They felt a familiar pull behind their navels and found themselves back on the beach. But when Harry glanced at Ginny, he noticed that the sea was wide, much wider in fact, and that there were no walls surrounding it. He looked around at the unfamiliar place, and turned to his wife,

“Ginny? Do you have a clue where we are?” Ginny shook her head, and nearly jumped when suddenly her mobile phone rang. While she pushed a button and listened to a voice talking to her at the other side, Harry checked out the pockets of his shorts and noticed that he as well had his mobile phone with him. It was in the same pocket as his wand. In the other pocket, he found the small bag his parents had given him for his birthday. Finally, Ginny put the phone back into the pocket of her shorts. She frowned and said,

“That was George. He told me just to wait here until someone comes for us.” Harry snorted and replied,

“Who should come for us here? This seems like an inhabited island. But wait. Look, it is getting light; I thought it was getting dark. That means that we have to be far in the east,” he voiced his thoughts and heard a voice saying,

“Exactly, you are in Japan, which is eight hours ahead of Great Britain.” They nearly jumped and when they turned around saw an old man who must be about the same age as Dumbledore and had a similar white beard. “Hello my children, congratulations on your wedding. And sorry for giving you a fright; that was not my intention. I am Julian Dumbledore, a nephew of Albus.” Harry stared at the man. He remembered vaguely that his grandfather had told them something about a nephew living in Japan last year. He threw an unsure glance over to Ginny, who smiled at him encouragingly and asked,

“Sorry, Mr. Dumbledore, they didn’t tell us anything; where are we?” Dumbledore laughed and replied,

“First of all, as you are my grandnephew, don’t call me that please. Just call me Uncle Julian, and you too please,” he turned to Ginny. “As to where we are… we are on an island called Yubu-jima, which is a very small island with only twenty inhabitants near the island Iriomote, belonging to the islands of Okinawa in the very south of Japan. However, my wife and I own a house here with a huge beach mostly just for ourselves, especially as the only muggle way to come to this island is by riding a coach, which is pulled through the sea by a bull, we never have many visitors on this island. However, as we can apparate, the isolation is no problem for us, and we really enjoy the quiet.”

He motioned them to follow him and went over to a house located directly on the seashore. Suddenly a women who seemed to be Japanese but strongly reminded Harry of Minerva McGonagall came out of the house and greeted them,

“Ah, yatto tsukimashita. Yokoso Yubujima e.” (Ah, you finally arrived; welcome to Yubu-jima island). Harry frowned and replied,

“Hello, I am sorry, but I don’t speak Japanese; do you speak English?” Dumbledore laughed and answered for his wife,

“This is my wife Mariko. You may call her ‘Aunt Mariko’ or just ‘Mariko-san’. And no, she understands English but cannot speak it, but maybe you can learn Japanese.” He handed Harry a book, however it consisted mainly of front and back cover with only two pages in between, which Harry started to read immediately. He frowned and read on only to say,

“Wow; will that really work?” Dumbledore laughed and said,

“Probably yes.” He turned to Ginny and explained, “It is a spell to learn a new language in an instant, however in order for this to work, you have to sacrifice one language you are capable of. And you have to be very powerful in order for the spell to work.” Harry thought for a moment before he decided to try. What was the problem of giving Parseltongue up? Would his father be angry with him? Very pensively, he asked,

“Is it possible to reverse it later onwards? Could I give Japanese up to retrieve Parseltongue again?” Dumbledore laughed and nodded affirmatively.

“Yes, my dear boy, that should be possible; you only have to remember that the spell takes a lot of magic, and maybe you wouldn’t be able to reverse it after just a week or such.” Harry had made up his mind. He looked intensely into the book, memorized everything, but in fact did not use the spell but wish magic as usual. Not knowing how to wish not to be able to speak to snakes anymore – he was much too excited for details – he just wished to be able to communicate with Dumbledore’s wife and pushed all his magic into the wish. Ginny, noticing what he was trying, rushed over to him and held him in a fierce embrace – fortunately, as he nearly passed out when his magic started to weaken.

