Title: Harry Potter and the Return of Merlin

Fandom: Merlin/Harry Potter Crossover

Rating: T for slight violence and language

Pairings: Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione...or at least the precursors to the relationships

Spoilers: HP - definitely through the end of OotP, since Merlin is supposed to know more than most, there may be other spoilers as well. Merlin – all seasons. I have now watched Season 4, so it's fair game as well. You have been warned.

Warnings: AU. Slight Violence and language.

Beta: the wonderful animeloveramy. I don't know what I'd do without her.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Merlin. They belong to J.K. Rowling and BBC respectively. They have simply been kind enough to allow dreamers like me to indulge in fantasies involving their characters. Some of the text is directly from, very close to, or inspired by what J.K. Rowling originally wrote. This is simply because this fic closely follows OotP and I see no reason to pretend that I'm better than J.K. Rowling and try to rewrite it. I will try to leave an AN at the bottom when I use large amounts of the text.

Summary: The moment Voldemort regained his body, the Old Religion cried out. For the first time in more than a thousand years, Merlin is called from the forward to right the balance once more. Disguised as a fifth year student, he must fight to stop Voldemort when it is not his destiny to do so.

Author's Note: WHITE FLAG! Explanations and author's note are at the end of the chapter. I figure I've made you wait long enough.


Chapter 12

Dumbledore sighed wearily as he leaned back in his armchair and watched the flames fade from emerald to orange. It had been a long few days. The ministry had sent over experts and aurors early in the morning three days ago to investigate Merlin's ominous warning. Dumbledore had amused himself with standing in the shadows while they tried to figure out just how the words had been etched into the stone. They had quickly determined that it was definitely the result of very old magic, of the kind they'd never seen before save in traces at some of the most ancient magical sites. Both the Minister and Madam Umbridge had been fuming with the lack of solid answers. The headmaster had thought that Cornelius was going to explode when the magical experts told him that there was no way to track whomever had cast the spell and that there was also no way to remove it. The words would have to fade with time.

In the end, the headmaster had suggested simply moving to a new classroom. Madam Umbridge hadn't been happy that whoever had left the warning was going unpunished, but she wasn't about to each in a room that contained a threat to her. Dumbledore had to hand it to Meriln. It had been clever to use his druidic name to warn the Ministry. Not only had it marked the warning as authentic, but it couldn't be traced back to Myrddin. It would, however, inevitably lead to the legend of Merlin, which would certainly get the point across.

Since then, Madam Umbridge had been on something of a rampage. The number of detentions she'd given out had gone up significantly after Merlin's little message in a vain attempt to punish the perpetrator for something. Merlin had been keeping his head down, so it wasn't really working. As if terrorizing the students wasn't enough, Madam Umbridge was pushing harder than ever for more control within the school.

In truth, she was the least of Dumbledore's troubles. Remus and Sirius were quite adamant about being allowed to see Harry. As it was too dangerous for Sirius to enter the school, Remus had been left with the task of explaining. He'd danced around the details, but it had been enough for Dumbledore to ascertain a vague idea of what had happened. He'd known from the beginning that being cooped up in his ancestral home was difficult for Sirius, especially given how little time he'd had to actually recover from his imprisonment. It was clear, even considering how careful Remus had been not to mention details, that Sirius had said something unwise.

It had pained Dumbledore to tell Remus that he couldn't allow Sirius and Harry to meet. It was just as dangerous for Harry to leave the school as it was for Sirius to enter it with Madam Umbridge sniffing around for anything and everything she could use against Dumbledore. For that same reason, they couldn't owl each other or floo-call. Dumbledore knew full well that with the pressure he was under and just how isolated he was Harry needed Sirius. He wasn't the only one to see that, either. He'd rarely seen Remus so concerned. It was quite clear that whatever had happened between Harry and Sirius needed to be resolved. Unfortunately, Dumbledore could think of no safe way for them to get the two of them in the same room.

In a quiet rush of wings, Fawkes soared down from the shadows near the ceiling and alighted on the desk in front of the headmaster. The phoenix cocked is head and warbled pointedly. Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose Merlin might have a way for them to speak," Dumbledore murmured. "I will send him a message come morning. It's already late."

Fawkes warbled again almost disapprovingly before fluttering over to his stand. Dumbledore sighed again. That was the other problem, though it wasn't a problem as such. More of an unforeseen complication, he supposed. Merlin was a variable that the headmaster could never have foreseen or prepared for.

