Well, here it is. The next chapter! It turned out to be longer than i thought it wold be, and it did add a few more twists to the story.I also know that i re-arranged the chronology of the original story to fit with mine, especially in this chapter but trust me it was very important to the story.

The Chronicles of Merlin: The Return

Chapter Eleven

October 31st, Hogwarts, the Headmaster's Office…

Snape had just woken up and left Dumbledore's office, leaving him to fume about what had just happened.

'How dare that boy question my allegiances?' Albus fumes as he paced around the office. The boy was obviously opinionated and was definitely going to be a problem. There seemed to be no way to control him.

All of Albus's carefully laid out plans were beginning to unravel. The boy was an indefinably element, a wild card. There was no real way to predict what he would do, when he would do it, or even how he was going to do it.

Albus had always prided himself on being the chess master, carefully moving the pieces across the board. It had taken him years to move the pieces to where they were, sacrificing pieces for the greater good while maintaining his grandfatherly image.

For some reason Harry couldn't be controlled like the others. He wouldn't allow himself to be moved across the board like the others. In then end Albus suspected that Harry could possibly even overturn the chess board, destroying all of his plans.

Harry's friends would be no help either. He doubted very much any of them would be willing to tell him anything. Every day that he knew the boy there were more questions about him, and no answers.

The drastic change in his appearance had him at odds. How could it have happened? The boy was taller now. The weaker and frailer body replaced with a stronger, healthier one. The gray in his hair, and eyes were gone now. His hair was now streaked with green, and his eyes swirled in the same green color. He had never seen eyes like that. Could it be a charm, or perhaps some physical manifestation of his magic?

Dumbledore pondered what he could do about the boy? The boy was too powerful politically to be handled directly. Any attempt to discredit him in the eyes of the wizarding public was also dangerous. There was a good chance that it would fail, or even worse back fire on him, turning the people against him.

Suddenly an idea struck the headmaster. The boy had been disowned by his family! He was too young at the moment to claim emancipation, so he was in a sort of limbo under wizarding laws. He could not be considered either an adult or a child anymore.

This meant that until the age that Harry was a legal adult he could still be adopted into a wizarding family. He would then be forced under the law to listen to, and obey his knew guardian.

It was perfect, Harry would become a Dumbledore. After all who would deny Albus Dumbledore guardianship? He was the unofficial leader of the light. In fact it would only increase his popularity with the people. He could imagine the newspapers already, praising his kindness and generosity.

'Perhaps things were not as bad as I assumed.' Albus thought with a smile as a plan began to form in his mind about how he was going handle this.

November 1st, Hogwarts, the lake…

Harry breathed in the fresh air as he stood outside that morning. 'I should have done this a lot sooner.' Harry realized.

It was definitely a lot colder out now Harry realized. If it wasn't for a few well placed heating charms he would probably be freezing right now. In a few weeks he would have to find someplace inside the castle to exercise.

Harry started by running a few laps around the lake, noticing that he could only go twice around the lake before he was gasping for breath. He would really have to work at it to get into shape.

After that Harry started on some sit-ups, and pushups, and finally finished with a couple more laps around the lake.

Harry realized something as was finishing. He may have had the magical energy, and the knowledge, but he was missing the last of the three pillars to true power. His body was not strong enough to use his magic to its fullest potential regardless of the knowledge he had about magic. All three had to be in harmony with each other.

He also found that he was no where near as good with a sword that he remembered Merlin being. This was of course another reason he had to practice more. His mind could use a sword, but he needed to train his muscles to use a sword as well. He found that when he actually attempted the moves himself that they were sloppy at best.

It was still early when Harry made his way back to the Hufflepuff common room. Most of his house mates were probably only just waking up now.

Harry heard a soft meow, breaking his train of thought as he looked down to find Mrs. Norris rubbing against his leg.

""Hello there Mrs. Norris," Harry said with a smile as he reached down to pet the cat. "What have you been up to while I was away?"

Mrs. Norris leaned into Harry's touch. She had missed this boy. In fact he was the only child in this school that she actually liked.

"What are you doing to Mrs. Norris?" Filch demanded as he rounded the corner. Someone was always trying to do something to her, especially those blasted Weasley twins. They were always playing those pranks of theirs.

