Amelia Merlin

Part Ninety Two: Alakai

A/N the picture above is sort of how I picture the Merlin house, but the hedges are much taller, garden is full of trees and flowers, and there's a huge marble fountain out front as well. The back gardens are really spectacular.

The Merlin mansion crept into view as they rounded the corner. The tall hedges surrounding the front gate were only out shone by the fountain by the main door. When Amelia got out of the car, Jeremy took her trunk up to the front steps.

"Come on, Mother is going to be wanting to see you." he smiled.

"I highly doubt that, but whatever." she replied cynically. Jeremy just gave her a small shrug and a smile that looked like a sort of apology. The two siblings walked up the steps together until they reached the door, it swung open after Jeremy politely asked it to. They entered the house, it was warmer than usual and the heat was a muggy kind, that makes you want to open a window.

She heard voices coming from the parlor that her mother usually used for business. With a deep breath, Amelia walked towards it in order to introduce herself to the new guy who was staying over and to say a brief hello to her mother. Jeremy flicked his wand and her luggage zoomed upstairs, he gave her an encouraging look and she walked into the parlor.

The man who was bent over the table, reviewing some piece of parchment, was not at all what Amelia thought he would be. She had pictured some nerd that her mother hired to make the charity look good. But the man bent over the table reviewing some piece of parchment was nothing like that.

He was tall, and young and good looking. His glasses that were placed on his nose made him look intelligent and kind at the same time. His hair was a soft auburn, the kind that you know looks bronze under sunlight. His eyes were a startling blue that reminded her of Oliver for a moment. But there was a gold ring around his pupil that Oliver didn't have. He looked up from the paper and smiled at her. She was so awestruck by how beautiful he was that she could barely speak as he introduced himself.

"Hi," his voice was just as perfect as she expected it to be. "I'm Alakai, but please just call me Al."

"Hey!" she smiled and shook his outstretched hand. "I'm Amelia. Please just call me that."

Al chuckled and said, "So you just got back from Hogwarts?"

"Yeah! I finished my third year there."

"That's amazing! I've never been to Hogwarts."

Amelia was taken aback. "Where did you learn magic then?"

"My parents taught me. We traveled a lot so there was never any time for me to go to a proper school."

"That's brilliant. Why did you guys travel?" she studied him carefully. There was something this guy was hiding, but she didn't know if it was good or bad.

"My dad was trying to find something."

Amelia looked at him. The vague answer set off alarm bells in her head and suddenly his beauty wasn't so intimidating. Just as she was about to interrogate Al further, Amelia's mother walked in to the room. The warmth in the room really made her want to open a window but she couldn't do so without her mother getting angry.

"Amelia!" she said sternly. "Get those grubby shoes out of the parlor. We just had this carpet brought here from Persia."

Amelia was instantly irritated by her mother and couldn't help being insolent. "So?"

"Do you honestly think that wearing those hideous shoes is more important than this beautiful rug that we just had brought here from Persia?" Her mother snapped and Amelia stuck out her chin. The heat was making everyone sweat slightly and their faces were all flushed.

"I think they use children as slaves to make carpets in Persia and it's deplorable that you endorse that by purchasing one of their carpets." she shot back and folded her arms.

"Are you against slavery?" Al said suddenly and the whole room looked at him.

"Me?" Amelia asked and he nodded. "Of course. Human beings should not be treated like machines. They have much more value than that."

"And you feel strongly about this?"

She was so flabbergasted by this man. This random man asking her these questions. Who isn't against slavery? Why is that even a question. "Yes." she replied simply.

"Strongly enough to do anything about it?"

A silence filled the room as they waited for Amelia's answer. And the heat pressed in on them, she wanted to open a window so badly.

"She won't do anything." her mother scoffed suddenly and Amelia glared at her then said,

"Yes. But, I have to have a plan first."

Al smiled at her and a rush of pride went through Amelia. "I've already done that bit for you." he handed her the piece of parchment he'd been looking at. Amelia's mother threw up her hands and left the room in exasperation. A small wind came in after her mother left and she felt the relief as it reached her.

"I don't think mother will want me helping you on this." she said.

"Is that going to be something that will stop you?"

"Absolutely not."

Jeremy spoke up for the first time since they entered the house, "I told you, Al. She can do it."

"I guess I just had to see it for myself. Sorry if I don't take your word on this." he laughed lightly.

Amelia smiled at the two young men and started to read the paper in front of her. It was a well laid plan to get rid of the slave trade that treasure hunters had been setting up within each other. They would trade a certain amount of slaves for a valuable magic item, then the slaves were used for whatever their masters wanted, which was usually horrible. The plan mostly consisted of meetings with the Ministry of Magic to get them to step in and raising awareness among the wizarding world.

"So what can I do?" she asked eagerly.

"Well first, you'll be tagging along with me and I'll show you the general idea of what we're doing here, then I'll let you handle some of my jobs. It'll be great!" he nodded at her and Amelia smiled back.

"I can't wait to get started. This sounds perfect."

"You're really passionate about this?"

"I mean, I don't know much on the subject but I am. And I know I can do something to help. So I don't see anything stopping me from doing this." as she spoke, she saw Jeremy smiling at her and Al staring rather intently.

After a pause he said, "What about the hours of work? The long nights? You're going to be dealing with some really horrible people too, politicians, journalists, assholes. You think you can deal with that?" His arms crossed as he waited for her answer.

She didn't even hesitate as she simply shrugged and said, "None of that can stop me."

"You're right Jeremy, she can do it." Al nodded and shook her hand. "Welcome to the team."