Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters and ideas are the whole intellectual property of Ms. J.K. Rowling and are hers alone to sell. I do not receive, nor would I accept any compensation for any of the owned intellectual property of Ms. Rowling (nor that which she has licensed to WB etc.). What follows is just a wacky little ditty I wanted to get out of my brain. It only got there because I so love that which Ms. Rowling created. No copyright infringement is intended.

The Man in the Moony

When the grades were handed out the next day, and the Gryffindor first years eagerly compared their results. Harry and Hermione were neck and neck for top grades – with Harry edging Hermione by only a few points.

'Oh, go on Hermione,' Harry said when Hermione seemed upset at coming in second. 'I've had an unfair advantage – no it's true. I had half of our professors as instructors for my primary studies since forever – I'm just used to what they want to see in essays and such. And I grew up here, so I've been sneaking in and watching bits of our lessons for years.' He put on a huge fake pout and nudged her playfully. 'Besides, look, you did way better than me in history of magic…'

To Ron's surprise and pleasure, he'd passed everything as well, including history of magic (which he typically slept through) and potions (which he hated, in spite of his friendship with Harry), even coming in within the top third of their class.

When Neville saw his results, he laughed out loud. Herbology was easily his best grade, but what made him laugh was Snape's comment next to his (though low) passing potions grade, which he showed to Harry 'A much improved performance since your first term. Continued study and a diligent attention to detail in class will show continued improvement next year.'

'Wow, Harry,' he said. 'Coming from your Dad, that's probably a big compliment!'

'Good job Neville!' Harry's trunk was packed at the foot of his bed as well as one big knap-sac which he slung over his shoulder. 'I'll see you guys downstairs for the ride to the train.'

'Harry…' Ron looked up from pulling clothes and various objects from under his bed. 'It's only an hour before we leave – where are you going?'

'To show my Dad my grades.  He said the other teachers refused to tell him how I'd done – it was driving him crazy. Besides,' he smirked, eying the rather large pile of junk still to be fit into Ron's trunk. 'I'm already packed.'

'Oi,' Ron called as Harry headed for the door. 'Aren't you taking your trunk?'

'No,' Harry replied. 'I'm only going to be away for a week. Everything I need for that is in here.' He shifted his knap-sac on his shoulders. 'They'll get my trunk later.'

'Dad?' Harry  found his father among the sea of Slytherin's piling their trunks into the corridor outside their dungeon common room. Harry'd been in the Slytherin common room several times over the years with his father, but never as a student – a Gryffindor at that… The sudden silence as every student stopped to stare at him was a bit unnerving…

'What is it Harry?' Severus asked, starting the Slytherins back to work with a look.

'Did you want to see this?' Harry held up his results, smiling innocently, and rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet as his father read.

'Outstanding!' he said, rather louder than he'd meant, causing the students to stop to stare for another moment. 'Right,' Severus called to them. 'Evan Roche and Julia Cage.' Two of the seventh year prefects walked closer. 'You are in charge of making certain that everyone is ready and to the front hall in time.' And with that, Severus drew Harry toward his office.

'Top of your year.' He smiled as he read over Harry's results more carefully. 'There's room for improvement in the history of magic grade though…' He smirked – Harry'd never been very interested in boring old history. 'But overall, I'd say well done Harry. I'm very proud of you.' Harry beamed, letting himself be pulled into a congratulatory hug.

'Right,' Severus said, holding Harry at arms length. 'I want you to have a good time, but be good, and mind Remus hear?' Harry nodded enthusiastically. 'Are you all packed and ready to go?'

'Yeah, my trunk is still in Gryffindor tower, but it's all packed, and everything I'm taking to Uncle Remus' is in here.' He indicated the knap-sac.

'Toothbrush? Socks? Enough clean pants?'

'Da-ad! Yes, I've got everything I'll need.'

'Alright,' Severus chuckled. 'I'll see you on the fourth, back at home. Do you want to take this to show him?' He asked, holding out Harry's grades.

'Yeah! He'll be amazed!'

'Good – well,' Severus sighed. 'I've got to get back out there. Make sure everyone is ready on time.  Oh, and Harry?' he asked as they reached the door to the office. 'Your broom wouldn't be shrunk and in that bag would it?'

'Aww, Dad… I promise I won't ride it – I just want to show it to him.'

'No way, Harry. Come on, out with it… or maybe you don't want to be allowed to ride it at all this summer, instead of just until your birthday?'

Grumbling, Harry handed it over and Severus un-shrunk it and leaned it in a corner of his office. 'I'll take it back to the house with me. You'll have it back only when you're allowed to ride it again. Remus lives surrounded by Muggles anyway, even if you weren't banned from riding it right now, you couldn't there anyway.'

'I know…' Harry sighed, casting a wistful look at his broom as Severus lead him out of the office. 'It's just … you know – my broom  I hate to leave it behind…'

'You'll manage.' They stood now in the hall and Severus held Harry's shoulders, looking down at him. 'Have fun. Be good. And most importantly be careful. Love you.' He pulled Harry in for one last hug, kissing him on the top of the head.

Harry glanced around nervously to make sure no one was observing before giving a quick hug back and muttering 'Love you too Dad, and I will.'

