Chapter 4
Harry recovers from his severe blood loss, and Harry, Merlin and Gaius work together to reveal the true nature of the new Queen, Harry answers some awkward questions and the Queen dies.

Harry came to slowly, automatically curling over onto his side. Seeing something glitter, he reflexively moved to grab it, but stopped immediately at the burn in his arm. He opened his eyes fully, blinking until the worried figure of Morgana came into view, clutching the twinkling glass lily Harry made for her in her hand.

"Morgana?"Harry wondered why she was there, but since she was, he was going to get some information. "What happened?"

Gaius appeared behind her, glaring at him. "Some idiot obviously decided that he didn't need to stop bleeding, and that the blood he lost would just appear back! You foolish boy, you lost a lot of blood by not just stopping the bleeding! You could have died from blood loss. And instead, you decide to bumble around the castle!"

Gaius walked away, now surely glaring at some undeserving potion.

"What happened?" Harry repeated to Morgana. "How long have I been out?" He reflexively looked for his watch, then realized he hadn't had it on since the second task.

Morgana looked at him with a worried expression, as well as an expression Harry had seen before on her, but couldn't name. "Three days, Draco. Your cut was just a bit deeper than you were expecting. If I hadn't found you, you might not have made it here. Gaius said you were almost fine, now. But you shouldn't move abruptly, or it'll open again."

Harry adjusted himself on the bed so he was leaning against the headboard, and waved his good arm in the air, in a careless motion. "I don't care about me. What's been happening in the castle?"

At that moment, the dark-skinned girl Harry vaguely recognized as being Morgana's maid walked in.

"Gaius, you've been summoned by the King. Um, you too, Morgana. I can watch Draco for you, Morgana, in case he wakes up - Oh, hello Draco, I'm Guinevere, but everyone calls me Gwen." Gwen quickly rerouted her speech, looking down.

Morgana shot her a short glare that Harry couldn't understand the meaning of, and smiled at Gwen.

"Hello Gwen! It's nice to meet you. But I don't need looking after, in fact," Harry stood up, "I'm quite fine. In fact, I think I might go to my..." Harry wobbled, and met Gaius's pointed glare. "Bed, right here, because that's where the Physician wants me to stay. Ok, calm down."

Morgana stifled a giggle at Harry, pausing at the door to smile at him.

"Thank you, Gwen. You will make certain he doesn't try to leave?" Gaius said, heading out the door as well.

"Sure, Gaius." Gwen said with a slight grin.

Harry twisted from his spot on the bed to see her properly. "Well, can you tell me what's been happening?"

Gwen bit her lip. "I don't know all of what's going on. I mean, Morgana was mostly here, so I had to drag her when she was summoned by the King. I know a Lady, Lady Catrina of Trigor, came a day or so ago. The Trigors were said to have been wiped out, but she and her servant, Jonas, escaped and made their way here."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, then paused. Something at the beginning of her little speech caught his attention. Morgana was here for most of the time, for the last three days?

"Morgana was here?" Harry asked the maid, a hint of a silly smile on his face.

"Oh yes, she was frantic, I think she didn't take Gaius's word that you'd be alright -" she slapped a hand over her mouth and turned away. "Oh I shouldn't have said that." She muttered, biting her lip.

Harry looked in the other direction, at a shelf full of potions, meaning to adjust his glasses. He quickly noticing their absence, and blinked quickly. That was odd. Why wouldn't be have his glasses on? And why could he see?

Harry looked at the far corner, where a large barrel stood. He could see the barrel clearly, every bit of the grain in the wood with a clarity that hadn't come even with his glasses. Harry speculated that it could be what his magic had focused on for the past three days, besides healing him, otherwise it the room might be in shambles, like the mirror he conjured for Hermione. That seemed so long ago, a different time... Harry shook himself out of his daze.

Gwen seemed to have gotten over her mortification by this point, because she happily rambled to him about Camelot, Merlin, the Lady Catrina, her Lady Morgana, and her family. "And Morgana's been a really good friend to me, too. You get on really well, and I'm sure you know by now what a good person she is. You know, when Uther -"

An irate Gaius and Merlin stepped in.

"Oh, what's happened?" Gwen asked, seeming to forget her earlier topic.

"The King has decided to marry the Lady Catrina." Gaius said glumly, sitting down at a table.

"Okay..." Harry said slowly. There was an awkward silence that stretched for a minute.

Gwen noticed the tense silence, then made a show of looking for Morgana at the door. Not seeing her, she said, "I'd better go find Morgana." She walked out quickly.