Harry looked up to see the caretaker approach. He had never met the man before but he did remember what others had said about him, that he was a squib. He couldn't perform magic, and that he took out his frustrations on the students.

"Mrs. Norris and I are good friends." Harry said as he petted the cat. "Aren't we Mrs. Norris?" Harry asked as the cat purred.

"What are you doing up so early?" Argus Filch asked. It was obvious to him that Mrs. Norris liked the boy, but he had on overly suspicious nature about everyone in the castle making it difficult for him to trust anyone.

"I was just getting some exercise," Harry said as he stood up.

"In this weather?" Argus asked sarcastically. It was freezing outside, who in their right mind would want to be exercising right now?

"I know," Harry said with a smile. "I'm going to have to find some place inside the castle soon."

"Alright go," Argus dismissed him. The boy wasn't doing anything that warranted any kind of punishment… yet.

Argus watched as the boy disappeared around a corner, before looking down at Mrs. Norris. "There's something strange about that boy."

Mrs. Norris didn't seem to have any kind of reaction as she followed the caretaker around the rest of the castle.

November 1st, Hogwarts, the library…

"Why again are we here exactly?" Ron asked. He really didn't like studying very much. He already made decent grades as it was anyway. Sure he didn't do as well as the rest of his friends at school, but he got by.

"You could do with some more studying," Hermione pointed out. "It never hurts to know the material ahead of time."

"What about you Harry?" Ron asked. "You don't need to be here at all. You already know more about magic that we could ever learn at Hogwarts. I recon if you showed us a few things we would do just fine."

What Ron said was true, Harry already had a very good understanding magic. He was at the top of the class, followed by Hermione, and Draco.

"I know old magic Ron." Harry explained. "I still have to learn modern magic. Some of the spells that have been invented in the last couple of hundred years are extremely useful."

"What's the difference between old magic, and modern magic?" Draco wondered.

"Power," Harry replied. "In some cases modern magic can produce the same result as old magic by only using a fraction of the power old magic would use. In a duel the amount of magic you use, and the way you use it are the difference between winning and loosing, life and death."

"That isn't why I'm here though." Harry said as he walked towards the bookshelf. "I just wanted to catch up on some history for the past few hundred years."

Harry found a book the seemed to go back a couple of hundred years and began to flip through it. His eyes widened as he looked over a few passages, as his skin began to pale.

"Is this true?" Harry demanded as he slammed the book down between Ron and Draco. He could believe it.

"What is it?" Draco asked as he looked over the page. "Yeah that happened a while ago. It was called the wizarding protection act." Draco wondered why Harry was so upset. The wizarding protection act was instituted a few hundred years ago. It basically gave wizards more control than the other species about how the magical world was run. The majority off the arguments against the wizarding protection act had been put to rest long before they had even been born.

"That's a strange thing to call it, because all I see here is laws forcing the subjugation of magical beings," Harry said angrily. He wasn't mad at Draco or Ron, but about the fact that such a thing could be made a law. When he lived with the Potter's he wasn't allowed to leave the manor very often so he was kept in the dark about wizarding customs, and the majority of wizarding history until he arrived at Hogwarts.

"What are you talking about Harry?" Hermione asked as she looked over the page as well, her face quickly turning into one of shock as well.

"The other races, the centaurs, the elves, dwarves, the goblins, even the dragons…" Harry trailed off he said in shock and pain. "So many of them, they aren't even considered people."

"What are you talking about Harry?" Ron asked. "It's been like that since as long as I can remember."

"I remember a time when we were allies, a time when we were friends, a time when they stood beside us, creating this world with us. They were robbed of their freedom, forced into lives of servitude and slavery for so long that some don't even remember freedom." Harry said as his magic began to flare outwards, his magic manifesting physically with his emotions.

"What is going on here?" Madam Pince demanded. She could literally hear the magic crackle as it manifested around Harry in a green light.

Harry regained control of himself, quickly stopping his display of magic. "I'm sorry… I just lost control for a minute." He said as he quickly left the library.

Ron, Hermione, and Draco stood there for a moment looking between each other wondering what to do, before quickly packing up their things and following Harry out of the library.

