dragons and unicorns
April 1, 1576
‘BANG’
Merlin’s rudely awoken from his daydream about professor Wakefield’s gorgeous hair by what appears to be a dragon made out of fire. This dragon is whizzing around the Great Hall while letting off multiple explosions. As he, along with the other students having dinner, follows the dragon’s flight around the room, he’s surprised again by a second fiery creature which zooms into the Hall. This one is pink and has a horn- a unicorn.
Merlin looks across the room to the Gryffindor table where he catches Arthur’s eye. The blond prince winks at him, to which the Slytherin rolls his eyes- he knows exactly who the culprit of this affair is.
Their charms professor, Sir Grenoble, is attempting to stop the dragon and unicorn, to no avail- the charms are too fast for him. A few more seconds of him running around the hall comically, and suddenly even more fire animals zoom in through the great doors- a cat, a thestral, a whole host of pixies, and then there are too many to count.
Claudia, a fellow Slytherin first year who he sits next to in Charms, turns to Merlin and asks him with a smile,
“Have you ever seen them before? Fireworks?”
Merlin shakes his head and she continues,
“I love them- I visited my family in Shanghai last year and saw them for the first time there… this must be an April Fools day thing, don’t you think?”
Merlin shrugs, aware that Claudia is giving him an analysing look- she knows who he is friends with and she’s probably trying to figure out if he planned this with them. He decides to clear it up for her,
“I didn’t know that Arthur and that lot were doing this prank, if that’s what you’re wondering, but yeah I think I like fireworks too.” He smiles and she grins back, telling him,
“Wellllll, maybe next Chinese New Year you could.. persuade your friends to put on a similar performance? Not that I know it was your friends or anything of course.”
Merlin nods and winks- Claudia winks back before telling him that she has to go finish some last minute homework. Despite his best efforts, Merlin hasn’t been very successful at avoiding making friends so far. Even if he sits in the Slytherin common room with a book, obviously ignoring people, his classmates will still approach him. Perhaps they’ve heard about how powerful he is… or perhaps they want a friend who’s heir to the ancient Peverell family. He doesn’t know, but at least Claudia is mostly genuine.
After she’s left Merlin takes a peek at the Gryffindor table again. He shakes his head at a grinning Arthur before getting out his advanced transfiguration book and starting to read as if there aren’t hundreds of firework creatures still exploding above.
*
“April Fools!”
Arthur shouts right in his ear. Merlin is sitting in the library that evening, having avoided as many other 1st of April shenanigans as he could. But of course there’s no escaping Arthur.
His annoyance is increased when Marlene, who has been in a bad mood all day, instantly perked up on seeing Arthur, slithering towards the blond.
Merlin cranes his neck to see the grinning prince, and gives him a disdaining look, saying,
“You smell of smoke”
Arthur sniffs his shoulder and shrugs,
“Yeah, but worth it- did you see Grenoble running around after them- he’s only just managed to get them down! Those were my charms those were” Arthur looks proud of himself. Merlin should’ve guessed they were his charms- the prince’s magic is known for being fiery and uncontrollable, like a firework.
”Well, I hope that’s the end of your pranking for today. I think I’ve almost had enough of April Fools- this is my third change of clothing today because of certain red dye pranks going on in Slytherin’s common room.”
Arthur looks slightly guilty, and Merlin continues with a dangerous grin,
“Yeah, I know that was you mate. But don’t worry, I have my own April Fool’s ready and waiting.”
Arthur plops himself down unceremoniously opposite Merlin, head in his hands.
“Well? I’m waiting for this amazing prank”
Merlin smiles,
“Nuh uh, it will come when you’re least expecting it. Anyway, I need to read up on this for Potions tomorrow, so either you can sit there and study with me or you can go be loud with your Gryffindors”
Arthur looks hurt,
“Are you trying to get rid of me Merlin?”
“Of course not”
“Well then, I’m staying.”
Merlin shrugs and goes back to his book.
In fact, the chapter he’s reading is on the spell he needs for the later prank… but obviously Arthur didn’t think to lookovee Merlin’s shoulder. When he’s sure that he’s got it, Merlin gets up abruptly, waking Arthur from the slight snooze the prince was having over his own Potions book. Merlin pats Arthur on the head,
“See you princeling!”
Arthur scrambles up, asking Merlin,
“Wait, but what’s the prank?”
