Title: The Houses of Pendragon, Emrys and Potter
Summary: AU OotP, set after M-S5. Merlin had always watched as the wizarding world fought for justice. He watched Harry Potter grow up as a young warlock struggling against Voldemort. At the Department of Mysteries on a Thursday evening when a deadly battle was playing out concerning Harry's destiny, Merlin decided it was time to step in. He will join the fight. This time. DISCLAIMER NOW!
Written by: Alexia Blackbriar (hoping to co-write with Holmes1216)
PLEASE REVIEW.
MULTI-CHAPTER STORY.
This will include Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Hedwig all of the members of the Order (including Sirius), the Professors, the characters from Book 5 and Book 6, Aithusa, Merlin of course and there will be mentions of Merlin S1,2,3,4,5.
DISCLAIMER: Some of this work belongs to the brilliant JK Rowling. I cannot take credit for her stuff! All the characters either belong to HER or the BBC.
"Oh dear!" Hermione said, looking stricken.
"Don't worry about it," Harry said grimly. He walked over to the door and knocked loudly. "Hagrid, open up, we want to talk to you!"
There was no sound from within.
Merlin stepped in. "If you don't open the door, I'll blast it open, Hagrid!"
"Merlin!" Hermione said, sounding shocked. "You can't possibly –"
"Yes, he can," said Harry. "Stand back –"
But before he could say anything else, the door flew open again as Harry and Merlin had known it would, and there stood Hagrid, glowering down at them and looking, despite the flowery pinny, positively alarming.
"I'm a teacher!" he roared at the pair of them. "A teacher, Ambrosius! How dare yeh threaten ter break down my door, Potter! I'll 'have yer necks, yer little –"
"I'm sorry, sir," Merlin said sarcastically, emphasizing the last word as Aithusa growled on his shoulder.
"Yeah, we won't bother you again, sir," Harry added sarcastically.
Hagrid looked stunned. "Since when have yer ever called me 'sir'?"
"Since when have you called me 'Potter'?"
"Oh, very clever," growled Hagrid. "Very amusin'. That's me outsmarted, innit? All righ', come in then, yer ungrateful little…"
Mumbling darkly, he stood back to let them pass. Merlin stepped past first, looking confident and not in the least bit worried, with Aithusa. Hermione scurried in after Harry, looking rather frightened.
"Well?" Hagrid said grumpily, as the four of them plus the dragon sat down around his enormous wooden table, Fang laying his head immediately upon Harry's knee and drooling all over his robes while glaring at Aithusa. "What's this? Feelin' sorry for me? Reckon I'm lonely or summat?"
"No," Merlin answered calmly at once.
"We wanted to see you," Harry insisted.
"We've missed you!" said Hermione tremulously.
"Missed me, have yer?" Hagrid snorted. "Yeah. Righ'."
Hagrid stormed about, brewing up tea in his enormous copper kettle, muttering all the whole. Finally, he slammed down four bucket-sized mugs of mahogany-brown tear in front of them and a plate of his rock cakes. Merlin suddenly felt so hungry that he could eat the whole plate, and despite the fact that he'd been warned about Hagrid's cooking, he took one of them at once.
"Hagrid," Hermione said timidly, when he joined them at the table and began peeling potatoes with a brutality that suggested that each tuber had done him a great personal wrong. "We really wanted to carry on with Care of Magical Creatures, you know."
Harry gave another great snort.
"We did!" Hermione insisted. "But none of us could fit it into our timetables!"
"Yeah. Righ'."
There was a funny squelching sound and they all looked around; Hermione let out a tiny shriek which caused Aithusa to startle and fall off the table and Ron leapt up out of his seat and hurried around the table away from the large barrel standing in the corner they had only just noticed. It was full of what looked like foot-long maggots; slimy, white and writhing.
"What are they, Hagrid?" Harry asked, trying to sound interested rather than revolted. He noticed that Merlin had gone slightly pale and was carefully placing his rock cake back onto the plate.
"Jus' giant grubs," Hagrid said.
"And they grow into…?" asked Ron, looking apprehensive while Aithusa hid behind one of his legs.
"They won' grow inter nuthin'," Hagrid grunted. "I got 'em ter feed ter Aragog."
And without warning he burst into tears.
Merlin leapt backwards slightly in alarm to avoid being showered in salty tears and he and Aithusa glanced at each other in confusion. Whoever the hell Aragog was, he seemed to matter a lot of Hagrid. The warlock and dragon watched at Hermione tried to comfort Hagrid as the gamekeeper sniffed and explained that Aragog had gotten ill over the summer, and how he thought he was dying, and how they'd known each other for so long.
Ron, Merlin prodded.
Ron perked up. Merlin? What the hell are you doing in my head?
Who's Aragog? Merlin asked.
Oh, this completely massive spider that lives in the Forbidden Forest and tried to kill both Harry and I in our second year, Ron explained casually.
Aithusa piped up, Oh, is he an Acromantula?
Yep, Ron replied grimly. Hagrid raised him from an egg and people thought he was the monster from the Chamber of Secrets. Hagrid seems mindset that Aragog is his nice little pet spider and is really lovely, but ask Harry. He's murderous and man-eating…
Aithusa grimaced. Sounds nice.
Ron snorted. I've had nightmares ever since…
"… I don't reckon it'd be safe fer anyone but me ter go near the colony at the mo'," Hagrid was saying, blowing his nose hard on his apron. "But thanks fer offerin', Hermione… it means a lot ter me…"
After that the atmosphere lightened considerably, for although neither Harry, Merlin, Aithusa, nor Ron had shown any inclination to go and feed grubs to a murderous, gargantuan spider, Hagrid seemed to take it for granted that they would have liked to have done and became his usual self once more.
