“He seems to be very tired and he has a bit of a temperature. It is not bad, but he should rest as much as possible. Tell me if it gets worse.” Lily nodded and said,

“Alright, Poppy, I will see to that. Thank you very much. Do we have to wake Violet?” Pomfrey thought for a moment and replied,

“No. You will let her take a bath later anyway I suppose. Just make sure that you have a good look at her and see if she has bruises or something else. If there are any problems, just call me immediately.” Lily nodded and said,

“She seems to be very fixed on Harry already, so maybe he will be the one to give her a bath, but I will make sure that he knows. He was the one to suggest letting you check on her anyway.” Poppy threw her an astonished glance and excused herself promising Lily to find an opportunity to check on Harry again in a few days.

It was quite late in the afternoon when Harry was pulled out of his dream by a small voice next to his head, which called,

“Hawwy?” He slowly opened his eyes wondering where he was and nearly jumped when he recognized Violet next to him on his bed.

“Hello Violet,” he greeted her, “did you have a nice long sleep?” She laughed and happily leaned into his arm. “No, Violet,” he told her laughing as well, “don’t make me sleep again. Let’s get up and have a look what the others are doing. Maybe we can go and fly for a while.” She glanced at him curiously and asked,

“Fwy?” Harry laughed and told her,

“Yes, we fly on broomsticks; let’s go; I will show you. Maybe Marina and Julia will come with us.” They went out in the living room where Minerva and Lily were having tea laughing at their still sleepy faces.

Harry looked around and asked, “Where are the others? I promised Violet to take her on a trip on my broom, but I thought maybe Julia and Marina would accompany us.” Lily frowned at him and told him what Poppy had said and that he was supposed to rest and not going to fly, but he argued that he had promised Violet to take her and that he was not going to break the promise, especially as he was feeling well enough. With the promise to be back in an hour, they left their quarters and walked up the stairs to the Quidditch pitch. Harry was glad to see that his grandfather and godfather were already flying with the other kids and quickly introduced Violet to Remus, Anna and Brianna.

Finally, he mounted his broom and put Violet in front of him asking her, “Alright, Violet?” Having seen how much fun the others seemed to have, she just couldn’t think about being afraid, but beamed with joy, and Harry went up into the air. At first, he flew really slowly in order not to frighten her, but as she seemed to enjoy herself, he increased the speed a little. Violet seemed to have much fun and even looked a bit sad, when Harry told her they had to go back to their quarters. When they arrived at their quarters, Lily was astonished about the change in her niece. Her eyes were shining with joy and she happily told Lily,

“Aunt Lily, I had so much fun; Hawwy took me wif him on his bwoom and went vewwy fast. May we go to fwy again tomowwow?” Lily laughed and carefully said,

“We will see what we are going to do tomorrow, but Harry and the others normally go outside to fly every afternoon. However as Harry will be a teacher when the holidays are over, he has many other things to do as well. But you can always play with Marina and Brianna and whoever is looking after them.

“Hawwy?” Lily sighed. She knew that her son was very friendly and lovable, but her niece was really fixed on him. But apart from that, she seemed to mix in well. She told her,

“Harry has gone to his room I think. Either he went to wash up as well or he went to lie down for a moment because he is still tired. But he will go to dinner with us. Now, let’s go and wash you a bit.” She took her to the bathroom to wash her face but noticed that the girl stank as if she had not had a bath in weeks. Trying to speak calmly, she told Violet,

“I think you had so much fun playing that you got dirty, and I would like you to have a bath so that you will feel much better afterwards.” However, as soon as she tried to pull her shirt over her head, Violet began to shake all over and screamed,

“No baf pwease. Fiolet good gawl now. Pwease I want Hawwy!” It only took thirty seconds until Harry came running into the bathroom to look what the matter was. He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bathtub pulling Violet close to him, before he asked her,

