I'm finally back in civilization with the next chapter already written.
Okay I'm trying to decide if I want Draco to find out during the next 'book' or if he should figure out who Merlin is a few books later.
I'm also wondering if I should have Snape find out at the same time, or sooner, than Dumbledore. (I don't think Dumbledore will find out until after the Goblet Of Fire)
And just an FYI the Quidditch match, Lee's announcing, is word for word because they are watching the same game that they watched in the book and I want to stay true to the original story since I'm adding in a new character to see how he changes things, and I don't think he'd change this game.
Keep in mind there is no beta and so sometimes I miss things. If you tell me I'll correct it. I say this because I know I was putting Mryddian instead of Myrddin as Merlin's name but I don't know if I posted the mistake or if it was just on wordpad and I caught it in time.
Now, To The Story!
Things settled down soon after the Troll incident. To Merlin's immense relief, and surprise, Draco had seemed to decide that harassing other students, especially those in Gryffindor, while Merlin was around wasn't worth it.
It also helped that they hadn't been running into Harry very often. Merlin trusted Draco to decide not to harass students on his own, with only a slight push in the right direction, but he knew Draco wouldn't drop his feud with Harry easily.
Merlin was doing well with the assigned homework, unsurprisingly, and he helped Draco from time to time as well. Merlin was also becoming more and more worried about what Voldemort was planning, as he didn't wish to endanger the kids at the school. His only comfort was he knew what at the moment Voldemort was trying to save himself and not revive Morgana.
Though he was not a natural seer as Morgana was Merlin knew his magic gave him visions once in a while if they were needed, but at the moment his magic was focused on Morgana so if anything were to change with her he was confident he would see it. He only wished his magic would focus on Voldemort half as much as her because he couldn't seem to find him in the Crystal of Neahtid.
Merlin was also debating on if he should be speaking to either Dumbledore or Snape about the knowledge he had acquired over the years and with his crystal, but that would mean revealing himself and he knew that telling them now would only be bad. He also considered just giving them some information but they would be curious as to how a first year got that information, and would probably not trust him anyway.
He still disliked Snape as well, though he didn't distrust him. In fact he trusted Snape about as much as Dumbledore, if not more. That was mostly because he trusted Snape not to try to take control of the situation. Merlin feared if he told Dumbledore everything he would think that they could take on Morgana and get himself, and his people, involved in something they couldn't handle.
Merlin knew where Snape's loyalties were, but his past led him to lashing out at people, Harry in particular. The reason that Merlin had no sympathy for him was probably because he knew what it was like to loose the woman you love, and he had lost his love to a leader as well. The main difference was his leader was also his friend and he had never held her death against him and Arthur had never realized what he had done. Merlin never had the heart to tell him.
If Snape could only see that he wasn't the only one who had been dealt a bad hand, and that some people had gone through more pain than him, Merlin thought that he would be a much better person. As it was he still harassed Harry in class from time to time, and if it annoyed him enough Merlin would throw in a sarcastic comment to divert his attention.
Sometimes he wanted to explain everything to Snape just to make him understand the world a bit better than he thought it was and it could always be worse, but it wasn't time for anyone to know yet. It also didn't help that Snape's attitude had been made worse by the huge bite on his leg from the Cerberus, Fluffy, helping to guard the stone.
Merlin could also see a time approaching quickly where the philosopher's stone would be in danger but he couldn't do too much or he would risk throwing off the future. The outcome he was seeing through the crystal at the moment, while not perfect, was okay. Merlin was already beginning to plan alterations without throwing the outcome off too much.
Still, Merlin knew what he was seeing didn't include Morgana because while she was dead anything she would influence by coming back was blurred, becoming clearer only as the time of her resurrection drew nearer. It also didn't include him because he didn't decide to act until after he saw the visions. Merlin was glad he had learned how to have no intentions while looking into the crystal or it would be like in the past where he saw the outcome if he interfered when he thought he was seeing what the outcome would be if he didn't.
