Harry ran down the way to the station and made sure where the boats were waiting. Suddenly he had an idea.

“Dobby?” he tried to call his favourite house elf, who appeared immediately. “Dobby, I have to take the first years up to the castle with these boats. Do you know how to operate them?” Dobby shook his head and said,

“I is sorry, Master Harry, but I is going back to the castle and ask other house elves. Someone will know. Wait a moment please, Master Harry.” A minute later Dobby was back with another house elf in tow.

“This is Ted, the Head house elf, Master Harry. He is knowing everything,” he introduced the other house elf, who calmly explained to Harry that he didn’t have to do anything except from guiding the students into the boats. The boats would float back to Hogwarts on their own, as soon as all boats were full with students. Just as Hagrid had explained to him, Ted told him that he only had to make sure that the students were safe in the boats and didn’t fall overboard. Harry thanked Dobby and Ted profoundly; he was a little more calm down now and went over to the station to wait for the train to arrive. Unfortunately, in his panic, he had not thought about bringing a lantern as Hagrid always had one with him, and it was slowly getting dark. He was just going to call Dobby again, when he remembered being the Transfiguration teacher and just conjured a lantern.

After waiting for at least half an hour, he could finally see the lights of the Hogwarts Express, although it still seemed to be quite far away. And he was right – it took the train another half an hour to arrive at Hogsmeade station. Harry proceeded to stand to the side of the lake and called the students who were supposed to ride on the boats over.

“First years over here please!” he called as he had heard Hagrid call so often. He knew that there were supposed to be 51 first years, and after his fifth announcement, all of them were assembled between himself and the boats.

“Alright now. Four of you together in a boat please,” he told them and added, “and please be careful not to fall into the lake. There are a lot of Grindylows, and I can promise you that they are not nice.” Fortunately, nobody fell into the lake, and everyone reached the castle without problems. Harry guided the students up the same stairs Hagrid had taken them when he was a first year. When he noticed his father waiting for them, he said,

“Here are the first years, Professor Snape.” Severus gave him a small scowl and returned,

“Thank you, Professor Snape-Dumbledore; you are dismissed.” Harry turned around and proceeded to the Great Hall, where he uncomfortably sat down at the Head Table between his mother and his great grandmother.

Harry used the time before the sorting to look over at Merlin table and try to remember the names of each student. There were only two students he couldn’t remember, but his mother of course could tell him the names. At this moment, the sorting started, and Harry watched the students who were sorted into Merlin house intensely and tried to remember their names.

After the sorting was finished, Minerva stood and made a few announcements. She told the students that she had taken over as Headmistress, while Professor Dumbledore was going to teach the young children in the castle. Then she asked Harry to stand up and introduced him as new Transfiguration professor and Head of Merlin House. Harry gave them a small bow, and the hall erupted with a huge applause, not only from the side where the Merlin table was situated. Minerva had nothing more to say and wished them a nice meal and a good start to the new school year, and everyone started to eat.

During dinner, Lily confronted him about visiting Hagrid in the Hospital Wing. Harry frowned. Why did she know that? When he still hesitated, Poppy spoke to him from Lily’s other side.

“Harry, what you did was very irresponsible. Hagrid is ill with dragon pox, which is highly contaminous and very dangerous. That’s why he is in a quarantine room. In fact, I should put you into quarantine for two weeks now, but I know how much you would hate that. Therefore I need you to come to the Hospital Wing every night for a check-up and a few potions, and then in the morning again before breakfast. And I tell you now, if you so much as miss just one check-up, I will put you into quarantine. For the students we will let the house elves mix a potion into the pumpkin juice for every meal during the next two weeks, until we definitely know that you haven’t got it.”

He quickly finished his dinner, as his appetite had gone completely now, and went over to Merlin table. He spoke a few words with Brian, his best friend in Merlin House, a seventh year student and Head boy, and told him what he had already told Julia. Brian promised to help Julia to gather all students in the common room a few minutes after they arrived there. Harry nodded contently and went back to his seat at the Head Table to wait for dinner to end. Finally, they were dismissed, and the prefects started to take the first years up to the common rooms. Harry stayed in the Great Hall and waited a few minutes, before he followed the students over to Merlin House. After having a little conversation with Tori, he climbed through the portrait hole and entered the common room, where he sat down on one of his favourite chairs.

