Meddling With Magic

Disclaimer-I do not own Merlin

Summary: Merlin has loved Lancelot for years and purchases a magic book with the hopes of winning the man's heart. Suddenly, Lancelot develops a sudden interest in Merlin. Has the magic spell actually worked, or is something else going on? And what does Lancelot's best friend Arthur think about all this?

Chapter 1

Sixteen year old Merlin Emrys sat cross-legged on the school field his fingers fiddling with the dragon pendent that adorned his throat. His blue eyes were looking across the field at a group of boys hanging by a truck in the parking lot.

"Merlin?" His swimmer friend Freya asked as she came to stand beside him.

"Sssh." Merlin hissed as he continued to observe the group of boys, well one boy in particular.

"You're gawking at him again." Freya pointed out distastefully.

"I can't help myself." Merlin confessed. "He's just so gorgeous."

"Eww, he gives me the creeps." Freya said with a shudder. "I heard that he once got into a fight with a policeman and he almost bit the guy's nose off."

"That's a lie." Merlin snapped defensively.

"You don't know that." Freya told her. "You've never even spoken to the guy; he doesn't even know you exist."

"Maybe not yet." Merlin admitted. "But he will. He's my soul mate, my destiny."

The slender brunette girl rolled her eyes at her friend's declarations. That was part of who Merlin was. He was a firm believer in love, destiny and all things mystical. Every time there was a fair Merlin insisted on taking a trip to see the fortune teller and he soaked in every word the crazy old man or woman would say as they looked into their crystal ball or examined Merlin's palm.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Morgana LeFay asked as she joined her two friends, Guinevere, better known as Gwen walking right behind her.

"Merlin's staring at him again." Freya sighed.

"Oh Merlin give it up." Gwen told her as she rolled her brown eyes. "You'll only make a fool of yourself. Not that I'm saying you're a fool, or that you act foolish…I just think you should set your sights on someone else…someone better."

"That's right." Morgana agreed as she pulled a leaf out of Gwen's tight black curls. "He's too old for you anyway."

"Only by two years." Merlin commented. "That's not very much at all. Besides, our spirits are compatible."

"What does that even mean?" Gwen asked in bemusement.

"It means he and I belong together." Merlin explained impatiently. "You wouldn't understand."

"Come on, you can do much better than him." Morgana told her. "There's nothing special about him. He's just a weirdo and quite frankly he gives me the creeps."

"He's just misunderstood." Merlin replied defensively. "A tortured soul, haunted. There's so much pain behind those bloodshot eyes."

"That's an effect of the drugs he takes." Morgana stated.

"Don't speak of him that way." Merlin said as he glared up at his friend from where he sat on the grass. "We'll be together one day and as my friend you should be prepared to get along with him."

"I don't know what world you're living in Merlin but you need to return your feet firmly back to the ground of this one." Morgana told her as she bent down and wrapped her arms around her friend from behind. "I appreciate that you think you have feelings for this guy you've never spoken to but as your friend it is my duty to bluntly deliver the truth…it's never going to happen."

"It will so." Merlin replied confidently as he shrugged Morgana's arms off of him and stood up. "Just you wait and see. I will win Lancelot's heart."

"I'm not sure there's a heart to win." Morgana said snidely.

"If there is it's probably made of stone." Freya said. "Or it just isn't beating; it wouldn't surprise me if he was a vampire."

Merlin tuned out his friends' remarks and continued to watch the eighteen year old boy from a distance.

Lancelot flicked back his shoulder length black hair and laughed at something one of his friends had said. The sunlight shined down on him glinting off of the piercing at the top of his left ear. He raised his hand up and high-fived one of his companions before looking over in the girls' and Merlin's direction.

Merlin's breath hitched as for a beautiful fleeting moment Lancelot's brown eyes met with his sapphire blue.

Before heading home, Merlin took a walk around Crescent Park. It was one of his favorite haunts. Normally it was only older people who went there or families with young children but Merlin loved it. There was a lake where people would go to feed the ducks, swans and geese. Close to the lake was a patio area with tables and chairs and a small stand that served food and drinks.

The park also boasted a beautiful green field and two floral gardens on either side of the park. There were benches around the flower beds and Merlin would often sit down on one of them and admire the different coloured blossom and inhale the mixture of aromas.

