Well, after all the angst of Those Who Live Without Love, I wanted to do something completely different. And, as usual, I fell back to writing some Merlin.
So here you go, Merlin Hogwarts AU!
Its just and idea so far... you want me to continue?
Edit: So i kinda hated the last version of this chapter so here's me redoing things that I've already posted... Sorry! I didn't change any huge things though, just fixed the flow and some stupid mistakes. Oh and The Ravenclaw commonroom password because that was a stupid mistake. A second part should be along... Soonish.
The train lets out a last puff of smoke before it comes to a screeching stop at platform 9 and ¾. Hundreds of owls, cats and toads are rattling in their cages as they are huddled over to the doors, where the students, the old as well as the new, are scuffling to get to the best seats first. By the entrance, just behind a huge stack of trunks belonging to a Scottish family, stands a young dark-haired boy with his mother.
"…And try to stay out of the rain this year, dear" Hunith says as she pulls a knitted hat over Merlin's ears. It immediately pops back up and settles on top of said ears. The hat, that is blue, yellow and green, is possibly a descendant of a particularly ugly peacock. Merlin groans.
"It still summer mom, I don't need a hat!" He tries but she just shakes her head and pulls it down again, before pinning the prefect-badge on his chest rather forcefully.
"Ow!" Merlin exclaims and swats away her hands.
"Oh don't be such a baby" she tells him and straightens his blue and bronze-striped tie.
"You" Merlin begins with an exasperated smile as he picks up his trunk, "Are a woman of contradictions" She leans over and kisses his forehead.
"I'm a mother dear. It comes with the title. Now off you go. Don't get in any trouble, and don't let Gwaine rope you into anything insane"
"It's not insanity, Mrs. Emrys! Its art!" the boy in question says with a theatrical gesture as he appears behind them. He's grown a slight shade of a beard over the summer, and his thick shampoo-commercial hair is fluffier than ever.
He spends a few moments boasting about his brand new prefect-badge until he realizes that Merlin has one as well and pulls him in for a celebratory hug that turns into a strange kind of dance. Hunith laughs and gives the boys a push towards the train. The whistle blows, they load their trunks onto the train and before they know it Hunith is but a waving figure disappearing in the distance.
"So… Prefect meeting in half an hour." Gwaine says, stretching his legs and placing his muddy shoes on the seat. Merlin gives him a look that says "You're going to get in trouble for that" which Gwaine answers with a shrug. Like he ever cares about house points.
Merlin is too used to his antics to reprimand him, so he rolls his eyes and bites the head off his chocolate frog.
"Any Ideas on who else will be there?" He asks between chews.
"Percival, I bet." Gwaine says with a leer. "Pompous git."
"He's not that bad" Merlin protests as he looks at the chocolate frog card. Uther Pendragon, Hogwarts headmaster, famous for his half-breed classification program" the golden letters on the back of the card says. Damnit, not another one.
"He was big help when those Slytherins tried to beat me up last year." Merlin continues as he throws the card in the trash. Gwaine scowls.
"Don't forget the time when Cenred tried to hex me with that bone-breaking curse… He sure knows how to pick his moments to be heroic. I bet he just does it to get people in debt to him. Just you wait, one day he will show up with an invoice, bankrupting the lot of us." He sighs and tilts his head over the armrest; the rest of him sprawled lazily over the seat.
Merlin just laughs.
"So who do you think is head boy then?"
"No idea… could be anyone."
"I should have bloody known!" Merlin whispers to Gwaine as the head boy ushers for silence.
"Urgh why did it have to be him -" Gwaine answers with a pained face.
"That applies to Hufflepuffs as well, Gwaine!" The head boy says strictly, flattening his palms against the table.
The prefects compartment is a little bigger than the others, dominated by a big round wooden table with a Hogwarts insignia engraved into the center. The window is partly obstructed by a chalkboard hanging from the ceiling and when they had arrived scrolls with the prefects' names on them had been placed in neat rows underneath the insignia of the table.
