Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or Harry Potter. I only own my OCs. Yes, there is one in this chapter – it was either that or keep calling him 'Head Goblin' the entire time…

Merlin Has to Enter a Non-Existing Vault - and Comes to Regret It

Merlin wondered for the tenth time that day why exactly he agreed to this thing. Seriously - he was the most powerful warlock to ever live and he was over a millennium old. It was so not his style to have to hide himself from a wizard in his twenties that was sent to spy on him by his new employer.

Dumbledore was seriously determined on figuring Merlin out. Sure, the warlock didn't blame him. If back at Camelot an obviously powerful sorcerer saved Arthur's life and managed to bypass some of Camelot's most powerful protective spells, Merlin would do his best to find out everything he could about the man as well, no matter how friendly he might seem. But it was a serious pain in the butt for Merlin having to hide himself from them.

Merlin sighed and irritably exited the small alcove he hid inside. Seriously, how was he supposed to discreetly enter his vault at the bottom of Gringotts if one of their own workers was spying on him?

Bill Weasley was a kind young man that Merlin quite liked until he realized it was impossible to get rid of him. The man was surprisingly tenacious and hellbent on following Dumbledore's orders of not letting Merlin out of his sight. It took the self-proclaimed Master Spy of Camelot thirty minutes to shake the man off - and that was only thanks to a certain beautiful colleague of Bill's that the poor young man probably had a crush on. Not that Merlin blamed him, he was pretty sure the lady was related to a Veela.

Merlin took a careful look around himself. It looked like Mr. Weasley was so taken by the woman he completely forgot about his task. Not that Merlin was complaining, he thought with a smirk as he quickly made his way to the Gringotts Wizarding Bank. He carefully maneuvered his way through the entrance and confidently walked up to the nearest free goblin before breaking into perfect Gobbledegook.

"Good morning." Merlin greeted the goblin and enjoyed seeing the goblin's surprised face at being spoken to in his mother tongue. "I have come to deposit some of my things at my safe as well as take out my money."

"Erm… Yes, of course…" The goblin answered after quickly regaining his bearings. "May I have your name and your key, Sir?"

"Myrddin Wyllt - and I'm afraid I do not have any key. I am the owner of the Scarlet Vault." Merlin stated calmly and watched the poor goblin's reaction. The goblin froze for a moment and stared at Merlin before he finally seemed to recognize who he was talking to. The goblin bulged out his eyes at the warlock in shock before quickly excusing himself and rushing out of the room.

Merlin sighed and waited impatiently. Merlin was initially not greatly fond of goblins, due to his very first encounter of their kind back at Camelot when he almost got executed because of that one particular goblin. However, the goblins nowadays were very different from the first one Merlin met (they still loved gold above all else though, no change there…). After Merlin heard of the first Wizarding Bank in England he was happy to be able to store some of his personal belongings there. After all, Hogwarts was already a school back then and Merlin did not feel very safe knowing some students might accidentally come stumbling over his stuff.

So, Merlin approached the founder, a goblin named Gringott, to ask for a secure vault from both outside and inside. To Merlin's great surprise, Gringott recognized Merlin as Emrys. He then proceeded to inform the flabbergasted warlock that Emrys should not expect the goblins to serve him (as if Merlin ever wanted anyone to) but that they were willing to give him one the highest secure vaults in the Bank and that due to his immortality, the goblins expect their payments paid every 30 years. He then informed Merlin that if he ever reveals the secrets of the Bank, he will be caught, tortured and locked inside his very vault for all eternity, since the death sentence could not be carried out on an immortal.

Needless to say, Merlin was impressed.

Back to present time, the goblin finally came back and calmly asked Merlin to follow him. The warlock could see him (and every other goblin in the room now that Merlin thought of it) giving him sideway looks. Merlin steeled himself and let it not show how uncomfortable those looks made him feel. 1500 years and Merlin was still not used to the popularity he received from various magical creatures and societies. He much preferred the Modern Wizards who didn't have the 'That-Man-Is-Emrys' sixth sense. Seriously, the druids were already bad enough, not to mention the many other magical creatures that could recognize him merely by looking at Merlin. Though, he was certainly never going to get used to being called on as an expression by modern wizards…

"Merlin's beard! Is that the Head of Bank?"

