HARRY POTTER AND THE RISING OF THE DARK by Meta4
AUTHOR'S NOTE::
Firstly, may I say "thank you" for the wonderful amount of support received about this story. I know it's taking its time getting to you: unfortunately life is more than a little hectic at the moment. I'm afraid I'd rather spend the extra time making the story good than rush it out full of errors (and potential "gotchas" for later plot elements).
I hope you can understand the reasoning behind this method of working: Rest assured that the chapters WILL keep coming, albeit a little slower than any of us may like.
Once again, thanks for your continued support - it really does make writing this all worthwhile! It doesn't matter what you say - good or bad - we'd like to hear it!
All the best,
MeTA4.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN:: The Circle.
Draco stopped for a moment to rest on the handle of his shovel. He wasn't particularly used to manual labour and as a consequence the act of shifting a couple of tons of snow was quite a shock to the system.
Will, having been shovelling diligently by his side for the past hour or so, stopped also and wiped his forehead with a gloved hand.
"Thanks for helping, Draco. You really didn't have to."
"S'OK," he replied with his recently discovered sincere smile. "It certainly makes a change."
"Hang on - with you being a wizard and stuff, can't you make this snow just vanish?"
"Well, I'm not supposed to do magic without supervision yet," said Draco, but on seeing Will's disappointment, added "But I don't think it'll hurt just once."
He pulled his wand from inside the jacket that Jim had lent to him (which was more like a tent than a coat in comparison to his slender frame) and gathered his thoughts for a moment.
With a cursory glance round to ensure they weren't being watched, he directed his wand at the particularly large drift they'd been attacking for the past twenty minutes.
"Precipitens iactum!" he shouted and, in a flurry of snowflakes, the drift was blown clean over the hedge, almost totally clearing the driveway.
"Wow!" yelped Will, literally jumping up and down with excitement. "That was brilliant, Draco! That's just so cool! C'mon, do it again!"
Will watched, amazed and enthralled as with each utterance of the charm, vast quantities of snow were hurled through the air.
"Can I have a go?" he asked as Draco managed to clear nearly all of the driveway.
"I suppose, but I'm not sure much'll happen."
"Cool! So what do I do?"
"Take my wand - gently - and just give it a wave for a moment."
Will did so and felt an almost indescribable tingle over his skin, which in turn caused him to shiver. Draco smiled.
"Well, it looks like you're not going to blow anything up straight away at least."
"Eh?"
"How best to put this... If the wand you try to use doesn't match you, it can misbehave..."
"Oh."
"Right - point it at that snow drift... Good... And say 'Precipitens iactum'."
"Pripitens yack-tun!"
Not a lot happened.
"It's pre-sip-ee-tens ee-yack-tum," explained Draco phonetically. "And remember to think about moving the snow drift. Let the wand know what you want to do."
Will visualised the snowdrift being blasted into the field over the hedge and, very carefully, said the spell once more.
"Precipitens iactum!"
With the same soft 'wumph' that had accompanied Draco's castings, Will watched in disbelief as the final snow drift was blown on to the far side of the hedge.
"Brilliant!" smiled Draco. He moved closer to Will and gently took his wand back. "Not bad for a muggle," he half-whispered.
Stood so close, both boys began to complete the move both of them wanted to make. Just before their lips met, however, there was a huge rush of wind as something rather large flew over them, clearing their heads by little more than a couple of feet. The pressure of the air was so great it threw them both to the ground.
"What the hell was that?" asked Will, helping Draco up and dusting the powdery snow from his jacket.
"Goodness knows."
As they stood, they saw what looked like a large car turn rather elegantly and land as if it had no weight whatsoever on the snowy surface of the road.
"Draco, umm... That car was flying, right?"
"Yes. Yes it was."
"Have you ever seen anything like that before?"
"Only heard of it - one boy in my class once flew his father's car to school."
"Oh, right..."
Draco watched, intrigued, as the vehicle moved silently down the road and turned into the Stanton's driveway, only sinking into the snow once it had come to a stop.
As I opened the driver's door, the look on Draco's face was a picture. Suddenly seeing the Malfoy family resemblance all too clearly in Draco's face, I strode towards him and without thinking twice, landed a rather mean punch to his jaw.
Before I could do anything else, I too found myself face down in the snow next to Malfoy having just received a shovel to the back. Groaning, I picked myself up to see Harry hovering the kid that had hit me with the shovel a good three feet in the air, hence incapacitating him.
"Well well well," chuckled a deep voice from the front door of the house. "It would appear that the Circle is complete."
==========
A few minutes later, we were all sat round the Stanton's kitchen table with the hook-nose bloke at the head. I was glaring at Draco who was sat staring into his lap, nursing his jaw. I could, however, feel the eyes of the shovel-wielding kid burning down on me as Harry in turn scowled at him.
"I look at you, Malfoy, and I see your Father," I said. Draco continued to hang his head. "Look me in the fucking eyes you little bastard!"
Draco looked up, his grey eyes distinctly lacking the malicious sparkle they usually possessed.
"Your Father killed my parents in cold fucking blood."
Draco's lips that had up until now been pursed quite tightly together parted a little.
"He... He did what?" asked shovel-boy, suddenly relaxing his glare.
"Oh, didn't he tell you? Your friend's Father murdered my Father and then my Mother without even breaking a sweat."
"Draco?"
"I..."
Malfoy, for once in his cocky, pretentious little life seemed at a loss for words.
"You see," I continued, "he watched my Mum and Dad through the kitchen window from the back door. When he saw that they weren't paying attention, he just walked in and lynched my dad. Despite my Mum's screaming - and there was a lot of it - he then went and killed her."
Malfoy was shaking now.
"I... I didn't know..."
"What, that your Father was a murderer? I don't believe you. I'm told that you're always bragging about his involvement with the dark at Hogwarts."
"I didn't really believe it, though," whispered Draco. "Not to that extent anyway..."
"So why the fuck did you say it?"
"I... I was just showing off," he whispered again, his cheeks flexing slightly as he desperately tried to fend off the tears.
I stood up with such force my chair flew backwards into the sideboard with a clatter. Marching round the table, I pulled the side of Malfoy's chair out so that he was facing me. I grabbed his head and twisted it upwards so he was looking directly at me.
"See what he did for yourself," I said, and began forcing the images that I'd sensed from the back door handle at my home into his mind.
