Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Merlin wrapped his hands around the hot chocolate, sipping it tentatively as the warmth sunk through his gloves. He was torn between drinking it all now, before it had the chance to cool down, and waiting so his hands had more time to keep warm.

He was grateful that Gaius’ clinic had a coffee and hot water machine, and that most of the staff knew him well enough to let him get some hot chocolate when they saw him. He eyed the buildings and people, looking far above him at the towering hotels and offices, and dodging people as they went about their business, all ignoring the kid on the street that nearly hugged the walls. He wondered at times if people could even see him or if his magic made him invisible.

And then the occasional person would nearly trip over him, some would curse at him, some shoving him out of the way. Merlin just smiled wide at them, sometimes apologetic, anything that he knew would calm most of the people down. He must have a forgivable face when he smiled because almost everyone would backtrack, give a little smile, and tell him to try to be more careful next time.

Some would ask where his parents were. Merlin would always laugh, tell them them his uncle was working, then quickly leave before his smile could break into tears because he didn’t have parents, but his uncle was close enough. At least he had him.

But today, the sun was shining instead of the dull overcast it had been recently. The weather, however, was still chilly being out in it all day, especially since, as everyone always told him, he had absolutely no meat on his bones.

The thing was, they had always been on the poor side, but after losing their house and Merlin’s mom, Gaius and Merlin were absolutely broke. For about a year they had lived fully on the streets and struggled to even get food. Now that Gaius has had a steady job at the clinic, they had gotten into a small flat, but the desolate place was nearly as bad as some alleyways they’d stayed in, so Merlin used every excuse to be out of it.

Gaius didn’t like it when he wandered the city, but since they couldn’t afford him being watched all the time, to go to school, or be in the office with him the whole day, he had to relent, understanding Merlin’s logic that the flat wasn’t any safer than wandering around would be. At least there were witnesses if something happened on the street. The flat, which had been broken into three times — though they hadn’t much in the way of possessions for them to steal — was no safer.

So instead Merlin had promised to keep to the streets and shops where there were plenty of people, and he went on his way, a smile lighting his face, even with his holey shoes and cold air biting his cheeks.

He took another sip of his drink, pulling his arms closer to his body. He was grateful for his warm winter clothes at least.

“His mother probably wouldn’t want that anyway…” He heard someone passing say into her phone. Then two men walking together passed the other way, their words about a lady they’d seen last night crude. Merlin wished he could wash his ears with soap — his mom had threatened to wash his mouth with soap a few times in the past, and he’d never said anything near as bad as what he hears half the time in the city.

He closed his eyes as he savored another sip of his chocolate, almost humming in pleasure.

Right before he felt a jarring hit, and suddenly he was on his side, his hot chocolate all over the ground and his hands. He squeaked; more because of surprise than pain, though the heat from the drink was on the verge of burning.

“Watch where you’re going, dimwit,” a young voice snapped at him.

Merlin looked over quickly, moving to sit up as his eyebrows furrowed. He smoothed them out quickly, trying for an apologetic smile.

“Sorry,” he apologized to the other man — boy — quickly; taking in his bright blue eyes, blond hair, and the bag of books he was swinging back over his shoulder as he stood up.

“Idiot. Young boy like you shouldn’t even be out here without a parent. Where’s your mom anyway?”

The rude words made tears prick in Merlin’s eyes. It wasn’t fair! He’d be with his mom, or his father, if he could. The other kid wasn’t even that older than him, Merlin bet, but Merlin himself had always looked younger than his age. He might be fairly tall, but he was too skinny for his height. Gave him a young look.

“Not like I was the only one not paying attention, prat,” Merlin snapped back, climbing to his feet and curling his fists. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have collided.”

The boys face colored, and Merlin figured it was time to cut his losses now. They were already starting to cause a scene.

“Next time, maybe try apologizing for knocking someone on their butt,” Merlin bit out, quickly turning away, cup clenched in his hand as he all but ran from the other boy.

“Hey!” He heard a shout from behind, but surprisingly no following footsteps. As he turned into an alley — sorry, Gaius, obviously this wasn’t a busy road — then made the next few turns before he came out near buildings far enough away, he forced himself to calm down, taking some deep breaths. He felt guilty at the words he’d snapped. The boy hadn’t been kind, but his mom had always tried to teach him to always use words in kindness.

Funny then, how it was mention of his mother that got him riled up.

He wiped his cheek as a preventative of tears, stubborn enough not to cry, then tossed the now empty cup into the garbage, silently cursing the other boy. There went his hot drink.

He shook his head, taking a few deep calming breaths, then forcing a smile as he started to walk. He was not going to let some kid ruin this beautiful day. It was going to start getting colder soon, so he needed to enjoy the sun while it lasted. Soon the cold would overpower any desire to want to be outside.

Arthur felt like a right prick, the kid’s words echoing in his brain. He’d been in a hurry, and honestly hadn’t seen the kid as he managed to run around other people, just to crash into a small boy. He’d snapped, feeling pain as he’d landed on his hand, his wrist twisting slightly. His bag luckily hadn’t spilled anything or broken in the fall, so that was a relief.

But honestly the collision had been Arthur’s fault. He shouldn’t have been such a… well, a prat. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked. He’d debated going after the kid, but there was really no point in doing so. He had left quickly, and ran fast.
Besides, his father was expecting him.

Arthur kept his pace slower this time, though he didn’t want to be even more late, he figured it would be better to avoid running into anyone else. He shook out his wrist, relieved that the pain was already receding. He didn’t have time for injuries. His right hand being injured would have made it difficult to do his homework, and he couldn’t get behind with that. It also would’ve made his rugby a lot more annoying for sure. He would’ve had to make sure to keep it protected, and in that game, it was pretty impossible.

He got to his dads building and entered the lobby. It was easy to get to his fathers office, as the receptionist knew that he was coming, and just waved him through. No one said hi to Arthur. Since he was just a kid in a corporate world they didn’t really care.

His father was still on the phone when he arrived, so he sat on the furthest couch in the office and pulled out a book to study while he waited for Uther to finish.

It was probably a good twenty minutes before he finally said his goodbyes, unsurprisingly, and Uther sighed as he hung up. Arthur glanced from under his eyelashes, checking to see if his father was ready for him or not, but when he determined that the man was still angry over the call and not likely to talk yet, he returned to his book. His father wouldn’t want to be caught being watched at the moment.

“Arthur.” At last. Arthur thought, closing the book and looking up.

“Father.”

“Your teacher called today.” Arthur automatically tensed, awaiting words not in his favor, even while wishing it would be good news. Mrs. Livingston liked Arthur, so he knew that she wouldn’t have any negative things to say. But his father could twist what was meant to be positive and find the negative. “She said your class took a test today. Said you got an 89.”

Arthur swallowed. “Yes, father. It was a pop quiz. We hadn’t had time to fully study, nor have we covered everything in class yet, it was more to test our knowledge and see what else we need to learn for the year.” And his teacher had probably told Uther that

Arthur had been the top in the class, by far, with the test. Everyone else had got a 75 or lower.

“Hm. You need to try harder. Only an 89. You could do better.”

His throat was hurting, but he swallowed it down. “Yes, father, I know. I am studying the points I missed.”

Uther hit the desk, though not loudly, it was more like a tap, but it still startled Arthur a bit. “Yes, you’ll have to look over the homework again. Maybe we can have Miss Nancy come over to help you study. She can make sure you’re understanding it.”

He stifled a groan. He could understand it just fine, it was just hard to remember everything. Some of the stuff they hadn’t even been over yet, and Arthur had only known the answers to some of the questions because he’d read the textbook ahead of time. He always took classes and read a lot during the summer, so Arthur was already two years ahead in most of his subjects.

“Yes, father.” Is all he said, however. Arguing or justifying with his father was pointless. “Miss Nancy always can help.” Not entirely a lie, but the only problem is that she explains too many things that Arthur already understood, rather than the things he actually needed help with. At least she was kind though.

Uther nodded, returning to the work on his desk, Arthur easily dismissed. Arthur put his book back into his backpack and slipped silently out of the room as he shouldered it.

Father-son bonding time, now over, Arthur thought sarcastically. Each time he had time with his father, he found himself more and more let down.

As he walked down the street to home, he couldn’t help but think back on the kid; the tears in his eyes, the ones he had furiously blinked back, must have felt a lot like the ones that Arthur refused to let past the hard rock in his throat.

He forced it back down, into that same numbness he’d had for years now. It would do him no good. He just had to keep doing better. That should get him a good scholarship down the road, and then he’d be set to help his father in his company.

Chipper little thoughts, aren't they? he mused, shaking his head. But truly, nothing in his life excited him anymore. Not since he hadn’t received his own little letter or magic. He loved his sister, but she was gone most of the year, and he couldn’t talk to her about what was going on. There was no way he could put that burden on her, seeing how happy she was, and that she thought he was doing just fine at home. It was better that way.

But he still missed her. They still sent letters. This year was better than the last few. Morgana hadn’t gone into details, but she told him how a dark wizard had tried to take over the school and wizarding world. There was a huge fight, and though Morgana didn’t say, Arthur was sure she was more in the middle of it than she tried to make it seem. She had told him about how some of the disasters he’d seen in the news around the world at the time, was actually caused by the followers. She’d assured him that he wouldn’t have wanted to be there for that because it had been a scary time for everyone, and no one was allowed back home.

But that’s where she was wrong. He would have much preferred being at her side, even to help fight — even if he would have been crap at it — than he would staying at a quiet house by himself, while his father worked all hours a day and half the nights.

He’d suspected Uther worked some of the nights, and might be staying the night with his receptionist the other nights. Nonetheless, Arthur was home alone, and it was lonely. But even when Uther was home… it was just as lonely. His father never had anything to say to him unless it was about improving his grades or sport, and Arthur had learned to watch what he said to his father, because the man simply didn’t care.

So no, he really didn’t think he would’ve minded being in a battle. At least he wouldn’t have been standing alone there.

He fingered his arm, small scabs healing under the fabric of his upper forearm, standing out.

Yes, maybe someone at Hogwarts would have noticed him.

Chapter Text

Arthur moved slowly down the street, fingering the strap on his backpack, eyebrows furrowed. He was trying to think about the homework that he had to finish tonight, a problem that was still giving him difficulties. However, he couldn’t pull his mind away from Morgana’s recent letter. She told him about a boy in the Hufflepuff house that she was starting to fancy.

Arthur was the younger brother by a few years, but he wished he could visit the school to make sure this other kid was worthy of his sister.

He scoffed at the thought. Morgana was the fiercest girl — lady — he knew. She would have no problem kicking someone to the curb that didn’t do her right, and she could tell a good guy from a bad. But still, it was the thought that counted, right? He didn’t care that she could take care of herself. He just wished he could be a little more a part of her life, even in such a small way as being a protective (even if younger) brother.

Not going to happen, he reprimanded himself, shutting down the thoughts again.

Morgana was truly growing into a beautiful, and very smart lady. If Arthur didn’t know her so well, and she wasn’t his sister, he’d be terrified of her.

…

Actually, he was still slightly terrified anyway, but only because he knew that if she put her mind to something, nothing could stand in her way.

Her recent desire was to drag Arthur out of his isolation (books upon books that he read for school, and occasional enjoyment) to make new friends. Last summer she’d coerced him along with her around the town, trying to help him make new friends. She’d even had him come with her to some of her wizard-friend’s houses. He appreciated that she cared for him, and that she wanted him in her life as much as he wished he could be in hers, but he knew it could never be. These people would never care for him. Not like his sister did. One, he was just the younger brother, and two, even though they obviously didn’t try to, he could tell that most of them weren’t quite comfortable with a ‘muggle’ as a friend. They studied entirely different things in school, and while Arthur wouldn’t mind sitting through their stories and learning about their studies, they didn’t seem to want to take the time.

So he felt like a dumb tag-along younger brother that he was, who only got invited out of pity. Wasn’t what he’d call an enjoyable time.

So first summer of operation ‘trying to get Arthur out of his shell’ was a bit of a flop, but she was stubborn.

The problem, though, was that she was only there for the summer. It wasn’t enough time to pull him from his self-isolation. She didn’t see him during the school year when she might have had a better chance due to the sheer amount of people he had to be around everyday, but also where he focused solely on getting good grades to make his father proud. She didn’t see how overworked he was. He didn’t have time for friends, and people at his school were more likely to call him names for being such a goody-two-shoes and nerd.

That information was something he had refused to tell her, and he’d never told his father either. Uther wouldn’t care to do anything about it, and Morgana wouldn’t be able to when she was at her own distant school, so there was no point in making her worried. At least Arthur was physically big enough to stay out of any physical bullying, and the fact that he played rugby and knew how to slam someone to the ground probably helped with that. Good thing, because he couldn’t risk getting injured in any way that would put him out of the game.

He’d already drafted part of his next letter to Morgana. There was not much to say, but he could at least tell her how he got a 98 on his last test. She’d be proud of him, but in the next line she’d tell him to leave the books behind and go celebrate with friends. Which was kind of funny coming from a Ravenclaw.

She knew their father had high expectations from him, she’d been there for some of the conversations, and she tried to get their father to relax on his stance, and to get Arthur to not listen to everything his father said. However, she didn’t know to what extent it went to.

Arthur shivered as the wind suddenly picked up, brisk in the snow that was falling. He wore layers of winter clothing, and was extremely grateful for such. He picked up his pace a bit, ready to get out of the cold, and back to writing a letter to Morgana — then maybe he could think enough to finish up his homework.

But not a minute later, he felt a jerk on the back of his backpack, hauling him backward into an alley, then he was tossed to the ground. He let out a startled yelp as he landed, looking up immediately to see four boys standing above him.
Collin, Andrew, Pete, and Valiant.

Valiant grinned down at him, predatory. “Well heya there Arthur. Fancy meeting you here.”

Arthur’s fingers twitched. “Hey, Valiant.” He tried to keep his tone neutral.

“Have you finished your homework for Maths yet?”

“No,” Arthur said, for once honest. He knew that the kid would just try to take his homework to get his answers, he’d done it before, and Arthur had to call up the teacher to ask for another assignment because he’d lost his papers. Luckily he’d always been able to turn it in time, even if it took a few all-nighters.

But this time, Arthur really hadn’t finished. There were a few problems he was stuck on, and his sister’s letter had distracted him.

Collin snorted unbelievably. “You’re always done.”

“I’m not this time,” Arthur muttered mulishly, pushing into more of a sitting position.

“Give us your bag.” Valiant held out a hand.

“No.” Arthur shook his head, trying to get to his feet quickly as he felt the snow start to seep to his pants.

Before he could get to his feet, Valiant kicked him back into the snow. He gasped as snow went up his sleeve this time.

The kicks weren’t entirely a surprise, but he wasn’t fully expecting it. Maybe one or two, but the fact that they kept raining down on him had him curling up. As he was kicked, he amused himself with the thought that the bullying had suddenly turned more physical after just thinking himself lucky that it hadn’t been so before.

Against four, there wasn’t really a point in trying to get up or defend, and there hadn’t been many people on the streets. He figured they’d get bored eventually, but he just hoped they didn’t take off with his backpack.

“Hey!” He heard a yell, which nearly surprised him more than the initial grab had. He opened his eyes to see a young boy standing in the alleyway. Arthur tried sitting up as the worry for one random kid trying to help overwhelmed him.

“Beat it, kid.” Collin took a step closer.

“Come closer to me or him and I’ll scream. I see a police officer just down by the cafe, and he’ll come in a heartbeat, I’m sure.” The kid stood straight, and if Arthur didn’t see the slight furrow in his brows, he wouldn’t have even thought the kid was scared at all.

As the kid shifted slightly, Arthur blinked in surprise. He recognized the kid. It was the same one he’d run into about a year ago, near these same streets. The kid didn’t look much bigger, except maybe slightly taller. He was still skinny, and his clothes were in even worse shape than the year before.

Arthur worked his way up to his feet, knowing that if it came to a fight, the boy wouldn’t stand a chance.

Valiant smirked, stepping closer to speak, but Arthur accidentally kicking some trash — a can — startled all gazes over to him. Valiant decided against the other kid and sneered at Arthur.

“How about you hand over my homework now?”

Arthur shook his head. “Go back to cry to your mummy, Valiant,” he snapped, knowing it was stupid, but mostly trying to keep their attention on him and not the other kid. “We all know that’s all you’re good at. I heard coach got an earful from your mom because you couldn’t even—”

He saw it coming, and though he started to pull back slightly, it still hit his cheek and tossed him back further on his unsteady feet. He prepared as the four surrounded him again. This time he’d have to fight to keep them away from the other kid.

But when Arthur looked back to tell the other boy to leave, or to make sure he was okay, or something, he immediately froze in shock. The kid raised his hand in a sweeping path, his eyes turning a bright gold, and the four in front of Arthur went flying to the side, tumbling into each other and falling.

Arthur’s jaw was agape, he knew it, though he wasn’t sure how to fix it. The boys would be able to tell something was off, having all fallen over, but at the moment they were busy cursing and trying to get off one another.

But Merlin caught his eyes, panic in his eyes, and he ran.

Arthur hadn’t run after him last time. This time, he did.

Idiot. Idiot. Merlin mentally cursed himself as he ran. He could hear footsteps behind him, so he ducked into an alley, determined to lose the tail.

Of course his first time noticeably doing magic in years, and it had to have been in front of five different boys, one of which had actually seen the whole thing.

Stupid protective instincts. He was always told his worry for people and animals would be what got him in trouble. It had been mostly a joke, but now it was entirely true.

Okay, maybe only partly a joke. He had always had a hard time controlling his magic when it came to helping cute animals.

He darted into another alley. Whichever kid was behind him wasn’t giving up. Probably the one being kicked, since he was the one who saw it all and wasn’t trying to get detangled from the others.

For just being kicked a million times, the other teen sure had stamina. Merlin could be fast, but he definitely was more of a sprinter instead of long distance.

“Wait!” He heard the near whispered shout behind him, getting closer. “Why aren’t you at the magic school? Shouldn’t you be there now? I thought you weren’t allowed to do magic outside of school.”

By the beginning of the second question, Merlin had stopped suddenly, eyes wide. The kid didn’t even seem alarmed that he’d had magic.

A trick? Merlin turned back to the boy but took a step back before he could get too close. Luckily the kid stopped, slightly raising his hands, nonthreatening.

Merlin worked his jaw a few moments, trying to find words.

“School?” His voice ended up quieter than he had expected.

“Yeah, you know, Hogwarts?”

Merlin shook his head. He’d never heard of a school called Hogwarts.

“Magic school?” Merlin repeated, a little more incredulous.

“Well, yeah.” The kid looked uncomfortable. “Look, my sister goes there. Everyone knows that school.” He paused a moment, then shook his head. “I mean, not everyone, only wizards and witches and their family really know about it. Magic being true isn’t really common knowledge, as I’m sure you know.”

Merlin nearly scoffed, would have if his brain hadn’t been whirling. Know? I’m starting to think I know absolutely nothing. Actually, maybe starting isn’t even the right word. He never really knew anything about magic other than the fact that he could do it.

“You… you know other… magic-users?” he asked tentatively. His hands fidgeted by his side, messing with the hem of his shirt, and not quite able to meet his eyes.

“Yeah, my sister.” Something in his voice seemed to soften at Merlin’s obvious tension. “She and all her friends — I met them this last summer. She’s been going to school since I was eight.”

“And she—” Merlin cut himself off.

“She what?”

“She… she’s learning about magic? And no one is… hurting her? Or keeping her locked away?”

The kid stepped closer, putting a hand on Merlin’s arm. Surprisingly, Merlin didn’t even flinch, instead the warmth of his hand gave him a soothing sense. He wondered if the other kid felt it too, since his hand tightened a little more.

“No!” His voice sounded horrified, then he looked around, as though trying to spot anyone listening. “No, she’s been happy there. I see her every summer and holidays when she comes home.” He seemed to hesitate a moment, then he squeezed his arm. “We should go somewhere to talk more. Maybe to my house? I’ll probably be alone there. My dad usually works late.”

