Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Arthur discovered the most amazing thing during the summer.

Butterbeer.

One of the times Morgana apparated them to Hogmeade they decided to go get some. And why Arthur had never had it while he was actually at school was a wonder, but he sure wished he could drink gallons of the stuff now.

Merlin found the drink tasty enough, but it was a little sweet for his taste, so he didn’t understand the craze as much as Arthur did. But Leon and Percival had a special weakness for the stuff, so they became his butterbeer buddies. Granted, they all went as a group to Hogmeade, but the three of them were the ones who really liked Butterbeer, while others went to get treats elsewhere.

Merlin was the exception, of course, as he usually stayed glued to Arthur, but Morgana had gotten used to getting him something from elsewhere, her and Gwen finding it enjoyable to find the strangest things and convince Merlin — and sometimes Arthur and the others — to try them. It usually turned out to be Merlin or Gwaine, as those are the two that allowed themselves to be overly dramatic in trying it, usually causing them all to laugh.

Arthur tried to do as much as he could outside of his own house, even though Uther had seemingly calmed down from his drunken revelation. It wasn’t near as awkward at hom as it had been over the break, and Arthur wondered if Morgana had a talk with Uther about everything, or if the man was finally coming to terms with everything. But this summer might have been the most relaxed Arthur had ever been around his dad, without such high expectations from the man about him performing his best, or the undercut words laced with derogation. It was… nice, and weird. But he still wasn’t entirely comfortable being there all day.

So, yeah, they met at Hogsmeade or parks quite a bit.

As Arthur sat at the table, keeping both hands wrapped around his butterbeer so that Gwaine (who’d arrived back before the others) couldn’t steal a swig from his. Percival was more giving in that sense, acting annoyed, but letting Gwaine steal many swallows. Merlin was distracted with getting Lanka to play with a string while she sat on his lap, ignoring how her little claws and teeth occasionally caught his fingers as well, so Gwaine was easily able to steal sips of his as well. Ever since their strange combined vision, or whatever one wanted to call it, Merlin tended to relax even more around the others, even wandering off at times to talk to them instead of always staying with Arthur. He was especially good with Gwen, Gwaine, and Lance.

As soon as the others arrived and settled around the table with various treats, Leon leaned toward Morgana. “So have you heard back yet? About that job?”

Arthur looked up to hear the answer. Morgana had applied for a couple different jobs now, having graduated school this last year. It was sad that she was done, and she even admitted she would miss being able to merely study all the time. She had applied for a job as a journalist, a translator for ancient runes, and a curse-breaker. Her interests were wide, and she stood by the fact that she wanted to try many different avenues, so she had always kept her subjects broad and filled her plate as full as she could each year at school, and took summer classes many years as well. She had always been studying, like Arthur himself had been.

“Yes.” Morgana flashed a grin and leaned forward. “I heard back from the journalist and the curse-breaking job. They both said they’d take me on. The best things about both of those, is that they can both work with a schedule I want to set, and its more of a case by case situation as well. So I think they’ll be decent to try at the same time until I decide if I want to go with one of the ways or keep both.”

“That’ll be amazing,” Leon said genuinely.

“What about you, Leon?” Morgana asked him. Leon, too, graduated. It was going to be so strange to not have their whole group at school next year.

“I got in for training in the Magical Law Enforcement.” He was obviously trying not to look too pleased, almost succeeding in keeping his face neutral. “Harry said that if I keep working at it, he thinks I would be really good as an auror as well, but to be honest, I think I prefer to be more… general law enforcement. I don’t think I’d like to go chasing around for the really dark wizards.”

“Regular human criminals are bad enough,” Gwen inserted in agreement. “I couldn’t even imagine chasing ones with magic, let alone ones like… well, Voldemort or Bellatrix.” She shuddered.

“Or Umbridge,” Morgana muttered. Arthur didn’t know her, but he’d heard his sister say awful things about her, hating how she became the headmistress for a while. At the groans of a few of the others, he realized the feeling was mutual.

They caught his look. “No, seriously she was the worst,” Lance agreed. “I was only Year One, and my parents wanted to take me out of school when they heard, but they wouldn’t allow them to.”

Arthur felt how Merlin startled. “They wouldn’t let you?” He asked. Arthur wondered if he was the only one to notice the slight paling of his face, knowing the idea of being trapped in a place would panic him.

“No, it had gotten bad with Voldemort and his followers. At the time the Ministry didn’t believe he’d come back, so they cracked down on the school quite a bit, for whatever reason.” Lance leaned back in his seat, eyes distant. “They sent in Umbridge, mostly as a teacher at first, to see how the school was managing under Dumbledore— as Dumbledore was one of the main people insisting that Voldemort was back — and she wedged her way into more and more as time went on.”

“She was seriously the most annoying person ever,” Morgause added. “I wanted to hex her so bad.”

“I think we all did,” Morgana agreed, while Gwen nodded. Sweet Gwen nodded.

She must have been horrible then.

“She had this… this clearing of her throat, a sort of ahem.” Gwaine rolled his eyes after he mimicked the high sound, and all the others either groaned, rolled their eyes, or covered their ears at his obvious attempt.

“No! Don’t do it, its giving me flashbacks,” Mordred said, shaking his head and covering his ears. Arthur wasn’t sure if he was being entirely serious or not.

“It was a nightmare. She made up all these rules and restrictions. She wouldn’t even let us practice useful magic, and she handed out detention slips like they were candy. She wore pink all the time, and loved cats.” Gwaine shook his head, as though he couldn’t believe it.

It was subtle, Arthur barely even noticed the change in his magic, but as the others kept on talking about some of their experiences, Arthur finally did catch on to the slow spread of coldness filling his gut, and he instinctively looked over to Merlin, who looked as though he’d suddenly been struck, eyes glazed, and right hand suddenly clenched on his left wrist on his lap, fingernails digging into his skin.

Arthur tried to be subtle, leaning slightly closer. “Merlin? You okay?”

Merlin jerked out of it, noticing his gaze, then a few of the others who turned their attention to him. He stumbled to his feet. “I’ll, uh, I’ll be back,” he said hastily, quickly rushing away, despite Gwaine’s worried call.

“What did we say?” Lance asked, worried.

Arthur’s eyebrows furrowed for a long moment, before suddenly the connection snapped into place as a memory of Merlin’s report after his kidnapping came to him. “The last lady… Well, she was… she wore a lot of pink, like I said. Short. Annoying. Had a weird clearing of her throat or something. That’s all I really know about them.”

Arthur swore and scrambled to his feet to follow after. He caught sight of Morgana’s confused gaze as he moved, and gave her a look, hoping she’d pick it up from the pieces already shared. She furrowed her eyes, then the confusion cleared nearly as fast as his own had, as she too swore.

“Should I come too?” She asked.

“No, let me try first,” Arthur answered. She nodded reluctantly.

“I’ll come in just a few minutes then.” Arthur didn’t bother to respond.

“What is it?” He heard Gwaine ask Morgana as he followed after Merlin. His friend hadn’t made it far, and Arthur always had a trace to him anyway. But he heard Morgana quietly start to explain the situation. They all now knew about Merlin’s abduction, and they also knew that he didn’t really like discussing it. But Merlin had woken up with screams quite a few nights in their dorm room during the school year, and Gwaine and Leon had questioned what had happened. On one of Merlin’s vulnerable nights, as Arthur fought to calm him back down, Gwaine’s questioning and Leon’s gentle patience had him cracking and telling a piece of the story. He’d felt they owed it to them, since they slept in the same room and he kept waking them up.

They’d always been supportive after that, and neither had spread the information themselves, but Merlin had slowly told the people he felt safe with; Gwen, because she was a sweetheart, and nobody could keep a secret from her; Lance because he already knew a part of it from his father; Percival when Merlin had fallen asleep on the couch in their common room — while Percival had been visiting with Gwaine — and had suffered from a nightmare then too. The only one he hadn’t told in their ‘brotherhood’ was Mordred, and he knew his friend still wasn’t too comfortable with the kid that would never stop staring at him. Arthur did think that the staring was lessening, at least. Maybe. Or at least becoming less irritating.

