The Shift of Portraits
"Welcome, third-years, to your first Repository of Useful Knowledge and Skills, or RUKS for short!" Merlin declared excitedly as the third-years entered, looking just as excited as they would when Merlin taught Repository of Magical Skills, or RMS.
"Now! First, I discovered that quite a few of you abandoned some of your electives in favor for my class. The Professors respect your decisions, and wish you luck mastering the fields in our "timeless" class. So! For starters, which elective shall we cover first? Pick, please, and decide the schedule in which you would arrange the matter."
In the end, the students decided they want to study Care of Magical Creatures first, Arithmancy second, Study of Ancient Runes third, Muggle Studies fourth, and Divination the final fifth.
"Excellent! Care of Magical Creatures first, it is. I would also like to include Professor Rubeus Hagrid into this class as well, since he has been studying electives outside of his own subject in hopes to get his O.W.Ls on them, and would love to help with what he could. Welcome, Professor!"
Hagrid excitedly strolled up and sat at the special chair Merlin had enchanted, at the right side of his own seat.
"Now! Care of Magical Creatures! Allow me to teach you about Imps and Doxies."
He first taught them about how normal Imps act on their slapstick humor and how they could be pacified and used as guards by giving them the right insects or showing off a few spells and laughing to inspire loyalty, before he moved on towards the Chaotic Imps type of variety.
"These Imps cannot be reasoned with, and they have the uncommon ability to manifest Wizard Crackers that explode upon hitting WITHOUT leaving any gifts. They are pure chaotic beings, and must be dealt with, as they cannot be tamed unless one were to use illegal methods. They are also resilient towards spells, and must be defeated by using the Wizard Crackers they throw against them, although with enough practice, you can defeat an Imp with purely your own magic, but that is not for some time yet."
And so Merlin allowed the students to tackle the Imps. They surprisingly managed to befriend the Imps pretty easily, except for Draco, his cronies, and a few Slytherins, with their sense of humor and properly following what he taught them. That said, the Chaotic Imps were dealt rather easily by all students. Merlin awarded Gryffindor 50 House Points, Ravenclaw 35 House Points, Hufflepuff 30 House Points, and Slytherin 20 House Points based on the cumulative performance of all students from each House.
"Now, onwards to Doxies! They are sometimes mistaken as Fairies, but in truth, they are not Fairies. The difference is that their wings are beetle-like, while a Fairy's is much more butterfly-like, and their black hair is something no Fairies had, and they also have an extra pair of arms and legs. What makes a Doxy quite dangerous is that their bites are highly dangerous, and they cannot be tamed, one of the few pest-type creatures who cannot be tamed. Now, the methods to deal with Doxies are to use Knockback Jinxes on them. They're quite vulnerable to it. A Doxycide would be introduced in tomorrow's class, but today, we would learn to fend it off without such Potion."
All of the students got it well-done after Merlin introduced them several effective ways to avoid Doxies and counter-attack effectively.
"Excellent! Now, on to the next class. Arithmancy."
Merlin noticed Hermione's clear excitement, and even Harry and Ron were looking interested, as did Draco, although he hid it well beneath a veneer of calculated expression.
Ever since his humiliation of Lucius, Draco had clearly came to resent him, yet he knew fully well he could not oppose him. Merlin was well-loved by even Slytherins, meaning Malfoy had no support at all. If anything, from what he heard, Slytherin was starting to come around and beginning to socialize more with the other houses. It pleased Merlin to hear that. While the process might be long, Merlin had hope Slytherin would eventually be on friendly terms with the rest of the Houses again.
"Now, you see, most of you have bought Numerology and Grammatica. However, like I've said before, as long as I remain in this school, I will make sure you are all thoroughly prepared for any possibility. As such, we will not only be learning about muggle mathematics, but also the theory of magic. Magical numbers is a thing, but it's truest form is the study of magical properties of virtually everything. Runes, potion ingredients, magical plants, wands, and even spells. Can anyone explain why?"
