Regina was pissed, Mordred was livid and Waver just wanted a crack at the library the school was reported to have.

What could cause such varied reactions?

The wizards apparently hadn't taken the hint that Regina was tired of their bullshit and had managed to drag her into a magical tournament against her will via a magical geass that she never agreed to or was told anything about.

Once this was over the higher ups in the Mage's Association was going to have a field day with the so called "Ministry of Magic", because if they could rope someone like Regina into a magical geass without any warning like that, then there was a far too high possibility that the idiot wand wavers could do the same to the more established lines.

And that, for the highly paranoid and cutthroat group known as the Mage's Association, was absolutely not acceptable.

(Considering this was coming from the same group of people who wouldn't hesitate to massacre an entire town's worth of people down to the last infant in the name of research, that was saying a lot.)

Regina was positively fuming about the whole mess. She hadn't thought these fools would stoop so low as to use an old piece of homework to drag her into this farce.

At least she wasn't forced to sleep in the Gryffindor tower again. She had comandeered one of the many abandoned classrooms and they had set up their magical tent, with Zelretch acting as their 'headmaster' simply because he was Regina's teacher.

Since they insisted on dragging her to this farce, Regina had absolutely no issue with unleashing a new form of hell for all the adults in the castle.

She was going to introduce the troll of Clock Tower to the Weasley twins.

(A shiver of doom went down the spines of McGonagall and Snape.)

Regina walked up to where Fred and George was with a familiar smirk on her face.

"Gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to someone who can up the ante when it comes to causing chaos, anarchy and all around mischief," said Regina.

Seeing she had their full attention, she opened the door to reveal Zelretch.

"Meet the Wizard Marshal and the master of the Second True Magic, Zelretch. When he gets bored, the Magus all run for fear of their sanity and their dignity," Regina said smirking, before turning to an increasingly amused Zelretch. "Fang face, meet the two biggest hellions in Gryffindor. Gentlemen, I leave you to discuss the terms of McGonagall's future retirement and Snape's hell."

Regina left behind a trio of unholy grins and twisted cackling. Introducing Zelretch to enablers and co-conspirators would never end well...but fortunately she knew they wouldn't be targeting her specifically.

Regina was overheated again. Mordred was very worried about her.

"What the hell is going on? She was fine a while ago, and now her entire body is going into overdrive," said Mordred.

"While she may have taken on the remnants of her ancestor's crest, she still hasn't undergone the rest of the conversion from witch to Magus," said Zelretch. "This is just the beginning stages of it."

"Conversion?" said Waver in concern.

"You can't be a witch or a Magus at the same time. While it might seem like they use different sources, the fact is that you're simply drawing from the same source using different methods. The fact she primary uses jewels or her sword simply delayed matters. There's a reason I sent you after Smaug, rather than drop you off in the timeline you were after," said Zelretch.

Seeing he had their full attention, Zelretch borrowed a board and some chalk.

"A witch or wizard draws from the leylines in the earth, filtering it through their core which is a metaphysical state. A magus, however, draws from their 'circuits', though crests add an extra sort of 'flavor' or preset what one can use through the leylines. Right now she is in a very delicate balance of having a core and a set of circuits, however once that balance is tipped she will have to choose which one she wants to be. What she's going through now will result in one or the other being 'converted' into a different filtering system, though some things will remain from the original," said Zelretch.

"What exactly will she get from the conversion?" asked Mordred seriously.

"Well if she remains a witch, her circuits will never achieve their full potential and she will forever remain a third rate Magus. She'll have a few extra tricks up her sleeve, but that's it, however her core will at the very least double in size," said Zelretch.

"And if she chooses to become a Magus?" asked Mordred.

Zelretch's smirk would have made the lesser wizards faint. It was that terrifying.

"If she becomes a full magus, she'll keep the spells she frequently uses or is the most familiar with, but her core will be halved. On the other hand, her circuit count will multiply to something a bit closer to what Arturia had when she claimed Excalibur and put her on the same level as you," said Zelretch. "At the very least, her stats will match your current ones, or possibly one level above. She won't be the same as Arturia if they were summoned as Saber, but that's mostly because that particular Servant has the boost that comes from being one of the most well known legends on the planet."

"You said there's a reason you sent us after Smaug. Why?" asked Mordred.

"You remember how people said that Arthur was the embodiment of a red dragon, and that 'he' had the core of one?"

Mordred and Waver's eyes widened comically at that.

"You're not saying..."

"I'm saying that with the right tweaks, we can give Regina the core of Smaug who was the closest thing to a true Phantasmal Beast in Middle Earth. And, considering her heritage, would also be the closest match to Regina's own magical inclination which means a transplant would be feasible enough to pull off. However it depends on which path she wants to take," said Zelretch grinning.

Regina groaned, before glaring at him.

"I have only one question...will I be able to turn into a proper dragon if I transplanted Smaug's core into myself? And I don't mean one of the paltry imitations that exist now."

"You were born of an animagus and spent your formative months in the presence of them. I'd be more surprised if you couldn't turn into a red dragon," said Zelretch.

"Would I lose my inheritance if I became a Magus?" asked Regina seriously.

