After about an hour, Harry began to stir. He tried to recall what had happened, but just couldn’t remember and slowly opened his eyes. His mother and Severus were sitting on the edge of his bed, each on one side of him.

“Harry, I’m sorry dear, we didn’t want to surprise you so much. I take it, that it was a shock for you to see who your father actually is?” Harry glanced disbelievingly at them and whispered hesitantly,

“So is it true? The two of you are my parents?”

“Yes Harry; I’m sorry, from your stories I knew in your old time line I was married to James. And please believe me, I would have married him in order to ensure for you to be born, but Albus told me, I could marry anyone, because you would be born as my son anyway, I decided to marry the person I really love. Can you understand that?” Harry beamed at his parents.

“Of course, Mom – on the contrary, I’m very happy with it! It just couldn’t be better in fact. Over the whole summer, when I was here in my room in the Hospital Wing, I have thought how I could live together with a father whom I would not be able to respect at all, because of what James and Sirius did to me. However, to know I have a father I can love and respect whole heartedly is the best surprise present you could give me. I am very, very glad, Mom and …Dad. Although maybe it will take some time to get used to calling Severus ‘Dad’ I’m afraid.” Severus smiled at his son.

“Harry, are you ready for some more surprises?” Harry glanced at his father and nodded curiously.

“You have two sisters, Julia, who is 13 years old, and Marina, who is 5.” Harry excitedly sat up and looked from one to another.

“I have two sisters?” he asked incredulously.

“Yes Harry,” Severus said. “But unfortunately that is about the only thing we are allowed to tell you, because as you have surely been told, Poppy is the expert, and she insists that you have to get your memories of the ‘new time line’ back by yourself, so that they can mix with your ‘old time line’s’ memories. We can only help you when you become aware of memories and you need help, but we may not tell you a lot. But don’t worry, we will help you as much as we can, you are not alone. And your sisters and your best friends will try to assist you too.”

“So have I lived my whole life, sixteen years, with you in the ‘new’ time line?”

“Yes, my son,” Lily said and smiled at him proudly.

“Who are my best friends?”

“Anna Lupin, Hermione Granger and Ron & Ginny Weasley.”

“Do they and my sisters know that I went to the past?”

“Yes, but we only have told them the day before yesterday, when you were actually gone.”

“So what is my actual name? Harry Snape?”

“Harry Snape–Dumbledore in fact, Harry. As Lily wasn’t able to assume his name because of her parents, Albus wanted you as the heir of Merlin and Dumbledore, to assume his name.”

“I see” Harry mumbled. “Sorry, I’m tired; just one last question. Are you still Charms and Potions teachers?”

“Yes Harry”, Severus answered, “and your mother is Head of Merlin, and I am Head of Slytherin, but you and Julia are in Merlin, and you are a prefect and Merlin’s Quidditch captain as well as the captain of the Hogwarts Quidditch team.” Harry groaned.

“That sounds like I’ll be busy during this school year.”

“No Harry, in fact you can take it quite easy as you have already taken all your NEWTs, and all very well, so there is no need to do everything again, if you don’t want to. But I don’t want to discuss this now, as you seem to be very tired.” He handed Harry a potion and said “Drink, it’s a fever reducer and a headache potion, you look as if you needed both. And now try to sleep; we will talk more later on.” Lily and Severus both gave Harry a kiss on the forehead and stood up only to sit down at a small table at the side of the room.

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A boy of about 14 was sitting on a sofa in front of a large fireplace, and a small girl came running in his direction, climbed on the sofa and onto his lap saying

“Hawwy, you weed the dwagon stowwy for Mina pwease”. He smiled fondly at her and took a small book from her with a wizzarding story, in which a boy called Harry fought a dragon in order to save a school the dragon had attacked, because children had taken away her eggs. When he finished reading the story, the little girl said,

“Thank you Hawwy, you weed again pwease, pwease Hawwy!” But he didn’t read the story again but threw her into the air, caught her again and proceeded to tickle her, until his mom came and called them,

“Harry, Marina, come, we have to go to the Great Hall, it’s nearly dinner time!”

With a gasp, he was sitting upright in bed. ‘What was that for a dream? Who were the little girl and the boy? His mom had called her a name, what was it?’ He shivered and let himself fall back into the cushions. ‘Why did his head hurt so much?’

“Harry, are you alright?” suddenly a voice asked, and he looked around to see his great grandmother sitting at the table in his room grading essays.