Merlin rolled his eyes when Harry did. Of course, he would know. Merlin had taught him a bit before the term began. "Arithmancy studies determine why certain spells require certain wand movements in order to function and why certain runes cause certain reactions. They are particularly crucial when it came to runes, warding, and spell creation."
"Excellent, Mister Potter. 10 House Points to Gryffindor. Now, we may- Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Professor, isn't learning magical properties supposed to be at the fifth year? Professor Vector told me about how advanced it was, and not completely mastering it was something even she, a rather strict Professor, couldn't help but acknowledge as something that would happen to most."
Merlin gave a slight grimace. "Actually, it wasn't exactly always like that. In the ancient times, from the beginning, students could learn magical properties from third year. I assure you that I am quite qualified to teach this subject. If anything, some of the third years even asked me to show them some magical theory, and I did it well."
Hermione looked embarassed and guilty that she had questioned his skills, while most of the students were giving Hermione looks that screamed "Are you insane? He's Professor Emrys! He can teach anything!" In fact, the atmosphere was so tense even Draco gave up on trying to make him look bad as soon as those students eyed Hermione as though she had asked something stupid.
"Now, back to the theory. Let us begin with Charms, shall we? Charms place a particular emphasis on the wand motion. The reason is because the movement of the wand aligns the ambient magical energies with those embodied by the intended effects of the Charm. The nature of Charms is to bestow upon objects a particular effect, and therefore it is by gesturing in the proper way to describe the intended effects that you focus your magical energies to cast a Charm."
Every student was making notes enthusiastically, even Harry. Merlin had only discussed it twice after all, and not quite indepth.
"Now, before we move on to more Charms, allow me to clarify that while at beginning stages, you will require wand motions to cast spells, in time, you will be able to greatly limit the amount of motion of the wand by mastering Arithmancy. In Arithmancy, I will be teaching you effective ways to refine your magic, until you will even be able to perform wandless magic."
Merlin had a particular appreciation towards Arithmancy. He wasn't the one who founded it. Instead, it was a couple of modern wizards and witches that did. That said, learning Arithmancy proved to be especially valuable not only in developing many of the Modern Magic developments he made, but also even the breakthroughs he committed in the Old Religion. He discovered many more ways of using it, and crafted some new spells even.
It was natural, therefore, that it was one of the top three magical subjects he had taught the most, on par with Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms.
"First of all, allow me to describe the structure of the basic charms. In Lumos, a sphere is created as the most efficient confining field for ambient magical energies that can produce the spark of light. Wingardium Leviosa manifests an invisible small amount of kinetic force by the gesture of swishing and then flicking, swishing in order to gather the energy and flicking to use that energy for control. Arresto Momentum manifests a slowing gravitational force by the gesture of an M, where you focus your magic into the target and then produce an invisible attractive layer of energy that stops a target."
"On to more combative spells! Flipendo conjures a more pronounced level of kinetic force by the gesture of making a small v shape to gather energy and then waving it like a tail to blast that energy at the enemy. Petrificus Totalus makes a C shape to focus your magic, then a small, straight line upward to imbue more strength into it, then a straight line to the right to finally empower the spell with paralytic properties, then a small, straight line downward to fire the spell at the target. Expeliarmus uses a B shape in a swishing manner, with the intention of focusing the force to just disarming the wand rather than throwing one backwards."
"Onward to the exercise. First, I want you to visualize the shape more and imagine the effects more. It's a simple yet efficient method of improving the effects of one's spells. You will each cast a spell on this particular orb, and it will measure the amount of control and strength you were able to bring."
Now, this was where students started to struggle, as expected. Even with Merlin providing a projection of the process, some were not refined enough to produce overly intricate effects. Only Harry and Hermione got all the spells done to the max, while Draco and Ron came a close second. The amplified effects were shown by projected images from the orb, a particular handy enchantment for Merlin in teaching as he didn't need to break or enchant any object to measure the students level.
