Summary: Harry Potter. The-Man-Who-defeated. The greatest wizard since Merlin. When he says "Ooops", people tend to be afraid. Very afraid… Harry accidentally transports not only himself, but his fiancé Ginny, his best friend Ron and Ron's wife Hermione back to the Camelot of Uther Pendragon.
Rating: FR13, because I'm paranoid.
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin and Harry Potter.
Spoilers: No real spoilers, but just to be sure: all 7 books for Harry Potter (is that still a spoiler?), and the first couple of seasons of Merlin.
Setting: After the Harry Potter books, but disregards book 6 and 7, and set somewhere during the first or second season of Merlin
Pairings: Established Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione
Dedication:
AN: I won't keep you from this story for long, just wanted to warn you that this hasn't been beta-ed (though I've revised it), so if you find any mistakes, they're all mine!
Chapter 1: Oops
Harry was far from a normal, average wizard. In fact, he was as far from average as you could possibly imagine. He defeated Voldemort for the first time when he was just a year old. Granted, that was more his parents' doing than it was his, but still… Then, he found out he was meant to be the saviour of the Wizarding world (or else a very dead martyr), when he was only 15 years old. He defeated his arch nemesis for a second time (the small skirmishes in between don't count) when he was 18.
Since then, he had tried his hardest to regain some of his childhood. Because he had to enrol in his seventh year at Hogwarts a year late due to the war, he had the chance to be a carefree student at last. Strangely, that year was also known for being the year with the most pranks per month Hogwarts had ever seen before, but surely the two facts were not connected. After Hogwarts, Harry did something nobody expected. Without doubt Harry would become an auror, fighting for justice. Or maybe just another wealthy aristocrat, content to stay at home, retreating to a private, calm life with his new family. After all, he had done enough for the Wizarding World, and had he not asked his girlfriend Ginny Weasley to marry him on graduation day? Or maybe he would go into politics, become the new Minister of Magic.
But no, Harry decided to do the unexpected. Sure, he trained with the aurors, but more as a favour to the Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt than anything else. And he did get involved in politics, but through friends and family, only using his fame to stop the Wizengamot from applying their stupidity unto their laws. Harry didn't actually work as such, it was more an apprenticeship. With the twins.
Harry had decided to take after his father and become a prankster. So, who better to teach the Noble Art of Pranking than the infamous Weasley Twins and their newly appointed advisor, Remus Lupin. He regularly managed to prank his home and household, to the despair of Hermione. Ginny and Ron just thought it to be funny, as long as they weren't the butt of the joke. However, all three of them regularly challenged Harry's pranking skills with their inventive pay backs and the continuous prank war going on between the four of them (and Fred, George and Remus when possible).
At the time our story starts, Harry had taken his apprenticeship with the Weasley twins to a new and terrifying level: experimentation. Harry had discovered a love for potions, now that he was rid of Snape and other potionmasters looming over his shoulder.
"Harry, I know this might seem like a good idea to you, but believe me, it's not."
"Why not? Have you ever tried it before?"
"Harry, mate, if there is anyone who would know Reyder's table of potion reactions by heart, it would be Hermione. So stop being an idiot and do as she says."
"I hate to admit it, but my brother is right. You shouldn't try this, Harry."
Harry shrugged the objections of his family aside. "What's the worst that could happen," he said, and he poured the bottle of liquid nundu breath in the cauldron.
"Harry, no!" Hermione yelled. Thick smoke rose from the potion, making the four Gryffindors cough. Then the world went black. The last thing they heard before they blacked out was a muffled "Ooops" from Harry.
It was Hermione who woke up first, as she always did in the mornings. However, when she opened her eyes, it wasn't the room she shared with Ron that greeted her. 'Trees?' she thought confused, 'But…' and then she remembered. She shot up to discover herself in a clearing in a forest. Ron, Ginny and Harry were sleeping nearby. She took a few calming breaths, and when that didn't work, used a tried method of calming herself after one of Harry's pranks and/or failed experiments. She threw her shoe at his head.
"OW!" Harry yelled, jumping slightly (Hermione was distracted for a moment wondering how he managed that from a lying position, and then decided it didn't matter).
"Hermione! What did you do that for?" Harry yelled, waking up the rest of the gang.
"Look what you got us into this time. Looks like we're not exactly in Kansas anymore! Why don't you ever listen?"