He groaned and shook his head slightly. “I just had a very strange dream; I have never had such a dream before.” He told her about the dream. “And now I’m freezing and have a bad headache; it’s like after one of the visions of Voldemort,” he added reluctantly. Minerva sighed.

“That was not a dream or a vision; that must have been a memory of you and your little sister Marina. During the next weeks or months you will probably have lots of these dreams; they will bring your memory of ‘this new’ time line back, so it is a very good thing that they happen, but Poppy already told us that unfortunately they would probably be quite uncomfortable. I will call Poppy; I’m sure she can help you.” She went to get Pomfrey, who came immediately, checked on Harry and said very pleased,

“Now Harry, it is very good, that your memories have already started to come back. I know you won’t feel well after these memories, because they will probably cause you headaches and fevers; therefore after experiencing a new memory you always have to either come to me, or if you are in your quarters, go to your father to get a potion and lie down, until you are better.”

“Alright” Harry said. “Um… could I get a potion now?” Pomfrey nodded and left the room, only to return a few seconds later with two potions she handed to Harry.

“I will ask your father to make a special potion for you, so that you don’t have to drink two phials but only one in the future.”

“How long do you think it will last, until I have all my memories back, Madam Pomfrey?” She sighed.

“Harry I don’t know that exactly, but it will probably take a few months; but even in the worst case it should be over in a year.” Harry groaned.

“So when can I go back to classes?”

“In the first place you are still affected by your illness and by the changes your body went through, and you need a few more memories in order to feel well around the school. I’d say when you are back to health, we’ll try to let your mother take you to your quarters for an hour for the first time to see your room, meet your sisters and so on. And the next time perhaps you can stay longer. We can also have your friends whom you remember from your old time line visit you here, one by one, to talk to you. About going back to classes I think it would be better to wait a little, at least until you know your friends well enough to be able to confide in them if you had a memory return in classes, because this will happen as well, and maybe they’ll have to help you to come back here. As long as you don’t remember them and haven’t had the opportunity to speak to them, you probably won’t feel comfortable enough to rely on their help, which you will definitely need.”

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On Sunday morning Pomfrey came and told Harry he was well enough to get up, but he was not allowed to go anywhere on his own; maybe he could start unpacking his trunk she suggested. He did as he was told and had just started to read one of the books he had received for his birthday in the past, only five days ago, when his father entered his room.

“Harry, would you care to accompany me to my private lab to brew a potion?” Severus asked watching amazedly as Harry’s eyes started to twinkle happily.

“Yes dad, I’d like that very much,” Harry answered and together they headed to the dungeons. Severus stopped in front of a door, which was guarded by a portrait of a younger wizard who immediately started talking in Parsel tongue, when he saw Harry.

&Hello Harry, how are you?&

&Hello. I’m fine, thanks.&

Fortunately Severus saved Harry, who was starting to feel uncomfortable because he didn’t know the wizard, and told the portrait,

“The password is ‘back to the future’, now open please, we’re in a hurry.” The portrait opened and revealed a huge living room with a grand fireplace. “Harry, this is our quarters. The second room on the left side, the one with the green door is yours. Do you want to have a look? You need not worry; your mother and your sisters have gone to Hogsmeade for the morning, so you won’t meet anyone. If you feel up to it, you can stay for lunch later. On Sunday, we always have lunch all together here in our quarters. I will go to the lab, which is the room with the blue door.” Harry went to his room – and looked around in awe. Apart from his room in the Hospital Wing Poppy had assigned him a year ago, he had never had his own room, and this room was just beautiful. The huge four poster bed with dark blue drapes on which a golden snitch was moving around, looked so comfortable and inviting, that he just had to try it out – and fell asleep immediately. When Harry didn’t show up in the lab, Severus decided to look for his son; who knew what kind of problems he would happen to face. But when he went to Harry’s room, he saw his son fast asleep on his bed. He decided to let him sleep and carefully tucked him in, before he went back to his lab. In case, Harry needed him, he left both doors open, but Harry didn’t make a sound, and suddenly Severus heard Lily and his two daughters entering the quarter.

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Harry’s sleep was interrupted abruptly, when something heavy jumped on his stomach, shouted joyfully “Harry!” and suddenly screamed in fear.

Harry was torn out of his sleep and would have certainly jumped, if the weight on his stomach hadn’t been there, when he got a glance of an unknown, screaming face. Fortunately at this moment both his parents came rushing into the room to see a shivering, shaking Harry lying in bed with his little sister sitting on his stomach screaming like hell. Severus immediately took Marina off Harry and told her,

“It’s alright, my little teddy, that’s Harry. I know he looks a bit different, but that’s okay – it’s him. But Harry has been a little sick and is not yet back to his normal self, so you must be patient with him, alright? And maybe sometimes he will have difficulties remembering things, but you will help him to remember, right Marina?” She nodded eagerly. Of course, she would help her adored big brother.