“Thank you, Ginny,” he finally said, still holding onto her arm. Now he tried to address Dumbledore’s wife in Japanese,

“Konnichi wa. Ginny to Harry desu. Dozo yoroshiku onegai shimasu (Hello. We are Ginny and Harry. Thanks for having us here).” He turned to the others, “wow, it worked. Ginny, do you want to try as well?” Ginny hesitated; she had no other language to spare. Giving up English would be too dangerous, and neither could she give up the Birds language, as she had to be able to communicate in her animagus form. “Wait.” Harry said suddenly and explained, “I am not sure if my ability to speak Parseltongue has really gone. Could someone conjure a small snake please? Just for a moment?” Dumbledore waved his hand and a small snake was wiggling its way in the sand. Harry approached it and asked,

&Hello, what are you doing here?& only to smile, when the snake answered,

&I don’t really know, it doesn’t seem to be interesting here,& and disappeared in the direction of the sea. He turned back to the others, who were watching him amazedly and stated,

“It still works. Could it be that because I didn’t use the spell and only used my wish magic – only asking for Japanese language abilities – that I only gained that without loosing anything?” Dumbledore gave him a piercing look and very pensively answered,

“That must indeed be the reason. Do you think you can you use it on others too?” Harry shrugged and closed his eyes for a moment, imagining Ginny being able to talk Japanese as well, and sent all his wish magic into the thought. He felt his vision fail and quickly managed to sit down before he fell. This really took a lot of magic. But did it work? A few minutes later, he was conscious enough to open his eyes again and looked straight into his wife’s worried brown eyes.

“Harry, what are you doing?” Ginny scolded him in a very upset voice, but Harry only said,

“Try to see if you are able to speak Japanese, Ginny.” It worked, and Mariko-san thanked him and said she was indeed very happy to be able to talk to his beautiful wife. Harry turned to his uncle and told him he could also try on his wife in order for her to speak English; however, he would have to do that on a different day, as the wish took a lot of magic out of him.

His uncle replied, “We would be more than happy if you were able to do that, but not today. I know that Albus and Minerva sent you here in order to improve your poor health condition and not to do just the contrary. Therefore, I will show you to your room and suggest that you rest for a while.” He assigned them a room upstairs with a tatami mat floor, where two futons were laid out next to each other. The room also had a small table and two comfortable looking chairs as well as a cupboard, and the best of all was the view over the beautiful, emerald green sea.

When Harry woke up, it was already late in the afternoon. He noticed that it was very hot, but that a refreshing breeze came from the sea. When he sat up, he saw that Ginny was sitting on the floor, unpacking the bag his parents had given to them and realized that he had a bad headache. He groaned and carefully lay back closing his eyes on the way. He was so stupid. Why had he used that much magic? He should have used his magic on Ginny tomorrow or the day after. Soon he felt Ginny climbing in next to him, but before he could even kiss her, he heard a knock at the door and Dumbledore’s voice calling them,

“It’s time for dinner, and we would appreciate if you came down now.”

Ginny, who in the meantime had got up and opened the door, replied, “Thank you very much, Uncle Julian. We will be downstairs in a few minutes.” Dumbledore nodded contently and left. “Harry, are you feeling well enough to get up?” Ginny asked her husband concerned, and Harry nodded and sat up, before he groaned again and enquired,

“Ginny, do you have a headache potion?” She nodded and placed two phials next to his futon on the floor, but Harry only took the headache potion and relaxed immediately. He mouthed a ‘thanks’, got up and quickly undressed and took the clean shorts and T-shirt Ginny handed to him. Harry giggled, “Now I know why Mom said we shouldn’t open the bag at home. We would have wondered what to do with this inappropriate muggle clothing.” Ginny now laughed as well and nodded eagerly.

“However,” she asked, “Don’t you think it would be more appropriate to wear the robes over this attire? Here are robes for each of us in the bag as well.” Harry’s face darkened a little and he replied,

“Oh yes, then we will have to wear them, although I think it is much too hot to wear robes.” They put on their robes and finally went downstairs for dinner.

Fortunately, the living room was air-conditioned and the air felt even cold to Harry’s skin, so that they could relax and enjoy the meal. Otherwise, Harry would not have thought to be able to eat anything of the delicious dinner. Everyone had about a dozen small bowls in front of him, and except from rice, Harry and Ginny had never even tasted one of the delicacies before. The Dumbledores seemingly enjoyed their company and asked many questions about Hogwarts, Great Britain and the wizarding world in general, as well as private questions about the two newly weds and their families.

