Ancient Help (A Harry Potter and Merlin Crossover)

Chapter Six: The Dragon's Warning

A/N: I'm terribly, terribly sorry for leaving this story unfinished for a long time. Rest assured, with quarantine and all, I can finally update this fic. 

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"And what, pray tell, are you doing here, girl?"

Hermione froze and slowly looked up from the book she was reading, a sheepish smile now growing on her face upon seeing the keeper of the library staring down at her in suspicion. "Umm... researching, sir," she lamely excused, knowing that any sound excuse she could come up would be easily dismissed.

Geoffrey of Monmouth lifted an eyebrow and Hermione sighed, knowing that she would kicked out of the library no matter what happens. It turned out that only those with the right permission, such as the members of the Court and the Royal Family, were the only people allowed to go inside the library to make, as what Hermione said, "researches".

"I'll be going now, sir, I apologize," she said, reluctantly returning the handwritten books in their proper places and leaving the royal library. She stared back at it, a forlorn look on her face, before staring back ahead in defeat.

Oh, how she was reduced to silence when she discovered from Guinevere that Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Geoffrey of Monmouth turned out to be the keeper of the royal library and the Court Genealogist. Now, Hermione understood how his works during the modern times were renowned because he was part of the court during Uther and possibly Arthur's future reign.

At first, she was awestruck to see the famous writer sitting on his worktable. But then, she snapped out of her stupor and sneaked inside, pulling books about magic she assumed that could help her with the peculiar thing that had happened during the departure of King Alined and the Jester.

Her irises had momentarily turned golden, and then returned back to their normal color. Due to the librarian's sudden arrival, she was not able to seek the right answer to such a baffling occurrence. Of course, she could not ask Gaius about it. The mere fact that the changing of her eye color had resulted to the broken chains could already elicit some suspicions. If what she guessed was true, then there would be a possibility that she would be under the mercy of the assassin's axe.

Perhaps it was magic, but Hermione also considered that the broken chains was merely an accident and nothing more. Maybe King Alined had not secured the chains properly to keep Trickler at place. Or maybe the said jester had used his magic to break them, seeing that he had the ability to do so.

But Hermione could not shake of the feeling that perhaps, it was because of her. She somehow concluded that the way her eyes had golden momentarily and at the same time broke the chains were connected. If she were to successfully get the answer for the strange changing of eye color, then she would be able to properly understand it.

'But how?' she asked herself, already coming out of the castle doors. Once again, only those with permission could go inside. It was already suspicious for a servant to peruse around. What more if it was a girl.

Hermione scowled at how society during this period looked down upon women and felt the feministic side in her reawakening. One thing that she hated about this era was the obvious discrimination and inequality. She figured that even during Arthur's reign, the treatment of their gender would still be the same.

'I hope I can just ask Gaius,' she told herself, now strolling outside the castle gates. The Court Physician proved to be knowledgeable enough, especially when it came to magic.

The brunette then stopped abruptly, an idea suddenly coming into mind. 'What if I used Gaius?' she asked herself, a conniving smile slowly growing on her face. She then turned back around and almost ran inside the castle, eager to talk to the old physician already.