Ummm...welll...I'm back? Sorry, real life and stress decided to get in the way of writing. I'm hoping that I'm back for good now, but who knows. I'm hoping for more regular updates, check my profile for updated information on story updates regularly, because if I have a chapter done, I'll put the post date on my profile. Thanks so much for sticking with this story! I almost ended the chapter a scene earlier, but decided that considering how late this update is, that would be mean.

Note: The plot will not continue to progress at the rate that this chapter does. This chapter is an anomaly in this way, one which will be explained most likely in the next chapter, and if not, in the ones after that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin or Harry Potter. If I did, Merlin would get a lot more hugs and many more characters would have gotten their happy endings.

An interesting few years at Hogwarts.

That might just be the grossest understatement of the century. Or at least, one of them.

At breakfast that morning, Merlin promised himself that if the rest of his years at Hogwarts went the way the first two months of his first year was going so far, he would never forgive Kilgharrah for this. Ever. No matter what "destiny" Kilgharrah believed he was meant to fulfill in this life, living in the same dorm as Arthur Collins was making him slightly homicidal. And it had been less than two months.

Life as a Gryffindor was almost okay. Yes, there was a little too much acting and not enough thinking. Yes, it was a little on the loud side. Yes, it reminded him a little too much of Camelot and the knights for him to be completely comfortable. But it was warm, homey, and lighthearted, and Merlin would not have been opposed to that.

If it weren't for Collins and his "friends".

They were insufferable. Completely insufferable. And the more time that went on, the more Merlin was positive he hadn't been wrong to compare Arthur to a Malfoy. Because besides being on different sides of the last war, Arthur Collins acted exactly as Merlin had always known a Malfoy to act.

Most of Gryffindor was completely enamored with him. All because he was the Minister's son. Merlin just sighed and rose from his seat. If he sat around any longer, he risked being late to Severus' class. And that would be a minor calamity.

As Merlin walked out, he could feel eyes on him from the Slytherin table. He had to suppress another sigh. He knew Mike was upset about the sorting. Merlin could honestly say he was too. He just wanted to be able to talk to Mike about it, as opposed to the two of them just watching each other from across the hall. Honestly, it wasn't as if either of them had many friends, so why were they making themselves miserable because of house loyalties? Merlin resolved that he would talk to Mike as soon as he could. As loathe as he was to admit it, he missed his friend.

It was at that moment, as Merlin stepped into the Entrance Hall, that Merlin heard the cruel laughter. He looked around the hall, until he saw where it was coming. And Merlin wasn't sure why he was so surprised.

Arthur and the other first year Gryffindors, as well as a few of the older ones, were standing around a small, first year Hufflepuff, presumably making fun of him. Merlin shook his head. As he was walking towards Arthur and his followers, Arthur looked up and made eye contact with Merlin. Merlin froze as a memory washed over him.

"This'll teach him." Arthur had said, watching Morris run around moving the target. The knights were all cheering for Arthur to teach the servant, and Merlin had just watched in disgust as Arthur threw a dagger at the target Morris was moving.

"Hey! Hang on!" Morris had called out.

"Don't stop!" Arthur had commanded.

Morris took a few steps back. "Here?"

"I told you to keep moving!" Arthur shouted as he threw another dagger. "Come on! Run!"

Morris continued to struggle carrying the target as Arthur made comments until finally, Morris dropped the target and it rolled to Merlin's feet.

Just then, the first year, who had apparently pulled out his wand at some point, dropped it as he fell to the ground. It rolled towards Merlin and, in a daze, he picked it up and looked towards Arthur. "C'mon Collins, haven't you given this kid enough of a hard time?"

"Hey, come on, that's enough."

The crowd of people that had gathered went silent as Arthur just looked at Merlin. "What did you just say to me?"

"What?"

"You heard me. You've had your fun, now just let the kid go." Merlin said, hearing echoes from long ago with every word he spoke.

You've had your fun, my friend.

"Who are you?"

Do I know you?

"I'm Merlin...Merlin Emrys?" Merlin said in as much disbelief as he could manage through his fog. "We share a dorm."

Er, I'm Merlin.

"Do we really?" Arthur said in curiosity, looking to his friends, who shrugged.