*************

'Hey, Potter.' The peace of the compartment Harry, Ron and Hermione had been sharing was disturbed by the snarling voice, and annoying presence of Draco Malfoy. 'Why are you taking the train back to Kings Cross? Did Snape finally wise up and decide to ship you off? I mean he's still back at the castle isn't he?'

'Get lost Malfoy,' snapped Harry and Ron at the same time. Harry'd been giving the other two all the details he hadn't been able to share yet about what had happened in the final chamber. Of course all the school knew the gist of what had happened, but in this case, the details Harry was sharing turned out to be even wilder than many of the rumours floating around…

'Or, what Potter? Going to sic your Daddy on me? Term is over now, you have no…'

'Did you know that I know of seven secret ways into the Slytherin common room and dorms?' Harry said casually, though the words had the effect of shutting Malfoy up for a minute. 'Now Dad knows about most of them… but imagine what kinds of things I could do with full access to the Slytherin dorms… dung-bombs in the wardrobes, flobberworms in the beds… oh, the possibilities are endless…'

'You wouldn't – he'd know it was you – I'd tell him. He'd kill you!'

'Hmm,' Harry smirked. 'He might know it was me. He might even believe you. You might even be able to prove it was me. And yeah, I might get caught, and he might kill me. But, you know?' he turned in mock curiosity to Ron and Hermione. 'I think it'd be worth it don't you?'

Malfoy didn't trouble them after that.

'That was brilliant, Harry!' crowed Fred and George, who had been standing behind Malfoy, observing. 'Why are you heading back with us anyway?' Fred went on. 'I thought you and the teachers stayed on for a week or so after the end of classes before going home?'

'Yeah, Dad'll be there for a week, but I'm going to spend the week with a friend. His name's Remus,' he explained to their curious looks. 'He was a good friend of my parents and went to school with them and Dad. Sometimes I go and stay with him for a few days. He teaches me about Muggle stuff.'

'Muggle stuff?'

'Yeah. He's not Muggle-born himself, but he lives in the Muggle world and my Mum was Muggle-born, so Dad figures I should learn about Muggles – you know, because he says it's part of my heritage and I should learn about it…' He shrugged, seeing his friends fidgeting at the mention of his dead parents. 'It's fun, actually.' He smiled, trying to lighten the mood. 'He's really funny and he tells me about when they were at school, and he takes me really nifty places... like the Underground, and the zoo, and the university where he works… This time, he said he was going to take me to the airport to see the planes!'

It took most of the rest of the train ride for Hermione and Harry – with the help of a book Remus had sent him – to explain how airplanes worked to the curious Weasleys.

'Wow,' Ron was muttering as they walked through the barrier from platform 9 ¾. 'And you're going to get to go and see them … cool!'

'Harry!'

'Uncle Remus!' Harry's face split into a wide grin as he was lifted bodily into a huge hug. 'How are you?' he asked once he was set back on his feet.

'I'm well Harry,' Remus smiled at Harry's concern.

Though he knew to keep it a secret, Harry did know about Remus' condition and was always worried for him.

'And who have we here?'

'Oh,' Harry started, realizing that his friends were still beside him. 'Sorry, these are my friends: Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron, Hermione, this is Remus Lupin.'

'Pleased to meet you, Mr. Lupin,' Hermione said, as they each shook hands.

'And you,' Remus raised and eyebrow, regarding Harry with a mock stern air. 'So these are the co-conspirators?'

'Dad owled you then…' Harry sighed, slumping visibly.

'Yeah – twice…' He was stopped from elaborating as Ron and Hermione's parents came to collect their charge's and the three said their goodbyes.

'So,' Harry asked in a would-be casual voice after the others had left and Remus was leading him out of the station. 'Dad owled you?'

'Don't worry, Harry,' Remus chuckled as they climbed into his car. 'He was pretty angry when he wrote the first one, but the second one was a little more liberal – he said to ask about your marks?'

'Oh, yeah!' Harry dove into his knap-sac. 'Wait till you see!'

'You'll have to show me when we get there. I can't look while I'm driving.' Remus said, motioning to the heavy traffic on the roadway. 'But they're good?'

'To quote Dad this morning: Outstanding!' Harry laughed for a moment before turning serious again. 'So, um… Are you still going to take me to the airport? I read that book you sent me and I think I mostly understand – the only thing I didn't get were why they let them crash sometimes, and about the 'black-box' because they had a picture, and it wasn't black – so I couldn't figure out why it's called that.'

'Yes,' Remus chuckled at Harry's confusion. 'We're still going to the airport. And I'll take you to the library before so you can look at a couple more books on it that should help you out. We're going to have lots of fun this week. I want to hear all about what happened, but then we'll leave it behind us and have a good time alright? I don't get to see you nearly often enough to spend this time being angry with you so I'm just going to count on the fact that your Dad was suitably angry for all of us.'

'That's for sure,' Harry snorted. 'Madam Pomfrey made me stay in bed all day yesterday, and Dad spent most of that time lecturing me. And I'm not allowed my broom until my birthday. He wouldn't even let me bring it to show you!'

'Well, we're the only wizards around where I live Harry,' Remus smiled. 'So you couldn't have had it here anyway. Now,' he said, very definitely changing the topic. 'Tell me everything about your year. I want to hear every detail of your first year at Hogwarts as a real Hogwarts student!'

TBC – Coming soon, the rest of Harry's summer – most of which will be spent with his Dad.