A/N: First off, I'M SO SORRY! I promised to update even through my exams, but I underestimated how much of my time it would take. I apologise sincerely for the gap. I'd meant to get down to this story the last couple weekends, but this week I was taking a Brownie camp (where the kids taught me the addiction that is loom bands) and the weekend before it was Eurovision (every one of you from Europe can appreciate just how awful/amazing and unmissable it is). Anyway, I've been studying a lot of witch hunts and trials for my exams which has had a great effect on the way I'm writing this story, and vice versa; I swear to God I almost wrote about the International Statute of Secrecy in my exam last week :O

Anyway, let the story (finally) continue! No more exams for me! :)

Harry felt like he was in some sort of dream. He was vaguely aware of being dragged out of class by an urgent Patronus from McGonagall and he and the others being Flooed away to Grimmauld Place to a confused and panicked jumble of Order members, DA, Aurors creating a ruckus as people jabbered and shouted over each other to be heard. Was this really happening?

"Kingsley!" McGonagall cried, immediately silencing everyone else in the room, with her sharp tone, her face unusually white. "Tell me it isn't true. Tell me that this hasn't happened."

"Oh, it's happened," Kingsley said, his voice a near growl. "Believe me."

"But how?"

"How did this happen?"

"It's been five hours now since it happened," said Kingsley, talking over the clamouring crowd. "Liberators Apparated into the centre of each of the UK's capital cities, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff ad Belfast, and displayed their magic in front of hundreds of Muggles. And in each of these areas it just so happens there were Muggles from television stations broadcasting live to the nation. The images are now all over Muggle Britain. There are also unconfirmed reports of similar incidents in Dublin, Paris and Berlin. To go back now, would involve Obliviating millions of Muggles across all of Europe."

Everyone stared at him, their eyes wide in horror. Harry felt a strange sort of rushing in his ears as he tried to comprehend this. He'd felt it, earlier on, a great feeling of dread inside of him that had suddenly flared up so painfully that he had cried out during lunch at Hogwarts. But he had never suspected this for a moment.

McGonagall sank into a chair. "But why?" she asked faintly. "We were discussing their demands, we weren't being unreasonable. Why did they do this?"

"Because they had the perfect opportunity," said Kingsley. "The Muggle government is in the middle of transition, they've got a Prime Minister who hasn't even been in office twenty four hours."

"How are the Muggles reacting?" Mr Weasley asked.

"How do you think?" Tonks asked, looking weary, her hair mouse brown. "There's mass panic everywhere. There's riots and looting in London, people running about on the streets in a sort of delirium. They think we've declared war on them, and who can blame them after what the Liberators did?"

"What about the Muggle government?" asked Remus. "What are they doing?"

"They've imposed martial law," said Kingsley. "They've got police and army members taking control of all major cities. They think we're terrorists of some sort."

"And how are we supposed to stop this?" Hermione asked. "What can we do to fix it?"

"I don't know," said Kingsley, and for a moment, instead of the strong man Harry had come to regard him, he looked simply lost. "I'm going to have to try and meet with the Muggle Prime Minister, I just stopped by here to fill you all in quickly. But he'll be surrounded with security men with guns, and they'll probably see me as a threat the moment I try and Apparate in. There may be just no reasoning with him. Not under these circumstances."

"I'll help," said Merlin, who had just walked through the door with Fred, George and Malfoy. Each of them looked distinctly worse for wear.

"Where have you been?" asked Kingsley, and his voice was hard.

"We were in Trafalgar Square when it all kicked off," said Fred. "Total lunatics! Set fire to Nelson's Column and then set a bunch of giant lion statues on them! No wonder the Muggles are terrified!"

"I'll come with you," said Merlin, ignoring Fred and looking at Kingsley.

"I think they may have had enough shocks for one day without introducing them to Merlin."

"Then use a fake name!" said Merlin. "I've got more experience interacting with Muggles than all of you, especially Muggle leaders. I may be able to help."

"I'm not sure you're the best person for this," said Kingsley, standing up to leave. "You are biased after all."

"Biased?" asked Merlin.