"Next, we move on to Study of Ancient Runes. Allow me to explain what Runes are first. Runes are written languages that describe magical phenomena, that's the written textbook definition. Real Runes are magical symbols that can cause different reactions depending on the way they were made or combined. Before we clarify further, allow me to explain the term of Runic Magic."
Ah yes, one of his proudest creations, one that allowed a possibility for the Old Religion to still be employed. It was a discovery he made 100 years after Camelot's fall, 300 years before Hogwarts was founded, that while the Old Religion may have declined, by writing symbols magically and imbuing them with the power of the Old Religion, it was possible to channel parts of the Old Religion.
"You see, the first person to discover and harness the power of Runes is Merlin himself. There are actually two Merlins in history, one who was there at the age of Camelot and survived it's fall and continued to contribute in the development of magic until his death, and another who attended Hogwarts and was believed to be his reincarnation. In this case, Runic Magic was discovered by the former. Runic Magic and Ancient Magic are intertwined and connected in an indepth manner, for Merlin imbued Ancient Magic into runes to create Runic Magic."
Merlin allowed a small smile to grace his lips as the students were scribbling notes in awe. This wasn't material anyone would know of in regular History of Magic classes, after all.
He did attend Hogwarts once using his real name as a student, and had to fabricate history. While the "Camelot" version of him was named "Merlin Emrys", the "Hogwarts" version of him had the name "Merlin Ambrosius". Of course, he had still fabricated identities to attend Hogwarts or any other school as a student, but he could no longer keep using his birth name, due to how many people had came to use his name for swears or see him as a god.
"Now, I cannot be expected to start teaching you "true" magic from the Runes, that of Runic Magic, as it, along with the rest of Ancient Magic, has become a bit of an outlier. We will cover it in the fourth years. For now, we will study the magical properties of runes..."
And so Merlin taught them how to combine numerous runes to get various reactions. He also taught actual runic translations, a system that he did develop.
Afterwards, Merlin proceeded to Muggle Studies without any further delay.
"You see, no matter how much the wizarding world has separated itself from the Muggles, the truth is Muggles and wizards will always be intertwined. We live in the same planet, and I am not ashamed to admit that numerous forms of our tradition have been influenced by Muggles."
Any scorn from Draco or some Slytherins were swiftly quelled when Merlin proceeded to introduce how the methods of muggle dueling were implemented into magical dueling, as he expertly blended and broke in the fact that while wizards may engage in combat with powers, the way with which they developed critical skills such as footwork, intuition, adaptability, and other crucial aspects originated from Muggles.
Merlin also proceeded to introduce examples of the strategies of Muggles being used by wizards in conflicts, before he concluded the lesson by demonstrating how even purebloods used to engage in fencing and how convenient it was.
"... And as you can see, wizards can learn from Muggles. The thing is, wizards and Muggles are both humans! We live in the same planet, just divided, and we can learn from each other. Camelot was an example of that: Despite the Great Purge committed by Uther Pendragon, for a time, wizards and witches did live together with Muggles, until the Great Division happened, forcing us back into hiding. That said, Merlin in his dying moments foretold one day a permanent age of equality between wizardkind and Muggles would happen. When that day comes, we'll not only be learning from Muggles, Muggles will be learning from us."
After enjoying the stunned, unable-to-comment, expression of the Slytherins, Merlin finally went to the most boring and impractical lesson of all, Divination.
"Ah yes... Divination. Many wizards and witches have deemed it with a skeptical look, and as I have said before, Divination is ultimately indeed an unprecise art. That said, not all of it is weak." Merlin declared firmly as the students regarded him with expectation.
"The first thing you need to learn is that divination is not just about foretelling, but also about knowing things that are occuring on other places. We shall start by learning those methods."
The "Divination of the Present" is probably the only thing that is surely accurate. I made it myself after all.
One of the few triggers for him to comment sarcastically in his mind was when studying Divination, to be honest, and Merlin could understand why. Most Divination teachers seemed to know too little about actual ways to see the future or the past, and preferred on those flawed approaches rather than the more practical one of seeing present events far away. It was a miracle Merlin had not told those teachers off for their lack of understanding over Divination.
