Harry Potter and his whole world belong to JK Rowling. I am borrowing a few characters from her. This is set in sixth year and it's what I hope might happen.

OWL Results

Ron had already left the room when Harry awoke the next morning. He was somewhat surprised to find Crookshanks curled up at the foot of his bed, especially since Hedwig and Pigwidgeon were both asleep atop the wardrobe. He slid his feet out from under the cat and climbed out of bed, dressing quickly and making his way downstairs.

He found Remus, Ron and Hermione at the table. The others were nowhere to be seen.

Remus had stayed last night, watching the rest of the battle. Harry didn't know who was making it play out, maybe it was both of them, because he'd said good night after a while and Remus had barely nodded, just continued to watch the map. As though the battle was some old movie on television that he'd wanted to see the end of.

Harry hadn't understood it last night and it made no more sense now. Surely Remus remembered as well as he did what happened.

Harry nodded in reply to the chorus of "Good morning" from the others. Mrs Weasley had left a plate for him in the oven. He didn't look at anybody as he sat down to eat.

"Harry," Ron said, leaning towards him conspiratorially, "you'll never guess who has moved in with Fred and George."

Harry looked up from his plate, his mouth stuffed full. He raised his eyebrows to show his interest.

"Angelina Johnson!" Hermione answered with a slight smile. "She's apparently taken a job at Gringotts and wanted to live close by, so Fred offered their extra room to her. It's small apparently, but she's happy with it. I can't believe they found a shop with a three bedroom flat above it."

Harry swallowed his mouthful. "Fred and George are lucky that way," he grinned. "Won't Lee be jealous, with Angelina living with them?"

"Did you know that Lee's working at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes for them?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head and laughed. It didn't surprise him one bit that Lee was working with Ron's twin brothers. They'd been a team at Hogwarts, after all.

"It's going to be strange without Fred and George causing mayhem this year," Hermione said softly, unknowingly voicing Harry's thoughts. "And Angelina and Alicia and Lee…" her voice trailed off.

"It will be strange when we leave school, won't it?" Ron said softly, glancing around at the others. Harry looked over at Remus, who hadn't said a word.

"Was it strange to leave school, Remus?" he asked. Remus smiled over at him sadly.

"Yes indeed, Harry," he answered quietly. "But the end of school doesn't mean the end of friends. You keep friendships forever." His eyes went blank. "Or as long as you can, anyhow."

Harry looked back at his plate. Remus was the only true Marauder left. His dad and Sirius were both dead, Peter had turned to Lord Voldemort. Did Remus think about that at all? He looked up at Ron and Hermione and hoped that he would never have to know what it was like to loose your best friends.

Remus stood up and poured everyone another tea. Harry found that this was his way of changing the subject back to a safer topic.

Ron apparently did too, for he said, "I wonder if they've found another Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher yet. I hope it'll be one Dumbledore appoints, and not another Ministry appointed one."
Remus stood abruptly once more, setting his tea down.

"If you'll excuse me, I forgot to feet Buckbeak this morning." He exited the kitchen. Harry watched as he left, then turned to Ron and Hermione.

"What is that all about?" he demanded. Ron shrugged. Hermione looked thoughtful.

"Maybe he doesn't want to hear about the job being open. Maybe he enjoyed teaching and wishes he were still doing it. It's like last year, when you couldn't play Quidditch, Harry, and Ron wanted to quit. You didn't want to hear about it. Remember?"

Harry nodded. He'd never forget how Umbridge had banned Fred, George and himself for life from Quidditch for attacking Draco Malfoy.

"That makes sense, Hermione," he said. "I probably wouldn't want to hear about my former job being available again, know that I was the best at it, and not being able to apply for it."
"Well," Hermione said seriously, "I'm not sure he knows how good he was at it. He knows that we all enjoyed learning from him, but I'm sure Professor Lupin's not the kind of person who would think that he'd the best at anything. He'd just think that he passes along what he knows." She smiled. "That's why he's such a good teacher."

