Chapter 1: the prisoner

The date was 1991, august twenty-fifth and in the infamous wizarding prison known as Azkaban in the temporary holding cells there sat a man. Not just any man though.

He appeared to be in his early thirties with long black hair and blue eyes as well a face that seemed to be stuck in a permanent smirk. He was dressed in black robes and was calmly reading a magazine. Despite Azkaban being notaries for driving its prisoners insane this man seemed oddly unaffected. Of course he might have already been insane.

This man, Adam ranger was different from most wizards in many ways. For one he used two wands. For another his favorite subject at school had been history of magic. And for another one he was a globe trotting treasure hunter.

Suddenly the cell blocks door opened and a exasperated looking man with dusty blond hair and a sunken face walked in. despite being around the same age as Adam his tiredness mad him seem much older. They sized each other up. "Adam" the man said simply. "Patrick" he replied without looking up. Patrick sighed and opened the cell door.

Adam finally looked up, smiled and fowled Patrick out of the cell and into a small room with just a wooden table and chair. Adam took the seat and folded up the magazine and watched Patrick as he begin to pace, a frustrated look on his face. "Why?" he asked finally stooping and facing his prisoner. "Why… what?" Adam replied a gleam in his eye obliviously enjoying himself.

The seemed to get very angry at this. "Don't play games with me. We were friends once and I know you to weal for that. I want to know what you were doing in the department of mysteries when you were caught" Patrick said trying to refrain from yelling. Adam fought for a moment before replying " would you believe I was looking for the lavatory?" Patrick pounded the table with his fist this time raising his voice. " DRAT IT, ADAM DO YOU THINK THIIS IS A JOKE? YOU HAVE BEEN SENTENCED FOR FOUR YEARS! DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE HERE THAT LONG?"

Adam finally frowned before replying. "No. but what can you do about it? You're just a Hogwarts professor now." Patrick composed himself and answered. "Hogwarts has managed to make a deal. Professor binns has finally retired and we need a new history of magic teacher." At this Adam raised an eyebrow. "And you want me? I don't think I could ever teach very well especially under a prat like lockheart for a headmaster."

Patrick looked like he was going to say something several times before finally replying. "No matter what I think of our headmaster his offer still stands. Come and teach or spend several years in Azkaban." Adam pondered the offer for a moment before answering. "Alright but only for a few years." Patrick smiled halfheartedly. "Good. Term starts in seven days. Be there. Oh and one more thing." He said as he turned to leave. As Adam looked at him quizzically the door opened and two more people entered. Adam instantly realized they were auroras. One was male Asian and looked to be in his forties. The other was much younger probably around eighteen was female, Caucasian and had blue hair.

"Who are these two?" Adam turned and asked Patrick who suddenly looked more uncomfortable. "Now remember you already agreed" he said. "Who are they, Patrick?" he asked more forcefully, his smirk starting to fade. "Part of the agreement for you're release was that you were under watch, 24/7 for your first free year. Sorry if you are unconvinced." Patrick said very quickly before turning on the spot and marching out of the room, leaving Adam looking dumbstruck.

Chapter 2: the school

As large waves rocked his boat Adam bitterly wished he had stayed in Azkaban. As soon as he had been released him he had gone straight to his temporary home in England and prepared for the school year as well as he could. The two auroras (who he had discovered were called gar and rose.) true to word had kept watch over him the whole time.

Gar was okay although he seemed really bored with his current assignment. Rose on the other hand was recently out of Hogwarts and very eager to prove herself. When she was not pretending to be all business and professional she was very nice to be around. Still he had wanted to ditch them and be free for a while now and this plus hagrids thick accent he had fought first year students AND professors were supposed to take the boat.

When they finally made it to the castle he was soaked and his aurora bodyguards looked none to happy. He was hurried into the grand hall and up to the table where the teachers sat. taking a seat by Patrick while his bodyguards waited outside, Adam decided to at least enjoy himself at the school and watched the sorting with rapt attention.

Afterwards headmaster lockheart stood up and smiled, the chatting in the hall immediately ceasing. Adam planned to listen intently to lockhearts speech, witch is why he was surprised to find himself shaken awake by Patrick. "you fell asleep" Patrick whispered angrily. "sorry" he shoot back before digging into the scrumptious feast set before him. "it was probably boring anyways."