He found Merlin down a path out of Hogsmeade, sitting on a rock in some trees with his knees drawn to his chest. He wasn’t crying, but he was rather still, Lanka laying on his legs with her face peeking out by his knees, her face rubbing against his chest and neck.

Arthur didn’t say a word, just moved — instinctively loudly, with dealing Merlin — to sit beside his friend on the rock. He waited a moment before he put his arm carefully over his shoulders.

It took several long moments before Merlin heaved a breath and leaned into him, head on his shoulder.

“Umbridge, huh?” Arthur finally ventured.

“Sounds like it would be the same person,” Merlin spoke quietly. “She was terrible. I overheard her tell the man — you know the man that, uh…” Arthur nodded, so Merlin didn’t have to continue. “She told him… told him that my magic was obviously different. That they needed to figure out a way to access it. Maybe to cut me open to figure out if I was the same as other wizards… you know, same muscles and blood and stuff. And she… she wanted to take my magic and use it herself. Or use a… a curse, I don’t know what it was, but one that could essentially control me. She said maybe she could have access to my magic that way, if nothing else.” Merlin’s eyebrows furrowed.

“So, like, the imperius curse?” Arthur asked, concern in his voice.

“I think so.” Merlin nodded once. “The man convinced her to try it his way first, to search the memories and see what I knew, what I was.” He snorted. “Good luck with that, when I didn’t even know what I was or what I could do. He wanted to try the memories first, and check my genetics. Then he wanted to try a few experimental spells on me, to see if he could drain the magic from me. But I think my magic kinda… chased it off. When that didn’t work, he got angry and used the cruciatus spell and I—” His voice caught. “I thought I was going to die. It hurt so bad, I thought he was killing me. My magic felt so weak after that, and I was shaking so hard, and I couldn’t-couldn’t breathe—”

He was spiraling. Arthur turned his friend, and pulled him tight. “Shh… hold on Merlin, you’re okay, you’re not there, you’re with me, alright? You’re with me.”

Merlin shuddered in his arms, nodding and calming down quicker than Arthur expected.

That had been the most in depth Merlin had ever gotten about the abuse he’d suffered, at least with Arthur. He’d talk a little to Arthur or Gaius after a nightmare, but never much. He wondered if the therapist had ever heard more of it.

“Thanks, Arthur. I think I needed to talk about it.” Merlin shifted up and wiped his tears. “I feel like most of the time I’m doing fine, then something out of the blue like this hits me.”

Before Arthur could respond, they heard footsteps coming from the trail and watched as their friends entered the clearing, somber looks on their face. They didn’t say anything right away. Gwen came and sat on Merlin’s other side, slinging a hand through his arm. Morgana sat next to Arthur. The others came close, within just a few feet of each other, and Lance was the one to put a firm hand on Merlin’s shoulder.

“We’ve got you, Merlin. Anytime, alright? You and Arthur? You’re part of our brotherhood now.” There was a slight smirk as he used the word, knowing it would hit all those who’d been a part of the vision. Pretty much all but Morgause, but Morgause really was a hundred percent in their corner too, and they all knew it.

Merlin settled and managed a deep breath. “Thanks.”

“And I’m sorry about Umbridge. I’d hated her before, but now I really am wishing I had hexed her,” Gwen added.

They all, including Merlin, chuckled at that — probably because of the fierceness in her tone. Gwen was a sweetheart, but she also didn’t let anyone treat any of her friends wrong. She was a fighter for what is right, and had quite the backbone, despite, or maybe because of, her genuine kindness.

“Should have hexed her with purple warts,” Percival muttered.

“Maybe pink.” Gwaine laughed. “Since she was such a big fan of it, and all.”

That set them all off laughing, debating the best curses for quite a few minutes and joking around until Merlin seemed to calm down again, the goofy smile once again lighting up his face.

And Arthur let himself relax as well, glad to have such good friends.

Chapter Text

Arthur had planned to stay silent as Morgana and his father talked. Usually that was about how it went unless Morgana of Uther spoke to him. That’s how it had been for years. Morgana had just assumed that Arthur was too shy or quiet, with how he was always quiet at home, and didn’t hang out with friends. He’d light up with Morgana, sat with her for hours, but she had never really seen him like that with anyone else, not even their father.

Until Merlin at least.

But after she’d become aware of how Uther treated Arthur, and the fact that they weren’t actually related, Morgana had gotten more observant and protective.

And Arthur would have thought Uther would take to that poorly, since he’d never seemed to care much for Arthur, but loved Morgana.
But it seemed the opposite had happened instead.

Honestly, Arthur had tried to avoid dinners or any other times with his father ever since he’d found out the truth about his heritage, but Morgana had wanted to do family dinner, and Arthur couldn’t deny his sister anything, especially not when she wouldn’t be at school next year.

“How have classes been going for you, Arthur?” The sudden question froze a forkful of food halfway to Arthur’s mouth. He put it back onto his plate, letting it go and grasping his hands together in his lap.

“It’s uh… it’s been fine,” Arthur muttered, eyes flicking momentarily at his sister who was looking at him encouragingly before looking back at Uther. What else was he supposed to say? He was rather terrible at pretty much everything at the school magic-wise, but they were also pretty sure they knew the reason behind that now, so it didn’t frustrate himself as bad anymore. Neither he nor Merlin really belonged in the school, but there also was no other place that anyone knew of that could teach them more about what they were.

“He gets some of the best grades out of everyone there,” Morgana boasted for him.

“Of course he does,” Uther stated simply, and Arthur had to blink as he realized that he could detect no sarcasm or underlying heavier expectation in his tone, and Morgana shot him a look that Arthur couldn’t decipher at the moment, still replaying the words in his head. Had that been pride in his tone? Arthur had straight A’s his entire life, and he didn’t think his dad had ever shown pride in what he’d done. When they were at parties, he’d talk to others about Arthur’s future in the company if he were to keep up grades. Or he’d briefly mention another class or extracurricular Arthur should take to help for when he becomes the heir to the company, but he’d never spoken with anything similar to pride. At least not in front of Arthur.

But the surety of his voice now… was the man proud? Did he talk to others about him?

Or was it just wishful thinking on his part?

“I, uh… I haven’t really been able to do anything with magic,” Arthur inserted, sure that proud tone would leave once the man knew what a failure he really was. “I don’t know why my magic is weird, but it doesn’t work like Morgana’s.” He wasn’t sure why he told his father that, but he knew that he hadn’t really done anything impressive in the school. There really wasn’t any reason for him to stay in Hogwarts, as the muggle studies in that school was far inferior to what he could be doing at his old regular school, and if he couldn’t even use the magic being taught, he truly should just leave. But he really didn’t want to. He loved it there, he liked being with Merlin, and he enjoyed having their group of friends.

He even liked the school as a whole. Learning about magic was interesting, even if he wasn’t able to use it. This was what he’d wanted his whole life, he couldn’t imagine leaving it now.

“That doesn’t matter.” Morgana waved her hand dismissively, a hint of an eye roll in her expression.

Arthur arched an eyebrow at her. “The whole point of Hogwarts is magic, and I can’t even use it? I think it does matter.”

“It really doesn’t. You’ve already proven you have magic. Just because it’s different than everyone else’s, doesn’t mean its worse. In fact, it just makes it more cool. Hogwarts might not have the right knowledge for your kind of magic, but it will still help you understand it as a whole, and maybe something you learn will teach you what you need.” Morgana was firm, her eyes almost glaring at Arthur. “Now how about you stop being your own worst critic?”

