Okay so this chapter is like 1000 shorter than I would usually publish. Basically, a lot of shit has been happening at home the last 2 months, which is why this chapter took so long to get out and why it's so much shorter. I was lacking any motivation to really finish it. I managed to scrounge up the energy to proof read it and decided to just post what I had and hoped and feedback I get will be enough to motivate me into writing the next one and get me back into enjoying writing. So sorry if this falls kinda short of what it usually is, I was originally gonna include a bunch more but that didn't really happen.

Please enjoy and don't forget to vote in the poll

Chapter 13 – The In-between

Merlin felt warm and comfortable. Now this, in and of itself, wasn't an odd occurrence; he had gotten used to experiencing comfort when he first woke up. What was an odd occurrence, was the heat of another person pressed against his side and a head resting on his shoulder. And now that he thought of hit, his left arm felt dead as well. The person next to him shifted slightly and burrowed further into his side.

Merlin was confused. Though he'd mostly managed to adjust to his new surroundings and could suppress a flinch when he could see the movement coming, he was certainly not used to sharing this level of personal space with anyone at Hogwarts. Not to mention that all of his friends had gone to their respective homes for the holidays, which meant there was a stranger sleeping on him. Only, he could never be so at ease with a stranger, even in sleep (especially in sleep - that's when a person is most vulnerable). The only person he had ever been so comfortable with was -

"Harry," he breathed the name, any lingering tension abandoning him as he recalled what happened yesterday, and relished in the closeness of his beloved brother. There was a small sniffle next to him, and the head moved from his shoulder to his chest, right over his heart.

Yesterday had been amazing. The portkey (he had asked the kitchen elves if they knew what the teleportation device was called, and after a brief description they were happy to inform him) had dropped him and Harry in Professor Sprout's office. She had teared up at the sight of them while Harry and Merlin exchanged confused glances, and then happily changed Harry's clothes for him, shrinking the garments in to something in his size and making them appear new and clean. Merlin had smiled, happy to see his Harry in something clean and fitting for the first time, but Harry had been stuck in a state of amazement and shock - both from the portkey and seeing a proper spell for the first time. Professor Sprout had indulged him his questions about the basics of magic, but had quickly bustled them towards the kitchen with an ashamed look when Harry's stomach rumbling had interrupted them.

Harry had been wary at first, when Merlin explain House Elves to him, but once he had seen them in action, overjoyed at being able to feed people and cook and clean, he had relaxed. Merlin had understood his reaction to hearing about an unpaid and thankless labour force, but was glad that Harry had been reassured by their happiness. Merlin made sure that he was feeling guilt-free when they brought them both a serving of turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy. The astounded look on Harry's face at being offered so much food had broken Merlin's heart a little bit, even if he knew that he had worn a similar expression a few short months ago.

In the end, Harry had been charmed by the House Elves, and they had both felt welcome enough to stay and talk in the kitchens for a few hours, rather than risk the common room where older students may be wandering about.

Merlin had gone into detail about everything that had happened in the last week or so: explaining his wish to go back it Surrey so that he could check on Harry ("Why the hell would you try and do something so stupid?! You're safe here!" "But you weren't!"), how his Head of House had refused to let him do so without a proper explanation ("She seemed really nice." "She is."), how the conversation and wound up revealing that Harry was a wizard ("That still doesn't seem real, y'know?" "It will soon. Hey! You can borrow my wand and try to learn some spells!" "Awesome!"), and his conversation with the Headmaster along with the revelation that even among wizards, Merlin was a bit of a weirdo and extremely rare ("So there's no one else like you?" "No, apparently not." "Well I could've told you that!").

Merlin wasn't sure that he had ever spent an evening doing so much laughing and smiling. His friends were amazing and kind and funny, but he could never be his whole self around them the way he could with Harry. And even still, this evening was a first for them. There previous time together had always been bitter-sweet - they both cherished the time they could spend together but they knew it came at a cost, and the price was always steep. But that night, they knew they had all the time in the world and no repercussions as long as they were back in the common room before curfew. There was a freedom to it that was so new and so incredible.

When they had made their way back to the Hufflepuff common room Merlin had been glad to find it empty, Harry had grinned at the brightly coloured walls and comfy sofas and the roaring fire place, and Merlin hadn't wanted to share that moment with anyone else.

Merlin had changed into his pajamas and lent some spare ones to Harry. The length was a little long on both the legs and the arms, but after rolling them up once or twice they fit perfectly. The two of them still shared an unnatural skinniness, so he knew that they didn't have to worry about the waistband being to loose or the top too baggy.

They hadn't stay in the dormitory long, just long enough to change, introduce Harry to Aithusa, and for Merlin to grab a book. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, it had been Gwaine's Christmas present to him and the moment he had seen it he had decided that he would pass it on to Harry once he had read it. But this was even better. Now they could read the children's stories that their parents might have read to them, to each other.