"Ar, I always knew yeh'd find it hard ter squeeze me inter yeh timetables," he said gruffly, pouring them all more tea. "Even if yer applied fer Time-Turners –"
"We couldn't have done," said Hermione. "We smashed the entire stock at the Ministry of Magic last summer."
"An' Merlin, is ther' any of dat Old Magic stuff that allows Time Travel?" Hagrid asked hopefully, turning to him.
Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to look at Merlin also. They seemed curious.
"Sometimes," Merlin answered cautiously. "Forwards, backwards – it's complicated though, and can be very dangerous if tampered though incorrectly."
"You're kidding," Ron said. "You can't travel in time."
"I'll prove it," Merlin said, smirking. "Wait here, you'll see."
He motioned for them to all stay down and stood up himself, before making for the door. He slammed it behind him, leaving Hagrid, Hermione, Ron and Harry all frowning at each other, while Aithusa just sat there contently.
Seconds later, Merlin burst in again, but this time he was holding a flowery vase in his right hand.
Hagrid gasped and jumped upwards. "But 'dat was – ain't that – that's – that was 'dis mornin'!"
….
Hagrid stomped around his cabin angrily, wondering why on earth Harry, Hermione and Ron hadn't applied to study Care of Magical Creatures, feeling slightly neglected. He was so angry that when he angrily swung his arm about, he knocked a flowery vase flying into the air.
Suddenly, the door burst open and Merlin appeared, diving to catch the vase and lifting it to his chest, observing the flowery patterns.
"Hmm. Nice vase," Merlin noted.
"What are yeh doin' 'ere?" Hagrid said roughly. "Thought yeh lot didn' wan' see me no more."
"Nice to see you too, Hagrid," Merlin said brightly. "And if I were you, I wouldn't mention this to myself when I come here later on after Quidditch, okay?"
Hagrid watched, baffled, as the warlock tucked the vase into his cape then strode out of the door again, closing it behind him.
…
"Yeh caught the vase when I knocked it off the shelf!" Hagrid said, pointing at him. "And yeh took it with yeh, somewhere, and said 'dat I couldn't say –" His massive hands were shaking.
"Bloody hell," Ron breathed in awe. "You really can travel in time!"
"Told you," Merlin said smugly, as he placed the flowery vase back in its original place on the shelf.
"But, if you can travel in time, why don't you just go back and stop us all from going to the Ministry after Sirius?" Harry questioned eagerly, eyes wide.
Merlin's smile faltered as he looked at them all seriously, his blue eyes icy cold. "Fixed point; couldn't alter it, couldn't stop it. If I did, a paradox would be formed; the whole of time and space would collapse, folding in on itself. Imagine that; everything that ever was, ever is, and ever meant to be, imploding, destroying itself…"
"But what about that, what you just did?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"Crossing into established events is strictly forbidden," he told them, with not a hint of expression in his voice. Then, he cracked a smile, "Except for cheap tricks."
"So yer couldn' -?" Hagrid began hopefully.
"No," Merlin told them. He then added, after a second with a small smile, "Sorry. I've got to go." Merlin stood up again. "I'll see you three later, okay?"
Leaving Hermione, Ron and Harry with Hagrid, Merlin started up the path in the grass towards the castle. He had arranged to meet with Dumbledore by the water, so he walked with a purpose along the corridors, with a determined look on his face. It must have worked, as people moved out of the way as he strode by, looking at him warily. He had a new intention now.
When he reached the corridor, he closed his eyes and thought; I need a place where I can think.
When he opened his eyes again, Merlin was satisfied to see that a large wooden oak door had appeared in front of him. Smiling, Merlin reached for the doorknob and locked himself into the room.
The room looked like a complete replica of the Camelotian Throne Room. Breathing in deeply, Merlin half expected Arthur and Gwen to appear; would his King start playfully insulting him? But alas, he knew that would never happen; that it was untrue. He would not see Arthur or Gwen again until his voyage to Avalon.
In the centre of the throne room was a stone basin, filled with clear water. Merlin rushed towards it. "Show me Dumbledore," he ordered out loud, in a strong voice.
The water rippled and a second later, the Headmaster of Hogwarts appeared in the water, his eyes twinkling but a faint frown on his lips.
Merlin sighed. "You didn't find a Horcrux," Merlin guessed.
"I was wrong," Dumbledore said, in a humbled tone.
"Where are you?" Merlin demanded.
"I am back at Tom's old orphanage," Dumbledore told him. "Back at the very beginning."
"We're not going to find any more Horcruxes until Slughorn gives us that real memory," Merlin sighed, pacing back and forth, in deep thought. "And we can't get the memory without Harry." Merlin stopped. "When are you getting back?"
"A few days," Dumbledore replied.
"There's no point checking around the orphanage, I did that last week."
"Ah, yes, last week," Dumbledore stated, his eyes sparkling as he smiled. "I believe curious Harry has been questioning you on that fact…"
"They want to know what I was doing."
"I believe that Mr Weasley even attempted to have you followed once," chuckled Dumbledore from the water.
"This is hardly relevant."
"Maybe not, but it is highly amusing."
"Maybe to an old man like you," Merlin teased him.
"Alas, you are older than me, Merlin."
"Only by a few hundred years," Merlin said, grinning. "Now, I'd better be going, Harry'll be wondering where I am."
"Goodbye, Emrys."
"Goodbye, Headmaster."