Chapter Text
Summer 1968
Merlin was bored, which wasn’t anything new. In fact, boredom was an old friend. He’d just returned from a few decades abroad, mainly in South America, although he did spend a little time in India. Now he was back in England because looking into a stone a few times a year just wasn’t the same as living close by so he could sit on the shores of Avalon to wait for his king.
“Can I get you a refill?”
Merlin glanced up at the barkeep and nodded, letting him top his cup before he moved on to other families. Merlin took a sip of the tea as he looked over the muggle newspaper in front of him.
Now that he was back, he needed something to fill the majority of his time with. He scanned the want ads looking for a job that might occupy his brain for a bit but nothing jumped out at him. What to do?
He hadn’t been to Hogwarts in a while. Maybe they were hiring teachers. He always liked acting as a professor. Merlin put two knuts in the corner of his table.
“Daily Prophet, please.”
The coins disappeared and the newspaper now lay in the same spot.
“Hmm. Let’s see magical job listings.”
Plenty of ministry jobs for sure, but there was no way Merlin would ever work in the Ministry of Magic. Sadly there were no listings for anything at the castle. He could always go as a student? He hadn’t been back as a student in a good long while.
Pulling back out his muggle paper he tried to debate between a position as a tour guide in London or a new student in Hogwarts. Money wasn’t an issue, but which would give him the most freedom while hiding his true identity?
Merlin was leaning towards the tour guide position and was folding up his paper when a family came into the Leaky Cauldron where he was ruminating on his life.
“Dad, I want the lobster bisque with real lobster this time. I also want both fish and chips and a bacon butty. Mom, don’t forget you said if I didn’t make Mr. Lawrence cry again that we could have sticky toffee pudding before we went to the ice cream parlour.”
“James, if you eat all that you will get sick.”
“Not if I only take a few bites from each. Ooh. I also want some of that rib eye steak I just saw too, but no salad. I don’t need vegetables no matter what Dorry says”
“You want us to order a whole steak for just a few bites?” His mom wondered.
“Afternoon Fleamont, Euphemia, little James. What can I get for you today?”
Merlin couldn’t help listening in as Tom the Barkeep greeted the family and took their order. He had thought that the parents would be reasonable and limit the child to one meal but all they did was confirm he would barely eat each item and order it anyway.
Merlin watched astounded as the boy barely picked at most of the plates (he never even touched the fish and chips). The parents meanwhile listened to the boy chatter about a man named Mr Lawrence and how James proved him wrong, again, by showing him that he could dive 50 ft on a broom and not get hurt. The man in question didn’t cry but he did pass out, but mom had never said James couldn’t give him a heart attack, just not make him cry again, so maybe he deserved two desserts (plus the ice cream).
By the time the family left Merlin had made up his mind. He watched Tom vanish all the extra food and his peasant heart raged. That boy needed someone to stop him from becoming a bigger entitled prat than Arthur. He needed Merlin.
The next time Merlin saw James he was 8 yrs old again. He had set his affairs to appear as if his parents had passed and left him an orphan. His solicitor (recently hired by a disguised Merlin claiming to be a family friend who couldn’t keep the boy) brought him to the front door of Fleamont and Euphemia Potter.
According to the solicitor, Merlin had no other family but he had a lot of gold.
Euphemia didn’t care about the gold. She saw a little boy her son’s age who needed a home so she would give him one. Fleamont was happy to take in a magical child and keep him safe. James? Well James was….not as happy.
James had been his parents' miracle child, conceived when his parents were older, even in wizard years. He never wanted for anything but he didn’t consider himself spoiled. Well, he didn’t. He was excited to get a brother to play with at first, until he realised it meant sharing. Sharing possessions was fine, he had plenty of those. Sharing his parents was another.
Merlin basked in the warmth of the older Potters. They doted on him and practically cooed when he offered to help with laundry or shopping. Despite the Potters having house elves to do things, Merlin would clean up his own plate at dinner and do dishes, without magic although James knew he could do some!
James had seen Merlin’s eyes change colour and magic happen. His dad tried telling him it was a trick of the light but James knew.
