Hi everyone! This is kind of a filler chapter, but I hope you enjoy it! Next chapter will be more exciting, so stay tuned. And don't forget to review!

Chapter 12: Studying

It was several days before Harry was sufficiently recovered from his injuries. He tried to go back to his normal activities the day immediately following the attack, but Remus caught him in the morning as he tried to leave to do his usual exercises. Needless to say, Remus sent him straight back to bed and forbade Harry to do anything more strenuous than walk from his bedroom to the sitting room or kitchen. Pouting, Harry sat himself down in the sitting room with his textbooks strewn about him while Tonks smirked from her spot on the chair nearby.

That was more or less how he passed the following four days. On the plus side, he made quite a lot of progress in his studies. He was nearing the end of his fifth year Runes textbook and was remarkably competent in the material. Harry was fairly confident that when the time came, he could easily pass the Runes OWL exam. He was also nearly halfway through the DADA curriculum for sixth year and had gotten a head start on the sixth year material in Transfiguration and Charms as well. Arithmancy was coming along a little more slowly, but Harry was making good progress and was nearly done with the fifth year material.

On the downside, Remus was more protective than ever. Since the attack he'd gone to another meeting for the Order of the Phoenix, and it made him even more paranoid to know what was going on everywhere else. Because of that, it was becoming difficult for Harry to hide his studies for his animagus transformation, and he was growing nervous about revealing it to him when the time came.

Tonks, on the other hand, was pushing Harry harder than ever, though she maintained her cheery demeanor. She even began teaching Harry to apparate even though he wouldn't ordinarily receive lessons until partway into his sixth year. Given the fact that Harry wasn't even sixteen yet, those lessons weren't entirely legal. However, instead of reprimanding them when he found out, Remus encouraged it. He insisted things would have been different had Harry known how to apparate, that Harry wouldn't have been injured. Harry didn't care for Remus's newfound overprotective tendencies, but he was excited to learn apparition so he let it go for the time being.

Harry's first lesson took place the day after Tonks declared him fully recovered (Remus would have preferred him to rest another day or two, even though all Harry's injuries had healed). Tonks brought Harry out to the yard behind the cottage and had set up a few hoops in the grass. Remus stood by, ready to intervene should something go wrong.

"Okay. Apparition is the most common form of transportation for wizards, closely followed by Floo travel. Basically, apparition is what muggles would call teleportation—near-instantaneous travel from one place to another. So long as there aren't wards in place to prevent it, that is. However, it's difficult to get the hang of and incredibly uncomfortable," Tonks said, grimacing slightly. "It is also very dangerous to get wrong. I can almost guarantee you'll splinch yourself at least once while learning how."

"What's splinching?" Harry asked. It didn't sound pleasant in the slightest.

Tonks grinned. "It's leaving part of yourself behind. It's what happens when you're not properly focused on your destination. It's completely reversible, though it's painful, and luckily Remus and I know how to fix it. So don't worry if you leave a leg or an arm behind—It's not permanent."

Harry looked unsure. "I guess I should make sure I'm focused, then," he said.

"Enthusiasm! Good. We'll make progress then," Tonks exclaimed. "Now, the process is actually relatively simple. You have be focused very firmly on your destination, where you want to go. Right now, that's the inside of the hoop closest to you. You have to will yourself into that hoop. It's your one and only desire right now," Tonks said seriously, though she was grinning.

"Then, you have to summon your magic to make that wish come true. It's actually similar to accidental magic," she added thoughtfully. "You make your magic do what you want it to. Anyway. To do it, when you're completely focused on your destination and you feel ready, you basically just step into a quarter-turn. If you did it right, you'll end up inside the hoop. If you didn't, you either don't move, or only half of you makes it there," she added with a wicked glint in her eye.

Harry eyed her and the hoop six feet in front of him. "You want me to mess up, don't you?" he asked rhetorically. Tonks's answer was a widening grin.

"Don't worry about it, cub. She's right, but she's making it sound much more difficult than it really is," Remus said with a smile. "Pretend she's not there," he suggested, grinning when Tonks glared at him.

