Harry Potter Happily Ever After

by PotterFanSteve

HEA follows Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and their family and friends from the day after the war through to the Deathly Hallows Epilogue. The New Marauders picks up this story from the end of HEA, and continues the storyline with their kids and friends.

33. Making a Difference

Chapter Thirty-Three - Making a Difference

"Fluffy, get off of the kitchen table. You were definitely not invited to join us for breakfast," Harry told the kneazle cat, but then tossed a piece of sausage on the floor for her to jump down and have for a treat. Harry was making breakfast while Ginny and the kids were still upstairs getting ready for the day. Lily was downstairs first, and Fluffy walked over to her, and was quickly picked up and given a hug. Harry smiled at his daughter.

"Hey, don't use all of your hugs up on Fluffy. Save one for me!" Lily laughed.

"I can't use them up, Daddy. I always have more just waiting to come out." He reached down and picked her up, and she threw her arms around his neck as they shared a hug and a kiss. "What are we doing today, Daddy?" Harry swung her down into a chair at the table.

"Well, my lady, your day begins with the finest pancake and sausage breakfast in the entire Wizarding World, followed by a morning of social engagement with some of the future leaders of that same world. You have a noontime luncheon appointment with several of the most beautiful and brilliant researchers from Marauders Institute, where you will discuss socio-economic issues, followed by an afternoon of field study of afore mentioned issues." Lily patiently let her father have his fun.

"Food; hang out at the daycare; more food while talking about shopping, then go shopping," she summarized. "Sounds like a good plan, Daddy." Ginny had walked in during Harry's embellishment of Lily's day, and laughed at her daughter's brilliant and succinct response. It was hard to believe she wasn't even four years old yet.

"Good morning," she told them, giving them each a hug and kiss. "If Lily's coming to the daycare, what are you and the boys doing this morning?" Harry handed her a coffee, and she sat down beside Lily.

"We are going to the Residence, where they are going to play for the morning, while I work on Phoenix Foundation business, then we'll pick Lily up after you have taken her to lunch, and spend the afternoon in a nice warm mall. If you want to run away from work for the afternoon, you can come and play too."

Ginny smiled at him. "I'm sure you'll all have fun, but we have just as much fun playing in the lab, so I'll pass this time." The boys came tumbling down the stairs, and the feeding frenzy got underway.

The Phoenix Foundation had already accomplished far more in their first year than Harry had expected they could, and he was excited for the next few years, and how much more they could do. The numbers were daunting. There were an estimated two hundred thousand orphans - a lot smaller percentage of the Wizarding World population than in the Muggle world, but so far they only had Residences for twenty-six hundred of those children.

They would have ten more Residences opening in June, but he was hoping to do more with that project. Once the Residences were all built, they'd have no trouble paying to keep them running. He wasn't going to compromise on the quality of life the kids were going to have, though. If all they wanted to do was stick them in a box and feed them, there were orphanages already to do that.

Today, Harry was working with a group from the foundation on plans for making DREAM Christmas a global event this year. It was only January, but he knew that it would take most of the year to be able to put together the volunteers and plans. They had spent five hundred thousand galleons last month and helped five thousand dreams come true.

None of the people at this meeting knew that Harry was the entire financing behind the foundation, so the group decided to request ten million galleons for this year, and if they achieved similar results, would help over one hundred thousand people this year. If every volunteer could make fifty dreams come true, then they'd need about two thousand volunteers. Their first call for that would be to Owen. He and his GamePortal team were the best-connected group, with stores in over sixty countries now. When they wrapped up the meeting, everyone was excited, and already looking forward to what was sure to be a great Christmas at the end of the year.

Teddy had been busy with classes, studying, and Quidditch ever since they had gotten back to school. He saw Victoire every day at meals, in the Common Room, the library, or just around the school as they went from class to class. They were always friendly, and had even briefly hugged each other a couple of times in congratulations for something one or the other had done.

They didn't walk around holding hands or anything that would even remotely be considered a boyfriend/girlfriend kind of thing, but he certainly remembered how great it felt holding her hand that night at the Cottage, and what it felt like to stand there and hold her in his arms. When Valentine's Day had been getting close, Teddy had thought hard about what to do for her without becoming the latest victim of the mean-spirited barbs and pranks that so many of the boys in the school thought were funny. Uncle Harry had given him the 'secret admirer' idea, and had helped him by sending the gift - a pair of earrings to go with the necklace - to her by Owl Post.

Victoire was sitting with some of the other first years at breakfast on Valentine's Day when the Owl Post arrived with a package for her. She opened the letter that came with it first.

Happy Valentine's Day, Victoire

Love is like a precious jewel

Buried in the ground

Waiting for the day when it can

Finally be found

Sometimes it might take many years

Before that stone can shine

But until then one thing is true

This gem, my heart, I'll keep for you

Your Secret Admirer

Victoire smiled, and carefully folded the parchment and put it in her pocket. She opened the gift to find a pair of blue diamond earrings like Aunt Gabrielle's that matched the necklace that she never took off. Some of the girls next to her noticed the sparkling stones, and asked her who had given them to her.

When she'd told them the note had said they were from a secret admirer, they unanimously decided that her Mum and Dad must have gotten the earrings for her, since there couldn't be any kids at the school who could possibly get her something like those for a present. Victoire didn't dispute their conclusions, although she knew there was certainly one boy who could. She put the earrings on, but never once looked over to where Teddy was sitting with most of the Quidditch team. She did have that brilliant smile all morning, though, and she was sure he would know it was for him.

Ginny woke to find a single rose lying on the pillow beside her, and she smiled. Somehow he managed to come up with something new every year. She lifted the flower to her face and inhaled deeply as the petals brushed softly against her skin. She got up, had a shower, and got dressed for work, then went downstairs, where Harry had just finished making breakfast, and was putting plates in front of the kids. She received four excited 'Happy Valentine's Day' wishes, and hugged and kissed each of them before sitting down. Lily looked over at Harry.

"Can Mommy open her presents now Daddy?" she asked, and he smiled at her warmly.

"I think that would be fine, sweetie. Do you want to go get them?" Lily nodded as she scampered out of the room with Fluffy running after her.

When she came back, she was carrying three presents, and took them to Ginny. The first was a box of chocolates from James, and she gave one to each of them before opening the next present. Al gave her a bottle of perfume that Aunt Fleur, the resident family perfume expert had helped him pick out. Lily was bouncing in her seat as she got to the last present. It was a small box, and when she opened it, there were two pairs of emerald earrings - one pair had stones that were maybe half the size of the other pair.

"Daddy and I picked them out, and he let me help because he said I was big enough to keep a secret this big," she told her mother happily.

Ginny put Lily's earrings on for her, and then put hers on too. The boys had already gotten down to the eating breakfast part, so Harry told his two beautiful girls to join in before Lily's brothers ate all of the food. The kids were upstairs after breakfast, and Harry was doing cleanup while Ginny finished a last cup of coffee before going to work.

"I wonder how the 'secret admirer' present is going over at school," she commented to him. "Did you read his letter?"

Harry shook his head. "No, Teddy had sealed it."

Ginny pulled her remembrall out of a pocket. "What were the contents of the secret admirer letter from Teddy Lupin to Victoire Weasley?" she asked it, and got an immediate response.

"The requested information is private and confidential. Information request is denied."

Harry and Ginny both laughed. "Well, it was worth a try," she said with a shrug. "I'd better get going to work. Are you and the kids staying here all day today?"

"No," he answered, "we're going to visit the Residence this morning for a couple of hours, and then we have some things to pick up in Hogsmeade for tonight. I'll take them out for lunch, and then we'll come back here and get things ready for the impending stampede of cousins and other assorted little guests." Ginny laughed, and went over to give him a hug.

"I love you, Harry," she told him. "Happy Valentine's Day." He hugged her back.

"I love you too. Have a good day, and I'll see you after work. Are you bringing Rose, Hugo, and Lance home with you?" he asked, and Ginny nodded.

"Yes. There's not much point in having Hermione and Luna run them over here when I can pick them up at the daycare on my way out." He nodded, then kissed her goodbye, and then kissed her goodbye again. Ginny was laughing after the second kiss.

"That's enough of that," she told him. "The kids are waiting, and if I keep letting you kiss me like that, I'll never get to work at all."

Harry and Ginny were hosting all of the non-school age cousins for the night, except for Art, who was helping his Mom and Dad at the Dragon's Lair Residence. They also had Neville and Luna's boy, Lance, and Carolyn had been invited too. They had fed the whole gang, and now they were scattered around the Cottage, playing in little groups, or watching a show on WWVN.

James and Nicolas were playing in James' room. Al was entertaining Rose and Carolyn. Hugo and Lily were playing a game that seemed to involve his dragons chasing her dolls around. Frederica and Lance were hanging out with Harry and Ginny.

They were both happy to give the rest of their family a night where they could all go out and enjoy Valentine's Day, and loved getting to have all of the kids for a whole night, but romantic, it definitely was not. It was nearing midnight when the last two chocolate-induced, hyperactive boys finally went to bed. After a long day, and a night spent juggling nine kids, when they were finally snuggled close together in their own bed, Harry kissed his valentine softly. With arms wrapped around each other, they quietly fulfilled each other's fondest desire of the moment that started with the letter 'S' - they went to sleep.

Teddy was coming into the Common Room with the rest of his team, and they were greeted with cheers from their fellow Gryffindors, and they were mobbed with hugs and pats on the back. Teddy was sure that nobody noticed that Victoire's hug for him was maybe a few seconds longer than the one she had for Stewart, the two friends she had on the team. The party hadn't waited for the victorious Quidditch heroes to arrive before getting started.

They had beaten Hufflepuff, and Teddy had scored fourteen goals, his personal best so far. He knew that Victoire had been watching the game along with nearly all of the other students in the school, and he had played his best. The Hufflepuff team had played really well too, but the combination of Teddy's goals, and the Gryffindor Seeker catching the snitch was too much for them to overcome. The party lasted until late Saturday night. Teddy was able to sit with Victoire a couple of times, and they talked quietly about the game. She gave him one more hug just before she went up to the girls dorm for the night.

