A/N: Chapter dedicated to the reviewer who thought it was too much but still asked for a fourth chapter to be uploaded today ;)

I apologise for any errors in geography in this chapter. Of all the cities where the Liberators attacked, the only ones I've been to are London, Dublin and Edinburgh, which is the reason these are the only ones in any detail. I only spent an hour in Trafalgar Square, one day in Dublin (on a day trip with my school) so sorry if there are any mistakes. Edinburgh is the only one I've been to more than once and know fairly well. I also couldn't resist throwing in a mention of the Balmoral hotel as well since it's the place JKR finished writing Deathly Hallows. It also just struck me that since JKR lives in Edinburgh that means I live less than thirty miles from her! Still hoping to bump into her one day :)

The darkness ended abruptly. Merlin waited for some sense of nausea or dizziness, or indeed any sign of magic, but there was none. The spell was over in a blink of an eye. The last several weeks had just been completely erased, and there was no outward suggestion whatsoever. It was disconcerting to cast a spell that left no visible mark.

But something had definitely changed. He was standing on the streets of London, when a split second before he had stood in the kitchen of the Burrow. Cars and buses trundled by noisily, and people passed him on every side, moving about their business as normal. Merlin blinked for a few seconds, momentarily disorientated. The trips back and forward from the seventh century might have been uncomfortable, but this was worse somehow. It felt somehow that everything that had occurred the last few weeks had been a distant dream.

But it was no dream, for straight across from him stood a newsstand. Shock landslide for People's Party read the headline. He had made it back.

"Merlin?"

He jumped when he realised Fred and George were standing on either side of him. They were both watching him with concerned expressions on their faces.

"You alright, mate?" George asked, placing one hand on his shoulder. "You've been staring into space."

Merlin snapped out of his daze immediately. "What time is it?"

"Just gone three, why?"

Merlin twisted around and saw Draco standing behind him, looking just as disorientated as he had felt. "We don't have much time," he said urgently. "We need to get the others and get to Grimmauld Place."

Draco nodded, his eyes coming into focus.

"What's going on?" Fred asked. "Why do you need to get back to Grimmauld Place?"

"I'll explain later," Merlin said, looking around the street.

"But-"

"Trust me," he said, looking at the two of them. "Something very bad is about to happen. Ask us about it later."

And without casting another look at their very confused faces, he and Draco disappeared immediately, reappearing in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Tonks was there, and she jumped at the sight of them.

"What are you doing back? I thought you'd be at Diagon Alley all day. Has something happened?"

"Not yet," said Merlin. "Is Kingsley here? Harry?"

"No, why would they-"

At that moment there was a popping sound, and Kingsley Apparated into the kitchen. He immediately met Merlin's eyes. "We are cutting it a little short, aren't we? The Liberators will make their move in less than an hour."

"There's nothing we can do about that now," Merlin said. "We just have to wait for the others."

"The Liberators? What are they going to do?" Tonks said, standing and withdrawing her wand.

"No time to explain, Dora," Kingsley said. "But you may be able to help now that you're here. What you'll hear when the others show up won't make much sense, but I'll need you to trust us, and do what we say. Can you do that?"

She nodded, and a wind blew through the kitchen as Ron, Harry and Hermione appeared in the kitchen.

"I thought you said we'd be going back to the morning of the attack!" Ron said, annoyed. "We won't have enough time!"

"Yes we will," Merlin, pacing the kitchen, trying to quell his racing heart. He needed to have faith now; it was more important than ever.

They waited several more agonising minutes in silence, before another wind blew around the room, and Luna and Ginny joined them.

"Sorry for the delay," Ginny said. "We were in Transfiguration, and McGonagall wasn't happy about us trying to leave halfway through."

"As long as we're all here," Merlin said. He stopped his pacing to face them all. "You need to all do as I say, and go where I tell you. One in each city, remember?" He didn't wait for them all to nod, but ploughed on instead. "Apparition can't cross oceans, but Transporting can, so the ones with Old Magic will have to go the furthest."

"I'll take Paris," Ron said immediately. "Fleur's been teaching me French," he said shrugging, as everyone turned to look at him.

"Fine," said Merlin. "Luna, you take Berlin."

"Alright, I don't speak any German though," she said.