Sitting on his favored bench Merlin looked out at the flower garden. Summer was slowly slipping into autumn and he knew that in a week or two the flowers would be dead and he would not be able to appreciate the beauty until the spring.

Leaning forwards, Merlin plucked a flower from the earth and brought it up to his nose and smelt. He pulled a face finding that its scent did not match its visual beauty. He shifted on the bench so that he was sat cross-legged with his school bag beside him and he slowly began to pull off the petals of the plant he held.

"He loves me." He said thinking of the mysterious Lancelot. "He loves me not…he loves me…he loves me not." He continued in this way until all the petals had been removed finishing on, "He loves me not." Merlin frowned before selecting another flower. "Best out of three." He told himself before repeating the process.

This time he was pleased to finish on a, "He loves me." Merlin then picked a third flower, repeated the process again and beamed as he once more got the result he desired.

The bells of the nearby church began to chime informing him that it was now four o'clock. He sighed before gathering his bag and heading home. Fishing out his key Merlin let himself in. He called out a quick hello to his mother before hurrying up to his bedroom to watch T.V.

He then spent the next hour doing his English assignment. It was a poor job he knew, but he'd never been the brightest pupil and he never seemed to find the motivation to try harder.

His stomach growled with hunger and he ventured downstairs asking his mum what was for dinner.

"What do you want?" Hunith asked him as she moved towards the kitchen.

"Egg on toast will be fine." He replied.

His mum nodded before setting to work on the meal. Merlin sat in the living-room and stared blankly at the television screen barely paying attention to the comedy show that was on. A few minutes later his mum handed him his dinner on a tray. He thanked her before taking up his knife and fork and cutting into his egg on toast that his mum had covered in both red and brown sauce, just the way he liked it.

When Merlin went up to bed that night he found it difficult to find sleep. He sighed deeply before leaning across to his bedside table and turning on his disco ball.

The room lit up with multi-coloured spots of light and Merlin watched them move around the walls and ceiling as the disco ball slowly spun around. Although he wasn't afraid of the dark, he found that the spots of light helped him to find sleep. He began to relax and his breathing evened out as pleasant dreams began to form in his mind. His last conscious thought before sleep claimed him completely was of Lancelot.

***

On a Saturday afternoon, Merlin called up his friends, Morgana, Gwen and Freya asking them to meet him in the local public library. His reason for choosing such a location was that it would be private and no-one from their school would overhear.

His friends arrived before him and waited patiently in the celebrity biography section all browsing over a book about Johnny Depp. Neither girl was actually reading the information about the actor; they were just looking at the pictures.

With his trainers squeaking as he walked, Merlin made his way through the shelves of books looking for his friends. He heard Freya's very distinctive snort of laughter and followed the sound until he located them.

"You'll never guess what I've just bought." Merlin whispered eagerly as he joined them.

"Oh what now?" Freya asked skeptically as she shoved the Johnny Depp book back on the shelf.

"Well, I was in Mystique." Merlin informed them referring to the shop he purchased all his candles, dream catchers and other bits from.

"If you say you got yourself some freaky candle to make Lancelot fall in love with you I'm leaving right now." Morgana said.

"Oh no it's much better than that." Merlin told her as he pulled out a black book entitled 'Dragoste' in curly violet writing and held it before them as if it were a rare treasure.

"It's a book." Gwen pointed out. "What's so thrilling about that?"

"Yes, look around you Merlin." Freya said. "We're surrounded by books."

"But this book is special." Merlin replied as he flicked through the pages before showing them a passage.

"You have got to be kidding me." Freya sighed as she read it.

"I'm being perfectly serious." Merlin said sounding offended and snatching the book back and slipping it back in his bag.

"What exactly is a gloxinia?" Gwen asked in confusion.

"A type of plant." Merlin explained. "It means love at first sight."

"It doesn't mean anything Merlin it's a plant." Morgana argued.

"Calm down." Gwen said. "Now Merlin, please explain to us exactly what it is that you're thinking."

"Well, like I said, I was in Mystique and this book just caught my eye." Merlin answered. "I began flicking through and I found that page. It's a love spell; I'm going to use it to make Lancelot fall in love with me."

His three friends looked at each other before immediately bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Oh Merlin, you are crazy darling." Freya laughed.

"You're wasting your time boy." Morgana said bluntly. "It's just a made up book with funny meaningless words. It won't actually work you know."