Arthur looked briefly at his father, then back down at his hands. He’d been driving his fingernails into the sensitive skin on the underside of his wrists, creating half crescent moons to the skin that was showing from the sleeves pushed up from his grip. Any more and he would have been making himself bleed. It wouldn’t have been the first time, but he hadn’t purposely — or really accidentally — hurt himself enough to draw blood since he’d met Merlin.

And yet, that temptation was always right under the surface. He held his grip another long moment, not sure if he could get himself to let go.

“Arthur.” Morgana’s voice softened and he looked up at her. She was staring at him with the softest look in her eyes, and even Uther was looking at him carefully. Arthur wasn’t sure what he was thinking. The man had a random kid that he’d raised as a son, a kid that wasn’t normal, but also wasn’t exactly a wizard. He didn’t know what he was, even though there’d been talk of possibly being a Dragonlord of some sort. But they had no information on what that was.

How could a man so successful as Uther, and a sister so perfect as Morgana ever be proud of him? How could he have expected them to?

His hand shook on his arm, and he forced a smile. “Yeah, alright,” he agreed, just to get their attention off him. “Hey, did Morgana tell you that she got that job yet—?” He cut himself off from calling Uther father. He wasn’t really his dad. His real father either didn’t know or didn’t care about him, and Uther didn’t seem to want him either.

The coldness in his gut at the thought became nearly overpowering, so he tried to focus on the situation of the other two.

“I’ve got two jobs, they’re both part-time and flexible, so that’s really nice,” Morgana was saying.

“So what will you be doing?” Uther asked his daughter, the smile lighting up his face, full attention on her. And the more Morgana talked, the more distracted she became as well. Arthur shifted back to the background, a much preferred place for him in general, but especially in this house.

He tuned out of the conversation, mind drifting, hand not shifting from it’s bruising grip. He didn’t tighten to draw blood, but neither could he get himself to let go. His head felt like it was aching; a hollow, fatigued part of him slipping further into darkness, something deep inside concaving at the though of having to continue doing this.

And then, as quickly as that feeling pressed upon him, a new one jumped in; one he was becoming more and more accustomed to. It was the feeling he associated not only with Merlin’s magic, but with Merlin himself. A light, an acceptance, a warmth. It filled his gut. As though Merlin himself was there, it spread. It felt like his friend casually leaning into his side, placing a hand on his shoulder, giving him a hug, or joking around with their friends.

Pure Merlin.

It was something that nobody else was able to give him, and it seemed to go deeper than just their magic connection. The moment Merlin had snapped at him before they had even officially met, he’d felt something, because that moment had lasted with Arthur until they’d fully met about a year later due to Merlin saving him from bullies.

—Which, now that the thought about it, felt backwards. Merlin was often so scared of other people, that Arthur couldn’t imagine the guts it took him to stand up to bullies. Granted, that was to save someone else, and it was before he’d been kidnapped.

His hand finally relaxed its grip. He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his palms before grabbing his fork again, only recognizing the panicked heartbeat that sounded in his ears now that he was calming again.

He should not feel this much anxiety over one question and a dinner with his family.

Slowly working on his food, he let the voices wash over him until they finally appeared to be finishing up eating. As soon as Morgana was getting to her feet to take the plate to the sink, Arthur was ready to follow her, but Uther stopped him, waving Morgana on.

“Son, I uh…” His father cleared his throat awkwardly, and Arthur’s heart skipped a beat again — he’d just gotten it calmed down, blast it! “I’m glad that you’re enjoying Hogwarts. You’ve seemed to be happy there with your sister and your friend, Marvin.”

Arthur snorted a startled chuckle. “It’s Merlin.”

“Right. That’s right.” Uther looked uncomfortable, eyes flicking away before meeting Arthur’s gaze again. “Just, I’m glad you’re liking it. It’s been weird having both my… uh… both of you out of the house all the time.”

Arthur studied the man, still waiting for the other shoe to drop. His father had never been intentionally cruel, but the high expectations and obvious disappointment that Arthur wasn’t Morgana and somehow wasn’t measuring up had built up over the years, and now Arthur couldn’t expect anything else from the man he thought was his dad.

“Thanks.” Arthur tried for a weak smile. “It’s been strange to be there too, you know? It’s very different from here. Sometimes I miss being in the city and…” It was awkward to realize that he truly had such little time with his father to not know what he would miss with the man. Maybe the occasional mornings that his dad would cook before they both had to go to work or school, and they would have a little discussion before they both left.

Now that he thought about it, those mornings probably were his favorite memories with his dad. It might be one of the few times that he was not judging Arthur’s progress.

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to say the words, trying to extend an olive branch, much like it felt like Uther was doing for him. “I miss breakfasts with you, I know they were always rushed and all, but…” He swallowed hard, wanting to fidget but forcing himself not to.

And to his greatest surprise, he saw Uther’s eyes light up, though he seemed to be trying to fight down a smile. “Oh yeah? You’re here for the summer, right? I know Morgana likes her beauty sleep, but you’re welcome to join me in the kitchen. I leave for work around nine usually recently.”

“Yeah, okay.” Arthur blinked, eyebrows furrowing momentarily. His dad actually wanted to spend time with him? What had changed?

But there was no way Arthur could say no. He’d been hurt by the man, quite constantly with the way he’d been looked down on for so long. He wasn’t even sure if his dad was aware of how much he’d been putting on Arthur’s shoulders. Was it a case of just wanting the best for him but doing it in the wrong ways, or genuine hatred?

And he’d never forget the drunken words when his dad revealed that he wasn’t actually his son. Arthur had never felt so unloved and unwanted before.

But he’d always craved the same closeness that he and Morgana had, and if there was even a chance…

He would take it. He had to.

Chapter Text

Merlin swayed gently on the swing, enjoying the feel of the breeze today. It was still warm enough that it was enjoyable outside and that a breeze actually felt refreshing instead of chilling. Arthur was laying on grass outside of the woodchip playground as they waited for their friends to arrive. Merlin had been bored yesterday, as Gaius was off at the clinic until later today. Arthur had come over last night after his dinner and had ended up crashing at Merlin’s place, which he did fairly consistently since he didn’t feel comfortable over at Uther’s house anymore when he knew how the man felt about him.

He had told Merlin about the conversation he’d had with the man, and the worries that he had about whether his dad was being genuine. Merlin was worried about that as well, knowing how his father had treated him, but Merlin also didn’t know the whole story. He knew there’d been a bit of neglect, and extreme expectations, but never outright hostility and never hitting, but it had still hurt Arthur deeply in a way that his friend was only beginning to recognize.

And yet, it was clear that Arthur wanted a relationship with his father, so Merlin tried to be encouraging, even while they were both obviously wary.

They had talked for a little while, then resorted to playing games. That was when Gwaine had messaged them all in a group chat to see if they would want to go to a fair together the next day — today.

They were meeting at the park in town since Gwen’s and Elyan’s father knew the man who owned the fair and if they went with them, they’ll all get a discount to get in. Merlin and Arthur had purposely arrived before the others, enjoying the warmth of the sun. Merlin was pretty sure Arthur was playing a game on his phone.

Merlin swung himself a little higher, relaxing his shoulders as he did so. He let his face fall toward the sky, closing his eyes in the brightness and enjoying the heat on his face.

It had been a long time since he’d really been able to relax like this. For so long after his kidnapping, he’d been tense and terrified. But between his new friends and some good help with therapy at the school, he’d really been able to settle down.

He startled as the loud pop — a sound he’d begun to recognize as someone apparating — was heard from the bench near Arthur. Arthur sat up and Merlin saw Morgana appear, looking rather frazzled and still in pajamas. Morgana looked around, catching sight of the two of them immediately.

“Morgana?” Arthur stood up quickly at seeing the panic in his sister. Morgana ran to him, grabbed his arm, and quickly dragged him along to Merlin as well, stepping down into the woodship pit with one large step that almost had Arthur tripping after her. At seeing her, Merlin too had slowed his swing to a stop and stood.

