CHAPTER NINE: Plans for the Future

Harry and Ron waited impatiently for Hermione to arrive. It was only eleven-thirty in the morning, and the boys had their babies outside, as the two read through their schoolbooks for the next semester. Mrs. Weasley had run straight to Diagon Alley to gather their things, only ten minutes after they received their letters. Ron and Harry talked and after a lot of debating, they figured they were going to have enough trouble in school as it was, they should try and at least learn the stuff while they had the chance. So, when they were not feeding, playing with, changing, or holding their babies, and when they were not asleep, the boy's would study. The boys had put the babies into baby swings that rocked gently while playing music, it could detect how old the baby is, and then would rock and sing to there level. The seat also grew with the baby, so they always fit. They were so focused on their books, and listening for their babies cry, that they did not even hear Hermione's car pull up, nor did they see her standing over them a smirk on her face.

"Well I honestly don't believe what I am seeing. It must be a dream, Harry Potter, and Ronald Weasley studying before school starts? Let me die right here!" Hermione started at the two boys who jumped up. They smiled and hugged their best friend; as best they could without squishing the babies, which she had in slings. She hugged them back, and looked at the boy's babies. "Well I see yours are still in one piece, you two are full of shocks." With that, the boys put up everything they had out, carefully placed the babies in their safety-seats, and put their now folded up swinging chairs in their baby bags. Lifting the seats up, they all headed for the house, where they found Mr. Granger talking to Mrs. Weasley, as the other Weasley's unpacked the car, and took the stuff up to the Nursery. Harry and Ron led the way, and found all of Hermione's stuff in a pile in the middle of the room. Harry, and Ron placed their babies back in their swings by the window, and helped Hermione set up the swings for her two. Soon the teens were setting up the room, and Ron's old bedroom. They had only been finished a minute, when Julie started to cry, and like a chain reaction, suddenly all the babies were screaming at the top of there lungs. The trio, shook their heads in exhaustion, and got back up to feed their babies. Harry got out his extra moon pillow, and showed Hermione how to use it, since today would be her first try at bottle-feeding the babies. She was having very little luck, but she kept trying.

An hour later all the babies had been feed, burped and had fallen asleep. The trio decided they should start to plan their life at Hogwarts.

"Okay, first let me tell you that from reading our letter I would say that Dumbledore and McGonagall already have some form of plan already set. So we need to be flexible for change." Hermione started.

"I agree, this whole talk could be in vain, but it will at least ease our minds that we have a plan incase the school does not." Harry agreed.

"Me, too. We are going to have to tell the school about this aren't we?" Ron asked uneasily.

"I'm afraid so, otherwise there would be a whole mass of confusion when we walk in to the great hall with a bunch of babies." Hermione winced at the thought.

"So what do you suggest we tell them?" A deep, soft voice startled them from behind. They all jumped up and looked around, there mouth fell open to see Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall standing behind them, with soft smiles. The three teens smiled, this would make this easier. The three pulled up their rocking chairs, which they had grown to feel very comfortable in, and waved the two teachers to sit on the couch, which they did.

"We are so glad your here, this will make this a lot easier." Ron stated.

"Okay, so back on topic what to tell the school, we obviously cannot tell them about Draco, that has to remain top secret." Harry started to rock.

"Right, so maybe we tell them the truth, only both me and Harry had twins. They don't have to look alike to be twins, look at my two." Hermione gestured towards her two cribs.

"That's a good idea, I mean they all knew something was up. However Draco was with us the whole time, had the same symptoms, and everything, even had to quit the Quidditch team." Ron mumbled with a frown.