"You wanted this to happen," said Kingsley, almost glaring at Merlin. "And now you're trying to fix it?"

"I never wanted this," said Merlin. "Not in this way. I need to help create peace before things get out of hand."

"You think peace can come of this?" Kingsley shouted.

"We need to try," said Merlin, and his voice was desperate. "You're right. I wanted the Muggles to find out, but I would never have done it this way. Let me help. This is what I was born for."

"You know, I find it suspicious that you happened to be there when all of this happened," said Kingsley. "Coincidence?"

Now it was Merlin's turn to look angry. "You think I was involved?"

"You've expressed support for Verax-"

Merlin's eyes seemed to flash gold. "Don't dare accuse me of helping that man," he said, his voice trembling. "I was ready to support him in accomplishing his goals, but he has betrayed any trust I had in him. This is not what I wanted."

The two seemed to stay glaring at each other for several minutes, before Kingsley eventually looked away. "You can come," he said. "But do not think for one second that I have forgotten. Remus, I can trust you to keep a cool temper. Come with us."

"Yeah, sending the Minister for Magic, Merlin and a werewolf to the Muggles is sure to ease their worries," said George, but everyone ignored him.

"They've called an emergency Cabinet meeting at Downing Street," said Kingsley, moving over to the fireplace. "We need to move fast. Merlin, you need to be prepared for any attack they may launch on us when we step out of the fireplace. This first meeting has to be a success. The fate of every witch or wizard on the planet is now resting with us."

Merlin and Remus nodded, and moved to stand beside Kingsley. A few moments and some Floo powder later, and they were gone.

A stunned silence was left behind them. No one knew what to do.

"There's no way we can go back into hiding now," said Neville. "We can't cover this up."

"No, we can't," agreed Charlie. "Even if we try to convince the Muggles it was all some great publicity stunt, too many people saw what really happened. There's too much evidence."

"What'll happen to us now?" asked Hermione, holding on to Ron's hand. "What will the Muggles do?"

Harry wished he knew.

Merlin had only a few seconds after emerging from the fireplace to assess the situation as best he could.

The new Muggle Prime Minister, John Rogers, had called members of the Cabinet to meet in Downing Street to discuss the new situation and new state of emergency. Unfortunately, with the new Prime Minister only having had time to announce four of the members of his new Cabinet, all the members of the previous Cabinet, plus several others including the previous Prime Minister had turned up. Old and new MPs had arrived, whether members of the old or new Cabinet or not and the room was abuzz with personal secretaries, leaders of the armed forces, police chiefs and a multitude of others. The room was a barely controlled chaos, which only worsened with the sudden appearance of Kingsley, Merlin and Remus.

Everyone leapt to their feet and yelled, the army officials withdrew guns, and security men from outside the room were called in, and the policemen brandished weapons. Merlin hastily constructed a shield (invisible, so as not to panic them further) in case of attack. Kingsley wasted no time.

"Do not fear me," he said, in his deep, calm voice, his face not betraying an inch of fear or panic. "I only wish to talk."

"T-Talk?" said the new Prime Minister, a tall, weedy looking man with white hair that looked as though he'd been running his hands through it constantly. He looked close to collapse. "B-but you-you're-"

"My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt," said Kingsley, keeping his voice carefully calm and controlled, despite the guns that were pointed at him. "I am the Minister for Magic."

The entire room stared and went silent.

"Minister for Magic?" the Prime Minister repeated faintly.

"Yes," said Kingsley. "I am sure you all know by now that the events that have been taking place all over the country have been the result of magic."

"Rubbish!" cried one of the Cabinet members. He was shaking his head furiously. "Magic isn't real. It's all a big trick! It's a terrorist trick."

"Was entering through your fireplace a trick?" Kingsley asked him. "You have seen the images. You know that what I say is true."

The Prime Minister was still gaping at Kingsley. "Magic?" he said. "You expect me to believe that?"

"He's telling the truth," piped up the previous Prime Minister, who was lurking in a corner, his head in his hands. "He's a wizard, he's proven it to me before. They have magic. He runs a parallel government that deals with all the magical people that live in Britain."