Though he did understand that Voldemort had tampered with magic far beyond any of their comprehension and how important it was that Merlin help repair the balance, Dumbledore couldn't deny that the warlock's involvement was complicating matters. He had made it clear that he had his own agenda. He wanted Voldemort gone as much as the next man, but he would do it his own way if he had to. Merlin was looking at a bigger picture that only he could see. He knew more about the situation than anyone in the wizarding world.

But he didn't know everything.

Dumbledore was almost sure that Merlin had some idea of Voldemort's horcruxes though the warlock hadn't said as much to him. However he didn't think that Merlin knew of the possibility that Harry himself was a horcrux. Merlin had also made it clear that he knew of the prophecy, and that he was at least suspicious of it's contents. Dumbledore was grateful that Merlin wasn't pushing for information he didn't have, even if he had made it clear that he didn't approve of the headmaster's decision to keep certain facts to himself.

Perhaps there was some folly in keeping information from Merlin. He was, after all, the most powerful warlock to have ever lived and there was no chance that he was allied with Voldemort. He was just as invested in Riddle's defeat as anyone else. By all rights, Dumbledore should probably be seeking Merlin's help but there were certain suspicious that he hadn't confirmed. He was still trying to collect information on the horcruxes. Nothing was quite certain and until it was, he'd much rather keep the details to himself.

It was all becoming a bit difficult to manage. Merlin rightfully had his own concerns and wasn't afraid to let Dumbledore know that, a trait that most likely came from dealing with various kings and officials during his life. Keeping everyone happy, or happy enough, while ensuring a victory in the swiftly approaching war was beginning to tell on the aging headmaster. He could only hope that he was making the right decision. Only time would tell.


Making his way through Hogsmeade, Merlin pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket and unfolded it, his eyes scanning words that he already had memorized.

I seem to have a bit of a problem that I hope you might be able to help me with. Padfoot had a falling out with Harry that he is rather desperate to resolve. He has been quite insistent that I allow him to speak to Harry. As you know, it is rather difficult for them to contact one another using any conventional methods. I do think that this is something that needs to be resolved, for both their sakes. Perhaps you might know of some way for them to speak safely?

Yours Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Despite having only received the letter that morning, the edges of the parchment were already worn and the letter itself was creased from the number of times Merlin had pulled it out of his pocket, read it, and stuffed it away again.

He'd been surprised to see Fawkes perched at the foot of his bed when he woke up. The phoenix had let out a quiet call when he saw that Merlin was awake and sitting up. Without further ado, the phoenix had fluttered onto Merlin's knee and dropped the letter into his lap. Absently stroking Fawkes' feathers, Merlin had read the note. He'd immediately begun contemplating the best way to get Sirius and Harry in the same place.

He shoved the note back into his pocket and pushed open the door to the Three Broomsticks. By chance, he'd overheard Hermione telling Ron and Harry that everyone was going to meet at the Hogshead, a more out of the way pub that was rarely frequented by students. Merlin had innocently asked if it would be suspicious if a bunch of students suddenly showed up there. Hermione's eyes had gone wide. Eventually, they'd decided that it ought to be safe enough to meet at the Three Broomsticks, as long as they weren't too conspicuous.

The trio was sitting at a back table in the corner. A couple of the tables near them were also empty. Merlin sighed. He hoped Hermione hadn't invited too many people. Too large a group would be suspicious no matter where they were meeting.

He wove his way through the crowd toward the table. Hermione brightened when she sawy him.

"Myrddin! You made it. I was beginning to think that you weren't coming."

"I said I'd come. I was just a bit lost in thought and it was more of a walk from the school than I expected." He pulled out the chair next to Harry and sat down. "When are the others supposed to get here? And how many are there?"

"Just a few," said Hermione distractedly, checking her watched and then looking towards the door. "I told them to be here about now—oh look, this might be them now."

The door of the pub opened and a crowd of people spilled through the door. It wasn't uncommon for there to be a steady stream of students to be coming and going from the Three Broomsticks, but this was something different. Merlin felt the urge to slap his forehead. Had these children never heard of subtlety? He supposed it wasn't really their fault. They were doing their best.

Neville lead the large group of students, followed closely by Dean, Lavendar, the Patil twins, Cho Chang and one of her friends, Luna Lovegood (Merlin was mildly surprised, but glad to see her there, he was hoping to get to know her better), the Gryffindor quidditch girls, the Creevey brothers, Ernie MacMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hannah Abbot, a handful of students from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, Ginny, Lee Jordan, and the Weasley twins brought up the rear.

"A couple of people?" Harry choked, gaping at Hermione. "A couple of people?"