Merlin also spent time watching Harry, Hermione, and Ron through the crystal focusing more on the present than the future. He wanted to make sure that he had at least some idea of what they were doing and if they would need back up, or help.
Of everyone at the school Fred and George were the ones who most helped him relax even though they probably didn't realize it. He really appreciated them. They reminded of himself and Gwaine during the time of Camelot, because they weren't living up to their full potential but instead they used that potential for games and pranks.
Fred, George, and Lee had also accepted him into their group recently. He didn't get to spend as much time with them as he would like but they did make his life a bit more relaxing. They had accepted him because he had done his own prank last week as they had asked.
He had gone into the kitchens and while he was there he dropped a bit of potion into the pumpkin juice going to the Ravenclaw table. It made it so that those who drank the potion were unable to speak for 24 hours, it was made even better by the fact that it was on a day where Slytherin had classes with them. They were much less annoying when they couldn't speak.
The teachers couldn't figure out who had done it because it had to have been put in while it was at the kitchens and the house-elves were pleading ignorant. Merlin had smiled a bit at that because he knew they wouldn't betray him. Fred, George, and Lee had bugged him for weeks about why they had not only allowed him to put something into the food but didn't rat him out for it. Eventually Merlin just claimed to be sneaky because he didn't want to get the house-elves in trouble or give himself away.
Right now it was the day before the big Quidditch match, the first of the season, Gryffindor versus Slytherin.
His classes had been rather dull and none of the other students were paying much attention either, unless they were in Ravenclaw, because everyone was waiting for tomorrow's game. The rumor going around, which had been confirmed, was that Harry would be playing seeker for Gryffindor. Draco hadn't stopped complaining since he heard about it. If fact that's what Draco was doing, yet again, while Merlin ate his lunch nodding at regular intervals so that Draco would know he was listening.
"How could they let Potter on a Quidditch team? Even if it is Gryffindor." Draco complained.
Zabini let out a chuckle under his breath, "Better for us then, he's been living with muggles so he probably doesn't even know the rules."
Goyle and Crabbe nodded in agreement with Zabini's statement.
Draco slammed his hand down on the table hard and leaned over at the three sitting across from him. Merlin glanced over at Draco, sitting to the right of him, curiously. "That's not the bloody point!" Draco argued, "If they were going to be accepting first years they should have allowed me to join as well!" Draco opened his mouth to speak again but then closed it again quickly. Merlin could hear his teeth clench together.
Merlin tried to hold back his smile. He knew what Draco had been about to say and was surprised that he hadn't, but he was also proud. 'My father will hear about this' didn't cross his lips.
"Yeah, of course, you're right." Zabini agreed quickly and quietly, trying not to attract any more attention to himself.
Draco stood then, "I'm done eating. I will see you all in class."
He stormed out then and Merlin sighed before following him out. When they were out of the Great Hall and heading outside Merlin spoke, startling Draco who had yet to realize that he was being followed, "Slow down Draco, I'm not going to chase you."
Draco spun around then to face Merlin. "Did I ask you to follow me Myrddin?"
Merlin shook his head, "No, but I was done eating," Merlin shrugged, "Though if you want me to leave then I will."
Draco frowned and then turned away from him but didn't start to walk again. Merlin took this as an okay and caught up to him so they could continue the walk together. Neither spoke until they stood far away from anyone else. It was pretty cold but both did a fairly good job of ignoring it.
"You already knew about Potter didn't you Myrddin?" Draco questioned as he turned to face Merlin.
Merlin shrugged. "I might have heard about it earlier."
"When?"
"Around the time that he received the broom." It was actually earlier but he wasn't going to admit that because then he wouldn't have an excuse for how he found out.
"And why didn't you mention this sooner?" Draco asked stubbornly.
"Didn't think it mattered much." Merlin answered with a shrug.
