Merlin Chapter 9: A Magical Interlude
Summary: The events of "Gwaine" are tied up rather loosely, and Morgana's birthday passes remarkably well.
Merlin walked nervously, scurrying along the hall and nearly running into Harry. Though he looked worried, he looked happy to see the pseudo-Lord.
The reason became a bit more apparent when he spoke. "I really, really hope you have some gold on you." His statement ended in a question.
Harry looked confused. "Yes, why?" Harry had actually had some in his pocket since they had come to Camelot, just in case. He
supposed it was worth it.
Merlin handed him a paper with a muttered, "Gwaine. And possibly Sirius."
Harry looked at the paper - it was a bill from a tavern, a long bill from a tavern, and he couldn't help asking, "Pickled Eggs?"
_-*-_
Uther had been very happy to see Harry return, and was naturally very sympathetic to his tale about being attacked by Marvolo. When Sirius spoke, Uther practically ordered Gaius to make sure he was seen to.
He also welcomed Gwaine, who, Arthur explained, saved all of their lives.
It was quite natural, then, that Harry, Sirius and Merlin gathered in Gaius's chambers, much to his distaste.
Harry was distracting him from this fact by helping out with a potion, so Gaius accepted working in the cramped quarters.
"So," Sirius said, "I understand you've got magic, Merlin?"
Merlin winced, even though it was said quite softly. "You told him?" He asked Harry, slightly accusingly.
"Don't blame him, I'm actually his godfather. He couldn't keep something from me if he tried." Sirius said happily.
Merlin nodded. That meant he couldn't give away his or Harry's secrets, and he was fine.
"What exactly happened to Morgana that Arthur didn't want to talk about?" Harry said.
Merlin grimaced. "A while ago, she met this lady, Morgouse, that claimed to be her sister, among other things. When she asked to meet later, She put a spell on Morgana that made everything around her fall asleep. I had to... poison her so Morgouse would lift it. The problem is, Morgouse knows a lot about the Pendragons. About how Arthur was born, and how Ygraine died..."
_-*-_
Harry walked around the castle, trying to escape anyone prone to mention tournaments.
"Hello Gwen!" Harry said happily.
"Oh, Lord Draco..." she bowed slightly, and Harry waved her off.
"No, don't do that! You shouldn't bow to me. How have you been doing?"
Gwen looked concerned. "Um, I've been alright. Have you been okay? Not that I wouldn't think you haven't been okay, I mean, I was only going to ask..."
Harry grinned. "I'm fine, but I'm trying to get away from all the people talking about Tournaments, including Sirius."
Gwen sent him a sympathetic look. "Good luck. They're horribly often around here. Sorry, but I don't think I've met Sirius."
Harry waved it off. "That's alright. He's supposed to be my guard, but he's recently made friends with Gwaine..."
Gwen nodded. "I've met him. If Sirius is occupying his time it's all the better, but I've got to get back to work."
Harry blinked. "Do you mind if I come along? I haven't seen Morgana yet since I've arrived."
"Of course." Gwen smiled knowingly.
_-*-_
"... And that's why I'm morally opposed to tournaments." Harry finished, sitting comfortably on a chair in Morgana's rooms.
Morgana nodded, wide eyed. "It seems it would have been better for both of us if you'd returned sooner. There was this woman - Morgouse, she was called. Draco, it was so strange, she gave me a bracelet and it made the dreams go away. She was nice at the beginning, until..."
Harry nodded. "Until she enchanted you, and almost caused everyone in Camelot's death. You don't have to say anything, Merlin told me what happened." Harry's eyes hardened at that. He knew it was essential to have poisoned her, but it was difficult to imagine. Harry had assigned himself the job of helping Morgana, and something like that was... not helpful.
"Don't blame Merlin." Morgana said angrily. "It took me a lot to stop Arthur from going on about he'd get Merlin thrown out of Camelot, not that I believed he'd ever really do it. He had the antidote right there..."
Harry nodded. He couldn't ever really blame Merlin, especially since he knew about his prophecy. He changed the topic quickly. "How has your..." Harry wiggled his fingers, causing golden dust to swirl around them.
Morgana took a bit to respond. "I've been practising what you taught me before, and it's controlled but..."
