Hello everyone! consider this an early Happy Birthay gift for Harry's birthday on the 31st. I hope you will all enjoy it, it's one of the shots i wanted to make from the start and i hope you will like it, i don't have many reviews over this story but i still like to be making it, but more support is always welcome :)

Enjoy...

Chapter Seven – The Lady of the Lake

Hermione's eyes opened with a snap and her brown orbs looked around in panic. She couldn't remember the dream she was having but small flashes of green, screams and panic bubbled within her mind. She stood up from the tent's bed and she looked at Harry who was sleeping next to her, like in their apartment, there were two double beds and they hadn't bothered, or tried to consider even, - the possibility of magically dividing the bed into two.

Harry was sleeping peacefully next to her, he seemed completely oblivious to the world and a small hint of a smile was on his lips, his hand slightly extended towards where she had been sleeping. She tried to push away the sudden pride that raised within her, she knew he was still having troubled sleep and now with the return of Voldemort as possible as it could get, she had feared he would be having nightmares again, but a small part of her mind liked to think that he didn't have them because they were sleeping on the same bed.

She decided to push away all such thoughts, in a few hours they would be going to Hogwarts, contacting McGonagall had been the easy part, Minerva had granted them access but only within the time of dawn for everyone's safety and discretion. Morgana had to speak with the Merpeople and learn more about the sword's extraction after her and Arthur's departure for Avalon. Then they would visit Malfoy at last to check if he knew anything about the case and the department of mysteries.

Hermione knew she wouldn't be able to sleep more, she stood up and moved outside the tent's section that marked her and Harry's room to go to the kitchen and make some tea. As she was passing through she noticed that Arthur and Morgana's bed were empty. By then, Arthur should have been keeping watch but where was Morgana?

Panic surged through her veins as she grabbed her wand and rushed outside the tent, what if someone had attacked them? What if Morgana had felt something and tried to help Arthur and now they were both gone?

Hermione stopped in her tracks the moment she was outside the tent when she spotted Arthur and Morgana under a tree, still within the wards' protection. She took a breath and was ready to move back inside the tent without disturbing but she lingered there in the darkness for a minute as she got captivated by their sight.

At first she had thought she was interrupting an…intercourse she decided to tag it within her head but then she realized that they were fully clothed and almost unmoving. Arthur was sat on the ground, his back against the tree, while Morgana had straddled his lap, their arms around each other. Only the moonlight was illuminating the forest of Dean and Hermione knew she should have return to the tent, make that tea and wait for the time to pass by but she was mesmerized by the sight of the two medieval figures.

She couldn't hear what they were talking about but she was certain they had found themselves like this before in their lives. Arthur seemed solid, calmed yet sober, stabilized on the earth like a king should be, steady and unyielding. While Morgana above him seemed like a phantom, a creature of air, a fairy, a female being of mystery and beauty. But together, together they made a union of power, of history and completeness.

Arthur's hand ran down Morgana's mane and she smiled at something he whispered, her hand touched his jaw line with her finger until it reached his lips and he kissed her fingers one by one before he could lean into her touch as she rested her forehead against his. Hermione decided she was sneaking into something too personal, something too unique for them so she moved back inside, not realizing she had tears in her eyes until she bumped onto a very familiar body who grasped her arms to stop them both from falling.

'Where are they? Why are you crying?' Harry had woken up when he realized he was alone on the bed to find an empty tent and he had been out of his mind with terror as he grasped his wand and was ready to burst out of the tent only to bump on Hermione on his way out. Now he held her by the arms and looked at her, wanting answers as she took away her tears.

'It's ok, they're outside, within the wards on their own, we shouldn't disturb them. They seem like nocturne people.' Hermione said and Harry felt half relieved.

'And why you're crying?' he asked more softly now, he hated when she was crying, she had cried way too much in her life and he hated it every time. Hermione shook her head and looked at him with a small smile.