"Doesn't matter, just look for anyone suspicious," he said. "Draco, you take Belfast, and Harry, you do Dublin. Ginny can do Cardiff, and Hermione, can you do Edinburgh? Excellent. Kingsley, you go to Trafalgar Square, and take Tonks as well. From what I remember there were about twenty of them, and they started with Nelson's Column. Someone set fire to it before the rest of them Apparated in though, so that means that there's at least one Liberator at each location already in place; they all set fire to something, remember? If we can stop them from doing that, then the Liberators that Apparate in afterwards may not be so noticeable and we can deal with it discretely."

"How are we supposed to discretely Stun twenty people?" Draco asked, and Merlin was stumped for a moment. Even he couldn't do something like that, not without affecting the Muggles around them.

"Anti-Apparition Jinxes," said Hermione. Merlin turned to stare at her.

"Of course, that's brilliant, Hermione," he said, making her blush. "I forgot about Modern Magic completely. As soon as you've all arrived, cast the spells to stop others Apparating in. None of them know Old Magic so they won't be able to Transport in."

"We'll have to make it cover a big area though," Ron said, "so they don't Apparate to the next street away and try to walk in."

"I have faith in you all," Merlin said. "Now you should all go and get started. Hopefully though, you won't have to do anything."

"If you can get through to Verax," Kingsley said, and Merlin saw that he and everyone else looked doubtful.

"Yes," he said. The next moment, everyone except himself had left the room, either Transporting away, or walking upstairs to go outside the protective enchantments to Apparate away. He sat himself at the table and closed his eyes. He forced himself to forget the panic that threatened to overcome him at every second, and tried to relax, reaching deep within himself to his inner Dragonlord magic, balancing the raging forces that lay inside of him. Quicker than he had ever done before, he brought his magic into alignment.

He let the magic wash over his senses, and then focused it into one pursuit. Where is Verax?

His mind was blank, his magic seemed to spread out from his body, digging its way into a whirling fog outside his immediate senses. It hit him the next second.

He snapped open his eyes, and muttered the spell for Transporting without another second's thought.

Harry walked nervously around O'Connell street in the centre of Dublin. He stood before the Post Office building and its huge imposing sculpture and glanced as surreptitiously as he could at every person passing him, wondering if they were Liberators. Most however were just Muggles, businessmen and women off to work, tourists snapping pictures and shoppers carrying heavy bags; it was one of the busiest streets in Dublin. A little way away, a camera crew were setting up, and Harry watched it with a growing anticipation. Every city that had suffered an attack had had a camera crew 'conveniently' filming nearby to maximise the exposure. In the UK, those cameras had been interviewing disappointed election candidates, here however it looked like some sort of charity stunt; Muggles were nearby dressed as cartoon characters rattling buckets of change at passersby. The entire thing was a little bizarre.

Harry's wand was in his pocket; he'd just used it to cast the strongest Anti-Apparition spells he knew around the entire street. He'd even ran through adjoining streets casting them as subtly as he could from his pocket. He was still wearing his Hogwarts robes at the time and was attracting a few odd stares, so he ducked into a side street and cast some Disillusionment charms over himself. He hoped the others would remember to do the same; nothing would give the game away to the Liberators more than the sight of instantly recognisable wizards and witches watching them.

He strained his neck looking at every passing face, looking for someone who looked as if they weren't accustomed to dressing in Muggle clothes, but with the presence of all the ridiculously dressed charity campaigners, this was difficult.

The camera crew were getting closer and closer to completing their setup. The interviewer, a severe looking Muggle in a suit who seemed disgruntled at being asked to report on something so trivial, was also getting ready, reading through some notes on a notebook. The moment was drawing nearer.

He glanced behind him at the building which would shortly erupt in emerald flames if he was not careful. Although none of the Muggles had been hurt by the flames or other Liberator actions (at this time at least) the whole thing reminded him of the fires of the future if he were to fail.

He went back to searching the crowd, feeling a growing desperation. How was he supposed to find this person before they set fire to the building? Would it matter if the others couldn't Apparate in? The camera crew would film it certainly, but couldn't they just explain the whole thing away? Or would the lone Liberator take matters into their own hands when their pals didn't show up?

He tried to push back the fear. He had to have faith in Merlin's plan. He wouldn't fail them.

