AN: Thanks for all the feedback. In this chapter we'll meet a few more familiar faces and you'll see why they haven't been in the story until now. Enjoy.

"Merlin come on we're going to be late." Gwen called up the stairs. A few minutes later Merlin bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. He was wearing dark grey trousers with a white shirt and a red V-neck pullover. Gwen picked up the tie which was resting on the kitchen counter and knelt down to knot the tie around Merlin's neck and fixing it into place. Once the tie was securely in place Merlin knelt on his chair and reached for the cereal that had already been set out as Arthur walked into the kitchen.

"Are you nervous Merlin?" Arthur asked.

"No." Merlin replied through a mouthful of Cheerio's.

"Are you excited?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah!" Merlin exclaimed as Arthur and Gwen smiled at one another. It was the third of September and Merlin's first day of primary school. The four-and-a-half year old looked excited but both Arthur and Gwen were aware that he was also slightly nervous at the prospect of going to Big School. As Merlin finished his breakfast, Gwen fetched her camera as Merlin tracked down his schoolbag and went over what was inside. Pencil case, pencils, rubber, sharpener, ruler and his packed lunch.

"Smile Merlin," Gwen said as Merlin stood at the door and gave a toothy grin. Gwen took a picture of Merlin and Arthur having his arm around his shoulder before handing the camera to Arthur to get a picture of Gwen and Merlin.

As they left the house and got into the car to drive Merlin to the primary school, Elm Tree Primary, both Arthur and Gwen glanced at the blooming rose bushes in their front garden before climbing into the car and offering each other a re-assuring squeeze of their hands and a sad smile before they took off.

"Remember Merlin, you need to be on your best behaviour and do everything your teacher tells you." Gwen stated and Merlin nodded. Arthur grinned at his son.

"Exactly and if anyone calls you names, you punch them don't you?" Arthur joked.

"Yeah!" Merlin stated.

"No," gwen refuted looking at Arthur before craning around to look at Merlin. "You're never to get into fights with anyone and you certainly don't punch them."

"Ok Mummy," Merlin said and fell silent as they tured into the next street which was filled with cars and parents taking their children to school. Older students were walking or getting out of cars whilst the rest of the new Reception students were clutching onto their parents' or siblings hands. After a quick assessment of the traffic, Arthur parked his car on the pavement and the family climbed out of the car. Merlin slipped his Avengers schoolbag onto his back and clutched onto Arthur and Gwen's hands as they joined the people walking down the street.

Elm Tree Primary was a medium sized primary school with just over a hundred students aged from four to eleven. There was a large playground separated into two areas for the Reception to Year Two pupils and another for the Year Three to Six. There were signs for the Reception classroom and as they stood outside the classroom, Merlin looked at the coat hooks and spotted a blue hook which had his name on it along with a picture of a car.

As they entered the classroom, there were already more than a dozen children running around the room exploring, some had signs of having cried when their parents dropped them off and indeed as they entered the room, a small dark-haired boy was tearfully clinging onto his mother's leg for dear life. Merlin looked at the boy and was about to step over to him when the teacher turned around and grinned at him.

"Good morning Merlin."

Merlin gaped at the sight of the man standing in front of him. "Elyan! What are you doing here?"

"I'm your teacher so you have to call me Mr Smith." Elyan explained as he smiled at Gwen and Arthur. "How are you two feeling?"

"Fine," Arthur replied and Elyan looked at them knowingly. Sometimes it was more so the parents who were emotional at the children starting school than the children themselves and he knew how special today really was for Arthur and Gwen given that they should have been taking Sam and Alex for their first days of school however it seemed that Merlin was making the most of today.

"So can I call you Elyan outside school?" Merlin asked curiously, if his uncle was his teacher, did that mean he had to call him Mr Smith or Sir all the time.

