Hey guys! Sorry I'm late. NaNoWriMo has pretty much filled up my writing schedule. ;) Sorry I haven't replied to reviews, I've been a bit busy, but still- thank you all who reviewed! You are so appreciated!

Assassin of Syria: Thanks for the kind words! The villain will appear in the next few chapters... what with the story being in first person POV and with the plot in general it just didn't work for me to put him in sooner.

Chapter 7

"Lunch is here," I said, using my hip to open the door to Arthur's chambers while balancing two plates of chicken and veggies in my arms.

Gwen smiled at me. "Thank you, Merlin."

"Delicious," Arthur stated through a mouthful of chicken.

I turned to leave but Arthur's voice stopped me. "Hey Merlin, I thought you might like to know that I invited Lord Randolf to the ball."

I ran the name over in my head a few times before I recognized it. "Ah! Randolf, the giver of the violin."

He nodded. "He'll be coming to Camelot a tomorrow, so you'll get plenty of time to express your gratitude once again."

I grinned at him. "Wait- do you have a day for the ball?"

"Yes. It's in three days."

My jaw dropped. "Three days? Do you have any idea how long preparations will take? I've barely started working on the music, and that's just the beginning! There's cleaning, decorations, food, not to mention I need to wash all of your finest clothes before then…"

Arthur nodded. "I'm completely aware that this will require hard work. But you know what? Hard work never killed anyone."

Gwen took my hand. "And you're not doing all this alone, Merlin. We'll all do our fair share, right Arthur?"

He grunted uncomfortably. "Uh, sure, yes."

"Okay," I told them. "I guess the next few days are just going to be extra busy then."

.

I sat on my bed in front of my instrument once again, pondering whether or not to touch it.

I can teach Vince without it, I decided, not choosing to risk it. I'll need to save up my strength for when I play for the ball.

Unless…

I stood and ran out the door, coming back a moment later with my book of spells.

Okay, Merlin, so we've agreed that this fiddle of yours has something wrong with it, right? So all we have to do is get rid of the curse!

I figured it would be pretty easy; after all, I was Emrys! Flipping through the book, I found the curse.

"Hm… reversal… ah! Here it is." I tried the spell and a wave of nausea overcame me. When I opened my eyes once more, I could still feel the curse on the violin.

I shook my head. What went wrong?

I looked at the page a bit further. I found what I was looking for in the fine print towards the bottom of the page.

"As a safeguard, the victim of this curse is unable to enact the reversal spell. Any attempt to do so may result in pain."

I sighed. Go figure. I guess I'll just have to push through.

Walking out the door, I sat at the table and started to write down Vincent's lesson plan for the next day, not bothering to try and use the violin at all.

.

That night I couldn't sleep until about midnight when I moved the violin out into Gaius's chambers. The curse only affected me, so he wasn't in any danger.

The next morning I started making a list of songs to do at the ball. Arthur had only wanted five or six; he had a troubadour coming to play for the latter half of the night.

Vincent came in a few minutes early as I was working on my list.

"Hello, Merlin," he said with a grin on his face, setting down his violin case.

"Hello Vince." I gave him a hug. "What do you want to start with- violin? Or, you know, it?"

Vincent gave me a knowing look. "I think we'll start with violin first."

"Great. Now, I've got a little problem with my violin right now, so if I need to show you anything I'll have to use yours."

Vince frowned. "Nothing bad, right?"

I shrugged. "Nothing to worry about."

I quizzed him on violin parts, on which he answered fairly well. He recited the musical alphabet perfectly, and his posture while holding the instrument was so good I decided I may only teach kids who're being trained to be a knight in the future.

"You're doing fantastic! Now we're going to set the violin down for awhile and focus on the bow. Now first you have to tighten the bow hairs; you do that by twisting this little piece here… great. Any guesses on how to hold it?"

He shook his head. "Not a clue."

I showed him how to correctly position his fingers, which proved pretty amusing since he ended up dropping it three times.

"Rats, Merlin! This thing hates me!" he said as he crouched down to pick it up the third time.

I chuckled. "You're not the only one, Vince. Don't worry; you'll get it."

He sighed wearily. "By then I'll be old and gray with no living teacher left to instruct me."

I shrugged. "Good thing I'm immortal."

Vince stared. "Seriously?"

"As long as no one kills me, yes. And there's a pretty good chance that you may be too, considering how similar you and I are."

He let out a low whistle. "Wow. I never thought of that being a possibility."

"Well don't get your hopes up, you might not be," I said.

"Oh I'm not! Being immortal doesn't sound too pleasant, no offence."

I laughed. "None taken. I'm glad you have the wisdom to realize that an immortal life is a lonely one… there are men who would kill to gain that curse."

He snorted. "Poor them."

Picking up the bow once more, he managed to hold it steady.

"There you go! I told you you'd get it."

"I wouldn't say I've got it quite yet. It still feels awkward."

"And it will for another month or so. It's been half an hour- do you want to move on to the next subject?"

His eyes lit up. "Absolutely."

He put away the bow and I led him to my room- less likely to get caught.

"And so begins Magic Lesson 1. Are you prepared for the challenge, Sir Vincent?"

Hope you guys liked it! Sorry it was a bit short. :(