Well, that was fun! I'm really enjoying this story. It allows me to watch Merlin for a third time! I know I can watch it more because I did in fact watch the entire series, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, six time through... That's a lot. Continuing! I have a longer chapter here for you! Another note, thank you for the reviews! I really enjoy reading them. Gives me many ideas! ENJOY!

"Italics are signing."

Disclaimer: the two magnificent stories I am writing about are not mine... Sad I know.

Chapter 7

Hermione and Merlin were up bright and early, like usual. It took her less time to get ready because of a spell she created to clean hair, clothes and skin. She was bored and getting tired of the trouble with washing her hair and laundry so she decided to make a spell to do it all for her. Merlin always shook his head and said she would get fat if she kept being lazy. She just told him that she would then be sitting on her fat arse watching him do the laundry. It was an ongoing tease, but they found it funny. Hermione slipped on her scarf, gloves, dagger and boots and did the spell.

She then felt fresh and clean so she waved goodbye to Merlin and left him to get dressed. She went down to the main room and found Gaius cooking. She sat down at the table with the three chairs set up and stayed silent. She didn't think Gaius even noticed her presence. Merlin soon walked out and Gaius did turn to the noise of Merlin clunking down the stairs loudly. She shook her head, but Merlin didn't notice. He was focused on the food that was being served into a bowl. Hermione snorted, it looked like slop. She couldn't do much better, but wow. Gaius turned to Merlin and said brightly, "ah, Good Morning Merlin! I got you some water. You forgot to wash last night."

Merlin nodded and sat down to the bowl of slop and crinkled his nose. "Good morning to you too Hermione." She nodded in greeting and Hermione spotted Gaius going to knock over the bucket. She didn't stop him, she knew he was trying to test Merlin's abilities. He knocked over the bucket and Merlin's eyes lit gold and the bucket and water stopped midair. Gaius looked to Merlin wide-eyed and Merlin dropped the bucket. Before any of it could hit the ground, Hermione froze it with a flash of golden eyes and Merlin took a breath. "Thanks." Hermione smiled and put the water back in the bucket and levitated it onto the table. Gaius sighed and said, "truly amazing." Hermione beamed at Merlin and he blushed. "Well! Until you find some work, run some errands for me." Merlin nodded and Gaius held two vials out to him. He pointed to one and told Merlin, "this goes to Lady Percival." Then pointed to the vial full of yellow liquid and said "and this goes to Sir Olwen. He's as blind as a weevil so don't let him take it all at once." Merlin nodded and took the vials. The one to Lady Percival was snatched from his hand by Hermione and she told him, "I'll deliver this and you take that. I'll meet you there." She walked out of the room and Merlin sighed. He turned to Gaius and bid him goodbye.

He walked through the large halls of the castle. It really was a beautiful castle. The walls were stone and lit brightly with stained glass windows. He needed to get to a lower level so he took the stairs down. He looked for the right door when he got down and knew it was the right one when he saw Hermione there waiting. She was sipping a cup of tea? How was that even possible! He walked up to her and she held out a sandwich for him. His stomach grumbled and he smiled gratefully.

Before taking the sandwich he knocked on the door and an old man opened it. His eyes were half closed and wrinkles covered his face. He stood in a hunch and Merlin held out the man's medicine and told him, "I have your medication." The man held out his hand completely away from the bottle so Merlin guided his hand over to it and Sir Olwen took it gratefully. Merlin turned to leave when he remembered, Gaius's instructions. He turned around and started, "oh, Gaius said to not-" he stopped when he noticed the bottle was empty and the man was looking at him oddly.

"Should be fine" Merlin said hopefully. The door was closed and Hermione passed him his sandwich and she continued sipping her tea. Merlin took a bite and turned to his sister, "he will be alright?" She nodded. Merlin thought for a moment and whispered to her, "I heard a voice saying my name this morning. Was it you?" She shook her head and told him, "I he-ard it too." They both stopped and thought about it. They were standing in a hall that had large open windows leading to the courtyard. Hermione took a last sip of her tea and threw it over her shoulder and it to smash into the courtyard. Merlin tisked at his sister and told her, "you can't do that in a castle." She smirked to him and signed, "already did."