Ten minutes later, all Merlin students had come together in the common room. Harry looked around and told them to sit down comfortably, because he wanted to talk to them for a few minutes.

“Welcome back to the old students, and a special welcome to the firsties,” he began. “I am your Head of House, and my name is Harry Snape-Dumbledore. While we are here in Merlin House, you may call me Harry; however, outside the house you have to address me as Professor, otherwise I have to take points. And I do not wish you to speak about this to students of other houses. Our house is special, and I intend to lead this house very differently to how the other houses are lead. As you have heard from Professor Snape tonight, or as the others have heard from Professor McGonagall, your house is your family while you are at Hogwarts. And I have thought of a few things I want to introduce to our house in order for us to be like a family.” He threw a glance around, and as he saw that everyone was listening intently, he continued.

“First of all, apart from the fact that you can come to my office anytime – for the first years: my office is just opposite the Merlin portrait hole –, I have decided to spend fifteen minutes here in the common room each evening. As curfew starts at 10:00 p.m., I will come to the common room at about 9:30 every evening, and you are welcome to speak to me about anything you wish to talk about. Don’t worry – I will be able to occupy myself if nobody has anything to talk about; you won’t have to entertain me.” Everyone laughed at this point.

“Furthermore I want a ‘Family meeting’ here with all of you for about half an hour directly after dinner on Fridays for discussions within our house. If you have anything to discuss which might be interesting for the others, or if there are any arguments within the house, they can be brought up on this occasion. If nobody has anything to discuss, we will just postpone the meeting to the next week. Does anybody have an opinion concerning this point?” he asked and looked around. Anna stood up and said,

“I think both points you mentioned are very good, and I am looking forward to seeing if and how life in Merlin House will change during this year.” Many students nodded their consent, and Harry continued to speak.

“Alright, thanks Anna. I have two more points to talk about. I want the students of the upper classes to help the younger students with homework and studying if needed, and I want the younger students to take over small chores for the elders who have to prepare for their exams.” A general gasp could be heard, but when Harry looked around, he saw that the faces were friendly and interested. Therefore, he went on and explained the details.

“The 5th year’s students shall provide homework help for 1st to 4th years, always two students will be on duty from Monday to Friday between dinner and curfew; and on the weekends two 6th year’s students will take over. I know that the 5th years are busy with preparations for their OWLs, but I think that it will be a good chance for them to review. In return, the 5th and 7th years may ask second years and third years for little chores (for example taking books back to the library etc.) and fourth years for small shopping chores in Hogsmeade – as a try at first. I want two second or third year’s students on duty every evening between dinner and curfew, and two fourth year’s students for each Hogsmeade visit. I have prepared a calendar,” he pointed to the calendar he had pinned to the wall, and continued, “and I want you all to put your names in. Everyone, who is not on the Quidditch team, please take preferably Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as these are the days of our Quidditch practise. If you have any problems with the calendar, please call me and I will help you to arrange everything.” He glanced around and asked,

“Is there anyone, who does not consent with this agreement?” All students shook their heads, and Brian spoke up.

“I think, Harry, you have thought about this all very well, and I think, life in Merlin House will change a lot for the better. Your ideas are all very, very good – and I am very proud of being a member of this house.” When he sat down again, everyone applauded, and Harry concluded the session, saying,

“Alright. I will be here for you to talk to tomorrow evening. It’s already late, and you should go to bed, as classes will start tomorrow morning. The first years will have Transfiguration in the first class tomorrow morning, and I will take you to the classroom directly after breakfast. So just wait for me at the table when breakfast is finished. Good night.” He stood up, climbed out of the portrait hole, and went home through his office. He entered the sitting room, where Lily and Severus were sitting on the sofa talking quietly. When he greeted them with a smile, Lily immediately asked,

“Harry, have you already been to Poppy?” Harry groaned. He had completely forgotten about that. He sighed and told his parents,

“No, I completely forgot. I was in the common room having a house meeting until now. I will go now and hope to be back in a few minutes.” Severus threw him a worried glance and suggested he should take the floo. Harry complied and was back after a few minutes. In the meantime, Dobby had brought tea and biscuits, and Harry joined his parents, glad about having tea, because he was very thirsty after talking so much. Suddenly he became aware of Severus eying him curiously.