Merlin hesitated. He really shouldn’t. He’d just met the kid, and his only other experience with him had nearly had him crying about a year ago. Gaius would worry if he came home too late, and Merlin didn’t know if he could actually trust this kid.

Merlin met his gaze finally, seeing the slightly wide eyes — hope, or maybe excitement? Something — and then he tentatively nodded, somehow knowing that he could trust him. Or at least, he really wanted to.

“Great. I’m Arthur.” He held out his hand.

“Merlin.” Tone still soft, he carefully extended his hand to the boy, eyes still assessing the kid and the alley.

Arthur smiled at him, a reassuring and kind smile. A lot better than the year before when they’d crashed into each other.

As though Arthur had the same thought, his smile suddenly faded and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Hey, sorry about, you know, last year.” Red spots appeared on his cheeks, slightly blotchy. “I was a… well, a prat. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. It had been my fault. I was having a stressful day.”

Merlin shrugged. “It’s okay.” He lowered his head, only looking up at Arthur through his eyelashes.

Arthur didn’t pursue the topic anymore, just gestured to the alley behind him. “Come on, lets go to my house. We can talk.”

Merlin nodded. Though he was still nervous, he was more than ready to actually get some information about magic.

Arthur walked quickly, only once looking over to make sure Merlin was staying up with him. It was a good thing Merlin had long legs because the other kid could set a grueling pace otherwise.

They didn’t talk much on the way to Arthur’s home. Which was probably good because Merlin was already nervous, and if he said much, he probably would have booked it the other direction.

Luckily Arthur didn’t live far, but Merlin was surprised to see him go into one of the hotels nearby. Merlin found his eyebrows furrowing in surprise, so Arthur explained in the otherwise empty elevator.

“My dad is a huge sponsor for this hotel, helped pay to get it started and all. They have him in a live-in suite up at the top. I’ve lived here since I was about nine.” Arthur shrugged and slid his card key in, and though Merlin found it pretty amazing, he realized that Arthur didn’t. There was an undercurrent of sadness or something in his eyes and tone.

The door opened and Merlin found himself gaping. The place was huge! The window in the large family room took up the entire wall, and the view was incredible. Forgetting to be nervous, Merlin bounded toward the wall of glass and practically pressed his face and palms on it, staring out. “Wow.” The word was said under his breath, trying to see as much as he can.

Arthur chuckled behind him. “It’s just a view.”

“It’s so incredible,” Merlin told him, not daring to look away. The sun was heading down over the mountains in the distance, and he wished he could be there to see the sun set. “It’s amazing you get to see this everyday.”

Arthur didn’t answer right away. “Well, I mean, you get used to it,” he finally uttered.

Merlin finally looked at him, aghast. “You get used to it? You miss this beauty? What’s the point of having a view if not to enjoy it?”

Arthur looked uncomfortable. “It’s just the city.”

Merlin chuckled and shook his head. “Spoiled prat.” But he said the word more fondly this time and looked back at the window. “It’s not just the city, though even that by itself is amazing. It’s everything combined. The city, the sky, the sun, the mountains. Even knowing that there are people down among the streets.”

Arthur didn’t say anything at all this time, but joined Merlin at the window. He stared out with him for several long minutes, then turned to Merlin.

“Should we talk?” Arthur finally asked.

Merlin deflated and looked away, his nerves returning. “Right.”

Arthur arched an eyebrow at him. “Come on then. We can go to my room.”

Merlin followed him, but even as he entered the big room, he chose not to comment on anything more, even though it took a lot not to stare around. He mostly failed at not doing so, but he brought his gaze back to Arthur as they both sat on the couch in there. The room was crazy clean, which was surprising. What teenage boy had such a clean room? Merlin didn’t even have very much stuff, but what he had still made more of a mess than this room.

Arthur turned to the side on the couch, lifting a leg up onto it and settling back against the armrest. Merlin gulped and, slipping his shoes off, pulled his feet onto the couch so he could hug his legs.

“Have you seriously never met anyone else with magic?” Arthur asked.

Meekly, Merlin shook his head. “No. Not that I know of anyway.” He paused a moment. “Well, not officially. A couple years ago, some people… wizards maybe, attacked my town. We fled, but they definitely used magic.” He frowned, feeling his eyes go distant in memory. “I just… the only magic I’ve seen outside myself was evil. What if… What if I’m just evil?”

“You’re not evil,” Arthur said firmly, leaning forward. “You’re not. My sister isn’t evil, at least not mostly.” He chuckled, enough so that Merlin softly smiled with him. “Magic isn’t evil. It’s just a tool.”

“But a tool for what?” Merlin asked, desperate, hands digging into his legs.

“Anything.” Arthur shrugged. “I mean, Merlin, you protected me with it today. Morgana says she’s learning how to use it for lots of things, even boiling water, or for making light.”

“But I can’t do any of that. At least not on purpose.”

“But you said you haven’t been to school,” Arthur told him. “You haven’t had people teaching you yet.”

“How did you know about this school? Are your parents magic? How do I get in?”

Arthur shook his head. “That’s what I don’t understand. When you turn eleven, if you have magic, you’re supposed to get a letter from the school to have you come. Why didn’t you get a letter? Even if you were moving or something, somehow the school knows where you are.” He looked as though he was talking more to himself. He came back and finished answering. “My parents aren’t magic, but my sister is. We didn’t know about magic until she got a letter, but we think that she’d been exhibiting some signs before, we just didn’t realize it. You see, she would always get these really realistic dreams, that sometimes seemed to show future events.”

Merlin furrowed his eyebrows and Arthur continued. “Your eyes went gold,” he stated. “Does that always happen?”

Nodding hesitantly, Merlin tried to force himself to relax his tight grip.

Arthur nodded slowly. “Hmm… well, I haven’t actually seen my sister using magic or anything, but… she never mentioned anything about eyes changing colors. I’ll have to ask her. Maybe I can ask her about if there has ever been anyone who didn’t receive an invitation but still had magic. She could ask her teachers.”

Merlin’s head shot up. “Don’t tell her about me, please,” he begged.

“Don’t you want to go to school to learn?”

“I…” Merlin bit his lip, close to tears. “I don’t know Arthur. Please, just don’t tell anybody. My mom said nobody can know or I— I’ll get experimented on or—or something. Please, you’re one of two or three people in the world that knows about me. I can’t… I can’t…”

“All right, calm down.” Arthur shot forward, grabbing his arms and meeting his frantic gaze. Until that moment, Merlin hadn’t realized how ragged his breathing had gotten.

He immediately tried slowing his breath, taking deep ones. His magic, which had started to swirl in him, suddenly settling with Arthur’s touch. If Merlin was honest, this was the first time he’d really been able to feel his magic like this. It seemed so powerful, yet suddenly more controlled than it ever has been. It almost seemed to extend out, branches of magic reaching toward the other kid; like one might tentatively prod a cute kitten to see how it reacted.

Before Merlin could pull back — and truly, did he want to? he’d never felt so strangely safe in another presence — his magic reached out to Arthur. It was strange to feel it, because it wasn’t like he could actually see the magic, but he somehow felt as though he was watching it unfold.

Arthur’s eyes went wide a saucers, shock coloring his features, his blue eyes getting a slight tint of gold to them as well, as the magic seemed to dance along his skin, before some of it sunk in. If possible, Arthur’s eyes got wider, but no fear colored his features. Instead it was an awe, but he did stiffen at the sensation.

It was as though Merlin could… read Arthur’s mind. Almost. Like vague thoughts or sensations. The wonder of the moment, the bitterness he kept locked inside about not having his own magic, the disappointment knowing he’d never measure up to his father. He wished for his mother vaguely, missed Morgana fiercely, and his loneliness was even greater than Merlin’s own. Merlin felt the pain along Arthur’s arms, and knew immediately what they were and why. He couldn’t even blame the other boy for it, Merlin himself had thought to do the same at times, and if it weren’t for the fact that Gaius was a healer and would have noticed immediately if something was wrong with him, he might have. Arthur didn’t have anyone to care other than a sister who was far from home.

Merlin felt a sudden grim determination wash over him, even as he sensed Arthur going through Merlin’s own feelings. It should have felt daunting, and in a way it did, but Merlin only felt that same determination in his new friend’s mind as Arthur realized the fear that Merlin had about anyone finding out about him or not being able to control his magic, the sense of loss and guilt over his mother, the gratitude toward his uncle… And Arthur didn’t even get nervous about the amount of power he felt from Merlin’s magic.

No. Their magic. The magic seemed to have claimed Arthur for it’s own as well.

The moment was abruptly ruined by the sound of a voice from the other room. “Arthur!”

Arthur startled, nearly falling off the couch, and the magic suddenly surged back, mostly, into Merlin. Arthur’s eyes were wide as he stared first at Merlin, then around the room in a panic and it took Merlin a long moment to realize it was panic about his dad and not about what just transpired.

“That’s my father, Uther,” he muttered distantly to Merlin, scrambling.

Arthur grabbed his backpack, pulling out papers, then plopped back in front of Merlin and handed some to him. Confused, Merlin just took it and stared at him, feeling the magic settle again inside, but some of it having stayed with Arthur.

“Yeah, father?” Arthur finally called back.

It was a long moment before Uther was at the door. “Oh.” The man startled at seeing Merlin, who sat criss-crossed on the couch facing Arthur, then stared at Arthur, whose face was slightly flushed. “I didn’t realize you had a friend over. Don’t you have homework?”

“Uh yeah, of course.” Arthur stuttered. “Merlin, uh… he needed some help. I’m just tutoring him, you know.”

“Tutoring him.” Uther scanned Merlin lazily, obviously noticing how… well, unkempt would be a nice way of putting it. Merlin felt his own face heat as he realized exactly what the man thought of him. “Why would you do that? You should be focusing on your own school.”

“I’m, uh, finished with my homework.” Arthur shrugged, trying for nonchalance. Merlin could tell it was faked, but it didn’t appear Uther even knew his son well enough to know the fib. “I was talking to my teacher. She said that showing how willing I am to tutor someone would look good if I try to get into any school, or… you know, try to get a scholarship or something…” Arthur trailed off. Merlin watched them, astounded that Uther just nodded at his son.

“Well then, you may carry on. Just order a pizza or something for tonight. I have a late meeting. Just came home to change.”

“Of course,” Arthur agreed.

Uther left them alone, and immediately Arthur sagged, putting his hand to his forehead. Merlin put a hand on his wrist and held until Arthur relaxed.

“Sorry about that,” Arthur murmured. “Didn’t realize he’d be here, and…” He looked more awkward. “Sorry, for… you know,” He waved his hand between them. “My feelings, and… I don’t know what just happened.”

Merlin snorted a laugh. “I don’t either,” Merlin agreed. “My magic seems to have a mind of its own, I swear. But… it seemed to like you.” He stared at Arthur a moment before looking at his lap. “Maybe… maybe we could be friends?” He chewed on his lip after he asked. Without the magic being so connected, he was suddenly nervous. Why would Arthur want to be friends with him? He’d seen how Merlin had nothing — was nothing.

“I’d like that, Merlin.” Arthur’s voice was soft, a little uncertainty in his own voice. “Can you stay for pizza?”

Merlin looked at the window, then the clock. “Maybe, but I’d have to leave after. I’ll have to go home, or my uncle will be worried.”

“No problem. I’ll just order the pizza then.”

Chapter Text

Merlin figured meeting Arthur in town near the same alley he’d met him at before would be a decent place to walk home with him the rest of the way. Merlin sat in the shadows of an alley, leg bouncing, staring down at the entrance for Arthur to pass.

Arthur had seemed as though he wouldn’t mind Merlin’s company, but Merlin didn’t want to be a pest and overstay his welcome, so he’d waited, rather impatiently, a few days before coming; even with his magic that was straining to reach out to the other teen.

Merlin didn’t understand why it seemed to like Arthur so much, but Merlin didn’t understand his magic in general, so none of it was necessarily out of the box for what his knowledge was. Anything could be possible for all he knew.

The strain in his magic was startling, none-the-less. Merlin had never had anyone that his magic cared so much about. He’d had moments with Gaius, where his magic seemed to seek him out to make sure he was okay, but it had never completely reached for anyone.

His magic knew Arthur was getting close before Merlin saw him, a sort of underlying buzz every step closer, so he stood up and moved to the edge of the alley right as his friend got to it.

“Hey, Arthur.”

He jumped, startled as he spun for Merlin. “Merlin! What the heck?”

Merlin grinned at the other boy. “You heading home?”

Arthur took a calming breath. “Yes. I am.” He hesitated a moment, then nodded his head to the side. “Just from school.”

Merlin snorted. “Obviously.”

Arthur nudged his shoulder. “Shut up. Well, what were you doing anyway?”

Merlin shrugged. “Uncle Gauis didn’t go into work until the afternoon. He has a late night working. So I spent some time with him. We went to the store to get some food.”

Arthur side-eyed him. “Good. Looks like you need it.” The small smile on the side of his face told Merlin he was joking. Mostly at least, Merlin knew that he was rather skinny, so it wasn’t entirely a joke.

“Well, not all of us can have twenty dollars for pizza every night. You eat a lot.” Merlin kept his tone cheerful even as the words were more true than he’d like.

“You calling me fat?” Arthur’s tone turned defensive, but still playfully, luckily. Merlin can handle playful. He’s only had Will as a friend, and Freya for a little while. Will was playful, but Freya was sensitive, and Merlin had to be careful what he said to her, at first, until she finally realized he was teasing and got thick skin. Even still, he was more careful with her.

But it looked like Arthur was made up off tougher skin, in some ways at least, and gave as good as he got.

Merlin eyed him up and down. “Well, I’m not calling you skinny.” Was his non-answer answer, unable to hold back laughter for more than a few seconds.

Arthur scowled at him a long moment, then finally broke and chuckled. “Did you enjoy the book I gave you?” He asked at last.

Merlin grinned. “Yes, I read it all. It was interesting, even though it doesn’t necessarily help with controlling magic specifically. It’s at least good to… you know, understand a little bit about the world and how the magic came about.” He’d given Merlin his sisters old copy about the history of magic. He’d finished reading it. “I have it with me in my bag. I’ll give it to you when we get to your place.”

Arthur nodded. “Thanks. My sister will kill me if she doesn’t have it when she gets home for the summer — at least with me not telling her about you.” He eyed Merlin worriedly, and Merlin knew that he really wanted to talk to his sister — or someone, at least — about Merlin. About why he wasn’t invited to the school. How Merlin could have possibly been forgotten about. And while Merlin had the same questions, he was grateful Arthur hasn’t told anyone, and was hopeful he never would.

“You’re sure it’s okay for me to borrow them?” Merlin asked, suddenly apprehensive all over again, the worry going straight to his stomach. “I really don’t need them.” He didn’t. But he truly wanted them. He wanted to learn more. He wanted to learn spells. He couldn’t ever be so helpless again.

Arthur elbowed him gently, which pulled him from his spiraling thoughts, then shrugged. “Relax. It’s going to be fine, Merlin. Honestly. She won’t be back until Christmas anyway.”

“I just… if anything happens to the books, and… I mean, I really need — want, I want to know about it, because I just need to—” Merlin felt his breathing pick up a little, realizing he’s not explaining anything correctly, and Arthur pulled him to a stop facing him.

“Seriously, Merlin, it’s fine. I want you to know as much as you can. This is who you are, and I don’t know what happened with the schools records, but I know you need to know this. How it works. What it is, even. You seem terrified of it, and you need to know that you don’t need to be.”

Something settled in him, the magic in him agreeing to the words, and Merlin’s frantic brain calming. He pressed against Arthur’s arm as Arthur turned them back to walk, just lightly, and the magic once again seemed to envelop both of them. Arthur seemed to draw just slightly closer, a tension falling from his shoulders that Merlin hadn’t even realized.

“So.” Arthur moved on, recognizing that Merlin had nothing to say to that. “I do have some homework tonight, but you’re welcome to come over. You can read from more books for a while. We can get some food, then when I finish my homework, maybe we could start a movie or something.”

Merlin grinned again. “Sounds good,” he agreed.

Arthur was watching him again, shaking his head. “Do you’ve got ADHD or something? Or paranoia?”

“What? Why?” Merlin furrowed his eyebrows.

“You are literally bouncing on the balls of your feet with each step, nearly vibrating, I swear. And you don’t stop looking around for a second, as though keeping an eye out for someone around you.”

Merlin blushed, but shrugged. “I don’t know. Just… cautious, you know?” He didn’t know how to explain it further than that. “Cautious, but… I still am excited for… well. I don’t know.” He cut himself off, feeling embarrassed.

Arthur snorted. “Alright then.”

“Hey, maybe you should be more paranoid. Last time I saw you, you were pulled into an alley by four boys. The time before that you had plowed into me.”

Arthur blushed, but he had a retort for that one. “And yet, you were the one with your eyes shut in the middle of the sidewalk for the first one.” He smirked at Merlin. “And you’re the one that followed me into the alleyway.”

“Only to save your ungrateful butt.”

“Yeah, yeah, and thanks for that.” Arthur waved a hand dismissively, but the light in his eyes told of his sincerity.

“Besides if I hadn’t we wouldn’t have… you know, become friends.” Merlin said the words softly, still unsure where their friendship actually stood.

Arthur softened, a small smile on his face. “Yeah.” And Merlin felt his shoulders relax at the confirmation.

They got to Arthur’s hotel and walked in. Merlin didn’t speak as they entered, even in the elevator because someone else was on it for most of the ride. It was only after the person left that Arthur put in his key and hit his floor number, then leaned back against the wall. Merlin picked at a hole in his jacket sleeve as he waited, then as soon as the door opened, after checking to make sure no Uther was in sight, he rushed to the window with a bounce.

Arthur laughed. “Seriously.”

“Like I said, it’ll never get old,” Merlin answered without looking at him, beaming.

Before Merlin could say anything, there was a sudden hit against the window pane and he jumped as a bird fluttered against the glass. A big bird. An owl.

“Shoot.” Arthur jumped forward, dropping his backpack on the floor and went for the latch on the window, pulling it open quickly. Merlin took a quick step back as the owl flew past their heads to land on the back of the couch, jaw dropping even as he watched Arthur quickly move to the bird and untangle something from the leg.

“There’s an owl in your house,” Merlin muttered, taking another step back.

Arthur looked at him, then snorted. “Brilliant deduction, Merlin.”

His name being said, in just that tone of voice, again, brought Merlin out of his shock rather quickly. It truly was a rather quick way to do so, and he had no idea why Arthur had taken to doing so. It was equally exasperated and seemingly fond. Merlin found he didn’t mind.

“Prat.” Merlin folded his arms, still eyeing the bird, but allowing for a small smile in his direction.

Arthur waved him off, already opening the letter that came attached to the owl, petting it. He had a smile on his face as he started to open it.

“A letter?” Merlin took a timid step closer. “I might not be… uh… popular, or anything, but by owl is not the usual way to get mail.”

“No,” Arthur agreed, not looking at him. “It’s the magical way. It’ll be from my sister.” He went quiet as he read, and Merlin slowly sunk into the seat across from him, staring but staying silent as he read.

Arthur’s smile slowly slipped from his face, his eyebrows furrowing. Merlin wanted to ask what was wrong, but he made himself wait.

Finally, Arthur sat back in his seat. He didn’t seem worried, more confused than anything.

“All okay?” Merlin asked in a whisper.

Arthur looked up at him. “Well… sort of.” He leaned forward in interest. “Do you ever get nightmares?”

“Uh…” Merlin leaned back. “I mean, sure. Doesn’t everyone?”

Arthur snorted. “Okay, not what I meant.” He shook his head. “My sister, because of her magic, we think, she gets these nightmares that occasionally come true. This letter is her checking up on me because her dream last night panicked her. According to her letter, she can’t remember all of it, and isn’t sure exactly what was happening, but she did know it was about me getting… attacked. She wants me to be careful.”