He snorted and they walked together, just touring the castle. Hermione told him some facts she knew of the castle and he ate it all up. They finally ended their little tour at the training grounds where there were a group of men training. They walked up and could hear one of the men ordering around what Merlin guessed would be a servant. The servant was being used as target practice and Merlin knew it wasn't right. The men were laughing and having a jolly good time throwing daggers at the servant. Merlin looked to Hermione and could see the anger on her face. The servant dropped the shield and it rolled over to Merlin. He put his foot on the shield and the group looked up to him and Hermione. Merlin smiled kindly and said just as kindly, "alright, that's enough."

The head of the group, who was a tall and bulky blonde who stood proud with superiority, walked up to Merlin and asked, "what?" Merlin, still smiling replied, "you've had your fun, my friend." The man looked incredulous and asked, "do I know you?" Merlin held his hand out for a greeting and replied, "no, I'm Merlin."

"So I don't know you?"

"Uh, no. I guess not."

"Yet you call me your friend."

"That was a mistake."

"Yes. Yes it was."

"I could never have a friend that's such an ass."

Hermione slapped her face and muttered at Merlin's stupidity. Did he not know who he was insulting? The man replied smartly, "Nor I a friend so stupid." Merlin turned back around and Hermione wanted to kill both of them. "Tell me Merlin. Do you know how to walk on your knees?" Merlin replied "No." So the brute walked up to him and said haughtily, "Would you like me to help you practice?" Merlin stepped forward and shook his head, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Hermione glared at him. Merlin knew very well he couldn't protect himself. He wanted her to beat up this man because he was sure she could. She probably could, but that wasn't the point. The blonde scoffed and held out his arms, "Go on then. Try and hit." When Merlin didn't move, the man goaded him on further and said, "C'mon."

Merlin took a swing and as soon as the brute touched Merlin, her instincts kicked in and she grabbed the blondes hand, twisted it and pushed him to the ground all while grabbing his sword from his holster and when he was on the ground, she held the sword to his throat while her hand held his twisted one and her foot was on his other arm, holding him down.

She had locked him in a position so if he moved, he would break his arm or get impaled by the sword. The men in the background had pulled their swords and Merlin stood there wide-eyed. He didn't think Hermione would actually protect his stupid self. The man under Hermione couldn't even speak as she lifted the sword as if to impale him and the men were ready to attack her, but she pushed the sword next to his head instead of inside of it. She helped him up, but made sure he was farther away from Merlin. She gave a small bow and turned to Merlin.

She signed to her dumbfounded brother, "you just insulted Prince Arthur of Camelot! Apologize!" Merlin's eyes widened and Arthur was extremely confused. He had just been taken down by a girl half his weight and almost a head shorter than him. Merlin didn't apologize so Hermione sighed and turned to the Prince. She didn't want to speak. It was just awkward. So, she just gave him an apologetic smile and turned an angry face to Merlin. Arthur saw her making wild movements with her hands and Merlin shrunk back every second.

She went over to him and pulled him behind her by his ear and he could do nothing, but yell, "ow, ow, ow, ow! Devil! That hurts! I'm sorry! I didn't know he was royal!" The men watched as she just tugged him harder and they disappeared from view. Arthur turned slowly to his Knights and said in a low voice, "we never speak of this again." They nodded and continued training. The thing that was stuck in all their minds was, 'who were the knew folks that dare stand up to the Prince?'

Meanwhile, Hermione dragged Merlin all the way to Gaius's chambers and he felt as if his ear was going to fall off. When they got to Gaius, she furiously wrote a note to the olden man and passed it to him. When he was done reading the note, Merlin could see that he now had two very pissed off people and their anger was aimed at him. "Merlin! You are the one person who should keep your head down and what do you do? You pick a fight with the Prince! I should have you put in the stocks for this." Hermione's face lit up and and she looked extremely evil at that point.

She wrote another note and Gaius nodded, "well, yes. You could get him put in the stocks. Shall I go ask for permission?" Hermione looked at Merlin evilly and nodded. Gaius smirked as well and off he went. "Oh, no. Please don't. My ear is already killing me. Please Hermione, I'm sorry." She shook her head and grabbed his shirt. She lead him out to the stocks and waited for Gaius to come and give Hermione the all good to punish her little brother for putting her in a position that dangerous. Merlin was trying to plead with her, but like her namesake, she gave no mercy. Gaius came up to them and gave them the all good. A crowd of people began to form, ready to throw rotten vegetables. Hermione locked him in and flashed her red eyes at him. "Have fun, idiot." Before she left, she took the neckerchief and bounded away. She laughed maniacally and left the people to throw their food.

