Harry looked at Ron, stunned. What was wrong with him? Was he drunk, ill or crazy? In the meantime Professor McGonagall had come over to the Merlin table and said in a strict, icy voice,

“Could you please explain what you just accused my assistant of, Mr. Weasley?” Ron blushed and said in a very self-confident voice,

“Yesterday evening he healed the Slytherin seeker, although today is the match Hufflepuff-Slytherin. Of course he helps the Slytherins, because his father is Head of Slytherin.” He did not notice that Ginny had gotten up from her seat and was standing next to him, but everyone in the Great Hall could hear the slap Ginny put in his face. Professor McGonagall said in the same icy voice,

“Mr. Snape-Dumbledore is a very generous person. Three weeks ago, he even went to St. Mungos to heal Neville Longbottom’s uncle, although Mr. Longbottom is in Hufflepuff and not in Merlin or Slytherin. It is not a question of the House; it is a question of humanity. If was only by chance that he saw the Slytherin seeker wounded, because he went looking for his father to get a potion for himself. He would help anyone. I am very disappointed in you Mr. Weasley. You are banned from your Quidditch team for the rest of the school year.” Ron did not stop yet.

“You can’t do that! The match starts in thirty minutes. Is that a new approach to make Hufflepuff loose?” Now McGonagall was getting angry.

“Mr. Weasley, please behave yourself. Maybe you should have thought about your team before falsely accusing my grandson of doing unfair things!”

“It’s clear that you take the position of your grandson – I wouldn’t have expected anything else.” Now, Professor Sprout came over and said,

“Fifty points from Hufflepuff. I am very disappointed, Mr. Weasley. Now go and sit down at your table.” Then she went over to discuss with the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team that the reserve keeper had to play for the rest of the year and that they needed a new reserve keeper.

“Harry,” Ginny pulled him out of his thoughts, “What are we going to do about the Hogwarts team?” Harry thought for a moment and said,

“The second team’s keeper will be the new first team’s keeper, and the new Hufflepuff keeper will have to play on the second team.” Ginny nodded her consent and stated,

“Alright, I will tell them tomorrow. Now, shall we go and watch the match?”

On Sunday morning, the whole school witnessed the howler Ron received at breakfast. Mrs. Weasley’s voice could be heard everywhere.

“Ronald Weasley! How dare you attack Harry because he helped another student! I am very ashamed of you, and I just want to tell you something I have not told you before: About twenty years ago, when Harry visited the past, he saved your father’s life by healing him from a deadly snake’s bite – if he had not done so, you would not even exist! Please remember that for the next time you are jealous or don’t appreciate him helping other people!” Suddenly the voice changed and Mrs. Weasley continued in a much friendlier tone, “Ginny, my dear, please tell your boyfriend that we appreciate very much what he is doing and that we are not only proud of him but that we will never forget what he has done for your father and our whole family!”

Harry blushed deeply and threw a questioning glance at Ginny who nodded and grinned mischievously.

Directly after the Easter holidays Harry had started to assist also in the afternoon classes and apart from the memory vision, he had during the animagus class in the evening, everything had gone very well so far. When Harry arrived at the Transfigurations classroom on Monday morning, his grandmother asked concernedly,

“Are you alright, Harry?” Harry nodded and gave his grandmother a slight smile. “Harry,” the teacher continued, “I have thought a bit and came to the conclusion that there is no use of having you attending the 6th years’ class; if you are alright with it, I would like you to assist me in both sixth years’ classes as well. I mean you already know everything we are doing there, and assisting me would serve as practise anyway. What do you think?” Harry sighed and answered hesitantly,

“When you think I am good enough to assist with these classes, I am fine with it of course – hopefully Ron won’t attack me because of his jealousy.” His grandmother snorted and replied sternly,

“In that case he will have to answer to me. And I believe that you will be well capable to defend yourself, Harry. Also, I would think he should have learned his lesson after the howler he got from his mother.” In the meantime, the students had filed in and they had to end their conversation. Harry gave Minerva a short nod, and the lesson began.

During the next weeks, Professor McGonagall proceeded to leave Harry more and more in charge of the first and second years’ classes going so far that she only supervised the classes and assisted if necessary. Harry slowly became used to the responsibility that came with it and began to look forward to being a full teacher from September onwards.