"Because I'm me?"
"Yes, we know, Feathers, you always get us into trouble. Now how about we find out where we are and how to get back home?" Ginny intervened before Hermione started cursing her fiancé.
"Fine," Hermione huffed. She drew her wand and cast "Locus". A series of numbers appeared in the air in front of her. Hermione frowned when she looked at them. "This can't be right…" She mumbled.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked his wife.
"There shouldn't be a forest here," she said.
"Maybe this forest isn't all that big, and we're close to the city?" Ginny offered.
"I'll take a look around," Harry offered. He changed into his animagus form, a merlin falcon, and flew up. He circled around for a moment before coming down again. "I'm afraid there isn't a town or road to be seen, but I did see a castle in the distance. Sounds familiar?"
"A castle?" Hermione appeared puzzled for a second. Then a shocked look crossed her face. She cast a quick tempus.
"Impossible," Ginny breathed, seeing the time and date materialize in the air. The red numbers clearly indicated that it was the year 481 AD.
"I… re-invented time travel?" Harry asked, barely believing it. He promptly got knocked over the head by Ginny. Everything to make sure the Hero of the Wizarding World wouldn't get a big head.
"Are you sure this is correct, 'mione?" Ron asked.
"Of course it is, the tempus spell is even more accurate than an atom clock!" But even as she said it, she cast the spell again, just to be sure. The results were the same.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but Harry mixes some highly violate ingredients and not only does he not blow himself up, but he also manages to break the record for time travel?" Ginny asked.
"It would seem so. We're in the Middle ages. In fact, we're only a couple of years before King Arthur assumes the throne."
Ginny smiled. "Does that mean we'll get to meet Arthur and Merlin?"
"That is very unlikely," Hermione answered. "Great Britain was divided into hundreds of small kingdoms at the time, and the exact location of Camelot is a mystery."
"So we're in the Middle Ages. How are we going to get back to our own time?" Ron's question was again directed at Hermione, since she usually had all the answers (or was at least smart enough to work them out).
"I don't know," Hermione said with a troubled voice. "There is no known case of anybody travelling this far back in time. Our very presence could alter the timeline, and I can't think of any way to get home…"
"Well, if we're stuck here for a while we should transfigure our clothes, so we don't stand out as much," Ginny said. "And maybe we should try to travel towards the castle."
"Yes, I believe that would be our best bet. From what I could see, we might reach the castle before nightfall, if we travel in our animagus forms," Harry added. "We should also check what we have with us in our bags and pockets; see if there is anything of use." Harry was very talented in getting people in trouble, but he also knew when to take control of the situation to get them out of it. He was a hero and leader, after all.
Since Ron and Hermione had been about to leave for work when they discovered Harry in the potionslab, they both had a bag with them. Ron had his broom, his quidditch gear, a refilling bottle of water and a pack of cauldron cakes ready to take with him to his practice session with the Cannons.
Hermione worked in the ministry. Her official job was checking to make sure new laws didn't contradict older laws, as well as being Harry's proxy in the Wizengamot. Unofficially she made sure the Wizengamot didn't pass any laws that were against Harry's (and hers) ideology, as well as changing racist and/or unfair laws. Unfortunately all she had with her were some books on magical law and spell crafting (a hobby of hers). Both also had a little money and their wands.
Ginny had had a day off when the accident occurred. She was a fully trained healer, training to be an auror field healer, and she had been about to refill the potions cabinet in the kitchen and the bathroom when she'd found Harry experimenting in the lab. She had her wand, but that was it.
Harry had his wand and the empty liquid nundu breath bottle with him.
They made quick work of transfiguring their clothes as close to the fashion of the time as Hermione could remember, and shared Ron's cauldron cakes before they changed into their animal forms and left for the castle in the distance.
They had chosen to become animagi during Harry's sixth year, when they were training to fight Voldemort one day. With the help of professor McGonagall they succeeded in becoming animagi in just a year time. Harry's form was a merlin falcon, so his marauder nickname was Feathers. Ginny, AKA Shadow, was a black panther. Ron was a red wolf, with the name of Munchies. And Hermione was a cat, a red Maine Coon, called Giggles.
It took longer than expected to reach the castle, because they wanted to avoid detection (a black panther is quite an unusual sight in the British isles, especially one that is carrying a tired cat in its mouth). But they got there eventually, long after night had fallen over the land.