“Violet, did the Dursleys give you baths, which were much too cold or too hot?” She nodded fearfully. “Now, Violet, listen to me please. I promise you that you won’t get a bath here that is too cold or too hot. You will take a bath every evening, but either Aunt Lily or I will help you taking the bath and we will mix the water for you to have a temperature you will like.” He turned to Lily and asked,

“Does she have any more clothes?” Lily shook her head, and Violet explained,

“My Dad told me fweaks would not get new clowfs. Ewwy Sunday I haf to take my clowfs off and mom washes dem and I wait cold in my cabbad until dey aw weady.” Lily threw a look of horror at Harry, sighed and told Harry that she would get some of Marina’s clothes as they were about the same size anyway. Harry glanced gratefully at his mother and asked Violet to take her clothes off while he prepared the bath. Finally, he reached up to a shelf beneath the tub, got Marina’s bath toys out, and put them into the tub for Violet to play with. Although Lily had not yet told him about Poppy’s orders, Harry watched Violet closely but to his great satisfaction could only see very few bruises on her arms.

As soon as Violet had finished her bath, which she indeed liked very much, Lily helped her to put Marina’s pyjama on with a light blue robe on top. When she had finished watching herself in the mirror, Harry took her to his father’s lab in order to ask Severus for the bruise salve. He made Violet sit down on a chair and carefully applied the salve on her bruises, which faded away in an instant. Violet looked at her arms unbelievingly, and Severus laughed at her and said,

“You see, little one, magic is very good indeed.” Still looking a bit afraid she nodded and whispered,

“Yes. Fank you, uncle Sewwus.” Harry had to try hard not to laugh at his little cousin’s antics.

Dinner was a funny affair. Violet had again insisted on sitting on Harry’s lap. Marina and Minerva were sitting on each side of Harry, each of them eagerly talking to Violet. She didn’t talk much but at least ate everything that Harry shoved into her mouth. When she had finished eating, she leaned back into Harry with one thumb in her mouth, while her other hand was busily cuddling the dragon Harry had given to her. Slowly her eyes began to close. Harry, who had watched her for a few minutes nearly jumped from his seat, when Minerva suddenly talked to him.

“Harry, you know that you have to eat as well; I know that you haven’t eaten at all so far, and believe me if you fall back into missing meals, I will drag you up to Poppy for nutrient potions.” Harry glared at her and started to eat a little until Dumbledore finished dinner.

When they returned to their quarters, he put Violet who was sleeping peacefully onto her bed, tucked her in and sat on her bedside for a while to make sure she wouldn’t wake up, before he returned to the living room where the remaining residents of the castle were having tea together as usual. Noticing that his favourite spot on the sofa had been reserved for him, he sat down for a while sipping at a cup of tea and wrapped up in his thoughts about the Dursleys. He really hoped that he wouldn’t get nightmares about them, but he was so tired that he didn’t want anything more than to sleep. When he noticed that he just couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer, he said good night to everyone and went to bed.

He woke up a little later when a cold hand gripped his own and a voice told him,

“Harry, you have to get up, it’s Violet.”

Hearing his little cousin’s name, Harry was wide-awake immediately, jumped out of his bed and ran over to the children’s room, where Violet was being cuddled by Minerva. She appeared to have had a nightmare and was still sobbing into her granny’s robes and silently crying for Harry. He sat next to his grandmother on the bed and took Violet into his arms.

