“What is wrong with you? Are you ill?” Severus asked Harry immediately and glanced worriedly at his son. Harry shook his head and said,

“No, Dad, I’m fine. It’s just that Halloween always brings up bad memories. You know, it is the day on which my parents were killed in my old time line, and therefore I have always hated the feasts – at least in my old time line, but it is not so easy to get away from that. And I feel a little worn out too; I shouldn’t have flashed so often and with so many people in the morning.” Severus nodded and told him,

“Alright, I will just tell them you are not feeling well. The main reason I will only explain to Lily and Poppy, alright?” He sighed and continued, “However Harry, you have to promise me that you will speak to Poppy about this problem, if possible tonight. I am quite sure that she will be able to help you to overcome your feelings towards Halloween.” Harry nodded and said,

“Yes, Dad. I promise. Thank you.” He went back to his room, and when Severus came over a few minutes later to tell him he was leaving, Harry was already fast asleep.

He was woken up two hours later by Poppy, who had come to check on him. Far away, he heard a voice he recognized as Pomfrey’s,

“Harry, please wake up, I need to talk to you.” He slowly opened his eyes and glanced at her sleepily. “Harry, what is wrong with you? Your father said you were not feeling well, but when I asked him what exactly was wrong, he told me ‘nothing really’, but I should come and look after you.” Harry groaned and mumbled,

“Sorry, Aunt Poppy, nothing is wrong, I’m fine. I just have a problem with Halloween; it’s a psychological problem. Um… do you have a moment to talk about it?” Poppy gave him an encouraging smile and said,

“Of course, Harry, I always have time for you. I’m listening.” She sat down on the edge of his bed, and Harry sat up and began to speak. He told her how his parents had died in his old time line, and that – also in his old time line – he was always reliving the scene when the Dementors came and he sometimes dreamt of it, even in his new time line. And that he had always hated Halloween because of this. They talked for nearly two hours, and finally Harry felt so much better that he was even thinking of joining the feast in the Great Hall. However, Poppy talked him out of it, because she noticed that he had a slight fever and seemed to be much more tired than he should be. She made him drink two potions, and Harry slept soundly until his mother woke him up for breakfast.

Lily sat down on his bedside and watched him thoughtfully, before she asked,

“Harry, Severus told me what was wrong with you yesterday evening; was Poppy able to help you?” Harry gave her a big smile and replied,

“Yes, Mom, thank you. Everything is alright now.”

The next few weeks passed uneventfully. Harry remained so busy that he hardly noticed how fast the time passed and that the Christmas holidays would start soon. It was only when he had to prepare the tests, which always took place during the last week before the holidays, that he noticed he had only two weeks left to get all his Christmas presents together. ‘Oh no,’ he groaned inwardly, ‘I had that problem before, didn’t I?’ How could he get his Christmas Presents? The last Saturday before the holidays, which was two days before Christmas, was a Hogsmeade weekend, but as he had promised to arrange some kind of event for the younger students who were not allowed to go, he could not make the trip to the town either. Maybe he could go on Sunday. On the other hand, he couldn’t rely on that. If it was not for one of his students or Violet to have a problem that prevented him from going, it was surely Poppy, who would find some kind of problem with his health in order to keep him in the castle. Therefore, he decided to owl the shop owners in Hogsmeade for catalogues, so that he could owl-order his presents.

One of these days, Minerva handed him a parchment and asked him to put it up in the Merlin Common room for the students to put their names on if they wanted to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays. Harry however preferred to speak to his students personally and ask them if they wanted to stay, or if they had a family to spend the holidays with. He was very surprised when he noticed that ten students of his house – except for Anna and Julia of course, who would stay with their families and not in the dormitories – would indeed stay at Hogwarts during the holidays. Six of them were first years.

