The Healer looked piercingly at Ginny and asked softly, “Ginny, would you mind me checking on you for a moment?”

Ginny threw her an astonished glance but replied, “No, no problem, although I don’t know why; I am fine.” The Healer laughed and made her sit down, before she waved her wand over Ginny a few times only to get a pink flare with two small lines each time. Then she grinned mischievously and said,

“The next time you will be able to come will be next summer, not before. Congratulations, you two. You are pregnant on the 7th day, Ginny… and obviously with twins.” The two gasps that could be heard were so loud that Mariko-san rushed into the room and asked,

“Do shimashita ka?” (What’s wrong?) Ginny and Harry were still too stunned to talk, so the healer said,

“May they come again next summer? I want to check on Harry again in a year, and I am sure they want to introduce two more family members to you.” It took Mariko-san a few seconds to grasp the meaning, and then she asked,

“You mean, they are pregnant? Congratulations, you two; that’s really good news today. And twins? Of course, you can come in the summer. We’d love to have you here, and if you wish, you can stay here for the whole summer, two or three months, as long as they let you go.”

Harry laughed and said, “I will have to teach the summer classes first, before we can come here,” but Ginny contradicted immediately,

“No, you will definitely not teach any summer courses. You overworked yourself too much this year, and I can promise I will not let this happen again. Fortunately, I know that everyone at Hogwarts is on my side and that they won’t let you either. And moreover, you will be a father in a few months, therefore, you are not only responsible for yourself but also for me and our children and have to take better care of yourself or at least do what I tell you. I will ask Minerva and Poppy to let us come here for the whole holidays, so that you will not even be tempted to do anything but rest and take care of your family.” Harry had listened to what Ginny said, but suddenly he had an idea, concentrated and sent all his wish magic into his idea, until he knew he had to stop in order not to loose consciousness.

“Harry!” Ginny’s voice pulled him back to reality. “What are you doing? Have you even listened to what I told you?”

Harry suddenly was very tired and mumbled, “Yes, Gin, sorry; try to speak English to Mariko-san,” before he closed his eyes for a moment. Ginny, who had now grasped what he had done, gave the healer an explanation, and a quick test showed that Harry had been efficient.

Mariko-san was stunned and pulled the astonished Harry into a fierce hug, before Healer Uehara told him, “Harry, I appreciate what you have done for my friend, but as a healer I must forbid you to do such things when your condition is not so good anyway.”

Harry contradicted immediately, “You just told me a few minutes ago that I could do what I wanted during the next days, and this was what I wanted, because I thought it might be helpful if she were able to communicate with our family at Hogwarts in order to come and visit us some time.”

Suddenly he was pulled into a bear’s hug, and Mariko-san told him in English, “Thank you very much, Harry. I really appreciate it.”

Very late on Sunday night, exactly a day later than planned, Ginny and Harry took the portkey back to Hogwarts. They arrived in the Snapes’ living room, when everyone was just having dinner and jumped when the two suddenly appeared. They sat down on the sofa to have a cup of tea, until an hour later, Ginny excused them saying,

“I am sorry, but in Japan it is already 3 o’clock in the morning, and we just want to sleep.” Glancing at Harry, she noticed that he was already fast asleep and decided to just leave him on the sofa. She pulled his feet onto the sofa, fetched a cover for him and tucked him in, before she headed for their room.

Lily followed her hesitantly and asked, “Sorry, Ginny, only one question: how is he?”

Ginny frowned and replied, “Fortunately a little better, and he has been resting the whole time. We also had Healer Uehara check on him, and she said his immune system was healing nicely but he must not overwork himself and be very careful.” In the morning, Ginny and Harry were awake very early and managed to tell their good news to Severus and Lily even before breakfast. At breakfast, Harry handed Minerva his mobile phone and said,

“Here is the number of Mariko-san; I don’t know if you are still able to speak Japanese, but she can speak English now.” Minerva let out a gasp and immediately called her good friend, whom she had not seen in so many years. After talking to Mariko-san, she decided, she would find the time next summer to join Harry and Ginny in Okinawa if only for a week.

