a royal wizard
*
August 23, 1575
The sun’s rays glittering through the sheaves of summer hay blind him for a second. Then Merlin blinks and he can see again- but not much more than what’s right in front of him, as his 11 year old self is about the same height as the hay.
He knows where to find Gwen and Arthur without seeing them anyway- he can feel their magic nearby: Gwen’s is sort of purple and fancy (like jewellery) while Arthur’s is warm orange with hints of red. Merlin secretly thinks the redness of the prince’s magic reflects his temper.
Following these magical auras, Merlin quickly criss-crosses through the field. He’s starving and he hopes Gwen bought some of her pastries.
The other two can’t ‘see’ people’s auras like he can, but he’s not worried about it- he’s sure that once they get to Hogwarts loads of other magick folk will be able to. Gwen and Arthur also can’t talk to snakes like Merlin can- but again, he’s confident that it will be normal for at least some other students to speak ‘parseltongue’, as his mother calls it.
He’s at the clearing now and out of the towering crops- even though bits of gold hay now decorate his dark hair. Arthur and Gwen are sitting cross-legged on a picnic blanket, playing noughts and crosses using twisted bits of hay. Merlin grins as he joins them and they finally notice him- having been absorbed in the game. Arthur, as usual, grumbles at him,
“You’re late, so I ate 2 of your pastries. Have you been practicing, because I need your help.”
Merlin sighs and takes his (only remaining) pastry from Gwen and, while munching, responds,
“Hello and good day to you too Your Royal Rudeness.” -Arthur sticks his tongue out-“Of course I practiced my magic, I’m rather wondering if you did, what with all the time you spend in front of the mirror rehearsing at being a twat.”
Arthur, used to Merlin’s witty comebacks, only shoots the boy a grumpy look. Gwen the mediator puts up her hands and declares,
“That’s enough of that’, Merlin sticks his tongue out at Arthur and the prince responds in kind, “Merlin, can you fill me in on what your mum told you about Hogwarts houses again? I was worrying all night because I couldn’t remember if you said Hufflepuff is for ‘kind’ or ‘blind’ people and then I was sure you can’t have meant blind but you never know, all this magic stuff is so confusing already..”
Gwen takes a deep breath after this outpour and Merlin gives her a reassuring grin,
“Nah, don’t worry Gwen, Hufflepuff is for the kind not blind- otherwise it would be rather a small house... and there would be no point of them being the colour yellow because they wouldn’t be able to see it, you know?”
Arthur scoffs and Merlin shoots him the finger. Gwen nods gratefully, reassured,
“I still can’t believe we only have a week till we leave with that scary dog man!”, Gwen adds.
The ‘dog man’ is in fact a teacher who had come to check they got the letters from Hogwarts and to give them the supplies they would need. He had also briefly turned into a dog to prove to a disbelieving Arthur Pendragon that the magic school was real. So: scary dog man.
“How good do you think the other mages will be?” Arthur mutters,
“They must’ve been practising magic their whole lives but I only really realised I could do it about a year ago...”
Gwen pats Arthur on the arm sympathetically, before saying in her energetic, optimistic way,
“That’s exactly why we have been practicing! Which brings me to say, that, Merlin, you should go first and shows us your Lumos spell please.”
Merlin pulls out his new phoenix and holly wand (which he keeps in his back tunic pocket despite his mum's warnings of setting fire to his backside) and easily, perfectly, performs the lumos charm. The other two clap- Arthur somewhat begrudgingly, still annoyed from Merlin’s insults earlier. Gwen beams at him,
“Wow, that was perfect I think. You must’ve been practicing loads”
In fact, Merlin had tried it only once before, getting it the first time. He was pretty sure he could even do it without the wand. However, this was not something he wanted to tell his two best friends. It would make their hard work seem lesser. Merlin himself felt uneasy sometimes with how natural and simple he found magic to be- another reason to keep this to himself.
The next lumos is Gwen’s, and she performs a steady, if quite small, ball of light- far better than her tiny flicker last week, and Merlin applauds along with Arthur.
Gwen does seem pleased, telling the two of them that she had practiced it whenever Lady Marlowe fell asleep (often) while Gwen was reading to her.
Lord and Lady Marlowe- Gwen’s distant uncle and aunt, childless themselves, had taken on Guinevere as their ward and heir after Gwen’s own wealthy (wizarding) parents died; their manor is neighbour to the royal Summer House, which is where Arthur lives.
The youngest of 4 brothers, Arthur is sort of the forgotten prince. After his mother’s death, his father King Uther left him at the Royal summer house to be raised by an assortment of servants, tutors, maids, and even an old herbalist called Gaius. Merlin himself lives in a cottage somewhere between the two neighbouring estates, with his mother (a witch who’s a ‘healer’ among mages and ‘wise woman’ among muggles) and dog, Steven.
Now Gwen asks Arthur to go for it with his lumos. Merlin prepares by covering his eyes, and he’s glad he does as Arthur’s Lumos is absolutely blinding, a huge ball of white that doesn’t stop till at least a minute after the blond prince performs the spell.
Arthur sighs in disappointment. It’s, if possible, worse than last week, because at least last week’s spell disaster was fast- a Diffindo that exploded a small tree.
Merlin joins Gwen in trying to reassure Arthur, telling him,
“Think of it like this mate, you’re the man to call if we’re ever stuck somewhere really seriously quite dark, you know.”
Arthur laughs, before putting his head in his hands and groaning in annoyance. Gwen switches the topic to Hogwarts Houses to distract the blond boy, which, while not Gwen’s smoothest distraction, surprisingly works.
They’re discussing which house they want most to be in, and Merlin confesses that he actually fancies being in Slytherin. This- inevitably- starts an enjoyable argument with the staunchly Gryffindor-loving Arthur, who goes on about gallantry and chivalry, charm and knights in armour and sooo on. Merlin interrupts in mock shock,
“Goodness me Arthur, is this a new thing with Godric Gryffindor or have you two been going out for some time, because me and Gwen are ever so happy for-“
“Oh shut up Merlin. You know I’m right- anyway, I look too good in red not to go for Gryffindor”, says a blushing Arthur.