… Just like that. Merlin sighed and uncomfortably shifted on his feet upon hearing that. Just a moment later he stood in front of a different goblin whose clothes marked him as their leader.

"Emrys." The Head goblin greeted Merlin rather coldly and nodded his head in a barely visible bow.

"Ah! Noxart, long time no see." Merlin greeted the goblin with a large grin that quickly disappeared after noticing the odd looks he received from the many wizards in the room. "Could we perhaps take this somewhere more private?"

Noxart grumbled something incoherently, turned on his heels and decisively headed towards the door that led down to the carts station. Once they were out the main room and alone, Merlin visibly relaxed and his famous grin was back on his face.

"So, you're still the Head of the Bank? That makes it… what? Over twenty years since you've taken over the Bank after your father?" Merlin asked curiously.

"Twenty-three years." Noxart corrected Merlin indifferently as he led them towards a cart. "It has also been seventeen years since your last visit and twenty-five years since your last payment."

"Huh, you know the dates for every single one of your clients or am I that special?" Merlin asked cheekily.

Noxart gave Merlin a look that would rip apart any lesser man: "You are Emrys. Do you know what that means in Gobbledygook?"

"Eh - immortal?"

"No, annoying. And yes, the translation came from you. Now get in the bloody cart so that I can get back to my work." Noxart retorted grumpily as he sat behind the cart's controls.

Merlin chuckled at Noxart's antagonistic behavior before taking a seat behind the goblin as the cart got moving. Merlin has known Noxart for a long time. But, among all the Head Goblins Merlin met over the years, Noxart came the closest to Gringott in terms of his behavior and treatment of Merlin. Apparent hostility with begrudgingly admitted respect. He just refused to treat Merlin as the most powerful warlock to ever live and that suited Merlin just fine. He hated when people worshipped him.

Down the many twists and turns they went, past the many hidden protective charms and barriers that Merlin felt them passing through. The Gringotts were one of the few magical places in the world, where Merlin's magical sixth sense went haywire and refused to work (the pyramids or El Dorado were another such examples). For that reason, Merlin always withdrew his sixth sense when he came to the Gringotts. It did make him a little uncomfortable though. He came to rely on that sense quite a lot. Not to mention, who knew what kind of things the goblins had kept hidden down here...

The speed they travelled at might have made Merlin uncomfortable if he wasn't used to flying on a true dragon. They finally seemed to arrive at the bottom of the Bank and the warlock and goblin got off the cart. Noxart went on ahead without a word towards a seemingly ordinary cave wall. He then put both of his hands on the wall and waited. After a while the rock wall shook and silently moved aside to create a narrow pass that he and Merlin could easily walk through.

They arrived at the secret Labyrinth of Vaults of the Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

The idea behind the Labyrinth was simple - create a place underneath all other Vaults that would serve for the goblin's safe holding. During the construction, Gringott made sure no plans of this place existed in any of the maps or blueprints and all its mentions were erased from the history of the Bank.

To put it simply, the Labyrinth served for the safekeeping of goblin treasures that they accumulated (or stole, Merlin thought grimly) over the centuries. Merlin had no idea how much treasure there must have been, as another safety measure dictated, the Vaults were not numbered down here. For example - Merlin's Vault was the Scarlet Vault.

Needless to say, the moment Gringott explained to Merlin how the Labyrinth works, the warlock immediately agreed to his proposition of acquiring a vault there. After all, what other place is more suited for keeping his things, then a Vault that technically doesn't exist?

"Here we are." Noxart finally said as they arrived in front of large red safe door. "The Scarlet Vault. Please do not take your time, I am in a hurry and I believe you would prefer I walk you out of here. Unless you wish to get stuck here for the rest of your very long life…"

"Thanks, Noxart. I will be out shortly." Merlin grinned at the goblin. The warlock then went towards the door and put his hand on it before pushing in some of his magic. After all, magic was unique to every individual and no one else had the same magic as Merlin, making it the best possible safety measure for his own vault. Sort of like having a unique magic print.