"The idea was quiet popular. There was a lot of interest," said Hermione happily. "Ron, would you pull up some more chairs?"

Harry looked as though he'd been asked to fight the Hungarian Horntail again. He stared in horror as Fred counted heads and ordered butterbeers for everyone from Madam Romsmerta who, despite being accustomed to having her pub overrun with students during Hogsmeade weekends, looked surprised at seeing so many come bursting in at once.

"Cough up, everyone," said Fred, helping hand the drinks out when she returned with a packed tray. "I haven't got enough gold for all of these."

While everyone was distracted, Merlin leaned around Harry and grabbed Hermione's arm, pulling her close so that he could whisper to them both. "I understand your intention and frankly I'm quite happy that there is so much interest in this, but I hope you realize just how dangerous this is. A couple of people meeting up wouldn't attract that much attention. This many people, even here, is out of the ordinary. I wouldn't be at all surprised if word made it back to Umbridge."

Hermione looked horrified. "Oh, I didn't think of that."

"It's understandable. Like I said, this kind of interest is a good thing," said Merlin. "I should be able to cast a spell so that no one can hear what we're saying. I once used it quite often. Anyone attempting to overhear us will catch a completely mundane conversation, but that won't stop them from noticing that we're definitely having some sort of meeting."

"Maybe we shouldn't do this," Hermione fretted.

"It's too late to back out," pointed out Merlin. "We're already here. We might as well get the job done. Give me a moment to cast the spell before you get started. I've got to remember the incantation."

Closing his eyes, Merlin searched through his mind for the spell. It had come in handy a few years after Arthur lifted the ban on magic. There had once again been rumors of Morgana having a spy in the court. They'd all been a bit paranoid given the fact that every time Morgana made her way into the castle a lot of people suffered for it. The need for privacy and security had been of the utmost importance. Merlin had used the spell sporadically through the years, but since he'd more or less withdrawn from society there hadn't been any real need for it.

It took some times to sort through his mind. He'd spent a lot of the past millennia bored in between watching the world pass by. A lot of his time was spent reading. He'd acquired quite a bit of knowledge. It was a miracle that his mind could hold it all, which probably had something to do with magic. It could get a bit confusing inside his mind sometimes.

Eventually he landed on the spell he needed. Keeping his head bowed, he whispered, "Mierran cwidegliedd aet fals eare."

The noise of the pub dimmed. Merlin glanced over to the others. Hermione was trying to placate Harry. "They just want to hear what you've got to say," she said. Harry continued to glare furiously at her, obviously not pleased with the prospect of having to go over what had happened in the graveyard again. Hermione hurried to add, "You don't have to do anything yet. I'll speak to them first."

Before Harry could retort, Neville sat down opposite him and grinned. "Hi, Harry."

Harry mustered a weak smile that wasn't at all convincing. He looked like he was going to be sick. Sighing to himself, Merlin sat back in his chair and surveyed the new comers. Some of them, the girl who had come with Cho in particular, were looking at Harry mistrustfully. They were most likely there just to hear what Harry had to say about Voldemort. Merlin knew that wouldn't go over well. He hoped that the others were genuinely interested in learning Defense, for Harry's sake.

"Er—well—hi," Hermione stammered, her voice a bit higher than usual, successfully pulling the attention from Harry. "Well…erm…I suppose you know why you're here. Erm…well, Harry had the idea – I mean—" she backpedalled quickly at a sharp look from Harry. Merlin hid an amused smile at the two friends as Hermione continued. "I had the idea that might be good if people who wanted to study Defense against the Dark Arts—and I mean really study it, you know, not that rubbish Umbridge is doing with us. I thought it might be good if we took matters into our own hands."

There was a murmur of agreement throughout the group, which seemed to help embolden Hermione.

"And by that I mean leaning how to defend ourselves properly, not just theory, but the real spells—"

"You mean so that we can actually pass our OWLs, I bet?" said Ernie MacMlillan.

"Of course," Hermione said quickly, "but it's more than that. I want to be properly trained in Defense because…because…" She took a deep breath. Merlin braced himself. "Because Lord Voldemort's back."

There was an uproar at her pronouncement. Several students shrieked or started so violently that they slopped their drinks down their fronts. They all looed vaguely terrified at the mention of Voldemort, though in many cases their terror was swiftly fading to curiosity as they looked eagerly at Harry. Merlin crossed his arms as he surveyed the group. He'd harbored the slight hope that the trio would wait until someone else brought up Voldemort. It didn't really matter that much as it was inevitable that the topic be discussed given the real reason for the study group, but it would have put the others less on the defense.