One day Hermione stayed back after the combined lesson of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff sixth years and asked him,

“Are you alright, Harry? Has Ron ever apologized to you?” Harry shook his head and said,

“No, Hermione. He has not spoken to me at all, and I know there is nothing I can do about it, so I decided to just wait it out. I know that I haven’t done anything wrong, and if he thinks he cannot be my friend anymore, then I am sorry.” Hermione sighed and told him,

“I know that it’s only Ron’s fault, and I have told him on several opportunities, so he knows it as well. It’s just a matter of how long it will take him to do the first step and apologize. Harry, you know, on Saturday is the next Hogsmeade day; do you think we could go to Hogsmeade together?” Harry glanced at her, slightly confused and replied,

“As Ginny is my girlfriend, I am already going with Ginny, but of course you can join us; Anna is coming with us too.” He threw a glance at his watch and noticed that lunch was nearly over. “Hermione, I am going to the kitchens to get lunch; would you like to come with me?” To Dobby’s great pleasure, they went to have lunch together in the kitchen. It was good to be able to talk about several things – ‘just like in my old time line,’ Harry thought on his way back to the Transfiguration classroom, where he had to explain to his stern great grandmother why he had not come to the Great Hall for lunch.

But the class Harry enjoyed most was still the Animagus class. About twenty students were attending the special class on Friday evenings, and ten of them had already somehow managed the complete transformation and were just practising; the others at least were able to change some parts of their bodies. Harry was very proud of them, and Minerva was delighted about the success of the class. One evening, Dumbledore entered the classroom during their practise and said,

“I have been told this class is an extraordinary competent class, and I would like to see with my own eyes how far you are able to transform.” Harry grinned and suggested to the students,

“Alright; go on – this is your chance to show off.” His grandfather was very impressed with the students’ achievements, and when he commended them at the end of class, Harry used the opportunity to ask the headmaster about an animagus party at the end of the school year. As it was only a month ahead, they immediately fixed a date. The party was going to take place in the evening of the last day of exams, which at the same time would be the Friday just after the full moon at the beginning of June. Harry grinned inwardly – He would show the students how to enjoy an animagus party during the night.

Later the same evening he joined the other Marauders in the forest for today’s full moon night. When they sat together having butterbeer and snacks, Harry told the others about the planned animagus party and asked them for help with the preparations. Remus and Severus growled a little, but James and Sirius cheered about the possibility of being involved in a first time animagus party for the students. They decided to meet in the entrance hall at the beginning of curfew and take the innocent students outside for the party in the forest.

During the next weekends, the school’s attention was directed onto the Quidditch pitch. Although Harry did not participate in any practise, he managed to catch the snitch in every match. When Albus presented the Quidditch cup to Anna as the captain of the Merlin team, he said,

“I am sorry, but I just have to use this opportunity to commend Harry Snape-Dumbledore, who has managed to play eight years of Quidditch here at Hogwarts – two of them twenty years in the past of course – without loosing even one match. Congratulations Harry! And of course, congratulations to Merlin House, which has achieved to maintain the Quidditch cup for six years in a row. Well done Merlin!”

The next weekend was the last of the Quidditch tournament. Harry had spent much time on the planning and not only hoped that the Hogwarts team would be able to win the cup, but also that everyone would enjoy the dance party he had organized. This time his parents had allowed him to stay in the sixth years’ dormitory with his two guests; therefore Harry was looking forward to the event very much – Would he finally be able to act like a normal student?

In spite of Harry’s association of the Quidditch tournament with dark clouds and a lot of rain, blue sky and blazing sunshine greeted him when he looked out the window of the Merlin common room on Saturday morning. He hurried downstairs to be ready in front of the Entrance doors, when the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, who would referee the game, arrived. As soon as he mounted his broom, he remembered how much fun it was to fly in such a beautiful weather. He proceeded to fly around the pitch enjoying himself until the sound of the whistle brought him back from his day-dreams. The match had begun.

It took Harry half an hour to catch the snitch. He knew that they only had to win the game in order to win the cup; therefore, he just ignored everything taking place beneath him and looked feverishly for his favourite little ball. After the Bulgarian minister had announced the end of the game, Harry took the microphone and asked everyone to come to the Great Hall, where Dumbledore had promised to proceed to the ‘Handing over the Quidditch cup ceremony’ straight away. When everyone had taken their seats in the Great Hall, Dumbledore stood and called Ginny over to the Head table.