“Of course I will help him, Daddy. You know I’m already five and a big girl!”

“That’s good my teddy. Now, can you come with me to the lab and get a potion for Harry?” She nodded enthusiastically and followed her father out of the room, where Lily was sitting next to Harry on the bed with the still shivering Harry in her arms.

“Harry, it’s alright dear. That was your normally sweet little sister Marina. You know, that you look different than before, don’t you? In your old time line you looked like James Potter; in the new time line, which is the one Marina knows, you look like a combination of Severus and me. But now you look like a mixture of Severus, James and me – and as you even don’t need your glasses anymore, you look very handsome, but Marina has to get used to it first, and as it was the first time for her to see you, it seems to have been a shock.” Harry, who had calmed down a bit, nodded and said,

“It’s alright mom, I just was fast asleep and suddenly something jumped on my stomach just to yell at me, so it was a slight shock.”

“I believe that; sorry for not realizing what she was up to; I thought you were in the lab with Severus; that’s why I didn’t care where she was going.”

At this moment, Marina returned and handed a potion to Lily. “Thank you, my dear. Now go to your room and play for a while please; Harry needs to take the potion and rest.” She handed Harry the calming draught and carefully stroked his face, while she pushed him back onto the cushions and tucked him in.

“There is still an hour until lunch; try to sleep, and I will wake you up at lunchtime; if you don’t feel up to facing your sisters then, you don’t have to.”

“Alright mom, thank you,” Harry mumbled and fell asleep immediately.

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Woken up by his mother, Harry decided that he would like him to have lunch with them and decided to face it, although he was not very hungry. He glanced secretly at his two sisters; Julia had her father’s black eyes and looked exactly like Severus, while Marina had green eyes like her mother and brother. Harry noticed just how cute she was and smiled happily.

“Harry, why do you look different than you did before?” Julia asked him curiously, and Harry still wondered what to tell her, when Severus came to his rescue and explained to his daughters what had happened to their brother and that it was only because of him that they were alive. When Harry looked at the older of his sisters, a memory suddenly emerged.

He was still small, maybe 6 or 7 years old, and was seated next to his sister of about 5 years. A simmering cauldron was standing in front of them, when Julia suddenly threw something in the potion and he heard his father cry ‘get down’, before Severus jumped onto his kids and forced them under the table to save them from the exploding cauldron.

When the dream ended, he found himself back in the kitchen of their quarters. He put his head down in his hands, breathing heavily and shivering again. Severus got up immediately and knelt in front of Harry.

“Was it a memory?” he asked, and when Harry nodded, he said,

“Come, let me take you back to your room.” He accompanied him to his room, followed by Lily and the girls, who were glancing at Harry worriedly. Severus helped Harry to drink a potion, which had a slight taste of strawberries and told him,

“I’ve just invented this potion for you; it’s kind of a mix of fever reducer and headache potion.” Julia asked worriedly,

“Harry, what happened?”, and Severus told her to come back to the kitchen, and he would explain everything. Lily hugged Harry fiercely and stayed in this position until he was asleep. When he woke up an hour later, he felt much better and left his room to look for the others.

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Julia was sitting in front of the large fireplace doing Transfiguration homework. When she saw Harry, she called him over immediately.

“Oh Harry, good that you’re awake! Can you help me?” He shrugged and said,

“Sure, what do you have to do?” and sat next to her on the floor. They worked on her Transfiguration homework for about an hour, until their mother entered the room with Marina in tow, who disturbed the calm and shouted,

“Harry!” and threw herself onto him. Lily’s face showed a very relieved expression, when she saw her two older children quietly doing homework together, as it always had been. Now Harry was hugging his little sister and was whispering into her ear making her laugh merrily. While Harry had been asleep, Severus and she had explained to the children as much as they would be likely to understand about his journey into the past to save her life and his resulting memory problems. Both children seemed to have understood, that he was still the nice, adorable brother he had always been, and that he would get headaches and fevers when a memory returned, so that they had to help him and call Severus or her immediately. Marina suddenly got up from Harry’s lap and came to her to whisper,

“Mommy, Harry is still very warm; is he still sick?” Harry and Julia laughed, but Lily tried hard not to giggle; instead, she went over to Harry, felt his forehead and nodded to Marina.

