Amelia Merlin

Part Seventy Nine: Christmas

Amelia was surprised at the pile of Christmas presents that sat at the foot of her bed. She laughed a bubble of joy as she opened the first one, it was a pretty book of Tennyson poems from Lavender. The rest of the presents were wonderful as well, Dean got her a scarf (as usual), Seamus got her some weird smelling ointment that he swore, in the note attached, gave one great artistic powers, Neville got her a set of watercolour paints, Cedric had gotten her a beautiful handcrafted wooden chess set, and Parvati got her a pretty friendship bracelet.

But her favourite gifts were the ones from Oliver, and Fred and George. Oliver had gotten her an illustrated version of Grimms Fairy Tales and they were absolutely breathtaking. On the other hand, Fred and George got her tickets to go see the band Firewhiskey in Your Asshole while they were performing in Hogsmeade. 

Overjoyed with her presents, Amelia bounded down the steps, and into the living room. Jeremy was sitting there, just reading, not even smoking for a change. He lounged lazily on the couch, like a lion in heat. There was always something ever so graceful about Jeremy.

She plopped down beside him. "Merry Christmas!"

"Oh is that what it was? I knew I forgot something." He rolled his eyes. "Wait, how could I? You've only been decorating the house non stop for three days!"

"Oh hush!" Amelia laughed. "Your always so sarcastic in the mornings."

"And you're oddly excited about an arbitrary holiday." He replied dryly.

"Somebody is cranky!" She poked his nose and skipped over to the tree. "Maybe a present will cheer you up!"

He gave her a slightly condescending look, lit up a cigarette and took the wrapped parcel she offered him. "Better be a good one." Jeremy mumbled.

It was from Amelia and it was a pack of his favourite smokes, and a copy of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. He hugged her and passed Amelia a present from under the tree.

"Is this from you?" She beamed.

"Nope! Doesn't say who it's from. But it's addressed to you." Jeremy lit up a dart and handed her the pale blue parcel. Amelia tore open the paper and opened the box. It was full of amethysts.

"Are you sure this isn't from you?" She smirked.

Jeremy frowned. "It's not though."

She dug through the purple rocks until a small note appeared:

For Amelia,

Looking forward to seeing more of you in the future.

Akkedis sends his regards.

She passed the note to her brother and sighed.

"He knows. Now he can get to me." Amelia said plainly.

"No. We are not giving up. You can do this. You are so much better and stronger than he is." Jeremy shook his head. "Akkedis may be the Ruler of Dreams but you, Amelia Merlin, you are the ruler of your own mind."

"Jeremy be realistic! He's going to destroy me." She rose from her comfortable seat and went to the window that overlooked the golden field. "I don't stand a chance. I should just take off this stupid ring."

"Amelia," he protested. "This is your only chance to fight back. Otherwise you're just putting off the inevitable. One day you're going to have to fight this guy, let it be in your terms rather than his."

"I'm not ready for this." She shook her head and turned to face her brother. "If what I know is true, than Akkedis has an ancient power beyond anything I know. He can get into anyone's mind and manipulate it however he chooses. I can't contest with that."

"Yes, you can. You're not just anyone. You're a Merlin. And that means something. Your lineage and your blood means you have ancient magic too!" He persisted.

"I am not risking my life just so I can prove a point to this sick son of a bitch." Amelia shot back with a certain finality that Jeremy had to accept it. He sighed and took a long drag of purple smoke.

"It's up to you. But I think you're making a mistake." He shrugged which made her glare at him.

The rest of the holiday was spent mostly reading and telling each other stories. Jeremy didn't bring up the subject of Akkedis again. He did however treat her with more kindness than he ever had before. He brought her cups of tea and books he thought she would like. He made her breakfast and took her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant.

So when the time came for Amelia to return to Hogwarts, it was harder than ever.

"I don't want to leave you." She mumbled as he hugged her on the platform of the train station.

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "I love you. Now get outta here!"

Amelia grudgingly got on the Hogwarts Express and stuck her head out a window, waving until her brother was out of sight. She sat down with Dean and Seamus in a compartment. They were playing a game of chess and Dean pulled off an especially clever move, winning him the game.

"Oh!" He shouted. "Did you see that? In your face Seamus! Suck it!"

Seamus mumbled some sort of curse word under his breath before saying. "That's only one game! I bet I can beat you on the next one."

But he didn't beat Dean on the next game, or the three that followed. Amelia laughed as Dean's ego got slowly bigger and bigger. There was even a point where Seamus hit him across the ear and they got into a playful fight which Amelia cheered on.

"I am the best. I am the supreme lord of chess. No one can defeat me!" He boasted.

"I bet I can." Amelia said dryly.

"What? You?"

"Yes, me!" She rolled her eyes.

"If you get beat by a girl, you'll never hear the end of it." Seamus laughed.

Amelia glared at him. "Whereas getting beaten by a boy is acceptable? That's the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard."

"Right, Merlin, let's see if you can beat..... The master." Dean said dramatically.

She beat him five games in a row.