“ Mer lin! You did it again! I caught you in the act! What do you have to say for yourself?”
“James, you’ve not had your breakfast yet this morning, have you.”
This argument led to James tackling Merlin to the ground. The boys tussled for a minute until Dorry, the Potter’s head house elf pulled them apart.
“Young masters fight when they should be playing. Dorry’s going to keep you together until you get along.”
“Dorry.” James’ eyes went wide and he gulped, “Don’t you mean separate us?”
The small house elf shook her head.
“No. You’se being bad so you don’t get what you want.”
Dorry snapped her fingers. James and Merlin both jumped at the commotion from upstairs. James reached his bedroom first, or it was his bedroom before. Now his queen size bed was two twins. His closet was open and Merlin’s robes were flying in to hang next to his. Drawers banged in the dresser as old clothes that no longer fit were emptied and Merlin’s casual clothes filled half his dresser.
“Dorry! Fix this or I’ll tell mom and dad!”
“Master and Mistress tell Dorry to deal with youse two while they visit other estates. Dorry is dealing. You can have own rooms when you friends and not a moment before.”
James glared at Merlin like it was all his fault.
“Don't blame me, you prat. You attacked me!” Merlin flopped on one of the twin beds. Luckily he was short at 8 so he had plenty of room still. He leaned forward to grab a pillow and fluff it but James got there first, ripping the pillow away and hitting him with it.
“That’s because you used your strange magic again and no one believes me!” James flopped on his own bed and covered his face with Merlin’s pillow. He refused to let the other boy see him cry. “You’re going to make my parents hate me!”
“I’m sorry.” It was said so quietly, James wasn’t sure he heard right. He rubbed the tears from his eyes and peered his head out from underneath the pillow.
“The gold eyes? It's something I’ve always been able to do. It’s still accidental magic, most of the time, but after I learned what I could do was magic, I did learn some spells so I can control it a bit. Used to drive my mum spare. She didn’t have magic and was a bit afraid of someone coming for me because of it. She taught me to hide it so I play it off like I’m not doing it. I’m sorry.”
Merlin actually was sorry which is why he kept to the truth as much as he could. He could tell it was driving James mental but he did it anyway. When he saw the tears though he knew he had taken it too far.
A few seconds later Merlin’s pillow landed on his stomach. James was sitting and staring so Merlin sat up and looked him in the eye.
“Why would your mom think someone would come for you?”
Merlin swallowed hard. Truth or a lie. He seemed to be taking too long to decide so he could see the frustration building in James.
“Fine. Whatever. Don’t tell me. I don’t care.”
James flopped back on his bed. Again, the words were so quiet James almost missed them.
“We lived in a bad area when I was young. Lots of,” Merlin seemed to struggle for the right word before settling. “Muggles, no wizards. I accidentally knocked a tree over and hurt Old Man Simmons so he ranted to the whole town that I was unnatural and something needed to be done about me. Mum was scared he’d turn us into the government and they’d take me away.”
“Why didn’t the Ministry come and obliviate him? Obviously he was a danger to the Statute of Secrecy. My mother says we have to be careful when we go out in muggle London, what we say and do so we don’t break it ourselves.”
“I don’t know. I just know my mum worried about me all the time. I really miss her sometimes.”
Merlin remembered Hunith as if it was yesterday. He remembered her soft smile and her fierce hugs. He remembered her wise advice that he wished he had taken. “Be yourself. Tell the truth.” He would try for her. He couldn’t be 100% honest but he didn’t need to play a part either. He really did miss her though. What he wouldn’t give for one more hug or the kiss on the top of his head that he had to bend over for once he surpassed her in height. The hardest part of immortality wasn't boredom, it was missing loved ones and being afraid to make connections to people he knew he would eventually say goodbye to.
James stared at the boy who was essentially now his brother and for the first time, saw the orphan and not just the competitor. Maybe, just maybe one day, they could be friends.
“Truce?” He held out his hand to the smaller boy.
Merlin grinned. “Truce.”