“We have to leave. Now!” She snapped as she moved with intent focus toward Merlin. Merlin strode to reach her.

“What’s going on?” Arthur asked, though he was clearly ready to do as Morgana said.

“I had a dream. I mean, a nightmare. But it felt… Arthur, it felt so real! It was here, at this park. You two were attacked. We need to get out of here.” They reached each other right at the playset and Morgana grabbed Merlin’s arm with a hand that still held a wand, ready to apparate them out of there.

Before she could, Merlin heard a ‘Stupefy’ yelled out across the yard, and suddenly Arthur stiffened and collapsed like a board, arm coming free from Morgana’s hand. Merlin and Morgana instinctively squatted, Merlin’s heartbeat picking up wildly as he looked around until he saw four people dressed in robes heading toward the woodchip pit, wands out. A few spells had gone over their heads, and Merlin ducked down further, slipping behind the slide and helping Morgana pull Arthur underneath to help block any further spells.

As soon as they did so, Morgana quickly said a spell to help remove the curse from Arthur. With how fast she worked, Merlin knew that she truly would be good in her new curse-breaking job. He’d seen her do it before, but never in the heat of a stressful situation like this.

Arthur grabbed for his wand once he was able to move again, even though Merlin knew that he’d be pretty useless with it. He still wasn’t really able to do anything that didn’t have anything to do with dragons or finding Merlin. Merlin himself could do better with magic now, but in the midst of his panic, it was like any instinct to protect suddenly fled his brain. He literally couldn’t think of anything to do as his airways started to restrict.

Morgana popped up from behind the slide a few times, shouting spells, and Arthur followed her move. Even though his magic didn’t work, having a second person probably made it look more threatening.

It seemed to work. No one approached them, rather just shot spell after spell, mainly ones like stupefy. They weren’t wanting to kill them. At least not yet.

But while Merlin was panicking and the others were fighting the four shooting at them, no one noticed the one that slipped behind them. Merlin only noticed when he felt a forceful tug pulling him firmly back against someones chest. He could see Arthur treated just as roughly, someone wrenching his wand out of his hand roughly enough that Merlin figured he’d have splinters if the wands were any less well-made.

“Merlin! Arthur! Morgana!” Merlin heard a couple shouts from behind, seeing Leon, Percival, and Gwaine running up to meet them, casting a few spells, some that immediately stupefied those holding them before they could turn to face the new threats. Merlin and Arthur were dropped back down to the ground, and Merlin scrambled far from their now paralyzed reach.

They were underage using magic outside Hogwarts. Someone should show up soon, right?

But then that thought brought Merlin into another tailspin, remembering the Ministry worker standing over him. The Ministry was supposed to be good. Harry was good, but not all of them were. His ribs were protesting, hands clenching on the woodchips below him.

“Woah, Merlin.” He heard Lance’s voice suddenly. When did he get there? “Come on, Merlin, you’re okay Breathe.”

Pathetic, he thought, feeling tears burning his eyes. The others were fighting, protecting him and Arthur, and here Merlin was, having a panic attack. Even Arthur, who could use the magic, was doing more than him.

You can panic later, he told himself, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to stop spiraling. The feel of Arthur’s hand suddenly gripping his wrist, and the soothing magic his friend was purposely sending, helped to further calm him, allowing him to unclench his hands from the pieces of wood that probably gave him splinters.

Merlin looked up, finding Elyan and Gwen there helping with the fight too. How long had he been panic while the others fought? Most of them were under the playset with them, but Elyan and Gwen we fighting from behind trees behind the wizards trying to get them. Lance helping Arthur try to get Merlin up and moving.

“Come on, let’s get you up,” Arthur murmured. “We need to get out of here.”

Merlin nodded. Forcing shaky knees up and under him, he looked around, realizing there was more than just four wizards he’d seen before and the two that had grabbed them. Quite a few wizards were on the ground, but so were some of Merlin’s friends. Stupified only, he told himself forcefully, hoping he was right. He watched Mordred jump after his wand that lay a few feet on the ground after it was expelled from his hand.

Morgana was crouched over Leon, who had obviously been stupified, reversing the curse. He heard someone yell out, not sure who, and the spells and the magic in the air around him was intense. The noise, the shouting, and spells popping, and cries of occasional pain. The wizards and his friends alike were rushing around and everything was moving too quick for him to follow.

Suddenly everything snapped.

He felt the magic leave him, half purposeful, half on it’s own, reaching out to pull his friends into a protective bubble, literally jerking them off their feet and causing them to fly closer to them until they were practically in around Merlin. Most of them didn’t manage to stick to their feet at the landing. The magic acted as a shock wave to anyone else, every attacking wizard went flying back quite a few feet, landing on their backs.

At the same time, he felt his magic quickly assess and heal any injury that his friends had. The magic swirled. He felt it draining from him into the air and the people around him. It absorbed excess magic as its own and then rushed back toward Merlin.

The last thing Merlin saw was the astonished looks on his friends faces, right before he passed out.

Arthur barely managed to catch Merlin, and was grateful that Lance quickly stepped in as well, keeping a tight grip as a few others rushed toward them, and others helped each other off the ground. Gwen peered into Merlin’s face. While Mordred and Elyan hovered nearby.

“Is he okay?” She asked worriedly.

“I think so.” Arthur nodded, taking a moment to tap into Merlin’s magic. He knew that any magic use took it out of Merlin, and he’d sleep like the dead that night, being fatigued for the rest of the day, but he’d never done so much of it at once as to leave him completely passed out like this. “His magic drains him when he uses it, but he should be fine after some rest.”

They all clustered close, Morgana helping Leon stand, and Percival being fussy over Gwaine as they walked over as well, casting wary glances at the other wizards that were now sprawled all over.

“We should immobilize them.” The quiet, yet firm voice

Morgana was right.

“Morgana, Percival, Gwaine, Mordred; you four make sure to get as many tied up as you can. The Ministry should be here soon, but Gwen, I need you to try to contact Harry if you can, because at this point he’s one of the only Ministry workers I trust. He gave me a pen in my pocket in case of emergency, it’s a portkey that will get me to him when I need to. Leon, go with her. Lance and Elyan, stay here with me, in case anyone else tries to come. We need to get Merlin home, but I don’t want to leave the others here without more backup.”

They didn’t even question Arthur’s instruction, all moving without hesitation to do as he asked. Lance helped Arthur lower Merlin to the ground, one hand instinctively moving to Merlin’s neck to check his pulse, and relaxing as he obviously found it.

“Merlin?” Arthur leaned over his friend, tapping his always too-pale-looking cheeks.

Merlin didn’t respond, but Arthur wasn’t overly worried. He could feel the magic, and it was still strong, even if the energy was taken out of his friend momentarily. He looked up, watching the others.

“What’s going on?” It wasn’t even a few minutes before Harry showed up, three others appearing as well — one of those being Ron. Gwen and Leon made their way back over with the four others following quickly, taking the scene in with a glance that spoke of experience. Harry’s eyes pinned on Arthur and Merlin as he rushed to them.

“These wizards came out of the forest and started attacking us. Two of them grabbed Merlin and I from behind while we were trying to fight some off. I mean, really Morgana was the only one with us at first, and she was defending all three of us practically by herself. Right when they grabbed us the others showed up and were stupified quickly. After a couple minutes Merlin used his magic — a lot of it this time — it tossed everyone back and healed everyone too. I’m pretty sure he just used up too much magic at one time so he passed out.” Arthur said it all quickly, looking between Harry, Merlin, and the others, still trying to keep an eye out as the others helped to bind the people that had attacked them.

It had been truly amazing. Arthur still wasn’t quite sure if Merlin’s magic was quite visible, or if it was just so strong that Arthur imagined he could see it move in the air. The power he gave out made it so he knew exactly how it moved through the air, giving it a near tangible feel to it.