Victoire was twelve years old today, and this was the first time she had her birthday without having her family there to celebrate it with her. There were a couple of girls who had wished her a Happy Birthday at breakfast after she got a present in the Owl Post from her Mum and Dad, but that was about it. She didn't even get a present from Grandma and Grandpa, or Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry.

Teddy didn't come up and wish her a happy birthday all day, and she was feeling a little sad as she now walked back to the Common Room after doing her homework in the library. When she walked into the Gryffindor Common Room, she heard a loud 'Happy Birthday, Victoire!' shouted out by nearly all of the kids in her house. She saw a big cake on one of the tables, and some presents beside it. Teddy was smiling, and walked up to her. He gave her a hug, then took her hand and led her over to the table.

"You didn't think we'd forget your birthday, did you?" he asked her, knowing she had believed exactly that. She playfully hit him on the arm.

"You guys didn't say anything all day just so you'd make me think that, and you know it," she accused. Stewart gave her a hug too.

"Open your presents so we can all dig into the cake - I'm starving!" he told her, and Victoire laughed. Stewart sounded exactly like Uncle Ron when he did that.

There were presents from Grandma and Grandpa, and a couple of joint gifts from her aunts and uncles. There was a present from Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry, and some of the kids had gotten together and bought her a skiving snackbox. The last present she opened had a folded piece of parchment inside the wrapping paper, on top of a small box. She read the note first.

Dear Victoire,

My wish for you on this special day

Is that each moment is filled with joy

To you, this gift I humbly bring

To see the smile that makes my heart sing

Your Secret Admirer

She folded the parchment up and tucked it in a pocket, and then opened the box. There was a delicate gold bracelet inside, and she lifted it out of the box, and had one of her girlfriends help her put it on. She was smiling brightly, and hugged several of the kids around her, including Teddy.

"Thank-you all so much. This was a great surprise. Now let's eat that cake before our star Beater starves to death!" There was a lot of laughter and goofing around. She wouldn't get a chance that night to thank him, but she hoped that Teddy knew just how much she loved her 'secret admirer'.

Teddy had gone to his grandmother's quarters before breakfast, as she had requested, on his birthday. She had gotten him two new 3D GameWizard games, and they had spent a little time together before they had to go down to the Great Hall and go back to being Professor and student again.

He received two packages in the Owl Post during breakfast. The first package was from Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. They had sent him a skiving snackbox from James, a new shirt from Al and Lily, and a new, soon to be released, 3D WizardCam, which could take pictures or 3D videos that you could play back on your 3D-VMP or 3D-WWVN. The second package looked like the name of the sender had fallen off. There was a sheet of parchment inside the wrapping, and he unfolded it and read the note.

Dear Teddy,

You'll need this to keep track of those years.

YSAT

He put the parchment in his pocket and opened up the box, and there was a gold watch with stones like the ones in the necklace and earrings he'd gotten Victoire set at the quarter hours. He was smiling when he put the watch on, and Stewart had commented that it was a pretty cool watch, figuring it must've been his grandma or one of the uncles and aunts that had given it to him. He picked up his new camera, and started taking pictures of some of the other Gryffindors, and offering to transfer them to the other kids 3D VMP's. There was only one picture that he kept for himself, though - the one of the brilliantly smiling, strawberry blonde haired, blue-eyed girl who held his heart as surely as he held that camera.

Ginny was at the kitchen table already when the Owl Post came with a letter from Victoire.

Hi Aunt Ginny,

Thank-you for helping me to get Teddy's birthday present! I probably owe you a couple of summers of babysitting for that, but it was worth it to see him this morning when he opened it up. He loved the camera you and Uncle Harry got him too. Tell Luna she has another hit on her hands - the kids are all asking to borrow it from him.

Here's a thought for you and the other geniuses at Marauders Institute - how cool would it be if you could send those pictures to each other on the WiComms? Here's another thought - if you make a billion galleons with the last thought, let's call the watch an even trade. :^)

I love you. Say 'Hi' to everyone for me.

Victoire

Ginny laughed at the last comment, but the wheels were already turning from the first idea. She picked up a parchment and wrote a quick note back to her niece.

Victoire,

Paid in full.

Love you too,

Aunt Ginny

She had kept the Owl, expecting to send a reply. When she had it on the way back to Hogwarts, she went back upstairs where Harry was helping the kids get ready. She handed him Victoire's letter, kissed him, and the kids, and told them she had to go into work early, and to fend for themselves for supper, 'cause she would be working late, then apparated directly to her lab and was gone. Harry read over the letter, saw what had sent Ginny into her 'genius mode', and laughed at the last part of Victoire's letter, knowing Ginny had never planned on having Victoire pay her back for that watch anyway. When he had Lily ready, he picked her up and gave her a big hug.

"Let's go get some breakfast and then figure out what to do for the next few days while your Mommy works in her lab," he told her. Lily giggled, and hugged him back.

"Can we make pancakes today?" she asked hopefully, and Harry nodded.

"You bet. Then maybe we'll spend the morning at the Residence, take Mommy some lunch, and then go shopping for the afternoon." Lily bounced in his arms, obviously approving of his plan for the day.

Hermione had gotten the QuillMessage from Ginny and had met her at the lab. Ginny waited until Natalie got there too, which only took a few more minutes.

"We're here - what's got you so fired up this morning?" Hermione demanded. Ginny smiled at her friends.

"I got a letter from Victoire this morning, and she mentioned that all of the kids loved Teddy's new camera." She told them. Hermione and Natalie looked pleased, knowing it was a pretty great addition to the Institute's lineup of products. "She also suggested that it would be extremely cool if you could take the pictures from the cameras and send them to each other on the WiComms."

That definitely got the attention of the two women, and they now knew why Ginny had been so excited. Natalie was already thinking it through.

"The current WiComms would need a spell upgrade to get the pictures from the cameras, and a way to store the pictures," she suggested.

Hermione was on the same page with her. "We could have something similar to how we keep the games on the GameWizards, and connect them like we did between the cameras and the 3D-VMP's and the 3D-WWVN's."

Ginny added what she'd been thinking about the spell modifications. "All we really need for the spell to send the pictures between the WiComms is the extra commands - like 'Send Picture', 'Save Picture', and being able to select which picture to send," she told Hermione and Natalie. "The commands could be either using the QuillMessage pad or using voice commands like the 'Call' command."

Natalie was concentrating hard. "The WiComms aren't 3D, and I don't see 3D WiComms being of any real interest as a new product, so we'll also have to do some arithmancy to turn the 3D pictures into two-dimensional images."

The three women worked until late that night, and as the other researchers had started coming in, and saw them working, word spread quickly to leave them alone while they were busy figuring out their latest brainstorm.

Harry and the kids were all in bed when Ginny got home. They had dropped food off to the lab at lunch, and a catered meal arrived at dinnertime. Ginny checked in on each of the kids, kissing them, and tucking in loosened blankets, and then she changed quietly and climbed into bed next to Harry. She smiled when he put his arm around her, and pulled her close.

"Did you get it all worked out in one day, or will it be a few more days?" he whispered.

"Probably a few more days yet," she answered. "I can't believe that none of us thought about doing that earlier. I'm going to have to hire that girl when she gets out of school - although Fleur can probably afford to offer her more to work directly for PBP Investments." Harry kissed the side of her neck.

"And I was planning on getting her to come run the Foundation when she finished school. She's going to have some tough choices someday."

Ginny laughed quietly. "Let's get some sleep. I've got a few more long days ahead of me, thanks to our brilliant niece."

They had Lily's fourth birthday party at the cottage, inviting the cousins, Carolyn, and a few of her friends from the daycare, and from the Residence. Her day had started out with an Owl Post from Teddy and Victoire, who had sent her a stuffed hippogriff dressed up as a Gryffindor Quidditch player for her collection. They'd had breakfast with Mommy, and then Harry had played with the kids at home in the morning. He took the kids out for lunch, and then they had gone around gathering up some of the kids who would be attending her birthday party. He'd stopped in for Diane's daughter, Christine, and at the Residence for Carolyn and two of Lily's friends, then let them all play outside while he got everything ready for the party.

Ginny had brought Rose and Hugo, and two more children from the daycare home with her, and Penelope dropped off Nicolas and Frederica. Grandma and Grandpa also came over. Lily got her first GameWitch, and that was definitely her favourite present. When Fluffy saw her playing the game, she sat down next to Lily, and after watching the screen for a while, starting trying to bat her paw at the moving images on the screen.

They had a dinner of Lily's favourite foods, then had cake and ice cream, and ended the evening with a game of LaserBroom once it got dark outside. Harry took Carolyn and the other two girls back to the Residence, and Mum and Dad took Rose and Hugo home. Percy came for Nicolas and Frederica, and when Harry got back from his drop off, Ginny took the children from the daycare back home. Christine was staying overnight with Lily, and Harry would take her home in the morning.

The Quidditch Cup standings were a mess this year. The final game of the season was tomorrow, and it was anybody's guess which team would end up with the Cup. Hufflepuff had two wins and the loss to Gryffindor. Slytherin had two wins and the loss to Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw had two losses.

If Ravenclaw could somehow win the game tomorrow, Hufflepuff would win the Cup, because they had won their game against Slytherin. If Gryffindor defeated Ravenclaw in the match, then the decision would come down to points. Slytherin was ahead on points - by one hundred, so they would win the Cup if Gryffindor won by less than one hundred points, and Gryffindor would win if they won the game by more than one hundred points. The Gryffindor team could end up in any spot from first to last in the standings, all depending on the outcome of this one game, and they were playing a team that really did not want to have a no wins season.

Victoire was in the stands watching her Gryffindors play against the Ravenclaw team. Teddy had scored sixteen goals, and Gryffindor was up two hundred and sixty to ninety so far. She saw the Ravenclaw Seeker come flashing toward the centre of the pitch, and before her eyes registered what had happened, he caught the snitch, and the game was over! Gryffindor had won, but not by enough points to win the Quidditch Cup, which would go to Slytherin House, whose fans shouted their praise for the Quidditch Cup Champions.

