Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own the fantastic Merlin or Harry Potter, they are owned by BBC and J.K. Rowling respectively.

Of Camelot and Hogwarts

Chapter 7

"Are you sure about this?" Merlin asked Arthur anxiously, the worry evident on his face.

"Relax Merlin," Arthur replied confidant, "We have to do this.

Merlin nods, "I know, but I hope we don't regret this."

"Trust me, it'll work."

Suddenly there was a ringing sound and the two friends quickly moved from the hallway and into their classroom. They sat towards the back of the room, directly across from where the four members of the Marauders sat. However, none of them noticed their arrival as they were teasing a sallow skinned Slytherin who was seated a few spots in front of them.

"Snivellus," James crooned. "Did you actually wash your hair?"

"Of course he didn't," Sirius replied. "Can you see the grease?"

And with that all four guys laughed. But then Merlin noticed something—one of the Marauders, the one called Remus didn't seem too thrilled by James and Sirius' mockery. It seemed curious that this guy was even a part of this group since he obviously didn't share their sense of humor. The other member Peter seemed to just go with the flow, laughing loudly and obnoxiously to anything James or Sirius said.

But it wasn't until Lily's arrival that James stopped his teasing, and immediately started acting serious.

Lily paid him no attention and instead walked over to where Merlin sat with Arthur.

"How are you guys surviving Hogwarts so far?" she asked kindly.

"We're surviving," Arthur said with a grin.

"Glad to hear it," she replied. "I know what it is like to come to Hogwarts from a Muggle home."

"Really?" Arthur asked.

Lily nodded, "I'm the only witch in my family."

The bell rang again then, and Lily moved over to sit down up towards the front of the class. Merlin glanced at the Marauders and noticed that yet again James was glaring at Arthur. And yet again the Prince was totally oblivious.

But Merlin had no chance to warn him because at that moment the lessons began. The defense against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Miller strode to the front of the class.

"Class, today we will be having a practical lesson to see what defensive spells everyone has remembered. Wands out!"

Merlin and Arthur stood and pulled out their wands while exchanging a worried glance. Neither of them remembered all of the spells they learned the other day, and especially Arthur would be at a huge disadvantage.

Professor Miller waved his wand, and the desks and chairs moved to one end of the room. "Now pair up everyone and when I say so be ready to cast your first spells. You will duel the same person for two minutes and then switch so that everyone gets pair up at least once."

Great, Merlin thought, the Marauders will have an excuse to hex us.

Of course Arthur decided right away to pair up with Merlin initially. "Go easy on me," Arthur warned.

"Wow," Merlin replied, a look of shock on his face.

"What?" Arthur asked.

"I actually have the advantage for a change," Merlin replied with a grin.

"Don't worry," Arthur retorted and then brought his voice to a whisper. "When we get back to Camelot, everything will go back to normal."

Merlin was about to reply when Professor Miller spoke again. "Begin now."

Merlin held out his wand and quickly spoke the first spell that came to his mind. "Expelliarmus!"

Arthur's wand flew out of his hand within seconds, and not even the Prince's fast reflexes managed to catch it before Merlin caught it.

Merlin smiled again to Arthur just to spite him, but then threw the wand back to him.

The resulting duel was also very one sided as Arthur was either not quick enough or not performing the spells well enough, so that by the time they switched partners, Arthur was already incredibly frustrated.

Merlin's next partner was Remus Lupin. This was the very first time that Merlin ever stood very close to the other student and he was surprised by what he saw. Up close Remus was sickly looking with dark circles under his eyes as if he'd never gotten a proper sleep in his life. But his appearance was deceiving because Remus was very talented.

"Stupefy!" Remus shouted quickly, his wand pointed straight at him within seconds.

"Protego!" Merlin gasped, the spell just barely quick enough to protect him.

"Tarantellegra!" Remus countered quickly, and this time Merlin got hit by the full blast of the spell.

Merlin's feet started doing an out of control tap dance, and he had so little control that he wasn't able to get his wand up before he saw the blast of another stunning spell aiming his way. And with Merlin when something unexpected happened, his magic would involuntarily protect him.

The young wizards eyes turned gold as the blast from the stunning spell was suddenly veering off, hitting one of the abandoned desks.

As soon as it happened, Merlin couldn't help but look at Remus. His whole cover could be blown within seconds, and he was at the mercy of this unknown student. Remus looked at him, both curious and suspicious. "What did you do?" he asked.

"I—I don't know what you are talking about," Merlin said quickly, once more his inability to tell a lie properly showed.

"Your eyes changed color," Remus said softly. "How did you do that?"

Merlin thought hard for several panicked seconds trying to think of some excuse that would stick, but he was saved by the Professor's call for them to switch partners.

