In the Heart of Men • Harry Potter/Merlin Crossover

chapter one

Unedited. Probably going to edit later.

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An old man leant against the window. He knew that he was different from those around him. His hair had not grown grey, nor had his skin become any less smooth. The only part of him that had aged were his eyes. They possessed years of wisdom and revealed stories of bitter regret.

Tiredly, he sat on the couch. He was so very, very old, yet still, his raven hair fell in front of his face when he put it in his hands. The weather had been dreadful as of late; Small droplets of water trickled from his hair onto the white carpet.

In the past two months, secrets which he had delicately buried had been brought back into the light. His sword had been found, dug up from the lake by archeologists. It had been covered in algae, the grip dissolved which left the tang visible and the metal slippery.

After that, they had approached him for permission to survey his land. He had inspected their documentation with a fine tooth comb and a magnifying glass trying to find any reason for which he could refuse. Unfortunately, he was unable to and had regretfully signed.

On the third day of surveying the land-the fifth week of the whole project-they had found something of interest. After debating whether he should give them permission, he had yielded. A dig was to commence come Monday.

"Sir," A voice interrupted his thoughts, the floo having lit up. Probably Victor down in reception, "The lights are going out all over Britan,"

"I know,"

How could he not?

A hand tugged his pant leg, as large doe eyes looked at the ground. Janne, one of the younger children, stood with Bessie in her sling.

"Light's off," she whispered.

Looking around, he realised that she was right. The orbs which normally glowed a dull blue had faded, leaving the building in the dark. He hadn't noticed it before when he was thinking but now, he felt it; the Triple Goddess calling for power as she cracked.

He careful bent down, lifting Janne into his arms. He was part way through the walk back to the rooms when he felt power beginning to swell around her. Looking down, he realised that she had fallen asleep, her head rested on his shoulder and a fist clutching his shirt.

Sliding down the wall as smoothly as he could, he felt Janee whimper into his shirt. Let me in, She commanded, all must see. Opening his mind, he felt him magic leave him. Realising what she was doing, he pulled Janne closer.

The Goddess had not produced a seer for old magic for at least half a century. Merlin had begun to understand in about half that time, his magic was too raw for modern spell-casters and burnt their cores. For the goddess to prepare a vision now.

Merlin panted as she finished absorbing his magic. Careful he stood up and took Janne, who was still sleeping, to her room. Tucking her in, he carefully created more orbs which then drifted into their places.

Creating another orb he walked into his room and went to bed. The rain had not stopped, the sound of it hitting the window was constant and with the help of the light lulled him to sleep.

When Merlin felt the sunlight on his face, he quietly woke and slipped out of bed. Checking on the children, he watched as they slept. He had seen so many of these children living on the streets, most were orphans, but some, like Janee, had been left by their parents.

All over the world, Merlin had been able to set up houses like this. They took in the poor and those living on the streets, no matter their age or gender and helped care for them. The homes were all provided by public contributions.

When he first began to build, nobody had wanted to help, so he had used the money he collected from his business. It had taken a speech by the monarch of that time to get even the first people to help, from there it has grown to what it is now; fourteen houses, four schools and twenty-three hundred jobs.

Walking down the stairs, Merlin began to make breakfast. Most of the adults had slept in today as it was Saturday, although he did pass one or two in the halls. Walking into the kitchen Merlin took out three pans. He had almost begun to make eggs before realising that they had decided on doing Pancake Saturday as he was leaving for the site tomorrow.

The kitchen was at the top of the stairs, far enough away that any chatting could not be heard clearly. So when Merlin turned around to see Calien rubbing his eyes tiredly while sitting on a stool, he jumped.

Calien was one of the older boys at age 10 and likely going to receive a Hogwarts letter after he turned 11, like most of those living here. He placed a basic preservation charm on the stack-once he had put them on the plate-and handed them to Calien to place on the table.

After, the boy stood next to Merlin who summoned a stool for him to stand on. Letting his magic cook the pancakes he helped Calien cut the fruit. Anette came into the kitchen and kicked Merlin out saying that he and Calien should wake up the other children.

She was one of the three adults that Merlin had employed to look after the children when he could not. She was a kind woman who reminded him of his deceased friend, Gwen.

Merlin knew that he would have to stay longer if they found something and would not be able to the kids to Diagon Alley. Hoping that didn't happen, he smiled at her as he left the kitchen.