Alrighty fanfiction readers! I have decided to do a Merlin and Harry Potter crossover. I am SUPER excited to release this because I have been working extremely hard on it! I tried doing something a bit different, but if not? Eh, I had a blast writing it! A note before we begin. I'm making Merlin's home village bigger than it was on the show. Also, I'm using the episodes, obviously, but nothing will be word for word! Just wanted to clear that up! Don't know why, but I felt I needed to tell you that I know the village is larger...I'm weird I know!

Anywho! ENJOY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or Harry Potter (the sad truth!)

Chapter 1

Merlin was just a little boy. Carefree, marveling at the world and learning the ways of the village he lived in. Ealdor, an outlying village in the land of Essetir, was quiet and always busy, but always dull. The same work, day in and day out, nothing special. Everyday was equal to the last. Oh, some things did change once in awhile. Sometimes the other kids would tease him instead of pretending he wasn't there at all. Sometimes his mother would ask him to go into the forest and collect wood. A magnificent task for a seven year old. That's what his mother did that day, asked him to get some twigs for kindle. It was there, that he was silently gathering twigs, staying close to the border. A light caught his eyes. It was just a flash. Quick and bright, but peculiar. He was curious enough to drop the kindle he had collected and wander over to where he had saw the light. The closer he got, the louder a certain noise got. Breathing? No, it was more like gasping. Like it was trying to breath, but couldn't. He came closer and the noise became louder and louder. He could hear whimpering now. Whatever it was, it was afraid. He slipped through a patch of bushes and screamed when he saw the sight before him.

He screamed louder than he ever had before. He was so frightened, that he had another burst of accidental magic. A blast was heard and he watched a few smaller trees bend in the direction away from him, but none completely snapped. The bloody girl that was on the ground looked over to him, still clutching her throat and gasping for air. She was shaking. Shaking hard and he took a step back. There was just blood everywhere! He was so frightened. He could hear footsteps rushing towards where he was and the girl caught his eyes. He just stopped. She was frightening, but her eyes were entrancing. They were blood red. Not all of her eyes, just where there was supposed to be normal color. He gazed into them. They were absolutely calming. It's like she was communicating through her stare. The footsteps behind him became louder and he watched as the red turned to whiskey brown and he confessed that he missed the red. It looked more natural on her than the whiskey color.

He could hear people rush out from behind him and she looked looked back to the sky and gasped for breath as she was the whole time, but it looked like it hurt more. Merlin looked behind him and found three men from the village and his mother, Hunith. She hugged Merlin and cried with him in her clutches. She kept mumbling things about being frightened and afraid she lost him. "Hunith!" One of the men shouted to his mother. She looked up and finally noticed the girl on the floor. She shoved Merlin behind her and the men called her over to help. She knew little about healing, but just enough. She rushed over and looked to the woman. Too much blood for her to still be alive. She was clutching her neck and having a hard time breathing. Hunith reached a hand down to see the damage on the neck, but the girl flinched back violently. Hunith took her hand back and whispered, "are you alright enough for one of them to carry you back?"

The girl looked to the left, towards her son. Hunith also looked towards Merlin and saw him nod to the unfurled girl. She looked back up to Hunith and nodded. Hunith would investigate later, for now, she called over Lester, one of the men, and told him to carry the girl so they could carry her back to the village. Lester nodded and hoisted the shaking girl up. She breathed painfully and let out a sort of scream. Oh, the poor dear couldn't even breath right! Hunith grabbed her son's hand and the group rushed out of the forest and back to the village. They reached the sick house, it was empty right now so that would be fine. They did have a crowd of people though. The girl's blood was dripping everywhere. Lester set her on the table and she gave a violent shake. She was barely holding on. Hunith took charge seeing as they had no Physicians. They needed one right then, though. It was too late to find one, Hunith would just have to deal. "I need fresh water, bandages and a needle and thread! She'll need to be stitched. Merlin honey. Stay with her and make sure she stays awake while I gather some herbs."

Merlin nodded and off everyone went. Merlin stood still for a moment and looked at the girl in pain. Her eyes found his and they bled red again. He hesitantly walked over to her and she watched his every move. He shuffled nervously and whispered, "I'm Merlin." She seemed to be trying to reply. "Her-mi-o-ne" she rasped it out so quietly that he almost didn't hear it. He could tell it hurt her. "Hermione?" She nodded and tried to give him a smile with her bloodied face, but it turned into a grimace. He hesitantly took his hand and slowly brought it to the crown of her head.