Harry crouched down beside them as the other two helped the others with binding the wizards, then started transporting them back to, Arthur assumed, some sort of prison or something in the Ministry.

He tightened his grip on Merlin, glaring at the now bound and carted off wizards. He hoped they all got a harsh sentence for attacking kids.

Chapter Text

Arthur could hear moving outside his bedroom, and he guessed it was coming from the kitchen. It had to be Uther, because Morgana had decided to sleep in Arthur’s room along with Merlin, all three of them still antsy over the attempted kidnapping a week previous. Merlin and Arthur had switched off sleeping at each others’ houses, neither one feeling comfortable with the other out of their sight. Morgana, Leon, Lance, or Gwaine had been around a lot more as well, all over-protective to the extreme, and yet none of them could blame each other. It had been rather terrifying.

Arthur looked at where the other two slept on pads on the floor, then carefully shifted out of bed, hoping not to wake them up. He hadn’t really had time with his father since that dinner when his dad seemed to put a morsel of effort into a possible new relationship, and Arthur felt a little bad about that. He hadn’t told Uther what had happened, but he wondered if Morgana had.

Carefully creeping past the other two, he made it to his door and softly shut it behind himself, then made his way to the kitchen.

Arthur pushed open the swinging door, spotting his dad immediately at the stove. At the sound, Uther looked up, catching his eye for a long moment.

“Arthur. Hi.” He turned his gaze back to the stove, and Arthur heard him clear his throat uncomfortably. Arthur felt himself shifting on his feet in the same discomfort.

“Hey, uh… you making omelette's?”

“Yes. You want one?” Uther offered, finishing up and sliding an egg from the pan and onto a plate. “I would have made one already, but I wasn’t sure when any of you would be awake. Morgana told me about what happened, and, well… I heard someone having a nightmare last night.”

That had been Merlin, but there was no point in telling his father that.

“Sure. Thanks.” Arthur slid into the chair at the edge of the counter, closest to the stove. He watched with heavy eyes as his fa—Uther started on Arthur’s. He didn’t have to ask Arthur what he wanted, having made him his own quite a few times over the years.

Arthur was distracted thinking about that fact, the realization that though his dad ignored him most times, these semi-rare mornings together had been a highlight. His dad did know something about him.

“Are you both doing okay?” Uther’s voice startled Arthur out of his thoughts. Uther had turned to face him, expression pulled nearly neutral, but some kind of worry in the crease in his eyebrow.

Arthur hesitated a moment. “Kind of. I think most of the time we’re okay, but… it’s scary how much they seem to want Merlin. And they weren’t trying to kill me either, so for some reason they seem to want me too. It’s just… I don’t really know how to protect myself from magic, you know?”

Uther sighed. “Yeah, that’s understandable. I wish in moments like this that I too had magic so I could do anything to help my kids.”

Arthur blinked a few times. Huh. He’d never really thought about how it might be from Uther’s perspective. He knew that their father missed Morgana, but the man truly must have been terrified at the idea of letting his little girl go to a school so far away. Uther hadn’t even sent Arthur off to a boarding school, even though he very well could have. And yeah, in a way, they had been so distant and Arthur had barely seen his father, but… there was obviously some paternal instinct in the man, even if he had a hard time showing it toward Arthur.

He could understand why now, sort of, but it didn’t change the fact that it hurt.

“What time do you have to go to work today?” Arthur changed the subject, eyeing his clothes, then the clock. Knowing his dad, he’d left only a few minutes to get breakfast before he’d have to leave.

“I’m not… I mean, I was hoping you and Morgana — and your friend, uh, Merlin too, he can come. But I was hoping you guys would be okay to go to lunch or something today.” And wow, Arthur didn’t think he’d ever seen his dad look so uncomfortable. He turned back toward the stove, and Arthur could actually see his neck turn red.

Huh.

“I can talk to Merlin and see if he has interest, but I think I’d be okay with it.”

“Okay, just let me know when you guys decide.” He dished up Arthur’s egg, and turned around to give him the plate. Arthur took it with a quiet thanks and they ate together in surprisingly comfortable silence.

“So can you explain to me your magic? Morgana said a little after you hinted that your magic was different, about the dragon and Merlin, but she didn’t really explain more than that.” Uther asked a s he finished, putting his plate to the side and turning to Arthur with a spark of interest in his eyes.

Arthur swallowed hard, hoping the man wasn’t just going to turn around and tell him how he would need to do and be better. Arthur was already doing the best he could, and it wasn’t his fault that his magic was different.

“Yeah, uh. Well, it’s kind of weird. It started when I met Merlin. It’s like his magic connected to me somehow. So my magic is like… not really mine. It’s more like I can feel and sometimes sort of use Merlin’s magic.”

Uther nodded slower, then asked curiously; “And then the dragon part?”

“Well, apparently, through that magic somehow, I’m able to sort of understand dragons. The teacher for magical creatures brought one in for us to learn about. It’s really cool looking. And the dragon seems to be protective of me for whatever reason. But really, other than that, my magic is a little useless feeling.”

“Huh.” Uther drew his eyebrows together, studying Arthur with something unidentifiable in his eyes. “Well, maybe you’ll figure out what all it can be used for eventually.” Uther shrugged, obviously trying to make it seem casual. “And, you know, if you ever decide the magic world isn’t for you, there’s always the company you can take over. It’s pretty clear Morgana won’t want anything to do with it, she seems happy where she’s at.” Uther’s eyes flicked to Arthur, widening slightly. “Not that you don’t, you know? Just, if you want it, it’s here.”

Arthur’s shoulders, of which had slowly been tightening with the course of the topic, relaxed at the rushed ending.

“Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind,” Arthur assured the man, feeling a little surprised that he had even been grooming Arthur to take over the company when he hadn’t even been related to him. But, apparently being adopted and thought of as his was good enough for Uther to give him a company for an inheritance.

“Good. Well, I do have some phone calls and zoom meetings this morning, but I hope to see you three for lunch.” Uther hesitated, then lay a hand on Arthur’s shoulder and squeezed it. Arthur’s shoulder flared with warmth, the unexpected touch feeling like a hug from his father — because other than for Morgana, Uther didn’t do hugs. He didn’t really do touch other than handshakes, or, well… whatever women that he slept with. So that rare touch of affection was like a balm to Arthur’s nerves.

Maybe the man really did want to fix things.

Chapter Text

“We have a right to understand what we’re up against, what he is and how he could harm us.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what the Muggles have said when they learned about us,” Harry responded calmly.

The man clammed up after that, and Harry chose to leave the room and go onto the next new prisoner.

“He is some sort of monster. He can do things that he shouldn’t be able to! You heard what happened. No wand, yet he picked all of us up like we were pesky flies. His eyes turned gold!”

Harry shook his head, dumbfounded, and repeated what he’d said in the other room.

“I’m pretty sure that’s what the Muggles have said about us when they learned of our existence as well. ‘Kill them all, they’re different. They can do strange things’.” He raised an eyebrow. “And then there was the witch trials. Are we to condemn someone just because their magic shows up differently than ours?”

He waited a moment, letting that sink in. The man didn’t have a response to that.

“Now, what about Arthur? Why did you guys grab him?”

The man got a wild glint in his eyes, but leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. “Why do you think we needed him for anything?”

“As far as I heard, he was the first you stupified and you grabbed him as well as Merlin. You wouldn’t have grabbed him if you hadn’t wanted him for something, you would have just got Merlin and fled.”

The man smirked.

It took several more hours and several more men, before one, a little bit more prideful, finally had to boast. “The Dragonlord, can you imagine? Haven’t you heard how he could talk with the dragons? In history, a dragonlord can control the dragons. Can you imagine the power needed in that? He has to be powerful ally as well.”

Harry snorted. “And kidnapping is the best way to try and make him an ally?” He shook his head. “Wrong way to go about it.”

