So this is a new story, which has no connections at all to my other crossover "Merlin's Guide as to Why You Shouldn't be Voldemort" and is completely canon up until fifth year. This is not particularly AU either: although Merlin is at Hogwarts in the same year as Harry, events in previous years have not changed. In this story, (which is set in Harry's fifth year) certain events from Order of the Phoenix have changed round, but the basics remain the same.

This story is only in four parts, and with the amount of work I have going on at the moment, this should have weekly updates, with the possibility of updates being shorter if I finish chapters sooner, especially as I have this already planned out in detail, including sketches of dialogue in important scenes.

The Justice of the Druid

Chapter One – The Most Noble, the Most Ancient and the Original House of Ddraig

For once, even the good natured ambience of the Hufflepuff table couldn't lift Merlin's spirits as he slid onto the end of the bench. As he reached out to snatch two croissants from Ernie MacMillan's hoard, he scowled when the boy ruffled his hair in retaliation and the chuckles it elected from Hannah Abbott and Megan Jones at his already awful bed head worsening.

"What's the matter Meryn?" Hannah asked as she absentmindedly pinched a piece of toast from the plate next to hers that was piled high with various topped toast and began to munch on it.

"Umbridge," Merlin scowled darkly, taking out his anger on a defenceless fried egg that Megan served him, watching in satisfaction as the yolk popped.

"What's that toad done now?" Justin Finch- Fletchley huffed as he plonked his bag down beside Merlin before clambering onto the bench between Merlin and Ernie. "And most importantly: where's all the croissants gone?"

"Ernie's got them," Hannah smiled in amusement as she watched her friend's eyes light up when Ernie revealed the pastries. "Honestly Justin I would have thought you would have got the hang of it now after four years of us saving them for you."

"Yeah," Megan chimed in, "considering Hannah's doing the same for Susan now seeing as she sleeps like the dead."

Back in first year, Justin had became so homesick that at several points, he had become so anxious and nervous that he often threw up what little food he had in his stomach – if he had eaten at all, for the young aristocrat had had a habit of not turning up for meals because he felt like he didn't fit in and was also worrying about not being able to carry out his duties. It was only after Megan had found out what he used to have for breakfast every day and asked the House Elves to include pastries with the breakfast that Justin realised that he everybody cared about him, and he soon settled in (although the addition of pastries had become a popular request and they went quickly, thus why Ernie hoarded them). It helped that Susan and Ernie were from the Old Magical families, so they understood how important routine was to him and the pressures of being the heir to a noble and established family.

Merlin too had struggled to fit in: not least because he was an over thirteen hundred year old warlock locked in an adolescent body (although admittedly it had been by choice, not like in 1823 when he had been healing an elderly woman who had extremely bad arthritis and had been casting a spell to give her 'youthful bones' but had sneezed and it had ended up turning him into a nine year old) but because his first choice in magic was still the Old Religion so he found easy spells extraordinarily difficult, he often forget to answer to his given name Meryn and he wasn't used to being around children 24/7.

So despite all of his quirks, like not having and talking about a family and the life he had before going to Hogwarts, struggling with concepts both magical and muggle (he had spent so long in both worlds that he often missed major developments in the other), being so clumsy he was a danger to everybody else and had such a strong moral compass he received the most detentions in the house, Hufflepuff still supported him, and loved him.

And he loved them in return.

Hence why he was angry.

"Guess what Umbridge has deemed such an important issue to occupy our double lesson in DADA today?"

Megan tapped on her empty plate thoughtfully, her nose scrunching up as she considered the question.

"Well, last lesson had been on how to cast expelliarmus without using your wands, as if we didn't know." She rolled her eyes. "I mean, even you can do that spell Meryn and you are definitely the one that struggles the most in our year that actually tries. So I'm guessing... for an equally almost useless spell... aguamenti?"

"No," Merlin replied grimly. "After Gabriel Truman argued with her on the magical strength of muggleborns when he found out she had given a detention to a cub for casting a strong expelliarmus at a third year Ravenclaw in order to stop a duel and referencing it in his homework, she's decided that we need re-educating. Because a muggleborn cub "shouldn't be able to do that". So apparently, today we're going to be studying blood purity."

Hannah Abbott stared at him with an open mouth, her long blonde hair which she had been plaiting half finished whilst Megan rolled her eyes and Ernie swore loudly.

