The Merlin

"Lucius Malfoy's Favourite Charity" is the introduction to Richard Goodfellow, Hogwarts' student, member of St. Mungo's Hospital's community. Richard has no known father, has a spell-damaged mother, and has Mr. Malfoy as his benefactor.

This story takes place the year before Draco, Harry & Co. go to Hogwarts.

Thank you to Somigliana for beta-ing!

*********

House and Hunt

At nine sharp, Richard Goodfellow, Matt Mathews and their families went through the barrier at King's Cross station.

It was the boys' first time to the station. The crowd was still thin; they were able to get their trunks on the train easily and find the compartment that the older St. Mungo's students had reserved for them. The two clambered off the train to say good-bye to their parents. Both mums had tears on their cheeks as they hugged and kissed their sons good-bye. Matt's dad gave both a kiss on the tops of their heads, a hearty handshake and push back to the train.

The train began to pull out of the station. The boys grinned at the sensation of the train's starting jerk and slow build up of speed. They leaned out the window once more to wave to their parents. Richard happened to look up and see Mr. Malfoy, his benefactor, further back in the crowd. He gave a frantic wave, to which Mr. Malfoy lifted a gloved hand in salute, and then the walls went by as the train left the station.

They sat back, bouncing on the seats, laughing. In all their travelling across Britain, this was their first time on a train. Augustus Pye and his younger brother, Jerome, were also in the compartment. The other Mungos were next door.

The Pyes went over the rules with the first-year Mungos for the umpteenth time, as though no one else had bothered to share them all summer. The rules were simple. Rule one: Do not annoy Argus Filch. He's a Squib, but he doesn't want others to know. When no one else is around, he'll be good to you because and only because you're a Mungo. Don't ruin the relationship. Rule two: No walnuts. Rule three: When pulling a prank, the less magic used the better.

The landscape swooped by. The food cart came, and they stocked up for Hogwarts. Richard's trunk was filled with a large supply of sweets, thanks to Mr. Malfoy's generosity, but there was no knowing how much the Hufflepuffs would mark-up on the goods in their school shop. Richard fell asleep, leaning against the window as the others talked, moved back and forth between the two compartments and visited in the corridors.

The window was dark and the train had started slowing down when Matt woke Richard. They scrambled into their school robes, piled out of the train into the night air and ran over to where a gigantic man stood with a lantern, calling out, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

*****

While waiting to be led into the Great Hall, Richard saw other first-year students whom he knew. Cormac McLaggen had been a semi-regular patient at the hospital because he was an accident-prone dunderhead, and once because his sister had stuck a walnut up his nose. Because her mum worked at the Ministry of Magic, Marietta Edgecombe and her best friend, Cho Chang, had been regular visitors on the field trips that Mr. Malfoy organized. The two girls had also been guests at St. Mungo's pizza nights in Muggle London. There were two or three boys that Richard had met while visiting Mr. Malfoy and some familiar faces from Diagon Alley, but he wasn't well acquainted with them.

The doors to the Great Hall opened, and they were marched in to the Sorting Ceremony.

Soon it was Richard's turn to sit under the Sorting Hat. It poked around his brain a bit. "Hmm, a Merlin. Haven't seen one in ages. You still don't know who your father is? You're living at St. Mungo's, yes, yes. The best place for you is--RAVENCLAW!"

The Ravenclaw table erupted, "MUN-go, MUN-go, go, go, MUN-go!" Richard ran to the table, and was soon joined by Matt. After the feast, he and his fellows went through the large two-way mirror that was the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room and its dormitories. He did not remember climbing into bed before he fell asleep.

*****

The next day, Sunday, the Ravenclaws had a meeting to welcome their newest members.

The Ravenclaw common room looked like bedlam. It had a lifeguard chair painted in primary colours, lofts, hammocks and ladders along the walls, mirrors and uncovered windows. Students had done the paintings in the room; some illustrations were very nice to watch, but some made one feel queasy as the colours moved into nightmarish contortions. There was a side room, where the walls were white, the furniture was traditional sofas and chairs, and a Silencing Charm was permanently in place; some Ravenclaws were too high strung to be comfortable in the larger, noisy common room.

Edmund Dory, the oldest student there, had everyone introduce his or her self, and share a little personal background. He then dismissed all but the first-years and his two assistants.

Chelsea Doon showed them the Book of Ravenclaw, where all the ins and outs of the castle, and the habits of the faculty and the staff were detailed.

Michael Aldwort taught the laws of the common room. No shoving or jumping off the lifeguard chair. Don't climb into any hammock that you can't climb out of. Don't swat at the fairies. Don't leave food lying around.

At the end of the meeting the threesome announced a scavenger hunt: Bring back something from every common room, something from a staff member, and something from the outside the castle. Meet back in the common room after dinner.

*****

Richard struggled as he was half-carried, half dragged down the back passage way to the Slytherin common room. His captors did not want to rouse their Head of House, who might have a different view on what should be done with the obnoxious first-year Ravenclaw.

"Wait! I'll Stun him!" someone shouted.

He heard the hex as it zinged past. Missed! he thought, and immediately feigned being stunned.

He was hauled into the room and thrown on the floor. His captors apparently didn't notice that the "stunned" victim immediately rolled to his stomach, protecting his face and groin. All five of them pounced on him and started pounding on the small, eleven-year-old boy.

