DomDaniel's Apprentice
by: lardpies

DomDaniel was a very angry man. He took his anger out in many ways – but mostly, he took his anger out on people. And the one person who usually happened to be there was his apprentice – Septimus Heap, the seventh son of a seventh son. But Septimus Heap, for all he was worth, had not a lick of magic in him. The faint green sparks that occurred in his eyes when he performed 'magic' were faint and gone before he could blink. And thus, DomDaniel grew tempered. And Septimus, the poor boy, had to take the brunt of his anger.

There was hitting, screaming, cussing, but most of all, magic-testing. DomDaniel, the crazy man, performed many spells on Septimus, who had no way of defending himself.

So many-a-times, Septimus left DomDaniel's hideout with bruises, limps, and sometimes strange appendages that didn't fall off for weeks. Every time Septimus even opened his mouth to lend a dissent, his Master would often slap him across the face.

Despite all of this, Septimus Heap never left DomDaniel. Not once did he even think about it – that was because he, too, had grown surly and sour. One too many slaps to the face had made him bitter, lashing out at things that made him angry. DomDaniel was the only father that Septimus knew. The only type of person that Septimus could stand. They had become each other's tether to the world, however evil that tether may be.

But Septimus was not evil – simply put, he needed a warm, maternal presence to balance out all of that unruly anger. Thus, when it had been revealed that boy 412 was Septimus Heap, and that DomDaniel's apprentice was Merrin, the Matron Midwife's lost son, Aunt Zelda brought out her many potions and healing herbs and warm hugs and began the long process of healing.

This is the story of DomDaniel's former apprentice, formerly known as Septimus Heap and currently known as Merrin.

…

Aunt Zelda sat by the warm fire, nursing an equally as warm cup of toad soup. Across from her sat, hunched in a tight ball, Merrin. His large, blue and orange sweater nearly swamped him, and his dark head of hair was mused from lack of care. His eyes roved around the room, taking in every detail.

"So, Merrin, how are you doing today?"

No response.

It was okay, Zelda had been expecting nothing more than that. For the past several weeks, he had been like that. Unresponsive. Cold towards anyone who tried to talk to him. But that was better than seeing him when the Boggart came around to talk with Zelda. He'd wheeze in fear – afraid the Boggart would grab at a pistol from thin air and shoot him. Zelda didn't blame him – he was haunted by his previous acts under the tutelage of DomDaniel.

Aunt Zelda shuffled across the carpet to sit next to Merrin, who shot her a look of surprise.

"Why don't you hate me?"

Aunt Zelda hadn't been expecting any words to be exchanged, so she jumped a tad bit when he spoke. She shook her head and smiled. "I won't lie, I thought you were a rotten boy at first," she began. At his downtrodden look, she rushed to finish what she was saying. "But! No one blames you for doing what you did – you were ordered to do what you had to do in order to capture the Princess. Now, what everyone else blames you for is the way you acted whilst doing this. I don't hate you because I'd probably be the same way, if I were brought up like you."

He sighed. He scratched under his sweater at his bare arm. She snatched his hand away and lifted up his sweater arm. He'd been doing that often, she noticed, and tutted when she took note of the raised red welts running along his forearm. "Now, I told you not to scratch at yourself – it's a nervous habit, and a dangerous one at that. If anything, bite your fingernails or crack your knuckles – less dangerous."

The boy nodded before looking back at the cough of a throat. The Boggart was here. Merrin gave a squeak of fear and crab-walked into a corner of the room, huddling and pulling his blue and orange sweater up over his head. Boggart gave the boy a sad look and beckoned for Aunt Zelda to follow him into the kitchen. Then he began to speak.

"Oi, I think ya need to fix that boy up about me – thinks I'mma hurt 'im over somethin' that happened almost a month ago. He-,"

"He's scared, sorry, and needs to be coddled a bit more. Heaven knows he needs it – he hasn't had it for ten years!"