When he handed Minerva the parchment back at the beginning of the staff meeting, she gasped. Noticing his questioning glance, she said,

“Sorry, Harry, I was just a bit astonished that so many of your students, especially of your first years, want to stay over the holidays. Except for one other student, everyone will go home over Christmas.” Everyone threw a curious glance at the headmistress, and she explained,

“Only Jack White, a first year Gryffindor, has put his name onto the list, but there are ten Merlins, six of them first years, to stay here.” Harry felt the teachers look at him enquiringly, and rubbing his forehead, he told them,

“I spoke to the students and they told me they had a family they could go to, but they preferred to stay here, either to spend with their friends, which is the case with most of the first years, or to be able to study quietly. Um… the Gryffindor student, Jack, does he have to stay in Gryffindor just on his own, or could he perhaps stay in Merlin for the time? My Merlin first years are really nice and will surely welcome him friendly.” Minerva sighed and looked over to Lily.

“Lily?” Lily glanced at her grandmother and over to her son, before she replied,

“I do not mind, of course not; it is a very good idea, I think, because Jack really needs some friends. The other Gryffindors always looked at him a bit from above, because they thought he was nearly a squib; and then suddenly he became very good at everything and they felt jealous towards him. I have spoken to my first years several times, but it is really difficult. Therefore, if Harry doesn’t mind, I think it is a very good solution and could help him even further than just to enjoy his holidays.” Her grandmother nodded her consent and said,

“Alright Lily, please talk to him as soon as possible. Thank you Harry.”

Later in the evening, Harry asked Ginny,

“Ginny, what are you going to do over the holidays? Will you have holidays? Are you going back to the Burrow, or will you stay here?” Ginny sighed and answered,

“I haven’t talked to Poppy yet. You know, she is so kind; she would never force me to stay here over Christmas, except for in a case of emergency. I would in fact, like to stay here and spend Christmas with you. However, I don’t know how to tell my mother that I would prefer to stay here. Do you think I could ask Poppy to not give me holidays over Christmas?” Harry laughed and hugged her fiercely.

“I think that is a very good idea. Let’s go and talk to her; she will understand.” They walked down to the Hospital Wing and talked to Pomfrey, who of course understood what they wanted, thought for a moment and told them,

“Alright; I am very sorry, Ms. Weasley, but I have promised to spend two hours each morning in the Healers’ practice in Hogsmeade, but now suddenly so many students are staying over the holidays that someone should be here all the time, especially as they are Merlins, who are particularly prone to illnesses, including their Head of House. Therefore, I cannot let you get away over the holidays. However, you will be able to go home for a few days at the beginning of the New Year, if you want to.” Ginny beamed at her teacher,

“Thank you, Madam Pomfrey; thank you so much!” Harry nodded eagerly.

During the test week, Harry had a little time in the evening, as he hadn’t any homework to grade, and the tests could wait until after Christmas. Then he would have enough time to correct them. He used the bit of time to browse through the catalogues, decide, and order the Christmas presents. But there were several things to plan as well. As there were eleven students staying in Merlin House, and he could be sure that Julia and Anna would join him when he spent his normal time in the common room every evening, maybe Ginny as well, he decided they needed a Christmas tree for the common room. But where to get a tree? He had to speak to Hagrid. As he had to be in Merlin House in ten minutes, he didn’t have time to walk; therefore, he transformed and just flashed over to Hagrid’s hut. Hagrid fortunately had recovered nicely from his dragon pox, although it had taken more than two months, and he would only be able to return to his classes after Christmas.

“Hello Hagrid,” Harry greeted him after transforming back. Hagrid hugged him happily, so that Harry could hardly breathe, and said,

“Hello Harry. Sorry for all the inconvenience you had with me taken ill.” Harry groaned and replied,

“Hagrid! That was not your fault. And in fact, you told me everything I had to know, so it was no problem at all. And to come here every second day to feed the Runespoor and the dog was no problem either. I’m glad you are all right again. By the way, I need a Christmas tree for the Merlin common room. Do you think you could arrange that, or whom do I have to ask?” Hagrid laughed and told him,

“No problem, Harry, you will get a nice, huge tree for your common room. Just leave it to me.” Harry thanked him and excused himself for being so impolite to flash away immediately after asking for something, but Hagrid told him, that he knew he was busy and didn’t mind at all. Then Harry flashed over to the Merlin common room.

