The Rising of Merlin

The One With the Secrets

"Oh." Both twins hanged their heads down in disappointment.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, with a slightly confused look.

"Fred and George here wanted me to give them the potion that turned me into an old man." Merlin explained to him.

"And he refuses." Fred whined.

"It's for a good reason." Merlin retaliated.

"What reason is that?" Harry asked, clearly curious.

"There isn't any potion." Merlin grinned.

"What!?" The twins and Harry exclaimed. Their expressions were so funny that Merlin barely held in his laughter.

"There isn't any potion, I used a spell." Merlin decided to explain.

"B-but you said..." Harry started, but Merlin interrupted him.

"I know what I said, but I had just met you and frankly, I didn't trust all the people that were around me. But you can't tell anyone yet, promise." Merlin made eye contact with each of them in turn.

"Fine," Harry said and the twins nodded in agreement. "But I don't understand. How were you able to do the spell? You said that you weren't powerful enough to do any advanced spells."

"I'm not," Merlin had to quickly come up with a lie. He hadn't expected Harry to catch up so easily. "I had help. But I can't tell you who." Harry eyed him with suspicion, not believing the lie for one bit. The twins merely watched on, enjoying the whole exchange.

"Fine," Harry said again, after a while. "But I expect you to tell us all the truth one day, soon."

"I will, but now is not the time, trust me." Merlin was relieved that Harry had decided to back down for now.

"Whatever." Harry said, clearly not okay with the whole ordeal. "You were going to show me something." Harry addressed the twins. Merlin took it as his cue to leave.

He had almost slipped up and was glad that he was able to talk his way out of it. But he knew that he had to keep his promise to Harry and tell them all the truth. But he didn't know how or when. Sure, he had already told Dumbledore, but that was different. Dumbledore wasn't his friend, and frankly, he hadn't had a choice. He couldn't deny the evidence that he had dug up.

Merlin continued walking around the shop, picking up things here and there, that he thought could be useful during his stay at Hogwarts. He had just started looking at the pygmy puffs when he noticed Harry, Ron and Hermione hiding under a see-through and silvery cloak. He recognised what it was immediately, an invisibility cloak.

He had seen several of those before, but only one exactly like that. He had first seen it a few years after Arthur's death, when he had decided to make something that he could hide under, so he didn't need to use a spell every time he wanted to be invisible. He had taken the fur from a dead Demiguise and later had added every invisibility spells and disillusionment spells he knew.

He had used it for several hundred years, but when he moved into the muggle world in the early 11th century, he didn't have any use for it anymore and kept it locked up in his house. Later, in the 13th century, he had met three brothers, the Peverell brothers. He had decided to give the cloak to the youngest of them, Ignotus, before they parted ways. He had never imagined that he would see it again. 'Harry must be related to the Peverell's.' Merlin thought. 'They were good people.' Merlin thought back to his long dead friends, with a faint smile on his lips. They had had some good times together.

Merlin watched them go after the same boy they had met earlier. He decided to stay behind, not wanting to risk a confrontation with that boy again. He needed to talk to Aithusa about what had happened.