“What happened, little one?” he asked soothingly. “Did you have a nightmare?” She nodded and said,

“I had a bad dweam. I dweamed Daddy came wif his bewt and hit me cause I was a fweak and made pwetty fower fwy over to mummy. I not bad gawl, I wanted to make mummy to be happy. Den he wocked me in de cabbad fow de howe day, alfow I wanted to dwink so badly.” She continued to sob into Harry’s pyjamas. He stroked her back soothingly and tried to stay calm although he was shivering from the cold. He turned to his grandmother and asked her,

“Granny, I am tired and cold. Do you think I just could take her with me into my bed? I can’t sit here any longer.” She eyed him suspiciously, put a hand on his forehead to feel his temperature and told him,

“If you are well enough, you may take her with you, otherwise we will manage to look after her here, but you should go back to bed, you are a bit warm.” Harry nodded at her, lifted Violet into his arms and went back to his own room. Minerva, who had followed them, took out her wand and enlarged Harry’s bed, so that they could sleep together comfortably. Then she waited until Harry had tucked Violet in, before she went over to Harry’s side of the bed and tucked him in before she went back to the living room.

The others were still sitting in front of the fireplace, but she noticed that they had proceeded to drinking butterbeer. Being questioned about her great grandchildren Minerva explained that Violet was now peacefully sleeping next to Harry in his bed. When Severus scowled at that, she told him, that Harry wanted to go back to bed because he was not feeling very well and that Violet would not let him go.

On the next day, Albus and Lily were looking after the children together. The Lupins had gone away for the day, so they only had to occupy Marina and Violet. Marina was more than happy to have another sister who was even going to share her room. Lily had talked to her in the morning while Violet and Harry were still asleep, and had told her that Violet didn’t have a nice home before and that she was not used to hugs, kisses and jokes. She also explained that her babyish talking was because she was not allowed to have friends whom she could talk to, and she asked Marina to be friendly to her new sister and not to laugh about her mistakes or her fears. But Marina was such a nice, open girl that Lily knew that she could fully rely on her and that she would even defend Violet against others. Therefore, the two girls were getting along very well, although it was clear that Violet was missing Harry. Several times, she asked,

“Whewe is Hawwy? He not wike Fiolet anymowe?” And each time Lily replied,

“No, Violet, Harry loves you very much and he wants to spend time with you, but he has to work now. He is together with Granny and she has to teach him what she did in her lessons, because when school starts again in two months, Harry will teach the classes Granny taught before. But you will see Harry again at lunchtime.” With this Violet calmed down until she got unsure an hour later and asked the same question again, which Lily answered patiently.

At lunchtime, she was sitting on Harry’s lap again. But when she wanted him to feed her, he said,

“Oh, Violet, you are such a big girl; remember you are Marina’s big sister now, aren’t you? Therefore, I am sure that you will already be very good at eating on your own, won’t you?” He transfigured a spoon into a small, handy spoon with a dragon on it and gave it to her. Violet rewarded him with a huge smile, while Marina shouted over the table,

“I want one too, please Harry.” He laughed and transfigured another spoon with a dragon and handed it to his sister. Minerva, who was sitting next to Marina, admired the spoon and said proudly,

“That’s my successor in Transfiguration.” Harry rolled his eyes. Then he remembered something. He looked around the table and turned to Poppy, who was sitting at Marina’s other side and asked,

“When will Ginny be coming back?” Pomfrey glanced at her watch and said,

“She will arrive with the Hogwarts Express this afternoon. Would you care to go to the station with me?” Harry glanced at the kids and sighed. Then he answered frankly,

“I would love to go, I just don’t know if the kids will let me go. But…” Marina interrupted him and shouted,

“Yes, Aunt Poppy, Violet and I want to go too.” Harry rolled his eyes, and Poppy said calmingly,

“Why not? Let’s leave a bit earlier, then we will be in time even when we take the kids with us.” They agreed to meet in front of the Entrance doors at half past four.

When they returned to their quarters, Violet asked Harry shyly,

“Hawwy, can we go fwying again?” And Marina agreed immediately,

“Yes, Harry, please! Let’s go flying.” Harry sighed; he had been working with Minerva the whole morning, and he was really tired; but someone had to occupy the kids anyway, he thought and said,

“Alright, but we will only stay outside for about an hour. Then we’ll come back, rest for a while, and take a shower or a bath before we go to the station to collect Ginny. Julia, are you coming too?” Julia nodded enthusiastically, and Violet asked,

“Who is Ginny?” Harry just wanted to answer, when Marina blurted out,

“Harry’s girlfriend.”