Patrick smiled wickedly "you didn't hear anything?" he said. "nope. Did I miss anything important?" "nothing besides you being made head of huffelpuff." He replied. Adam almost choked on his food. So much for enjoying it hear he fought. After the ceremony was over Adam found himself being escorted to his quarters by his auroras. They made sure he was in his room before entering there own respective quarters (witch were next door of course). Adam surveyed the room, mildly interested. He thought he was actually going to like it here. He placed his trunk and begin digging threw it. And now down to business he told himself. "graver" he called softly.

There was a crack and a house elf wearing a miniature three piece suit appeared. "graver is not your servant." The house elf squeaked. "yeah I know, I want to hire you. And keep it down will you?" Adam replied. He turned and tossed a galleon to the elf. "what do you want know?" graver asked impatiently. "I need you…" Adam said as he turned back to his trunk. "…to find a way into the department of mysteries."

Chapter 3: the lesson

The fowling Monday Adam got up bright and early. He ate his breakfast in the great hale before returning to his classroom to get ready for the first lesson. He was actually kind of looking forwards to his first class where he would be teaching seventh year slytherins. Not that it mattered. Adam knew no one really cared about history of magic so with only one week to prepare he had decided to use the same year long lesson plan for all the classes no matter what year or house.

As he got ready for the coming lesson Adam smiled to himself about his brilliant teaching plan. In his many adventures he had gathered many interesting things one of the strangest being his pensive. This coupled with his family's large store of memories, some dating back to the fifteenth century; he had decided to simply show his students history instead of telling them about it. As he opened his classes door his mood fell. He looked at the ten students he was teaching. He sighed and put the pensive on his desk and addressed the class.

"I am professor ranger you're history of magic teacher, head of huffelpuff and disappointed that there are so many of you." The class giggled, realizing that he had made a rather large mistake as a pensive could only be used by five people at a time. Adam laughed along with them before silencing them and talking again. "Well I suppose for the first day well do something different.

Who here can tell me about marlins wand." Most of the class was silent. Finally a girl with a ponytail raised her hand. "It was… merlins wand sir?" there was a murmur of agreement from the class. Adam smiled "well yes but I was looking for more specifics." The class fell silent until a boy in the front row raised his hand. Well boy wasn't the correct term he was six feet tall and rather muscular with flaming red hair. Adam could see a gleaming quiditch team captain's badge on his chest.

"Yes?" Adam inquired. The boy looked uncomfortable before answering. "according to legend late in his life merlin belt a powerful wand witch was passed down for many centuries between many different and powerful wizards. Its whereabouts, if it even existed are unknown although some speculate it resides in the department of mysteries." Adam was shocked. He did not expect any of his class to recognize the wand. "What's your name?" he asked curelessly. "Xavier" he replied confidently looking his teacher in the eye. Adam waited a moment before giving a broad grin and replying. "Excellent! Fifty points to slytherin.

Now let's continue the lesson." Adam did his best to improvise a lesson and during the whole class Xavier did not let his gaze wander like the other students. After the lesson rose and gar entered the room. "how was your first lesson?" rose asked. "Actually..." Adam replied while he picked up his pensive and begins to think how he would fix his problem with it. "..i think we all learned something.

Chapter 4: the holiday

The days before Christmas break passed quickly for Adam. He had discovered that placing a portkey charm on the pensive would allow tweleve people to use it at a time, and thus his classes were going much better now. Still on a frosty Christmas morn Adam was glad he basically had the castle to himself. Patrick, lockheart and the charms teacher were all staying but the other staff had gone home for the holydays. Except for a group of second years from his own house the only kids staying were, strangely enough three seventh years each from the three other houses.

Even his aurora bodyguards had been thinned with gar spending Christmas with his family and just rose watching him. This is how Adam found himself in his current predicament. He had gotten bored being kept inside all day so with rose watching him closely he had deiced to join a vigorous game of snowball throwing with the huffelpuff students. This had proven to be a huge mistake as he was out of practice, was outnumbered and rose refused to help him.

