Surprising Incarnations

A oneshot

Disclaiment: I only own what I own

Neville wakes up one morning and realizes that he's Merlin. It should have been more of a shock, really. He was Neville after all- the constant joke, the reoccurring victim, the worst wizard at Hogwarts. Turning out to be The Merlin, magic incarnate and all that, certainly wasn't to be expected, that was for certain. However, somewhat due to his state of being half asleep, Neville just accepted it.

He was Merlin.

Vaguely, with the more 'Neville' part of his consciousness, he wondered who else around Hogwarts was someone else. He had a vibe that it would be an interesting morning.
The more 'Merlin' part hoped that he'd be able to find Arthur and Gwen- if not Gwaine, Lancelot, and the rest of his friends.
Neville/Merlin is the last up in the room, so he misses seeing other bewildered Camelotians awakening as magical teenagers.

It's too bad. The more Merlinish part of him would have found it truly amusing.

...

He makes his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, but hesitates before entering. What is he going to do? Open the doors dramatically with his unbeatable wandless magic and announce that he was the most powerful warlock who ever lived?

Best not.

Instead he enters like Neville and finds the meal extremely silent, awkwardness dripping off of all the students and a few of the faculty members. Merlin couldn't tell if it was because everyone was a reincarnation or there were only a few which were so awkwardly trying not to show their new half in the hopes of appearing sane that their awkwardness spread like a particularly contagious virus. Neville found it amusing and took his normal seat around Harry's group.

Ron was pale and staring at his wand which was laid on his otherwise empty plate. Every once in a while he'd look around and seem to be searching for something before snapping his attention back to his wand.

Hermione had a faint smile on her face, almost serene, as she read a book on modern smithing techniques. She sometimes cast Ron worrying looks but tried to ignore him.

Harry looked quite concerned with himself. Neville caught him mouthing "why him?" which piqued Merlin's curiosity.

Neville continued his survey of the people he knew well.

Seamus was drinking his goblet with and almost disturbing amount of glee, looking extremely proud of himself. Dean watched him, watched everyone in fact, and seemed a second away from swearing as Seamus took a huge bite of Apple.

Fred and George seemed to sit up straighter but Neville assumed that whoever they also were was largely dwarfed by the sheer personality of the twins.

Neville glanced at the Ravenclaw table and gave Luna a smile. She smiled back.

Merlin wondered who she happened to be.

...

The silence broke, as silence often does, when a smirking Ginny Weasley demanded to know where Merlin was.

There was a surprising loud sigh of universal relief as everyone in the Great Hall realized that they weren't alone.

Ron stood up and glared, "Ginny, why are you Morgana?"

"I don't know." The red head admitted, "But I need to know who Merlin is. I really need to wreck my vengeance, dear brother."

"So you are just going to turn into the old Voldemort?! I expected better of you Ginny!" Ron chided,

"Don't call me old!" She protested, "I bet you are nothing but some peasant, Ron. A boring old peasant who never did anything interesting."

Ron looked at her incredulously, slightly insulted but most amused. Almost like he had a secret joke.

"I bet Malfoy is Merlin. I never liked him anyways!" Ginny declared.

Draco took a second to answer. He couldn't keep up a scathing tone. "You traitor, you have no idea who you are talking to!"

"Enlighten me."

"The man who never dies!" Draco proclaimed, "I faced a dragon and lived to tell the tale. I've fought immortal knights, and even escaped from the dungeons of Camelot before. I-I-I," Draco sighed, shaking his head, "I was Leon, Knight of Camelot." The blond aristocrat hung his head in shame, obviously not proud of his identity.

"Harry, then." Ginny whirled around to face him, "That would explain how you survived the Killing Curse!"

"I also desire revenge on Emrys, dear Morgana. We are allies, not enemies." Harry admitted, "But really, I don't want to be Mordred. I'd rather be just Harry, thanks. I've been trying to avoid becoming evil."

"You're Mordred?!" Ron scooted away slowly, reaching unconsciously at where his belt would be.

"Sorry." Harry apologized,

"Then who is Merlin?" Ginny asked, before settling her eyes on Dumbledore.

"Why, it's Neville of course." Luna observed.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Neville?!"

"Yeah... She's right." He confirmed, "Ginny, I shall stop you if I must, but think about it- it's been a thousand years. Does that long of time ago somehow mean more than when I helped you with your herbology essay?"

