Disclaimer: I do not own HP & Co.

A/N: italics, flashback/remembering conversation from earlier in week. Underline text has explanation at end of chapter.

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Chapter 12 conversations

This last week was filled with conversations, some very enlightening which resulted in provoking questions, and others just informative Harry reflected...

Monday-Remus kept trying to corner Harry after meals or in his room to ask him if he was okay or if there was anything Harry needed to talk about. Harry was beginning to feel like he had a stalker. Every time he turned around, Moony was there asking if Harry needed to talk. Harry was beginning to wonder if Moony was okay, or at least he was wondering why Remus felt the need to ask him if he was okay 10 times a day. He couldn't help but wonder if Moony knew something that Harry didn't.

Tuesday-pretty much the same as Monday, it got to the point that Harry was ready to yell, 'Yes, I want to talk. I want to talk about why you are following me everywhere and asking me if I want to talk! Stop asking me if I am okay, I was, but you are beginning to drive me crazy!' But he didn't; who knew what Remus would do next if Harry acted that way and lost control. He'll probably send me off to St. Mungo's, Harry had thought. It got to the point that he stopped eating in the great hall, just so he wouldn't run into the werewolf.

Wednesday-Harry actually had a real conversation with Moony, you could only avoid a person for so long, even in a castle the size of Hogwart's...

Harry had finally ventured out of his room and went to the great hall for dinner that evening. Remus was also there and asked Harry to take a walk with him by the lake after they were finished with dinner. Since Harry didn't want to be rude, or create a scene, thus inviting more questions, or have Moony think that he was mad at him, Harry reluctantly agreed.

"So, Harry, what are you going to do for you birthday?"

"I'll probably just have occlumency lessons in the morning and then probably read in the afternoon."

"You won't have lessons that day, or that..." Remus started to say, before he made himself stop.

"Or that what? Why won't I have lessons that day?"

"Well, it's your birthday, everybody deserves to have their birthday's off" Remus improvised.

Hmm, thought Harry, something's going on. "I guess I'll have more hours to fill up then. Anyways, it will still be better than any birthday I spent at the Dursley's." Harry paused for a moment, then continued when an idea came to him, "Hey Moony, maybe we can spend the day in Hogsmeade since I don't have lessons. We can go to Zonko's and Honeyduke's, and get lunch at the Three Broomstick's."

"Sounds fun, but maybe we can do that the following Saturday. I'll still be recovering from the full moon on your birthday."

"Oh, yeah. It doesn't matter, the following weekend is fine." Harry stated, he wasn't use to celebrating his birthday anyway, except for the presents & cards he's gotten from friends these last few years, and he usually opened those when he was by himself.

"Good. I'll check with Dumbledore to make sure he thinks it's safe."

"So, how have the occlumency lessons been going?"

"Pretty good, I think. I've been able to push him out of my mind a few times, but I still can't prevent him from getting in yet."

"Hey that is good news. You've made some progress since the last time we talked. You still weren't sure then about what clearing your mind meant. Do you know why you are able to push him out?"

"Kind of." Harry went on to explain about Hermione's research about occlumency and the connection between memories and emotions. "Apparently, it's the emotions associated with the memories that are powerful, not the memories themselves." He then mentioned the journal she gave him as a gift, and how he wrote in it for the first time last week. How he wrote about his thoughts and feelings concerning the memories that were plaguing him. "I was able to push him out because all I was remembering were happy memories, that gave me the strength to push him out, rather than the memories that paralyzed me, like memories about the Dursley's, Cedric, Sirius & that night in the Ministry of Magic , Professor Dumbledore's office, and Sirius's le-"

"Sirius's what, Harry?" Remus asked in a gentle, coaxing voice, sure that Harry was going to say 'Sirius's letter'/

"Nothing, nevermind. You know, I'm getting pretty tired, I think I'll head back to my rooms for the night."

"Harry," Harry had already turned away and was walking towards the castle when Remus spoke his name. He stopped, but wouldn't turn around to look at him, as Remus continued, "I already told you that I am here for you if you need me. I know that last year was difficult for you, and I can tell that there is still a lot going on in your mind right now. Remember that you can talk to me about anything. I know that I am not as close to you as Sirius was, and that I could never replace James, but I am here for you and I will do whatever I can to help you. Even if all you need is an ear to listen to you, please come see me. Don't shut me out of your life."

After saying this, Remus walked past Harry and into the castle towards his rooms.

Harry stayed frozen in place as Remus walked past him. Part of him wanted to chase after him and tell him about the prophecy and about Sirius's letter. Unfortunately, the other part of him won.

