The visit with the Muggles and her magical daughter took more than two hours, as the girl, who reminded Harry immensely of Hermione, wanted to know everything about Hogwarts and the magical world. Finally Harry conjured two books: ‘An introduction to the magical world’ and ‘Hogwarts – a History’ and handed them over to Evelyn.

“Here, Evelyn. Please read and have fun. Both of them are standard books, the introduction should be read by every muggleborn student, and the history is a book, which every Hogwarts student should have read at least once in his life.” Evelyn nearly hugged Harry; she just seemed to remind herself that he was a teacher at the school she wanted to attend and stopped herself in time. She went back to asking questions.

However, after nearly three hours, Minerva told Evelyn and her parents, “I am very sorry, but Professor Snape-Dumbledore still has an appointment at the school, so we have to return to the school. If you have further questions, you can write to us or call his mobile phone number, which however will only work during the evenings.”

Outside, Harry told his grandmother, “Thanks, Granny; I was afraid this would take until tomorrow morning. Can you grab my ring please?” Minerva nodded and held onto his ring in order to return home by portkey. Within a minute, they found themselves in Harry’s room at Hogwarts. Harry threw a glance at his watch and noticed that it was time for a late visit to the common room. Minerva glared at him and told him to go to bed, but Harry insisted that he had to go, but he would be back in a few minutes and left the room.

In the Merlin common room, a huge party was underway. Harry threw his students an astonished glance but decided not to disturb the party further but to retire. However, as soon as he turned back to the portrait hole, two students gripped his arms and pulled him back into the room.

“No, professor, please don’t leave; join our party,” a few students said, and Harry laughed and sat on his favourite spot, which the students always kept open for him. Anna and Julia came over to him immediately and sat on the floor next to him. They talked for a few minutes, until Harry decided to head back to his room to rest.

He asked the two girls to make the others finish the party by midnight the latest, stood up and addressed everyone, “Have fun with your party, and please do me a favour: Finish at midnight the latest please. I will not come and check on you, but the Deputy Headmaster or maybe other teachers will certainly check all common rooms later.” When Harry entered their living room, nobody was there. However, Lily was sitting in her office grading tests.

Harry threw her an astonished glance and asked, “Where are the others?”

Lily laughed and asked, “Could it be that my son has forgotten Quidditch practise?”

Harry frowned and told her, “Yes, I forgot, but I won’t go anyway, I’m too tired.” Lily threw him a worried glance and motioned him to go to bed, which Harry did, and when Lily came two minutes later to check on him, he was already asleep. He only woke up, when Ginny climbed into the bed a few hours later and caressed his face with her cool hand. He slowly opened an eye and mumbled, “Ginny, I’m sick.”

She put a hand on his forehead and gasped, before she replied calmingly, “Yes, Harry, but you will be alright; let me check on you.” She waved her wand a few times and stood up. “Harry, I have to get Poppy, wait a moment, I’ll be back soon.” Two minutes later, she was back with Harry’s parents and Pomfrey in tow.

Poppy waved her wand over Harry several times and stated, “I don’t know how he could get such a fever. I cannot find anything else wrong with him, so probably he has just overdone himself again. It probably started maybe a week ago, but now his fever is very high, and he will have to stay in bed at least for a week. Will he never learn?” She addressed Harry and asked him, “Did you not notice you were ill before?” Harry shook his head a little and moaned,

“No, I have only been tired for about a week, because I was so busy all the time, but I didn’t notice it was so bad.” Harry had to spend the first week of the holidays in bed, but he felt too bad to really mind.

Minerva phoned the Muggle families they had their appointments with and postponed all Muggle visits until the second week of the holidays. Even then, only very reluctantly did Poppy allow him to get up in order to accompany his grandmother. Minerva insisted on taking the Knight Bus, and Harry was astonished to notice how fast the bus moved around for the Headmistress. Wherever Minerva told the conductor to go, it was always the first stop the bus made after a more or less huge jump, and the longest they had to ride on the bus was ten minutes.

