Harry was unsure of what to think. More than that, his mind was totally blank. He snapped out of it and then lent into the mirror to take a closer look at himself. The one thing that seemed to be the same was his black hair, but even that was different, instead of uncontrollably messy it was straight quite long and wavy. Well, at least one good thing came of this. His face was quite triangular with high, aristocratic cheek bones. His eyes were a deep, royal blue and he had a straight nose. He wasn't bad looking and he seemed to have grown an inch. Harry was now long and lanky, rather like Ron. After making this observation he realised that he was seeing perfectly and he did not have his glasses on! However, better still was fact that no lightning bolt scar marked his forehead.
This news suddenly gave Harry an avalanche of ideas. Without the scar, he didn't have to be Harry Potter. He could run away from Voldemort and lead a normal life. Harry quickly shook these thoughts out of his head. That was silly. He couldn't abandon his friends and Hogwarts. But a little voice in his head gave the unwanted words 'but they have abandoned you'. No, thought Harry, there has to be a reason for their silence. But there was still that voice in the back of his mind giving unwelcome thoughts.
Harry, looked on the mirror again and ran his hand through his hair. It was obvious he couldn't stay with the Dursleys. They would call the Police and Harry really didn't want to deal with them. So what to do? Well, first things first he needed to find out what on earth had happened to him.
Where to go in times of great stress and magical conditions; Diagon Ally!
(When later reflecting on this Harry would notice that it was definitely the most insensible thing to do and would categorically deny it had anything to do with a new range of broomsticks he had heard was coming out.)
Harry packed his trunk quietly, took Hedwig's cage (he knew she would knew where he was), opened the lock to the cupboard where his school stuff was being kept (Harry made a mental note to thank Fred and George later, lock picking was really useful) and finally stole a little bit of food from the kitchen, this whole face-changing thing had given him an appetite.
When Harry arrived in Diagon Alley, it was bustling as every with wizarding life. He felt like he was eleven again. Every time he entered Diagon Ally, it was like that, the excitement felt new, refreshingly so.
Harry decided to take a room at the Leaky Cauldron. The air was thick but Harry didn't mind one bit. For some reason taking on a new face was doing very well for Harry. No one was staring at him, he was just part of the crowd.
He shoved his way through the wizards and witches having a drink and made it up to the bar where Tom was sitting, "Could I have a room please?"
Harry had got a nice room, overlooking Diagon Ally. When he settled in the room, he wasn't quite sure of what to do with himself. Where to look for answers? A voice that sounded suspiciously like Hermione's said 'Books!'.
So, later that day Harry found himself scouring through Books in a dusty corner of Flourish and Blotts. This alone had exterminating the childish excitement of that morning. He hated looking through books, it wasn't that he didn't like reading, no he quite enjoyed actually but he felt as if he had done enough for a lifetime (well apparently not) at the tri-wizard tournament.
Then a page jumped out at him '… long term appearance changing glamours or potions have proven to be impossible, the longest lasting 1 month. Extensive research was done in the 17th century by various wizards and witches, for reasons such as trying to hide illegitimate children and …'
Harry felt as if someone had just punched him in the stomach. Was he not the child of Lily or James Potter? Was he not the child of both of them? Had he been living a lie?
Suddenly everything just became too much for him, Voldemort's return, Cedric's death, his friends' silence, now this? Something inside Harry cracked. That was it. Fuck Voldemort, fuck everything, he was leaving the wizarding world and never coming back.
He quickly left Flourish and Blotts and was slightly surprised to see that it was just dark and everything was lit up and still Diagon ally was heaving. He stormed towards Gringotts leaving several unfortunate bystanders to leap out of his path.
Once inside Gringotts he was about to make his way to one of the many Goblins working away at a desk when an expertly polished brass plaque caught his eye.
It had an arrow pointing towards a wooden with a brass knob. It read 'Inheritance and blood tests' Harry immediately changed direction towards the door. He opened it to see a sour faced Goblins scratching away at a piece of parchment.
'Hello my name is Ragnar. How may I assist you?" said the Goblin curtly without even lifting his eyes off his work.
'Uhh… I would like a blood test' said Harry 'Please.' He added.
'It will cost five galleons' replied the Goblin
'Okay, can you withdraw that from the Potter vault?' Harry replied, holding out his vault key, which he had brought along with him.