An hour later five very happy students and one soggy teacher trudged into the great hall for dinner. Adam scanned the room and recognized headmaster gildroy lockheart, Patrick and Xavier. He still didn't know the charms teachers name or the other two students but he had learned the names of his fellow huffelpuf snowballers including there improvised leader Samson. Rose had apparently decided that do to the scarcity of people there she didn't have to wait outside and had token a seat at the ravenclaw table. Adam briefly wondered why before taking his own seat at the head table. He then proceeded to get right back up and pass around his Christmas cards. Reaction among the teachers was mixed. The charms teacher barley registered he had been given something and Patrick had just rolled his eyes.

Lockheart on the other hand had heartily clapped him on the back and roared his approval. "Next time mate you're getting yours by owl" Adam muttered to himself as he passed the remaining cards out. The seventh years mirrored the charms teachers response except for Xavier who gave a curt little nod when given his. Samson and the other second year huffelpuffs thanked him gladly. Even rose who had expressly said she didn't want anything smile slightly when receiving hers. Adam walked back up to the high table and began eating again before he felt something in his pocket.

He took it out. It was a little peace of paper with incredible small writing witch Adam managed to read. "job is complete. Meat me at midnight. Your room." Adam smiled before telling to the entire hall to have a marry Christmas.

Chapter 5: the choice

greetings! just some quick answers to kimco96 before we begin. in no particular order:

the house elf is a free lance agent who will work for almost anyone. not much story to him yet besides that im afraid.

wand is indeed in the department of mysteries and that is indeed what Adam is planning to steal.

only recognizable character so far is gildroy Lockhart as the headmaster. there might be more in the future.

story takes place in an alternate history at the time of the first book.

5. I really didn't think about which house he went to. I just put him in huffelpuff because that's my favorite house.

thank you so much for your review :) now as you would say, onwards!

A month After Christmas break was over, Adam was teaching his second year huffelpuff class as usual. They were viewing a memory of his great great grandfather helping to negotiate a peace with the goblins. They were in large stone room with a long wooden table were a group of goblins and wizards were discussing a treaty. "now that's alcato ranger" he was saying pointing to the lead negotiator. "and that over there is barniby fons and tord mako and… blimy I don't know who he is" he continued staring at a strange man hanging back slightly from the negotiating table. He appeared to be about as old as Adam and was clad in a trench coat and fedora. As Adam and Samson took a closer look the bell rain. "well that's all for today." Adam said cheerily as they exited the pensive. " and be sure to have your essay on herpo the foul ready by next week". He shouted as his class exited the room talking happily among themselves. Adam smiled exuberantly as soon as they were all gone before rushing into his room and locking the door. His room now featured and desk, a bed, a comfortable easy chair and a large assortment of strange objects scattered around. It was finally time, his own expertise combined with gravers information, he was finally ready to steal the wand he fought to himself. He was finally going to be the first one to successfully take something from the department of mysteries. As he pulled a time turner out of his trunk he went over his plan one more time. He would go back a couple of hours sneak out of the grounds without anyone noticing, with his "bodyguards" being on leave today…then he stooped and fought. Rose and gar had trusted him enough to take a day of. And if he did attempt to steal the wand wouldn't they be fired from there jobs. Adam quickly tried to put this fought out of his head but he just couldn't help himself from thinking. And what about Samson who probably fought he was a great roll model? And how about Xavier who would soon be a young adult and needed someone to look up to? And how about graver who would be thrown in Azkaban for helping him? what about Patrick who had risked his job to help a old friend? FINE he fought bitterly forcefully frowning the time turner back into the trunk and slamming the lid before collapsing into his easy chair. Sometimes having morals was absolutely no fun.

Chapter 6: the battle

thanks once again to kimco96 for reviewing :) on another note the seventh and finally chapter of merlin's wand will most likely be published on Saturday. with that out of the way, let us begin!

The rest of the school year passed quickly and finally it was time for the end of year feast.

Adam sat by Patrick again a grin plastered on his face. Huffelpuff had came in third for the house cup, the closest they had gotten in a while!