The door accepted the magic and silently opened. Merlin could feel Noxart quietly attempting to see inside but Merlin quickly went through and closed the door behind him. After all, the goblins liked their own treasure so much they built a freaking non-existent system of vaults. Merlin liked to believe he had the right for keeping the insides of his own vault a secret.

Merlin took a moment to take in all the magical power that resided inside this room. The reason he wanted a vault that was protected from the inside as well was because he had so many powerful relics that emitted magic, he was worried traces of it would escape outside and draw unwanted attention. Merlin shook his head as he finally got used to it and calmly walked around the room.

Around the walls of the Scarlet Vault stood many shelves filled with magical objects. A bunch of expensive, non-magical objects laid on the ground along with gold and various gems that Merlin somehow got his hands on over the centuries but never really cared about enough to clean up (for a former royal manservant he could sure make a mess). But, it was the center of the room that Merlin wishfully walked towards to and gently put his hands on.

The moment Merlin heard of the many protections surrounding the Vault at Gringotts, Merlin knew he could trust this place enough to store his most important objects from his days back at Camelot. Many of them were around this room. The Throne of King and Queen. The Phoenix Stone. The Excalibur itself (as sharp as ever, thank you very much…) and so many others. But there was one he treasured quite possibly the most.

The Round Table of Camelot.

It was the symbol of not just Arthur, but of all his friends and the times they spend together. How many times did they sit around this Round Table? Be it discussing the future of the Kingdom, the most recent magical threats or just enjoying the time spend with their comrades and making fun of Gwaine's hair - this table saw it all and remembered. And so did Merlin.

There were times over the centuries that Merlin fell hard. The worst were the years after the fall of Arthur and Albion. Merlin felt his life served no further purpose and he could not understand why the Old Religion kept him alive. It took the warlock many years until he believed in the prophecies again, but even then it was merely a shiver of hope in a great space of despair. It was… bad, to say the least.

It wasn't until Merlin had a chance to talk to Arthur again, that he finally managed to resemble himself again. The bloody prat made him promise to get his act together and stop being whiny (Merlin almost personally choked the king to death for that remark). It took Merlin hours of talking with his friends, days of listening to cryptic prophecies from the dragons, years spent running from dozens of fangirling druids and a few centuries to come back to his old self. Well, as much as he could anyway...

Merlin let a single tear fall down his face before he smiled gently and turned away from his memories. He opened his handback (enchanted so that it was bigger on the inside, magic sure is useful...) and started sorting out some of the artifacts inside. Hmm… he won't need the de-aging necklace but should he keep the one against boggarts?

Merlin walked around the room while pulling out certain objects to put them on the shelves, while others he decided to take with him to Hogwarts. He was just trying to pull out the Mjölnir (don't ask how Merlin got his hands on it… it's a long story he would prefer to forget). Huh, now that he's talking about overpowered magical weapons, maybe he should take Orna with him to Hogwarts? Merlin looked around the vault looking for his magical sword. He saw the weapon lying on a shelf on the opposite side of the room. The warlock began walking towards it, while avoiding the mess on the floor.

Times like these, Merlin wished he hadn't made the freaking promise to never change. Seriously, this was the one side of his personally he could live without.

That's what went through Merlin's head as he stumbled and clumsily began falling to the ground. In an attempt to stop his descent, Merlin caught onto a nearby shelf. Accidentally, he so touched the one object in the room he never wanted to see in his life ever again.

The Crystal of Neahtid. The future-seeing Crystal Neahtid.

'You have got to be…' Merlin mentally facepalmed. It was too late to do anything else anyway.

And so the visions came.

Merlin standing in a dark corridor and burning a hole in the wall. Behind his back, unknowing to Merlin, he was silently watched by a wizard with greasy black hair. Damn, that guy needs to get a better shampoo, Merlin thought as the visions changed.

Merlin with Harry in a semi-destroyed classroom. The boy sending a spell at him, looking absolutely furious. The warlock was looking honestly shocked as the spell came his way.