So I don't know you.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"What makes you think that you can tell me what to do, Emrys? It's not as if we're friends."

Merlin just gave him a look. "Yes, I suppose that was my mistake."

That was my mistake.

"It was. And I would appreciate if it wouldn't happen again."

Yes, I think so.

"It won't happen again. After all, I would never be friends with someone who is such an arse." Merlin smirked.

Yeah. I'd never have a friend who could be such an ass.

Everyone gasped, and Arthur narrowed his eyes. "And I would never have a friend stupid enough to pick a fight with the Minister's son."

Or I one who could be so stupid.

Merlin couldn't breathe. His memory was blurring with reality, and he could barely think. The pressure inside his head was rising. He knew Arthur was still talking, rattling on about something, but Merlin had no idea what it was.

Tell me, Merlin, do you know how to walk on your knees?

Suddenly, several things happened at once. Arthur, bored with Merlin turned back to hit the Hufflepuff in the face, and as soon as he did, Merlin's magic exploded. The ground shook slightly, the windows rattled, and a strong wind blew through the air. As soon as the magic was expelled, the pressure in Merlin's head disappeared, and he was able to get his magic under control. But it was too late; everyone in the hall had witnessed his haywire magic.

Just as Merlin was trying to decide how he could possibly explain this away, Professor McGonagall walked in and narrowed her eyes at Merlin and Arthur. She took in the rest of the scene before focusing in on Arthur. "Mr. Collins, my office, now. The rest of you, scatter."

Everyone began quickly walking away, but Merlin stayed routed to the spot. McGonagall turned and looked at him calculatingly. Merlin tried to think of something, anything, he could say, but his mind was stuck on what had just happened, so much, in fact, that he barely registered Arthur's glare and McGonagall's firm, "And I will be speaking to you later, Mr. Emrys."

Merlin watched them leave. He hadn't thought of the first meeting between him and Arthur in years. It hadn't been the greatest meeting, and they had just been so young: Merlin had been only sixteen with Arthur a mere two years older. Suppressing their first meeting hadn't been particularly difficult when they had shared so many memories, with their bond being more than brothers. The memory had brought with it a pang of nostalgia, a burning desire to go back to Camelot, one stronger than he had felt in years. At the same time, it was dulled, muted, and Merlin felt a glimmer of hope for the first time in almost too long.

Kilgharrah's comments about destiny made sense now, and Merlin grinned as he realized maybe being a Gryffindor wouldn't be as bad as he had expected. He felt a pang of sadness at the fact that Arthur didn't remember anything, and a breathtaking fear at what this meant for the wizarding world for the next couple of years. But it didn't matter, not now when Merlin was happier than he had been in years.

Arthur, his Arthur, was back.

And, Merlin realized suddenly, he was going to be late for potions. Shit.

Snape's class had been only marginally more unpleasant than usual, and Merlin thanked his lucky stars that he was one of the Gryffindors that Snape had decided was 'barely competent.' Defense would have been okay, but, like usual, Professor Cornwallis proved himself to be utterly incompetent. It wasn't until Flitwick's class, after lunch, that Merlin's day took an interesting turn.

For one, Flitwick had obviously heard about Merlin's magical explosion. The entire class, he was bouncing between thoughtfulness, curiosity, and extreme excitement every time he glanced at Merlin. This happened to be quite a lot, as Merlin was sure that in the entire time they were practicing Wingardium Leviosa, Flitwick was studying him for at least half of it. The other interesting part of the class was what, or rather who, Flitwick was studying for the other half the class.

Arthur had returned from wherever he had been (Merlin was betting Dumbledore's office) during lunch. Merlin hadn't heard much about it, but from what he did hear, apparently Arthur's bullying had gone so far as to be noticed by Dumbledore and McGonagall, and that the meeting had resulted in the Minister coming to Hogwarts. Merlin supposed that while it might explain why Arthur was not throwing a fit, it did not necessarily explain why Arthur seemed angrily resigned.