While the great hall was filled with chatter and Lockhart prepared his speech, Adam scanned the crowd for familiar faces. He recognized Samson who gave him thumbs up when they made eye contact, he vaguely recognized some skinny kid with glasses and messed up black hair from gryfindor, and finally Xavier was deep in conversation with a fellow slytherin.

The chatter died down immediately when the headmaster stood up. "welcome to the end of term feast" he said to the hall with a grin. "tonight we are going to do things a little different and have someone else give the speech." Everyone looked surprised at this bit of news.

Everyone but Xavier who (while looking very nervous) walked up to the headmasters podium. Xavier addressed the crowd before launching into a very interesting speech. Talking about law and order that way made him sound like a minister of magic. Or thought Adam, frowning, a dark wizard. Finally the speech closed and the crowd began to give a thunderous applause before Xavier held out his hands to silence them. "One more thing" he said and suddenly Adam felt the need to draw his wands.

Of course it was too late and the hall burst with sparks seating it ablaze, while magically induced smoke confused things further. When Adam finally managed to get untangled from his robes and look over the head table he saw that there were about twenty students all from different houses who were dressed in masks and sending curses every which way. Adam looked over at his unconscious headmaster and had to admit Xavier had had a brilliant plan. Despite the staff being competent as ever, only Patrick, Adam and the defense against the dark arts teacher could duel. However there was one thing the rouge students hadn't counted on. Hearing the commotion gar and rose burst into the great hall. At the same time the three teachers joined the fray while the others tried to evacuate the hall. Adam was dueling with a reasonably skilled seventh year when out of the corner of his eye he saw Xavier threatening Lockhart. Being a adventurer sure has its physical advantages Adam thought to himself as he vaulted over the table and talked Xavier out the window.

Both combatants were extremely skilled so instead of hitting the ground they both landed lightly and immediately started dueling. Adam had to admit Xavier was highly skilled but the advantage still lay with Adam. That is until Xavier pulled out a white wand with what looked like a curved hilt. Adam starred dumbfounded at the wand that once belonged to the most evil of all wizards. However stooping to gawk in middle of a duel is not a very good idea and by the time Adam could recover from the reducto curse Xavier was leading the remaining ten of his cronies into the forbidden forest. Adam knew they were to far away to give chase. Xavier seemed to know this as wheel because he turned around cast one last dark look at Adam and diapered into the forest.

Adam thought deeply for a moment. He had spent most of year attempting to steal merlins wand, when one of his own pupils had he-who-must-not-be-named wand. Adam shook his head before returning to the castle to help extinguish the flames.

Chapter 7: the end

well here it is the final chapter of my second ever fanfic. I have no idea when if ever the sequel will come out, but you can still enjoy merlin's wand in its entirety :)

Needles to say the last couple of days at Hogwarts were very different. By interrogating Xavier's captured comrades the officials had discovered that he had been planning his attack on the school for some time and was in no way supported by the death eaters. This was small comfort for the remaining staff and students who were very nervous about the fact that one seventeen year old had created such a large attack on Hogwarts.

Well almost all the staff. Such petty things as that was apparently below professor ranger who spent the last few days at Hogwarts lounging around and skipping rocks at the giant squid. Finally though the Hogwarts express arrived and Adam found himself waiting on the train platform.

He looked no worse for ware fowling the relatively boring school year. In fact he looked completely refreshed and ready for more adventure. Adam sighed slightly realizing that he would have to teach next year as well.

He quickly cheered up however and went around bidding goodbye to his friends. He waved happily at Samson and his group as they boarded the train with a distinct felling that he would be seeing them again. He turned around and smiled warmly at his two former bodyguards left the grounds to apparate to their next assignment. Only rose returned his wave. Finally Adam was left alone on the platform watching the train leave except for one individual.

Adam turned around and was token aback by Patrick's appearance. He was smiling. Patrick spoke first. "So professor I guess the auroras weren't necessary after all." "Nope" Adam replied flashing a brilliant grin. The two stood in silence for several minutes before Adam walked up and firmly shook Patrick's hand and saying "term starts September first be there you scallywag or else." With that he swung his bag over his shoulder and trudged out of the grounds leaving a laughing Patrick on the platform.