On Saturday morning, Poppy came very early to check on Harry, sighed relieved and told him,

“No, Harry, you are lucky. You definitely do not have dragon pox, at least not yet. However, I cannot find anything else either that might cause your fever. Probably you just overdid yourself and it was too much for your still weak immune system. You may return to your own room in the dungeons, however you have to rest until your fever goes down, and in the meantime you can think about how to get more time to rest during the week; I want to check on you again next Friday evening. Ginny may keep you company for a while.”

As Harry had enough time to think during the weekend, he came up with several new ideas. When Severus came and sat on the edge of his bed on Sunday evening just after Poppy had done her final check for dragon pox on him, which fortunately remained negative, he sat up excitedly and told him,

“Dad, I have an idea I would like to discuss with you. You know, I have always organized the Quidditch tournament with Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and I thought we – I mean the teachers – could have our own tournament against other teams of people working in the wizarding world in Great Britain. I thought we could ask for example St. Mungos or the shopkeepers at Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley to put up their own Quidditch team and participate in a tournament with us at Hogwarts.” Severus laughed,

“You are not happy if you don’t have something to organize, are you? I think your idea is not bad, but you should talk to Minerva about it. Then we can think about how to contact people.” Harry grinned and told his father,

“Contacting people is not the problem. You know that I have a strong connection to Healer Burnham who, as you know, is the Head Healer at St. Mungos. Concerning the shopkeepers at Hogsmeade, I would just contact the Weasley twins, who will not hesitate a second to put up a Quidditch team. I don’t know anyone at Diagon Alley however, or maybe I should say they don’t know me.” Severus laughed and said,

“If you tell them your name, I think everyone will know you, but concerning Diagon Alley, Albus or I can help you, as we know the manager of Flourish and Blotts very well. And one more place to ask could be the wizarding newspapers like the Daily Prophet, as they should have enough employees to put up a Quidditch team.” Harry’s eyes started to twinkle, and he grinned at Severus.

“Thanks Dad, that’s a good idea. Oh, and I know another group, people who are not working any more, like the Potters or your mother. They should know enough people within their group to put up a Quidditch team. Um… may I go to talk to Granny?” Severus frowned and told him,

“No, I will call Minerva and Albus over for tea. Let’s sit on the sofa and have tea with them and your mother, alright?” Harry nodded affirmatively.

Ten minutes later, they were having tea with Harry’s great grandparents. When Harry told them what he had thought about, Minerva frowned and said sternly,

“Poppy talked to me about you yesterday, and I am not very pleased. Now, do you think you still have too much free time you have to use for organizing something?” Seeing his grandfather watching him with merrily twinkling eyes, Harry summoned all his courage, looked at the Headmistress and pleaded,

“Please, Granny, I promise to be careful and not to invest too much time and energy in the organization. I think it would be a good thing to have a leisure event that connects us to other parts of the wizarding world, we could obtain valuable contacts by this, and for the students it would be a good example of what is possible, not to speak of the contacts, which could help them to decide their future.” Minerva thought about what Harry had said and had to admit to herself that it sounded quite reasonable. Harry cleared his throat and said,

“Maybe we can wait a few weeks – I don’t know if I’ll be less busy then, but anyway I only have to contact one member of each group in order for them to set up a Quidditch team, and the arrangements of the tournament can wait until the Christmas holidays. Or I can just talk to the Weasley twins, and we start with a game just Hogwarts against Hogsmeade.” Minerva watched him pensively, before she threw a glance at Lily and Severus. Lily’s face was not too encouraging, while Severus held a more or less indifferent if not slightly amused expression. She didn’t have to look at her husband to know that his reaction would be highly affirmative. She sighed and suggested,

“I frankly do not know how to decide at the moment. Therefore, I would like to postpone the decision until one of our staff meetings during the week. On one hand, I think it is a very good idea, but on the other hand, I don’t want Harry to carry more burdens than he already does. I know that being a Head of House costs a lot of time, and I also know that he is doing a lot more than necessary. I have observed that his Merlin first years are adapting better than any other group of new students has ever adapted since I started teaching at Hogwarts. And Poppy, who always has to do a lot of counselling with homesick first years, has told me that she didn’t have as much as even one student from Merlin House this year, or from Slytherin, which is however, normal – only from all three other houses.”