As Draco saw them I could feel him becoming more and more agitated, his mind beginning to try and fight against what I was showing him. My will was infinitely stronger than his, however, and hence he could not 'look' away.
As he saw the panic my Mother was in, he physically tensed before crying out as she was killed. Finally, the reflection of his Father in the mirror by the back door caused him to moan with distress. I held that image in his mind for a moment longer before releasing him. He slumped as if unconscious against the table, his body shaking with sobs of shock, sorrow and remorse.
And they were genuine sobs: The tidal wave of emotion I could feel building within him before I let go had told me that.
I took a step back and swallowed, re-evaluating the situation. This really wasn't the Draco Malfoy I'd met at Hogwarts and I suddenly became very aware that the analogy involving china shops and bulls didn't quite do justice to my actions.
The hook-nosed bloke sat at the end of the table was studying me intently and, when our eyes met, he smiled very slightly and nodded a gentle nod.
Carefully and quietly - and feeling rather embarrassed at my outburst - I retrieved my chair from under the sideboard and sat back down. Once I had done so, the man spoke.
"Draco, I believe Liam is sorry for what he has just done to you. What your Father did was a terrible, terrible thing, however there are powers at work here that are greater than any of you can yet understand. Undoubtedly the Forces of the Dark will come to exert pressure on each and every one of us in the not-too-distant future and as such we must be as ready as we can in order to account for and cope with this.
"Draco, Liam, I am afraid that I have just used you both as an example to illustrate my point, although Liam here is a lot more perceptive than even he himself would like to admit. He has seen that he has made a mistake in chastising Draco to such an extent."
The bloke turned to me. "But given the facts you had to hand, Liam, I think we would all agree that from what you knew of Draco and from what his Father had done, your actions were justified. However," he continued, turning to Draco. "You were not aware that the lives of Draco and both of his parents were - and still are - under threat from Voldemort. It was due to his love of his wife and son that he performed that act, and I am hoping that Liam" - he turned back to me - "will find it in his heart to forgive Lucius."
We were all, without exception, now looking rather shell-shocked.
"Umm, excuse me," asked Hermione after a rather long silence, "but who exactly are you?"
The hooked-nose bloke smiled a very wry smile. "It depends when and where you meet me, Miss Granger. Presently I am known as 'Professor Merriman Lyon', which is a corruption of my true name, but in this time I am also known as Robernonoch Leh-Nahtu-ne."
As he said this, I watched in astonishment as Merriman's angular, weathered features transformed into the rounded, youthful ones of my mentor.
"Bob?" I asked incredulously.
"One in the same, kiddo," he grinned, before transforming back into Merriman.
"Gumerry?"
"Don't worry, Will," smiled Merriman benevolently. "I am still the same person I always have been. You simply know a little more about me now."
"Merlin's beard!" exclaimed Ron. "I knew that it could be done, but I've never actually seen anyone change from one form to another before..."
"That exclamation has always amused me - I haven't had a beard in hundreds of years," chuckled Merriman. "But I suppose the legends will haunt one forever."
"Hold on - you're saying that you're Merlin?" asked Harry.
Merriman smiled wryly again. "I said that Merriman Lyon was a corruption of my true name. Much like Liam's has changed over the years, mine gradually faded from people's minds after the death of our first True king, King Arthur. It first became Merl'n, then Merlion, then Merlyon, Merilyon and finally Merriman Lyon - the person who you know today."
"I'm sorry to sound skeptical," chirped Hermione, "but how do we know for sure?"
"Do you trust Mr. Blackdon here?"
Everyone except for Draco and Will nodded.
"Then might I suggest that he see for himself."
Merriman held out a hand to me. Gazing at it, I could see his aura initially looked very similar to any normal person's until I looked harder. Where everyone else seemed to have a very soft, flowing edge to theirs, Merriman's was far more intricate, leaping in and out in complex patterns that seemed never to repeat themselves.
Tentatively I took his hand. Immediately I knew there was truth behind everything he said - an inherent goodness that overcame any and all doubts of which I could have conceived, almost dispelling them before they manifested themselves.
"My God," I whispered. "He's telling the truth!"
"Umm, M... Merlin, sir," stuttered Ron. "I'm really sorry about the whole beard thing..."
"I'm sure there was no offence intended and there was certainly none taken," he smiled. "But for the moment I think you should still call me Merriman. It has taken a long time for the name 'Merlin' to divorce itself from me. Only to those to which it is imperative is the truth known.
"Knowing a name immediately puts you on speaking terms with someone - or something. If they can address you directly, it is but our nature to listen to what they have to say. If you can address them, the same is also true. Unfortunately, all of your names - with the exception my own and Will's - are known to the Dark. It is an advantage that we have not had in Risings past."
"We?"
"As I'm sure at least some of you suspected already, this group represents the Circle of the Light, first inaugurated in its present form by King Arthur himself. The Circle was given the task of driving back the forces of the Dark, allowing society to have overwhelming influence from the Light." Merlin chuckled again slightly. "The Dark Ages were so called for good reason, yet as with many things the truth behind the name has become lost over time."
Merriman stood at the head of the table, holding his arms out to his sides.
"I, Merlin, Sage of our United Kingdom, do state that you, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter, Liam Blackdon, William Stanton and Draco Malfoy, are hereby inducted to the Circle of the Light as blessed by our passed Lord, King Arthur of Camelot and of Britain. Henceforth you all shall do anything and everything within your collective means to defeat the imminent Rise of the Dark. May the Spirit of our passed Lord look over you and guide you wisely."
As Merriman said this, the gravity of my situation suddenly became very apparent. If he'd cast some sort of spell or if it was simply the realisation of what we were up against only now sinking through my thick skull I wasn't sure. What I was sure of, however, was that my beef with the Malfoy's suddenly seemed very, very petty indeed.
I rose from the table and looked at Draco.
"I'm not very practised at saying 'sorry', so I'll try and keep to the point. Draco, it will take a while for me to forgive your Father for what he did. However, it was wrong of me to let my anger out on you."
I swallowed. I'm shit at speeches.
"I just want to say that if we're gonna be working together with this, I suppose we need to know that there's no animosity between us."
I extended my hand.
Draco looked at me for a moment before a very broad smile escaped onto his face. The smile really shocked me as the only time I'd seen anything similar on his face before was driven by malice. This was altogether much more appealing and really suited his new appearance.
He took my hand and shook it firmly.