She was back in the Common Room, which was pretty quiet, considering that the team had won the game. Finally one of their house prefects stood up and said nearly exactly what Victoire had been thinking.

"Come on, everybody! We won the game today! Our Chasers scored two hundred and sixty points! We still ended up in second place in the standings ahead of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw! Let's get excited and show our team that we appreciate how hard they worked this year!"

That got the teens up and cheering, and by the time their team joined them in the Common Room, they were greeted with the cheers and pats on the back they deserved. Victoire hugged Stewart, then Teddy, and congratulated them on the really great game they had both played.

Everyone on the team was happy that they'd received such a great welcome, and they joined in on the party. Teddy had conveniently forgotten his Quidditch robe in the locker room, and told Stewart he was going back there to get it, and he'd see him in a bit. Stewart had offered to go too, but Teddy had told him to stay, enjoy the party, and get some food. He did, however, ask Victoire if she wanted to come with him for the walk, and she could catch him up on how her Mum and Dad, and everyone else was doing while they made the round-trip to the Quidditch stadium. When they got outside, she smiled at him.

"Pretty smooth," she complimented him. "Was this a last minute plan, or have you been plotting it for weeks?"

Teddy laughed. "Closer to last minute, or day anyway," he answered.

When they got to the stadium, it was deserted. He got his robe, and then, before they left to walk back, he held her in his arms for a long hug that they'd both been wishing they could share ever since Christmas. They were getting ready to walk back, and Teddy was looking into those amazing blue eyes. He leaned his head close to hers, intending to give her a kiss, but instead bumped noses with her. They both laughed.

"Well, wasn't that romantic," he said wryly as they both rubbed their noses. Victoire gave him one of her dazzling smiles.

"Come here a minute, and we can try that again," she suggested. This time, their lips met, and they both felt the awkward newness of it, so it was a soft, sweet, and short kiss. Victoire was smiling at him again.

"No wonder Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry like doing that so much," she said happily. "That was pretty good, and it was only our first try." She laughed softly. "We'll have to find some time over the next few years to practice. It's probably like Quidditch - if we work at it a lot, we'll get really good."

Teddy laughed too. "I guess we better get back to the party," he said a little regretfully. Victoire put her arms around his neck, and gave him one more kiss before letting him go so they could start walking back.

"See?" she said, smiling brightly, "we're getting better already."

The Chudley Cannons went on to a fourteen win regular season, and lost in the first round of the playoffs when they lost Dennis early in the game when he was hit with a bludger, breaking his hand in several places. James had his seventh birthday, and a party with his friends and cousins. Teddy and the other students were into exams, and in Megan's case, taking her OWL's.

Harry took a week and toured all ten of the new Residences that were opening up at the end of the school year. This year there were three new Residences in the Americas (Chile, Mexico, and a second one in the U.S.), two more in Africa (Sudan and Ethiopia), one in Europe (Norway), and the rest in Lebanon, Russia, Korea, and Afghanistan. Harry arrived home about a week before school was out, which was also going to be the weekend that the Marauders Institute cameras, WiComm picture and video upgrades, and brand new WiComms with the new video integrated into it all would be going on sale.

He and the kids went to the station to pick-up Teddy, Victoire, Stewart, Lisa, and Megan. They piled trunks and cages into the car, and headed to the Residence. Ginny would be working all day, with the big launch coming the next day, so they picked Carolyn up, and then went to the Cottage to drop off Teddy's bag and Victoire's trunk. Once that was done, Harry took them all out for lunch and a little shopping in London, and then they went back to the Cottage, where the five students brought Harry up to speed on how their exams and OWL's went, and told him about everything else that had gone on around the school.

Lisa had passed her apparition test, and could now also use magic outside of school. She and Megan both had jobs for the summer, so this weekend was the only chance they had to relax before starting work on Monday. The girls had practically been joined at the hip since coming to live at the Residence, so this would be an interesting summer for each of them, since Megan's job was working for Gabrielle at Marauders Paradise, and Lisa was doing an internship with Ginny at the lab.

Bill and Fleur picked up Victoire after they had finished work and took her home. The three of them were going to meet Harry, Ginny, and the other kids in Diagon Alley in the morning for a day of shopping. Harry had dinner ready when Ginny got back from work. She was given a repeat of the scholastic updates while they ate. After dinner, they went outside to enjoy the evening, watching Teddy and Stewart play with James and Al. They ended the evening with a game of LaserBroom that Teddy and James won against Stewart and Al. Ginny ended up staying up late talking with Lisa and Megan, but everyone else went to bed early so that they would be ready to keep up with the girls on their shopping trip in the morning.

The GamePortal stores had really become the place where Wizards and Witches went to get their games and WWVN's and WiComms, among the many other products made by Marauders Institute. Harry, Ginny and the kids met Bill, Fleur, and Victoire at the GamePortal in Diagon Alley on Saturday morning, about an hour before the store was opening.

Owen let them in the back entrance, where the adults had welcome home surprises for each of the students. All five of their WiComms got the new upgrade system, and Lisa, Megan, Stewart, and Victoire all got one of the new cameras. Harry and Ginny bought an additional camera, as did Bill and Fleur, and four more WiComm upgrades were done. Owen was very happy. The store hadn't even opened, and he'd already sold six cameras, and nine WiComm upgrades. When they'd left Owen and his staff to the mad rush that was about to hit his store, they went into Muggle London to spend the day shopping.

The girls had major shopping to do, picking out summer clothes for all of them, and work outfits for Lisa and Megan. Teddy, Stewart, and James were set free to roam the mall, while Bill and Harry kept track of the younger children and followed the women around and carried the bags for them.

When hunger superceded their interest in playing games and wandering through stores, the boys met up with Harry, Bill, and the others, and they all went to the food court for lunch. After eating, they shopped at the Mall for another hour or so, and then they stopped at the Diagon Alley FashionKnut for more clothing purchases before heading for the Cottage.

Bill and Fleur stayed for dinner, and Victoire was spending the night, along with all of the other kids and teens. Dinnertime was noisy and entertaining, and they spent most of the evening in the sitting room having a nice long visit until it started getting dark, and then they went outside to watch the kids play LaserBroom again until Harry and Ginny rounded up James, Al, Carolyn, and Lily to get them ready for bed.

Harry was in the kitchen on Sunday morning, getting breakfast cooking, enjoying a solitary cup of coffee, and going over the plans for the day. Ginny and Lisa would be taking Megan to Marauders Paradise this afternoon. She would be staying with Gabrielle, Kevin, and Michael while she was working on the island.

He'd be taking Stewart and Carolyn back to the residence this morning, and then he planned on having a quiet afternoon at home with Teddy, Victoire, James, Al, and Lily. Lisa would be starting at the lab tomorrow, and the plan was that she'd apparate to the Cottage each morning, have breakfast with them, and then she and Ginny would go to the Institute together. Teddy was the first breakfast guest this moring, and he sat down at the table and poured himself a glass of juice.

"Good morning, Uncle Harry," he said, smiling. Harry smiled back.

"Good morning. Hungry?" he asked, and Teddy nodded.

"Before everyone else gets down here, though, I was hoping to get a minute to talk to you," he said. Harry checked to make sure that all of the cooking was under control, and then he sat down at the table.

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

Teddy smiled. "Well, money is," he answered. "I know Stewart and I are only fourteen, but we were kinda hoping you might have an idea or two on jobs we could get this summer to earn some." Harry smiled too.

"Let me think about that and see what I can come up with," he told Teddy. "It might take me a couple of days, since according to you last night in that LaserBroom game, I am getting slower now that I'm so old."

Teddy grinned at him. "I'm just playing along with you. I figured out a while ago that most of the time you're faking it when you lose when you're playing games."

Harry was surprised. "What gave me away?" he asked curiously, and watched as Teddy thought about that for a minute.

"A few things. You hardly seem to even be paying attention to the games - you have more fun watching the kids that are 'beating' you. The odd time that you do let yourself win, you do it like you're not even trying. When it comes to stuff like Quidditch and LaserBroom, your just too good a flyer to not be holding back to give the rest of us a chance."

Harry nodded and smiled. "Busted." He had gotten back up to continue cooking.

"Since we're on the topic of you being a big fake, though," Teddy said, "there's something else I've been wondering about." Harry motioned that he should continue while he was working. "I'm still really just learning about magic, but you're the only Wizard or Witch I've seen that can do magic without your wand." Harry stopped, and turned to look at him, and saw that Ginny had just walked into the room too, and had come to a stop as she'd heard what Teddy had said, looking at each of them, startled.

Harry sighed. "Apparently I haven't been careful enough," he said quietly. "Teddy, it's really important to me that you don't talk about this with anyone else. This is something I don't want known publicly." Teddy nodded immediately, seeing that Harry was being very serious about this.

"What kind of things did you catch me doing without my wand?" he asked, and Teddy smiled.

"You weren't using your wand that Christmas Eve when you were making the toy dragons chase those dolls around," he said, "and sometimes you just levitate something to you without even thinking about pulling your wand out. There've been a few other things like that I've seen you do before. I don't understand how you can do it though. Is it like me being a metamorphmagus, or being an animagus? I don't need my wand to morph, and I read that animagus don't need their wands to change back and forth." Harry looked a little uncomfortable about answering that question, so Ginny sat beside Teddy, smiled at him, and answered his question so that Harry didn't have to.

"You can trust him, Harry," she began, smiling at her husband, and he nodded. "Teddy, I hadn't really paid any attention to the fact that Harry was doing magic without his wand, but I suspect the reason is because of just how powerful a Wizard he is. Your idea about the animagus is a good comparison. It takes a strong Wizard or Witch to be able to change forms and then be able to change back again. This is like that, just at a whole new level."

Harry was putting platters on the table, and sat down again for a minute. "Now that you know, Teddy, it's important to me to keep this private," he said quietly. "It would be impossible for me to fix all of the problems people would come asking me to help them with. I hope you understand." Teddy looked at him for a long moment, and then nodded again. Harry was saved by the stampede of little feet coming downstairs, drawn by the siren smell of breakfast.

