Chapter 6: In Which Decisions Are Come To and Plans Are Made
The next day, when Merlin finally met Harry properly, she could've sworn she was seeing double. She quite literally bumped into him in the hallway after taking a shower (Honestly, if she wasn't so mad about Gwaine, she'd leave him and marry the bath). She had been so distracted that she had bumped right into somebody. Thankfully, Harry seemed to have slightly better reflexes than she did and remained standing, but she toppled to the floor, somehow ending up tangled in the towel she had been using to dry her hair. She felt some hands reaching down to help her.
"Sorry," she said, finding her way out of the towel's folds and standing up. "And thanks."
She blinked at the sight that met her: the same pale skin, the same dark, untamable hair, the same scrawniness (although Harry managed to be an inch or two taller than she was, despite the fact that she was still two years older than he was, even after being de-aged , and honestly, how was that fair?), and bright eyes. Only instead of Merlin's bright blue, Harry's were a startling emerald green and hidden behind a pair of glasses.
"Oh," Merlin said softly. "You must be Harry!"
"Yes," Harry said uncomfortably. "And you're-"
"I'm Merlin," she introduced.
Harry nodded. "Right. Tonks mentioned that there would be a few others staying at Grimmauld Place. It's nice to meet you, I suppose."
"It's nice to meet you, too," Merlin grinned. "I've heard a lot about you!"
"Well I can't say the same now can I?" Harry said waspishly. "Nobody's bothered to write me."
Merlin was a bit shocked. From all that she had heard, Harry was a "very polite young man" (Mrs. Weasley) with "one helleva temper/when he's been pissed off" (Fred and George). Harry must've seen the look on her face because he hastily said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I'm just- I'm just very tired. I've been flying for hours and it's freezing out-"
"Yea, of course," Merlin agreed, immediately relaxing. Merlin pointed to one of the rooms down the hall."You'll be sleeping in Ron's room, won't you? His room's just across the hall. I think Hermione is there now, too."
"Right. Thanks." Harry said. He nodded at her, and she smiled back in encouragingly. He turned and took a few steps towards his room when Merlin remembered something.
"Oh! Harry?" He turned to look back at her. "I'm glad you're alright."
"Excuse me?" he asked.
Merlin clarified. "I just meant that I heard about the dementors and I know first-hand how bad they can be. So- Yes. I'm glad that you're alright."
Harry allowed himself a faint smile. "I'm glad that I'm alright, too. And you."
Now it was Merlin's turn to be confused. "What?"
"You said you knew first-hand," Harry said slowly, "So I just assumed that you'd gotten near enough to one to, you know, be affected. And, like you said, I'm glad you're alright."
Merlin blushed and then announced, "I like you, Harry. I think we could be good friends, even under the circumstances."
Harry now looked incredibly amused. "Yea. Me, too."
With that, he opened the door to his room and closed with a firm click. Merlin turned to head back into her room, but not before hearing some yelling -mostly Harry's- coming from Ron's bedroom. Her eyes widened and she thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't there for that conversation.
It wasn't until later, after yelling (and subsequently feeling guilty about yelling) at Ron and Hermione, attending the Order meeting, and the impromptu meeting in his and Ron's room, that Harry had time to think about Merlin again.
"Hey, Ron?" Harry asked.
"What?" Ron grumbled, clearly already half asleep.
"What's the deal with Merlin and Arthur and Gwaine?"
"Oh!" Ron said, suddenly sounding much more awake than he had only a moment ago. "You'll never believe it!"
"Try me," Harry said drily.
"Arthur and Merlin?" Ron said eagerly. "They're the real Arthur and Merlin!"
Harry was quiet for a moment. "You're right. I don't believe you."
"It's true! Dumbledore used Veritaserum and everything! Arthur is King, Gwaine is a knight, and Merlin is Arthur's maidservant-"
"What do you mean his 'maidservant?'" Harry asked skeptically. "I don't remember ever reading anything about that."
Harry heard the sheets in Ron's bed shift a bit as Ron shrugged. "I don't know. Hermione said she'd look into it, but I don't think she's found anything yet. It's obvious enough that it's true, if you watch the two of them. He orders her around a lot. It's a bit weird actually."
"That's what you find weird?" Harry said, dumfounded. "Out of this whole thing?"
"What I find weird is that they showed up right after You-Know-Who did!" Ron exclaimed. Harry thought about this for a moment.