"Don't think I'm going to apologise for squashing your fingers, though,"
"I suppose I deserved that. I'm sorry, Hermione. I think I was just jealous."
"Jealous?" asked Hermione, looking rather shell shocked.
"Well, I mean you are the best student in our year. My Father would never forgive me for that."
"Oh... Uh, thank you," she smiled, suddenly seeing a rather charming, vulnerable side of Malfoy that she'd never even thought existed, never mind seen.
"Good," said Merriman, now leaning against the kitchen sink. "The healing between you will take a little time, of which we don't really have a lot. However, it is imperative that it runs its course before you engage the Dark head on."
"Um, sorry... 'You'? When you say 'you', you mean 'us', and by 'us' you mean not 'you'? As in 'you will engage the Dark, but not me'? I mean when I say 'me' I mean 'you'," asked Ron, looking concerned.
Everyone looked at him as if he was speaking Russian.
"Would you like some paper and a pen, Ron? Perhaps you could draw us a Venn diagram or something," I offered.
Hermione stepped in and clarified the situation: "I think Ron means that Merriman will not be... Umm... Fighting with us."
"Yeah, that's it."
"Not exactly, no," agreed Merriman. "As you will soon come to see, there is a little more to this Rising than initially meets the eye. We have been keeping watch on the Dark more intimately than they could ever know, and as such we presently have an advantage. To reveal myself to them at the outset may well waste that advantage before the battle has truly begun, so we must first distract them."
"Not wanting to sound too pessimistic or anything, but how do we do that to an all encompassing Dark Force? Go and play 'Ding Dong Ditch' at Dark HQ or something? Don't get me wrong: I mean I'm actually quite good at Ding Dong Ditch, but I'm not too sure it'd work in this instance."
"You might be surprised, Liam - that idea has more merit than you'd think. However, now is not the time to be thinking about this. How do you fancy some carol singing this evening?"
==========
The snow was falling more heavily than ever as the day passed. Merriman had split us up into three pairs - Hermione and Ron, me and Will, and Harry and Draco - and had us all traipsing around the scattering of houses that had the audacity to call themselves a village.
The task of this errand was to invite the village to an evening of carols and merriment around the Christmas tree at Greythorn Manor seeing as the power had now failed and no doubt everyone would be feeling miserable.
As Will and I waded through the snow in silence to our quarter of the 'village', we both decided to try and talk at the same time. After the standard "No, after YOU" argument, Will went first.
"Sorry for hitting you with the shovel."
"I'd have done exactly the same thing in your position, mate."
"So... You and Harry are... err..."
I nodded, smiling.
"Oh. Cool," he smiled back, suddenly looking a lot more at ease.
"Have you two... umm..."
"Lots."
"Lots?"
"Oh yeah." I grinned. 'Not in quantity,' I had to admit to myself, 'but certainly in quality!'
We walked for another few minutes in silence again, the only break being when I had to whistle to Monty to get him to stay in roughly the same direction as us. The poor little Crup was leaping through snow that was twice as deep as he was tall, but the frantic wagging of his tail showed that he was really enjoying himself.
"Sorry," I said.
"What for?"
"Hitting your boyfriend. Nothing like making a good first impression, I always think."
"I'd have done exactly the same thing in your position, mate," he said, doing a very bad impression of my Derbyshire accent. I had to laugh.
"I think Draco's got a worse deal than me, somehow."
"This may sound odd, but how do you mean? Your parents are... uh..."
"I think 'dead' is the word you're after."
Will nodded.
"Hermione told me this one: 'Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself'."
"I suppose she's right," conceded Will.
"She's never really wrong," I chuckled. "I've never really had a problem with speaking my mind. Bit of an arse me, really."
"Passionate, yeah, but not an arse. Just a little hot-tempered."
I nodded.
"So can you do the same kinda magic Draco can?"
"Uh, not really... See, I'm an Elf."
"Huh?"
"You know - Elf. See? Pointy ears and everything," I said, pulling my hair back.
"No shit?"
"None whatsoever."
"So that's what Gumerry meant..."
"Gumerry?"
"Sorry - Great Uncle Merry. He was telling Draco and me about the circle and said that it usually comprised of... Oh, what did he say? Yeah - that's it: 'an acquaintance of the Dark, the seventh son of a seventh son, the academic, the brave, the smitten and the non-human'."
"The acquaintance of the Dark - that must be Draco - they know of him through his Father..." I gritted my teeth, but the surges of anger towards Malfoy Senior were gradually becoming more controllable. "The seventh son of a seventh son?"
"Me," said Will.
"The academic - that's got to be Hermione. The brave? Must be Ron or Harry. The smitten... That could be any of us I suppose, and the non-human would be me."
After another moment of silent reflection, Will broke the silence.
"So what can you do then? Magic-wise, I mean."
"Well..." I looked around for a little inspiration, then realised that the snow that was well above my knees was all the inspiration I needed.
With a thought a nice, shiny skidoo appeared a couple of feet in front of us.
"Oh WOW! You did that?"
"Unless there's something you're not telling me, yeah."
"I've always wanted to have a go on one of these!"
"No reason we can't have a little fun while we're at it, I suppose," I grinned.
==========
On the other side of the village, Harry was staring in a rather puzzled way at Draco as they trudged on through the snow.
"What?" Asked the blond haired boy, sounding genuinely confused for the first time in Harry's memory.
"I'm just trying to work out what happened."
"How d'you mean?"
"You becoming a decent person for starters."
Draco's eyes snapped to Harry's. Harry smiled weakly, realising what he said, but the look of scorn soon melted away from Draco's face in a most un-Malfoy-like manner.
"I don't know what happened exactly," admitted Draco. "I was sent down here by my Father and then I met Will. I was really nasty to him to start with - I thought he and his brother were servants."
"You never! Really?" asked Harry, letting the formal quip-making facade he usually had to wear when in Malfoy's company drop.
Draco nodded, looking rather embarrassed. "Even after that, Will offered to help me with my things. I dunno what it is about him, but... I don't know... I mean, it's like he can show me the best and the worst things in me without saying a word." Draco paused for a moment and then laughed at what he'd just said. "That makes absolutely no sense to you, does it?"
"Actually, it makes perfect sense." smiled Harry. "Liam does the same in a way. I don't want to intrude, but I'm guessing you and Will are more than friends..."
Draco blushed, but nodded in the affirmative.
"I'm sure Liam didn't mean to deck you again. He just gets a bit... umm... emotional..."
