Chapter 47 A/N I don't own Merlin or Harry Potter. The crown that I used for inspiration is seen here: https/emilyblanche./uploads/1/1/6/8/11687123/4036529_ ?412
"Your house is truly beautiful, Merlin." Apolline said as they stepped out of the fireplace in the dining room.
"House? This is a manor! It's practically as big as Beauxbatons!" Gabrielle said, looking around in awe.
"It's really not that big, Gabrielle. Come on, I'll give you all a tour while Cassie finds the presents she forgot to take with her." Merlin said, beckoning them forward with his head.
"Uh, uh. No way am I missing the Grand Tour. You never even mentioned the vault! And that is definitely the first place we're going." Cassie said, sticking close to Gabrielle's side and following after him while everyone else exchanged amused glances.
"Okay, first, let me call Crissy here and have her start preparing everything." he said, calling out for the House-elf and doing just that while Apolline did the same with Lindy.
"No, Merlin. First you have to tell me that story about the Egyptian curse and the man with all the warts. You can talk and walk at the same time. I've seen you do it." Cassie said with a cheeky grin after he finished talking with his house-elf.
"I want to hear this story, too." Arthur said, nodding along with his younger sister.
"I don't think muggles have found this particular tomb yet, thank goodness, but it's in the funerary temple of Queen Neit."
"Who's Queen Neit?" Cassie asked with a furrowed brow.
"Yes! Finally, something she doesn't know about!" Arthur cried, punching the air with his fist.
"Shut up, Arthur." Cassie said with a glare as they kept on following Merlin down the hall.
"Queen Neit was the wife of King Teti, first king of the Sixth Dynasty in, uh, 2300 BC approximately. Her funerary temple is in Saqqarah, near the Pyramids of Giza and some of the stories are quite fascinating. You should see if you can't find the story of his assassination, Cassie. It'll be very exciting to see if you can discover it. Anyways, there was this man, years ago, we went to Egypt on vacation and we found a secret complex in the necropolis-"
"You and your family spend way too much time in necropoleis. First Paris now this. Have you been to any of the Greek ones?" Gabrielle said, stopping in place and making everyone else stop as well.
"Technically it was the Catacombs of Paris, Gabrielle. And yes, I've been to the Etruscan, Mycenean, and the Persian necropoleis. And I've been to the catacombs in the Vatican and the Caves in Kyiv Pechersk Lavra." Merlin said offhandedly.
"No way! You have to tell me all about them!" Cassie squealed, practically bouncing next to Gabrielle.
"Ow! Cassie! Stop bouncing, you're hurting me!" Gabrielle said, stopping her friend with a hand on her shoulder.
"Sorry, continue." Cassie said, nodding at a laughing Merlin.
"Okay. As I was saying, we were down in one of the passages beneath one of the Matsabas, it was near Teti's tomb in the southwest-ish part of it and my friend, Wilfred, he was walking along ahead of me and the rest of my party, he-obviously-used some magic to gently open one of the doors to the passage and was blasted with a reddish smoke, every step he took away from the chamber, he grew a wart, by the time we got out of the tunnels, the poor man was covered from head to toe with warts, and I do mean head to toe." Merlin said, nodding emphatically while Arthur winced and moved to cover his privates with his hands.
"Ahh! Cruel! Remind me never to go to Egypt." Arthur whispered to Fleur who was shaking with suppressed giggles at Arthur's reaction.
"What were the passages like? Were they really like the archaeologists describe them?" Cassie asked as they kept walking towards the end of the hallway.
"They're wonderful! I have never seen anything like it, and I'm very well traveled. Plenty of spiderwebs, mind you, and the stone has lost its luster, but there were some extremely intricate hieroglyphs and beautiful carvings all over. Statues, paintings of their gods, hundreds of sarcophagi! I assume the carvings are part of how the curse stayed active until it was released. Ingenious, really. And what little I could see before he began to panic, the coffin in there was exquisite. I wish I remembered where it was so that muggles could finally discover it. Those Egyptians really had beautiful masonry, and exceptional engineering and architectural prowess."
