Ancient Help (A Harry Potter and Merlin Crossover)

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Return of Lancelot

Hermione luxuriously stretched her arms above her head and released a humongous yawn. Today, albeit a little uneventful, sure made her tired. The usual chores seemed to have doubled, but the brunette did not even voice out a single complaint. She thought that she'd rather choose her chores over doing nothing at all.

She had also planned to widen her knowledge about her magic, but in the end, she was not able to have a free time. After the Lamia fiasco, Hermione thought it would be best to read more about how she could manipulate her magic. She was undoubtedly embarrassed with that moment of weakness; she was, after all, the brightest witch of her age.

'I wonder if Gwen is already home,' she thought, now casually strolling towards her house. Upon seeing that lights were flicking inside, she grinned. It had been a while ever since she and Gwen had talked about, well, girly things. Tonight might probably be the perfect chance to do so.

Before she could enter the house, though, a hand clutched her arm and pulled her away. She was pulled flush against a chest and she tensed, instantly squirming away and almost stretching out her arm in alarm. Hermione darkly scowled upon seeing Merlin's blue, amused eyes.

"Don't do that!" she furiously whispered, crossing her arms petulantly.

Merlin merely chuckled and clutched her arm once again, this time gently pulling her towards him. "Shh..." he said, fondly tucking a stray strand behind her ear. "They might hear you."

"What?" she asked, knitting her eyebrows in confusion.

"Just do not go inside yet," he said, now holding both of her shoulders and steering her towards one of the windows.

She was about to ask him to elaborate, but when her eyes fell at the two figures inside the house, her jaw slackened. Inside, Arthur was kneeling down, his hand humbly clutching Gwen's shaking one. The said maidservant had tears welling at the corner of her eyes, but Hermione was absolutely sure the tears were nowhere near sad.

Her jaw then closed and a wide smile stretched on her face when Gwen vigorously nodded her head and bent down to hug Arthur.

The King of Camelot asked her to marry him.

The maidservant accepted.

"About time, eh?" Merlin whispered, his warm breath lightly tickling her cheek.

The brunette craned her neck and looked at him. He, too, was sporting a humongous smile, absolutely happy for the sealed fate of his two, closest friends.

She reached for his hand and tightly squeezed it, prompting his smile to grow wider.

"I believe it is," she whispered, turning at the scene once again and happily smiled.

__________

Agravaine entered Morgana's hovel, his grave news burdening his heart.

He balled his hands into fist, still silently enraged of the rash decision that Arthur, the King of Camelot, had done when it came to the matters of his heart. He, of all people, should have known who the people beneath him were. But no, he had let his blasted heart do the deciding and now, the future of Camelot was at stake.

When he entered, Morgana raised an eyebrow at the hard look on his face. "I trust that things are not going smoothly back in Camelot, my lord," she said, slowly sitting down on one of the stools in the house. "The expression on your face speaks volumes."

Agravaine took a deep breath and grimaced. "Arthur asked your previous maidservant's hand for marriage, my lady," he softly revealed, gradually getting nervous as Morgana's expression changed after every word that he said. "I tried to tell him the disadvantages of doing so, but the king is too stubborn and persistent." He lightly scowled in disgust, recalling Arthur's words. "Apparently, his love for Guinevere is too great to be extinguished, Morgana."