"I don't think they'd be working together-"
"Well, obviously not," Ron huffed. "Merlin and Arthur are as good as they come. I just mean, whatever spell it took to get them here, yea? Even Dumbledore doesn't know what it was. So I reckon it must be some pretty powerful magic, and the only wizard who's ever even come close to that sort of power is-"
"Voldemort," Harry finished. Harry didn't have to look at Ron to know that he flinched at the name.
"Right," Ron agreed.
In the dark, Harry grinned. "That's some good thinking. Have you shared it with Hermione, yet?"
"No, I haven't had the chance," Ron muttered. "Anyway, I think she'd just laugh-"
"She wouldn't! It's good!" Harry urged, remembering from what had happened last year how insecure Ron could sometimes be.
"Doesn't explain what the point of brining Merlin here of all people would be," Ron argued. "I mean, it doesn't even seem like she knows magic, yet."
"Really?"
"Ollivander had to give them all their wands," Ron explained. "And now they're taking lessons with Lupin."
"All three of them have magic?" Harry asked, eyebrows raised. Ron nodded, and then, realizing that Harry couldn't see said, "Yea. They're a bit rubbish at it."
"Even Merlin?"
"Even her." Ron said somberly.
There was a moment of silence and then Harry couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Ron asked him why he was laughing, so he said, "I just- I mean, it's Merlin and King Arthur and a knight of the Round Table! Even growing up with the Dursleys I heard those stories! I remember that Dudley wanted to be a knight for a few weeks. He went around hitting everything- including me- with a stick. Aunt Petunia even signed him up for horse-back riding lessons."
"What happened?" Ron asked with a grin.
"He fell off the first time," Harry responded. "He never went back."
Ron laughed as Harry let out a disbelieving whistle.
"I mean, it's not so weird once you get used to it," Ron admitted. "Merlin and Arthur get a kick out of throwing insults back and forth; and Arthur and Gwaine like to give each other a hard time; and Gwaine and Merlin flirt like mad. They're actually pretty normal. Like us."
"We're not exactly normal, Ron," Harry pointed out after a moment. An answering snort rang through the dark bedroom.
"We're more normal than they are."
"Perhaps you and I are," Arthur responded to Sir Gwaine, a small smirk on his face, "But Merlin has never been normal."
"You're always so rough on her," Gwaine protested half-heartedly, but he certainly couldn't deny that Merlin was a bit of an odd duck. Regardless, he felt a bit bad about teasing her when she wasn't here to defend herself and was instead curled up in bed in the room down the hall, sleeping. He and Arthur were also in bed (separate ones, good god!), but they had stayed up talking about the Order meeting earlier.
Once again, they had been denied entrance into the meeting, forced to listen through closed doors. Not that that had gotten them much information.
"I recognize a war council when I see when!" Arthur protested now. Gwaine grunted in agreement. The king continued by saying, "Not to mention the Dorocha- well, dementors, I suppose."
"It seems as though we've landed in dangerous times," Gwaine said softly, far more serious than he usually was. Arthur didn't say anything, prompting Gwaine to ask, "What are you thinking so loudly about over there?"
"If we are ever to return home to Camelot, we need to stay safe," Arthur said finally. "Most likely we'll be here for quite a while."
"And you don't think we're safe here?" Gwaine asked hesitantly.
"I think we'd be safer at the magic school," Arthur admitted grudgingly. Gwaine didn't say anything for a moment, well aware of the ramifications his reply could have, especially for folks like Merlin.
"What brought this on?" Gwaine said slowly. "Before you were convinced that the school was the last place you wanted to be."
"The risk of staying out here seems to be greater than that of being surrounded by magic," Arthur said. "I've made the mistake before of assuming that magic is by far the most dangerous thing in our realm; and that decision has lead me down some wrong paths, and I've paid the price. I will not allow that to happen again."
"I think you've made a good decision, Arthur," Gwaine told him seriously. The king would never admit it, but he did worry about some of the decisions he made and whether or not they were correct. Every so often, when they felt they weren't stepping too far out of line, the knights saw fit to ensure them that they believed in whatever he did.
"Thank-you," Arthur said awkwardly. Then, to dispel the tension, he said, "Let's hope Merlin doesn't argue about it too much when I let her know tomorrow. The idiot wouldn't know what's good for her if it bit her on the backside."
