Chapter Text
After Arthur left the three children to their own devices, he made his way to the conductor's room to look after Merlin. He may have only woken up not too recently, but he still had to take care of his manservant Merlin. He passed many compartments of children laughing in delight and faint screeching sounds of the doors opening and closing in the distance. He finally reached the room, and he could hear faint sounds of laughter. Wait. He knew that laughter, that was Merlin’s. He slowly opened the door to find both Lupin, Merlin and the rain conductor himself laughing without a care in the world. As it turned out the wheels at the front of the train had completely frozen over and it wasn’t at all his fault. The conversation between the four of them went through a lot of topics in such a short amount of time. He had now felt as if he was best friends with Lupin when he had only met him that hour. Obviously he and Merlin couldn’t tell the truth, so they had to make up stuff for their new friend. Merlin did sometimes mess up, but quickly covered it up with the fact he was still weary after the dementor encounter.
The rest of the trip didn’t take long at all, and they were soon arriving at Hogwarts. They all said their goodbyes, making their way to the Great Hall.
...
Everyone at their respective tables looked like ants from the teachers area, with all the fancy cutlery and floating candles that must’ve taken ages to light and levitate them all one by one. A little way into Dumbledore’s annual speech he saw a blond boy grab Harry’s attention, but once they heard what he had said, they said a remark that Merlin couldn't quite make out from such a distance away. But he could tell that Harry wanted to say something but Ron stopped him from doing so.
Dumbledore was oblivious to what had happened between the three, and so carried on. Introducing all the new teachers for that year. He first introduced Professor Lupin, who he hoped was as good a teacher as a friend. The Hagrid guy looked interesting, and seemed out of place amongst everyone at the table. He made a mental note to talk to him at some point and maybe help with lessons, as even though he hasn’t had magical pets for some time now. He still remembers most things. And then it was him and Arthur, most people in the hall were too shocked that there was a new history teacher, and that there were two of them. Which is reasonable as the last History teacher they had, had been there since the 70s. It had taken some ‘reasoning’ for him to move on to the other side, but with Merlin there he helped ease the journey.
But only time can tell what the students will think of them.
During Dumbledore’s speech if you looked close enough, he was staring straight at Harry. Not looking at everyone else like you’re supposed to. It was just a tad creepy if you asked Merlin. At the end of the feast, new teachers were brought to their classrooms, offices, and where they were going to sleep. So they had to wait for all students to leave, before Dumbledore himself would show them. Since Hagrid was the Groundskeeper at Hogwarts his area stayed the same, and didn’t need showing about. And Lupin was a student at Hogwarts, he didn’t need to be escorted. However, because Marlin hasn’t technically been in Hogwarts before he does need an escort. It’s not like he helped make Hogwarts, and knows all the secret passageways that he made with Salazar. Seeing as Arthur hasn’t set foot in Hogwarts before at any time, he also needs an escort. But why did it have to be Dumbledore? He walks a metre per hour. And is always mumbling something under his breath about something or other.
And he seemed to dislike him and Arthur. He didn’t know why though, he couldn't be homophobic as he is also gay. There is no reason for him to be like this.
They eventually arrived at their shared classroom, which didn’t have light coming through the stained windows, but was lit with a candle chandelier above the row of desks. The windows, despite the darkness outside you could still make out the name ‘Merlin’ and a faint mosaic depiction of Merlin’s old form. Which wasn’t very flattering if you asked Merlin. In the back of the class, you could see a small spiral staircase tucked into the corner, and a big wooden door with a lock on it was at the top. There were still tons of books left from Professor Binns lying around the class, with a door that looked as if it might’ve said Office at some point, with the pathway into it had been blocked. And some tests with a good few layers of dust on top that must’ve been left there for a good few years by now. Arthur looked around in awe at the place, until he saw the mosaic of Merlin. Which then made him have to stop himself from bursting out laughing at the horrid depiction of Merlin’s old form. It was ok when it was first made, but by now it has been broken and put back together one too many times.
Dumbledore suddenly stopped in his tracks, and spinned around to face them surprisingly fast for his age. “What’s so funny?”
Arthur immediately stopped, while Merlin stopped staring at him. And slowly looked to Dumbledore who stood in front of them both now. “Nothing Professor, I was just thinking about how many places I can prank Marlin in here.” A bitter expression marked Dumbledore's face. That’s i–
Before Merlin could fully finish his thought Dumbledore spoke loudly, “Well, I better get going now. I’ll leave you two to clean this place up for tomorrow's classes. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight Professor, I hope you have a good night too.” Arthur spoke before he could say anything that might hint hatred.
As Dumbledore was leaving he left the door to the classroom wide open, letting the prefects sneak a glance inside when they passed. Merlin used wordless magic to close the door without having to move a muscle, a skill he has mastered over the years. “Why were you so nice to him??”
“He’s an old man, and deserves some respect MerMarlin.”
“The headteacher at Hogwarts is meant to at least tidy the classroom up before giving it to the next teacher. If the headteacher can’t then another staff member should, like the deputy headmistress or the actual caretaker of the school! If no one can tidy the classroom then they should get the new teachers to do it, BUT they have to come in a day earlier so they don't rush and have no sleep.” After he finally finished his rant to Arthur he realised that he wasn’t in front of him anymore, and was instead looking around the room.
I guess they better get on with it then.
After they tidied most of the room up, the sun was nearly about to rise. The only place left was the highest part of the walls and the entrance of the door that once said ‘Office’. Merlin did use his magic to help him like he used to in Camelot, but the room was so big, and it just had so much dirt and grime from years of ignorance.
They had a sneak peak into the room they would share, it was as if they were looking into a time capsule. Everything looked untouched, with a thick layer of dust over everything. It only took a quick spell or two to get the worst of it gone. The rest they could do the next day’s night.
…
The now bright sun was shining through the thin drapes over the windows, waking Merlin up. The time was a few minutes before Breakfast started, so he had to hurriedly wake up Arthur and quickly get dressed for the day. The journey to the hall was short, as Merlin took a few passageways here and there. When they got to the hall and opened it, there was barely anyone there, except Lupin, Snape, McGonagall and a few students sprinkled around the tables.
The three were in a calm conversation about teaching methods, and what the two seasoned teachers used. When they finally got up to the table, ^Why is the hall so long??^ McGonagall gestured to the two seats next to her, implying that they should sit there so they could talk.
The goblets instantly filled with some substance as they sat down, but no food appeared.
“Good Morning you two, I hope you had a good night's rest. And settled in nicely. I would’ve called for an elf to help clean your classroom, but Professor Dumbledore told me that you could handle it as there are two of you.” That bastard.
“Good morning to you too Professor, but we had no knowledge of what Dumbledore said. He simply left us standing there at 2 candles before midnight. If you ask me, it was rude of him to just dump all of that on us. We ended up cleaning till a candle before sunrise.”
The door to the Great Hall creaked open as the man they were talking about entered. Stopping that conversation until another time.
Inspiration for the History classroom design.