Merlin had spent the bulk of his morning comparing Arthur Collins to Arthur Pendragon. Once he really put the two of them side by side, he was surprised that he hadn't noticed the similarities sooner. Both raised by a father in a position of power, this Arthur had the same attitude towards students he saw as being less than him as he had towards those he viewed as lesser than him long before he had become king. It wasn't only that though; it was hard for Merlin to explain, but they had the same mannerisms, the same expressions, and Merlin bet that if he had known Prince Arthur when he was merely eleven, he would have looked much like he did now.

Arthur was, in essence, the very same person, just without the experiences that made him King Arthur. Merlin had the evidence to prove it. However in this case, he was reacting differently than he logically should be, which meant something else was going on. And Merlin was dying to know what it is. He could almost hear Kilgharrah telling him that 'if it was his destiny to know, he would find out eventually.' Merlin had forgotten how much he could hate destiny.

He had been so concerned with analyzing Arthur without making it obvious that he hadn't noticed that his feather was floating until he heard Professor Flitwick shout out, "Good job, Mr. Emrys! 5 points to Gryffindor."

Merlin paid attention after that.

But it was the end of the lesson when the truly interesting (and dreaded) thing happened. Merlin was told to go see Professor Dumbledore after dinner. He had been expecting it, true, but that didn't make him any happier about it.

Merlin spent dinner trying to come up with an excuse for the Headmaster, however he kept getting distracted. First, there was the piercing look he was receiving from Mike. Merlin tried to ignore it, but wasn't able to, and wondered if maybe the explosive events of the morning would finally convince Mike to talk to him, if only there was to assuage his own curiosity. Merlin could only hope, because Merlin was kind of lonely, since he hadn't wanted to make friends with most of his housemates, many of whom were Arthur's sycophants.

Speaking of Arthur, whenever Merlin turned away from Mike, he caught Arthur's eyes on him. Merlin had no idea why; Arthur looked away as soon as Merlin noticed him. Arthur didn't seem to remember him, so Merlin spent several minutes trying to decipher the looks. However he soon realized that dinner was going to be ending soon, so he looked down at the table and tried to prepare himself for his impending meeting with the Headmaster.

The last time Merlin had seen Dumbledore was probably his most recent Hogwarts graduation. The man had seemed to just know that there was more to Merlin than he could see. He also seemed to know that Merlin was the one sending him the anonymous tips about Death Eater attacks. Yes, if he had learned anything in his last life, it was that Dumbledore often knew more than Merlin would like him to.

The question was, what should he say? He couldn't exactly say Hi Headmaster. So um, I'm actually the reincarnated Merlin, like the original one with King Arthur and the one who attended Hogwarts. I just found out that I'm not the only one that's back, Arthur is too, but I have no idea who else is. Oh, by the way, did I mention that this bodes terribly for the Wizarding World since Arthur was fated to return in the world's greatest time of need? And yeah sure I'd love a lemon drop.

Well, he supposed he could say that, but it would probably get him a one way ticket to St. Mungo's for examination. And while worse things had certainly happened to him in his lifetimes, getting thrown in St. Mungo's now that Arthur was finally back would be awful. But how else could he explain the power he had, the power which was a mix of traditional magic and that of the Old Religion, which was still illegal? Merlin needed Dumbledore's trust for the future, but how to gain it with what had to be a lie? And what lie could he possibly tell that Dumbledore would believe?

He supposed that, if it came down to it, he could just play dumb and hope that Dumbledore didn't press the issue. And seeing as both Dumbledore and McGonagall had just risen from the table, with the former heading out of the hall by way of the staff entrance behind the head table while the latter walked towards the end of the Gryffindor table where he was sitting, Merlin figured that he had run out of time to come up with a better idea. With a sigh, he rose from the Gryffindor table as Professor McGonagall stopped behind him.

"Mr. Emrys, if you'll follow me." Professor McGonagall said. Merlin simply nodded, and fell into step behind her.

The walk to the Headmaster's office was not a terribly long one, but Merlin spent it re-familiarizing himself with the way. Despite how many times he had gone to Hogwarts, the last time he had been to the Headmaster's office was when he had been in school with the reincarnations of Mordred and Morgana, the Le Fey twins, Medraut and Morgan. Before that, it had been when he had spent time with the Founders in his first life.