He knew that they wouldn't kill him. They would just knock him around until they got tired, and then shove him out the door. Any time now, they'd get tired. Maybe they were waiting for him to make the first move, go unconscious, or bleed all over the place. He certainly wasn't going to try to fight back. He was foolhardy, but not stupid. Any time now...

One of the Slytherins jammed Richard's face into the floor.

Ow! That hurt! He could taste blood in his mouth, and wondered how his teeth were.

His face was now being rubbed into the floor. On purpose or by accident, he couldn't tell. It didn't matter: It still hurt.

"Off him!" a voice snarled.

Richard started laughing with relief and joy. His tormentors fled as he rolled over onto his back, his eyes closed.

Mr. Malfoy was here!

Richard opened his eyes. Mr. Malfoy was bending over him, his face full of worry, concern and anger. Behind him was Slytherin's Head of House.

"Richard, are you all right? Can you get up?"

He grinned. "Yes, sir," he lied. "Just having some fun." He wiped at the blood and looked at it on his hand. "Making a mess, though. Sorry about that." He tried to sit up, but fell back.

The two men reached down to him and helped him to his feet. Richard was still dizzy and leaned against his benefactor. He grabbed a handful of Mr. Malfoy's robes, where he found comfort and strength, just as he always had.

Mr. Malfoy put an arm around his shoulder. "Come on, Richard, let's get you cleaned up."

The other man spoke up. "First, how did he get in here?" he asked the students. Mr. Malfoy and Richard waited to hear the answer.

After looking at each other, one of them said, "He was bothering us, and we were going to let him have it. He begged us not to do it in the Slytherin common room."

Another added, "So, since he didn't want it here, we dragged him here..."

"We thought..."

Everyone was looking at Richard. He grinned. What a bunch of predictable prats!

The man spoke disdainfully, "You were not thinking. He wanted you to bring him here."

"I don't understand," Mr. Malfoy said.

Richard snickered. "We're having a scavenger hunt, sir. 'Bring something from each of the common rooms.' I'm going to win, 'cause I got in!" he bragged.

One of the students jumped forward. "Thief! What were you going to steal?"

Mr. Malfoy's wand twitched as he tightened his hold on Richard.

Richard jeered back, staggering. "Nothing I wasn't given!"

"Then what bloody 'something' are you taking," another sullenly asked.

Isn't it obvious? "A 'bloody' bloody nose!"

Mr. Malfoy laughed and pulled him into a one-arm hug. "Come on, Richard, is there anything else you want?" he asked, looking at the other man.

The man nodded.

Richard looked around the formal and sparsely decorated room. Not much there. It would have to be something he could carry, and that was definitely Slytherin. He shrugged. "I guess I'll have a necktie."

The man turned to the student who had called him a thief. "Very well, then. Mr. Johnson, kindly give him your necktie."

Johnson yanked off his necktie and unkindly shoved it into Richard's hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Johnson." Richard smirked. "So nice to have met you all. Lovely place you have here," he lied. "My compliments to your decorator. Ta ta, for now." He swept into a bow, turned to make his exit, but stumbled against Mr. Malfoy.

"Thank you, Severus," his benefactor said. "I trust things will be taken care of here. I'll be back in your office in half an hour to continue our meeting."

Mr. Malfoy helped Richard out the common room door, and down the hall a few paces, then stopped and got down on one knee to examine Richard's face. His benefactor's eyes were full of concern and pride, his face full of mirth. He took his handkerchief and dabbed at the boy's bloody nose.

"What a wonderful mess you have there, Richard. Good thing I had that meeting with Severus," he said, his eyes gleaming with amusement. He grinned. "I want you to tell me all about how you got in this mess, and everything else that has happened here at school." He stood up, put his gloved hand on the young boy's shoulder, and guided him to the hospital wing.

As Richard talked, the man listened to every word, asked questions and laughed. In the hospital, the boy was cleaned up and examined. Mr. Malfoy was very relieved to learn that Richard would have a few bruises, but no lasting damage.

Then it was back to Professor Snape's office, from where Richard took his leave of Mr. Malfoy and returned to the business of the Ravenclaw scavenger hunt.

*****

By that evening, Richard had brought back the green necktie from Slytherin, some lemon drops from the headmaster, a half-eaten slice of pizza from the Hufflepuff common room (thanks to Cedric Diggory), a sofa pillow from Gryffindor common room (Cormac helped him get it), a four-leaf clover, and Ravenclaw's House ghost, the Grey Lady.

Matt had Professor Quirrell's class notes (he found them the staff room), what he thought was a small dried up pumpkin from a garden (it was dragon dung), a completed Rubik's cube from Ravenclaw, sheet music from Hufflepuff, a cat that belonged to a Slytherin (who was standing outside the Ravenclaw room, ranting while the cat scratched and hissed at Matt), and from Gryffindor, autographs from the chief pranksters of the school, the Weasley twins.

The common room was full of items as each of the ten first years showed off his or her findings, and each was proclaimed a "winner" for completing the assignment. Richard was the only one in recent Ravenclaw history to have gotten into Slytherin's common room, for which he was awarded the first serving of the ice cream that Augustus Pye had brought in from Diagon Alley. It was worth it.