"Yes it will." Merlin replied defensively making his friends laugh again. "Oh well thanks for your support. We'll just see who's laughing when Lancelot falls totally in love with me on Monday morning."

With that said the pale-skinned raven head turned on his heel and left the library.

"He's going to make a fool out of himself isn't he?" Gwen asked.

"Completely." Morgana and Freya answered in unison.

"Do you think there's any chance of talking some sense into him?" Freya questioned.

"No, you know what he's like." Morgana replied. "He's so stubborn. When he gets an idea in his head he won't stop until he gets what he wants."

"I thought he'd be over all this by now." Gwen said. "I thought the love, destiny and freaky supernatural stuff was just a phase, I figured he'd grow out of it."

"That's just who he is Gwen." Morgana replied. "And I wouldn't want him any other way. It's good to have a crazy friend."

"Yeah I have to admit I kind of love him when he's insane too." Freya laughed.

"Come on let's get out of here." Gwen said. "The silence of the library gives me the creeps."

The three of them left the library, not seeing the boy who had been perusing books in the next row and had listened to their every word, including Merlin's plan.

The boy had blonde hair. Like Merlin, he had blue eyes and he had golden skin. He also had his left eyebrow pierced. He was eighteen years old and best friends with Lancelot. He left the library and his lips formed into a smirk as he took his phone out of his pocket and dialed Lancelot's number.

"Hey Pendragon, what's up?" Lancelot asked from the other end of the line.

"Do you believe in magic mate?" Arthur asked in a voice full of mirth.

"No but thanks for asking." Lancelot replied. "Are you on drugs or summat?"

"Oh fuck off you know I don't do that shit." Arthur said. "I've just overheard a group of girls and a guy talking about you."

"Really?" Lancelot asked sounding pleased and arrogant. "I suppose they were raving about my good looks and gorgeous body."

"Not exactly." Arthur laughed. "Some Merlin guy is going to make you fall in love with him."

"Who the fuck is Merlin and how does he plan to do that?"

"I don't know who he is." Arthur replied. "He's a couple years younger than us but he's got himself a little magic book and he plans to cast a love spell on you."

Lancelot sniggered on the other end of the phone.

"Great, so I've got some weird psycho stalker in love with me." He said.

"Afraid so." Arthur told him seeming to find the situation amusing. "He reckons you'll fall in love with him on Monday morning."

"Oh well then he's going to be disappointed." Lancelot sighed in a voice of mock sympathy.

"Well I was thinking." Arthur said. "Perhaps we could have some fun with this situation."

"Yeah? How's that exactly?"

"Play along with it." Arthur answered. "Make him think the spells worked."

"And just pretend to be in love with some random guy?" Lancelot asked thoughtfully. "You know what, it sounds like fun. Later man."

"Laters." Arthur replied before hanging up.

***

When Merlin arrived home he marched straight up the stairs to his bedroom. He took out his magic book and flipped through the page he needed and reread the passage:

Unrequited love is such a curse. There are countless spells and charms to make one fall out of love but the gloxinia spell is designed to make people fall in love. This spell can be used on friends or relatives to make them fall in love with one another or it can be used to make a person fall in love with you.

For this spell to work you must first light a candle that contains essence of dove and tulip. You will also need a photographic image of the two people in which you intend to cast the spell. One of the photographs must be held over the candle flame and burnt. You must then sprinkle the ashes onto the other photograph.

Whilst the first photographic image is burning you must chant the persons name three times before chanting, 'viscus vindicatum amor' three times. As you scatter the ashes onto the second photograph chant the second persons name three times. Then chant the words, 'viscus vindicatum amor' three times before blowing the ashes off of the photograph.

Once this is done the two people will fall in love the next time they exchange eyes.

Smiling in excitement, Merlin placed the book on his desk before setting up in the middle of the floor. He had purchased the candle needed and he even managed to get his hands on a photo of Lancelot. It had been on one of the school notice boards and he had taken it when no-one was looking. He fished out the photo along with one of himself.

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of his room he lit the candle. With a slightly trembling hand he held the photo of Lancelot over the flame and chanted his name three times before chanting the spell.

With that done he blew out the candle and then scattered the ashes across the photo of himself and followed the instructions in the book.

Spell complete, Merlin felt a surge of power and excitement sweep through him and he was certain the spell had worked. Now all he had to do was finish off his homework and then wait for Monday morning to arrive.

What do you think? Shall I continue?

Hugs, IceQueenRia xxx