Disclaimer: Really I don't own Harry Potter. All I own is my car (well the part I've paid for so far, the rest is owned by the lovely bank people). If I were J. K. Rowling I would be busy getting ready for the release of book 6 not writing fanfiction.
A/N: I'm back. I apologize for my muse. She felt that an extended vacation was in order and forgot to leave me with directions as to where to go with the story. So I've been floundering by myself. But she's back now. Even better, she has an extra personality so next time one of them wants a vacation the other one may be able to stick around to help out. Next chapter will have more action.
"Actually I was thinking. Since we only have three days left this week, not counting the weekend, maybe we should start with the elective classes. We only have three years to review in each class that way so we should be able to finish one class each day. I'll start today with teaching you Arithmancy and then we can deal with Divination and Ancient Runes tomorrow and Friday," Hermione said, opening her book eagerly ready to start one of her favourite hobbies.
"You know, that isn't a bad plan," Ron said, opening his book, with less enthusiasm than his friends.
"So let's make our list in order of how we want to study, something like this: Arithmancy, Divination, Ancient Runes, History of Magic, Astronomy, and Muggle Studies. We'll have something a little easier to work on at the end of the summer if we do things in this order. This weekend we can start either Remus's potion, he left some hair for us in the box on the mantle, or the Animagus potion," Harry said, also opening his book, ready to give his whole attention to the study session.
"I agree," Ron said, dipping his quill into the inkwell that was sitting in the middle of the table for all three of them to use.
"That sounds reasonable. Here, I'll go get my Arithmancy books in a moment, but let's write our list," Hermione said. Shequickly wrotethe five subjects that she wanted to revise and waited for the book to fill with study guides. Smiling, she closed her book for now and went to get the books from her trunk.
"You know you could just summon them right, Mione?" Harry asked smiling.
"Accio Arithmancy books," Hermione responded. After a few moments there was a flutter of pages as the books flew down the girl's staircase and landed on the table with a solid thump.
"Wow. It worked. There are five pages of things to review for the third year," Ron said.
"Yeah and eight pages each for the fourth and fifth year," Harry said, starting to read some of the things he would learn about Arithmancy. "This sounds like the unit we did in Divination on numerology," Harry said.
"It would, since numerology is basically what Arithmancy is. But unlike Divination you don't just use it to find out what sort of person someone is by their numbers. You can find out how strong a spell is, even how strong a wizard or witch someone is just by figuring out the equations," Hermione said. She opened her third year text and made two copies of it quickly, placing a copy in front of each of the boys. "These will only last for today, but we'll be done with the work before then so it's okay," Hermione said.
Harry and Ron worked steadily for the next two hours only asking occasional advice from Hermione who passed the time reading a book on advanced Arithmancy that she had bought at the end of last year just because it looked interesting.
"Here goes nothing," Harry said.
"Are you ready to take the third year test?" Ron asked Harry.
"Yeah, are you ready?" Harry asked.
"Almost, just give me five more minutes and we'll start at the same time," Ron said.
Harry nodded and reread the last section of the textbook again to be sure he remembered the last equation since it was slightly more complicated. At Ron's nod both boys turned to the test and put the book copies face down next to Hermione so they couldn't cheat. This was acknowledged with a smile from Hermione who couldn't believe how serious they both were being about studying. 'I guess when we all swear to do something there really is some sort of power behind it,' Hermione thought to herself, turning the page of her book. As she looked up, she noticed that Remus and Sirius had returned from the headmaster's office but were just sitting in the lounge area, not wanting to disturb the study session. Hermione marked her place in the book and walked over to Harry's guardians. "They're taking the third year Arithmancy test. From what I heard while they were studying I think they'll do well. Then they can take a break before they move on to fourth year," Hermione said.
"You three don't do anything by half do you?" Remus asked.
"When we all put our heads together to do something none of us back down. Its one of the things we're known for. As a team we can do anything if we want it to happen badly enough," Hermione said.
"I can see that. I'll keep Padfoot quiet so we won't disturb you. Actually, why don't I put up a ward? We can have a chat with Prongs and Lily and they can finish. We'll come and retrieve you for lunch in a couple of hours, let them start on fourth year," Remus said.
"That would be wonderful. If we can get that much done then we can do some more exploring today, or start planning one of our other projects," Hermione said. "Thanks, Remus, you too, Sirius. Have a good conversation with James and Lily," Hermione added before retreating back to where the boys were sitting staring at the book in front of them.
"Are you finished already?" she asked them.
"Yes, we just finished a few minutes ago. We're just waiting for our score," Harry said.
"I think I did well, but we can't move on until we get an O, then we know that we can get an O on our OWL as well," Ron said.
"Here we go," Hermione said, noticing a change in the ink as it started forming the score. She looked at Ron's first and smiled. "Well here's our first O," she said. Then looking over at Harry's book her smile grew even more. "Good work, love. I knew you could do it," Hermione said.
"What were you talking to Remus and Sirius about?" Ron asked, relieved to have managed an O.
"They set up a ward so that they could talk to James and Lily without disturbing us. Lunch will be in a couple of hours as its only 10:00 a.m. right now so you can work on part of fourth year before we eat, maybe even the whole thing," Hermione said.
"Works for me," Harry said, waiving his wand over the copies of the books to end the spell as they didn't need them anymore. At the same time Hermione made copies of the fourth year book and her notes and gave them to Harry and Ron. "Good luck boys," she said, kissing Harry's cheek and giving Ron a brief hug before returning to her book.
