Disclaimer: I own nothing.. literally :/

A/N: Can NOT believe I've writiten something K rated o.O

Albus sat back in his chair exhausted. One month Harry Potter had been missing, since a week after he'd told him the truth of the prophesy, right after the boy lost his Godfather. The only upside of the situation was that so far, they knew he hadn't been taken by Tom Riddle or his followers. The boy had planned it all for a day Mundungus Fletcher was on duty. He'd given the guard a bottle of whisky laced with sleeping drought. The goblins told his Potter had been to London to make a large withdrawal from his Gringots account within an hour of Fletchers shift starting. As far as Albus knew, the boy was out of Europe before the next Order member had come on guard duty seven hours later to find Fletcher passed out in the bushes and the boy missing.

The headmaster had, of course, known the boy had his Slytherin traits, the hat had wanted to put him there after all. But he then pulled the Gryffindor sword from that had. Albus had assumed that meant his Gryffindor traits outweighed those of his Slytherin. That he must have valued his bravery and need to protect those he loved above his cunning and self-preservation. Albus had assumed that upon hearing the prophecy, Harry Potter would be ready to put his life on the line to do what was right. The old man have never been more sorrowed to have been wrong. Harry Potter was gone, he'd turned tail and run, abandoning the wizarding world to its own fate. Of course Albus didn't want the boy to die for the cause but there was no other way, not to mention that the boy hadn't even known this when he took off.

Order members had been working non-stop scouring all or Europe searching for the boy. He had contacts in the America's, Africa, Asia and even the islands of Oceania, all keeping an eye out for the boy, but he seemed to have vanished off the face of the planet. He now had to pull back the search, the Order members had become exhausted and needed to focus on other war efforts. While the search would continue for the boy, it was now to be taken in shifts and would no longer be of top priority. If the boy was going to put his own life before every member of the European wizarding world, then Albus would not waste more time than necessary trying to prolong it.

Minerva refrained from shaking Albus, clearly not paying attention to the post New Years staff meeting. She understood that he had other things on his mind, what with the wizarding war and the still missing Potter boy. But appearances needed to be up kept, as headmaster, the man still had a school to run.

Minerva was pulled from her thought by a comment from Professor Babbling, the Ancient Runes Professor.

"I'm sorry, what was that Bathsheda?"

"I was just saying it's a shame I can't even claim credit, the child never took my class did he. I'd been quite looking forward to it too after teaching his parents. Of course James was always a trouble maker in class, I'm sure he only joined to pester Lily some more, but he always got the grades. And of course we all know what Lily was like, it seems he take after her more than we thought."

"I'm sorry Bathsheda, but what are you talking about?"

The Professor gave an exhasperated sign as several more around the table shook their heads, clearly Minerva wasn't the only who had noticed the Headmasters absence from the meeting.

"The Potter boy Albus. As I was saying, he seems to be taking after his Mother more than I'd have thought given his prior school grades. He never even took Ancient Runes yet, I say, he has certainly impressed me."

"And he has done this how?" Albus certainly seemed interested in the meeting now that it had crossed over to what was deemed Order business. Bathsheda rolled her eyes and started from the beginning, talking to the Headmaster as she would a slow child.

"Over the Christmas break I was talking to Marie Mathurst. She works at the British ministry marking Ancient Runes exams for the OWL's and NEWT exams among other things. She was talking about some of the mid-year exams she had to mark before her Christmas leave when she asked me what Potter was like as a student. So I tell her, I never taught him, he didn't pick up the class in his third year, as you know." Bathsheda paused here, waiting for Albus to nod to ensure he was still listening.

"I tell you she seems mighty impressed by this, she'd just marked his Ancient Runes NEWT you see." Any other day dreaming Professors now gave Bathsheda their full attention as she continued her story. "She told me, she was sure she hadn't seen his OWL over the summer but was sure she must have been mistaken. For him to have done so well without even sitting an OWL in the subject has to be unheard of and to sit in three months into what would have been his sixth year? As I was saying, Lily Evans son he is."

"Did she say what grade he achieved?" Minerva asked wide eyed.

"An Outstanding! Students I teach the topic for five years rarely achieve an Outstanding NEWT and the boy gets it almost two years early without even taking the class. I tell you, it's certainly a blow to my teachers' ego."

"Are we sure Potter sat the exam himself, it wasn't someone else in disguise?" Severus asked from across the table disbelieving. "Why would the boy drop out of school and supposedly leave the country only to return to sit a NEWT exam in a class he's never even sat?"

"You know what those ministry exam rooms are like Severus. They're all charmed to detect any glamours and other disguises. And, all NEWT exams are three hours long so polyjuice is out of the question." Minerva cut Severus off before he could even make the suggestion.