Merlin headed her off with a forcefully cheery wave. "Good luck!" Gwen smiled at him and left.

"So what's wrong with that?" Harry said, "Er, besides that she apparently got here two days ago?"

Merlin said, "Oh yes" just as Gaius said, "Everything is wrong." Harry cocked his head in question, and they said in unison, "She's a troll."

"A troll?" Harry said, thinking of the mountain troll first year. "Not a mountain troll, I hope?"

"No," Gaius said unhappily. "A Cave troll. They're greedy, and smart." Harry snorted. A smart troll? "Very smart." Gaius continued, tossing a glare at Harry's snort, "She took a potion to make herself human, stole the seal of Trigor, and got betrothed to the King!"

Merlin cut in, "And if we can't stop her, she'll be Queen." Harry nodded. A troll in any sort of a position of power was certainly a bad thing.

"Why does everything around me go completely crazy?" He sat on the bed, thinking. Well, his life more interesting. He wouldn't get bored. "Can I help at all?" He asked.

_-*-_

"And this 'Jonas' how can you be sure his information is trustworthy?" Harry asked, now brought up to speed with the situation.

"I don't know, I can't be. But it's the best chance we have available." Merlin said.

Harry nodded. "I'm coming with you."

Merlin scoffed. "If it's a trap, you'll be in trouble too. I should go by myself."

Harry rolled his eyes. Was he this annoying whenever Hermione or Ron had wanted to help him? He would try to be much less of an idiot when he got back. "And if it's a trap, you'll have me to help you. Besides, I'll only be there for backup. I'll stay in the shadows, if you want."

Merlin nodded. "Thank you." He gave in, obviously realizing that he couldn't talk Harry out of it, and he would probably be helpful.

The closer they came to the Troll's hideout, the worse the fabled smell became. "This is worse than Mountain Troll!" Harry muttered, covering his face with his sleeve.

"What about those things?" Merlin asked, only catching a bit of his comment.

"Some friends of mine knocked one out with it's club, at Hogwarts." Harry grinned. He would have so much fun telling Ron and Hermione this!

Merlin gaped. Harry motioned to something - someone - past Merlin's back. Harry himself in the shadows as promised. Harry cursed himself as his friend was trapped behind a wall of rock, and quickly ran up to it to try and get him out. "Merlin!" he yelled, "Merlin!"

"'-O aft- -er!" Harry heard, and replied with, "I can't understand you! I'm going to get this rock out of the way!"

Harry stepped back for a moment. In another situation, he'd simply take apart the rock wall one by one, but they were somewhat pressed for time. And that was when he realized he wasn't alone.

"Who's this? Another little human trying to foil my perfect wedding?" Said the troll with a cackle, who must have heard his shouts and come back.

"Oh, you're this Lady Catrina everyone's been speaking of? I thought you were supposed to be pretty!" Harry said, dodging out of the way as the troll cast a spell.

"And who are you, human?" The troll shot another hex at him, burning a good portion of the wall behind him.

"Oh, I'm nobody. Just... Lancelot," Harry grinned. Hopefully there wasn't actually a Sir Lancelot here, because whoever that was would probably be in trouble if Harry couldn't beat this stupid, intelligent troll.

Now he was using another false name, did he dare use magic? Harry narrowly avoided a swing of the trolls fist and decided that yes, he did need magic. He shot a blasting hex at her, raising his hand in a manner that reminded him of using his wand.

"Ooh, Lancelot has magic! This could be an interesting tidbit for the King to hear. But I do have somewhere to be." She snarled, "And I'm afraid you can't come!" With a word that sounded like gibberish to Harry, he fell to the ground and knew no more.

"Draco? Draco! HARRY!" he heard, and opened his eyes to see Merlin leaning over him. "Harry, we've got to go! It's morning, the wedding is today, it's starting!"

Harry shot up, ignoring his recently acquired light-headedness in an attempt to keep his balance - and ultimately failing.

"What happened? Merlin, my head hurts." Harry groaned.

"Well, I'd expect it to." Merlin said, startling Harry. Right, Harry had forgotten he couldn't use his friend's name as an expression. "What did the troll do to you?" Merlin helped Harry to his feet again, waiting for a response.

Harry took a few seconds, blinking. "Knocked me out, obviously. Come on, we'll be late!" His own yell seemed a bit too loud in his ears.

Harry and Merlin ran into the hallway, intent on crashing the wedding in their sleepless, most-likely-concussed states.

"The wedding, boys, is by invitation only." A creepy man, that Harry realized must be this Jonas, grinned. "And you aren't invited."