"I know, Aunt Zelda, but still… he needs to know that I'm over it – he wasn't himself, I'd gather. And even if he wasn't, he's changed. Right?"

Zelda nodded.

"Alright then – set him straight."

…

Several weeks passed before Boggart came again, and this time, Merrin didn't cower in fear. Actually, he smiled and greeted him, offering him some of his pie.

Soon after, Merrin left to go to bed – he was horribly tired, and had been ever since he'd been freed of the Darke that DomDaniel had encircled his heart in. When he'd left up the stairs, Zelda began to talk.

"A day after you left, I talked with Merrin. Told him to accept you, not be afraid of you. I guess he views me with enough trust to try. And a week after that, he began to eat solid food, not just mushy turtle soups. He's been progressing rapidly – I'm thinking of inviting the Heaps over, and asking Sarah to take over from here. Heaven knows she has a heart of gold, and that boy needs more than what I can give to him."

Boggart nodded, then waved. "Well, I best be off – I was just checking up on the boy. He's kind of made his way into my heart – and not just because he was the one to shoot that bullet."

Zelda laughed, slapped the brown-furred water-animal on the shoulder, and bade him good bye.

…

She walked up the creaky old stairs to Merrin's room, and without knocking, opened the door. She thought he was asleep, but he rushed to his bed, and she caught him. She turned him 'round and he stared at her with wide, black eyes.

"Aunt Zelda… you're not going to give me to the Heaps, are you?" he said, close to tears. "I don't want to go!"

She pulled him into a hug. "Don't worry, Merrin, I'm sure they'll be nice to you."

"B-but, what about what I did to the princess? And what about that Septimus figure?"

His former speech pattern made itself apparent, and Zelda chided him. "You're different, no need to sound mean. No one's going to harm you if you're nice. And I'm sure they've both forgiven you for what you did under DomDaniel. Just show them what a hospitable person you've become and I'm sure they'll find you a charm to hang around!"

…

3 months later

…

The Heaps made their way to Aunt Zelda's place, unsure as to why she called them out here. Septimus had decided that she was crazy, and left it at that. Marcia, who had made her own way into the Heap family by taking Septimus in as an apprentice, simply sighed. Gratefully, she had saved herself the harrowing embarrassment that her Python shoes had caused, and had instead worn a travel cloak and sensible travel shoes.

They knocked on her door, and to their surprise, a young boy answered. He had large, expressive black eyes, mused brown hair, and wore a large blue and orange sweater over baggy pants. He slammed the door in their face, and they heard a faint 'sorry,' before loud, loud chatter.

…

"They're here, they're here!"

"I know that, now go open the door again for them, and apologize the right way!"

"Oh, alright! Alright!"

"Wait, set the table first!"

"I already did, just the way you taught me!"

"Okay, now open the door and let them in! Bring any bags up to the rooms, and make sure the cots are ready!"

"Okay!"

…

Silas Heap was bewildered, to say the least. After what was maybe 3 minutes, the boy opened the door again, flustered. "Sorry for slamming the door in your face, please don't make your wolf eat me!" He said, then walked around them, grabbed their bags, told them to stay right there, rushed upstairs, put the bags down, rushed back downstairs, and led them into the living room. There was a large brown table that hadn't been there the last time they were here, and it was shined to perfection. 12 placemats were scattered comfortably around the table, with room to spare. There was a water bowl on the floor, and several tough bones (some still with the meat on it) were laid on another plate on the floor next to the water. Max, the dog that the boy hadn't wanted to eat them, clobbered past the bewildered family and to the bones. He chomped happily.

The boy pulled out a chair, and led Sarah to it. She sat down, and before she could say a word, he pushed her in. "Oh… thank you…"

The same happened with the rest of the family, before he led Aunt Zelda in, who held three plates – one precariously set on her head. "The food is safe, you nitwits," she said when she noticed the stares. They nodded, unsure, until she told them three simple words. "He cooked it."

The family released a collective sigh.