After breakfast, Ginny dragged Harry up to the Hospital Wing to tell Poppy the good news of her pregnancy and give her the parchment from Healer Uehara.

Poppy gave her a happy smile and said excitedly, “First of all, congratulations to you two. Ginny, I will check on you once a week, I’d say whenever we have time on Mondays.” She sighed and looked at the soon-to-become-a-father,

“Harry, concerning you it is more difficult and I expect you to oblige completely. Ginny will check on you every evening and morning, and if she tells you to spend a day in bed, you have to oblige, otherwise you will come here for a check-up once a day. Additionally you will come to see me every Friday evening directly after the staff meeting. I will speak to Minerva about this, so that she will be warned that she might have to take your lessons from time to time. I suppose Healer Uehara has told you how important it is to be careful for a few years for your immune system to be able to repair itself.”

Ginny nodded affirmatively and Harry said, “Yes, Aunt Poppy. I will be careful. May I go now? The students will arrive tonight, and I have not been able to do any work for three weeks.” Poppy and Ginny exchanged an exasperated glance, and Harry was allowed to go.

“Julia, do you have time to help me with Merlin House?”

Julia smiled at her big brother and said eagerly, “Of course, Harry, you know, that I always have time to help you.” Together they went over to the common room, checked all dormitories and put a chocolate phoenix onto each bedside table.”

“That’s all, Julia, thank you very much,” he told his sister gratefully.

“Is there anything else I can help with?” she asked, but he declined and said,

“No, I only have to go to my office and go over my lesson plan for the next weeks.” Julia told him Minerva had decided that all teachers of the Primary school, who had the status of Hogwarts teachers, had been assigned to a teacher of the main subjects in order to lessen their workload. They had been instructed to grade homework and tests of the three lower classes as well as to take over detentions and other duties from time to time. Minerva had also spoken to her and asked her to do the same for Harry, although she would not be a teacher until in two years time.

Harry smiled at her and said, “Yes, Julia, I know that. I have asked her to assign you to me, because it is easy for me to work together with you. However, you have to learn for your NEWTs; learning for them is more important than helping me with my work.” Harry made a free space on his desk, put a chair in front of it and told Julia, “Here is your working space; as soon as I return from classes, I will put everything from the first to the third class here on your space. Then you can come whenever you want and do the grading, also when I am still in classes or in the staff meeting. If anything is unclear to you, please ask me.”

Too soon, it was time to head for the Great Hall for the Welcoming feast. Harry was glad that he didn’t have to bring the first years to school like last year and sat down at the Head table between his mother and his great grandmother relatively early. Minerva immediately involved him into a talk about his honeymoon and asked questions about what she had heard from Mariko-san. She also told him that it was no problem for her to take over his classes anytime. Harry groaned; he did not intend to let anybody take over his classes. Fortunately, the students arrived quite early, and the sorting began.

Half through the sorting, Harry exploded. “Is the Sorting hat ill or crazy or what? He just can’t sort half of the firsties into the same house!” So far, the Sorting hat had sorted 19 students of 50 into Merlin House, Hufflepuff had none, Ravenclaw three students. And there were only twenty more to sort. Minerva shook her head unbelievingly and threw a helpless glance at Albus, whose eyes twinkled none the less. When the Sorting hat had finished, Merlin House had gained 21 new students, Gryffindor 11, Ravenclaw 6, Slytherin 12 and Hufflepuff none. Harry groaned and hissed to the Hat, “Are you crazy or what?” However the Hat completely ignored him, and when Severus put the Hat away, Harry turned to Minerva,

“Will the castle automatically prepare two more dormitories or at least enlarge the ones we have, or do I have to talk to her? And will the house elves automatically make everything ready for the students in the additional rooms?” Minerva frowned and consulted Albus, who was sitting on her other side, but he didn’t know either. Harry snorted and said, “Then, Granny, please excuse me from dinner tonight. I will go to Merlin house and see to it; I will come back as soon as everything is cleared up. May I take Julia with me if she wants to?” Minerva frowned but gave him an approving nod, before she stood and addressed the students.

