Hi everybody thanks for all the great reviews.

There are plan for Harry to become emancipated, but for the moment it isn't really one if his main concerns, so it probably won't be brought up in too much detail.

I know a lot of people have also been wondering about Remus and Sirius, they will be showing up, but no earlier than in the books. I'm actually still figuring where they will fit into the story.

Also to point out a few more facts about Harry's family disowning him, The way I'm basic the story, the magical laws are mostly bureaucratic, meaning that they were made so long ago and have been contested so many times that they don't actually favour who was right, but who has the most money and influence.

Some of the characters are starting to get a little flat as well, so in the next few chapters expect some more character development and possibly special abilities.

The Chronicles of Merlin: The Return

Chapter Eight

September 9th, Hogwarts, the Trophy Room…

It was almost midnight and Glory still hadn't showed up yet. Ginny was pacing nervously as Harry leaned patiently against the wall. He really didn't expect Glory to show up, the only reason that he was here was to make sure that Glory didn't get into any trouble.

"Ginny, it's passed midnight," Harry said as he glanced down at his watch. "If Glory was going to show up she would have been here already."

"Let's just wait a few minutes longer Harry," Ginny pleaded. She didn't want to be accused of being a coward.

"Ginny, its ten passed midnight already. This is starting to feel more and more like a trick." Harry pointed out. If there was one thing Glory was good at it was manipulating a situation.

Ginny didn't want to admit it but Harry was right. Staying out here was just dangerous. They could even get expelled if they were caught.

"Something's coming," Harry said suddenly as he felt another magical presence approaching.

"Is it Glory?" Ginny asked. She had learned the spell Harry taught her. She was ready.

"No." Harry said after he considered it for a moment. The magic this person had was stunted, weak, and mostly unfocussed. "We have to hide," Harry said as he pulled Ginny into a dark corner with him, just as the door opened.

"Sniff around my pet, are any students out of bed?" Filch asked as poked his head into the room after his cat.

Mrs. Norris prowled around the room, getting closer, and closer to Harry and Ginny. "Can't you use your magic to get us out of here?" Ginny whispered. She had seen Harry leave and enter warded room lots of times.

"Ginny whenever I shift out of one place, and go to another I create a burst of light." Harry whispered back. "In the dark it would be very easy to spot, and it wouldn't take much effort to figure out that it was me. I think we have to do this the normal way."

Ginny felt a wave of panic as Mrs. Norris got closer. If they were caught now they were done for. She looked to Harry to see if he had any ideas, and noticed that he had locked eyes with Mrs. Norris.

Mrs. Norris stopped in her tracks when she locked eyes with Harry. This was one of the few humans she liked. He fed her scraps of food when Filch wasn't looking. It didn't look like he wanted to be found, or his friend.

Mrs. Norris turned around and walked out of the room, leaving the two young wizards alone, as Filch followed her out.

"How did you do that Harry?" Ginny asked when she was sure it was safe to talk.

"Do what?" Harry asked as he peeked through the door to make sure Filch hadn't laid any traps to catch them.

"That thing with Filch's cat, it saw us but it didn't do anything." Ginny asked.

"That wasn't anything special Ginny. I always got along pretty well with Mrs. Norris." Harry said.

"Filch's cat likes you," Ginny accused. "That cat doesn't like anyone, it had to be magic."

"No Ginny," Harry said with a smile. "When I was growing up most of my friends were animals, mostly from the forest behind Potter manor. If you treat them with respect," Harry said before he was interrupted by Ginny.

"Yeah I know, they'll treat you with respect," Ginny said. Her mother had told her the same thing a few times.

"No," Harry said as they started going back towards the common rooms. "If you treat them with respect they might choose to treat you with respect. They're just like humans in that, they may be able to understand you some of the time, but that doesn't mean they'll do what you say as well."

"Then why does it listen to you Harry?" Ginny asked. "Why does it trust you, and no one else?"