She froze all shaking and he stopped. He stroked her bloodied hair and she closed her eyes and breathed deep. It seemed to relax her. "My mother does this when I'm scared. You're scared. So, I thought it would help" he whispered. She did manage a smile this time. He heard fast footsteps outside and he quickly removed his hand and her eyes turned back to the whiskey color. The pain seemed to return when her focus wasn't on something else. The shaking increased and she was almost panicking. His mother came in with bowls, vials, and herbs. She set them down on the empty table of the small house and the others came back with fresh water, bandages, and stitching supplies. Hunith started to work and the three men took Merlin out and explained that it was too scary for him to watch. He just nodded and walked around his small village.

A dirt road and many places for crop and livestock. There were stables for horses and carts for trading and selling. There were less than thirty little houses, but the village was strong. They helped each other and taught the children the ways of everything. Ealdor was outside of Camelot, but Merlin had always heard of how magnificent Camelot was. He wanted to go there someday. Merlin continued walking and noticed the blood trail. The other villagers were panicking and gossiping, but Merlin paid them no attention. He didn't know why he did it, but he followed the trail. It lead straight back to where Merlin original found Hermione. He just looked at the bloodied ground and wandered around. He felt pulled here. Like something was calling him there. He just wandered around. Stared at the trees and the leaves. Felt the little chill in the air that signaled the coming of fall. They had already started collecting supplies for the winter.

Merlin kept wandering around and finally saw a glint of something. He turned around and saw it shine again. He moved closer and finally got a good look at the object. It was a beautiful necklace. A silver chain, delicate, but sturdy. He lifted it to the light and looked through the gorgeous jewels. They weren't large jewels, but looked expensive enough. There were about five small jewels. The middle one was black jewel and was the largest. The one on the left of it was red and the one on the right was green. The one beside the red was yellow and the one beside the green was blue. All intense coloring and they all felt...strange. The jewels didn't hang off of the chain, but were intricately placed in the silver chain. It looked important, but he needed to be careful. It looked as if someone would want to steal it for the value. It was a nice piece. He shook his head and looked around. He felt like he was missing something. It took him ten minutes to stumble upon what was missing. A bag. It looked to be a satchel. It was brown and worn and covered in blood. It must be hers. He picked up the bag and found that it weighed absolutely nothing. Odd. He quickly put the necklace in her bag and didn't look around her stuff, that would be invading her privacy and he did not want to do that. He put the bag over his shoulder and it went a bit farther than his knees. It was way too big for him, but it wasn't for him. The sky was beginning to darken and he was a ways away from his home. He needed to walk fast.

While Merlin was walking back home. Hunith was still stitching up her patient. The girl was still awake through everything. She refused to be put unconscious. Hunith suspected very deep seeded trust issues. The damage to the girl was extensive. Her face was scratched up, but the wounds only needed to be cleaned except for the one that started above her right eye down and ran straight to her cheek. That needed to be carefully stitched. Her neck was the worst. Four deep slashes that pierced her breathing tube. Hunith guessed that she would always be heavily scarred and unable to speak. She may be able to croak out a few words, but they would all be in pain. Hunith cleaned the wounds and stitched them up and placed bandages on with pain relieving herbs. Next was her arms which had carved letters on them. They were cleaned and bandaged. That was only the left arm though. On the other arm was just random slices up and down her arm. Her right hand also had a carved message on it. Hunith could not read it, but the writing was hard edged and painful looking. The woman's back looked to be lashed and those had to be treated last. Her legs were the least damaged. Only a large gash on her right calf and a broken left ankle. The break was hard to fix, but Hunith eventually managed with a bit of guesswork. The woman also had a large gash in her lower abdomen and it reached to her side and stopped thankfully. She had slashes in her chest over the place where the heart lay, in the form of an 'X.' After that was all bandaged and settled, she flipped over the girl that grunted it pain. Hunith grabbed some herbs for burns after she cleaned the whip marks. She hoped it would have the same effect that it does on a burn. She had nothing else to help. Hunith was no healer. Most of the stuff was borrowed from the neighbors.

The girl was breathing hard and Hunith knew she wanted to scream in pain. It must be difficult though. If she wanted to scream, she wouldn't even be able to. Poor dear would have to adjust to not speaking. It would be a hard transition, but she was a tough girl. Hunith looked up at a large bang at the door and quickly covered the girl to be decent. Hunith did give the girl a nightgown, but it would still be considerate to not show off her wounds. In the door tumbled Merlin. He had twigs in his hair and his face and clothes were dirty. He was holding a satchel and looked like he had been...wandering in the forest. "Merlin! You know you're not allowed in the forest without permission!" Merlin didn't even flinch at the scolding. 'Strange' Hunith thought. Merlin took off the satchel and held it close to him. "Hermione left it in the forest." Hunith got a questioning look. "Hermione?" Merlin nodded to the girl on the table who was staring at the bag. "How did you know her name?" Merlin looked at her like the answer was obvious. "She told me." Hunith decided to ask later.