"Who's a good teacher?" Remus asked, reappearing in the kitchen, Ginny at his heels. Harry noticed that she'd dressed and brushed her hair this morning. He didn't think anything else of it.

"You are," Harry answered as Hermione had flushed and mouthed wordlessly.

"Was I?" Remus asked calmly, but Harry saw a flicker of pleasure in his eyes before he had masked it again. "You didn't really have much to compare me to, though, did you?"

Ron snorted. "I suppose Quirrel and Moody weren't bad teachers, except that they were both nutters. At least you didn't try to kill Harry at the end of the term like the others did."

Remus smiled. "You thought I wanted to, though, remember?"

Harry thought back with a grin. Padfoot had dragged Ron into the Shrieking Shack, and then revealed himself as Sirius Black. Remus had burst in not long after and for a minute they'd all thought that he and Sirius were in league with each other.

"Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too - he's a werewolf!" Hermione screamed.

Professor Lupin looked remarkably calm, though rather pale.

"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione," he said. "Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead…But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

Harry could tell that Ron and Hermione were remembering the Shrieking Shack as well. Too bad Pettigrew had gotten away. If only they'd been able to turn him in, Sirius would have gone free.

Ginny cleared her throat. It brought all of them back to the present. Ron smiled.

"That was when our adventures were safer," he said with a grin.

Remus snorted. "I don't think you three have had a 'safe adventure' in your entire Hogwarts career."
"Well, Harry hasn't anyway," Hermione said. "I think our third year is the only year in which Harry hasn't been attacked by Voldemort - oh hush, Ron - in some form or another."

Harry smiled. "Maybe that's why I've got fond memories of third year. Remus being the best Defence teacher we've had, finding Sirius, winning the Quidditch Cup, and not getting attacked by Voldemort. Third year was a great year!" He grinned. Remus had flushed quite scarlet when Harry had said that he was the best Defence teacher they'd ever had. Hermione had noticed too.

"Well, it's true, Professor," she said with a smile. "Dean Thomas even told Umbridge that to her face last year."

Remus' eyes widened and he grinned, almost maliciously. "I'm sure she enjoyed that!"

Harry had to laugh.

* * *

"I think I've found a good time for us to go to the Ministry," Remus whispered to Harry later on. They were back in the study. Hermione was reading her enormous book and Ron and Ginny were now playing wizards chess. Harry still hadn't seen any sign of Mrs Weasley, but Ginny had told him that she'd gone back to the Burrow for a few things.

"When?" Harry asked anxiously, glancing around to be sure the others weren't listening.

"The day you all go to Diagon Alley. You'll be tired, but so will everyone else. They'll go to bed early. We can go then."

Harry thought this over. It would work for that day. "What about the guards?"

"Come with me," he said with a grin, standing up and leaving the room. Harry followed him into Sirius' room. Remus went to the closet and pulled out a silvery looking cloak. Harry recognized it as an Invisibility Cloak, as he had one himself.

"I didn't know Sirius had an Invisibility Cloak!" Harry exclaimed.

"Sure did," Remus answered. "He got one as soon as we got out of school. Your dad's cloak wouldn't cover all four of us after about third year. It made rule breaking harder," he added with a chuckle. "But Sirius didn't find one until later on. They're quite rare, you see."
"Ron told me," Harry said, fingering the cloak. "So we're going to use our Cloaks?"

Remus nodded. "At that time of night, there would only be the one guard. We should be able to get past him fairly easily. I hope. I don't really know how well Invisibility Cloaks will work in the Ministry, but I'm hoping they'll at least get us in. We can go from there."

Harry looked at Remus, somewhat surprised.

"But Sturgis was sent to Azkaban when they thought he was trying to break in, remember?"

"I'm not too concerned, Harry," Remus answered. "Sturgis got caught. We won't."

"How can you be -" Harry began.

"Trust me."

And so he trusted Remus. There were few people he would trust just because they said to. Remus Lupin happened to be one of them.