"I'm thankful that he let me live to be honest," sighed Draco. "I don't think I'd have had his control if our places had been reversed. Then again, that's what Will has changed about me, or rather showed me and allowed me to change myself. I suddenly realised I was becoming my Father and that really worried me."
Draco snorted a more tempered version of his trademark derisory snort.
"It'll be an interesting moment when I tell him I'm in love with another boy. A muggle boy, at that..."
"Well, if it's any reassurance, you've got us all to turn to now, Ma..."
Harry stopped himself.
"Draco."
"Good Lord, Potter, I didn't realise we were on first name terms!" he grinned. "Thank you, Harry - that really means a lot to me."
"New Draco, new chance, I suppose," said Harry, returning his former arch-enemy's smile. "Besides, I like your hair..."
==========
I fished around in my pocket and pulled out the set of keys that had just appeared there and handed them to Will.
He clambered on to the skidoo and fired up the engine, causing a bunch of Rooks to fly up from the surrounding trees as the snow-dampened silence was shattered. I sat Monty on the fuel tank between Will's arms and then climbed on the back.
Will twisted the throttle and we took off down the lane at a much more respectable speed with a huge fountain of snow being thrown a good ten feet into the air behind us as the track of the skidoo threw the powder asunder.
With each stop we found people coping to various degrees with the adverse conditions. The larger families appeared to be making the best of a bad situation, almost enjoying the forced hardship and rediscovering the lost art of conversation, the TV no longer being an option.
On the other hand, we also found some people - especially the elderly - were having a far more difficult time of it. I willed the power back on in a couple of houses seeing as their residents were very obviously suffering, and also ended up handing out food that was being carried by the sled the skidoo was now pulling (it had miraculously appeared when we came across the first old lady desperately in need of something to eat).
Very quickly, the task we'd initially classed as a chore turned into a joy as we made more and more people smile.
"This is what magic should be used for!"
"Oh god yeah!" grinned Will as we hurtled over the fields back towards Greythorn Manor.
We'd been received very well by everyone and there was a promised turn-out of nearly a hundred percent, especially when we said we'd pick them up should they be in need of transportation.
As I was commenting on this to Will, something caught my eye from the periphery of my vision. We'd just passed a small outcrop of trees and I could swear blind that something had darted into them for cover.
"Stop here a second," I yelled over the engine. Will eased back on the throttle and we coasted to a stop a hundred feet or so past the trees.
"What is it?"
"I dunno," I replied truthfully. "I could have sworn I saw something in the woods."
"Perhaps it was a dog or something..."
"It must've been a bloody big dog! Spin us around and do a drive by, would you?"
Will nodded and wrestled the Skidoo in a rather large arc to point roughly back in the direction we'd come from. The engine seemed to mirror my unease, not particularly liking the concept of partial throttle having been thrashed at top speed everywhere until now.
As we rumbled back past the wood Monty, who'd stayed firmply planted on top of the fuel tank, let out a low growl and then leapt off the skidoo towards the wood, his speed seemingly unimpaired by the snow.
As he reached the treeline, what could best be described as a rather wretched screech went up, accompanied by a black-hooded figure breaking cover from behind one of the trees and sprinting as best he could out into the open.
"C'mon, Will, head 'im off!"
Will gunned the motor once more and set a collision course, however Monty was already within gnashing range. Seconds later, the fleeing man was brought to the ground by a pair of immensely strong jaws locking round his left heel. With another screech, he fell into the snow, dropping something as he did so.
As we approached, the man started to flail around, trying to dislodge Monty. The little crup was having none of it, though, and sunk his teeth a little deeper until they penetrated the boot and began to touch flesh, accompanied by a "you just try it, mate" type of growl.
Will and I both dismounted and waded over to where the guy was lying. As we approached, a rook kaw'd loudly from the top of one of the trees.
The man jerked his head round to look at the Rook. "Let me go!" he screeched once again, his vocal cords sounding like overstressed violin strings. Monty gave his heel a bit of a shake to remind him that wasn't going to happen any time soon.
"Who are you?" I asked. The aura he was projecting appeared strange to me. Human, certainly, but unusual in a way I was having trouble defining.
The man, whos face I could now see to be extremely gaunt and tired-looking, simply scowled. "Let me GO!" he yelled, accompanied by another flurry of struggling.
"I've seen him before," whispered Will. "I could swear he was outside my house the day Gumerry arrived..."
"Was that you?" I asked.
The man sneered in a way that I found deeply unsettling.
"This night will be bad," he said, "and tomorrow will be beyond imagining!"
Will and I looked at each other but before we could say anything, we noticed the quantity of rooks that had assembled in the treetops. As if our noticing them had been the cue, they all took to the air in a whirlwind of flapping and crying, flying up in a rotating column that moved in a way that reminded me of a tornado.
The man now became frantic, screaming and kicking at Monty to get free. I let out a short whistle to call Monty to me. He let go of the man's ankle and bounced over to my side. Immediately, the column of rooks dived towards our position, prompting myself, Will and Montie to take refuge behind the skidoo.
We were not their target, however: As quick as a flash, they were on the strange man, pecking and scratching at him as he desperately tried to get up from the snow. Too shocked to really do anything to help, Will and I could but watch as he hobbled off down the field, the cloud of rooks following him.
Once the noise had died down, I looked over at Will. "Did any of that strike you as being a bit odd?"
Before Will could even answer, a bark from Montie caused be to turn around. A few feet from where the man had been lying, Monty was busy digging in the snow, tail wagging violently. A second later he stopped and plunged his head into the snow, re-emerging a moment later with something shiny in his mouth.
"What you got, scruff?"
I knelt down as he pranced over, looking immensely proud of himself. Gently, he dropped a shiny metal ring, quartered by a cross, into my hand. I turned it over, inspecting it. Judging by the weight and the texture, it looked as if it was made from bronze or brass or something similar.
"What on earth is this? That guy must've dropped it when he fell..."
"Hey!" exclaimed Will as he looked over my shoulder. "I've got something almost identical to that!"
He rummaged around in his trouser pockets and pulled out another ring quartered by a cross.
"Where'd you get that one?"
"Merriman gave it to me a couple of days ago."
I took it from him and laid it on top of the one Montie had just found. With the exception of the texture and colour, they were identical. Looking at them, I could see them both exuding an extremely strong aurora. So strong, in fact, that I could feel myself squinting from the intensity.
"We need to talk to Merriman about these," I said, and jumped back onto the Skidoo.