"Are you kidding? Magi are more highly regarded than normal wizards. You could write your own career path as a Magus without having to jump through nearly as many hoops as a witch," scoffed Zelretch. "Not even Dumbledore was considered good enough to become one."

"And I would be able to tell those asshole pure bloods where to shove their demands, especially the Ministry?" asked Regina intently.

After seeing the practically unlimited power Fudge had, she had no intention of ever letting those bastards have a say in her life ever again. The last thing she needed was something as stupid as a marriage contract to ruin things.

Zelretch smirked at her.

"As a Magus the only one you'll be accountable to is the Mage's Association. The Ministry has no say in what we do so long as we maintain the Statute of Secrecy, which can be avoided by simply moving to another world," said Zelretch smugly.

Seeing the gleam in Regina's eyes, it was clear what her choice was. Being a witch might have looked great on the surface, but it had brought her nothing but trouble and heartache. At least as a Magus one had to earn fame and fortune on their own merit, rather than sit on their ass reminding everyone of past glories.

"I still get to learn how to use the Kaleidoscope, right?"

"If only for the entertainment of hearing you and Mordred swear when I dump your asses in a magical girl academy and force you to learn how to get back home on your own," said Zelretch smirking.

Mordred shared a look with Regina. While that idea ran perfectly in line with the Wizard Marshal's usual antics, the question remained if it would be worth it.

"Do I have to play nice or act girly?" asked Mordred seriously.

"Do I look like I care?" Zelretch shot back.

"I'm in," said Mordred, grinning already at the thought of bloodshed.

"In that case...how do I start the conversion to Magus, instead of a witch? And how in blazes are we supposed to acquire Smaug's core?" asked Regina intently.

"You leave that to me, for now just get some sleep," said Zelretch.

Somehow Regina just knew this was going to hurt like hell.

She took it back. It didn't hurt like hell...it was so much worse.

Dragons were vain, greedy, cruel beasts...which was naturally opposed to Regina's own personality. If it wasn't for the fact her magic and body was already inclined towards dragon's blood because of her ancestor, she never would have had a chance in hell in actually absorbing the core. As it was, that chance was still very, very slim.

If she failed, she was as good as dead. There was no if's, and's or but's about it.

About the only good thing was that she wouldn't have to deal with the nosy busybodies in the castle. No one would hear her screams from inside the same Chamber that she became contracted with her big brother.

Hermione had been highly baffled as to why Regina called Mordred her 'brother' when she was clearly a girl. Two seconds of having four feet of cold steel at her throat clarified the issue. Mordred didn't like being reminded that they were basically a flawed clone of Arturia created by merging their DNA with Arturia's half-sister. Regular incest was disgusting enough...her creation was so much worse because she had been designed as a tool purely to obtain the throne. Never mind the fact that "he" had been raised a boy by his 'mother' anyway, so they had no idea how to act girly in the first place. It usually took a lot of bribery to get Mordred into anything feminine.

(Regina hated being reminded of the fact for much the same reasons.)

Regina clawed at the stone, feeling pure fire in her viens as she tried to survive the conversion process. This had to be hell, there was no way else to properly describe it.

Waver sat in silence, as did Mordred. Either Regina would survive this or she wouldn't. Even if having to listen to her agonized screams made both of them cringe...they knew she had chosen this path for herself.

Finally, there was silence. It was debateable whether or not it was because Regina's voice gave out or not...until Mordred realized she wasn't breathing.

For a few precious minutes, they waited with baited breath for what seemed like hours.

Then...it happened.

A pulse of energy could be felt from Regina's body, as the steady "thump-thump" of a strong, powerful heartbeat was heard. It wasn't an 'audible' sound, but they could still tell.

Regina opened her eyes...and Mordred was immediately struck by the strong similarities she had with both herself and Arturia. There was absolutely no doubt that Regina was the descendant of Arthur or Mordred.

(On an unrelated note, her hair was now permanently turned the same shade of blond as Mordred and Arturia. She had zero complaints about it.)

There was the same sense of power behind Regina's eyes that Mordred had only ever seen in one person. However unlike their 'father', Mordred wanted to hug the stuffing out of his little sister, rather than punch her in the face repeatedly.

However Regina wasn't finished yet. While she was breathing again there was still one last test she had to perform before she could take a few days to recover.

It was a very, very good thing that the chamber was so big, because where Regina had once stood was now a massive and very familiar dragon...just with a few adjustments.

This dragon was sleeker, it's wings were far stronger, and it's fire more concentrated. More importantly it was missing the piece of 'equipment' that Smaug had.

The newly transformed dragon roared and it made the very ceiling rattle. The sound wave alone could be felt all the way up into the castle proper and would baffle the teachers for weeks.

A pity Regina couldn't put her wings to a proper test flight. She was sure it would be a lot of fun.

Zelretch, when he saw his apprentice out cold on the bed, looked rather smug.

He was already creating a special shield to take the place of Avalon, since he planned to send Regina and Mordred to the 'original' Fourth Grail war to test her new body out properly. That, and so he could see what changes would be made to Waver's personality after exposure to Iskander and his new girlfriend.

Though he really wanted to see how Mordred handled the 'alternate' Fourth war when Ruler was summoned to straighten things out.

Either way it was sure to be very entertaining for him at least.