Ginny, Lisa, and Megan got to Marauders Paradise at eight in the morning, island time. Gabrielle was waiting for them at the hotel, and they exchanged hugs and kisses before heading for the bungalow to get Megan settled in. When she had been shown to her room, Gabrielle and Ginny gave the two young women some time to themselves. They'd been more like sisters than best friends for the past five years, and would need a little space right now.

Gabrielle planned to have Megan work at a lot of different jobs on the island, letting her try out everything from working in the hotel to helping out with the Haunted Island Adventure. Lisa and Megan joined them in the kitchen after about half an hour, and they all went into the village to wander the shops until lunchtime. Megan was really excited about working here all summer, but this first day was hard, and after lunch, it was already time to say goodbye to Ginny and Lisa, who had to head back home.

The girls had their WiComms, and they'd send each other messages and now they could send pictures too, and Lisa would be coming to the island for the last week of July. Both girls had tears in their eyes when they had one last hug before Ginny activated the portkey, and then Gabrielle was there to hold Megan close.

"Let's go back to the bungalow, get swimsuits on, and go relax on the beach," she suggested. "We've got an entire afternoon of sunshine just waiting for us to enjoy."

Harry had dropped Stewart and Carolyn off at the Residence after breakfast while Ginny and Lisa went there with Megan to help her pack for her trip to the island. He and the kids played until the girls were ready to leave, and then they went back to the cottage for lunch. When Ginny, Lisa, and Megan had left for the island, he had Teddy and Victoire entertain the kids outside, grabbed some of his PBP Investment files, and sat down to see what he could find for two fourteen year old boys to do for the summer.

They were too young to work in any of the manufacturing jobs, or do sales in any of the stores. Since they were underage, they wouldn't be able to help with construction. He was looking at the jobs at the Marauders Institute research division when he thought he found the perfect fit. He made a WiComm call to Natalie, and asked if he could pop over for ten minutes.

He let Teddy and Victoire know he was leaving for a few minutes, and then he apparated over to Natalie and Owen's house. When they'd finished with the hugs and handshakes, he quickly outlined his idea to her, and she thought it was a great plan, so he then called Andromeda and Susan to set a few things up, then went back to the Cottage to play with the kids until it was time to make dinner for them.

Ginny and Lisa got back to the cottage just after dinner, and Andromeda, Susan, and Stewart came over, as Harry had requested. When they'd all sat down, Harry told the boys that he'd found jobs for them.

"How would you guys like to be 3D GameWizard game testers for the summer?" he asked, and immediately received two emphatic 'YES' answers.

"Natalie has approved these jobs for you, and they pay forty galleons a week, plus a ten galleon bonus for every game that gets final approval after you've tested it and found any problems that need to be fixed before they can be sold," he continued. Teddy and Stewart both nodded.

Harry smiled at Teddy. "Your Grandmother has agreed to let you stay here during the weekdays this summer, and then you'll spend most of the weekends with her." Andromeda nodded, smiling at her excited grandson, who got up and went over to hug her.

"Stewart, you'll side-along apparate here in the mornings with Lisa," Harry continued, and Lisa nodded her agreement. Harry looked at Victoire, who wasn't looking all that happy with the news.

"I'm going to be busy this summer with work the Phoenix Foundation is doing," he told her. "I was hoping you'd stay here from Monday to Wednesday each week and take care of James, Al, and Lily for us, and then I'll take Thursdays and Fridays off to be with them. Ginny and I will pay twenty-five galleons a week for the three days." Victoire smiled and nodded, happy to get offered the job that Lisa and Megan had done last summer. The kids had been outside playing while they had this little meeting, so once they'd settled everything, they all went out to enjoy the warm, beautiful evening with them.

On Mondays, Harry was going to spend the morning working with Susan on the hundreds of details that went into the annual trip to Marauders Paradise. Susan had been up half of the night, though, thinking about the jobs Harry and Ginny had put together for Stewart, Lisa, and Megan. There were nearly seventy-five other Hogwarts students right now at her Residence alone that spent their summers idly playing, and she was thinking that helping at least the fifty or so fourteen-year old and older students find work for the summers would help them grow a little, and get better prepared for when they would be out on their own.

When Harry got to her office in the morning, she told him about what had been on her mind all night, and he'd agreed that it was a good idea. They made some calls, and by noon, had set up plans for Penelope, Mandy, Owen, and a few other company managers to come to the Residence to talk with the Hogwarts students about the possibility of having jobs for them this summer. Susan and Harry both agreed that they should try it out for the summer here, and work out any problems before expanding it to the other Residences in the future.

Harry sat in on that Tuesday morning meeting, and by the end of it, Penelope had hired most of the seventeen-year old students who could help in construction. Mandy had hired the sixteen year olds, and a few of the remaining seventeen year olds to work at the Institute's manufacturing facility. Owen hired four of the younger students for each of five stores to work as 'demonstrators' of 3D games, and to show off other products like the cameras and WiComms. Each store would have two shifts, two teens per shift. That took care of all of the fourteen-year old and older students.

When word had gotten around about the possibility of there being jobs for some of the older students, Susan had received a few requests from a few of the younger students about whether they might be able to work too, but Harry and Susan had both decided that the younger kids should just enjoy being kids, and kept the limit for jobs to the fourteen-year old age limit that Susan had thought would be best. They did, however, decide to make up some jobs around the Residence for the children that paid money. The other thing they made sure of was that all job opportunities were optional - if the teens wanted to make a little extra money, fine. If they didn't, that was good too, although this year, all of the teens that were old enough to work did want a job.

Victoire worked all of that first week watching her cousins, because Uncle Harry needed to help Susan out with the extra work that went into putting a bunch of teens into summer jobs – going shopping for work clothes, figuring out how they would each get to and from work, the need to have lunches to go, an early breakfast sitting, and dozens of other details. Most of the kids used the floo network to get to Owen's stores or to the Institute. The students doing construction could all apparate to their job sites, or were given portkeys if the building locations were a long distance away.

While she really loved taking care of the kids, Victoire's favourite part of each day came after the kids were in bed, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny went upstairs, and she got to have Teddy all to herself for a little while. They would sit together on the sofa, watch something on WWVN, and talk about their days. They would hold hands and sit close together. She'd put her head on his shoulder, and when they were both tired from a long day, would share a hug and a kiss before heading off to their rooms.

July was a really busy month, but it wasn't all work. There was a party at the Cottage to celebrate Harry and Ginny's, and Ron and Hermione's, thirteenth anniversary, and the two couples spent an evening outdoors playing with their collective kids, including Teddy and Victoire. Rose had her sixth birthday party, with most of the family, and quite a number of friends coming to Ron and Hermione's house for an afternoon of fun and games. Art turned nine years old, and Harry and Ginny gave him one of the custom Firebolts like the one they'd given Teddy that had the 'speed limit' on it. They were all busy with work and play, and before they knew it, the day arrived to go to Marauders Paradise for the Phoenix Foundation week.

Megan was smiling as she walked up to Lisa, Harry, Ginny, and the others. "Welcome to Marauders Paradise!" she told them brightly. "My name is Megan, and I would be pleased to show you to your suite this morning." She proceeded to take them to their rooms, again in the new section of the hotel, and waited until they were all in the sitting room of their suite before discarding her 'work' persona, and giving them all hugs.

"I have missed you all so much!" she told them. "I have to get back to work, but I'll stay here in Lisa's room while you're here." She gave Lisa another hug. "I've got tomorrow off too," she told her friend happily, "so we can spend the whole day together."

When Megan had left to get back to welcoming the thousands of guests that were coming in, they put their bags away in their rooms, and then headed out to wander around the island. Teddy, Stewart, James, and Al left them to play games. Lisa and Ginny wandered through the shops, including a stop to visit Kevin. Harry took Lily and Carolyn to one of the playgrounds for the morning. Victoire was coming with Bill, Fleur, and the two girls they were chaperoning this week, but they'd drawn a later portkey time, and wouldn't arrive for another couple of hours. They were all going to meet for lunch at one of the beach-front cafés.

Lunch was followed up with an afternoon that most of them spent at the beach playing in the water, and relaxing in the warm sand until it was time to get ready for the welcoming banquet. The ballroom had been magically altered over the last year to be able to hold the nearly seven thousand strong Phoenix Foundation Residences children and chaperones.

Gabrielle welcomed everyone, and also announced the three newest attractions for the island. The first was a magical roller coaster that was based on the popular Muggle ride, that thanks to the ability to magically alter it, was the tallest, fastest, longest coaster in the world. This new ride had an eleven-year old age restriction. There was another roller coaster for children who were between five and eleven, and the third new attraction was called an 'AquaBike', a Muggle watercraft with three large wheels that made the bike float on the water, and you pedalled to move across the water.

After dinner, there was another talent show put on by the staff at Marauders Paradise. When that was over, Harry and Ginny took James, Al, Carolyn, and Lily off to bed, and Lisa, Megan, Stewart, Teddy, and Victoire went out to the teen dance club for a couple of hours before coming back to the suite and either going to bed or sitting up and talking until the early hours of the morning.

Lisa and Megan were spending Megan's day off together. Harry and Bill had taken the rest of the eleven and older students to try out the new rollercoaster, while Ginny took the five to elevens, including the two girls Bill and Fleur were chaperoning on the smaller coaster. Fleur took Lily, the only under five in their group, to play at some of the other younger kids games, and do a little shopping, which was definitely a favourite thing to do for both of them.

They all got together for lunch, and afterwards, Teddy, Stewart, and Victoire were let loose to spend the afternoon together, while the 'parents' and the other kids headed for an afternoon at the pool, which now also had a whole new section of waterslides and water games to play with. James was only a little disappointed to not go with the older kids, since those waterslides had looked like a lot of fun.

When the three teens were finally on their own and out of sight of the rest of the family, Stewart stopped Teddy and Victoire, and was smiling at his two friends. "Teddy, I've been your friend for almost five years now, right?" he asked, and Teddy nodded. "Then why don't you just go ahead and hold your girlfriend's hand. Do you guys really think I don't know you both well enough to have figured out how you feel about each other?" Teddy blushed a little, and Victoire laughed and gave Stewart a hug.