“Hawwy’s gawlfwend?” she replied, not understanding the meaning. Harry sighed and pulled her onto his lap, before he explained,

“Ginny is a really nice girl and a very good friend of mine, and I am glad that she comes back today, because I love her very much.” Violet watched him pensively and asked,

“Ginny lives here wif us?” Harry laughed and explained that Ginny would live with Poppy, because she was going to learn healing from her.

They had just got their brooms and were about to leave, when Severus came and said,

“Harry, let me take the kids for an hour. I have spent enough hours in my lab for the moment and you can very well use a rest. We will be back in about an hour.” Harry was very relieved and gave his father a thankful glance of which he was sure it had been understood. He went to his room to take a short nap, from which he didn’t wake up until Lily came and told him he had to get up if he wanted to go to the station in time. Severus had already bathed the children, and they were ready to go.

Walking together with two six-year-olds took a lot more time than Harry had expected. Violet seemed to have adapted to her sister very quickly and they had much fun together. They just managed to be at the station the moment the train arrived.

Harry pulled Ginny in a big hug and said, “Welcome back, Ginny; I’m glad you are here.” Then he introduced Violet her as Marina’s new sister and told Violet, “Look, Violet, this is Ginny.” Noticing Ginny’s enquiring look, he mouthed, “later!” After Ginny had greeted Madam Pomfrey, they started their way back to Hogwarts. Harry and Ginny were holding hands and the two little troublemakers were running in front of them. After a few minutes, however, Violet came over to Harry, held both her arms up and said yawning,

“Pwease, Hawwy, can you cawwy me like you did yestewday? Fiolet so tawyed.” Harry frowned, but bowed down so that she could climb on his back and gave her a piggy-ride back to the castle. In the Entrance hall, they parted from Ginny and Poppy and went back to their own quarters, where Julia was already waiting for them.

“Harry, listen. Granddad fire-called to tell that we won’t have dinner in the Great Hall tonight. We will have a barbeque near the lake today – isn’t that great?” Harry glanced at his sister with a happy twinkle in his eyes.

At the barbeque, Harry finally had the opportunity to talk to Ginny, while his parents were looking after the kids. They had many things to speak about, and one big topic was Violet. Harry was glad that Ginny already knew about his past and told her everything about how life at the Dursleys was and about how her brothers and parents always had managed to help him and save him from them. He also told her that Violet was so fixed on him because of him being able to understand her and her problems, which resulted from the way she was brought up, and that he was thinking about adopting his little cousin. This last point was what he was the most unsure about. As he fully intended to propose to Ginny as soon as she turned 17, her opinion concerning this matter was very important to him.

Ginny turned quiet with this revelation and thought about everything he had been sharing with her during the last thirty minutes, before she took a deep breath, turned to him and said firmly,

“Harry, I can understand very well what happened to you at the Dursleys and that you want to help Violet who happened to meet a similar fate to yours in your old time line. I don’t have any problem with it and I will accept any decision you make in this matter.” Harry took a deep breathe and asked carefully,

“You even wouldn’t mind to marry someone with an adopted child?” Ginny laughed and told him,

“You know, sweetie, I love you because of how you are, and you just are like this – I know that you just have to adopt her, because you are so good and understanding and everything I love. However, it would be nice to get to know her a little; I mean not with your whole family around, but just the two of us and her – and Marina of course depending on what we are going to do.” Harry gave her a very relieved smile and suggested,

“We could take them to the zoo, when you have a free day. Do you have the weekends off, or how does this apprenticeship work?” Ginny told him that she had every weekend off during the holidays, but would have to take turns with Pomfrey when school started again, and they decided to take the two six year olds to the zoo next week Sunday.