"Didn't think it…Didn't think it mattered much!?" Draco was outraged.
"Yeah, besides there was nothing we could do about it anyway."
Draco looked like he was about to argue but then, at the last second, he sighed instead before mumbling about fighting it and getting on the team. After Draco's mumbling and complaining came to an end they both went quiet and the subject was dropped in favor of another.
"Are you ever going to tell me what you are sneaking out of the dorm for?"
Merlin shook his head; they had been having this argument since Draco found out that he had been sneaking out regularly. He didn't do it every day anymore but, maybe, once a week to check on the unicorns and speak to the things living in the forest. The unicorns were being injured regularly (with the exception of the first Unicorn that had been attacked) he had managed to save them before they died. It was a frightening thought, that someone could be so evil and cruel.
"Of course I'll tell you eventually but now is not the time."
Draco narrowed his eyes before turning away, "It's almost time for class we'd better head back."
Merlin followed him without a word.
At the moment the main reason he didn't want to tell Draco about what he was doing was because he was sure that Draco would insist on going with him and he'd begun putting the pieces together and the picture didn't look very good.
Merlin could only conclude that Voldemort was not just coming back but was near the school and had some how gotten his hands on a body even though that body wasn't his. That would explain why he couldn't find Voldemort in the crystal. If his soul was split, as he guessed it was because he could think of no other way that he would remain after dying, then the crystal would not be able to find a single piece of his soul.
He'd also decided that if his soul was at Hogwarts and that it was attached to someone it was probably attached to Quirrell. Knowing did not necessarily comfort him as he was pretty sure Voldemort was a teacher.
That was another reason why he felt hesitant to tell Draco anything too though and it was because, while he had been getting better, his father was a loyal follower of Voldemort's and if Draco mentioned this to his father or mother he could be ordered to help Voldemort and Merlin couldn't be sure that he wouldn't obey.
"How do you think we'll do in the Quidditch match tomorrow?" Merlin asked, as they got closer to the classroom.
"We're going to win of course. Gryffindor won't stand a chance with or without Potter," Draco said smugly, and just like that the tension was gone and they were discussing tomorrow's game.
Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle met up with Merlin and Draco inside of the classroom and they too had been discussing the upcoming Quidditch match (again).
The lesson progressed slowly and by the time they headed to the dorm room Merlin felt like it was much later than it had in actuality, Merlin was exhausted.
It was because of that he headed up to bed earlier than the others.
The next morning he got up earlier than the others too. He waited in the common room reading one of the books he had only recently acquired. It was newer than most of his collection but still stood out too much because it was old and rare as well. He had disguised the book with a spell so it looked like a book from their History of Magic class.
After about an hour Merlin heard someone opening the door that lead to the boy's dormitory, but Merlin didn't look up until he heard the familiar voice say, "Are we heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast or what? I'm starving."
Without looking up Merlin tucked the book into his bag and stood, "Sure Draco, lets head up then."
Draco nodded and they headed to the Great Hall. They ran into a few people on the way but most just got out of their way. The Great Hall had more people than it usually did at this time, and most of those people were sitting at either the Slytherin or Gryffindor table. Merlin assumed it was because most were waiting in anticipation for the upcoming match and no one wanted to be late, but it was like that every year.
By eleven o'clock everyone was sitting in the stands, and by that Merlin meant everyone. It wasn't just Slytherin and Gryffindor but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw as well. There may have been a few people who chose not to attend, but if there was then it wasn't enough to notice. Many of the students Merlin saw had binoculars and it came as no surprise because it wasn't unusual. It helped that even though the seats were lifted as high as they were at times the game got to far away to see from them.
Merlin, Draco, and the other Slytherins sat opposite of the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students were spread out depending on which team they were rooting for.
With his own binoculars Merlin could see Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, and Dean across from them. They had made a big banner in support of Harry with a lion that changed color on it.
The Slytherin and Gryffindor teams headed out and on to the field and everyone broke out into cheers.