Not all their visits went as well as the first ones. One family reminded him very much of the Dursleys, especially when the father of the wizard girl called them freaks and liars, even after Minerva had taken a tissue and transfigured it into beautiful flowers for the kid’s mother. Finally, Harry gave Judith his telephone number and told her to think about it and call him if she wanted to talk about it, maybe without her parents. When they left the house, feeling very uncomfortable and sorry for the child, Harry said,

“Do you know what, Granny? They remind me very much of the Dursleys. Maybe the mother is not so bad and would even accept magic, but the father is just like my uncle, horrible.” Minerva glanced at her watch and said,

“Harry, we have two hours left until the next appointment. Do you want to go home and rest, or shall we go and have lunch somewhere?” Harry thought about it for a moment. He was exhausted and really wanted to go home, but he also needed to do something else.

“Um, Granny, I have thought about something. You know, if, for example this Judith decided to attend Hogwarts, I can’t imagine her parents would be willing to pay for her. And there will be other children who don’t have parents or whose parents wouldn’t pay for sending their children to Hogwarts. I know that I have a lot of money from different sources, and I would like to set up a foundation for these children, so that they will be able to attend Hogwarts in spite of nobody paying for them. Do you understand what I mean?”

Minerva eyed him respectfully and replied, “Yes, Harry, I understand very well what you mean, and I think if you really wanted to do this, it would be a very good idea. So I take it you want us to go to Gringotts now?” Harry threw her a grateful smile. A quarter of an hour later, they found themselves in the company of two goblins, surrounding a table at Gringotts, where they were discussing Harry’s idea. They set up a foundation with the name ‘The White Phoenix Foundation’, and Harry agreed with the goblins to have sent a fixed amount every month from his own vault into the account of the foundation.

The talks with the remaining seven families went more or less well, and Minerva and Harry were content with their efforts. All ten children in fact had taken the news that they were wizards and witches well. Most of them even seemed to be glad to know why they could do things others definitely couldn’t. Probably all of them had noticed that they were different from others and had wondered about it for years. And all students except for Judith had agreed to attend the summer’s class at the Primary school. Minerva and Harry were quite content with their efforts.

The remaining days of the holidays passed quickly for Harry. Although he was not allowed to do anything useful, he didn’t have time to brood over it, as his parents, grandparents, sisters and even godparents never let him alone. Someone always stayed with him, and Ginny even stayed with him during the nights. On one hand, Harry was happy to have such a huge, caring family, but on the other hand, he couldn’t wait to be allowed to work or at least organize something. A few times, he faked sleep and thought about the summer’s classes and their organization.

One day, when his grandmother stayed with him after they had returned from a visit, he told her, “Granny, I have thought a bit about the summer’s classes for the muggleborns, and I have a few ideas.” When he saw that Minerva was listening interestedly, he continued,

“I suggest the course should last six weeks, from July 1 to August 15. During this time, they don’t have to have classes all the time. I think, for example, I should take them on a trip to Diagon Alley during the first week to get everything they need for the classes and of course for the first Hogwarts year. For the classes, I think we should ask all Hogwarts teachers to teach for a few hours, for example half a morning each week. The students could have classes in the morning, an hour reading time after lunch, in which they can read their notes or books they may borrow from the Hogwarts library, and afterwards I will spend the rest of the afternoon with them answering questions they might have or just tell them stories about the wizarding world or about the school. Sometimes we could visit Hogsmeade, and once a week I could take them to the Hogwarts library to borrow books.”

Minerva was still listening intently, wondering when Harry had thought about all this, although they had tried to prevent him from thinking about anything at all, especially from thinking about work. Harry continued, “Concerning the classes, I think we should have the following teachers and content. Sorry, Granny, could you give me a parchment and a quill please?” Minerva fetched both from his desk and handed it to him, and Harry started to write:

Mom – ‘Introduction to the wizarding world for muggleborn students’

Granny – ‘Wizarding etiquette’

Granddad – ‘Wizarding school knowledge’

Dad – ‘First Potions’

Aunt Poppy – ‘First introduction to Healing’

Hagrid – ‘Kinds of Magical creatures’

Pomona – ‘Herbs mostly used in the wizarding world’

Rolanda – ‘First steps on a broom’

Harry – ‘First steps in Magic’ (easy charms)

Hermione or Harry – ‘A tour to Hogwarts and its history’

“That’s all I have thought about. Of course, everything that will be taught has to be Pre-Hogwarts-Level. What do you think, Granny?”

Minerva was stunned. It took a few minutes for her to recollect herself, then she said, “I’m sorry, Harry, I am speechless. Since when have you been thinking about this? You already seem to have organized the whole class, and you did very well with that; I am really impressed.”