"Yes but only outside school, why don't you put your school bag into that cubby-hole over there, see the green one, and then go and play." Elyan suggested as a few more parents came with their children. Gwen and Arthur both crouched down to Merlin's level who now looked more nervous at the prospect of his parents leaving him in this place, however his uncle's presence was a reassuring comfort.

"Remember Merlin, be good and we'll come for you at half past two." Gwen said as Merlin hugged her and she had to blink back a few tears as she kissed his forehead before allowing Arthur to hug Merlin.

"Have fun Merlin and try and make some friends." Arthur advised as he and Gwen left the room. Merlin looked around the classroom before he set his bag in his assigned cubby-hole and he approached the young boy who was still shyly holding onto his mother.

"Hi I'm Merlin, what's your name?" Merlin asked and the boy looked at him nervously.

"Lancelot," Lancelot replied and Merlin grinned at him.

"Want to go play?" Merlin asked and Lancelot looked at him nervously before nodding his head. Lancelot let go of his mother, who took the opportunity to quietly slip away as Merlin and Lancelot walked across the classroom to where two boys were building a tower with some bricks. One of the boys had sandy-coloured hair and was quietly stacking the bricks whilst the other had messy dark hair and was chattering away as he fixed the bricks into place.

"Can we play?" Merlin asked, referring to himself and Lancelot. The quiet boy nodded and the dark-haired boy grinned at them.

"I'm Gwaine and this is Percy, he don't talk much. What's your names?" Gwaine asked as Merlin and Lancelot crouched down to help sort and build the bricks up.

"I'm Merlin," Merlin said.

"Lancelot," Lancelot replied quietly as he wiped his eyes. "I don't know if I like it here. I want my mummy."

"She'll be back soon." Percy said as he stood up to fix some of the bricks onto the top of the tower and Merlin looked at Lancelot.

"Don't worry, it's not scary. Besides Mr Smith's my uncle and he's nice so he won't shout." Merlin explained and Gwaine frowned as he looked from Merlin to their teacher and back again.

"He doesn't look like you. My uncle looks like my Daddy and my daddy looks like me." Gwaine stated in a confused voice and merlin shrugged.

"My first Mummy and Daddy went away so I got a new Mummy and Daddy and he's my new mummy's brother so he's my uncle." Merlin explained and the boys nodded. They didn't understand what Merlin meant but they understood that it meant Mr Smith was Merlin's uncle.

Eventually all the students had arrived and Elyan assigned them to sit in a big circle on the floor. All the students had to introduce themselves and say something about them. Merlin learnt that Gwaine liked football, Percy's favourite colour was green and Lancelot wanted to be an army man when he was older. When it was Merlin's turn, Merlin simply said he liked dragons and had one he called Thusie but it wasn't a real dragon. When the bell rang at eleven am, all the pupils went outside and Merlin spent the break time playing Tag with Lancelot, Percy and Gwaine. When break time was over, Elyan escorted them back to their classroom were the children were sat in tables in groups of six. Merlin was sat with Lancelot, Percy, Gwaine and two girls, a shy girl named Kara and a giggly girl named Vivian. When they were assigned their desks, the students were allowed to draw pictures until lunchtime.

After their lunch, the boys played outside again and were allowed more free time before all too soon, Elyan was getting them to fetch their bags and coats. As they left the classroom and went back into the playground, already the majority of their parents were waiting on them. The children sped across the playground into their parent's arms and Merlin hung back beside Elyan as they waited for Gwen and Arthur to arrive.

"Mummy, Daddy!" Merlin shouted as he tore over to the gates to where Gwen hugged him and Arthur picked him up to sit on his shoulders. Bidding a goodbye to Elyan who promised to call around later, the family made their way out of the gates and down the street to where the car was parked.

"How was your first day of school?" Gwen asked.

"Really good, I made friends with Lancelot, Percy and Gwaine and we built a castle and played Tag." Merlin relayed.

"So do you like school then?" Arthur asked as he took Merlin off his shoulders and Merlin tugged open the car door.

"Yeah," Merlin replied as he fastened his seatbelt, ready to go home.