“Has your uncle ever visited you here?” Harry asked curiously, and his uncle explained,

“He has visited us several times, together with Minerva, because nobody in Great Britain was to know that they were married, and it was only here that they could really relax. However, about twenty years ago, suddenly they were able to openly show their connection, moreover they could show their connection to their grandchild, and shortly afterwards you arrived, and from that point onwards, they didn’t want to leave you even for a short holiday. They only came here once last summer and once a few weeks ago just for a few hours to discuss your stay here.” ‘Oh no,’ Harry thought and just managed to guiltily voice,

“Oh.” Mariko-san who had watched him intensely, shook her head and told him that it was not his fault at all to be such a nice baby that the great grandparents didn’t want to leave it for a few days. He gave her a grateful smile and proceeded to ask more questions.

“So, err… what are the two of you doing here?” Uncle Julian laughed and told him,

“In the Okinawa area, we have about 50 wizards and witches, many more than anywhere else in Japan. A few of them live on the main island, but most of them are living on small islands as ours. If you go out on the beach, you will see a small building just on the edge; this is a classroom. Mariko teaches the children over there; Wizarding etiquette and Wizarding history to the younger children and Transfiguration to the older children and on request to adults.” Ignoring Harry’s gasp he continued, “And I am inventing new spells, writing books about them and teach Charms.” Ginny, who had noticed her husband’s eyes brighten, said sternly,

“Now, Harry, don’t even think about it. You will not teach any single lesson here!” Harry tried to hide his blush behind a laugh, and earned a very stern glance from Mariko-san, which could have made Minerva proud. ‘How similar they are,’ Harry thought amazed, while Ginny explained to her that Harry was teaching Transfiguration at Hogwarts. Uncle Julian replied,

“Yes, they have told us and they also told us, that you, Ginny, are the Healer’s apprentice at Hogwarts. We have one healer here in our group in Okinawa; she went to your place twice last year to look after Harry; I don’t know if you met her. But if you would like to meet her, I certainly would be able to arrange something.” Ginny’s eyes brightened and she replied eagerly,

“That is a good idea. She knew the illness Harry had at that time, which nobody in Great Britain knew about. Maybe they have other methods here or know more about other illnesses we don’t have a cure for at our place.” Dumbledore doubtfully tilted his head and said,

“I don’t think so, as we are using the same books here. But anyhow, I will arrange something for you, Ginny. And Harry, don’t look at me like that; you are definitely not allowed to do anything while you are here; if you would like to do something that is anyhow connected to your work, you will have to come another time. Both of you are always welcome here…” Here his wife interrupted him,

“okosama o nannin tsurete kite mo ii kara ne.” (and bring as many children as you have.) Harry laughed at this, threw a fond look at his Ginny and said,

“Alright, we’ll work on it, won’t we, Ginny?” She smiled back and nodded eagerly.

Dumbledore took over the conversation again, “I would like to put up a few rules for our common life here.” Confirming that he had the attention of both of them, he continued, “Breakfast will be at 7:00, lunch at 12:00 and dinner at 6:00 in the evening, and we expect you to show up for every meal. If you are not able to attend a meal, please inform us beforehand. During the day, you are completely free to do as you like, except you can’t do anything connected to your work, as I told you before. We would like you to be in the house by 10:00 p.m. each night. If you leave this island, which you should do sometimes, and we will advise you where to go or even take you here and there by ourselves if you don’t mind; anyway if you intend to leave the island, we want to know about it. If you are ill or have any other problems, we want to know about it. If you have any questions or wishes, just come and ask. Is everything clear, my children?” Ginny and Harry nodded, and Ginny said,

“Yes, Uncle Julian and Aunt Mariko, everything is clear. Thank you.” Mariko-san gave her an approving look and Julian continued,

“It will be getting dark in an hour, but as you have slept through the whole day, maybe you should go for a walk. If you go onto the beach and turn either left or right and walk straight on along the shore, it will take you about an hour to be back here, if you walk slowly.” Harry and Ginny glanced at each other, and Harry answered,

“Yes, thank you, Uncle Julian, I think that is a good idea. Um… We should leave our robes here, right?” His uncle nodded, and Mariko-san added,

“Itsumo oite oite kudasai. Uchi no naka mo, kono mama de ii desu yo. Atsui desho.” (Always leave them; even in the house, you don’t have to wear them; it is too hot). Ginny and Harry gave her a very grateful smile, before Ginny told Harry,

“You stay put and rest for a while, I will just help with the washing up, and then we can go.” Mariko-san threw her an amused glance, and with a few waves of her wand, everything was clean and back into the shelves. Harry could not hide his laugh at Ginny’s stunned face. Ginny quickly went upstairs to put their robes into their room, hid the phial with the blue potion Harry had abandoned before in the pocket of her shorts thanking her father-in-law for filling all potions in unbreakable phials and went back downstairs, so that they could head to the beach.