“Hmm? Is something wrong, Dad?” he questioned him, and Severus smirked before he asked,

“Can you explain to me what you were talking about for a whole hour in a house meeting on the first evening of the new school year? You probably know that I always gather my Slytherins together on the first evening, but I dismiss them after not more than ten minutes.” Harry grinned and explained to his parents everything he arranged earlier with the students. Lily was stunned, and Severus commended Harry, saying,

“Very good Harry, at least for your house. For you it might be much extra work, however; don’t forget that you also need a bit of time for yourself.” Lily glanced at her son admiringly and said pensively,

“You know, I have never thought about things like that. I just took over the position and oriented myself on how Minerva has always led Gryffindor house. I am probably not a good Head of House.” Harry shook his head and told her,

“That’s not true. You are a good Head of House. I just want to do it differently from what I know from you or Granny. And that is what I started today.” Suddenly Severus laughed,

“I can’t wait to hear what Julia will tell us about this meeting and the following discussions within her dormitory.” Lily and Harry joined him laughing, until Harry’s laugh turned into a big yawn. He got up immediately and wished his parents a good night before retiring to his room.

Lily came into Harry’s room and woke him up very early the next morning, and told him,

“Harry, you have to get up. Don’t forget to take the time tables for your students with you, and don’t forget to let Poppy check on you. I will dress the kids and take them with me to breakfast; maybe I can convince them to have breakfast with Julia at Merlin table. I will see you at breakfast.” Harry groaned and sleepily opened an eye before he mumbled,

“Hmm? Did you talk to me, Mom?”

As he managed to meet Ginny in the Hospital Wing, breakfast was already half finished when he finally arrived in the Great Hall. Ignoring the upset glances he received from his mother and great grandmother, Harry walked over to Merlin table and greeted his students with a brisk “Good morning”, before he proceeded to hand over the time tables to the students. Then he ignored all attempts from Marina to get him involved into a talk and quickly went over to the Head Table in order to have a little breakfast before the meal was over. Too soon, it was time to guide the first years to the Transfiguration classroom.

He let the students take their seats and went into his office, where he glanced at his schedule and saw, that his students had the class together with the first years of Gryffindor and half of the Ravenclaw first years. Good that he had watched his memory of the sorting in his Pensive before going to bed; otherwise, he would not know the name of a single student except from those of his own wards. He quickly transformed into Icicle and flew back to the classroom, where he sat down on the teacher’s desk and waited for the other students to arrive. Two Gryffindors, who just arrived when the bell rang for the first lesson to start, reminded him strongly of his first Transfiguration class in his old time line. He flew down to the ground and transformed back, just in front of the shocked students.

The morning classes went by very quickly, and Harry noticed that it was indeed great fun to teach alone without having to worry about the preferred teaching methods of other teachers. He realized that he enjoyed teaching very much. So far, the students had behaved very well. However, he was a little anxious about his first afternoon lesson, because he knew Ron would be in the class. Would he behave? On the other hand, he knew that his best friends, Brian, Anna and Hermione, would be in the same class. Therefore, he put all dark thoughts aside and entered the classroom, and everything went well, until he told his students that they would spend the rest of the lesson on a pop quiz, as he had to know how much they remembered of their last year’s lessons. Ron threw a temper tantrum about crazy teachers who were too lazy to spend their time during the holidays on studying either, until Neville and Hermione managed to calm him down. Harry could not let this pass, and told Ron very strictly,

“Mr. Weasley, you do not have to take the test if you don’t wish to. You are free to go. But you will receive 0 points and a detention with Mr. Filch tonight if you don’t be quiet and take your test now.” Ron opened his mouth and was just about to say something, when Hermione clapped her hand in front of his mouth and held it shut. Ron threw an angered glance at Harry and began to write something on his paper.