"And what a lovely backside it is," Gwaine offered. When Arthur's chuckle died (and he muttered, "Hopeless, Gwaine, hopeless."), Gwaine added, "Anyway, I'm sure she'll be fine with your decision, Arthur. Especially after a good night's sleep."
As it turned out, though, Merlin did not feel as though she was going to get a particularly good night's sleep tonight. Mainly because of her conversation with Harry earlier about the Dorocha and the memories it drudged up. She tossed and turned for a while, doing her best to not wake up Hermione or Ginny, both of who slumbered on in the room with her.
Finally, she let out a huff and kicked off her covers. If she were back in Camelot, she would've grabbed her things and settled on the floor in the main room next to Gaius. Here, there wasn't really anybody to keep her company, except for-
She hesitated for a moment and then made up her mind. Getting up as quietly as she could, she shuffled out the room and into the hallway. Looking around to make sure nobody was watching her, she opened the door to Arthur's and Gwaine's room. Peeking inside, she saw that they were both asleep, and she hesitated again.
A cold draft blew through the hall, though, chilling her and reminding her of the Dorocha, so she stepped inside with more resolve than she had before. Shutting the door more quietly behind her, she padded over to Gwaine's bed and reached down to gently shake his shoulder.
The knights, as a general rule, were light sleepers. This was obviously a result of patrols and the importance of being on one's guard.
That's why when Merlin tried to wake him up, she wasn't surprised when Gwaine jerked awake. He blinked awake, surprised when he saw her.
"Merlin?" he asked. "What are you doing? Are you alright?"
It was then that Merlin realized what she was doing. She blushed brighter than she ever had, thankful that it was too dark for him to see. "I couldn't sleep- Nightmares- I mean, the Dorocha- I'm sorry. It's silly. I'll just leave-"
Mentally, of course, Gwaine was wondering to himself whether this was all a dream. He dreamt this sort of thing before- embarrassingly many times, both before and after he had worked up the courage to ask Merlin to the fair all those months ago- although he and Merlin were usually ended up wearing considerably less clothes in his dreams. After realizing that no, this wasn't a dream, and Merlin really was standing over his bed, hair mussed with sleep, wearing nothing but some nightclothes and looking adorable, Gwaine finally realized what she had said.
"You don't have to leave, Merlin," Gwaine protested, feature's softening. "You can stay. It took quite a bit if self-control to tell her that, in truth, he also wouldn't mind if she never left his bed again.
"What?" Merlin asked, eyes widening.
Gwaine shook his head. "Did I say that out loud?"
"Yes," Merlin said, sounding vaguely embarrassed, since she had been thinking along similar lines.
"Listen," Gwaine began, ready to try and fix his mistake (because really, he didn't want her to leave, not now, as they were about to take a rather large step in their relationship- even if it wasn't quite a big as step as he would've liked).
"Oh, for god's sake, will you both just shut up? I'm trying to sleep and you two being adorable isn't helping." Arthur grumbled, turning to bury his face in the pillow. Merlin and Gwaine didn't say anything, waiting a moment for Arthur to go back to sleep.
"Merlin," Gwaine said finally, "Just get in here."
He pulled the covers back and made room for her.
(He was fully clothed, thanks to the chill of the house, much to Merlin's relief, because she honestly didn't know what she would do otherwise: their relationship had yet to progress that far.)
She grinned, grateful that she didn't have to say anything else and hopped in. He pulled the blanket back around them both and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close. Merlin noticed, as she had before, how strong Gwaine was.
When Gwen and Arthur had first gotten married, Gwen was offered her own bedchambers, as was protocol. Gwen never used them, though. When Merlin had (tentatively) brought it up, Gwen had simply stammered that she liked being next to Arthur at night. Merlin didn't understand this. Gwen would, after all, be sleeping, so surely it wouldn't make too much of a difference who was next to her.
Now, though, Merlin thought she understood.
For the first time that night, Merlin felt safe. This, of course, didn't make any logical sense, since Gwaine was as vulnerable to the Dorocha as she was, but Merlin didn't question it. Instead, she took in a deep breath, breathing in the clean scent of the sheets and the darker, spicier scent that Merlin had come to associate with Gwaine, and then let it out, content and warm.
Within moments, she was asleep.
Gwaine stayed up for a while longer, simply stroking Merlin's hair, staring up at the ceiling.
He was thinking.
Despite contrary opinion, Gwaine did do quite a bit of thinking, especially after he met Merlin. He thought about what was right, he thought about Camelot and his brothers, and, of course, he thought about food.