"I can't believe it! We have found a bigger nerd than Cassie. And I kissed him!" Morgana cried in mock disgust.
"Shut up, Morgana!" Cassie and Merlin cried simultaneously.
"Okay, turn around."
"Why?"
"It's a vault, there's a combination."
"You don't trust us." Cassie said with a wicked grin.
"I trust you as far as I can throw you, Cassie." Merlin deadpanned.
"So, pretty far. She's not even 50 kilos."
"Morgana!" Cassie cried, her cheeks flaming.
"What? It's true."
"Yeah, he's not that much heavier than me." Cassie argued back defensively, turning around with a whip of her hair and a huff as everyone else followed suit.
"Okay, go on, you can turn back around now. And stop with the huffing, Cassie. There's no pigs in here, you big, bad wolf."
"Well, Merlin. You're so full of hot air that I don't have to put that much effort into blowing you away." Cassie replied, rolling her eyes at him as she sauntered past him into the vault.
"Leon's not here, Cassie. No need to sashay." Merlin told her with a snort.
"So it's Leon you like, now, is it?" Arthur asked, getting ready for the barrage of taunts he'd throw her way.
"Merlin!" Cassie hissed at him as the others all looked around in awe.
"Bicker later. Tell me about this." Morgana said, looking at a particularly beautiful set of emerald necklaces and earrings.
"Those? They used to belong to a woman one of my ancestors was very much in love with. She had beautiful black hair and strikingly green eyes."
"Like Morgana's?" Fleur asked, her eyes wide with wonder.
"Exactly like hers." Merlin answered in a whisper, his eyes not leaving Morgana's.
"No way! Is this an actual crown?" Arthur and Gabrielle asked from the corner where they were admiring an ancient, gilded gold crown in a glass case with glittering jewels of all types embedded all around it and intricately designed flowers where the peaks were.
"Yeah, it belonged to the king of the land at the time we settled on these lands." Merlin said, refusing to let his gaze leave Morgana's while Cassie and Fleur walked over to them.
"Merlin, this is very impressive." Apolline said, looking around in wonder.
"Yeah, you're richer than our parents." Arthur scoffed.
"You could open your own museum with all these artefacts and paintings." Apolline said, choosing to ignore Arthur's comment.
"I can't, actually. Stipulation in the will, everything on this land stays on this land. And it stays in the family. And there are far too many dangerous and dark artefacts that I don't know what they do that I wouldn't be comfortable opening this up to tours." Merlin explained.
"How far back do these go?"
"The oldest is in that section over there, about a hundred years older than that crown you're looking at. It's practically all tomes and tapestries the magic is keeping alive." Merlin said, pointing first to the corner opposite Arthur and Gabrielle and then to the crown Arthur and Gabrielle were still standing in front of.
"Master Merlin, lunch is ready." Crissy the house-elf said as she popped into the vault, bowing low to the floor.
"Thank you, Crissy." Merlin said. "You'd like this, Cassie." Merlin said, beckoning her over with a finger and leading her to a pedestal holding open an ancient looking notebook.
"I-is this a da Vinci? Is this a part of his embryological studies?" Cassie asked with tears in her eyes. "Beautiful." she breathed out, gingerly raising a shaking hand before thinking better of it and just looking on in awe.
"Yeah, it is." he answered quietly, smiling at her reactions and thinking to her alone "I figured you'd appreciate it. You were a very talented midwife. And you always admired the miracle of life. And art, although none of the ones back in Camelot survived."
"Nerd away later, Cassie. I'm hungry." Arthur said, clapping Merlin on the back and taking her hand, dragging her out of the vault.
"Bu-bu-but Arthur!" Cassie spluttered indignantly, too awe-struck to really do anything about it other than let herself be dragged away.
"Like I said, Cassie. Later." he told her with a smirk.