"Seriously?" He boomed, banging his hand on the table, "we're being taught about that rubbish? The magical strength of a person has got nothing to do with how pure your blood is!"

"We know that thankfully," Hannah interjected as she laid a soothing hand on Ernie's angrily vibrating figure. "She's going too far now."

Justin, Merlin noticed, had remained conspicuously silent. Catching Megan's eyes, Merlin indicated subtly to the boy sitting next to him, and she widened her eyes in understanding.

"Hannah," She announced loudly, "Call a House Meeting. Now."

"Yes," She said decisively, catching onto her friend's idea. She stood up and tried to get the older prefects attention, but Breakfast was a social meal occasion and nobody paid attention to her, though it wasn't on purpose. Ernie quickly stood up when he realised that it wasn't working and nodded to Hannah and to Megan, who cast a silencio around the table, Merlin helpfully extending it with the help of the Old Religion (keeping his eyes shut the whole time, of course).

"Badgers," Ernie boomed, immediately catching everybody's attention. "A situation has arisen. House meeting to be held at the Den in five minutes for everybody. This is important."

"Don't worry Justin," Merlin said, nudging the quiet boy with his shoulder, "We'll stick up for you."

"Yes," Hannah confirmed grimly, "The whole House will."

It was a good thing that 'Puffs on the whole were early risers, because even though they purposely tried to keep the meeting short, that had gone out of the window as soon as they found out what Umbridge was planning. However once it had been brought back under control with the help of the older students, it was unanimously decided that the muggleborns would be protected by their classmates. Still, they were late to their first lessons and twenty points in total were taken off the House for their tardiness, though nobody minded as it had been for a good cause.

The day had flown by, and all too soon Hufflepuff fifth years were lining up reluctantly outside Professor Umbridge's classroom for their last two lessons that day, hovering by the doors for as long as they could before entering the pink hell. Instinctively, the badgers moved into formation around Justin, Sally-Anne Perks, Kevin Entwhistle, with Merlin, Wayne Hopkins and Roger Malone shuffling next to them and Naomi Runcorn, Ernie, Hannah and Susan forming their outer line of defence. Zacharias Smith had caught the flu and was residing back in the dens, so they didn't have to deal with his slightly outdated values on blood.

"Good afternoon class," Umbridge started off pleasantly, standing in front of her desk.

Everybody obediently parroted the phrase back, and Merlin was impressed by how the children who loathed her so much could interject such enthusiasm in their voices that it was as if they had just been told Christmas had come early.

"Recently, I have noticed how your motivation for learning spell theory has waned. Thus, today we are going to go into the reasoning behind learning the theory so that you canal truly understand the importance of learning spell theory. Our topic today is very serious: That of the inheritance of magic and how it can affect your spells. Typically, those who have a stronger inheritance produce more devastating spells, and the ministry would best like to protect you from accidently magically exhausting yourself."

She giggled girlishly, and pointed her wand towards the board, where the words fully inherited appeared in swirled handwriting.

"Fully inherited magic can be split into numerous categories, with the most intense magic produced by an individual who has inherited magic from hereditary parents. The most established families have special tomes in order to help offspring control their magic and which often contain magic specialised to that family and hold spells unknown to outsiders. Those who are notably in this category are the Malfoys, Bones', Patils and Runcorns, amongst others. There are those which are debated, such as the Weasleys, the Jones and the Abbotts."

Umbridge's lip curled upwards into a sneer almost unnoticeably as she looked at Hannah an then at Megan, both who stared stubbornly back, proud of their status as a half-blood and pureblood respectively (although the Jones family was well known for having no problems with blood purity, hence why they were a 'debated' family).

Although he hated himself for it, Merlin was impressed with the witch for how she had somehow managed to prepare and memorise an entire double lesson on blood purity without ever actually saying the phrase, merely insinuating it.

"I of course, am also in this category, as I am a member of the prestigious Selwyn family, who are also in the minority to have several family tomes and spells."

"Do you think they specialise in looking like amphibians?" Roger Malone whispered from his position next to Merlin in the half blood circle, barely moving his mouth.

The Warlock fought hard to stop the grin from showing on his face.

"I hope you are taking notes on this," Umbridge said suddenly, staring hard at Roger and Wayne Hopkins, who seemed to have had developed a serious cough within the last few seconds.

