12 Ending and Beginning

Professor McGonagall stood up during breakfast to deliver a message. "I'm sorry to tell you that Professor Dumbledore was found unconscious in his bed earlier this morning. He also left resignation letters from all his positions. This makes no change for the school, as the staff has been handling everything since the Headmaster fell ill. Still, you may expect some changes in the staff, but not very soon. Normally, the board of governors needs to approve each staff change, but since about half the board members recently died, it will take some time before the board can meet again, only after new board members are assigned."

She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "We all wish Professor Dumbledore quick recuperation and good health to allow him to enjoy his retirement. That's all for now."

She sat heavily back, barely keeping herself from weeping. She needed to stay strong for her students.

–..–

"I think we should reveal our position to her, at least," Harry told Hermione after the announcement.

"We first need to consult with Suzy. With her background, she may see things differently."

Harry nodded. "Sure, dear. It may not be official, but we're three in this, and we need to decide together."

Hermione only smiled back.

–..–

"I think we should talk to McGonagall," Susan told them after breakfast.

Both Potters smiled. "We thought so," Hermione said. "Do you know anything more than she told the school?"

Susan nodded. "Dumbledore is in the hospital wing now. One of my dorm mates went there for period pains and heard Madam Pomfrey say that his body was shutting down. She's not sure anything can be done for him, but she was calling St. Mungos for help."

Harry sighed. "We may have our reservations about him, but he was a great influence on many. He will be missed."

Hermione only nodded, feeling the same.

–..–

They visited McGonagall's office after dinner. She looked extremely emotional, much more than any of them had seen her before. "What can I do for you?" she asked, trying to keep her emotions under control.

Harry made his Gryffindor and Slytherin rings visible while Hermione revealed her Ravenclaw ring and Susan did the same with her Hufflepuff one. She also talked. "Professor, we thought it was already time to reveal our position. The three of us are the legitimate owners of Hogwarts. As such, we ask you to consider becoming the Headmistress of Hogwarts. The board no longer has any control and will be dismissed shortly, or we may consider keeping it as an advisory body only."

McGonagall looked overwhelmed. It took her a moment to regain control. "Are you sure? I mean, this is a great honour, of course, but I'm not sure I'm the right person for the position. I believe I'd serve the school much better as a teacher than an administrator, which is basically what the Headmaster position means."

Hermione needed to intervene. "Do you want to keep your deputy position?"

McGonagall shook her head. "No, I never wanted that position, but Albus persuaded me to take it and I regretted my agreement each day. It interfered with my role as teacher and made it impossible to act as Head of House for the Gryffindors, but Dumbledore wouldn't hear of that."

Susan resumed leading the conversation. "We'd still appreciate it if you take control of the school until a new Headmaster can be assigned. Can you recommend any candidates?"

Minerva looked relieved. "I can handle that for a bit longer if you need me to. I also have some possible candidates. Knowing how old Albus is, I gave some thought to whom I'd like to replace him after he retired. I'll have to contact them before giving you any recommendations, though. Some may not be interested and others may be unable to take the positions for whatever reasons. I'll let you know as soon as I get the replies."

Hermione now smiled and changed the topic. "We'd also like to tell you that both I and Suzy are pregnant. We expect to give birth during late August, so we may return to school a week or two late, next school year."

"Both of you? But… How…?"

Hermione smiled. "I'm sure you know how. Before the New Year, we felt like the war was going to become quite fierce and we thought it wise to have an heir before we may be disabled. Harry also agreed to help Susan, since she can't marry anybody who may need an heir. We tried to plan to give birth during the summer vacation. Of course, now that Voldemort and his minions are no longer a threat, our original concern became irrelevant, but we're still looking forward to becoming mothers."

It took Minerva a bit longer to come to terms with this. "Well, congratulations, dears. I hope your condition will not adversely affect your studies. I'd also be delighted to get to know your babies when the time comes."

They all smiled before parting.

–..–

There were no smiles the next morning. Both McGonagall and Hagrid were missing at the breakfast table. Professor Flitwick gave the grave announcement. "Professor Dumbledore died in peace during the night. Our healer along with two who came from St. Mungos were unable to prevent it. We shall have a farewell ceremony here at eleven. The funeral will be held in Godric Hollow, where the rest of his family is buried, tomorrow morning. Lessons for today are cancelled, of course. We'll let you know of any changes."

Hermione noticed that Harry was pensive, but not quite sad.

"Should we take our position as owners at the memorial ceremony or the funeral?" Susan asked.

Hermione gave it a thought and shook her head. "No. We only informed Professor McGonagall about it, and only to help the school. Others don't need to know yet, and we didn't make the position known while Dumbledore was still in control. It would serve nothing to advertise it now."

Harry nodded in agreement, which was no surprise. He had never liked attention, and their new position was bound to attract a lot of attention of all kinds.

–..–

Hogwarts resumed its normal routine two days later. Minerva shouldered the Headmaster's role as a temporary replacement and Filius agreed to replace her as deputy for the duration. They also succeeded in finding a retired Auror to teach DADA for the remainder of the school year.

Minerva gave the owners a list of names and addresses of candidates for the Headmaster position a few days later. About half the list was women's names, which made the girls proud. This brought a different problem. "How can we interview them? They'll consider us mere children, I'm afraid," Harry expressed his worries.

Susan had an idea. "We can use a method similar to the interrogation rooms at the DMLE. They use a kind of shield that lets the Aurors see the suspects but prevents the suspects from seeing them. I heard that Muggle police has a similar method."

It then turned quite simple. They interviewed the most promising candidates and chose one, a witch about the same age as Minerva (only judging by looks. Nobody would dare ask an older woman about her age.) who seemed to love children and youngsters but was also a stickler for rules and would allow no bigotry to flourish. She also wanted to modernise the school after finding it hadn't changed much since she'd been a student there.

