Chapter 25-Merlin and Nimue
(Harry's POV)
Hermione, in her usual brilliance decided to surprise Ron and I at breakfast on Saturday with two very shocking pieces of paper. The first was from a bulletin board that she had stolen and read the following,
"In Accordance with long-standing tradition the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, has decided that the annual apparition examination for any student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at or above the age of sixteen by December 31, 1997 will take place in Hogsmeade village at six am on the day of October 27, 1997. All participating students will be excused from classes for the day. Practice sessions can be obtained through talking to your respective head of house. Should any student be unable to complete and/or pass the test any re-takes came be scheduled through Wilfreda Nordzen of the Department of Magical Transportation.
Signed,
Percival Ignatius Weasley
Professional Under-Assistant to the Under-Secretary of the Minister of Magic"
"Let me see that!" roared Ron snatching the offending bulletin from Hermione's hands.
Hermione shook her head and merely turned to me, ignoring Ron's outburst of anger towards his still estranged brother. "I think we should try to get some extra practice sessions scheduled with McGonagall seeing as none of us has really apparated before." She said rather calmly in contrast to Ron who was positively fuming and his ears had turned their characteristic red, matching his hair.
"You AGREE with HIM?" shouted Ron nearly screeching in anger waving his brother's crumpled missive rather violently in front of us.
"I never said I agreed with him, Ron, I was simply commenting to Harry that we should talk to Professor McGonagall about some extra lessons." Hermione retorted with a hint of annoyance
"Whatever." Mumbled Ron in a low voice and he dropped the subject after a glare from me and continued with his breakfast all the while cursing Percy between mouthfuls.
Then Hermione reached into her pocket and handed me something and I looked down into my hand to see the familiar spidery thin writing of our Headmaster addressing the envelope and its contents to me.
After breaking the wax crest of the Headmaster's office that sealed it and tore out the paper inside I began to skim the lines,
"Dear Harry (and Miss Granger too as I expect she is looking over your shoulder), [Hermione blushed here]
I am writing to apologize for the tardiness of some things we spoke about earlier in the year. I would appreciate it greatly if you and the young Miss Granger would please come to my office at eight am this morning and return at seven this evening for we have much to discuss, but mostly it focuses on the delay of our lessons. Again I apologize for my tardiness and hope that you are finding you first few weeks here agreeable.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
P.S.: I very much like 'Exploding Chocolate Sherbet Balls.'"
Ron, after finally getting over the shock of his brother's announcement had become fully absorbed in his meal and hadn't even noticed that there was a letter, or that I had opened and read it.
How are we going to tell Ron though, that we need to go see the Headmaster without him?
Hermione seemed to have read my mind however, "Ron," she began a bit nervously.
He did not look up from his waffles.
"Ron," she said with more confidence, "Harry and I need to go talk to Professor Dumbledore after breakfast about some Head stuff." She lied and my head whipped around, surprised at the ease with which she did so.
Hermione gave no notice of me though, and simply watched as Ron grunted his approval between gulps of pumpkin juice.
She then decided to round on me, "Harry James Potter this had better not be about those dreams of yours!" she hissed so Ron didn't hear.
I was shocked that she had remembered that incident, over a week ago now where I had been screaming during a nightmare and she had come in to wake me up.
Of course I had not forgotten. How could I forget something that horrible? Those dreams weren't real though I knew that by now. I mean look at what happened last year because of my dreams. That didn't mean I had stopped having them though, I just put a silencing charm on my door every night instead.
I shook my head a little too quickly, and took one last slurp of my juice before burying myself behind one of the many defensive books I'd been tearing up the library to find after those dreams started.
Ron pulled down the book with a very queer look on his face, "Mate, why don't you give Hermione her brain back?"
"Because Ron, it isn't her brain, it's mine." I respond pulling up Blocking the Unblockable: Theories about Defeating the Unforgiveables by: Ronan Kipling.
This time Hermione pulled the book down, "Harry, please this isn't like you reading during every free minute, even if it is about DADA. Could you tell us what happened?" Ron nodded vigorously in agreement.
"I'm just worried about what happened last year at the Ministry; I don't want to make the same mistake twice." I lied quickly hiding behind my book again before my face that rivaled Ron's hair gave me away. Hermione's going to know I lied to her…
Suddenly Ginny swept in and seated herself beside Ron. "What's up?" she asked cheerily, but her tone belied the fact that she had noticed the tension between the three of us and she looked at each of us in turn as if asking for an answer.
"Oh-" Ron stopped abruptly and he winced and glared briefly at Hermione.