There was a flurry of activity as everybody removed pages of parchment and quills from their bags. Whilst this was occurring, an arrow was drawn from fully inherited and more writing appeared on the board, with the words partially inherited slightly lower and to the right.

Again, Umbridge went through how somebody could have 'partially hereditary magic', barely able to hide her distaste as she used examples of families, causing Wayne Hopkins to squirm under her prejudiced gaze, and Roger Malone to stare defiantly back when their names were mentioned. The Abbott family, again were picked upon, and poor Hannah's began to unravel from her neat plaits with her tense movements she was inflicting upon it.

Finally, the moment that Merlin had been dreading, was when Umbridge drew a final arrow from partially inherited that went unnecessarily far down the board before she finally stopped and wrote the words uninherited so precisely it was a wonder that her wand hadn't blown up from the amount of revulsion that was directed through it.

It was if the room had reached sub zero when the words were finished, and almost subconsciously, classmates huddled together. The Hufflepuff purebloods that were on the outside of the ring shifted the chairs slightly inward, silently offering their support for the onslaught that was sure to come. Sally, Justin and Kevin exchanged glances with determination, whilst Susan Bones subtly mimed if Merlin was okay.

"Finally, we have the uninherited." Umbridge seemed to be torn between sounding venomous and sounding regretful and compromising by talking past the malicious words that were lodged in her throat. "These people are sadly not fortunate enough to have the benefit of hereditary magic and are thus the weakest witches and wizards."

With his aristocratic upbringing, Justin managed to keep a politely interested expression on his face, but Merlin could see how he had suddenly gone so pale it was like he had been petrified again, and he had straightened up completely with a regal air about him – which he only did when he was feeling anxious and threatened. Next to him, Sally-Anne Perks and Kevin Entwhistle had clasped hands underneath the table and had leant slightly in towards each other, both desperately needing the reassurance of human touch, to remind them not everyone in the newly found wizarding world were this cruel to muggleborns like them.

Merlin himself felt anger boil up inside up as Umbridge's prejudices reminded him so much of those he had faced long ago, except that those with the strongest magic had been the most reviled.

"Uninheriteds have no family to help strengthen their magic."

Kevin and Sally's hands were alternating between red and white so much that they looked like a twisted candy cane as they clenched their significant other's limbs. Sally in particular looked close to tears from the low blow which reminded her of how her parents were no longer around and Susan had taken to alternating between stroking Sally's knee and drumming reassuringly on Justin's immobile hands.

"And as such, uninheriteds struggle with even the most basic of spells."

Merlin forced himself not to shudder when Umbridge's gaze settled upon him as she said those words, the disaster of when he had had to demonstrate the accio charm coming to mind. It was only the knowledge that he had more power in his little finger than she had in her entire body which prevented him from feeling even slightly embarrassed at his dismal track record with new magic. The same could not be said of his fellow badgers, however.

Next to him, Hannah had her lips compressed so much that they were practically non-existent in an effort to prevent herself from shouting abuse at their professor, her blonde hair now resembling a haystack from anxiously knotting it. Ernie was practically shaking in fury, and Naomi had laid a hand on his knee to calm him, her icy demeanour standing out in stark comparison. It was Susan and Megan meanwhile, who worried Merlin the most. They had given up on trying to comfort Justin (who now looked as if he was going to faint and was taking dangerously shallow breaths) for now, and it was clear that the values which Hufflepuff and the Bones, particularly Susan's Aunt who worked in the ministry, were soon going to be voiced.

"Madame Umbridge –" Susan started out angrily.

"I regret to inform you," Merlin smoothly took over, shooting a warning glance at Susan who stared back defiantly and at Megan who was red faced from her anger, "that I am not, in fact, an uninherited. My father was –" a Dragonlord, a Warlock, "- a wizard, whilst my mother was –" a beautiful, kind woman who was beyond a Queen, "- a muggle.I'm a half blood."

The words of so there's no need to be staring at me passed unspoken between them, but they seemed to fill the entire room.

"Are you now, Meryn," Umbridge stated sweetly, as if she was indulging in his fantasies. "Thrage is not a name I am familiar with."

"Finch-Fletchley isn't a name you're familiar with, and they're far older than the Selwyns and are related to the Queen," Roger Malone muttered darkly. "That's not really saying much."

"I am from an established family, Professor." Merlin shrugged too casually, "We are a... select family. We have taste, you see, and do not consort with people who we consider... inadequate."