Madam Hooch was refereeing, not to Merlin's surprise, considering that the person who gives the first years their flying lessons are usually the ones to referee. She stood in the middle of the field waiting for the two teams, a broom in her hand.
"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, when they were all surrounding her. Merlin recognized that she was mostly speaking to the Captain of the Slytherin team, the sixth year Marcus Flint. "Mount your brooms, please."
They all mounted their brooms and prepared for the game to start. Madam Hooch lifted her silver whistle to her lips and gave a loud blast.
All fifteen players, on their brooms, rose up in the air and took off.
The announcer, Fred and George's friend Lee Jordan, said, "And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too –"
"JORDAN!" McGonagall scolded.
Draco, and the other Slytherin's sneered at the blatant favoritism coming from their announcer.
"Sorry, Professor." Lee said, not sounding too sorry about it.
"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve – back to Johnson and – no, the Slytherins have taken the Quaffle," Draco smiled, "Slytherins Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint fling like an eagle up there – he's going to sc— no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood," Draco cursed under his breath, "And the Gryffindors take the Quaffle – that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – OUCH – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger – Quaffle taken by the Slytherins – that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which – nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she's really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger – the goal posts are ahead – come on, now, Angelina – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDORS SCORE!"
The students in Gryffindor, or rooting for them, cheered loudly, covering up the Slytherin students' groans of frustration.
"He clearly has a favorite team," Draco mumbled next to Merlin with a tight frown and narrowed eyes. Merlin nodded, as he couldn't help but to agree. "But," Draco continued, "Slytherin still has a chance and they'd better not loose."
Merlin took a glance at the Gryffindor stands and noticed that Hagrid had joined them, but besides that nothing interesting had happened. Merlin had suddenly gotten a bad feeling about today.
Merlin kept his eye on Harry at all times as he watched the game progress. He had yet to spot the Snitch and wished it would show up so the game could end.
Harry was almost taken out by a Bludger, but he dodged, and Fred, who had been chasing after it yelled something at Harry as he went by knocking the Bludger toward Flint.
Lee was now saying, "Slytherin in possession. Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?"
The crowd began to murmur then as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too buys looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.
Merlin saw it, and noticed that Harry saw it too. The Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs had seen it as well. The two seekers were flying at the Snitch, even with each other, and the Chasers had seemed to forget they were playing as they stopped in midair to watch.
Harry was faster than Higgs, and though Merlin liked the kid he did want his own team to win. He watched in anticipation as the Snitch darted ahead, but it should have still been in their line of sight.
A roar of rage came from the Gryffindor's side of the stands as Marcus Flint blocked Harry and made Harry's broom spin off course. The Gryffindors screamed, "Foul!"
The Slytherin's were cheering. "That was no foul!" Draco called out loudly.
Lee was finding it more difficult not to take sides. "So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating –"
"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall growled, annoyed.
"I mean, after that open and revolting foul –"
"Jordan, I'm warning you –"
"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue to play, Gryffindor still in possession." Merlin could hear Lee's sarcasm and he knew McGonagall could too but she chose to ignore it. Besides that was probably the best they could hope for Lee's neutrality.
While they were screaming no one was paying attention to the seekers, Harry in particular. Harry's broom, and Harry on it, started to fall, but it only lasted a second before it came back up. Merlin immediately knew that something was wrong. It was then that Merlin realized that Harry no longer had any control over the broom he was on.
Lee kept commenting though, and no one else really noticed, "Slytherin in possession – Flint with the Quaffle – passes Spinnet – passes Bell – hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose – only joking, Professor – Slytherins score – oh no…"
Everyone is Slytherin was cheering. No one else seemed to have noticed that Harry's broom was behaving strangely as it was jerking and twitching.
Then, suddenly, everyone had begun to notice Harry. The whispers grew throughout the stands. "He suddenly forgot how to fly or something?" Draco snorted.