Julia eagerly followed Harry into Merlin House, where they saw that nothing had been changed yet. A few house elves were transporting the trunks of the students into the dormitories, while others were having a discussion. One of them immediately turned to Harry,

“Professor Snape-Dumbledore, sir, we is discussing whether we should enlarge the dormitory of the first years, or whether we should make another room on each side, one for the boys and one for the girls?” Harry sighed. Now he had to decide. Which would be better? He asked Julia, and she suggested,

“Maybe it would be the best to have them all in one big room. Imagine someone looks for a first year and has to look through several dormitories. I mean the elves could make the room really big and put plants or something in the middle, so that the students are a bit separated.” Harry nodded and turned to the elves,

“Do you know how many boys and how many girls there are?” One of them answered,

“Yes, sir, ten girls and eleven boys.” Harry sighed; at least it was even. The house elf spoke again: “We could make a temporary arrangement and you could talk to the students about it tonight, and if necessary we can change it very quickly.”

“Alright,” Harry answered, “thank you very much. That’s very comforting. Then please enlarge the two dormitories, and I will talk to the students immediately after dinner.” He went over to his room to fetch eleven more chocolate phoenixes and handed them to the elves. “Please put them on the additional night tables. Thank you. Come on Julia, let’s see if we still can get some dinner.” They hurried back to the Great Hall and sat down on their seats, although dinner was nearly finished. He turned to Minerva again,

“Granny, we have to adjust the timetables, right?” When she nodded, he went on, “and we will have to pair Merlin with Ravenclaw for this year, right?” Minerva nodded and said,

“Yes, Harry, but we will have a staff meeting at,” she sighed and looked at her watch, “let’s say an hour after dinner is finished. And we will discuss this then. Now you have to eat.” In the meantime, Lily had filled Harry’s plate, and Harry started to eat a little, but was mainly playing with his food thinking about what he had to organize differently now. When Minerva stood to dismiss the students, Harry winced under her disapproving glance. He went over to Merlin table and asked Julia to help the two fifth years’ prefects to lead the many first years to the tower and to gather everyone for a house family meeting in ten minutes.

Ten minutes later, all students of Merlin house were gathered in the common room, when Harry entered through the portrait hole.

“Welcome back to the older students, welcome to the new ones,” he greeted them. “Now,” he continued, “first of all, I want to know what you did to the Sorting Hat. Normally, the Sorting Hat sorts about ten students in each of the five houses, however today, Hufflepuff did not gain a single student and Ravenclaw only six, while we have 21. So please tell me – don’t worry, you will stay here, all of you – who of you talked the Hat into putting you into this house?” Five students raised their hands immediately, and Harry recognized each of them from the summer course for the muggleborns. He sighed; of course – they knew him and wanted to be in his house. “Alright,” he said, “Who else?” Five more hands went up hesitantly, and Harry turned to them and asked, “Why?” One of the students timidly said,

“Because I have heard that Merlin house is the one, which has the best community and the nicest Head of house.” The other four students agreed and everyone laughed. Harry smirked and said,

“Alright; thank you for the compliment. I don’t mind, however for you it might be a bit uncomfortable. As I had to decide nearly instantly where to put you, I have asked the house elves to enlarge your dormitories, so that ten or eleven of you will share a dormitory. We will keep this for a week, and on Friday evening at our family meeting, we will discuss if this solution is alright for you, or if you want me to divide you and arrange for a second dormitory for you.

As you probably know by now, 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 Snape-Dumbledore, otherwise I have to take points. And I do not wish you to speak about this to students of other houses. Your house is special, and I am leading this house in a very different way from how the other houses are lead. As you have heard from Professor Snape tonight, your house is your family while you are at Hogwarts.

