Chapter 14 The One With the Secrets
They didn't get far before Mr. and Mrs. Weasley showed up with Ginny and heavy books in their arms. They went to the apothecary and Eeylops Owl shop, before arriving at Fred and George's joke shop. Merlin bought some potions ingredients, plus a little extra stuff, just in case.
Everybody froze when they saw the shop. It was like a fireworks explosion, compared to the other poster covered stores in the rest of Diagon Alley. There were things that spun around, jumped and shrieked and on one of the windows, there was a giant poster in dark purple, and flaming yellow letters. It read:
Why are you worrying about YOU-KNOW-WHO?
You should be worrying about
U-NO-POO
The constipation sensation that's gripping the nation
Merlin couldn't stop himself from laughing, it was just so liberating, and it felt nice to get rid of the lingering anger he felt, from the run in with the boy. He soon realised that Harry and Ron had joined in, with the laughter.
He was the first to walk in to the store, not bothering to respond to Mrs. Weasley's mutterings. He could barely get through; there were so many people in there. He decided to find a place where he could look around a bit. Luckily, most customers were children, and he was pretty tall, so he could easily see over the crowd of people and read the labels on each row. He saw one that stood out.
Merlin's magic potions it read on the row, farthest from the entrance. He walked over, curiosity getting the better of him. It wasn't a large section but there were at least forty different potions stacked on two shelves, and on the shelf to the right of the potions, there were different books, were you could brew your own potions.
He started to read the labels on the potions, there was all from love potions to pimple removals. But when he came to the end, he noticed a space between two potions. There was a label that read Ageing potion – coming soon. Merlin couldn't help but chuckle a little. They had clearly saved room for his supposed potion. He continued looking over the rest of the bottles.
Merlin decided that some of the potions could be useful later, so he picked up a few and placed them in a bag he had over from the apothecary. He also decided to buy some of the books, so he could brew some of the more advanced potions himself.
He continued to walk around the shop, to see if he could find some other useful things. He came across the Muggle section and saw Harry standing there with Fred and George.
"Marcus," Fred said and patted him on the back. "So good to see you, pal."
"How are you doing?" George asked and threw an arm around his shoulders.
"Have you thought about our suggestion?" Fred continued.
"The time's up." George finished.
"Yes I have." Merlin answered.
"And?" Fred asked.
"And what?" Merlin asked, with a faked, confused expression.
"Can we have it? The potion?" George asked.
"Hmm," Merlin pretended to think about it. "No."
"No?" They both said.
"Yes."
"Wait, you agree?" Fred perked up.
"No," Merlin shook his head in frustration. "I mean yes that I say no, to the suggestion." He clarified.
"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.
They came back about thirty minutes later, claiming that they had been in the back room all along. Merlin locked eyes with Ron, and gave him a look that said that he knew exactly what they had done and that he wanted to know everything later. Ron nodded in response before escaping his mother's accusing glare.
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"So, care to tell me what you three did, when you followed after that blond boy earlier?" Marcus asked them with a smile, when they had returned to the Burrow and was sitting in Ron's room.
"We were..." Ron started but Harry interrupted him.
"Not really." He said with an angry glare. "I don't see why we should tell you anything."
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed and stared at him in shock. "Why are you saying that?"
"Yeah, mate." Ron too, looked at Harry with confusion.
Marcus simply locked eyes with Harry for a few seconds before he broke it and started staring down at his hands. Harry saw the regret in his eyes and he knew that Marcus knew exactly why Harry had said it. His smile lone gone.
"He keeps secrets from us, so I see no reason why we should tell him our secrets." Harry made eye contact with Hermione and Ron in turn, trying to convey what he was feeling.
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, getting more and more confused.
"Do you remember the day he woke up? When McGonagall asked him about the ageing spell he had performed on himself?" Ron and Hermione simply nodded, they remembered the day clearly. Harry looked over at Marcus. He was still staring down at his hands, not trying to stop Harry.
"She asked him how he was able to perform such a spell, since they are very powerful, no matter what kind of Magic you use. He answered that he had used a potion instead of a spell."
"And?" Hermione urged him to continue.
"Fred and George have been trying to convince Marcus, to give them the potion for their joke shop."
"Yeah, I remember that." Ron said and made a quick glance over at Marcus, who didn't notice it.
"Today they tried again, and when Marcus told them no, he explained that it was because he hadn't used a potion at all, but a spell. He has lied to us about how powerful he is." Harry finished.
"Are you sure you didn't misunderstand it all?" Hermione tried.
"No! He said that he had help but I could tell that he was lying." 'Why is it so hard for them to understand?' He thought. "Ask him yourself if you don't believe me." He said and gestured towards Marcus.
Hermione cast a quick glance to Marcus and swallowed before she opened her mouth. "Is it true, Marcus? Is Harry telling the truth?"
Marcus looked up at her and nodded before quickly bending his head down again, but Harry saw a single tear falling from his left eye.
"Why didn't you tell the truth?" It was Ron that spoke this time, with hurt in his eyes and voice. He felt betrayed, Harry realised, more than any of us.
"I'm sorry." Marcus said, barely audible.
"What did you say?" Harry asked him.
"I'm sorry." He said again, this time loud enough for them to hear, lifting his head and looking at Ron. "I'm sorry I lied to you but I had to."
"Why?" Ron asked him again.
"If I had told you the truth from the start, you would either not believe me or you would had been afraid of me, of my powers." His voice and lips quivered and his eyes were full of unshed tears. Harry could tell that he meant what he said, this time. Who knows what more he's been lying about?
