Rowling owns everything except Merlin, who is copyrighted to Zelanzey. I hold the copyright to the painting of a ship in storm in the first chapter, and to Sam and the frog who appear in this chapters.

It was Saturday morning at Hogwarts, and the new defence against the dark arts teacher Merlin was on his way out from the Great Hall. He had just finished an early breakfast, enjoying a nice chat with professor Flitwick about the history of the school. Now he made his ways towards the front doors. He halted, however as he became aware of a ruckus in the stairs. Walking that way he saw a student sitting on the floor, calmly gathering her belongings that was scattered all around her. Her bag was torn, and around her stood three other students, laughing at her.

"What's the matter, Loony Luna! Lost something?" they taunted. She ignored them and kept picking up her tings. One of the girls gave one of the books a kick, making it go to the bottom of the stairs. It landed right in front of the approaching teacher.

"That's enough," Merlin said sternly, collecting the book. "Pick up her things for her and get lost." In the face of a teacher, the bullies didn't dare to keep up their pestering. They quickly did as he said and scampered off, but not without making some rather rude gestures to the girl on the floor.

"Thank you professor," she said with the air of one being far away. "It was a bit faster gathering my possessions with their help than without it, I suppose."

"I'm sure it was," he answered, helping her up. "You're OK?" She did not answer straight away. Instead she tilted her head to one side and stared at him with large, unblinking eyes for a while.

"You do teach well," she said, producing a smooth stone from her bag, offering it to him.

"Eh, thanks?" Merlin took the stone from her, looking at it curiously.

"What's this?"

"It's a stone that I think is rather nice," she said serenely.

He chuckled, taking a closer look at her. She had long, dirty-blond hair and big blue eyes. Something that looked like the promise of a smile that did not really emerge lurked in the corners of her mouth. Her wand was tucked behind her left ear, presumably for safe-keeping.

"Let's see. You're in my O.W.L-class, aren't you?"

"Yes, professor. In Ravenclaw. I did enjoy your lecture about different uses of the shield charm."

"Fun that you enjoyed it. Well, thanks for the stone." He pocketed it. "I'm off to have a coffee. He turned to the front doors again. She followed him.

"Are you not going to ask the house-elves to make it for you? They are really skilled in cooking, you know." With her left hand she idly twiddled her necklace. It seemed to be made by bottle-caps.

"Nope. No elves. They are nice all right, but they can't make a decent espresso for their lives... Surprisingly few creatures can. Have you eaten by the way?"

"I was not in mood for breakfast. I was going to have a read by the lake."

"Why don't you join me for a coffee then? It 's not far away?" The teacher flashed one of his smiles at her, and she nodded agree. Together they sat off over the grounds, toward the forest.

"There's no café in there," she observed as they started to walk the path under the trees.

"It's rather new," he said. They have a bit of trouble getting customers, but they make mean pastries, not to mention the coffee, and they are quite cheap. He was not looking at her, but staring at the trees. They were walking in a darker area of the forest now.

"My name is Luna," she said. "Luna Lovegood. And your is Merlin."

"Please, call me Merle," he said. "My friends do." The path took a sharp turn. They startled a small, furry animal which leapt away and hid in a stand of gigantic mushrooms.

"What was that?" Luna cried eagerly, suddenly more attentive than Merlin had seen her in all morning. He shrugged.

"I did not recognize it," she went on, sneaking towards the mushrooms. "It might have been the Blumber-hare, or the Ampleskin, or even the Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

"If you ask me, that was just a common Dulger," he replied absentmindedly, turning sharp left at a cross-path. The forest floor was covered with moss, and a few clean-picked animal skeletons gleamed in the soft, green light from the canopies. She narrowed her eyes, making them lose some of their dreamy appearance.

"Dulger? I have not heard of that animal. Where does it live?"

"Here, obviously," he answered, smiling at her and blinking with an eye. "You would better ask the game-keeper about it, though. He should know." They walked in silence for a few meters. The trees had yellow berries.

"I do not recognize this place," she announced. "I do not know where we are."

"We're in the forest," he said. Not far from the school. We're almost at the café now." The yellow berries were bursting around them, showering the path in glittering seeds.

"I have walked a lot in the forest, and I have never been her before," she was looking around, curiously.

"It's not a very usually visited part of the forest... oh, wait a second." They stopped in the track and waited as a caterpillar, large as a small dog, wriggled over the path. When it was gone they went on. The trees were less dense now and a soft, orange sun-light was shining over them.

"I suppose that makes the café a rather bad business" she observed and he nodded "Is it the spiders that runs it?"

"What?" he looked a bit startled.

"The gigantic spiders. They live in the forest. I figured since the café is located in such an unusual part of the forest, it might be because the owners are a bit unusual." She spook in casual voice, as if discussing the weather and not gigantic spiders running a café. He looked rather amused.

