Title: Remus and Methos: Student and Teacher
Author: charlie1902
Fandoms: Harry Potter / Highlander
Genre: Friendship
Rating: K+
Warning: None
Spoilers: None
Summery: Methos is Merlin and Remus was born in Ancient Rome: how does Methos help his student?
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters you recognise but do own the ones you don't. This is my way of loving them.
Story
Remus was so tired: he was 287 years old. For 284 of them he had been a werewolf and 260 an immortal. He was proud of the fact that in all that time – in all those transformations all the terrible, painful hours he spent as a mindless monster he had never hurt, bitten or killed anyone – except for himself and his teacher. That sole time had been his teacher's fault though.
As an immortal and a werewolf if his teacher had not been all gang-ho about survival Remus would have allowed some young hunter to take his head a long time ago. He thought about it more and more and often wondered if his curse would be passed on.
After so many years of suffering and hiding he just decided he would search for his teacher and plead for help, though he had no idea exactly what his very annoying and sarcastic teacher could do to help, Remus was convinced the man could help. Just as he finished packing his few belongings away the man he sought turned up on his doorstep, soaking wet – a state he really hated.
Remus smiled – his teacher did it on purpose. No matter when or how if he classed you as his friend and you needed him he would know and appear. Of course the sarcastic old bugger couldn't just say 'hey I'm here to help wadda ya want – no he had to moan and complain and drive said friend completely mad.
"I hate being wet – did I tell you about the time I was wet at King Harold's coronation – nightmare from beginning to end I tell you I just . . ."
"Yes you told me that story – at least three times the last time you invited yourself to stay with me if I remember." There was a tiny pause,
"No, no, no I told it to you twice – the third time you're thinking of the time I spent in prison for his assassination. Remember – his stupid guards arrested me because I had fallen in the river so I was wet and the girl who actually killed him had escaped by fleeing into the river. The fact that I was up stream and any sensible royal assassinator would have swam down stream because really you'd get so much further . . . Remus?" the immortal werewolf was quietly chuckling as he fetched two bottles of muggle beer,
"Yes Pierce?"
"Are you laughing at me?"
"Yes Pierce."
"Damn puppy, honestly no respect for your betters!" Remus held the two bottles close to him as he sat across from Methos. He silently raised an eyebrow and waited. Methos stared at him: then looked down at the beers in his hand . . . and then he looked at Remus in the eye.
Remus took a sip of his own beer. Until very recently it had been dangerous to live in the wizarding world as a werewolf. When people found out (and they always did sooner or later) he was killed or chased out. He hated all the secrets he was forced to keep from his friends – most immortals didn't know about magic and most wizards didn't know about immortals and that was for the best Methos always told him with a knowing look of remembered pain. Muggle mortals though – they didn't know anything and Remus was forced to lie to them three times over.
Remus could feel the irritation of the man in front of him and it made him take his time and saviour each sip of beer. He knew he could never win against the might that was his teacher and as such was not surprised when with a tug of magic the beer glass flew out of his tightly clasp grasp and into that of the older immortal and more powerful wizard.
After one long slip Methos sank into his sprawl – the one that Remus knew meant he was comfortable and at ease and ready to help his friend any way needed. Remus hated asking for any help from anyone but with Methos he never needed too: the older immortal knew what he needed and gave it to him. Methos and Remus finished their beers in a comfortable silence and as Remus lent back into his sofa after putting his empty glass on the nearby table a bright glow enveloped him and though he did not know what it was he trusted and offered his thanks as he did unknowingly every time and then his body disappeared and in its place a tiny baby quiet and watchful lay safe within the ancients arms.
Methos finished his beer and placed it next to the other one and freeing the happy baby from its prison of his previous clothes. Closing his eyes he paused; the baby also stilled as if sensing the need for quiet. It took several long minutes but the man's first movement was a slow smile that travelled to his eyes when he finally opened them again. Remus gurgled and laughed reaching his now baby arms up to touch his friends smiling mouth. A bright blue flash and the two of them disappeared and reappeared two hundred miles away. The building Methos now stood in front of was a small cottage a tiny puff of pink smoke was barely visible coming from the chimney. Though small the cottage was well cared for recently painted a shade of light yellow the fence was half painted white and the garden was filled with brightly coloured flowers.
Holding Remus in one arm Methos concentrated on the cottage. Picturing the layout in his mind – the front door led to a tiny hallway with three doors; one to the east had a long thin room overflowing with books and a desk that was almost entirely hidden a large window faced the front and rear gardens. The door facing west from the hall led to a kitchen the same width as the one to the east but a lot shorter barely enough room for the three kitchen cabinets and two-seater table. A final door on the north wall led to a small bathroom. Behind the kitchen and bathroom was a bedroom.
This room was occupied by two young people one was preparing a bed that disappeared into the wall when not needed the other was tiding the kitchen. This happy couple had been married for nearly ten years and were happy though they desperately wished for a child.
Methos waited quietly for a few minutes until they were both in their small bed then he stretched the house in every direction about 3 metres carefully making sure the biggest area to change was the hall he added height to the chimney and adding a large slowly spiralling staircase he pictured the empty loft and added a hole for the new staircase to fit through. Smoothing the rough floor he added walls that roughly followed the walls of the space below. He changed the slope of the roof from a low slope to that of a high one. When it became too steep to take the extra weight he stopped and cut through it to add dormers. The upstairs now had a hallway, two large rooms with dormers to the east and west and a bathroom in the north.
As he finished changing the layout of the cottage he cooed to baby Remus and all of a sudden the walls were covered with paint and the floors with carpet. All with a similar style as downstairs. He added new furniture and moved the sleeping couple to their new bed. Their previous bedroom changed into a dining room. Once again disappearing and reappearing Methos put the now sleeping Remus in his new crib on a small table next to this a letter appeared addressed to the couple it explained this baby boy was to be taken cared for by them. He warned them times ahead would be difficult but worthwhile. He also wrote he would come if he was needed. He signed the note with a name he had not used for centuries – Merlin.
As payment for all his actions Methos picked a single flower from the front garden of Mr and Mrs Lupin as he left a smile still on his face remembering all the previous times he had done this for his student. As he looked at the flower he wished Remus, for the first time in two thousand years would escape his curse, and not get bitten: this life time.