"Just let me know when to turn my head so I don't have to watch any snogging," he added. Teddy was going from pink to red now, and Victoire and Stewart were both laughing.

Victoire took Teddy's hand, and gave it a tug. "We promise! Now come on, you guys. Let's hit that rollercoaster again!"

They had a great afternoon, riding the coaster two more times, playing a LaserBroom match, and trying out the AquaBikes. It was at the AquaBikes that they met Isabelle. She was thirteen, had long dark hair, and eyes as blue as Victoire's. While they waited for bikes to be available to try, they found out Isabelle was from the Canadian residence.

She was part of a group of five, and had stayed back so the other four could go out together. It was convenient that the bikes only had two seats, and so she happily paired up with Stewart to go try them out too, and the rest, as they say, is history. When it was time to head back to meet the others for dinner, they first agreed to get together again later that night at the dance club.

Stewart had a fairly large, stupid grin on his face, when he and Teddy arrived back at their suite to meet up with everyone and get ready to go out to dinner.

"What's her name, and where's she from?" Harry asked him after taking one look at Stewart's face. Stewart wasn't much help in getting that information, but Victoire was more than happy to tell them everything they knew about Isabelle during dinner.

During the rest of the week, Teddy, Stewart, and Victoire spent the mornings with 'the parents' and 'the kids', then after lunch they had the afternoon to themselves, which meant that they met up with Isabelle, went around the island going on rides, playing games, going swimming, or doing whatever else they felt like doing for the day.

Isabelle and Victoire became best friends in that week. Neither girl had really had a best girlfriend before - Victoire because most of the girls at school might not treat her badly anymore, but they also weren't buddy-buddy either, and Isabelle because she was shy and gentle, and she'd had a lot of tough years since she'd lost her parents when she was seven.

The girls had a lot more in common than their blue eyes. They loved the same music, and styles of clothes, and had the same favourite WWVN teen stars. They both liked Stewart and Teddy quite a bit too. Stewart certainly wasn't shy like Isabelle, but they were drawn together by that gentleness they saw in each other. A lot of orpans got tough growing up, and only a few were filled up with compassion and love - like Teddy, and Uncle Harry, and Stewart and Isabelle.

Dinner was always back with their family, although Isabelle came and had dinner with her new friends and their family a few times. After dinner, they would play with the younger kids for a while each evening before going to the dance club, for walks on the beach, or to play games like LaserBroom. The two young couples also did the Haunted Island Adventure together, which both girls thought was a lot more fun with the boys there to hold them close during the scary parts. Isabelle and Victoire stayed overnight together a couple of times in Victoire's suite too, and by the end of the week, they were together most of the time.

Ginny and Bill led their team, and Residence, to victory in the Phoenix Cup competition - the first win for the original Foundation Residence. They won the broom race, thanks to having four school Quidditch players on their team, and two very good former players. Carolyn and some of her friends also won the sandcastle competition for their Residence, and they sealed the victory by defeating the defending champion Australia team at the 3D GameWizard competition, which this year was the Dueling Dragons game. They might have been helped by the fact that Teddy and Stewart had been playing 3D games full time since school was out.

Victoire and Isabelle were in Victoire's room, waiting in excited, nervous anticipation, as Bill, Fleur, and the manager of Isabelle's Residence sat in the sitting room of their suite discussing the request the girls had made of them. Her Mum called them to come and join the adults, and they were holding each other's hands when they sat down on one of the sofas to find out what the decision was going to be. Victoire's Dad gave them the answer.

"We're willing to try it for one year," he told the girls, but held up a hand before they could start celebrating. "We have two conditions for you," he told them. "The first condition we have is that you both keep up your grades at school." Both girls nodded. "The second condition is that Isabelle can't take a room at our Residence from another child from back home who needs it just as much. The only solution we see, then, is that she comes to live with us for the rest of the summer and during the holidays."

Isabelle's jaw had dropped, and Victoire had jumped up to hug her Mum and Dad. "Really? You mean it?" she asked. Fleur was smiling and nodding as her daughter threw herself into her arms.

"If you both keep doing good in school, and you both want to, we'll make it permanent next summer. It's up to the two of you now." Isabelle was crying now, and Victoire went back and sat down with her.

"We're gonna be just like sisters, Isabelle. I promise. I'll get all 'O's' if I have to for you." Her new best friend hugged Victoire back, overwhelmed at how her life had changed - first by the Phoenix Foundation, and their Residence, and now by this gentle, beautiful girl who had taken her into her heart, and now into her family. She got up and hugged her Residence manager, and both Bill and Fleur.

"Thank-you," she told them simply. She promised herself she wasn't going to let Victoire down either.

"I'll send her trunk to you when I get back to our Residence, and get her school records sent to Hogwarts in time for them to send out her letter for the new school year," the Residence manager promised them. "Why don't you girls come with me, and we'll let Isabelle's chaperones know that she'll be getting her things and spending the night, and the next year, with Victoire."

When they'd left, Bill gave Fleur a big hug and a kiss. "Harry's right about one thing - sometimes you just do what's right. There was no way I could've said 'no' after hearing her story."

Fleur nodded. "It's amazing how wonderful she's turned out so far, considering all of those horrible things that have happened to her. And I'm pretty proud of our own little girl too. She's like her Aunt Gabrielle in a lot of ways." Bill smiled at that.

"She's a lot like her mother, and I'm sure she'll grow up to be just as amazing," he told Fleur.

Isabelle and Victoire didn't tell the boys about the new arrangements until later that night, when they were out taking a last walk along the beach, and Stewart was probably trying to deal with what he thought was a goodbye that would be at least until next summer. Victoire pulled on Teddy's hand and led him off away from their friends.

"Let's let them have some time alone," she told him quietly. He'd nodded, and followed her. Victoire stopped after a while, put her arms around Teddy's neck, and held him close.

"We should hear the shout any minute now," she told him with a bright smile.

"What shout?" Teddy asked her.

"The one Stewart is going to let loose when Isabelle tells him she's coming to live at my house for the rest of the summer, and go to school at Hogwarts with us this year," she answered. Teddy picked her up and swung her around, then gave her a kiss. They both started laughing when they heard the whoop of excitement from their friend, and the musical sound of Isabelle's laughter as she was also obviously picked up and spun around.

Teddy and Stewart walked into the sitting room of their suite to find Harry and Bill waiting for them. Harry smiled at the boys. "Come and sit down for a minute, guys," he told them. When they were sitting down, Harry continued.

"Bill and I want to have a little talk with the two of you without any of the girls around." Bill nodded, and Teddy noticed he wasn't smiling.

"Victoire and Isabelle wanted to surprise you both tonight with their news, so we kept it quiet for them. Before we head back home, though, we need to make something clear to both of you." Harry looked at each boy for a long moment before going on.

"For some unfathomable reason, those girls have decided that you two are worthy of their affection. Bill and I are here to tell you that you will both treat them with respect at all times, and will promise us that you won't do anything to hurt them." He waited until he got two decisive nods of agreement.

"If either of you do hurt our girls, it won't matter that you're my Godson," he said, looking at Teddy, "or as near to being my own son as you are," he added, looking at Stewart, "you'll face the wrath of one very angry, and moderately powerful Uncle, and the premier curse-breaker in the world, and father of your girlfriends." He gave them each one more serious look. "I wouldn't advise going down that road if I was you. Now go get some sleep, so you're rested in the morning when we head home."

When the boys had both left for their room, Harry put his hand out to shake Bill's. "Thanks for playing the silent dangerous one. I just can't pull that off with my looks."

Bill laughed as he stood up to go. "I'm not all that excited about Victoire having any boyfriends until she's about fifty, but if I had to pick one for her, I couldn't do any better than Remus and Nymphadora's boy. I'm sure they'll behave themselves." When he got to the door, he added - "That was a lot of fun, though. Thanks. I'll see you in the morning."

When Bill had left, Harry went to bed, picking up the extendable ear that Ginny had forgotten under the door, and after changing and climbing into bed, snuggled close to his quietly giggling wife, kissing her tenderly, then settling in to get some sleep too.

Teddy and Stewart were sitting on their beds, talking quietly. "Do you think they were kidding us?" Stewart asked his friend.

Teddy shook his head. "No, not that it matters, 'cause I'd cut my arm off before I'd ever do anything to disappoint Uncle Harry or hurt Victoire."

Stewart nodded. "He said I was just like his own son to him." There were tears in his eyes now. "It's not like having our own fathers back, but he's a pretty good substitute."

Teddy agreed. "Let's get some sleep. We'll need all the rest we can get in case we screw up with the girls and have to find out if we can run faster scared than those old guys can run mad." Stewart laughed, and they put the lights out and drifted off to sleep.

Harry had a chance to get to know Isabelle a bit during August. She stayed at the Cottage with Victoire from Monday morning until Wednesday afternoon each week. That also coincided with Teddy having Stewart stay overnight on Monday and Tuesday nights. Funny how that just happened to work out that way.

He found that Isabelle was a gentle, soft-spoken young lady. She was very bright, and he knew that Ginny was impressed when she joined in on some of the discussions that she and Lisa had about things they were doing in the lab. James, Al, and Lily all really liked Isabelle, and she returned their affection.

Hugo turned four years old, and Al had his sixth birthday. The Hogwarts letters came out, and then, suddenly, it was only a week before school would be starting. Megan came back from Marauders Paradise, and Lisa, Teddy, and Stewart finished up their summer working at the Institute. Lisa would be taking the same NEWT courses that Ginny and Hermione had taken, having earned all 'O's', and 'E's' in her sixth year. Megan would only have four classes that she could continue into her sixth year with, having earned two Outstanding, and two Exceeds Expectation OWL's. She passed everything else except Divination, but not with high enough grades to continue with the sixth year and NEWT levels. Teddy and Stewart were going into their fourth year, Isabelle would start at Hogwarts in third year, and Victoire was starting her second year.