"Nothing." Finished Hermione quickly concentrating on her plate.
Several minutes later Hermione jumped up from her seat and yanked on my elbow. "C'mon Harry we've got to go talk to the Headmaster about our duties." She said with a pointed glare at the now empty staff table.
Ron waved briefly before returning to the daunting task of filling his bottomless stomach and Ginny positively glared at him.
The walk to Professor Dumbledore's office was rather quiet, perhaps too much so, and I knew that I had finally committed a crime so heinous in Hermione's eyes that I now required 'the silent treatment' as punishment, something she usually reserved for the Twins when they did something exceptionally bad or Ron when he called her a really awful insult.
She couldn't handle what was in that dream though. My conscience tried to reason with me. I felt horrible about not telling her, and then lying about the whole thing, but I just couldn't tell her.
"Exploding Chocolate Sherbet Balls." Snapped Hermione at the stone griffin guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office.
The peculiar noise of stone grinding stone startled me and Hermione grabbed my arm a little more roughly than usual and we both stepped onto the rotating staircase that wound its way up to stop in front of the thick oaken doors braced together with blackened iron.
Before I could touch the handle they sprung open to reveal the professor sitting behind his usually cluttered desk in pale green robes that were embroidered in an unusual pattern. Fawkes was sitting contentedly on his perch preening his feathers.
With a quick blink the Headmaster conjured two fluffy purple couches from thin air in front of his desk and motioned for us to sit down.
"Now, I suppose you are both wondering as to why I have called the two of you here, but not your good friend Mr. Weasley." He began looking between the two of us. He paused for a second and something seemed to click in his mind almost instantly, but he showed no recognition of anything except a look of profound sadness and resignation in his eyes.
Then he looked away, over at a portrait of a squat middle-aged woman with dirty blond hair and nervous hazel eyes, "Yolanda if you would be so nice as to notify Remus Lupin of increased security at location number five I would be most obliged."
"Certainly Albus." She replied quickly and disappeared from view.
Hermione and I looked at him rather puzzled, "I shall have to ask you some questions in private later Harry, but for now I think it best if we went on as planned." He then temporarily closed his eyes and his desk was swept clean.
Hermione and I, despite ourselves exchanged a befuddled glance before turning our eyes back to him, then a second later five nearly identical long, narrow boxes appeared and on each was inscribed a coat of arms. Four of these five I knew quite well, they were perhaps more detailed, but were, nonetheless the crests of the four Hogwarts houses.
The last box was a bit longer and wider than the rest, but not substantially so, and its snowy white shield stood out very well against the dark furnished look of the box. Upon closer examination there were four stars, two silver, two gold that intertwined with each other to create the tail feathers of a beautiful phoenix and behind the phoenix was one simple gray chevron.
"Perhaps Miss Granger would like to enlighten us as to whose seal this is?" Dumbledore asked holding up the fifth box for her examination.
She stared hard at it for a minute before gasping. "I-It matches all the descriptions I've ever read about the coat of arms that Merlin used, but that's not possible since Merlin used enchantments so that nobody else but him could replicate the crest."
"But it is Merlin's, my dear girl as is what is inside of the box." Said Professor Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye that he would have when referring to setting his bed curtains afire 'by accident' during his fourth year or when naming the items on Filch's contraband list.
"If it is Merlin's though, sir wouldn't that mean that only he could open it, but Merlin never had any children." Hermione reasoned.
"That is true." Replied the headmaster eyes still twinkling, "But tell me, please, who is associated with Merlin from the old tales?"
"Arthur, Mordred, Guinevere, Lancelot and…that lady he loved." I said remembering it from one of Dudley's books that he made me read for him.
"Nimue." Completed Hermione. "That doesn't do us any good though, because Merlin never had any children, even with Nimue."
"No he did not." Replied the bemused professor.
He then started to slide the lid of the box back, "NO!" I shouted because even though the box wasn't open I could sense some very strong magic emanating from all five, especially Merlin's.
"No worries Harry." Dumbledore replied unfazed, and he slid the lid completely off to reveal a very ornate, very ancient sword.
The handle was gold twined with silver and a phoenix for the top part. The bird was exquisitely carved with diamonds blinking out from its eye sockets. "MERLIN" was etched into the blade itself towards the top surrounded by tiny little runes I could not read. The blade itself, without the handle must have been easily four feet long.
Dumbledore drew the blade from its resting place and his eyes glowed white for the briefest of moments, and then comprehension dawned on me. "Y-You're MERLIN!" I stuttered.
He nodded.
"Wouldn't that b-be impossible?"