Merlin drew his eyebrows together. He didn’t think his magic had ever given him any useful dreams. “Well… is it about something in the future? Or maybe a few days ago when you were bullied?” He didn’t question the magical dreams, who knew the kinds of magic there was in the world.

“I don’t know.” Arthur shook his head, then dug through his bag to pull out some paper from his notebook. He wrote back a reply to his sister, taking a few minutes to make it longer than Merlin expected him to write. Merlin got comfortable in the chair, looking back out the window as he did so to give him an illusion of privacy.

When Arthur finished, he attached it back to the owl and sent it back. “Off you go, Hunith.” And it took off.

Merlin froze, shoulders stiffening, staring wide at Arthur as he turned back around. Arthur caught his gaze and went still.

“What?” Arthur asked, a nervous expression on his face.

“Hunith?” Merlin asked, breathless, eyes distant, teary. His mother… All the memories were rushing back to him, his fingers digging into the chair beneath him.

It felt like a long moment before Arthur was kneeling in front of him, a hand on his shoulder. “Hey. Hey, Merlin, come on. What’s going on? You’ve got to calm down.”

His breathing… wasn’t working. Why was it so hard to breathe?

The fires against the night sky, the death eater — he only knew the name because of Arthur. He hadn’t even known what it was that killed his mom! He had no way of defending her, not even with his magic. What was the point of his gift, if…

He needed to learn how to control it. What if they came back? What if they came for Uncle Gaius, or Arthur? Or himself?

“Merlin!” Arthur placed one hand on his cheek now, the other moved to his chest. “Merlin, breathe! Slow down with me here.”

More than the words, the magic in Merlin once again rose to meet Arthur, seeking strength and peace from the other teenager that suddenly, yet gradually, settled Merlin. He brought quivering hands to Arthur’s wrists.

He was breathing with Arthur. He didn’t even realize he’d started, but Arthur whispered words of encouragement. “Good, that’s good. You’re okay.”

Merlin half sobbed, folding over on himself, head on Arthur’s shoulder. “Shh… it’s okay.”

Merlin tightened his hands on his wrists. “Hunith was my mom’s name.” Merlin managed to gasp out, and Arthur stiffened, automatically realizing that she obviously… wasn’t in the picture.

In the next heartbeat, Arthur was tightening his grip, pulling him further into the hug, but not saying anything.

Merlin took a few more deep breaths, then pulled back and tried for a weak smile, trying to fight the embarrassment. “So.” He cleared his throat. “You said you have some homework? I can get to reading.”

Arthur studied him a few long moments before pulling back. “Yeah.” He stood, and when Merlin followed his movement, he paused once again, a hand on Merlin. “I lost my mom too.”

Merlin met his eyes, seeing the sadness in them that matched his own. “You miss her.” It wasn’t really a question, but Arthur, eyes distant, answered.

“I was a baby when she…” He gave a long breath. “But yes. Everyday.”

Arthur rolled his eyes as he waited for someone to answer the phone. Well, he hoped someone answered, he hated giving voice mails, but Merlin didn’t have phone, which seemed insane to Arthur, yet he understood that they were just barely above homeless level, and Merlin had actually laughed at Arthur’s shock and explained how there was no point in him having a phone when the only person he was close to was Gaius.

But, they had a landline at least.

Arthur honestly hadn’t even known that landlines still existed until he met Merlin. His father definitely didn’t have one anymore, even at work he had all his business calls forwarded to his cell phone. Arthur didn’t like how he couldn’t just text Merlin. He hated making phone calls.

He should get used to it though, one day he would have to take over for his father, and he would be expected to take a lot of calls.

“Come on…” he muttered, relieved when the call finally came in and Merlin’s chipper voice came on.

“Hello?”

“At last!” Arthur grumbled. “I thought I was going to have to leave a voicemail. Seriously, can I buy you a phone?”

Merlin laughed. “I think that would be a waste of money on me. Besides, I’d probably lose it in half a day.”

Arthur sighed. That was probably true. Merlin had lost his backpack and other items at least four times in the few weeks of knowing him. And that’s just the times he knew about. “I don’t know how you get anything done.”

“Me neither!” he chirped, then continued. “Guess what happened to me today! I was on my way to the clinic and this cat attacked me! But it was so cute. After it calmed down I gave it some food, and now it’s back at my apartment. Gaius is going to kill me.”

Arthur wasn’t sure what sound escaped his mouth, some sort of laugh, scoff, choke. “You brought the cat back home with you? After it attacked you?”

“Uh… yeah.” He could practically see the eyeroll and hear the ‘duh’ that was left off. “It was starving, dude. I can see it’s ribs. It has a collar though, so I’m going to see if someone is missing their cat. You know, someone decent at least.”

Arthur felt a smile spread on his lips as he listened to Merlin’s rambling. He wouldn’t ever tell the teen, but it always calmed him. It reminded him that he actually had a friend.

“And anyway, after I fed her, it was super attached to me, started purring and shoving her nose in my neck. I seriously want a cat. If she doesn’t have a home I wonder if Gaius would let me keep her.”

“You can afford to feed a cat but not get a cheap phone?”

Merlin was silent a moment. “Right, that might be a little hard.” His bummed voice about convinced Arthur to take the cat, but he knew his dad would never go for it. And he knew Merlin would never accept money. “It probably has a home anyway. I’ll take it in to check for a microchip.”

Arthur hesitated for a second, looking at his homework before deciding that, yes he’d already finished it all, and if he did much more studying he might blow up his brain. “Want some company?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Then, uh… if you have some time, maybe you can come over and play some video games or something?” Arthur didn’t have that many games because he never had time to play it, but he could at least set up some Super Smash Brothers or Mario Cart or something.

“Sure, I haven’t played games in a long time.” Arthur caught the wistful tone in Merlin’s voice, which told him that he probably hadn’t played games since before his mom died. Arthur had only been over to Merlin’s place once, having met Gaius briefly, and to be honest, Arthur didn’t think he’d want to go again. It was rundown, not clean, and he didn’t doubt there would be rats of cockroaches living in the space.

Arthur had already decided that whenever he was planning on getting rid of any of his clothes, he would pass them down to Merlin. He’d love to buy his friend some new stuff, but he knew Merlin wouldn’t accept anything new. At least not much, and probably only on his birthday or Christmas or something.

“If you want to meet me at my apartment, we can walk to the vet together, then go back to your place.”

“Alright, sounds good.” Arthur agreed, even though just meeting Merlin at the Vet’s office or getting a ride from his dad’s driver would be faster. He didn’t really care about fast, this just gives him something to do other than homework.

Which was honestly weird to him. He’d been so focused on school and extracurriculars, that he didn’t know what it was like to do anything else. Didn’t know what it was like to have a friend.

“I’ll see you soon,” Arthur said, saying their goodbyes before he rushed to get his shoes and coat on.

It didn’t take him long to make his way to Merlin’s house. Despite the fact that Arthur lived in a nice penthouse, it didn’t mean all the area around was highest quality. Just two streets over you get off the rich and clean roads, and get into the more sketchy parts of town. Arthur always kept a wary eye out when he walked in the neighborhood, feeling his back itch as though he were dirty or being watched. It made him feel like a pompous jerk for feeling unclean just by being there, but he definitely couldn’t help it. It just wasn’t the way he’d grown up.

Luckily, he was knocking on the door soon, and Merlin answered even quicker. He was still holding the cat, and Arthur understood why he’d want to keep the cute bundle of fur.

“Oh gosh.” Arthur immediately stepped closer to slowly offer a hand to the cat to sniff. It didn’t take too long to gain approval from it, and he started petting it’s head, leaning closer to look at it. Unlike what Merlin said, it’s ribs were not sticking out that bad.

“You understand?” Merlin grinned smugly. “Isn’t she pretty?”

“Very pretty.” Arthur agreed, fighting a smile at Merlin’s obvious obsession. He found out very quickly about Merlin’s love of pretty much every creature other than rats.

“You know, if you can find a way to keep her, she’d probably do well to keep the rats away from your apartment,” Arthur quipped.

Merlin rolled his eyes. “Hardy-har.” Clearly not amused, Merlin came out and shut the door behind them so they could start walking together. “So what games do you have?”

“Not many, just a few of the typical. Smash Brothers, Mario Cart. Things like that. I’ve never really played games much so I never cared to buy much more.” He knew most people his age in school were a big fan of games like Halo and League of Legends and such, but he’d never cared to get into it. Especially when he had no one to play with anyway. He only really had the other games because Morgana liked to play them with him when she was home over the summer.

“Well, it’ll be fun to play anything again,” Merlin said casually, and Arthur felt like a prat again as he remembered that Merlin doesn’t even have the luxury of any games. He doesn’t even go to school, having been homeschooled most of his life, though from the sounds of it he’d probably start next year now that Gaius has had a job for long enough and they had a home.

Arthur rubbed the back of his neck, noticing Merlin’s gaze on him, but he was glad when Merlin didn’t comment on his discomfort.

He listened idly to Merlin’s chatter as he walked, wondering if the other kid ever really shut up for long. Not that he wanted him to, it was nice not to feel alone. But he couldn’t fight the smile of amusement as the kid kept going.

“Uncle Gaius had a client yesterday who came in with a staple through his cheek. Apparently their kid threw a stapler at his face. They were just glad it missed the eye, but apparently the kid was inconsolable that he hurt his dad and was screaming the whole time he was in the clinic.” Merlin was saying. “I guess it went deep enough that the man hadn’t even wanted to try to take it out himself, just in case he caused more damage. It was a fairly easy fix, but…” Merlin shuddered. “That sounds pretty bad, to be honest, I’m kinda grossed out by the thought.”

“Uh, yeah, me too. Imagine being hit hard enough to…” he trailed off, scrunching his nose.

“Anyway.” Merlin changed topics quickly. “Gaius has a free night this Friday, and he wanted to know if you’d come over for dinner with us. He wants to get to know you better.”

Inwardly cringing at the idea of stay in the apartment, Arthur nodded in agreement. “Yeah, okay, I’d like to get to know him too.” He edged around some garbage on the ground — he didn’t even want to guess what that trash might have been. He’d seen plenty of empty syringes in the area, so he always made sure to watch his step in this area. He definitely didn’t want to impale his foot on one of those.

Merlin saw his look, however and laughed. “Spoiled prat.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Arthur shoved him gently, not wanting to jostle the cat. “I’m trying, alright?”

“Oh, I know.” Merlin still chuckled though, tucking his face down toward the cat. “I do appreciate it too.”

Arthur shrugged. “So have you had a chance to look at which schools you might want to get into next semester?”

“Well, I talked to my uncle, and he thought the one you go to might not be too hard to manage. He was going to go meet the principal with me in the next week so we could get everything figured out before Christmas.”

“Okay, cool. They have pretty good science and English classes, I think you’ll like it.”

“As long as they don’t make me do something stupid for a gym class, I think I’ll be okay.” Merlin eyed Arthur. “I definitely wouldn’t want to get into some sort of sport.”

Arthur snorted at the thought. “That would be a recipe for a disaster.” He could just picture it, and Merlin would be trampled in a heartbeat.

“I’m pretty sure the only thing I’m good for with physical activity is taking the dodge balls to the face.” Merlin grinned, the humor evident in his voice. “Doesn’t matter how I move, I always get nailed.”

Arthur was laughing before he even finished speaking, face tilted to the sky in a way that he hadn’t laughed in years. Only since he’d met Merlin. Only Merlin. It startled him to realize that not even Morgana could get such pure humor and joy from Arthur anymore; probably because there will always be a part of Arthur that was jealous of her, even if he loved her more than anyone.

“No, no, I’m not kidding,” Merlin continued as though Arthur hadn’t believed him in the first place. “In my previous school I was always first chosen to be hit, and last chosen for everything else. And man, I don’t know if you’ve been hit by a dodge ball, you know, because you can probably dodge them all like you’re supposed to, but they can leave a sting! It’s a good wakeup call, if it doesn’t knock you out that is.” Every word he said just added to Arthur’s laughter, and Merlin was trying to keep a straight face, but was clearly getting amused. “No, seriously, Arthur, they aren’t nice. I think I have nightmares about them. And yet people do sports for fun? Why would I ever want to play in a game that has a ball heading toward any part of my body at any time?”

“You’re an idiot.” Arthur finally managed to gasp out. “Sports are great, I don’t know what your problem is.”

“Yeah, sure, I don’t see anything fun about it.”

“That’s because you have the grace of a dying fish. On land.”

“Oi!” Merlin glared at him instead of hitting him — benefits of holding a cat he didn’t want to disturb — but then he paused, before reluctantly admitting. “Yeah, alright, that’s not entirely inaccurate. Only sometimes though.”

Arthur snorted, shaking his head. He was honestly looking forward to playing video games with the other teen, and he wondered if he’d have the same lack of grace with something that wasn’t even physical as he did with everything else.

Chapter Text

Merlin felt ridiculous, to be honest. He wasn’t sure why he was so stressed about cleaning before Arthur came over for dinner, because in reality, they didn’t even have enough stuff to justify a cleanup. Yet, he had always seen Arthur’s looks — as much as his friend tried to hide it — whenever he was in the rundown part of town, and Merlin was trying hard not to feel a little self-conscious.

He wished some of the grime from the walls could actually be cleaned off, but he’d been scrubbing at it for an hour, and it wasn’t budging. The rag was disgusting, but the walls were no better than before, other than the fact that the bacteria might be better cleaned off now. That meant he wasn’t going to have any luck actually making this place seem even slightly nice.

He huffed a sigh and sat back on his feet from where he was kneeling. The walls were gross, the baseboards had been packed with dust for so long they were dust-stained, the floors were permanently sticky, and the cupboards looked a lot more disgusting sitting this close to them. How had he never noticed?

Granted, he’d lived in alleyways, homeless shelters, or a forest for quite a few months before they could afford an apartment, so maybe he just got used to the dirty. Arthur, however, wasn’t, and he’d been hoping to make it a little more bearable for his friend.

“Screw it.” Merlin tossed the washcloth into the sink from where he was sitting, not caring to get up quite yet. Arthur would be fine.

He sat for another few minutes until he heard the front door open and knew Gaius was coming in. He didn’t get to his feet fast enough as he walked into the kitchen.

Gaius stopped as he spotted him. “Uh… why the floor?” Yet, the tone was more amused than confused, which, fair, because Merlin had a habit of sitting just about anywhere, usually he’d be on the counter or table. Sometimes even perched on the back of the couch.

Merlin rolled his eyes. “I was trying to scrub the walls, to no avail. Seriously, these things are going to be eternally grimy. We will probably have to cover it up with paint if there’s any hope. Otherwise, we’ll just have to demolish them and start anew.”

Gaius arched his eyebrow. “Wow, Merlin Emrys, actually cleaning something for once. Doth mine eye deceive me?”

Merlin groaned and stood. “It’ll never happen again, so don’t get used to it,” he said playfully, moving to give his uncle a hug.

“Yeah, I figured not. You going to help me with dinner?”

“Do you want it edible?” Merlin tried to copy Gaius’ eyebrow arch, knowing that it wasn’t anywhere near intimidating. Gaius just looked at him, unimpressed, and Merlin sighed. “Yeah, okay, I’ll help.”

“Good.” Gaius went to his room to get cleaned up after the day, and as soon as he was done, he was back out to start dinner.

His helping was merely doing exactly what his uncle told him to do in any given step, because otherwise the food really would be inedible. Merlin was not good at cooking. It was a wonder he didn’t starve during the day while Gaius worked.

“So what did you do all day?” Gaius asked casually. Originally his uncle hadn’t enjoyed knowing what Merlin spent his day doing, as he hated the fact that he was on his own around the town. But now that Merlin was getting older, and that he’d been on his own for over a year now, he had learned to calm down since Merlin has been hurt or anything so far.

“I went to the library and read a book about World War 2.” Merlin stayed busy cutting the tomatoes, careful not to cut his finger this time. “Then I checked out a textbook for math and worked on that for a while. It took a minute to understand, but I think I understand how to do slopes and find the X and such. I’ll have to have you check it though. Or Arthur I guess. He’s good with studies.”

Gaius chuckled. “Your friend would probably be a safer bet to ask. I haven’t done much math since college.”

Merlin whistled. “And clearly, that was awhile ago.” He smirked, and Gaius swatted him with a hand towel. “Ouch!” He pulled away sharply. “Gosh, Uncle Gaius, you can really do some damage with that thing.”

Gaius raised his brow again, and had Merlin looking down at his hands, struggling to keep a straight face.

“How was clinic today?” Merlin changed the subject, looking up at his uncle to check his expression as he asked. As expected, the look of exhaustion passed over his face, and Merlin couldn’t help the frown. His uncle worked nearly non-stop, when before he and Hunith split the work. Gaius wouldn’t ever tell Merlin, but he was pretty sure his uncle had a bad back, some pretty bad scoliosis from birth that had made it hard to fully function ever since he was in his teens. Merlin wished he could help his uncle, but he was too young to get a job. Merlin would do the occasional odd-end service, like shoveling, but that would only do so much to earn a few dollars, and wasn’t enough to make a dent in the bills.

“It was a good day. I didn’t have too many people, and the people I had were all fairly easy and kind to work with.” His tone was light, not matching the pain in his expression, however the smile confirmed that overall, the day was good. He knew that his uncle would never let a little pain make his day negative, not when it was something he lived with his whole life.

“Good.” Merlin felt a breath release. He hated when Gaius had a bad day, he never wanted him to be so stressed.

“I did have one lady come in that reminded me a little of you.” Gaius had a soft amused smile on his face. “She wouldn’t stop rambling. She started telling me about the courses she was taking, and somewhere in there had gotten to the trip she was taking to New Zealand, and the cavity that had gotten so bad she had to get a root canal, and I’m still not sure how we got to either of those topics, if I’m quite honest.”

Merlin grinned. “Those are the best kind of conversations.”

“You only say that because those are your kind of conversations.” Gaius said wryly, not looking over.

“Point in case.” Merlin agreed, finally done with the tomatoes. He gently shoved them to the side of the cutting board. “Anything else you want me to cut?”

“You can cut the bread. Maybe dry the cutting board first though. I should have had you do that first.” The tomato soup his uncle was making from scratch was boiling, and he added some of the diced tomatoes into it, leaving the rest for the panini’s that they would eat with the soup.

Merlin cut the bread, then pulled out the broccoli sprouts and pesto sauce, knowing he’d be wanting those next. After that, Merlin’s job was mostly over, and other than putting everything back in the fridge when Gaius was done with it, he sat himself on the counter, continuing to chat absentmindedly as he also watched the clock. Arthur should be getting there in just a few minutes.

And as soon as he heard knocking, Merlin was up off the counter and rushing to the front door.

He opened it hard. Too hard, it bounced off the wall, almost closing again before Merlin caught it, and would have put a hole where the handle nearly collided if it wasn’t for the door stopper, that he has adamantly called ‘boingy-thingy’ ever since he was little, rather aptly named, if he said so himself.

“Wow,” Arthur drawled. “That was a little excessive, don’t you think?”

Merlin scowled at him. “Shut up, prat.”

Arthur laughed. “Well? You going to invite your dinner guest in?”

“Hm.” Merlin looked him up and down. “I don’t know, I’m still deciding. I might rescind my offer.”

“Rather rude, don’t you think? I came all this way and everything. You really going to kick me onto the curb?”

“Getting closer to doing so,” Merlin quipped back.

“Merlin! Let Arthur in!” Merlin startled at his uncle’s yell. “That silly boy.” Was then muttered under his breath, and Merlin grinned at the fondness he heard, stepping to the side to let his friend in.

“How was your day?” Arthur dropped the teasing tone, turning serious. Merlin appreciated that about his friend. Arthur may like to joke around, but he truly showed he cared.