“We’ve been told the two boys are inseparable, that somehow their magic is connected. We think that Arthur would do anything for Merlin.”

“So you were going to blackmail him with Merlin to have him tell the dragons to do what you wanted.” Harry barely managed to hide the disgust in his voice. “Yet, you didn’t realize how powerful Merlin was, did you? That he wouldn’t just let something like that happen to him and his friends.

“He’d gotten stronger than I’d heard,” the man admitted. “But we have tools to keep him compliant.”

“And who is this we? What is your goal with the dragons?” He didn’t figure he’d get a response to that, and he was right.

Harry had heard enough anyway, at least for now. He knew that Merlin and Arthur definitely needed more protection than they had currently. Maybe they needed to have them go back to Hogwarts for the rest of the summer. At least until they had more confidence with their magic and felt they can defend themselves well enough. Merlin did a great job, but from the sounds of it, he had panicked and froze at first, and had been asleep since the attack the previous day.

Harry stopped to talk to Gredory, his superior, then asked his permission to check on Merlin and the other kids. They all felt unsettled after the attack and had chosen to stay together, at least long enough to have Merlin wake up so they could make sure he was truly okay. Arthur had felt certain he was fine, and wasn’t overly concerned, but everyone could still feel the underlying tension in him. The anger at the men who had attacked them, and the fear for their — mostly Meriln’s — safety. And he was obviously grateful that his other friends were okay. Hufflepuff indeed, the man had more loyalty and concern for his friends than for his own life. He didn’t even seem to care that he’d almost been taken, just upset that Merlin almost had — again — and that his friends had been injured for them.

Though, already healed from Merlin.

Harry apparated outside Gaius’ house, knowing none of them would appreciate the appearing inside. Also, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Teddy had all taken quite a few minutes to set protections around the house, so no one could apparate in, and it would make it far more difficult for anyone to attack them there.

Lance let him in, still looking a little shell-shocked. “Harry.” He nodded to him.

“Hi, Lance.” Harry ran a hand through his hair. “Any change? How’s Merlin?”

“Hasn’t woken up yet, other than briefly about an hour ago, but he hadn’t said anything then. It truly was only maybe three or so seconds before he was out again.” Lance looked worried, so Harry put a hand on his shoulder.

“You okay?”

He let out a shaky breath. “Merlin saved our lives. We were surrounded.”

“From what I hear, you guys saved them first.” Harry smiled at him.

“Maybe, but I just need Merlin to be okay.” He pounded his fist into his hand, looking frustrated. “He had just begun to do better. He’d been noticeably less nervous around people other than Arthur, was starting to come out of his shell and share more about himself. He’d always been friendly, but we all knew he was holding back so much for so long, and he’d only just started to come out of that. Now this might put him back again. It might pick up his nightmares as well.”

Harry had worried about some of that, but he hadn’t realized how close this group had gotten to each other. It was rather amazing, actually.

“He’s got you guys. He’s going to be okay.”

“I hope so,” Lance whispered, then led the way to Merlin’s room, past the others in the family room.

Morgana piped up from the chair she sat on. “Harry? What did you learn from…” Harry held up a hand.

“I’ll share what I can in a minute. I’m going to check on Merlin.”

Morgana nodded, then chose to follow them into the room.

Arthur was sitting against the headboard, a book open on his lap and a notebook and pencil sitting beside him, on the opposite side from where Merlin had obviously curled into a ball, his forehead and back of his hand resting against the side of Arthur’s leg. Arthur looked up as they entered and smiled briefly though it didn’t reach his eyes.

“How is he?”

“Still stable. I think he’s getting closer to waking up, because he’s shifting more and murmuring occasionally.” Arthur moved a hand to Merlin’s head, running his fingers through his hair, in which Merlin curled slightly closer in response to the touch.

Harry sat in the seat beside the bed, wondering who used the seat the most. Gaius, probably, when he was here. He hadn’t been able to get work off, yet the only reason he’d left was because Merlin had everyone else with him, still hanging around, and Arthur’s assurance that he had just exhausted himself with his magic.

This whole situation was far from normal in the wizarding world — and Harry knew that, because his own situation had been far from normal — but feeling drained after using magic is completely new to Harry. He’d never felt tired simply for using magic. But from the sounds of what Hermione said, Merlin was magic, like it was coming and going inside of him. Harry didn’t quite understand how that could make him tired though, but Harry wasn’t the Ravenclaw in this situation.

Harry nodded and rubbed his face. Arthur was watching him closely and he closed his book to put it to the side. “What happened? What did you find out?”

“That people are still as hypocritical now as they’ve always been, and that being Muggle, Wizard, or anything else doesn’t change that fact.” Harry sighed and leaned back in his seat. Arthur and Morgana both watched him, waiting for him to continue. Harry didn’t really want to tell them about any of it. He’d known during school the words other students had used toward him; condescending when they thought he was lying about Voldemort being back, or when he’d supposedly put his name in the goblet of fire, or… well, there had been many times. And even when he’d first started and most people were in complete awe of him for something he had no control over at all had been hard enough.

So no, he didn’t really want to repeat what he’d been told, because Merlin was no monster — Harry couldn’t imagine Merlin doing anything to harm someone if it wasn’t necessary, and though his magic was different, it truly didn’t make him a monster, he just had to learn how to control it.

And Arthur, well, they didn’t know Arthur either, but had already been convinced that the other young man could be used in a manner that in some ways others had tried to use Harry. He wanted to protect the two of them from it.

Except Harry had always held a slight bitterness at all the secrets Dumbledore had kept from him, especially the main one about Harry himself being a horcrux… so, with that in mind Harry couldn’t withhold information that they would need to better protect and prepare themselves.

“The main things that they all had a shared belief in was, one; that Merlin was some sort of monster with his different style magic, and that they either needed to study it, kill him for it, or take it.” Harry started, displaying his disgust with the thought. He hadn’t realized that the others had come into the room as well until Gwaine’s snort startled him.

Harry looked back at them, watching them all enter to surround the bed. Before any of them could speak though, muffled words from the bed brought all their attention to Merlin.

“Not a monster.” The quiet voice insisted, shifting slightly against Arthur’s leg.

“We very well know that, Merlin.” Arthur assured, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You going to wake up anytime today, sleeping beauty?”

Merlin snorted and opened his eyes. “Why would I do that?”

“You’ve got all these interlopers who refuse to leave until they can see your pretty blue eyes.” Arthur smirked.

Those blue eyes immediately flew to the others, and Harry wasn’t the only one to notice the obvious tension that flooded through him, his eyes turning haunted as he remembered what happened, then panicked as he looked at everyone.

He sighed in obvious relief. “You guys are all okay?”

Gwen sat at his feet, putting a hand on his leg. “We are all okay,” she confirmed. “Thanks to you.”

Merlin shook his head and snorted. “Thanks to you all, for getting there when you did.” Merlin grabbed her wrist, squeezing it, then looking up to meet the others’ eyes.

“You guys all did great,” Harry inserted. “We were all amazed at how long you were able to hold off, and amazed with Merlin’s powers, then dealing with everything until we got there.” At seeing Arthur’s look of near frustration, he added. “Arthur, your natural leadership is quite amazing also. Thank’s for keeping everyone together and knowing what needed to be done.”

“Seriously,” Lance breathed. “I was completely frazzled, I would have never thought to tie them up, or get Harry before others showed up.”

There were a few murmurs of agreement, and Arthur looked down at his lap, his face a little red, and he didn’t say anything.

“So? What else did they say?” Arthur pressed instead, looking back at Harry.

Harry leaned back in the seat, sighing. “They said that they wanted Arthur because they’ve heard the rumors that you can talk to dragons, and they have heard about the Dragonlord idea as well.”

“Dragonlord idea?” Leon narrowed his eyes at Arthur. “What’s that mean?”