“Congratulations, Ms. Weasley, to the Tournament Cup. I am very proud of our Hogwarts team, especially as this is the fifth time in a row that Hogwarts won the Quidditch cup. Thanks to the whole team!” He cleared his throat and thanked Ginny, when she – under a huge applause of the whole Hall – handed the Quidditch cup back for him to keep in his office. It would be the last time for him to take the cup as a headmaster; next year Minerva would be in the position to receive the cup if the Hogwarts team managed to win it even without Harry as seeker. But he didn’t want anyone to know about this fact yet, so he successfully tried to suppress all sentimentality and spoke to the hall again.

“Before we are going to have a victory party lunch, I would like to say a few words. First of all, I want to express my gratitude to Harry Snape-Dumbledore for leading the Hogwarts team for nearly three years. Several of you already know that at the beginning of the school year Harry went back twenty years in the past where he spent two years and already took his NEWTs. However, not many of you will know the fact, that it was Harry to have the idea and create the Hogwarts team in the first place. He also organized the first Quidditch tournament between our three schools, and I am very glad about this invention from twenty years ago. Although we did not manage to have a tournament every year during this time, this year’s tournament was the eighteenth, and I hope for many more in the future. Now, I think Harry has planned something for the afternoon – would you please announce what you organized, Harry?”

Harry walked over to the Head table, where Dumbledore put a Sonorus charm on him, before he addressed the students who were looking at him expectantly.

“Thanks for a nice and fair Quidditch game. Maybe I should apologize for finishing it so early, because it was a lot of fun to fly in this beautiful weather. Anyway, as the swimming contest we had the last time was a bit dangerous, at least for my girlfriend and me, for today I have thought about something safer: A treasure hunt!” He cleared his throat and proceeded to explain the details.

“We will divide all members of the six teams into fourteen groups of three people. Each group will contain of one member of each school. As I have organized the hunt, I cannot participate; therefore, I would like to ask my friend Anna Lupin to play instead of me today.” He addressed Anna,

“Will that be alright for you?” She smiled at him and said,

“Of course Harry, I love to.” Harry nodded contently and continued, while the students were watching him expectantly,

“I have prepared one paper of questions for each group, and you have to walk all over Hogwarts in order to answer the questions and to be able to find the treasure in the end. The questions on every paper are the same but in a different order; therefore following people of other groups won’t be of any use. In case you are lost, hurt or in other real trouble, call my favourite house elf, Dobby, and he will come and get me to you within seconds. If you need an advice, you may call me as well, just don’t bother me about answers to questions; I won’t help with that.” He thought for a moment and added,

“You don’t have to be the fastest. The aim of the game is to learn as much about Hogwarts as possible, and I would like our Hogwarts students to guide our guests and explain to them as much as they want to know. When you arrive at the place where the treasure is hidden, you will notice that there will be a treasure for each group – alas, they have numbers, and you should take the one with the lowest number. We will award the prizes during our dance party in the evening. The dance party will start with dinner at 6 o’clock; when you haven’t finished your hunt until 5 p.m., you should just leave it and prepare yourself for the party.”

With this, he called the members of both Hogwarts teams to the front, including Anna who was replacing Harry, and told the students of Beauxbatons to join the student they wanted to play together with. Finally, he called the students from Durmstrang and asked them to join their favourite pair. When the fourteen groups had found themselves, he told them to sit together for lunch and get to know themselves in order to be able to work together as well as possible.

When Harry turned back to Merlin table, Dumbledore called him back immediately and told him,

“As your friends are busy with their guests anyway, I would like you to join us at the Head table and explain a bit about the treasure hunt.” Harry sighed and sat down between his great grandparents who had conjured a seat between them. Just so much about a quiet lunch in peace without any duties. He told the teachers,

“The questionnaire contains of fifteen questions or orders they have to answer respectively to fulfil. For example, they have to research something in the library, brew an easy potion in the Potions classroom, collect something in the Shrieking Shack, go to the kitchens for a drink etc. They have to fulfil one question in order for the next to become visible on the paper.” He pulled a parchment out of his robes and handed it to his grandfather.

