"So... I have been thinking." Arthur mused, while half heartedly eating take away Chinese rice on his kitchen counter. He had offered food to Merlin, but he had just given him a slanted eyebrows look, and Arthur had taken the hint.

"Always a bad idea. You will hurt something up there."

"Shut up Merlin. So... I have been thinking about what I want."

"And?"

"And I realized I don't really need anything from you."

"You have said that a thousand times till now. You could ask me to end world hunger or something, but of course you are too big of a Prat for that." Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Can you end world hunger?"

"No. But it's the intent that counts."

"Exactly. Would you let me finish what I am saying this time?"

"Alright Your Highness, carry on."

"So, I might have everything I could ever want from life but," he paused for the dramatic effect which made Merlin roll his eyes skyward again, "someone else might not." He finished dramatically.

Merlin suddenly paled- which is to say his face started to look much more white than it did green. "You are going to give me away?" He asked, dismayed.

"What? No! Wait... I can do that?"

"Yes you can. You are my owner right now, but if you give me to someone else, willingly- or sell me-then I belong to them."

Arthur thought about giving the lamp to someone else, and be rid of the pain in the ass he had never asked for. He was surprised by how distasteful the idea seemed to him, and he felt a surge of jealousy for the person who would become the owner of the lamp, and of Merlin, after he was done with his wishes. It didn't matter that it might not even happen again in his lifetime, that Merlin might serve another long after he was dust... He did not want that. Merlin was his.

But that was thought for some other time.

"I am not cruel enough to inflict your company on anyone else." Arthur proclaimed, and was relieved to find the color returning to Merlin's face even as he retorted, "Too bad. I was hoping for a master that was less of a clot pole, but I guess I have to do with you for now."

"Thank you Merlin, now, if you are done interrupting me, I have a plan."

"Shoot."

"Remember Tom, my driver?" He waited for Merlin to nod, "He has a daughter, Guinevere."

"The pretty girl with dark hair that was talking to him in the morning?" Merlin asked. Arthur looked at him in surprise.

"How did you know? You were in the briefcase at that time."

"Warlock! Capable of being invisible! Remember? " Merlin said exaggeratedly.

"That's terrifying. You could spy on me taking a shower and I would never know."

"That would imply I would be interested in seeing you naked. Which, I am sorry to say, I am really not."

"Your loss." Arthur said, a little put out by the declaration. It wasn't like he wanted Merlin to want to see him naked. It was just a matter of ego: Arthur was gorgeous to look at, and every living being should want to.

"If you are done having a self esteem crisis, can we go back to what you were saying about your driver's daughter?"

"Yes." Arthur pulled himself back from useless thoughts and continued, "Gwen, she is brilliant. One of the brightest students in the country probably."

"You could try to hide the heart eyes Arthur." Merlin teased.

"Shut up. It's not like that."

"Okay. If you say so." Merlin said in a tone which made it obvious that he completely did not believe Arthur.

"Can you stop distracting me? What was I saying again?"

"You were talking about how amazing Guinevere is."

"Right. So she is a very sharp girl, always scores the top of her class. Don't look at me like that, she is Morgana's friend and Morgana never forgets to inform me every time she gets insanely high marks. It's like she is taunting me that Gwen is better than me or something, which I don't doubt. I was good in studies, but never exceptional."

"For her, he even comes down from his high throne." Merlin sighed.

"You are hopeless you know," Arthur commented, and then continued."The thing is, she is going to be applying for universities this year. And here comes the problem, they are not very well off. When Gwen's mother got sick, they kind of got crushed under the burden of her medical bills and are still recovering years after her death. Tom works for me and I have offered many times to pay for Gwen's tuition in university, but he is a man of firm principals and honor. He wouldn't take charity."

"Oh."

"Exactly. You probably know that most of the best universities are insanely expensive, and even if Gwen qualifies for them, which I am sure she will, not many of them have any good scholarship programs she can afford. Which is just unfair."

Arthur looked at Merlin, wondering if he understood what he was getting at, and was met with a look that was a mix of admiration and amusement.

"What is it?"

"You do have a heart, no matter how much you pretend you don't." Merlin smiled.

"Shut up Merlin. Now, do you understand what I want you to do?"

"You want me to make it so that she receives the best scholarship programs from every university she applies in."

"No. Not exactly. I want it to be so that she receives the best scholarship programs from every university she qualifies for. I don't want to be unfair, but it's ridiculous that brilliant minds don't get the education they deserve just because of money. I want her to be able to afford and fully enjoy whatever program she chooses. I want there to be scholarships even in universities that have never offered one, for her, if she makes it through their qualifying tests. I don't care if you use my money to fund it... just she should get the education she deserves and wants without money constraints"

"Okay. I understand. That's... an unexpected wish. I have never done anything like this before. It's very imprecise and complicated weaving of time."

"But, you can do it right?" Arthur asked hopefully. "I know it's a weird wish and I don't even know if I made sense, but yeah. Can you?"

"Yes Arthur. I can do it."

"And would you? Do it I mean. You won't say no again?"