The next few days passed in a blur, and soon it was time to escort the students, who were going to ride the Hogwarts Express, to Hogsmeade. Harry had thought about gathering his eleven students and asking them to join him on his way to the station, but then he remembered that he wanted to look for a small Christmas present for each of them and refrained from talking to them. As soon as the Hogwarts Express had left, he transformed into Icicle, flashed over to the Weasleys’ shop and changed back into his human self.

“HARRY!” the twins shouted at the same time. “To what do we owe the honour of your visit?” Harry grinned and told them he needed eleven small presents for his students who were staying in the castle over the holidays.

“But nothing to prank the teachers please!” he sternly added to his explanation. The twins thought for a moment and asked,

“How about a quill…”

“…that changes the colour…”

“…as the owner wishes?…”

“…You only need black ink,…”

“…and have to think of a colour,…”

“…and it writes in that colour…”

“…So you can change colours…”

“…anytime.” Harry laughed. It was not that spectacular, but it seemed to be just what he needed.

“Very good,” he told them, “I need …hmm… give me fifteen of these quills please. That’s all; I have to head back quickly. I hope to find time to visit you during the holidays. Maybe you could come over sometime in the evening to visit Ginny and me?” The twins nodded and promised to visit them at the castle directly after Christmas. Harry smiled at his friends, transformed and flashed directly into his room to put the quills away safely.

A few minutes later, he left his room to look for Violet and Marina, whom he found in the living room together with everyone else. Even his great grandparents were there, and they seemed to be having some kind of family conference. Seeing all the questioning glances directed at him, Harry said,

“Oh, I’m sorry, was I supposed to be here earlier or what…?” His parents laughed and Severus replied calmly,

“No, Harry; everything is fine; we were just discussing where you could have gone, because nobody could find you and nobody had seen you after you went to the station with the students.” Harry could not manage to suppress a giggle and replied,

“I’m sorry; I didn’t think anyone would notice, so I just flashed over to the twins to buy some last-minute Christmas presents for my students. I am sure it didn’t take me more than ten minutes, however,” he added confused. Everyone laughed again, and Lily explained,

“That’s alright, Harry. It’s just that Remus saw you transforming and flashing away; therefore we knew that you went somewhere and were just curious; that’s all.” A little worriedly, she watched Harry’s face taking on a relieved expression. He seemed not to be his own self, if he took their small joke so seriously. She decided to talk to Severus about Harry later and put the thought away for the moment.

“Now Harry,” his grandmother started to speak, “we were just discussing something. You know that normally, during the holidays, everyone had dinner here in your quarters – a daily event, which I must say everyone was always enjoying very much. This time, however, so many students are staying that we cannot let them have dinner just on their own in the Great Hall. So we were just discussing what to do about that.” Harry sighed. It was probably his fault that so many of his students were staying. Therefore, it should be him to do something about it and not all the others. He cleared his throat, which he noticed was a little sore, and said,

“Maybe I could have dinner with them in the Great Hall. I think I should be able to manage eleven students just on my own. If not, I could ask Julia, Anna or Ginny to join me. That’s no problem. And everyone else can have dinner here as usual.” Looking up he saw that nearly everyone was glaring at him.

“No!” his grandmother said sternly. “There is no rule saying that the Head of House has to eat together with his students. But we could take turns eating together with them. If each of us joins them for dinner twice, the holidays are already over. And if you don’t mind, maybe we could invite them here for Christmas dinner. What do you think, Lily? Severus? Harry?” Severus threw a glance at his wife and son and answered,

“As the house elves will arrange everything, including enough space for everyone, I do not mind at all.” Lily didn’t mind either, and Harry said,

“That’s for my parents to decide, and of course I don’t mind. Then I will take the first shift in the Great Hall tonight, if that’s alright with everyone. They will finish their dinner much earlier than you anyway, so that I’ll be able to join everyone here for Christmas Eve early enough.” Everyone agreed with that, and the discussion was finished.