When they arrived at the gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's Office, after a fair amount of calculating, almost Slytherin looks that McGonagall shot towards Merlin, the Deputy Headmistress just looked at Merlin for a moment before her features almost appeared to soften. "There's nothing to worry about, Mr. Emrys. The Headmaster knows what really happens. He'd just like to speak to you."

"Thank you Professor."

McGonagall nodded, and turned to address the gargoyle. "Rastons."

With that, the door to Dumbledore's office opened up, and Merlin couldn't help but laugh at McGonagall's retreating form as he heard her muttering about senile old men and unknown sweets. He quickly sobered. This moment was a big one, one that he couldn't afford to screw up. This was his second chance to do right by Arthur, and he refused to mess up this time. So with a deep breath, Merlin stepped inside and ascended the spiral staircase.

Upon arriving in the office itself, Merlin was struck by the realization that his head of house may have been on to something with her mutterings about senile old men. The entire office was covered in random magical devices, some of them Merlin was familiar with, and some he wasn't. But there were so many of them, that Merlin couldn't see how any man could keep them straight. There were shelves and cabinets full of books, many of which Merlin was sure would still go over his head, despite his millennium of magical learning. With a sudden pang, Merlin realized it reminded him of Gaius' quarters.

"Hello Merlin." Dumbledore said with his eyes twinkling. Merlin jumped a bit, and turned to face the man, who Merlin had somehow not realized was sitting behind his desk. The headmaster gestured to the seat in front of him. "Please sit. Would you like a lemon drop?"

Merlin struggled to hold back a laugh at the offer of the sweet. During his previous school days, it had been rumored that Dumbledore offered a lemon drop to everyone who came to his office. It seemed that the rumor had some truth to it. "Yes, thank you, headmaster."

Taking the lemon drop, Merlin sat down and waited for Dumbledore to speak. However when Dumbledore finally spoke, it was not about the confrontation between him and Arthur, nor about the extreme amount of magic he had let off.

"Tell me Merlin, have you ever heard of the Battle of Camlann?" Dumbledore asked, the lightness of the question contrasted with the scrutiny in his eyes. Merlin nearly choked on his lemon drop as soon as he heard the word 'Camlann'. What in the world could Dumbledore know about that? Apparently his reaction showed on his face. "Ah, I see that you have. Most wizards are not familiar with it, as they are not terribly interested in King Arthur's exploits, instead being fascinated by the wizard he had helping him as well as his later incarnation, but I have always found the non magical king fascinating."

"Is that so, sir?" Merlin managed to choke out.

"Yes, for example, did you know that he was an absolute terror as a young boy, tormenting those he viewed as less than him until he was eighteen? It was only after a young man, living with the court physician, saved his life that Arthur began turning into the king that he is remembered as today. They became the greatest of friends, the Prince, later King, of Camelot, and his new manservant. Can you guess who the servant was?"

"Merlin." He whispered. He had no idea what was going on. Why was Dumbledore bringing up Arthur? Did he know? How could he though? Arthur had shown no sign of recognition, so it couldn't be because of that. Was Merlin really that transparent?

"It was." Professor Dumbledore said with a sad smile. "I don't think there has ever been a servant as loyal to his master as Merlin was to Arthur. Even then, magic wasn't accepted, but Merlin regularly risked his life to protect Arthur. When Arthur died, many believe it destroyed Merlin. The loss of his King, Master, Friend, and Other Half, while he was powerless to change it, must have been devastating seeing as they were so close. Especially as it is believed that Merlin is doomed to be continuously reincarnated, alone, until he and Arthur are called upon to complete their destiny."

"How...how do you know this?" Merlin managed to get out. He was looking down at the ground, barely holding back his tears. Dumbledore wasn't wrong. It may have been a millennium, but he still felt and remembered it like it was yesterday. And the loss of his dearest friend still hurt.

"Oh, my boy, there was a time when you believed I knew everything." Dumbledore said sadly. Merlin looked up at him in confusion. "However, even after all of these years, I think it would be more accurate to say that I just know you and Arthur quite well."

For several moments, Merlin just sat there. His confusion rapidly turned into disbelief which became hope, wonder, and happiness the longer he looked at the older wizard sitting across from him. Finally, he got his mouth to work.

"Gaius?"