He flashed into his old room, which in fact was still his room, as Poppy always used to send him there when he had to stay with her, transformed back and dashed out of the room feverishly looking for his wife. He found Ginny together with Poppy in the next room, where Ginny had lived until their wedding. As soon as Poppy noticed him, she motioned him to sit down beside Ginny, went to a small cot at the side of the room and handed Harry a baby.

“Congratulations, Harry! This is your first son, and your daughter is just driving your wife crazy.” Harry stared unbelievingly at the baby; the thought that this was Ginny’s and his baby was hardly able to penetrate his seemingly frozen mind.

“Gin?” he asked softly. “Is everything all right? Are you all right? Can I do anything for you?” Ginny gave him a loving smile and answered,

“No, Harry, just take care of our son. I hope our daughter will hurry on now too.” Harry laughed and unconsciously started to play with the baby’s tiny fingers. Twenty minutes later, he held a second baby in his arms, while his wife was fast asleep.

“Congratulations, Harry,” Poppy said after making sure that Ginny was alright. “Your children are in a good health, and although they are a few weeks early, which is not uncommon with twins, everything is fully developed. Therefore, you can take your children with you to your quarters, if you feel comfortable enough to be with them on your own. Ginny will sleep for a few hours, so if you want to stay here, you are welcome to do so, but maybe it would be more comfortable for you to put the children into their beds as long as they are asleep. You will have to carry them around more than enough during the next weeks. If you have any problems or are unsure, just call me; we can leave the connecting door open, so that I can hear you.”

“Thank you, Aunt Poppy,” Harry replied and threw her a grateful glance. “Then I will take them with me.” Poppy nodded and told him,

“Alright, let me take one of them now, I will accompany you. By the way, do they already have names?” Harry laughed and handed her his daughter.

“May I introduce my daughter to you, Aunt Poppy? This is Annette, and my son is called Cian.” Together they carried the babies through the Snape’s living room into Harry’s room, where Poppy showed him the bag she had brought with her.

“Now, Harry, this is fennel tea. Whenever they wake up during the next few hours, you try to make them drink a bit of tea.” She handed him two small baby bottles and continued, “Later we will see if Ginny can breastfeed them, otherwise you have to ask Dobby for milk bottles for them. Now, when one of them wakes up, call me please, and then I will show you how to care for them.”

An hour later, Cian woke up, and Poppy showed Harry how to feed him a little tea and how to change his nappy without using magic. When Annette cried shortly afterwards, Poppy showed Harry how to change her nappy with a spell and said,

“On one hand, it is very convenient to use magic, on the other hand babies need and love body contact with their parents; therefore I would suggest to change them without magic when you have time to do so and only use magic when you are in a hurry or have to change both at the same time.”

At least on their birthday, the twins could not complain that they didn’t get enough body contact, as the Snapes, the Weasleys, the twins’ godparents and nearly the whole Hogwarts staff had a huge party in the Snape living room, and Annette and Cian were being cuddled by many hands for the whole evening.

The next weeks were very strenuous for the young family, as the twins woke their parents up at least twice during the night; sometimes they woke up at the same time, but sometimes the parents had to get up four times during one night. Ginny and Harry had agreed that Ginny should only feed one at a time and that Harry would feed the other with milk that Dobby brought for them. However, both children were developing nicely, and at the beginning of the summer holidays, Poppy told them they were ready to make the portkey travel to Japan without problems. However, she advised them to take Dobby with them, so that he could help them preparing milk and watching the twins.

Although Harry’s condition had improved a lot, Poppy and Minerva forbid him to participate in the summer course for career advice, which would take place during the second week of the summer holidays. On one hand, Harry was a bit upset, because the whole course had originally been his idea, and therefore he wanted to at least participate if not be responsible for the course. However, on the other hand, the last weeks had been very strenuous for him, and he was looking forward to their holiday. So Ginny, Harry and the twins left for Okinawa on the first day of the summer holidays. They spent two months with Mariko and Julian, mostly resting and enjoying the fine weather, cuddling with the twins on the beach. Sometimes they went for day-trips to the main island of Okinawa. Harry had not been allowed to bring any work or even books with him, so he really could not do anything apart from enjoying the free time with his children.