Merlin was getting pelted with rotten foods and he honestly felt he learned his lesson. He would still show the prat a lesson if the chance arose though. His sister just stood and laughed and when the people started to leave because they had run out of food, he sighed in relief. That is, until his sister went up to the stand and held a tomato in each hand. "I've learned my lesson, Devil. Please don't." She just shook her head and threw a tomato. It exploded before it reached him and covered him in tomato guts. She did the same with the other one, but aimed it at his boots. He was covered in tomato now and she and Gaius laughed. He saw Hermione sit down and wait for more people. She was going to enjoy this.

Merlin was praying to whoever was listening to get him out of the situation when someone cleared their throat beside him. He turned his head and looked into the eyes of a beautiful girl. Her skin was dark olive and had dark brown hair in a mess of curls. She wore a regular woman's dress and a red cloak. She smiled and greeted him, "I'm Guinevere. My friends call me Gwen."

Merlin reached out his hand the best he could and she took it. "I'm Merlin. Also known as idiot."

"No, I saw what you did."

Merlin sighed and replied, "oh, that, that was stupid."

"No! No, I thought it was very brave."

"Really?"

"Yes, but I'm glad you had someone there to help you."

Merlin looked to a smiling Hermione and replied to Gwen, "my sister? I'm not glad she was there. She's the one who put me in here."

"Why?"

"She can't yell at me that much, so she needs to express her disappointment in me in other...creative ways."

"Can't yell at you?"

Merlin didn't realize he'd said that. He looked to Hermione nervously because he knew she could hear the whole conversation. Hermione just rolled her eyes and motioned him to continue. Merlin looked back to Gwen and said, "yeah, she can't speak."

Gwen looked a bit awkward and said, "oh, what happened."

Merlin shook his head and replied, "can't say."

Gwen was going to ask why, but was interrupted by people coming back with more food to throw. He held up a hand and said, "uh, sorry to cut the chat short, but my fans are back."

Gwen laughed and left as Merlin was being pelted with food again. Hermione had continued to enjoy her brothers embarrassment. Gaius had left a while ago to make lunch.

It was an hour later when Hermione finally took pity on Merlin and stopped the onslaught of food coming his way. Hermione knew the Prince was watching and didn't want him to enjoy too much of Merlin's embarrassment, just so he could use it as teasing. Once Merlin was free, he did the only thing he could think of and gave her a big hug. The people laughed at the two as they threw the food littering the ground at each other. It was like watching jesters. They finally stopped when they were both covered in food. They continued to smile even as they walked back to the castle. All the while, Arthur stood watching the two's antics. He found their sort of bond extremely unique. Arthur knew she was the one to put Merlin in the stocks, yet they held no grudge after Merlin was humiliated. Arthur would never admit it to anyone, but he was envious. He quickly turned around and walked away.

Merlin and Hermione walked back to Gaius's chambers and the Court Physician sighed when he saw the two of them. "I thought you were trying to punish him?" Hermione just smiled and shrugged. She snapped her fingers and she was free of food guts, but Merlin was left filthy. "Punishment" Hermione said and pointed to Merlin. He glared at her half heartedly, but she ignored him. The two sat down for lunch and Gaius had a bowl of chopped vegetables. He pushed towards Merlin and asked, "vegetables?" Hermione snorted and Merlin rolled his eyes. Merlin and Gaius chatted with Hermione just listening and putting input in when she could. After lunch, Gaius called Merlin over to do an errand. Once Merlin left to take a potion to Lady Helen, the singer for the next night's feast, Hermione decided to go to the Cave of Dreams and set it up for her stay there. She planned to add another two rooms. One for potions and the other for a bed. It would take maybe three or four hours, but she needed a place to stay. So, Hermione went off to the floo and told Gaius to tell Merlin where she went. She loved having a floo. No one knew how to use it and that was fantastic. Gaius had tried to get her to tell him how it worked, but she refused.