They let the new Headmistress find a proper deputy. She found a slightly younger woman who was a very good administrator, thus allowing Minerva to fully resume her position as a teacher.

–..–

Susan's pregnancy started showing before Easter vacation. Hermione lagged only by a week in that. Neither needed new robes yet, but both needed to slightly enlarge the clothes worn under the robes. By then, Poppy had already found both were expecting boys. Harry enjoyed caressing their slightly larger bellies and was delighted to notice some other changes, like their aureolas becoming darker.

–..–

When they boarded the Hogwarts Express for the summer vacation, everybody could see that "Harry's girls", as Hermione and Susan were now called by many, were expecting. Harry felt quite proud of his part in that, making both girls laugh. They still made sure he repeated the deed that made them pregnant each day. Several times a day, when possible.

–..–

The Grangers welcomed them warmer than the previous time. They no longer had any reservations concerning the unusual situation after noticing how happy all three teens looked and how close Hermione and Suzy were. Jean even thought they acted like sisters, maybe even twins, although she had no experience with such. She only wished her sister had been so close when they were younger.

–..–

The teens had a busy summer. While the girls were limited by their advancing pregnancies, Harry was handling all the errands.

"We need to get rid of the infamous DADA curse, or make sure it's a myth," Hermione said. Harry had to go to Gringotts and have a team of curse breakers scan the school. He had to direct them to the ROR in its 'Room of Lost Things' aspect and then to the chamber of secrets. That brought the dead basilisk to their attention. The goblins were glad to handle the rendering and sale of the beast for a small fraction of the expected income. The rest would go to the school's vault since Harry didn't need the additional income and the school could use that gold.

"We need to check and strengthen the wards," Susan told them. Harry went to Hogwarts again, along with a team of warders from Gringotts. They removed many redundant wards, including one whose role was to discharge any battery or capacitor, making electricity and electronics malfunction in Hogwarts. They also renewed the wards disallowing any dangerous creatures into Hogwarts grounds, despite Hagrid's protests. His "pets" needed to be moved into the forbidden forest, no longer acceptable on the grounds. They also reset the wards to their original functionality. No dark artefact would be allowed in Hogwarts again.

"We need to modernize the Muggle Studies," Hermione said, after realising how little Susan had known about muggles before visiting her parents. That made Harry go to Hogwarts and design, in accord with the Headmistress, a new 'Muggle Wing' where everything would be muggle stuff. Aside from the building project, it also needed wiring for electricity and communication. Luckily, the new deputy knew how to do that without his help.

Aside from that, Harry also visited Gringotts several times to handle Hermione's, Susan's and his accounts. He got detailed instructions from each, of course, but he didn't mind. Neither of them knew much more about handling the accounts than he could learn in the time since he found he had some assets.

–..–

They celebrated Harry's birthday modestly, going to a posh restaurant for the occasion. Harry had to decline Molly's invitation to visit the Burrow for a birthday celebration, stating that "Hermione's pregnancy makes it impractical to use the Floo and it's too distant for riding a car." While Ron knew of Susan, Hermione wasn't sure how Molly would react to the uncommon relationship and advised Harry not to mention it.

–..–

The Hogwarts letters came a few days later. Harry did all the shopping for the three since neither pregnant woman wanted to go to Diagon Alley in that condition. Oh, they were proud of it, but felt too cumbersome and feared the crowds.

Then, only a few days before the end of August, Hermione's water broke. She could barely feel any contractions, but she knew they would come soon. Luckily, her mother was at home. She helped Hermione to the back seat of the car and Harry helped Susan at the other side before sitting at Jean's side on the front seat. Luckily, the roads were clear, allowing them to reach St. Mungos in less than an hour. By then, Hermione felt her contractions coming closer and harder.

Four hours later, Harry was holding his first son. Neither parent doubted the name. James had dark unruly hair and brown eyes like his namesake.

The new parents were too excited to pay attention, but Susan's face showed distress a few minutes later. Jean noticed.

"Is it your time?" she asked the redhead.

Susan could only nod.

A midwife came immediately to her side and directed her to an adjacent bed, only stopping to change her clothes to ones appropriate for delivery.

As Hermione found out later, Susan started feeling her contractions even before they reached the hospital, but was too excited for Hermione to pay them much attention. In a way, that was lucky, shortening her suffering.

Less than two hours later, Susan gave birth to a healthy redhead boy with unruly hair and green eyes. Harry could feel no doubt about who was the baby's father, although he didn't doubt that for even a second. Hermione only hoped Harry wouldn't be too overwhelmed by having two babies and would continue supporting his two women, now the mothers of his children.

"I don't want him to be an only child," she heard Susan tell Harry. "I want to start working on giving him a sibling soon after we return to school."

Harry blushed when hearing her request but nodded in consent. Hermione also felt like this was the way to go. Oh, not immediately, of course. Her body ached at almost every imaginable point, but she didn't mind. James was filling her heart with happiness and she also wanted to bring him siblings, not too far in age. She was sure Harry would willingly cooperate, just as he would with Susan. She only wondered if they could time the next births to be so close.

Her mind wandered to merely ten months earlier when she wasn't sure about how to advance her love life. She then decided to get her man and he was now hers. Not completely, of course. As parents, both she and Harry were dedicated to their children above anything else, and Harry had another child with Susan, but he was still hers. She didn't mind sharing with Suzy. They would help each other in ways Harry never could. They would make this unusual family flourish in every imaginable way. With Harry and Susan, nothing would stop them. Well, unless James was crying to be changed or fed.

Hermione was happy.

The End