Grandma and Grandpa took James, Al, and Lily for the day when Harry and Ginny took Lisa, Megan, Stewart, and Teddy to Diagon Alley for school supplies. Bill and Fleur met them there with Victoire and Isabelle. They split up and took care of books, supplies, clothes, and robes. They got back together again to have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, and then stopped at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, where the boys picked up some contraband, er, supplies, Isabelle got a Pygmy Puff and supplies for it, and Harry picked up a few requests that James had sent with him.

They sent their purchases to houses and Residence rooms using the handy little Translocators, and then headed into Muggle London for more shopping at their favourite Mall. When they'd finished for the day, they dropped Teddy off with Andromeda. He'd be spending the last week of the summer with her before coming to stay at the Cottage on the thirty-first so he could go with everyone else on the Hogwarts Express. Harry and Ginny dropped Stewart, Lisa, and Megan off at the Residence before picking up James, Al, and Lily on their way back to the Cottage. After a very long day of shopping, they were both looking forward to a quiet evening at home.

The kids were back in school, and Harry had lost his summer babysitters, so he did as much of his work for the Phoenix Foundation from home as he could, and Winky or Kreacher would watch the kids when he needed to be away from the Cottage for the Foundation or for Wizengamot business.

They had received an Owl Post from the kids letting them know that Isabelle had been placed in Gryffindor with her friends. The boys both made the Quidditch team again, and they were all settling in to their classes and the loads of homework.

Ginny got back into her routine at the lab, and Harry and the kids continued to make at least two trips a week to the residence, and had their one day a week outing. The Cannon's season opened with a road loss to Puddlemere United, followed by a home-opener win against the Wasps. Ron had been offered a couple of head coaching jobs during the off-season, but he had refused to even consider those offers. He was a Chudley Cannon, and that was the end of it.

There was a lot of activity going on at PBP Investments that Harry only heard a little bit about, but he was fairly sure they were getting ready for another one of their big moves. His groups of volunteers at the Phoenix Foundation were going to be ready for the DREAM Christmas, and they had recruited more than the two thousand volunteers they'd hoped to get.

The entire fall was pretty quiet for Harry, Ginny, and the kids. They went to see a couple of Cannons games, and they all went to Frederica's third birthday party in November. They got a letter from Teddy to let them know that Gryffindor had won their game against Slytherin this year. The Cannons had won four out of their first six games at the end of November.

The December first Owl Posts were waiting for Harry and Ginny when they got downstairs that morning, and Ginny waved Harry to go ahead and read his letters first. He grabbed his first cup of coffee for the morning, and sat down to start with Fleur's letter.

Dear Harry,

We have had another stellar year. The new cameras and WiComms and WiComm upgrades had a significant impact on the results for Marauders Institute. With another record year in profits, your investments and the Phoenix Foundation fund are both in good shape going into 2013.

Next year, we have determined that we are ready to introduce the ReVive vitamin into the Muggle world. This will be another significant investment for our combined resources, but will have an exceptional return on our investment.

We are confident that 2013 will be a significant event in our comparatively short history. Your financial summary, Phoenix Foundation report, and my incentive authorization letter are included with this package, and the Owl will wait for your return post.

Fleur Weasley

CEO - PBP Investments

Harry handed that letter over to Ginny, and continued reading.

Annual Financial Report - PBP Investments

Year Ending November 30, 2012

Beginning Balance PBPI: 17,069.5 million galleons

Beginning Balance PF: 1,640 million galleons

Beginning Balance - IP: 9,036.5 million galleons

New Investment: 500 million galleons

Total Beginning Balance: 28,246 million galleons

Profits:

Marauders Institute 6,630 million galleons

Property Division 1,350 million galleons

Goblin Ventures 600 million galleons

Witch Investment 120 million galleons

Other Investments 300 million galleons

Total Profit 9,000 million galleons

Less incentive (40 percent) 3,600 million galleons

*Pending approval of projected incentives.

Profit after incentives 5,400 million galleons

PBP Profit 1,788.5 million galleons

PF Profit 1,788.5 million galleons

IP Profit 1,823 million galleons

Ending Balance PBPI: 18,858 million galleons

Phoenix Foundation: 3,428.5 million galleons

Less Expenses: 1,629 million galleons

Ending Balance - PF: 1,799.5 million galleons

Ending Balance - IP: 11,359.5 million galleons

Total Ending Balance: 32,017 million galleons

The financials never ceased to amaze him, and he passed that report along to Ginny, continuing with the Phoenix Foundation report without looking up.

Annual Phoenix Foundation Report

Year Ending November 30, 2012

Financial Report:

Beginning Balance: 1,640 million galleons

New Revenue: 1,788.5 million galleons

Total Expenses: 1,629.00 million galleons

Ending Balance: 1,799.50 million galleons

Phoenix Foundation Program Expenses:

Residences: 660 million galleons

Vaccine Program: 5 million galleons

Goblin Programs: 110 million galleons

Food Program: 135 million galleons

Housing Program: 300 million galleons

Work Program: 418.5 million galleons

DREAM Christmas: 0.5 million galleons

Total Expenses: 1,629 million galleons

Phoenix Foundation Program Statistics:

Program Persons Aided Cost Per Person

Residences: 4,800 25,000 galleons**

Vaccine Program: 1 million 5 galleons

Goblin Programs: 32,000 3,450 galleons

Food Program: 675,000 200 galleons

Housing Program: 30,000 10,000 galleons*

Work Program: 167,400 2,500 galleons*

DREAM Christmas: 5,000 100 galleons*

Activities Summary:

For the year ending November 30, 2012, the Phoenix Foundation vaccinated one million children to prevent Dragon Pox. There were over 3.6 million Witches, Wizards, and Goblins who were helped by the other Foundation programs. Ten new residences opened, taking an additional two thousand children. The cost per student is significantly lower due to the much lower cost of running the Residences in some of the other countries. The cost per child does not include the cost of building the facilities, and those long-term assets are currently valued at nearly one billion galleons.

Another thirty thousand homes were built and provided to low-income families. The foundation was able to affect an incredible six hundred and seventy-five thousand families who were aided by the Food Program, and over one hundred and sixty-seven thousand jobs were supplemented. The DREAM Christmas Program was the smallest program that the foundation funded, but it's impact to the communities that were affected was incredible, and the plans to expand the program for the upcoming season have been finalized and a global outreach is ready to begin.

This year, there has been an approximate increase of over two million people impacted by the Phoenix Foundation programs, with an increased expense of two hundred and twenty-nine million galleons. We're helping more people, making more of a difference, and getting more efficient while we're doing it. Once again, everyone involved in the working with or for the Foundation should be very proud of the hard work, and of the exceptional results that has been achieved over the past year.

Harry handed the Foundation report to Ginny, reviewed Fleur's incentive, approved it, and sent it back with the Owl. He got up, filled his coffee cup again, and then started cooking breakfast. Ginny finished going over the PBP Investments and Phoenix Foundation reports, and then she opened her own package.

Dear Ginny,

I am pleased to advise you of the approval of your annual incentive by the PBP Investment Account Managers. A transfer of 66.3 million galleons has been made to your account. I have included your financial report for Witch Investments in this package. The investments continued to have strong results this year, and while the profit percentage is down, that percentage remains well above expectations.

We are allowing another five hundred million galleons in new investments this year, with the same sixty to forty percent split between the majority owners and PBP Investments. This new infusion of capital will allow us to complete planned expansion of operations. 2013 is going to be an exciting year for Witch Investments, and we are projecting continued strong growth.

Molly Weasley

Account Manager - PBP Investments & Witch Investments

Ginny glanced quickly through the short financial summary for Witch Investments.

Annual Financial Report - Witch Investments

Year Ending November 30, 2012

Beginning Balance WI: 615 million galleons

Beginning Balance PBPI: 410 million galleons

Total Beginning Balance: 1,025 million galleons

Profits:

Manufacturing: 140 million galleons

Retail: 260 million galleons

Total Profit: 400 million galleons

Less Incentive (25%) 100 million galleons

Profit: 300 million galleons

WI Profit: 180 million galleons

PBPI Profit: 120 million galleons

Ending Balance WI: 795 million galleons

Ending Balance PBPI: 530 million galleons

Total Ending Balance: 1,325 million galleons

"If you were in doubt last year as to whether Fleur was the first billionaire Witch, I'd say that these reports pretty much guarantee she's over that now," Ginny told her husband, smiling happily at him. Harry smiled too.

"All of you deserve every knut of those incentives. Our family investments are up over seventeen hundred percent from where they were fourteen years ago, and I've basically done nothing with them for the past five years, except to give money away, so I'm just making your jobs harder."

Ginny laughed. "You're one of the reasons our jobs are so much fun," she told him. Their three children came downstairs then, and talk of finances was over while they attended to getting the kids fed. Ginny left for work at the lab, even though it was a Saturday, since they would still be having their party today, and Harry helped the kids get ready for their morning visit to the Residence.

Harry and Ginny were in Diagon Alley for December eighth, and December fifteenth to do their DREAM Christmas volunteer work. Over their two days, they made one hundred and eighty-six dreams come true, giving away over twenty-five thousand galleons worth of presents that they helped get for children.

The DREAM Christmas also did the same daycare program again this year, this time helping out three thousand families, at a cost of three hundred thousand galleons. Harry and Ginny didn't personally have any of the more spectacular family interventions this year like they had last year with Diane and her children, but there were twelve new houses that were given away worldwide by DREAM Christmas volunteers - each request being personally approved by Molly Weasley. The whole event was a quiet success that for the most part stayed out of the media, yet helped over one hundred thousand families around the world in only it's second year!

Harry went to pick up Lisa, Megan, Teddy, Stewart, Victoire, and Isabelle at Kings Cross Station on the Friday before Christmas. He used Translocators this year to move their things to the Residence, to the Cottage, and to Bill and Fleur's house. When he had that done, they all headed for Diagon Alley, where they were going to meet Bill, Fleur, Mum, and Dad for lunch before going shopping for the afternoon.

They still had an hour or so before lunch when the got to the Leaky Cauldron, so they went into Diagon Alley to wander around. George's store, as always, had the flashiest display, and this year they were advertising the brand new Magic Mistletoe, which would float around the room, stop and hover anytime there was a boy and girl standing close together, then try to get them to kiss.