Harry threw a proud glance in the direction of his father and hesitantly said,

“Well, um… I… eh…. I have another idea. You know, we are always playing Quidditch, right? I mean, I love Quidditch, so it is alright, but I thought about inventing another wizarding sport, Yakkitch. You all know Baseball, don’t you?” Seeing that everyone shook their heads, he shortly explained the game to them, however in his own way, played in the air on broomsticks of course. Severus, Albus and Minerva were listening interestedly, and Minerva asked him,

“Harry, would you be so kind and explain that again tomorrow at our staff meeting? I would like our Quidditch players to test this together with you; therefore it would be better if they all could hear your explanation.” Harry smiled and nodded his approval, saying,

“Very well; um… we can fix the rules together just as we want them; probably we will need nine people for one team.” Albus threw him a fond smile and suggested,

“Concerning the rules, maybe you could get together with Rolanda – she will be delighted.” Harry agreed and excused himself for the evening.

As expected, Madam Hooch was thrilled by the thought of a new kind of sport to be played on brooms and immediately agreed to help Harry fixing the rules. Whenever Harry had time, he should contact her on a short notice; otherwise, they would take care of the Yakkitch rules on the weekend.

Concerning Harry’s other plan, the teachers decided to dismiss it until the Christmas holidays, when Harry hopefully would have more time.

Classes were going very well. The only problematic students Harry had were Ron, who remained very rude in Harry’s classes, and a first year Gryffindor student, Jack, who, according to his Transfiguration abilities, seemed to be not much more than a Squib. Harry briefly thought of talking about this in the staff meeting in order to see if the other teachers had similar problems, but finally decided to speak to the student first. One day, when he had the first years during the last period in the afternoon, he held Jack back for a small talk. Jack was a very friendly, but shy and seemingly helpless student, who somehow reminded Harry of Neville Longbottom.

He motioned Jack to follow him into his office and to sit on the opposite side of his desk. How should he talk to the little one? He didn’t want to frighten him even more. Hesitantly, Harry started to speak in a soft voice.

“You seem to have problems with our Transfiguration practises, and I want to help you”, he began. Noticing that the student’s look changed from frightened to hopeful, he continued, “however, in order to help you, I have to find out what exactly is wrong, and for that I need your help. Are you willing to help me?” The student nodded eagerly. “Alright,” Harry looked straight at him, “can you tell me if you only have problems in our class or in your other classes as well?” Shocked he noticed that tears were welling in Jack’s eyes. He went around the table and put a hand on the first year’s shoulder, before he said calmingly, “remember, I just want to help you.” Jack took a deep breath and hesitantly confided,

“I have problems in all my subjects. Probably I don’t have much more magic than a squib; my grandparents told me so before.” Harry threw him an astonished glance and asked,

“Your grandparents?” Jack nodded affirmatively and told him,

“My father was a wizard, but he died a few years ago, and my mother is a muggle. I have to be glad that she agreed and let me attend Hogwarts; I mean, she doesn’t hate the fact that I am a wizard, but she is not able to help me. And my father’s parents always tell me that my magic is very weak; I don’t know how they knew however.” Harry frowned and asked further,

“Did you know about Hogwarts before you got your letter?” Jack nodded eagerly and said,

“Yes, and it was my greatest wish to come here. I was over the moon with joy when I got the letter.”

“Alright. So when you received your letter, did your mother take you to Diagon Alley to get your things?” Jack sadly shook his head and replied,

“No. She gave me father’s wand and asked my grandmother to get all the other things for me, which she did. I would have liked to go by myself, but they didn’t let me.” By now, Harry was very upset, however tried to stay calm in order not to frighten Jack. He thought about what to do.

“What!” it came out in a quite upset tone. “Your mother gave you your father’s wand? You don’t have your own wand?” Jack nodded. Harry sighed and said,

“Alright. Maybe we have already found the problem. Please take your wand and try to cast a simple ‘lumos’ charm. You have already learnt that, haven’t you?” Jack nodded reluctantly and managed to get his wand lighten very weekly. Harry frowned, held his own wand out to Jack, and motioned him to try again with Harry’s wand. Jack hesitantly took his professor’s wand to cast the spell again. Immediately Harry’s wand lightened brightly, and Harry threw him a big smile.

“That is your ‘squib problem’. You need to have a wand that matches you and your magic. The wand of your father seems to be inadequate for you. Come with me; we will visit my mother. As she is your Head of House we have to discuss with her how to get you a better wand.”