He did, however, do a lot of thinking that night as he reread Sirius's letter. Sirius asked him not to pull back from life. Harry wondered if he spent so much time trying to keep the secrets of the prophecy and his adoption from his friends, during the coming school year if it would result in the one thing he doesn't want. Him isolated from his friends. Harry was smart enough to know that you couldn't keep avoiding your friends or avoid discussing things with your friends, without them realizing something was wrong, especially if one of those friends was Hermione Granger. If he kept pushing them away, they might not be there when he wanted to pull them back, he thought. He decided that before the first two weeks of school were over, he would tell his friends about the adoption, they would love him regardless, especially since they never knew Lily and James Potter. He will have to ask Dumbledore if he could discuss the prophecy with them. As for Moony, Harry would have to check with Dumbledore about telling Moony about the prophecy. The adoption would have to wait for now, Harry just did not feel ready to talk about it yet.

Thursday-There was the conversation he overheard between Professors Dumbledore and Snape.

By Thursday night, Harry had enough of keeping everything to himself. He finally decided it was time to ask Professor Dumbledore if it was okay to tell Moony about the prophecy. He was walking towards the headmaster's office when he heard voices outside the great hall. He was planning on going back to his room, when he heard his name mentioned, and since he was still upset at being left in the dark regarding things that concerned him, he felt compelled to say...

"...Harry, since Remus can't."

"Albus, NO!" It's bad enough that I'm with the boy over 2 hours a day teaching him occlumency, I will not babysit him or any other brats this summer. You will just have to find someone else who can come out on the full moon, to watch them."

"Severus, you know that there is no one else at the castle right now."

"Why not you?"

"Alas, I would love to, but you know that Harry is barely speaking to me, unless I initiate it. He is barely tolerating my presence, spending no more time with me than is necessary."

"Then send the boy somewhere else. I'm sure the Weasley's will be honored to have him."

"You know that that is not an option right now. It will just be 1 or 2 days, including his birthday."

"NO! I won't do it. Especially not on THAT day. You know that I am always gone that week and am unavailable on that day. Even the Dark Lord knows that I won't answer a summons on those days." Severus said, while rubbing his left arm, knowing how much it will burn in the coming week. Oh, yes, the Dark Lord knows that he won't answer, so he purposely calls for Severus every chance he gets, if only to have a reason to 'punish' him once the week is over. The Dark Lord does not like to be second place in his servants' eyes, for any reason.

"Ah, yes, Severus, your annual holiday. Where is it you go again?"

"You know full well that I never told you and probably never will. I enjoy knowing something you don't for a change." The words themselves had a teasing quality to them, but the tone was a mix of sadness, anguish and grief.

"Very well, Severus. If you won't help me make Harry's 16th birthday enjoyable for him, I will find someone who will."

"I will guarantee that his birthday is a happy one for both us, by not being anywhere near the child that day."

Harry, realizing that their voices were getting closer, quickly turned around and headed back to his rooms, thinking about what he just heard. Now it all made sense. This is why he said we wouldn't start on the potions next week. Remus probably knew as well, since he mentioned that I wouldn't have classes on my birthday. Harry found it very interesting that Snape was gone the same week every year. Even more interesting was the fact that Professor Dumbledore didn't know where he went, and that he would risk his position as a spy for the light by not answering Voldemort's summons. Harry figured that he was probably just on vacation with his kids, and didn't want to be interrupted. After all, if his kids didn't go to Hogwarts, then he probably doesn't get to see them that often.

He did agree with Snape though, even if the two were able to tolerate one another this summer, it would be a good birthday indeed if Snape wasn't going to be around.

He fell onto his bed that night thinking about Snape and his family. Envying them because they had each other, for his professor, even if he could be a snarky git, seemed to genuinely care about his kids, at least from what Harry saw of his memories. He also wondered if Professor Dumbledore knew about Snape's kids? If he did, wouldn't he ask if the kids were with him on his holiday? Harry finally fell asleep, still thinking about the places his professor and his family might be going for their holiday.

Friday-At breakfast, Dumbledore told him that there would be no occlumency lessons the coming week, since Snape will be on holiday (which Harry had known since he overheard the two wizards talking last night), and wasn't Harry lucky that it coincided with his birthday. Dumbledore also mentioned that he could invite Ron & Hermione to Hogwarts for his Birthday on Wednesday and that they could stay the night to help him celebrate his 16th birthday.

And then there was the current conversation, taking place right after lunch, in the middle of the great hall, after Harry opened his O.W.L. results

"INCOMPLETE! UNKNOWN!" What kind of scores are those? What does it mean? How will we know if I am eligible for NEWT potions if I have a score of Incomplete or Unknown. Those aren't OWL scores, they're...they're...well, I don't know what they are, but I do know that they aren't part of the standard scoring system used for OWLS. Professor Snape won't take anyone into his class who didn't receive an 'O' on his OWLS. There is no way he'll take someone who's score is 'incomplete' or 'unknown'. Even if there are 2 "o's" in those words," Harry added sarcastically, before continuing. "He especially won't accept those scores if they are mine. Even if I miraculously did get an 'O' on my potion OWLS, he would try to find a way to keep me out! And why did they list it as both 'incomplete' and 'unknown'? Has anyone ever got one these as a grade before? Has anyone even gotten one of these as a grade? How does someone get an unknown? I mean I took the test, so I should have a score, right? And what do they mean by incomplete? I fell asleep in History of Magic, had that vision and wasn't able to finish that test, but they didn't mark that as an incomplete. I'm sure that they just marked the questions I didn't answer as wrong, so why is potions different? And what do I do now?"