She plopped out in the other side and looked at their paradise. The sky shone bright and sunny with beautiful fluffy clouds. She looked down at her feet and saw the eager to greet Crookshanks who had missed his Hermione. Hermione smiled brightly and hugged her cat. She wanted to tell him that she'd be seeing him every night for sleep and he wouldn't be forgotten, but she couldn't. He would understand when she made a bedroom. Hermione set down her cat after a reunion and Hermione got to work. She went over to the wall beside the curving bookcase and put her hands on it. She was getting a feel for what was behind it. It was just solid rock and she was grateful for that. She needed to be careful though. One wrong move and the whole place could collapse. She closed her eyes and felt for her magic. She sent it through the stone and let it eat away at it, creating a perfectly square room. It took an hour for her magic to finish eating away at the rock and she finally opened her eyes to reveal the room. That took a lot of energy, but she needed a potions lab. She went over to the other side of the large bookshelf and did the same process, except that time, she made the room a bit bigger which made the project two hours. She let go of the stone and called back her magic. She wiped the sweat from her brow and continued on. She grabbed a sleeping bag and four matches and went to her bedroom. She set the matches in the middle of the ground, closest to the wall in front of her and focused on the picture in her mind. The matches stretched and grew to form a bed frame. It was normal and sized for a full bed. She would carve designs into it if she was ever bored. She set the sleeping bag on to top of it and created a mattress. It was comfortable. She took some fabric swatches from her pocket that she had been ripping from people's clothes all day and placed a nice red one on the bed and enlarged it to a fluffy comforter. She made two black fabrics into pillows and took another black one and turned it into a rug. She went over to the left side of the room and made an artificial window. It had the same effect on it as the ceiling in the main room. She put some black and red curtains on it and left that room with the final touch of a wooden side table with a candle and white rose in a vase. Crookshanks hopped on the bed and she knew then that he understood that she would be staying the night there every night. She smiled at the feline and walked out of the newly formed room.

Hermione went over to the other room and brought out more matches. She created two long tables on the left side of the room and two long shelves above the tables. Then, she added another bookshelf, but bigger and let it stand on the floor. She put that on the left side of the room. Her final touch to the room was a couch and a fireplace on the left side of the room. Just in case she needed to sit and watch a potion carefully. She made the couch red with black trimming. She didn't know why she went with that color scheme, but she did. She also placed a black rug in the middle of the room. Hermione then went out of the room and grabbed any books on the original bookshelf that had to do with potions. She placed those in the Potion's room and then created vials to put on the shelves above the potions. She took cauldrons from her satchel and placed two on each table with a burner and a cutting board. As well as knives and other tools. Then it was done, a potion maker's dream. She stepped out and added doors with her two remaining matchsticks and sighed. That took her almost five hours! Magic wasn't that fast and it drained a lot of energy. She wasn't dead tired like she would have been before, but that was because of the extra magic she gained from being blood related to Merlin.

Before Hermione left, she gave one last hug to her cat and kissed his head. She loved Crookshanks and couldn't wait to let him loose on Camelot. They wouldn't know what hit them! She set the cat down and waved goodbye. She stepped into the fire place and floo'd back to Gaius's chambers. When she got there, she was surrounded by a feeling of self doubt and depression. She looked to Gaius who was sitting at a table with head in hands and a depressed look. She knew Merlin did something. She stormed up to Gaius and slammed her hands on the table. A growl escaped her lips and she struggled to keep original eye color. The Physician jumped and she narrowed her eyes at him. "What...happened" she ground out. Gaius sighed and replied, "him and Arthur got in a scuffle down in the market and Merlin used magic in public. I told him magic was to be mastered and cherished, not to be used for silly pranks." Hermione growled at that and wanted to tell the man that he told Merlin wrong. Magic could be used however wanted, but to use it responsibly is what makes a great sorcerer. Hermione stormed off and stepped into Merlin's room and closed the door. Merlin was sitting down, facing away from her and she stepped closer. "Go away, Hermione."

She just rolled her eyes and sat in front of him. She waited for him to look up at her and he did so. His face was flushed and there was still frustration on his face. She took his hand and held it. "I was disrespectful to magic." Hermione shook her head and Merlin looked confused she dropped his hand and signed to him, "what do I always tell you about magic?" Merlin looked down and mumbled, "magic can be used however the user sees fit, but to use it with responsibly is what makes a sorcerer great." Hermione nodded and smiled at him. She lifted his head and signed, "I used to have two friends that loved to prank people with magic. It made them and people around them happy. What made it alright was that they always used their gifts for good and to make people smile. They were always clever about it and were responsible with how they used magic. You can do great things with your magic, even if it's pranks, but you need to be responsible with it." Merlin nodded and Hermione smiled at him.