"Well, that's the plan," continued Hermione brightly, deliberately ignoring the chaos created by her statement. "If you want to join us we need to decide how we're going to—"

"Wait a minute, where's the proof?" a boy near the back demanded. Merlin thought that he might be a member of the Hufflepuff quidditch team, but he wasn't entirely sure. "How do you know that You-Know-Who's back?"

"Well Dumbledore believes it—" Hermione began. Merlin almost groaned out loud. They weren't interested in what Dumbledore thought. That wouldn't help any.

"You mean Dumbledore believes him!" the blonde boy spat, nodding at Harry.

"Who are you?" demanded Ron a bit rudely. Merlin heartily concurred with the question.

"Zacharias Smith," answered the boy, "and I think we've got a right to know exactly what makes him say that You-Know-Who is back."

"Look," said Hermione, "that's really now what this meeting is about—"

"It's all right," Harry interrupted.

He looked rather pale, but determined, as though he'd fully realized that most of them were only there to hear his story first hand. Merlin couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the boy. He knew how hard it was to have to stand up and talk about some of the most difficult experiences he'd even endured just to prove himself.

"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" he asked, looking Zacharias straight in the eye and speaking calmly. "I saw him. But you know that. Dumbledore told the entire school what happened last year, and if you don't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince you."

For a moment, there was silence as everyone waited with bated breath for Harry to go on, but he didn't. Zacharias snorted dismissively.

"All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought his body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details. He didn't tell us how Diggory was murdered. I think we'd all like to know—"

Merlin could practically feel anger radiating off Harry and found that he couldn't blame the boy. He'd feel the same way if someone had been speaking that way about Will or Lancelot. He fixed Zacharias with the glare he'd once used on Arthur when he was being unreasonable. It had always served to make the king stop and listen.

"If you've come here just to talk about the death of a fellow student, then I think you'd best leave," Merlin said calmly before Harry could snap something. Given the way Harry's temper had been prone to flaring, he was likely to scare everyone off if he got his wind on the matter. "We're not here to discuss what it's like to watch someone being murdered, least of all murdered by Voldemort."

"You can all clear out if that's what you're looking for," added Harry angrily.

"So," said Hermione, her voice more high-pitched than before. "So…like I was saying…if you want to learn some defense, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet, and where we're going to—"

"Is it try that you can produce a corporeal Patronus?" interrupted a girl that Merlin didn't recognize, though she did look vaguely familiar.

There was a murmur through the group. Harry just looked taken aback. "Yeah," he said a bit defensively.

"A fully corporeal Patronus?"

It clicked for both Melrin and Harry at the same moment.

"You don't know Madam Bones, do you?" asked Harry.

The girl smiled. "She's my auntie. I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So—is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"

"Yes," said Harry. He still seemed a bit surprised.

"Blimey, Harry!" Lee said, looking very impressed and excited. "I never knew that."

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around," said Fred, grinning at Harry. "She said you got enough attention."

Merlin made a mental note to do something nice for Molly Weasley the next time he saw her. He didn't agree with her approach to mothering Harry and coming between him and Sirius, but she did care and she'd hit the nail on the head with that one. Apparently Harry agreed, because Merlin heard him mutter, "She's not wrong about that."

Several others sitting nearby overheard him as well and chuckled.

"Did you really kill a basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" asked a Ravenclaw, Terry Boot, Merlin thought. "That's what one of the potraits told me when I was in there last year."

"Er—yeah, I did," said Harry.

His faced reddened at the several appreciative reactions that garnered.

Neville swiveled in his chair to address the group at large. "And in our first year he saved that Sorcerous Stone—"

"Sorcerer's" hissed Hermione."

"Yes, that, from You-Know-Who," finished Neville.

Merlin tuned out Cho Chang's accounting of the various trials of the Triwizard Tournament to focus on Harry. He looked uncomfortable with the attention, but mostly he seemed surprised that everyone remembered all the things he'd done. Merlin fought back a smile. Arthur would have been absolutely preening by this point. Harry just looked like he wanted to fall through the floor, but at least this meant that his fellow students knew something of all he had done for them. Finally, it seemed like he'd had enough.

"Look," he said. Everyone fell silent at once, which seemed to throw Harry for a moment. "I…I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but…I had a lot of help with all that stuff…"

"You faced the dragon alone," pointed out a boy in the middle of the group. "And that flying was all you."