During the next week, Ginny and Harry spent every evening after dinner together either walking around the lake or sitting in Harry’s room talking. On the day Ginny had returned to Hogwarts, Harry had noticed that she seemed to be quite anxious about her new studying field, which he could understand very well. Suddenly not being a student any more, but to have to study and work as an apprentice to just one teacher, was a severe change. He just hoped Ginny would not regret it later, as he felt more than a little responsible for her decision to accept the apprenticeship. When they were sitting together in his room the day after the barbeque, he cautiously asked her,

“How do you feel being an apprentice to Aunt Poppy and not a student anymore?” She sighed and said,

“It is just difficult to get used to. I’m probably going to miss the company of the other students, but on the other hand, Madam Pomfrey seems to be really nice except for when you have to meet her because you are ill and she wants to keep you there.” Harry grinned and nodded.

“I really know her very well; in the past I have lived next to her office for more than a year, and in this time line I have known her from baby times onwards. She knew about me and my history the whole time, studied Psychology in order to help me, and in fact she was able to help me a lot. When I have any problems – mental problems, not health problems of course –,” he grinned again, “I just go and talk to her. I don’t know if it is because of her studying psychology, but she always manages to help me. And I know that she is an excellent teacher. It is a pity that we don’t have general Healing classes here at Hogwarts in spite of having such a good teacher,” he added. Ginny nodded happily. She had been so afraid of returning to Hogwarts under the conditions she had agreed to, but maybe everything would just work out well.

On Saturday morning, Harry woke up to someone jumping onto his stomach. Then this someone started to giggle and whisper happily in two different voices, which even in his still half unconscious condition he found himself at 4:30 in the morning he could recognize as the voices of his two little sisters. He groaned and told them,

“F… off, I’m tired. It’s much too early; the animals in the zoo are still asleep and won’t get up for another five hours!”

Marina and Violet proceeded to climbing back onto his bed and lying on each side of him in order to try to sleep again, which was of course impossible for all three occupants of Harry’s enlarged bed.

For their trip to the zoo, they took the Knight bus, which alone was worth Violet’s excitement. When the bus came into view, she let out a huge gasp and tried to hide behind Harry, who lifted her up into his arms and said,

“No, Violet; look at the bus. Isn’t it beautiful?” Violet must have agreed with him, because she cautiously left her safe place behind Harry and nodded enthusiastically. In only two huge jumps the Knight bus took them just in front of the zoo. Violet gasped again and whispered to Harry,

“Won’t de muggews see us when we get off de bus?” He shook his head and explained to her that only magical people were able to see this fascinating exemplar of a bus.

During the whole morning they spent in the zoo, Marina took care of her sister, who had never been to the zoo, and explained everything she knew to her. Harry was astonished to hear that Marina remembered even the most detailed information he had explained to her before.

“Very good Marina,” he complimented his little sister after she had explained to Violet that grey parrots came from Congo, while macaws normally lived in South America, and most parakeets in Australia. Violet was glancing at her new sister in awe.

After walking around the zoo, Ginny noticed that not only the kids but also Harry was knackered and suggested to return to Hogwarts, but Harry contradicted immediately,

“No, we cannot return yet; there is something else we have to take care of today, and before that we could move to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. What do you think, Ginny?”

This time they took the underground and arrived at the Leaky Cauldron half an hour later. After eating a quick lunch, they went into Diagon Alley to use the opportunity to buy a few things and ended up at Fortesque’s ice cream parlour, where the kids enjoyed a huge ‘Dragon feast ice cream’, while Harry and Ginny had ice coffees. Fortunately, it was still early in the summer, and as the Hogwarts letters had not been sent out yet, the students could not buy their supplies yet, and therefore Diagon Alley was not very crowded. Therefore, they were able to have a peaceful half an hour at Fortesque’s until Harry stood up and said,

“We still have something else to do today; let’s get over with it.”