Now everyone was staring at him, and Merlin felt almost sorry for him.

"You knew?" yelled the previous Chancellor for the Exchequer. "You knew m-magic existed?"

The previous Prime Minister bowed his head. "Yes, I knew."

There was a massive uproar as everyone screamed at him at once.

"Tell me, how did you know?" the current Prime Minister yelled, at once silencing everyone else in the room. He seemed calmer, though still watched Kingsley and the others out of the corner of his eye. "How could you have known of the existence of these … people and not told the general public?"

"Would you have believed me?" the former Prime Minister said miserably. "I hardly ever saw him anyway. All I knew was that they existed, and that it was their job to keep themselves hidden from the rest of us. Then the last couple years everything went into chaos when their world went into a sort of civil war with some evil wizard killing wizards and normal people alike. Why do you think I've been having all these strange laws passed? Why do you think I declared a national holiday last year, and all of you thought I was losing it? The evil wizard they'd been fighting had been defeated."

"And you were happy just to let these people who were killing and fighting each other live amongst us? How could you have endangered us in this way?"

"He had no choice," said Kingsley interrupted, causing attention to divert back to him. "It has been the way for centuries. Every time a new Muggle (that is to say, non-magical) Prime Minister is elected, the current Minister for Magic introduces themselves to him, and informs him of our existence. We then only meet with him if there is an issue that affects both our worlds."

The entire room was now hanging on his every word. "Our worlds have co-existed for millennia," said Kingsley. "Witches, wizards and Muggles side-by-side. But your people, and mine also I am afraid, could not remain peaceful for long and both sides began to prosecute the other. And so, after a long period of prosecution and witch-hunts, in the year 1689, the magical government of this country and others signed the International Statute for Secrecy effectively sending us into hiding from all of you. We have been separate ever since."

"You mean you've lived alongside us all these years without letting us know?" said one of the Cabinet.

"All old Prime Ministers know about magic?"

"The witch-hunts killed actual witches?"

"There are magical people in other countries?"

"Silence!" said the Prime Minister, looking directly back at Kingsley, all fear now forgotten, a glimmer of anger in his eyes now. "And why have you now broken this Statute? Why attack us? Why declare war on us, especially when at this crucial moment?"

"It wasn't him," said Merlin, causing everyone to look at him as though just realising he was there. Kingsley nodded.

"This is my associate … Emrys," he said. He turned to his left. "And this is Remus Lupin. Both are close persona l advisors. They speak with my authority."

"Kingsley didn't declare war on you," said Merlin. "It was a group called the Liberators who did these things. They have been campaigning for an end to the International Statute for Secrecy. They claimed not to want the separation of our two peoples any longer and they were frustrated by our attempts to solve the matter diplomatically and so took matters into their own hands. They are not affiliated with the Ministry. I suppose you could call them terrorists; they do not have our backing. They are as much our enemy as they are yours."

"And you expect us to believe that?" the Prime Minister said, whose eyes seemed to be bulging. "Why should we? How do we know you do not support them? How can we trust people who have lied and concealed themselves from us for so long?"

Merlin inwardly winced; this was exactly the issue that had plagued him in Camelot- how to tell Arthur he was a sorcerer without Arthur being angry and unable to trust him again.

"We went into hiding to protect both our people and yours from hatred and prosecution," said Merlin. "As many Muggles as wizards were killed during the witch-hunts. It was … necessary to go into hiding for the sake of both peoples."

"And how exactly have you influenced us in all this time?" a woman asked angrily. "If you've got such influence over Prime Ministers-" here she shot a dirty look at the other Prime Minister who had his hands over his face-" just how much have you interfered. How much power have you held over us? How dare you think you can control us!"

"We have never controlled you," said Merlin. "We do not interfere with your government. All we do is liaise with the Prime Minister of the day, to ensure he is kept informed to the status of our people so as to not endanger his own."

"And how are we supposed to believe that?" she said, glaring at Merlin. "How can we believe anything that comes out of your mouth? Your people have been hiding amongst ours for centuries."

