Merlin's Chosen
Summary: Arthur has slept in Avalon, the otherworldly place just beyond the reach of magic for all but Merlin and his chosen, recovering from the injuries sustained in the battle at Camlann. Years have passed and times have changed and Hogwart's school of Witchcraft and Wizardry has taken its place on the edge of the Lake of Avalon, unknown to modern witches and wizards. The world is in need of the Once and Future King to protect Albion again but to do that the immortal Merlin, the man that has learned to live backwards, must be there and he is nowhere to be found. It is now the job of Merlin's Chosen. Only, Harry Potter thinks he's going mental.
This is based on the mountains that are around the movie version of Hogwarts and the lake that Merlin takes Freya to in season 2 episode 9.
A/N: I believe it has been close to or over a year since I updated this fic. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common thing for me, but this particular chapter just did not want to be written. That being said this version was written in less than two months and I love it! There is hope yet. Lots of hope because I love this story idea far too much to leave it unfinished. I do hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter IX:
Merlin didn't know what to expect as he rounded the corner to Gaius's champers. Seeing a bruised, beaten and unconscious Morgana was not it.
Merlin drew close, cautious and thinking on the betrayal that ultimately led to Uther's death and Arthur's premature coronation.
"Lady Morgana?" He whispered into the silent corridor.
"I am no Lady, Emrys." Her voice sounded exhausted and pain filled.
Eyes glowed gold and a defense erected around them with Merlin at the ready.
"You have nothing to fear from me, Emrys."
"How did you - How- what? Morgana!?"
"Aithusa, Emrys." Merlin paled. "She sends her greetings, Dragonlord."
Merlin slumped against the wall, his strength suddenly gone. "What is going on?"
"I'm not sure." Morgana said. "Can you tell me where is the King?"
"Arthur?" Merlin tensed.
"Arthur? No! Uther. What are you talking about?"
"Morgana, Uther is dead. Has been for nearly two years now." Merlin started cataloging her many injuries, new and old. "What happened to you?"
Morgana looked up, her eyes shining with unshed tears and fear. "I have no idea."
..MC..
Water. Whispered voices. Light. "Go to the light, Ddewiswyd o Myrddin." Water. Air. Need air! Darkness. No!
Harry woke with a start, the journal open against his chest where he fell asleep reading - again. Outside his bed curtains, he could hear his dorm mates start their day, even with Ron still snoring.
"Hey, Harry?" Neville tentatively pulled one of the curtains aside. "Mate, you up?"
"Yeah, thanks, Neville." He pulled the curtain the rest of the way and blinked at the weak sunlight from the tall windows. "Anyone try to get Ron up?"
"Whose turn is it anyway?" Dean asked from the bathroom doorway.
Harry sighed. "I think it's mine."
"Nope," Seamus said. "It's mine." His face was far too gleeful as he drew his wand and neared Ron's bed.
The first years scurried out of the portrait hole at the loud bang and screech that sounded down the stairs. Hermione merely shook her head, silently hoping no physical was done and knocked on the door. "We don't need Madame Pomfrey, do we?" She called before Harry opened the door straightening his tie.
"He's fine. Seamus was a bit over enthusiastic."
"A bit?!" Ron yelled from the bathroom.
"Oh, you're fine!" Seamus called back as Harry and Hermione shared an eye roll.
"We better hurry if we want any food," Dean said.
"You guys go on," Harry said. "I'll meet you in a moment." Harry ignored the look Hermione gave him.
"You okay, mate?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry said waving his friends off. "Just a bad nightmare." Ron's expression grew concerned. "I'll be right behind you. Honest."
"Okay, mate."
Harry heard the door shut behind him. Harry picked up the journal trying to remember the little he could. He closed the journal worth a sharp click, shaking his head against the lingering memories. Hiding the book at the bottom of his trunk, he left with barely enough time to choke down a few pieces of toast and some pumpkin juice before heading to class. Then he found himself dozing in History of Magic with Professor Binns droning on about goblin battles and revolutions that he had been talking about since first year.
"Does this guy talk about anything else?"
"Back in my day, we talked of Merlin and his adventures."
"Oh, Gods, that battle didn't even happen that way! Where does he even get this sh—?"