Umbridge flushed an ugly red at this, and her toady eyes bulged in part embarrassment and anger at the veiled insult.

"There are no established hereditary families called Thrage," Umbridge snapped, mispronouncing Merlin's last name. He smirked at her inability to pronounce welsh. "I would advise you to not tell lies."

The threat hung in the air. Everybody in Hufflepuff knew about Umbridge's treatment of Harry Potter, and what exactly her detentions entailed. Luckily, it was only the upper years that had been on the receiving end of Umbridge's wrath, but each and every student had returned to the den with vicious cuts on their hands. Harry's was rumoured to be the worst though, although after Merlin had been talking about the properties of murtlap essence loudly with Neville when Hermione was walking past, his hands had quickly reduced in redness and swelling.

"Ddraig is not a wizarding family."

Merlin was committed now. He knew that any moment now, his true heritage would be revealed, but it was worth it. Already, his fellow badgers had recovered slightly, with the glazed look in Justin's eyes having disappeared and his breathing more even, Hannah's hair perfectly smooth once more and the chair that Ernie was sitting on was no longer threatening to break from the intense vibrating it had had to put up with. Indeed, the badgers were all eying him with interest: it was rare that Merlin talked about his family and they all accepted that, so to hear him say more willingly about it was a bonus.

"Then it is impossible for your father to be a pureblood then, is it not Meryn?" Umbridge retorted sarcastically.

"Ddraig is a druid family."

There was a startled silence. It was clear than even Wayne Hopkins, a stoic boy who rarely spoke outside the den but could do conspiracy theories with the likes of the current Ministry of Magic and compulsive liars had never even considered the possibility.

And then:

"I think a week's worth of detention, don't you Mr Thraeg?"

That night, Merlin slowly made his way to Umbridge's office, absentmindedly running his fingers up and down his right hand, memorising what his hand felt like unblemished before it would be cut upon again and again. The reaction from his house had not been expected: they had waited until they had reached the safety of the den where they could discuss the day's events in private, with Merlin nervously fidgeting the whole time.

He finally broke the tension by asking why they didn't seem surprised by the revelation of his heritage.

It was Zacharias Smith who replied (he had been told of events as soon as he entered the room).

"It makes sense. You've always been weird. Your druidness confirms that."

Crudely put, Ernie informed him pompously when Merlin's reaction was to become speechless, but a consensus they had reached wholeheartedly.

So although he was marching off to face torture for the next however many hours it would take, Merlin was in a good mood, which did not diminish even when he stepped inside an office so disgustingly pink it made him feel ill, and Umbridge's malicious smile which greeted him.

"Do you know why you are here, Mr Thragie?"

"It's Ddraig, Professor and no, I do not."

Umbridge's wide amphibian smile lessened when Merlin corrected her on the pronunciation of his surname and her eyes narrowed at his impudence. He smirked, there was a lot more where that came from. Maybe now he would finally unleash it all.

"You are here because you had the audacity," she hissed with venom, "to claim that you are from a pureblood family and from a druidic family at that. There have been no druids for centuries Thragee, and I highly doubt that the Ministry records are out of date!"

"I do," The Warlock muttered, "Considering the ministry is full of morons and has been ages."

Umbridge drew herself up to gain as much height as her small stature could give he, yet Merlin was still taller than her sitting down. The chair creaked as her bulk pressed against the edge of the desk and she shoved it back to stand up in order to try and intimidate her some more.

"You will write I must not withhold secrets and you will not stop until I tell you to. Do you understand me Meryn?"

Merlin noticed in satisfaction that she seemed to have given up on mispronouncing his name. At least that will survive this session without being damaged anymore.

"Perfectly." He replied through clenched teeth, and sat down to start.

Umbridge continued to stand over him as he snatched the quill that was offered to him and when it was clear that she was determined to stand there until he had started, he put the nib to parchment and began to write. He smiled viciously at her when his writing began to appear on his hand, which turned into a triumphant smirk when he saw her disappointment at his apparent lack of reaction to the pain the torture devices were supposed to have been causing him, closely followed my confusion tinged with disgust.

Merlin turned back to the parchment, also confused by her reaction, to find the parchment almost turned to mush from the amount of blood rushing from the quill.

Oh.