"You have no choice but to believe us," said Kingsley. "Wizardkind have been almost entirely separated from Muggles for centuries, and we have no interest in interfering with your government, unless it is to ensure the security of our own. Hiding from your people gives us no pleasure, but, as Emrys says, it was necessary." Here he shot a curious look at Merlin, but said nothing.

"You have attacked us!" said a man in a military uniform.

"We have not," said Kingsley. "We are perfectly willing to work with you in dealing with this threat; they are criminals in our eyes as well as yours."

"And how do you expect to do that?" said the woman from before. "The country is in chaos. There's looting and rioting in all the major cities, government buildings are being stormed, people are in a panic."

"I am well aware of the severity," said Kingsley. "There has never been a breach this widespread before. But we must work together to deal with it." Here he cast his eyes around the room, drawing everyone in with his words. "There is chaos in both our worlds. The only way we can combat it is if we work together in a way our two races have not done in centuries. That is the only way peace can be brought about."

"You expect peace to come from the people's Prime Minister working with those terrorists who attacked them?" the Prime Minister asked, his eyes hard.

"We did not attack you-"

"So you say, yet I am not sure whether to believe you," said the Prime Minister, looking at his fellow politicians. "How are we supposed to know that you mean us no harm? We have all seen what your people are capable of doing. They could easily take control of the entire country and enslave us all with their unnatural abilities. How are we supposed to know that by working with you we can end this violence? Perhaps you are just trying to infiltrate our government?"

"We are not," said Remus. "Believe me, if we wanted to take over Muggles, we could do it without you even realising. You must believe us when we say we mean no harm to Muggles. My own mother was one."

"As was mine," said Merlin, nodding. "Our races are not so separate as you seem to think. Keeping you all in ignorance is something I have long been uncomfortable with, as have many others. Too long have our people treated yours with condescension and arrogance. But we have never meant you harm, and now we want to work together to end that ignorance, end the fear between both our people and solve this."

"You mean normal people can have magical children?"

"Yes," said one of the politicians, who alone looked calm, though rather pale. "My … my daughter has magic. She goes to their magical school."

The Cabinet turned to look at him, their mouths dropping open.

"I thought she went to a private boarding school in France?" said one of the others.

The man shook his head. "No. She's always had magic, she was always doing weird things, but we never knew what it was until someone from the school came to talk to us about it. I – I don't understand magic much, but she loves it, she loves that whole world. I don't believe there's anything wrong with it. True, they shouldn't have lied to us about it, but magic itself isn't something evil or untrustworthy."

"Exactly," said Remus, smiling at the man, who seemed very uncomfortable. "Please, you must all see sense in this. We can help you end this chaos, and we can work together to reintegrate our two societies without bloodshed. If you don't accept our help, who knows what could happen?"

"Is that a threat?" asked the Prime Minister angrily.

"No," said Kingsley. "A warning that your people and mine could very easily resort to the same bloody warfare that existed in the seventeenth century unless we take steps to prevent it, together."

The Prime Minister still looked angry, but some of the others looked afraid. They were looking between Kingsley and the Prime Minister uncertainly.

"You-" began a younger member of the Cabinet. "you said this was an International Statute of Secrecy?"

"Yes," said Kingsley heavily. "This problem will not be unique to Britain, I assure you. The violence could be worldwide. I cannot prevent what will happen in other countries, but I can help what will happen here. Let us prove to the rest of the world that we can work together to achieve peace. They will follow suit. Do not pass up this opportunity."

"An opportunity to work with the snakes that have been hiding from us in full view?" the Prime Minister asked. "Why should we do that? Why should we work with people who practice Satanic rites and use unholy spells to control others?"

Merlin felt a chill go through him as he heard these words, words he had not heard from the lips of a Muggle in centuries.

Kingsley however, did not betray a flicker or emotion. "You do not understand us, Prime Minister," he said. "That is understandable. Let us help you restore peace on your streets, and then you must give us the opportunity to fully explain ourselves to the Muggle population. With understanding comes acceptance."

The Prime Minister looked ready to object, but the others were buzzing with conversation. The guns pointed at them seemed to lower slightly. Merlin was thrilled to see some of them looking thoughtful, and even a few nods.