'I am not sure, to be honest.' Hermione whispered and took away fresh tears. Harry kept his hands on her arms but loosened their grip as he wrapped one arm around her shoulders, their complicated issues aside, he was there for her when she needed him. 'I just saw them outside, on their own and remembered the things Morgana told me about their life…' Hermione tried to explain and Harry finally nodded and hugged her tighter. He sighed as he understood the reasons of her tears, she wished what he wished, a better future for both of them and Arthur and Morgana, the four of them had been through too much.

'I know… we'll find a way.' Harry whispered and kissed the top of her head tenderly, usually he wasn't the one trying to cheer everyone up or keeping the hope alive but right then, Hermione needed it. The awkwardness of the past days returned at full force as the tent took a lighter color because of the first sunrise in the horizon outside.

'Harry…' Hermione whispered as she moved a step away and looked at him, he looked back at her, still holding her.

'I know.' He said again and she nodded, it still wasn't time, they needed to focus, they needed to find a way through all their banes first. 'We should alert them and leave for Hogwarts.' Harry added, wanting to show her that she didn't have to ponder more on their issue, he knew she was uncomfortable, he knew there might be a war before them but he also knew that if this was to be over and they were still alive, it would be a struggle still for them to find a way through the delicate lines of their friendship.

The crack was heard across the field as the four showed up before the massive gates of the school. Harry and Hermione were ready to lead the way but Morgana was already reaching the iron gate and was pushing it open, sometimes both friends forgot that Morgana had been in their school way before them. Arthur followed as he too had visited the place as to take the sword once so Harry and Hermione were left to trail behind, all the while checking for possible signs of danger.

Morgana's face was serious, sober and unmoving yet her green eyes were vivid as she looked around at the place.

'I missed the place,' she whispered as she moved in the black blouse and black trousers she had chosen from Hermione's clothes. She turned her head towards the forbidden forest. 'You're not allowed to enter the forest, am I right?' Morgana asked and Harry and Hermione nodded their heads and looked at her in wonder.

'You were allowed at your time?' Hermione asked and Morgana simply nodded.

'Everyone was, until professor Ravenclaw died…' Morgana only said and Hermione was ready to ask, Harry was certain that part wasn't included in Hogwarts, A History and Hermione was dying to know what was hidden behind Morgana's enigmatic words but they had no time as Morgana moved towards the lake and looked at Arthur who nodded and took her hand as to help her move within the first steps of the water until she was knee-deep in the lake.

Arthur moved back and gestured for both Harry and Hermione to move a few steps back as Morgana closed her eyes and raised her arm towards the water, her hand open as her eyes flashed in a brilliant amber color and old English words were formed in a complicated spell.

At first nothing happened but then a tremendous noise followed the wild convulsion of the water and then the giant squid appeared with its tentacles hitting violently the surface of the water. Harry and Hermione withdrew their wands from the sudden uproar of the beast but Arthur gestured for them not to interfere and move a few more steps back as the water kept convulsing around Morgana who remained stoic before the giant beast. More English words escaped her mouth and her eyes flashed amber again, making the squid disappear back in the depths of the lake and the water to calm down considerably.

'What was that?' Hermione asked in disbelief, in all her years she had barely see the squid but this had been quiet the display of its power for someone who tried to contact the merpeople.

Silence followed for a few more moments and then a dim glow appeared in a spot of the lake that grew larger and larger until it shot up and outside of the water, aiming Morgana with speed. The sorceress again raised her hand and stopped it, kept the ball of energy within her grasp and sent it back within the water with even greater force. Harry and Hermione looked in fear towards the castle, they were certain Morgana had spelled the castle for its inhabitants not to notice a thing and they could only hope that since she had been in Slytherin, she had remembered that the dungeons of her house were looking at the lake and the entire madness that was unfolding for the past minutes.

The water convulsed again and suddenly a rip was created from within, the water of the lake gushed and soon a team of almost twenty male merpeople showed up in the shape of a circle. When the circle opened to a crescent, their queen, Morgan was revealed among her guard. The face of the inhuman creature seemed angry but she approached Morgana by leaving her guard close by, their bodies were half in the water, their tridents ready for attack.