"I don't know." Harry admitted. "Why do I trust you? Why do you trust me? How do I know that you would never turn against me?" Harry asked.

"I don't know," Ginny said as she thought about what Harry had said. Harry was right. The idea of him turning against her, or her turning against him had never crossed Ginny's mind, not once in the entire time she knew him. She may have been upset with him, but she could never outright turn against him.

"When you can figure that out you'll have your answer," Harry said. He knew that if he were to simply tell Ginny the answer it wouldn't mean quite as much as figuring it out on her own.

"Do you hear that?" Ginny asked suddenly. She wasn't sure but she could hear footsteps.

"Someone's coming," Harry agreed as he looked around for a place for them to hide.

They ducked into an alcove and watched as two people emerged from down the corridor.

It was Professor Snape and Professor Quirrel. It looked like they were arguing, and it was starting to get heated.

"What were you doing there Quirrel?" Snape hissed as he held him against the wall.

"J-just g-g-going for a w-walk," Quirrel stuttered.

"A little late for a walk isn't it." Snape growled. "I don't trust you Quirrel, and believe me. You do not want me as your enemy." He warned.

Snape stopped suddenly, and turned around quickly. It felt as if someone was watching him. He reached out quickly as if to grab something before turning to face Quirrel again.

Harry and Ginny stared at what Snape had done, and between each other at the odd scene.

"Is there someone else here, someone we don't know about?" Ginny asked.

"I can't tell for sure," Harry said as he looked around the room carefully. "There's too much background magic inside Hogwarts to be able to detect everything, but from the way Snape acted there might be."

Snape and Quirrel argued a little more before they left, and Ginny breathed a sigh of relief. This was the second time that they had come close to being caught.

"I'm starting to think this wasn't such a good idea Harry," Ginny admitted. Most of her anger had disappeared after Glory hadn't shown up.

"Then we should get back to the common rooms," Harry agreed as they once again started moving.

"Run," Harry whispered suddenly as he took Ginny's hand and bolted down the corridor.

"What is it? What's going on Harry?" Ginny asked as she struggled to keep up with him.

"Filch, and there isn't anywhere to hide this time," Harry said as he led Ginny along the twists and turns of the castle.

Ginny stole a glance behind her as they ran, and sure enough Filch was hot on their heels.

"Stop," Filch shouted. "Students out of bed!" He shouted as he chased after them. "Students out of bed," he shouted again to scare them. It was dark so he couldn't see who they were, but he would catch them eventually.

Harry and Ginny rounded a corner quickly and took a running leap onto the stairs before they began to move.

"Alohamora," Harry said as he pulled out his wand and unlocked the door. They closed it just in time for Filch to run down the stairs leading to the first floor, thinking that was where they had gone.

"That was close." Ginny whispered before turning around to look at the room they were in.

"It isn't over yet," Harry whispered back as he looked at what else was in the room with them.

"What are you…" the words died on Ginny's lips as she looked behind her to see what Harry was talking about.

In front of them was a giant three headed dog, it was asleep, but it didn't look like it would be for long.

"What are we going to do Harry?" Ginny whispered as her eyes bugged out.

Harry pushed Ginny behind her as he stared up at the giant dog. "It's still asleep. We just have to wait a few minutes until Filch is gone." Harry said, never taking his eyes off the dog.

Ginny could have almost cursed their luck as they staircase reconnected to the third floor with a giant thud, nothing seemed to be going right that night.

The giant dog raised its head looking at the two new occupants of its room. He didn't know them, he was supposed to attack. That was what he was taught to do, but for some reason he couldn't.

The one in front, he smelled different from the other that came here. He wasn't afraid like all the others. He didn't want to hurt this one.

Harry locked eyes with the enormous three-headed dog. He could see the range of emotions coming from all three heads. Uncertainty, confusion, even anger, before it finally decided on one.

The middle head of the dog bent down and tapped its nose to Harry's chest as if to ask him what he was doing here.

Harry patted the nose of dog, as if to tell it we're not here to cause trouble.

