Merlin Wasn't Ever Real

[Vader Hume]

The library was a calm and quiet place, but it wasn’t a place that Vader visited all that often, largely down to the fact that he didn’t need that many books and he didn’t need to study all that often, but the last history of magic class had led him straight to the library. Merlin was not a real figure of history. King Arthur was not. He found the history section of the library and immediately found himself a table to sit out. He took out his notes from the class, his history books, and the camera he always kept in his bag placing them on the table. Spreading himself out enough without taking up the whole table. The boy set off in search of information. Merlin wasn’t nor had he ever been real. After a few questions to the right people who knew the magical system Vader himself a rather large stack of history - not fantasy - books about the famed wizard. He carried them back to where he was sitting and placed them down in an empty space he’d left for the books. The Gryffindor opened the first and quickly went to the index before going to the correct page. Merlin was real, had been real and he’d been a slytherin. Vader wondered how many other figures from history were in fact real. He moved to get another book that was reference in the one open, and with the way he was hurrying he accidentally shoved all of the books to the floor with a resounding crash.
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[Alice Holland]

Alice didn't visit the library very often. She didn't hate the room or anything, but something about the many books made it feel stuffy and intimidating to her. She would be reminded of how much she still didn't know, and then would want to learn everything quickly. That wasn't possible, though. All she could do was work hard on her lessons. The library was good for peace and quiet, though. So she knew that it would be a good place to do her Defence Against the Dark Art homework. She knew a little bit about the unforgivable curses, but not enough to write her essay properly. So she found a book on dark arts and then looked around for a table. As she was looking around, she jumped when she heard a loud crash and turned to look what was going on. A boy had knocked over a stack of books, and Alice immediately hurried over. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked, looking over at the mess. "I'll help you!" She put her own book on the table and crouched down to pick up a few the boy had been reading. She smiled at him. "Working on history?"

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader glanced up a little startled when someone just appeared to materialise next to him, he was for a moment concerned that she might not be particularly happy with all the noise, or that she’d start laughing at him for causing such a mess. He seemed to keep his gaze closely on her as she then spoke, dispelling any easier concerns. Vader nodded quickly in response to what she had asked, but was glad for the help that she might provide him as he picked books up. ”Thanks,” he replied shyly, his cheeks reddening at the fact he had caused enough of a noise and mess to merit this girl having to come over to help him. Though of course he was more annoyed at his own actions than he was at hers, she was trying to be nice and it was a far cry from when others would knock the books off and not at all help him pick them back up. His own actions had caused them to fall and others were helping pick them up. The gryffindor gave a small smile at her question, ”Yeah, reading about Merlin,” he admitted, he didn’t particularly want to go into why in case this girl would think him dumb for not knowing who he was, or for in this case believing that he simply could not possibly be real. Vader placed a small stack on the table and began grabbing a few more, ”Thanks for the help, I kinda half expected you to either laugh at me or give me into trouble for making so much noise,”
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[Alice Holland]

Alice picked up some of the book sand put them back on the table, she noticed the boy seemed a bit embarrassed by what had happened and she hoped to put him at ease. Who didn't knock something over sometimes? As she made a small stack on the table, the boy told her he had been reading about Merlin. "Oh! I remember we learned about him in History last semester, I guess you have History of Magic now?" She asked him with a glance in his direction. His next words made her frown, and she put the last book on the table before she answered. "Anyone laughing at you would be mean. Everyone knocks stuff over sometimes! Honestly, I do it all the time." She said with a small shrug. "And I don't see how that would get you into trouble. You weren't purposely making noise." She decided she could spend some time with this boy, maybe cheer him up a bit. It seemed to her like he had met some mean people here at Hogwarts. "Can I sit at your table? I was planning to work on Defence Against the Dark Arts homework. Maybe we can help each other! I'm Alice, and I'm in Hufflepuff."