She sighed and signed, "time for bed. Celebrations are tomorrow." Merlin nodded and Hermione tucked him in. She stood up to leave and he grabbed her hand. She turned red eyes to him and he whispered, "stay. Just one last night." Hermione nodded. She kicked off her boots and pulled off her jacket. She untied her scarf and hung it from a hook carefully. Hermione laid down in front of him and they looked into each other's eyes. Hermione had enlarged his bed a bit. Just in case he ever felt the need for her to sleep there. He shifted and hissed in pain. Hermione sighed and sat up. She motioned with her finger for him to roll over and Merlin did so. She lifted his shirt to reveal the cut on his shoulder blade and growled. Merlin chuckled and said, "I deserved it, Devil. Don't go tearing the royal prat's head off." She sighed and placed her hand on the wound. He hissed in pain and she slapped his head while saying, "wuss." He grunted and she focused on healing the wound. She closed her eyes and focused on healing his skin. When she opened her eyes, the wound was newly healed, pink skin. She pulled his shirt back down and laid in front of Merlin again. He smiled and whispered, "best sister ever." She smiled back and whispered, "I know."

With that, they closed their eyes and went to sleep. They never heard Gaius creak open the door to see what was going on. Gaius had heard most of their conversation and thought it was interesting. Their bond was uncanny and completely unbelievable. In theses times, sister and brother weren't this close. Maybe it was the magic? That would explain it. Or maybe a soul bond? Two people who were meant to stand side-by-side, but not always as lovers. They had a sibling bond extremely close, though. Gaius exited the room as quietly as he came and sat on his bed. He extinguished the candles and thought to himself, 'maybe even I could learn things from Hermione.'

"Merlin"

Merlin and Hermione's eyes shot open. He whispered to her, "did you hear that?" She hesitantly nodded as the voice sounded again, "Merlin." Hermione and Merlin shot out of bed and looked around the room. Hermione closed her eyes and focused. The voice sounded again, and louder, "Merlin." Hermione's eyes shot open and she grabbed Merlin's hand and lead him quietly through Gaius's chambers. The man was snoring and loudly too. She stepped silently and Merlin...not so much. He ended up bumping a vial and it smashed on the floor. Hermione and Merlin stopped to see if Gaius would wake up, but the man just flipped over and continued snoring. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed Merlin's hand. She lead him on the safest route out the door and in a moment, they were free. Merlin closed the door quietly and looked to Hermione. She was listening for the voice again. It called out, "Merlin." Hermione's red eyes popped open and she signed quickly to Merlin, "it's coming from below the castle." Merlin nodded and racked his head for what it could be.

The two siblings rushed down and Merlin saw that Hermione forgot shoes, but didn't look like it bothered her. They sped through the halls as the voice kept calling to them. They finally reached the stairway to the dungeons and quietly went down the steps. They stopped at seeing guards below them, playing with dice. Merlin got an idea and when the dice hit the table next, Merlin threw it off to the side. The guards were confused and they tried to get the dice. Merlin made it go further and further away until they couldn't see the guards any longer. He looked back at Hermione, only to see she wasn't there. He looked back down and saw she was waiting at the doors and pretend yawning. Merlin groaned and whispered furiously, "how do you do that?" She motioned him to come closer as if to tell him a secret so he leaned in. She whispered in a fake amazed tone, "magic!" She even did the jazz hands and everything. Merlin sighed and Hermione chuckled.

The two went down a few flights of stairs that reached one wide stairway. It was lit with a single torch and from the depths below the stairs, the voice sounded, "Merlin." Merlin grabbed the torch beside them and lead them down the steps. When they reached the bottom there was a loud call of, "Merlin!" Hermione wanted to tell the voice to shut up, but that wasn't happening. They reached a winding opening that lead to a cave. An enormous cave with enough room a modern day airplane, Maybe more. It was just a cave, or so they thought. Merlin called out in the cave, "Hello! Is no one there?" Then, like from a book, flew this large dragon. It was faded gold and oldish looking. It landed on the mound of rocks in front of them. Merlin and Hermione took a step back. The sharp toothed dragon opened its mouth and spoke, "I'm here."

