Heir Apparent Heir Apparent
Formerly 'Merlin's Little Brother'.
By Lady Sardonyx and Lady Aster
Authors' Notes:
Title: Heir Apparent
Author(s): Lady Sardonyx; Lady Aster
Rating: K+
Status: In Progress
Summary: Harry was thrown back into Merlin's time due to a birthday wish. There, he becomes Merlin's brother and lives a life of wonder. But what of the Wizarding World? When will Harry come back to be its savior? Used to be 'Merlin's Little Brother'
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all that is related to the book series is the property of J.K Rowling and other publishers. The two authors writing this have no connections whatsoever to the author of the immensely popular children's series.
"Time travel is a dangerous matter to attempt," said Memory solemnly. "Many excelling sorcerers have attempted this feat and failed to succeed."
Myrddin thought deeply. "What happened to them?" he asked.
Memory looked grim—well, grimmer than usual. "They died after suffering under a horrible torture."
Myrddin asked, "Has anyone thought on why they had failed and experimented on it?"
"Many," was his reply. "But none have succeeded in discovering the exact spell or ritual for time travel."
Myrddin nodded.
"Warn your brother about this," Memory said and Myrddin smiled fondly at the memory of the antics his twin got up to at the Summer Palace.
"There is a paradox known as the Grandfather Paradox. It goes as such: a traveler goes to the past and kills his grandfather before the latter meets the woman to be his wife. Thusly, the traveler was never conceived. But, as the grandfather was killed, it implies that the traveler was conceived and was able to travel into the past, killing his grandfather and never being conceived. It is one of the most logical time paradoxes. Even the non-magical humans can or have already considered this. For example, Einstein has made some discoveries into the relativity of time and the fourth dimension." The old man paused for a moment. "Or has he done it yet? The years all seem to blur together…"
"How many dimensions are there?" asked Myrddin.
"There are as many as infinity and as few as five—you can think of the first as a dot or line, the second as a flat space, the third as an cube (although of course the shape is relative), the fourth as time, and the fifth as magic… though it seems as if the fifth is also the dimension of possibilities, holding a world of infinite alternate time streams, universes, and realities."
Harrison rolled his eyes. There Myrddin was again, talking with Memory about some sort of magical theory. It was two days after the ceremony. The goddesses had decided that Harrison and Myrddin would have five days of rest before their training commenced. Since then, Myrddin had been locked up with Memory, trying to suck in as much knowledge as it was humanly (and probably inhumanly, too) possible.
A minute later, he grinned. I know. I can explore Avalon while Myrddin is talking about stuffy magical theory! Harry was not known for his intellect nor was he famous for his common sense.
He bounded out of the building and looked all around the island in awe. The thick, snaking mist seemed to have disappeared and the land was green and fertile, with bright splashes of flower fields and herds of animals. The sky was a clear blue, with small clouds drifting gently along in the sky as the sun shone down.
A flicker of movement caught his eyes, which widened as he ran for a closer look. It was a young dragon, about a meter long, stuck among the trees, with glowing silvery scales and green eyes dulled with pain. A sharp branch had poked through one of her wings and dripped slowly with silver blood. The dragon was lying, exhausted, on the branches. As Harrison walked closer, the dragon lifted her head, hope glimmering in her eyes.
Help, Harrison heard weakly in his head. The voice was unmistakably female, yet so soft he could barely hear it.
Startled, he jumped and looked around for somebody.
Help, repeated the voice.
Harrison looked around wildly. 'Where are you?' he asked, directing his thoughts toward the voice.
In front of you, she said quietly.
Harrison looked in front of him, but could see no one except the dragon. 'Oh! You're the one who is speaking to me!'
He rushed toward the dragon and gently removed the branch, which was piercing the dragon's wing. A few drops of the dragon's blood dripped onto Harrison's arm. He gave a cry and sucked at his arm, trying to remove the pain of the burning blood. It burned down his throat as he accidentally swallowed it.
The dragon hissed in pain and clawed at him. Harrison jumped aside, but not before she scratched him, drawing blood. "Ow!"
Sorry, came the sheepish sound of the dragon's voice.
Harrison cautiously walked forward. As he gently lifted her, trying hard not to jar the injured dragon to cause more pain, a drop of his blood fell into the dragon's open wound. It sizzled there before disappearing. Harrison shrugged and continued with his task.
His brow furrowed as he thought of what the palace healer, the city doctor, or the wise woman that lived just up the hill from the palace would have done. After a few moments, he grinned. 'I know what I'm supposed to do to stop the wound from bleeding so much,' he thought to the dragon.