Harry's broom had started to roll over and over, with him barely hanging on, and then it jerked sharply and Harry seemed to fall off it. He was now barely hanging on to it as one hand had slipped from the broom.
Merlin glanced around to find out where the spell was coming from. First he spotted Snape who was staring unblinking at Harry's broom, and if Merlin had to guess, was the only reason Harry was still hanging on to the broom at all, and then he found Quirrell, who was also staring unblinkingly at Harry's broom. Merlin was watching a battle of wills that neither was winning.
Merlin whispered an old magic spell under his breath that placed a light shield over Harry and his broom. Neither noticed the inference, in fact neither had Harry, as he still couldn't move his broom. The only difference was now the broom couldn't move and neither spell caster could shake him off.
The Weasleys tried to get close enough to help him but between the two teacher's curses and Merlin's shield neither could get close enough. They moved below him and seemed to be preparing to catch him if he should happen to fall.
Flint had ignored the crisis and had taken the Quaffle and scored five times without anyone on the field noticing or trying to stop him.
Merlin took his attention off of Harry then, knowing that his spell (and the Weasley twins) would keep Harry from falling to his death. He now used his binoculars to once again spot Quirrell among the teachers. It was right as Merlin spotted Quirrell that he saw Hermione shove Quirrell out of the way and broke he concentration. Merlin smirked at the happy accident because now there was no need to interfere anymore. As he was releasing his hold on Harry he heard shouting coming from the stands where the teachers were seated. Snape's cloak had caught fire and Merlin had to suppress his groan of annoyance. If this was anything to go by the trio must have decided that Snape was the enemy.
During the commotion Harry had managed to, finally, pull himself back up on to his broom and he began to fly. Draco huffed in disappointment because Harry hadn't fallen from his broom.
Soon Harry was speeding toward the ground and a second later he had clapped his hand to his mouth as he fell off of his broom and on to the ground. It was a good thing his was already so close to it. Then he was on all fours coughing, it looked like he was to be sick, and he spit out something golden. The Snitch.
"I've got the Snitch!" Harry shouted, waving the gold ball above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.
"He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it," Flint hollered.
Draco was echoing him in the stands, "What the hell was that!" he called.
Slytherin, in general, was very put out by the outcome of the first match, and a match against Gryffindor no less. To prove this Flint was still howling about how the Snitch was caught twenty minutes later, but he hadn't made any difference as Harry's catch broke no rules.
Lee Jordan was happily shouting the results and the Gryffindors were celebrating. The Slytherin students had begun to disperse, as they didn't want to hang around for the celebration.
"Complete rubbish." Draco stated, as they got closer to the entrance to the common room.
"I know," Zabini agreed, "Catching it in his mouth like should be cheating."
Crabbe and Goyle nodded stupidly grunting in approval.
As they reached the entrance to the common room, Draco said the password for the group so they could head in, "Dementor," and as they headed inside Draco turned to Merlin and asked, "Well, what did you think of Potter's catch Myrddin?"
"He could've done it more gracefully," Merlin said with a smirk, "But I'd rather have had our seeker catch it instead."
Draco huffed, "Me as well."
This chapter had the most words so far, and since I'm posting this right as I entered my house I haven't checked my reviews yet, but I see that I do have some. They make me so happy and encourage me to post. Otherwise I start writing but posting is hard because I don't know how good it is. See my normal writing is a bit better because when I write fanfics I try to stay true to the characters and facts of the story. I hope I've been doing pretty good with that.
Am I changing Draco too fast? I thought with him being younger he'd be more willing to change but does his change seem reasonable for right now?
The next book I think I'm going to add more of the twins but they won't be main until probably the 3rd when I've played with Draco enough for him to be able to be kinda friends with them.
If there is anything you guys want to see message me and I'll see what I can do. I also want to know if you want me to start a new story for each book or continue on this with a message at the beginning of each new book.
