Professor Merlin Emrys

Too Far

Merlin paced irritably back and forth; mumbling to himself as he did. Aithusa had given up turning her head to be able to follow the warlock, settling for catnapping with one eye lazily watching Merlin. Eventually, she stopped hearing his pacing and found the room empty but for one of Merlin's cloaks anxiously hovering by the now wide open door. She huffed, hoping the wizard wouldn't do anything stupid, though it was admittatly a lost cause. She knew Merlin was still upset with Hagrid, so  Aithusa couldn't blame her dragonlord. Hagrid had lost his marbles.

It didn't help that Umbridge had been even nastier to Merlin whenever she got the chance. Now that the Minister had given the woman free reign by installing her as Headmistress, she exhorted her control over Merlin in any way she could. It was putting a strain on the normally cool under pressure warlock and eventually he would snap. Worried, Aithusa called out to her dragonlord but got no answer. She let out a sigh and began her search.

With O.W.L.S for fifth years and N.E.W.T.S for seventh years in motion, the halls of the castle were rather desolate. She knew Merlin wouldn't be where other people could easily see him and skipped the inside of the castle all together. She flew around the tallest towers, looking for a hint of stygian hair that usually stood out starkly in contrast to the blue of the sky or grey of the castle walls. Still her search proved fruitless and Aithusa was becoming more and more agitated. She was cursing her dragonlord in a number of "lost" languages when she stumbled along into the Forbidden Forest as her last desperate attempt before she would have to leave Hogwarts grounds.

She found him sitting on a rock near enough to the giant Grawp without him being able to pick the warlock up. He was staring at nothing ahead of him. It made Aithusa's heart ache.

"Merlin?" she called softly, hesitant to break the quiet. He didn't respond to her call but his head tilted in silent greeting and that was enough for Aithusa to fly over and curl up in his lap. He absentmindedly stoked her scales that made her let out a sound similar to a purr that always made Merlin's lip upturn despite whatever mood he was in.

"Merlin?" she called again, looking into his depthless baby blues that held a deep sadness that only came about when he was thinking about Arthur. Aithusa knew this was for something else.

"Is this about Harry Potter?" Aithusa hazard a guess. She watched as tears came to his eyes but he didn't let them fall. She hated being right when he was like this. "Did Talia find something?"

"Y-yes," he responded, his voice breaking, achingly familiar in the worst way.

She was almost afraid to ask...almost, "What did she find, Merlin?"

"I—she..." a sob made him break off but Aithusa politely ignored it and waited for him to get himself back under control. When he did he let out a sharp and bitter laugh, "Dumbledore was right."

He didn't elaborate further, instead wiping at his eyes. "Right about what? Merlin, look at me!" she demanded when he shook his head but he snapped to attention easily enough. "Albus Dumbledore was right about what?" she asked patiently.

"Harry must die for the horcrux to as well," he said it so calmly - a juxtaposition of how he obviously felt - it took a moment for the words to sink in before her blood turned to ice.

"What?" was the only thing she would think of to express her shock. She had known what Dumbledore wanted to do to free Harry from the dark stain clinging to his soul but hearing it from Merlin who was only confirming what Talia had found in the thousands of books at her disposal was a rude awakening.

"Talia even asked all of her contacts and I mine, Aithusa. They all say the same thing, that there is no other way," his shoulders hung in defeat but Aithusa was still in denial.