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader nodded at the question, ”Yeah, I do,” the boy thought that it was odd that for the first two years they were in different classes from other houses. He didn’t mind it as a thing, but he did think it was a little odd. There was no reason for them to have that. The classes might be a bit bigger, but as far as he knew the magical world had a whole set of different rules when it came to students. So maybe they wouldn’t have minded if the classes were huge. Clearly it did matter. When the girl continued he felt somewhat reassured by her reaction. He had come to find most people at hogwarts were different from what he’d expected, from what he had been used to, but some aspects of it still put him on edge, and he still wasn’t all that comfortable just giving out his name willy nilly. Though at the very least she wasn’t asking for that yet. Vader nodded when the last of the books were place on that table, he would be very thankful for her to sit with him, since he was so stuck on the idea that merlin was even real it was probably right to have her sit with him. ”Yeah!” he replied clearly happy by the prospect of studying with someone. ”Let me just move some stuff,” the boy moved a few of books, and put his camera back in his bag, so that she would have more space to sit with him and do the revision. Once he was done he took a seat and motioned for her to sit, if she still wanted to of course.​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice nodded when the boy mentioned he did have History of Magic this semester. Maybe she could help him. “Well, if you need any of my notes I think I have them saved.” She said with a small shrug. “I could lend them to you if it would help.” She wasn’t sure if he would want her to, she could understand someone preferring to take their own notes for their classes, but if not Alice was happy to share. His words about being laughed at kept nagging at her, and as she took a seat at the table and put her own book in front of her, she glanced at him. “Have you been bullied?” She asked him quietly. “Since you thought I would laugh at you? My sister is a prefect, maybe she can help if something’s wrong?” She gave him a nervous smile. “Sorry if I’m mistaken, I just wanted to make sure to ask in case you did need help.” She glanced over at her Defence Against the Dark Arts book, oddly embarrassed to have brought it up. She didn’t want the boy to think she thought he looked like someone who would be bullied, or anything like that. It had just been his reaction that had made her think. Alice hated bullying, and if she could help prevent it she knew she had to try, even if she was just guessing.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader smiled and nodded, ”I’d like that, history has a lot to catch up on, if you’re on square one” the gryffindor said with an eagerness. Anything more that could help him in the whole process was good. He needed to just get his knowledge up to the standard of other people. The gryffindor sat down and began to pull his books and things towards him, until he was ready to get back to his reading. He looked up at the question she asked him, did she think he was currently being bullied, certainly as the girl went on and said that her sister was a prefect, ”I’ve not been bullied here,,” the boy replied slightly diplomatically. He didn’t want to say that he had been bullied, he didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t know if this girl would know anything about it, and he didn’t want to invite any of it, and he could wish that someone had been this kind before, ”Hogwarts is good,”’ he added with a shrug, ”Don’t you think so?” the boy added hoping they could stick to the conversation about the school they were currently at an not something else. ​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice noticed the boy mentioning he was on square one, which made her wonder if he was a muggleborn. She decided to stay as direct as she had been so far and simply ask him. “I can imagine, are you new to this world then?” She asked, curious. “Like, the magical world?” She knew asking him if he as bullied here had been a risky thing to do, as it could have easily turned the conversation awkward or even made him mad, but she felt like it was her duty to make sure. She was relieved to hear he wasn’t bullied, though she did notice him specify ‘here’ as in at Hogwarts. She wondered about that, but realized from his tone and words that it was time to change the subject. Alice gladly went along with it. ”It’s great! I’ve been wanting to go for ages. I have three older sisters and they all went before me. It’s still a little hard to believe sometimes that I’m actually finally here. Even though it’s been nearly a full school year now.” She knew that sounded a little silly, but it was how she felt. “What do you like best so far?”

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader tried his best to stifle the fact he was muggleborn to most people. But, in his currently mood it was easy for him to say that he was muggleborn when he needed to learn more about a magical figure that it seemed everyone else was very much aware of. It did explain why he’d heard people exclaim Merlin more than God when they were annoyed, but he hadn’t thought there would be a legitimate reason for it, and not just another quirk of the magical world. Vader nodded at her question, ”First in my family,” he replied with a slightly sheepish expression, he was a bit shy and ashamed of his heritage at times, especially when it showed he knew less than others. He wondered as she spoke what it would be like to always know about the magical world as she had. His sister would know about it, but there wasn’t a certainty that they would even be magical. ”What houses are your sisters in?” the boy asked because he was curious as to if he’d run into any of them before, and also how the houses might work, ”Do they put siblings into the same house? I’ve noticed not always,” the boy was clearly curious and he was asking on the off chance his sisters got to join him. At the question she asked, he waited for a moment, thinking about his answer, ”Transfiguration,” the boy said with an air of confidence, sure in his answer, though his camera and Accio were a very close second. ”Has it lived up to what you’d thought it would be like?”​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice’s eyes widened slightly when the told her he was the first magical person in his family. As the youngest of four, Alice had never been the first in her family at anything, except for being sorted into Hufflepuff. She could tell he seemed a bit embarrassed about telling her this, so she tried her best to look very accepting. She thought of mentioning her mother and her policies, but quickly realized that was probably a bad idea. It would look like bragging, and Alice really wasn’t sure yet how she felt about her mother now being a very public person. It hadn’t been something she considered before the election, but now it was starting to dawn on her. “That must be difficult, but also really nice. Do you have siblings? I’m sure if you do they would be glad you can tell them stuff about Hogwarts before they go. That’s what my sisters did.” She said with a nod. Alice had known a lot about Hogwarts already before coming here, but she had quickly come to realize other people’s stories didn’t truly prepare you for the castle and its wonders. When the boy asked what houses their sisters were in and if they always put siblings into the same house, Alice had to laugh a little. “Well, in our case the hat definitely didn’t put us all in the same house. In fact, we’re all in different ones.” She said brightly, then started counting on her fingers. “Rose is in Gryffindor, she’s the prefect I mentioned. Then there’s Phoebe in Ravenclaw, Diana in Slytherin and I’m in Hufflepuff.” She shrugged, not really finding this strange anymore. “I think we’re all pretty different, but we’re similar in a lot of ways too. The houses don’t say everything.” Alice often heard she was a lot like Rose, and she thought her other sisters had traits in common as well. Just maybe not the big traits the sorting hat used to sort them. She was a little surprised to hear he liked transfiguration best, as it was the one subject Alice found quite difficult. But everyone was different, she knew. “I like Herbology best, but that’s probably partly because my dad is an Herbologist so I had an interest in the subject already.” Though Diana didn’t like Herbology at all, so it wasn’t something they all shared. His last question made her think for a moment, before she nodded. “It’s a lot better than I thought it would be like. I always focused on the amazing things I would see and learn but in reality I think meeting other witches and wizards and making friends has been the best part.” Growing up in a big family, Alice had never been lonely, but she now had her own friends, independent from her sisters.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader nodded at her question, ”I have two younger sisters,” the gryffindor told her, ”Padme and Leia,” he told her, the boy was happier to take about them. Thought their names with his were fine, compared with his name they were less obvious. The gryffindor knew though that all of there names together were a real indicator of what his parents were obsessed. He didn’t know if they would be magical, he assumed that Padme was, she had done things similar to him in the last few years, but there was no telling about his youngest sister, he wouldn’t want to tell her things without knowing that she would be able to enjoy them. ”I don’t know if they’re both magic, I hope they are,” he wanted to share this world with them. He had always been close and knowing that his life could be quite separate from theirs for no reason other than his magic wasn’t something he wanted to think about. He didn’t know if there was any way to ensure that they did end up with magic. He nodded as the girl went on to talk about her sisters, one in each house. He wasn’t sure if this was common or not. ​