Harry turned so he could speak quietly to Merlin, "Honestly? Not invited? Is that the best he could do?"

Merlin gave him a look. "Not the time." But he grinned quickly, continuing in an undertone. "Will you distract him? I need to get in."

Harry nodded. "Jonas, I sincerely hope that that was not your best joke. Not invited? Really?"

Jonas scowled, and blasted Harry into the wall. "Ow! Gosh, I've already been knocked out in the last twenty-four hours. Hey! Why don't you look at me when I'm complaining to you! It's bad enough that I missed -" Jonas finally stopped staring at him strangely, and returned to what he considered the biggest threat - Merlin, who was now unlocking the door. "Oi!" Pea Brain!" Harry said, picking up an unlit candle and throwing it at him. "Always wanted to say that." Harry smiled fondly, remembering his friend.

Jonas turned around, growling dangerously, just as Merlin stepped into the room.

Faintly, they heard the awaited words, "I now pronounce you Husband and Wife." Seeing his clear victory, Jonas grinned evilly.

"Aw crap." Harry said. Merlin panted from his run, standing in the back of the room, catching Gaius's questioning gaze. Harry looked up at the new couple and winced.

_-*-_

Harry and Merlin were in Harry's room, and Merlin was frantically pacing. "You might want to tell Arthur." Harry mentioned.

Merlin shook his head. "When it comes to important stuff, like this? He'd think I was joking. He already thought I was joking about the troll, yesterday. Why don't we both go?"

"Because that helped so much last time." Harry muttered in an undertone. "Alright. We'll go."

Merlin and Harry waked carefully slowly to Arthur's rooms. It may have been silly, but they wanted to be sure they weren't stopped. They didn't want to lose before they started.

Walking around the corner, they saw the prince with two castle guards flanking him. "Arthur! Thank goodness. I need to tell you somet- What's going on?" Merlin looked at Arthur's grave face.

Harry saw the look shared between them. Even if Merlin didn't realize, Arthur was apologizing. His jaw tightened and he said, "Guards. Arrest him."

"What?" Merlin looked honestly confused, then his face turned to one of horror. "Arthur?"

Harry winced. This wasn't good. He looked at Merlin, who was currently panicking, and gave him a conspiratorial wink.

Merlin calmed slightly, knowing what the wink meant. 'I'm here to help you, if you need it.'

"What is it Merlin's accused of doing?" Harry said lightly, trying not to let his frustration show.

"Stealing the Queens seal." Arthur said shortly.

"Seal? What does that mean? Merlin's been with me for most of the time, and he didn't have a seal." Harry said helpfully.

"Maybe that was the problem, Draco. I've barely seen my manservant for the last few days. If you hadn't been interfering with his duties, maybe he wouldn't have gotten accused." Arthur turned on him with a hard stare.

"Arthur, he was trying to help you. We both were. See, you have to believe me, and Merlin, when we tell you that your Stepmother is actually a troll."

Arthur shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous. I understood Merlin, he was being... well, Merlin. But you?"

Harry sighed. "If you believe it or not, know that she's just out for gold. I hope you don't see that too late." Harry walked away.

Harry took a winding route to Gaius's, stopping at the library briefly, chatting with Morgana to update her on recent events. Harry saw a worried Gwen walk by. "Gwen." He nodded to her. She was walking away from Gaius's. Time to go.

At the door, he could hear, "You can come out now, Merlin." Harry stepped in, just in time to see Merlin jump out of a barrel.

"Great hiding place." Harry said with a smile.

Merlin laughed, "Not so comfortable, though. And if you couldn't convince Arthur," Harry shook his head. Gaius continued, "Then we need to figure out a plan."

Harry looked with disgust at the identical bottles of green goop, unable to keep himself from remembering Polyjuice Potion.

"I cannot believe I agreed to help with this." Harry muttered.

Merlin shot a disgusted look at him, "At least you volunteered."

"Oh stop whining. We need to know if it tastes right." Gaius said.

Outside the Court Physicians chambers, Arthur ambled by, 'searching' very, very hard for his escaped manservant.

"Ah!"

"My god, that's disgusting!"

"I can't even believe you let me put that in my mouth!"

Arthur had no idea what was happening in his manservant's rooms. But frankly, he didn't want to.

Arthur soon had worse problems than what went on in Merlin's chambers. His father was taxing the people more, and Arthur had to openly defy him to keep his people from starving. Now his father decided he wasn't trustworthy enough and made Queen Catrina his heir.