Next scene. Merlin down in the familiar looking crypts, casting the bloody spell. Oh, and he was missing an arm. Good to know. And look, another vision is on its way!

Merlin standing next to an injured wizard in dark green robes. Against them stood a man whose eyes shone gold. Both of the men looked familiar to Merlin. Both of them made Merlin groan in mental pain, before the scene changed again.

A strange gate with a veil shimmering in between the two sides. A man flying towards it as a mad witch was laughing maniacally.

New vision. The same veil again. A familiar looking woman walking out of it, with her eyes shining gold and a smirk on her face.

Merlin landed on the ground with a loud 'thud' while the crystal landed an inch away from his eyes. Merlin quickly closed them and blindly searched for a piece of cloth. He finally found something and quickly used it to wrap it around the Crystal. Satisfied with it being hidden very, very deep inside the cloth, Merlin slowly opened his eyes. He numbly realized the piece of cloth was a cloak from one of the Knights before he groaned out and hit his head on the floor multiple times. He stood up and stumbled to take a seat on the nearest chair.

"Well that's just bloody brilliant." The warlock mumbled as he massaged his temples to ease the incoming headache. "Great going, Merlin. One would say you would learn to not do things like that. But nooo! You're still the same clumsy idiot you ever were. And you just had to touch the only thing in this room that shows you the bloody future!"

Merlin groaned and laid back in the chair- no, wait a second. He was sitting on Arthur's throne. Oh well, it's not like the prat can complain about it right now anyways...

Merlin's mind slowly came to terms that - yes, he really did look into the future… yes, Harry will want to kill him at some point (good luck with that one kid)... yes, that bloody green-robed man will force him into activating the seal he swore he'd only use in the most dire of times. However, Merlin's mind kept replaying one particular scene over and over again.

Why, by the Triple Goddess, will he try to burn a wall?

Extra: Little Talks Part 3 - Mother's Worries

"Oh, Merlin's beard, I am so sorry!"

"It's alright madam. It was mostly my fault anyway…" Merlin apologized and did his best to ignore the fact that the woman cried out his name and his non-existing body part as he kneeled down on the ground.

Merlin was walking out of the Bank so deep in thought, he accidentally walked into a ginger haired woman. Their collision resulted in the poor woman letting go of the things she held in her arms as they fell down to the ground. He was just helping her pick up the many books (huh, must be a mother of a Hogwarts student, going by the amount of textbooks present) when a particular book caught his attention.

"How to Protect Your Family: A List of Household Protection Charms by Melinda Brooks?" Merlin asked out loud as he handed it to the woman. "That's quite the book you got there, madam."

"What? Is a mother not supposed to fear for her family's safety?" The witch retorted angrily with an embarrassed color to her cheeks as she tore out the book from Merlin's hand.

The warlock put up his hands to show he meant no offense: "That's not what I meant. It's just that the book is over a decade old and some of those charms are a little outdated. A better buy would be A Thousand Spells for Keeping Your Home Safe by Terrence Woods. Some of those spells might be a bit drastic but they surely will keep Riddle- I mean, Voldemort away better than- oh!"

Merlin quickly threw out his arms to catch the falling books again. The witch suddenly screamed during Merlin's speech and let go of her things. Why would she do that? It's not like Merlin said anything wro-

Oh. He said Riddle's title. Damn, he forgot how people react to the name as if it were cursed. In some ways Merlin envied the Dark Lord. At least he didn't hear his name shouted by random wizards all the time…

"You- you-" the woman stared at him in shock before her narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "I know you! Who are you?"

"Eh, aren't the last two sentences contradicting?" Merlin asked and blinked at the woman. Now that he thought about the woman did look slightly familiar… but it's not like you can expect over a millennium old man to remember all the faces of everybody he met.

"You're him!" She suddenly cried out and pointed a finger at Merlin threateningly.

"That didn't help me in remembering you at all, I'm afraid, madam." Merlin said sheepishly as he found himself slightly terrified of the woman and the look she was giving him. How can a witch in her fifties scare an immortal warlock who faced down immortal armies without batting an eyelid? Merlin felt sorry for whoever was a child of such formidable woman...

