When Harry woke up, the first thing he noticed was he was in a bed that felt heavenly. Never before had he actually laid in a real bed as far as he could remember. He then felt a damp weight on his forehead that felt like a wet cloth. The next thing he noticed was the sound of someone crying quietly seated next to his bed. 'Were they crying for him?' he thought in surprise. 'No one has ever done that before!' Hoping it was not a dream, he slowly opened his eyes. Turning to his right, he saw something that had him reconsidering that he was in fact dreaming. Sitting next to him was none other than his Aunt Petunia crying with no Dudley in sight. 'Was she crying, for me?' he thought, but quickly brushed that idea from his head. 'No! That's impossible. She has never cared for me before.'
Assuming the worst, he asked, "Is Dudley okay Aunt Petunia?" To his immense surprise this only caused her to look at him startled, before crying harder…. And 'Wait! Is she…. Is she hugging me?' That was in fact exactly what his aunt was doing for the first time he could remember! 'My first hug!' he thought hoping the wonderful feeling would never end, but sadly it did. On the other hand, never did he expect his aunt to say what she was about to say.
"I'm soooo sorry Harry! I don't know what got into us! It was like Vernon and I were under a spell or something! I might not like abnormal things, but I would never abuse my nephew! Please please believe me!" she cried.
'Ok, someone please pinch me because I have to be dreaming!' Harry thought.
"Let the young man breathe, dear. You're scaring him. Hello Harry, how are you feeling?"
Harry looked up past his aunt and saw an old man. Squinting in concentration, Harry decided that the first name that came to mind was as good as any since he had never seen this man before. "Santa Claus? Is that you? Harry asked since the man had a flowing white beard and was wearing red robes, which caused someone to his other side to laugh. Harry could tell it was a woman because it sounded more beautiful than any other sound he had ever heard in his short life. It was almost musical in nature. Turning towards the laughter, he noticed a woman wearing along pale blue gown who looked no older than her mid twenties. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with black hair flowing down to her waist and shining green eyes that shown with amusement. Then she began to speak and Harry was completely mesmerized by the sound of her voice.
"I've heard you called many names, Merry, but never Santa!" she said with much mirth in her voice and a smirk on her face.
Unable to control himself anymore, Harry asked her "Are you an angel?"
This only caused her to laugh some more while smiling at Harry lovingly, almost like he expected a mother would look at her child. Harry felt warmth filling in his chest at this thought and wondered if she was his mother. 'She has black hair and green eyes, but Aunt Petunia said my mom is dead. Does that mean I died too?'
As if reading his mind, the woman shook her head and said, "No Harry, I'm not an angel and you are definitely not dead. And that old man over there is not Santa. You are at your family's home. You can call me Morgan and him Merry."
"Actually," interjected the old man with what appeared to be a smile behind his beard, "You may call her Witch and me, Merlin."
"Like the fairytale?" Harry asked with excitement in his voice and eyes.
"Yes Harry" replied Morgan. "I'm Morgan Le Fay, but I promise you I'm completely real and very much alive and yes he is Merlin, but we sometimes wonder about his sanity," she said with a wink at Harry. "As for your other thought, I'm not your mother, but we are related through her, which will be explained later," she said to the shock of Harry and Petunia.
"Well, its time we ought to be leaving, Harry," said Merlin standing from his chair. Morgan waved her hand at Harry and he noticed with shock that his clothes changed into day clothes, equipped with a… CLOAK?
Noticing his confusion, Morgan said, "Everything will be explained shortly, Harry. Right now though, we have an appointment with an old friend of ours by the name of Ragnok. Just a heads up, he is a goblin and no I'm actually not joking this time," she said with a smile interpreting what he was thinking at that exact moment.
"Now grab my arm Harry. What we are about to do is called shifting. It is the predecessor to what is now known as apparition. This will allow us to move from one location to another with just a thought and a little magic. Hang on."
Harry quickly got up off the bed and held on to Morgan's hand rather than her arm causing her to smile down at him.
Turning to Petunia, Merlin said, "We will be returning with young Harry later. Hopefully today, but in a few days at the latest depending on what we find there."
Petunia could only nod her head as Morgan, Merlin, and Harry vanished from the room. The events from the past few days caught up with her again as she sat down on the bed causing her to start crying once again asking Lily for forgiveness over and over again.