Chapter Five "Hogwarts"
Shirou made his way out of the train carriages and onto the train platform outside. Rin and Hermione followed closely, but their attention was wholly devoted to the passionate discussion between the two of them.
The eager or nervous crowd of students walked onto a train platform that was engulfed by the darkness of the night with very few sources of light, illuminating the train platform. Many of the crowd shivered in the cold night air, but Shirou didn't show any reaction as he had trained his body to resist the extremes of temperature like burns or freezes.
He cast a glance at Rin. It was no surprise that she wasn't affected at all by the cold night air. Rin had a habit of casting temperature control spells on her clothing. Shirou noticed the Hermione was shivering. He was able to come help Hermione out when Rin beat him to the punch. A grateful Hermione thanked Rin after she had casted a magic spell to heat Hermione up.
A lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Shirou heard a familiar voice.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. "C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" Slipping and stumbling, the first year students followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. "Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!"
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore.
Shirou looked at Rin. Experience had told him that it was better to let Rin take the lead when it they were tourists. His mind unconsciously recalled the times that she had been angry at him for ruining what she said was 'the tourist experience' when he was left in charge. He seemed to have made the right decision when Rin looked at him happily.
"We shall take that one!" Rin proclaimed loudly as she pointed at the first boat that lined lake.
The proclamation seemed to deter the other children. No one blocked Rin's way as she made her way towards the first boat or argue against her. Hermione was very confused by the scene as she followed behind Rin. Shirou rolled his eyes as he knew the reason why no one was contesting Rin. She had created a rather powerful Bounded Field around the first boat that made the boat seem unattractive target to the other child.
"Why are you doing something so childish…? It doesn't matter if we are in the first boat or last as we are going to view the same thing whatever boat we take…" Shirou sighed at Rin's actions.
"My age perfectly justifies my actions," Rin giggled.
Shirou was left speechless in how to respond. She was right as both of them were about eleven years old in this life. They were children and no one would bat an eye if they were to act childishly.
Hermione was the first to enter the boat as she was very curious girl. Rin was the next to enter and Shirou followed suit.
"Everyone in?" Hagrid shouted, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"
The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
"This is the last stretch before Hogwarts. I cannot wait to start learning magic!" Hermione chirped eagerly as she took in the sights.
Shirou and Rin smiled as they found Hermione's behavior adorable. They too soon started to enjoy the scenic view.
"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as the first boats reached the cliff.
The children all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.
Hagrid checked the boats as people climbed out of them.
The children clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak door.
Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.
The castle doors, thick enough to resist the smashing of battering rams, creaked open to reveal a tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Shirou knew that this individual was the one that strictly followed the rules and expected others to do so.
"The firs' years, McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here," said McGonagall as she turned to the children. "Follow me, First Years."
McGonagall pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big that the average house could be fit inside it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
The children followed McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."
That quickly got the crowd of children began to talk to each other before McGongall cleared her throat to gain their attention.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."
Her eyes lingered for on the crowd of students, making many uncomfortable.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
McGonagall left the chamber, and the students started to chat with each other immediately.
"What do you think of Hogwarts so far?" Shirou asked Rin.
"I was very impressed so far by what I have seen. Hogwarts so far certainly lives up to its reputation," Rin replied.
"Of course, you have to impressed!" Hermione spoke as she joined the conversation. "Hogwarts is one of the greatest educational institutions in the world."
Shirou turned to Rin. He was relatively new to the magical side of the new world he had reincarnated into. There was much he didn't know and Rin was a walking library that could answer his questions.
"Hermione is right. Hogwarts is amongst the world's best school for teaching magic." Rin conceded. "It has a long and distinguished history that dates back a millennium."
He was about to ask more when Shirou heard screams from behind him. Shirou looked around and saw that everyone else was anxious or terrified. The cause of the screams revealed to be twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing.
"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"
"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"
A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered.
"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?" A few people nodded mutely. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know."
"Move along now," said McGonagall in a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."
Shirou got into line that the students were forming. As soon as the line formed McGonagall led the children out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Shirou looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.
Shirou quickly looked down again as McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing.
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall, For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffis are true and unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
"This must be the famous Sorting Hat I have heard of," said Rin. "It supposed to be the one responsible for deciding what House that a student will stay during their educations at Hogwarts."
McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," said McGonagall. "Abbott, Hannah!"
What happened next were students being called up by alphabetic order of their surname, the students being Sorted into their Houses by the Sorting Hat and the Houses welcoming their new peer.
"Granger, Hermione!" McGonagall called out.