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Vader hadn’t spoken to many others with that many siblings. He had to agree that the houses didn’t encompass all that they were. ”Do you prefer being in a house without any of your sisters?” he knew she’d had a high chance of sharing a house with her siblings, and maybe she would’ve rather share it with at least one, or if it would be better to have the independence of their own house. Maybe it depended on how close the siblings were, but from how she was talking about her sisters. Vader hadn’t minded herbology, but he could agree that having a parent in a certain job like that might help. ”What does a herbologist do exactly?” he couldn’t help but ask, he was curious about the magical world, he wanted to know things about it, and she seemed like the sort of person who would be happy to tell him. As she spoke of the school and how it had lived up to it, he thought it curious, ”Do magical kids not have a younger school?” he asked, thinking that it was an odd way of talking about school and that maybe there was nothing before this for magical kids. ​

 

[Alice Holland]

The boy told her he had two younger sisters, which was similar but also different from Alice’s own situation. She knew what it was like to have a bunch of siblings, but she had always been used to being the youngest. She couldn’t help but think that must be better than being the oldest, as it was pretty nice to have people looking out for you all the time. She wasn’t sure what she would do without her older sisters there to help her out. “Those are nice names, but I don’t think you told me your name yet.” She said with a smile. The girl didn’t recognize anything strange about the names besides the fact that they were maybe a bit unusual. “I hope they are too!” She added when the boy said he wasn’t sure if they were both magical. That was something she never really had to consider, but she supposed it was different for muggleborn children. Though of course, one of her siblings could have been a squib. It just hadn’t been the case, and it had never been a possibility Alice really considered. It would be strange to go to school without one’s siblings, and she really hoped that this boy’s sisters would both be joining him here.

His next question made her think, and she tilted her head slightly as she tried to imagine being in one of the other houses. “Well… I’m not sure. I think I would have liked to be in Gryffindor with Rose, or really any of the other houses too. But then sometimes I do like being in a different house, because it does feel a bit special in a way. I still see them around the school.” Maybe not as much as she would like, but she wasn’t going to complain about that to this boy right now. His question about her dad’s job made her smile and sit up a little straighter. “Well, my dad grows and cares for magical plants. Sometimes they are useful for potions or medicine, or they are interesting to study and watch for a while.” She wasn’t sure why they were interesting, but that was her dad’s job and not her own. “We have a greenhouse behind our house with a lot of different plants, but some of them can be dangerous so I wasn’t allowed to just play there by myself.” She had never tried to break that rule, not seeing the appeal in doing something that was clearly forbidden for a good reason. Her sister Phoebe had gotten in trouble for it a few times, though. But she had also often helped her dad out with his duties or experiments. At his question about school, she shook her head. “No, I think we either get homeschooled or go to muggle school. I went to a muggle school, and I did make a bunch of friends, but it’s kind of hard to befriend anyone for long when you can’t invite them home… and when you know you’ll be leaving for most of the year after you turn eleven.” She looked away, winding a strand of hair around her finger. “Besides, I thought Hogwarts would be a lot different… it’s something I’ve been looking forward to my whole life.I always pictured I would just spend a lot of time with my sisters and that we would do a lot of magic together, but since they’re in different years and have their own friends it’s not really turning out that way.” She brightened, lowering her hand. “But that’s why it’s so nice that I’ve met so many awesome people already and made a lot of friends. Let’s be friends too!”