Merlin turned his smile to his friend. “It’s been good. A long boring day, mostly, but at least I got to look forward to tonight.”

“You’d probably be well off going to school, you might get less bored. Well…” He tilted his head. “Actually, that’s debatable. Some classes are crazy boring as well, and you’d be stuck in your seat listening until the bell rung. At least this way you can leave whenever you want.”

Merlin laughed and led him into the kitchen. “True, not sure how my ADHD will handle sitting in a chair all day when I’m not used to it. Being homeschooled has its perks.”

“Ah, Arthur, good to see you again, my boy.” Gaius smiled warmly, gesturing to a seat. “Go ahead and sit, this is just about done.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”

“No, I enlisted Merlin before you came. He managed to not burn anything or lose a finger, so I’d say it was well accomplished.”

Arthur was grinning at Gaius’ dry wit, something they’d seemed to share a fondness of from the moment they first met, and Merlin figured in little time Arthur and Gaius would become best friends, and Merlin would be the one they joke with. The thought should make him grumpy, but instead he felt excitement at the idea. He knew neither would actually be rude to him, so he was just ready to watch the quips come. It wasn’t many that could keep up with Merlin and Gaius, but he figured they would be well matched.

“Pretty impressive. I’m pretty sure he tripped over his shoelace the other day. I kinda don’t know how he’s still alive.”

Gaius snorted. “Ain’t that the truth.”

“Hey, I can function just fine.” Merlin narrowed his eyes at the two of them. Both of them gave him near the same incredulous looks, before Gaius turned back to dishing the soup out. Despite Gaius telling Arthur he didn’t need to, Arthur grabbed one of the bowls and the plate of grilled cheeses, helping Gaius get it all to the table.

Once they were all seated, they dug in quickly. Merlin was never prone to much manners while eating, but it was clear that Arthur did. While Merlin dug into the sandwich, tearing it and getting it and soup all over his fingers when he dipped it in, Arthur had cut the sandwich in half and alternated bite for bite.

After he finished eating, he watched his two favorite people bicker, joining in occasionally, and felt his heart warm and his magic settle. He was so glad that they got along, and very happy to have a friend again. He still missed Will, and even Freya, but he was glad that he finally got the chance to have another good friend. He was glad that he was able to go to Arthur’s school and chat with the principal, and he was getting more and more excited about the prospect of going to school with Arthur. He’d even managed to get into some of the same classes as his friend, which would be nice.

He was nervous to start school as this would be his first school experience. He’d grown up at home, and being in a small town, he hadn’t actually had much of a social life. This would be a huge change, and a part of him wondered if he would ever feel ready.
But, he knew it was time for some change.

“Hey, earth to Merlin.” Arthur waved his hand in front of his face, snapping Merlin from his thoughts.

“Wha— Yeah?” He mentally shook his head.

“We were thinking of watching a movie. You going to join?”

“Yeah, sure.” Merlin nodded.

“And, in case you missed it, I invited you and Gaius to watch my game tomorrow, if you have interest.” Arthur looked a little nervous, probably because he knew Merlin’s opinion about sports, but even though he hated sports, he liked his friend more. Of course he would go support him.

“Yeah, Arthur, I’ll come watch you tackle and be tackled.” Merlin rolled his eyes.

“Cool.” Arthur relaxed a little, and Merlin was glad to see that he actually looked pleased. Yeah, it was nice to have a friend again.

Chapter Text

“I asked my sister. About her owl, I mean.” Arthur told Merlin as they walked home through the snow. Merlin was wearing some of Arthur’s gloves and a beanie, because Arthur had been tired of seeing his friend shivering in the cold air. The snow still sunk into Arthur’s shoes, and he didn’t want to imagine how cold Merlin might be. The other kid had holes in his shoes, but he refused to let Arthur buy him a pair, and since he wasn’t the same size, he couldn’t just give him one of his old pairs.

He couldn’t wait until Christmas. Merlin couldn’t complain about his present, since he knew that Merlin would scrounge up money to buy Arthur something, so he couldn’t say no to his own gift.

Merlin tensed beside him, and Arthur forced himself to stay casual. He was worried about how the other teen would take the conversation.

“Her—her owl?” His voice was nearly a squeak.

“Yes.” Arthur avoided looking at him. “Asked about the name in one of my letters to her. Why she chose it.”

Merlin bit his lips — Arthur didn’t even have to look to know that’s what he was doing. It was a nervous habit. “And… uh… what did she say?”

“She said it was a name that stuck to her after one of her dreams. Just said that it felt important.” He tried hard not to obviously be watching Merlin, but he couldn’t help but glance over.

Merlin’s pale face looked even more ashen, his eyebrows furrowed. He opened his mouth, trying to respond, but obviously couldn’t think of anything to say. Arthur decided to change the subject.

“Anyway, then she said how she was excited to come home for Christmas. You’ll meet her, right?”

Merlin eyed him. “I don’t know, I mean… It’s Christmas time, and I… I don’t want her to know about my…” He lowered his voice. “You know.”

“Morgana doesn’t know about it. I won’t tell her, but I have told her about you. She really wants to meet one of my friends. She’s convinced I’ve made you up.”

Merlin snorted. “Why would she think that?”

Arthur shrugged. “She’s never been able to meet a friend of mine.”

“Because of her school?” Arthur wondered at the edge in his voice.

“No.” Arthur looked more firmly at Merlin. “Because I’ve never had a friend for her to meet.”

“Oh.” Merlin seemed dumbfounded. Arthur smirked. It was a great look on him.

“I mean… I’ve had some school friends, I guess you could call them. We sit together in class. Go to some clubs or games together. Never really had any desire to meet up with anyone outside of that though, so they’ve always felt more like acquaintances to me.”

“Oh,” Merlin said again. Then he cracked a small smile. “You’re one of the only friends I’ve had too.”

“I doubt it. You’re too happy. I bet you could make friends anywhere, with that smile you always seem to have going on. Downright ridiculous.”

Merlin turned that smile on him. “Sure, people are fun to talk to. But as friends… well, I’ve only had one really good friend before. I guess I never really cared to meet up with people either. Besides, I’m too skinny and small. I made a better target than friend.”

Merlin didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with the statement, but Arthur clenched his fists at the words. He couldn’t imagine anyone trying to purposely hurt Merlin. Yes, he was skinny, easy to tease, his ears were a little large, and he looked as pale as a ghost all the time, but Merlin was good. Maybe sometimes naive, but good, and Arthur only wanted to protect the kid. Even from something as simple as the cold snow.

“So when is your sister coming?” Merlin looked up from where he was balancing on the curb — Arthur watched him to make sure he didn’t slip or fall.

“Today.” Arthur grinned. “Dad has already picked her up, or got someone to pick her up. I’d wanted to be there, but I had my last day of classes, and even though those days ought to be the most useless class of the year, I still had to show up.”

“Oh.” Merlin slowed. “Well, I should head home then, let you visit with your sister.”

Arthur grabbed his arm before he could slip away. “Don’t be ridiculous. You said you would come meet her.”

“I didn’t say today.” The underlying panic in his voice surprised Arthur.

“What’s up? It doesn’t have to be today, I just…” Arthur hesitated a moment. “I really wanted you to meet her, and she you… I mean, you’re my best friend, Merlin. I just…” He trailed off again, unsure how else to explain it. “But, really, you don’t have to today, I’ll—”

Merlin cut him off, an unsure look on his face. “Okay, I can… come for a bit. But maybe not too long?”

“No problem.” Arthur quickly replied, relieved. “Anything you’d like.”

Merlin resumed walking at his normal pace, causing Arthur to have to speed up again — he didn’t mind though, he’d always tended to walk quickly as well, and he was excited to see his sister.

“So what did you do at school today?” Merlin asked after a long moment, and Arthur quickly jumped into the topic, explaining again how pointless it had been, practically a party, with people talking about what they’ll do on their breaks and such.

“But, of course, they all gave us a million pounds of homework.” Arthur grimaced as they entered the elevator.

Merlin laughed all the way up.

Arthur was already grinning at Merlin’s amusement, but when Merlin stopped laughing as the door opened, and Arthur saw Morgana waiting for him, her arms crossed and her eyebrow arched, his grin widened further.

“Well, if it isn’t my brother, at long last. You know how long I’ve been here?” Her stern look was broken practically immediately as Arthur jumped out of the elevator and dropped his bag on the floor.

“’Gana!” He enfolded her in a hug, right as she dropped her arms and grinned at him, squeezing him back tight. They held for a long moment, and Arthur felt grateful to have her here again.

Morgana finally pulled away, hands on his shoulders. “Man, Arthur, you shot up, you’re taller than me!”

Arthur grinned. “Am I really?” He straightened to his fullest, paying more attention now. His sister was a little taller than average for a lady.

“Definitely.” She smiled at him. “It’s so good to see you.” Her eyes flicked behind him and she squeezed once before letting go and weaving around him. “And you must be Merlin. Arthur has told me a lot about you.”

Merlin gave a nervous look to Arthur, but the smile on his face was convincing enough that Morgana might not have caught on. Merlin held out a hand as she approached, aiming for a handshake, which Morgana reluctantly gave into. Arthur knew she’d wanted to sweep him into a hug, that was just like his sister. She’d gotten into Ravenclaw, but he wondered sometimes if she couldn’t be suited into Hufflepuff with how loving she was. Granted, he didn’t actually go to school to know how it truly was, and besides, she had a terrifying side to her too.

Internally he flinched at the reminder that he wasn’t able to be with his sister, but he didn’t let it show. By the quick look from Merlin, he realized that he’d caught onto the emotion, surely through that magic of his that Arthur still could swear he felt most of the time. Arthur didn’t understand how that magic worked, but it had been quite brilliant to feel it over him whenever Merlin was near, and cool to feel it even during the day when they’re separated at times. He wondered if it actually did stay in him, and if so, how and why.

He wished he could talk to Morgana about it. She might be only a teenager, but she was a Ravenclaw for good reason. She read, studied, and learned everything she could get her hands on. But he’d made a promise not to tell, and he refused to break it. Merlin’s friendship meant the world to him, even above figuring out why he could feel his friend’s magic.

“He’s told me a lot about you too,” Merlin agreed, voice quiet, but smile sincere. “He’s happy to have you back in town for the holidays.”

“I’m glad to be back.” She turned back to Arthur. “I love my school, but I always miss my brother and father when I’m gone.”

“I couldn’t imagine being sent to a —a boarding school.” The catch in Merlin’s sentence made Arthur think he’d been about to say something else. “I mean… being away from my Uncle for that long would be too hard. I’d want to be able to leave and, you know, visit and such.”

Morgana nodded in understanding. “Yeah, but it is great too. I learn a lot.”

Merlin stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I bet.”

“So do you go to the same school as Arthur, no offense meant, but you don’t necessarily look the same age, though you do have some height on you.” Morgana cringed slightly.

Ah. Just like his sister, to say something out of curiosity, even as she recognized that it wasn’t the kindest thing to say.

Merlin looked uncomfortable, so Arthur jumped to his defense. “Nah, he’s been home schooled, huh, Merlin?”

Merlin sent him a look, and Arthur could swear he felt that little bit of magic in him swell.

“Yeah. My Uncle, he helps me learn. In between his job. I do a lot of reading from the library. I have been looking into going to school this next year though.”

“Man.” Morgana shook her head. “I love learning and reading, but I have to say at times, being home schooled would be hard. Having to have the dedication to work on something every single day…”

“Yeah, but I get more freedom to study whatever book I want that comes my way,” Merlin argued, smiling slightly.

“True.” Morgana put a hand on his shoulder, patting quickly. “Well, come on in. I want to talk to my brother and his friend.” She slung her arms through both of theirs, dragging them to her room. “Father’s gone, so we have some time before he’ll be back for dinner.”

Merlin cast Arthur a look, once again on the verge of panic as Morgana practically marched them to her ‘chambers’. She could definitely pull off a threatening march, especially to someone who wasn’t used to it. Arthur just shrugged at him, smiling slightly and shaking his head in a, ‘just go with it’ or ‘what can you do?’ fashion. Merlin’s shoulder’s relaxed slightly at the look, and when Morgana let them go in the room, he allowed himself to sit on the couch she pushed them to.

Arthur lounged back, hands behind his head as he grinned. “As controlling as ever, sis.”

“Gotta keep you on your toes.” She beamed back at him. “Okay, you’ve got to tell me everything new. How is school going? How did you guys become friends? Did you get the classes picked out for next year already?”

Arthur chuckled at her interrogation, leaning forward to begin the answers.

Morgana slowly stared unwrapping the present in her hands, tearing the tape and opening the edges meticulously, without looking down. Her gaze was focused on her brother, who had taken a break from his own present opening to respond to a text message. Uther had stepped out to get another trash bag, and it was a rare moment that she was able to just sit on Christmas mornings without another present being shoved in her hands. She loved Uther, but he always seemed super excited to watch her open gifts.

And she wasn’t blind, the gifts she got were always more personal and caring than what Arthur got. Arthur usually ended up with books or some new button down shirts, or occasionally a suit. He’d of course been given a game set a few years ago, but since then it had been more bland. Granted, Morgana was always gone, so Uther probably liked buying things for her over Christmas since he didn’t get to do so for the rest of the year.

Arthur probably was able to get whatever he wanted whenever.

Her brother met her gaze after he finished texting, giving a little smile. “What?”

“Oh, nothing.” Morgana smirked. “Just glad to see that you actually can make friends, that’s all.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “I’m not completely helpless, Morgana.”

“Hmm.” She looked down at her present, as though she was putting more focus in opening it. “Could’ve had me fooled, all these years.”

Sighing, Arthur reached into his pile for the next gift with no enthusiasm. Interesting. He definitely had a lot more eagerness in answering a text than he did opening any of the presents.

She winced as she saw the white button-down he opened. Yeah, she wouldn’t be excited to open a whole bunch of meaningless clothes either, especially if that was all she ever got.

She opened her own present, feeling the cashmere quality of the scarf. It truly was beautiful; Uther knew that she loved beautiful and soft things.

How was it that he knew her tastes better than Arthur’s, when she was gone most of the year?

“Do you like it?” Uther’s voice startled her. She hadn’t realized that she’d been so into her thoughts as she stared at the scarf, but she glanced up at her father.

“Yeah, father, it’s beautiful.” She smiled warmly at him, relishing in the hand that went to her shoulder. Uther wasn’t very tactile, only rarely giving her hugs, but she’d take what she could get.

Uther moved to his seat and settled, throwing away any wrappings near him before turning his attention to Arthur. “That fabric is one of the nicest fabrics, I think you’ll like the way it feels.”

“Yeah.” Arthur looked up at him, something like a polite smile on his face, that had Morgana grimacing. He never smiled anymore. Well, not until Merlin came along, which might be the number one reason she was grateful to the other, admittedly kind of dorky, teen. “Thanks. It feels soft.”

Uther nodded, sitting back in his seat to watch them open the rest of the stuff.

It was mostly silent as they opened, a stark difference of when they were younger. She remembered Arthur and her always comparing their gifts, laughing, arguing, and tossing crumpled wrapping paper at each other. Most of the sound now came from each present carefully being opened, and then throwing it away, with only the occasional comment. Uther himself didn’t have many gifts to open and was already sitting beside his small collecting from Morgana and Arthur. He was munching on some of the treats Morgana had brought home with her (only the more normal ones, so as to not freak her dad out).

Why did it feel so dang awkward in this home anymore? She shook her head. She was so used to being in Hogwarts, that the castle honestly felt more like a home to her than here. Not that she didn’t miss her brother and father, but she’d become good friends with people there, people who seemed to be a second family to her. Morgause, Gwen, and Leon were her best friends, and she missed them a lot when she was home.

She felt bad about it, but it’s true. This penthouse no longer felt like home anymore. It was where her brother was, and her father was, but the place itself, and the tension that seemed settled here ever since she got her Hogwarts letter sometimes felt stifling.

She couldn’t wait to go back, even as she was glad to catch up with her brother.

It wasn’t until Uther was called into an emergency at the office that Arthur seemed to perk up. “Hey, ‘Gana, Merlin and Gaius invited us over to their house, if you want to do some Christmas over there?”

“Sure.” Surprised that they would be okay with them, especially Morgana herself, as she was a practical stranger. But she’d dragged Arthur to enough of her friends house randomly, she figured it was bound to be her turn.

Arthur literally bounced to his feet. “Great! I’ll go get ready.”

Shocked at the sudden exuberance, Morgana nearly cried. That was a piece of her brother that she hadn’t seen since… well, since he didn’t get his letter. Yet, she hadn’t even realized that until this moment. She’d been gone, and the change had been gradual enough, she’d assumed it was just a part of him maturing.

She hadn’t realized that it was actually due to something else. Something that Merlin seemed to cancel out. How’d she miss it? Granted, she hadn’t missed everything, she’d been aware that he didn’t seem to have friends, but she had always just figured he was a bookworm and introvert, and she knew plenty of those, so she didn’t think much of it. She’d been aware that Arthur didn’t seem to smile as wide, but she knew he’d probably been receiving some training from their father. Uther had always boasted how Arthur would take over the company, and Uther himself was always a stoic man. She figured he was probably teaching Arthur to be the same. But when she saw glimpses of Arthur the way he used to be whenever he was with Merlin, or even the brief moments with herself, she knew that she’d been missing something important, and wished she knew exactly what it was.

And it was on the walk over to Merlin’s house that Morgana saw a bit more of rambling Arthur.

“—And their house is small, well it’s an apartment, not a house. It’s super small! Like, they only have one bedroom, but part of the family room is curtained off for Merlin. I honestly don’t even think they have four chairs in the kitchen, and it’s honestly disgusting. I mean, I try not to be like that, ya know? But it is. I swear there are rats in the walls and cockroaches in the bathrooms. Merlin even said he tried scrubbing the wall in the kitchen, but the spot he swore he cleaned didn’t look different from the rest of the wall, so I have my doubts as to whether it was actually cleaned. But hey, maybe spraying it and endeavoring to clean it at least got rid of some bacteria, right? Even if the grime and food and stuff is still on the wall? At least that’s what merlin thought, and I figure there has to be at least a little bit of truth to that.”

And Morgana was floored. She hadn’t heard him talk like that in years.

Oh, Merlin, thank you. She shook her head softly, grateful for this random kid to show her that her brother truly is still there. She didn’t realize how much she’d missed this.

And sooner than she expected, they were at Merlin’s door holding two presents and being ushered in by a beaming Merlin.

“Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas to you,” they responded in kind.

After Merlin dragged them further into the tiny apartment — Arthur hadn’t been exaggerating — Morgana saw who she assumed was Merlin’s uncle sitting on the couch. There were mugs on the coffee table, and the TV was on an paused.

“You’re right on time.” The man stood, holding his hand out for Morgana to shake. “I’m Gauis, Merlin’s uncle.”

“Morgana.” She shook his hand, smiling warmly at the man.

“You two are welcome to sit. We’re going to play the movie. We’ve got hot chocolate and popcorn. We’re watching the Grinch. It’s a pretty much a tradition, as it’s Merlin’s favorite Christmas movie.”

“Sounds great.” Morgana settled on the couch furthest from where Gaius had been sitting, barely noticing the fact that Arthur and Merlin had started teasing each other.

As Arthur sat, he leaned forward to give one Christmas present to each of the other two. “Here. I got you guys these. It’s not wrapped the best.”

And that was true. Morgana knew that Uther hired someone to wrap all the presents he bought, but she had watched Arthur wrap these himself, and he honestly wasn’t very good at it. But that’s not what matter anyway, and at least he covered the entire thing.

Merlin laughed. “Better than we can do, huh Gaius?”

Gaius rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Yeah, we both aren’t claiming any awards in that topic.”

Merlin was already tearing into it, laughing, then beamed when he came to a box that obviously held a new pairs of shoes. “Hey, sweet, thanks!”

“Yeah, so can you please stop wearing the others? I swear I can see your toes sticking out of them.”

