Chapter 1 - enjoy

Chapter 1

Merlin was gathering herbs for Gaius. It was a tedious job, but he relished the chance to get away from Arthur and perform magic where no one could see him. Of course he had to be careful – he grimaced remembering the time he conjured a horse in the smoke from his camp fire and Uther called the Witch finder – but his magic was itching to be released and so Merlin complied. He was currently sitting on a log, growing flowers and taking a small break, before he would head back to Camelot and back to the large job list Arthur surely had planned for him.

There was a sudden flash and two teenagers appeared out of thin air. They obviously hadn't realised where they were as they looked to be in the middle of an argument.

"– Don't see what is directly in front of you, Scorp!" the girl with curly red hair screamed.

"What is that supposed to mean? And why am I not allowed to go with Yolanda to Hogsmeade, Rose?" The boy, who had a shock of blonde hair that was so pale it looked white, frowned.

Merlin gaped at the two standing directly in front of him. They were wearing strange clothes – black trousers for the male and a short black skirt for the female, with cloaks that were rimmed in blue and had a crest on the left breast – and looked like they had been in this argument for some time. He noticed that they were both holding sticks that they had pointed at each other. The girl sighed in frustration (this point had clearly come up before) and Merlin grinned (they sounded like him and Arthur) when suddenly red sparks came shooting out the end of the stick she was holding.

Merlin stood up. The two must have seen movement as they both stopped arguing and whipped around, shouting "Go away Al" in unison, before shutting up - finally.

They had noticed that they were in a forest. Merlin looked warily at them before smiling warmly.

"Hi, I'm – " but he never got to tell them who he was, as the girl, he presumed this was Rose, shrieked out "Merlin's Beard, Scor, we're not in Kansas anymore!"

Both Merlin and the boy – Scor – looked at her in confusion.

"Kansas?" Scor said, blinking.

"It's an expression, doofus!" Rose laughed, "but no, we are not at Hogwarts anymore. Somehow, we have disapparated, without passing our test, and have appeared in a forest. Shame, I was looking forward to Herbology!"

Merlin blinked, much like Scorpius, a whole load of strange words that he had never heard of before circling his head. Hogwarts? Herbology? Disapparated? Kansas? But instead of asking what the two meant, what came out of his mouth was "But I don't have a beard."

…ooOoo…

"Hi, I'm Rose. And this is Scorpius. We seem to have … gotten lost… We were at our school – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry… but we are now in… where exactly are we?" Rose said to Merlin.

Merlin, shook her offered hand and then Scorpius' saying "Hi, I'm Merlin. You are in Ca- "

"You can't be Merlin – you're not old!" Scorpius interrupted him in shock. Rose hit him on the arm.

"Its very nice to meet the greatest wizard of all time" She grinned. Merlin looked horrorstruck when she mentioned his magic – how could she know…

"How do you know that? No one can know – especially Arthur!" he whispered.

"You mean, King Arthur?" Rose said excitedly. "As in Knights of the round table, Camelot, Queen Guinevere, King Arthur? That means we've traveled in time Scor!"

"He's only the prince," Merlin sighed, "And Gwen isn't queen yet. But yes, we do have a round table – well, its sort of ... not here … at the moment. Anyway, Welcome to Camelot. And don't tell anyone about my magic – or yours for that matter. Uther is king and he hates magic of all kinds."

The teenagers gaped. Rose gripped Scorpius' arm.

"We're in Camelot – oh my God!" She squealed. "We are actually in the time of Merlin – oh, I can't wait to tell Al and Mum, and Dad and everyone at home!"

Scorpius looked excited as well. "You know… this is way better than Herbology."

Rose looked scandalized, but then smiled and nodded her head. "Yep – for once I agree."

Merlin gestured towards the castle. "This way if you want to meet his pratliness, but you have to change – those clothes will look very out of place."

"Of course," Rose realised and with a wave of her wand had changed her clothes into an elegant deep red dress with gold embroidery and Scorpius' into smart brown trousers and a matching red top. "We can be Lady Rose and Lord Scorpius who were enjoying a nice walk but we lost our way, and came to Camelot. How does that sound?"

"Brilliant" Scorpius laughed, and held out his hand for Rose to take. She did, blushing slightly, as they followed Merlin, who had picked up his bag of herbs and was walking down a path.

…ooOoo…

A white castle loomed up ahead. The sound of the market became audible the closer they got, and Rose squeezed Scorpius' hand in excitement.

They walked past many people, all going about their business. Some of the people looked up and smiled at Merlin, who smiled back as they walked past.

Merlin winced as he heard the loud tones of Arthur complaining – as always!

"Merlin, why must you always be late – I expected my lunch an hour ago – and was told by Gauis that you should have been back long before then!" The Prince barked, before noticing Rose and Scorpius who were grinning at each other.

"Sire, My name is Lord Scorpius and this is my … beloved… Lady Rose. We got lost in the forest, and came across Merlin here, who offered to direct us back to Camelot. It is very nice to meet you Sire." Rose briefly frowned at the word beloved and then laughed inwardly at Arthur as he scowled at Merlin, who smiled his lopsided grin back.

Arthur hmphed, but indicated that Merlin should lead their guests in to see the King.

I hope you liked it - please R&R.