"Alright, what's going on Harry?" Hermione demanded. "What happened to you after you left?"

"I wish I could tell you." Harry replied honestly.

"You don't trust us?" Draco asked feeling a little hurt. He thought that Harry could trust him with anything.

"No, it isn't that." Harry said without hesitation. "I trust you all with my life, and my secrets. I'm just worried about everyone else.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked. Harry wasn't making any sense.

"I can't say anything here. Is there someplace we can go, a place that we can be sure no one can over here us?" Harry asked.

What is going on Harr-" Hermione began to say before she was interrupted by Ron.

"There is one place… I think." Ron interrupted. "Fred and George told me about it, but they might have just been teasing me, I'm not sure. They called it the room of requirements. It basically lets you have anything you want, and do anything you want as long as you don't take it out of the room."

"How did they find out about it?" Draco asked curiously.

"They showed me on this map they have, it's a magical map that shows them everything in the school. There's even a little dot to represent every person."

"Can you take us there now?" Harry asked. If the room was what Ron said it was then all he would have to do was want no one else to hear what he said and they wouldn't!

"Yeah I think I remember the way," Ron said as he led them to the school, going to the second floor.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Hermione asked. "We passed this corridor twice already."

"Yeah," Ron said as they passed the corridor for the third time, only this time instead of finding a wall they found a door. "I can't believe that Fred and George were telling the truth." He exclaimed.

When they stepped inside they found a room with a comfortable looking set of couches.

"What's going on Harry?" Draco asked after they all sat down.

"Have you ever heard of a type of magic that allows a person to invade the mind of another?" Harry asked.

Draco, Hermione, and Ron all shook their heads. They had no idea what Harry was talking about, not even the pure bloods of the group had heard of such a thing.

"I'm not surprised. The art of legemency isn't really well known, which is the main reason that there aren't really any laws about it." Harry explained.

"When I went to the meeting with the headmaster Professor Snape was there. When I wouldn't answer their questions about where I went he used legemency on me, or tried to at any rate. He didn't expect me to know occlumency, the defense for legemency." Harry explained.

"Are you saying that Professor Snape tried to invade your mind? Draco asked, not believing what Harry had said. He always thought that Snape was a good man. He always looked out for the Slytherins.

"When he attacked my mind, I entered his. I wanted to know why he was doing it in the first place. I found out that it was on the headmaster's orders. That's the reason I can't tell you anything. As soon as I do either Snape or the headmaster will enter your minds to retrieve the information." Harry finished.

"What if we were to learn occlumency?" Hermione asked. She hated the idea that someone could just enter her mind and read all of her private thoughts.

"I don't like the idea of someone getting in my head whenever they want much either." Ron agreed. He had never liked Snape, and now he had an even better reason not to.

"After that can you tell us what happened to you?" Hermione asked. "You just changes so much."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "Don't I look pretty much the same? All that changed was my eyes and my hair."

"What are you talking about Harry?" Ron asked. Could Harry really be that dense? "You're almost a foot taller now, and you're no where near as skinny as you used to be."

"Yeah Harry," Hermione agreed. "You really are quite dashing you know." She said with a smile.

Harry blushed slightly at the compliment as he ducked his head down. He wasn't used to getting compliments.

Ron and Draco chuckled as they saw Harry blush. Who would have that a simple compliment could make Harry blush like that? He acted like he'd never gotten a compliment before in his life.

November 2nd, Hogwarts, the room of requirements…

Harry walked into the room of requirements thinking about everything that had happened so far since his return. It seemed as if his friends were right, and he was starting to get more attention from the female half of the school.

It was a little odd, and very different from the attention that he had gotten used to so far from the rest of the students. Even some of the older year girls were looking at him now with smiles, and a few giggles when they thought he wasn't looking.

A running track appeared as Harry began his run, after a three laps around he stopped to catch his breath. It was a little further than last time. He was improving, slowly but surely.

After he had caught his breath he did forty push-ups, forty sit-ups, and finally forty crunches.

Harry could feel his muscles screaming as he finished the last crunch, and lay down on his back for a few minutes. Finally when he felt his muscles relax he sat back up again.