“Maybe I like them that way,” Merlin shot back. “Keeps a lot more airflow, you know?”

Arthur snorted. “I don’t think airflow in winter is a good thing. Maybe bring them back out when it’s summer. They can act as your sandals.”

Morgana exchanged a look with Gaius, unsurprised to see the fond exasperation in his eyes. He was using the distraction of his nephew and Arthur to open his present quietly, and he smiled gently when he noticed what it was.

Arthur noticed his look, suddenly seeming to get nervous, which Gaius picked up on easily. He smiled warmly. “Thank you, my boy.” His words were smooth. “I’ve been needing a good new coat.”

Arthur looked uncomfortable. “Well, you know, it’s winter. I don’t think you can ever really have too many coats, right?”

Morgana could have teased him, but Arthur looked so unsure, that she was glad when Gauis just reached over and patted his hand.

“I definitely couldn’t. I’ll wear it well.” He pulled it up to look at it, smiling. “It does look pretty nice, doesn’t it. It’ll probably be the nicest I’ve ever worn. Can’t wait to wear it.”

“Alice would probably love it on you.” Merlin smirked as he spoke.

“Merlin!” Gaius looked sharply at him, a slight glare that seemingly didn’t do a thing to stop the other teen, though Morgana herself probably would have been nervous to keep it up, and she wasn’t intimidated often. How was it that this man could be as sweet as a teddy bear in one moment, then make her fear for her — well, Merlin’s — life the next?

“Fine, fine, Dr. Kenzy,” Merlin corrected. “You know it’s true.”

Gaius didn’t deem to answer, turning to the side and pulling out presents. To Morgana’s surprise, she also received a parcel.

“Oh.” Morgana stared wide-eyed. “I wasn’t expecting anything.”

“I know.” Gaius told her. “It’s not much, I’m afraid. Go ahead and open it.” She gestured for the both of them to do so.

Arthur moved quicker than her, quickly unwrapping a book. But unlike the textbooks and other books his dad seemed to have bought, Arthur grinned. “Hey! I didn’t realize the next book was out already.” And she realized that it was actually a fun fiction book that looked like it was about knights, which Arthur didn’t read often since he was always so busy, but obviously had liked whatever book that was.

“Came out yesterday.” Merlin nodded. “Had to wait in the freakishly long Christmas lines for that thing, hope you like it.”

“Yeah, I do.” Arthur was already flipping through the pages. Morgana finished opening hers up. It was a wooden box, which honestly looked gorgeous. It had to have been hand-made.

“Wow, this is beautiful.” Her heart felt warm as she ran her fingers down it, rather impressed by the workmanship.

“Open it up,” Merlin insisted.

There’s more? She knew that they wouldn’t have much money, so that surprised her that they would spend what seemed like a lot on someone they didn’t know.

Inside there were bottles, and before she could pick them up, Gaius was explaining. “I have a weird liking to apothecaries, and I heard that you are prone to nightmares. There’s no saying that any of these will help, however, there are some oils in there that can at least help relax you. I figured you could give it a go. There’s a handful of different ones, some for pain, some for relaxation, some for focus. I thought maybe you’d appreciate something like that.”

“Yeah.” Blown away by the fact that this random uncle seemed to not only know about her nightmares, but remembered and wanted to help, she smiled shakily at the man. “I love it. And the box is amazing too. Thank you.”

Gaius waved his hand and leaned back. “Of course. Come on, let’s grab our hot chocolates and get this movie playing.”

Not one to say no to that, Morgana respectfully put the box on the coffee table, then grabbed her cup. As she sat drinking hers and staring at the TV, while also smiling at the commentary Merlin made throughout — he couldn’t seem to stop talking for more than a couple minutes at a time — that made Arthur laugh more times than not, she felt welcome into a home in a way she hadn’t in a long time. Not a home that was anywhere other than Hogwarts anyway.

Chapter Text

Arthur hummed to himself, messing with his backpack strap as he walked home, keeping an eye toward the alley that Merlin usually waited for him in. It had been a great Christmas break with his sister, and he’d been happy that Merlin had joined in with them quite a few of the days, even meeting one of Morgana’s friends’ Guinevere. He’d seemed most relaxed around her friendly nature than Morgana; his sister always having such a dominating trait. Arthur grew up with it, and even he occasionally had to force himself not to meekly do as she ordered.

He’d joked wit his sister that she should have been in Slytherin with her friend Morgause because of that, and yet he knew that even though she was wily, super intelligent, and knew how to manipulate to get her way, those weren’t the defining traits about her. She definitely had class, bravery, kindness, and of course her love for learning. The older he got, the harder it was to classify her sister into one class. He wondered how the hat was able to sort people when there are so many defining attributes in every person, some of them contradicting.

It felt a little strange to be put into a box like that, if he was honest. Especially since Slytherin seemed to get a bad rep. Then again, so did Hufflepuff. A lot of people assumed the idiot and weak people went there, which was definitely not the case either.

It was somehow easier this time around to see his sister during the holidays. He loved Morgana, and wanted the best for her, of course, but he’d always had to fight down the jealousy that hit him anytime she was around or he thought about her going to magic school without him. He’d always felt inadequate beside her growing up; she was perfect, and father so obviously loved her. She did no wrong in his eyes, and Arthur himself was almost convinced that it was true as well. She was an amazing sister, always supportive of him, and he hated that he couldn’t be in Hogwarts with her.

But having Merlin with them, and having Merlin’s secret magic… somehow, it made it easier to exist in the same room without any bitterness. He had a great friend, and… he even somehow had a taste of magic. He could feel it in the day to day, even if he couldn’t use it. And that was something special to him. It felt as though he had a purpose in his life, something more than just becoming the heir of his father’s company — something which he had never wanted before, but had seemed like it would become his life anyway. His friendship with merlin ,and the connection with his magic, had definitely pulled him out of his apathy, for which he was grateful for.

But suddenly he was stopping in place, his smile disappearing as that same magic he’d been feeling for weeks now suddenly shifted from the subtle undercurrent of content lingering into something more severe. It took him a long moment, but then the pure rawness of it — the sharp, quick swirling that seemed to raise the hairs on his arm and made him look over his shoulder — made him recognize it almost instinctively as a deeply-rooted terror.

A terror Arthur knew Merlin had for anyone figuring out about what he could do. About anyone finding out about his magic, and coming to take him away. That was the only thing, besides his loved ones being hurt, that could cause Merlin that much outright horror, and knowing that this feeling of fear came from Merlin and not himself was alarming. He’d never wanted his friend to go through those nightmares.

After those few seconds it took Arthur to process it, he took off at a sprint, heading for Merlin’s alley, their typical meeting place from before when Arthur would get out of school, and now only used on the days that Arthur had football practice after classes. As he got near the opening, he slowed to a stop, peeking around the corner to take in the scene.

His breath hitched as panic flooded up his throat at the man that crouched on the floor, a wand held in his hand out by his side, back facing Arthur. Merlin lay stiff in front of him, as though bound, but the terror seeping into Arthur told him that he was still awake, just… unable to move?

Arthur opened his mouth to call out. He wasn’t sure what would come, some sort of scream to scare him away, or for Merlin, but before he could utter a sound through half frozen lips, he he head a sharp crack, and suddenly both of them disappeared.

Arthur blinked, stunned, his gut still swirling with panic, his mind disbelieving what he’d just seen, and fear for his friend forefront. It was only when he heard someone’s footsteps approaching on the cement through the crunch of snow that Arthur finally turned away. His hands trembled at the force of Merlin’s fear, still prominent, and the shock of obviously seeing magic performed right in front of him on his only friend.

It was only at the last frantic thought that he suddenly jerked suddenly out of his shock, and he broke into a run, determined to get home. He didn’t know what to do, how he could help his friend, except...

Morgana. He needed to send a letter to Morgana. She would help. She would know what to do. His sister would know how to get his friend, maybe who took him. Maybe some people who can help find him.

He didn’t remember the route home, any people he’d passed. He probably looked a bit crazy — he didn’t care. He only zoned back in when he got to the penthouse and was ripping a paper out of a notebook and grabbing a pen.

Morgana’s owl had come to him last night and since he’d not finished his reply back, Hunith had stayed with him. In that moment, he was eternally grateful for his past self’s tiredness, because otherwise he wouldn’t have Hunith with him at the moment, and who knew how soon Morgana would send him another letter. He wouldn’t have had any way of reaching his sister!

Morgana was usually pretty good with owling about once a week, but Merlin could be… well, Arthur couldn’t dare wait a week before getting help. The one and a half to two days it would take for the letter to arrive to Morgana, would be a long enough wait.

“Morgana, it’s an emergency, please respond quickly. Please come home and bring help. Merlin was taken. I saw it happen, but was too late to help. The guy used magic on him, did some sort of paralyzing spell or something then he disappeared. Merlin didn’t want me to tell anyone, but I figure at this point it doesn’t matter, because I just need to know where he was taken and save him, and his fear had already come to pass, and this might help him now. Merlin has magic. He’s always been terrified of anyone finding out about it, says his mom told him that something like this could happen to him, so he has never really told a soul. I only know on accident.

Morgana, please, please, I need you. I don’t know who else to turn to. We gotta get him back.”

He wrote the words as quick as he could, not caring about mistakes, not even entirely sure what he’d written beyond pure desperation, and not caring that his hand shook so bad that some of the words smudged or were hard to read. She’d understand.
She would come. Arthur knew she would.

He tied it to Hunith’s leg (the stupid knot taking two more times than usually necessary since he couldn’t stop trembling), sending her off. “Please hurry, Hunith. Merlin needs us now.”

Maybe the bird understood his worry, because it didn’t hesitate as it jumped out, flying possibly faster than he’d ever seen.

Arthur sunk to the floor, hands clenched on the carpet below him and heart beating frantically as he willed himself to calm down.

It took awhile to fight through the anxiety, but as soon as he was able to calm his breathing, settling his mind into some form of coherency, he grabbed his notebook again, writing down everything he could remember from the kidnapping. Everything about what the guy was wearing; some weird robes similar to what Morgana wore to school. He jotted down the color, and how they seemed to be some expensive silk or something. He wrote down what he saw of the hair. The wand. None of it would really be much help, he figured, but he had to make sure everything stayed fresh in his mind. Any detail could count, and he would do all he could to help. At the moment, that help wasn’t much, but this was the best he could do.

The magic swirled quicker in Arthur again, like before when Merlin had been panicking. Arthur put a hand to his diaphragm and took a deep breath, leaning forward and trying to send soothing thoughts to his friend. I’m coming for you, Merlin. I’ll find you, I promise.

And maybe the swirling slowed slightly, and maybe Merlin could actually feel his determination, but either way, Arthur took one more deep breath and set his shoulders. He would not let his friend down.

Chapter Text

Arthur hadn’t lost his determination, but the next morning put it into perspective for him. He truly had no way of reaching anyone magical except for his sister. He hoped she got his letter soon and responded even quicker, but the longer Merlin was held by… whoever it was, the more Arthur found himself worrying. Anything could be happening.

In fact, the panic in Merlin had spiked quite a few times, the overall stress in him a constant, and Arthur could only hope that his endeavors at sending encouraging emotions and thoughts worked, even if it was only a little.

All in all, Arthur was a useless bystander at the moment, but he knew one thing he had to do that he didn’t really want to.

So that afternoon, after calling his school and telling him that he was sick — he wasn’t worried because he’d never missed a day of school in his life, and all his teachers and principle knew him as a hard working kid, so they wouldn’t doubt him — he set out for the emergency clinic.

Trying to ignore all the people around him, some injured, some obviously sick, or holding onto hands of kids, he approached the front desk. The lady smiled at him. “Hi. What can I help you with today?”

“Hi, um…” Arthur swallowed hard. He didn’t even know if Gaius’ last name was Emrys or not. “Does Gaius work here?”

“Dr. Gaius Emrys does in fact work here. He is in an appointment.”

“Um, could you… could I please see him?” Arthur looked at the counter, unable to meet her eyes. “It’s… it’s important. An emergency. Please, can you call him down, or… show me where to go? I can wait for him to finish if needed.”

She eyed him a long moment, as though trying to figure out what was going on. “He’s already had a hard night,” she said suddenly, causing Arthur to look up. “Something about his nephew.”

“Yeah, it’s…” He swallowed hard. “Yes, I really need to talk to him.”

She finally nodded. “Down the hall, take a right, door seven. You can knock and ask him to come out when he’s able, then wait for him in his office that is across the room.”

His shoulders fell in relief, even as more anxiety ate holes in his stomach. He hated that he would be coming to Merlin’s uncle with terrible news. Clearly Gaius already knew something was off, but he probably lived with hope that maybe Merlin had just stayed the night at Arthur’s.

He wanted to puke.

He made his way as quickly as he was able to make his feet move, the dread filling him with each step. When he reached the door, he knocked on it lightly, and only a few seconds later, it cracked open. “Yes? Arthur! What are you doing here? Where’s Merlin?” There was a hope in Gaius’ eyes as he looked behind Arthur, as though for his nephew, but they shuttered a bit when Merlin was nowhere to be seen.

“Gaius, uh… I need to speak with you, if you have a moment.” He forced himself to keep eye contact, feeling twitchy as he did so.

Gaius’ jaw clenched. “Is he okay?”

Arthur shrugged, hands hanging at his sides and fingernails picking at the palms of his hands. Gaius took a deep breath. “I’ll meet you in my office in just a moment.” And before he could respond, the door was shut.

Arthur turned and immediately spotted Gaius’ office. He pushed in, mostly shut the door. He chose not to sit, but to stand by the wall so he could lean on it, arms folded. It wasn’t even a minute before Gaius walked in and immediately honed in on him as he shut the door. “Alright, what’s going on? Merlin didn’t come home last night. I hoped he just fell asleep at your house, but it wasn’t like him to just not show up at home without some word of his whereabouts. And your face is definitely not one of good news. Is he okay? Injured? At your house still?”

Arthur opened his mouth a few times during his tirade, not sure how to interrupt, so he was glad when he finally finished ranting and waited for Arthur to speak. But then he wasn’t so glad, because how in the world do you tell someone something like this about their nephew?

“Arthur?” Impatience and fear was evident in his tone.

“Yeah, right.” Arthur ran a hand through his hair and sighed, deflating to sit on the couch. “I was walking home yesterday, got to the place where Merlin usually meets me, and… well, as I turned the corner I saw some guy standing over Merlin. I was just about to call out when suddenly they both disappeared.”

Gaius froze and eyed him warily. “Disappeared? With Merlin?”

Arthur nodded, seeing the same terror and hesitancy on Gaius face that Merlin always had when magic was mentioned.

“I already know about Merlin’s magic, Gaius. My sister has magic too. I mean, I think her magic is a little different than Merlin’s but it is no less amazing.” At Gaius amazed look, Arthur continued; “And, more than that… it appears that I sort of… have a part of Merlin’s magic.”

“You what?” Gaius blinked, stunned. “You have his magic?” He lowered his voice to a hiss, as he spoke, looking around even though they were alone in the office.

“Not fully, and not… well, I’m not sure exactly how it works. When I first met him, it felt as though his magic… I don’t know, it sort of accepted and enveloped me. Now I’ve always been able to pinpoint certain emotions in him, the magic moves in me, even though I can’t necessarily use it or anything.” Arthur shrugged, looking down to avoid Gaius’ eyes.

Gaius ran a hand down his face. “So Merlin is… Someone with magic took him?” Gaius surmised from the details. “Or did Merlin use it?”

“No, the guy had magic. He was holding a wand, like what my sister has. The school my sister went to should have known about Merlin. He should’ve been invited to go to school as well, but he never did.”

Gaius shook his head. “We’ve only known two people that had magic, Merlin, and Merlin’s father. I’ve studied up on magic as much as possible, I talked to Merlin’s father before he was taken—”

“Taken?” Arthur’s attention perked. “His father was taken. Is that why Merlin is always so terrified about other people knowing? About being taken in himself?”

“Well… sort of. Merlin doesn’t really know anything about his father, or that he was taken. Hunith hadn’t wanted him to know, so I respected her wishes. However, because of Balinor being taken, Hunith has been terrified for her son. She left the town, to protect and hide Merlin. I went with her.” Gaius sat in the chair. Arthur felt sick as he saw the look on his face, the sorrow and fear.

“I…” Arthur swallowed hard. “I told my sister about Merlin — after he was taken, I mean. I told her about his magic and the guy that kidnapped him. I’m waiting to hear back from her, to see if she can get me some help. My sister, Morgana, goes to a school for magic. It’s a really great place. Good people. And I trust my sister. At first I’d wanted to contact her to see if Merlin could get in, but he didn’t want me to. But now that Merlin was taken… well, I don’t have any idea about what to do against someone with magic. So I hope she can find someone to help.”

Gaius reached out to put a hand on Arthur’s arm. “Thank you, my boy.” He smiled sadly at him. “And I need you to keep me updated on everything. We’ve got to find Merlin.” He swallowed hard. “Please, Arthur.”

“Of course, Gaius.” He gave a small smirk. “Merlin would kill me if I didn’t keep you in the loop, once I find him.”

Gaius chuckled roughly, then stood to approach his desk and handed Arthur a business card. “Here, my personal cell on this card. Call me anytime at all. Call me when or if you get help… I want to be there for all of it.”

“I will,” Arthur assured him again.

Gaius stood as Arthur went to leave, surprising Arthur by wrapping him in a hug. He automatically hugged him back, feeling awkward. He couldn’t remember the last time his own father had hugged him. Morgana was the only one who really gave him hugs, though Merlin did occasionally.

But Gaius didn’t even feel awkward to hug. It was like hugging a grandfather almost. He was probably about ten years older than Uther.

Gaius patted his shoulder as he pulled away. “Merlin has talked about you a lot. He really likes being your friend.”

“I like being his friend too. He’s great.”

“Yeah. Yes, he is.” Gaius forced a small smile as he walked to the door, though it looked almost more like a grimace. “I hope that you hear something from your sister.”

Me too. He was out of the room before Arthur could respond, so Arthur followed him out to head home.

Merlin couldn’t seem to get his breathing to work correctly. The ragged sounding, shallow breaths were interspersed with some stifling gasps, until Merlin really really wanted to scream at the fear that was clawing at his insides. He could feel the magic that had been put around him, like a bubble that forced him to stay put. The person was using a want, like Arthur had told him his sister had, but it was strange to see it, like someone was using a stick to use magic. Maybe that’s what he needed in order to actually use his own magic.

He couldn’t leave the cell they’d put him in. Maybe if he could use his magic for something useful then he could.

Merlin’s one consolation, so far, was that they didn’t seem as though they were intending to hurt him. When Merlin had been… moved here, a lady had greeted him. She had talked to the man who had kidnapped him (he claims it wasn’t a kidnapping, but it certainly felt like it), and neither of them seemed as though they were particularly evil. Yet Merlin was still locked in a room behind a door with bars with barely a word of explanation. All he knew so far was this was some sort of Ministry, and that Merlin had broken rules and should be in school right now. He remembered Arthur mentioning something like that when they first met.

Then they’d left him alone for the night.

Merlin had tried to sleep, and knew that he had a little, out of pure exhaustion because of the fear that was draining him, than actually being able to fully settle to sleep. He’d startled at any sound, and his neck and shoulders felt as though he’d been sitting tense all night, which wasn’t so far off the truth.

The trembling seemed to come in waves at this point, like his body would start to calm down, but then remember where it was, and it would jump back to trembling as though it was kicked.

But his magic was acting restless, as though it wasn’t quite sure what to do with itself, and many times he’d feel it flare up in response to his fears. The weird part, though, was that he felt as though something or someone — Arthur, his mind supplied — seemed to calm him. He didn’t understand it, but he was grateful for it. Especially when he felt his friends’ determination, and knew exactly what it was for.

He held onto that thin hope, even as his mind panicked.