Ginny was amazed by what she saw. As impressed as she was by how Harry handled Filch's cat, it was nothing compared to this. Harry may not call it magic, but from where she was standing that was the way it looked to her.

"I think it's safe to leave now," Harry whispered as he turned to face Ginny again.

The dog whimpered as the nice human opened the door and the girl left. He was starting to like the human. It wasn't like all the other ones he had met.

"It's okay," Harry whispered to the dog as he patted it on the nose one last time. "I promise I'll come back to see you again." He said as he left the room with Ginny.

"Are you sure that wasn't magic Harry?" Ginny asked again, when they reached the common room. It certainly looked that way to her.

"Yes Ginny, I'm sure that it wasn't magic." Harry said with a tired smile.

"Then what? I have a hard time believing that it was just nothing." Ginny demanded.

"It's a bit of long story Ginny," Harry yawned. "I'll tell you and the others tomorrow, along with what happened tonight." He promised as he made his way to his bed room.

September 10th, Hogwarts, the Great Hall…

Harry sat down at the table beside Ginny with a tired yawn. It had been a longer night than he had been expecting, but at least they had gotten some ideas about what was stolen from Gringolts, and a rough idea of where it could be.

"What happened to you two?" Hermione asked as she walked over to them.

"It's a long story," Ginny said with a yawn.

"Did you two get any sleep last night?" Hermione asked curiously as she noticed the tired looks on both their faces.

"Not much," Harry admitted as he had some of his breakfast.

Hermione glanced around the room, looking for the Gryffindor table. Glory was there, and she seemed to be in a bad mood along with Lavender Brown and Seamus Finnigan.

"Let me guess, this has something to do with Glory," Hermione said as she noticed the angry glare Glory had directed towards Ginny and Harry.

"She challenged me to a duel, and she never showed up." Ginny said as she glared right back at Glory.

"When did you have a duel?" Hermione asked curiously. As far as she knew students couldn't just duel each other without the teachers stepping in.

"It was supposed to be at midnight last night," Ginny grumbled. "Glory tricked me, Harry and I waited around the trophy until Filch came looking for us. She probably had it set up from the very beginning." Ginny realized.

"You were wandering around after curfew?" Hermione whispered in alarm. "That could have gotten you as well as Harry expelled." She scolded.

"It's alright Hermione," Harry said calmly. "If it hadn't happened we wouldn't have found out what we did last night."

"That's no excuse Harry you shouldn't have broken the rules." Hermione insisted.

"It was worth the risk." Ginny insisted.

"What did you find out about?" Hermione asked curiously, she may not have liked the fact that Harry and Ginny had broken rules, but she was also curious about what happened last night.

"We found a few more clues about what the headmaster is hiding on the third floor corridor." Harry explained. "We can all meet in the library today after classes, and we'll tell you all about it." Harry promised.

Glory glared at Harry and his friends as she listened in on their conversation. He was trying to steal her fame again, she just knew it.

If Harry was going to be in the library after classes then so was she. If she could listen in on what they had found out maybe she could figure it out before them, and she would be the hero again, not Harry pretending to be Merlin.

"What is it?" Seamus asked as he watched Glory glare at Harry.

"Harry's up to something, I just know it." Glory said with determination.

"Why don't we spy on them with your invisibility cloak again?" Lavender asked.

"That's exactly what we're going to do." Glory agreed.

September 10th, Hogwarts, the Library…

Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were all gathered around the table at the back of the library as Harry and Ginny explained what happened to them last night.

"It was the strangest thing," Ginny thought. "Snape was arguing with Quirrel, and then he suddenly stopped, turned around and tried to grab something behind him."

"Do you think that anyone else could have been there too Harry?" Ginny asked curiously. It had been bothering her for most of the day.

"There really isn't any way of being sure," Harry said. He had been wondering the same thing himself. "If it was any place other than Hogwarts I would have known for sure, but everything in this castle has magic. It makes all of them blend together."