When the Snapes returned to their quarters after lunch, Harry asked his parents to come to his room for a moment, because he wanted to talk to them without any younger siblings being around. Lily and Severus threw each other a questioning glance, shrugged and followed Harry into his room. When he even did as much as throwing a silencing charm on the door, their curiosity brought Severus to ask,

“Harry, what is this about?” Harry glanced at his parents. He was very unsure about how to ask what he wanted to ask. But he had to try anyway, and – he told himself – this was just Lily and Severus. Alright, he tried,

“Um… You know, eh… Ginny, … is my girlfriend. You know that, don’t you?” His parents smiled at him, and Lily said,

“Of course, we know that. What’s wrong my dear?” Harry fidgeted on where he was sitting on his bed, next to his mother, while his father had taken the chair at his desk.

“I…eh… want …um… wanttoproposetoheronchristmasmorning.” He sighed deeply. It was said. His parents threw him questioning glances, and his father asked,

“Sorry, Harry, could you please repeat that in plain English?” Harry groaned and repeated,

“I want to propose to her tomorrow, on Christmas morning. You know, she is not a student anymore, and she will be seventeen in summer, and…eh….but, um… I think, before I can propose to her, I should ask her parents, shouldn’t I?” Lily and Severus glanced at each other, and Severus answered.

“Yes, Harry, it is not a ‘must’, but it would be much better. I will accompany you to the Weasleys if you wish me to do so.” Harry looked at his father and sighed relieved. Severus went out into the living room, knelt in front of the fireplace and floo-called the Weasleys to ask if Harry and he could come over for a few minutes.

The Weasleys listened smilingly to what Harry had to say. How long had they hoped for this – it was as if a dream had come true. They had known Harry since before he was even born, and they appreciated him very much. When Harry had finished, Mrs. Weasley stood up, went over to him and pulled him into a huge hug, while Mr. Weasley went to Severus and shook his hand, before he told Harry,

“You have my permission to ask her, Harry. Please know that I could not imagine a better husband for my little one than you. I am very happy. Please take good care of my little daughter.” Harry’s expression turned into a relieved one when he said,

“Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, thank you very much. I cannot promise anything now, because I have to ask her first and she has yet to agree. But if she agrees, I will take good care of her. I love her very much. Thank you.” Severus and Harry flooed back to Hogwarts leaving a crying Mrs. Weasley and a smiling Mr. Weasley behind.

“Congratulations, Harry!” Severus said when they were back in their living room, where Lily and Julia were decorating the Christmas tree. Lily immediately came over to Harry and pulled him into a hug, inwardly smiling about his relieved expression.

“Harry, are you going to help us?” Julia asked, and Harry inwardly groaned. He had to wrap his Christmas presents, and he only had one and a half hours left until dinnertime. Maybe he could do the presents later. He gave Julia a short nod and sat down on the sofa, where he fell asleep within two minutes.

“What is wrong with him?” Julia asked her parents worriedly, and they told her that he had been so busy during the last weeks that he was very tired now.

The three Snapes finished the Christmas tree just in time for dinner. Lily sat down next to her daughter and asked her,

“Julia, would you mind to accompany Harry to the Great Hall and have dinner with him and the students? In fact I am a bit worried about him and would be glad to know you were with him.” Julia nodded and told her mother,

“Yes, I think so too, Mom. I will wake him up now and accompany him to dinner. I will also join him later when he goes to the common room.” Lily kissed her on the forehead and said smilingly,

“Thank you Julia. It is a great relief to have such an understanding, big daughter.”

They were the last to arrive at the dinner table. The students were quite astonished to see that their Head of House was the only teacher at the table, but Julia told them the reason and explained that Christmas dinner was planned to take place at their quarters. Harry had not participated in the conversation so far and had more or less pushed his food around his plate, noticing that he was not hungry and that his throat was still a little sore. However, suddenly he felt himself pulled into the conversation by the voice of a fourth year student,

“Professor Snape-Dumbledore, do you think we could go to Hogsmeade once during the holidays?” Two of the first years immediately jumped in the conversation and said excitedly,

“Oh yes, please, Professor. We have never been to Hogsmeade yet, and we want to go too.” Harry sighed and thought for a moment, before he told them,