Helga was a Seer, and fortunately she was actually competent in Divination, thanks to Merlin teaching her himself. He could not receive visions of the future like a Seer does, but he could use his own powers to see the future in a much better way than most, although Helga actually surpassed him in that regard due to being both a Seer and well-versed in the true ways of Divination. She was the one who gave him the prophecy that one day he would indeed bring about a new golden age of unity.
And so Merlin taught them how to use water and crystals to see things happening far away. Not many of them succeeded, but there was some who did, and Merlin was pleased that Harry was among them. Even Ron actually managed to get it done, as did Hermione despite her initial skepticism.
"Very well, Class! It's been a nice first class, I hope?"
All the students clapped in return, with even Draco and some of the hardcore Slytherins doing it, although much slower and with less force.
While Merlin was sure those Slytherins were not fond of him, he was also sure that they respected his skills, knowledge, and wisdom. It was just like how Slytherins took great pride when he became one of their students, despite how he was a firm supporter of Muggles.
"Now! Homework! Please do describe your compatibility with each elective. The size of the essay is free. Consider it a reflection journal of sorts, like back when we first started Magical Skills."
"Father, can you sign this Hogsmeade form?" Merlin gave Harry a sad look as he gingerly held out the Hogsmeade form.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but not this year. Once the whole matter with Sirius Black has been negated, however, I will sign your form. For now, however, you can still go to Hogsmeade..." Merlin allowed Harry's initial crestfallen look to transform into a bright one.
"As long as I am accompanying you. You will not be able to get away from me, and if you do, you will not be allowed to go on anymore Hogsmeade visits. That means you would not be able to go with your friends. You also must understand there are times where I cannot allow you to go to Hogsmeade, and while we are there, we are expected to wear hooded costumes as to avoid being seen. Sirius Black could show around Hogsmeade and we wouldn't want him believing he could get to you by being in there. Innocents could be harmed or killed, and that includes your friends."
Harry's eyes widened as fear and concern overtook him, his initial discontent turning into slow acceptance.
"If you agree to those terms, then I will take you on to visit Hogsmeade during this weekend. Do you understand, Harry?"
Merlin made sure to eye Harry firmly to make it clear how serious he was, and with a sigh, Harry nodded.
"Good. Then meet me at Halloween's morning on my office. I'll take you there myself."
"Thank you, Father. I really appreciate you being willing to take me out on this, even though I would have preferred to go alongside Hermione and Ron too." Harry said softly as Merlin patted his godson in the head.
"Don't mention it. I'll show you around numerous corners of Hogsmeade, and we can also practice some skills there too."
"So you're ready, Harry?" Merlin asked as Harry went up to his office, wearing the same clothes that he did, which had became his primary clothes and earned him several students attention.
"Yes, Father."
"Then we'll be going." Without any further ado, Merlin distorted space around them.
When the blue glow of Merlin's magic fade, both he and Harry were standing at the woods of Hogsmeade.
They walked quietly towards the village, and as soon as they reached the village, Harry's quite attitude was shattered. He immediately became enamoured by the wonders of Hogsmeade.
"Where should we go first, Professor?" Merlin smiled at Harry cheering up.
And so they started out by exploring the Dervish and Banges, where Merlin bought 10 Magical Measurers and sent them to his castle, as he could easily retrieve it anytime he wanted to, and at Harry's insistence, a bracelet for Harry that could somewhat improve his magical power. He didn't buy a particularly expensive one, though, as he didn't want Harry to be reliant on it. He also set it so it would only be activated if Harry was in serious danger.
"It would be unwise for you to be complacent, Harry. Remember what I told you: True greatness, true accountability for noble acts, cannot be earned by artifacts, but by one's own natural abilities and strength of heart and mind."
Harry had nodded firmly, clearly remembering his lessons.
Afterwards, they went inside the Spintwitches Sporting Needs, where Merlin indulged Harry in his thorough knowledge of several brooms before he bought an outfit reserved specifically for intense situations.