Morgana moved a step closer and spoke in noises that Harry and Hermione would swear were the merpeople's language. After a moment queen Morgan replied in the similar noises and as they could understand in a hostile tone. Morgana spoke again in the same language and the queen gestured negatively with her head, looking for the first time at Arthur and the two friends before she could look back at the sorceress.

Morgana spoke once more, this time louder and her words seemed to provoke the guard who screamed in protest and pointed their tridents towards the human in the lake. Arthur made a step closer but this time Hermione held him back.

Queen Morgan spoke again and Morgana interrupted her curtly, their voices even if making inhuman language seemed angry and accusing. The conversation seemed to be ending until queen Morgan spoke another set of words and that provoked Morgana to raise her hands and sent two massive balls of energy, one towards the water of the lake, away from where the group was and one towards the forbidden forest, where it erupted in a rain of green lights and sparkles. Queen Morgan seemed surprised but nodded after a moment.

She started talking and Morgana listened carefully, nodding while the queen spoke and gestured towards Dumbledore's tomb, the Hogwarts castle and the forbidden forest. After the queen was finished talking, Morgana gave a small bow and the queen nodded her head as she raised her hand, Morgana did the same and the two seemed as if gesturing farewell. The queen retreated back to her guard and they enclosed her in their circle before they descended back in the depths of the lake. Morgana waited until the waters were calmed again as to move outside and she did so with slight difficulty because of the water that she had to move through. Arthur, Hermione and Harry approached quickly as the king took her hand and then held her, she still looked tired from her injury and the sleepless night she had spent but she smiled as she looked at the trio before her.

'She needed a little persuasion of who I was. But when she made sure it was me, she told me the night Tom Riddle tried to take the Horcrux of the Deathstick, he also took the sword from the depth of the lake, after attacking the merpeople and killing their majority who tried to stop him. Merlin had placed the sword back in the lake with the command for them to guard it along the squid but Riddle demanded it as he was the heir of Slytherin, the merpeople asked him for me and Merlin to show up to as to agree and it was then he attacked them and took it away.' Morgana explained. 'Hermione told me you were connected with him, how come you didn't see what he had done?' Morgana asked Harry after a moment and he sighed and shook his head.

'By the time, I was completely blocking him out of my head in my try to stop him from tracking us, we had the connection in very rare times when I was tired or under extreme pressure, I had stopped trying to connect with him because I knew he would find us in a heartbeat.' Harry explained and Morgana nodded and sighed.

'So at that night he took both the Deathstick and the sword.' Arthur murmured and Morgana sighed and nodded.

'How do you know about the Elder wand?' Hermione this time asked Arthur and he looked at her surprised.

'Morgana had it under her possession of course… while we reigned together.' He said naturally and both Harry and Hermione looked at the sorceress agape. She shrugged and looked at them sheepishly.

'Well Merlin and I had decided to make a competition between us, after a point in our years, we had decided that we needed a good tournament, the idea of the Deathly Hallows had been a good one. I had defeated the former owner of the Elder wand and took it for me, along the stone that I searched for and the Invisibility cloak that I had owned from my mother. I believe I was the only woman, Mistress of Death they called me many times and not only for my wicked reputation but also for the literal reason of my possessing the hallows.' Morgana said and both Harry and Hermione still looked at her dumbstruck.

'And who did you strike to take the Wand?' Harry asked, the curiosity taking the better of him. Morgana almost blushed as Arthur sighed.

'While Arthur reigned, he had became one of the best swordsmen in Britain, Godric Gryffindor once challenged him to a duel when he visited us in Camelot, I may was a Slytherin but he knew of my struggles against Salazar so he had became something like an ally, when he visited Camelot to ask me to try and locate Helena Ravenclaw, he had challenged Arthur into a duel,' Morgana started and Arthur nodded.

'I fought him, and I must say, he was one of the best opponents I had encountered, yet I won,' Arthur said and Morgana this time nodded and spoke.

'And I had located Helena through my talent as Seer, but I would reveal to him my knowledge only if he accepted my own challenge to a private magical duel. Of course he accepted, Ravenclaw's time was thinning and he was trying to find her daughter before death took Rowena. I knew he had the wand for years, it was one of my most difficult duels, but at the end, I won the wand…' Morgana said and Harry and Hermione looked at each other before they could look back at Morgana.