He motioned the stunned but hopeful looking student to follow him and entered the Snape quarters only to leave through the next door on the left into Lily’s office. Needless to say that she was more than astonished when her son suddenly appeared from their living room with one of her first years in tow. She motioned them to sit down and threw a questioning glance at Harry, who told her the whole story. When he had finished, she noticed that Jack had become very small and frightened in his seat and said jokingly,

“What a pity that I cannot give house points to fellow professors, otherwise Merlin House would have earned a hundred points now.” Harry grinned and asked,

“What are we going to do? I mean, it’s clear that he needs his own wand. Shall I take him to Diagon Alley, for example right now, or tomorrow during lunch time?” Lily frowned. On one hand, he was the one to find out about Jack, and the student would certainly be most happy when Harry joined him for the trip, on the other hand, she was afraid that he overdid himself again. When she revealed her thoughts however, Harry grinned and confided,

“As I know that Poppy wants to check on me tomorrow, I decided to rest a lot today; therefore, I didn’t give them any written homework yesterday in order not to have anything to grade today, so that I have time to go – no problem. And we can have dinner later, either in my office or in the kitchens.” Lily smiled at her son, thinking ‘he really could have passed as a Slytherin’, and gave her permission for the two to go but told them to speak to Minerva in order to get money for the wand out of the school funds and to be able to use her floo. Harry and Jack thanked her and quickly went up to the Headmistress’ office.

One of the advantages of being a teacher was that he never had to guess the password for the gargoyle, because Minerva always kept them up to date at the staff meetings. Therefore, he knew that his grandmother had changed it to ‘Yakkitch’ yesterday after the staff meeting. They entered the office, and Harry had to tell the whole story again, before Minerva gave Harry money for the wand and allowed them to use the floo under the condition that they returned as soon as possible after buying the wand. Harry addressed the student.

“You know how to use the floo, right?” Jack nodded and said,

“Yes, as you know my father was a wizard, and we always use the floo to visit my grandparents.” They flooed over to the Leaky Cauldron and quickly went into the alley and over to Ollivander’s. Jack had to try out nearly twenty wands but finally found one, which seemed to be predestined for him. Within half an hour, Harry and a very happy Jack were back at Hogwarts, where dinner was already half finished. Harry decided to have dinner with the student in the kitchen and just placed a note on his grandmother’s desk in order for her to know that they were back safely, but that he would be a few minutes late for the staff meeting.

He took the astonished Jack to the kitchen and asked Dobby for dinner. Jack was stunned; Harry could see that he was struggling to comprehend everything – being picked up by his Transfigurations teacher, confiding in him, getting a new wand, and finally being shown the way into the castle’s kitchen just to have dinner with his professor under the watchful eyes of many house elves.

“Everything alright, Jack?” he asked. Jack looked at him, sat very upright and said,

“Professor Snape-Dumbledore, I have to thank you very much. In fact, I think this is the happiest day of my life so far.” Harry laughed and said,

“Congratulations Jack! I am glad that I was able to help you. Whenever you have problems, just come and talk to me. From now on, I expect only best results from you in my class. Now, I am really sorry, but I have to attend our staff meeting, so I will leave you here. This is Dobby, my favourite house elf, and when you need anything, you just tell him, all right? Can you find your way back later?”

Jack nodded thankfully, and Harry quickly put a piece of chicken into his mouth and ran the whole way up to the staff room. He nearly arrived in time, but had to wait in front of the door for a minute to catch his breath, until his father turned up, being late as well, and motioned Harry to enter the room with him. Lily was just telling everyone what he had found out about Jack, and everyone looked approvingly at him, when he confirmed that they had found a well–matching wand for Jack.

After the meeting, Harry headed back to his office to finish the preparation for his lessons for the next day, before he went out into their quarters, where Albus was watching Marina and Violet. The next half hour he spent on the sofa, cuddling and joking with the kids, before he had to give them a bath and put them to bed in order to be nearly in time for the meeting with his students in Merlin House.

Having considered the pro’s and con’s of telling his students Jack’s story for the whole evening, he finally decided to do so and told the assembled students about Jack’s problems and how they could be solved. He glanced sternly at the students and said,

“A few times I have heard other students calling him a squib, which is horrible impudence. If you ever get to know that other students are in trouble or have problems, please don’t talk about them, but try to help, send them to me or at least tell me about it. Jack’s magic is very strong indeed, he is far from being a squib, he just had a problem that he couldn’t solve on his own and needed help.” Harry left very pensive students when he retreated to their quarters to have some tea with his parents and Ginny before going to bed.