“I don’t know. Maybe we can go to Hogsmeade together for half a day, but I have to ask the Headmistress for her permission. And in case we are allowed to go, we have to stick all together for the whole time. You cannot go on your own this time, as it is not an official Hogsmeade weekend. If you don’t mind this, I can ask Professor McGonagall if we can go sometime next week. Who of you wants to go?” He looked around and saw that all students had raised their hands, including his sister. Throwing an amused glance at Julia, he announced,

“Alright; I will ask Professor McGonagall this evening; maybe I can tell you the answer when I come to your common room later tonight.” He heard a loud gasp from his left side and looked over to the students enquiringly. The two first years hesitantly asked,

“Are you coming to our common room although we have holidays, Professor?” Harry gave them an amused glance and returned the question,

“Don’t you want me to come? I don’t have to.” The two students replied at once.

“Oh, no. Of course, we want you to come, Professor. You know that we always have questions.” Harry laughed and said,

“Alright, then we will meet later tonight.” Together with Julia, he left the Great Hall to head back to the dungeons.

When they arrived home, Harry immediately went over to his grandmother and asked her, “Granny, the students have asked me if I could take them to Hogsmeade one day during the holidays. Do you think this will be possible?” Minerva thought for a moment, threw an enquiring look at Albus, who nodded affirmatively, and answered,

“Yes, Harry, you may take them for a day, but please tell your parents and me before you go – and report to my office as soon as you are back please.” Harry nodded and thanked her, before he retired to his room in order to finally wrap his Christmas presents. He spent quite a long time looking at the engagement ring he had purchased for Ginny. It was an Irish golden claddagh ring with two small, white birds on each side of the heart, a phoenix and a parrot. In between, it had a few pretty, green stones. He could hardly take his eyes of it; fortunately, Ginny had gone home to the Burrow for dinner, so that he could look at it for hours. Hopefully she would like it too. Just in time, he remembered that he had to go over to the common room.

When he arrived in Merlin House, Julia was already there and had brought Anna with her. Harry stood in front of the huge, but still a little naked Christmas tree and said,

“Welcome to a special Christmas Transfiguration lesson. Now we are going to decorate this tree, won’t we?” When he saw everyone looking at him expectantly, he pulled a small bag filled with green peas out of his robes, ignoring the laughter around him, and using his wand and a spoken spell transfigured one of the peas into a beautiful Christmas bauble. Ignoring the huge applause, he told them,

“Go on and try, please. I want each of you to have your own bauble. I still have the one at home, which I made when I was a student, and I am very proud of it. So please try, although it might be hard work and could take the whole evening.” In fact, it was nearly midnight, when Julia and Harry returned to their quarters. Most of the other inhabitants of the castle were still sitting together in the living room and immediately questioned them about the reason for being so late. Julia explained that Harry had taught them to decorate the Christmas tree, and that by now everyone had his or her own bauble on the tree in the Merlin common room. The others seemed to be quite impressed, but Harry didn’t care at the moment. As he still had not finished wrapping his presents, he excused himself very quickly and retired to his room. Finally, he called Dobby for help, and it only took the clever, little elf two minutes until all presents were wrapped. Harry groaned – why hadn’t he thought about Dobby earlier – and fell into bed.

After breakfast, Harry asked Ginny to join him in the Snape quarters for a few minutes. He had already asked his parents to take the children out for a walk for about half an hour so that he could have some time with Ginny alone in the living room and Lily and Severus had promised that they would not be disturbed. When they entered their quarters, Harry took both of Ginny’s hands and pulled her directly in front of the Christmas tree.

Harry fetched a new golden bauble from the Christmas tree, which he had wandlessly transfigured early in the morning, and showed it to Ginny. She was stunned and could not take her eyes from the bauble. It was golden like the other baubles at the Snapes’ tree and had a beautiful parrot on it like Ginny’s animagus form. Unlike the other baubles, however, this one had a little opening at one side; in fact, a small drawer was hidden there. He motioned for his girlfriend to pull the drawer out, and she opened it carefully. Harry took the small ring out, which he had placed into the drawer before, held it in his right hand and gripped her left hand with his left, knelt down before her and asked,

“Ginny, I would like you to marry me. May I put this ring onto your finger?”