Harry blushed and said, “Thank you, Granny. I just knew that I wouldn’t have time to organize this during the school year, so I had to think about it now. Maybe you could take my parchment with you and discuss it with the teachers? I mean we need their consent to teach during the time. And if they only want to teach once or twice, they should tell you, and I can arrange the schedule according to their wishes. I am quite sure Anna would help as well, as she will be a teacher at the Primary like Hermione.”

Minerva laughed and told him, “Alright, Harry. In fact, I think, I will only show this to Albus and your parents first. On Sunday, which is the day after tomorrow, we will have a staff meeting, and then we can discuss it in your presence.” Harry threw her a hopeful glance, and she sighed and said, “I know, Harry; you have to be patient. Anyway, during the next weeks, you have to be careful. I know that you are very busy, but when you are tired or it is too much or you are unwell, you have to tell me, so that I can either cover your classes or do your other work for you.”

Harry sighed and replied, “I know that you would help me anytime, Granny, and I really appreciate it. However, all the others are doing their work on their own, and you have enough work as Headmistress, so I really should be able to do my work on my own, shouldn’t I?”

Minerva sighed and explained patiently, “Harry, you are doing more work than the others, as you are spending more time with your students, and as you are teaching at the Primary school as well and are even Deputy Headmaster for the school. You spend at least an hour over there every day, doing the work of the school. Therefore, you have much more of a workload than for example your mother, Pomona or Filius. Your father has more work than usual as well, as he is my Deputy Headmaster here and is even brewing potions for the Hospital wing; you, however, have two classes more than him, because he has only one sixth years’ and one seventh years’ Potions class, while there are two sixth and two seventh years’ Transfiguration classes. And you have the additional classes at the primary. So maybe you have to let someone help you. As you know, Julia is willing to do the first and second years’ grading for you and I can take over anytime; you just have to tell me when you need me.”

Harry nodded and said, “Alright, I will try.” Minerva snorted.

“That will not be enough, you have to promise. Anyway, Poppy insists that Ginny has to check on you every day and report to her, and that she wants to see you once a week, probably every Saturday, for a check-up. She is quite upset that you got so ill without anybody noticing it.”

Harry decided to ignore the last and went on, “Um… About the teachers for the Primary, will they have the same conditions as the teachers here? I know you told me before, Hermione could stay at the castle and so on, I just want to know; can we do this for all teachers? I suppose Anna is going to stay with her parents anyway, however…”

Minerva interrupted him, before he could continue and replied, “Yes, Harry. We can give them the same conditions. They will have their own quarters, will eat with us at the Head Table in the Great Hall, will attend our staff meetings and can play on our Quidditch team. However if we allow them to do this, they will have to pay their share, which means patrolling the floors after curfew, surveying Hogsmeade visits and so on. And as they have a much less work load, I can even ask Ms. Granger to help you with the grading, for example.”

Harry interrupted and said, “No. Had I told you about my agreement with Mrs. Weasley and Julia?” Minerva shook her head and Harry went on, “Mrs. Weasley has agreed to stay for two more years in order to cover the classes until Julia finishes Hogwarts, so that she can start teaching immediately after she finishes Hogwarts.” Minerva threw him an astonished but joyous smile and told him, that she appreciated this very much. “Therefore, please don’t ask Hermione; I will ask Julia to help me, I promise.”

Minerva laughed and said, “Alright, Harry, then I will ask her to help your father with the first and second grading, and Anna can help her father, but I think I will discuss this together with your father as my deputy here and you as my deputy there, when you are back to full health.”

The staff meeting on Sunday morning, which Harry was allowed to attend after a controversial discussion with his fiancée and her boss, lasted more than three hours. Although everyone found Harry’s plan concerning the summer’s course for the muggleborn students brilliant, they wanted to discuss every single question Harry had already talked about with his grandmother, so that it took a long time, but in the end all teachers, whom Harry had put on the parchment, agreed to teach the lessons Harry had planned for them.

On the next morning, classes started again and during the following days, the usual workload assailed Harry. However, Julia insisted on helping with the grading, and Harry grudgingly passed the first and second years’ homework over to his sister.