Merlin, Gaius and Harry were discussing this new development in Gaius's chambers. "We have to plant the fake potion before the coronation." Merlin noted. "If I go, and Har- Draco makes sure Catrina's not in the rooms, we should be able to do it."

Gaius nodded. "As long as you two are careful."

_-*-_

The plan went on without a hitch - Harry gave Merlin a seven-minute period in which to get in, place the bottle, and get out, while he 'humbly introduced himself' to the Queen, rambling about how horrible it was that he was unconscious through her arrival and wedding, and that he was 'sure to be there' for her 'lovely coronation.'

She had smiled at him, asked his name, and ultimately forgotten what he said, walking off in a different direction.

Which was the entire point, really.

_-*-_

The coronation was an... interesting affair. Harry caught Morgana's eye when the troll screamed for the crown, and gave her a secret grin, which she returned.

Then Lady Catrina ran away, and Harry had to follow in sheer astonishment. How in the world did Uther not realize that his wife was slowly turning to a troll? Harry hid behind Morgana, (idly noticing he was tall enough to need to duck down slightly) as the creature revealed her true colours - mostly green and brown.

Morgana yelled, "Somebody help her!" And turned back to see Harry, who shook his head, grinning victoriously.

Arthur was quite distraught when his father couldn't see sense, even after the Queen was uncovered as a "stinking troll!"

Harry wished Merlin was there. Or that he had popcorn, (Which looked even more unlikely than Merlin suddenly appearing, because it probably hadn't been invented yet.)

_-*-_

An hour later, after Merlin was safely hidden in Gaius's rooms, and Harry had gotten over the asking advice of a talking-dragon part of the plan (Dragons can talk?) Harry followed the blue-eyed boys directions to the Dragon's prison.

"Hello?" Harry yelled, holding a 'Lumos' light into the dark cavern, only feeling a little silly to be calling to air.

Harry heard giant wing beats, and felt the wind it caused as the dragon lowered itself down to a convenient rock.

"Hi!" Harry yelled to it. "Merlin sent me."

The dragon looked at him questioningly. "Who are you? I have not heard of you before."

"That's funny. A talking dragon and he sounds like Olivander." Harry continued to answer his question, assuming a blank face, "I'm Lord Draco, Merlin's friend. He's currently a fugitive, so I offered to come ask for your help in his stead."

The dragon looked at him carefully. "No, that is not who you are. Don't lie to me, little sorcerer. What is your real name?"

Harry sighed. "My name is Harry. And I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to stop Uther from destroying your future. He's gone and married a troll."

"Uther has married a troll?" Harry had to wait for a minute while the dragon full-out laughed. "Was it a very public affair?"

"I was knocked out for most of it, I wouldn't know. And we have no idea how to stop it. She's back in troll-form, but Uther must've been put under a spell, because he doesn't even notice."

"What's the problem? I think it's quite amusing." The dragon chuckled again.

"Not when she's in control of Camelot when Uther dies." Harry said sharply.

"Of course, Harry, you are right. I will tell you how to get rid of her, in exchange for some information."

Harry stiffened. "What do you want to know?"

The dragon looked at Harry with unveiled interest. "You, Harry, are a mystery. I know nothing about you, and you have been friends with Emrys for many weeks. Where are you from, who are you, and what are your intentions?"

Harry sighed.

"Where I am from is a complicated question. The easy answer is Surrey, England."

"And the hard answer?" The dragon pressed.

"The twentieth century, AD."

The dragon looked shocked. "A time traveller? Oh I haven't seen one of those in a long time."

"So you've seen one?"

"Years ago, yes."

Harry pressed on excitedly, giving the Dragon a brief background on Hogwarts, then explaining the task, the potion -

"You found a random magic potion labelled 'Eyes of Emrys?' And then you drank it?" The Dragon looked at him like he was insane.

"We don't have time for this! You know enough about me to be sure I mean well for Merlin, I need to know how to fix Uther!"

The Dragon sighed. "Alright. Troll magic is very strong, and the only way currently known to break it is for the victim to cry tears of true remorse."

"Right." Harry nodded.

"How do I do that?"

_-*-_

"Uther has to cry tears of true remorse." Harry stated, closing the door with a light click.

"True remorse? About what? He's not remorseful at all!" Merlin exclaimed.

"Wait." Gaius said. "Arthur. He may not be on the best terms with his father right now, but Uther loves him more than anything else in the world."

_-*-_

"Arthur."

"Arthur!"

"Who's there?" Arthur swung his sword towards the voice below the bed.