Hermione blinked a couple times. She stepped closer to the dragon and Merlin followed. She could only say one thing and that was, "holy shit." The dragon laughed and it eased the tension in the cave. She rode a dragon out of Gringotts and that thing was close to death! If they were always this wise then how on earth did they get stuck in taming processes? Hermione snapped out of her thoughts when the dragon said in a rusty booming voice, "such a small boy, for such a great destiny." Merlin looked confused and Hermione had an 'ah-ha' moment. This was where Merlin found his destiny about protecting the Prince to bring peace to magic users and non and create Albion. Merlin stuttered and asked, "destiny? What destiny?"

The dragon responded, "you were given theses gifts for a reason Merlin."

Merlin looked elated and he responded excitedly, "so, there is a reason?"

The dragon nodded and said, "of course there is a reason! Arthur is to be the king that unites Albion, but he faces many threats from friend and foe alike. He will need you to protect him."

Merlin shook his head furiously and said stubbornly, "no, no that's not right."

The dragon seemed to sigh and respond with a tone of finality, "there is no right or wrong. Just what is and what isn't. And it is your destiny to help Arthur create a better world."

Merlin, still set on the fact that Arthur was a no good royal ass, argued, "it can't be this Arthur, because this Arthur's an idiot."

The dragon laughed and flew off. Merlin shouted to him, "I want to know more!" The dragon was already gone though. Merlin looked to a thoughtful Hermione and left without a word. She stood for a moment and was surprised when the dragon flew back. He looked to Hermione and said to her, "your destiny is a great one as well, young one." Hermione stepped forward and the dragon continued, "Merlin cannot succeed without your guidance and protection. You need to lead him on the right path." Hermione cleared her throat and asked painfully, "I-is that why I w-as sent he-ere?" The dragon shook his head and responded, "you were always meant to be apart of this time and help Merlin, but you weren't. So, the fates decided to re-do time, but with you restored to your rightful place this time around." Hermione frowned thoughtfully and she gave a respectful bow to the dragon. She said the best she could, "I tha-ank you for your wisdom." And the dragon replied back, "so kind and noble. I hope to see you again." Hermione smiled and ran after her brother.

It was the next morning and people were losing their heads preparing for the celebrations. Hermione had let Merlin get to his duties while she just walked around and enjoyed the chaos. Some poorly confused servant handed her a tray of food and told her to go put it in the hall. She had been unconsciously helping everyone all day and now at the time of the celebrations, she was pushed into the dining hall with a pitcher of wine and ordered to serve everyone. She had no clue how anyone could have mistake her for a servant. She wore her regular attire and not a uniform. It was all strange.

So, she passed off the wine pitcher to a real server and headed towards Merlin who was making googly eyes at Lady Morgana...wait! Lady Morgana?! As in Morgana Le Fay? Hermione swiveled on the spot and just sort of gaped at her. Hermione felt magic coming from the King's ward, but it was faint. The magic wasn't evil either, it was just waiting to be released. Morgana hadn't found her magic yet? How odd. The stories must have derailed from the facts after years of re-tellings. Morgana caught her eye and she shut her mouth and did a respectful curtsey, then headed towards Merlin, who was then making googly eyes at Guinevere. Which Hermione knew would be a lost cause for her brother because she was the future queen of Camelot.

Hermione joined them and Merlin greeted her with a smile. She smirked evilly at him and signed, "she's not your type Merlin. Stop trying so hard I can almost see your desperation." Merlin blushed scarlet and Gwen was confused. She didn't understand how hand gestures could mean anything. Hermione cleared her throat and held out her hand to Guinevere. Gwen shook her hand and greeted, "Guinevere, but you can call me Gwen." Then Gwen realized her blunder and stumbled over her words. "I mean, you don't have to call me that, I mean you could, since you can't-"

she was cut off by Hermione putting a hand on her shoulder and smiling good naturally. Merlin chuckled and said, "Gwen, this is my sister Hermione. She takes little seriously, but won't hesitate to put me in the stocks." Hermione smiled proudly because she knew Merlin knew she would put him in the stocks again and she would be the first in line to throw a tomato. She let go of Gwen's shoulder and signed to Merlin, "aren't you supposed to be working?" Merlin was about to respond when the King entered and everyone went to their seats. Hermione and Merlin stood in the corner by the front table to listen to what the King had to say. He cleared his throat and went on a speech that was meant to flatter the singer and yadda yadda yadda. Hermione did tune in when she heard the introduction of, "Lady Helen of Mora." Hermione wracked her brain for a Lady Helen. She couldn't find anything. The beautiful woman came out on stage, tall and regal. Her dark hair was tied up and a necklace was hidden in her dress of orange and blue. She opened her mouth and out came the most beautiful singing voice Hermione had ever heard. It was calming, soothing and made her want to close her eyes and sleep. That is, until she noticed everyone else falling asleep. Hermione covered her ears and Merlin did the same.