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. Unlike the other students that had their Houses announced immediately or after some careful deliberation, the Sorting Hat produced a never-seen reaction in Hogwarts' history.
"Dear Merlin!" The Sorting Hat screamed as if it was having a heart attack and it jumped into the air off Hermione's head.
What happened next shocked the audience. The Sorting Hat exploded. Next something came dropping down out from where the Sorting Hat had exploded and landed on Hermione's lap.
"FUUUUHHHHH!" A cute sound was emitted as the dropped creature jumped towards Hermione's face.
"Stop. Please stop." Hermione shouted as her face was being licked.
A cute looking animal was licking her face. It was a looked like a cross-between a dog, squirrel and rabbit. The large fluffy white ears of a rabbit. A large fluffy white tail of a squirrel. The general build of a dog.
Hello Mistress! I have been waiting a long time to meet you. I have waited since Master Arthur fall into eternal slumber and Mistress Merlin became trapped in the Tower of Avalon.
For a moment, Hermione thought she had imagined the voice in her mind. She looked in the eye of the cute animal. It's eye revealed one that didn't belong to an animal. Intelligence shone in it's eye. There was no way she was looking at a mere animal. It was clearly a magical animal with the amount of intelligence that shone in its eye, more so than any magical animal she had seen so far. And that said a lot when magical animals were several times more intelligent than their non-magical cousins. Hermione concluded that the animal in her hands was the source of the voice.
"What?" Hermione whispered. Her eyes widened. "Did I just hear right…?"
Hermione became lightheaded at the flood of alarming news that she had received. The confirmation that King Arthur was not dead, Merlin was still alive and trapped somewhere. Most importantly the word, "mistress," being associated with Merlin.
Mistress was a word traditionally reserved for two possible meanings. A woman that was a lover of a married man. The other was a woman that was someone's superior. Either meaning was a shocking revelation when Merlin was involved. None of the myths associated with Merlin portrayed him as a woman. Some myths told him as a wise old man. Others told him as a incredible powerful and skilled wizard. If the myths were proven wrong and Merlin was a woman there had been revelation like no other. Especially to Magical Britain, where Merlin was a historical figure of huge importance.
"Mistress Merlin? As in King Arthur's secret lover or your master?" Hermione asked.
Mistress Merlin was Master Arthur's lover and my master. She is also your ancestors.
"WHAT?!" Hermione shouted in disbelief.
Hermione wasn't the only one that was in shock. Shirou and Rin was also in a state of shock. Shirou as a Master of Chaldea and Rin as her time fused with Isthar or Ereshkigal, instantly recognized the cute animal in Hermione's hands. The last time that Shirou and Rin had seen Fou was at Solomon's Grand Time Temple where it sacrificed its life to resurrect Mashu.
What is Fou doing here?! Shirou and Rin thought in alarm.
There was another person in the room that became alarmed. It was Dumbledore, who had been watching the Sorting of the new first years. He stood up in shock as he recognized Fou, except not the identity of Fou that Dumbledore knew of was different from the one that Shirou and Rin knew of.
"What is Merlin's familiar, Cath Palug, doing here…?" Dumbledore asked himself in shock.
Dumbledore might have not spoken out aloud, but he might as well have. The moment Dumbledore's words were heard everyone in the room was shocked.
"Cath Palug! Merlin's familiar!" A wizard repeated in disbelief.
Soon many other wizard and witches made remarks echoing their shock. Yet no one refuted Dumbledore. He was a legend amongst the wizardkind. Whatever he said was taken seriously by wizards and witches. That was how much people in the wizarding world trusted in Dumbledore.
Only a few within the room realized at first but eventually anyone sensitive to magical energy detected it. Next to Hermione and Fou appeared a figure that was becoming more distinct. No one in the room besides Shirou, Rin and Fou realized the figure.
Fou got onto Hermione's shoulder and launched itself at the figure.
"Die, Merlin! Foooou!" Fou shouted as it spun around in the air to gather momentum and kicked its front leg at the figure's cheek.
The figure collapsed onto the floor and Fou started to slap the figure's face repeatedly.
"Y-Y-You feral beast!" The figure shouted out in a playful tone despite being slapped on the face continuously. "Have you forgotten the years that I took care of you? I never should have taken you in, you wicked beast! Cath Palug! How many paw lovers have you deceived with your cutness?!"
There had been a question in Shirou's and Rin's minds about the figure, but the figure's reaction quickly revealed that despite not being the same gender that the figure was really Merlin by her behavior. Merlin's interactions with Fou reminded them of a particular scene during the Babylon Singularity.