"Mr. Wizard! You saved Harry from You-Know-Who!" She went on not paying attention to his confusion. "And then you just disappeared before anyone could speak with you. That, young sir, made me very angry! And you left poor Harry behind completely confused, thinking he did something terribly wrong by leaving your staff behind!"

"Sorry…" Merlin managed to squeak out before he realized that wait - he was Emrys, the Lord of the Druids and the Most Powerful Warlock to Ever Live… he was pretty sure he was not supposed to be scolded so thoroughly by a witch 1450 years younger than him. Merlin nodded to his resolve in his head and quickly tried to regain his bearings.

Merlin coughed and straightened himself (when did he start cowering before the witch?) before he threw a friendly smile at the woman: "My apologies for that. My staff is very important to me and I was worried Rid- Voldemort," Merlin did his best to ignore the way the witch jerked at hearing the name, "might take it. I will be sure to apologies to Harry as well when I see him." Why did he feel the need to say that? The witch sure is terrifying… "And the name is Michael Ambrosius, actually. I believe you were at the Hospital Wing when I woke up?"

"Yes. I'm Molly Weasley." She introduced herself and finally stopped threatening Merlin with her finger. She seemed to calm down after Merlin apologized and promised to speak with Harry. "My son, Ronald, is close friends with Harry. I would like to thank you for making sure Harry came back to us safely."

"Oh, that was no trouble." Merlin said and winced at his own words. Riiight, it was no trouble fighting off against Voldemort, the most terrifying and powerful Dark Wizard to these people. While I speak the truth, it does make me sound like I could defeat the man with a wave of my hand - which I probably could... "I'm just glad that both of the kids survived. How's the other boy?"

"Oh, you mean Cedric Diggory? He was in a better state than Harry. He was unconscious the entire time but after hearing how you saved both of them from You-Know-Who, his parents wish to thank you as well." Mrs. Weasley said and gave Merlin a look that dared him to refuse her.

"I am glad to hear that, but I don't want thanks for something that was a natural thing to do." Merlin answered honestly. He never did anything for praise or fame, even if it was nice to hear the prat admit he did something well for once. That part of him stayed the same over the centuries and Merlin seriously doubted it would ever change.

Mrs. Weasley blinked blankly a few times before she seriously asked him: "Are you sure you and Harry aren't related?"

"Eeh… I'm rather positive." Merlin answered. Gaius never had children and as far as he knew both of his parents had no siblings same as Merlin. And Merlin knew for a fact he had no children over the years. "Why?"

"Just that that is something Harry would say too. He never liked getting praised for how brave he was, facing You-Know-Who over the years and such…" Mrs. Weasley said with a faraway look and watery eyes. Merlin shifted on his feet uncomfortably. Suddenly he remembered the book Mrs. Weasley bought and his mind connected the facts.

"You shouldn't worry about them so much." Merlin said and tried to give Mrs. Weasley a reassuring smile when she stared at him incredulously. "I'm not saying they are safe, no one can claim that given the world we live in. There are dangers out there that Harry and even the rest of your family will certainly have to face, especially with Voldemort slowly coming back to his full power. But, do any of them want to die?"

Merlin asked and waited for the answer. Mrs. Weasley immediately screamed at him: "Of course not! Who do you take them for?"

Merlin shrugged and gave her a gentle smile: "Than trust them that they want to live. Trust that, when the time comes, they will fight and give it their all to come back to you. Trust in their strengths and help them get stronger. Keeping them shut behind a wall, protecting them from the dangers outside will only make them an easier target. It's hard, given that they are just children. They should experience the joys of growing up and not face the evils of this world. But that we can't change that. What we can do is make sure they are ready for whatever this world will throw at them. And then, once it's over, they will come out of this a better, stronger person."

Merlin ended his speech and felt a little self-aware. Damn, was that too much? He had no idea where that came from. Seeing Mrs. Weasley staring at him with her mouth slightly open, Merlin uncomfortably shifted on his feet and scratched the back of his neck.