AUTHOR'S NOTE::
Firstly, may I say "thank you" for the wonderful amount of support received about this story. I know it's taking its time getting to you: unfortunately life is more than a little hectic at the moment. I'm afraid I'd rather spend the extra time making the story good than rush it out full of errors (and potential "gotchas" for later plot elements).
I hope you can understand the reasoning behind this method of working: Rest assured that the chapters WILL keep coming, albeit a little slower than any of us may like.
Once again, thanks for your continued support - it really does make writing this all worthwhile! It doesn't matter what you say - good or bad - we'd like to hear it!
All the best,
MeTA4.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN:: The Circle.
Draco stopped for a moment to rest on the handle of his shovel. He wasn't particularly used to manual labour and as a consequence the act of shifting a couple of tons of snow was quite a shock to the system.
Will, having been shovelling diligently by his side for the past hour or so, stopped also and wiped his forehead with a gloved hand.
"Thanks for helping, Draco. You really didn't have to."
"S'OK," he replied with his recently discovered sincere smile. "It certainly makes a change."
"Hang on - with you being a wizard and stuff, can't you make this snow just vanish?"
"Well, I'm not supposed to do magic without supervision yet," said Draco, but on seeing Will's disappointment, added "But I don't think it'll hurt just once."
He pulled his wand from inside the jacket that Jim had lent to him (which was more like a tent than a coat in comparison to his slender frame) and gathered his thoughts for a moment.
With a cursory glance round to ensure they weren't being watched, he directed his wand at the particularly large drift they'd been attacking for the past twenty minutes.
"Precipitens iactum!" he shouted and, in a flurry of snowflakes, the drift was blown clean over the hedge, almost totally clearing the driveway.
"Wow!" yelped Will, literally jumping up and down with excitement. "That was brilliant, Draco! That's just so cool! C'mon, do it again!"
Will watched, amazed and enthralled as with each utterance of the charm, vast quantities of snow were hurled through the air.
"Can I have a go?" he asked as Draco managed to clear nearly all of the driveway.
"I suppose, but I'm not sure much'll happen."
"Cool! So what do I do?"
"Take my wand - gently - and just give it a wave for a moment."
Will did so and felt an almost indescribable tingle over his skin, which in turn caused him to shiver. Draco smiled.
"Well, it looks like you're not going to blow anything up straight away at least."
"Eh?"
"How best to put this... If the wand you try to use doesn't match you, it can misbehave..."
"Oh."
"Right - point it at that snow drift... Good... And say 'Precipitens iactum'."
"Pripitens yack-tun!"
Not a lot happened.
"It's pre-sip-ee-tens ee-yack-tum," explained Draco phonetically. "And remember to think about moving the snow drift. Let the wand know what you want to do."
Will visualised the snowdrift being blasted into the field over the hedge and, very carefully, said the spell once more.
"Precipitens iactum!"
With the same soft 'wumph' that had accompanied Draco's castings, Will watched in disbelief as the final snow drift was blown on to the far side of the hedge.
"Brilliant!" smiled Draco. He moved closer to Will and gently took his wand back. "Not bad for a muggle," he half-whispered.
Stood so close, both boys began to complete the move both of them wanted to make. Just before their lips met, however, there was a huge rush of wind as something rather large flew over them, clearing their heads by little more than a couple of feet. The pressure of the air was so great it threw them both to the ground.
"What the hell was that?" asked Will, helping Draco up and dusting the powdery snow from his jacket.
"Goodness knows."
As they stood, they saw what looked like a large car turn rather elegantly and land as if it had no weight whatsoever on the snowy surface of the road.
"Draco, umm... That car was flying, right?"
"Yes. Yes it was."
"Have you ever seen anything like that before?"
"Only heard of it - one boy in my class once flew his father's car to school."
"Oh, right..."
Draco watched, intrigued, as the vehicle moved silently down the road and turned into the Stanton's driveway, only sinking into the snow once it had come to a stop.
As I opened the driver's door, the look on Draco's face was a picture. Suddenly seeing the Malfoy family resemblance all too clearly in Draco's face, I strode towards him and without thinking twice, landed a rather mean punch to his jaw.
Before I could do anything else, I too found myself face down in the snow next to Malfoy having just received a shovel to the back. Groaning, I picked myself up to see Harry hovering the kid that had hit me with the shovel a good three feet in the air, hence incapacitating him.
"Well well well," chuckled a deep voice from the front door of the house. "It would appear that the Circle is complete."
==========
A few minutes later, we were all sat round the Stanton's kitchen table with the hook-nose bloke at the head. I was glaring at Draco who was sat staring into his lap, nursing his jaw. I could, however, feel the eyes of the shovel-wielding kid burning down on me as Harry in turn scowled at him.
"I look at you, Malfoy, and I see your Father," I said. Draco continued to hang his head. "Look me in the fucking eyes you little bastard!"
Draco looked up, his grey eyes distinctly lacking the malicious sparkle they usually possessed.
"Your Father killed my parents in cold fucking blood."
Draco's lips that had up until now been pursed quite tightly together parted a little.
"He... He did what?" asked shovel-boy, suddenly relaxing his glare.
"Oh, didn't he tell you? Your friend's Father murdered my Father and then my Mother without even breaking a sweat."
"Draco?"
"I..."
Malfoy, for once in his cocky, pretentious little life seemed at a loss for words.
"You see," I continued, "he watched my Mum and Dad through the kitchen window from the back door. When he saw that they weren't paying attention, he just walked in and lynched my dad. Despite my Mum's screaming - and there was a lot of it - he then went and killed her."
Malfoy was shaking now.
"I... I didn't know..."
"What, that your Father was a murderer? I don't believe you. I'm told that you're always bragging about his involvement with the dark at Hogwarts."
"I didn't really believe it, though," whispered Draco. "Not to that extent anyway..."
"So why the fuck did you say it?"
"I... I was just showing off," he whispered again, his cheeks flexing slightly as he desperately tried to fend off the tears.
I stood up with such force my chair flew backwards into the sideboard with a clatter. Marching round the table, I pulled the side of Malfoy's chair out so that he was facing me. I grabbed his head and twisted it upwards so he was looking directly at me.
"See what he did for yourself," I said, and began forcing the images that I'd sensed from the back door handle at my home into his mind.
As Draco saw them I could feel him becoming more and more agitated, his mind beginning to try and fight against what I was showing him. My will was infinitely stronger than his, however, and hence he could not 'look' away.