What?
'I need to bind your wound tightly, and put pressure on it, according to my brother.' He set the dragon down on a soft mound of grass and took off his shirt. He held it before the dragon. 'Can you tear this into strips so I can bind your cuts?'
Of course, came the slightly offended sound of the young dragon's voice. She ripped the shirt into a few ragged pieces of cloth in a matter of seconds.
Harrison awkwardly bound the dragon's punctured wings with the tatters of cloth. When he was done, he sat up and smiled at the dragon. 'Hello,' he said, 'I forgot to introduce myself.'
Humans, the dragon grumbled. My mother says that none of you have any manners.
Harrison shrugged and smiled. 'My brother has manners, but my nurse once said, "You may be cute but you're a little rascal." Do rascals have manners?'
I don't know. I'll ask my mother. What are you named? I am named Selena Emerald, because my scales are silver and my eyes are the colors of emerald, or so I am told. I'm not old enough to go to the storage caves yet. Last time I tried, Mother gave me a good burning.
'My mother, the princess of Shalott, named me Harrison, but I prefer to be called Harry.'
Oh no! I forgot! I have lessons today! Mother must be terribly worried. Selena's voice became desperate. But how am I to get there! If only I had followed Mother's advice about flying between trees…
'I'll carry you there. You're really light.' He picked her up. 'Where shall we go!'
That way! she said, gesturing to him with her mind. He trotted off toward the high mountains in the distance. They must have made a strange sight, a small boy carrying a dragon nearly the same size as he.
And why should I believe your story, young mortal? thundered the dragon king. He was gigantic, one of the largest there, and easily one of the most formidable physically, but his large golden eyes held wisdom, and so Harrison was not as afraid as he might have been. His scales were an uncanny color; they shifted from dark blue to gray to silver to pale gold, much as the sky shifts in color throughout the day and night.
Harrison shrugged. "I didn't tell any falsehoods, Your Majesty."
The dragon, fully healed, though neither Harrison or Selena knew how her wound had already healed by the time he had removed the bindings, looked up with a pleading look toward the king. They were in an enormous cavern, with six other dragons in a circle around them, while the king, also part of the circle, was distinguishable only by the crackling air around him and his stately manner.
Selena chirped something in the dragon language, her tone pleading.
'Why is His Majesty so angry?' Harrison asked Selena.
I don't know. But my mother says that His Majesty was done a terrible grievance by humans.
'But aren't the Ladies of Avalon humans? So wouldn't he be angry with them, too? I think they live here.'
No. They see him a lot, and he's not usually angry after they visit. I think they're immortals, though, even if their form is human. That's what my brother Starclaw River said, but he is always teasing me.
Suddenly a slight wind blew toward Harrison and Selena, and Lady Vivien?—Harrison thought—appeared. She shook her shimmering curtain of hair out of her face and stared at the king with large, knowing, bright blue eyes. He stared back.
They seem to be having a conversation, Harry thought as Lady Vivien grinned.
'We are,' he heard someone say in a simultaneously laughing and mysterious tone. Harrison shook his head and wondered if he were going crazy. I hope not.
'You're not,' the same voice said. Harrison jumped and turned his head around wildly, searching for the voice. Lady Vivien, watching him out of the corner of her eyes, suppressed a giggle.
Finally, the dragon king spoke, a smile in his voice. "I admit my defeat," he said. "I won't eat him or keep him here or turn him into a dragon." A wistful note entered his voice. "He would make a great dragon, that he would."
"But he is needed as a human mortal, so a human mortal he shall stay. So the Magic has decreed." Lady Vivien said as she might to a good friend.
No outward sign was shown, but the dragon spoke quickly, as if in interest. "The Magic?"
Lady Vivien merely inclined her head.
"Then I shall not harm him. I only ask that he visits me once every week he is in Avalon."
"Very well." Turning to Harrison, she raised a fine brow and extended a slender hand. "Come now, Harry."
He took her hand, looking up anxiously to see if there was any anger or disappointment toward him. But there was none. So he grinned and happily skipped beside her toward the cavern entrance, turning back only to wave at his new dragon friend, Selena.
Lady Aster's Note: We are extremely, extremely, extremely sorry that the chapter is so late… School caught up to us; both Lady Sardonyx and I had gigantic projects four weeks in a row.
Lady Sardonyx: Personally, I'm not at all pleased with how this chapter turned out but form your own opinion.
Lady Aster: Review!