dragons and tapestries
*
October 20, 1575
“Okay, so, hair dye for the professors? Green?”
“No, no, no, it can’t be one of the house colours- that would be too obvious.”
“Okay then, what’s your super niche and fantastically unique idea then Arthur?”
Merlin now interrupts the three arguing Gryffindors, who seem about to get into a fist fight, by saying,
“Er, excuse me, but it sounds like you three are trying to plot a prank without me. We all know that will only lead to detentions for all of you followed by deep, never-to-be-lived-down embarrassment when your shoddy plan fails.”
The three Gryffindors all whip their heads round, Lance and Gawain looking rather sheepish, while Arthur gives Merlin his most annoyed look. Merlin adds on,
“Also, this is a library. Not the best planning spot for pranks as at least half of the other people studying in here are usually prefects. Just saying”
Merlin only smirks as Arthur’s thundering expression grows, if possible, more thunderous.
The blond prince says sarcastically,
“Okay Merlin, what do you and your tremendously, incomprehensibly, huge brains suggest then?”
Merlin is about to respond when Lance speaks,
“Guys, sorry to interrupt but Merlin is right- look.”
He nods his head in the direction of a Ravenclaw prefect who’s near enough to hear them, and is shooting them suspicious looks.
Arthur sighs,
“Okay, okay. Let’s go to the tapestry room.”
“Ooh what’s the tapestry room? If it doesn’t have a tapestry I for one am going to be considerably disappointed.” Merlin adds in.
Gawain laughs at this but, upon seeing Arthur’s stony expression, subtly turns his laugh into a cough.
They reach the tapestry room after climbing a few changing staircases, only getting lost a record of 3 times.
The room is a small alcove area with a window and scattered pillows, hidden behind a tapestry of trolls doing ballet. Just a normal Hogwarts art piece, really.
All four of them flop down onto the pillows, Merlin pulling out a notebook, quill and ink from some mysterious hidden pocket in his robes. He chews on the quill after writing ‘prank ideas (evidence to be destroyed later)’ at the top, before asking them all,
“Well?”
He looks about the group, and Gawain is, surprisingly, the first to suggest something,
“I was thinking we do something big- like, on the castle ground or towers. You know, something that everyone can see.”
Gawain looks at his hands as he talks- Merlin’s noticed that the curly-haired Gryffindor doesn’t seem to like speaking in front of people, at least, not big groups. In lessons he rarely answers questions and, when asked, he usually mumbles his answers. Strange for a Gryffindor, but then Merlin’s never been one to believe that every Hogwarts house has a typical ‘type’ of person only, himself being a clear example of this.
Merlin adds in,
“You have a point there, mate. If we pull off a prank on one of the towers it would also be harder for the teachers to take down, too. Any suggestions what sort of thing it should be?”
Merlin looks to Lance, who shakes his head, and then Arthur, who suddenly mutters a surprised,
“Oh!”
Merlin raises an eyebrow,
“Care to share, Arthur?”
The prince’s face has taken on his expression of ‘I have had an idea that I just have to share’. Merlin knows this expression well, as Arthur has had many ‘ideas’ that have backfired. Hopefully this isn’t one of those sort.
“Dragons. Well, a dragon.”
The three of them stare at Arthur. Merlin mutters to himself,
“Well, the prince has finally lost it, all that inbreeding has gotten to him after all.”
“Go on, Arthur” says Lance. Arthur, after scowling at Merlin, continues,
“Not real dragons, obviously. But we could get- borrow- the red fabric from my Gryffindor bed curtains and make it into a dragon. I know how to sew and stuff from Gwen.”
Instead of laughing at this, the other two Gryffindors actually seem intrigued, Lance saying,
“Sewing? Could you teach me Arthur? Only, all my tunics have holes and stuff in cause they’re from my older brother.”
Arthur nods, starting to explain the slip stitch to Lance, Merlin watching amusedly, when Gawain interrupts,
“Wait, Arthur, what was the rest of the dragon idea?”
Arthur tells Lance he’ll teach him to sew later, before continuing with explaining the prank,
“Well, I thought we could make a whole dragon, maybe even stuff it too. I learnt this enlarging spell that lasts ages when I was in the library the other day, so we could use that, make the fake dragon huge. Then one- or two- of us can fly up to the main tower and attach it, making it look like it’s attacking the castle?”
Merlin, interested now, joins in,
“Oh yeah, I also taught myself a sticking charm which we could use- it’s the sort that can only be removed by the caster, so professors won’t be able to take it down. At least, not for a couple days.”
Arthur grins at Merlin, earlier annoyance forgotten,
“Perfect, mate. So. We all in?”
Gawain and Lancelot nod enthusiastically, both putting their hands on their chests and swearing to not tell anyone else about the prank. Arthur swears too.
Merlin only agrees verbally- he thinks the chivalrous knight swearing thing is far too Gryffindor.