"So…" Ron said.
"So?" Harry asked.
"What are we going to do now?"
"I guess it's too late to enter the city?" Ginny asked.
"Well, the gates are still open…" Hermione said.
"I think it's best to wait until tomorrow, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves," Harry said.
Ron looked at him with an annoyed look. "Do we have to? I don't want to sleep on the ground tonight."
Hermione smirked. "Are you a wizard or not? You could just conjure a mattress, you know."
"Don't tease him, Giggles, you know he can't conjure to save his life," Ginny said.
"Oy!"
"Let's just find a place to rest tonight, far enough to avoid detection," Harry decided.
Surprisingly, it wasn't Hermione who woke first. She was, however, the one who woke loudest. Apparently, Harry had decided that she deserved payback after his rude awakening the day before. So on this fine morning, Ron and Ginny woke up to the lovely sound of Hermione's scream. Why, you ask? Well, it might have something to do with the frogs, or maybe it was the ice-cold water, or the fact that her blanket had been transfigured into slime.
After that rather rude awakening, the subsequent yelling and scolding, and a small breakfast consisting of some berries, edible plants and two cauldron cakes, they set out for the city.
"Ok, here we go, try to behave Middle Age-y," Hermione warned.
Ginny laughed. "I don't think Middle Age-y is a word, Giggles."
"Well, as long as you know what I mean, the communication was a success, right, Shadow?"
"Right."
"We should probably try to exchange our galleons for the local currency, and then find something to eat," Harry said.
"And try to hide magic as much as possible," Hermione said. "There is not much known about the time before Arthur became king, but we know magic was generally frowned upon before he changed that."
"So, get money, find food, discover which country this is, no magic, anything else?" Ron summarised.
"Shelter?" Ginny offered.
"We'll see, but I vote that Hermione does the talking. And we should get an idea of the layout of the city as soon as possible," Harry said.
"Agreed," Both Weasleys said.
They entered the city with their usual caution. To the casual observer, they appeared to be just like the other people strolling through the streets. But they were trying to get an idea of the layout of the city, observant of every detail. They soon found out which routes the guards took, where the entrances to the castle were, how to get to the gates in the city wall… They were used to this kind of thinking, as it had saved their life many times in the past.
"The guards are separated in groups of 2, passing every given area every 20 minutes," Ron reported. They met on the marketplace, to discuss their findings after splitting up earlier.
"The city is divided into a lower, poorer part, and a richer part near the citadel. The lower city is a maze of small alleys. There are plenty of shops, a market and two bars, the one near the citadel looks to be the most respectable," Hermione completed the report.
"We have news too: we seem to be in the realm of Uther Pendragon," Ginny said.
Hermione gasped. "Camelot?"
"Yes. The citadel looks easily defendable, even with little men, and is guarded. It's not impossible to get in, but it would be hard. People have to state a reason for entrance at the gates, and are escorted inside, unless they belong in the castle. The walls have guards patrolling every 15 minutes," Harry said. "We also found a jeweller's shop where we could sell our galleons. So, who's hungry?"
Ginny took the money and bought some bread, cheese and pastries, while the others found a place to sit on the market, out of sight, but with a view so they could watch almost the entire square.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Ginny asked, after making sure nobody could listen in. "I haven't seen any magic shops or even any indication magic exists, but we did find a place where you could buy potion ingredients," she said.
"A potion isn't going to get us home. Our best bet would be to find another magician, or somebody with books on magic," Hermione answered.
"What about a library? Would they have books on magic there?" Harry asked.
"Harry, public libraries didn't exist in the Middle Ages, books were quite valuable back then, er, now I mean."
"How about the castle? There has to be a library there, right? Would they have books we could use?" Harry suggested.
"Yes, they might, but I doubt they would just let us check it out."
"Well, we could always pretend to be nobility, visiting the castle. I'm sure that's not so unusual?" Ginny offered.
"How would we prove we were noblemen? They wouldn't just take our word for it, right?" Ron asked.
"Well, we could try to bluff ourselves in, if we looked noble enough, with wealthy clothes and horses and stuff they might let us in." Hermione said.
"We don't have horses, though. And we'd need a good story to answer questions of where we came from and why nobody has ever heard of us before." Ron said.
"I think I might have an idea" Hermione smiled.
AN: Well, that was the first chapter; hope you all like it, and Read and Review!