Merlin only winks before skipping off out of the library past a disapproving librarian.
*
Arthur’s spent the whole evening expecting an April Fools prank but there’s nothing. On the way to the Gryffindor tower- nothing, sitting in the common room- nothing. He goes up to bed wondering if Merlin forgot.. and falls asleep wondering this.
What feels like only seconds after his head hitting the pillow, Arthur wakes up in.. a cave? He’s still wearing his pyjamas. This must be a dream- but the wind in his hair and the rough cave floor against his finger doesn’t feel like a dream at all.
“Ah good, you’re awake” a voice from somewhere behind him says- a voice he knows only too well. He gets up and squints into the darkness,
“Merlin? What the actual fuck?”
Merlin steps out of the shadows and performs a Lumos. He’s grinning (slightly manically), as he tells Arthur,
“It’s your April Fools, duh! We’re in a dragon’s cave about 90 miles North of Hogwarts. You were asleep so I apparated us both.”
There are so many things to process from this that Arthur just stares at his insane friend with his mouth hanging open. Merlin pats Arthur on the back and takes his silence as reason to continue,
“Your first firework was a dragon and you love fire, so, I thought why not take Arthur to see a real life dragon! It will be fun! And I learnt a spell that we can use to fly it.”
Arthur has finally got his voice back,
“No, no, no. Nope. You’ve officially lost it mate. My best mate has gone loopy. Fly a dragon? Are you actually kidding, you must be kidding”
Merlin just smiles. He takes Arthur’s hand and leads him into the cave. They stop at a sort of ledge, below which there’s a deep drop. From this drop comes an ominous snoring sound, and as they peer over the edge they can see a huge green dragon curled up. The dragon’s cave is filled with golden treasure, coins and trophies and crowns glittering under Merlin’s Lumos charm. The cave is also filled with what appear to be bones. Arthur squeezes Merlin’s hand and the Slytherin turns to him, murmuring,
“Look, it’ll be fine. Now, first we need to wake him up. I suggest you use your super bright Lumos to do this”
Arthur whispers back,
“Okay. But I’m only doing this for you and if we die it’ll be your fault. Completely.”
Merlin nods assent, before turning back to the dragon. Arthur gulps, before pointing his wand at the sleeping dragon and shouting, “Lumos”
The ball of light that appears is even brighter than usual, and the dragon snorts, before opening both eyes and staring right at the two wizards. It starts to get up, and Arthur whispers,
panicked, to Merlin,
“Well, what now? What’s that spell of yours?”
Merlin looks a bit sheepish, responding in a whisper,
“Well, er, it’s not exactly a spell.. it’s a phrase in Parseltongue that’s supposed to be understood by dragons? Apparently they understand some Parseltongue.”
Arthur turns back to the dragon, who is moving slowly towards them with rather an irritated look.. smoke is curling out of its nostrils as it moves.
“go on then!”
Merlin takes a deep breath and then speaks to the Dragon, speaks in that hissing voice of Parseltongue that makes Arthur’s skin tingle and his breath catch every time.
The dragon pauses, tilts his head at Merlin. Then, to Arthur’s surprise, it bows it’s head. Merlin bows his head back, and the dragon then turns round and offers it’s scaly back to the two of them. Merlin grins,
“Come on!”
They fly. They fly over mountains still covered in winter snow, over the wilds of Scottish highlands, frozen lakes and sharp cairns. It’s crazy but it’s wonderful.
Afterwards, the dragon lets them climb down and both of them bow to thank him, Merlin summoning 5 sheep from a nearby field to thank the dragon with. Seeing the dragon admiring the sheep greedily, Merlin decides to quickly apparate them out of there… no need to see the dragon eat his midnight snack.
Back in Hogwarts, Arthur pulls Merlin into a tight hug and tells him,
“That was bloody amazing! I thought we were going to die at literally every moment but it added to the experience I guess.”
Merlin, awkward with physical contact, shrugs but still pats Arthur slightly on the back. Just before they’re about to go back to their respective dorm rooms, Arthur suddenly asks,
“Wait, Merlin? What was it that you first said to the dragon- to get it to let us ride it, I mean?”
Merlin grins,
“I said that I’d pay for a flight with 5 sheep. Oh, and that you love dragons and came all that way to meet him”
Arthur laughs,
“Night, Merlin. Happy April Fools”