"You killed me Merlin!"

"You had Arthur killed!"

"Mordred killed Arthur!"

"I'm sorry." Harry slouched forward and placed his head in his hands.

"You had turned to the dark."

"You supported Uther's genocide."

"Did not."

"Tell me, did you ever not kill a sorcerer?"

"I unwisely spared Mordred if you hadn't noticed. Gilli."

"You poisoned me!"

"You lured me out of Camelot and poisoned me."

Ron banged slightly on the table, "Stop it, you two! My sister really shouldn't be wasting time arguing with such an idiot anyways!"

"Prat?" Merlin asked,

"King Arthur of Camelot." Ron defined,

"Well this is a mess." Hermione commented.

"...Weasley is our King." Draco mentioned with horror.

Harry had to laugh at that, especially when a few Slytherins began singing. Ron had a smug smile on his face, the Arthur in him pleased at the recognition, but mostly he was thrilled at Draco's embarrassment.

"Who are you Hermione?" Harry asked, hopping she wasn't Morgause or something.

"I'm just Gwen."

Ron smiled at her before blushing awkwardly.

With that everyone else started giving their identity. Often it was merely a baker or even a bandit. Crabbe and Goyle turned out to be guards. Lavender Brown was Sophia the Sidhe. Hagrid was Gauis.

Everyone was someone from the past. Odd, but that was what it was.

"Who are you Luna?" Neville asked, when she had wandered over towards his direction.

"I think you know."

Neville handed her a bowl of strawberries.

...

Ginny frowned, still feeling the need for vengeance. She had always had a quick temper but Morgana's was a mad everlasting stew of fury. Ginny had calmed down slightly, having reached the point of logic.

Ginny decided she didn't want to be evil. Or insane.

Morgana lacked her sanity more than her morals. A lot of her actions had been caused by a genetic madness often found in the Pendragon line. Ginny wanted justice and would go the lengths to get it, but she didn't want to be a mere pawn of destiny. She also didn't want to get a howler from Mum.

Ginny pressed the Morgana side of her to sanity, becoming more of the Morgana who was before the smirking.

She'd take her anger out on Voldemort. He lacked the style to be a true antagonist. After all, it was truly bad form to be defeated by an infant.

Plus, it wasn't like Ginny liked anyone messing with Harry. Morgana certainly didn't like that the Dark Lorf had attacked Mordred either.

Not to mention the possession incident.

Tom Riddle had no chance.

...

Neither Ron nor Ginny had considered the possibly until it showed up in the Daily Prophet. Apparently their father wasn't exactly pleased about sorcery.

...

Dudley woke up with magic. Petunia fainted when he decided to practice in the living room.

...

Kara was a little shocked that she was quite so sadistic but she couldn't fault Bellatrix's loyalty. She firmly believed in picking a cause and staying loyal to it. Keeping magic pure was not a bad goal. Kara personally wasn't against 'mudbloods' but Bellatrix hated them so much that Kara let it go.

Anyways, things would be changing- Voldemort was also Cornelius Sigan now. Sigan was a little more "bow to me world" than "die you non-purebloods!"

Funny how both of them had created horcruxes. Voldemort just had more of them.

Seems like this war would be fairly entertaining...

A/N: Yeah, this is pretty much crack. I've actually wanted to use part of this idea for years now- Neville as Merlin and Ron as Arthur- back when reincarnation fics were popular. I figured, Neville is the most Merlin-y character in a way because yes he's brave, but a lot of times he's overlooked. He's also incredibly loyal to his friends and just all around awesome. Ron became Arthur mostly because of the whole "Weasley is our king" thing. Early concepts had him starting off the fic by remembering his previous identity at the quidditch match. Other incarnations were shakier- Though I fully admit Seamus is Gwaine because of the whole turn his water into rum thing- I almost made Hermione into Morgana but figured that it'd be to awkward having Ron and Hermione siblings, so Ron's actually sister became our favorite mad smirking sorcereress. After that I feel really bad about making Arthur Weasley into Uther but... He did always have a fascination with muggles, just sayin'. I also want to apologize to Harry for making him Mordred but that just sort of happened. Dudley is Gilli of course :D

So, thoughts? Comments? Reviews?

This had been a part of the Cell Phone Spring Fic Cleaning of 2014