As he saw the panic my Mother was in, he physically tensed before crying out as she was killed. Finally, the reflection of his Father in the mirror by the back door caused him to moan with distress. I held that image in his mind for a moment longer before releasing him. He slumped as if unconscious against the table, his body shaking with sobs of shock, sorrow and remorse.
And they were genuine sobs: The tidal wave of emotion I could feel building within him before I let go had told me that.
I took a step back and swallowed, re-evaluating the situation. This really wasn't the Draco Malfoy I'd met at Hogwarts and I suddenly became very aware that the analogy involving china shops and bulls didn't quite do justice to my actions.
The hook-nosed bloke sat at the end of the table was studying me intently and, when our eyes met, he smiled very slightly and nodded a gentle nod.
Carefully and quietly - and feeling rather embarrassed at my outburst - I retrieved my chair from under the sideboard and sat back down. Once I had done so, the man spoke.
"Draco, I believe Liam is sorry for what he has just done to you. What your Father did was a terrible, terrible thing, however there are powers at work here that are greater than any of you can yet understand. Undoubtedly the Forces of the Dark will come to exert pressure on each and every one of us in the not-too-distant future and as such we must be as ready as we can in order to account for and cope with this.
"Draco, Liam, I am afraid that I have just used you both as an example to illustrate my point, although Liam here is a lot more perceptive than even he himself would like to admit. He has seen that he has made a mistake in chastising Draco to such an extent."
The bloke turned to me. "But given the facts you had to hand, Liam, I think we would all agree that from what you knew of Draco and from what his Father had done, your actions were justified. However," he continued, turning to Draco. "You were not aware that the lives of Draco and both of his parents were - and still are - under threat from Voldemort. It was due to his love of his wife and son that he performed that act, and I am hoping that Liam" - he turned back to me - "will find it in his heart to forgive Lucius."
We were all, without exception, now looking rather shell-shocked.
"Umm, excuse me," asked Hermione after a rather long silence, "but who exactly are you?"
The hooked-nose bloke smiled a very wry smile. "It depends when and where you meet me, Miss Granger. Presently I am known as 'Professor Merriman Lyon', which is a corruption of my true name, but in this time I am also known as Robernonoch Leh-Nahtu-ne."
As he said this, I watched in astonishment as Merriman's angular, weathered features transformed into the rounded, youthful ones of my mentor.
"Bob?" I asked incredulously.
"One in the same, kiddo," he grinned, before transforming back into Merriman.
"Gumerry?"
"Don't worry, Will," smiled Merriman benevolently. "I am still the same person I always have been. You simply know a little more about me now."
"Merlin's beard!" exclaimed Ron. "I knew that it could be done, but I've never actually seen anyone change from one form to another before..."
"That exclamation has always amused me - I haven't had a beard in hundreds of years," chuckled Merriman. "But I suppose the legends will haunt one forever."
"Hold on - you're saying that you're Merlin?" asked Harry.
Merriman smiled wryly again. "I said that Merriman Lyon was a corruption of my true name. Much like Liam's has changed over the years, mine gradually faded from people's minds after the death of our first True king, King Arthur. It first became Merl'n, then Merlion, then Merlyon, Merilyon and finally Merriman Lyon - the person who you know today."
"I'm sorry to sound skeptical," chirped Hermione, "but how do we know for sure?"
"Do you trust Mr. Blackdon here?"
Everyone except for Draco and Will nodded.
"Then might I suggest that he see for himself."
Merriman held out a hand to me. Gazing at it, I could see his aura initially looked very similar to any normal person's until I looked harder. Where everyone else seemed to have a very soft, flowing edge to theirs, Merriman's was far more intricate, leaping in and out in complex patterns that seemed never to repeat themselves.
Tentatively I took his hand. Immediately I knew there was truth behind everything he said - an inherent goodness that overcame any and all doubts of which I could have conceived, almost dispelling them before they manifested themselves.
"My God," I whispered. "He's telling the truth!"
"Umm, M... Merlin, sir," stuttered Ron. "I'm really sorry about the whole beard thing..."
"I'm sure there was no offence intended and there was certainly none taken," he smiled. "But for the moment I think you should still call me Merriman. It has taken a long time for the name 'Merlin' to divorce itself from me. Only to those to which it is imperative is the truth known.
"Knowing a name immediately puts you on speaking terms with someone - or something. If they can address you directly, it is but our nature to listen to what they have to say. If you can address them, the same is also true. Unfortunately, all of your names - with the exception my own and Will's - are known to the Dark. It is an advantage that we have not had in Risings past."
"We?"
"As I'm sure at least some of you suspected already, this group represents the Circle of the Light, first inaugurated in its present form by King Arthur himself. The Circle was given the task of driving back the forces of the Dark, allowing society to have overwhelming influence from the Light." Merlin chuckled again slightly. "The Dark Ages were so called for good reason, yet as with many things the truth behind the name has become lost over time."
Merriman stood at the head of the table, holding his arms out to his sides.
"I, Merlin, Sage of our United Kingdom, do state that you, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter, Liam Blackdon, William Stanton and Draco Malfoy, are hereby inducted to the Circle of the Light as blessed by our passed Lord, King Arthur of Camelot and of Britain. Henceforth you all shall do anything and everything within your collective means to defeat the imminent Rise of the Dark. May the Spirit of our passed Lord look over you and guide you wisely."
As Merriman said this, the gravity of my situation suddenly became very apparent. If he'd cast some sort of spell or if it was simply the realisation of what we were up against only now sinking through my thick skull I wasn't sure. What I was sure of, however, was that my beef with the Malfoy's suddenly seemed very, very petty indeed.
I rose from the table and looked at Draco.
"I'm not very practised at saying 'sorry', so I'll try and keep to the point. Draco, it will take a while for me to forgive your Father for what he did. However, it was wrong of me to let my anger out on you."
I swallowed. I'm shit at speeches.
"I just want to say that if we're gonna be working together with this, I suppose we need to know that there's no animosity between us."
I extended my hand.
Draco looked at me for a moment before a very broad smile escaped onto his face. The smile really shocked me as the only time I'd seen anything similar on his face before was driven by malice. This was altogether much more appealing and really suited his new appearance.
He took my hand and shook it firmly.
"Don't think I'm going to apologise for squashing your fingers, though,"
"I suppose I deserved that. I'm sorry, Hermione. I think I was just jealous."
