A/N I lied this is going to be a longer fic than I planned. This chapter is shorter than the previous one but I promise in the next chapter things will start to pick up.

Disclaimer- I do not own Merlin and I still sadly do not own Colin Morgan. (His smile= birth of a kitten)

"I feared this would happen. It's not uncommon for sorcerers to sometimes get caught half-way between forms. "Gaius shuffles some papers around and fingers the books on the shelf until he comes across a plain, leather bound book. "Ah here we are." He murmurs as he lands on a page with a crudely drawn person with the wings of a bird attached to his back and a slight beak protruding from his nose.

"Right, so what's the antidote for this? How long 'till this tail is gone?" Gaius gives me a sad glance and that's when I know it's not going to be easy. It's probably some sort of plant that is in an imaginary land that only appears on the first frost when a dog barks three times after a bird poops on its head.

"There is no antidote, only time. You could be stuck like this anywhere from the next week to an entire year. We can only wait and see. This is most likely because such powerful magic was used. You simply did not have enough energy to finish the spell, at least not without getting extremely tired. You may be the most powerful warlock to ever live. Merlin, but because this magic was not putting you in any immediate danger your instinctual magic is not responding. Perhaps we can tell Arthur that you have some obscure, but highly contagious disease that you contracted while helping me with some patients. It's not entirely unlikely."

"I can't I have to go to the meeting with King Olaf tomorrow. Normally, I would be fine with missing out on this, but I don't trust Agravaine in the least. If something happens I need to be there to protect Arthur." I shake my head with finality. Cat ears or not, I'm going on this trip!

"I know you will, in the meantime we need to find some way to keep those ears and tail of yours covered. Not to mention take a look at your ribs." I look up at him in shock, I didn't even mention them to him and he was already on me.

"How did you-"

"My boy, I've been a physician longer than you've been alive!" He replies with a throaty chuckle.

I slowly waltz toward the rickety, brown cot in the middle of the room which is used for treating patients. I cautiously lower myself down; making sure my tail is completely out of the way. The cot squeaks loudly, almost painfully to my now sensitive ears. Gaius shuffles over and gingerly lifts my fraying blue shirt. He places his fingers around my ribcage and prods lightly, knowing he hit his mark as I hiss and the bone gives way. He wraps a bandage around my torso and some sort of concoction which will supposedly help with the pain.

Without warning the door to the physician's chamber is slammed open by three rather tired knights. I pin my ears in a mixture of fear and surprise. I sit frozen to my seat. This should be fun to explain. They don't say anything so I scrutinize their faces for any hints. Elyan is standing on the left of a very beat up Gwaine. He has one dark eyebrow raised and his mouth is open, like he planned on saying something but just forgot what it was. Gwaine isn't looking all that surprised but that doesn't really count for much considering he probably is drunk and has a concussion. Finally, Percival is holding Gwaine up on the right. His face is a mask as usual which I'm slightly glad for. At least something is normal.

"Merlin, you do realize you have cat ears, fangs, and a tail, right?" Elyan questioned.

"I do not have any body parts of a cat at this moment; I have no idea what you're talking about."

"But it's right there, Merlin…" Percival spoke this time.

"You're finally coming clean about your magic! You aren't very good at hiding it you know, throwing plates like that and everything!" Gwaine slurs.

"What is he talking about?"

"Shut up, Gwaine. Nothing, he's talking about nothing. He's obviously drunk and concussed. You know what, you're all dreaming. That's it, this is a dream. Now you are going to leave through that door and never speak of this again." I plead knowing that they won't believe a word of it.

"We aren't leaving until you explain what's going on, sorcerer!" Elyan reached for his sword. Not really a surprise though, especially considering his father was killed in place of one. I sigh in defeat and ask Elyan to kindly point the sword somewhere besides my throat and I begin to explain. I stand up and allow them to lay Gwaine on the cot so Gaius can treat his wounds. The physician nods at me as a form of encouragement, it's now or never.

"I'm a warlock. There I said it. I have magic and a spell went really wrong. Before you interrupt me and start calling the guards, there is a lot I have to explain. First of all, I didn't choose to practice magic. I had no more choice in this than Arthur has in being King. I've had it since birth, my mum says I could move things with my mind before I could even talk. I came to Camelot because times were hard. I grew up without a father which meant a constant lack of food and money. Eventually my powers were too great and too out of control so my mother sent me to Gaius, in hopes that I would at least get a good meal and help with containing my magic.

