Professor Pendragon

As it turns out, Merlin should not have a wand, of any kind. They tended to explode in his hands. They had tried Alder, for non verbal spells as that seemed to be more his thing, they had tried Elder for the sheer strength of his magic after the Alder had splintered in his hand. Elder lit itself on fire and Olivander had actually laughed at that. Apparently he liked a challenge. Minerva and Remus had been less excited knowing this would be as non straight forward as everything with Merlin.

Cedar had sparked so badly when Merlin touched it that he had dropped it. Cherry had lit up gold so bright that they were all seeing spots for the next half hour. Unicorn hair cores all reacted with light, going bright or having a fog of darkness appear around it. Phoenix feathers would crack or splinter into smithereens. They only tried a couple of these. Dragon heartstring was the most successful, only trembling in his hands and not out right breaking or becoming impossible to hold.

“Well this is new!” Olivander exclaimed with excitement. “I’ve never found someone who never got accepted by a wand.”

The trio of professors stood side by side, Merlin in the middle, still where they were from hours ago. They had been there the whole day with the exception of when Olivander had Merlin walk through the rows of wands, seeing if any called out to him.

“I might just have to make a new wand just for you Professor!” Olivander had moved from his place in front of them to his desk, scribbling notes on a spare piece of paper. “It seemed like the dragon heartstring worked the best so I’ll experiment with that and you can come back to get it at winter break, until then you’ll just have to do without.”

“Make a wand?” Merlin asked, an idea coming to his mind. He knew why dragon heartstring worked the best. “Could the core be anything, you only use the three right?” Minerva gave him an odd look but didn’t say anything. “Could you make a core out of something else? I think it’ll work a little better for me.”

“Oh?” Olivander sounded perplexed, “What would that be?”

Merlin didn’t answer but reached for the necklace that he always had on and unclipped it from around his neck. On the fine chain made of old styled chainmail sat a golden wedding ring and a little jar. He unstrung the jar and put the necklace back on before handing the jar to Olivander.

“Dragon scales, from the two last great dragons. They’re rolled and in that jar. If you can use them great, if you can’t I want them back as intact as possible please. They’re rather dear to me but I do think they would work the best.”

Now all three were staring at him.

“Dragon scales from the last two great dragons? How did you get those?” he had gently pulled them out of the jar and they unrolled and unfolded without a crease on them. Probably magic if the small flash of gold that Remus saw in Merlin’s eyes were to go by. “Must have cost a fortune.” Olivander was looking at him expectantly.

“Uh.” right, he still wasn’t great with excuses. “They’ve been in my family for a while, my father’s line was one of dragonlords.”

“Elder was the best wood, that or I’d like to try Ebony. A strong willed wood for a strong willed core.” He smiled as he stored the scales carefully in between two panes of glass to keep safe till needed. “It will go perfectly or disastrous. What fun!” He stashed the scales in one of the many drawers under his desk and smiled at them happily. “I’ll send a letter and your wand when I’m done but It’ll definitely be finished by Christmas if you wish to drop by then during break. I bid you goodbye, I have a few people to attend to.”

While they had been in the shop all day they had seen a couple kids and parents glancing in the window, it seemed they weren’t the only ones doing some last minute school shopping.

“Ice cream?” Remus asked as they walked out of the shop and down the street.

“You’re such a child sometimes Remus.”

“Is that a no?”

“Absolutely not. I’ll take a ginger scoop in a bowl.”

“I’m getting it am I?”

“Yes, I know Merlin wants butterscotch.”

“How did you know that Minerva?”

“It’s what you always get.”

“You always get the same thing too.”

“Yes, because ginger is the best flavor.”

“It’s awful. Minerva.”

“I’m glad you think that Merlin. That just means there’s more for me.”

They got a few odd looks as they got their ice cream and left the alley. It wasn’t every day you saw your professors outside of school and definitely not arguing about ice cream flavors.

Harry wasn’t sure what to expect of this year. Last year there had been Sirius, the year before that had the chamber or secrets, and the first one had the sorcerer's stone. Now he was just wondering what would be wacky about this year. At least getting to school was smooth. He, accompanied by Ron and Hermione had met at the station and boarded the train together. No one had bothered them this time which was rather nice.

It seemed that the oddity wouldn’t wait. Sitting down at the Gryffindor table he spied a new professor at the long table behind the stand. Remus was still there from last year, the first defense teacher to stay over a year. Between him and McGonagall was a man he’d never seen and wasn’t sure was old enough to be a professor. He wore a red shirt with a blue scarf, a black cloak over it. He was laughing and it only made him look younger, he couldn’t be over 25. McGonagall laughed next to him and that was probably stranger than the actual stranger.