However, after a month of rest, he felt so well and fit that he conjured parchments and quills and started to work on a book about wand- and wordless magic, the combination of both as well as wish magic. As he only worked on the book during his naptime after lunch, on which Ginny and Mariko-san had insisted, nobody knew about this except for Julian, with whom he had talked about the topic – and he would never give his secret away.

Finally, it was Minerva, who discovered his secret. Ginny and Harry had spent three days in Tokyo, using the voucher they had received from Mariko-san and Julian for Christmas. Each of them carrying one of the twins, they had walked around Tokyo, trying to see as much as they could during these days. However, in the morning after their return to Yubu Island Ginny noticed that Harry had a fever again and confined him to bed rest for the day. Of course, this had to happen on the day when his great grandparents were coming with Marina and Violet to visit them. When Minerva, worried about her grandson, went to his room to look after him, she saw him lying on his stomach in his bed, feverishly writing lines on a parchment.

“Harry, what are you doing?” she asked sternly, and Harry nearly jumped; he had not noticed that she had entered his room. But now it was too late and he sighed and told her,

“Hello Granny, nice to see you too. I am writing a book.” Ignoring her gasp, he continued, “about wand- and wordless magic and wish magic.” Of course, she was too angry with him, because he had been working although he was not allowed to do so, to keep it to herself but told Ginny and Mariko in a very upset voice, and a few minutes later Harry had three angry women to deal with. During the next days, however, Harry had several conversations with Albus, who was very interested in Harry’s book and was able to help and encourage him a lot.

Minerva and Albus stayed for two weeks until the day after Harry’s birthday, which they celebrated in a beach party during the evening. Marina and Violet had much fun with the little twins, who during this time were very busy trying to turn from a position, in which they were lying on their back, into a position lying on their stomachs.

Harry watched his sister and his little ward. She had changed so much during the two years since she came to the Snape family, and if he didn’t know her very well, he wouldn’t be able to imagine what kind of childhood she had experienced as a little girl. The two girls matched so well that one could assume they were twins.

“She is a huge success, Harry,” his great grandmother suddenly said. “She has developed nicely.”

“Yes,” Harry agreed immediately and added, “I really have to thank Grandfather and Marina – I mean they are the ones who are always together with her.” Minerva shook her head.

“No, Harry. They are together with her all day, but the person, which has the greatest influence on her, is someone else. You, Harry. You are giving her the confidence to act like she acts, to behave like Marina’s twin sister and to forget her past.”

“Yes!” Ginny jumped into the conversation. “She absolutely adores Harry.”

“By the way,” Harry tried to change the topic, “Have you seen Grandfather talking to the twins? The small ones I mean. He is trying to teach them to say ‘Albus’.”

“Really?” Ginny asked giggling, and Minerva could not help laughing loud.

“Now, Harry, what do you think he did when you were a baby? He tried exactly the same thing – and let me tell you: One of your first words was ‘Abu’.”

On the day after Ginny’s birthday, Ginny and Harry had to return to Hogwarts as well, because Harry insisted of taking over the course for the muggleborn students, which started on the next day.

The last three weeks of the holidays passed very quickly. Like in the previous year, it was fun to teach the young muggleborn students, and Harry enjoyed the summer course very much. However, as he also had to prepare his lessons for the coming school year and had to help his wife with the children, he was too busy to spend a thought on the book he was writing. Fortunately, the twins were just about to start to sleep through the nights – a fact, which Ginny and Harry appreciated very much.

Soon it was time for the Welcoming Feast. Harry couldn’t believe how fast the holidays had passed. Albus and Minerva had conducted a serious talk with the Sorting Hat, who however had insisted that it was his decision how many people he would place in which house and not the decision of the teachers or the Headmistress. Harry was not even astonished to notice that again twenty first-years entered his house.