"No, Merlin's animageus form is the phoenix so he is're-born' every 150 years."
"And the others?" prompted Hermione
"Surprisingly are here too."
"Impossible," she scoffed, "It's so rare to have a phoenix animageus form that only two documented examples are known: Merlin and you sir, and now clearly that's one person. It would be impossible for five others from the same generation to have the same animageus seeing as nobody can ever have the same form in the same generation anyway." Hermione stopped rambling to look up at Dumbledore's face which, was as usual, quite amused.
"As is your wont, Miss Granger, you always think logically and analytically. Most of the time it serves you very well. However, here it prevents you from 'thinking outside the box' as the muggles call it. Hermione looked very miffed at this comment, but Dumbledore ignored her to continue.
"Technically Miss Granger is right though, Harry, it is impossible for anyone to have the same animageus form of anyone else living unless they are twins, which is a different story altogether. However, she did not consider that there are other means of living for an extended period of time. Maybe you can help us fix this quandary Harry, how else can someone live for a long period of time?"
Flashes of our first year blur through my head to fixate on one ruby-red stone, "The Elixir of Life sir."
"Quite right Harry that is how Nimue survived this long. However, even the elixir has its limitations and every 150 years or so, you are re-born into another body. Any guesses as to who she might be?"
Hermione's eyes lit up, "Of course, she's Professor McGonagall!"
"Right again. You see, in some form or other, we have been watching over this school since before it was founded." Smiled Dumbledore.
"The stone was destroyed though, wasn't it?"
"That sorcerer's stone was destroyed by Nicholas Flamel and his wife, but the stone was not." He said in a near-whisper.
"You two are the Flamels as well?" I blurted.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled even more. "Really it is a wonder you both weren't placed in Ravenclaw. Which leads me to my other revelations, Arthur was the ancestor of Gryffindor and Guinevere the ancestress of Ravenclaw. However, as both of you were raised Muggles I must dispel a few rumors that are taught as 'fact' about their lives.
Guinevere and Arthur really and truly loved each other and she never fell in love with Lancelot, he was simply a very close family friend, which was taken the 'wrong way' by many courtiers back then. This faction was lead by Arthur's illegitimate son, Mordred in hopes that by discrediting his father's wife he would inherit the throne instead of the young twins, a boy and girl that the couple had.
Eventually the children were written off as illegitimate offspring of an adulterous relationship despite many physical resemblances to Arthur and disappeared from muggle records. The rest of their story, however, is unfortunately true." Dumbledore paused here to take a deep sigh.
"Six centuries later the last of young boy's line was a certain courageous Godric Gryffindor, and the last of the girl's line was a beautiful and intelligent Rowena Ravenclaw. Their lines had separated so much in those six hundred years that they were no longer considered related when they married. As for Mordred's line, the whole affair was hushed up rather quickly, so that unlike with Rowena, Godric never knew that when he made friends with Salazaar Slytherin he was making friends with his family's ancient enemy. Lancelot's family line, like the other four had but one remaining heir and she was Helga Hufflepuff.
"Now, as you both know, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw married as did Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Godric and Rowena had two children and once again their lines branched out. Leaving Godric's line to be led by James Cambridge in the late 1800's. He is your great-great grandfather on your father's side Harry." Dumbledore paused again, Rowena's line split in two again somewhere in the 1200's so by the late 1800's her line was represented by Donald Campbell and Fitzwilliam Pevensie. Campbell was Harry's great-great grandfather on his mother's side whereas Pevensie is Miss Granger's great-great grandfather on her mother's side."
"This doesn't mean I'm related to Harry does it?" Hermione asked in a worried tone.
"No, you are not related to Harry, in fact you are as closely related to him as you are related to the Queen of England. Your lines divided a millennia ago, and no government holds that as relation, muggle or wizard."
"Thank God." Muttered Hermione under her breath.
"Why, you don't want to be related to me?" I teased, and then froze, knowing what she'd been thinking. Last summer at three am on the couch…Thank God we're not related!
Dumbledore watched us both curiously for a minute, then decided whatever he'd been thinking of saying wasn't worth it and continued on, "Then this is where we start entering guesswork, we know that Salazaar and Helga had one child, but their respective lines split in the 1400's with Charles Maximillian for Slytherin and Mary Boleyn for Hufflepuff. Now, you must both understand, typically the founders chose for their reincarnated to be the same gender as themselves and the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw lines were 'dormant' for centuries before resurfacing. Whereas the Slytherin/Hufflepuff lines have been wizards every generation since then making them the oldest pureblood families in existence. I have been unable to find conclusive evidence as to who Slytherin's heir might be, but I do believe that Hufflepuff's line went from Mary Boleyn (Yes I understand it was not Anne Miss Granger, but Mary), to the Prewett family. Does this name ring any bells?"