Finally, the next morning, Merlin heard footsteps come down the hall. He was terrified, and definitely didn’t want to talk to anyone… or worse, but he also wanted to know what in the world he was there for.

Maybe it was just a misunderstanding.

He forced himself to take some deep breaths, though he couldn’t convince himself to pull out of the ball he was in, sitting on the corner of the bed.

“Merlin Emrys?” His name had been one of the few things they had actually asked him last night. “You said your name is Merlin Emrys.”

“Y-yeah.” Merlin tightened his fingers, somehow knowing that the tone of voice showed that he didn’t believe Merlin or something.

“We have no record of any wizard by the name of Merlin Emrys.”

“I…” Merlin swallowed hard. “I’ve never really told anyone that I have magic. Neither has my mom or Uncle.”

“Are your parents magical?”

“Not as far as I know.” Merlin looked up at the man.

“As far as you know…” He gestured Merlin to explain.

“I don’t know my dad. My mom never talked about him. He left when I was a baby. My mom doesn’t have magic. She just always told me it was dangerous to share the information…” Merlin trailed off. A part of him hated that he was talking so freely about this with someone who kidnapped him, but he also didn’t see the harm in it either. He just needed to get out of here, and if he answered, maybe they’d let him go.

“But this still doesn’t make sense to not have record of you.”

Merlin shrugged, slightly irritated by the words. “Well, I don’t know, okay? I doubt my mom would have registered me or something.”

The man studied him a long moment, then chuckled slightly. “No, you don’t understand. We have a book that magically lists every witch or wizard. Can’t find anything on a Merlin Emrys though. Not that would be your age anyway.”

“I think a friend said, uh… said something like that about the school too. He was confused as to why I didn’t get an invitation.”

The man’s eyes sharpened. “What is this friends name of yours?”

Merlin clenched his jaw. “Why, so you can kidnap him too?”

“I didn’t kidnap you—” The man said in a placating tone, but Merlin cut him off.

“Sure looked like it to me. You attacked me, froze me, then brought me here and put me in a cell.”

He took a deep breath to calm himself. “You broke the law.”

“What law?!” Merlin snapped at last, standing from the bed to pace. “As far as I know, I’ve been the only one my whole life that has these… abilities, and now all of a sudden someone comes telling me there’s these laws in place? That I can’t do magic outside of some stupid school, being underage. Well, newsflash, it’s not like I can even control the magic anyway, and your all-knowing school didn’t accept me, and I’ve been all alone in this for years! What do you expect from me?”

It wasn’t until Merlin finished his rant that he felt his magic that had risen to the surface and he noticed the few things — like the blanket, soap, and toilet paper — were floating in the air around him.

Which also meant that his eyes had changed color; which was one of the main things that Arthur had been surprised about with his magic. And by judging how the man stared at Merlin’s face, so was he.

Crap.

Merlin took a step back, shaking hands finding the wall behind him, all the stuff in his room falling to the floor as the man gaped. The silence seemed long, until finally the man managed to stumble through a question:

“What are you?”

Chapter Text

When the help arrived, Arthur was sitting in the family room. He hadn’t been able to sleep well since Merlin had been taken, his sleep riddled with fears, and hating himself even more every minute that he couldn’t just use his own magic to find and free Merlin. He had to rely on others to help, and he didn’t even have a quick way to get in contact with anyone.

It had been nearly three days before before Arthur was sitting on the couch and drifting off before he jerked fully awake at the at a roaring sound, and the fireplace flashed in green flames. Suddenly Morgana was stepping into the room, and Arthur stared, mouth agape. Arthur snapped out of his shock fairly quickly, for saying he’d just seen his sister walk out of the fireplace, and jumped toward her. “Morgana!” He immediately wrapped her in a hug, squeezing tight as he tried not to sob.

Morgana held him just as tight, soothingly. “Shh… it’s alright, Arthur.” Yet she was shifting him away from the fireplace that had suddenly spouted off strange colors, and five seconds later there was another flash, and suddenly a tall lady entered the room, wearing robes like Morgana, and stepping to the side as well. Arthur pulled away from his sister to watch the new arrivals, feeling a profound relief at the new help coming.

A few seconds after that one more flash sounded, a man with glasses and black hair came in as well.

“You must be Arthur,” the lady said, coming closer. “You said there was a kidnapping of a magical kid?”

“Yes.” Arthur swallowed, thankful for them getting down to business.

“I’m the Headmistress at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall. This is Harry Potter. He’s an Auror in the wizarding world.”

“That’s like a… detective, right?”

“Close enough.” Harry nodded to him. “How about we sit down and you can tell us everything you know.”

Arthur nodded, immediately gesturing for them to sit, and barely remembering his manners. “Would you like some tea?”

“No, I think we should get straight into it,” Harry answered. McGonagall also shook her head. Relieved, because he really hadn’t wanted to waste time with any social proprieties, Arthur sat with them and got right into it.

“Where should I start?” Because they needed to know about Merlin’s magic as well as the kidnapping to have the best chance in finding him.

“You said this kid has magic? And the guy who took him did as well?”

“Yes.” Arthur nodded, then went on to explain the kidnapping scene.

“Wait, you felt his magic?” Harry leaned forward in sudden interest.

“Yeah.” Arthur shrugged, as though it was no big deal. He knew it was, though he’d been feeling it for so many months now that it had become so normal to him. “It was panicking with Merlin, it felt like.”

The three wizards in the room exchanged glances and Arthur shifted uneasily at the look on their faces. Harry and McGonagall both turned back, a more intent look on their faces. Harry even shifted slightly closer.

“Okay, Arthur, I need you to tell me a little bit more about Merlin’s magic. When did you find out about it? What can he do?”

“Uh…” Arthur looked to his sister, who was eyeing him with obvious intrigue. “Is this going to help find him.”

“It might.” Harry said gently. “Knowing what he’s able to do might help know what kind of people would have interest in taking him. I would also like to know more about what they both look like.”

Arthur nodded. “One second.” He ran quickly to his room, getting his notebook out that he’d written all his notes in, then came back. “I wrote down everything I could remember about the man and the situation on here.”

Harry looked impressed. “Good thinking.” He grabbed it, but put it to the side so Arthur could continue with the story.

“Okay.” Arthur drew a deep breath, then went on to tell about how he’d learned about Merlin’s magic. When he explained about the bullies, however, he noticed Morgana’s fists tighten out of the corner of his eye, and he refused to look at her. He hadn’t told her about any bullying.

He didn’t talk about everything Merlin told him — nothing that didn’t have to do specifically with his magic. He also didn’t get specific about having to comfort him, just explained that it happened when they touched.

They listened closely, all seeming surprised when he mentioned that Merlin’s eyes had turned gold when he used the magic, and worried when they knew of Merlin’s fears.

Arthur sat in silence as they thought for several long moments. Harry lifted the notebook page up to read it while McGongall spoke. “This is… very unusual.”

Arthur looked at her. “I don’t know, I mean, it’s all unusual to me, and yet… it’s magic. I don’t know anything about magic, really, so it all feels way out there, and yet completely possible at the same time.”

McGonagall smiled at him, kind of surprising him, as she’s seemed stern so far. He could see how she would be a good Headmistress, strict and firm, yet an underlying kindness.

“I mean, I haven’t heard of anyone’s eyes changing colors while using magic. And definitely never heard of a muggle being able to actually feel someone else’s magic in the way you are explaining.”

Arthur fought not to wince at the word muggle. “So it’s not usual? Is Merlin in danger then? I mean, obviously currently, but just by being… whatever kind of wizard he is?”

“Hmm…” Harry didn’t answer the question, but looked up at Arthur as though in realization. “Headmistress, look at this and tell me what it reminds you of.”

McGonagall read through it and her forehead scrunched up the more she read. At last she looked up to meet Harry’s gaze who nodded.

“The Ministry?” She asked.

“It sure sounds like it,” Harry agreed, tapping his fingers.

“The Ministry?” Both Morgana and Arthur asked, though Arthur was asking for clarification, while Morgana’s was in a tone of disbelief.

So something that wouldn’t usually take kids like this?

Harry looked at the two of them again, shifting. “Three days ago, a Ministry worker recorded that he had brought an underage kid in that was using magic outside of school. The next afternoon, we were told that it was dealt with and that the kid was returned where he belonged.”

“But obviously he wasn’t.” Arthur snapped, standing quickly and pacing. “What’s the Ministry? Who is the guy? Is he trustworthy? Why would Merlin not be back here?”

“The Ministry is like the wizard government. I work as essentially a police officer there. The one who brought him in, from your description of his attire, as well as who gave the report, is one as well.”

“Where would he have taken Merlin, then?” Arthur turned to face him. “He’s not here, and if he’s not still at this… ministry… who is that man? How do we get him back?”

“Look.” Harry steepled his fingers. “I’ll go ask around, figure out where this man was last seen. Check his house and any other corresponding areas he might go to. I’ll keep you updated on everything, okay?”

“How long will it take?” Arthur couldn’t help the desperate tone to his voice. His friend was essentially kidnapped!

“I’ll check everything out today,” Harry promised, standing.

“I’ll come with you. It may do good to have this come from the Headmistress of the school, seeking to get a kid with magic back in school.”

“You’re right, that may do good.” Harry nodded at her in gratitude. “We’ll be back, Arthur.”

“Morgana? You want to head back to Hogwarts?”

Arthur’s sister shook her head and put a hand on Arthur’s shoulder in support. “I’ll stay with Arthur until Merlin is back safe.”

McGonagall nodded at her, then the two of them left.

Arthur felt his shoulders sink as he exhaled long, putting his hand over his eyes. Morgana pulled him into another hug, holding tight for several long minutes.

“It’s going to be okay,” she told him. He forced himself to nod. When she pulled away, she kept her hands on his shoulders, a piercing look in her eyes. “Now. What is this about bullies?”

It was late that same night when Harry came back. This time, Gaius was with them, Arthur having firmly kept his promise to the old man. Father, of course, wasn’t home. Arthur was pretty sure he was out with his secretary or some other lovely lady and would probably stay the night with whoever it was. Uther would say it was just some important meeting or whatnot, but Arthur wasn’t necessarily an idiot. A light night meeting might be believable occasionally, but staying the night was something else. Arthur wasn’t blind nor stupid—nor was he sleeping as early as his father presumed he probably was.

Uther didn’t even know that Morgana was home at the moment since he’d been gone all day and had yet to return, which Arthur was relieved by. Uther wouldn’t understand the desperation Arthur had to save Merlin. He wouldn’t understand why Arthur had skipped classes for three days.

He would definitely want to be here for Morgana though.

“I’m surprised dad’s not home,” Morgana said, as though sensing Arthur’s thoughts.

Arthur had to hold back a snort. Morgana only knew what their father was like when she was in the house, which was only summer time and for Christmas. He wasn’t the same man that loved and doted on Morgana, trying to spend as much time home as possible when she was home. Arthur doubted he loved anyone or anything else besides his daughter.

And maybe his work.

But definitely not Arthur. Or if he did, he had a weird way of showing it.

“He said he had a work meeting late,” Arthur said casually. Maybe too casually, by the side eye he was receiving from her. Or maybe his face was showing some of the bitterness he felt.

Gaius sat silently, but his searching stare directed to the both of them seemed to say a lot. Arthur just wasn’t sure exactly Gaius was trying to get at, but he had a crazy eyebrow arch that seemed to take apart anyone. Arthur felt like squirming each time he saw it, even when he told a truth. Even Morgana seemed to respect him, cowed by his look.

Arthur kind of wanted to see him and McGonagall face off. He had no doubt that Harry would also humble right under his watchful eye.

The thought nearly had Arthur chuckling, probably would have if he didn’t feel the undercurrent of Merlin’s fear. It had been active for the last three days, ever since Merlin had been taken, always reaching and swirling in angst. Arthur wished he had the ability to reach in himself and calm it. Or better yet, make Merlin appear beside him to get him away from whatever he was experiencing.

They have all been waiting to hear back from Harry and McGonagall, but he wasn’t sure how they would get the information back. He didn’t even know for sure if the information would come back tonight. Harry said he’d look into it tonight, but he didn’t say anything about coming back to tell him about it.

Just when he thought for sure they would be waiting until the next day, and about to suggest Gaius just got home for the night, the green flames flared again, startling him. He could see Gaius’ hands tense just slightly on the chair as well, though he didn’t show any other sign of startling. The concern for his Nephew was still most prominent in his eyes. And, of course, Morgana didn’t even blink, just let out a low “finally.”

Harry took a step out of the flames, his glasses askew on his face and hair disheveled, and stopped a moment in surprise at seeing Gaius, then continued on without concern. “You’re Merlin’s Uncle, I take it.”

“Yes.” Gaius nodded. “Gaius. What have you heard about my nephew? Did you figure out who took him?”

“Hold on,” Harry told him, gesturing behind himself as the flames flashed again. A younger lady with thick, wavy, dirty blond hair came next, then McGonagall walked out gracefully.

“I’m Harry,” Harry said for Gaius’s benefit. “That’s the Headmistress of the school, Minerva McGonagall. And Hermione there may be the smartest person you’ll ever meet.”

Hermione snorted and waved a hand, but didn’t exactly deny it. “Pleasure to meet you guys. Wish the circumstance was better.”

“So, have you heard anything?” This time it was Arthur who pushed to continue the conversation.

“Well, we’ve talked to a few people. Most just presumed that Oliver Weston—the man who took Merlin in for questioning—did as he said, releasing him the next morning and taking him back to school. I talked to one, however that told me that Weston had seemed off… a little twitchy and nervous. And now he hasn’t been seen for a few days, along with one other lady who was essentially his partner.”

Gaius was eyeing him, noticing something, and only a pause later he spoke. “Was his partner? You found her, didn’t you?”

Harry winced. “Dead. Killed.”

The room became icy at the words, then Arthur found himself standing quickly, pacing again. “We’ve got to get Merlin out of there,” he muttered to himself, then; “Do you know where he might have taken him? Have you checked his house?”

“We did,” McGonagall spoke this time, watching him carefully. “No sign of him.”

Arthur cursed, running a hand through his hair without meeting any of their eyes.

“We do have a theory though,” Harry added. Then chuckled slightly. “Well, Hermione does, anyway.”

“What’s that?” Gaius leaned forward in his chair as Arthur turned back to them.

Hermione opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Arthur was hit with a flare of agony in his gut so intense it had him gasping and falling to his knees. He grabbed his stomach, hand digging into his skin, while his other hand kept him from keeling over.

As soon as he got an inkling of breath, he cried out. The shaking and writhing of the magic inside him made him nauseous, and the pain he felt in his gut… well, he somehow knew that it was only a small piece of what Merlin was feeling.

It almost felt like Merlin’s magic was fighting against… more magic, and Merlin’s was taking a beating.

It hadn’t been the only thing he’d felt over their connection the last few days. The magic had never stopped moving in it’s anxiety, and many times Arthur had thought he’d felt brief moments of pain or… well, he wasn’t quite sure on all the feelings, to be honest. But this was the first time it was bad enough to really draw his attention fully to it, crippling. And it was terrifying.

Heavens… Merlin. Jeez, please, we’ve got to help him. Arthur tried to unfold himself, but he couldn’t move, and he felt tears of agony and frustration roll down his face. He needed to get his friend out of there, but if the man didn’t stop hurting Merlin, Arthur himself was going to be less than useless.

He wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but by the panic in Morgana’s voice as it finally settled down, the sweat dripping from his brow, and how practically everyone was surrounding him now, all told him it had probably been at least a minute.

“Arthur, please. Please, say something,” Morgana was saying, voice pleading, the tremor in it obvious.

“’Gana.” Arthur’s back trembled, nearly a spasm, as he grabbed onto her hand. Morgana squeezed back, just as tight, her other arm having been wrapped around Arthur’s shoulders in a sort of hug to hold him up.

“Are you okay, my boy?” Gaius asked. His voice held worry, yet a warmth and calmness that told Arthur that he obviously had a great bedside manner.

Arthur took a few shuddering breaths before he managed a small nod. “We need to get to Merlin.”

They didn’t keep pressuring Arthur about how he was feeling, luckily, but Hermione moved closer. “My theory, Arthur, is that as you are connected to your friend’s magic, you may be able to use said magic to locate Merlin.”

Arthur looked up at her, a little surprised at her tone, confident even though this situation was so unusual. “You think so? How can I do that?” He slowly sat back so he was sitting on his feet, one arm still wrapped around his stomach. He ignored all their worried gazes, but kept Morgana’s hand in his.

“We will try to guide you in ways we think might help.” Hermione put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “As soon as you try and succeed in that, Harry and I will go gather some more people to help. Then tomorrow morning we can get your friend home.”

“Why wait until tomorrow?” Arthur demanded.

“Because, one, we need more people. Two, you’ll need your rest, after all that. Three, it will give us more time to plan once we know you can even tap into where Merlin is.” Harry’s points made sense, so Arthur forced himself not to argue, even though—especially after that pain—he wanted to protest.

Arthur let out a sigh. “All right. What should I do?”

Chapter Text

Arthur could feel Morgana’s gaze on him, and he was relieved that she didn’t try to make him sit. He’d done as told and tried to get the best sleep he could manage the night before, but if he had to sit still for one more minute, he might start to pull his hair out.

He’d been very aware of Merlin’s magic imprint on him for months, even more so since Merlin had been taken and the magic had acted out in his fear. But since last night, as Hermione and Harry had walked him through way after way that he might be able to access it just a little bit more, Arthur had been restless, and the magic had felt even more powerful. It didn’t just settle in his gut anymore, but he felt like it tingled in his fingers and toes, almost as though the magic had claimed Arthur as it’s own as well. He felt the strangest pull in his feet, to get him moving out the door to where the other end of the magic lay. He needed to go find it, before Merlin was hurt even more.

“I’ve never seen you like this,” Morgana said suddenly, then smirked. “Except when I fell out of that tree, maybe.”

Arthur looked at her fondly, if distractedly. Gaius was in the apartment as well, but he had drifted into the kitchen to make some tea for himself. Arthur wondered if he was giving the two siblings space, or if he’d needed a moment to himself. “I’ve never had a friend before, ‘Gana. Not besides you.”

“True.” Morgana gave a soft laugh. “Merlin’s really important to you then, isn’t he?”

“Of course.” Arthur scowled. “He’s my best friend. I feel like we’re more like… like he’s my brother, you know? And having a sense of his magic certainly strengthened that feeling.”

“I can’t believe you hadn’t told me about his magic sooner,” Morgana muttered, though she didn’t really look that put out.

“He asked me not to tell anyone,” Arthur said simply. It was a huge part of the truth, but Morgana truly didn’t realize how much of himself he had never told her. Of course he’d told her about his life, school, and classmates, but he never did tell her about the bullies. About how much he hated himself for not being as… special as she was, to be able to go to magic school as well. About how miserable he was at home with Uther; who didn’t show him any care and only wanted to make sure Arthur never embarrassed him.

So in reality, he knew he was hiding a lot from her, but she didn’t deserve to hear his insecurities. She had to worry about her own life. He was only grateful that she would come when Merlin needed help.

He wished he’d known how to access the magic like this earlier, he would have gone in to save Merlin days ago if he had. Granted, if he’d tried to do that he probably would have just ended up killed or taken with Merlin, since he had no weapons and no magic — besides what had laid claim inside him of Merlin’s.

Why had it done that? He asked himself for the millionth time. Apparently it wasn’t a common thing, to feel magic of another being like this. Harry said that he’d had to an extent, with an enemy, but that was from bizarre circumstances. This was a lot different than what Harry had gone through with some Voldemort guy. For one, Merlin was a good guy. Terrified of his magic, unsure of how to use it, but most assuredly a good guy. He wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly. Also, it was due to some part of Voldemort’s soul somehow imprinting on Harry, which was weird, but hey, magic was strange, so Arthur barely blinked when he heard that.