Just as the year before, he had to arrange an additional animagus class with the seventh years, as only one of them had already managed the transformation into a dog, while about eight others were only able to change parts of their body. When he thought about a time for the class, he noticed that Fabian Weasley seemed to have not arranged a Quidditch tournament for this year and resolved to talk to him some time. As they had staff meetings every evening after dinner, it was difficult to fix an exact lesson time for the evening; therefore, he decided to hold the animagus class on Sunday mornings directly after breakfast. The students were astonished but agreed to his suggestion, happy to get the chance to learn the transformation at all.

The following weekends were full with Quidditch matches, Hogsmeade trips, during which he tried to entertain the younger students, his animagus class, grading of homework, Yakkitch practise and visits to Poppy, which he detested most, especially after she once had kept him for the rest of the day in spite of all the work he needed to get done. Thanks to Julia’s help, he had less work with grading and apart from a few exceptions, he always managed to finish his work around curfew, so that he could spend some time together with Ginny.

However, a few weeks into the term, the Head of Houses had to provide career advice hours for their fifth year students, which cost Harry a lot of time but gave him a new idea. At the staff meeting, he suggested,

“I have an idea concerning the career advice.” Everyone laughed, and Harry got very upset. “I do not know what is so funny,” he continued, “however I am really in trouble, because the career advice takes so much of the time I desperately need to do my other work.” Lily put a calming hand on his shoulder and said,

“It’s alright, Harry, don’t get so upset. They are only laughing because it is always you to have the good ideas. How about telling us about your idea?” Harry sighed and continued,

“As I said, I think it takes too much time during the school year, and maybe we could hold a career seminar at the Primary school at the beginning of the summer holidays. The students who have finished their fifth year will come for a week, and for each day we can invite someone else working within the magical world, for example James Potter as Auror, Oliver Wood as Quidditch player or Alice Longbottom as nurse. They can speak to the students and tell them as much as they want to know about their jobs. Then on the last day, the Head of Houses can speak with each single student about their career ideas. The students could either come by portkey every day or sleep in a sleeping bag in the multipurpose-room.” He threw a questioning look at his grandmother. However, his father was the first to speak.

“I think this is a very good idea; it would be much better than these advice hours during the school year, when we really don’t have the time for such things. And the second or third week of the holidays would be early enough for the students, as they have to wait for the results of their OWLs anyway, before they can decide which classes to take in their sixth year.”

Everyone agreed, especially the Head of House teachers, and Minerva stated, “Tomorrow morning at breakfast I will announce the matter to the students. We will not continue the advice hours during the week, but the students have to wait until summer. Please give me the names of former students who you know are in interesting positions and maybe would be willing to talk to the students, so that I can contact them. Harry, will you help me to organize the event?”

Harry smiled at her and said, “Of course, Granny.”

During the next weeks, Harry received telephone calls from all ten muggleborn students. Each of them was very enthusiastic about attending Hogwarts and had many questions Harry tried to answer as detailed as possible. The only problem was Judith. She told Harry that she would like to come to Hogwarts, but each time she had tried to talk to her parents about it, her father had locked her into her room without dinner and had forbidden her to talk about it again. Harry sighed. As the people were Judith’s guardians, he could not do anything about it, or was there a way? He promised Judith to think about it and told her to call him again two days later. Then he went over to his grandmother’s office.

“Hello Harry,” he was greeted friendly.

He smiled at Fawkes, who had trilled at him happily, and said, “Hello Granny, Granddad and Fawkes. I have a problem.”

He repeated what Judith had told him and asked, “Is there anything we could do? Can I go and put the father under the Imperius Course, or could I ask Filius to come with me and change his memory and obliviate him later? I am so sorry for the girl; I would do anything to save her.” His grandparents remained silent for a moment, thinking feverishly about what could be done.

Finally, Minerva said, “I will contact the ministry. Her parents are her legal guardians, but if they prevent her from getting her education in the wizarding world, maybe the ministry will be able to do something for her, which, for example, could be the assignation of a magical guardian. If she had a guardian in the magical world, he or she could decide over the heads of her muggle guardians. I don’t know if something like that is possible, but I will contact the ministry tonight. If this doesn’t work, we will indeed do something with magic. I’ll tell you as soon as I know more.”

On the next day, when he was talking to one of the children in his office at the Primary school, Minerva entered the office, and while she was waiting for Harry to finish his talk, she sat down at his side of the desk and continued to grade the unfinished parchments, which were lying on the desk. Harry had a hard time trying to concentrate on his talk with the pupil, as he wanted to know what the ministry had to say as fast as possible.