Albus and Remus just leaned back in their chairs as they listened to Harry rant and rave about his potions grade.

Albus, with the twinkle gleaming in his eye, answered Harry's questions. "They are very unusual scores. It means exactly what it says. We will have to see what can be done to get you into the NEWT potions class. They were unable to calculate how you did on your owl. Both were listed as your grade since your practical results were inconclusive and your written were unknown. Since I've been at Hogwarts, as a student, as a teacher and as headmaster, I have never heard of anyone who as gotten an 'unknown' or an 'incomplete' as a score on their OWL exams, let alone both of them."

"Great, making history again," Harry said snidely, as Remus laughed. "Leave it to me to do things differently, especially for a test that has been going on for hundreds of years." Harry mumbled.

"Actually, more like thousands of years, Harry" Remus interjected, then laughed again as Harry sent a quick pointed glare in his direction, the boy really has been spending too much time with Severus.

"Yes, you took the test, and therefore should have a grade. It appears that there was an accident in the lab while they were evaluating your results. The 'incomplete', which more accurately could be described as 'inconclusive', is a result of you potion exploding when something fell into the cauldron as the examiners were grading it. Unfortunately, they had not reached a conclusion before the cauldron exploded, and couldn't determine if the potion was made satisfactory or not. As for the unknown, well, when your cauldron exploded, a good portion of it landed on your written exam. The potion ate right through the paper, disintegrating it, with no hope of repair. The concoction also ate through the metal table the examiners were using. Since the ingredients that fell into the cauldron were unknown, they couldn't even tell if the potion would have reacted that way if it was made correctly."

"Unbelievable. Why me? Why does this stuff always happen to me?" Harry said with a resigned tone. "So, now what do we do? Do I have to take the exam again? Am I allowed to take the exam again?"

"Well, first it depends on you. If you had gotten an 'O', would you want to take NEWT Potions?"

"Well, yes. If I want to be accepted into the auror's program, I'll need to take it."

"Well, in that case, it all depends on Severus."

"I'm doomed." Harry said dramatically.

"We will have to wait until next week to get his thoughts on this matter. There are a couple of options available though. He can accept you with these OWL scores, since as you said, there are 2 "o's" in it," Dumbledore said with twinkling eyes, "so there would be no need for you to worry about your official OWL scores. You would just have to do well on your NEWTS since you wont' have a potion's owl score to show your knowledge of potions or skill level.

"The second option available to him is for him to assign you potions to brew, it works out rather well, that you are here for the summer." He said once again, with that twinkle in his eye. "He will then assess your work and decide if you are 'worthy' to be accepted into his class."

"Now I really am doomed. There is no way he will agree to accept me into his NEWT Class without the proper OWL scores. And even if I brewed the potion correctly, he would never deem me 'worthy' of being in his class. He already mentioned earlier this week that he didn't think I would have the OWLS to get into his class. Isn't there someone else that could evaluate me brewing a potion, or is there another option that available that might at least give me a chance at getting accepted into his class?"

"Another option is to contact the Ministry and see if they will create and schedule a make-up exam for you. This has only been done a handful of times in Hogwart's history. Since the destruction of your exams were not your fault, I am sure they will be willing to do so for you. The only draw back is that the exam might be more difficult than normal."

"I'll probably have better luck with Professor Snape than I would with a harder exam."

"We will just have to wait and see until Severus is back, before we make a decision, then."

End Chapter 12 conversations

This is my first fanfic, so any feedback is appreciated.
I know that I have some trouble with the tenses (past, present, future), but I try.

Full moon is on 7/30/1996 about 4 a.m., will RL be a werewolf the night of 7/29 or the night of 7/30? Or is it for 3 days, the night b4, night of & night after the full moon?

Don't know how long it would normally take RL to prepare/recover for full moon, but since he is now 2/3 years older than he was when last we 'knew' him, & with the death of his BF, he'll be out of commission for most of that week...

Figured this was the best way to get around the whole potions OWL thing. I couldn't in good conscience give him an "O", since I am not sure if he deserved it (p. ?? OP), and I didn't want to do the typical, Albus/Minerva forced Severus to take HP into his class. It is up to you to decide if Albus, or the examiners (one of the potion examiners during the test was the same person who tested HP in DADA, I believe) might have rearranged the 'accident' deliberately.

10/14/2004