"Well, we could bend the truth a bit with him then. We could say that he was near us, and had heard part of the conversation, but was to far away for the spell to work properly on him. So although he had all the symptoms of being pregnant, he was not." Harry suggested. This got nods from everyone. Before they could add anymore however, Daniel started to cry. Harry rushed over to the crib, but did not get there fast enough, soon all the babies were awake and screaming. Ron picked up Daniel and heard a ping coming from his diaper. He grabbed Lily, and took them over to the changing table, where he sang 'Where Off To See the Wizard." from The Wizard of Oz, which he had seen the day before, on the Weasley's new Muggle TV and VCR set. He quickly and efficiently changed both diapers, sang, and made funny faces, and the now quiet babies, were so intent on watching there daddy make funny noises, and funny faces, they forgot why they were crying in the first place. Harry picked both babies up and carefully grabbed his moon pillow, and two bottles. One would think you needed at least four hands to pull this off but all three teens were now doing it with ease. They all sighed as they sat back down in their chairs with their babies and began to feed them. They ate without complaint. The conversation went on.

"Okay we have our story basically covered, we will need to get it all straightened out, and owl Mr. Malfoy with all the details, so he can keep with the story also. Now about classes..." McGonagall trailed of.

"Okay, we want to spend as much time with our babies as possible, but we don't see how taking them to classes can help, I mean what if they start to cry in the middle of class, which they will. We can't hold them, comfort them, take notes, and listen to the teacher all at the same time, we are only human." Harry smiled.

"I agree, you will need some form of Daycare, Albus?" McGonagall turned to Dumbledore who had a twinkle in his eye.

"Well I will put out a job listing for a couple of people to run a small daycare. If I don't find anyone right away, well I could take care of them. I have raised three children of my own." This got curious looks from the teens. "Ah, yes, they are all grown up now, and their kids have kids of their own." Dumbledore explained with a smile.

"Okay, so we get a daycare, what about meal times, do we bring our kids to meals? If your taking care of them, we will need to." Ron explained.

"Ah, if I am taking care of them, then they will need to eat with you. Once they are old enough to eat three meals a day then you can bring them to meals. But once we find a baby-sitter or two, the sitter can feed them during the day. Now you are all of course welcome to go see them when you want, however you will all need to find the time to get homework done, and sleep. For the first three months your babies will need to eat every three hours that will leave two more months of only sleeping for two hours at a time. Which brings me to my next subject, sleeping arrangements. You are all three Gryffindors, so the Gryffindor tower has been expanded. You will have your own rooms, and a nursery, the baby-sitters will have their own rooms also, and they will live at Hogwarts."

"What if you just hired two Nannies?" Harry asked. The Weasley's had also gotten cable, and Harry and Ron had watched the Disney Channel movie, 'The Quints' at least three times already.

"A Nanny would be good, that would give us some time to sleep, being it would be the Nanny's duty to give night time feedings. We can do our homework and spend all of our free time with our children, and not have to jump up every time they need to be changed. We would not feel like we have totally abandon our children to a couple of strangers." Hermione spoke. Everyone nodded.

"Very well, I will ask for Nannies then." Dumbledore nodded, and stroked his beard.

"Good now that we have that settled, I am worried. Voldemort is bound to find out about us having babies. He would know that to really hurt us, he would have to hurt the children, how do we totally ensure their safety? I mean what if one of the Nannies is an operative. Or Voldemort or one of his operatives manages to get in to Hogwarts? It's happened twice already." Hermione stated pure fear in her eyes.

"I assure you that both Nannies will be screened thoroughly. I am also placing protection spells around the Gryffindor tower. You are going to have to stay alert, while you're with your kids. Stay in large crowds, and keep watch for anything unusual. Remember your gut instinct is rarely wrong. Don't worry, you will do fine, and so will your children." Dumbledore explained. The three teens gulped but nodded their understanding. They were just going to have to be careful, very careful. The group was silent for a moment getting their thoughts together. "Now I have one more matter to discus, it seems with the babies and classes you will have your hands very full, so I am giving you the choice of your extra-circular work, now somehow the three of you with all the extra pressures you had on you last year, managed to make the top scores on your owls, which would put you all in place to be Prefects. Normally you would not have a choice, and it being such an honor, we have had very few ask to be removed. However I am giving the three of you the choice. Now with being prefects, come more responsibilities. You are to help the younger students get around, and with their work. You are also to help keep the students in line; you can give and take points. This means you will always need to be made available. If something happens, then you will be put in charge of your whole house. I am giving you three the opportunity, for this." The three sat in stunned silence, all of them had dreamed of being a prefect, and now it was in their palm.