“This is the only parchment where all questions are visible.” Dumbledore nodded pensively, before he asked,

“Have you thought of this all on your own?” Harry smiled and answered,

“Yes, of course. Nobody knew about it. I have only spoken to Winky, because I need her to stay in the Potions classroom in order to supervise the students while they are brewing their potion, and to Bobby, because he has to hand the correct drinks to the groups, as well as to Dobby, because his help might be needed as well.” He thought for a moment and added, “Ah, and of course, I have talked to Hagrid, because the whole thing ends at his place. When the students knock, he will hand the correct number to them. Maybe I will go and join him at some time.”

“And what are you going to do during the time? Do you have any task to fulfil?” his mother asked. She was very impressed and proud of her son.

“Yes, Mom,” Harry laughed, “At some place they have to call Dobby to get me, and I have to flash them to the other side of the school.”

“And in the evening, you will award them a prize?” his grandmother enquired curiously. Harry nodded happily and said,

“Yes. I sent owls to the shops in Hogsmeade and asked them about sponsoring, and in fact, everyone was very kind. Therefore, I can give the winners, who bring the plate with number 1 on it, a voucher of 20 galleons each for Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes for their shop in Hogsmeade. The second prize is a voucher of 10 galleons each for Flourish and Blotts, and the third prize is a voucher of 10 galleons each for Honeydukes. The fourth prize is a voucher of 10 galleons each for WWW and the fifth prize is a voucher of 5 galleons each for WWW. As we have a Hogsmeade day tomorrow, even the guests will be able to use their vouchers without problems. To the other groups I will give three chocolate phoenixes each from my self re-filling box.” The teachers were stunned and remained quiet until Severus managed to say,

“Harry, you did all of this very, very well, and I am very proud of you. Maybe we should have you organize games and tournaments in the future.” Everyone nodded affirmatively, and Minerva said,

“Harry, as we have already discussed about you joining the teachers’ team in September, I would like to ask you to become the captain of the team. I have discussed this with Madam Hooch, who is my Co-captain, but she would like to remain Co-captain and have you as captain. What do you think?” Harry gasped with surprise and after a few seconds nodded,

“Yes, Granny, I would like that very much. The only question is, will you all be willing to have Quidditch training once a week, for example on Saturday after curfew?” Dumbledore and Pomfrey gasped, while Harry’s parents and McGonagall laughed. Finally, Madam Hooch said,

“Good idea, Harry. I will help you to get them onto their brooms, I promise.”

In the meantime, everyone had finished lunch, and Harry stood up to gather the fourteen groups. He handed each group one of the parchments and explained about the procedure. He told them,

“Don’t forget to call Dobby if necessary. If you are stuck with a question, I will help you but for each question, which I really help with, you will loose one position. Now, have fun!” When the teams left, Harry addressed the other students,

“I am sorry, that you are not able to participate in the game; it was my first time to organize something like that and it would have been too difficult to organize such a huge event. But I promise that I will arrange something like that for everyone here, sometime on a weekend during the next school year. Please try to stay out of the way of the groups, so that they will be able to have as much fun as possible. Thank you.”

After a huge applause, the students left the Great Hall and Harry returned to the Head table, where his parents and great grandparents were still sitting and discussing Quidditch with Madam Pomfrey and Madam Hooch. He sat down on the seat he had vacated only minutes before and asked his mother, who was sitting just opposite of him, if he could call Dobby to ask for a coffee. Lily glanced at him suspiciously and said,

“Yes, Harry, no problem, but I have hardly ever seen you drinking coffee. Is everything alright?” Harry gave her a short nod and called Dobby who arrived immediately. He asked the others if anybody wanted coffee and finally asked Dobby,

“Dobby, could you please get a coffee for my Dad and a very strong one for me.” Dobby nodded only to come back with two cups of coffee a few seconds later. Harry had just drunken about half of his coffee, when Dobby arrived again and told him students needed him. Dobby took Harry’s hand and popped them over to the far end of the East tower, from where he had planned to flash the students over to some place in Gryffindor tower.

Finally, he flashed back to the Great Hall and groaned inwardly, when he transformed back. He already had a headache before, but now it was worse and he had to flash another thirteen groups. On his way back to his seat, he stopped behind Severus and whispered, “Dad, can you give me a headache potion please?” Severus glanced at him, put the back of his hand on Harry’s check, and finally pulled a phial out of his robe and handed it to Harry, who gulped it down, recognizing it as his strawberry potion, and handed the phial back and relaxed.