Harry, Ginny and Madam Hooch spent Saturday morning developing the rules for Yakkitch. As they could partly take the rules from Baseball and partly adapt Quidditch rules, it was not too difficult, and the three of them had decided on the rules for the new game by lunchtime. At lunch, Madam Hooch urged the other teachers – not only the Quidditch players, but everyone because we need more players to try it out – to come to the Quidditch pitch for a trial game at curfew. The teachers obliged more or less willingly and showed up, so that they could try the new game, which turned out to be an enormous success. When they left the pitch at midnight, Poppy caught up with Harry, commended him for the great idea, sighed and asked,

“What will be the next thing you come up with, Harry?” Harry just grinned and answered,

“Thank you, Aunt Poppy, for letting Ginny play with the staff; I really appreciate it.”

In the next staff meeting on Monday, Harry asked the other teachers for permission to organize a regular, weekly Yakkitch match students against teachers. He was sure that he would be able to get nine students together, who were willing to play Yakkitch once a week. As soon as the teachers’ team stood – Harry was happy to see that Ginny was a part of it –, Harry put up notes in the five common rooms and invited the interested students to the Quidditch pitch for an information meeting on Saturday morning after breakfast. The meeting was followed by a test game, and afterwards Harry didn’t only have one students’ team, but also a reserve team. He thanked everyone and said,

“Alright; so we don’t just have two teams including the staff team, but three. We will meet here on the pitch every Sunday evening after dinner. Maybe for the next school year we should aim at having five house teams and having a regular tournament like the one with the Quidditch matches. Today we have done enough; we will meet again next Sunday. Thank you.” His final words were drowned by a huge applause from all sides.

A few days later at breakfast, Harry received a letter by a very small, lively, green owl. He (Harry supposed it was a he) was really funny, but Harry nearly choked, when he read the letter. It was from Luna’s father, who was asking for an exclusive interview with Harry concerning Yakkitch. Mr. Lovegood told him, he would floo-call Professor McGonagall in order to fix an appointment with Harry. He showed the letter to his grandmother, who could not hide a laugh and asked him,

“Did you expect anything else? Of course, the wizarding world wants to know about a newly invented wizarding sport. If you don’t like interviews, you should not invent so many things.” She smirked and asked, “When would you like to have the interview?” Harry sighed and told her,

“I don’t really mind, but it has to be at the weekend; otherwise I won’t have time.”

At lunchtime the next day, Minerva told Harry, that Mr. Lovegood would come to her office for lunch on Saturday, and that he would like to interview Harry while eating lunch together. Harry nodded and inwardly groaned. Then he told his grandmother,

“But this will be the only interview. If someone from the Daily Prophet or anyone else wants to know something, they will have to buy the article from Luna’s father.” Minerva only grinned and nodded her consent.

The interview with Mr. Lovegood went very well; as Harry had invented the rules by himself – even if it had been together with Madam Hooch and Ginny – he knew them like the back of his hand and could explain them easily. After the interview, they talked for a while, and Harry told him about his travel to the past. Luna’s father was very interested and immediately asked for another interview about this matter, but Harry put him off telling him that he had to discuss with his parents and grandparents if they wanted everyone to know about his travel. The only thing Harry could really promise was that in case he would ever decide to give an interview about it, he would offer it to Mr. Lovegood in the first place.

When the headmistress came back from lunch in the Great Hall, they had finished their lunch as well, and Mr. Lovegood took his leave after thanking Harry and told them to look out for an article in several newspapers the next day, as he had already sold the story about Yakkitch to all other newspapers.

Exactly a week later, the teachers managed for the first time in about six years to beat the students in the ‘students against teachers’ Quidditch match. As not only Harry but also Ginny had left the students’ team because of not being a student any more, Fabian Weasley, a Gryffindor fourth year, whom Harry had proposed as Ginny’s co-captain, was the new captain of the Hogwarts team. They played well and fair, but it just seemed to be impossible to win against a team in which Harry played seeker. After nearly two hours, Mr. Potter, who was still refereeing the matches, announced the end of the match:

“Teachers 370 – Students 190. Congratulations to the Teachers’ team!”

Apart from this match and a Quidditch match Merlin – Ravenclaw, in which Merlin House won 240 – 50, the next few weeks remained fairly uneventful. Harry remained very busy and often wondered how the other teachers, especially the Head of House teachers, managed all their work without being tired all the time. To him it seemed like a mystery how his parents had always even found time for him and his sisters – and when he thought about last year, when he had come back from the past – his parents had spent so much time with him – how could they have managed that? Would the experience make so much of a change?