"Yeah, sure! Spiders. Clever of you to guess." He turned from the path and turned to the right, behind a bush with bright blue flowers. She followed, and after just a few steps they were on a new track, a bit larger than the previous. The dust was pink. They walked in silence for a while and crossed a small brook, balancing on a plank someone had placed there. The grass on the other side was moving slightly, even if there was no wind.

"What..." she begun, but he interrupted.

"There is the café. Looks like they found themselves another customer too."

Her gaze followed his finger, and in the trunk of a gigantic tree she saw what seemed to be a common high-street café, complete with a large window with a company logo, round, high tables and an electric sign. One of the tables was occupied with what looked quite a lot like a big frog, but with human proportions of his body. He wore a suit and read a paper which turned out to be " Forest times". He nodded to them as they got closer and returned to his paper. Merlin rapped on the window, and he and Luna took a table. The door opened and out came a man-sized spider. It was dressed in what looked like trousers, a shirt and apron, but modified to fit eight legs. On its head was a little paper hat with the same logo as on the window.

"Hi Merle," he said with a high pitched voice. "The usual?" He started to wipe the table with a cloth.

"Hi Sam! Yeah. Make the espresso double though. And give miss Lovegood here what she wants as well." The spider turned his attention to the blond witch, who was staring around with an air of amazement.

"Is this real?" she whispered.

"Sometimes I wonder, dear," Sam said, clicking with his jaws. "The location's nice enough, and I don't mind that the customers are a bit scarce. But the taxes are killing us."

"No respect for the small business," croaked the frog.

"I recommend the pastries," said Merlin.

"Eh..." Luna said.

"And maybe a soda to drink. You're not into coffee, are you?"

"Eh... soda and pastries will be fine, but..."

"It'll be out in a sec," Sam said, walking back through the door. Merlin leant backwards in his chairs, looking at the forests. Luna took a few deep breaths and tapped herself on her head. Then she looked around again. She opened her mouth as if to say something, and then closed it again. She blinked, and then opened her big, silvery eyes again. She turned to her teacher.

"This is not an ordinary place," she stated.

"Not at all," he answered. "They do all their baking themselves, for one thing. And it's always clean and fresh."

"That was not what I meant. I have never been served soda by a spider before."

"If the soda's good, does it really matter?" He put the hands behind his head, yawning. She thought it over.

"I suppose not... but I really would like to know what's going on."

"Hey, don't we all?" he chuckled. "The best we can hope for is a few clues as we go along." They sat silent for a little while, then Sam returned with a plastic tray. Luna got a soda and Merlin got espresso in a paper cup. They both got a pastry which seemed to be filled with vegetables and smelled wonderfully. Suddenly Luna realized how hungry she was. They started to eat.

"So, you enjoy school?" He asked, sipping on his coffee.

"Oh yes," she answered and shot the frog a glance. "I feel like belonging somewhere. And the grey lady is nice."

"The grey lady?"

"She is our ghost. Ravenclaw's. She is sort of looking after us. And I think she likes me, even if the other students do not."

"Pity," he said. "Can't win them all, I suppose".

"I would like to have friends," she went on with no trace of embarrassment. "Everything is much more enjoyable if you do."

"Yup." Merlin took another bite of his pastry. "What do your parents do?"

"Father is publishing a magazine, and mother is dead." She glanced at the forest for a second. "It is sad" she added. "What do your parents do?"

"Mine? Oh, that's a good question really... but well, my mother's a witch, and a damned good one as well... sorry for the swearing," he added. She smiled at him and tapped her right ear.

"The word floated out of my ears again, so I took no harm. What does your father do?" Merlin busied himself with the coffee before thoughtfully answering.

"No one knows really. Might be dead, but I don't think so. He's a tough man. Exiled more likely."

"That's sad." She lent forward, eyes filled by sympathy and touched his hands. He gave her one of his patented grins.

"I suppose... but I didn't really know him. Who knows, I might even go after him when I'm finished here."

"You will only stay one year."

"Yes, that was the plan. But how did you know? Did the headmaster say so?"

"No, but all our defence teachers stay only one year. Some people think there is a curse over the position, but it is really because the walls surrounding your classroom are filled by wandering migeons, urging those who stay there too long to move on." She saw his amused expression and added: "That was in the Quibbler a few issues back. My father's magazine. Wait..." she started to rummage in her bag, producing a torn issue of the Quibbler.

They spent another hour or so friendly chatting about the content of the magazine and life at Hogwarts. When they were done with the pastries they ordered ice-cream. Merlin had another espresso. She told him about Hogsmeade and which stores to go to and which to avoid, how to deal with Peeves, and what she thought of the different subjects. He told her about his previous work at a software design company in America, what he though of Europe and about some of the creatures he had planned to bring up in the defence class. They then discussed the Quibbler article cautioning that the musical group 'the Weird Sisters' were really a band of goblins under poly-juice disguise, at which point Sam leaned over their table and gave a little speech about Goblin treachery. When the ice cream was eaten as well Merlin said they would better return to the castle. He produced some money from a pocket and seemed to rub it over his arm before putting it on the table. Luna looked at it.