Harry snorted and then started. He felt his head hit the desk as he realized he was hearing voices again. "Ron!" he whispered, poking his best friend. "Ron!" With one particularly vicious jab, Ron popped awake and nearly fell from his chair.
"Blimey, Harry," Ron whispered. "That hurt!"
"Quite right, Young man. You're in class. Do try to stay awake."
Harry bit back a laugh as Ron asked. "What is it?"
"Listen closely — no, not to Binns," he said sharply at Ron's protest. "Do you hear any hissing?"
"Hissing?!" Ron said. "What could possibly—" His red headed friend paled so badly Harry could see his freckles stand starkly against his skin. "You don't think?!"
"I'm hearing voices, Ron, and last time that happened —"
Harry didn't really notice that Hermione, the only one that bothered with taking notes, had started listening. "Voices?! Harry?"
Harry groaned regretting ever opening his mouth. "It's fine, Hermione."
"But if it's —"
"Have you heard any hissing in the past 10 minutes?"
"Well, no, but I've been focusing on…" She looked down at her notes suddenly listening to Binns again. "Oh, drat! I've missed something."
"Oh, don't bother, girl! This guy doesn't know what he's talking about anyway!"
"These kids need magical theory more than History. What is Dumbledore thinking?"
Harry snorted again and his found his two best friends staring at him. "I don't think it's… that."
"How do you know?" Ron asked wringing his hands together.
The bell rang signaling the end of class and Harry realized that despite all the snoring anyone could have been listening. "Not here," he said. "Later."
Hermione didn't seem like she wanted to wait but as they made their way to Charms Harry started to worry. What was going on? Truly. The journal didn't say anything about voices. The bell rang again and Harry swore and swore again when he realized that Ron and Hermione had left him behind.
"You're late, Mr. Potter," Professor Flitwick said.
"Apologies, Professor. It won't happen again." Harry slid into the available seat next to Neville and attempted to concentrate on the lesson. The class was covering the water spell that day and after covering the theory behind it, Professor Flitwick set a bowl in front of each of them and told them to fill it.
"Remember that it is a smooth wave motion, back and forth while saying the spell."
Harry pulled the bowl toward him and attempted the spell as directed. It did nothing though he seemed to fare better than Seamus, whose wand shot a tide of water that knocked the small professor right off of his stack of books. After a hasty Finite, Seamus helped him up apologizing the entire time.
"It's quite alright, Mr. Finnigan. It wasn't the first time and certainly will not be the last, I'm sure." After casting a quick drying spell on himself he said, "Try again, everyone!"
Harry felt the growing frustration as he attempted the spell over and over with nothing to show for it.
"What seems to be the trouble, Mr. Potter?" Harry looked up as the Professor made his way over to him.
"I'm not sure, Professor," Harry answered. "I think I am doing the wand movements correctly and the spell isn't that hard to say, but nothing is happening."
"Let's start with the spell. Say it for me?"
"Aguamenti," Harry said, except this time something happened. His bowl began to fill, along with every bowl around the room, and at an alarming rate, and, despite the many Finites thrown around the room, the water kept flowing.
Professor Flitwick pushed everyone out the door as the water reached his waist. "Someone get the Headmaster!"
Seamus dashed off in the direction of his office as Professor Flitwick sealed off the classroom and the water stopped flowing from underneath the doorway.
"What happened?" Harry exclaimed. "I wasn't even touching my wand!"
"Harry!" Hermione said pulling him away from the group of students. "Harry, I saw your eyes —!"
"Harry, are you alright?" Sirius said gathering his godson into a tight hug. "What happened?"
"I don't know."
Professor Dumbledore brushed passed them, Seamus in tow, and the two Professors attempted to understand what was going on and how to fix it.
"Oh no!" Hermione said, breaking into the hush that had descended on the students. "All my books and notes!"
"Oh bollocks! My potions homework!" Dean added. "Professor Snape—"
"I assure you, Mr. Thomas, that Professor Snape will understand and give everyone the needed extension." Professor Dumbledore's tone brokered no argument as he approached Harry and the rest. "I understand, Mr. Potter, that you may have some insight into what happened."
"I have no idea what happened, but I wish it would stop!"