After I came here I met…someone. He told me about this great destiny I have and how I needed to protect Arthur in order to fulfill it. I didn't believe it at first, called him a loon. Then I saved Arthur for the first time when a witch possessed a Lady's body. She threw a dagger at him so I slowed time and pushed him out of the way. Ever since then I've continued to protect him no matter what.

The reason I'm half cat right now is rather complex. I've always had my suspicions of Lord Agravaine, but today he was especially insistent that Arthur would take a certain path through the woods. I needed to find a way to spy on him and make sure he wasn't up to something. Thus, I turned my self into a cat so I could sneak into his room. I found him writing a letter to Morgana, plotting to kill Arthur. I tore it up and gave him a couple nicks too before he kicked me out of his room. He came here to get Gaius to clean his wounds but what he didn't know he was also given a sleeping draft so he wouldn't stay awake long enough to write the letter. When I tried to turn myself back I got stuck like this."

Gwaine let out a low whistle, "You've been busy tonight."

"So you really are a warlock? I've always had my suspicions about you. There have been too many lucky instances, too many coincidentally falling tree branches, too many battles you've come out of without a scratch even though you don't wear chainmail. It's not as though you don't fight, I always see you in the middle of battle. It never added up, not until now." That was quite possibly the longest I've ever heard Percival speak.

"How do we know for sure you weren't just using Arthur, using all of us, and waiting for the right moment to kill us?"

I let loose I dry sort of laugh, "Elyan, with my powers, if I wanted you dead you wouldn't be here right now. Besides, if I really wanted to kill Arthur do you think I would deal with his dirty socks for all this time?"

"Heh, I guess not. I just can't believe Gwaine was right for once."

"So, what are going to do?" I ask nervously. I wring my hands together and take a steadying breathe.

"About what?" Elyan asks.

"Well, I am sort of a sorcerer, living in Camelot, illegally. Keeping me hidden would be considered treason." I point out.

"Mate, are you trying to get yourself killed?" Gwaine groans from the cot.

"I may not have known you for a very long time Merlin, but I did know Lancelot and he spoke very highly of you. You have given me no reason to distrust you so I see no reason for you to distrust me." Percival's eyes were filled with a wisdom, a kind that hard come by in the people of Camelot.

"There never was a choice to make. At first I was surprised but I hope one day you can tell us of all of your adventures."

"You know where I stand on this Merlin. If Princess wants to get to you he has to go through me first."

"Thanks, Gwaine." I feel lighter than I have in years. It's a wonderful sensation I think I may just float off the ground. Yet, there is still something that is weighing me down, Arthur. The knights may have accepted me easily but Arthur was a whole different case entirely. I never knew exactly how he was going to react. I glance out the window, the sky is lightening slightly and I know it is only a matter of hours before we begin our journey.

"Thank you all so much but now I have a problem. I'm going on the journey and I can't go looking like this if I want to keep my head."

"Right, how about I find a hat that hopefully won't look too strange and Percival and Gwaine can keep watch. I doubt we want anyone else finding out about this." With that Elyan slipped through the door.

"I really wish I had some milk right now. Why is it that we never have milk Gaius? It makes me really angry!"

"Look Merlin, I've told you before milk isn't that good for you." Gwaine slurs again.

"You really have no idea how upsetting this is to me, do you?" I take a breath, preparing to continue my rant when Percival come us behind me.

"I wonder…" With that I felt gentle fingers rubbing behind one of my black ears. I immediately relax and let loose a soft purr.

"No, wait, what are you doing? I'm losing my train of thought! Stop it! Milk, yes- ahhh." He rubs a little harder and I shut my eyes, purring like an engine but I can't seem to care. It was ten seconds of complete euphoria. He slowly stops and my eyes feel heavy. I slowly stumble up to my bed and promptly collapse on top of it.

A/N Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Please note I edited the first chapter. Nothing much has really changed, just a few typographical errors.

Cheers to anyone who caught the milk refrence.

Also here is the link to where I got the idea for this story: http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=_24wkPsvCbE

Replace (dot) with .

~Hain