"Jealous?" asked Hermione, looking rather shell shocked.
"Well, I mean you are the best student in our year. My Father would never forgive me for that."
"Oh... Uh, thank you," she smiled, suddenly seeing a rather charming, vulnerable side of Malfoy that she'd never even thought existed, never mind seen.
"Good," said Merriman, now leaning against the kitchen sink. "The healing between you will take a little time, of which we don't really have a lot. However, it is imperative that it runs its course before you engage the Dark head on."
"Um, sorry... 'You'? When you say 'you', you mean 'us', and by 'us' you mean not 'you'? As in 'you will engage the Dark, but not me'? I mean when I say 'me' I mean 'you'," asked Ron, looking concerned.
Everyone looked at him as if he was speaking Russian.
"Would you like some paper and a pen, Ron? Perhaps you could draw us a Venn diagram or something," I offered.
Hermione stepped in and clarified the situation: "I think Ron means that Merriman will not be... Umm... Fighting with us."
"Yeah, that's it."
"Not exactly, no," agreed Merriman. "As you will soon come to see, there is a little more to this Rising than initially meets the eye. We have been keeping watch on the Dark more intimately than they could ever know, and as such we presently have an advantage. To reveal myself to them at the outset may well waste that advantage before the battle has truly begun, so we must first distract them."
"Not wanting to sound too pessimistic or anything, but how do we do that to an all encompassing Dark Force? Go and play 'Ding Dong Ditch' at Dark HQ or something? Don't get me wrong: I mean I'm actually quite good at Ding Dong Ditch, but I'm not too sure it'd work in this instance."
"You might be surprised, Liam - that idea has more merit than you'd think. However, now is not the time to be thinking about this. How do you fancy some carol singing this evening?"
==========
The snow was falling more heavily than ever as the day passed. Merriman had split us up into three pairs - Hermione and Ron, me and Will, and Harry and Draco - and had us all traipsing around the scattering of houses that had the audacity to call themselves a village.
The task of this errand was to invite the village to an evening of carols and merriment around the Christmas tree at Greythorn Manor seeing as the power had now failed and no doubt everyone would be feeling miserable.
As Will and I waded through the snow in silence to our quarter of the 'village', we both decided to try and talk at the same time. After the standard "No, after YOU" argument, Will went first.
"Sorry for hitting you with the shovel."
"I'd have done exactly the same thing in your position, mate."
"So... You and Harry are... err..."
I nodded, smiling.
"Oh. Cool," he smiled back, suddenly looking a lot more at ease.
"Have you two... umm..."
"Lots."
"Lots?"
"Oh yeah." I grinned. 'Not in quantity,' I had to admit to myself, 'but certainly in quality!'
We walked for another few minutes in silence again, the only break being when I had to whistle to Monty to get him to stay in roughly the same direction as us. The poor little Crup was leaping through snow that was twice as deep as he was tall, but the frantic wagging of his tail showed that he was really enjoying himself.
"Sorry," I said.
"What for?"
"Hitting your boyfriend. Nothing like making a good first impression, I always think."
"I'd have done exactly the same thing in your position, mate," he said, doing a very bad impression of my Derbyshire accent. I had to laugh.
"I think Draco's got a worse deal than me, somehow."
"This may sound odd, but how do you mean? Your parents are... uh..."
"I think 'dead' is the word you're after."
Will nodded.
"Hermione told me this one: 'Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself'."
"I suppose she's right," conceded Will.
"She's never really wrong," I chuckled. "I've never really had a problem with speaking my mind. Bit of an arse me, really."
"Passionate, yeah, but not an arse. Just a little hot-tempered."
I nodded.
"So can you do the same kinda magic Draco can?"
"Uh, not really... See, I'm an Elf."
"Huh?"
"You know - Elf. See? Pointy ears and everything," I said, pulling my hair back.
"No shit?"
"None whatsoever."
"So that's what Gumerry meant..."
"Gumerry?"
"Sorry - Great Uncle Merry. He was telling Draco and me about the circle and said that it usually comprised of... Oh, what did he say? Yeah - that's it: 'an acquaintance of the Dark, the seventh son of a seventh son, the academic, the brave, the smitten and the non-human'."
"The acquaintance of the Dark - that must be Draco - they know of him through his Father..." I gritted my teeth, but the surges of anger towards Malfoy Senior were gradually becoming more controllable. "The seventh son of a seventh son?"
"Me," said Will.
"The academic - that's got to be Hermione. The brave? Must be Ron or Harry. The smitten... That could be any of us I suppose, and the non-human would be me."
After another moment of silent reflection, Will broke the silence.
"So what can you do then? Magic-wise, I mean."
"Well..." I looked around for a little inspiration, then realised that the snow that was well above my knees was all the inspiration I needed.
With a thought a nice, shiny skidoo appeared a couple of feet in front of us.
"Oh WOW! You did that?"
"Unless there's something you're not telling me, yeah."
"I've always wanted to have a go on one of these!"
"No reason we can't have a little fun while we're at it, I suppose," I grinned.
==========
On the other side of the village, Harry was staring in a rather puzzled way at Draco as they trudged on through the snow.
"What?" Asked the blond haired boy, sounding genuinely confused for the first time in Harry's memory.
"I'm just trying to work out what happened."
"How d'you mean?"
"You becoming a decent person for starters."
Draco's eyes snapped to Harry's. Harry smiled weakly, realising what he said, but the look of scorn soon melted away from Draco's face in a most un-Malfoy-like manner.
"I don't know what happened exactly," admitted Draco. "I was sent down here by my Father and then I met Will. I was really nasty to him to start with - I thought he and his brother were servants."
"You never! Really?" asked Harry, letting the formal quip-making facade he usually had to wear when in Malfoy's company drop.
Draco nodded, looking rather embarrassed. "Even after that, Will offered to help me with my things. I dunno what it is about him, but... I don't know... I mean, it's like he can show me the best and the worst things in me without saying a word." Draco paused for a moment and then laughed at what he'd just said. "That makes absolutely no sense to you, does it?"
"Actually, it makes perfect sense." smiled Harry. "Liam does the same in a way. I don't want to intrude, but I'm guessing you and Will are more than friends..."
Draco blushed, but nodded in the affirmative.
"I'm sure Liam didn't mean to deck you again. He just gets a bit... umm... emotional..."