There were so many things that he missed since he was gone, so many things that still had to be done.

Freeing Altia was at the very top of his list, followed by creating a staff, and finally figuring out what exactly was in the third floor corridor.

The Cerberus guarding the trap door was obviously put in place to deter anyone wishing to find what was still hidden in the school somewhere, and there was more than likely other obstacles as well.

At first glance it seemed like an ideal way to protect whatever the professors were hiding in the school but, it all seemed too easy. The Cerberus may have been enough to scare off a few first and second years but anyone else with enough desire, or ingenuity would have little trouble.

It didn't make any sense. Whatever the professor's were trying to hide wasn't even hidden. Why would the headmaster make an announcement about not going to the third floor corridor? No one went up there normally anyway. If the headmaster hadn't said anything then it was more than likely no one would think to even go there.

November 2nd, Hogwarts, the Gryffindor common room…

Glory paced around the common room early in the morning. How could everything have gone so badly for her that night? Lavender and Seamus hadn't said a word to her on the way back to the common room.

She knew that they were thinking about what happened, how she begged Harry to save her. She winced even now at the memory. It had made her look weak, and it was in front of her friends as well.

There had to be something that she could do to fix things. She knew that besides the Weasley's she had enough support in Gryffindor, but she knew that it wasn't enough. It really bothered her that Harry was the one to point it out to her as well.

Glory knew that she had to do something big to win back the rest of the school. She had to find out what was hidden in the third floor corridor. Whatever it was, it was important. It had to be if it was kept in the safest place in all of Britain, Hogwarts.

The first thing that she had to do however was fix things with her friends. Last night was proof that she couldn't do this by herself, she needed help.

Glory sat down in the common room waiting for Seamus and Lavender.

It was a few minutes later that Lavender and Seamus came down and sat down beside Glory. A lot of what they had both believed about Glory had been shaken last night and they needed to know where they stood.

"I think I need to explain what happened last night." Glory started. She wasn't very good at apologizing, in fact this was the first time that she could remember she ever had to.

"Why did you say that we could beat the troll?" Seamus asked. "We were all afraid of the troll, if Harry and his friend hadn't saved us we would have died." It had been bothering him the whole night. Why would Glory try to take credit for that?

Glory had to stop for a moment, wondering how to respond to that. "We could have beaten that troll ourselves. Harry and his friend only beat us to it because they're a year ahead of us and know more spells."

"That's just it. They know more magic than us. We never should have gone after the troll it was a mistake to begin with." Lavender said.

"Don't you see?" Glory asked. "The reason we went down there wasn't because of the troll. A troll shouldn't have even been able to get into the dungeons. Someone had to have let it loose. It all has something to do with what's on the third floor corridor. I just don't know what yet."

"Then why don't we go to the professors?" Seamus suggested. "I'm sure that they'll know what to do."

"They'd never believe us." Glory said. "All we know is that the troll was let loose as some kind of distraction. They're probably going to just pat us on the head ant tell us that everything is well in hand. I can't do this on my own. I need you're help or something bad is going to happen. I can feel it."

Lavender and Seamus looked between each other, not sure what to do. If something bad was going to happen and they were the only ones that knew about it they had to do something. On the other hand they didn't really know enough magic on their own.

"I don't want anything bad to happen." Lavender said. "Why don't we tell Harry about it?" She suggested, "He might know what to do."

Glory had to think about what to say next. She knew that if she told Harry what she knew then he would take all the glory for himself. If that happened everyone would like Harry more, and she would loose a lot of the support that she still had left.

"NO, we have to prove to everyone that we're not just a bunch of kids. No one's going to take us seriously if we don't handle this ourselves." Glory finally said.

"You're right." Seamus agreed. He already knew what the other students would be thinking about them. They would say they were a bunch of kids that didn't know what they were doing. This could be the kind of thing that followed them all the way through Hogwarts.

Lavender still looked a little unconvinced but decided not to say anything.

November 2nd, Hogwarts, the edge of the forbidden forest…

Harry, Glory, Seamus, and Lavender followed Filch out of the school wondering what they were supposed to be doing during their detentions outside of the school.