The next highlight the school was looking forward to was a Hogsmeade weekend, which was planned for Halloween. From the day onwards that the Hogsmeade visit had been announced, Harry couldn’t help remembering a memory vision he had seen during the last school year. He saw his sister as a first year, crying in the morning of his first Hogsmeade visit, because as a first year she was not allowed to go. During the two weeks until Halloween, he developed a plan he was willing to fight for in the staff meeting at the beginning of the respective week.

“Harry told me he wanted to tell us something in order to get our approval,” Minerva started to speak during the staff meeting on Wednesday. Harry cleared his throat and told the others what he had been planning during the last ten days.

“I don’t remember much about Hogsmeade visits from the time when I was a first or second year in either time line, but I remember Julia crying as a first year because she couldn’t join me for Hogsmeade when I was a third year. Moreover, I remember having to stay in the castle, although all my friends were allowed to go to Hogsmeade when I was a third year in my old time line. Therefore, I have thought about doing something here at Hogwarts for the first and second years, while the older students are all gone during the day.” When he saw, that everyone was listening intensely, he continued, “Probably you all remember the treasure hunt we had in spring, when our guests from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were here. I have planned to do such a treasure hunt with the first and second years on Saturday. Will that be okay?”

Everyone just stared at him, and he explained a bit more, “I have prepared some questions, in fact some are the same as the last time, as none of the first or second years participated at that time, but most questions are adjusted to the level of fist and second years. I would divide the nearly hundred students in groups of five students each, one from each house of course, so that we have ten groups of each year. I have prepared two different papers with twenty questions each, one for each year, so that it will be easier for the firsties of course, and I will make ten versions of each paper, so that every group has to start at a different point. What do you think?” Poppy was the first to speak.

“Will they have to do anything dangerous, and who will supervise them? How much extra work will you have with this again?” Harry sighed and replied calmly,

“No, they won’t do anything dangerous. They just have to walk around the castle and look after things, search for information in the library etc. The aim of the event – apart from keeping them entertained while the others are at Hogsmeade – is to extend their knowledge about Hogwarts. They don’t need supervision, as they normally walk around the castle without supervision too. I will tell them to call Dobby whenever they have problems, and at one point, they have to call him anyway in order to get me so that I can flash them to the other side of the castle. This part is necessary in order for me to know where they are and how they are coming along. I won’t have any other work with the event, as I have already prepared the papers.” Pomfrey snorted, and McGonagall sighed and said,

“Harry, I would have liked you to ask us before you did all the work, as you exactly know the only reason for us not to agree to such an event would be that we don’t want you to do anything apart from your normal work load.” At this point, Harry interrupted her,

“Sorry, Granny, but this was not work, this was FUN. So, may I keep the firsties and second years busy on Saturday?” Everyone nodded affirmatively, and Minerva finally said,

“Alright, Harry, you may. However, some of us will stay in the Great Hall with you in case you need help. I personally think your idea is very good, and perhaps we should think about doing something for the younger ones every time the older students go to Hogsmeade.

When the headmistress announced the event for the first and second years on Friday evening, the applause was tumultuous. Two Gryffindor fourth years even asked, if they could join the treasure hunt, but when Minerva looked enquiringly at Harry, he shook his head and said,

“Maybe the next time, but this time I have planned it exactly for first and second years. The next time I will make a list beforehand, in which you can write your name, so that I can plan something for you too.”

On Saturday, directly after breakfast, Harry divided the younger students into groups and handed them the papers for the treasure hunt to start. Then he sat back on his chair at the Head table and waited for the students to call him. Everything went well, and the students managed to finish the treasure hunt by lunchtime, so that he had time enough to grade the answers to his questions during the afternoon and give the data, the winners’ certificates and the chocolate phoenixes he had prepared for the winners to his grandmother, so that she could hand them out at dinner time. Minerva frowned and asked him,

“As you have organized the whole event, wouldn’t it be more appropriate if you gave the prizes out?” Harry shook his head and replied,

“On one hand, yes, but on the other hand, the students will feel much more honoured, if they receive their prize from the headmistress than from just one of their teachers. Please do them the favour, Granny.” Minerva smiled and nodded her approval.

Afterwards Harry went to his room, enjoying the quiet in their quarters, as Lily had taken the two excited kids to the Room of Requirement, and took a nap, because the flashing around the castle during the morning had worn him out more than he had thought. When Severus woke him up in time for dinner, Harry was still tired, but got up and followed his father out into the living room. He sat on the sofa, causing his father to throw him an astonished glance and ask,

“Harry, are you not going to dress up for the feast?” Harry sighed and looked pleadingly at Severus,

“Dad, do you think, Granny would excuse me for the feast tonight?”