Chapter 19: What's under your scarf?

It was hard for Merlin to believe that he had been at Hogwarts for eight weeks already. Days passed by quickly, and he got used to the student routine, taking advantage of the freedom that came from acting like a child. So he didn't stop himself from "accidentally" using his magic to make Draco Malfoy spill his drink on himself after he'd heard the boy call someone a Mudblood.

The hurtful derogatory slur was what blood purists called Muggleborns to imply their inferior status. Some believed that Muggleborns didn't deserve to be admitted to Hogwarts. Merlin wasn't surprised that the arrogant Malfoy kid belonged to that group.

He was starting to see a reason to do this act more often and attend a wizarding school every couple of centuries. A few years with the young generation was a great way to catch up on what the world had been up to. But if he did it again, he would start a little older. Eleven was too young.

Another weekend meant another opportunity to bump into Harry. Down in the common room, the trio was sitting in their usual spot by the fireplace, doing homework. It was a prime opportunity for some Harry-bonding.

"Hey, Hermione. Do you have some time right now?" Merlin asked from the stairs.

"Sure, Merlin. I'm helping Harry and Ron. I could tutor you at the same time."

Ron gave him a narrowed-eyed glare as he walked up. Merlin wasn't sure what the ginger had against him.

As luck had it, someone placed a rug on the floor like a trap, making Merlin trip and land on his face. Rugs were the biggest enemy of looking cool. He promptly got up and tried to act like nothing had happened. Harry got back to his parchment but was suppressing a smile.

Hermione made notes on the parchment she was working on and gave it to Ron. Almost every sentence on it was crossed out.

Ron grouched. "If it's this bad, why won't you just write it for me?"

"But how will you learn? You need to make an effort. I won't be taking your O.W.L.s for you, you know."

"I hate History of Magic," he grumbled and took out a new parchment.

"Alright," Hermione clapped her hands on her knees. "Merlin, what did you need help with? Last time we worked on the match spell. Have you made any progress on it?"

"Not much," he complained. "It's embarrassing that I'm so bad at it."

"We all had to start somewhere. Do you have your match with you?"

Merlin put his hand in his pocket and conjured a box of matches, which he put on the table.

"Great. As we tried before, picture a needle in your head and say the spell."

"Right." He got ready and pictured a match with a fluffy ending. "Acufor."

The match sprouted a fluffy tip,

Hermione made a "tsk" sound. "You said it wrong. It's Acufors, not Acufor."

"You're right." He took out another match and wondered what he should transfigure it into. He imagined a match with no red tip. "Acufors."

The match turned smooth as he wanted it to, and Hermione nodded in approval. "That's better, Merlin. Keep trying."

He wished he had come up with a different subject to be tutored in. There was a limit of how many shapes you can turn one object into before you start looking stupid. He had crossed the "stupid" line about twenty matches ago.

"I'm exhausted," Harry groaned, put down his quill, and leaned back in his armchair.

"Let me see it," Hermione took his parchment.

Merlin sighed in relief. He'd had enough of the blasted matchstick game and hoped he could strike up a conversation. "Rough practice today?"

"Wood doesn't let us take a break no matter the weather," Harry answered, and Merlin did a happy backflip in his mind that his prompt worked. "It was raining buckets the whole time. It's no fun to fly in that."

"Wood is bonkers," Ron lifted his head from his parchment. "How is the team looking? Do you think we have a chance?"

"We have a strong team, but the Slytherin brooms are so fast, we can't beat them by points."

"So it's all up to you to catch the Snitch fast?" Merlin asked.

Harry sighed. "That's the plan."

"That's a lot of pressure on one player."

"You haven't seen Harry in action yet," Ron said. "He can do it."

Despite Ron's confidence in him, Harry fidgeted nervously.

"Merlin, get back to work," Hermione chastised without looking up from Harry's parchment.

Merlin grudgingly picked up his wand and automatically said "Acufors" without thinking. The match turned into a shiny sharp needle.

Harry noticed and exclaimed, "Hey, you did it, kid."

Merlin tried to sound enthused, "Wow. Look at that," but inside he was cursing himself. He forgot to mess up the spell! Now, what was he going to do?

"Good job. I knew you could do it," Hermione encouraged and gave Harry his parchment. "This will pass, Harry."

Merlin hoped they wouldn't kick him out now that his tutoring was done for the day, so he sat quietly like a piece of furniture and looked around the common room. He noticed that Ginny Weasley was watching them all from a dark corner of the room. He waved to her, inviting her to come over, and like a startled animal, she ran out of her corner to the girl's dorms.

Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember the last time when he talked to her. Always sitting in that corner chair with her nose in a small notebook, writing away, she seemed different from the first impression he got of her. What changed?

"Why do you wear a scarf indoors?" Ron asked, snapping his thoughts away from Ginny.

Merlin looked down at his Gryffindor scarf. He was absentmindedly playing with its end the whole time. Why did it bother everyone so?

"Why not?" he said with a shrug.

"It's bloody weird, that is."

"Ron," Hermione scolded.

"He could be hiding something under it."

"Yes. I bet it's a…" Hermione gasped and put a hand to her mouth dramatically. "Oh, no. It could be a neck." Then, she looked down at the ginger. "Honestly, Ron."

"Ha-ha," Ron retorted sarcastically. "It's no joke. Remember Quirrell from last year? He wore a turban, and it was weird, right? And he was hiding You Know Who under it! How do we know that this one isn't hiding someone under that weird scarf?"

The conversation was taking an unexpected turn, and Merlin wasn't sure if he was supposed to laugh or explain himself.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Seriously? Merlin? This Merlin."

