The Legacy of Salazar

Feeling Paternal

Merlin shouldn't have seen that.

Florean shook his head and leaned back in his armchair. The boy in question was asleep now. They'd returned from the hearing to Silas waiting tables—which Florean had a feeling might be illegal. But at the look on Merlin's face, Silas had apologized at once, taken off his apron, and accompanied them upstairs for a rundown of the hearing. Merlin had behaved almost normally, and if weren't for the way Silas watched him Florean wouldn't even have realized something was wrong.

And maybe nothing was. Maybe he was just reading too much into it. Florean grunted, and brought his pipe to his lips again, taking in a long breath. Purple smoke furled from his nostrils, and he blew the remainder into the air. But the image of Merlin's bloody form was seared into his mind. He couldn't shake it. Now, he was glad that Merlin had decided not to submit his memory of the actual fight. He wasn't sure about everyone else was—but he didn't need to see the boy fight to know he'd done something both amazing and terrifying. He felt it like an ache in his bones.

Florean frowned and extinguished his pipe with a wave of his hand. He set it gently back into the cabinet behind him and got up. He had no doubt that Rita Skeeter was going to put something in the Daily Prophet about Merlin living with him, and be damned if that didn't mean his shop would be full of people hoping to get a look at the boy. Great for business—bad for privacy.

Florean walked down the hallway and paused outside their room. He pushed open the door and peered inside. As he had thought, they were both asleep. Silas' blankets were slipping to the floor, covering Merlin's bed, and it was with a small smile that Florean entered the room and picked up the fallen cover. A glint of silver caught his eye in the dim light. He blinked, placed the blanket back over Silas' shoulders and bent to the floor. Just beside Merlin's bed was a long silver chain holding a beautiful ring.

It must have fallen off Merlin's neck while he'd slept. Florean picked it up and surveyed the ring for a long moment. The wings of the merlin caught the light and shone, the blue illumined. He looked past the unique ring, to the sleeping child and smiled. He placed the ring on Merlin's bedside table and closed the door behind him with a soft click.