Merlin looked into Hermione's eyes and they flashed a red before turning back. She motioned to the bag and he dragged it over to her. He put the bag on the ground next to the table Hermione was lying on and she reached down to the bag and flipped it open. She looked at him for a second and got a contemplative look. She then reached in the bag and pulled out what looked to be a scarf? No. Handkerchief? She smiled at him and motioned him closer. He stepped forward and she expertly tied the fabric around his neck and smoothed it out. She pulled out a wooden hand mirror and held it out to him. He held it far away from him and looked at the gift she'd bestowed upon him. A neckerchief! It was a darkish light red color and fit him perfectly. He smiled widely and couldn't help, but give her a half hug. Hunith started to reprimand him, but Hermione hugged him back. She could tell it hurt, but the smile on her face was more powerful than the pain.

Merlin let go quickly and blushed. Hermione chuckled and put the mirror back in her bag and closed it. He whispered to her, "your necklace is in there." The smile that broke out on her face was absolutely radiant. She mouthed to him, "thank you." He smiled back and nodded.

Hunith was on the verge of tears. Her Merlin had never talked to anyone besides herself. The kids didn't play with him and he didn't talk with any of the adults. He stuck to himself and was even more estranged due to his...abilities. Oh, no one else knew, but Merlin was prone to accidents of magic when his emotions got the best of him. Which labeled him as different and different was not always welcome. Hunith would always love Merlin, magic and all, but being alone all the time could not be good for him. Hunith hoped Hermione could get him out of his shell. That is, if she stayed. She may have family or was traveling and got attacked. What ever happened, she was not from around here. Her clothes were strange and Hunith could not place their origins. Maybe an escaped slave? That would explain the lash wounds. Hermione did need a place to stay. She couldn't just lay on the table all night, she needed to rest. Hunith couldn't think of any place besides taking one of their beds and she couldn't do that to Merlin, so Hunith would give up her bed for the night. "Alright you two. Hermione, would you be fine staying with me and Merlin then?" Merlin got another large smile on his face and started bouncing excitedly. "Oh, please, oh please, oh please, oh plea-." Merlin was cut off when Hermione put her hand over his mouth she just silently chuckled and nodded while he blushed a bright red. She removed her hand and tried to get up by herself. She shut her eyes in pain and Merlin was horrified to find tears. She was biting her lip so hard that it was bleeding and Hunith went to help straight away. Hunith steadied Hermione and made her stay still. She supported her back and she painfully croaked. Merlin was about to cry from seeing all the pain in Hermione's face. Hermione caught sight of Merlin's scared face and stopped moving. She stood up and closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked down to Merlin with kind red eyes (Hunith could not see) and Merlin was just comforted by the smoothness and reassurance in the oddly colored eyes. Hermione motioned over to her bag and Merlin nodded eagerly. Hermione's eyes turned back to the brown and looked to Hunith. Hunith was staring in question and Hermione shrugged.

Merlin had the bag and off the three went. Very slowly. Hermione was in an extreme amount of pain, but kept a strong face for little Merlin. She didn't want to scare him again. They reached a house closer to the outer edge of the village that had its own little garden. Merlin opened the door for the two and Hunith and Hermione stumbled in. Hermione looked around. There was a small cooking area with a table and chairs to her right. The floors were wood and needed a sweep. There was a curtain set up by the back and two beds. One on the left wall and the other on the right that was all the one room. There was a chest at the end of each bed and plenty of extra blankets. Hunith sat Hermione in a chair and went over to the beds. She grabbed some extra blankets and set them on the floor. "I'll sleep on the floor tonight dear. You need comfort." Hermione was in an instant silent protest. Hunith wouldn't listen though. Hermione had enough. She would not take the kind woman's bed. So, she painfully spoke. "You ta-ke your o-own b-b-bed. I w-will be fine on th-e floor" she rasped painfully. It really hurt to talk. Hunith finally gave in and Merlin held Hermione's hand when she was about to get up. "Please take my bed. You're hurt and I'm fine. Please" Merlin pleaded quietly. Hermione looked into his eyes. He was desperately trying to be nice and really wanted her to be comfortable. She nodded in defeat and he smiled triumphantly. Merlin helped Hermione shakily stand up and walked her over to the bed. She layed down and Merlin covered her with a blanket. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

That night, Merlin woke up from a nightmare. It was about fire and he could feel evil coming from it. He looked around tiredly and found Hermione awake. He was curious so he crawled over to the bed frightened. She turned her red eyes to him and he was fascinated to find them almost glowing. They were comforting, but had their own fear in them. She seemed to understand his problem and scooted over. She patted the spot next to her and he climbed in. He layed down on the pillow and closed his eyes. He didn't really fall asleep until Hermione stroked his hair. It was so comforting. He whispered to her, "goodnight Hermione." She just kept stroking his hair and he somehow knew that she said goodnight back. There, he slept peacefully the rest of the night.