Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, dammit. *Sobs*. It belongs to BBC. And the songs used, and occasional quote belong to Disney and whoever wrote the script and lyrics.

Notes: Blah new story. I did post 'The Footman,' but I took it down again because I wanted to redo it xD Instead here is another story based on 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' – the Disney version. xD I have yet the pleasure of reading the novel :)

Not sure how many chapters there will be as of yet, but probably around 10, give or take. By the time the next chapter is posted I'll have a definite answer (: enjoy

Prologue:

"Judge Claude Frollo
Longed to purge the world of
Vice and sin."

Paris – a beauty by day and a dream by night. The peasants of the lower towns slumber in their hard beds, dreaming of better days as the fires they lit crumble into nothing more than smouldering embers. The houses themselves are a shamble of timber and mortar, some lean like elderly gentlemen, groaning in the loose, winter breeze that curls around the foundations, intimate as a lover.

The first snow of the winter falls from the sky like miniature dancers, waltzing to music only they know. The thin sheet of white covers the ground like a gossamer blanket as the thick clouds paint the sky in a near perfect black, the stars no real contest against their absoluteness.

This is Uthers' city. Paris is his to control, the people under his command. The fear of the Palace of Justice weighs heavily upon all minds – no crime is committed here that is not punished. By God, he will carry out the Lords' will and allow no disrespect.

Only the gypsies dare to question his authority, with their sinful dances, their mocking music and their dabbles in darkness and magic that snubs all that that God, and therefore himself, represent. They colour the streets with their detestable disregard for faith and indulge in debauchery, flaunting skin and jeers and encouraging the common man to lust and drink and forget the divine codes none are exempt from.

He sneers at their shows and begging, he punishes their thievery and their hustling. He has, for twenty years, taking care of the gypsies, but they thwart him still, thriving amongst the city walls to inflame the peoples' basest of instincts.

The Court of Miracles. He is so close he can almost taste it and yet he cannot see it. But soon. So very soon.

All he has to do is wait. Fate has a plan already unfolding.

"He saw corruption
ev'rywhere
except within."