A lone figure stood in the shadow of a house, scrutinizing the nearly empty street in front of him. He had arrived only moments ago, just in time to see a cat turning into a woman a few houses down from his position.
Stranger things had been happening over the last few days, however. Shooting stars, countless owls soaring into sunny skies, now this Animagus transformation in the middle of a muggle neighbourhood – while they may not count as extraordinary in the warlock's mind, it did raise the suspicions of the non-magical population. If there was one lesson he had learned in his rather long life, suspicion could lead to very dark emotions and even darker deeds.
This was not the time to dwell on the witch hunts, though. Dazzling blue eyes turned to the sky where the roar of a petrol engine signalled the arrival of the one he had been waiting for. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, Defeater of the Dark Lord Voldemort – hardly a year old and he was already accumulating an impressive list of titles. Humans really were ridiculous sometimes, hailing a toddler for something he could not possibly have been responsible for, forgoing the much more logical option of assuming the parents might have in truth committed the deed.
It was the only reason he was here, in fact. He'd been working on a cure for vampirism in Japan (because Death had once again been harping on about the curse of immortality, how much paperwork it caused for him – as if he couldn't just abolish it, if it really bothered him that much - and how Emrys apparently still owed him one) when he'd suddenly felt the tell-tale pull of the power over life and death being used by a human. Now, if that had happened during the Middle Ages when the Old Religion still reigned over magic, he wouldn't have been bothered by it all too much; it was a rare gift back then, but it happened occasionally. For someone to use it in the 20th century, however, was definitely disconcerting.
Determined not to give Death the opportunity to claim another favour from the all-powerful sorcerer, Merlin quickly packed his bags and travelled to the sight of the incident, a small cottage in Great Britain (oh great Albion, how he hated it). It only took him a couple of minutes to figure out the gist of what had happened – powerful dark wizard, murdering the parents, then going for the child only for the killing curse to be repelled by the mother's sacrifice. So far, so good. But how the mother had managed to evoke this ancient, forgotten magic was sadly still beyond him.
Since then, Merlin had taken to following the toddler, hoping for a moment alone with him both to examine his memories of the night and to make sure there were no lasting after-effects. Unfortunately, he ran into the rather significant problem of the child simply never being left alone. He supposed that it was understandable as he was proclaimed the saviour of the wizarding world, but seriously – they wouldn't even leave him when he was sleeping?
All this made the scene unfolding in front of him all the more surreal. Shortly after a giant had touched down on the motorcycle, baby Harry in his arms, the weird but reputedly wise wizard Dumbledork had appeared and placed the boy on the doorstep of one of the houses, all the while claiming it was in Harry's best interests, how he should grow up to be humble, yada yada yada. It was November, and a cold one, too, for Heaven's sake!
Though itching to curse the old man to oblivion, Merlin restrained himself (barely) and instead waited until the last of the magical idiots had disappeared into thin air with loud cracks. Only then did he finally approach said house. The boy was slumbering peacefully, completely oblivious to his abandonment, his thumb stuck in his mouth. A peculiar scar was clearly visible on his forehead, immediately capturing the ancient warlock's attention.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," he mumbled under his breath. He now distantly recalled how Death had been bitching about some human sorcerer who had been dabbling in old magic to make himself immortal a couple of years back, but his second least favourite god hadn't demanded that he take care of it, so Merlin had quite honestly forgotten about it. It was quite clear that this Dark Lord Voldemort was the perpetrator mentioned back then. "A Horcrux inside a child's mind … I swear, if this is how he's trying to get me to take care of his own problems, he's going to pay," Merlin cursed quietly.
"Oh, no, darling, for once, Death is mostly innocent." The warlock stiffened as he heard the annoyingly high voice which somehow always sounded simultaneously like laughter and deceit. Frowning, he turned around, growling dangerously, "You." A young girl, about eleven years of age, with a doll-like face, beautifully curled blond hair and an endearing smile now stood in front of the fence surrounding the house, twirling a pink rose in her right hand.
"My, aren't you happy to see me? I thought we were besties!" She pouted. He had to give it to her – she did look sickeningly cute. "You're not still mad because of that thing back in the Middle Ages, are you? I mean, millennia have passed since then!"
Merlin's frown only deepened. "Actually, it's just been a little over one millennium, but I know such technicalities have never been your strong point." He knew there'd been a reason why he'd taken to avoiding Albion – bad luck just constantly seemed to follow him whenever he came back. This evening only proved to be another one to add to his 'Shittiest days ever' list. He sighed. "What did you do now?"
"Well, I just felt so sorry for Death, you know? He's always incredibly busy, he never has time to play, no wonder he's so stressed!" Her chocolate brown eyes widened almost comically, tears glistering in the corners of her eyes. "So when he mentioned this Dark Lord that was giving him a lot of trouble, I just had to help!"
Merlin pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache lurking just around the corner. "Please tell me you didn't declare that this kid would be his vanquisher."
Her head tilted slightly to the left, big eyes looking up innocently at him. "It was a great idea! Death doesn't need to waste any more thoughts on that human, and we all get to watch a kid stumbling through the various challenges his life will throw at him! I won't need anyone to play with me for years!" She beamed. "Death did help me a bit with that wonderful lightning bolt on his brow, though. He still refuses to give me some direct control over life and death, no matter how often I ask for it." Her beaming smile turned into a slight frown.
Merlin, for his part, had heard enough. Abruptly, he turned back to the child, gently lifting him into his arms after pocketing the letter Dumbledork had written for the inhabitants of the house. At the girl's questioning gaze, he snapped at her harshly, "I'm taking him. No way in hell am I letting you mess up his life, too." He proceeded to stride past her, rage never quite leaving his face.
"Once a prophecy has been spoken, a destiny decreed, it can't be evaded, Emrys. You should know this better than anyone." As he glanced back at her, an unusual seriousness had taken over her features, for once betraying her age. Despite the warning in her eyes, Merlin only sneered at her.
"Oh, I do know, believe me. However, he is a magician, and therefor is part of my domain as well. There's no rule against helping him, is there?"
Much to his displeasure, her expression morphed into a gentle yet playful smile as she glided towards him, whispering, "You're so easy to manipulate, honey." Before Emrys could unleash his fury, Fate turned into dust.
xXx
A/N: Well, this is a prologue, guys, if you think I should continue, tell me! It might take a while though, because I haven't worked out any details of this story. At all. The idea literally just popped into my head a couple of hours ago. I mean, Merlin raising Harry - how did I not think of this before?
Anyway, so if you have any preferences for this story, like which house Harry should be sorted into, how crazy Merlin should be after one thousand years of being a god (spoilers!) or how super-powered Harry should become, let me know! :)