And so, they grabbed a cosy-looking blanket, sat themselves in front of the fireplace, and read children's fairy tales to each other that, in another life, they would have heard growing up.

It had been the perfect evening and the favourite Christmas that Merlin could ever remember having.

"Why is there a child in the common room?" a voice asked, bringing him back to the present where Harry was pressed firmly against his side.

Merlin looked up to find the prefect girl who had introduced herself as Tonks the day before. She was wearing spiky, hot pink hair today and was giving him a half amused, and half confused, look. He opened his mouth to explain and introduce Harry when a response piped up from his shoulder.

"We're in a school. I imagine that there's lots of children here," Harry said dryly. He then maneuverered himself so that he could look at Merlin while still resting against him and added, "Look, there's another one."

Tonks snorted and Merlin didn't bother to smother his grin. Apparently his brother was more sarcastic than usual when he first woke up in the morning.

"I like this one," Tonks commented lightly. "Wotcher! I'm Tonks, one of the prefects here, which is how I know you're not another firstie like Emrys, here. Not to mention the fact that you look about seven years old."

"I'm nine!" Harry told her indignantly while Merlin laughed at him.

"This is my little brother, Harry," Merlin told her.

"I'm not little!" He interjected, glaring lightly up at Merlin.

"Okay," Tonks said, still looking both amused and confused, maybe even more so now, "That still doesn't explain why he's here. Nine or seven or whatever, he's not supposed to be at Hogwarts unless he's eleven, and I know for a fact that he wasn't here yesterday."

"Dunno," Harry said lazily, stretching out a bit like Aithusa would when waking up from a nap. "The old man came with Merlin yesterday to pick me up from my aunt and uncle's because it wasn't safe and told me I'd be staying in the castle from now one. I've only really seen here and the kitchens but it's really cool!"

Merlin saw Tonks's face tighten when Harry said 'it wasn't safe' but she hid it well behind a cheery grin. "Well," she said, "I've been here years, so I know all the cool secret passage ways!"

"There are secret passage ways?" Harry was sounding much more awake now, and Merlin chuckled softly at his excitement.

"What kind of magic castle wouldn't have secret passage ways? If you're sticking around, I'll show you some, short stuff!" She reached over to ruffle Harry's hair and Merlin held his breath. When no reaction came, other than an excited grin, Merlin breathed again. He had worried about the Dursleys taking their acts against Harry further without him knowing about it, being away at Hogwarts. But from Harry's reaction - or lack there of - Merlin was fairly confident that the only person who had tried to hit Harry had been his oaf of a cousin, Dudley. And that had been happening for years.

Tonks left after that, telling them that she was going to breakfast and that she would see them around later.

"C'mon," Merlin prompted, once she had gone, "We should have a shower and get changed, especially since Dumbledore told us he'd be speaking to us in the morning." He observed Harry pulling a face as soon as the headmaster was mentioned.

"I'm already here and settled now, do we really have to speak with him?" Harry asked, sounding put out.

While Merlin didn't particularly wish to speak with him either, he was fairly certain that it would be an important conversation. Students rarely spoke to the headmaster, from what he'd heard, unless they were in serious trouble or something important was going on. Merlin's own interactions with the man had only ever been about his his other magic, magic of the Old Religion he had called it, and that hadn't been heard of in centuries, so that certainly fit the criteria of important. But still, Merlin hadn't really felt completely at ease with him during their last conversation, so he was wary of subjecting himself and Harry to the man's attentions once again.

"He said he was going to speak to the Dursleys, so I'm sure that he has something important to tell you from that."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Nothing important can come from anything the Dursleys have to say."

Merlin smirked, "Maybe he just wants to tell us how he threatened them with magic and scared the hell out of them." That got him a small smile. "You never know, maybe he gave Dudley a pig's tail."

Harry dissolved into giggles, the mental image of his fat, bullying cousin with the tail of a pig being too much for him. Merlin smiled fondly at him, still not used to the fact that this is what their life would be from now on.

Just as Harry's laughter was tittering off, Merlin mimicked a pig snorting and it set them both off all over again. His cheeks hurt from smiling and, when he looked over to see tears of mirth in Harry's eyes, he couldn't bring himself to care.

Once they had calmed down a little, Merlin thought for a moment before saying, "He'll probably be sorting out where you'll be staying too. Hopefully he'll let you stay here with me, at least until everyone's back from their holidays. But I doubt you'll be allowed to stay the Hufflepuff basement forever; all the dorms are sorted by years and you haven't even been assigned a house, so who knows where they'll keep you."