They went outside and just sat down where they were, leaning into each other and watching the sea in the evening sun. Not getting tired of watching the sun fading behind the ocean and many stars appearing on the sky, they continued to just sit there cuddling each other.

“Look, Ginny,” Harry suddenly exclaimed, “The moon is lying on its back; I have never seen that at home.” Ginny gasped and said amazed,

“You’re right, I haven’t either. Now, do you feel up to walking a bit?” Harry nodded and they proceeded to walk around the small island, hand in hand. Suddenly Harry asked worriedly,

“Ginny, are you alright? Your hands are cold; are you warm enough?” Ginny snorted and told him,

“Harry, it is about 35 degrees here, it is hot. My hands seem only cold to you, because you have a fever again, which is your own fault for not taking the fever-reducer I gave you before dinner.” Worriedly noticing how fast he had quieted down, she ordered him to drink the potion now and made him sit down for a rest. Finally, after watching the moon for a long while, they managed to arrive back home just before their 10 o’clock ‘curfew’.

When they entered the house, Uncle Julian explained that Mariko-san had already prepared the bath, and as soon as she emerged Ginny had to go in and Harry after her, before everyone would be having tea. Mariko-san showed them the bathroom with the washing room in the front and the room with the bathtub behind the changing room. Ginny gasped when they entered the room with the bathtub and told Mariko-san, Harry was having a fever and could definitely not have such a hot bath. Mariko-san eyed him worriedly, taking in his flushed but pale cheeks, and said,

“So nara, ofuro wa dame desu yo. Tsumetai shawa o abiru ka, sono mama de neru ka, raku na yo ni shite kudasai.” (In this case, you may not take a bath. Either take a cold shower or just go to bed, whichever is more comfortable for you.) Harry gave her an uncomfortable smile. Why did Ginny have to tell her? He finally took a cold shower and felt very refreshed afterwards.

During the first four days, they did nothing but relax on the beach, in the sea and during daytime, when it was too hot, in front of the ventilator or the air conditioner in the house. So far, they had only seen the jungle island Iriomote, which was a fifteen minutes ride by the coach that was pulled by a bull. Mariko-san and Julian had taken them there for an afternoon, and both of them had liked the trip very much.

However, for the fifth day, Julian had arranged for them to go the mainland of Okinawa to meet their daughter, who would take them on a tour around the island. He handed Harry a silver necklace with a small pendant of a ‘shisa’, which Harry knew was one of the guardian lions standing in the entrance of on the roof of every traditional house in Okinawa.

“Please put this around you neck, Harry. This is your portkey to come home. Even if you return to Hogwarts, you can come here with it anytime. It activates on ‘Yubu-jima jikka’ (home on Yubu island).” He turned to Ginny and handed her a similar necklace telling her that the password was the same as Harry’s. “Alright,” he continued, “to go to Okinawa you use this here,” he handed them a small bottle of water for them to drink, which he had just turned into a portkey. “You will arrive in the garden of our daughter; her name is Yoko, and she speaks English in case you prefer this to Japanese. She will take you around the island by car, so it will not be too strenuous. If you get lost or are in any kind of trouble, just use your portkeys and come home immediately.” Mariko-san threw Harry a stern glare and told him,

“Taicho ga warukattara, Yoko ni iu ka sugu ni kaette kite kudasai.” (If you don’t feel well, tell Yoko or come back immediately.) Harry threw her an annoyed glance and said,

“Yes, Aunt Mariko, but don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” They took the portkey immediately after breakfast in order to be able to spend much time on the main island. As soon as they arrived in a garden, they were greeted by a friendly voice.