Merlin had expected someone with such visions of grandeur like Verax would have picked accommodations of a slighter higher standard. The leader of the Liberators was currently holed up in a small pokey flat in Croydon above a Muggle fast food restaurant. Merlin was standing on the street outside, frowning as he double checked his spell to ensure that he was in the right place. Once certain, he did not waste any more time. He started to Transport, easily bypassing the weak enchantments Verax had placed around the dwelling and the next thing he knew he stood in a dark and stuffy living room, the smell of days old food meeting his senses.

Verax himself was sitting in a moth-eaten armchair before a small television, which was flickering with images from the day's news, evidently waiting for the live broadcasts he had arranged. It took less than a second for him to notice Merlin's presence, and he leapt to his feet, mixed fear and surprise on his features.

"Merlin!" he cried, trying to adjust his robes as though ashamed of his appearance. Merlin ignored this, and with a flash of his eyes, Disarmed the man before him. Verax's eyes widened, and he took a step backwards as his wand flew from his pocket.

"What are you doing?" he said. He was once again using his silky manipulative voice, taking on an expression of sincere innocence and confusion. Merlin was not fooled this time.

"I'm stopping you before you make the biggest mistake of all history."

Verax blinked slowly, still looking innocent, but Merlin had detected a flicker of alarm in his eyes.

"I'm afraid I don't know-"

"Save it," Merlin snarled. He gestured towards the television. "I know what you're planning. I've seen it, and let me tell you, it doesn't work out the way you want it. Thousands of people are going to die by your actions."

Verax was definitely panicking now. He had gone deathly pale.

"Seen it?" he repeated, glancing towards the television. "You- you mean the legends are true? You can see the future?"

"Something like that," Merlin said. "You need to stop this now. Call it off. It's not too late."

Verax scowled, and stood up straight, chest puffed out importantly. "This is necessary," he said. "We need to end this Long Separation! I thought you realised that?"

"I let my own selfish desires cloud my judgement," Merlin responded. "This is not the right course of action, Verax. This will solve nothing."

But Verax shook his head, face determined. "The Muggles need to know about us so that we can live together once more, with you at our head."

Merlin had had enough. He didn't have time to argue with this man. As his father had taught him, he entered the state of Dragonsight in an instant. He searched the aura of the man before him, sorting out the man's thoughts, desires and motivations. It was true what he said; he had never wanted co-operation with Muggles, like he had professed, only subjugation. He genuinely believed Merlin would be the one to lead them. He was corrupted by centuries of lies about Merlin and his role in Camelot. He also saw that the man did not believe Merlin when he said this was the wrong course of action.

Merlin peered deeper. Verax was not an evil man, at least, not entirely. He did not want planet wide massacres. He accepted that there may be casualties, but he believed Merlin would keep them to a minimum. He believed that these deaths were worth it to have wizards once again in their rightful place, ruling over Muggles in a time of forced peace.

He would not be persuaded like this, Merlin decided. He was too firm in his beliefs. He would have to go further.

Merlin penetrated though Verax's aura and dug directly into his mind itself. Verax gasped in shock and pain as Merlin's mind moulded to his. He tried to fight back desperately, but Merlin was far stronger and was soon in full control. He could now force Verax to call off the attack.

Yet, as he was about to do so, his mind shrunk back. Eldron and his father's warnings rang in his ears. Forcing another to do your bidding using this magic was seldom used for a reason; it was wrong. It was little better than an Imperius Curse.

But there was too much at stake, Merlin argued with himself, whilst Verax's mind was held in suspension with his own. One man's mind was not worth thousands of lives.

But other warnings came back to him. Peace cannot be forced. This was the wrong path. Forcing Verax like this would solve their immediate problem, but it would not solve the wider problem of the growing dissatisfaction within the wizarding world. He could not do it like this.

He looked again at the man's motivations and desires. He truly did want peace, a corrupted peace, but peace nonetheless. He truly did not understand. He had to help him to.

Merlin opted for another tactic instead.

Verax gasped as a huge outpouring of mental energy came hurtling towards him from Merlin's mind, a rush of visions, memories and feelings spanning thirteen centuries. Merlin showed him Camelot, Arthur and the Knights, and the way he had achieved peace in that city, his true role in the legend. He showed him the years afterwards, the persecutions, the killings, the years of death and despair. He showed him his memories of the Founders, the reasons they had built their school, the way all four had sought to protect Muggle-Borns and fight for a fairer society, his and Slytherin's involvement in the Wizards' Council and it's corrupted notions of what constituted peace. He showed him the centuries since, the witch-hunts, the signing of the Statute of Secrecy, the fear and injustice and destruction that had caused it to come into being. Finally, he showed him his memories of the last few weeks, of what came of his current plan, the sight of the whole world in flames and their trip into the past. He showed him every instance he could think of that proved to him how blind he was to what he was truly suggesting. He had to help him see how unready the world was for the peace he sought, how wrong his vision was. He had to impart his own certainty of a time of peace in a far future when the world was ready.