"I will do it Arthur. This is definitely a spell worth casting after years of waiting." Merlin smiled, and then added cryptically, "I thought you were just a spoiled rich brat. But there is just something about you Arthur. Something that gives me hope for the world."

With that, Merlin drew himself to his full height, and closed his eyes, muttering a string of words Arthur couldn't understand. Suddenly, he opened his eyes . Arthur gasped and stood up, mesmerized.

His eyes had changed colors. They weren't the brilliant blue like before, but were suffused with golden light, which seemed to be glowing. That's when Arthur noticed that the golden bracelets on Merlin's wrists were also glowing, and there were markings on it, very similar to the markings on the lamp, and they were shining much brighter than the rest of it. For the first time since Arthur met Merlin, he was realizing how much power he really had; the very air around Merlin seemed charged with it. It should've terrified him, but somehow, instinctively, Arthur knew that Merlin never had and never would use his powers for wrong, if he could help it. Without any rhyme or reason, Arthur trusted Merlin... implicitly.

Instead, all he felt was awe.

Merlin's eyes stayed golden for a few minutes, and he kept muttering phrase after phrase. His eyes were unfocused, but he seemed to be looking at something. Arthur suspected he was looking into the future of Gwen's timeline and felt a shiver of admiration and awe go through him at the thought. Merlin slowly stretched one of his hands forward, palm up, fingers slightly bent. Beautiful strands of green light gathered around his hand, curling around his fingers. He then closed his fingers into a tight fist, and released it again after a few moments, slowly, dispersing the green light around it until it gradually vanished away into the air. Merlin closed his eyes again, and this time when he opened them, they were their normal blue.

He looked at Arthur and smiled. "It's done."

"Really?"

"Yes really. A little faith would be nice. You might get some applications to fund a scholarship or two sometime in the future, if she applies for universities that don't have one already. Just sign them."

"That was... amazing."

"Yeah?" Merlin asked, suddenly shy.

"Yes. I have never seen anything like this before." Merlin's face and ears got greener, and he looked away from the intensity in Arthur's eyes.

"Thank you Merlin." Arthur poured his gratitude into the three words.

"Just doing my job." Merlin hedged.

"Still... Thank you." Arthur felt a completely unexpected urge to hug the idiot in front of him, but hugging a genie with smoke for legs would be just... weird. So he resisted the urge, and instead just clapped Merlin on his shoulder.

Later that night, Arthur lay down in his bed after stripping and changing into an old t-shirt, worn-out due to overuse and hence incredibly comfortable, and a pair of boxers. He had left strict instructions to Merlin to not come into his room uninvited, and taught him that knocking was a thing. Minutes passed, and he couldn't blank his mind enough to fall asleep. The events of the day kept repeating in an endless loop in his brain and he wondered how all of his beliefs had turned on their heads in less than 36 hours.

He would start getting a headache this way.

"Merlin, you there?" He called out after an hour of trying and failing to fall asleep.

"Where else would I be?" Came the reply.

"I have thought of a second wish."

"It better not be for me to shut up, because you probably should realize that you were the one who started the conversation this time-not me."

"No, it's not for you to shut up."

"Okay then. What is it?"

"I want you to make me fall asleep."

"That's it? I don't need magic for that." Merlin's voice declared.

A moment later, Geoffrey Monmouth voice started coming through the living room outside, reading,

"Er - hello," said Harry nervously.

"Harry Potter!" said the creature in a high-pitched voice Harry was sure would carry down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir... Such an honor it is..."

"Th-thank you," said Harry, edging along the wall and sinking into his desk chair, next to Hedwig, who was asleep in her large cage. He wanted to ask, "What are you?" but thought it would sound too rude, so instead he said, "Who are you?"

"Dobby, sir. Just Dobby. Dobby the house-elf," said the creature.

"Oh - really?" said Harry. "Er - I don't want to be rude or anything, but - this isn't a great time for me to have a house-elf in my bedroom."

Aunt Petunias high, false laugh sounded from the living room. The elf hung his head.

Arthur couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped his mouth,

"What are you even reading?"

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Found it on your book shelf. I read the first book the last time I was allowed to leave the lamp, and loved it. Librarian master remember? Too bad I wasn't around till the rest of the books came out. I had been wondering about them. Now shut up and concentrate on the voice. This is what I always imagined Professor Binns to sound like."

And after that, Merlin continued reading out loud about dobby warning Harry Potter to not go to Hogwarts that year, in a completely monotonous tone. The warlock was usually so expressive with everything he said that Arthur had a hard time imagining him speaking like this, and every time the image crept into his mind it made him smile- and sometimes, mortifyingly, giggle!

Arthur would never be able to figure out or remember exactly when his eyes closed and he drifted into a peaceful sleep, with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as his background music. One thing he would remember though, and that was this: he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

A/N: I really hope this chapter feels okay to read. When I wrote it, it seemed okay. But now that I was editing it and rereading it, Arthur's wish was too complicated and weird. But I guess if anyone can do it, Genie of the lamp can! So go with it. If you liked reading this... please please leave reviews? It makes me so very happy to get email notifications of reviews... You have no idea!