Hermione and I stared blankly at each other for a minute, before she gasped, "That was Ron's mother's maiden name!"
"Yes, but I don't believe Helga chose for Ron to be her true 'heir,' remember what I said about gender earlier?"
"Ginny." I said in a deadpan voice.
"Yes, but mind you this is all still guesswork."
"Then who do you have in mind for Slytherin's re-incarnate?" Hermione queried.
"What other pureblood family is so very prominent besides the Weasleys?"
"Malfoy."
"Precisely, however, they keep their family records very, very private and I have not found any way of confirming this matter. Which makes it look like they will be officially 'revealed' in a rather painful way."
"This was a wonderful history lesson professor, but what exactly does it have to do with Voldemort?" I asked a bit testily
"Everything Harry," said Dumbledore with no sign of impatience, "You see Voldemort knows nothing of what I have just told you. It was a very closely guarded secret amongst the founders and was hardly recorded anywhere, all he knows is that somewhere in the 1600's a man by the name of Ambrose Gaunt surfaced from history and he was a direct descendant of Salazaar Slytherin. What he should have noticed if he cared to look closer is that Ambrose Gaunt was the son of Penelope Gaunt who was the sister of Jethro Malfoy. In the 1600's the Malfoys split from the Gaunts and there has been no relations since then."
"So why are we supposed to be nice to Malfoy if he's related to Voldemort?" I asked very confused now.
"Why are you friends with Mr. and Miss Weasley if they are related to Voldemort?" countered Dumbledore. "It is really only a matter of how closely they are related Harry, and the point is that if the four of you (assuming of course I am right in my guesswork) unite as the four friends the founders were supposed to be then you can save the school and the world from Voldemort."
"And just how do we know this sir?" Hermione asked skeptically.
"Two prophecies made by Merlin and Nimue back around 800 something AD. However, Minerva and I only just found out about the others a month or so ago, and it took us a week to piece them together. Do forgive us for our blindness, but after making a few hundred prophecies one does tend to forget about a one or two."
"So what are the prophecies, professor?" I asked
Dumbledore cleared the sword boxes to the sides of his desk to make some room, and then summoned over his pensieve. He motioned for us to put our faces inside it and we did so.
Next thing I saw was myself falling onto a rough wooden bench beside Hermione in what looked like a medieval cottage, but the place bore signs of magic everywhere, dishes scrubbing themselves, a broom sweeping the floor by itself and not a few clearly magical books lying around. We also saw a stunningly beautiful blonde woman with marked similarities to our Head of House standing over a cauldron in the corner of the room. Suddenly, she stiffened and looked straight at us and began to speak in an ethereal other-worldly voice,
"When one of the twain of the green serpent's line covers all the world of a second darkness
It will then be time for the four reincarnates of the Green Serpent, Red Lion, Blue Raven and Yellow Badger
To discover themselves and to right the wrongs of their forebears-" Then the woman started choking violently and a long brown-haired wizard with a striking resemblance to the Headmaster rushed in to her aide.
"Are you alright Nimue?" he asked very concerned.
She swallowed painfully and then nodded yes, her eyes still swimming with tears, "Just another prophecy."
"Alright, then. Just call if you need me, I'll be down by the river." Said Merlin as he walked out.
Then the real Dumbledore grabbed both our shoulders and we were whisked out, only to fall into another memory that seemed to be a few years later.
Merlin with a few gray streaks in his once completely brown beard was pacing in what looked like a castle on a long red carpet, and an older Nimue was sitting rather agitatedly in a chair by the wall of a surprisingly rather empty room.
"I don't know what to do Nimue, Morgana's son is causing so much trouble now. Have you heard his latest rumor? He's now saying that the young twins, William and Wynseren aren't fathered by Arthur at all, but rather by Lancelot! The ridiculousness of it all!" fumed Merlin.
Nimue looked furious too, "And Guinevere is beside herself because one of her chambermaids said that she hoped William would become the best lancer in the kingdom, just like his father Lancelot."
Suddenly, Merlin's form went rigid and his eyes burned a brilliant white and we saw Nimue sigh in agitation, "Why does he have to have a blasted prophecy now of all times?"
Then Merlin began to speak in a low rumbly voice, "For they shall be bloodline descendants of the four who founded it at Hogwarts
And without them the four pillars shall crumble.
Decisions shall be re-made to right old wrongs.