…

Once the table was finished, and everyone was seated, Aunt Zelda cleared her throat. Once everyone's attention was on her (other than Merrin, he was busy feeding the dog his bones – he couldn't eat meat on the bone, so he set about at every meal, saving all of his bones and ripping the meat off), she began to speak.

"A little over four months ago, you, as a family, were tormented by an evil man, known to all as DomDaniel. He was vanquished, but before he left he nearly stole the life of his 'Apprentice.' However, the Apprentice was never given an Apprenticeship meal, thus everything he learned went to waste. He was unable to perform magic, seeing as how the Apprenticeship was falsified. When you left my place, I set about saving the boy from the Darkeness that DomDaniel had enshrouded the boy's heart in. I'm not saying everything he did or said was entirely DomDaniel's fault, but that with the way DomDaniel raised him, I'm surprised he didn't turn out worse.

However, with a caring, maternal hand, he has changed. And now, before you, sits the former Apprentice to DomDaniel, formerly known as Septimus Heap. Merrin, say hello."

"Ah… Hullo…?"

He looked up from Maxie, who had allowed him to scratch him behind the ears. For once, everyone took note of his similarities to the dour boy from four months ago. No one had taken note before simply because he was not frowning, or smiling ruthlessly. He was calm, nice, and peaceful.

Jenna got up from the table, allowing the chair to scratch along the floor. She made her way to the boy, accidentally stepping on Maxie's tail and not taking heed. She raised her hand up, and laid it down hard on his cheek. "You evil, evil boy!" she said, slapping him twice more before storming up the stairs to go hide. Merrin held his hand to his cheek before making his way to the kitchen, grabbing a cold steak, and holding it to his cheek.

"I'll go find her," he said. "It's my fault, and Aunt Zelda added several more rooms and extensions, so it's far easier to get lost."

Before anyone could protest, he ran up the stairs to go look for Jenna. He checked in every room, but couldn't find her. Finally, after much deliberation, checked his own room. And he found her.

…

She was sitting on the floor, staring at all of the medicines on the countless shelves on the left wall. To the right of this wall was his bed, so that, just in case he was sickly (which happened plenty of times) he could grab his medicine with ease and take his daily regimen of herbs and healing tools. On the right wall was a book case filled with the White Witch's many books that he'd borrowed only to want to read again and again.

"Is… is this your room?" said Jenna.

He nodded, sitting on the bed. Staring at him in the light of the room, without the sunlight filtering in and distorting everything with a happy glow, he looked sickly pale. He had gaunt shadows under his eyes, and his lips were pale. His eyes, however, were bright with knowledge and kindness. She supposed she was sorry for slapping him, because he was holding a large slab of meat against his face. "I'm sorry," he said. "There's no reason for doing what I did four months ago, but I'm sorry."

Jenna could tell he was sincere, and she nodded. "I suppose it's alright. If you've changed, then I guess."

"So… how has it been, now that you're the Princess and all?"

"Oh… fairly normal, I'd say. No one knows, so nothing different has happened."

"Oh… I made that table."

"Did you now?"

"Yes, I did. It's a nervous habit of mine to scratch myself, so Aunt Zelda made me start a hobby."

"Well, you're very talented. I noticed the carvings of flowers in the woodwork, which looks lovely."

"Aunt Zelda's been teaching me magic, and I used it on the carving to make it more indented because I'm too frail, she says, to dig in deep."

"Now that I notice, you do have a bit of green in your eyes."

And indeed he did. Every morning, he checked to see if that tiny green tint had gone away like it used to with DomDaniel, but it had not gone – in fact, it had grown. If you stared hard enough, you could see it.

A/N: the large amount oif dialogue is part of the story – the reason why there is no "blah," said he. "blach," she exclaimed. This is important, it's NOT a mistake. Anyway, yeah. I just recently read Magyk, the first book in the Septimus Heap series. :3 I wanna read the rest, lol. Yesh, yesh I does. :3