"He fits the profile!" Ron defended. "Quirrell was clumsy, timid, he stuttered, he made it look like he was a pathetic wizard that barely knew any magic." He pointed accusingly at Merlin. "This kid can't walk two feet without tripping, it took him nearly two months to learn the simplest spell, AND he's weird. There's something off about him. He's faking it all just like Quirrell was!"

Merlin felt his pulse speed up. He thought he was blending in well. Did he overdo his helpless child act? He wished his clumsiness was faked, but no amount of magic could cure his lack of coordination skills. But he could work on looking more normal, starting with resolving this ridiculous scarf mystery.

"Fine. I'll show you," he said.

The trio looked at him as if they had just realized that he was there. He unravelled his scarf and allowed Ron to inspect him though creepy-crawlies scampered under his skin the entire time his neck was naked. As soon as the ginger was satisfied, Merlin wrapped it back around his neck.

"You're being ridiculous, Ron," Hermione said. "You should apolo… AAAAH!" She jumped and crouched on top of the couch. "Control your rodent, Ron!"

Ron held out his hand close to the floor and a gray rat jumped onto it.

"Poor ugly Scabbers. Did mean Hermione frighten you?"

"Ah!" Ron flinched when the rat bit him. "I think he's hungry. Let me get him something."

"That thing only sleeps, eats, and poops," Hermione complained.

"Well…" Ron said as if he wanted to defend his rat but then shrugged. "It's not a lie," and he walked away.

Ron's suspicions gave Merlin a lot to think about. He was so busy watching others, he didn't notice that he was being watched too, and though the age he turned himself into affected his mood and reasoning, he still wasn't acting young enough.

Ron shortly came back without a rat. "What other homework do we have?"

Harry looked over his notes. "Defense Against the Dark Arts. I can't believe we have to write an essay about our hair care routines."

Ron grumbled. "Lockhart's a joke. We'll never learn anything useful with him."

"Why do you think Dumbledore hired him?"

Hermione dropped a heavy textbook on the table, getting all of their attention. "The fact that Professor Dumbledore hired him should clear out whatever doubts you have about his competency. He's a recipient of multiple awards, you know. We're lucky to have him as our teacher."

Merlin was with the boys on this issue. He did not believe any of Lockhart's wild heroic tales, and his lessons were pointless. But he needed Hermione's tutoring to get into their circle. If he upset her, she might quit, but if he didn't side with Harry, how would Harry know that Merlin was on his side? Oh, this was giving him a massive headache.

"How am I supposed to write an essay about what I can describe in one sentence?" Harry continued. "My hair care routine is washing my hair. There's nothing else to it."

"You might want to comb it from time to time," Hermione added.

Harry smoothed out his messy hair which was sticking up in all directions. It didn't help. "Fine. Two sentences. What else can I add in there?"

Merlin tried to find safe middle ground. "Regardless of what your actual routine is, Lockhart will give you a good grade if you express an opinion that matches his. Just flower it up, and he'll like it."

Hermione blinked at him, and he wondered if he went too far and offended her favorite teacher. But she smiled and said, "Well put."

"How in the bloody hell am I supposed to know what he thinks about it?" Ron asked, standing up.

Hermione's smile vanished. "There are two whole chapters about hair in his autobiography Magical Me, which you'd know if you had read it like you were supposed to!"

Merlin got between them. "If you were Lockhart, what would you say about hair care?"

Ron scratched his chin while thinking. "If I were Lockhart, I'd check myself in the mirror every step of the way,"

Harry added, "And choose the right size of hair curlers for the occasion."

"Oh, and ask my own paintings for validation."

"And offer hair care tips to everyone, especially those who don't want to hear it."

"Even a bald guy."

"Especially the bald guy."

"Honestly, you two are too childish! I'll see you when you grow up." Hermione hissed. "Good Night, Merlin."

She picked up her things and stormed out.

Not at all opposed to the childish banter, Merlin joined the boys in making fun of Lockhart, and in no time, they had enough material to write their essays. Baring his neck for them was worth the embarrassment if it meant that he was welcome to hang out with them now. He was almost in.

A/N: OMG. I'm back. Hello, fellow fanfic lovers. If you're a returning reader, WELCOME BACK. I love you. If you're a new reader, join The New Order of Merlin (The NOOM) fanclub and let's go.

Brief history. This book was previously published in full. One day I thought, I'm a much better writer now, let's polish it up. And... well... I did a lot more than polish it up. The beginning of the book got a total makeover. I cut and moved scenes around and that's why I had to unpublish it from ffdotnet. It got to 25k reads by then so it really hurt to lose all of those numbers. At least the comments remained. YOUR WORDS WILL LIVE FOREVER (or at least as long as ffdotnet lives). Then, I put it aside for a while to work on book 2, then I put that aside for a while to work on my original fiction. I've been writing this awesome paranormal novel about a 19-year old medium that mistakes ghosts for imaginary friends. I'm not ready to put it down, but I'm also feeling burned out, so I thought to do something fun for a while LIKE EDIT MY FAVORITE FANFIC. Yes, I find editing fun, though it's annoying how long it takes to edit a 250k word book (that's how long this book was initially, but as of right now, it's at least 13k shorter already. Serious editing skills right here. lol).

If you're impatient, you can check out the finished OLD version of this book on AO3 or Wattpad - same book name, same username Kamiccola. On AO3 the chapters are the same as here. On Wattpad, I split up the longer ones so the next one would be chapter 26. Wattpad also has my original fiction if you're interested.

NaNoWriMo is coming and that means that I'll be writing new content again. Can I finish book 2 this year? That would be beyond amazing, but we'll see.