The Rising of Merlin

The One With the Funeral

Chapter 34 The One With the Funeral

It was the first week of April when Merlin decided to take Morgana out on a stroll in the forest.

"Where are we going?" Morgana asked while Merlin led her into the forest.

"To the forest, I have something to show you." He smiled secretively and ushered her forward.

"Why won't you tell me what it is?" Morgana whined, well, to Merlin it sounded like whining but she would never admit to that.

"Because then it won't be a surprise." He said calmly and grabbed her hand to stop her from walking out into a small clearing. She looked at him with confusion before he pointed towards the trees on the other side of the clearing.

"Unicorns." She said with awe in her voice and big eyes. "This was the surprise?"

"What do you think?" He beamed at her. "I saw them last week and noticed some new foals and decided that it would be a nice surprise."

"It's a perfect surprise." She smiled back and Merlin got a warm feeling in his stomach. He loved to surprise his friends, and he considered Morgana to be his closest friend right now.

"Do you want to try and get closer?" He asked.

"Yes, let's do it." She said eagerly and walked slowly forward while he followed close after.

They reached the herd shortly after and Merlin stayed a little behind while Morgana walked up to a foal and its mother. She reached out her hand and the foal stretched out its snout so she could pet it. She turned her head around and looked at him with a huge smile and happy eyes. The same warm feeling settled in his stomach again.

Suddenly he felt something nudging his side and when he turned to see, he saw three small foals beside him. He laughed happily and reached out to pet them. Morgana noticed what was happening when her own foal walked over to him to join the others and soon he was surrounded by at least seven foals.

"They seem to like you." He heard Morgana say somewhere behind the foals.

"Yeah," He laughed. "It has always been like this. I think it's because they can feel my magic."

"Probably more in the line of you being Emrys." He could almost hear the eye roll in her voice.

"Perhaps." He chuckled and stood up from his crouch and pushed his way free. He took Morgana's hand and before she could protest, he pushed his way back to the middle of the foal herd so she could pet them as well.

She barely had time to crouch down to their height before they started to nuzzle her with their small muzzles.

They stayed in the forest until the sun was setting and return every day the following weeks before the Unicorns left the clearing and disappeared further into the forest.

----------------------------------

It was a warm, sunny day, but that didn't make Harry feel any better. He was upset that he hadn't made any progress with Malfoy or Slughorn.

"For the last time, ignore whatever is going on with Malfoy." Hermione said emphatically to Harry.

It was the 21st April and the day of Hermione's and Ron's apparition test was here. It was just after lunch and the trio sat in the quad. Hermione and Ron were reading a leaflet from the Ministry of Magic called: Common Apparition Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.

But it didn't help to calm them down from the impending test and when a girl showed up from behind a corner, Ron flinched and tried to hide behind Hermione.