"Merlin, how did you possibly get your hands on that? It's supposed to be in Windsor Castle." Cassie asked him quietly so that no one could hear.
"He was a friend of mine. I told him about this friend that was awe-struck by the miracle that is life and he copied his notebooks for you." he said, chuckling as she stopped and stared at him open-mouthed. "Remember, I told you I spent most of the Renaissance traveling between Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands? Doesn't help that I told him just how beautiful you were, even showed him a painting or two of mine. He was quite taken with you, asked me multiple times to have you meet him and pose for a painting."
"I will expect endless stories, Merlin." Cassie whispered with a pointed look as they walked into the dining room.
"We can go to the drawing room before we continue the tour, unless you'd all prefer to keep going on the tour." Merlin said after they'd finished a delicious lunch prepared by the two house elves.
"Tour, definitely." Fleur and Gabrielle said with an excited smile.
"Guess it's a tour, then. Come on, I'll start at the entrance, since we already saw the vault." Merlin said, smirking at Cassie.
"Hey, it was so worth it. If only to see a genuine da Vinci right before my eyes. And one that hasn't been so heavily restored-although, those are truly spectacular as well." Cassie said, her voice filled with wonder.
"I can't believe my best friend's such a complete nerd!" Gabrielle said, making Arthur and Morgana snicker.
"Tease me all you want, G. What Merlin has in there is a treasure trove; and he's shown me other beautiful paintings-all originals- that have withstood the test of time and are truly masterpieces!" Cassie said, not even caring about what Merlin had been saying about the foyer.
"Well, they are beautiful. I'll give you that. But to cry?" she asked skeptically.
"Let it go, Cassie. These troglodytes will never understand." Merlin said with a teasing smile, one that got wider at the others' protests.
"Oh, don't say that, Merlin. Morgana and Gabrielle are hardly cave dwellers or barbarians." Cassie said, defending them with a wicked smile as they nodded their thanks. "That's not to say they aren't a couple of philistines." Cassie finished with a smirk that would make Draco Malfoy proud.
"Morgana you've got competition." Arthur said seriously. "It seems Cassie's brains have found their perfect match in Merlin."
"Arthur!" Cassie and Merlin growled at the same time, the former blushing furiously.
"What, you two have matching wit. And humor. You have the exact same sense of humor."
"Whatever, Arthur. Show them the ballroom!" Cassie said excitedly, dragging Morgana and Gabrielle by the hand.
"You have a ballroom?" Arthur asked, looking at him like he was crazy.
"Yeah, a bit ostentatious, I suppose." Merlin said awkwardly.
"Don't judge, Arthur. You have a ballroom as well." Fleur said with an elegant laugh as they followed behind Cassie and the girls and entered the grand ballroom.
"It's a shame Claude isn't here right now, he'd love this manor." Apolline said fondly, looking around at it all with wonder.
"I don't mind showing him around again, there's parts of this manor that have been untouched for decades because it's just too big, and there's no one here to go there." Merlin said, pointing to an abandoned corridor leading to a dusty staircase off to the left. "Not entirely sure how safe it would be to go there, I mean theoretically the magic should hold the place up, but it's still been untouched for a really long time and I have no desire to find out."
"What do you say Arthur? Race you there?" Cassie asked, an excited gleam in her eyes at the prospect for adventure.
"Count of three?" he replied, the same glint in his eye.
"One. Two. Three." they counted down quickly, taking off before anyone could stop them and running up the stairs and down a corridor.
"Ha! I beat you!" Arthur cried, laughing loudly at her. "But it was much closer than when we were kids, playing Quidditch yet?"
"You only beat me because you have longer legs!" Cassie cried happily. "And yeah, obviously. I know Merlin wrote you after the Dementors incident."
"Um, no, you're crazy. I beat you, because I'm faster."
"Cassie! Arthur! Are you two crazy?! Did you not hear what I just said! I have no clue if it's safe here! And you two just come running in all caution to the wind! I know that you have some crazy idea of grand adventure and the honor of do-"
"Merlin! French, please. We don't speak Welsh, or whatever language that was." Gabrielle said worriedly, panting slightly after running after them.