For the duration of the week, Harry helped Hermione and the Weasleys in their quest to make the house even more liveable. Walls were being painted, furniture was getting cleaned and Hermione told Mrs Weasley about a handy little Charm that she'd read about for reupholstering furniture. All the dark cloth was replaced with a soft green fabric. Harry liked it. It was a nice change.

The only thing they were having problems with was the heads of the family of house elves that hung on the wall. Harry guessed that it was the same Sticking Charm that Mrs Black had done on her portrait. Mrs Weasley seemed loathe to use the Reductor Curse on the house elves though.

"Well, just think," she said waspishly. "If we blow them up, there will be bits of house elves everywhere!"
Ron had slid down the stairs, he was laughing so hard at the image that had popped into all their heads.

"Let's do it," Ginny had cried, pulling her wand. Ron had laughed still harder at her eagerness, while Mrs Weasley had been quite annoyed.

In the end, they left them. Harry didn't really want bits of house elves flying everywhere either, even if the image amused him. They would have to find another way to bring them down.

Their letters arrived on Thursday. Harry and Ron had just been getting out of bed and were talking longingly about Quidditch. Neither of them had been near a broom in weeks. A barn owl had swooped in and deposited their letters to each of them and then swooped out again. They both grabbed their letters and proceeded to rip them open right there. There were three pieces of parchment in them. One telling them, as usual, that term started on the first of September, the second one with their book lists…

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six, by Miranda Goshawk, and Advanced Transfiguration," Harry read out. There were no other books listed. "What? Where's our new Defence book?" he said, flipping over the parchment. "Strange. I also have to buy a second cauldron for Potions." He made a face. "We're doing Potions that will take more than one day, so we need a second. What's the matter with you?" Harry glanced at Ron.

Ron had flipped past the book list to the third bit of parchment. His face had gone pale.

"Harry," he croaked. "These are our OWLs!"

Harry stared at him. He'd forgotten about OWL results coming. He flipped to the next page quickly.

His jaw dropped. He stared at the parchment.

He'd gotten an Outstanding for Potions. He never would have thought that possible.

He sat down to look at his OWL marks…he'd gotten Outstanding is several other classes as well. Charms, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts (he'd known that he'd gotten that one as soon as the test was over), and Care of Magical Creatures. He'd gotten an 'E' in Transfiguration, and an 'E' in Astronomy. He wondered at that, as he hadn't finished his star chart, but then he figured that the examiners had taken the events of that night into account. That had been when Hagrid had been attacked.

An 'A' was his mark in Divination…he wondered how he'd gotten that, as his exam had been a nightmare.

The only class he didn't pass was History of Magic. He'd gotten a 'P' in that. He wasn't really surprised, as he'd fallen asleep during the test and had only answered a few questions. He was surprised that he hadn't gotten a 'D'…or worse, a 'T'.

"How many OWLs did you get, Harry?" Ron asked. Harry looked over at him.

"Eight," he grinned. "You?"

"Eight as well," Ron answered. "Which one didn't you get?"

"History of Magic. You?"

"Divination," Ron answered with a laugh. "Like I was worried about that one."

At that moment Hermione and Ginny came rushing in like a hurricane. Hedwig let out a screech and flew out of the room. Harry chuckled.

"She's annoyed at the noise we're making."

"Did you get them?" Hermione asked excitedly. "How many did you get?"

"Eight," Ron and Harry answered at the same time.

"How many did you get?" Harry asked. Hermione was almost bouncing off the ceiling.

"Twelve," she answered.

Harry and Ron both grinned. "We knew you would, Hermione," Harry said with a laugh.

"Yeah," Ron said, hugging Hermione. "If Percy could, we knew you would easily!"

Harry hugged Hermione next. It was hard, as she was nearly floating. Ginny was standing back with a huge smile on her face.

"And how about you?" Ron asked, turning toward her. "Were you made Prefect?"
Ginny glared at him. "God, no. Why would I want to be made Prefect for?"