Harry winced apologetically, "There's only so much you can do on your own." Lord knew how much more he appreciated the Hogwarts Library, (not that he'd tell anyone that.)
Morgana nodded. "And as you're here now, perhaps you can help me learn. That way, when you aren't here, I can practice and build on that!"
Harry grinned. "I propose we go tomorrow. Then I can get away from this tournament business!"
Morgana replied, "I'll have to ask Uther, but he seems to trust you to keep me safe if I want to go on a long ride. He'll let me, I'm sure, even when a tournament's happening."
"Right. You tell Uther, and I've got to go find Sirius."
Morgana tilted her head. "Sirius?"
Because he was used to being able to tell Morgana the truth, it was hard for Harry to keep from saying 'He's my godfather.' Instead, he simply said, "He came with me here."
Morgana nodded and the pair walked opposite ways down the hallway.
_-*-_
"Sirius?" Harry knocked on the door neighbouring his.
"Ha- Draco! Come in!" Sirius said cheerily.
Harry walked in cautiously, only pausing twice when he saw an inordinate amount of purple and orange scattered about the room. "Sirius, I was hoping you'd be willing to stay here on your own tomorrow, I was going to go on a ride with Morgana..."
Sirius grinned. "Say no more. I'll take care of the Prince and his Warlock, you go have fun." Sirius gave a wink.
Harry tilted his head. Why had he winked at him? "Erm... thanks?"
_-*-_
Harry and Morgana rode quickly away from Camelot, trying to get far enough away that people wouldn't recognize them (Well, Morgana) nor would they stand out for doing magic. Harry had a good idea of where to go.
_-*-_
Standing in a clearing quite close to Moyta, horses tied to a tree, Harry was finally able to teach Morgana some magic. "There's a lot more subtle magic that you can do practically anywhere, without people noticing, not that I recommend it in Camelot. But just in case, there are charms to keep people from noticing things, see?"
Harry took a pebble, dyed it purple easily and set it on the ground. Morgana looked curiously at it, because it was definitely noticeable. She was about to say as much when she blinked, and closed her mouth again. What was she going to say?
Harry smiled, "That's how the charm works. See, Until I mention that 'Hey, there's a purple rock right there,' you won't notice it."
Morgana's face lit, and she asked, "You can show me how to do that?"
They spent the rest of the morning working on charms. Morgana especially liked the cheering charm, and begged to be able to use it on Arthur. At one point, Harry unthinkingly cast a 'Tempus' to check the time, (1:20) and brought on a whole new line of questions from Morgana, and put Harry in an awkward situation. To get out of it, he called for lunch, and went to the convenient nearby town to get it.
Just as they walked into a food shop, a high shelf began to fall. When the thought 'stop it from falling' came into Harry's head, the shelf froze in place, then stood itself up straight.
A woman at the back grinned. "Thank ye for that! Saved me a fair bit o' gold."
Harry nodded in acknowledgement, while Morgana gaped. "One day, Morgana." Harry said with a confidence that left her blinking, "That will be Camelot."
"How can you know that?" Morgana asked.
Harry smiled at her. "Throughout the Druid camps runs a name, and now more so than ever: Emrys. The warlock Emrys will aid the Once and Future King to unite the land of Albion. Right now he works in the shadows, but still protects Arthur. I don't suggest trying to find him, but be aware that Magic is not abandoned. It will return in time."
_-*-_
After an afternoon in the town, Harry and Morgana rode back quickly, but not quietly. Harry had them playing a game of light-tag (Which he was definitely doing for magic control, and not because he had played before with Merlin and it was fun,) only stopping when they neared the outer villages of Camelot. It was quite a shame, Morgana noted, because it was just beginning to get darker and the lights would help.
"We'll have to do this more often." Harry grinned. That was fun.
Morgana smiled, a joke hovering on her lips. "While I agree, the King may start wondering whether there's more going on."
Harry looked worried. He replied
seriously, "We can't make it too often, then. We can't afford him making any assumptions. You may be safe as his ward, but I can tell you I'm not quite so unable to be disposed of."
Morgana nodded looking a bit confused. She may have been about to say something, but never got to say it. Around ten armed men came running down a hill towards them.
"Crap!" Harry yelled, looked around quickly, and blasted two of them back from his horse. Morgana looked over at him and followed suit, throwing head-sized rocks into them.
