Chapter 192: Arc 5: Chapter 35: Garrett – New Hope

The morning sunlight outside Merlin's room was already very bright. It shone into the room through the window and created a distorted shadow from Dobby's slender figure.

Dobby, who signed the contract and took the money, says fearfully:

"But, Mr. Merlin, no, sir! We house-elves aren't allowed to carry wands, this is our tradition..."

"I said, Dobby!"

Merlin deepens his tone and says impatiently:

"You are now an official consultant of SDOLD, you work for me, and the federal government! You represent not just yourself when you're out on missions, but also the pride and image of our organization. I will not allow my subordinate to fight the forces of evil in such shabby clothing...that would be too disgraceful!"

"Also, let me make one thing clear to you before you enter the academy!"

Merlin squats down to Dobby's eye level, he looks at Dobby's eyes and says word by word:

"Throw away all your habits from the wizarding world...you are a secret agent, though you're just a consultant, I need you to become an agent! Do you know what agents are?"

Dobby shakes its head.

"You can think of them as elite Aurors."

Merlin rephrase into something Dobby could understand, and says to the house-elf:

"An elite Auror does not work without a wand, and you'll get a specialized weapon after you join us officially...you must learn to adapt to the weapon in your hand, that is the foundation of being an agent! Got it?"

"Dobby works for Mr. Merlin, this is what Mr. Merlin is asking of DObby, so Dobby will do so."

The house-elf mumbles to itself, it then raises its head and says to Merlin:

"Yes sir! Dobby will do so quickly!"

"Good."

Merlin pats Dobby's shoulder and says softly:

"After your graduate from the academy, I'll give you a second mission as your beginner's test."

"But for now, I can tell you a bit of it as a heads up..."

"Your second mission is related to Voldemort."

"Voldemort?"

Dobby's body trembles as it hears this name, clearly it was afraid of the dead dark lord as fear appears in its green eyes.

It says to Merlin while trembling:

"Sir, Dobby doesn't understand why you are focusing on Voldemort, he's dead, and the evil he represents is also gone. Voldemort's an evil, evil wizard, not only does he kill wizards, but he also slaughters house-elves, as many of Dobby's seniors were killed by the Death-Eaters."

Merlin had expected Dobby's confusion.

He turns around, looks at the sunlight enshrouding the city, and asks in a soft tone:

"Dobby, have you ever fought with magic creatures?"

"Mmm, young Malfoy ran out to play when he was young and was attacked by a few lesser devils. Dobby scared them away with Lumos."

Merlin nods at Dobby's reply, he then asks:

"Why use Lumos, and not other spells?"

This question was odd, but Dobby still replies:

"Because lesser devils are scared of the light, so you can scare them away with Lumos."

"Mmm, you also know that lesser devils are scared of the light and can be scared away with Lumos."

Merlin turns around to look at Dobby:

"This is the power of knowledge, your victory originated from your understanding of lesser devils, but Dobby, do we really know enough about Voldemort? Is the knowledge in our possession truly enough to stand against Voldemort? You're a survivor of the wizarding war, could Harry truly have defeated Voldemort if the Elder Wand had not betrayed him?"

Dobby was speechless.

Though the news of the victory of the final battle at Hogwarts had been circulating the wizarding world, Dobby was a member of the house-elves who helped the wizards fight against the Death-Eaters that day and was fully clear of the combat process that day.

To be frank, even a house-elf like Dobby thinks that a lot of luck was involved in Harry's defeat of Voldemort.

Without so many factors of luck, Harry would've died miserably that day.

"Before Voldemort appeared, there was the dark lord Grindelwald; before Grindelwald was the goblin rebellion, and despicable dark wizards like Herpo existed in ages before that; this is a loop."

Merlin sits back on his chair, he says to the ignorant house-elf in a calm yet depressive tone:

"Wizards have always thought of themselves superior to muggles, but their way of thinking is not so different from normal muggles. Creating the Deathly Hollows in fear of death, inventing Horcruxes when facing death, plunging the world into war just to tell everyone that bloodline matters."

"People like them exist in every era without exemption. There is never a lack of ambition in the history of wizards and muggles, and amongst them, Voldemort can't even be ranked in the top ten in terms of evilness...but do we truly understand them? If we don't, then when the next Voldemort appears..."

Merlin looks at Dobby and says softly:

"How will we defeat them? Do we wait for the next Harry Potter?"

House-elves weren't fools, they simply lacked experience. When Merlin told Dobby of his worries in a manner it could understand, the house-elf quickly understands what Merlin meant.

It tells Merlin:

"So, officer Merlin is worried that there may be more examples like Voldemort appearing in the future, so we need to collect data on Voldemort to make a plan just in case. Like wizards grasping the weaknesses of various creatures by learning knowledge...Dobby knows this is the right thing to do!"

The house-elf was still somewhat fearful, but it still raises its head and says:

"Dobby will do it!"

"Yes, we are doing the right thing, Dobby."

Merlin encourages:

"And don't be too scared, I'm not wanting you to go head-on against the dangerous Death-Eaters, I just need you to collect some of Voldemort's leftover items through different methods, his notebook and his personal items, for example. We need to conclude the source of the power of these dangerous dark wizards, their way of thinking, their spells, how they operate, etc; we will then form a plan, and even print them into books so more people can learn and know about how to deal with them!"

"Dobby knows!"

Upon hearing that it didn't need to fight and only needed to collect information, the house-elf lets out a sigh of relief.

Merlin exhorts it about a few more things before letting Dobby leave.

Merlin gave it a week to pack up, house-elves may seem insignificant, but they each have their own little circle; Dobby has friends too, such as its companions Kreachy, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville, as well as the headmaster of Hogwarts Professor McGonagall; they're all its friends.