"What are we doing out here?" Glory finally asked. "I thought we were having detention tonight."

"You are," Filch said coming to a stop outside of Hagrid's hut. "You're going into the forbidden forest with the groundskeeper," He said as he turned on his heel and quickly made his way back to the castle.

"Wait," Glory called. "What are we supposed to be doing?" She called, but Filch ignored her.

Harry knocked on the door to Hagrid's hut. He had only seen the groundskeeper on a few occasions, last year when he arrived at Hogwarts and during the Christmas feast that most of the students didn't stay for.

"Well hello there," Hagrid said jovially as he opened the door to his hut. "I got some good news for all of you. Since this isn't exactly a normal detention professor Dumbledore said that it would only have to be for one night."

"What exactly are we going to be doing?" Seamus asked. He didn't like this one bit. What could they be doing tonight that would amount to a week's worth of detentions?

"There's something in the forbidden forest killing unicorns by night." Hagrid explained. "We're going to find out what it is."

"WHAT?" Seamus, Lavender, and Glory asked at once. They couldn't believe that this was what they actually had to do for their detention. It was way too dangerous, the forbidden forest was forbidden for a reason.

"It's nothing for you to worry yourselves about," Hagrid said as he started off into the forest, followed by Harry and Fang.

Glory, Seamus, and Lavender reluctantly followed them into the forest. None of them wanted to be left alone outside either.

They had only walked into the forest for about ten minutes before Hagrid realized they weren't covering enough ground, especially in the dark.

"We have to split up," Hagrid said as he turned to face the students. "We're never going to find what's after the unicorns like this."

"But it's dangerous," Seamus said. "You can't make us go out there alone!" This was an opinion that was quickly shared by both Glory and Lavender.

"You'll be fine. There isn't anything for you to worry about." Hagrid repeated himself.

"Lavender, Ginny, you go that way." Hagrid said as he pointed to the right.

"Seamus, Harry, you come with me." Hagrid said as he started walking to the left.

"Wait, that isn't fair," Glory said. "There are three of you and only two of us."

Hagrid seemed to be thinking about it as well, wondering how he was going to make things even for them when Harry beat him to it. "It's alright. If you all go to the left and the right I'll keep going forward." Harry suggested.

"Are you sure Harry? It could be dangerous out there alone." Hagrid warned, as he felt his respect for the boy growing.

"I'll be fine, if I run into trouble I'll shoot off some red sparks with my wand." Harry reassured him. "I can cover more ground by myself anyway."

"Alright," Hagrid agreed reluctantly as they all split up.

"Come on Fang," Glory called. She didn't want to be alone in case they found whatever was killing the unicorns.

"Just so you know he's a bloody coward," Hagrid called out as he walked off, followed by Seamus. It annoyed him that Glory would take Fang instead of offering him to Harry.

Harry walked further into the forest with a small smile on his face. He had missed this. It had been so long since he'd been in a magical forest.

As Harry continued to walk through the forest he noticed a few of the animals looking at him curiously. It reminded him of the way the animals looked at him in the forest behind Potter Manor. They saw him as both a wizard and an animal of the forest.

Unfortunately none of the animals seemed to know anything about what was killing the unicorns. All they could tell him is that it was something dark, something evil, and that it moved like a shadow through the forest. That was why it was able to attack the unicorns. It appeared as nothing more than a shadow, the unicorns didn't know what happened until it was too late.

Harry was brought back to reality as he heard a scream. It was unmistakably the cry of a unicorn. He ran through the forest, following the cries of the unicorn, he might not be too late to save the unicorn.

Harry slowed down as he entered a clearing. He had found the unicorn, and what was killing them. Whatever it was, it was draped in black robes. Harry could see the unicorn blood dripping from its lips as the creature looked up at him.

Without wasting any time Harry sent a burst of blue magic flying at its face, blowing it back a good ten feet. "Whatever you are, I won't let you harm the unicorns any more." He said defiantly.

"And who are you to stop me boy?" The dark figure asked in a rasping voice as it stood up to face him.

"My name is Harry," Harry said simply as he charged his hands with raw magic, making them give off a green glow.