"It makes sense," said one of the previous Cabinet members.

"Yes," said another. "We have to let people know the truth about what's been going on. They'll just be more afraid if we hide things from them."

"Give him a chance."

The Prime Minister seemed to glare at all those who had spoken before turning back to Kingsley.

"Very well," he said, though his eyes were cold. "I will … compromise. You control your people, and I shall attempt to restore order amongst my own. I do not want your … witches interfering whatsoever in our affairs. Then, in three days time, I'll call a meeting in the House of Commons with the new parliament. You will be there, along with seven representatives, and then we shall talk, and every second of it shall be broadcast live to the general public. You shall explain all that you have done to our people without their knowledge. Then, I shall decide whether to work with you, or whether to declare a war against the people who have manipulated us for so long." He took a step closer to Kingsley. "Until then, I am treating you as leader of a foreign government, Mr Shacklebolt. Your people have no rights as British citizens until we say so. You are intruders and infiltrators, understood?"

"Intruders?" objected Merlin angrily. "We've been here as long as you have!"

Kingsley held up a hand to silence Merlin. "It is understood," he said, though his jaw tightened as he did so. "Hopefully you shall see sense, Prime Minister, when the time comes. We must make an alliance, or we shall all be destroyed."

The Prime Minister seemed to glare at Kingsley again. "I pray that I shall have the strength to defend the British people, regardless of which option I choose," he said. "The righteous shall always triumph, and so far, a people who have lied, deceived, manipulated and coerced others for three centuries as well as practicing evil arts does not appear so very righteous to me."

"In three days time then," said Kingsley, bowing his head, and he turned to head back to the fireplace. Remus followed him, but Merlin paused for a second, looking at the faces before him, a mixture of anger, betrayal, curiosity, hate, and above all, fear.

He turned towards the fireplace, an awful feeling of dread settling in his stomach, so strong it made him feel sick. The last time he had felt it this strong had been the day that Arthur was killed, day the people had once again turned against magic. It was the feeling of knowing something awful was about to happen, something good was about to be destroyed yet knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it.

He only hoped this time around, things could be fixed.

"So, what do you think our chances are?" McGonagall asked Kingsley, Merlin and Remus when they returned. Harry sat up, eager.

Kingsley didn't say a word, resting his chin on his fingertips after settling himself in a chair.

"It's a pretty messy affair," said Remus instead. "They don't trust us, and to be honest, they have no reason to. We're going to meet them in their parliament in three days time to discuss the issue. We have until then to try and restore some peace and build up an argument."

"And will we win?" asked Charlie. "Are they open to negotiation?"

"Some are," said Merlin, his face expressionless. "We have to reason with them."

"And what about Rogers?" said Kingsley, speaking now and looking directly at Merlin. "You heard the man. He detests us for hiding from him. You think he can be reasoned with?"

"We must try," insisted Merlin, staring back at him. "Everyone can be reasoned with."

"And what about King Uther?" said Kingsley. "He hated magic, he would have hated you for concealing it from him had he found out. Would you have been able to reason with him?"

Merlin tensed slightly. "Uther was a madman, and almost pure evil," he said. "He was blind to everything. And people nowadays are more enlightened. The British government are hardly about to try and execute us."

"Are you sure?" said Kingsley, leaning in. "Are they really more enlightened? Are any of us? Look at everything that's happened in the wizarding world alone in the last five years. How enlightened are we if such awful things could have happened? Muggles are no different. We may believe ourselves more enlightened, but are we really? Has human nature really changed that much?"

"I have to believe it has," said Merlin firmly. "I have to believe that they will listen to reason above their own base instincts of fear and aggression. If we don't believe that, we're destined to fail."

There was silence for a moment. Then, a witch whose name Harry didn't know but who he recognised from the newspapers as being the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister stepped forwards, almost timidly.