Considering that Dobby won't have much free time for at least 5 years, Merlin gave Dobby a generous amount of time to bid farewell to their friends.

One week later, it will follow Merlin back to New York on SHIELD's business jet.

And that time would be when a new batch of recruits enter the academy.

Of course, Merlin had his own stuff to do, so one week was quite short for him.

---

In the afternoon, Merlin, who had his lunch, stood outside the entrance of St Mungos Hospital.

He was here to visit agent John Garrett, an old cowboy who was one of his few friends who was currently recuperating here.

Notably, the entrance of the famous St Mungos Hospital in the wizarding world was located in the department store building in London.

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This area was not downtown but was still in London City, this was as fascinating as the Ministry of Magic hiding under a phone booth in London.

The building for the Magical Congress was also located downtown, which made Merlin lament that as much as wizards are unwilling to do so, they had to share this world with the fast-developing muggle world in this era and hide amongst them.

In fact, they'd already fallen to becoming part of the vulnerable minority.

Mr. Arthur had said so before, once wizards begin conversing with the muggle world, the old traditions of the wizarding world would fall apart in less than 10 years.

"Not much nobler than we are."

Merlin says and mumbles to himself before walking to the entrance of the old-fashioned red bricks department store building.

Ordinary muggles would only see the 'closed for renovations' sign hanging on the door, but Merlin could see even more; he walks to the closet window and speaks to an odd, sinister-looking doll:

"I'm here to visit a patient in zone A, John Garrett, I'm his friend, called Merlin."

The eyes of the sinister-looking doll roll, it looks at Merlin seemingly to confirm his identity and nods moments later, it waves its connected finger, and an odd glow quickly appears on the glass in front of Merlin.

Merlin walks forward and enters the wriggling glass, and arrives at a bustling hall.

On the wall in front of him was an emblem of a wand and bone crossed together, under the emblem was the sentence 'St. Mungos' written in gold; that was the official emblem of St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.

This magic hospital was founded at the end of the 16th century, and currently had nearly 300 years of history.

And in Merlin's eyes, there were many wizards, squibs, and very few muggles amongst the colorfully-clothed patients crowding the hall in front of him.

The medical workers were working and everyone was talking, causing the atmosphere to seem very lively.

In fact, if one disregards the odd clothes, this place looked no different from a muggle's hospital.

Merlin reads the signs and follows the crowd, eventually finding Garrett in a room on the 2nd floor.

When Merlin entered the room, Garrett seemed to be in a bad mood, supposedly the elderly vampire next to his bed had been squabbling all night and Garrett hasn't been able to get a good night's sleep.

The two seemed to be quarreling, in fact, if not for the bandages on Garrett's body, the old cowboy would probably go ahead and kick the vampire alchemist's butt.

"Yo, Garrett, my old friend."

Merlin waves the flower bouquet in his hand and leans against the wall, saying:

"Looking good, I could hear your scolding from outside the hallway."

Merlin wasn't complimenting Garrett, in fact, in his eyes, Garrett's somewhat odd life force had become thicker; compared to how he needed metal equipment to support his body's circulation before, the old cowboy's injured organs had begun to recover under the careful tending of the hospital's healers.

The metal life support was not removed, but if things continue as they are, perhaps in a few more months, Garrett will be able to get rid of that bothersome metal life support and truly regain his hopes and health.

"Ha, Merlin!"

Garrett, who was fixed to the bed, extends his hand with difficulty and says to Merlin:

"You're finally here, I was wondering when you'd remember an old bone like me."

"Old?"

Merlin smiles and walks forward, he sits by Garrett's bed and says:

"You're just 44..."

"Shh, not so loud!"

Garrett interrupts Merlin, he glances at the pretty miss nurse patrolling around the bed and lowers his voice:

"I told Liv that I was just 36 years old, don't spill the beans, since I plan on courting her when I heal up."

"Liv?"

Merlin turns to look at the pretty female healer with the perfect body, and moments later, he turns to look at Garrett with an awkward expression, saying:

"You want to court a Half-Veela? You're kidding."

"I'm very serious."

Garrett says with a serious expression:

"I've already thought of what gift to prepare, speaking of which, what brings you here? This isn't a good time to take a vacation."

"Fury gave me a vacation."

Merlin says:

"I caused a bit of conflict with the Department of Defense in California."

"Oh, to avert disaster."

Garrett, as the senior agent he was, immediately guesses Merlin's experience, he says to Merlin:

"Fury's good to you, back then, we senior agents had to hang onto what trouble we encountered. But you're quite the badass yourself, every event you partake in will eventually end up causing quite the uproar; I still remember that fire dragon incident in New York. Huhu, you're a natural troublemaker."

"It's not that I want to."

Merlin sighs and decides to not talk about this, so he turns the topic to Garrett; he looks at the magic bandages intertwining Garrett's body and says:

"How's it feel? How'd you feel when those healers healed you using magic?"

"Mmm, it's hard to say."

Garrett answers while frowning:

"I can't see the magic glows, so in my eyes, those healers are like a bunch of fortune-tellers, destroying my body with different potions, but I feel fine overall."

He pauses to look at the view outside the window, he then continues:

"To be real, Merlin, I'd never thought that I'd be able to see a new hope from this neverending nightmare of mine in such a way. This is all luck thanks to you."

The old cowboy pauses and sighs:

"Sigh"

"How it would've been better if I had met you a few years earlier."

"Don't overthink it, Garrett, take a good rest."

Merlin says to his friend:

"The wizards will cure you for good."

"No, Merlin, you don't get what I mean."

Garrett closes his eyes and mumbles lightly:

"Some roads, once taken..."

"Will have no turning back."

 

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