“Merlin? Like, the Merlin. Big blue pointy hat with stars on it?” Lux asked, looking back at the Headmaster who had taken the piece of parchment delivered back to him thirty minutes after the UW employee had left.
Gembol shook his head and laughed softly, wrapping his mind around the situation. “Not quite the person depicted in muggle’s mythical version of the man, but yes, you are descended from Merlin.”
Lux shook his head in disbelief. “How are you sure?”
“Several of Merlin’s possessions have been in our museums for centuries now, and once the MAT was created, we went through all of our most famous wizards and witch's DNA to determine their genetic markup. Unfortunately, unless we had a combination of their blood and the sensors you saw earlier, we couldn’t determine their magical potential.”
He looked around at the UW employees who didn’t break face as Lux waited to see who would burst out laughing first, telling him this was a huge hoax.
“How did I, a descendant from Merlin, wind up on a farm with parents who had no idea that we came from wizarding royalty?”
Gembol laughed awkwardly. “Well, you see, Merlin was one of the first wizards to not only show his abilities to the public, but he also was able to convince the vast majority of people that he was there to help them.”
Lux stared blankly, not following along.
“He was a god amongst mere mortals, not only the only household wizard name at the time, but was easily one of the strongest wizards we have ever had, present-day included.”
“Okay…” Lux said, waiting.
Gembol sighed. “Women were… eager, to say the least.”
“Ah… Ahhhh...” Lux said, understanding.
“While some have stayed in the limelight 1,000 plus years later, I’m sure there is a squib or two either from him directly, or in the following generations. Your heritage lies somewhere between the two.”
“Okay, so, why do I suck so bad at magic so far then?” He asked. “I mean, I’m almost triple the average in potential, but I can barely make your wand quiver when I try to disarm you, even when you’re letting me do the damn spell.”
Gembol laughed. “I have a theory, which we can test now if you’d like.”
Lux nodded and withdrew his wand. Gembol stepped closer and looked at it closely. “English Oak?” he asked, to which Lux nodded.
“Merlin’s wand was said to be made of English Oak. Not a coincidence, I think…” he pocked Lux’s wand and took a step back. “Try disarming me now.”
Lux raised an eyebrow. “You have my wand.”
“Humor me.”
Lux shrugged and looked at Gembol’s wand. “Expelliarmus.”
The wand wiggled slightly. Lux’s mouth opened in shock.
“Try again, but mean it this time.” The Headmaster instructed.
With renewed energy, Lux took a stance he felt comfortable and held his hand out expectantly. He reached toward the magic stiring within him and allowed it to escape as he shouted, “Expelliarmus!”
The wand popped from Gembol’s hand, flying straight into his own, which he grasped successfully, wide eyed at the response.
“Holy shit.” He said, amazed.
“You, Lux, are a Sorcerer.”
Lux looked up at him. “A what now?”
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“A sorcerer, a term coined by historians of our past. It is a magical person who can perform wandless magic better than they can with a wand.” He paced the room and began to educate Lux. “Wandless magic is not necessarily rare, at least, it used to not be. In Africa and Native America before Europe expanded, it was actually commonplace. Although they weren’t quite as strong as the Wizards from Europe, they were more proficient in wandless magic. Wands were a method of amplifying our magic, at least it did, for 99 percent of the population.” He pointed to Lux. “Your ancestor, Merlin, was truly unique, in that his wand was rumored to only help with a few particular branches of magic. Otherwise, he was just as skilled and talented without one.”
“So… Merlin was a Sorcerer, but better, because he could use a wand proficiently as well?”
“That’s the theory, but yes, that’s what we've gathered about the man. Since then, a few of your particular style of magic have popped up throughout history, always rare and always fairly powerful. From the sorcerers we have identified, all of them were related to Merlin.
Lux whistled. “So… this makes me stronger than most wizards?”
Gembol laughed. “Potentially? Yes! Currently? You would lose to a second year with their eyes closed.”
Lux nodded, shrugging. “Guess that would have been too easy.”
The headmaster nodded and his face turned sympathetic. “Lux… you’re muggle-born. You are also a Sorcerer… I don’t need to explain to you what kind of complication this may pose to you in the future.”
Of course, Lux had thought about that already… It's hard to fly under the radar when you’re a damn Sorcerer. He was sure there were Purists out there who would be mad as hell to know a muggle-born had been gifted some of the powers of the great Merlin. “How many Sorcerers have been documented, officially?”
Gembol smiled half-heartedly. “Since the invention of the MAT… four times. You’re the fifth. Unofficially we think the number might be double that, but we aren’t sure.”
Fucking great, Lux thought to himself.
He sighed, “Lovely.” Lux walked back and forward for a bit. “When was the last one?”
“About 40 years ago, but she dropped out her third year. We tried to locate her, but she virtually disappeared. Before that, 20 years. He died during World War three, helping France during their invasion of Spain.”
Lux interrupted. “None are alive anymore, huh?”
“No… they aren’t.”
Lux continued to pace, his hands sweating and the nervousness causing him to feel slightly nauseous.
“So, what are my options?” He asked Gembol.
“From my viewpoint, you've got two.” He held up a finger. “One, you accept what you are, and what may come of it. Obviously, the school will do everything in its power to protect you, but, we will report this back to the UW. Although I’m confident in our governing powers… it’s still politics. There was probably a reason why the Sorcerer from 40 years ago dropped out.” This garnered a look is contempt from the UW employees, but stayed out of it.
“Right… and option two?”
“Option two is you continue your training, using your wand. You learn everything you can and continue to underperform. Then in your free time, you practice privately without the wand, doing your best to perfect your craft where your classmates have essentially double the practice time you'll have. You’ll have to work harder and faster than everyone. Not only are you going to have to work extremely hard at just being below average with your wand, if that is even a possibility, but you then will have to figure out how to translate our lessons into a format that suits your powers. Obviously, I can help theory craft with you, as well as any professors you feel comfortable with over time, but it would be hypotheticals at best." He paused in thought. "At the very least, you become a horrible Sorcerer which translates, probably, to a fairly average wizard.” He took a step toward Lux and looked at him in the eyes. “Or, you live up to the potential of being related to the greatest wizard in history.”
Lux returned his gaze. Even with option two, it was only a matter of time before he either slipped up or the UW leaks out the information to the right bidder, or to the most corrupt. He didn't know much about the UW, but he knew plenty about governing bodies, and he would be naive to think the UW would be any different.
However, at least with option two, he could have time to grow stronger and to understand how everything works. He needed to learn more about the wizarding world and more about his powers. He needed to learn how to become useful, rather than a potential threat.
There was also option three, to return home and forget this entire mess behind him. However, he didn’t think he would be left alone as an untrained Sorcerer. No telling what kind of liability that would be to the UW, not to mention a PR nightmare if anything were to go wrong.
Lying about being a muggle-born, lying about his wand… he felt the weight of the significant lies starting to be a burden on his consciousness. For now, however…
“Could I have my wand back, please?”
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"The use of wandless magic was popularized by African and Native tribes before contact with European civilization. It was widely considered a less powerful form of magic before wands were introduced, although some exceptionally skilled wizards over the years have mastered several spells without the aid of their wands that seemed just as potent as it would have been with it. This begged the question if those individuals were the rare and infamous Sorcerer, however, their capabilities didn't extend beyond the spells they have practiced relentlessly, and they still performed with their wands to an exceptional degree." - Grim Bagshot, A History of Magic ed 3.