"Auntie said that you were fighting off the dementors this summer on your own before Myrddin showed up," added Susan, much to Merlin's surprise.

"All right, so I did bits of it alone," Harry allowed, "but the point I'm trying to make—"

"Are you trying to get out of showing us any of this stuff?" asked Zacharias.

"Here's an idea," said Ron loudly, "why don't you shut your mouth."

That was something Merlin was tempted to enforce himself, especially when Smith retorted, "Well, we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it."

"That's not what he said," Fred snarled. Ron was glaring at Zacharias as though he wanted nothing more than to punch his head in.

"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" inquired George, pulling a long and lethal-looking metal instrument from inside one of his bags.

"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," said Fred.

"Moving on," said Hermione hastily before the twins could follow through with their threat. "The point is, are we agreed that we want to take lessons from Harry?"

There was a murmur of assent. Zacharias Smith crossed his arms, but didn't protest.

The rest of the meeting went pretty smoothly. Merlin contented himself with simply watching. They really didn't need him. The trio, or rather Hermione, had covered all the bases, but he was more or less part of the group at this point. If he hadn't shown up it would have been suspicious and Hermione would never have forgiven him after all the work she'd put in to convincing Harry. So he sat quietly in a show of support and listened. When the paper was passed around to be signed, he hid a grin at Hermione's ingenuity and added a bit of power to the curse, just to be sure that it held.

Merlin handed the parchment back to Hermione. As the meeting was almost over, he allowed his concentration to drift to just how he was going to help Sirius talk to Harry. Given the nature of their argument, he rather thought that they actually needed to be in the same place. The only problem was that there was no good way to do it considering that Harry knew that he was a druid and Sirius didn't. The last thing he needed was for Sirius to get distracted by the fact that Merlin was the man who'd appeared in his kitchen. He couldn't even act in secrecy because Harry would be able to trace it all back to him.

"Well that went rather well," said Hermione, sounding quite satisfied. "I'm so glad that there are so many people interested in actually learning Defense!"

"More importantly, they're willing to believe Harry," added Merlin.

Ron was still glowering at the door. "I can't believe the nerve of that Smith git. Who does he think he is?"

"I hate to admit it, but he's got a right to ask those questions," said Merlin. "The Ministry and the Prophet have succeeded in discrediting Harry. They've confused people. I don't deny that Smith went about it the wrong way, but he had good reason to ask."

"That doesn't change the fact that he's a git," Ron grumbled.

Merlin chuckled. "No, it doesn't. I almost wish that Fred and George had carried out their threat. I know that I was tempted to do something."

Looking as exasperated as Gaius had been after some of Merlin's crazier schemes, Hermione changed the subject. "Myrddin, you mentioned before that you might be willing to teach something about Druid Magic. Are you still willing to do that?"

"I am," said Merlin slowly. "The Old Ways have mostly been forgotten and for good reason. There aren't many people who possess the right kind of magic. Still, there are some simple spells you should be able to learn and with Voldemort on the loose again, we'll need all the help we can get. Harry should teach them for a while before we even come to that, so I've got time to figure it out."

Hermione beamed. "That'll be wonderful! Even the theory will be useful. We could use it to create and improve all sorts of spells!"

"I'm sure it could," Merlin agreed, having done just that himself on numerous occasions. "If you're that interested, I've got a couple of books you might like to look at."

"Don't you two get started," Ron moaned. "It's Saturday! And a Hogsmeade weekend as well. If you get started on that, you'll never stop and I'd like to enjoy a little bit of the weekend now that this business is out of the way."

"Honestly, Ronald. This is important! It could be a matter of life and death!"

"Don't be so dramatic."

"Dramatic!" Hermione screeched.

Merlin leaned over to Harry, who seemed lost in thought. "Should we leave them to it?" he asked.

Noticing for the first time that his best friends were arguing, Harry nodded and the two slipped out of the pub. Neither of them spoke much. Both were too preoccupied with their own thoughts. Merlin was almost sure that Harry was having second thoughts about the defense club and he was still trying to figure out a way to get the boy in the same room as his godfather without revealing the extent of his meddling.


Author's Note: There you have it. A bit shorter and not as action packed as I would like, but this was sort of a necessary chapter. It was a pain to write. I had the worst writer's block. It's always hard to write a chapter that is so close to the book. There's a fine line between tweaking the chapter enough to make it fit the new plot and just rehashing what hasn't changed. I had a lot of trouble with that. I wanted Merlin to be there at the first DA meeting, but I didn't want him to take over the meeting. He's not there to take everything over. He's influencing events form the shadows for now. It was really hard to write that without just rewriting the entire scene pretty much verbatim from the book. It took forever!