Merlin slipped his head out from under the bed. "It's me, Merlin."

"Merlin! You came back!" Arthur lowered his sword to his side.

"I never left!" Merlin said cheerfully.

"Do you mean to say you were under there that whole time?" Arthur raised his sword threateningly, "Because if you were..."

Harry, who was standing outside the door, chuckled, faintly hearing Merlin's frantic denial. What was so scary about a Merlin under his bed? Was there something he didn't want him to hear?

Gaius gave him a look, hearing his chuckle. Then, hearing Merlin start to talk again, they walked in.

"You guys want to poison me." Arthur said blankly.

"No," Merlin said from the corner, obviously having been put to work. "Well, only temporarily."

Arthur looked at Gaius for confirmation, and Harry cut in, "Don't worry, if the antidote is supplied within a thirty-minute period, you'll be just fine." Gaius shot him an annoyed look.

"Antidote? Since when was there an antidote?"

Merlin shrugged. "I didn't think it was important. But don't worry, I've got it right here." Merlin held up the glass vial.

"Oh, that makes me so much more at ease." Arthur muttered. "If this is the only way, to get my father back in his right mind, I'll do it." Arthur continued bravely, accepting the potion/poison from Gaius, who looked quite irate at this point.

"I will go alert the king." Gaius said shortly. "Draco, you stay here and make sure the King cries. Merlin, hide, and Arthur, you should take it now." Gaius left.

"Well, wish me luck Draco." Arthur said, and drank the poison in one gulp.

He stood there, shrugging, for a few moments, then fell back, eyes rolling into his head.

Harry caught him, carefully lowering him to the ground, waiting for Uther.

When Uther ran in a half minute later, Harry was in the corner, wide eyes and frightened at the scene of the apparently suicidal prince. Uther ran to Arthur, "My son, my son! I pushed you too hard..."

Harry saw the troll Queen walk through the doors, seeing what was happening.

He quickly halted her progress with a silent stunner, making her pause for a few moments, then quickly move forward to stop the King.

But she came too late. The kings face was shining with tears, and he looked up at her with hate.

"What is this?" He muttered, horrified.

The Troll lunged at him, but was stopped by guards. Seeing that they had this in hand, Harry ran out to find Merlin.

Where was he? Harry ran across the hall, pausing at a broken vase, and saw Merlin at the bottom of some stairs.

"Harry," he called. "It's broken."

"Hurry!" Was all Harry replied, seeing him soak up the antidote with his neckerchief.

As Merlin ran to Arthur, Harry looked around, to see who had dropped the vase in the first place. "Jonas!" Harry realized.

"Draco?" Harry heard from around the corner, and a sleepy looking Morgana appeared. Right, her rooms were just around the corner. She must have heard them yelling, and come to figure out what was happening.

"Morgana! It's been an eventful night. Come see."

Harry grinned, guiding her by the hand to Arthur's chambers. When the arrived, they saw a bunch of dead guards, Arthur and Uther standing next to one another, and Merlin, off to the side, grinning wildly at the dead Troll.

"What just happened?" Morgana said faintly.

"I'll explain later." Harry said. "Look! The troll is dead!"

_-*-_

The next afternoon, after everyone took a deserved lie-in, Merlin and Arthur were walking along the hall, followed distantly by Harry and Morgana.

"So I see you had quite the hand in this." Morgana said.

"Oh, not really..." Harry said easily. "It was more Gaius and Merlin."

Morgana smiled. "Still, thank you. Otherwise we'd still have that for a queen."

Harry laughed. "She was quite a sight. I mean, she must look nice to other trolls, but the warts were kind of a turn-off."

Morgana smiled, looking slightly up to meet Harry's gaze properly. "You, Draco, are quite insane, I don't know how I stand it." She hugged him quickly, grinning widely as he hugged her back.

Harry muttered to her jokingly, "And is insanity a bad thing? I've not gone sane, have I? Tell me I'm still normal! Please, Morgana, save me!" He said, pretending to be terrified.

Morgana held him at arms length. "No," She looked at him mock-inquisitively, looking for Harry's sanity, "No sanity anywhere, but I'll admit, you've gotten along quite well without it."

On the other end of the hall, Harry saw Merlin try to hug Arthur, and watched as Arthur stepped back, horrified. He snorted lightly, pointing it out to Morgana.

She chuckled, watching them lower their arms in unison.

"Alright, you may not be sane, but I can at least count on your lack of stupidity. They look ridiculous."

Harry and Morgana walked away from the pair, arms linked and laughing madly.

Chapter Word Count: 4264

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