"It was foolish and dangerous for you two to do that! You're honestly worse than Harry, Ron and Hermione put together, Cassie."
"Well, nothing's happened has it?" Cassie mumbled back.
"What's in this wing?" Arthur asked, looking around curiously.
"Used to house visiting nobility in the seventeenth and eighteenth century." Merlin answered automatically. "There's about thirty rooms here, I'll light the torches."
"Who designed this place? It's beautiful." Fleur asked, looking at the metalwork on the sconces and the design of the tapestries.
"Philibert Le Roy. Before Versaille. He designed this wing at least. The main wing of the manor was designed around a hundred fifty maybe two hundred years earlier and the south wing is the newest, John Wastel designed the main wing and Benjamin Bucknall designed the South Wing. That's where my room is." Merlin said.
"Huh, you have to let me tell every single person that's ever taunted you over your clumsiness, Merlin. Knowing you live in a manor that was partially designed by the guy who designed Versailles, and another wing by the one who designed Woodchester Mansion and they'll all be throwing themselves at your feet. Especially the Slytherins." Cassie said.
"Cassie. Shut up."
"Will do, bog man." Cassie said with a knowing smirk and playful eyes.
"Oh, I need to hear this story." Arthur said, laughing.
"Come on, let's continue the tour, shall we." Merlin said, ignoring the topic of 'bog man' completely and walking down the hall, taking a right turn at the end of the hall and walking down another corridor until he reached a grand staircase.
"Oh, now I really have to hear that story." Arthur said, following after them and haranguing Merlin about it as he explained a few tapestries and paintings before they found themselves in the ballroom once again.
"Does it all converge here?"
"Yeah, basically. In a sort of roundabout way. This and the dining hall are the focal points, really. Built to entertain."
"Your ancestors were party animals?" Morgana asked with a smirk. "I can see that."
"I have it on good authority that at least one of them knew Rasputin." Cassie said, laughing at Merlin's look of utter annoyance.
"Huh?" the Delacours all said in confusion.
"Never mind." Cassie said, giggling at their dumbfounded expressions.
"You-whatever." Morgana said, her expression mirroring that of the three blondes beside her.
"My favorite place is the library, by far, although all the books are scattered in my room and the one where Cassie stayed the other night. Haven't gotten around to telling Crissy to put them back."
"No library, please!" Morgana said, backing up with a wary look at him. "It's Christmas holidays, no work!"
"Okay, I'll take you all up to the battlements then." Merlin said, his hands up in a conciliatory fashion.
"There's battlements?!" Cassie said, her eyes excited.
"Yes, you can see the whole town from up there. Come on." he said, beckoning them out to the front garden and over to the south corner where there was a door hidden behind a thick wall of dichondra vines. "The door's just behind these. I, uh, kind of lost the key, so. Don't tell anyone. Aliese." he whispered, lifting his hand
Merlin's eyes glew gold for a few seconds and then a lock was heard clicking.
"Magic is so cool." Cassie said, walking through the door Merlin was holding open and up a dark stairwell. "Scin scire." Cassie whispered, feeling her magic be freed from her veins.
"No fair! You've been teaching her!" Morgana cried, somewhat affronted.
"No he hasn't! I've had no time for even more classes on top of what I've already been doing. That was just me not wanting to fall through a hole in the wooden stairs or step on a dead rat. Instinct." Cassie said, shrugging as she found the door at the top and found it wouldn't budge. "And I read it. What was it you said? Alise." Cassie said, trying to open the door like he had, and waving her hands around to see if that would work.
"We found one of the old spellbooks." Merlin said by way of explanation, laughing as she kept trying to unlock the door with the wrong word.
"What's the spell, can we try?" Gabrielle and Fleur asked with gleaming eyes.