"So you two actually faced down a giant three headed dog?" Draco asked skeptically.

"You don't believe them?" Ron asked.

"It isn't that I don't believe you guys but you have to admit it seems a little far fetched." Draco began. "A giant dog somehow inside the castle in a room too big for it to leave from, ignoring the fact about how it got in there in the first place, what possible reason could there be to keep one there?" He asked.

"It was guarding something," Harry remembered. "I saw that there was a trap door in front of it."

"That leads us to the strangest part," Ron picked up where Draco left off. "If the dog was guarding something then why didn't it attack Ginny and Harry? Isn't that what a guard dog is supposed to do?"

"I've been kind of wondering that myself," Ginny said as she looked at Harry as well.

Harry sighed as he thought about the question. His friends deserved an answer. He just didn't quite know how to bring it up.

"Remember what I told you Ginny, it wasn't magic, not really anyway," Harry said as he began his story.

June 12th, five years ago, Potter Forest…

A young Harry ran through the forest, away from his family. They had just killed his pet rat. Tears streamed down his face as he remembered his only friend, and the way his family had so callously and hurtfully killed it.

Harry didn't watch where he was going, and eventually found himself lost, further into the forest than he had ever been before. He started wondering about how he would get home, if he even wanted to go home again.

As the hours passed Harry found he was getting more and more lost. It was getting dark quickly, and he knew that he had to find a way out of the forest soon.

Just as Harry walked over a small hill he came face to face with a giant panther. It was easily twice as tall as he was. He knew that the panther was easily one of the most powerful predators in the forest.

He was frightened at first, as the panther began to circle him. It was like it was making a decision about him, but finally it made a snorting sound before it walked off.

Harry took a moment to realize that the panther wasn't going to hurt him before he started to wonder what exactly had happened to him.

Why hadn't the panther attacked? It was getting dark. It should have been hungry by now.

Harry watched it walk away before the panther stopped in the distance, turned its head to face him before nodding his head as if to tell Harry to follow.

Harry seeing no other option decided to follow the panther from a safe distance, which all things considered really wasn't that safe.

They entered a small clearing with a pond and a grove of fruit trees. The panther lay down in front of the pond, and waited patiently as Harry took deep mouthfuls of water.

After Harry finished with that he reached for one of the fruits in the tree and began to eat, also passing a couple to the panther that had led him here to begin with.

The next morning the panther led Harry back to the edge of the forest. Harry's family hadn't even noticed he was gone, and didn't even acknowledge him when he walked in.

Harry visited the forest many times after that, slowly learning about the different animals that lived there. Since he was given no attention from his real family he craved the attention he got from the forest animals.

He slowly learned their mannerisms, when they were happy, angry, tired, sleepy, and just about every other emotion they showed.

In time it turned into almost a language, the animals could understand him, and he could understand them. It was no where near as advanced as human speech, but it was still an impressive sight to see.

Over the years the other animals began to notice the familiar sight of the young boy laughing and running through the forest with them. After that he was simply thought of as just another animal in the forest.

September 10th, Hogwarts, the Great Hall…

"I told you it was magic," Ginny insisted.

"I don't think so Ginny," Hermione disagreed. "There have been some cases where people who spent a large amount of time around animals when they were young began to understand them from their mannerisms."

"So if you asked could you get passed this dog to the trap door?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea yet." Harry said. "If the Hogwarts Professors went to all the trouble of hiding something in Hogwarts then I don't think all they would use is a giant dog."

"Harry's right." Draco agreed. "Whatever they're hiding there is probably pretty safe for the time being. We should concentrate on who we think is trying to get whatever they're hiding." Draco suggested.

"So who do we think wants to get passed the dog?" Ron asked.

"Well Professor Snape was arguing with Professor Quirrel." Ginny said. "He threw him against the wall and threatened him." She remembered.

"I don't think that it's Snape." Draco defended immediately. "He is my head of house, if he was doing something wrong I would know about it."