And Arthur definitely wasn’t a bad guy in this story either. So clearly what Harry had with Voldemort was not the same, but Harry didn’t really know of anyone else who had something even remotely similar happen.

With that being said, though, magic was a mystery in of itself. Magic was, well magic. Anything could be possible, right?

Right, well, the only magic he wanted to be able to use, was whatever he needed to get Merlin out of there as quickly as he could. It was strange how he spent so long wishing he could use magic like his sister, and yet when he gets a bit of it, the only thing he wanted with it was about the only thing it seemed good for.

He’d get Merlin. He would. Just as soon as people showed up to help.

Just as he was about to growl in frustration and maybe head for the door, the fireplace, also known as the floo powder network apparently, finally lit up and person after person came through, starting with Harry, then a couple red-headed men, and woman. Then Hermione. McGonagall came as well.

When around fifteen people were standing in the room, Gaius also having come back in, Harry came closer to Arthur and smiled as he put a hand on his shoulder. “All right, Arthur. Are you ready for this?”

Arthur took a breath, nervous about being the one… sort of in charge here; the one with least experience, no magic, and absolutely nothing to his name unless he wanted to try and claim the ability to tackle, then forced himself to nod. He had to do this, because he was the only one who knew how to find Merlin, and his friend was counting on him.

He felt a wash of determination flow over him, letting it soothe the magic swirling in him, which seemed to work like a sigh of relief. He wondered again if Merlin felt it. It only made sense that the other teen could feel a piece of Arthur too, unless the magic attaching to him was Merlin’s strange way of making sure he stayed safe. But that didn’t make sense, otherwise Merlin would have been able to do that with Gaius too, right?

Arthur looked to Gaius and Harry followed his gaze. “Dr. Emrys. We will come straight back here with Merlin when we find him. Please wait for us. Miss LeFay, you’ll have to stay here too.”

“What?” Morgana’s arms folded quickly. “No! Arthur’s my brother. I need to come with you.”

“Sorry,” Harry shook his head. “I need you here. You’re underage and not allowed to use magic yet outside school, and I don’t want any extra concerns while getting to Merlin.”

Morgana looked as though to argue, then saw Arthur’s look and realized it would only waste time, so she huffed. “Stay safe, Arthur,” she said instead, hugging him tightly. Then she glowered at Harry and all the others. “If you let anything happen to Arthur, I’ll find you and you won’t recognize yourself when I’m through.”

McGonagall smirked, nearly chortling. “I think the hat sorted you into the wrong house, my Ravenclaw. That was more Slytherin.”

Morgana smiled wryly. “I’ve got plenty of Slytherin in me to go around,” she muttered, still glaring.

One other lady spoke up. “I’ll be staying as well, prepping for some healing, in case he’s injured. I’ll need you to be ready with the floo powder in case we need to get immediately to St. Mungo’s.” They kept on planning, but as soon as Morgana was distracted with instructions, Arthur had nodded once to Gaius, then turned back to Harry.

“Do you think you have enough focus on where he is, that we could apparate there or do you think we’ll need to walk?”

Walking could take too long. Morgana had explained apparating to him years ago, and he’d always thought it would be a brilliant way to travel.

He’d take his chances with this way, even though he’d heard of possible damage.

“I think I can manage the apparating. The pull to him is really strong.”

Harry nodded. “All right, one second.” He stood and passed out some pens to everyone. Arthur watched in bemusement until one of the redheads caught his look and smiled at him.

“Brilliant isn’t it? Hermione made them. They’re portkeys, they transport us immediately, like apparating, to wherever they are set to go.” He smiled wide and proud at Hermione, who blushed but grinned back, even with an eye roll. With that interaction, he figured this redhead had to be Hermione’s husband.

“In this case,” Harry added, grabbing his own out. “When I activate mine, they’ll be able to follow where we end up.” Harry moved back to Arthur. “See you all in a few.”

As long as I do this right, Arthur thought, then, as Harry grabbed tight to Arthur’s shoulder and nodded to him, Arthur turned his thoughts, finally, to the tingling in his fingers that just begged him to be moving.

Arthur was not expecting the wave of nausea that passed over him, or the dizziness that nearly took him to his knees. He was standing in a gloomy room, and he immediately spotted Merlin laying on a bed, with a man standing over him having just looked up at the sounded of them appearing. Arthur didn’t let his dizziness stop him, stumbling slightly over his feet as he dived for the man in a flying tackle. Anger pounded through his veins that someone could harm his best friend.

“Arthur, back up!” He wasn’t entirely sure how long later the request came, as he’d been punching the daylights out of the man below him.

He looked up at Harry right as others joined the room, all with wands up. Arthur jumped away, moving toward Merlin, in case he needed to protect him from any spells coming in that direction.

He didn’t see what went down, his gaze drawn to Merlin only, though he heard the sounds of footsteps rushing away. He figured this guy wasn’t the only one in the building, and others must have had the same thought because they left the room.

“Merlin?” Arthur put a gentle hand in his hair, the other on his arm, and leaned over him. A few other wizards came closer, but Arthur didn’t know them. “Merlin, come on.”

Merlin’s eyes flew open in a panic, gold, immediately finding Arthur, even as Arthur felt a gust of wind burst from him — surrounding Arthur, but not touching him — but blowing everyone else back away from him.

Merlin was hyperventilating. His eyes blown wide, so Arthur moved closer. “Merlin. Merlin, breathe. Breathe. I’m here. You’re going to be okay. I’ve got you.” He kept murmuring until Merlin finally gathered who he was.

“Arthur?” The broken voice then turned to broken sobs. Arthur, though concerned about moving him, gently pulled him into his arms, where Merlin buried his face into his chest and clutched onto his shirt. Arthur could feel the tremors, could feel how grimy, sweaty, and thin his friend was, and was suddenly glad he’d had the chance to punch the mans face in.

Maybe his tackling skills could be counted to help, at least a little.

Arthur kept his soft murmured words going for Merlin, at least until he calmed a little. By the tension still swirling in him, he knew that Merlin was only really quieting because he was absolutely exhausted. He wasn’t free yet, and didn’t truly know himself to be safe, but the toll of this kidnapping was pushing his body to its limits.

“How about we get you home?” Arthur murmured at last.

Merlin nodded weakly, but his hands also tightened slightly.

“Merlin.” The redhead lady came over, voice gentle. “My name is Ginny. We are here to get you home. Can Patricia over here see to any wounds you may have?”

Patricia came up behind Ginny and Merlin glanced at her quickly, then shook his head. Once more, his fingers tightened on Arthur, and he looked at him. “Gaius?”

“You want Gaius to look over you?” Arthur asked him.

Merlin nodded, sparing a wary glance to the girls.

“Alright,” Ginny agreed. She held out her hand, slowly, but Merlin still cowered.

Arthur shifted him slightly. “It’s fine, Merlin.” He added the bit of careful playfulness to his tone, that had Merlin looking up at him immediately, some of his obvious tension draining at their typical bantering tone. Why was it that calmed Merlin down so quickly? “They just have to hold onto us to get us home. They’ll let go as soon as we make it back. Gaius is waiting for us.”

Harry came closer. “You ladies get him home. Ron, go with them. Get him healing and safe. We will finish up here.”

Ginny nodded without looking away from Merlin. “Arthur is right, Merlin. We will let you go when we get back. But for now, we would really like to get out of this creepy basement. Wouldn’t you?”

Merlin nodded again, looking around himself as though remembering where he was, and he pulled impossibly closer to Arthur. He didn’t mind. For the first time in days, the magic in him was settling, finally reconnected to where it belonged, and Merlin was hanging on by a thread. Ginny grabbed hold of both of them, then apparated.

Arthur found the feeling to be even worse than the portkey, nearly groaning as he made it back and almost losing his grip on Merlin. He and Merlin were immediately pushed onto the couch where Merlin promptly curled up, face into Arthur’s side as his skin color turned slightly green from the move. Arthur could feel the magic in Merlin panic at the use of someone else’s magic on him, so Arthur only pulled him closer and continued to whisper in his ear soothingly.

“Merlin?” Gaius came closer quickly, gently moving the other wizards out of the way to land beside his nephew and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Merlin flinched, yet at the same time he turned back slightly, withdrawing one hand from Arthur for Gaius but otherwise not moving. “Uncle Gaius?”

“Oh, my boy.” Gaius’ voice trembled. “I’m so glad to see you.”

Merlin didn’t answer, but he did tighten his grip on Gaius’ hand and bring it closer to his chest.

“He’s hurt,” Ginny whispered to Gaius. “We really need to look over him. It would be best to get him to St. Mungo’s because we should see what damage has been done, magically. We have great healers there.”

Gaius nodded and leaned over Merlin. “My boy. Can we move you? We should get you checked over.”

Merlin shook his head frantically, but he didn’t speak. Arthur almost winced at the tightening of his fingers in his shirt as it got a bit of Arthur’s skin in there too.

“Merlin, please, we can see you’re hurting.” Ginny tried. “We only want to help heal the damage. Can you at least tell us what happened?”

At those words, Merlin started sobbing, curling tight into a ball. Arthur watched, wide-eyed as his chipper — yet always so nervous — friend fell apart. Gaius moved to sit down at Merlin’s back, rubbing his arm gently while his other stayed squished in Merlin’s grasp.

“Just give us a bit to calm him down,” Gaius whispered to the others. “Go into the kitchen. If anyone else gets back, please just send them home. I think the less people here with Merlin, the better.”

Ginny hesitated a long moment, staring in concern at Merlin, but when she saw Gaius and Arthur’s gaze, she finally relented, pulling Ron, Patricia, and Morgana to the kitchen with her.

Every once in a while, in between Merlin’s crying, he could hear some quiet whispers coming from the other room.

It wasn’t too long after that, before anyone else even made it back — though Arthur wondered how many of them were even intending to come back here now that the job was over — that Merlin finally managed to drift into a rough sleep. He jerked and whimpered every couple of minutes, but was obviously too exhausted to rouse fully.

Even as Ginny finally peeked her head back through the door and saw Gaius wave her over, he still slept.

Gaius spoke quietly to her. “I’ve tried to do as much of a visual on him as I can. Outwardly, he’s got a deep cut on his arm, that they covered with a bandage. He’s bruised and has quite a few scrapes. Without getting him some x-rays, I can’t see if anything is wrong on the inside, and I don’t know what kind of damage magic can do, if any was used on him.”

“I can do one better than x-rays.” Patricia smiled warmly at him. “I’ll just do a diagnostic with magic to see what kind of damage he has, then I’ll do the best I can to help. Do you think we can get him to St. Mungo’s, the magical hospital?”

Gaius shook his head. “I fear that trying to move him more might injure something in him more, and even more than that, if he woke up again in a place he didn’t recognize, I think him panicking would be worse than his injuries for him.”

Patricia nodded. “In that case, I’ll do the scan, do the best I can to heal him magically, and bring back potions of whatever he needs that you guys can try to convince him to drink.”

Arthur felt his shoulders relax slightly as they finally had a start of a plan for helping his friend. Merlin still didn’t let go of his shirt even in his half sleep, and Arthur kept the soothing rhythm going in Merlin’s hair.

Arthur watched in interest as Patricia started working, though as he continued sitting there, the lack of sleep for the last few nights started to hit him now that Merlin was semi-safe, and though he didn’t fully fall asleep, the talking kind of became a bit muffled in his ears, and he watched everything dispassionately. For it being one of the first times magic was used in front of him, he really should have more interest.

He watched as she scanned his body with the wand, and it wasn’t until he heard Gaius ask, “What is it?” that Arthur finally jerked out of the funk he’d slipped into. And then, it wasn’t until that moment that he also realized how unusual the sudden tiredness was. He felt as though the magic in him was using Arthur’s own energy and sending it to Merlin, as though… as though Merlin was using it to help himself.

“I think the man used the cruciatus curse,” she murmured, alarmed.

“What’s that?” Gaius asked, as Morgana gasped behind him. Arthur looked back at her, seeing the horror in her gaze, and Ginny’s as well, who still stood back with Morgana.

“It’s a dark spell that causes intense pain. It’s forbidden for a reason, because it can absolutely destroy the nervous system.” Patricia swallowed hard, but her eyebrows furrowed. “But it’s as though it is healing on its own.”

Gaius hesitated a moment, and Arthur saw the concern on his face. Arthur knew what he was going to say, but only because he currently felt it happening.

“Merlin has always been… a very quick healer. His magic… well, I mean, it seems to protect him, to an extent. Maybe not during, but at least after the fact.”

Arthur was grateful for that, even as he knew, without a doubt that Merlin and Merlin’s magic wouldn’t hurt Arthur — he wouldn’t take the healing too far too incapacitate him — he was grateful for the connection to help heal him.

“I’ll bring by some potions that’ll help him heal faster, and some that might calm his mind when he wakes. We’ll probably have Harry or McGonagall come back tomorrow evening, after he has time to rest for a bit.”

Gaius narrowed his eyes, slightly suspiciously in Arthur’s mind, but didn’t comment on that. “We might be back at my place by then, so I’ll write down my address just in case.”

“That would be good.” Patricia nodded in thanks. “I’ll go and be right back. Maybe you can try to get Merlin somewhere a little more comfortable while I’m gone.”

“He can stay in my bed. It’s big enough, and he’s not really letting me go anyway.” Arthur volunteered, blinking heavily. And he’d really like to be able to sleep himself, but he couldn’t dare leave his friend right then.

“Where is father?” Morgana asked him suddenly.

Arthur looked up at her, blinking. “Working, probably.” He responded instinctively. At Morgana’s furrowed eyes, he realized that every time Morgana had come home for holidays, Uther had made it a point to be home as much as possible to see her. Having not come home last night, then being out still today… well, Morgana hadn’t seen that before.

“Wasn’t he out late last night?” She asked, predictably.

“Yeah.” Arthur shrugged, for once not having an wherewithal to try and filter any words on that topic.

“I haven’t seen him at all since I’ve been here,” she muttered suddenly.

“Probably busy.” Arthur moved to start helping Merlin into the room, as Ron also stepped closer with Gaius and the three of them carefully shifted him into Ron’s arms the best they could.

“Busy?” Morgana shook her head. “Arthur, he’s been gone at least twenty-four hours.”

“Yeah…” Arthur looked at her, feeling Ron’s discomfort with the topic.

“Is he always this busy?”

“I’d say usually.” Arthur moved right along with Merlin’s grip in his shirt, walking into the bedroom and settling down beside him when Ron laid him under the covers.

Gaius patted his shoulder. “How about you lay down too, Arthur. Get some sleep. We’ll watch over the both of you.”

Arthur wanted to protest, but to be honest, he was absolutely dead on his feet.

His last thought was to think how Morgana was most certainly not going to let the topic alone. He expected a full interrogation later.

Later being the key word, because maybe then he could actually know how to answer her.

Chapter Text

The flames lit up the night sky; yet in contrast the stars were being drowned out by the smoke. Screams ripped through the air, shadows dancing on the buildings, yells and maniacal laughter ringing loud.

He found himself cowering as masked men flooded the streets, emerging as though from the shadows. Or as though they were shadows. They pointed in random directions, and things burst into flames or exploded. More screams. More running. He trembled, unable to get his feet under him, even as a part of himself was yelling to save the people to save… there was someone important he should be protecting.

At a glance around, he realized… it was his mom. Where had she gone? Where was Uncle Gaius? Will? Freya? No. No, Freya had moved, hadn’t she? Arthur!

But why weren’t his feet moving? He had to do something!

A man appeared in front of him, though the shadows hid his face, and what little he could see he realized was covered in some sort of mask. His clothes were black and draped down to the floor like some sort of ragged robe.

“Really?” The man spoke, full of condescension and interest. “All that magic, and you didn’t do a thing? What use are you? Someone should take your magic. Someone who wouldn’t be so useless.” And the worst part, is that he knew the man was right. All this, and he couldn’t even help anyone.

The man straightened, pulling out of the shadow’s, yet somehow his face still stayed hidden. He reached a hand out, a stick pointing at his face.

He couldn’t move. He couldn’t run. Suddenly he was strapped down on his back, and a sharp pain in his head had him gasping, trembling, screaming—

“Merlin?” The new voice jerked Merlin out of the nightmare. He startled, pushing himself away from the hands that held him, nearly falling out of the— the bed?? before the hands were back on him, pulling him back, pulling him close. He squirmed, pushed, tried to thrash, cried out; all the while breathing harsh gasps.

“Merlin. Merlin, it’s me. It’s just me, I promise, you’re safe. It’s Arthur and Gaius.”

The soothing words finally broke through the haze in Merlin’s brain. Merlin immediately stilled at Arthur’s words, looking up at them with blurry eyes.

“A-arthur?” Merlin’s body trembled, a deep ache all over making him reluctant to move. But he tensed all over again. He was used to nightmares and feeling guilty by not being able to save his mother all the time; but the guy in the dream had been new, and had been awfully familiar, despite not seeing his face.

The man that had kidnapped and tortured him. The words in the nightmare were nearly the same as what he’d said while he’d probed into Merlin’s mind over and over, viewing each memory he could until Merlin found the wherewithal to push him out. Over and over. Each time had been harder and harder to resist; but at least the man had seemed to tire of doing so many probes in a row as well, and after Merlin would be left alone for awhile.

But he’d seen so many of Merlin’s dark memories. All of the times he accidentally used magic. Merlin couldn’t be sure exactly what the man was searching for that would help him to know what Merlin was, but Merlin couldn’t help but feel strangely vulnerable after the recurring mind-invading magic was used on him.

Arthur rubbed his back. “It’s okay. We’re here, and you’re safe, and that guy will never hurt you again,” Arthur soothed him.

“How’d I… how am I here?” Merlin asked, trembling still, but relieved, so very very relieved, to be out. To be back with Arthur and…

He looked over, seeing Gaius sitting at the edge of the chair beside Arthur’s bed. He looked at Merlin with such a warmth in his eyes, that Merlin’s eyes immediately teared up and he reached for a hug.

Uncle Gaius accepted without hesitation, as was usual. A tight enough hug that Merlin already felt something inside him settle, with his uncle holding him and Arthur at his back, a hand still on him. He felt safe.

A part of Merlin wanted to just hide away in Arthur’s bed all night, day, whatever, but that wasn’t his style. So after he finally calmed down, he convinced them to let him up. He needed to shower, and Gaius had apparently brought over a bag of clothes for him. They nervously agreed to letting him shower on his own, since he was able to walk to the bathroom by himself, but made him keep the door unlocked so Gaius could get in if needed.

It felt weird without Arthur at his side. He vaguely remembered last night now; remembered clinging to Arthur. He knew it was a combination of Arthur being his friend, having been rescued, and his magic in the both of them finally being reconnected. He also recognized the healing his magic had done and was still doing on himself. His arm was sore where he’d been cut up, and he still had quite a lot of bruises. He already felt a lot better, but he really was drained. He stood still in the water for a long moment, staring down at grime being washed away, then trembled and wrapped his arms around himself.

The angry glint in his eyes was the first warning Merlin had that he was being pushed past his patience, but Merlin couldn’t do as he asked. Merlin had never had success in purposefully doing magic, it happened when it happened. His healing was instinctive, and his magic would occasionally act up if startled or in danger, but obviously not well enough since he was here.

The spell the man cast at him this time was startling to the extreme, the yelled ‘crucio’ making Merlin jump, before pain — absolute agony — tore through him. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t… couldn’t—

“Merlin?” The knock on the door got him moving. “You okay so far?”

Relieved to be torn from the flashback, he laid a hand on the wall and gasped in a breath, his body trembling. It felt like his mind was also trembling, though he didn’t think that was entirely possible. Was it?

“I’m okay.” Merlin managed. He pressed a palm to his eyes a moment before shaking it away.

It’s fine. I’m okay. I’m going to be okay.

He didn’t fully believe it, but he wanted to. And honestly, he’d been a little less than okay ever since his mom died. He could fake it until he made it, right?