Merlin ceased the flow of memories abruptly, and Verax cried out in pain and fear as he fell to his knees trembling violently. Merlin's own mind was spinning, and he could only imagine how Verax was feeling; thirteen hundred years of another man's memories, feeling centuries of pain and suffering all in the course of a few seconds would be enough to overwhelm even the strongest of people. For several minutes, Verax lay curled up on the floor of his musty little flat, shaking and retching occasionally. His aura was a turmoil of emotions, and attempted to sort through them all made Merlin's mind ache so he retreated, and waited until Verax had begun to sort through his own emotional state. His eyes flickered towards the television anxiously; the news was filled with information about yesterday's election, but there was no sign of the interview in Trafalgar Square yet, or any other, it showed only studio reporters. But he didn't have time to waste.

Verax spluttered, and lifted himself to his knees shakily. He looked up at Merlin, his eyes watery and face pale and distraught. Sweat stood out vividly on his brow. He looked like a broken man, all signs of his confident exterior had vanished. This man was a coward. He was a shadow of his former self.

"You understand now?" merlin said, keeping the anger in his voice under control with difficulty.

Verax nodded, blinking rapidly. He looked too weak for words. His entire world had crumbled around him. Merlin had little sympathy.

"Will you call it off now?" he asked urgently, noticing that the television had switched to news reports in the field, though thankfully not yet in any of the targeted locations.

Verax's lips were trembling. "I can't," he said, his voice hoarse. "I- I don't know how. I can't contact them. They're already in place. They were ordered to ignore any external contact."

"Try!" Merlin said, losing patience, and seizing Verax's robes, but the man just continued to shake his head.

"I can't. I can't. I just can't," he babbled continuously, a growing horror in his eyes. "What have I done?"

Merlin dropped Verax in disgust, and the man curled up on the floor, beginning to weep. The man had chosen the worst possible time for guilt. A quick glace using his Dragonlord skills however told him that Verax was telling the truth. He could not stop the attack.

Merlin cursed loudly. How was he to stop the attacks?

He paced the room, ignoring the prone figure of Verax. He'd have to trust in the others. Trust that they'd prevented the other Liberators from Apparating in. but would they get the one that was already there? Would the reinforcements simply just execute their plan in a different location if prevented from reaching their original target?

Merlin looked back at Verax, probing the man's memories using Dragonsight. The advance group of Liberators had already been in place for several hours. They would have been unaffected by the arrival of Harry and the others. The reinforcements were ordered to regroup in a safe-house if things went wrong, so no problem there. The only issue was the advance party. He'd have to hope Harry and the others got to them in time. But how? They were disguised, and even Verax did not know their exact identities.

He'd have to go there himself, he decided. He could tell which ones were Liberators using his new skills.

It was funny, he thought, while tying up Verax and getting ready to Apparate away. When he'd first learned his new magic, he thought he could use it to force peace, like Verax wanted. Then he'd realised he couldn't. It turned out his trip to the past had been for more than he spell, but so he could learn this magic. He couldn't use it the way the originally wanted to, but this was the next best thing.

Harry glanced at a nearby clock urgently. The time was almost here. The camera crew opposite him had already begun filming, and he had still not found the Liberator. He pushed his way through the crowds, head turning this way and that, but what use would it be? He couldn't recognise the Liberator on sight. His only bet was to stand apart from the crowd and act the exact moment he saw something suspicious. It left him precious little time.

He heard a clock striking, and he felt fear clutch at his heart. Any second now.

Struck by a sudden crazy idea, Harry twisted around towards the camera and cast the first spell that came to his lips, not even caring who saw the gold in his eyes. The invisible spell hit the camera and lighting equipment, which promptly exploded with a loud bang, spouted large quantities of smoke which drew the attention of the crowd. The charity fundraisers ran screaming from the smoking electrical equipment, and the interviewer stumbled away coughing.

Harry nodded in satisfaction. It might buy him a few minutes. He jumped violently the next moment when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Was that you?"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he recognised Merlin's voice.