As the students arrived, Ginny had to go back to work, and Ginny, Poppy, Minerva and Harry had decided to add a nursery to the Hospital Wing, where the twins could spend the day near Ginny and Poppy, who would both look after them during their work. After Harry had talked to the castle, Hogwarts had provided a very nice room directly connecting to Poppy’s office and to the Snape quarters. Harry had also installed playpens in his classroom and in his office, and sometimes he took the twins to his classroom, for example on Tuesdays, when Ginny had her lessons at St. Mungos, and whenever he had a free period, he spent it in his office working, while the twins were sitting in their playpen.

The school year was relatively normal and uneventful and too soon, it was nearly Christmas. Ginny and Harry were very excited because it was their children’s first Christmas and because Harry had arranged for Mariko and Julian to join them again during the holidays.

When the whole family came together in the morning of Christmas Eve, the twins were fascinated by the pretty baubles Harry had made before. Fortunately, the twins still could not walk – and therefore were not able to reach up to the baubles, which were hanging on the tree; however Cian crawled beneath the tree, gripped a branch and efficiently pulled himself up in order to catch one of the baubles; his sister followed immediately, staring in awe at the baubles. Severus held onto the tree just in time; otherwise, everything would have fallen down onto the little troublemakers. Finally, Harry decided to conjure a few soft plastic baubles for them to play with, and the twins were so happy with the new toys that they played silently for hours and nobody even noticed that they were in the same room.

“Harry,” Lily asked her son sceptically, “What are they doing? What is so special about the baubles that your children are playing with just one toy for hours?” Harry could not help laughing and told his mother,

“You see, Mom,” he laughed again, “each of the baubles has two wings like the snitch, and they move, so the twins have to hold them close, otherwise they will be gone. But they only move in a radius of 50 centimetres around them, so that they can easily catch them again. Um… No! It’s not easy, but it keeps them occupied,” he corrected himself. “That’s why they are so busy.”

Unwrapping presents on Christmas morning was much fun, too. To prevent the twins from crawling under the tree and tearing all the presents, Ginny and Harry had decided to give them one present directly after breakfast, before they had even noticed the presents that were piled under the tree. The present it was: a blue rocking elephant, like a rocking horse, on which two children could sit and rock together. Annette and Cian happily tried to climb on it, which Cian managed after ten minutes, while Annette had to struggle a bit longer. Having finally succeeded in climbing onto the elephant, both children stayed on it for hours – it was a great success, and everyone could unwrap their presents in peace.

As usual, about twenty students from Merlin House and a few students from the other houses had remained at Hogwarts over the holidays. Therefore, Harry had again arranged for the other students to stay at Merlin House during this time. When Harry, Ginny and Julia joined the students in the afternoon of Christmas Eve to decorate the tree in the common room, they took the twins with them, and two dozen students happily fawned over them.

“Do you think it is good for them to get so much attention?” Harry asked Ginny worriedly, but she only laughed and told him,

“You just have to take them here more often, and then the students will get used to them and won’t pay so much attention to them anymore.”

For Harry, this Christmas was the best Christmas he could remember. During the last years, he had always been ill during the holidays, but this year, he felt well, he was together with his huge family, his children and his pretty wife were with him, and even Mariko and Julian had come to join them for a few weeks. Due to Ginny’s reminding, he had even owl-ordered the presents for everyone early enough – he really could enjoy Christmas this time.

On a cold, snowy Sunday in February, Harry and Ginny had a conversation with his great grandparents.

“You know that it is Ginny’s last year as an apprentice,” Harry started to speak, and Ginny eyed him curiously. “What will she be able to do afterwards?”

“We have to think about it. Actually, I would like to keep her, not only because she is your wife, but also because I think we need a second person in the Hospital wing, as Poppy often has to be up during the night as well, and it would be good if there were two people who could take turns. On the other hand does this not rectify a second full time staff in the wing,” Minerva replied pensively before she asked, “Would you be interested at all in remaining here to work at the Hospital Wing, Ginny?”

“Oh, yes, of course, I would like that very much,” Ginny replied eagerly.