'And who took it from you?' Hermione asked and this time Morgana and Arthur's faces darkened in sorrow.

'My only son, Mordred. I challenged him on purpose, I wanted him to have it, I wanted to make sure he had been trained well… and he had, I was defeated and he took the wand but I was proud the circle of blood hadn't been continued, I had hoped he would make it too.' Morgana said and trailed off for a moment. 'The night Merlin left him at Avalon as to arrive at Camlan and Slytherin found the chance to reach Mordred he also took the wand and he became the new owner, my son had no time to reclaim the wand, I guess as he rushed too to Camlan, blinded by the words of that snake…' Morgana explained and sighed again as she held back tears. Arthur kissed her temple.

'We should be going then,' Arthur whispered and everyone nodded but Morgana stooped after a moment.

'We should take the wand.' She whispered and both Harry and Hermione snapped their heads words her direction.

'No, Morgana…' Hermione said and Harry nodded his head at Hermione's objection.

'No we shouldn't, it's resting in Dumbledore's tomb and it should stay there, along the stone in the forest. It is not any of ours anymore.' Harry said curtly but Morgana shook her head.

'You don't understand, if Riddle is alive he will return for the Hallows the moment he has activated the sword completely, by the vibes I feel from it, it's still struggling not to be exploited because of the spells I and Merlin had cast on it, but if Riddle makes it to overpower the spells… He will surely come for the Hallows too and then we're lost for good.' Morgana explained and even if her words made sense, Harry felt like his heart was grasped in an iron fist. He had felt the power of the Hallows, the obsession of the uncanny force, the provocation from the stone…

'She's right, it's one thing to fight Excalibur and one thing to fight the Master of Death with Excalibur as an extra weapon…' Arthur said strongly and Morgana nodded, she looked at Harry with her green eyes melting in his own.

'I will keep it, if you're afraid you can't resist it, I had it for years and I gave it willingly to my child, I can handle its power and the stone's.' Morgana said seriously and Hermione and Arthur remained silent while Morgana and Harry stared at each other. No one wished for the things that had happened to them, but they needed get ahead of their enemy and this would be the way.

'Very well then,' Harry finally said and sighed as Morgana nodded and Arthur helped her to reach the tomb while Hermione took Harry's hand and squeezed it.

'It'll be alright, I promise,' Hermione whispered and Harry nodded even if he couldn't believe at her words for that moment, he squeezed her hand back and brought to it to his lips, kissing her knuckles. Damn rules and all, he needed her.

Morgana took a deep breath and focused on the tomb of the former Headmaster, her eyes flashed amber again and as if the marble of the tomb was created by fog, the wand emerged from within without creating even a crack on its surface. The wand flew slowly close to Morgana who took it in her hands and took a deep breath as if the wand had given her power anew. She pointed up in the sky and with another spell in old English, the trees of the forest had their leaves rustling in the wind before the Resurrection Stone could fly from within the forest and reach Morgana, the Hallow hovered before her eyes and Morgana took it in her hand, right after a moment of silence she looked at Arthur and nodded as he too, looked at the stone with hungry eyes.

Harry was certain they would use it, he was certain this move could be proven a mistake, but who could blame two parents who had lost their child? Who could have blamed him for using the stone the night he almost died as to see his lost parents?

'We should be going now,' Hermione said as she looked at the first peak of the sun, rising from the mountains in the horizon. They had to go to Malfoy as well and keep Morgana and Arthur safe in the tent.

'We should indeed,' Morgana whispered as she hid the stone in the pocket of her black trousers and held the wand delicately in her hand, is if it always belonged to her...

oooh ok i like to blend in more things like the founder era and the hallows more things are to come in the next episodes and possibly we'll see mordred? we shall see... please review and let me know what youthink of the armor moment in the forest of dean, the little hhr moments and of course the hogwarts fight between queen Morgan and Morgana and the Hallows being close to Harry and Hermione again :)

thanks for reading.

Harry Birthday, Harry, always with us! xxx