"Minister?" she said, waiting for him to stop looking at Merlin, to turn towards her. "We've been receiving a storm of owls and Floo messages, sir. From magical governments all over the world. Their ambassadors are causing uproar in the Ministry. They're blaming you for all of this. Most of them now no longer believe Merlin is who he says he is. They want answers. "

Kingsley nodded. "As I expected they would. Let the Head of Magical Cooperation deal with it. Tell him to let them all know that I have begun talks with the Muggle government and hope to reach a peace accord, and I suggest they all try similar tactics with their own governments. Let them know as well that I am taking steps to have these Liberators arrested and brought to justice. Send an owl to the International Confederation of Wizards as well."

She nodded, and left the room. Mr Weasley turned to Kingsley.

"You're bringing Verax in?"

"Yes," said Kingsley, and there was a flicker on anger in his eyes. "He was entitled to hold whatever opinions he chose, but acting on those opinions has broken several international laws and he must be held accountable. There is no doubt now that he is behind this. It has been his plan from the beginning. The attack in the park was just the beginning. I will have him dealt with."

His eyes were focused on Merlin the entire time, who was staring straight back at him.

"I had nothing to do with it," Merlin said to him. "I do not, and would never have condoned this action."

"You encouraged him," said Kingsley. "You wanted him to be successful."

"Not like this," said Merlin.

"But you still don't think it is a bad thing, do you?" asked Kingsley, tilting his head to one side. "I saw you in the meeting, telling the Muggles that we can all work together like the good old days, as if it would be that simple."

"What did you expect me to say? It's all going to turn out badly?" said Merlin.

"You don't seem upset that the Statute has been broken."

"I would never have broken it like this," said Merlin. "But you're right, no I'm not as devastated as all of you. We need to take this opportunity to make the most out of what has happened. It's not ideal circumstances, but we still have to try, and maybe eventually, everything will work out."

"Not ideal circumstances?" Kingsley asked, in disbelief. "The circumstances could not be worse!"

"As long as swift action is taken to prevent bloodshed, I sincerely believe that with the help of the Muggle government, we can succeed," said Merlin, trying to convince himself more than anything. "Rogers may be reluctant, but he is not in sole control of the country. We must use this meeting in three days to convince them of the truth, all of them, and then we can work on this."

"Rogers is more than reluctant," said Kingsley. "You heard him, he thinks magic is evil, a sin."

"That is because he does not understand-"

"You do not understand," said Kingsley rising to his feet. "Your stubbornness in not helping me stop Verax in his tracks has cost us dearly. You do not seem to understand how serious this is. What is at stake. What could happen if it all goes wrong!"

Merlin to leapt to his feet, glaring at Kingsley.

"Don't dare say that I do not understand!" he said, breathing heavily. "I understand more than you ever could. You're a mere child compared to me. You have no idea what I have seen over the years. You weren't there. You didn't stand helpless as people were led away to be executed. You didn't hear their dying screams, their pleas for mercy. You didn't have to walk past their rotting corpses on the gallows. You didn't have to hide your magic books and wand, your very identity underneath floorboards to stop them being seen by enemies, the people who were once your neighbours and your friends before they found out the truth. You didn't have to watch the fear in someone's eyes as a Muggle approached them with an axe. You didn't have to smell the stench of the burning flesh of a child tied to a stake."

He took a ragged breath here, his eyes wild with emotion. "I know perfectly well what is at stake here," he said, his voice quavering. "I have seen it. I understand better than any of you. But despite all of that, I will not give up hope. Hope was the only thing that kept me going through all of that, and I will trust to it now. When Arthur found out, I was terrified that he'd execute me, but I didn't give in to that fear, I didn't give up hope and I reasoned with him, helped him and the others (some of whom detested me more than Rogers does) see that I could be trusted again. No matter the fear, no matter the hatred, it can be overcome if we try hard enough. I won't give up, despite the risks."

"We don't have a choice anyway," said Mr Weasley, who interjected tentatively. "We are left with no option but to negotiate, we can't hide anymore, even if we wanted to. Verax has decided that for all of us."

"Yes, he has," said Kingsley, still looking at Merlin. "And I hope that Verax's actions have not doomed us all. I hope that the time is, as you say Merlin, right. Because if it isn't, Verax's actions may have doomed us all."

He and Merlin stared at each other for several minutes before Kingsley moved out from behind his chair.