"Anyway… those are just my thoughts. Hey, do you happen to be related to Bill Weasley? He was supposed to be my guide but I seem to have lost him somewhere…"

"Mr. Ambrosius!"

"Aaand, there he is…" Merlin said and turned towards his rescuer. "Mr. Weasley! I lost you for a moment there, hehe, sorry about that!"

Bill run towards Merlin and stopped while breathing heavily: "No - I am sorry. Fleur had a problem with one of her clients and asked for my help, ehem. Anywa- mum?"

"Ah, so you are related." Merlin mumbled and turned to look at poor Mrs. Weasley, who still seemed to be a little lost following Merlin's speech. She blinked slowly and turned her attention to her son.

"Bill?" She mumbled. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm spying… eh… I'm helping Mr. Ambrosius to get around the Diagon Alley. What are you doing here?"

"Oh? What am I…?" Mrs. Weasley looked at the books that Merlin was still holding after she let go off them. "Yes, I'm shopping for Ronald and- Oh, by Merlin's beard! I almost forgot! Did you hear the news?"

Mrs. Weasley suddenly woke up from her daydreaming and excitedly looked at Bill, who only looked more confused.

"What news?"

"Ronald is a prefect!" Mrs. Weasley cried out happily and went to clutch Bill's arm, as if to make sure he got the message.

"What? Really? That's amazing! But I thought for sure Harry…"

Merlin tuned out the rest of their conversation as he silently picked up the bag Mrs. Weasley accidentally let fall to the ground. Merlin then begun sticking the books inside of it while he made sure all of them were dust-free. Once he was satisfied with his work, he silently deposited the bag near Mrs. Weasley (after casting a spell to make sure it stayed clean and no one could move it but Mrs. Weasley) and silently excused himself from the excited mother and her smiling son.

Well then, where was he? Something about planning how to avoid all those future visions, only to know he'll fail miserably and end up causing them anyway...

Merlin knew there was a danger at Hogwarts (he saw no other reason why the green robed man would be with him in the vision) that he must deal with. The mysterious veil that looked way too familiar to Merlin's liking made Merlin very uncomfortable. Not to mention that person falling towards it and her walking out.

Oh, and let's not forget that Harry, the 'Boy Who Lived' and that got Merlin into this whole mess in the first place, will rather passionately try to kill him at some point, given the state of the room he saw inside the Crystal.

Oh what a wonderful school year ahead of him the warlock had.

Makes one glad to be alive. Merlin thought with a rather excited grin as he cleaned his hands.

Author's Note:

Yo! What up? The chapter is not moving the story much either? Well, I warned you before I won't be rewriting it. I did my best but I really don't want to delete everything except for the future visions – that would be a pretty weird chapter, right? Sorry if I sound mean but I have zero energy right now, am a bit moody and to top it off I'm nervous about any future bad reviews about boring chapters. Sorry folks, I'll do my best in the next chapter when Merlin finally gets to Hogwarts.

Again – thank you all for your reviews and love. I'm glad people seemed to have liked Eric and he will quite possibly appear again (the story is not about him though, don't worry!). Noxart appeared spontaneously when I got sick of writing 'Head of the Bank' over and over again. Besides Archimedes, those are the only OCs that I plan will be in this part of the story. All other characters will be from Merlin or Harry Potter.

Future visions are written in weird grammar on purpose as you probably guessed. I'd love to hear who you think is which mysterious person or situation :D. Little Talks Part 3 was again unexpected – I just did research for my story and felt super bad for Mrs. Weasley and decided to have Merlin reassure her a little. Poor woman, having an entire family made of Gryffindors…

Anyhow – not sure when the next chapter will be. Hoping a month will be enough but I'll see about school work. Also I realized I have a lot of 'conversation' chapters and not much action. So, I'll have to rethink the story of my fanfic a little bit before I continue writing. I know what the final battle(s) will look like but I need to come with better middle of my story. (and then there are a bunch of different fanfics who occasionally force me to write them instead of Poor Warlock and Confused Wizards… but this one is still my priority for now!)

Thank you for your patience and I hope I'll see you next chapter!