After waking up from their impromptu nap courtesy of two Marauders whom shall remain infamous, Harry and Hermione had a thoroughly enjoyable day with Harry's godfather, and his 'special' friend Remus Lupin. They had a nice lunch at a family restaurant down the street from 12 Grimmauld Place, that took Sirius in as his dog form and even served him like a real human. Apparently Remus and Sirius were regulars at this quaint little eatery.

The meal was excellent, as was the conversation, which covered a lot about Harry's parents during their school years, and how much they loved him. and after a while, how during the year of Harry's birth, they were the happiest couple on the planet. However there was one large problem with what they revealed that caused Harry and Hermione to realize just how much of their memories they were missing.

Harry was born in 1980... meaning that he should be in his fourth year at Hogwarts, not his first like he had been originally. This explained the accelerated rate at which he and Hermione were advancing through the years, but didn't explain why their memories were erased.

The pursuit of the memories was curtailed by some deeply rooted desire of theirs to not break down into gibbering idiots... but they couldn't for the life of them figure out why. Instead, after lunch, they went back to the house and continued talking about the Wizarding World and how Harry would be either joining them over the summer, or going back to the Grangers. Hermione of course was invited to visit anytime, with or without Harry in tow.

All too soon, it was time for them to go back to Hogwarts and get to bed so they could go to classes the next day.

What they never could have imagined was that they would be taking the Fawkes express into a war zone. No sooner had they arrived in the Headmaster's office, than the entire building shook from an explosion somewhere in the dungeons. They were about to try and plead with the phoenix to take them somewhere, ANYWHERE else, when Dumbledore burst into the room with McGonagall following shortly behind him, a strange Ravenclaw first year with her face hidden behind the cowl of a cloak, and carrying a large walking staff, being dragged along by her ear, which was currently pinched between the deputy headmistress's fingers.

"Merlina, may I ask what it was that you said to get the whole student body into such an uproar?" Dumbledore asked kindly while pulling out his lemon drop bowl, offering one to the professor and the student in question. At the refusal by both, he set the bowl down on his desk and settled in to his chair. None of the three noticing the two extra students and flame based bird watching the scene in mute surprise.

"I merely mentioned to that Malfoy idiot that my great-great-great... umm... great several times over, grandfather was part fae, that's all," Merlina answered while a hand reached inside her cloak's cowl presumably to rub the ear that had been pinched.

"And what exactly is wrong with that?" Minerva asked sternly with a deep frown etched on her face.

"Well maybe it was how I phrased it... See 'Merlin was part-fae you know...' seemed to tick off Malfoy after he claimed to be descended from Merlin..." the student offered quietly, still rubbing her sore ear. Apparently Minerva's pinching really hurt. "But that's stupid because I'm the only direct descendent Grandpa Merlin had!"

Hermione's gasp at the revealtion caused them to finally be spotted and recognized as extra ears to the conversation, and thus there was only one answer that the teachers could come up with.

The last thing they heard before darkness overtook them was, "Obliviate!"

Harry and Hermione found themselves in Dumbledore's office with the man, Professor McGonagall, and a strange first year Ravenclaw student wearing a cowled cloak and carrying a massive staff. "Ah, Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, good timing," Dumbledore started with a warm, kindly smile of a grandfather, "We were just about to head down to supper, would you care to join us?"

"Certainly Professor..." Harry answered, before his eyes drifted over towards the unknown student. "Umm... I'm sorry, I don't think we've met Miss..."

"Call me Merlina," the student answered before turning away from the two fourth years, "It's good to meet you Mister Potter... Miss Granger..."

"Call me Hermione," the brunette offered with a warm smile of her own, as Harry nodded his agreement. "He prefers Harry... I hope we can be friends..."

"I... I would like that..." Merlina offered shyly as she wrung her hands around the staff nervously, "But there are secrets about me that cannot be told to anyone..."

"I know all about that..." Harry grumbled while rubbing his scar warily. For some reason he felt like some sociopath was raving about the history books getting everything wrong, but decided against mentioning this to the people currently not thinking he was outright insane.

"Just so you know, there was an incident while you were away, and many students were harmed. Please be careful on your way down to the Great Hall," Dumbledore explained as he walked over to the door, and led the procession out of his office, with Minerva taking up the end of the line. As they walked, Harry and Hermione were appaled to see blast marks, blood stains, and more than a few piles of deification in their once pristine halls.

"The troublemakers currently have several months of detention to serve with Mr. Filch to clean up the results of their actions, I believe Hogwarts will be completely recovered by the end of the school year," Dumbledore explained, while he deftly led them around a pile of bricks that had once been the ceiling of this particular stretch of hall, before they arrived at their destination.

"Umm... Professor? Wh...what happened here?" Harry asked nervously, seeing the outline of a body's impact in the walls next to the doors.

"Hmm? Oh some students in Slytherin lost their temper and started a fight... Nothing to worry about..." Dumbledore answered while pushing open the doors that creaked and one nearly fell off its hinges. The sight of nearly all of the students being chained to the tables while eating, with the teachers patrolling left Harry and Hermione a little disturbed, especially when more than one teacher pointed their wands at them.

"They are not to be punished, as they were not involved," Dumbledore clarified as Harry and Hermione were led through the hall to the staff table, were an extra pair of seats awaited them, Merlina took her spot at the Ravenclaw table, and began eating after being chained down. "Now then, how was your visit with your godfather Mr. Potter?"

Dinner, needless to say was a bit awkward for Harry and Hermione, as they could feel the heated glares of the other students on their backs.