When they did kiss, it would shout out a loud 'SNOGGING ALERT', and then fly away, giggling madly to look for another target. When they went into the store, they noticed that there were several of the little flying mistletoe scooting around the store, and there were regular snogging alerts going off, entertaining the customers as they shopped.

Harry quietly bought one of them - why should the kids be the only ones to have all the fun? Before they left the store to go back to the Leaky Cauldron, a blushing Stewart and Isabelle were caught by one of the mistletoe, as were a laughing Lisa and Harry, since apparently the silly things worked with pairing up any adult or underage couples, and they'd wanted to find out what would happen, so Lisa had given Harry a little peck of a kiss, which had been enough to set the snogging alert off. Victoire and Teddy teased Harry that they were going to tell Aunt Ginny on him that he got caught snogging in Uncle George's store, which had everyone laughing as they walked back to the Leaky Cauldron.

Their main shopping trip was going to be on Saturday, so that afternoon, after an extended lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, they just wandered around their favourite Muggle Mall. They picked up a few gifts, and the girls took advantage of some holiday sales to pick out some new clothes.

While the girls shopped for clothes, Harry took Teddy and Stewart shopping for Christmas presents for their girlfriends. They picked up a necklace for Isabelle that was similar to the one Victoire had, except with a different setting for the blue diamond, and in white gold. Teddy picked out an elegant watch for Victoire that was accented with those same blue diamonds as her necklace and earrings.

Harry did a little shopping in the jewellery store too, picking up a set of brilliant ruby and diamond earrings, with matching necklace and bracelet for Ginny. Fleur had told Al that a girl never had enough jewellery, and you just never knew when she might feel like wearing red instead of green, or pearls, or diamonds.

He took all of the teens back to the Cottage, where they took over from Winky and Kreacher with the kids. James had been ticked off about not being included in going to get Teddy this time, but quickly forgot about that once they had arrived. The four girls scooped Lily up, and went off to play with her and chat until dinner, while Teddy and Stewart took care of entertaining James and Al. Harry got to work on cooking dinner.

When Ginny walked in the front door of the Cottage, she smiled as she heard the sound of a large group of kids in the kitchen. She was taking her cloak and boots off when Lily hurled herself at her mother.

"Hi, mommy! Welcome home!" she told Ginny. "Lisa, and Megan, and Teddy, and Stewart, and Victoire, and Isabelle are all home from school."

Ginny listened to her daughter give her a non-stop review of her day, what she and the girls did after they had gotten to the Cottage, what daddy was cooking for supper, and what they were going to do after dinner. Lisa came into the hallway, picked Lily up, and pretended to wind her up again, while Lily laughed. She gave Ginny a hug.

"How are things at the lab?" she asked, and Ginny smiled.

"Pretty good. I'm off until the day after Christmas now, so it was a busy day getting everything wrapped up that I wanted to get done." Lisa put an arm through one of Ginny's, while still carrying Lily in the other.

"I'd say I miss the lab, but so far, I'm too busy with the NEWT classes to hardly even think half of the time. Sometimes I wish I hadn't done quite so well in my classes - Megan's having way more fun than I am with only four subjects this year."

Ginny laughed at her fondly. "You and I are too much alike for me to believe that load of hippogriff..." she looked at Lily, and left the sentence hanging unfinished. Lisa laughed too.

"Lily, I think your Mommy was about to say a bad word," she said, and Lily giggled.

The kitchen was a flurry of activity, and Ginny was greeted with hugs and kisses from everyone. Bill and Fleur were over for dinner too, having gotten there just ahead of Ginny. She was led to a chair, handed a glass of wine, and they spent the next hour or so catching up on everything the kids had been doing at school.

Fleur, Lisa and Ginny did the after dinner cleanup, with Megan and Lily keeping them company. When they went into the sitting room, they found the boys, Victoire, and Isabelle playing GameWizard, and they joined in for a girls against the boys mini competition, which the girls won six matches to one. The boys had tried to trade Harry to the girl's team, offering to play with only five on their team, but the girls politely declined their generous offer.

Bill, Fleur, Victoire, and Isabelle headed home late in the evening, and Harry took James, Al, and Lily upstairs for bedtime stories to end their day. Teddy and Stewart helped him out with that before calling it a night too. Lisa and Megan sat up talking with Ginny until several hours later, and Harry was already sound asleep when a very tired Ginny finally climbed into bed, snuggled close to him, closed her eyes, and fell asleep almost immediately.

The shopping day on the Saturday before Christmas was one of Victoire's favourite days of the year. It was a whole day to spend with Aunt Ginny and her Mum, and this year was even better, having Isabelle with her. She was a year behind Isabelle at school, but they spent almost all of their spare time together. They studied in the library or the Common Room. They weren't in the same dorm room, but would sit together on one of their beds every night before going to sleep to talk and share secrets. When the boys weren't in class or at Quidditch practice, they'd be doing homework with them too, or they'd spend some time together relaxing in the Common Room when they could.

Lisa and Megan had spent the morning shopping with them too, and then after lunch, they had gone out to do their own shopping. Uncle Harry and her Dad had the four boys with them, as usual, and Lily and Carolyn were with them for the afternoon. They picked out presents for her father, and for both sets of Grandparents. They bought a silk blouse for Aunt Gabrielle, and presents for her cousins Rose and Frederica.

The boys were taking care of the presents for Art, Nicolas, Michael and Hugo - which probably meant they were goofing off playing with the cool toys in the stores. Once they had finished getting everything on their list, Victoire went with Aunt Ginny and Lily, while Isabelle and Corolyn went with her Mum so that they could pick out presents for each other. Ginny helped Victoire pick out presents for her Mum, Isabelle, and Teddy. When they all met back up again at the end of the day, Victoire and Isabelle went to the Cottage for an overnight stay, since Teddy would be going back to Hogwarts on Sunday after the family Christmas at the Burrow to spend Christmas Eve and morning with his Grandma.

Lisa, taking Megan with her, apparated to the Residence, and Stewart and Carolyn stayed with the gang going to the Cottage. Victoire and Isabelle gave her Mum and Dad a kiss and hug before leaving with Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the kids. Her parents were going on a date tonight, and they headed home to get dressed up for an evening of dining and dancing.

Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were upstairs putting four tired little kids to bed, and then planned to go to bed too, leaving the two young couples in the sitting room to entertain themselves for the rest of the night. Teddy and Victoire were on one sofa, and Isabelle and Stewart were sitting on one of the others. They were all pretty tired too, but wanted to have some time together before the boys would be heading back to Hogwarts and the Residence, and the girls would go back home.

They turned the lights down, and turned on the WWVN, picking a Christmas movie to watch. Teddy was sitting on one side of the sofa, and had his arms around Victoire, who contentedly leaned back against the arm of the sofa, resting her head against his chest. Victoire didn't realize that she'd fallen asleep until Teddy's soft kiss woke her up. She smiled at him, her blue eyes dancing.

"Here, let me close my eyes again, and you can wake me up like that one more time," she suggested, and heard Stewart and isabelle laughing along with Teddy.

"You slept through most of the movie," Isabelle told her, "but you looked so happy, we couldn't bring ourselves to wake you up." She stood up and pulled Stewart to his feet. "Come on," she told him. "We'll let them say goodnight here, and maybe I'll let you kiss me goodnight upstairs."

Stewart laughed again. "Maybe?" Isabelle was smiling as she led him out of the room. Victoire put her arms around Teddy's neck.

"Let's skip the words and get straight to the goodnight kissing part," she told Teddy before pulling him close and kissing him.

Isabelle was in the sitting room at the Burrow. She and Stewart were sharing a sofa with Fleur and Bill, and they were in the middle of opening presents. They had received presents from 'Grandma and Grandpa', and from Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny and their kids. She had been in a state of perpetual astonishment ever since they'd arrived here. Isabelle tried not to remember a lot about her life before ending up in an orphanage, and even after that, before she was brought to live at the Phoenix Foundation Residence, but she knew her family had been nothing like this.

Everyone here was happy, and full of joy and love that just seemed to include everyone in the house - including her and Stewart. For that matter, Teddy and his Grandmother weren't actually family either - they'd just sort of been adopted by the Weasleys. Aunt Gabrielle and Uncle Kevin were there with Michael too. Stewart squeezed her hand, and he smiled when she looked at him.

"Uncle Harry says that it's too bad that every family isn't like this," he told her quietly. "People would be a lot happier if they all were."

Isabelle nodded. They'd had a fun afternoon, and Uncle George had set one of his magical mistletoes loose in the house, which James had absolutely loved until he got caught by it next to Rose, and she'd set it off by leaning over and kissing him right on the lips, which had gotten everyone laughing at the spluttering boy.

The food at dinner was wonderful, but it was the animated conversation throughout the meal that continually amazed Isabelle. She had thought that it got loud in the Great Hall at Hogwarts. That was practically a library whisper compared to this.

Stewart had gotten an unbreakable Beater bat and a pair of Quidditch gloves, and Isabelle had been given a bottle of perfume and the softest, most beautiful sweater she'd ever owned in her life. There were lots of toys and clothes for the younger kids, and the adults had a gift exchange where they drew names, so they each had one or two gifts that were as often picked to be a gag gift as the ones picked to be something useful.

When they had finished opening gifts, Isabelle and Stewart got together with Teddy and Victoire, and they played GameWizard. They had picked sides again, and the girls were on the team with Ginny, Gabrielle, Nathallie, Penelope, and Marietta, while the boys had Charlie, Bill, George, Ron, and Percy - who they had picked over Harry for their team. The boys managed to win three matches without having him on their team - but they still lost four to the women.

When it was getting late, and everyone was heading home, Isabelle gave Stewart a kiss goodnight, setting off that bleeping mistletoe contraption, then left for home with Victoire, Bill, and Fleur.

Christmas Eve day, Harry and Ginny had Lisa and Megan come over for the morning to watch the kids for them. They had decided to spend one last morning in Diagon Alley looking for any families that might have been missed during their two weekends of DREAM Christmases. They came across twelve families to help, and made those last few dreams come true, then headed back to the Cottage. They spent the afternoon there, playing with the kids and talking with Lisa and Megan, then after dinner, headed to the Residence to spend Christmas Eve with the children there.