"I can't find the guy," he explained. "I thought, at least this way it we could lessen the amount of people that see it."

"Good thinking."

"Didn't you get through to Verax?"

"No time. Explain later," Merlin said, and Harry could see he looked out of breath. A sudden surge of Old Magic alerted Harry to the fact Merlin was using his Dragonlord magic to search the crowd. Harry watched fascinated as Merlin's eyes darted back and forth, searching for the wizard who was concealing himself.

"There," Merlin pointed to a man standing by a phonebox. A newspaper was in his hand, having been blended into the crowd a moment before. Now he was looking around furtively. "He's rattled. Doesn't know whether to continue now that you destroyed the camera. You can handle him can't you?"

"Of course," Harry said, fixing his eyes on the wizard. "What are you going to do?"

"I need to get to the others," he said. "I've already been to Berlin, Paris, Belfast and Cardiff, all in the last five minutes picking out the Liberators, and I've still got Edinburgh and London to do. Bring him to Grimmauld Place when you're gone."

"Good luck," Harry said, but Merlin had already disappeared.

Harry wasted no more time but darted forwards through the smoke and commotion caused by the camera explosion. Muggles from nearby shops were already running forwards with fire extinguishers, but Harry slipped around them. The wizard by the phonebox had apparently made up his mind. His wand had now emerged from his pocket-

Harry grinned. He felt his eyes burn golden, and the next second, the man had collapsed as a silent spell hit him straight in the chest.

Harry reached him the next second, and immediately seized the man's wand and shoved it in his pocket. He grabbed the man's shoulders and turned him to face him. He was unconscious. He posed no more threat.

"Fainted at the shock of the explosion," Harry said to the concerned Muggles who had crowded around. "He'll be alright in a minute."

He pretended to tend to the man in front of his audience, his heart still racing. Disaster had been prevented here, but would Merlin get to the other two cities in time?

Merlin felt himself fall hard on a cobble-stoned alleyway in Edinburgh, and he lay gasping in exhaustion for a moment. Travelling to six cities over hundreds of miles of land and ocean in as many minutes was draining, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest, almost as if he had physically run the entire way from Dublin. He had no time to waste though. He had only just averted trouble in Ireland, which meant it was due to happen any second now in Scotland.

Despite his fatigue, he dragged himself to his feet and began to run. He came out of his secluded alleyway and pelted down the street, avoiding commuters, shoppers and tourists alike. He ran past Waverly train station and crossed the road, causing a red sightseeing bus to come to a screeching halt before him. Merlin barely heard the driver's angry insults before he hurtled into Prince's Street Gardens. Edinburgh Castle was high on the extinct volcano before him, a mile or so away on the horizon, but his focus was on a closer landmark: the Scott Monument, which any moment was due to erupt in emerald flames. He glanced behind him at the clock on the tower of the Balmoral Hotel. This Liberator was behind schedule. Did that mean Hermione had caught them?

Merlin skidded to a halt at the base of the giant monument and looked around for Hermione, but saw only elderly men and women on park benches, ice-cream vendors, cyclists and people lying on the grass enjoying the unexpected May sunshine. A camera crew was nearby, but they were not filming. Instead, they were standing around scratching their heads and tinkering with buttons; Hermione had evidently thought along the same lines as Harry and disabled the camera, albeit in a more subtle manner.

A piercing cry came from behind him, and he turned to see Hermione and the Liberator locked in a fierce duel before a statue at the base of the massive structure. Lightning fast, Hermione threw spell after spell at the Liberator witch, who was barely maintaining a weak shield. The people around them ran screaming, mothers grabbing their children and tourists snapping photographs. Before Merlin could intervene however, Hermione broke through the witch's shield with one last powerful spell which Merlin suspected she had learned on the Isle of the Blessed. The witch cried out as she fell motionless to the ground. More screams came from the surrounding Muggles. Hermione turned, as if suddenly realising she had an audience. Her eyes met Merlin's immediately and she looked panicked. She had completely frozen.

Seized by sudden impulse, Merlin ran towards her. She was still wearing her Hogwarts robes, and he whipped her hat from her head and threw it at the ground before her.

"Performers from the Royal Academy, ladies and gentlemen," he said to the still terrified audience, his heart pumping. "Raising money for our upcoming production!"

He stared at the audience, trying to act confident but hardly expecting this flimsy excuse to hold up. Apparently, however, Muggles were more gullible than he thought.

