CHAPTER 13: The Gene Pool

"I feel so guilty." Harry stated, sitting down that night two months after school started; to eat dinner. Hermione and Ron nodded. "We barley see our kids, we have so much to do."

"Yeah, all five of them have started to laugh, and none of us were there for their first giggle." Hermione looked as if she was going to burst into tears.

"I agree with the both of you, we see our kids in the mornings and at night, that's it, plus we are always doing other stuff when we are with them. We always have someone to tutor, or homework we were unable to finish during our breaks. Harry is prefect and is Captain of the Quidditch team, so he has even less time." Ron placed his head on his arms.

"Oh let's not try and make me feel worse." Harry placed his head on the table also. Hermione did the same; they were startled when they all felt hands on there back. Looking up, they found Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall standing behind them.

"Come with us, please." Dumbledore stated softly, and walked out of the hall. The trio quickly followed McGonagall behind them. The trio looked at each other with unease, what ifs running ramped through their brains as they made their way to Dumbledores office. They all sat down in front of the headmaster's desk, sandwiches appeared in front of them, and since they were just taken away from dinner...not that they were eating anything anyways. Dumbledore sat at his desk; McGonagall sat in a chair near him, at the edge of the old oak desk. "We have brought you here, after over hearing your conversation tonight at dinner. How are things going?"

"Well, we are getting everything done, if that's what you mean." Ron stated knowing that was not at all what he might.

"Ah, yes that is good, but do you feel like you are spending enough time with your infants?" Dumbledore asked, with a twinkle in his eye.

"No." The trio moaned together.

"Ah, that's what we thought, so how do we fix this situation?" The trio looked at each other, they had been asking themselves the same question since a week after school started.

"That's the problem, we don't know, we have been trying to work that out for quite awhile now." Hermione let her head hang.

"Yeah, and none of us want to give up being prefect, and I don't want to give up being Quidditch Captain. I think my biggest problem, is tutoring. All my free time is spent doing my own homework or helping others with there's." Harry added.

"Yeah, as much as I hate to say it, I am having the same problem." Hermione nodded. Ron nodded also.

"Well the three of you don't have to tutor, the only thing you have to do is assign who is going to tutor who. The trio looked at each other, having forgot that, that WAS the original plan. They let a small grin come across there face, and stood up.

"Well do that then, thank you for all your help." They walked out quickly, and walked to their dorm. They all had at least three teens they were tutoring, and they needed to find someone on their now rather large tutoring team to take their load. Things smoothed out a bit more after that. The group was still doing most of their homework with the babies, but now had hours free when they could give their children the attention they deserved.

One evening Harry sat back and looked at the five, four month old babies he was playing with on the ground, on a large blanket outside, under a tall tree that seemed to want to make sure the people under it had plenty of shade. Harry was by himself with all the little ones for the first time in months, and he was happy. He felt like they were all his own, and upon further inspection, he started to notice that all the children looked alot alike. They all had dark brown hair, with streaks of whatever color hair there parent had. Daniel had black highlights, while Lily had blond. John's hair had lot's of red with the brown, while both Julie and Soroush had just a little bit of red, but there hair remained mostly brown. Their eyes told another story however. Lily, Julie and Daniel had green eyes, like Harry, while Soroush had black eyes like Malfoy, and John had brown eyes like Hermione and Ron. If you did not know the children up close and personal, one would think they were all born of the same parent, that they were quints. However, to the trained eye of the three parents they were as different as night and day.

Harry watched the babies drift off to sleep, and started to wonder about there gene pool. Usually the baby would have the mother, and her fathers' family's genes. However these babies were not born the familiar way, they were all created with one parent, yet they all looked like each other, and like all of the parents together. Hermione and Ron walked over to the blanket and sat down with smiles on there faces, as they sat back to watch the babies sleep.

"Sickle for your thoughts?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Hmm, I was just thinking about there gene pool." Harry stated, with a half smile.

"Ah, yes I was thinking about that earlier, kept meaning to ask Professor Dumbledore." Hermione grinned. Ron nodded also.

"So, ask me now." A quiet voice behind them spoke, the group calmly smiled bigger as they made room for their favorite professor to sit down on the blanket. "It's so peaceful out here, thought I would came and enjoy it for once, I see I'm not the only one. Now what have you three been meaning to ask me." He gently smiled as he gazed down at the precious, sleeping babies.

"Well normally a baby has a mother and father to get their genes from, but this was not a normal pregnancy. All five of the babies look like they came from the same parent; they all look like all of us. How dose this work?" Ron asked. Dumbledore smile got bigger.

"Ah, I had wondered that myself the first time I had heard of the spell. Yes, very good question indeed, You see, had only one of you been affected by the curse it would have taken some of the genes from the person doing the spell, to give the baby more then one gene. However there were four of you under the receiving end of the spell, and therefore enough genes that it did not take any from the caster."

"So all the babies do come from all of us and in since really are quints." Hermione grinned.

"Very good, five points to Gryffindor."

"So is that why I feel like they are all my children, even though only two of them are?" Harry asked.

"Well, yes and no. You see since you are around all of them all the time, and are helping raise them, you feel like they are all your own. Add that with the fact that they all look alike and were born the same day, you all went through the pregnancy together, it would only make since that you would feel this way. However had the three of you split up after having the babies, though the genes would be part yours, you would not have gotten a chance to bond with the babies and therefore would more then likely not feel like they were your own, dose that make since?"

"Perfectly, sir." The three said together then fell over laughing.

"Good then I shall leave you three alone to enjoy your day." With that Dumbledore was gone, leaving the teens to wonder 'was he ever really there?'