"These are not Galleons."

"You don't expect spiders to take galleons or pounds, are you?" Merlin answered as he stood up.

"Bad exchange rate," Sam agreed. "See you soon, Merle."

"Yeah. Take care."

They walked back past the moving grass and over the brook. Luna seemed to have accepted that weird things were going on, because she didn't comment on the exotic scenery, not even when a tree that was standing in the way uprooted itself and walked away. They were just emerging from the forest, not far from Hagrid's cabin, when Merlin abruptly halted.

"What..." she began, but he held up his hand, silencing her. He stood with an attentive expression, staring out in nothing as if listening to something. Then he began to speak.

"Not at all, dear brother. It's my day off." He was silent for a moment and then went on. "As a teacher as a matter of fact... Magic... No, in the same shadow... Yes... And I trust you're fine... Well. Thank you."

"Merlin..." Luna said but he caught her eye and shook his head.

"Well... I suspect nothing less... Maybe..." He fell silent again for a few seconds. "Consider it done, then. Please give my dear mother my greetings... Till next time." And he turned to Luna.

"Sorry about that. Long distance call."

"Telepathic communication?" she asked curiously. "That is really advance magic, you know."

"Yeah, something of that sort," he agreed as they started to walk towards the castle again. "And it is fairly advanced."

"Will we learn it in your class?"

"I'm afraid not. It's a bit to complicated... and it's not really part of the subject, is it?"

"I suppose not," she answered, back in her dreamy state. Then she added as in afterthought: "I will not be able to find that café again, will I?"

"No," he smiled, "so please don't try."

"I won't," she promised. "But maybe I could come with you again, some day?"

"Sure. Next Saturday. I try to visit Sam regularly, if only to keep him in business."

"Thank you," she said serenely, then she turned and started to walk towards the lake, where the giant squid was splashing around.

Merlin chuckled for himself and went back to the castle.

The students were gathering eagerly in the corridor outside the defence classroom. This was their third week with Merlin, and the lessons had not become less interesting than the first. They had spent some more time with the shield spell, and then Merlin had had them using it for a number of purposes. They had used it to deflect spells back at the attacker or other targets (much like Malfoy had done with the water-jet in their first lesson) or to enclose the spell and sort of conserve it. They had used it to move small object around (something some of the students were very unconvinced of since they knew perfectly good levitation spells for that), and to deliver a counter-blow to their opponent. As Merlin explained it - "You can have a spell for every opportunity, or one spell for everything. The second way is certainly faster. The trick is to know how to do much with a little". When finally leaving the shield charm, they went on to pure tactics, such as how to approach an enemy, how to divide your forces and what to do when you lost your wand. ("If you're in a fight between wizards, their will be plenty of wands around. Just put your head down and wait for the opportunity to get one"). Next, Merlin had hinted that they would start with some highly dangerous creatures.

However, when the door opened it was not Merlin in the doorway. It was Snape.

"Everyone inside. Now," he hissed and returned into the classroom. The curtains were drawn and the room was considerable more gloomy than they were used to. Snape stood at the desk, glaring at them. No one made a sound.

"Since you as usual are lacking a competent defence against the dark arts teacher, I have agreed to spend my preciously rare spare time on the tedious task of trying to put some knowledge into your incredibly thick skulls," he said in a low, deadly voice. "A decision I know I am likely to regret very soon, when Potter is making one of his usual stunts to ruin the lesson, or Granger makes one of her usual silly speeches to steal the attention, or when Longbottom attempts to do anything at all." He paused a moment to make sure his taunts had desired effect. The Gryffindors sat fuming, but remained silent. The Slytherins smirked.

"So, instead of enjoying a moment of very well deserved spare time, I will now demonstrate how to perform the spells and curses necessary to stand even a small chance when encountering the Dark Arts. For your sake, I do strongly advise you to pay attention, even if I from experience know that it is too much to ask from some of you lot, especially from the mandatory Weasley that seems to pester every single year of this sorry school."

Ron was dark red in his face, but managed, together with his friends, to remain calm. They knew very well what Snape's lectures were like, and had no intention on giving him the pleasure to take points from Gryffindor this early in the year.

The lesson was spent practising spells, and they started with non-verbal inaction. To Snape's disappointment, the Gryffindors were learning fast, most of them being ahead of the Slytherins. At the end of the lecture he silenced them, walking to the blackboard.

"Pathetic performances from most of you. First year students would have beaten you in a duel. Now, for homework for my next lecture, a six-foot essay on the following subject."

Obvious to the groans he tapped the blackboard with his wand, smiling slightly when he heard the grunts of disbelief as the students read the words that had appeared.

'Demons, traits and defence, with special emphasis on how to recognize them.'