Ancient Help (A Harry Potter and Merlin Crossover)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Merlin's Magic

It was fortunate that Balthazor was inside Gaius' bedchambers that night. If he were anywhere but, Merlin might have locked himself inside his bedroom by now and magicked a hole he could hide himself into on the floor.

"Thank you," the cloaked hunchback earnestly said. Tears of gratitude were present at the corner of his eyes and his head was bowed down. Merlin nodded his head absentmindedly, warily aware that Hermione was standing just a few meters behind him.

"You need not thank us, Balthazor," Gaius said, smiling. "We only did what was just and right. Just... do not have any feelings of hate against our king. He is merely doing his duties."

Secretly, Merlin thought Arthur was partly to blame. If it weren't for his moment of weaknesses, Balthazor wouldn't have been wrongly accused and Gregory might have been caught justly and properly.

And of course, Hermione wouldn't have discovered he was a person of magic.

He darkly scowled and bowed his head, having caught Gaius' warning glare. Up until now, he still wondered how he always, and most of the time blindly, saves Arthur from harm when all he ever did was put Merlin into a very compromising situation.

"I... know," the hunchback answered with a soft sigh. "Tell the old sorcerer, Dragoon the Great, that I am utterly grateful for his help."

"Oh, trust me, he already knows," Hermione readily answered back, her tone of voice suspiciously nonchalant.

Merlin flinched and sank deeper into his seat. Scratch his plan of making a hole inside his bedroom. Right here seemed like a better place to bewitch a hole he could hide into.

"It is the first time someone actually showed care for me, you know," Balthazor quietly added. His silent tears increased and he shyly clasped his hands together. "Ever since I was young, I had been discriminated by looks. My parents abandoned me because they were disgusted of my face. I always stood out because I was... different."

"Just because you are different doesn't mean you are not a person anymore," Hermione responded. "Just because you are different doesn't mean you are an abomination – an evil figure in this world."

Merlin's eyes slightly widened with her words. Did she perhaps mean...?

Balthazor gently smiled and nodded his head. "Thank you," he said for the umpteenth time. "I must be going then and start anew in a different place. Perhaps, by then, I will finally find the place where I really belong."

The cloaked hunchback politely bowed in farewell and walked out of Gaius' bedchambers.

As soon as he was gone, the previous tensed ambiance was again thickly felt in the room.

Merlin fidgeted on his seat, Hermione's last words still ringing loudly inside his head. He did not want to keep his hopes up but the way she worded her statement made his troubled heart soar.

He always feared for this day – with Hermione finally discovering his deepest, darkest secret. Although he was not ashamed of the fact that he is a person of magic, that did not mean he was afraid for his life. What if Hermione was the type of person who would immediately report him to the authority? What if she was selfish enough to tell King Arthur, who then would probably be happy to throw him into the still-hot stake that was used to execute Gregory? But most importantly, and perhaps the scariest of all, what if she hated him? After all, an evil warlock was wreaking havoc to her kingdom. It would be quite sensible if she were to hate anybody who possessed magic that was threatening to destroy everything that she loved and cherished.

"So, Dragoon the Great and you..." she started, finally breaking the silence.

He stiffened.

This was it.