"Yes." The trio stated at the same time, great big gins on their faces. McGonagall and Dumbledore smiled.

"Good, Harry I have been told that you are Quidditch Captain this year, I honestly don't have a clue how you are going to pull all of this off, but I'm sure you have a plan, you always do. I will need to see a schedule roster, for when you plan to have try-outs and practices, as soon as possible. Here is your Prefect badges, and Harry, here is your Quidditch Captain badge." They all took their badges with a smile as the studied them. Not knowing what they just got themselves into. "Well we better get going, much to do before the school year starts."

"Thanks!" The teens stated and watched them go. When they heard the door shut they all looked at each other with massive grins.

"I can't believe it, I thought with parenthood all our dreams were shot!" Ron stated. "Of course Harry...how are you going to take care of a baby, go to school, be a prefect and Quidditch Captain all at the same time?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Well, if I hold try-outs on the first weekend, then I will have time to spend with the kids, while I do homework. Being a prefect is really not all that hard, being we just have to keep our door open to make sure nothing happens. And help anyone who needs help. So we don't really have to set up anything for that. Now about practices and games for Quidditch. We either have it at night or in the mornings, and as much as I am not a morning person, I thing mornings would be better. Breakfast is at eight, so practice can be every other hmm, Monday and Wednesday mornings at six to seven thirty, and Saturday afternoons from one to three. Games would be played whenever, and you can bring the kids along to watch, nothing like getting them involved at a early age." Harry grinned.

"So when are you going to do homework?" Hermione asked.

"Well I want to try and get it all done during my free periods, but can work on it, while I'm with the kids in the evenings."

"Sounds good, and you will have us to help. I was also thinking of setting up a time for homework help in our house. We will need to ask Dumbledore and McGonagall, but we can get some students in the sixth and seventh years to set aside maybe and hour or two a night to help the younger students with their homework, studying and for the OWL's. We can be in charge of it, and assign the students to a tutor, if they request one."

"I like this idea, I know I could have used it a couple of times." Harry murmured and Ron nodded his agreement.

"Good then let's write a letter to Dumbledore, if we do it fast enough, he should get it right after he gets back to Hogwarts." Hermione placed her now sleeping babies back in their cribs, and grabbed a couple of parchments and quills. Harry and Ron did the same for their babies, and sat down at the desk with Hermione.

8-17-2003

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

After much discussion, we have decided on how we would like to do things, with your permission. We would like to start a Gryffindor tutoring group. This group will mainly consist of Sixth and Seventh years and they will be assigned to a student who needs. For example, Neville Longbottom would be a likely candidate to help a fellow student in Herbology. Students would sign up if they want to be tutored, and Harry, Ron and I will decide whom will get tutored by whom, Tutors can sign up also.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry

8-17-2003

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

As Quidditch Team Captain for Gryffindor, I have decided that with your permission, I would like to hold Gryffindor Try-Outs on the first Saturday of September. Practices will be every Monday and Wednesday mornings, from six to seven-thirty, and on Saturdays from one to three in the afternoon. After studying professional teams both Magic and Muggle, I have found that they all have one thing in common; they are all a type of honor society. They hold fundraisers, and help others, by requirement of being on the team. This also seems to make them better players and people. So I was thinking that the Gryffindor team could do the same. As a requirement for being part of the team they would all need to find one thing to volunteer in. Now I'm sure there are a hundred things at the school that need volunteers for. They could be a Gryffindor Tutor if you okay that idea, or they could come to you to find some other way they could volunteer a little of there extra time. With all their work, I would like to hold small team gatherings through out the year to keep them smiling. Maybe once a month, we could give awards for the most volunteer hours, best team player, things to keep morale high. Now I have set aside time for all of this with your approval. Please write back with your answers as soon as possible.

Thanks

Harry