AN: Shorter, but sweet. Also, after you read this I will answer questions you hvent asked yet. Okay? Okay.

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.

Several hours had passed before Merlin returned back to the Burrow. He landed skilfully on the snow-covered ground and shook out his wings elegantly, ridding them of wetness and water before shifting back into human form and slipping through the front door, his clothes only slightly damp. It was nearly ten o'clock and getting quite dark outside. The Order nodded to him as he passed them in the living room – Sirius and Lupin were staying until New Years Day, so they had camp beds in the corner.

"Oh, you're back," Mrs Weasley said distantly, washing plates in her sink and flicking her wand to reorganise dried crockery. "They're in their rooms." It looked like she had been crying, so Merlin just nodded and strode up the stairs to Ron's room.

When he entered the room, Harry and Ron were sitting on Ron's bed and eating some sweets they had been given by Bill, dressed in their pyjamas. Merlin grabbed his own nightwear without looking at them and dressed in the bathroom. Entering the room again, Merlin ignored them and instead collapsed down onto his own bed, face in pillow and drawing the covers over him.

Merry Christmas my arse, he grumbled.

Aw, what's up with you, grumpy face, he heard Aithusa tease over their telepathic connection.

I think I just ruined everybody's Christmas.

Aithusa was silent for a moment before questioning, What happened?

Well, the Minister for Magic turned up and I yelled at him… a bit.

A bit?

Okay, I may have transformed into a dragon and threatened to roast him, but seriously, you should have heard the rubbish he was spewing out to me! Eugh, I swear I felt like I was going to puke!

Sounds like you went too far.

Aithusa… he said that Arthur was never going to come back. That I needed to accept the fact that he wouldn't and never would return.

Merlin, don't listen to him. Arthur will return.

I know that. I just know within me. But the Minister said that I was dreaming of fantasies and pointless happy endings. How is that a bad thing?

Merlin, you are going to have to accept the fact that not everything ends happily. There are tragedies. And I know you want Arthur to return soon, but we may have to wait for another hundred years for the King to come back; we cannot afford to think of Arthur's return while we are at war.

Merlin growled furiously shoving the white dragon out of his mind using his Old Magic, grabbing the pillow and stuffing it over his head, curling up into a ball.

"Merlin, you okay?" Harry asked gently.

The warlock couldn't help but scream with frustration, his eyes glowing gold underneath the pillow. Hearing a loud roaring sound and a yelp, Merlin glanced at Ron from his position. It appeared that Merlin's emotional breakdown had caused Ron's Chudley Cannons poster to catch on fire. Harry had swiped out his wand before remembering he couldn't use magic while at the Burrow and not at school, so hesitated.

Merlin struck his hand out and the flames disappeared. He looked up at Ron and Harry, who were staring dumbstruck at the shrivelled black ashy poster. Merlin slowly sat up, sniffing.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I need to calm down."

"No, that's – er – fine," Ron stuttered, wide eyes, seemingly just realising he was sharing his room with the most powerful warlock ever, who had just burned one of his posters to a crisp. "You – you take all the time you need."

"I know I probably scared you," Merlin sniffed. "I won't do it again, I promise."

"It's okay. We know it wasn't intentional," Harry assured him. He paused before questioning carefully, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Merlin placed his head carefully in his hands and replied, "I don't, but I probably should. The Minister wants me to reveal myself to the public. He wants me to give the impression that I am working for the Ministry. And then he pissed me off by saying that Arthur is never coming back." Harry and Ron were silent, sending glances towards each other. They could tell Merlin was furious but did not comment on the matter. Merlin fluffed up his pillow and lay down, sighing. "It's getting late. We should probably all get to sleep."

"Good night," Ron called, as he pulled the covers over himself and switched off the light.

Merlin lay, listening to the sound of silence before murmuring, "Merry Christmas, Arthur."

….

Arthur was fighting, swinging his sword about, cutting a path through Saxons and slaying them mercilessly. Other Camelot knights could be seen ten to twenty metres away, in fierce battles. Arthur breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath and lower his heart, before turning. Bodies littered the ground and the grass was stained with thick crimson blood. Sweat poured down the King's head, Excalibur dripping with scarlet. He turned and – Merlin growled – Mordred was standing in front of him, gripping a menacing looking blade. Arthur wielded Excalibur carefully, but staggered in his exhaustion. He was vulnerable, unable to co-ordinate his thoughts or actions. He tried to swing and Mordred snarled, slashing wildly. Arthur parried the blow weakly before stepping back.

But then… it wasn't Mordred.

Merlin gasped in fear and alarm.

It was Harry. Harry stared coldly at the King of Camelot.

"DIE, PENDRAGON!" he yelled. Before he surged forwards, plunging the sword into –

Merlin jolted awake from his sleep, leaping out of bed in anger and fury, his chest heaving. It was then that he noticed he wasn't the only person to jump up – Harry had leapt up also and was now pointing his wand at Merlin, looking positively murderous.

"You," Harry snarled.

"You!" Merlin growled.

"W-what's going on?" Ron yawned, stretching out and stirring, before his eyes widened at the sight of the two warlocks taking up offensive positions to attack each other. "Merlin? Harry?"

