Wow, can you believe it has been a year since I've last uploaded? I didn't think it'd been that long! And it has also been two years since I first posted it. Well, I finally worked up some inspiration! I also will be addressing some inconsistencies at the bottom after having gone through the reviews and realizing some mistakes I made (oops).

Everyone was seated and curious about their new Professor by the time she actually arrived in the classroom. Professor Kerrigan was on the shorter side, but very intimidating looking. She swept her way to the front of the classroom and began to speak in a very strong American accent.

"Hello class, I am your new professor for this year. I know there was a lot of excitement last year and we have some students repeating their classes, but I will not be accepting any excuses for slacking. My name is Meredith Kerrigan, but I expect you to address me as Professor Kerrigan. I am American, and as thus I was not here for the whole Voldemort debacle. This year we will..."

Her voice faded to the back of Merlin's head. She seemed to be rather insensitive about the war last year. He hadn't been here either, but the stories in the papers he had read had still worried him immensely. He frowned as she continued to talk. He could see similar reactions all over the class, especially from Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Professor Kerrigan carried on happily, unaware of the unease of her students. "And so I would like to start this class with a minor dueling tournament. Will everyone with a red dot on the underneath of their desk please proceed forward to the front of the class?"

The scrapes of chair legs being pulled across the floor wrenched through the room as students lowered their heads to see if they were going to have to participate. As groans were heard around the class, those unfortunate enough to have sat at the wrong desk trudged forward. Merlin, for once, seemed to have luck on his side and was not going to be dueling anyone.

'Good, I've had enough attention today' He thought as the tips of his ears reddened, remembering Professor McGonagall's adoring face as she had stared at his egg.

He recognized a few of the students parading to the front. Among them were Ron, the boy that had sat next to him at the feast the night before, and Tracy Davis from Care of Magical Creatures. As the students began to form a line in front of the Professor, she traced a large chalk circle at the front of the room. She turned back towards the students that were both sitting and standing.

"Now class, I would appreciate you paying attention. You will be learning this next spell soon and I am sure you will find it very useful." She turned to face the circle once again and lowered her wand to the edge of it. After having traced the perimeter of the chalk line with the tip of her wand, she stood up and said very loudly and clearly,

"Protego Maxima Vigilum."

A large half bubble shimmered into existence, its edges matching up to the chalk line on the floor. It stayed visible for a moment before fading to a bare glimmer. The Professor then walked over to a pedestal by her desk holding the seventh year textbook.

"Now, this spell is a very popular one used in most minor duels not involving Unforgivables or the intent to kill. It is utilized by many dueling competitions across Europe and America. There is a short paragraph about the spell on page 34 of your textbook."

The class was silent with the exception of a single quill. The Professor smiled gently at the back of the room. "5 points to Gryffindor for note taking!"

Merlin turned around to see Hermione with a slight blush and a piece of parchment with several notes written on it. He nearly smacked himself in the head.

'Ah, what are you doing Merlin? You're here to learn, why are you not taking notes too?' Merlin quickly pulled out his own copy of their textbook to dog-ear the page with the passage about the spell. After sliding the book back into his bag, he raised his head just in time to catch the Professor choosing the first pair to compete.

"Okay, it is now time for our first pair to duel. How about..." She looked up and down the row of seventh years. "You," She pointed at a Gryffindor boy with brown hair and scattered freckles. "And you." She moved her hand to point at the dark skinned Slytherin that he had barely recognized before. Both of the boys shuffled forward.

"Okay, would you two please make your way inside of the dome?" Professor Kerrigan pointed at two spots to the far east and west points of the circle. As they did so, she began to set up a list of rules on the board:

No Purposeful Injuring

No Dangerous Curses

No Dark Magic

And Absolutely No UNFORGIVABLE CURSES

"Okay boys, please give me your names."

The Gryffindor boy to the western part of the circle was "Seamus Finnegan", and the other boy near the eastern side was "Blaise Zambini".

The Professor smiled at them both. "Very well. Do keep in mind that this shield will stop most basic curses and spells from breaking through, but will not work on those of the darker variety. I do not expect you to be using those though, as this is a friendly battle." It seems she had heard about the feud between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

Being reminded of the fight that had occured after he left was saddening. Merlin tried to think of anything that could push the two apart. Nothing really came to mind. Sure, they weren't the closest of friends, but they had never truly fought. He sighed. After classes were over, his first stop would be the library. He had to know what had happened.

While Merlin reminisced about the past, the dueling had already begun. Thus far, Seamus' foot had been transfigured into a eel and Blaise had been clipped by a curse that caused the victim to experience major hair growth on their underarms. The rest of the class was transfixed as the two dueling boys had very close calls with some spells and had to deal with the hilarious repercussions of others. Even Draco was too focused to notice that Merlin's mood had slipped drastically.

After that, class went by very fast for Merlin. After Seamus landed a lucky hit on Blaise and knocked him out with a flying goblet, two other groups went. Ron won very easily when paired up with a giant Slytherin named Gregory Goyle, who's brain, it seems, was not quite as big as his stature. Afterwards, Tracy from Care of Magical Creatures went up against that strange girl from last night, Pansy Something-or... was it something to do with parking? Merlin shook his head, no use trying to remember now. Tracy and Pansy fought well, but class ended before a winner could be determined.

Everyone left the class for lunch, eager to tell their friends about the duels. Merlin left too, but he was headed in a different direction.

Forget lunch, he had to know what had truly happened while he was gone.

There we go! It was easier to get back to writing than I thought it would be. Now, to address some questions I have been getting.

Yes, I do realize now that Merlin should not have been having dreams after taking a dreamless sleep potion. I suppose that was just me looking for a good line to end the chapter on!

Now that you mention it, I did plan the schedule wrong before writing. I should have spaced out the classes between several days. I blame it on my school having seven classes a day tbh. As I do already have the schedule written out I will probably keep with it.

Sorry about the whole "nope it was actually about 1000 years not 300 whoops" thing, I will go into the summary and change it there.

Anyhow, hope you enjoyed!