The Black Serpent of the Green Twain shall be defeated through the Red Lion and his new pact made with the Green Serpent, Blue Raven and Yellow Badger."
Then, just as suddenly the three of us were back in the Headmaster's office, but there was another person there now.
"Minerva, how lovely of you to join us." Said Dumbledore and he conjured a chair beside him just like ours' "Do sit down, I was just telling them what fools we have been for the last one and a half millennia." He smiled.
Professor McGonagall looked at him rather reprovingly, "Really Albus, don't you think that was a bit unnecessary?"
"Not at all, they deserve to know everything. Besides people our age are allowed to have a bit of Alzheimer's every now and then don't you think Harry?" Dumbledore winked at me.
"Now, before we get to why I have asked Minerva here I must explain one more thing and we must do something.
"First, each heir is confirmed by the characteristics of their ancestors. For instance, Harry being a mixture of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw has showed occasional bouts of brilliance that not even Miss Granger can match, but he is more predominantly courageous as evidenced by his skirmishes with Voldemort. Now, Miss Granger being partly Gryffindor, but primarily Ravenclaw has shown bravery even beyond her housemates in situations like the night of Sirius' rescue or the Department of Mysteries; her biggest confirmation was her OWL scores though, breaking every record in the Ministry including Lily Evans'. What we must ask is why you were not placed in Ravenclaw though Miss Granger?"
"I can answer that!" croaked a gruff voice from a high shelf. We all looked up to see the Sorting Hat.
"Well, Miss Granger, much like Mr. Potter and even to a lesser degree Mr. Malfoy and Miss Weasley seemed to have strong characteristics of more than one house.
"I put Weasley in Gryffindor simply because all her brothers were there and I put Malfoy in Slytherin because his family's been there for centuries. As for Potter he was a Gryffindor for the same reason as Miss Granger, they both pleaded to be put there although I was sorely tempted to put them elsewhere."
"But you invaded my mind." Hermione protested to the hat.
"Yes you silly girl, I was not only checking your aptitude, but also your future and I saw what you were going to do so thus, here we are with you both wearing the lion."
"You can see the future?" she continued
"Very vaguely girl and nothing I could explain to you."
"That's enough rudeness for now." Said the Headmaster to the hat and it quieted down. "Well, that's our answer the hat wanted you in Ravenclaw correct?"
"Yes, but I told it I wanted to be a Gryffindor, so he checked a few things 'in my mind' [she glared at the hat] and pronounced me Gryffindor."
"Interesting, as always the bond between the Lion and Raven is still very strong." Dumbledore mused his fingers crossed under his chin, then he started suddenly, "Ah yes, nearly forgot, you two must claim your swords for training later."
He picked up the dark furnished box with Ravenclaw's crest and handed it to Hermione who held it with trembling hands, and then handed me Gryffindor's. She must be having a difficult time believing all of this.
"Now, don't be startled if when you draw it out for the first time there are a few sparks or something, it always happens the first time the blade is drawn from the box by its true owner."
Hermione motioned for me to go first so I slowly slide the box lid off, amazed at its silky smoothness. Then I saw Godric's sword for the first time in nearly four years and was a bit puzzled to see it had grown some since then. I reached down and grabbed the golden lion-shaped handle marveling at the workmanship and the ruby-red eyes of the life-like lion. It must be some deviation off of the Scottish Claymore. Red sparks sprouted out of the tip of the blade and engulfed me for a few seconds before dissipating.
"The sword changes by the age of the wielder Harry, for a child heir it will be lighter and less ornate than for an adult heir."
"I'm not an adult yet."
"According to the ancient laws by which these swords are governed you came of age on your sixteenth birthday, they came of age younger back then."
"Now it's your turn Miss Granger." I turned my gaze from admiring the runes that were similarly engraved next to Godric's name just like Merlin's to Hermione.
Her hands shook as she carefully and slowly slid the blue-crested lid back to reveal a lighter but just as deadly sword as mine. Her eagle on the hilt was made of silver and had sapphire eyes a lighter blade extended from the handle, with a very pointy tip at the edge, just like mine. "ROWENA RAVENCLAW" was etched on in curly letters down the blade and runes like the two previous swords surrounded the name.
Hermione reached a trembling hand into the box and the sword seemed to take on a slightly bluish tint before erupting bright blue sparks out of the tip, just like mine.
"Amazing." Breathed Hermione.
After a few more moments admiring the blades Professor McGonagall said that she'd been asked up here to give us our first lessons in apparition and Hermione nearly jumped for joy as the four of us port keyed to Hogsmeade for some practice.