The Gathering: The New Order of Merlin Book 1

Don't forget to be a student

The next morning, Minerva sat down next to Albus in the Great Hall. They exchanged greetings but in her usual fashion, she wasn't interested in chitchat about the weather, which was dreadful at the moment, and dived right into the topic she wanted to discuss.

"What are your thoughts about the Old Religion meeting yesterday?"

Albus spent a lot of time the night before thinking about that meeting. It felt like he learned more about Merlin during it than during the decades he had known him.

"It was very enlightening."

He had never seen the immortal sorcerer so nervous. But the most intriguing part of the meeting came at the very end when the question was posed as to why there were no Old Religion schools. Merlin mentioned the need to screen children entering Hogwarts and also about political issues which would arise if such school existed.

And the truth started to unravel. Had there been political issues in the past? Had Merlin tried screening Hogwarts students before? These were all questions which Albus was now anxious to ask of him.

"I'm still worried," Minerva said while looking at the Gryffindor table. "I'm trying to be accepting of this ancient belief but that wandless magic troubles me. I think a staff member should always be present during these meetings to ensure no one gets hurt. You're familiar with Ealdor family. Do all of them practice this magic? How well can they control it?"

Ealdor family. It was really sad to hear a reminder that Merlin had absolutely no family or descendants. Albus supposed, he wouldn't have any either. It was too late for him now. The thought of not having children never bothered him before but there was something sad about the realization that he wasn't leaving any of himself behind.

"They have exceptional control over their wandless magic, Minerva."

"I have a theory that he performs so poorly in my class because of his aversion to wand magic. He also appears to be a Legilimens," she continued. "I get the feeling that anyone who can do that broadcasting can invade a mind if he wants to. That is a very young age to possess such advanced skills, Headmaster. Were you aware of it?"

He decided to tell her the truth. "Yes, he's a Legilimens. I was not aware of this broadcasting skill but I'm not very surprised."

"He gets very defensive when people question his faith. For a moment, I was worried for young Weasley," she joked.

"Indeed. He's quite proud of his ancient beliefs. It would be unwise to challenge him on that."

"And he knows runes already."

It appeared that Minerva was checking off a list of everything odd about Merlin. If she continued at this, she would have to come to the conclusion that he couldn't possibly be a child. Oh, Merlin, you slipped in your act.

"Is there anything else I should know about him?"

Her question was innocent but he knew what was behind it. She was starting to understand that there was something strange about Merlin and that Albus knew what it was. He supposed he would have to fill her in eventually but decided to wait.

Instead, he had to remind the young sorcerer to try harder to appear childish. If he continued exposing himself like this, soon, more people would start noticing. There was little chance of people guessing who he really was, even when he so boldly used his real name, but they could come to even more worrisome conclusions.

"He means well," he finally said. As troublesome as Merlin was, it was a good thing that he was on their side.

Minerva finally dropped the topic and Albus was left alone to his thoughts.