A slow applause began, and people who had been terrified and running away moments before in terror began to laugh at their own stupidity in not realising it was a street performance. A few people came forwards chucking pound coins and notes into the hat on the ground. Hermione stood there awkwardly, trying to smile, but slowly inching towards the unconscious Liberator as though trying to conceal her from view.

"I need to get to London now," Merlin said to her urgently, turning away from the audience. "Keep her here until the crowd goes away and then Apparate her to Grimmauld Place. And don't feel guilty about that money," he said, noting Hermione's glance at the rapidly filling up hat. "Give it to charity later if you want. I need to go."

She nodded, and he ran off. He ducked behind a statue and Apparated immediately, feeling himself dissolve into the crushing darkness. When he emerged from the darkness into central London, he realised straight away that he was too late. Nelson's Column was already wreathed with emerald flames.

He paused in horror for a moment, before pulling himself together. The other Liberators were nowhere to be see, and the giant lion statues had not yet come to life, so Kingsley and Tonks had been successful in that regard at least. Terrified people were trying to flee the scene, but Merlin pushed past them towards the giant pillar. Wordlessly, he cast a strong spell which immediately extinguished the flames. However, the Liberator was not done. As before, the fountains erupted like geysers, soaking the fleeing Muggles and frightening them more.

"Stupefy!"

Merlin turned as he heard Kingsley's deep voice even over the screams. A jet of red light was gone in an instant, striking down a man only a few feet from Merlin. Kingsley and Tonks came running up, wands being hastily stowed away, but since they were both wearing colourful flowing robes, this did not make them much less conspicuous.

"I'm sorry, Merlin," Tonks said as she approached. "We couldn't get to him in time."

"It's alright," Merlin said, looking down at the man at his feet. "I got to the others in time, more or less. We can cover this up can't we?"

"I believe so," Kingsley said. "We Confunded the Muggle news reporters and had them believe they were supposed to be conducting their interview outside parliament. The man they were supposed to be interviewing was a bit confused when he turned up, but none of this was caught on camera. I can use some of my influence to have this all hushed up." He looked around at the now almost deserted square and up at the slightly scorched column. "A few Confundus Charms and a good cover story might be able to swing it. I'll get the Disinformation Squad out here right away. Leave it to me."

He hurried off back towards the Stunned Liberator and Apparated away with him, and Merlin went in the opposite direction. Tonks followed him as they emerged out into the surrounding streets. Traffic was at a standstill as the roads around the square were jammed with cars, buses and taxis that had had their owners vacate them in a state of panic. Some people were still running away, rapidly spreading the story and panicking those who had not witnessed the attack personally. Merlin listened in on the conversations. 'Terrorist attack', 'elaborate stunt', 'explosion' and 'accident' were the phrases he heard most often. They might just be able to get away with this.

He hurried through the streets looking for a particular kind of shop, Tonks following looking confused but remaining silent. Eventually, he found what he was looking for; an electronics shop. He pushed open the door, ignoring the shopkeeper's questions about 'all that hullaballoo' and instead stood in front of one of the display televisions which was showing a news channel. Although he could not hear the programme, he could see they were still on the topic of the election. There were no reports from cities of widespread carnage, which meant Harry and the others had been successful in apprehending the lone Liberators in each city. He watched for a long time, eventually seeing a breaking news bulletin come up about an 'engineering fault' in Trafalgar Square, where a slightly dazed looking police officer told reporters what had happened. Kingsley, already dressed in a smart Muggle suit, stood in the background.

Only now, Merlin allowed himself to relax. He found himself sinking to the floor breathing heavily, finally succumbing to his exhaustion. He was trembling, but in a good way this time. They had succeeded.

Tonks slid to the ground beside him, hugging her knees to her chest. She was also watching the screen out of curiosity.

"What happened, Merlin?" she asked. "What was so terrible?"

Merlin smiled weakly. "You'll know soon enough. Just be glad you didn't have to experience it."

She obviously did not understand, but her professional Auror demeanour had taken over, and she just nodded silently, trusting him to reveal the truth when he was ready. Merlin rested his head on the cabinet behind him, eyes still glued to the screen. So close, but it was behind them now. The Long Separation would end, but hopefully not for a long, long time yet.

"Oi!" the shopkeeper said, rounding the corner. "This ain't your living room. Buy a telly or get out!"