The rest of the class Merlin was terrified, worrying that Remus would tell the others, but he had very little time to concentrate on his frantic thoughts as he continued to duel the rest of the class. Merlin found that he was very good at dueling, thought on occasion he was hexed when he wasn't looking. Both James and Lily managed to catch him unaware, but it only happened once each, and the rest of the time Merlin was able to protect himself reasonably well.

Arthur was less fortunate. He'd been stunned twelve times, disarmed fifteen times, and only managed to reciprocate half of the time.

As soon as the bell rang Merlin quickly went over to Arthur and told him what happened.

"You idiot," Arthur complained. "How could you be so careless?"

"I didn't mean to, but magic is sort of instinctual. I don't always notice I'm doing it," Merlin replied. "We shouldn't do the prank, we should ask the elf not to do it."

"Too late, it is already done," Arthur replied. "Time to watch the fun."

The two young men entered the Great Hall and went to sit over at the Gryffindor table, not very far from where the Marauders were seated. Merlin snuck a glance just in time to see Sirius and James both pick up their goblets of pumpkin juice and drink deeply. They didn't have to wait long.

"Toofdap----tahw si gnineppah?" James gasped, his face a look of total shock.

Sirius looked at his friend surprised, "Sgnorp?? Ti si gnineppah o tem oot!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Remus asked, confused.

"Esoht wen syug! Yeht did siht!" Sirius protested.

Merlin couldn't help himself, he laughed right along with Arthur, and was suddenly very thankful Arthur swiped that potion in Slughorn's office the day before and managed to convince a house-elf to smuggle it into their glasses. This was priceless. It took only a matter of minutes until the entire room was laughing at James and Sirius' misfortune the same way that they had at Arthur the day before.

James and Sirius stood and went over to Arthur and Merlin, angrily.

"Xif siht!" Sirius demanded.

"Won," James agreed.

"Do you hear something, Emrys?" Arthur asked Merlin.

"Not a thing," Merlin replied. "Must be the wind."

"M'I gninraw uoy," James threatened.

"Now," Arthur said suddenly meeting James' eyes. "We're even."


Hours later Merlin was sitting in the quidditch pitch with a number of other spectators watching as Arthur auditioned for the house team. Arthur didn't care that James was the captain; he was still determined to be in the one athletic activity offered at Hogwarts. As for Merlin he was thankful to be sitting in the stands.

Initially when James saw that Arthur was trying out for the team he scoffed a bit and his friends (Sirius and Peter since Remus was absent) mocked Arthur from the stands. But James was very professional about the tryouts surprisingly, and Arthur wasn't given any disadvantage. He was trying out for Chaser since by the description that sounded much more up his alley then the Seeker position.

And just like with jousting, sword fighting, or any other kind of athletic contest, Arthur excelled. Despite being up on a broom, he was in his element and scored more goals than any of the others trying out for the same position. After over an hour, and some deliberation with the rest of his team, James gave his decision.

"For the open Seeker position, Mary White, and for the open Chaser position it will be Arthur Smith. Congratulations to our new team mates and thanks to the rest of you all for trying out, maybe next year."

"Good job Arthur," Merlin congratulated.

"I'm surprised he actually picked me, though maybe he just wants to torture me," Arthur commented as they moved to leave the stands. They passed by the Marauders and Arthur stopped, and within seconds all four were looking at them.

"I'm surprised you picked me," Arthur said honestly.

"Look," James said serious. "I may not like you, but I would be an idiot not to pick you just because of my personal feelings. I want to win the cup and you were the best one out there. Merlin's beard you can fly!"

Merlin's mouth opened, a look of shock crossing his features. Arthur likewise had a look of total and complete surprise and amusement. His grin grew wider and wider until he started chuckling uncontrollably.

"What is so funny?" Sirius asked confused.

Arthur stopped laughing. "I've just never heard that expression before, we're Muggle-borns."

James nodded, somewhat skeptically. "Right."

"Look," Arthur said. "Can we just drop this rivalry? I don't want to fight."

James and Sirius exchanged a glance. "We were planning this whole pranking spectacle in potions class tomorrow," Sirius said sadly. "But sure, we'll stop if you will."

"Glad to hear it," Arthur replied.

"Well we would love to stay and chat, but we have plans, see you both later," James said pleasantly, and he, Sirius and Peter took off towards the woods.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Arthur turned to Merlin incredulously.

"Merlin's beard?"

"I'm as confused as you are," Merlin replied sadly.

"You with a beard, now THAT is funny!"

And no matter what Merlin said, there was no way he could keep Arthur from teasing him for several days to come.


AN: Once more thanks to all of my faithful reviewers and readers for your continued encouragement which is why in part why I wrote the next chapter so soon. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, in the next one the plot thickens as Remus confronts Merlin. And if anyone was confused by the garbled James and Sirius' conversation, just read it backwards and it will make sense. And once again thanks for reading!