"I must get back to the Ministry," said Kingsley, moving towards the fireplace. "I have to act before there are riots on Diagon Alley as well as Muggle London. I suggest you all get back to where you were and try and keep the peace as best you can."

And he vanished, leaving a very tense atmosphere behind him.

Harry wandered through Grimmauld Place many hours later, following his instincts, trying to find who he was looking for. He'd just returned from Hogwarts, where he and the others had had a rough time trying to convince the students there not to panic. Several Muggle-Born students had wanted to return home, but McGonagall had stopped them, claiming it may put them and their families in danger if they did.

He'd come back now, after he and the DA and McGonagall had restored as much peace as they could. His mind was racing, and he needed someone who help him sort it out, to answer his questions.

His instincts led him straight to the drawing room, and he walked straight in. Merlin was in there, curled up in a chair, as Harry had sensed, but he was surprised to find Luna sitting by him. Despite the bleak circumstances, she smiled at Harry when she noticed him.

"Hiya, Harry," she said. She looked at Merlin. "Aren't you going to say hi, Merlin?"

Merlin looked up at Harry, and Harry froze to see such conflict in his eyes. For the first time since Harry had known him, he actually looked young, he looked lost.

"You're here to see Merlin then?" said Luna brightly. "He isn't up for much talking."

"Tough," said Harry, moving to sit in a closer position. "I need to talk to you."

Merlin smiled weakly. "There's no more news, Harry," he said. "The Muggle army and police force are still out trying to restore calm, and the Aurors are still trying to round up the Liberators."

"Do you really believe you can do this?" asked Harry, searching Merlin's face for answers. "Tell me the truth. Do you really think you can create peace between Muggles and wizards?"

Merlin was silent for a long time, and didn't look Harry in the eyes. Eventually, he looked back up again.

"I meant what I said," he began. "We have to try and make the most of this opportunity. But … maybe Kingsley was right and this opportunity should never have arisen in the first place. Maybe they aren't ready, and I was just too foolishly optimistic." Then his expression hardened. "But I'm not giving up. I need to make this right. It's my job to do this. It can be done, I know it can."

Luna frowned, and placed her hand on his. "You don't need to do it on your own," she said softly. "How many times do we all have to tell you? We're all here to help you, stop taking it all on yourself. And make things up with Kingsley. You'll never succeed if the two of you are at odds."

"Exactly," said Harry. "Kingsley's good at his job. Stop arguing with him all the time."

"Kingsley doesn't understand," Merlin said. "He doesn't really believe this is possible. Why can't he see that? He became Minister when we were fighting a seemingly unwinnable war against Morgana and Voldemort. He didn't give up then, why is he so cynical now?"

"Because then we had an actual enemy," said Luna. "Someone to focus our efforts on. We knew who we were fighting. Now, we don't. We're fighting amongst ourselves, we're a fractured society trying to negotiate with an even more fractured society. Things aren't certain. It's not just our lives at stake, or our way of living, it's our very future, the peace of the entire world. It's harder to fight shadows of discontent and fear than it is to fight an army."

Merlin glanced at her briefly, before taking in a deep breath. "That's always how it has been. I've been fighting shadows all my life. Kingsley hasn't."

"Then help him understand how," urged Luna. "Don't forget your friendship over this."

"I can't forget my friendship of Muggles either," said Merlin. "I will never forget that. And he has to realise that. Until he does, we can't have peace."

Luna looked at Harry, and with a jolt, he saw despair in her normally serene eyes. Harry too felt a sense of despair, whether from the Old Religion, or his own mind, he could not tell.

He knew that this was a fragile path, perhaps more fragile than Merlin realised, and all he could sense of the future was darkness. He couldn't see the gleam of light Merlin obviously could.

Harry looked back at Merlin, seeing his determined, yet worried features and wondered. Did Merlin really see a gleam of light in the future?

Or did he just wish he did?

A/N: I'll update tomorrow or the day after to compensate for such a long gap. I swear! You can hunt me down if I don't ;)

I also apologise to not getting around to respondng to reviews. Thanks to everyone! :)