Well... it's been a few years since I wrote the first 19k words of this story...! Three years and a half, in fact. It recently caught my fancy again, when I was rereading some of my old works. I also found my old notes to this story and out of curiosity, I began writing again.

The product is a whopping long story. I chose to rewrite the first chapters I posted on here completely, as my writing style has changed a lot since then. This story really deserved to be finished though, and I am forever encouraged by your nice messages y'all leave behind! It was rereading the comments that really encouraged me to finish this. So thank you kind reviewers!

As I didn't want to bother all of the followers of this story by posting more chapters, especially when they might've read this story back in 2015, so I decided to post it as an entirely new story, considering how much I have rewritten, I thought this prudent. I will leave this version here for anyone who might be inclined to read this too.

A little teaser to tease you for the future chapters in the new version:

"The truth," Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution."

Merlin gave a small chuckle. They sat in silence for a long, unbearable minute. A minute in silence tended to be much longer than a minute in conversation. He examined the old man with interest; the sharp, intelligent eyes, the odd clothing... His gaze finally rested upon the blackened hand that had touched Tom Riddle's ring.

Merlin's eyes finally turned to the portraits that adorned the office. They were all pretending to be asleep, but really were listening in on the conversations, as they always did. He gazed at them for a long enough time, that some of them even began cracking their eyes open to see why a silence had descended upon the office. Like students who stopped talking the moment a teacher ceased lecturing.

"May I ask the portraits to vacate their frames?" Merlin finally asked. There was a ripple of outrage.

"They are quite loyal to me, Harry. Anything that is said in this room will stay in this room."

Merlin smiled. "I insist, Headmaster."

Dumbledore gazed at him for some time before eventually giving a small nod. He glanced up at the portraits and raised an eyebrow. They disappeared from their frames, all frowning and taking as long as possible.

"I have conceded to your demands, now, pray tell." Dumbledore spread out his arms to prompt him to speak.

Merlin leaned forwards, and smiled at the man, eyes twinkling as he allowed himself to relax into what he had been like in his past life; slightly more dignified and elegant than he as Harry had ever been. It occurred to him he had been slightly like Dumbledore, albeit perhaps less peculiar and a tad more powerful. Maybe more than a tad.

"What do you know about Rebirth… Albus?"

There you have it :) Hope people are still interested in this!