During the last afternoon class, Harry had a free period, which he used to grade the tests. As he knew the seventh year’s students so well from his own time as a student, he wouldn’t have had to let them write tests to know if they had studied during the holidays or not – their marks were no surprise at all. He just finished with the grading in time for dinner.

At nine in the evening, he took his sister and Violet for a bath and brought them to bed, which of course included the reading of a story. When he finished, it was already half an hour before curfew, and Harry went through his office to the Merlin common room as he had promised to the students. He took a book with him, in case nobody would want to talk to him.

However, as soon as he climbed through the portrait hole, Julia shouted “Harry!” and winked him over to a spot where she was sitting together with Anna. They talked for a while and had so much to laugh, that more and more of the students joined them. Harry noticed that there were especially many first years and thought, probably they would still not know where to go in the evening. He addressed them and asked,

“Do you already know where the library is? Did anybody take you there?” The small students, who were sitting around him, shook their heads. Harry got up immediately and said,

“Alright. All first years come with me please. I will take you on a small walk around the castle. However, we have to hurry, as curfew starts in twenty minutes, and we have a few very strict teachers here at Hogwarts who would take points of our house if they met us.” He guided them to the library and introduced them to Madam Pinch. There were still ten minutes left – should he show them how to get to the kitchens? No – he decided against it. He would take them another time, earlier in the evening. He showed them the way back to Merlin House, where they managed to arrive just before curfew.

The next few days passed relatively uneventfully. He had made sure that the homework help and assistance with chores went well, he had made conversation with his students in the common room every evening – after the third day he had left his book in his quarters – and classes were no problem at all. Ron had in the meantime earned one detention with Filch, and Harry did not like it but could not do anything about it. Ginny came to visit him every night after curfew – as he had to go and see Poppy every evening, she just joined him on his way back and stayed with him until they had to go to bed. A few times, he had only pretended to go to bed, because he had not finished to grade homework yet, and had gotten up later to resume his work.

Minerva had invented a staff meeting, which mostly only lasted for ten minutes but took place every evening directly after dinner, so that he had to change the time for their weekly house meeting from directly after dinner to half an hour before curfew, just the time he would spend in the common room anyway. During the staff meeting on Friday evening, he had reminded his colleagues of the Quidditch team that he was the new captain and that they would practice every Friday evening directly after curfew. He had also talked to Anna, who was the team captain of Merlin team and suggested that he would supervise the team training every Monday evening. She had talked to her team about Harry’s suggestion, and the team had agreed gladly. He would have preferred to do it on Saturday mornings, but during the weekends, he needed some time for Violet and Marina.

All together, he had been so busy during the week, that he was glad when Friday evening was half over and he headed to the Quidditch pitch together with his father. The teachers were not bad, but if they wanted to have any chance to win a Quidditch game against the Hogwarts team, they had to improve a lot – even with him as seeker. Fortunately Poppy was on the team as well; otherwise she would have had his head, when he arrived for his check up at midnight. Hagrid was still very ill; he would probably survive, but definitely they would not know that for definite for a few weeks. Harry was all right so far, but without doubt, they would not know anything until Sunday in a weeks time.