Ragnar took, examined it for a couple of seconds, looked at Harry suspiciously before saying 'Of course. This way Mr. Potter.'
Ragnar escorted them through a door behind his desk. It lead to a small room with a table two and two chairs. On the table was a blank piece of parchment and an ornate knife. Harry gulped slightly.
Ragnar sat down and indicated Harry should do the same, 'now Mr. Potter please put some blood onto the parchment. A drop will suffice.'
Harry looked a little green when he cut his finger over the parchment. As soon as the crimson liquid touched the parchment it immediately started to form words…
About 1000 years before in Camelot
Morgana had been going about the castle on her usually duties when she was abruptly stopped. A boy, of roughly the same age as her, had just walked into her.
'Sorry' said the boy before looking up at her and then quickly adding 'My lady' as he saw who she was. Their eyes connected for the briefest moment, blue to blue before the boy ran off in the other direction, leaving behind a dazed Morgana.
That evening she questioned Gwen about him.
'Gwen, who is that boy with black hair and blue eyes, quite tall, I've never seen him before.'
'He's Gaius's new assistant, Merlin.' Answered Gwen as she was making the bed.
'Ahh.'
Morgana fell asleep with her head with thoughts of a clumsy, blue-eyed boy.
A couple of days later she was shocked as Uther announced that Merlin would be Arthur's manservant. She would be seeing him around much more, she couldn't help but help feel a little elated at the thought. Again their eyes met fleetingly.
The days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months and Merlin just kept growing on her, his little jokes, his clumsiness, his… his, well Merlinness, there was no other word for it. He made her laugh and feel like she had never felt before.
Before long they started meeting in little alcoves at the all times, when they wouldn't be seen. Morgana always watched whenever Merlin and Arthur went off on their adventures and would always worry that a only one horse would return or worse no horses.
One time Morgana and Merlin met in the dead of night, it was after one of many numerous feasts and they both had a little too much to drink and one thing lead to another.
Merlin and Morgana couldn't look at each other for the next few weeks. One Morning Morgana was getting dressed onto her favourite green dress and was Gwen was doing up the back when she said 'My Lady, it won't go any further.'
It was true the dress was uncomfortably small, smaller than usual 'What? Try a little harder Gwen.'
'It just won't move.' Replied Gwen.
'Oh okay. Just leave me in my chambers while I find another dress.'
'As you wish' Gwen said undoing the laces before leaving. The dress fell of Morgana and she looked down at herself. Her belly was ever so slightly swollen as were her breasts.
Oh no. Oh no no no no. She knew the signs. That night with Merlin. For the first time Morgana swore 'Shit.'
A few days later she went to see the druids where she was happily united with Mordred. Unbeknownst to Merlin magic was not the only reason Morgana came here, she was going to have her baby here and send it far, far away. She could not imagine what Uther would do if he found her child.
A baby's cries penetrated the cool night air. A small bundle was handed to Morgana. As soon as the baby was in her arms he stopped crying.
'Oh look at you my beautiful baby boy. Know that wherever you go I will always be in your heart.' She told the little baby, who opened his eyes and looked up at her with beautiful blue eyes that screamed Merlin.
She took a second before saying 'My baby boy, my Alistair.'
She then looked at the druid beside her and said 'He will never be safe with me or anywhere. I need you to take him somewhere, a place where he can grow up happily, I have put a lot of though into this and… and' Morgana broke down into tears knowing she would never see this beautiful baby again. Her beautiful baby.
When Morgana returned to Camelot she was much more subdued than usually, it was many months before she was herself again but every night she fell asleep dreaming of a little baby boy.
Months later Merlin was almost in tears as he thought of what he had to do. 'Here have some water before I drink it all.'
Morgana smiled at him, taking a little break from tearing the cloth. 'Thank you Merlin.' He looked away. Slowly he could hear her breathing become constricted and when she started choking he looked around and saw a face full of confusion and then betrayal and it broke his heart in two.
He sat down beside her and whispered in her ear repeatedly 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.'
A year passes and they finally find Morgana but Merlin knows she is not the same Morgana, nor will she ever be.
AN: Thank you so much for my two lovely reviewers. I named Harry Alistar as I thought it kind of fitting as it means 'defender of mankind'. Sorry for it being so late. Please Review!
Leo Evans.
