❝ MERLIN'S GHOST! ❞
❝ I MEAN, YOU'RE NOT WRONG. ❞
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Albany Bronwen was no Chosen One by any means, but being haunted by the ghosts of the greatest sorcerer of all time and a former king had to count for something, right?
❃ in which a lone...
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"SO HOW'D I DO?" Albany asked cheerily, raising an eyebrow at Merlin where he leaned against the entrance to the first aid tent.
The wizard shook his head in amusement, a small smile playing on his lips. "Aside from giving me heart failure - better than I expected, to be honest," he admitted.
Albany narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "What were you expecting?"
She winced in pain as Madam Pomfrey dabbed a thick purple liquid on her shoulder; Oneira had injured her more seriously than she'd thought when she had pinned her to the ground, alongside the burns from her fire. It had been painful taking off her shirt when it was glued to her wounds with drying blood. The school nurse was muttering under her breath about the ridiculousness of students facing grown dragons; Fleur had only just left as Albany entered, accompanied by a silent Professor Snape, who returned to the stands as soon as he had dropped off his student to Pomfrey. Krum must have gotten his egg unscathed.
"Well, you're only seventeen," Merlin explained with a sheepish grin. "I didn't want to have my standards too high, so I would've been happy if all you'd managed to do was subdue her for a while."
Albany glanced up at him in bemusement. "Is that not all I did?"
Merlin squinted his eyes at her in disbelief. "Albany, Oneira pledged her allegiance to you! That's a good deal more than subdual."
"Oh," Albany said, a little surprised by this information. Her head was hurting too much to fully consider the concept. "Well. That's kinda cool."
A soft pop sounded to her right, and she glanced up with a pleasant smile to greet Arthur. The furious expression in his features caught her off guard, and her face fell rapidly.
"Arthur...?"
"Albany," Arthur said, tone scarily calm considering he was speaking through clenched teeth, "if you ever - and I mean ever - come that close to death again, I will kill you."
Albany stared at him nervously. "Sorry...?"
"I mean it," Arthur said, pointing a finger firmly in her direction. He took a sharp inhale, and then sighed, lowering his head to rub at his face with his hands. "Good god, I think I died again watching you."
"Hey, it's not like I nearly got killed by a dragon on purpose," Albany argued, folding her arms. The movement pulled at the sore muscles on her back, and she groaned, but shut up very quickly upon noticing three figures rushing through the tent flaps.
"Albany!"
Albany perked up at the sight of her friends, but then her eyes widened upon realising she still wasn't wearing a shirt. "Woah-" she began, but Madam Pomfrey handed her a clean towel to cover herself with before she could say another word. She relaxed, grinning up at the twins, and Carly, who had accompanied them; their faces were priceless.
