Disclaimer: *hunts deep in the closet* Nope! Still no HP rights here!

Chapter 116

Monday morning found Harry staring blankly at Professor Binns. Today, the teachers were starting to review all the old material in order to get the fifth years ready for their O.W.L.'s.

The problem that he was currently having was that he had absolutely no idea what the ghost was talking about. Was this something they had already learned? If so, he was screwed.

A subtle glance around the room showed him that not everyone was lost. Actually, since this class consisted of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, he had a feeling that he could count on one hand who was lost ... and it wasn't any of the Ravenclaws. He briefly glanced at Ron. He frowned. Even Ron didn't look confused.

He blinked stupidly as he continued to write down what the ghost was saying, but none of it was seeping through to his brain. He desperately hoped none of the other classes were this bad.

It eventually came time for double potions. When he and his classmates entered the room, they found several ingredients on all the tables. There was also a note written on the board that told everyone to stand at the back of the room.

A minute later, Snape arrived.

"Everyone take out a piece of parchment, ink, a quill, and identify each of these things. There will be no talking. The first whisper I hear will earn you a detention with Filch ... for a month!"

Harry was doing fine with identifying everything until he came across some kind of mushy brown goo. He carefully picked up the container and frowned. He had absolutely no idea what it was. 'Great,' he thought morosely, 'Snape's gonna kill me later because I missed something.'

After that was done and everyone had taken their seat, Snape began lecturing about the O.W.L.'s. By the end of class, he was a nervous wreck.

Yes, he knew these tests were important, but the way everyone was going on about them, you'd think it'd be the end of all tests ... never mind the fact that they still had to take the N.E.W.T.'s their seventh year.

At lunch, Susan came over and sat with him.

"How was your morning?"

"Don't ask," grumbled Harry.

"Just wait 'til your Transfiguration class. I thought I was going to have a stroke and it was only the first day of reviewing."

"The day isn't over yet," he pointed out sadly.

"Just thinking about all this reviewing gets me so excited," stated Hermione cheerfully as she sat down. She had stayed after class to ask Snape some questions.

"Here Hermione. Have a plate of food before we all kill you," chimed in Ron, shoving food in her direction.

Harry watched her glance around at everyone. "What's wrong with you all?" she asked.

"Don't answer that," piped in Ron as he glared at everyone - especially Dean who had been about to open his mouth. "Here Hermione, eat. We have Defense later."

Harry just shook his head and snickered at her confused look.

Severus was leaving his office to head to his quarters. Despite the fact he felt he could have passed out asleep on his feet, he knew he had things to do.

Entering his quarters, he headed to his library and began searching for a book. After finding it, he retreated to a chair in his sitting room.

An hour later had him scowling in defeat. Maybe he did need sleep. As he was on his way to his bedroom, he noticed that Harry's bedroom door wasn't fully closed.

When he wasn't there, the boy kept it shut. Wondering why he hadn't let him know he was present, he opened the door.

Inside, he found Harry asleep.

A smile unknowingly came to his lips.

Walking in the room, he carefully pulled Harry's Transfiguration book out of his hand. He then tucked the blanket more firmly around him.

Shaking his head, he turned to leave the room. However, a piece of paper on the desk caught his attention before he had even taken a step.

He picked it up and frowned. It was an Astronomy test with a 'T' marked on it. Why didn't Sinastra tell him about this? Why didn't Harry?

He scowled. He would ask the boy in the morning.

Harry blinked up at the ceiling. It took him a minute to realize where he was. He then groaned slightly as he stretched while glancing over at the clock.

When he saw it pointing to 'time to get up', he blinked again, this time in shock. It had been ages since he had slept an entire night without some type of potion.

As he was getting ready for the day, he grimaced when he thought about why he'd came down.

Well, there were actually two reasons. The first had been to escape Hermione and her O.W.L. studies. The second had been so Snape could go ahead and get the yelling over his Astronomy test done with.

When he left his room, he saw Snape sitting at the kitchen table. "Morning," he cautiously said.

"Morning, Potter. Sleep well?"

He nodded.

"Had I not noticed your door open last night, I wouldn't have known you were here. Why didn't you tell me?"

Harry shrugged. "I planned on it when you showed up, but I guess I fell asleep."

"Any particular reason you stayed down here?"

Harry bit his lip. "Figured you wanted to get the yelling done and over with as soon as you could since I failed my Astronomy test."

"And why would I yell at you?"

Harry squinted at Snape. "Uh, because you have every time I've not passed something?"

He watched as Snape smirked.

"True," the man said, "but until I checked on you last night and saw the test sitting on your desk, I had no idea you failed one."

Harry stared at Snape, disbelief clearly evident on his face. "You mean I could have avoided being yelled at this time? I thought all my teachers were reporting back to you?"

"Oh, they are, and I would have eventually found out about it, but as of this morning, Sinastra has not told me anything, yet."

Harry huffed.