“Would it rectify the second staff, if she had another task a few hours a week? I mean, Poppy could for example teach a new healing class for seventh years, which could consist of simple healing for home use,” Harry suggested.

Minerva stood up and straightened her robes. “Let me go and get Poppy. That’s a brilliant idea,” she said and stepped through the connection door into the healer’s office only to return with Poppy in tow a minute later. “Poppy, Harry had an idea,” she started and explained Harry’s idea.

“However, this class will either only be accessible in combination with seventh year potions, or I will have to teach them healing potions as well,” was Poppy’s comment on the matter.

Minerva thought for a moment and replied, “Let us discuss this together with Severus, Poppy. Thanks for accepting this teaching position anyway. Under this condition, I can offer Ginny a post as second healer in the wing, and the two of you can share the work, as you like.” Harry’s eyes started to twinkle. He had thought about the matter for quite a time, but he had been so busy that he just didn’t have the opportunity to talk to his grandmother alone. This was too great. He had already feared that she would have to go to St. Mungo’s every day to work there, or that she would have to stay in their quarters only with the twins as company for the whole day, but now the headmistress would be able to arrange everything so that Ginny could stay and work at Hogwarts.

“Thank you, Minerva, Poppy, Harry. I am very happy with this decision. Thank you very much,” Ginny jumped into the conversation.

“Thank you Granny. I am very glad that Ginny will be able to work here; I know that she likes working with Aunt Poppy very much,” Harry stated, and his wife smiled fondly at him.

“In fact, I enjoy working with Ginny very much, too, and as I like teaching, I appreciate your solution very much,” Poppy said, throwing a grateful glance at Harry.

The rest of the school year passed uneventfully. The only memorable event was the twins’ birthday. As their birthday fell in the Easter holidays, their twin godparents had arranged with Minerva that they could use the Great Hall in order to arrange a huge birthday party for the little ones.

When Harry and Ginny with Harry’s parents, sisters and the twins in tow entered the Great Hall for breakfast, they were stunned. The single table that remained in the Great Hall during the holidays had been confined to one of the corners, while the remaining parts of the hall had been transformed into a huge playground with all sorts of toys one-year-olds could enjoy. There was even an area with large, thick mattresses on the ground and two children’s brooms hovering above them.

Together with the remaining teachers and the students – mainly of Merlin House – who were staying over the holidays, they had breakfast, which consisted of soft ‘one-portion’ cakes in the form of a ‘1’.

“Carrots and apple flavour,” Harry decided after a few bites. “Whose idea was this? Even if it’s my children’s birthday, I would have preferred toast and eggs.” Ginny laughed and called Dobby.

“Dobby, could you please bring some proper breakfast for my poor starved husband and maybe for some others too.” Dobby bowed deeply and answered,

“Yes, of course, Mistress Weasley-Snape,” and within a minute, a normal Hogwarts breakfast appeared on the table. A few of the students applauded and hungrily started to eat.

As soon as the twins had finished eating, they hand-in-hand toddled over to the brooms they had seen when they entered the hall. The week before, Harry had taken them for a small flight on his broom, and they remembered very well how much fun it had been. The big twins went after their godchildren immediately and sat them on their brooms.

“Will they be alright?” Ginny asked Harry worriedly.

“You know your brothers – do you think they would do anything to harm our children?” His wife glared at him, and Minerva jumped into the conversation.

“They would not harm them on purpose of course, but I don’t think that they are very responsible. Let’s go over there and watch the little ones a bit closer.”

Harry glanced over to where his children were flying. The brooms were charmed according to the age of the flyer; therefore, they would not go above a certain height and would only fly in a fixed speed. Seeing that Minerva and Harry were approaching them, the twins both looked over to their Daddy and Granny and waved a hand at them. Fred and George also saw Harry coming over and returned to the breakfast table to finish their breakfast.

However, being inattentive for a few seconds caused Annette and Cian to crash into each other, loosing the grip on their brooms. Everyone watched in horror when they tumbled down – Harry was still too far away to catch his children.