"I'll just have to modify this up, and then I'll give it for you to wear in the form of something you can use to instantly bring it forth."
Harry, already excited by the information Merlin provided regarding Brooms, nodded enthusiastically.
Next, they went to the Dominic Maestro Music Shop, where Merlin bought several cassettes for entertainment's sake, promising to incorporate it in their upcoming training sessions, so Harry would be more motivated by music, much to Harry's amusement.
Of course, they also went into Zonko, although Harry did not ask to buy anything. He simply showed Harry around, although he did decide to buy a few products out of friendship with Bilton Blimes, the current owner of the Zonko shop.
To be honest, Merlin did not actually create Hogsmeade, and was proud to hear that it was a Hufflepuff student that created the village. He did help in the founding of the Dervish and Banges, but he didn't provide much help towards the village aside from discreetly strengthening it's wards.
"Now, Harry, we will be going to the Hog's Head Inn. A good place where we can remove our hoods safely. No one would go there, I assure you."
When they entered Hog's Head Inn, it was to find it indeed empty, with only Aberforth himself there.
As soon as Aberforth noticed him and Harry, he gave him a curt nod.
"Get in."
They settled down on the middle chair.
"What do you want for today?"
"2 fried rice and 2 Butterbeers, please, Aberforth."
As Aberforth went to make the requested lunch, Harry eyed Merlin curiously.
"You know him?"
"Yes, I do. We're friends, although we're not exactly that close." Merlin said solemnly.
"He's Albus's brother." Harry's eyes widened.
"The Headmaster's brother?"
"He's not well-known, even though his abilities would have been sufficient to receive acknowledgment. He prefers this type of surroundings and environment." Merlin shook his head as he said those words.
A few moments later, Aberforth delivered the fried rice and the Butterbeer.
"He's Harry Potter, is he? You and my brother teaching him well?" Aberforth asked curtly. It was always like this. Before, Aberforth was actually rather nice to him, but ever since Ariana's death, he had treated him professionally and curtly.
"You got yourself a godson? I remember his parents. They were pretty nice people." Aberforth said simply.
"Yes. He's coming along nicely. Come on Harry. Introduce yourself."
With a bit of nervousness, Harry got up and introduced himself before shaking hands with Aberforth.
"Do remember to be more thorough with him than you were with me and Albus, would you? Wouldn't want a repeat of Ariana, would we?" Aberforth said, his tone becoming darker and angrier at the mention of Ariana.
"I promise you that he would not be like Ariana, Aberforth." At Merlin's solemn words, Aberforth gave a bitter snort.
"Yeah. Just like how you doted a bit more on Albus, and yet you couldn't stop it, even though I begged you to, trusted you to."
Merlin said nothing. What could he say? Aberforth was justified to resent him.
As Aberforth left, Harry eyed Merlin a bit warily.
"Who is Ariana?"
"Albus's sister. She died, and I... I couldn't stop it. Aberforth has resented me ever since. He and I remain on cordial terms, but I could recall he would charge me 5 times more than the original prize when it was the date of Ariana's death. I have accepted it. It's not even the least I could do, just accepting a rightful punishment."
Understanding Merlin's clear somberness and discomfort, Harry said nothing more about Ariana as they ate together in silence.
He did not even bother to wonder if Aberforth would ever truly forgive him. He couldn't even hope that at least Aberforth would reconcile with Albus and blame only him.
It was a surprisingly somber evening when he and Professor Emrys returned to Hogwarts to attend the Halloween Feast.
He had never seen Professor Emrys like that. So solemn, so resigned to being distanced. Even with the likes of Draco Malfoy and his cronies, his godfather never gave up hope. Why was it then that Professor Emrys didn't seem hopeful when it came to Aberforth Dumbledore? What happened between him and the Dumbledore brothers? Why did his godfather blame himself for Ariana Dumbledore's death?