When the call for lunch came, Harry and Ron were surprised that they had finished the fourth year work and were already nearly done with fifth year, meaning that they could take the OWL after they ate. "Well here we are, one chance to add an OWL to our record," Harry said, taking out his letter from the Wizarding Examiner so he could see the moment the new OWL was added.
"Let's eat first," Ron said, rubbing his hand which was cramping from writing so much.
"Limpio," Hermione said helpfully waiving her wand over both boys to clean the ink smudges from their hands and one from Ron's nose. Then she noticed the state of both boys' quills. "You used sugar quills to take a test?"
"It was the first thing I found in my trunk," Harry said, laughing as both quills had nearly the entire feather part missing from where they sucked the quills during an especially tough question.
"We have to use the anti-cheat quill for the OWL anyway so its fine, and we have a whole bag of sugar quills. At least this way we're still working and not staring off into space when we can't figure out a question," Ron pointed out.
"True, it was just funny that's all. Actually I have to admit that sugar quills are one thing I miss when I go home in the summer. My parents think that all sweets are bad even if they are disguised as a writing utensil," Hermione said.
"Well here, I know you aren't doing any writing today, but you might as well join us in the sugar high we'll be on later. We have chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts also, but I'm quite sure if I eat a boogie flavoured bean during the OWL that my concentration will be completely gone," Harry said, handing Hermione a sugar quill.
"Well I do have a couple of letters to write so I'll be able to use this for more than just something to snack on later, and I agree, save the disgusting Every Flavour Bean competition for later tonight after the testis done, I'll even join in. I haven't eaten a grass flavoured one in awhile," Hermione said, putting the sugar quill on top of her book.
"Let's go have lunch," Ron said.
"Again we're lead by Ron's stomach," Harry said, walking over to the other side of the room.
"Hey there you are. I thought you had disappeared to search for more secret passages," James said.
"Hey dad, we were actually taking our Arithmancy OWL, or preparing for it anyway. We finished fourth and fifth year so we'll be taking the OWL after we eat. Can you two wait to see what score we get?" Harry said, directing his question at Sirius and Remus.
"Sure kiddo. Moony and I don't have anything else to do besides finishing the redecoration project at Grimmauld Place. We decorated your room already Harry, but you'll have to wait until Christmas to see it. Hermione, Ron, what would you like in your rooms?" Sirius asked.
Harry was overwhelmed. He knew that he would have a home with Sirius and Remus but he wasn't expecting a room to himself. "I thought I would just share the room with Ron like usual. I didn't think you'd spend the time on a room just for me," Harry said.
"Of course we would pup, you're ours now and you deserve to have a lot more than just a room to yourself," Sirius said.
"He's right cub. It was the least we could do," Remus added.
"What did you just call me?" Harry asked.
"I called you pup, since I consider you my son and my Animagus form is a dog. Padfoot has always been protective of you ever since the day you were born," Sirius said.
"And Moony considers you a cub. I called you cub ever since the first time I saw you, which was about four hours after you were born," Remus said.
"Thank you," Harry said softly, knowing his guardian's canine ears would pick up what he said.
"You're welcome," Remus and Sirius both answered.
"Now, for our long term guests, Hermione what colours do you prefer or should we decorate your room like we did Harry's and then if you don't like it we can change it?" Sirius asked.
"A surprise would be fine. I'm guessing that you're decorating with magic so if I don't like it then it wouldn't be that difficult to change things," Hermione answered after she ordered her lunch.
"Exactly. Ron, Harry tells me you're into the Cannons and that your room at the Burrow is bright orange. Would you like a copy at Grimmauld?" Sirius asked.
"That would be great, maybe with a couple of posters of keepers," Ron said.
"Great, now let's eat so you can get back to studying. We'll be here all day, if you three don't mind anyway, so after you take the OWL we can tell stories. I think there are a few things that Harry hasn't told us about the trio's adventures," Sirius said, taking a sip of butterbeer.
"Only if you tell Marauder stories. After all we have two living Marauders and a portrait to hear from," Harry said.
Lunch was finished before long and Harry and Ron went back to quickly revise the fifth year work they had done before starting the OWL. "Well I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Ron said. Harry nodded his agreement and the two picked up their books and letters as well as the anti-cheat quill. Then they separated to opposite ends of the table, leaving Hermione sitting in the middle happily sucking on her sugar quill as she tried to write a letter home to her mum and dad.
The book closed itself two hours later to signal the end of the OWL and both Ron and Harry dropped the quill and took a deep breath. Now all they had to do was watch the letter to see the OWL added to the page as the book had told them it would be.
"I hate waiting like this," Harry said, as they rejoined Remus and Sirius in front of the fireplace. Ron stared at his letter waiting for the change and Harry glanced over every few moments. Nearly 30 minutes later the ink in the score section of the letter glowed a light blue and a score replaced the previous mark of N/A next to Arithmancy. Harry and Ron looked at their own letter and then at the other's letter and let out a nervous breath. "Mione, we did it. We now have 11 OWLS.
"Did you get O's?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, a 95 even," Harry said.
"I only got a 90, but it's still an O," Ron said.
"Tomorrow we'll need to hurry up and work on Divination. I can't let you boys get too many OWLS ahead," Hermione said with a smile on her face. She finished the rest of her sugar quill as she signed the letter and put it on the table for Hedwig or Pig to take to her family tomorrow. Probably Hedwig, she thought, since Pig was a little too hyperactive to deliver to Muggles who weren't used to owl post even after five years.
"Well now, who's going to start the stories?" Remus asked, giving Harry a quick hug. Sirius also hugged Harry whose face was turning a bit red from the attention.
"I think you three should start," Sirius said.