Finally, it was the weekend, and Harry was knackered. When Lily woke him up, he groaned and mumbled,

“No, Mom, it’s weekend, isn’t it?” His mother laughed and told him,

“Yes, my dear, that’s why we have let you sleep so long. It’s lunchtime, and you have to come to the Great Hall for lunch. You already missed breakfast, but Granny excused you, because she had noticed how tired you were. And Granddad has even taken over the kids today. But now you have to come.” Harry unwillingly complied and Lily managed to pull him to the Great Hall just in time for lunch. To his great astonishment, Ginny was sitting at the Head Table next to his mother, where Poppy was sitting normally. When he greeted her happily, she told him that Poppy gave her the afternoon off and told her to pull him out of the castle for the afternoon. Harry laughed and said,

“That’s a good idea. Do we have to stay on the grounds, or may we go and do what we want to?” Ginny shrugged, but Lily, who had heard his question, as she was sitting in between the two, frowned and told them,

“Ginny, you probably have to ask Poppy, but Harry, as you are a teacher here, you cannot leave the grounds without permission, which you will certainly get sometimes but not every weekend.” Harry laughed and told his mother,

“That’s alright; I was just asking. I know enough spots around Hogwarts where we can spend an undisturbed afternoon outside. Anyhow, I would like to just take a walk around the lake. Would you mind, Ginny, if we took Marina and Violet with us?” Ginny shook her head, although her answer was overturned by the happy shouts of Harry’s little sister and cousin.

When they took a walk around the lake, Harry suddenly noticed a slight pull at his robes. He looked down and saw that Violet was timidly trying to get his attention. Harry gave her a friendly smile and asked,

“What is wrong, Violet?” She looked up into the brilliant green eyes she adored so much and asked carefully,

“Do you think we could have a swim in the lake? I want to learn to swim properly like Marina can swim.” Harry sighed and threw a questioning glance at Ginny.

“What do you think?” he mouthed to her, and Ginny told Violet in a friendly, but certain voice,

“Violet, I don’t think this lake is very good to learn to swim in, because many Grindylows are living here, and they are very dangerous. Harry and I have just had this experience a few months ago. But we could take you for a swim anytime during the weekends in the Room of Requirement.” She turned to Harry and spoke softly, “You just have to imagine a room with a pool for us to swim in, don’t you?” Harry nodded affirmatively and groaned, saying

“Oh my, such an easy, nice idea – I could have thought of that long ago.” He looked fondly at his girlfriend and added proudly, “Very good; that’s my Ginny!” They promised Violet and Marina to take them to swim tomorrow and sat down near the lake, where the two five-year-olds could play in the sand, and Ginny and Harry could enjoy some quiet time together. Too soon, dinnertime approached and they had to collect the kids and head back to the castle. They went back to the dungeons, cleaned the children, and were on their way to dinner. Before they reached the Great Hall, Harry asked Ginny,

“Do you think you will be able to come with us to the Room of Requirement tomorrow?” Ginny thought for a moment and replied,

“I will probably have half a day off tomorrow, but I have to ask Poppy when it will be. I will ask her later and tell you tonight, alright?” Harry nodded happily.

When Harry went to the Merlin common room the same evening, he thought briefly if it was necessary for him to join the students on Sundays too, or if he should tell them he would not be there on Sundays in order to have a bit of time for himself. But he dismissed the thought again soon, when he remembered that the aim of his being in the common room was that he intended to be a father for the Merlin House family.

With the new week proceeding, he seemed to slowly find a rhythm in order to manage to handle all his tasks in time, so that he was able to get enough time to spend with Ginny and still find enough time to sleep during the nights.

On Wednesday evening at dinner, Minerva addressed him, “Harry, I would like to know how you do that – I have never seen first years adapt as quickly as your first years of Merlin House. Did you do something to them?” Harry grinned and told his astonished grandmother and grandfather, who was intensely listening from Minerva’s other side, about the small changes he had introduced to his house. While Albus’ eyes were twinkling merrily, Minerva smiled at her grandson and told him,

“You are doing very well, Harry. I am extremely proud of you.” Harry threw her a surprised glance and replied,

“Thank you Granny; I’m glad you like my ideas.”

When he went to his check-up on Friday evening after the teachers’ Quidditch practise, two days before the end of the two-week contamination period, Poppy noticed that he was spiking a fever. As she feared that he might have caught the dragon pox from Hagrid, which she would not know definitely until the morning, she put him to bed in his old room and forbade everyone except from Ginny, who, like herself, was immunised against dragon pox, to visit him.