Ron laughed. "So you took the - what was it? - the 'Fred and George route', did you?" Harry laughed at the quote from Percy's letter the previous year. So did Ginny and Hermione.

"You bet," Ginny said. "Bossing around first years is not my idea of a fun time!" She laughed and ran out before Ron could say anything else.

Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way down to the kitchen. Ginny was not there, for some reason. Harry had assumed that this was where she was going. Mrs Weasley was, however, and held out her hand for Ron's OWL paper the minute they walked in. Hermione started bouncing again. Harry chuckled at her and handed his to Remus. His eyes scanned the paper quickly and Harry watched a smile form on his face. He stood up and gave Harry a one armed hug and a pat on the back.

"Eight OWLs, that's pretty impressive," he said with a smile. Mrs Weasley didn't look quite as happy as Remus did, but she gave Ron a hug all the same.

"You got eight as well, Harry?" Mrs Weasley asked. "Ron too!"

Remus and Mrs Weasley turned to Hermione as one. She turned pink, but didn't say a word as she handed over her parchment.

"Wow! Twelve OWLs!" Remus exclaimed. Mrs Weasley beamed at Hermione as well.

"I knew you would do it, Hermione!" she said, pulling Hermione into a big hug. Hermione was very pink when Mrs Weasley let her go. Ron and Harry grinned at her as they sat down.

"Where did Ginny go?" Hermione asked. Mrs Weasley shrugged.

"I haven't seen her yet this morning. Was she made Prefect?"

"I don't know," Hermione answered, shooting a look at Ron, who'd just opened his mouth to answer her. "There you are, Ginny."

Ginny had just walked in. She'd dressed and pulled her hair back again. She grinned at them all as she sat at the table.

"Well?" Mrs Weasley asked. Ginny looked up at her.

"What? Oh, I only need one new book, Mum. So that's alright. I think I need a new set of robes too, because one of mine got ripped somehow. Oh, I know how, never mind."

Mrs Weasley raised an eyebrow at Ginny.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ginny asked, annoyed.

"Were you made Prefect?" Mrs Weasley asked baldly.

Ginny smiled at her mother. "No, Mum, I wasn't made Prefect. Why would I want to do a silly thing like that? But you'll never guess who was made Prefect!" She turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Colin Creevey! Isn't that great? I just got an owl from him when I was dressing."

After breakfast, Hermione dashed upstairs to send her parents an owl, telling them that she'd gotten twelve OWLs. She dashed down again as the door rang, and Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt entered.

"Oh," said Mrs Weasley. "We need to talk, so I'm going to ask you four to get to work on the toilet upstairs. The one off Buckbeak's room. I'll come up and help once we're finished."

And so, they spent all morning in the toilet, scrubbing and cleaning with their bare hands. Hermione actually cursed when she ripped a nail so low that it started to bleed. They were ever so happy when Fred and George entered, although it made the cramped bathroom seem even smaller.

"Scourgify!" George said before they even had to ask.

"Evanesco!" Fred said at the same time. The bathroom was clean within seconds. Groaning with exhaustion, Harry followed Fred and George into the room Buckbeak was kept in, the others following him. Buckbeak looked up when they entered. As one, they bowed low to him. He regarded them for a minute and then sank to his knees in a proud bow. Ginny went to pat him and feed him some dead rats.

"What are you two doing here?" Ron asked. "Not that we're not grateful for your timing, my arm was about to fall off. But who's minding the shop?"
"Oh, Lee and Angelina are watching it," Fred said, waving a hand nonchalantly.

"We just came by to visit, really," George said. "We brought a couple more mirrors, Harry, if you wanted them."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Well, sure," he answered. George handed him six handheld mirrors. "Why so many?"

"Eh, we saw them, thought we'd stock up."

Harry wasn't sure he believed them, but decided not to say anything for the time being.

"Cheers," he said, moving to give Ginny a hand with Buckbeak.