night in the library, stars twinkled and purple streaks broke up the black of the sky, candles bobbed, bathing the library in a warm glow.

"I designed it to look like the ceiling at Hogwarts," Slowly she began walking. "It has its own time zone- sometimes its night, sometimes its day- it really depends on the mood."

She looked at Merlin and laughed, his expression was a mask of total bewilderment.

"I know it seems weird, a library with a mood, but there's no need to look like that, I'm sure you've come across a lot more in your time!"

She watched as Merlin shook his head,

"It's not that, it's just… You designed this?!" He looked awestruck, as if he had not expected extent of her skill, Hermione forced back a smile; this was not the time to get full of herself, but in a way really was, she had impressed Merlin, Merlin! The greatest warlock that had ever lived!

"When we were fighting the dark lord I often thought we needed a safe place, a place where we could find events, events that could help us with the situation we were in. This library contains the history of magic, all of it, and not just the stuff people learn in class, every book, every legend, it's all in here."

"All of it? Even…" Merlin trailed off, Hermione sensed the apprehension in his words.

"You don't have to read anything, not if you don't want to,"

But Merlin shook his giving a shaky smile.

"No it's okay, it's not like there's anything that could surprise me in them."

Hermione wasn't convinced, but as she looked into the face of the younger… no older man, she could see the defiance and knew his mind was made up. So, preceding forward she weaved through the book shelves, wobbling when a stack of books nearly hit her in the face, as it made its way to its destination.

After what seemed like miles, she found the place she was looking for. She gestured at a chair for Merlin to sit in then promptly sat in one herself. There were four chairs in total, all huddled in a little, circular clearing, a fire crackled warmly in its grate burnishing the small gathering point in a soft, orange light.

"What we need to do is find a way of convincing the old religion to stay, right?"

Merlin nodded; his brow furrowing.

"What I'm hoping is that we can find our answer here, in these books"

"Right…" His voice was sceptic, Hermione knew that, but she was raring to go, so getting up she gestured at the clock that was embedded in the wall behind them.

"We meet back hear at five o'clock okay?"

"umm, Hermione?"

"Yes?" She sighed,

"How exactly are we supposed to find anything in here, there must be millions of books?"

"Let the library lead you, it knows where you want to go." She started walking but seeing Merlin raise an eyebrow she said,

"Just trust me, oh and don't give up if you don't get there the first time, we still haven't perfected that charm yet."

And, with that she walked off, leaving Merlin to stare after her in disbelief.