The trio followed Fred and George out of Gringotts and down the crowded street. They walked past the robe shop, past the magical creatures shop, past the wand shop, and finally came upon a small dingy building with a newly painted sign above it that read Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Ron was grinning ear to ear; Hermione was obviously torn between telling them off and giggling madly. As for Harry…he was beyond words. He couldn't believe the twins, who'd slacked off so much in school, were able to open a successful joke shop in less than a year.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Fred said impatiently. "Come on in!" He pushed open the door and they followed them inside. The first thing Harry saw was a rack of Headless Hats, along with Handless Gloves, Footless shoes, and Legless pants. There were shelves of their special Weasley's Wildfire Wizbangs, and a large sign at the back of the store said Skiving Snackboxes! Hermione was studying a small box under a shelf labeled Prank Potions. Ron was looking closely at a new type of snackboxes; diarrhea doughnuts.

"Ron, are you seriously going to buy that?" Hermione asked.

"No, of course not!" Ron said, turning red and putting the package back on the shelf. Harry was looking at the portable items; portable swamp, portable quidditch pitch, portable desert, portable tundra, and portable pool complete with diving board and slide.

"Guys, this is pure genius!" Harry laughed, examining the quidditch pitch more closely. It even came with a small set of bleachers for each side! He chuckled and put it back.

After a half-hour of testing all of the products, Harry decided to buy some prank potions and Wildfire Wizbangs. He made his purchase to a grinning George, said goodbye, and finally set off for Grimmuald Place. He used some of the floo powder from the large marble vase at Gringotts, and seconds later he was standing in the kitchen of Grimmuald Place. Seconds later, Ron and Hermione appeared behind him with a whoosh. Harry glanced on the table and saw three letters bearing the Hogwarts crest; one each for him, Ron, and Hermione. He felt his stomach drop…their OWL results had finally arrived. Harry picked his up and said,

"So, who's ready for some excitement?" Hermione and Ron picked theirs up with nervous looks on their faces.

"On three then?" Hermione asked. They nodded. "One…two…three!" They each opened their letters. Harry saw that there were two pieces of parchment; one with a letter and one with his grades. He threw the letter on the table and looked at his grades.

O.W.L. Results: Harry James Potter

Transfiguration:

Exam-E

Practical-E

Charms:

Exam-O

Practical-E

Astronomy: Cancelled due to Distraction

Exam- n/a

Practical-n/a

History of Magic:

Exam-A

Potions:

Exam- A

Practical- O

Defense Against the Dark Arts

Exam-O

Practical-O

Divination:

Exam- D

Practical- T

Care of Magical Creatures

Exam- O

Practical-O

Final Score: 11 O.W.L.'s

Harry's jaw dropped. Eleven O.W.L.s was enough to become Head Boy! He looked at Hermione; her reaction looked the same as his. Ron's looked rather disgusted. Harry picked up his letter with shaking hands.

Dear Harry,

Congratulations on an outstanding job on your O.W.L.s! We considered you for head boy, but thought it was unfair to have two heads from the same house, not to mention that there has never been a head boy who earned a "T" on one of his exams. Therefore, we will be making you a prefect instead, even though you're past 5th year. Please understand that we're trying to create unity between Gryffindor and Slytherin, and we see this as a perfect opportunity to do so. Congratulations again, Harry, and keep studying hard!

Professor McGonagall

Headmistress of Gryffindor House and Hogwarts

Harry gave a sigh of relief. He never really wanted to have the responsibility of head boy anyway. Plus he knew from the first day of class that he was going to fail Divination anyway. But one question remained...if he wasn't head boy, then who was? He looked again to Hermione: her eyes were flying back and forth across her letter, and she had a huge smile on her face. Then the smile turned to a look of horror, and she dropped her letter.

"What's up?" Harry asked, dreading the answer.

"How could Dumbledore do this?" she shrieked.

"Do what?" Ron asked, looking up from his own letter.

"Well, I got head girl…"

"No surprise there," Harry said grinning.

"But Malfoy's head boy!" she said, looking positively distraught. Harry and Ron went off.

"…If he even touches you!"

"The bloody traitor!"

"Impossible!"

"I….I'll have a few choice words with him!" Ron yelled, panting.

"All right! ENOUGH!" Hermione yelled. Harry and Ron stopped in mid sentence. "This is exactly why he's doing this; the house rivalry has reached the brink of war for Merlin's sake! Please, you two have to control your tempers this year! Now that we've got that settled…" she said, calming down a bit," how did you two do?"

"Awful! I completely bombed Divination and Potions!" Ron said weakly. "Mum is going to kill me! But I did get two O's in Defense Against the Dark Arts and two E's in Charms."

"I did better than I thought," Harry said, handing Hermione his grade sheet. "Divination totally kicked my rear, no surprises there, but I ended up with eleven total!"

"Hear hear!" Ron said enthusiastically. Hermione handed Harry his grade sheet with a look nothing short of pride.

"Harry, I'm so glad you did so well! I still think you should be head boy though."

"Well here's the letter they sent me," he replied, handing it to her. She read it and squealed with delight.

"Ohh! Congratulations Harry! You got made a prefect? That's wonderful!" she said, dropping the letter and giving him a bone-crushing hug.

"Good one, mate!" Ron said after Hermione let go of him. "Now we can dole out punishments together! We'll show those stuck-up Slythersnots!" Harry laughed at Ron's new nickname for the Slytherns. Hermione frowned, but didn't say anything.

"Hermione, wait a second...how did you do?" Harry asked. Hermione blushed profusely and handed him her sheet.

"STRAIGHT O'S?!? HERMIONE!" Both Harry and Ron nearly tackled Hermione in their excitement. Their celebration, however, was interrupted by Mrs. Weasley entering the kitchen.

"I take it you found your letters?" she asked. They all rushed to tell her how they did; Ron earned a good telling off for failing potions and divination, rival to that from his howler second year. Afterwards, they went upstairs to Harry and Ron's room and sat on the beds. They sat in silence, relishing the feeling that they were through their first set of horrible exams, and now only had to face their N.E.W.T.S. Then Harry decided to break the silence.

"Ron? I have something I think I should tell you." Hermione glanced nervously at him. Ron looked between them with a look of perplexity on his face.

"What is it?"

"Well…" he launched into the story of the prophecy, about how Dumbledore kept it from him for so many years, how he was marked equal, and how he must kill or be killed. By the time he was finished, Ron was looking worse for the wear.

"And you've got to kill him?" he asked for the fifth time.

"Yeah, that's why Dumbledore didn't just kill him at the department of mysteries last year. It would have been impossible," Harry explained.

"Bloody hell," Ron whispered.

"Don't let it bother you. I'm just concentrating on preparing myself this year. Hopefully I can learn some useful stuff from the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Harry said hopefully.

"I wonder who it is…" Hermione mused. "I hope it 's not another Umbridge."

"Wonder what ever happened to old Umbridge?" Ron asked.

"Who cares? Let's just be glad we don't have her again." Harry said firmly.

"I'm going to my room to read, ok guys?" Hermione said, standing up.

"Fine by me. I think I'll have a nap," said Harry, leaning back and stretching out on his bed. Hermione ruffeled his hair and walked out. Ron gave harry a look and said,

"What's up with you and her?"

"Nothing. We're friends Ron, you know that," he said, rolling over and closing his eyes. "Just friends."

Harry didn't see Ron roll his eyes.