Glory, Seamus, and Lavender watched as Harry and his friends discussed their options and what they had found out.

"They didn't know much more than we did," Glory whispered as the made their way to the door.

"Can you brother really talk to animals?" Lavender asked.

"He's just faking it." Glory hissed angrily. "He just wants everyone to think that he's special."

"Yeah, I haven't seen him ever do anything special," Seamus agreed. He was convinced that Harry was just faking it to get some attention.

"What do you think Harry?" Hermione asked for his opinion.

"I think that it's still too early to tell." Harry said. "For now I think that we should watch both Quirrel, and Snape."

"Harry I can vouch for Snape." Draco defended his head of house.

"I know Draco," Harry agreed. "They both know something about what's going on though. I'm not saying that Snape is behind any of this, but there's a good chance one of them could give us a few more clues about what has been hidden at Hogwarts, and more importantly who wants it."

Draco reluctantly agreed with Harry, he couldn't fault his friend's logic. Snape definitely knew something.

October 1st, Hogwarts, the Great Hall…

Harry had been waiting for a long time for the letter from Lucious. He had hoped that there would be some clue as to how Altia could have been bound to the lake. Whatever could have caused such a curse must have been extremely powerful magically.

Harry quickly opened the letter hoping that Lucious had some good news for him.

Dear Harry,

I have compiled as much information as possible

about your friend Altia. Unfortunately there are

very few texts were she is mentioned at all.

She was apparently cursed by the enemy of

Merlin, Morgan le Fay. She was bound to the

Lake, immortal, and to live for ever knowing that

She could never be with the man she loved.

Merlin at the time tried every curse, counter

Curse, enchantment, and spell that he could think

Of.

Unfortunately all of his efforts were in vain. The

Curse was too powerful even for him. Whatever

Morgan had done to create such powerful magic

eluded Merlin. In the final battle between Merlin

and Morgan, Morgan was defeated. The legends

however don't speak of Morgan being killed, just

never seen or heard from ever again. Merlin

passed on soon after his victory over Morgan,

prophesizing his own return.

Harry I do not have to tell you that this is a

difficult undertaking as well as a dangerous one.

Please be careful, and I hope that this information

is able to help you.

Lucious Malfoy.

Harry closed the letter with a sigh. He had hoped that Lucious would be able to find more information that that.

I suppose that the fact that Morgan was the one that cast the curse helps a little, Harry thought to himself.

"Is that the letter from my father?" Draco asked curiously as he sat beside Harry.

"Yes," Harry said as he passed it to Draco.

Draco quickly skimmed the letter before handing it back to Harry. "I'm sorry Harry, there just isn't that much information about Merlin, and it's mostly just legends."

"I know and considering the fact, your father was able to gather a lot of information." Harry thanked him.

"So what's the plan now?" Draco asked.

"The letter said that Morgan was able to cast a curse so powerful that Merlin couldn't undue it." Harry considered. "That tells us that she must have had an extremely powerful magical focus, perhaps a staff with some kind of focusing jewel."

"Are you planning on building a staff?" Hermione asked as she walked over with Ron.

"I think I'll have to." Harry admitted. "The only problem is finding something magically powerful enough to break the curse. If Merlin couldn't find it in his time, then it will be extremely difficult to find it in our time."

"It might actually be easier." Draco thought about it.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. If Merlin had such a difficult time with it how could they do it?

"Well we have to assume that Merlin exhausted every possibility in his time, and the things that were created before it." Draco continued. "We just have to look at what magical objects were created or discovered in the past few hundred years."

"Maybe you're right," Harry agreed. "There is only one branch of magic that could create a powerful magical object, Alchemy."

"So all we have to do is figure out who the most notable alchemists are, and what they created?" Ron asked as he caught on as well.

"Exactly," Harry agreed.

"I think that we should keep this quiet," Draco suggested as he gazed around the great hall. It probably wasn't wise to tell the whole school what they were planning to do.

To Be Continued…