Arthur squirmed uncomfortably, looking to Harry for help, so Harry rose to the task, knowing the stress of explaining something like this to friends. Harry felt bad that other young teens had such a… high expectation on them, much like Harry himself had. At first and at times he had believed it to be rather cool, to be some ‘Chosen One’ for whatever reason, that he was famous for what he did. But as he got older, he found it more annoying than anything else, and having to explain things to friends and peers — and teachers at times — had given him a decent distaste, for he knew that it would change what they thought of him.

“Hermione’s theory, with being able to speak and understand the dragon, is that he might actually be the son of a Dragonlord, and that’s how his magic shows up, rather than the typical way, or the way Merlin has,” Harry explained.

“And what does that mean?” Elyan leaned against the wall, eyes alight as he obviously contemplated all the meanings. “He can, like, control the dragons? Turn into them?”

“We aren’t entirely sure,” Harry ceded. “A lot of this is based off a lot of myth stories and legends, and some believe it not to be true. But he could have some ability to control them, at least to some extent.”

“So your mom is a Dragonlord, you think?” Gwen asked him gently.

Arthur swallowed hard, not looking up at any of them, and he shrugged.

“The belief is that Dragonlords are all male, passed down from father to son,” Merlin corrected for his friend.

“So… Uther?” Mordred furrowed his eyebrows. “I didn’t really… you know, get a magic sense from him.”

Harry looked to Mordred, his wording and tentative way he said that raising red flags in Harry’s mind.

“No.” Arthur shook his head. “I’m just… I mean, I’m not biologically related to Uther. My mom was with another man before my father.” A nicer way of putting the situation, that was for sure. He skipped the whole part of how he’d believed he’d been related for his whole life, and how his life seemed to unravel when he’d heard the news.

“Oh.” Gwen’s back straightened slightly. “I’m sorry, I hadn’t realized that.”

“That’s okay,” Arthur said simply, giving a weak smile as reassurance, then turning his attention back to Harry. “So they wanted me because I am supposedly some sort of Dragonlord heir?”

“Yes.” Harry nodded. “Seems they wanted to try to manipulate you into controlling the dragons for them.”

“Let me get this straight,” Morgana said suddenly. “They want to kill Merlin — or capture him for his magic — because his magic is different, but they want Arthur, whose magic is just as different as Merlin’s is, so that they can blackmail him into doing their evil works?”

“I think that about sums it up,” Harry agreed.

“They can’t do that!” Morgana was up off the bed and pacing, hands clenching at her sides. “Not to either of them! They’re people too, those…” She continued, but did so in an angry mumble, obviously calling them a whole bunch of terrible names, though no one could really hear what she said.

“Yeah, when each of them said that, I pretty much told them that they were essentially trying to treat different magic the same way Muggles treated any kind of magic. With hatred, and fear. With intent to dissect or kill.” Harry shook his head. “I don’t understand some people.”

“Never will,” Lance muttered in agreement.

“So what are we going to do?” Gwen asked meekly. “I’m sure they’re not the only ones who will come to try to hurt them. What do we do to try and protect them?”
Arthur looked like he was going to argue with that, but he quickly closed his mouth again, sharing a glance with Merlin. Harry ignored their looks and shrugged.

“A possible option is to let them stay in the castle, where it would be more protected for them.” Harry started to list. “Or we can have some people set up to guard them…” He trailed off, noticing that Merlin was getting more tense and pale as he spoke. Arthur had subtly put a hand on his back with a side glance, so Harry wrapped it up. “Honestly, it’s up to them and how much help they want.”

“We’ll be fine as is,” Merlin said quickly.

“What?” Morgana glared at the two of them.

“No!” Gwen, though, just looked worried. “You need some protection.”

“No I don’t.” Merlin’s eyes were firm, a fire in them. “I don’t need people I don’t know, and thereby don’t trust ‘watching my back’. I won’t be locked away in some school castle my entire life, unable to see friends and family, just because some dimwits want to kill me.” His hands were clenched, and his body was shaking. Harry could see the concern in their friends eyes, wanting to push some protection, but also recognizing Merlin’s need for understanding.

Harry jumped in again before they could push Merlin too far. “Another is that I try to talk to Hermione about some possible emergency spells or magical items that you guys can use if you ever get attacked again, ones that will allow you to either escape, or call for help from any one of us.”

Merlin and Arthur both relaxed at those words. “Yeah, would you talk to Hermione?” Arthur asked him gratefully, rubbing Merlin’s back.

Lance sat next to Merlin’s other side, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We’re not trying to freak you out, Merlin,” he told him softly. “You’re our friend, and we are worried about you. About you both. We don’t want to see either of you injured or taken.”

Merlin relaxed further and even flashed them his trademark smile. “I know. And I appreciate that, I do. Just…”

“We know,” Lance assured him. “And to be quite honest, I think most of us would feel the same if the roles were reversed, and we haven’t even had the… fears you have had.”

Harry watched them, then stood. “Okay, I will talk with Hermione. You guys stay safe until then. I’d prefer if at least one or two others stay with you guys, at least until I get some things from Hermione. I will also set some spells around both of your houses to help protect the best I can.”

“Thanks,” Merlin told him, and Arthur smiled and nodded his appreciation as well. Harry said his goodbyes, then worked his way out of the room, already trying to think what Hermione and George could dream up to help them with protecting the two of them. He had a feeling that this was only the beginning, like Harry’s own battle with Voldemort, Harry figured that they would have to deal with… whatever this was.

Harry shook his head with a sigh. The one good thing for Harry, is that from day one of finding out about magic and going to school, he knew exactly who his nemesis and battle was, even if he wasn’t sure of the details some of the years.

But Merlin and Arthur weren’t even sure exactly what they were, let alone the people who would be out to get them.

Chapter Text

The whole group had been in and out of Merlin’s or Arthur’s house practically nonstop, often times crashing in various places at Merlin’s place. The near kidnapping and following fight had obviously terrified the group more than Merlin realized at first. He’d known it had harmed his own psyche, giving him nightmares almost every time he fell asleep due to exhaustion — though luckily he had yet to wake up screaming with everyone here.

But the fact that they stayed chatting in the room as long as they could, and each time there was silence, at least one person’s eyes would go distant, and Arthur, Merlin, or Lance would help pull them out of it with some more conversation.

Gaius’ home wasn’t big, but nobody cared about that, none of them wanted to be left or to leave the others alone. At least not yet.

“I uh…” Merlin startled at Mordred’s quiet voice coming in during the next quiet spell, not even realizing that his own thoughts had been drifting back to the battle. The fact that it was Mordred speaking up this time around was surprising too; the other kid didn’t really talk much. “I have something I’d like to tell you guys ,” he said the words, though he wasn’t looking at any of them and was fidgeting with his fingers.

They gave him their attention. Merlin knew that none of them really had a great relationship with Mordred, as he kept to himself worse than Merlin did. Merlin was timid and didn’t share a lot about his life, but he did joke around and join in conversations. Mordred kind of followed them around like a puppy most of the time — maybe a brooding puppy though, like an Eeyore. Merlin wasn’t the only one who could get uncomfortable with the kid, and yet they all knew that he was very important to the group, because why else would he have been in the vision too? So they had all tried harder to include him and drag him out of his shell.

Well, honestly, Merlin hadn’t tried too hard himself because Mordred still stared at him half the time, and it was crazy awkward.

“My, uh…” he hesitated, giving a quick look to half of them, and then sinking under the weight of their stares, curling in on himself on the couch, and unable to continue speaking.

Gwen, who was closest to him and probably had tried that hardest to become his friend, since she was sweet and tried to be friends with almost anybody, put a hand on his back.

“You can trust us, Mordred,” she told him. “You know that.”

“Yeah, I uh, I know,” he agreed, flicking his eyes up to her momentarily, with a weak smile. “Just, uh..”

“Whenever you’re ready,” Lance said gently. “Just take some deep breaths.”