"Why did you fail the test?"

With a grimace, he said, "I forgot about it until I walked in the classroom."

"You forgot?"

"Yeah."

"How did you forget?"

"I didn't have it written down anywhere."

"If it wasn't for the fact Quidditch has been canceled for the rest of the year, I'd withhold your flying privileges, as it is -"

"Wait! What do you mean for the rest of this year? I thought it was just one game!"

"It's for the rest of this year. It gives the Headmaster a chance to look for a new flying instructor, plus it will ensure your and everyone elses' safety."

"But ... but ..."

"Potter, Quidditch is not more important than your life."

"Argh. Fine. I'm going to breakfast." Harry then stormed out of Snape's quarters.

"You ran out of his room's? Harry ..."

"Look Hermione, I'm not in any mood to receive a lecture. I'll see you and Ron later. I have somewhere to be," he said as he stood up. He planned on spending his free period in the Room of Requirement. Besides, it gave him more time to hide from Snape. Since he had stormed out of the man's rooms this morning, he hadn't been punished because of his Astronomy test, at least not yet.

"But Harry, you can use your free period to study for the O.W.L.'s."

"Yeah, well, I'm not." That said, he left the Great Hall and headed to the seventh floor.

Unfortunately, Snape wouldn't let him practice with the scales while he wasn't present, which was really annoying.

Asking the room for more targets, this time Voldemort, various Death Eaters, and a few Umbridge ones (to add color in a sea of black), he began casting various spells. This served two purposes. It helped him give vent to his frustrations and it allowed him to work on his power usage.

He was getting better at controlling it, but still needed a bit of work.

The next morning's Daily Prophet held an unwelcome surprise.

Voldemort had broken open Azkaban. Again. He had freed all of the Death Eaters that had just been captured.

All day long speculative whispers ran through the classrooms and hallways.

Everyone wondered where exactly the Ministry planned on keeping the prisoners if every time someone was captured, they would just be set free again.

It was lunch time before Harry saw Susan. To his consternation, she looked like she had been crying. He immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her into the first empty room he came across.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"Susan, you look like you've been crying."

She grimaced. "Great. Hannah told me that she couldn't tell."

"Er ..."

"The prisoners released from Azkaban. My aunt told me that Dolohov was one of the ones that killed my mom and dad. He's free ... again!"

Harry had absolutely no idea what to say, so he simply pulled Susan into his arms and hugged her. He hoped it was the right thing to do because otherwise he had no idea how to deal with a crying female.

"And as if that's not bad enough, everyone keeps asking me about how I feel now that Dolohov is, once again, on the loose! I feel the same way I did the last time he was broken out of Azkaban! I feel helpless! How do you deal with everyone whispering and asking stupid questions all the time?"

Harry panicked. He had no idea what would be considered the 'right' answer.

Seamus had told him about the time him and his then girlfriend from Ravenclaw was talking about something and evidently he answered a question wrong. He was dumped on the spot plus she had slapped him across the cheek.

Knowing he could possibly end up being hit, he opted for the truth.

"After a while, you learn to ignore it. You tune out everyone but your best friends. They'll eventually leave you alone."

"But what if it's your best friend that's doing most of the asking?"

Harry flashed back to his fourth year and his fight with Ron. "It hurts but you can either hit them or ignore them."

Susan suddenly started giggling.

"What did I say?"

"Sorry. It's just that I think if I punch Hannah, she'd probably either punch me back or hex me."

"Yeah, well, I threw one of those 'Potter sucks' badges at Ron's forehead one evening. Told him that I hoped it'd give him a matching scar so he could be just like me if he wanted the attention that badly."

Susan giggled even more.

"Listen, just ignore everyone. They'll get the hint sooner or later."

She hugged him. "Thank you."

Having no idea how he helped, he just returned her hug. He was just grateful she didn't slap him.

A/N: Yikes! I had no idea how short this chapter was, and this is AFTER I added two sections to it! *accepts the flogging* The next chapter, which I just finished typing, is a lot longer than this one.

And the teenage moodiness begins to rear it's ugly head. For the most part, Harry's been able to control it, or at the very least, it's not been at the front of his mind since he's been busy doing other things, but ... well ... let's just say that it's not the first time the moodiness appears. *smirks*

I fiddled with the Susan bit for a while. Figured I'd also play around some more with Harry's inadequacies around girls. Remember, right now, he's still dealing with Voldemort and his merry band of Death Eaters to fully develop his err... hormones. My brother told me that a boy can still stumble through something blindly and still inadvertantly look sweet in the process. Thus, the comment about the fact she'd been crying, yet his honest reply to her question. He told me I done a good job in that scene. I hope so. So if it's wrong, blame him. *nods sagely*

Next update should be out in about a week or so.

I wanna thank everyone for the reviews and the likes and favoriting of the story. I may not get to reply to them all, but I promise I do read them and they really do encourage me. :)