He drew a deep, determined breath. He had to. And now he knew of this whole other world, one with people who had magic, and he had to figure out what exactly it had to do with himself, and why he’d never found anyone with magic before. Other than Morgana — and maybe some people he vaguely remembered rescuing him last night — all the people he’d seen use magic had been evil. But it couldn’t be true, right? Morgana went to a magic school, which obviously meant that there’d be quite a few good wizards in the world, right? He hadn’t talked to Morgana about specifics of her school since he hadn’t wanted her to know about his magic, so he really knew nothing about it other than the little that Arthur knew.

It wasn’t until Merlin finished in the shower and got dressed, about to open the door, that another fear washed over him. Now, it was clear so many more people knew about him and his magic. Arthur couldn’t have gotten help from so many wizards without telling them about him, right?

What if they tried to force him into the school? Made him leave Arthur and Gaius? They couldn’t do that, right? He’d be institutionalized and they wouldn’t let him go, and it would be no better than the man that had taken him. Maybe they would see Merlin and say the same things, about how Merlin’s magic and his entire being was so different than a normal wizards.' Would they experiment on him too? Lock him in a room?

The panic furled in his chest, and not even ten seconds later, there was a knock on the door. “Merlin?” Arthur’s voice rose in a panic. “Merlin, I’m coming in, okay?”

Merlin grabbed at the door sloppily, grabbing the handle and twisting as Arthur carefully pushed his way in.

“Hey, hey, what’s going on?” Arthur asked at seeing his face. He put one hand on Merlin’s chest. “You’ve got to calm down, Merlin, you need to breathe.”

Merlin grabbed hold of Arthur’s arms, squeezing his wrist at his chest. “Don’t make me go, please. Please?”

“Make you go where?” Arthur asked, eyebrows drawing closer, even at his other hand wrapped to the back of Merlin’s neck.

“They’ll take me away. They’ll think I’m different, and take me away, just like the man did. I can’t go to school, they’ll take me away from you and away from Gaius, and they won’t let me go, and I-I can’t — I can’t…” He was hyperventilating, his breaths coming frantic, and Arthur moved his hand to his cheek and made him meet his eyes.

“Merlin, I will not let them take you away from me. Gaius and I? And even Morgana? We would never do that. And the others know a bit about you, but only a bit. And they’re good guys. Morgana swears they’re the best people out there. She wouldn’t lie to me. She won’t let anyone hurt you either. We’d take you far away where no one could find us before we let them take away your choices. Okay? Now take some deep breaths, before you pass out, Merlin.”

As was strangely usual, Arthur saying his name like that instantly got Merlin’s gaze to focus more fully on him, as though having the joking tone told him that he was once again safe. Merlin managed to take some trembling breaths, meeting Arthur’s gaze, then slowly nodded.

“You promise?” He asked warily, needing to hear the words even though he logically knew Arthur couldn’t fully promise him anything like that.

“Of course, I promise, idiot.” Arthur smirked at him, yet his eyes were sincere.

Merlin rolled his eyes, still working on his breath. “Prat.” He exhaled shakily. “Thanks.”

He was able to relax his grip on Arthur, surprised at how hard he’d been squeezing and how Arthur hadn’t muttered a complaint or given a wince. He didn’t apologize because he knew what Arthur’s response would be, and Merlin would have done the same for Arthur.

“You good now?” Arthur asked him.

“Yeah.” Merlin rubbed his face. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“We’re here with you.” Arthur put a hand briefly on his shoulder with a small squeeze. Then he moved away, to the side slightly, but walking toward his bedroom door. “Come on, Merlin, let’s get some food in you.”

He wasn’t particularly hungry, or at least he didn’t have an appetite even though he knew he should be hungry. But, he also knew that he needed to eat, so he followed Arthur dutifully, moving slightly slower and glad to see Gaius out in the kitchen preparing some breakfast — or, timing wise, it may be considered lunch. Gaius smiled at him, a little tight and worried, but warm.

“Eggs? Bacon? Toast?”

“Uh… Toast.” Merlin mumbled as he entered, seeing Morgana sitting at the table already. She smiled at him, stood, and held her arms out for a hug that Merlin accepted, trying not to appear hesitant.

She knows.

“You okay?” She asked as she pulled away.

He nodded and avoided her eyes as he moved to sit down.

There was a long moment of silence, when Arthur finally cleared his throat and started telling Merlin about everything he’d done since Merlin had been taken, much to Merlin’s relief. He’d wanted to know, and hearing about it from this side helped him to at least keep his mind off of his own side. As he listened, his gratitude for Arthur grew, as well as knowing that Arthur had found him through the link of their magic. Merlin still didn’t understand how it worked, and from what it sounded like, nobody else did either. He risked a glance at Morgana as he spoke and confirmed that as he noticed the spark of interest in her at the topic. No cruelty though, and she didn’t interrupt to ask any questions.

Gaius, at the beginning of the explanation, had looked like he had wanted to put a hold on it, but he must have noticed something in Merlin to keep him from stopping them. He just put plates down in front of them all and joined them while they ate and talked.

Merlin stared wide-eyed at Arthur when he explained apparating to where Merlin had been held, then how he had tackled the man. The look in his eyes was pleased as punch, but Merlin shook his head. “You tackled a guy that had magic? Arthur! What if he’d killed you?”

Arthur shrugged. “He was hurting you, Merlin. Had been for days at that point. I wouldn’t let him do it for another minute.” His voice was hard, eyes distant, and Merlin found his hands tightening. Only a second later, Gaius reached a hand onto both of theirs.

“You’re both okay, thank goodness.” He squeezed both their hands before he pulled away, and Gaius then turned to Merlin.

“I want to hear about what happened with you,” Gaius said gently, and only that kind look on his face helped Merlin stay out of the complete panic at the thought. “But I know that Harry, he’s one of the aurors, essentially a police man of the wizard world, will want to hear it as well, and I figure you won’t want to say it twice. They’ll need to know, though so they can deal with the man that took you and anyone else that might have been involved.”

Merlin looked down at the table, taking a deep breath but forcing a nod. He knew that, of course, but the idea of talking to anyone else with magic was terrifying.

“Well, then.” Morgana spoke up, for almost the first time, besides a few muttered words through the story. “Until then, I’d like to know more about what’s going on here, Arthur.”

Arthur froze like a deer in the headlights. “Here? I just told you, and you were here for most of it, Morgana.”

Morgana glared at him. “I mean with father and you. He hasn’t even been home since I’ve been here!”

Merlin noticed the tension in his friend, and knew exactly what it was about. Arthur hadn’t told Morgana, but he had told Merlin, obviously because Merlin wasn’t directly impacted by this and was around a lot more to know how Uther was.

“I guess he’s been busy.” Arthur ate another bit of his egg, trying to act nonchalant.

“Arthur.” Morgana leaned forward, pushing her plate to the side. “He hasn’t even come home at night. What in the world is going on? Why has dad basically left you to your own devices—” She stopped suddenly, glaring at him. “How long has he been leaving you alone here? And who is he staying the night with?”

Arthur sighed and ran a hand down his face and pushed his own food away. Merlin caught Gaius’ eyes, surprised that he didn’t look very uncomfortable, just slightly worried about Arthur, and intrigued about the conversation.

Merlin mostly felt uncomfortable because he knew how hard Arthur tried to hide all of this from his sister, not because of the conversation itself.

“Morgana.” Arthur’s tone begged her to drop it, but also obviously resigned, as though knowing she never would.

“No, Arthur, you’ve been giving me half truths for years. Each letter I get from you, you never mention dad, you never mention friends, until Merlin. You’ve been as vague as you possibly can about everything in your life while still having something to write about. You never answer when I ask how you’re doing, you evade the question masterfully. I’m worried about you, Arthur. You’re my brother. I need to know what’s going on. I’ve literally told you everything I possibly can about me and school. You even knew about my pathetic crush on Leon years ago, and that embarrassing tidbit about it.”

Arthur smirked. “To be fair, your crush isn’t actually over with him, is it?”

Morgana blushed, but glared at him. “See, you evade. Arthur, please tell me what’s going on? Where is dad?”

Arthur shrugged, but sunk lower in his chair and stared at the table. “Honestly, Morgana, I don’t know. I think he’s been with a different woman every week or so,” he finally muttered. “He doesn’t usually come home at night… or really ever, other than to get some clothes or something.”

Morgana shook her head. “He’s been sleeping around that much? How long has he been like this? How long have you been practically alone here?”

Arthur’s fingers tapped the table, and when he hesitated, Morgana put a hand on his arm. “Don’t lie to me, Arthur.”

Arthur took a deep breath, then met Morgana’s gaze. “Pretty much since you left for school.”

Morgana’s eyes widened in shock. “Arthur! You were, like, eight!”

“I know.”

“He’s left you completely on your own?”

“Look, Morgana.” Arthur, well, he didn’t necessarily snap, but his tone did turn firm. “I’m fine, okay? Uther—Father works a lot. I just did my homework and I preferred it when he wasn’t home anyway. He had a lot of expectations from me, and all he’d ever talk about was how I had to get good grades, and which classes to take, and that I’d—” He cut himself off, realizing he’d said more than he’d intended. “I’m fine,” he repeated.

Morgana’s eyes had widened, a hint of sadness in them, but Merlin heard something loud from the other room, and all of a sudden random footsteps shot Merlin out of his seat, his back quickly finding the wall away from the family room as his body began to shake. The others reacted quickly, Arthur and Gaius both moving to comfort Merlin, while Morgana took off into the family room.

“Merlin, it’s okay, it’s probably just Harry or Headmistress McGonagall. They’re just here to talk. Remember, none of us will let anyone hurt you or take you away,” Arthur soothed, hand on his arm. The footsteps stopped in the other room, instead voices filling the air, and at the friendly tone they took Merlin was slowly able to calm his breathing, though his heart still beat frantically at the idea of meeting anyone new or having to explain all that had happened to him.

A man with black hair and glasses walked in, followed by a tall older lady who looked strict, yet… she also gave him a genuine little smile, a look of careful concern and warmth. It reminded him a bit of Gaius, if he was honest, and that thought immediately soothed his breathing further, though his hands still trembled violently.

Harry, he presumed, looked at him, stopping in the entrance with a little smile. “Merlin. It’s so good to see you up and okay.” He sighed with an obvious relief. “You’re looking a lot better already.”

Merlin tried to force words out, something, anything, but nothing came out. He just stared at them and bit his lip.

“We just wanted to come chat for a little bit, and to make sure you’re okay.” It was the lady this time. “How about we sit down?”

Merlin kept an eye on both of them, grabbing Arthur’s sleeve and practically hauling him mostly in front of him as he made his way to the furthest chair at the table from them two wizards, Arthur just letting him do so with a slight smirk on his face. The other two caught on and luckily stayed on the other side of the room. Though Merlin figured it wouldn’t do much if they could use magic on him, it still made him feel better. And having Arthur and Gaius sit beside him, then Morgana settling more on their side than the other wizards side, helped amplify the feeling of safety and gratitude. He was just grateful that Morgana seemed to choose keeping Merlin safe over sitting with her wizard peers, and her near haughty and very protective look told Merlin no one would get past her.

“Do you feel better? We were told that you were healing a lot of the injuries by yourself, but that you managed to get some potions down that could help. Are you still in pain?”

Merlin’s hands were trembling on the table. He stared at them, then noticed Arthur move to casually put his hands on the table as well, in Merlin’s obvious reach. It wasn’t until Merlin grabbed hold of the other teenager’s arm that he was finally able to speak.
“A little. Mostly… mostly just tired, though.” Merlin gave them a quick look, but couldn’t quite meet their eyes, even though he was very aware of every move they made.

It was the truth, he was overly drained, the emotions, resonant fear, pain, and how his brain was having such a difficult time at focusing on anything other than his captivity. The pain in him was minute comparatively, but he definitely felt sore all over.

“Do you think you can explain to us what happened?” Harry’s voice stayed soothing, but Merlin felt his hand tighten on Arthur as he fought hard not to cry or run away or something.

Arthur nudged him with his knee under the table; an encouragement and a silent support.

“You don’t have to explain it all, not now at least, but we just need to know how many people we should be dealing with, and the basics of what has happened,” McGonagall quickly told him.

Merlin took a breath, then slowly nodded.

As his friend drew in a breath, Arthur couldn’t help the mental head shake. Merlin was the most resilient kid he knew. Having grown up with magic that he could never share with anyone and being fairly ostracized because of it; losing his mother in such a traumatic way; having to make do on the streets practically by himself while Gaius strove to find work to keep their heads above the water, so to speak; and now this.

And yet Merlin still drew himself up, met their gaze, and started his experience in a quiet tone. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t able to keep their gaze longer than a few seconds, or that his hand was trembling on Arthur’s arm. Didn’t matter that he had to stop quite a few times. Didn’t matter that he so very obviously skipped over quite a lot of it.

It had started as what Merlin presumed was just standard process when a kid did magic ‘underage out of school’, and continued to where it took the worse turn.

“When I did magic in front of him the first time, he… well, I guess he got interested. I-I don’t know exactly what happened after that, but next time I was aware, I was in a new place, the… room I was found in.

“There he—” His fingers dug into his own arm, and Gaius reached across to release them. Merlin gave his uncle a quick glance, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge him. His eyes were distant, face going paler, when Harry finally leaned forward.

“Merlin, don’t go there. Come back to us. You don’t need to explain everything, but you do need to stay with us.”

Merlin quickly, jarringly, looked back up. His breathing had turned heavy, but after a long moment of staring at Harry, he was able to nod again.

“He, uh.. He did something in my mind. Over and over. In my memories, I think. Seemed to try and… I don’t know, search for something.” Merlin used his free hand to grab the end of the table, as though using it to ground him.

“Legilimency,” Harry supplied, looking slightly sick at the thought. “Go on.”

“A doctor type guy was there. I mean… he was dressed like a doctor, but he was doing what the man asked him to. He took some of my blood. Wanted to see if my genetics or makeup was different.” Merlin licked his lips a moment, but he didn’t look as though his attention was drifting too far this time, just more gathering what to say.

“Then I saw there was a lady, maybe about thirty-three. She just talked to, uh… you know, the other guy.” He paused a moment, his hands shaking as he messed with them. “The last one… I don’t know. She wore a lot of pink. Short hair, and uh… She was really annoying. Even though the guy is the one that snatched me and took me and was in charge, it was almost like this lady was the one really in charge, but a little more behind the scenes. She freaked me out because she acted as though she was kind, but she was… she had a look in her eyes.”

Harry gave McGonagall a look, then refocused on Merlin. “Can you describe the others for us? We already know the one that was standing over you. What about the other three?”

Merlin shrugged. “A little, I guess.” He closed his eyes, furrowing his eyebrows. “The doctor had brown hair, with some red in it. It was about your length, Harry, but more wavy instead of straight. He also had a close-shaved beard. He wore glasses. I think he had a scar over his eyebrow. He seemed tall, but it’s hard to tell since I was laying down.

“The woman was shorter than the first guy, blond hair. Narrow face and a pinched look to her.” Merlin opened his eyes back up. “That’s about all I saw of her. The last lady… Well, she was… well, she wore a lot of pink, like I said. Short. Annoying. Had a weird clearing of her voice or something. That’s all I really know about them.”

Harry nodded. “No worries.” He looked over at McGonagall, and, as though signaling her, she leaned forward and cleared her throat.

“There is one other thing we wanted to talk to you about.” She smiled briefly. “Just about… well, about yours and Arthur’s… connection through the magic.”

Merlin tightened his hand on Arthur, looking at him a moment. “I don’t really know anything about it. I don’t know why it attached itself to him, and I don’t understand how my magic works,” Merlin said, almost desperately, his trembling picking up again.

“Hey, hey.” Harry put his hands up, non-threatening. “Merlin, you don’t have to know the answer. We are not going to force you or anything. We are only wondering because… well, because we were wondering if you’d be interested in coming to school. And if you did so, we’d need to figure out about Arthur as well, since he apparently has access to your magic, in whatever limited way he does.” As Merlin tensed again, McGonagall spoke up.

“Merlin, we are not going to make you come to school. But we do suggest either school or some sort of tutor. Someone who can teach you about magic, how to use it and everything.”

Something lit in Merlin’s eyes. “You think you can… you can teach me? E-even though my magic is different?”

“I think we can give it a go, and you’d be in a place where it’s safe to try practicing.” McGonagall smiled warmly at him.

Arthur could see him processing, while Arthur himself sat, contemplating, mind swirling, almost in shock. Was she saying what it sounded like? Were they suggesting Arthur go with them, possibly? To Hogwarts? even though he didn’t have magic?

He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but something in him, something he’d squandered when he didn’t get the acceptance letter at age eleven, lit up again.

But he didn’t say anything. He needed to know for sure first, and it sounded like it was dependent on what Merlin wanted to do anyway, and Merlin wasn’t answering.

At the long silence, as Merlin fidgeted more, opened his mouth once, but immediately snapped it shut, Harry chuckled softly.

“Merlin, you don’t have to decide right now.” He eyed the both of them, then Gaius. “Talk it over. If you have questions, send Morgana an owl, and we’ll come back to talk. You can also send her your answer if you’d like. We will let you be for as long as you need, but just think on what we’ve said, and we’ll send a book about Hogwarts and magic, and pros and cons, in our minds at least, of being there.”

“Okay.” Merlin nodded. Harry didn’t require anything more, as he stood, McGonagall following the movement.

“Morgana, let’s get you back to school,” McGonagall told her.

“Can I follow in a few?” Morgana asked, giving her her best pleading — manipulative — smile. Arthur hid a smirk behind a hand. “I’d like to say goodbye.”

“Of course. Just come back to my office.”

“Will do,” Morgana agreed, then turned to Merlin with a soft smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she told him as she pulled him into a hug. “Think about coming. It would be amazing to see you guys there, and I promise it’s a good place. More protected than anywhere else from outsiders. There’s some good people there.” She pulled away with a smirk. “And some idiots, but that’s nothing new.”

“I’ll think about it,” Merlin agreed quietly, not quite able to meet her eyes.

Morgana nodded, then gave Gaius a quick hug. “It was good to meet you,” she said genuinely.

“You as well, my dear.” Gaius squeezed her in the hug. “Let me know how those nightmares of yours do.”

Arthur had obviously missed something.

“I will.”

She pulled away and brought Arthur quickly into a tight hug, making him gasp. He should be used to her moving like that, but it seemed to surprise him each time she did it. Probably because she didn’t do it every time.

“Send me letters,” she whispered. “I hope to be able to see you soon. And I’m sorry I’ve never known about… well, you know, how dad was with you. I still want to know everything.”

Arthur shrugged. “It’s not that big of deal, ‘Gana,” he muttered, just burying his face in her shoulder. It was always hard to say goodbye to her.

“It is, Arthur. Because I care about you. Because you should have been treated better by father. You’re the best brother out there, and I don’t ever want you hurting.”

Arthur just tightened his grip, taking a few deep breaths before he pulled away.

“Love you, sis.”

“Love you too, bro.” She smiled at him, then left the room, a bounce in her step, yet she also somehow always seems able to glide elegantly. He wasn’t sure how she did both at the same time.

They didn’t really specify either way, Arthur thought. They hinted at it, hinted at Arthur possibly going to school with Merlin, if he chose to do so. Maybe they didn’t know for sure. Arthur didn’t really have magic, but also… he sort of did.

It was Merlin’s magic, but he felt it, and could sort of access it. It wasn’t much, but…

He might be able to go to Hogwarts too.

Chapter Text

Hey, everyone! The last chapter is the last that I have (so far) for this segment of the first part. The next part of the story will be posted as another work, so check it out. It is called The Warlock and the Dragonlord: Hogwarts. It'll be updated on here sometime tonight! Update: My first chapter of the next work (same story) is now posted! I hope you find it and enjoy the read! I still might add more to this story, so I'm going to keep it as incomplete until I decide for sure. If anyone wants to see more scenes from this part of the story, let me know!