I really wanted to take the time this chapter to make it clear that this isn't supposed to be a Dumbledore-bashing fic. I may not agree with some of his choices, but I honestly think that he was trying to do the right thing. You can debate me on that all you want. I won't deny that he had some ulterior motives. Anyway, that's not what this is meant to be. Hopefully I've made it clear just why Dumbledore is holding out on Merlin.

Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long to write. I've got a pretty good idea what's going to happen next, but the next couple of chapters are going to be a bit difficult because I've got to bring a bit more of canon into the fic and weave in some new plot points at the same time. It's all getting a bit intricate. I'll try to update more quickly this time, but no guarantees. You guys have no idea how much it means to have you stick with me.

Annonymous Review Responses:

Topac: It was a really good excuse to keep him looking like Sir Cadogan for a while. Plus it really would have been too obvious. The DA is going to be pretty much the same, just from Merlin's POV. He can't go around changing too much. Do you mean how he revealed himself to Merlin back in Camelot or the logistics of how Merlin managed to communicate to him in the portrait? If it's the former, I'm considering a series of one-shots and short fics that would deal with some of the background of Merlin's life.

Riley: Lol, no, it's really not. That job fell through at the last moment anyway. I'm glad to be able to ease the horrors of being without the internet, lol. I'm not sure what else you could ask for, but let me know if you come up with anything. I aim to please!

Aiedail: Yeah, sorry about that. It kinda had to be though. Exposition is always a pain to write.

Kyu-kitsu-ne: Yeah he does. He's been watching Harry for years because he knew that Harry would be important so he saw pretty much everything that happened in third year.

Guest(rion): Thank you! That makes me so happy!

Guest(she-who-must-not-be-named): Oh, wow That's beyond flattering. These two worlds have been unbelievably easy to pull together. I'm so glad that you're enjoying it!

Carolyn: Thank you. It really has been fun to bring it all together, especially since Merlin is such an important person in the wizarding world. I've already written the reveal. It's going to be epic. Yeah…updating soon…that didn't exactly happen, did it?

Funny: That is coming, believe you me. At this point, however, he hasn't actually spent that much time with the trio. He hasn't really been around anyone who would say things like that yet. But he will be *smirks evilly*

Amity: Thank you! I've tried to keep everyone in character and I completely agree with you. Ron doesn't get enough slack. He's a good friend, just insecure and that's hard on him. Just as hard as it for Harry with the kind of responsibility he has. I'm trying really had to make it bit easier for Harry while retaining some of the volatility that comes with sharing Voldemort's mind. I like Sirius too. We'll just have to see what happens. I'm not actually the one to come up with that. Several other Merlin authors do the same thing. You would not believe the amount of thought I've put into the reasoning behind why Merlin's still around and stuff like that. I'm a geek like that. Maybe not forever, but for a while yet, anyway.

Riley(again): Merlin doesn't show up on the Marauder's map for the same reason that the ministry can't track him. He's a being of the Old Religion. As Myrddin he's deliberately giving off the right kind of magic. He's tuned himself to the modern powers so that he can be recognized, otherwise it would be suspicious. That's why his name is flickering, not because he's immortal. The Map is picking up BOTH signatures, but because it was designed to look for and recognize regular modern magic that's the name that's visible. I'll probably work this explanation in near the end because I'm sure that's one of the questions someone will ask.

I would love to have Dragoon running around, but he's obviously the archetypal image of Merlin. I'm not sure there's a way to have Merlin become Dragoon without it hinting that he's actually Merlin. It would be awesome though.

Nobody: I've been saying this all along. It shocks me just how few good crossovers there are. I'm so glad that you're enjoying mine. That was one of the things I tried really hard for. I was just as disappointed as you because really the two fandoms are so compatible. That's actually been a bit difficult to do because I think, if it actually happened, Merlin would still be the eternal child, just a bit heavier. You can't live for more than a thousand years and do the things Merlin's done without becoming a bit more serious. I really like Snape, and the others you mentioned. I hate that they don't get more a mention. I almost did it, but I couldn't take away his dignity, lol. She's coming, a bit more slowly than I thought. Thank you so much for the marvelous review.

Ducky: Thank you! More is on the way.

Guest: As soon as possible, which is now considering this is part of the chpt, lol.

Aiedail: You did, lol. They'll get more suspicious. Sometimes cliffhangers are good. Annoying, but good.