Harry nodded. He knew it ought to work, as he'd experienced apparation several times before, but he was doubtful in his own ability. The inside of the hoop didn't look all that interesting. But, he supposed he'd have to build up to it. So, Harry studied the inside of the hoop until he could picture it in his mind and closed his eyes. He imagined the inside of the hoop, willing himself to appear there. When he thought he was ready, he turned sideways…

And promptly tripped over his own feet, landing hard on his bum in the grass. Tonks burst into laughter. Harry muttered to himself, aimed his wand at her, and sent a silent tripping jinx at her left shoe. She dropped to the ground, confused and annoyed. Thankfully, though, she didn't retaliate. The grass was wet from the rain the night before. Harry picked himself up, pleased his revenge had gone off without a hitch, as did Tonks.

"Not too bad for a first try," Remus said from the sideline. "James tripped and landed facedown at Lily's feet. Broke his glasses, too," he added, chuckling. Harry smiled, glad for another glimpse into his father's life.

"He's right," Tonks said grudgingly. "It wasn't all that bad. Give it another go."

Harry did, and ended up on the ground again. And so it went. They practiced for an hour, but Harry's only progress was when he got frustrated and tried to jump to the hoop. Predictably, he missed, slipped, and twisted his ankle on the damp grass. Though, his last few tries he thought he'd felt something, a tingling of some sort.

"That's good. It means you're getting closer," Remus said when Harry mentioned it. "It will probably take a few more lessons before you manage it, though, so don't get discouraged."

Harry smiled. "Thanks, Moony."

The rest of the day passed in study. In the evening, as Harry finished the last problem in his Runes book, he began to wonder when his OWL results would come. He was nearly ready to take the tests for Runes and Arithmancy, but he couldn't help but start to wonder how he'd done on the other examinations.

"They usually sent them out about a month after the end of term," Tonks said with a shrug. She was finishing up some paperwork for the Ministry in the front room while Harry studied. "It's been at least that long, so they should be coming soon."

"Good," Harry answered, and went back to his animagus studies. He was getting so close, but he just couldn't manage to transform his head, and the tail never appeared either. He could transform each limb individually, though not together, and the same was true for his torso. Tonks was nearly done with hers as well. Harry was hesitant to make any physical changes at the moment, when Remus could walk in at any time and know immediately what Harry was trying to do. So, he was studying the anatomy and practicing some simple wandless spells. He figured that, since the animagus transformation was wandless magic, with practice casting wandlessly the transformation ought to come easier. But Harry was unable to make much progress that evening, so after his daily Occlumency exercises, he retired to bed.

The day following Harry greatly enjoyed being able to run without any pain. His body welcomed the exercise after four days of resting. Tonks even joined him and challenged him to a race. Harry won by a very small margin, but it put him in a good mood for the rest of the day to have finally beaten the young auror at something.

After he'd showered and dressed, Harry went to the kitchen where Remus had already prepared breakfast. With a smile and a thank-you, Harry sat down to scrambled eggs and sausage. He had only eaten a few bites when an owl appeared in the distance but approaching fast. Harry caught his breath—was this his OWL results? The owl didn't look familiar. He hurriedly opened the kitchen window and held his breath when the owl fluttered in and landed on the counter, extending its leg. Tied to it was a very official-looking envelope and Harry's mouth went dry.

"Well, cub? Aren't you going to take it?" Remus asked with some amusement. Harry couldn't answer, and it was only when Tonks entered, saw the owl, and commented that he finally moved.

"Is that your OWL results? You'd better take it before the owl flies away again with the letter still attached," she teased.

Harry nodded and swallowed, and with shaking fingers he untied the letter. The owl gave a hoot of annoyance before taking off again. Harry turned the letter over, noting that the message only had his name on it. Apparently the goblin wards Harry had commissioned around the cottage were doing their job. Owls could find him, but the wards disabled any tracking spells and repelled anything that was anything more than an innocent sheet of parchment.

"Well, go on. Open it. Maybe you can beat me at OWLs, too," Tonks said with a grin.

Hands still shaking, Harry broke the seal and unfolded the parchment. He had to read it through four times before he registered what he was seeing and a smile broke out across his face. "I did it!" Harry said happily.