The door behind them clicked open and the room behind it seemed completely untouched by any sort of water. But it paled in comparison to Sirius' panicked cry of "Harry!" as he cradled his unconscious godson in his arms.
..MC..
Merlin stood at the end of the long hallway that led to the dungeons. At the other end Gaius was checking over the tired form of Morgana. "Do we trust her?" After everything she has done?" Arthur asked.
Merlin held the bracelet in his hand, twisting it and watching the torchlight play against the design. Morgana said Morgause had given it to her nearly four years before as she pressed it into Merlin's hands as the guards were about to lock her in her cell. He could feel the dark magic that seeped from the delicate metal. "Gaius believes she was being controlled by Morgause. By magic." Arthur's eyes drifted to the bracelet in Merlin's hands.
"Through that?" Merlin nodded. "I remember that she refused to take it off the short time she was in Camelot between her disappearances. But what makes Gaius think that?"
"She has very little memory of the last four years. When I found her outside Gaius' chambers , she asked after the king. When I mentioned you, she was confused. She thought Uther was still king."
"What happened to her?"
"I'm not even sure she knows." Gaius said. Merlin couldn't say that Gaius had anything to do with his theory; he didn't even know about it, and Merlin hoped his mentor went with it if Arthur asked about it.
Arthur straightened. "How is she?"
"She's been through a lot," Gaius said, looking tired and sad. "She's tired and hungry. She has evidence of beatings and past injuries. Her left wrist is weak and I have reason to believe it was broken and poorly set."
"Is there any evidence of…" Arthur made a vague gesture and was grateful when Gaius understood.
"No, she, herself, said that no man dared touch her in such a manner."
Arthur breathed a sigh of relief knowing that his sister did not have the trauma of such a thing. His sister!
"Gaius… what do I do?"
"Speak with her first, My Lord," Gaius said. "Gather what information you can and make no rash decisions."
Arthur nodded grimly. "Thank you, Gaius." The old man nodded before slowly moving off.
"Arthur?" Merlin inquired softly.
"What do you think I should do? She's all the blood-family I have left."
"Gaius and I will research the bracelet. Perhaps it will lend some insight. In the meantime, speak with her, as Gaius said."
… … …
Researching, it seemed, did help. Just not in the way that Arthur would have expected.
Merlin was able to figure out that Morgues had laid many spells into the delicate metal. Spells to help with sleep and Morgana's visions as Morgause told her sister all those years ago, but also spells of a more nefarious nature. Control. Most of the spells laid were to control Morgana and her powers and they would have been able to overtake Merlin if he wore it long enough.
"This is dangerous magic," Gaius murmured.
"Yes, it is," Merlin agreed. "But it proves that at least some of the time Morgana was an unwilling participant."
"We need to inform Arthur."
Merlin nodded and stood. "I need to attend to Arthur anyway. I will inform him of our discovery."
Merlin was nearing the door when he heard Gaius stumble and a pot fall to the floor. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Merlin, just old man's stumblings."
"You are hardly old."
"Merlin!" Merlin rolled his eyes at Arthur's call, long since impervious to Arthur's supposed anger.
"I'm fine, Merlin. Now you better get going before Arthur comes looking for you."
"MERLIN!"
..MC..
When Harry woke first he could barely make out the grim form of Morgan Penn before slipping back into blissful unconsciousness.
The second time, it was to the worried whispers of Ron and Hermione.
The third time, he woke and stayed awake, to Remus reading aloud from a defense textbook and Sirius clutching at his hand.
"Hey there, Harry," Sirius said far gentler than Harry would have expected. "We were starting to get worried."
"What happened?" Those two words came out in little more than a croak and Harry was grateful for the proffered water to sooth his dry throat.
Professor Dumbledore appeared behind Remus. "It seems, Mr. Potter, that you came close to depleting your magic."
"My magic?" Harry let out a small cough. "I didn't even know that was possible."
Sirius sent the headmaster a look that Harry didn't understand.
"Nor did we think that the magic you did was possible."
"How long have I been in here?"
"Nearly two weeks," Sirius answered. "Madame Pomfrey was getting ready to send you to St. Mungo's if you hadn't woken."
"As it is, Mr. Potter will be remaining here until I am sure he has made a full recovery."
Harry groaned.