The Warlock gritted his teeth, electing a smile from the toad standing above him as he concentrated on controlling his magic. His magic originated from the heart, like every creature originating from the Old Religion and as such it was carried through his body via his blood. His magic was rushing to his defence and trying to heal him, but by being based in his blood he was losing it through the quill, causing his heart to send out more. Slowly, he managed to rein it in, fighting against instinct every step of the way, until eventually what came out of the quill was the usual trickle of blood.

Meanwhile Umbridge was brandishing her wand, slowly siphoning the blood away, muttering under her breath for the entire time about how there were to be no traces. Idly, he wondered if she realised she was speaking out loud.

"Parentis revealisio heridatas!"

Now that had been on purpose.

Reveal your parental heritage.

Before Merlin could even think of swearing, Umbridge had already performed the spell, and green tendrils shot out from her wand into his blood that was now pooling on the table. Both watched the spell in tense anticipation and flinched in unison when the blood emitted a blinding green light.

Merlin swallowed bile, suddenly feeling sick. When the after image died away, forest green words hung in the air.

Balinor Ddraig-Dominus, Lord of the Most Noble, the Most Ancient and Original House of Dragons = Hunith Ealdor

The Warlock let out a sigh of relief he hadn't even realised he had been holding at the result. Thank the Goddess that Umbridge had not had the cunning (and perhaps the ego) to decide to use the most basic heritage spell, which did not even show the person it as used on in question or the date of births of the people involved, otherwise he would have more pressing matters to consider than whether the rest of Hogwarts would find out about his true heritage.

Umbridge paled the sight.

"Do you believe me now, Umbridge?" Merlin snarled, watching in satisfaction as she turned, trembling to face him.

She muttered something, but even with his enhanced hearing, the Warlock couldn't hear what she had said.

"Speak up when you are spoken to."

That seemed to shock her into action, and she tilted her head up to look directly into his eyes.

"I am your Professor Meryn, your better, and I will not be spoken to in that matter!"

Merlin smiled cruelly.

"You claim to be of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Selwyn," He spoke quietly, causing her to have to quieten her breathing and strain to hear him. "Yet you do not bear their name, instead one of an unknown family. And you dare, you dare, to speak to a Lord of an Original House in that manner? Do you know of the power that I wield?"

Umbridge cowered before his challenging gaze.

"I-," she licked her lips, her toady eyes protruding in alarm, "I'm sorry."

"I can cancel your Gringotts account, force you into social exile, have you removed from all posts that your worthless Ministry have given to you-"

"Don't. I'll do anything."

The Warlock regarded her almost cruelly, uncaring of the snivelling mess she has now become.

"You will never teach about blood purity again. Do you hear me?"

"Y-yes, my lord."

"Good," Merlin decreed. He stood up, shoving his chair back. "This detention is over. And I am never coming back for another one."

The Hufflepuff stopped when at the threshold of the office, and turned around, to see a gobsmacked Umbridge still standing there, staring after him with a mixture of emotions.

Horror. Fear. And a third emotion that Merlin couldn't identify.

But it didn't matter. He had stood up for his House and he had won.

But what he didn't realise that the third, unknown emotion was the most dangerous of all.

For Umbridge stared after the newly revealed Lord of Dragons, an obviously powerful druid, with a cold, hard, calculating stare.

For this changed everything.

So there you are! That was the introduction to this new story, which will hopefully set the scene for the later three chapters.

All of the characters that I have used here are real. The Hufflepuffs are either mentioned in the books, or are on a list of students in Harry's year that J. K. Rowling used to plot the series which was revealed in an interview she made (if you want to check, look it up on Pottermore).

The following are the students complete with their blood information.

Ernie MacMillan (Pureblood) Susan Bones (Pureblood)

Megan Jones (Pureblood) Hannah Abbott (Half-blood)

Justin Finch-Fletchley (Muggleborn)

The above were all mentioned in the books. Below are "The Original Forty," but are never referenced.

Runcorn (Female. Pureblood) Wayne Hopkins (Male. Half-blood)

Roger Malone (Male. Half-blood) Sally Anne Perks (Female. Muggleborn)

Kevin Entwhistle (Male. Muggleborn)

And of course: Merlin Ddraig (Half-blood/ Druid) Surname is "dragon" in welsh, just in case you were wondering.

I hope you enjoyed reading this, and it would be lovely if you could leave me a review, thanks! :)