"You'll die for what you did!" Harry hissed, lunging forwards to try and catch Merlin around the waist and tackle him to ground.

"I'll kill you! I'LL KILL YOU!" Merlin roared, throwing his hand out and slamming Harry into the wall with his magic. "YOU KILLED HIM!"

Merlin was faintly aware that Ron was screaming for help, but he was totally focused on making Arthur's murderer suffer the pain that he himself had suffered from. Harry's eyes were literally glittering with rage as he snarled, throwing himself onto Merlin and pinning the warlock to the floor before Merlin was able to shove him off, creating a flame dragon to snarl at Harry, forcing him to back up.

"Stop! Stop, both of you!" Sirius shouted, barging into the room with Mrs Weasley and Lupin behind him, forcing his way between the warlock and his godson as they both took up defence, snarling and hissing at each other, glaring with hatred. "What's going on!?"

"He killed my mum and dad!" Harry spat.

"He killed Arthur!" Merlin retorted, eyes blazing like his dragon-form as he growled, enraged, magic sparking at his fingertips.

"STOP!" Sirius bellowed. "Both of you; stop this RIGHT NOW! Both of you are wrong! Voldemort killed your parents, Harry! Merlin, Morgana and Mordred killed Arthur! You both need to calm down and think!"

Merlin spluttered. "But – I – I saw him, he did it!" he insisted, pointing at Harry.

"I saw him do it though, I saw him curse them!" Harry told Sirius pleadingly.

"No, you saw images planted in your minds," Sirius informed them calmly. "They were all fake. Voldemort is plotting against us, trying to turn you on each other. He's doing that by using Arthur, James and Lily. It's all a twisted, foul reality that Voldemort has you convinced is true."

Merlin still wasn't that convinced, but his mind was clearing of the dark fog and as he shook his head, his vision became clearer. That was when he remembered – It wasn't Harry, it had been Mordred and Morgana.

"Oh god," Merlin gasped, stumbling backwards.

"I – I – he really made me think –" Harry whispered, eyes round as plates.

Sirius looked carefully between the two of them. "I think it's safe to assume that no more harm will be done tonight. Sort it out Harry, Merlin, then both of you get some sleep. Ron, make sure they don't do anything rash."

The adults trundled away downstairs, some casting worried and alarmed glances back up at them, before Ron stood and close the door. Harry was visually shaking as he sat back down on his bed, and Merlin was in a similar state.

"I thought the wards would stop mental attacks as well as physical," Merlin stated, trembling. "I guess I was wrong."

"Me too," Harry agreed. "I thought that the Ministry incident would be the last of the mind invasions…"

"Looks like we were both idiots," Merlin said, smiling weakly.

"Look, I -" Harry cut off, closing his eyes. "I'm really sorry. I just - he made it so real, you know?"

"Believe me, I know it," Merlin agreed. "You don't have to apologise, Harry. I guess we've both seen some horrific things."

"I was so certain for a moment though - that it was you, and not him," Harry seemed insistant that this was important. He shuddered then said in a strangled voice, "In the future, if I end up...you know..."

"Hexing me?" Merlin finished. "Cursing me? Killing me?"

"Not killing you!" Harry protested, eyes wide. "But... if I did... you would protect yourself, right?"

Merlin was going to say no. That he wouldn't hurt Harry, even if he was attacking him, because Harry was his charge and even if it was in self-defence, he wouldn't hurt him. But he just gave a small smile and lied surely, "Yeah, of course. I'm not that stupid, despite what Aithusa may say."

"Truce?"

"Truce," Merlin agreed, reaching across to shake Harry's hand.

"Right, now that's all over with," Ron said, grinning and clapping his hands together. "Can we actually get some sleep now?"

…...

Nobody mentioned the mental attack the next day. It seemed that Ginny, Fred and George had been told what had happened and were shaken by it, so they decided to keep quiet, which was a miracle. Merlin expected to be teased mercilessly by the twins. Boxing Day was relaxing – they had the leftovers from Christmas lunch for their dinner and as Merlin ate quietly he listened as Harry and Ron chatted happily. He only perked up when Ron mentioned that Hermione was coming on the 27th, the next day, to stay for the New Year.

When dawn broke the next morning, Merlin was up and ready for Hermione's arrival. Since there was no other room in the Burrow, the boys had offered to camp out in the Weasleys' bigger-on-the-inside tent. Mrs Weasley fretted of course, but Merlin shot her a look and she quickly quietened down and stopped protesting. Ron did, however, forget that since it was winter, there was snow, and it was extremely cold outside.

As they shovelled cereal down and munched on toast, a car drove up the dirt-track driveway. Merlin didn't know the model – he didn't really know much about cars, as he much preferred to travel by teleport or by dragon – or flying, which was amazing.

Hermione jumped out, dragging her trunk behind her and unleashing Crookshanks from his cage. The cat prowled off into the bushes, probably after some poor unsuspecting bird. She kissed her mum on the cheek and waved as she drove off. And to Merlin's surprise, Hermione ran straight past the eager Ron and Harry to leapt on Merlin and hug him tightly. He just shrugged and mouthed that he didn't know when Harry and Ron narrowed their eyes at him. Ron was gazing at them with what the warlock knew to be jealously.