“Yes Marina, thanks for telling me. Harry, what are we going to do with you? Should I take you back to the Hospital Wing, or do you want to stay here should Poppy let you?” Harry thought for a moment and said,

“If I’m not too much of a burden, I would like to stay here”. Lily looked sternly at him and asked,

“Am I somehow similar to Petunia? You are not, nor will you ever be a burden to me. Alright, let’s walk up to the Hospital Wing and ask Poppy if you may stay here.” Harry groaned.

“Do we have to walk there? Can’t you just fire-call her?” Lily sighed and said,

“I’ll ask her at dinner then. It’s nearly time to go anyway. What would you like to eat Harry? Shall I call Dobby to bring something for you? Or do you want me to make you something?”

“No, Mom thanks. I don’t feel too well, and I would just like to go to bed for a while.” Lily frowned and said hesitantly,

“Harry, I know you still have the problems with your immune system. Severus has been working on this for years and has finally developed a first stage potion he wants you to try out, but Poppy told us that we have to wait for a few weeks if not months, because there is a slight possibility that the potion could interfere with your memory problem. Therefore you need to have a certain portion of memories back before trying out the potion.”

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When Harry woke up, his sister Julia was sitting on the edge of his bed, smiling fondly at him.

“Hello Harry. Did you sleep well?” Harry groaned.

“Except from having another memory, yes.”

“Oh”, Julia glanced at him worriedly. “Are you alright? Shall I get mom or dad?”

“No, I’m fine, thanks.” He sighed.

“Harry, is it true, that you don’t remember anything of us?” she asked anxiously. Harry gave her an assuring smile.

“You know, Julia, I’ll be slowly getting all my memories back. But what is much more important, I have my feelings; and I feel that you and Marina are very close to me and I love both of you very much.” With that, he blushed horribly, and Julia laughed with tears in her eyes. Then he continued,

“Julia, please help me. I know you aren’t allowed to tell me a lot, because the memories have to come back by themselves, but there are a few things I need to know, alright?” Julia nodded enquiringly. “We’re both in Merlin House, right?” She nodded. “I’m in 6th year and a prefect and Quidditch captain; you’re in 4th year?”

“Yes Harry,” she said smilingly. He thought for a moment.

“Have Quidditch tryouts already taken place?” She shook her head.

“We don’t need complete tryouts this year, because only the keeper was a 7th

year, and the keeper of the reserve team is on the first team now. So we only need a keeper for the reserve team.”

“Ah, alright. So we always have two teams, like I had in the past. I’m also captain of the Hogwarts’ team, right?”

“Yes, but the situation is similar. So I don’t think tryouts have to be your first priority. I’m on both teams, Merlin on the 1st, Hogwarts on the 2nd team, and we’ve always talked and planned together, so I’m quite familiar with your plans and tactics.” She gave him an encouraging glance, and Harry relaxed a bit.

“Oh, that’s good. So I’m not missing anything important. Do you know when the first games will be?”

“Hogwarts team has a match against the teachers on the first Sunday in October, which will be in two weeks time. Do you think you will be able to play?”

“I – will – play!” He said determinedly. “Um… Do all the students know what happened to me?” Julia sighed.

“No Harry. Mom has talked to Merlin House; they all know; and she has told them that you need to get a few memories back, before you will be able to join them. She also told them, that you have already taken your NEWTs in the past, so that it might be that you’ll join them for Quidditch practise or in the common room even before you are allowed to attend classes.”

“Alright. I want to hold Quidditch practises as soon as possible. Is the team training without me?” She shook her head.

“No Harry, but you could first of all ask mom, when you may go to practise, and secondly you can write a parchment for me to put on the wall on the common room about resuming the practise. And if you are not allowed to fly or even to observe, I will tell them that we just have to train on our own for the meantime.”

“Yes, you just play first team against second team matches, and the second team’s seeker can replace the keeper until I’ll be back. When should the first match be?” She laughed.

“You know we have a very meddling Grandfather, don’t you?” Harry smirked.

“Our first game is not before the end of November; I’m sure he knew why he fixed it that way!” Suddenly their conversation was interrupted, when Lily entered the room. She smiled from one to the other and said,

“I’m so glad that you get on so well in spite of everything that happened – I’m very proud of you, my children.” Harry blushed and asked,

“Um… mom, eh… was that why you came here, um… I mean just to tell us that?” Lily and Julia laughed.

“No, Harry, I just came to discuss several items with you. Do you feel well enough to come out to the living room?”

“Oh sorry, yes, of course Mom,” Harry said and got up immediately.