When he asked Professor Emrys about it, he had just given a sad smile. "While I wish you would never truly learn the meaning of this, know that when people who have lived for centuries had made mistakes, they tend to realize and contemplate the gravity, the consequences of their failures. Sometimes, they could get depressed and resigned. Others could get angry and indifferent. I count myself lucky that I am on the side of the former, for it's important, no matter how painful it is, to remember and reflect on the past mistakes."
Professor Emrys had lived for centuries? He was much younger than Dumbledore, but could it be because his magic kept him that way? If so, wouldn't that mean he was likely even more powerful than Dumbledore? His godfather had made it no secret that he was of a comparable level to Dumbledore, but he never quite said just how powerful he was compared to the Headmaster, so was it possible his godfather was either more powerful or knew magics not even Dumbledore knew?
Even so, Harry trusted in his godfather. He believed in him, he owed him his life, and Emrys Ambrosius was the first man who stretched out the hand of a familial figure to him, raising him.
Now that I think of it, I think I had always saw him as my father, and him becoming my godfather was a dearest wish come true.
His mood did not went unnoticed by Hermione and Ron, who assumed it was because he wasn't allowed to go to Hogsmeade, as Professor Emrys had refused to allow him to tell them as of now that he could technically go to Hogsmeade, but only if he was with his godfather.
Alas, Harry had much worse things to worry about.
It was when he was about to return to the Gryffindor Common Room and found that the corridor was jammed with students.
"Why isn't anyone going in?" said Ron curiously. Harry peered over the heads in front of him. The portrait seemed to be closed.
"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice, and he came bustling importantly through the crowd. "What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password -- excuse me, I'm Head Boy --"
And then a silence fell over the crowd, from the front first, so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. They heard Percy yell out, in a suddenly sharp voice, "Professor Emrys! Please come here. There is an emergency. Professor Emrys!"
Not a moment later, and his godfather and Professor Dumbledore had came around, Professor Dumbledore on foot while his godfather was stepping on platforms of air as the Gryffindors parted to let Professor Emrys and Professor Dumbledore through.
Harry's eyes widened as he saw the Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely.
Professor Emrys focused as he gently pressed his hand towards the painting, appearing to be focusing, even as Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape hurried towards the scene, with Professor Dumbledore eyeing Professor Emrys curiously.
After a while, golden marks spread out through the walls, and his godfather followed the marks, along with most Gryffindors and the Professors.
They had lost sight of him, the only indication as to where his godfather went being huge platforms made of golden light being clearly used to jump all the way to the Second Floor.
A part of Harry wondered just how agile and fast Professor Emrys was, for him to be able to so quickly reach the Second Floor by jumping through platforms. Not even Harry would want to try it, despite his Quidditch conditioning.
They all rushed towards the Second Floor, and reached there just as Professor Emrys came out.
"Every single one of you to the Great Hall, without exception. Professor Dumbledore, send in the Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Slytherins into the Great Hall, as well. Sirius Black has just recently infiltrated the castle, and attempted to enter the Common Room, and we must conduct a thorough search of the castle."
Every single one of them screamed or gasped as Harry's eyes widened, but he didn't have time to ponder on it as Professor Emrys waved his wand and in a flash of light, he, Hermione, Ron, and all the Gryffindors were sent to the Great Hall.
After a few minutes of confusion, Professor Emys came in along with the rest of the staff as the rest of the students from each Houses entered, extremely confused.
"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle. I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge." Professor Dumbledore began as Professor Emrys stepped in and provided Percy and the Head Girl with crystals.
"Use them if there are any emergencies."
With that, Professor Emrys waved his wand and the long tables flew to the edges of the hall and stood themselves against the walls; another wave, and the floor was covered with hundreds of squashy sleeping bags, each having the color of the respective four Houses.
"Sleep well, students. I assure you we will ensure the school would be safe by the morning."
Professor Emrys waited as the students settled down into their sleeping bags. Harry had wanted to stay awake and listen, but before Professor Emrys left, he eyed Harry.
"Sleep, Harry."
And Harry was out and entered the world of dreamless sleep in an instant.