"Hi," Hermione breathed, arms around his neck. "How are you?"

"Good. Why'd you ask?" Merlin asked concernedly. "Have you heard otherwise?"

"Oh, no," Hermione quickly countered. "It's just that…" She fidgeted uncomfortably. "Er, Mrs Weasley sent me an owl last night and told me what happened between you and Harry."

"Of course she did," Merlin scowled. He wasn't really annoyed with Mrs Weasley; he had known that somebody would tell Hermione what had happened. It was just Mrs Weasley being overprotective as usual; a mother.

"She just asked me to keep an eye on you," Hermione admitted. "She seems to really care about you."

"Yes, well, she's not the only one," Merlin grumbled. "Did Mrs Weasley mention the Minister of Magic coming on Christmas Day?"

Hermione gasped. "No!"

"Yes, well, he was acting like he cared about me. He said that it would be a reassurance to the Ministry and to the public if I revealed myself." Merlin rolled his eyes. "Stupid old crone."

"You'll have to tell me all about it later."

"Eh, do I have to?"

Hermione hit him on the arm playfully just as Ron cleared his throat very loudly. Hermione laughed and went over to hug Harry too, but didn't make it as long as Merlin's. She didn't hug Ron. Was that silly fight still going on? Merlin hoped that Hermione wasn't getting any ideas…

"So your mum and dad finally agreed to let you come here for New Year, then?" Harry asked, as the four of them walked back towards the house.

"Yes, finally," Hermione sighed.

"Why, weren't they going to?" Merlin asked, confused.

"No, they said it was too dangerous," Hermione told Merlin. "There was a Dementor attack a few miles away from where we live and they wanted me to stay with them to keep me safe. But I told them about the wards and about your being here, so –"

"Whoa, whoa." Merlin stopped, staring at the girl with wide eyes. "You did what? You told your mum and dad that I'm here?"

"Oh, not about you being Merlin," Hermione reassured him. "Just about being protected and the spells."

"Good. Being Merlin is not exactly something I want spreading within the Muggle world. People might get too many ideas."

"Ideas?" Ron asked, bemused.

"About being protected," Merlin explained. "They won't take the necessary precautions that have been issued by the government, to help protect from Death Eaters, Dementors, werewolves and the like. They'll become reckless, start thinking that they can never get hurt."

"Hmm, good point," Hermione agreed.

"Enough about me, how was your Christmas, Hermione?"

As Hermione described in alarming detail all of her presents and new books, Merlin couldn't help but notice a slight glimmer in his ward. He headed towards it, fully aware that it was in the opposite direction to where the others were heading. Hermione, Ron and Harry stopped to watch in curiosity.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, coming up from behind him.

"Hmm, there's something in the ward," Merlin mused, pointing it out of them before crossing him arms across his chest. "I should probably check it out."

"But it's a least eighty feet in the air!" Hermione protested. "What if you fall?"

"Oh, I don't plan on falling," Merlin smirked.

As he transformed, flexing his wings, he was fully aware of Hermione's shriek and Harry and Ron's laughs. He was transforming much more often now, and it made Merlin wonder why he hadn't done it before; then he remembered that finding a dragon in a school corridor might be a bit alarming for a first-year student at Hogwarts. He should probably go out and have a fly around though. Being a dragon felt amazing.

He leapt up, beating his wings and coming to a hover just above the abnormality in the shield. He reached down and plucked whatever the think was from it, clutching it to his chest with his claws, before swooping down and landing elegantly, transforming in the progress. Back on the ground, he was able to examine the object more closely, holding it carefully with a little piece of cloth in case it was cursed. Satisfied it wasn't when he had checked, he used his bare hands.

The boys and Hermione ran over, the latter seemingly calmed down by then.

"What is it?" Ron asked curiously.

Merlin held it up and told them. It was looked like one of the clay dragons that he had given McGonagall, except it was obviously not his work but a copy. Except this copy was mangled and broken, shaped to look like it was in agony, being violently tortured.

"It's a warning," Merlin said quietly and bitterly. "From Voldemort."

AN: GASP. Whats gonna happen now?

Yes, I know Merlin would probably be able to stop a mind intrusion like that, but lets pretend for a moment that he wasn't aware his mind was exposed like that and the wards wouldn't protect his mental state, as he was vulnerable during sleep.

And the warning. The warning... oh yes. This shall go far.

PLEASE REVIEW. Tell me what you think! Also I'm thinking of doing a seperate one-shot series for this 'verse, with small things in it like Merlin getting sick or Harry learning a new Old Magic spell or something. Tell me what you think! THANKS!

Okay, another bribe:

If by 7.00pm tomorrow I have over 120 reviews, I will update another chapter. I will make time and force myself away from GCSEs and revision and sport to update. I'll probably update on Friday if not, as I'm going away on Wednesday and Thursday.

Capishe?

Goodnight, and happy reading! Alexia xx