 

[Vader Hume]

The boy blushed lightly, he hadn’t even remembered that he hadn’t told this girl his name, and she didn’t immediately react to those, though it was pretty apparent that they weren’t the most normal of names and most people if they new it a little would raise their eyebrows at the combinations of name, but she hadn’t. SHe was a magical person from a magical background maybe she wouldn’t know. He just had to be confident about his own name to her, give nothing away that anything was wrong with it. ”Oh, sorry, I’m Vader,” he made a point of holding her gaze as he said it, trying to make it very evident that nothing was wrong with it. He didn’t expect her to know what his name was and he wasn’t going to bring any more attention to it unless he had to. If she hadn’t known the last names, she might not know his and he had no reason to worry. He was still nervous about her reaction to it. He had stopped being confident in giving his name years before. He just needed to focus on being confident on maybe not accepting if people tried to make fun of it instead of just taking it as he always had done. A small smile found its way to Vader’s features.​

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Better yet was the fact that the boy was able to listen to her explain what she thought about her sorting, how she might’ve rather, ”You’d never be in the shadow of them,” he didn’t know much about her or her life and maybe this wasn’t the case but he knew his sisters were often in his shadow at his last school. He listened carefully as she explained what the man did and what that meant, ”So he grows them to then sell them?” the boy asked wondering if he had the right idea, if the man did that then it had to be to make money, casually growing something wouldn’t be good. The gryffindor thought about it, ”Could just anyone do that, or do you have to be really good at herbology for it?” he knew that questions like this would probably be better directed towards his head of house but it was quite nerve wracking to talk to someone in that kind of a way. Especially since he would have a lot of questions and maybe the professor wouldn’t have the time to. Vader couldn’t imagine how blissful it would be to not have to go to school during those years. He was definitely interested in being her friend, so he nodded at it, ”I’d like to be friends, having friends is fun!” Vader agreed excitedly, since he did believe it to be fun. So far all of the friends he had made were fun.​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice didn't recognize the name the boy told her from anything, though she did think it was a bit unusual. But there was something nice about having a unique name, she imagined. Alice was pretty common, and her surname wasn't exactly rare around here either. "It's nice to meet you Vader." She said with a slight smile, unsure why he was looking at her so seriously as he said his name. His observation about how she wouldn't be in her sisters' shadow gave her some pause, but then she nodded a little reluctantly. "That's true." She said softly, though it felt a bit like a betrayal. Being the youngest had its perks, but it did get a little tiring to be compared to her older sisters all the time. She had some similar traits to each of them, so had been compared to every one of them at least once. When he asked about her father's job, she shook her head. "I think sometimes he does, but it's more for research so people know more about certain magical plants. I can ask him to give a better summary for you next time I write him." She could understand why someone from a muggle background was curious. "If you want, I can also ask him if he knows what sort of grade might be needed. I think you need to be okay at it, at least, and like it a lot too." She smiled, hoping it helped him out a bit. She was glad he agreed to be her friend, and decided to make it official by holding out her hand for him to shake. "To make it official." She said, her grin showing that this moment wasn't as serious as it may appear at first glance. She was just being a little silly with it.

 

[Vader Hume]

Vader was happy at her non reaction to his name and a small smile appeared on his face. He liked it best when people didn't even blink at his name, which did happen at this school. The gryffindor was keen to have that sort of reaction a lot more than any other kind. He needed that to happen more frequently and maybe it would if he was just a little more assertive with his name. He didn't need to take any bullying, he didn't need to have to deal with it any more anyway. So why not be more assertive in his name. Vader needed to try to be assertive and confident with his name, but it was proving hard, he opted to not introduce himself most of the time, but that often had just meant conversations went unfinished. ​

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He wondered if maybe Alice didn't much agree that you could be in someone's shadow like he'd supposed. But maybe he thought too much about it for himself and his family and didn't consider that other families would be entirely different. As she went into more detail and suggested to get her dad to write it down, he blushed a bit, "I'd appreciate that, if it wasn't too much bother. I don't know much about the magical world, or what people do after school, the boy replied shyly. He was at . the very least was making . friends with her. He took her hand and gave it a shake, Alice was very nice to him, she seemed very nice. "Friends are really fun! I like having friends,"​