In an amazingly short time, it was done. Harry was about to let down his guard when he sensed someone behind him. He whipped around, only to see the last man with a sword through his chest.
The sword removed itself from the body, and the familiar figure of Gwaine stood grinning at them.
"Gwaine!" Harry yelled, half excited and half unimaginably worried. Had he seen them do magic? Was he going to get them both killed?
"Hey Draco, Morgana. It's been fun." There was a hint of a carefree smile, and then he was gone.
Fortunately, the confusing encounter was explained by an irate Sirius, who was waiting in the courtyard. "Next time I let you leave me on my own!" He exclaimed. "Evil people in tournaments, Arthur almost being killed and Gwaine being banished! Draco, I told you we needed owls, this is ridiculous!"
Harry calmed Sirius down and dragged him up to his room, grimacing at a sympathetic if confused look from Morgana.
_-*-_
As Sirius finished telling Harry about what had happened, he had to agree with him. "You're right Sirius, we could do with some form of communication."
Sirius nodded, suddenly cheerful again, "We can go find some owls tonight, It'll be perfect!"
Harry shook his head. "No, I was thinking something less... noticeable. What about some form of written communication?" Sirius motioned him to continue. "I don't really have ideas... well, I have an idea, but it brings back bad memories. In second year, there was a diary that wrote back... well it doesn't matter, if we use little booklets to communicate back and forth when we need to, then something like that couldn't happen."
Sirius nodded, and they set to work. The next few days saw little of Harry or Sirius, they were mostly cooped up in Harry's rooms working on a book. One of the few times when they were out and about - getting lunch - they ran into Merlin.
"Oh, hi Draco, Sirius. How are you?" He asked quickly.
"We're fine. What's got you in such a rush?" Harry asked. Now that he noticed it, many servants were rushing about.
"Don't you know? We're preparing for Morgana's birthday. It's a week from today!"
Harry nodded. "Really? How old -" Harry stopped that line of questioning abruptly, 'maybe not.' "Do you think I need to get her a present?"
Merlin nodded seriously. "Oh yes. Definitely."
_-*-_
"Sirius what am I supposed to get her?" He asked later, when they had their lunch and were working again.
Sirius gestured to the books with an expression that read, 'really?'
"Sirius, you're brilliant!"
"Of course I am." Sirius said happily. "Speaking of birthdays, when exactly is yours?"
Harry blinked. "July, I thought you knew that."
Sirius looked at him again. "You were here before for what, a month? So you've aged an extra month. That makes it almost mid-July for you. Your almost fifteen!"
"Wow. That's odd." Harry said.
_-*-_
Harry began racing to complete three books before the week was up. Sirius was a lot of help with ideas, especially considering the Marauder's Map, but they had had the Hogwarts library sitting in front of them. Harry and Sirius had only what was in their heads.
Finally, they were finished, and just in time for the celebration banquet.
"Merlin, thank god." Harry grinned, "Do you think she'll like it?"
Harry held up the deep brown book. It was made of leather, and had a smoothed turquoise stone in the centre. The book was about four inches tall, and could be closed by a long string attached to the side.
"Definitely." Merlin said. "You should have seen what Arthur wanted to get her - at least I convinced him to get a nice looking dagger. Well, maybe it was Gwen that convinced him. Either way, I'm glad it's been going without a hitch."
_-*-_
"It's beautiful, Draco," Morgana smiled at him, "Thank you."
Since Uther was right there, and since, after all, Harry was supposed to be a Lord, he thought it only fitting to reply, "Not as beautiful as you, my Lady." with only the slightest amount of silliness in his grin.
Harry was already turned away as Morgana blushed bright red, and Uther looked between the two contemplatively.
-—-—-_-*-_-—-—-
Morgana,
In a case of emergency, magically heat up the stone on the front and say the words "Chocolate Cake." Anything you write once you've done that will be sent to me as long as you address the letter as such. When you need it to look like a regular book, touch the stone and say, "I'll be back."
Your friend,
Draco
Chapter Word Count: 2400
In case of any confusion, I skipped over the Crystal Cave bit because one, my story is in Harry's point of view and two, Morgana's not about to kill the King. As always, I am prepared to fix any Merlin/Harry Potter mistakes or random mistakes you happen to see!
Thanks for Reading!
SH