They looked at each other with inquiring eyes as the room started to become dark. Majestic cobwebs grew from nothing and covered the crowd. Hermione had a feeling that the Lady Helen, who was walking towards the royals, was not who she seemed to be. Hermione caught a glance of a dagger being pulled from the woman's sleeve and Hermione gasped. Merlin saw it too and went into action by cutting the chain on the chandelier above her, and letting it drop on the woman. Her singing stopped and the people slowly woke up. Hermione and Merlin took their hands off their ears and watched them clear the cobwebs away. Hermione watched in horror as the woman pulled back her hand to throw the dagger at Arthur.

Two things happened at that moment. Merlin ran towards Arthur to get him out of the way of the flying dagger and Hermione had thrown her dagger at the woman's head. Merlin had gotten the Prince away while Hermione's dagger impaled the woman's head. There was silence as the group of people looked towards the killer of the witch and savior of the Prince. Hermione straightened up from her dagger throwing position and Merlin removed himself from Arthur. Uther walked up to Merlin and said gratefully, "you saved my son. You must be rewarded." Merlin turned down the offer, but the King insisted. "You shall have a position in the royal household." Merlin smiled excitedly, that is until the King declared, "you shall be Arthur's manservant." The crowd applauded and Merlin and Arthur looked absolutely downtrodden. Hermione snorted and patted Merlin on the back.

Uther then turned to Hermione and said, "and you!" She looked at him wide eyes and he continued, "shall be rewarded as well for slaying the sorceress. What would you request?" Hermione opened her mouth and closed it. She couldn't speak. She just shook her head and pointed to her dagger. All she wanted was her precious dagger back. A knight who was attending decided to get up and retrieve her dagger. It was the one and only, Sir Leon. Hermione took it with a grateful smile and put it back in her belt. She didn't like all the stares she was getting for refusing a gift from the king. So, she bowed her head respectfully and left. Just like that. Everything was silent for a moment until chatter started up again. Merlin excused himself from his new 'master' and went after his sister. He found her in the most unusual place. Sitting on a rafter close to the ceiling.

She was just staring at the floor. "Waiting to pounce on someone there, Devil?" Hermione chuckled and looked at Merlin with her red eyes. She really didn't know what to say. She had just killed a mother trying to hurt the man who had hurt her child. All the woman was doing was getting revenge for her boy and Hermione had taken that away. She knew Arthur couldn't die and the old woman would have died anyways, but it felt wrong. She signed to Merlin, "it didn't feel right." Merlin nodded and motioned for her to come down. She disappeared from view and reappeared next to Merlin. He jumped in surprise and said incredulously, "that's how you get around so fast?" She smirked and nodded. Merlin pouted and said, "not fair." She just patted his shoulder. Merlin took Hermione's hand and they walked back to Gaius's chambers hand in hand.

They waited an hour for Gaius to come back and when he did, he was holding an item wrapped in red. Hermione knew what it was. From spending her lifetime getting books as gifts, she could spot one. Gaius handed it to Merlin and told him, "I want you to be able to do magic, but you need to study it. So, I found you this." Merlin took the book and he ripped the cloth off. There, in his hands was a book of ancient magic. He flipped through the pages excitedly and looked to Gaius with joy filled eyes. "A book of magic!" Gaius chuckled and Hermione smiled. "Then, you must keep it somewhere safe" Gaius told him. Merlin nodded excitedly and kissed his sister on the cheek. "Goodnight, Hermione! See you tomorrow!" He then ran up to his room to look at his new book. Hermione smiled and looked to Gaius. She nodded gratefully to him and he did so back to her. Hermione then floo'd back to the Cave of Dreams and got ready for bed. Once she was laying down, her fluffy half-kneazle jumped on her bed and cuddled up next to her. She smiled and stroked her cat's fur. "Night Crooks," Hermione croaked. The feline just snuggled in closer and Hermione fell into a peaceful sleep thinking that life could never be normal...and she was alright with that.