Christmas morning, Isabelle woke to the smell of coffee and food cooking. She opened her eyes, and smiled. Sometimes she wanted to pinch herself. This was her room, just next door to Victoire's room - her best friend. There was a light knock on her door, and Victoire came in.

"Merry Christmas!" she told Isabelle, flashing her that dazzling smile. Isabelle sat up, and smiled back. She wouldn't have believed anyone if they told her that her smile was just as brilliant as her friend's, or that she was just as beautiful.

"Merry Christmas, Victoire," she answered as Victoire grabbed her housecoat and handed it to her.

"Come on," Victoire said. "Mum and Dad have breakfast almost ready, and then we can go open presents!" Victoire's eyes were sparkling, and she was obviously excited.

Isabelle put her housecoat on and followed her friend downstairs. She hugged both of Victoire's parents, and wished them a Merry Christmas. During breakfast, they talked about the afternoon party they'd be going to at the Residence. Isabelle had been there a few times with Victoire, Teddy, and Stewart, and it wasn't that much different than the one she had been at in Canada, but it sounded like their Christmas party was even better here.

She was still a naturally quiet person, so she mostly listened to the others while she ate, and thought about the last five months or so. Bill and Fleur were wonderful with her. They treated her the same as their own daughter, which was with respect, and honesty, and love. They would hug her, and praise her, and even occasionally scold her, which usually only happened when she and Victoire were up to something together, so even that was shared.

They were different than Harry and Ginny, she thought. 'Grown up' was the difference. Harry and Ginny were still more like teenagers - living every day like it was the greatest adventure, while Bill and Fleur were more serious and were more formal and reserved. One thing she knew for sure was that she was totally in love with these three people, and with Harry, Ginny, their kids, and the whole Weasley family.

Victoire poked her arm. "Anybody home?"

Isabelle smiled. "Sorry. The train of thought was off on a detour."

Victoire laughed at her. "Hurry up and eat. We've got presents waiting for us!"

They all helped with the cleanup after breakfast, then went into the sitting room, where Victoire had Isabelle sit on the floor with her near the tree. They would hand presents up to Bill and Fleur, and they all had fun opening their gifts. Isabelle got her own WiComm, a camera, and a new outfit. Victoire got some clothes too, and some games for her 3D GameWitch. When they had finished opening presents, Fleur got their attention.

"We have one more present this morning, and we got it for Bill and Victoire, and I, but we hope you'll like it too, Isabelle," she told them, and handed Victoire an envelope. Isabelle watched as her friend quickly opened the envelope. There was a single sheet of parchment in the envelope, and after only reading the first part, Victoire looked up at her Mum and Dad and started to cry. Fleur nodded in answer to the unspoken question, and there were tears starting to fill her eyes too.

"Isabelle, all three of us love you very much," she said quietly, "and for Christmas the only thing we really want to have is a new member of our family. All we need is for you to agree, and the adoption will be official."

Victoire threw her arms around her friend and hugged her. "Please say 'yes', Isabelle, and this will be my best Christmas ever," she asked. Both of the girls were crying now, and Isabelle didn't need to think about anything.

"I love all of you too," she told them in her soft voice. "More than anything. They told me at the orphanage I was at before going to the Residence that older kids never get adopted. You guys are supposed to want to adopt babies you know."

Fleur laughed. "Are you kidding? And go through diapers, sleepless nights, and the terrible twos? Why would anyone want to pick that over a beautiful, smart, and absolutely adorable teenager like you?"

Isabelle got up and then sat beside Fleur on the sofa to give her a big hug. "It might take me a little while to get used to it, but is it alright if I call you Mum and Dad?" she asked. Fleur reached up, wiped away a few of Isabelle's tears, and smiled at her happily.

"I'd like that a lot, honey," she assured her new daughter. "You might run into trouble if you start referring to Victoire as your baby sister, though." They all laughed. Isabelle hugged her new father too, and they spent the rest of the morning playing games and having fun. Isabelle had never, in her entire life, been this happy.

The Lily Evans Memorial Residence might look a lot like its sister Residence in Canada, but this Christmas Party was way different. There were volunteers and special guests at that Residence too. Isabelle had briefly met Quidditch stars from two of the Canadian Professional Quidditch League teams, but here it was like a huge family.

She and Stewart were together pretty much all afternoon, and she was happy to wander around with him, going from room to room, watching the kids playing and having fun. She watched Harry and Ginny with the kids, and it just made her want to cry. They loved each and every one of the children here. Harry was so much fun too. He played dolls with the little girls, dragons with the little boys, GameWizard with the teens, and even set one of the magic mistletoe loose in the building. Every so often you'd hear the shouted 'Snogging Alert', followed by laughing kids and grownups.

James, Al, and Lily all had friends here, and each of them regularly helped out kids that were younger than they were, although Lily's ability to help was more in the nature of big smiles, and warm hugs and kisses that had the power to make tears evaporate and smiles appear like magic.

Stewart had been thrilled for her when she and Victoire told him that she'd been adopted. Isabelle had been needlessly worried that he might be jealous about it. He might not have a family of his own, but he and Teddy were basically brothers, and Harry was as close to a father as he needed.

They handed out presents at the Residence she'd lived at, but not by doing the amazing swirling blizzard of colour that was done here. Since she was always interested in how magic worked, she was looking around for the Wizards and Witches who were making the packages fly, since there looked to be over eight hundred flying around.

She had almost missed it, since there didn't appear to be anyone doing it, until she noticed Harry negligently rolling his wrist slightly by his side. He didn't have a wand, so she'd missed it at first, until she saw that when the packages started arriving to their intended targets, his hand motion changed, and then stopped when they'd all been delivered, including one small package for her.

Her curiousity was now peaked, so she excused herself from Stewart, and went over to Harry. He was smiling as she leaned forward to ask him her question. She spoke softly enough so that only Ginny and Harry could hear.

"How did you do that?" she asked him. Harry looked startled for a moment, and then grinned at her.

"We knew you were bright," he told her. "You're the first Witch or Wizard to even notice. Everyone else has always just assumed someone was doing it without worrying about whom. The 'how' will have to wait for sometime when Ginny or I can talk to you alone. I'd appreciate it if you don't say anything to anybody else about it, though. It's something I prefer not to have known by the public, and only Ginny and one other person that figured it out knows about this."

Isabelle smiled too. "I think I can manage to do that for my favourite Uncle," she promised. Ginny laughed, and gave her a hug.

They all sat down for another wonderful dinner, then watched what was now the third annual Christmas show, put on by the kids. That was something else they hadn't done at Isabelle's Residence, and she had really loved watching the show with Stewart, Victoire, and everyone else.

After the show, there was more fun and games. Stewart had taken Isabelle to one of the librarys, which was deserted, and given her the Christmas present, and she'd given him his. She had cried when she'd seen the beautiful necklace, and he'd loved the watch that she and her new mother had picked out for him. There was a little bit of minor snogging involved in the thank-you part of the gift exchange, and then they rejoined the party.

Victoire and Teddy had also found a quiet spot to exchange their presents, and Isabelle saw that her new sister was sporting a very sparkly watch on her wrist, and she didn't know what Teddy's present was, but he was certainly wearing a big, shiny smile.

Since Christmas had been on a Tuesday this year, they had more days off after Christmas than usual before going back to school, so this year, Teddy spent the week from Christmas Day to New Year's Day at the Cottage, and then he would be spending the last five days of vacation with his Grandmother.

Lisa went to work with Ginny for the three days after Christmas, but would spend the next week working on her NEWT revision, since the seventh year students had all been given a lot of homework. Megan left on Wednesday afternoon to go work at Marauders Paradise until after New Year's Day to help out with the big holiday crowd.

Stewart pretty much moved into the Cottage for the week Teddy was there too, and their girlfriends, 'the Weasley sisters', were also there for several overnight visits. It was a few days before Isabelle and Harry had some time alone so he could tell her about what had happened at the Residence on Christmas Day.

She'd been amazed at his answer. There probably weren't very many Wizards or Witches in the whole Wizarding World who could have moved that many individual objects around, then deliver each one to the correct destination, even with a wand. She wasn't even sure there was anyone else who could do it, and Harry could do it wandless. Those stories she'd overheard a couple of years ago from some of the staff at Marauders Paradise about Harry shielding the entire island for two days from a hurricane seemed a lot more plausible now.

The boys practiced Quidditch every day, and they all completed their own homework assignments over the holidays. The two families spent the weekend after Christmas on their island. Isabelle hadn't been there before, since they'd started school a month after she came to live with her new family, and they hadn't gone there in August.

This place was another one of the family 'secrets'. There were some friends that knew, of course, but most people would not walk past the Cottage, or the house that Isabelle now called home, and be able to guess that the family who lived there also had a private island of their own. They had two wonderful days playing on jet-skis, swimming in the lagoon, and Victoire and Isabelle would take walks on the beach, or along the paths that meandered around the island with their boyfriends.

The two young couples watched James, Al, Lily, Rose, and Hugo on New Year's Eve at the cottage while 'the parents' went out to a dinner and dance. Teddy would be heading back to Hogwarts in the morning, and Stewart would go back to the Residence, so after they'd gotten the kids to bed, the two couples cuddled up on the sofas to enjoy the rest of the night together before Bill and Fleur came to pick up Victoire and Isabelle after the dance, and Harry and Ginny got home.

It was almost midnight - the start of the New Year. Teddy and Victoire were in the kitchen getting a snack and drinks together. They heard the countdown to midnight on the WWVN, and Victoire put her arms around Teddy's neck and smiled at him. When the count got to midnight, they kissed.

"Now that's the way to start a New Year!" Victoire said happily, hugging him tightly.

"I guess we better get this food in there before Stewart starves to death," Teddy said, but Victoire just smiled at him, and didn't let him go.

"Let him," she whispered, sending a thrill through Teddy as she pulled him close and kissed him again.