“Harry, what is wrong? Did you get a memory?” Severus asked quietly, and Harry shook his head and said,

“I don’t know, but now it’s fine. Thank you, Dad.” He went back to his seat and proceeded to drink his coffee until Dobby came to get him the next time. Finally, he spent the whole afternoon in the Great Hall drinking coffee and tea together with the teachers, who were discussing his parchment with the questions and tasks in every detail. When he had flashed the last of the fourteen groups, it was already half past four, and he decided to flash into his own room to rest until the dance party. He fell asleep immediately and slept until Lily woke him up in time to change for the party.

The party was a lot of fun. When he announced that he had invited the group ‘Take That’ for the evening, the applause was deafening. Ginny and Harry opened the dance, and Harry could enjoy the evening very much. About two hours in the party, Harry asked the band for a break and stepped up onto the stage in order to award the prizes to the groups. The whole Great Hall went quiet as soon as Harry began to speak. He called each group onto the stage and handed over the prizes – the happy faces of the students when they discovered what their prize was were priceless. After everyone had received their present, Ginny stepped onto the stage and stood next to Harry.

“Now, Harry, we also have a prize for you – for the best treasure hunt Hogwarts has ever seen.” She handed him a huge box, and Harry gasped – on the outside of the box, there were three letters: WWW. He hugged Ginny, thanked her and whispered,

“What are they thinking? They know, that I will be a teacher from September onwards, don’t they?” Ginny only smiled mischievously.

The party went on until late after midnight, and it was nearly lunchtime, when most of the students left the castle for Hogsmeade on Sunday morning. Harry and Ginny went to the three shops that had sponsored the vouchers in order to thank the owners profoundly. When dinner was finished in the evening, Dumbledore called Harry over to say a few words, before the guests were going back to their own schools. Harry cleared his throat and said,

“Dear guests, dear Hogwarts students and dear teachers, thank you very much for making it possible for us to have such a great tournament again. As far as I have heard, everyone has enjoyed this weekend very much, and I am very happy that it was such a success in getting to know our guests better. I hope that we will have another tournament next year, although I will probably not be the one to organize it, because I will not be a student anymore but a teacher. However, I promise to support the organizer with all my means and help as much as I can. Dear guests, thank you for coming and for adapting so well, that it was great fun to have you here. And to the Hogwarts students thanks for your hospitality towards our guests; you did very well, and I am really proud of you. Please help to work on the continuation of this already kind of traditional tournament.”

During the next two weeks, the atmosphere in the castle was quite tense, as everyone was aware that the seventh years had to take their NEWTs as well as the fifth years were fighting with their OWLs. Harry was glad that he had taken all necessary tests in the past, although it was a strange feeling not to have to study for the end of year tests. The two test weeks passed fairly quickly, as Harry had been busy grading the end of year tests for all classes except from the fifth and seventh years, but of course he had found enough time to organize the Animagus party, which he planned for Friday night. The week before, during their last animagus lesson on Friday evening, he had told the students to come into the Entrance hall at the beginning of curfew, and to bring warm clothes because they would be going to spend the night outside.

After his last classes in the afternoon, Harry floo-called James to talk about some arrangements for the night; afterwards he talked to Dobby who was going to prepare a huge picnic for the Marauders and the twenty students. During the last days, he had tried to convince Minerva to participate in the Animagus Party as well, and she had promised to come and even bring Albus with her. Normally Minerva and Albus spent the Friday night after the full moon at the Snape quarters to watch the children, but today Harry had arranged something else. Julia would remain in her dormitory, although it was Friday night, which she normally spent at home, and Marina was staying with her friend at the Lupins quarters.

‘Speaking of the Lupins,’ Harry thought, ‘I have to teach Amelia how to become an animagus, so that she will be able to accompany us during the full moon nights. Maybe she will have time during the summer holidays.’ He decided to ask her about it the next time he saw her.

Suddenly Harry noticed that he was very tired and told his mother, who had just come back from her last class, that he was going to skip dinner and instead would try to get some sleep before the night. Lily promised to wake Harry up half an hour before curfew, and Harry went to bed. When he changed into his pyjamas, he noticed, that his chest was full of small yellow pustules. He frowned. What could that be? He never had seen such a thing before, and it didn’t hurt at all. For a minute, he thought about showing it to his dad but dismissed the thought and went to sleep for a while.