The ship in storm, the frog and Sam's café belong to me. Merlin and any reference to Amber and the Courts of Chaos, as well as those who dwell there, belongs to Zelazney. The rest belong to Rowling.

I sat in the headmaster's office, back in human shape, sipping on a cup of tea he had offered me. Around us were a large number of those creepy paintings, spying at us. The headmaster himself sat behind a desk that was covered with parchment, with the slightly tired look of anyone with staff responsibility. Every now and then, an owl flew into the room to add to the parchment pile.

Also he was sipping on a cup of tea.

"This is must unfortunately, Merlin," he said, regarding me over his glasses. I nodded.

"I had hoped keeping your origin secret to avoid just this parental reaction," he added, nodding at the pile of parchments with the slightest hint of disapproval in his voice. I shrugged.

"Granger already knew, and Nott too, I suspect. Malfoy would have found out quite soon as well, and Lovegood in the year below was on the track. If Snape hadn't ordered them to write that essay, it might have taken another month or so, but eventually they would've found out. I just thought it was better to spill it straight away then have them whispering behind my back for the rest of the term."

"Yes, I can see that, and I have already spoken to Serveus about his unfortunate choice of essay, but still - the damage is done and we have to deal with it."

"Throw out that non-human from the noble halls of Hogwarts," one of the paintings roared. I ignored it, and so did Dumbledore.

"Very well, headmaster," I said. It's your decision. Like I said when you appointed me, this is pretty much my wander-jahre. An European vacation. Taking it easy and meeting some interesting people, sort of thing. I planned to be away in a year anyway, but if you feel the need to get rid of me already, it's not a problem really." He held up his hand and shook his head.

"Not at all, Merlin. What I said when we first talked still apply. I need someone to teach these children how to defend themselves against the dark arts, and your lessons so far has proved beyond need that you are the one. I will have to consult the governors and... answer some letters I suppose," - another tired glance at the ever-adding pile of parchments - "But to be frank, ultimately the decision, as well as the power to enforce it, lies with me. And I ask you to stay." I nodded.

"Sure! It's not like I want to leave. The kids are nice and the place is amazing. Honestly, had I known about this hidden wizarding community before, I might just as well have studied magic as computer science when I came to this shadow." He smiled at me.

"Ah, yes. I meant to ask you about that special muggle-studies project you are working with. It progresses fine, I take it?"

"It takes time," I answered, relaxing a bit as the tension of the previous boss-to-misbehaving-employee-chat ebbed away. "Most of the students of that course are born into wizard families, and many of them don't even know what electricity is. But I've managed to sort out the most promising students, and attract some of the muggleborn as you call them, for some after-lecture work. So it progresses. We're still only in the basic computing stage, but they're learning fast enough, and I hope that by Christmas we'll be able to start with some hybrid magic-technology stuff. That's when it will be exiting."

"That is nice," he said, putting down his cup with a gesture telling that my time with him was over. "Now, if you'll please excuse me, I have too much to do. I would appreciate if you could restrain from scaring the students for a few weeks. It would make my task much easier." I stood up.

"With my subject, I cannot promise anything, headmaster."

And I left. The portraits were muttering insults after me. Damned. Those damned talking, thinking portraits. They reminded me way to much of trumps. It was like having constant contact with persons you don't know, or trust. I wondered just how hard it would be to turn such a portrait into a trump. What a perfect device for spying...

Walking down the corridor I could see the students throwing me small, scared glances, then quickly looking away. I chuckled. It would be an interesting task to regain their trust after this. A good exercise, I concluded. Any moron can scare people, but to befriend them is a skill much harder, and much more rewarding. Incidentally it was also a skill few of my relatives possessed, and everything that can give an edge...

That is how an upbringing in Chaos makes you think, I'm afraid.

The Courts of Chaos. Yes, that's were I'm born, at one of the poles of existence. From a shadow point of view I suppose that makes me a demon, even if I use that word differently. I feel like a human, but I can well understand those who disagree. Anyway. My mother, Dara, was enjoying some really weird adventures with my father-to-be, Corwin, prince of the other pole of existence. Amber. These adventures resulted in a terrible war where many of my relatives died, in the change of ruler of Amber and in the destruction of half of the universe. It also resulted in me. Mum wanted a son with the blood of both poles, able to use the powers of both sides and ultimately to claim the throne of Amber. Unfortunately, certain events - most of them caused by my dad - undid that particular plan of hers. Instead, my uncle was made king of Amber, my dad disappeared under mystic circumstances and I was left with something as luxurious as the freedom of a choice of what to do with my life.

My choice was to go to this particular shadow, home of my dad for many years, and study computer science. After school I tagged along, working for a software company, doing some weird experiments where I mixed magic, computing and the basic forces of the universe. I also enjoyed the company of friends - something that was only to scarce in the Courts - and a relationship with a girl named Julia which, unfortunately, did not end as well as it had started. In all, it had been a happy time. Now, however, I had felt it was time to move on. Cleaning out my flat, drinking a goodbye beer with my old mate Luke, writing a note to Julia (to cowardly to face her again and say goodbye properly), telling my almost sobbing boss that I would quit no matter how much he offered me, I took the plane to Amsterdam, planning to do nothing much but hiking along for a while and watch the sceneries.

It was in a pub in Antwerpen I met the witch. A Duch girl, brown hair, around her twenties, a simply adorable little nose. Her name was Anna. We shared a... quite interesting evening, but then she did certain things I didn't know that humans of this shadows were able to. She really scared the crap out of me, and I of her when I did my own stuff. In hindsight, had we not made these shows to impress each other, it could still have been magic, if of another, more human kind. As it was, we ended up at her place, sharing a coffee and talking. Just talking. We were both fascinated of the other's magic, and we both learnt quite a few things that night. Through her I got in touch with the wizarding world of this shadow, and it fascinated me a lot. After a while, I learnt about the teacher vacancy of this English magic school and thought, what the crap? I wrote to the headmaster from a German owl-post-central and after a few weeks of hesitation from his side, I was hired. Now, I had been here for almost three full weeks before being nailed down as a demon. I opened the door to my room and stepped inside. I had a feeling my wander-jahre would turn out to be most interesting.