Harry looked disappointed for a moment before rallying himself. "Anywhere is better than that cupboard," he said with certainty. "And where ever they put me, you'll visit."

It wasn't phrased as a question, but Merlin could hear the insecurity in his voice, so he reached out to answer him with a hug. Now that they were finally together, he wouldn't let anything separate them for long.

They ended up taking their breakfast in the kitchens. Even though Merlin promised him that the Great Hall would be mostly empty with everyone away for the holidays, Harry wanted to avoid all of the other students.

He was distinctly aware that he didn't belong here. As much as they told him he was a wizard, and as much as he believed them, there was still the fact that he was two years too young to be at Hogwarts. He was out of place here. Even down to the houses. Merlin told him that the first thing that happens when you get to the school was to be given a house (though he wouldn't tell him how it was decided). But Harry would remain houseless for the next two years until he was with his own year group. Here - in a place where you house was a part of your identity - Harry didn't have a place.

He didn't belong with the Dursleys, but he didn't belong here yet, either. It felt like he was stuck in-between.

Though that wasn't his only concerns about being there.

What about primary school? From what Merlin had told him, most of the wizard-raised kids didn't go to any sort of primary school, they were taught the basics of numeracy and literacy by their parents. But if Harry was going to be living in a school meant for people older than him, what was he supposed to do all day? All the adults here were teachers, but they had their own classes to teach.

Harry didn't need anybody to look after him, he had been left alone for most of his life, but the students here had Head of Houses that were responsible for them. Who was going to be responsible for Harry?

His first thought was Merlin. Merlin was his brother and had always tried his best to look out for him, but Merlin was only twelve, surely they wouldn't give him the burden that was Harry.

His second thought was much more troubling, The Headmaster. The man obviously had the power to place him and remove him from the Dursleys, and since he was the one who brought Harry to Hogwarts, then he must be the one in charge of him. Harry didn't like him. Harry didn't think he could like anyone who thought placing him with his uncle and aunt was a good idea.

Not that they were- The Dursleys weren't terrible. Harry wasn't an idiot and he knew that things could have been much worse for him if his uncle had been a bit more like Merlin's was. Harry knew that it wasn't normal to go so as long as he usually did without food, and he wasn't exactly fond of his cupboard, but that didn't make the Dursleys terrible. His uncle could get really angry sometimes. He would turn all purple and start shaking his meaty fists near Harry's head but he'd never actually hurt him. He had been rough once or twice when throwing him back in his cupboard, but he'd only ever gotten a bruise at most.

Harry knew terrible. Harry had spent years watching the results of terrible play out across his brother's skin. The Dursleys weren't terrible. But that didn't mean they were good, either. And Harry wouldn't trust anyone who thought otherwise.

So he really hoped that he was wrong, and that it wouldn't be the Headmaster who was in charge of him.

He wasn't able to worry about it for long though, because early into their breakfast an owl swooped down like Harry had seen them do whenever he had received Merlin's letters, and dropped a brown envelop in between the two of them before flying off. Harry didn't really understand how the owl had gotten in to a room with no windows and a door that hadn't opened, but he could say with certainty that magic was involved.

"It's from the Headmaster," Merlin said, having opened the letter and skimmed through it while Harry was still wondering about the owl. "He wants us to meet him in his office as soon as we're done with breakfast."

"Does it say what he wants to talk about?"

"Nah, it's pretty vague. It just says 'to discuss arrangements'. Probably just about where you're gonna sleep and things like that," Merlin answered with a shrug. "He told us he'd want to talk to us, so this is hardly a surprise."

"Well I'm sure it won't take them long to clean out a cupboard for me." Merlin sent him a sharp look. He had been trying to sound jokey about it. Harry was just trying to make the situation feel a bit more light-hearted, but his tone had ended up sounding bitter. He supposed it was hard to make a joke like that, when you were talking about the man that put you in that position in the first place.

"That's not gonna happen," Merlin said unwaveringly. "Not that I think they'd try to, but even if they did, I wouldn't let them. I can finally make a difference for you, I can finally take care of you, and I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you like they did before."

Harry nodded. He'd known that. Deep down, he really had known that. But hearing it said out loud brought him a sense of relief that he didn't know he needed. Blinking back the tears in his eyes, Harry realised that no one had ever promised to keep him safe before. Or, well, he had no memory of anyone promising to keep him safe. He liked to think that his parents would have, but that didn't matter, because he had Merlin now.

It didn't matter who they told him was in charge of him. Merlin was his brother, and he would be the only person Harry let himself listen to. It was different now. He wouldn't follow whoever it was blindly, doing as they say so that he can sleep with some food in his stomach. Merlin could look after him now. Merlin could stop whoever decided to hurt him. And if he couldn't, well then Harry was a wizard too, he would just have to learn to protect himself.