Professor Merlin Emrys

Grief, I Say, Come In. Sit Down. I have Tea. There is Honey.

Draco wanted to scream. Instead, he took his frustration out on the poor tree he had been teleported next to. Merlin's sword came up in a powerful arch and was embedded into the trunk. Tugging it out, Draco jerkily stumbled from the force it took. Not wasting a second to right himself before he yelled, attacking the defenseless Scots Pine. Angrily, he sliced deeper into the bark, once and for all getting it stuck. Breathing heavily Draco collapsed to his knees, tears staining his cheeks. His head settled in his curled-up position, covering his eyes from wherever Merlin had sent him. He cried and wept not only for his father but for his mother as well.

He couldn't decide whether to be upset with Merlin, to hate him. He had only to look into his gaze to find the guilt of what he had done. He had seen his father's hair a mess, covering his face, his chest completely still. His body had fallen at an awkward angle; it would have been painful had he still been alive. Merlin had looked terrified and heartbroken right before Draco had been brought into this forest. Had seen his fears and doubt. Merlin had been his rock, his mentor, and now he had killed his father. He didn't feel anything anymore. He just felt numb.

He wanted his mother. The only true supporter he has ever had in his life. Someone who loved him unconditionally. She was the one who stepped in front of his father, his hand raised, and talked him down. She was the one who would comfort him after his father told him how much of a disappointment Draco was. He needed her now more than ever, yet he was stuck in this forsaken forest with no idea in which direction to head. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, fuzzy outlines of green when he lifted his head to finally take in his surroundings.

He blinked a few times to let the tears out of his eyes, hands coming up to scrub the residue off of his cheeks. For what looked like miles, scots pine trees danced to the wind, their skinnier base allowing more light to shine through from the rising sun. It bathed the forest in rich reds and oranges, and Draco would sit and admire it if he had the chance. A hand covered his mouth before he could react.

"Don't scream," A voice said. It was eerily familiar but with how out-of-sorts Draco was feeling he could not place it. Quickly, he was turned around, the hand falling away as he was twisted. Eyes widening at what he saw, he took a step back and fainted.

~

Coming to, Draco groaned. The laughter that he made out, quietened. His pounding head and stiff eyes winced at the light and made him want to go back to sleep. He shuffled over, his head falling into the crook of his arm to escape the searing agony his head forced upon him. Draco heard a snort but could not be bothered to lift his head up and identify where the noise was coming from. If he ignored them he could ignore all his problems for a little while longer and it seemed the best plan for now.

Suddenly, he was poked with what felt like a stick and twisted to growl at whoever dared to touch him. His eyes met ones filled with mirth and Draco groaned in annoyance, Of course, of course when Merlin thought his last hope of getting Arthur back was gone would he be standing here, now. Here in the middle of a random forest, not alone like Merlin thought, but with five knights, a queen, and an evil witch. It was like the start of a bad joke.

Draco instead of acknowledging them simply hid his head in his hands and shook his head. "It's all just a bad dream. Just an awful, wildly imaginative dream. Merlin died when he was supposed to, you did not become friends with a muggle-born, a Weasley, or Harry Potter. They did not drag you into their messes and you did not help them out of them," Draco spoke, trying desperately to convince himself that he had fallen into a coma and his life was just a dream, in said coma. He pulled at his hair, rocking on his knees from where he sat. He felt like he was going crazy and wished Merlin had never stepped foot into his life. That he had never made Draco question everything his father had ever told him. He wished his father was still alive.