Ancient Help (A Harry Potter and Merlin Crossover)

Chapter Seven: The Knights of Medhir

The sound of hooves reached Hermione's ears and she stood up from the forest ground, a curious look on her face. A basketful of herbs and spices was perched on her arm. Just then, she spied Prince Arthur, together with Merlin and some of his knights, moving northward away from Camelot.

"Hey!" she cried out, startling the travelling men.

Prince Arthur located her position immediately, a bewildered look on his face. All eyes then settled on Hermione and she unwittingly blushed, realizing that she had called all of them quite impolitely and therefore unladylike.

Brushing off this thought in mind, Hermione then trudged forward and approached the group. She caught Merlin's eyes and she smiled, immediately shifting to Prince Arthur's, who had been waiting for her a tad impatiently. "If I may ask," she started, "where are you going, sire?"

The prince sighed and said, "Father grew paranoid when he discovered about the smoke that had come out of Idirsholas." He looked behind his men and rolled his eyes. "And apparently, there was this myth about the Knights of Medhir. Preposterously, I was ordered together with my men to travel to Idirsholas to investigate."

"The Knighs of Medhir will ride again if the fires of Idirsholas burn," Merlin quickly added, an affronted look on his face. "Gaius said it might be true."

"Not everything Gaius says is true, Merlin," the prince snapped. Hermione almost smiled when the young warlock rolled his eyes behind the back of the prince. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some investigating to do."

"May I come?" she said unblinkingly. She had read somewhere about the Knights of Medhir and how they were enchanted by the sorceress named Medhir. Because of the powerful sorceress, the seven knights became terrifying and brought destruction with them. It was only Medhir's death that had stopped them from wrecking havoc, seeing that their animator had already died. Sounds absolutely dangerous – Hermione wanted to see them for herself.

It did not surprise her when Prince Arthur stared down at her incredulously. "I believe you already know what I answer I will give to that, Hermione," he pointed it out.

She lifted her chin, unwilling to yield. "Sire," she started, tired of how he underestimates her, "I can take care of myself."

A shout of incredulity escaped from the prince's lips. "Right," he claimed, prompting her to glare.

"I have saved you from the hippogriff once," she reminded him. It made her proud how his grin faltered. "You may never know; perhaps, there would be other magical creatures lurking around, waiting to pounce on their prince..."

From beside him, Merlin snorted. Prince Arthur turned around and glared darkly at his manservant. Merlin, on the other hand, innocently stared back and lifted his hands in defense. "I hate to say this, my lord, but she is right."

Arthur scowled then looked back at Hermione, annoyed at her triumphant grin. "What's this?" he angrily grumbled. "A female version of Merlin? Oh, what was I thinking when I took you in and pleaded for my father to give you work and shelter." He then proceeded to turn around and ordered his horse to start moving once again.

Merlin, still grinning, made a move to go down his horse but Hermione shook her head. "We've done this before and you gave me your horse," she said, giving him a smile. "I think I'd rather you keep it while I walk."

"You said it yourself, we've done this before," the manservant pointed out. "And I will still stand with my offer of giving you my horse, no matter what happens."

"MERLIN!" Arthur barked without turning around.

Hermione sighed and finally thought of an idea. "Can I ride at the back instead?" she hopefully asked. "In that way, both of us would still be riding the horse."