A/N: Pretty new to fanfiction. Be harsh. I own nothing. Based on HP and BBC's "The Adventures of Merlin"

It befell that Merlin was infatuated by the damsel that King Pellinore brought to the court. And she was one of the damsels of the Lady of the Lake, named Hermione. Merlin would have no rest, but always wished to be with her. And she made Merlin good cheer till she had learned from him all manner of things that she desired.

Chapter one: in which the world is tilted out of balance and returned to it once again.

I solemnly swear I am up to no good. J. , "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."

It was a day like any other after the declaration of war. The sky was covered with a layer of smoke and dust and the sun was invisible to the eyes. Breathing in, she was able to smell magic and blood.

Blood. The streets of London were tainted with crimson creeks like the Paris' during the revolution. River of Thames was coloured red. Muggles and wizards alike had been slaughtered and the bloodbath continued to be. The world was in a chaos. And in the midst of it all was she: a lady of sound, mind and body, carrying battle scars and a crimson coat over her shoulders.

Wearing a dress of Slytherin green under the cape, Hermione Granger smirked at her reflection. The golden pendant around her neck glimmered in the dim candlelight. Her beautiful eyes were full of sadness, yet kept looking for answers she knew she wouldn't find in the looking-glass. "What am I doing?" she questioned herself."Why am I here?" Grimmauld Place had never felt so lonely before. Ronald Weasley, her first true love, was dead, Harry Potter, her best friend, had faced the same fate.

She could not count the bodies of her fallen comrades. Instead of being allowed to fight, she had been forced to research, while her heart ached for the battle. One by one, each of the members of the Order of the Phoenix fell.

When she turned, she knew well what to do. No one was there to stop her now that she had been left alone in the frightening house. Her old time turner laid on the table, tempting her over and over again. She'd packed everything necessary. Perhaps she'd never be able to use the items, for her plan was outrageous, impossible even, but she knew she had to try.

She broke the time turner and emptied the golden sand into one of the vials used for transporting the memories. It glittered as she added a silvery drop of her own mind in it. They melted together instantly with a fizzing sound, turning darker and darker by each passing second until it was as black as the clothes of Voldemort's followers.

"Please work," she muttered, drinking all of the liquid at once. Dizziness overtook her. Then, she was no more.

There were many reasons for her actions, she reasoned with herself, as she fell through the darkness. She felt it embrace her tight. The lack of stars did not frighten her. It was cold, but comforting. She was void of any pain, a bodyless soul floating in the vast nothingness. Free. Nothing could hurt her there.

Time - what a fragile thing it was. It had been ripped apart and tampered with. Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age, had destroyed it - and put it back together again. All that for a single small reason.

Hope. If by chance, she could kill Riddle before everything in him changed. If she could destroy or even find out all of the horcruxes, she could save the lives her friends had lost. So many ifs and coulds haunted her mind.

Yet she kept falling. Screaming in terror as her body continued to materialize, she found herself listening to a foreign tune. A voice was singing in the darkness around her in an unfamiliar language. She heard children laughing.

She hit the ground. It was cold and stiff, it made her hurt. The giggles turned into screams. It struck to her as strange, but suddenly she was turned around and faced with an abrupt question:"Are you okay?"

Light blinded her eyes. She squinted them and found herself looking into the eyes of a young blond girl, hardly older than herself. Hermione tried to nod, but the stranger was having none of it.

"Someone call Gaius!" she yelled and her orders were followed."Stay with me, lady. It will be alright." Hermione wondered what was going on. Her mind was fuzzy, remembering only bits of her deed. As the recollections gathered, she was sure she'd been successful. However, before acting on it, she had to confirm it.

"Where am I?" she croaked, trying to sit up. The woman pushed her back down.

"Camelot. Try not to move until Gaius comes, please," she replied hastily. Hermione sighed disappointedly.

Camelot. The place of myth and history. Also, the place hundreds of years before she had intended to land in it. She cursed inwardly, contemplating what to do next.

"Who's the king?" she shot her next question, trying to connect the knowledge with what she had learnt from books.

"Now that would be Uther, my dear child," answered an old man, limping towards them. "Stupid Merlin, what will he do next? Send me another one of his injured knights?" he was grumpy, hearing calls from the courtyard."Tell Prince Arthur I'm busy and shall look into his wounds later!" he told the girl, kneeling down next to the young stranger.

"Now, that drop I heard about might have broken a few bones," he said, fumbling through her body."So tell me if it hurts!" But Hermione felt no pain.

"I'm fine," she declared sitting up."My head aches a bit, but it's probably not serious." She tried smiling, but Gaius was not a fool.

"We should get you some medicament then," he motioned her to follow."Come along!" he added annoyed, when the girl didn't move.