Mordred did as he suggested, breathing long and deep for about a minute as the others stayed silent to let him work up the courage.

“My, uh.. My magic is actually a little bit different too.” He finally was able to eek out, shoulders tight as though expecting a hit.

“In what way?” Lance asked him, still just as gentle.

“My mom, she was a uh, a druid. My dad was a wizard, so I have the abilities like a wizard, and that’s why Hogwarts still counted me as a wizard as well, but I also have a few extra abilities, like my mom too.”

“I think I remember learning about druids,” Morgana spoke up. “Aren’t they really good at healing?”

“Yes.” Mordred looked up at her, a little tension seeming to leave his body at the friendly tone in her voice. “That’s, uh… that’s not all. I can heal really easily, but also, I can sense people's magic. I mean, how powerful someone is. You guys are all really powerful witches and wizards.” His eyes flicked around the group.

Then he nodded to Merlin and Arthur. “Merlin, your magic is super powerful as well, but it shows up… well, like Hermione explained, it feels more like nature. Like, it’s the same vibe I get when I’m walking in a forest or something. Arthur, your magic is more… I don’t know how to explain it other than saying it feels ancient. Where nature is changing and always moving, your magic feels like it has been there since the dawn of time, but it’s also more stagnant and unmoving. Kind of stubborn, almost.”

“So, kind of like Arthur then?” Morgana asked slyly, a twinkle in her eyes.

“Oi.” Arthur warned her off playfully. “I’m not ancient, you’re older than me.”

“But you can be very stubborn.” Leon laughed.

“And stagnant?” Arthur asked Morgana, as though Leon hadn’t spoke. “Have you seen me be still?”

Morgana snorted. “Yes, actually, you read a lot. You just spent eight or so hours on the bed next to Merlin while he was passed out a few days ago.”

“I was studying!” Arthur protested.

Morgana rolled her eyes. “You seemed rather still though.” She pushed. Merlin looked over at Mordred, watching as his shoulders seemed to slowly relax as he watched the siblings and others banter together, the attention no longer on him, and no one saying anything negative about his magic.

It wasn’t until a small smile was playing on Mordred’s lips, completely relaxed, that Arthur allowed the conversation to turn back to Mordred.

“So you have better healing abilities, capable of reading our magic, and you can do normal wizard stuff as well. Anything else?”

“Well, yeah, sorta.” He shrugged. “I mean, I have a sort of telepathy, sort of.”

“Like legilimency?” Gwaine asked, leaning forward in interest. “You can read minds?”

Merlin felt his breath catch momentarily before he forced himself to keep breathing and to unclench his hands as to not draw attention to himself. Arthur’s subtle hand of understanding on his low back on the bed was enough to ground himself, luckily. He’d already panicked enough in the last few days to last a lifetime.

“No, not really. I can’t really read minds… it’s more like I can communicate in someones mind. Like, you can hear my voice in your head, and then you can respond to me, as long as I keep the line open.”

“Is it hard to keep a line open?” Percival asked, right as Gwaine grinned and spoke.

“Woah, can you try that on me?” He asked eagerly.

“You want me to?” Mordred seemed shocked. “I thought you guys would think I was… you know…”

“Weird?” Arthur smirked. Dragonlord.

“Different?” Morgana added. Has dreams or visions that come true. Merlin hadn’t put much thought into it before, but after Morgana came running to find them after a dream she had, and saved both Merlin and Arthur, it was clear that the nightmares she’d been living with her whole life were a little more than just her imagination. At least some of them were. No wonder Gaius’ medicine had only seemed to take the edge off her dreams.

“A freak?” A Warlock. Merlin put in his two cents, knowing how he’d felt for the longest time, and even still sometimes. He may have said he wasn’t a monster, and he might believe it, for the most part, but he still had a hard time occasionally. However, both Arthur and Morgana were different as well.

“I think we’ve established by now that we are a group, a brotherhood, and we have each others backs,” Gwaine insisted. “I think we all have a few perks that make us weird or different, for example, my devilishly handsome looks—” He ignored the few snorts at the words and continued; “—Or Percival’s weird ability to eat two pies by himself—” and that wasn’t even an exaggeration “—Or Elyan’s and Gwen’s strange ability to communicate without words.” He paused a moment, getting strangely serious for a moment. “You guys all had my back when my dad came visiting. We all have each other now, no matter how strange we may seem at times.”

That had been rough. His father worked at the ministry, and had shown up for an inspection — something that had started happening ever since Umbridge had worked there and had complained about a million and one things. Headmistress McGonagall had introduced him and two others as being there to make sure the castle was as safe as could be for the next week, that kids were getting to class, and all that jazz. Arthur and Percival had noticed the tension in Gwaine the quickest, and had finally managed to get out of their strangely tight-lipped friend how his father used to beat him to near unconsciousness when he was young, until Gwaine had been allowed to stay with his mom instead.

So that week, they made sure Gwaine was never left alone with his father; even when the ministry worker had insisted, they would stand firm with a flat out no, or that they had to get to class or their dorm room or something, you know, to follow the rules of the castle to be where they were supposed to be on time.

The one time Gwaine had been cornered without a friend, it had actually been Mordred who’d gone pale and asked where the other young man was. They had all run out to search for their friend; and Arthur, Merlin, and Percival got there right as Gwaine’s father had gotten Gwaine to the floor in a deserted hallway and had started kicking.

They’d been able to get to Gwaine and Professor McGonagall had sent the man out, and apparently getting him fired from the Ministry due to harassment of a minor at Hogwarts.

It had been a sight to behold her in her fury in protecting the students, and she had even checked in on Gwaine and the others to make sure they were all okay.

Mordred sighed in relief and rubbed his face. “Thanks. I mean, I know you guys all care, but I… I mean, I also know I’m a little strange, I… I get distracted sometimes, especially with you, Merlin.”

“What do you mean?” Merlin startled.

“Your magic. It’s so interesting to watch, it feels like… well, it feels like home to me. I’m a druid, so the forest is my home. I feel safe there. So I’m aware I make you and others uncomfortable, and I don’t mean to be creepy or anything, but I get absorbed watching the magic sometimes. Magic moves in such intriguing ways, and everyone's is so different, but especially yours. Harry’s and Ron’s is pretty amazing as well. Arthur’s feels more still, and that’s a good one when I want to get some good studying done because it feels calm and almost wise.”

Merlin felt a wash of understanding run through him, and the tension he’d always held around Mordred was replaced with an acceptance instead. If it helped Mordred in this way, then it wouldn’t bother Merlin to deal with the staring. He could understand wanting to feel a piece of home.

“Thanks for letting me know,” Merlin told him sincerely. “It did weird me out. Any sort of attention before Hogwarts was considered bad in my mind. Having you guys as friends has helped, but we never really talked much, and you stared at me so much from day one so I wasn’t able to let my guard down around you. But I can understand your desire for a piece of home, so now that I know, it won’t bother me anymore.”

Mordred flashed him a grateful look, then Merlin added. “But, please, don’t ever speak to me in my mind if you can help it. I really don’t think I could handle that — unless you were in some sort of danger or something.”

Mordred nodded in acceptance to his request, then Gwaine was inserting again. “So.” They all look at him, and Merlin arched his eyebrow at his dramatic pause, rolling his eyes a little. “Two questions, one; can you speak to me in my mind? I want to see what it feels like. And two; what does my magic look like?”

Chapter Text

Hey readers! I hope you're enjoying. This will be the last chapter of this work. I was looking through the rest of the chapters that I have, and I realize I still have quite a few left. Originally this work was going to be the last one, but for my brain's organization, I decided to break it up so it's not a freakishly long work compared to the previous ones.
So, there will be two more works after this with around 6 chapters each.
The first work will be subtitled "The Sidhe"
The second and final work will be subtitled "Dragons"
Watch for that first chapter of the next installment to come out sometime today!

Update: Alright, to those keeping an eye out, the next work is now up!