Most of all, though, he thought about Merlin. And it was the same sorceress-disguised-as-a-maidservant that he thought about right now, and namely the fact that she trusted him. He knew that Merlin trusted him before, of course. But this was a different sort of trust. Before, Merlin had trusted him to go with her on quests and protect her and help her, but now she trusted him enough to lay in bed with him.
Gwaine was not the sort of man that usually slept in bed with a woman without anything happening. When he went to bed with a woman, it was usually with a certain (mutual) expectation. He couldn't think of a time that he had ever gone to bed with a woman for a reason other than a quick tumble.
It seemed as though Merlin did not realize this. Merlin trusted Gwaine enough to get into bed with him and have him not try anything- not that Gwaine was a dishonorable man, of course, but he wasn't made of self-control, and Merlin really seemed to test what little he had of it at times.
He would be lying (quite horribly) if he said that he'd never thought of Merlin in that way before. Merlin was, after all, very lovely and Gwaine was, after all, very much in love with her.
And that was what complicated things.
If it had been a random woman who he'd most likely never see again, he could stay the night and leave the next morning without feeling any guilt. Gwaine had made the decision a long time ago that Merlin was special: here was a woman like none other he had ever met (in more ways than one) and if there relationship ever did progress to the point where he took her to bed (and Gwaine was sure that it would, even if he didn't know when), he would make sure that, when it happened, both he and Merlin would be ready, that it would be special, a night like one Merlin deserved.
In a small room with Arthur, stuck thousands of years in the future?
That was not how it was going to happen.
Oddly enough, a night with Merlin was not the only thing Gwaine found himself thinking about. More than once, Gwaine had caught himself wondering what it would be like to have a proper life with Merlin, to settle down, even start a family.
Did Merlin even want children? It wasn't something they had talked about before. Gwaine, personally, had never thought of himself as ever having kids, but, now... He knew that he wouldn't mind kids in the least if they were Merlin's. He was quite sure that he would love them very much. A son with his hair and smile, who he could teach how to use a sword. A miniature version of Merlin, with her mother's blue eyes, except when using magic, when they would turn a molten gold, who would have him wrapped around her little finger.
Gwaine had a feeling that Merlin would never think about bringing a child into this world until magic was once again allowed in Camelot, and Gwaine would never think of asking her to, and really, he was getting quite a bit ahead of himself, as they hadn't even-
In her sleep, Merlin shifted slightly and mumbled something incoherent, breaking Gwaine out of his thoughts. He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. There would be time for a life with Merlin later. For now, he just had to make it through the night with his honor (and his sanity) intact.
Both Merlin and Gwaine forgot, of course, that, the next morning, Hermione and Ginny would have no idea where Merlin was. Which meant that they also didn't realize that the next morning, as Merlin, Arthur, and Gwaine slept in (Arthur was prone to do so, as was Gwaine, but Merlin, who usually woke up early to prepare for her duties for the day, was tired from her lack of sleep), the entire house was in an uproar looking for her.
Mrs. Weasley was tearing the house apart the moment it seemed as though Merlin was missing. This might've been an overreaction, but considering the war and who exactly was missing, it made perfect sense to Mrs. Weasley. It was this opinion that lead her to send Ron upstairs to Arthur's and Gwaine's room to see if they knew where Merlin was.
Ron wasn't thrilled with this. He had learned quickly that neither Arthur nor Gwaine were fans of being woken up (which is why they usually left the task to Merlin, who was well versed in it), and Ron didn't feel like angering the only two men he knew who could use a sword. He grumbled to himself as knocked on the door. There wasn't any answer so he opened it slowly. As quiet as he tried to be, Arthur woke up at the sound and looked up him
"What?" he muttered blearily as the door to his room was opened, casting light onto his face.
"Sorry didn't mean to wake you. Merlin is missing." Ron said this as quickly and as quietly as possible, in one breath.
"No she's not." Arthur pointed over to the bed next to him.
There, curled up in a small ball against Gwaine and covered so thoroughly in her blankets was Merlin, little more than a black tuft of hair peaking out from underneath the covers.
AN: Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Also, if you haven't already please go check out the one-short I mentioned Sir Percival Makes a Miss-Stake! It's a prequel to The Miss-Adventures of Gwaine. I also have a note on my page about what my plans are for my stories, if you're interested.
As always, read and review!
tinyrose65