"I don't think it's such a good idea," she said hesitatingly. Gaius shook his head and started to walk away. "Hurry up!" he called without looking back."It's not every day that a half-horse, half-bird drops a person over the town. I'm sure King Uther has questions for you as well."

The girl froze, as the sudden realization hit her hard in the face. Magic was forbidden and punishable by death. She calculated silently her chances and concluded she was better off following the court physician. If she tried escaping the king, she'd be burnt anyway - or worse, be beheaded.

Gaius lived not too far from where she had landed, but Hermione found the way exhausting in her unconventional high heels. It was a wonder her dress was long enough to cover them from curious eyes. Surely the blabbering mouths would have ended betraying her along the way. She plopped down on a seat, looking curiously around, as Gaius meddled with his potions. Suddenly, they both came to a halt, when the door was hit open. Hermione winced at the sudden sound that continued to echo in her head.

"Gaius!" the blond bellowed, while a shorter brunette kept jumping behind him, saying:"I tried to tell him, Gaius! I tried to tell him!" with an innocent grin. Hermione observed them both.

The blond was without a doubt Arthur Pendragon, future king of Camelot. His looks highly exceeded Hermione's expectations, but his arrogance reminded her strongly of a certain boy that had once been turned into a ferret. A dark shadow fell over her face. Draco Malfoy, too, was dead. The other boy reminded her slightly of Harry with his raven hair, and his cheekbones were charming in a way she had not expected, but there was nothing extraordinary about either of them.

"Quiet down, will you?" Gaius hissed. "Can't you see I'm busy?" he waved at Hermione, who smiled meekly. Arthur turned his gaze to where the old man had pointed and frowned, seeing a foreign beauty sitting there.

"Who are you?" he blatantly asked. He stared at her with slight adoration, as she turned herself away from him. She had not thought that far. Trying to think of what to say, she dropped wryly:"Hermione."

"Hermione what?" he questioned, walking over to her, his wounds completely forgotten.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. She bit her lip to keep her smile away. She stared into his soul with her doe-like eyes and breathed quietly:"I don't remember." Arthur was mesmerized.

"Now, drink up," Gaius handed her a potion. Hermione felt her stomach turn, remembering the taste of what she had created too well, but trusting the old man, she emptied the cup to her mouth. It was no pumpkin juice, but the flavour was not too bad. However, it still made her choke a little and while she was coughing, she was sure it would not stay inside her.

She was wrong, although she managed not to lose grip of the clay mug, as she bended over. Images swam in front of her eyes and she felt blood rush to her face. Her body was adapting slowly to the change, but having fallen too far made her feel even weaker than she had expected.

"Merlin's beard, that tasted awful!" she exclaimed, returning the cup. Gaius looked at her with a raised eyebrow, as if questioning her sanity. The girl continued smiling without a doubt.

"I don't have a beard," the brunette piped up helpfully. Hermione's eyes turned to him in confusion and as the pieces slowly started to fall in place in her mind, they widened in unpleasant surprise. She bit her lip in ineffable shock and raced her mind to give her a way to save herself.

"I didn't mean you had," she said feebly. "It's difficult to explain." She leaned against the table and smiled, closing her eyes. She felt drained, as if there was no magic left in her. Thinking about that, she was certain that was the case of her exhaustion.

"Is there any chance I could borrow a room?" she murmured gently, looking through her eyelashes. Prince Arthur allowed his eyes to gaze over her heart-shaped face and pink lips. Nearly all colour had faded from her cheeks, but there was something in her smile he couldn't put a finger on. Then again, Prince Arthur was not known as highly intelligent. However, he was still kind at heart, despite him often being compared to his father.

"Merlin!" he ordered and the servant knew immediately what he meant. As Arthur stormed off, the youngster followed, asking various questions about Hermione's placement. The prince chose not to answer and Merlin was back in a jiffy.

He gave a cheeky smile at the girl in elegant dressing and decided to offer up his room for her, knowing they both would face dire trouble, should he have taken Arthur's order in a way he hadn't meant it. Hermione didn't resist, as he offered his hand as support, when he led her up the stairs to his rather messy room. The girl didn't comment on it, for as soon as she laid on the covers, she was in a different land again, dreaming of her friends back home and falling into the vast darkness.

Merlin eyed the peculiar woman with undying curiosity. He felt a weak magical presence around her, but it soon died out, as if it had not been there at all. He shifted her body, placing her in the middle of the cot. Then, he lifted the blanket of the ground with magic and let it fall all over her.

When he left the room, he did not know that the girl who was asleep had begun regaining her powers and would soon be called to an audience with King Uther. Nor did he know that the girl's unconscious mind had started plotting again, reminding her of everything she had learned about Merlin, the greatest wizard of all time.