Arthur's head is killing him. The pain has only been increasing since he began the trek back to the common room. He almost found himself heading towards Gryffindor until he realized the mistake and began in the other direction. Now here he is in his dormitory, the highest placed room compared to the rest of them. The tower itself overlooks the suspension bridge and training grounds.
Lying in bed now, staring up at the ceiling, Arthur is now free to contemplate recent events. Why me? I've always been relatively popular but that doesn't explain any of this destiny nonsense. Also, if this house is so important, then how come nobody has ever heard of this Emrys person? For all we know he could be a complete nutter! Ok! Now is not the time to be thinking so aggressively. My head can't take it. Perhaps he should visit Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing. Or rather than present himself as such a girl who can't take the pain there is still the option of sleeping it off? That seems much more reasonable. So Arthur decided to simply dress and clamber right beneath the deep red blankets of his new king sized bed. There are definitely perks to being resorted here. And he drifted uneasily to sleep with his head still hammering the way it is.
…
"And who do you think you are? The king?" A voice asked irritably.
"No, I'm his son. Arthur."
Red fabric, that's all he could see. Is it a flag maybe? Also, an array of voices could be heard. There were snippets of loud obnoxious men cheering in celebration over something. What? There seems to be a slight background sound of clanking metal and grunting.
"Hey! How's your knee walking coming along? Oh, Don't run away!"
"From you?"
"Thank God! I thought you were deaf as well as dumb."
"Look, I already told you, you were an ass. I just didn't realize you were a royal one."…
"I could take you apart with one blow."…
"I must worn you, I've been trained to kill since birth."…
"You can't address me that way."…
"Wait. Let him go. He may be an idiot but…" The voices blur for a second.
"There's something about you Merlin."
…
Arthur's eyes shot open. The first thing he thinks to do is take in his surroundings. The room is dark. He is covered in thick red blankets. He can make out the walls and ceiling of stone. The banners containing a red crest with a golden dragon embroidered into it hang evenly around the room. He is at Hogwarts.
The remnants of his dream are slipping away from him. He can barely remember the abstract portion of events. I think I was talking to someone but whom and about what seem to elude me. Only now does he realize that he is drenched in sweat. Sitting up to assess himself, Arthur's headache seems to come back all at once with full force.
From the appearance of the placement of the moon in the sky, Arthur assumes it must be sometime between midnight and one in the morning. Students aren't supposed to be out of bed this late. But his head is absolutely bursting at the seams. Oh fuck it. He reaches for his cloak and leaves the chamber. He descends the tall stairwell to the common room and exits the portrait on his way Madame Pomfrey.