"How powerful are you then?" Hermione asked, breaking Harry out from his thoughts.
"You have to promise me, that you won't tell anyone. Can you do that?" He asked them pleadingly and they shared a quick glance with each other before answering.
"Yes, we promise." Hermione said. "Now, please tell us."
"Okay," Marcus nodded to himself. "Okay then, "He rubbed his hands together, seemingly with new resolve in him. "I'm powerful, okay. I have been able to perform Magic, Old Magic, since I was only a few weeks old. My Mother used to tell me that I floated things around the house since before I could speak." He looked out the window before he continued. "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to treat me any different than you already would, with me turning up unannounced an all." He said with a chuckle.
"Are you a Warlock?" Hermione asked, seemingly startling Marcus with the question.
"Why would you think that?" He asked her confused, but Harry noticed a hint of fear in his eyes.
"The first time you told Ron the story about Merlin, you said that he could float things with his mind since he was born. Now you're telling us that you could do the same. Are you a Warlock? Are you as powerful as Merlin?"
He hesitated before answering, clearly having an inner battle with himself. "Yes, I'm a Warlock, and no," He put a hand up before Hermione could ask him more. "I'm not as powerful as Merlin. He lived when the Old Religion was at its highest and the Old Magic was at its strongest. Maybe if I had lived back then, I would have been, but not today."
"And all the other things you've told us are they true? I researched the druids before we left Hogwarts, and I didn't find any evidence to them existing today." Hermione told him. "I didn't say anything before, because of your story, but I've always felt that things didn't add up." She finished.
"No," He shook his head. "That was a lie as well. They don't exist any longer, neither in communities or any other form. I just needed an excuse for explaining my Magic. They merged with the Muggles and New Magic users around the first millennia, when Hogwarts was built. But I did inherit my Magic from my Father, and my Uncle did teach me how to use it correctly. That was not a lie." He looked at them pleadingly.
"Then how do you know so much about them? How do you know so much about the Old Religion and the Old Magic?" Hermione continued to ask him.
"My Uncle and Father told me everything I know. I am of Druid descendant even if they don't exist any more. My Father also had the Magic in him but my Uncle didn't, he is my Uncle on my Mother's side, and she was a Muggle. Instead he spent his life researching everything he could about it. My Mother and Father met through my Uncle, my Uncle having found my Father through his research. We are one of the biggest Druid families left, one of the few that never merged. I don't even know if there are any other Druid families left out there, we keep to our self and only tell our story to our loved ones. We don't practise any of the Old Religion rites any more."
"How come your Uncle new about Magic if he was a Muggle? And are you related to Merlin?" Hermione kept on asking questions. Harry almost felt sorry for him, but he also felt that he deserved it for lying to them. Ron just sat quiet and listened to what Marcus had to say. Harry could see that he was hurt by Marcus' betrayal.
"My Uncle wasn't a Muggle, my Mother was, or a she was a Squib really. Haven't I told you that before?" He asked. "Anyway," He shook his head before he continued. "So when he was finished with Hogwarts, he decided to become a physician, a Muggle physician. He eventually became a well known physician in the Muggle world and one day he came across something about the Druids, when he was researching new ways to heal people with herbs. He got intrigued and decided to start researching more about them and that led him to the Old Religion and Merlin."
"But are you related to Merlin?" She asked again.
"Honestly," He said and looked at Hermione, who was almost jumping in her chair of excitement. "I don't know." Hermione immediately slumped down in her seat.
"You don't know? How can you not know?" She asked.
"There isn't any proof that indicates that Merlin ever had children, so I'm no direct relative to him, but we don't know if we may be related in other ways. My family record doesn't start until a few hundred years after Camelot's fall."
"Oh." Hermione said, clearly disappointed.
"Why didn't you tell me the truth when we came here?" Ron finally broke his silence, staring at Marcus with anger flashing in his eyes.
"I'm sorry Ron, I truly am." Marcus stood up and started walking over to him.
"If Harry hadn't been there when you slipped up to Fred and George, you still wouldn't have told us, am I right?" He stood up too, only a few inches away from Marcus, glaring at him. They stood and watched each other for a few seconds before Marcus broke the eye contact and stared down at his feet.
"No, I wouldn't. But Ron, please understand," He began when Ron threw his arms up, as if proving a point, and started to walk away. "I wanted to tell you, all of you, but I was scared. I'm a coward, okay. Always has been, when it comes to matters about myself. How can I make it up to you?" He grabbed Ron's arm to stop him before he reached the door. Ron spun around to face him.
"I don't know." He said in barely a whisper, looking anywhere but in Marcus' eyes. "I don't know if I can trust you any more."
"But you can, please Ron." Marcus all but begged. Harry started to feel a little uncomfortable with all the emotions. He hadn't realised they were so close. "I may not have told the truth about my past, but I'm still the same person. I still like the same jokes and do the same things."
"I believe you, Marcus, but it will take some time for me to trust you again. If you have any more secrets then tell them now, because I won't give you a second chance." Ron had a stern expression on his face when he talked. "Do you have any more secrets?" Harry saw something indecipherable flash across Marcus' eyes before he answered.
"No, I don't have any more secrets."
"Good, but it will still take a while before I can trust you again, just so you know."
"I know." Marcus grinned, and then his smile faltered. "There is one thing though." He said and looked at all of them in turn.
"What?" Harry asked.
"I'm leaving. Tomorrow."
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A/N
So, Merlin's secret is out. They now know he's a warlock.