"Enough with that, Cath Palug," said Merlin as she picked up Fou and stood up.
The dust and disheveled appearance of Merlin and her behavior quickly ruined the awe-inspiring reputation that many associated with Merlin. It seemed Merlin was aware of this and with a quick wave of her hand her clothes and appearance underwent a transformation. She now looked like a flawless supermodel wearing impeccable magic robes.
"Are you really, Merlin?" Hermione asked in an uncertain tone.
"That is correct," Merlin nodded. "I didn't expect to have any still living descendants." She scrutinized Hermione. "You have untapped great potential. Much more than most of my descendants. I am so tempted to peer into the future to see what you are capable off…"
"Stop putting pressure on Hermione, Foooou!" Fou spoke in its usual cute voice.
"Oh, my you are right, Cath Palug…" Merlin agreed as she saw her descendant's reaction. "I see many questions to ask. Ask away."
"Is it true what Fou told me?" Hermione asked cautiously.
"Let's see… Cath Palug told you about me being King Arthur and I are still alive, that I was King Arthur's mistress and I am your ancestor. Is that correct?" Merlin asked. Hermione nodded. "Cath Palug never lied to you. It was all the truth. If you want to know all the details it will take a very long time to explain. Do you still want to hear?"
Hermione was about to open her mouth when she remembered that she was not the only one in the room with Merlin. She was within the Great Hall filled with hundreds of Hogwarts students and staff. It would be rude of her to keep Merlin to herself when everyone else in the room would be love to talk to Merlin.
"We don't have the time for such a long story…" Hermione smiled sadly as she really wished to hear all the juicy details.
"Time…" Merlin started to laugh. "Hermione we have all the time in the world. Did you not notice that time has stopped around us?"
"Time cannot be stopped…" Hermione replied unconsciously but soon she noticed that time did seem to have stopped. All that she saw was everything being frozen in place. "How? This should be impossible."
"You are right. Stopping time is impossible for me. Only if you possess a nearly limitless about of mana can you do that." Merlin agreed. "It seems like time has stopped for us, but in reality the flow of time inside the Bounded Field we are in has accelerated many times that of the outside world. An hour here will seem like a second outside."
Hermione's eyes glowed in amazement. Despite the shock of finding that Merlin was a woman contrary to the legends and was her ancestor, Merlin still lived up the reputation of being one of the greatest magic users to ever live. She doubted anyone alive right now, even Dumbledore, could manipulate time.
"The longest we can talk for is an hour. If I wasn't trapped in the Tower of Avalon and was here in my own body than we could talk for days without much time passing outside." Merlin sighed.
If anyone else had heard Merlin they would have likely thought she was bragging, but Hermione felt that Merlin was still hiding a great extent of her abilities.
"Wait…" Hermione became alarmed as she finally accepted that was a descendant of Merlin. "The legends say that you're half-Incubus. Since you're a woman does that mean you're half-Succubus, right? That means I am partially a succubus and need to have…!"
"My, my. You are too young to know and shouldn't even be thinking about that," said Merlin with a very interested smile. "You don't have to worry. Many generations have passed and without infusion of new succubae blood into your family your succubus blood has diluted to the point that your succubus ancestry is nonexistent. For all intents and purposes, you are pure human."
"That's a relief," Hermione sighed as she didn't have to deal with having traits associated with succubae. "How is King Arthur alive?"
"Your great (many times) grandfather and I am alive because…" Merlin started to tell the long tale.
The tale of action and intrigue lasted nearly an hour until Merlin's figure started to fade.
"Well I should have expected this…" Merlin spoke in a disappointed tone. "I would love to stay longer and talk to you, but the Tower of Avalon's restrictions are kicking in. Let's us meet another time. I will make special preparations for next time so we can talk longer and a special present that suits you, Hermione."
"Wait! There is so much I want to ask!" Hermione shouted as she reached for Merlin, but the legendary Mage of Flowers disappeared.
"Fou, there is always next time," said Fou. "Merlin just needs time to find an opportunity to talk to you again, Fou."
"I hope you are right," said Hermione as she picked Fou up. "There is so many questions I have."
Time reassumed and the audience that was looking at Merlin became surprised that she was no longer there. Merlin had disappeared and Hermione didn't seem to be the same place they had been looking at a second ago.
"Ahem!" Dumbledore coughed loudly, snapping the shocked audience out spellbound silence. "Today is a glorious day for Britain. We have learned that the great Merlin is still alive and well… Please allow us to welcome Miss Granger to Hogwarts!"
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