“Welcome to Hogwarts! I would like to say a few words before our sorting and feast. First, welcome Merlin Pendragon, our new History of Magic professor. He will be filling in the position of History of Magic Professor, it seems Binns realized he was dead. A couple things will change for the opening feast, Professor Pendragon will be sorted after the first years as he doesn’t have a house. He will also sit in for classes for the first week, those of you with him as a teacher will have that as an off block until classes resume.``

Why wasn’t the professor sorted? Why weren’t there classes? Hermione looked the most put out at this.

Dumbledor continued, “With that, let the sortings begin!”

The hat sang it's silly song for the year before the firsties started to approach. Quite a few went into Ravenclaw this year, Gryffindor had the second most, followed by Slytherin and Hufflepuff.

“Merlin Emrys Wyllt Ambrosia Pendragon.”

The professor glared lightly at the hat before sitting on the stool. Dumbledore was looking at the hat in confusion.

“Did you have to use my full name?” He asked as he heard the hat laughing in his mind. “You could have just used Merlin Pendragon like it was written on the sheet.”

“What? And let the great and powerful Merlin go unrecognized. I couldn’t do that, not to you, my great creator.”

“Yes. Unrecognized was the kind of the point. Just put me in a house please.”

“What house do you want? They may be based on other people but they are still part of you too.”

Merlin thought for a moment. “Put me in the house that will give me the opportunity to help Hogwarts the most. You know the house dynamics more than most and definitely more than me.”

“Slytherin!” The hat called to the school. The Slytherin table was in cheers but no one else clapped, but no one else booed like they did when the students got put there. Minerva and Remus had their jaws on the floor for a slip second before joining the clapping from the green table. Snape was just sneering at him. Seemed that he had a few stigmas to help break.

“You know,” Minerva began while he was eating his stew. “The original Merlin was Slytherin too. Seems fitting in a way.”

Merlin tried not to grimace at that, it seemed that history was wrong in many ways, and almost everything about him was wrong too. He’d never been to Hogwarts as a student.

“Not sure I think you’re a snake though Merlin. Doesn’t fit you at all.” Remus added through his half chewed roast.

“Chew your food Remus. You’re acting like you did as a student.”

“Absolutely! Have to keep you on your toes Minnie.” He turned back to Merlin. “Thought you’d be a Gryffindor through and through. Seem loyal and brave enough.”

“Gryffindor isn’t me. I’m not brave.” He couldn’t save his king. “I’m not chivalrous,” He’d blatantly ignored the city after Arthur's death until Gwen knocked sense back into him. “I’m not loyal.” He’d left Morgana to Camelot's beliefs on Magic. “If anything it makes sense that I’m a Slytherin. I’m cunning.” More so than he’d like to admit sometimes. “Ambitious” he’d gone from servant with magic to King of Camelot. “Rather clever if I say so myself and resourceful.” He’d always figured out how to fix the problem even if took some unique fiddling.

“That’s not true. You’re brave, no one stands up to Snape like you do. You are chivalrous, you always hold the door open for Minnie. You’re loyal. You’re still friends with us after all. That’s no easy task.”

Merlin laughed. “Alright. I have traits of all houses but they just aren't the most prevalent maybe.”

Minerva huffed a laugh at this. “I thought you’d be a Hufflepuff for sure. You cried the time you were trying to learn to fly on a broom and hit a bird.”

“I didn’t mean to hit the bird! It could have died, it’s pure chance that it managed to fly away. What if it did die but not just there?”

“You haven't been on a broom since, Merlin.” Remus argued lightly, it was rather funny when Merlin got this worked up.

“What if I hit another bird?!”

“You’re not going to hit another bird and we are going to get you on a broom again. I’m sure of it.”

“You just jinxed it, Remus. Now I’m definitely going to hit another bird.”

“Sush. Both of you and eat your food.” Minerva told them as she took a slice of cake off the platter in front of her.

“Yes mom.”

“Shut up Remus. I’m not your mother.”

“You’re the mom friend.” he shot back, pointing his spoon full of pudding at her accusingly.

“I repeat. Shut up and eat your food.”

They smirked and ate in silence that didn’t last more than a few moments.

“I still don’t understand how you like butterscotch Merlin. Are you like a secret grandpa or something?”

“Really Remus. Butterscotch is fine.'' She tried to defend Merlin.

“Says the one who likes ginger. Both of you are broken.”

“At least we’re not basic like Mr. ‘Vanilla with light chocolate syrup’ ”.

“Vanilla’s the best Merlin! How dare you say otherwise.”

“Basic.”

“Heathen.”

“Prat.”

“Who the hell still says ‘prat’? You really must be older than, what, 22 ish?”

“You’ll never know Remus. I have to have some secrets.”

“Secrets? You dodge every question about your past. You’re only secrets.”