Apart from the fact that you can come to my office anytime, which is just opposite your portrait hole, I will be here in the common room nearly every evening during the last half hour before curfew, which starts at 10 o’clock, and you are welcome to speak to me about anything you wish to talk about.

In the last year, I have introduced a system with the upper classes helping the younger students with homework and studying if needed, while the younger students take over small chores for the elders who have to prepare for their exams. The 5th year’s students provide homework help for 1st to 4th years, always two students are on duty from Monday to Friday between dinner and curfew; and on the weekends, two 6th year’s students take over. 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.

Like last year, 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 new 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.

A short word concerning Quidditch: As Anna has finished her seventh year, Julia will be the new captain of the Quidditch team. Julia, I want you to decide on a new deputy-captain and give me the name within the week; also please make a plan concerning tryouts and talk to me within the week.” He glanced around and asked the first years to introduce themselves, who complied immediately and had just finished their introductions, when a glance at his watch showed him that the staff meeting had just started.

He groaned and said, “I’m sorry, but our staff meeting has just began; I must leave. I would like the older students to quickly introduce themselves to the first years; then you are all dismissed to your dormitories. I will look after you once more directly before curfew; therefore, first years, when you have any problems, either ask your prefects or come out here into the common room shortly before curfew.” He transformed into Icicle and was gone in a flash of ice, leaving many stunned students behind.

Although he flashed directly into the staff room, he was still late for the staff meeting and apologized to Minerva,

“I am sorry, but with so many new students, our house meeting took some time; in fact it is not finished yet.”

Minerva sighed and said, “In the meantime, I have talked to the Sorting Hat and he told me that the students insisted on being put into Merlin house.”

Ignoring the gasps from all sides, Harry asked in a very upset voice, “But does the Sorting hat have to do what the students tell him? I know that the students told him, because I asked them; but if this was right, then we could just ask all students to choose their own house.”

Minerva sighed again and said calmingly, “Yes, Harry, I know, and I am sorry for you having extra work again, but it is already too late to do anything about it. Next year I will talk to the Sorting Hat beforehand and will forbid him to listen to the students.”

Severus began to speak pensively. “Maybe we should once ask Harry what is so different about his house. He has experienced Gryffindor under Minerva and Merlin under Lily, so he should be able to tell us what he is doing differently. And I think it is obvious that the students chose Merlin because of its last year’s reputation as well as the reputation of its Head of House of course.”

The others agreed immediately, but Harry asked, “I am sorry, but do we have to discuss this tonight, or would it be possible to talk about it tomorrow?”

Lily laughed and told the others, “As you know, Ginny and Harry just came back from Japan yesterday with a time difference of eight hours I think, and when you look at them, you see that they obviously have a jetlag and can hardly keep their eyes open.”

Everyone laughed now, and Minerva said, “Alright, Harry, we will ask you in our staff meeting tomorrow. For the Heads of House: We have to change the timetables for the firsties; we need to put Merlin together with Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor with Slytherin. My suggestion: We leave Merlin and Slytherin where they are and change Gryffindor and Ravenclaw; sorry Lily and Filius for the extra work. Now let’s adjourn this meeting. Good night.” Harry quickly excused himself and flashed back directly into Merlin’s common room.

“Sorry for giving you a fright,” he apologized to the students who had nearly jumped when he arrived. He motioned Julia to join him and went until the door of the first years’ girls dormitory. “Julia, please go in and ask if I may come in for a moment.” She entered the dormitory and returned after half a minute motioning him to come in. After talking to the girls for a few minutes, he went into the first year boy’s dormitory, talked to them, gave some advice and finally left Merlin house heading for his and Ginny’s room.

Ginny was still sitting in the living room having tea with his parents, grandparents, Amelia, Pomona and Poppy. But when Harry arrived and immediately said good night, she followed him into their rooms. She was still doing her check-ups on Harry, when she noticed that he was already asleep. After a quick, silent chat with Poppy, Ginny climbed into the bed and lay down next to Harry, who unconsciously pulled her into his arms.