"Guess it wouldn't hurt. It's aliese, just try and feel the magic in you, the old magic and see if you can't direct it out towards the lock, the incantation should help with the rest." Merlin said, moving Cassie aside so the rest of them could try their hand at it. "Don't feel bad if you can't do it. It's complicated, easier to start with a simple levitation." Merlin said as the Delacours all had the same reaction at their failure.
"How long did it take you? To be able to control it enough to open doors." Arthur asked after failing at opening the door
"It took years, if I'm being honest. My magic was always different. Instinctual. When I went to live with Gaius he gave me a spellbook, a really old one, mind you, and I used that to learn the spells and incantations."
"So how would you describe what it takes to direct the magic at something." Morgana asked curiously as she stepped up to the door.
"Well, you're an archer, right? Use that to aim the magic and then, when you find your anchor, you release."
"What's your anchor, then?"
"My hand. I nearly always raise it the exact same way unless the spell needs it for something else."
"Like this?" she asked, mirroring what she saw him doing downstairs.
"It doesn't need to be your hand, 'Gana." Merlin said with a light chuckle. "Here, let me guide your hand up." Merlin said, stepping behind her and gently taking her hand in his, putting his other hand on her hip. "Feel the magic, feel it rushing through your veins. Take a deep breath, do you feel it yet?" he whispered slowly against her ear
"Yeah." Morgana breathed, nodding her head imperceptibly, acutely aware of the girls trying to suppress their giggles and Arthur's glare.
"Okay, now look at the door, focus on the keyhole and say aliese."
"Aliese." Morgana said, feeling the magic leave her outstretched hand and her eyes burn momentarily before the clicking of the lock was heard.
"Well, with that as a way of teaching, everyone can learn." Fleur joked as Morgana turned around and hugged him tightly, squealing in delight.
"Yeah, she's right, Merlin. It would be so much easier to learn if you taught me like that. Instead you say, 'to know how to control your dreams, you have to imagine it's' blah blah blah blah blah." Cassie said, tilting her head side to side and using her hand to signal his talking.
"Cassie, if anyone were to try to teach you something like this, you'd either be on the floor in a fit of giggles, or blushing so hard you're as red as a Weasley's hair." Morgana replied, sticking her tongue out in victory.
"Wonder what the view's like?" Apolline said quickly, stopping Cassie from saying whatever she was going to say.
"Yeah, come on up." Merlin said with a wide smile, stepping aside with Morgana so everyone could climb up.
"The view from here is spectacular!" Apolline said, looking over the whole of the town.
"You should see it at night on a full moon, the trees look absolutely stunning bathed in moonlight, and the lights from the town aren't strong enough to dim the starlight from above." Merlin said, letting Morgana lean against the wall and hugging her from behind.
"Hands off my sister, Merlin." Arthur growled as he too looked out over the town. "Why does this feel so familiar?" he added, throwing his hands up and shaking his head.
"I know, right!" Morgana said, ignoring Arthur's comment the same as Merlin did.
"We should go down, it's starting to drizzle." Gabrielle told them after a few minutes spent up in the battlements looking out over everything and chatting idly.
"Yeah, and daddy's meant to be coming here around now." Fleur added, nodding her head along with her younger sister.
"All right, I still haven't shown you the south wing. The wings may not be part of the original manor, but I believe the architects did a wonderful job in keeping them as close as possible to the original motif." Merlin told them as he led them back down the hidden stairs and into the manor once more.
"It's just as, if not more, beautiful than the North wing." Cassie said knowingly.
"You six go ahead, I'll stay and wait for your father." Apolline told the children, sitting down on one of the many armchairs interspersed throughout the house.
"Crissy and Lindy should be starting on the dinner preparations. The wine cellar's just through there, if you'd like to pick a wine while you wait, Madame Delacour." Merlin said from the doorway.
"Yes, I think I'd like that. Thank you, Merlin." she said, her eyes following where he had nodded to as she gracefully got up and glided across the room smiling fondly at the dulcet tones of her daughters' laughter as it carried down the stairs.