Merlin feigned shock. “Me? Having secrets? Never. I’m an open book.”

Minerva laughed again. “I have a question?”

Merlin hummed as he took a bite of said butterscotch ice cream.

“Why did the hat take so long to sort you? Did you have a full conversation or something?”

Merlin shrugged, “Something like that.” he motioned towards the tables, “you’re both Gryffindors right? Can someone tell me why our houses hate each other? They’ve been sending glares back and forth all night.”

“And he changes the topic like a pro.” Remus narrated like a sports announcer. “Not really answering the question while moving to a seemingly related topic to take the attention off himself.”

“Prat.”

“Fine.” Remus smiled. He’d never actually force him to answer anything he didn’t want to but he’d sure make fun of him for it. “I’m not sure when it started but the Slythrein’s always hated the Gryffindors and the Gryffindors hated them right back. It probably started with a point competition and grew from there.”

“Heads up that it gets pretty bad in classes. I’m not sure why we still schedule them together with classes and the Hufflepuffs with Ravenclaws. Dumbledore is sure they will get along if we push them together but it just makes it worse.”

Merlin got a good example with this only the next day in Snape's potion class. He was being lenient with the Slytherin’s, letting them sabotage others potions and mess around but getting on the Gryffindors if they mixed up the potion steps. They lost points for answering questions right or for asking for clarification. He saw it in other classes with students messing each other up or even once when a white haired Slytherin tried to hex a fluffy haired Gryffindor.

Over the next week he learned a lot about the students. He learned that the Slytherin’s always had a brave face on but would see one or two running to the commons room with a red face surrounded by others. It seemed they would do almost anything to not be perceived as anything less than perfect, powerful, and better than the rest. The white haired one in particular would do awful things but look terribly regret afterwards. He constantly looked at a messy haired Gryffindor with what looked like admiration but it would turn to a sneer the second someone else looked his way. He always teased him too, claiming that ‘Potter’ was the cause for everything that ever went wrong. He had an ora of bad magic around him, like he was tainted by spending too much time around it. Several Slytherin’s had this but seemed to be the only one that truly hated it.

The fluffy haired witch was rather rude actually. Constantly berating her two friends for not paying attention or for reading things wrong. She knew a lot but expected everyone to know everything too.

The red haired friend was one of a couple red headed Gryffindors. He was Ron, if his memory served him right. Fred and George were in Minerva’s class with other upper classes. He was funny and clever. Rather quick witted in a way that made it seem he should be in Ravenclaw.

Though some students seemed rather rude or prattish. There was only one he didn’t like, yet he seemed to be everyone else's favorite. Harry Potter. Harry was definitely his least favorite and he wasn’t sure if he could pinpoint a reason why. He just rubbed Merlin wrong. His magic was what Merlin really hated. It was darker than Snapes, that was saying something. It was cold and seemed to coil tight around him when he was around others but would spread out when he was alone. Merlin would get nauseous as they passed in the halls or were in the same class. It was awful and sickening and Merlin didn’t know why.

It was a fast first week and he wasn’t even working. He sat in mostly first year classes but also in the classes that had OWLS and NEWTS so he could figure out how to start the year. It was over in a moment though and now he stood in front of his first period class of 5th years. Split straight down the middle made the two groups, red uniforms sat on the right with green on the left. Each table sat two students. His own cloak was lined with green over his blue shirt and red scarf.

“Morning. Welcome to your first class in History of Magic. I’m Professor Pendragon though feel free to call me Merlin if you’d like instead. This is your OWLS year and if you look on your desk there is a syllabus outlining the topics and timetable for this class.”

He looked around again and felt a moment of spontaneity. This would go very well or very bad.

“I have some quick instructions so listen closely. If you are on the left side of the table you are at, stand up.” They did so hesitantly. “Good. Now this is where it gets confusing. You’re going to move around the room. If you’re on the left of the far tables you're going to move to the left of the other far tables. Same goes for third and second table rows. Yes, this means you will be sitting with people not in your house. That’s the point.”

There was a moment of hesitation then shuffling and bickering. “I don’t want to sit next to a mudblood.” “I have to be next to a snake?” “What’s the point of this anyway?” “You’re as bad as Snape.” It took a few minutes but they all found their seats well enough.

“Few comments now. First, congratulations, you know how to move seats. Second, I’m not as bad as Snape and I never will be. He is a vile rude man who is unnecessarily cruel. I will never punish without reason and all punishments will be equal to violation. Third, never ever use any slur or cruel wording in my class. There is teasing people and there is bullying. If I ever hear slurs in my class it will result in immediate point loss and detention. That includes house nicknames.” He took a breath and sat at the tall stool by his desk. “Your turn now. Any questions for me?”