"Let me see!" Tonks insisted, and Harry kept the parchment out of her reach, enjoying her protests, before finally handing it over. Unfolding it, she read aloud:

OWL Results

Harry James Potter has achieved:

Astronomy A

Care of Magical Creatures E

Charms E

Defense Against the Dark Arts O

Divination P

Herbology E

History of Magic D

Potions E

Transfiguration E

"Well done, cub," Remus said with a smile. "Seven OWLs. And you even passed Astronomy. I deliberately didn't try very hard—I hated looking at the moon," he added. "And the exam itself was just two days before the full moon. So you can imagine how unpleasant that was."

Harry smiled understandingly—he'd noticed, now more than before, that the week leading up to the full moon was difficult for the older man.

Tonks was studying the list silently, a frown beginning to form. Finally it turned into a pout. "Damn it. You did beat me. I didn't get a single O and I only got half as many E's as you. Granted, I took different and more difficult subjects, but still." She frowned again and handed Harry back his results.

"What about Potions, though? Did Snape let you in with a lower grade?" Harry asked, realizing sadly that he wouldn't be able to formally continue Potions with only an E.

Tonks smiled a little and shook her head. "Nope. He was just as stingy then as he is now. I did self-study with the help of a few friends who did get into his class and took the NEWT on my own. That didn't stop Mad-Eye from giving me remedial potions once I got into auror training, though," she added with a grimace.

"Probably because you nearly blew up the auror potions lab the first or second time you were there," Remus said mildly. Tonks sputtered.

"How did you know that?"

Remus smiled, clearly amused. "You'd be surprised how much Moody likes to complain about you," he replied. Tonks huffed and sat down at the table at Harry's nearly-untouched plate and started to eat. Harry protested when he noticed, but Tonks just smirked at him and Remus handed him a new plate with an indulgent smile. "I swear, the two of you act just like siblings," he muttered to himself, sitting down at his own place to join them in the meal.

Tonks and Harry exchanged a look and a grin. The feeling was mutual. The rest of breakfast passed in playful banter and easy conversation. Harry and Tonks helped with the clean-up, and just as they were putting away the last few dishes, another owl flew through the window. Harry recognized it as Pig, Ron's owl. The excitable little bird fluttered around the kitchen, knocking a few things out of place, before it finally landed on Harry's head and started preening his hair.

Grumbling, Harry grabbled the tennis-ball-sized bird and pulled it out of his hair while Tonks laughed hysterically. The owl was carrying three letters, all of them bigger than itself, and Harry shook his head. He took the letters, then, as revenge on Tonks for laughing at him, he tossed the owl towards her head, where Pig happily made a perch in her spiky pink hair. Harry fled before she could retaliate.

Once Harry was safely in his room, a number of different locking spells on his door including one he'd created himself, he set the envelopes on his desk. Unsurprisingly, two were from Ron and Hermione respectively, most likely about OWL results. The other, surprisingly, was from Ginny. He hadn't heard back from her since the last letter he'd sent about two weeks ago. He set it aside for later, knowing Hermione at least would want an answer as soon as possible. He opened Ron's letter first.

Harry, it read,

We got our OWL results this morning. How'd you do, mate? I got a mix of E's and A's, but failed Trelawney's and Binns's classes. But who cares about them? I even got an E in DADA! I reckon it's all thanks to you, mate, and the DA. Answer back quick; Hermione's going mental here! And come visit, mate. It's dead boring here with only Mum, Dad, Hermione, and Ginny here!

See you soon,

Ron

Harry smiled. It was typical of Ron, to barely mention the grades and then complain. He was glad his friend had done so well, though. Seven OWLs, like Harry. He set Ron's note aside to answer later and picked up Hermione's, bracing himself for a rehash of all the exams and a rant about how she failed because she didn't get straight O's in every subject.

Harry, she began,

Have you got your OWL results yet? They came in this morning. I was so nervous, I was sure I'd failed everything! I knew I'd messed up Ancient Runes, I definitely made at least one serious mistranslation. The Defense Against the Dark Arts practical went terribly. I thought I'd done all right on Transfiguration, but looking back I was sure I messed up something. I knew I 'd messed up Charms…

Harry shook his head and skipped Hermione's page-long rant on everything she messed up and went straight to where she reported her grades—halfway down the second page.