The figure looked startled at Harry's display of magic. It had obviously never seen magic used like that before, with obviously no wand.

Harry didn't hear what the dark figure said as it whipped out its wand and shot a burst of dark purple magic at him forcing Harry to dodge to the side.

Harry clapped his hands together, bringing them in front of him as he sent a blast of concentrated green magic at the dark figure.

The dark figure tried to dodge, but was obviously the weaker of the two because he couldn't get out of the way fast enough, and Harry's magic clipped his shoulder, cutting a deep gash in his shoulder.

Harry was surprised to see that a dark black liquid oozed out of the creatures shoulder instead of blood. It spoke of a massive amount of dark rituals that the creature preformed.

The creature seemed to realize this as well because it disappeared into the shadows, retreating away.

When Harry was sure that the creature was gone he quickly moved towards the fallen unicorn. There was still a chance that it could be saved.

Harry dropped to his knees, checking the unicorn for a pulse. He was surprised to find one, it was weak but it was there.

"Harry what's going on?" Hagrid asked as he appeared in the clearing, followed by Glory, Seamus, and Lavender.

"I wasn't fast enough to stop the creature." Harry called out. "The unicorn is still alive. I think I can still save it."

"Harry," Hagrid said as he knelt down beside him. "The unicorn lost a lot of blood. Even if you could stop the bleeding, it wouldn't be enough."

"No," Harry said adamantly. "I can still save it," He said as he dug deep down with his magic and extended it outwards towards the unicorn, covering it in a green glow. He knew that it was a magical creature and it would be much more difficult. He wouldn't just be healing its wounds. He would be transferring enough of his own magical energy to the unicorn to reinitialize its magic flow. If the magic didn't flow through the unicorn properly it would die.

For everyone that was watching, the magical energy that he was pouring into the unicorn was almost palatable. Beads of sweat poured down Harry's face as he had to strain himself to push enough of his own magic into the unicorn.

Finally when Harry felt the unicorn's internal magic begin to flow he pulled back his own magic as the magic that was bathing the clearing in light stopped abruptly and Harry collapsed to the ground beside the unicorn.

The unicorn got to its feet shakily as it looked down at the young human that just saved its life, as it nudged the human with its nose, trying to see if he was okay.

"Are you alright Harry?" Hagrid asked. He had never seen anything like it before. In his opinion Dumbledore would be hard pressed to top that.

"I'll be okay," Harry said tiredly as he patted the unicorn, lying on the ground. "That just took a lot out of me."

"How did you do that Harry?" Hagrid asked. A second year just shouldn't have that kind of power.

"Didn't Dumbledore tell you?" Harry asked as he slowly sat up. The entire school had been talking about the fact that he was the reincarnation of Merlin. How could the groundskeeper not know?

"Tell me what?" Hagrid asked in confusion.

"This summer, I found out that I was the reincarnation of Merlin," Harry said as he slowly got to his feet.

"You're Merlin incarnate?" Hagrid asked in shock. He had heard the legends as a child, that Merlin would return one day but he had never thought that it would be in his own life time. He wondered why the headmaster or any of the other teachers hadn't said anything to him.

The unicorn watched as the human spoke with the half giant. The boy had saved its life that it knew without question. This was the only human that had ever earned its respect.

The unicorn stomped its hoofs to get the boy's attention, as it created a small cut on its leg.

Harry looked over to the unicorn as it stomped its hoofs. Looking down he noticed that the unicorn's leg was bleeding. He knew that the unicorn had to have made the cut itself. He had already healed its wounds earlier.

It only meant one thing. The unicorn wanted to give him some of its blood. "Are you sure?" Harry asked softly. A unicorn giving its bloody freely was incredibly rare, and incredibly powerful, one hundred times more than if it was forcibly taken.

The unicorn nodded its head, urging Harry on.

Harry conjured a small vile, collecting just a few drops of blood, and watched as the unicorn healed itself before galloping off into the forest again.

"Do you know what you have there?" Hagrid asked in awe. He had never seen a unicorn give anything to anyone of its own free will before.

"Blood of a unicorn, freely given," Harry said as he closed the vile and put it in his pocket. It was arguably one of the most powerful magical substances in the world.

To Be Continued…