"Pardon me, Sire!" Gwaine answers, straightening his back in a mock salute. The bright-haired head boy just gives him a look before returning to the papers in front of him.
"Prefects, "he begins in a loud, pretentious voice.
"I'm going to make this as brief as possible because we will be arriving to Hogwarts soon. Firstly, I would like to say that yes, I am the Headmaster's son," he makes an artistic break,"…and some may think that this is a post my father has given me simply as a privilege as his son, and that I will therefore be very lax in my rule as head boy." He looks at everyone, daring them to answer. The compartment remains quiet.
"But that is not true. For me, this is a chance to prove myself to my father, and you," he gestures at the present prefects "are going to help me manage that by creating the greatest prefect-squad this school has ever seen. Is that clear?" There's nothing Gwaine and Merlin can do but nod enthusiastically at that, while carefully leaning away from the head boy.
He's a scary man when he gets passionate about something, that's for sure. Gwaine throws Merlin a look that could mean "God he is so full of it" or possibly "We are in for one hell of a year, and not in a good way". Either way, Merlin agrees.
He searches the other faces in the compartment, trying to figure out what they think about their new fiery leader. Morgana, the obvious choice for the female Slytherin prefect, is looking mildly amused. They go way back apparently, her and the head boy. Cenred, the other Slytherin prefect, looks like he always does. Slightly constipated.
On the other side of the table, beside the head boy, sits his girlfriend who is head girl, Guinevere. Or Gwen, as she prefers to be called. Merlin would like to be bitter at her, both for the fact that she got the position through her boyfriend, and for her blind faith in the oaf. But he can't because she is quite honestly the sweetest girl he's met and a good partner in potions class. The other prefects are the Ravenclaw Freya, the Gryffindor Percival and two girls Merlin has never really talked to. All of them look at the head boy with reverent eyes. Merlin tries very hard not to roll his eyes.
What is this, his personal fan club? The head boy goes through some ground rules, makes anther supposedly inspirational speech, hands out the common room passwords (Teeth is the answer to this year's Ravenclaw riddle.) before excusing the prefect's so that they can go change into their robes, the train is already hitting its breaks. Before Merlin manages to flee the compartment, however, the head boy calls him back with an "Emrys!" said in a very determined voice. He sends a pleading look to Gwaine who sends a sympathetic one back and gestures that he'll wait outside.
Taking a deep breath, Merlin turns to face the head boy.
"According to the logs of the head boys of previous years, every single one of them has taken a Ravenclaw assistant to help with the paperwork." He says, looking out the window and blatantly ignoring Merlin's apparent distain to be there.
"…Okay? Ask Freya."
"I tried. She thinks I'm flirting with her. Strange woman" he admits to the last with a concerned look that Merlin thinks makes him look rather stupid.
"Anyway I can't have her reporting me to the teachers for sexual harassment so.."
"Well I feel very honored to be your second choice," Merlin answers, voice is dripping with sarcasm. "And that you don't believe me capable of feeling sexually harassed." The head boy groans.
"Don't be difficult, Emrys! I need someone to help me, and you are the only one there is. We don't have to like it. I'll be expecting you outside the Gryffindor common room every Tuesday night at 6 from now on, with your own quill, ink and scroll. From 7 to half past 8 you will be my assistant."
"And what will I do, as your assistant?"
"Assisst." He answers, deadpan. "Now get out of here I need to change."
He meets Gwaine outside the door, and fumes silently all the way back to their compartment. As the doors close behind him Merlin lets out a growl and punches the wall, immediately regretting it and clutching his hurting fist.
"That… That pompous Shit of an-" He searches for a word strong enough "-CLOTPOLE!" It is a testament to the great friend Gwaine is when he doesn't laugh, but asks seriously; "What happened?"
Merlin sighs exasperatedly and drops down on the seats.
"…I think I just became Arthur Pendragons personal slave"