"I'm thankful that he let me live to be honest," sighed Draco. "I don't think I'd have had his control if our places had been reversed. Then again, that's what Will has changed about me, or rather showed me and allowed me to change myself. I suddenly realised I was becoming my Father and that really worried me."
Draco snorted a more tempered version of his trademark derisory snort.
"It'll be an interesting moment when I tell him I'm in love with another boy. A muggle boy, at that..."
"Well, if it's any reassurance, you've got us all to turn to now, Ma..."
Harry stopped himself.
"Draco."
"Good Lord, Potter, I didn't realise we were on first name terms!" he grinned. "Thank you, Harry - that really means a lot to me."
"New Draco, new chance, I suppose," said Harry, returning his former arch-enemy's smile. "Besides, I like your hair..."
==========
I fished around in my pocket and pulled out the set of keys that had just appeared there and handed them to Will.
He clambered on to the skidoo and fired up the engine, causing a bunch of Rooks to fly up from the surrounding trees as the snow-dampened silence was shattered. I sat Monty on the fuel tank between Will's arms and then climbed on the back.
Will twisted the throttle and we took off down the lane at a much more respectable speed with a huge fountain of snow being thrown a good ten feet into the air behind us as the track of the skidoo threw the powder asunder.
With each stop we found people coping to various degrees with the adverse conditions. The larger families appeared to be making the best of a bad situation, almost enjoying the forced hardship and rediscovering the lost art of conversation, the TV no longer being an option.
On the other hand, we also found some people - especially the elderly - were having a far more difficult time of it. I willed the power back on in a couple of houses seeing as their residents were very obviously suffering, and also ended up handing out food that was being carried by the sled the skidoo was now pulling (it had miraculously appeared when we came across the first old lady desperately in need of something to eat).
Very quickly, the task we'd initially classed as a chore turned into a joy as we made more and more people smile.
"This is what magic should be used for!"
"Oh god yeah!" grinned Will as we hurtled over the fields back towards Greythorn Manor.
We'd been received very well by everyone and there was a promised turn-out of nearly a hundred percent, especially when we said we'd pick them up should they be in need of transportation.
As I was commenting on this to Will, something caught my eye from the periphery of my vision. We'd just passed a small outcrop of trees and I could swear blind that something had darted into them for cover.
"Stop here a second," I yelled over the engine. Will eased back on the throttle and we coasted to a stop a hundred feet or so past the trees.
"What is it?"
"I dunno," I replied truthfully. "I could have sworn I saw something in the woods."
"Perhaps it was a dog or something..."
"It must've been a bloody big dog! Spin us around and do a drive by, would you?"
Will nodded and wrestled the Skidoo in a rather large arc to point roughly back in the direction we'd come from. The engine seemed to mirror my unease, not particularly liking the concept of partial throttle having been thrashed at top speed everywhere until now.
As we rumbled back past the wood Monty, who'd stayed firmply planted on top of the fuel tank, let out a low growl and then leapt off the skidoo towards the wood, his speed seemingly unimpaired by the snow.
As he reached the treeline, what could best be described as a rather wretched screech went up, accompanied by a black-hooded figure breaking cover from behind one of the trees and sprinting as best he could out into the open.
"C'mon, Will, head 'im off!"
Will gunned the motor once more and set a collision course, however Monty was already within gnashing range. Seconds later, the fleeing man was brought to the ground by a pair of immensely strong jaws locking round his left heel. With another screech, he fell into the snow, dropping something as he did so.
As we approached, the man started to flail around, trying to dislodge Monty. The little crup was having none of it, though, and sunk his teeth a little deeper until they penetrated the boot and began to touch flesh, accompanied by a "you just try it, mate" type of growl.
Will and I both dismounted and waded over to where the guy was lying. As we approached, a rook kaw'd loudly from the top of one of the trees.
The man jerked his head round to look at the Rook. "Let me go!" he screeched once again, his vocal cords sounding like overstressed violin strings. Monty gave his heel a bit of a shake to remind him that wasn't going to happen any time soon.
"Who are you?" I asked. The aura he was projecting appeared strange to me. Human, certainly, but unusual in a way I was having trouble defining.
The man, whos face I could now see to be extremely gaunt and tired-looking, simply scowled. "Let me GO!" he yelled, accompanied by another flurry of struggling.
"I've seen him before," whispered Will. "I could swear he was outside my house the day Gumerry arrived..."
"Was that you?" I asked.
The man sneered in a way that I found deeply unsettling.
"This night will be bad," he said, "and tomorrow will be beyond imagining!"
Will and I looked at each other but before we could say anything, we noticed the quantity of rooks that had assembled in the treetops. As if our noticing them had been the cue, they all took to the air in a whirlwind of flapping and crying, flying up in a rotating column that moved in a way that reminded me of a tornado.
The man now became frantic, screaming and kicking at Monty to get free. I let out a short whistle to call Monty to me. He let go of the man's ankle and bounced over to my side. Immediately, the column of rooks dived towards our position, prompting myself, Will and Montie to take refuge behind the skidoo.
We were not their target, however: As quick as a flash, they were on the strange man, pecking and scratching at him as he desperately tried to get up from the snow. Too shocked to really do anything to help, Will and I could but watch as he hobbled off down the field, the cloud of rooks following him.
Once the noise had died down, I looked over at Will. "Did any of that strike you as being a bit odd?"
Before Will could even answer, a bark from Montie caused be to turn around. A few feet from where the man had been lying, Monty was busy digging in the snow, tail wagging violently. A second later he stopped and plunged his head into the snow, re-emerging a moment later with something shiny in his mouth.
"What you got, scruff?"
I knelt down as he pranced over, looking immensely proud of himself. Gently, he dropped a shiny metal ring, quartered by a cross, into my hand. I turned it over, inspecting it. Judging by the weight and the texture, it looked as if it was made from bronze or brass or something similar.
"What on earth is this? That guy must've dropped it when he fell..."
"Hey!" exclaimed Will as he looked over my shoulder. "I've got something almost identical to that!"
He rummaged around in his trouser pockets and pulled out another ring quartered by a cross.
"Where'd you get that one?"
"Merriman gave it to me a couple of days ago."
I took it from him and laid it on top of the one Montie had just found. With the exception of the texture and colour, they were identical. Looking at them, I could see them both exuding an extremely strong aurora. So strong, in fact, that I could feel myself squinting from the intensity.
"We need to talk to Merriman about these," I said, and jumped back onto the Skidoo.