“Hello; you must be Ginny and Harry. Welcome to Okinawa, and congratulations on your wedding.” They thanked her and eyed her curiously. Yoko-san was exactly a younger version of Mariko-san, and Ginny and Harry liked her immediately. Just like his older aunt, she reminded Harry of Minerva, although she seemed to be about twenty years younger. Yoko-san took them to Shuri to visit the castle and showed them around for a while, until Harry pointed to two parallel rails a few meters above the street and asked,

“What’s that?” Yoko-san laughed and told him,

“That is the monorail. It is still new, has only been built about six years ago. Do you want a ride in it?” Seeing the excited faces in the rear, she parked the car near the station of Shuri and guided them up to the monorail. They travelled to Naha, enjoying the landscape on their way and went to see the old market. Never had they seen so many fish in a market, and suddenly Ginny let out a small cry – the fish were still moving. Yoko-san laughed at their surprised expressions and took them back to the monorail. When they got back to the car, she drove them to her home and made them eat lunch. When she could not convince Harry to eat anything, as he was not hungry because it was too hot, she made him take a nap while they finished their meal, before they got into the car again for a longer drive.

“Wow, this is so beautiful,” Ginny cheered when she watched the pretty landscape of the seashore fly by while they were heading northwards. Yoko-san took them to a huge park housing the world’s biggest aquarium. After visiting a dolphin show, which both of them had never had the opportunity to watch before, they drove back to have dinner in a small bar in Naha. Then it was already time to take the portkey back, and after Yoko-san invited them to visit her once more during the following week and even stay the night if her parents didn’t mind, Harry asked Ginny to grip his necklace and activated the portkey.

While Harry was taking his shower, Julian asked Ginny, “Would you still like to meet the Healer, Ginny? She told me, you could go over to her place tomorrow if you would like to. Or if you don’t want to travel via portkey again so soon, she could come here.” Ginny thought for a moment and replied,

“I would like to meet her very much. In fact, I am very worried about Harry. He has been having a fever now since we have been here, although we are not doing anything except from resting, sleeping and eating.” Mariko-san interrupted her,

“Koko ni kite moraimasho ne. Ima denwa shite kimasu,” (Let’s ask her to come here. I am going to phone her now,) and fetched a mobile phone already dialling a number. Ginny gasped and asked Julian astonished,

“Do wizards have mobile phones here?” He laughed and said,

“Yes, Ginny. I know you have a floo network in Great Britain; we don’t have such a thing. We move around with portkeys or apparate, and we also use owls for mail, but for fast communication we have mobile phones.” Harry, who had just emerged from the bathroom, came just in time to hear what Julius said and was exactly as stunned as his wife was. Mariko-san, who had just finished talking on the phone, came over and poured each a glass of cold mugi-cha (wheat tea), before she sat down.

“Juppun go gurai ni kimasu. (She will be here in about ten minutes.) Harry threw Ginny an astonished look and enquired,

“Who will be here? Sorry I’m curious.” Everyone laughed and Julian explained,

“The healer Ginny wanted to meet.” Harry gasped and asked her softly,

“I thought you wanted to talk about several things in general, so wouldn’t it be better to meet her sometime in the morning instead of nearly 10 o’clock in the evening?” Ginny sighed and told him that she wanted to ask the Healer about his immune system and that Mariko-san had phoned her and asked her to come now, because everyone was worried about him. Harry groaned and said,

“I am fine; I don’t need a Healer,” however, a stern glance from Mariko-san made him quiet down quickly. When the Healer arrived, Mariko-san introduced Ginny to her, and Ginny told her about her worries, while Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Why couldn’t they just leave him in peace?

After a while, the Healer turned to him and checked his immune system thoroughly, only to say, “His immune system is healing itself nicely. Don’t tell me he caught a cold or anything else recently.”

Ginny confirmed, “No, nothing for two months now; this is actually very rare for him for such a long time.”

Uehara nodded contently, and explained further, “It’s just that it has to recover its strength and this will take a few months or even years, as I told you last summer. During this time, he has to be very careful not to do anything strenuous; otherwise, he will get fevers and weaken his condition further. Therefore, everything is developing nicely, he just has to be more careful, and you have to look out for him and keep him resting if it is necessary, and if he has to spend two days a week in bed, it cannot be helped at the moment. However, he will become much better; no need to worry, just to be careful in the near future.”

She took a parchment and wrote a few sentences, sealed it and handed it to Ginny. “Please give this to Healer Pomfrey directly after your return to Hogwarts,” turned to Harry to say good-bye and tell him once more to be careful, before she excused herself. On her way to the door, she suddenly threw a piercing glance at Ginny and asked softly, “Ginny, would you mind me checking on you for a moment?”