How Harry Became Merlin

The Dangerous Golden Magic

"Harry."

His vision was cloudy.

"Harry."

There was a pause. "He's coming around."

An older voice spoke thoughtfully. "He's had quite the ordeal, Minerva."

She sighed before folding her arms. "What could he possibly have been doing?"

"Perhaps," Dumbledore suggested, "he was searching for something."

Harry suddenly sat up and the hospital wing became clear. Dumbledore stood on his right, along with McGonagall.

"Mister Potter, what on Earth do you think you were doing in the Room of Hidden Things?" Professor McGonagall began. "It's lucky that we found you. I dread to think what sort of state you'd have been in by morning."

Madam Pomfrey, too, sent Harry a look of disapproval. Harry sighed and turned the blankets over, attempting to get out of bed, but she held him back.

"Not yet I'm afraid. You're not leaving until I'm convinced you are fully healed," she said.

Her wand out, she whispered a spell Harry hadn't heard before. A white stream of magic circled him for a moment and Harry winced as it poked and prodded him and even passed through him in some instances, before re-entering Madam Pomfrey's wand.

"You are a lucky boy," she scolded, "for the amount of trouble you get yourself into."

Harry nodded, and suddenly remembered he had two people waiting for an explanation. He turned to face them.

"It's like you said, Professor," he lied. "I was just looking for something. I couldn't sleep and wandered the corridors for a bit, and the door just opened."

Dumbledore glanced to McGonagall, an unspoken understanding emerging. But something in their eyes made Harry cringe.

"I should really get back to bed," Harry said nervously, standing up.

"Oh no you don't, Potter. I will walk you back to the common room, and you can explain to me exactly what you were looking for so late at night."

Harry sighed and resigned himself to a very long and tedious walk with Professor McGonagall.

Harry stared worriedly in the mirror as he fixed his robes before class. He'd hardly slept the night before, but felt surprisingly energetic. The question was why.

Because he knew it had something to do with the book and the golden light, he just didn't know what. And furthermore, the dragon had tricked him. Harry had found no answers to his questions about the memories. Instead he was left with more questions. The dragon had known he would find the book, and Harry could only assume that it had intended for this to happen. Harry frowned. There was nothing he could do about that now. He had to get to Charms.

He headed out of the common room and toward his lesson. The strange magic that had hung in the area previously seemed to be near absent. Harry wondered what connection it had with the book, but filed that thought away for later as he reached class. Harry walked in, seating himself next to Hermione and Ron, but his mind wandered, thinking back to the night before.

"That looks like everyone. We'll get started. Today we'll be continuing with shield charms." Professor Flitwick began.

Harry hardly heard him. He looked at his Charms book but instead saw the mysterious book from the last night, glowing golden. Harry swallowed nervously. Come to think of it, He'd never even seen what was in the book. What was the gold aura that had settled over him?

Harry glanced down at his hands. Whatever the gold had been, he could feel it brimming beneath the surface of his fingertips. He turned his hands over, almost expecting sparks, but none came.