I only got nine OWLs. I only barely managed an E in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ron thinks I'm mental for being disappointed, but what if I needed to know something that I missed? Especially Defense. What a class to fail, when we're in the middle of a war! Oh, I do hope I do all right in the NEWT classes. Term starts again in a month, you know.

Please come and visit, Harry. Ron is driving me mad, though Ginny's all right. I can tell everyone misses you, though. I'm sure there's a good reason you're staying hidden, but it couldn't hurt to come to the Burrow for a few days, could it? Do be careful, Harry.

Your friend,

Hermione

Harry smiled indulgently. The letter was everything he'd expected, and he was pleased they both wanted him to come visit. He'd have to work something out. Maybe around his birthday in two weeks. He set her letter aside and pulled a blank piece of parchment toward him. He heard Tonks banging on his door and an occasional squawk of protest from Pig, but he just cast a silencing charm at it and ignored them.

Ron and Hermione,

That's great that you both did well on your OWLs. Great job, Ron, on your passes. I got my results today, too. Seven OWLs, and failed those same classes. But it was inevitable, right, considering I did collapse halfway through the History of Magic exam? And Divination is useless. I did get an O in Defense, though. Sorry, guys, but I can't help but brag a little. Hermione, Ron is right—you are mental for being disappointed with nine OWLs. You'll be fine. You're still the smartest witch of your age. Though, I might try to beat you out for smartest wizard. I've been studying Ancient Runes and Arithmancy this summer and I'm almost ready to take the OWLs for both of them. Maybe I'll beat you.

Sorry I haven't been able to visit yet this summer. I've been really busy. But I will try to come 'round in a week or two—nothing beats your mum's birthday cakes, Ron. And my birthday is coming up…

Hoping to see you soon. Don't kill each other, all right? Or I'll tell Ginny to keep you both in line! You know how good she is with a wand now since the DA.

Until later,

Harry

Harry scanned the letter and decided it was good enough. He folded it up, half-tempted to seal it with the Potter house ring just to shake them up a bit, but decided to keep that a secret for as long as possible. Instead, he read Ginny's letter. It was fuller than Ron's, though not nearly as long as Hermione's.

She briefly mentioned OWLs and how her brother and Hermione had reacted when the official owls actually arrived. Her description of Hermione's panic made Harry laugh. Then she answered a few of Harry's comments from his last letter and gave an update on the state of affairs in the Weasley household. Apparently Bill and his girlfriend had come to stay with them, something the other two had apparently forgotten to mention in the excitement of their OWL results. She ended with a request for a visit, as everyone was driving her mental.

Harry smiled and wrote a reply, sealing it up. Then he called Hedwig, who was perched on top of his dresser resting, to take Ron and Hermione's letter. She nipped his ear playfully as he secured the envelope. He had her wait until he sent off Pig as well, though. Then Harry removed his silencing charm from his door, to hear continued quiet. He deactivated his locking spells, opening the door slightly, and stuck his wand through the crack.

"Accio Pigwidgeon," he whispered. The little owl came zooming around the corner. Harry caught him and immediately closed the door again, hearing Tonks coming down the hall. He'd face her after his letters were sent. The owl appeared unharmed, so Harry tied Ginny's letter to his leg.

"Keep an eye on this one, all right, Hedwig?" Harry said to his owl. She hooted in agreement and gave the other owl, who was zipping around the room waiting to be sent out, a disapproving look. "To the Burrow. Safe journey, girl," he said. She nipped his fingertip affectionately and shuffled Pig out the window before taking off after him.

"Harrison James Potter, open this door immediately!" Tonks's voice came from the other side. Harry grimaced.

"You do know that's not my real name, right?" he called back, readying his wand. He knew he could escape out the window, but it was better to get it over with.

"It is now! Open the door so I can curse you into next year for what that bird did to my hair!"

Harry couldn't help but chuckle, but the tone of the auror's voice told him he would be unwise to delay it any longer—another moment or two and she might just blast the door down. So, he cast a shield charm and tossed a lit smoke bomb he'd found at Fred and George's shop toward the door. When the smoke was thick, he spelled the door open and dodged around Tonks, hurrying out to the yard. He was just in time, too, because as soon as the door opened she released a stream of hexes and jinxes he was glad he avoided. The colored smoke confused her momentarily, but she recovered quickly and chased Harry out to the garden. There a full-out duel ensued.