"Perhaps-"

"Bathsheda-" Albus cut him off before an argument ensued. "Did she mention any other results? Is it only Ancient Runes he's been to the ministry to sit a NEWT for?"

"Marie only marks Ancient Runes Albus. Surely you could check the boys school records?"

"Yes, of course. Meeting adjourned. Minerva, Severus and Rubeus, follow me to my office."

With that Albus stood abruptly, leaving the room, the three Professors hurrying after him.

Minerva entered the Headmasters office to find him with one of his many on his desk in front of him and a frown on his brow. Minerva conjured three chairs, one larger for Hagrid and sat, awaiting for the Headmaster to acknowledge their presence. After several minutes, during which the Headmaster had consulted a second tomb and Severus paced behind the offered chair, Albus finally sat back and looked to the three Professors with a small smile on his face.

"Four NEWTs. He's sat one every month since the school year started. Defence Against the Dark Arts in September, Transfiguration in October, Charms in November and Ancient Runes in December. It would appear the boy has no abandoned the wizarding world as I had feared. Severus stopped his pacing and Hagrid chuckled next to Minerva.

"What were his grades Albus?"

Albus turned the first tomb to Minerva before sitting back and joining Hagrid in chuckling.

"I do believe, the boy has set the new mark record for the Defence Against the Dark Arts NEWT. He even managed to outdo his Father in Transfiguration and Mother in Charms. Both of which had the top in their year."

Minerva's eyes widened seeing the four Outstanding NEWT grades on the boys record and was certain she heard a gasp hidden in Severus cough as he read over her shoulder.

"I gotta say I'm mighty proud-" Hagrid's voice boomed. "-I'd worried about the lad, I'd thought he wouldn't be getting the grades like his parents got, what with him holding back in his classes."

"What do you mean holding back in classes? Of course he could have put more effort into his homework but you're surely not suggesting he intentionally made subpar effort in classes." Minerva inquired. Hagrid appeared to become uncomfortable at this, obviously having thought what he was saying was common knowledge among the Professors.

"Go on Hagrid." Albus pressed.

"Well, as you know, the lad and I spent a good few hours getting his supplies before his first year. We got to chatting as you do. I asked him how he liked muggle school, what subjects he liked. Except he's say things like 'I used to like Maths' and 'PE was fun for a bit' So I ask him, why just used to, why don't he like them anymore? Them Dursleys would punished him. Any time he got a better grade than that buffoon of a cousin of his he'd be locked in his cupboard without food for a week. So of course the lad learned to dumb it down, flunked his tests where ever he could. Of course them ruddy Dursleys still found other reasons to punish him. You all saw how small the boy was when he started here, how gaunt he is after every summer."

"The cupboard stories, they're true? Those muggles really kept him in a cupboard?" Minerva asked close to tears. She had of course heard the stories like everyone else in the school. But like all the Professors, she'd assumed they were nothing but vicious rumours spread by the boys Slytherin class mates.

"Aye. Course they moved him to a room when the letters started arriving, probably thought we were watching them then. And then he still couldn't get good grades here either could he? Ten years his brute of a cousin made sure he never had a friend, he's not going to lose the first ones he makes for something like grades, so long as he's passing, it'll do."

Once he had started Hagrid didn't seem capable of stopping. Five year of frustration at the boys situation.

"Hermione she truly is a lovely lass, but can you imagine her being so embracing of young Harry if he were outdoing her in every class. The amount of times I've seen it in his eyes during my classes. He's got the answer, he knows it, but he never raised his hand, even time Hermione didn't. I'd see him look to her, getting frustrated when she didn't know the answer to say to the class when he did. Then of course there was Ron. Great lad of course but mighty jealous. Harrys fame on its own put enough strain on their friendship. Then you, Minerva, went and put him on the quidditch team as a first year, something virtually unheard of, new Nimbus and everything. If it hadn't been for the way it happened, him defending Longbottom the way he was, I don't think the boy's friendship would have made it through. No, there was never any way he was going to put in his full effort to classes, couldn't do too much better than Ron and for the love of Merlin he could not do better than Hermione."

"So he sabotaged his own grades to keep his friends happy. Answering questions wrong when called upon despite knowing the right answer." It wasn't a question as Severus finally took his seat. "I used to think there was something off about his potions work. He'd write down a wrong answer to something he'd already showed an understanding through his brewing. Or he'd botch up a potion doing things which, he'd clearly stated in prior essays, shouldn't be done. I'd thought he was just being thoughtless, but his mistakes were always safe enough. Now that I think on it, it's like he planned ahead the safest way to fail the class without causing injury to himself or others. The few potions he brewed to perfection were highly volatile. He probably hadn't felt comfortable safely sabotaging them. When did you become so insightful?" Hagrid blushed at the end comment looking down at his hands.

"Like I said, I saw him doing it in my class in third year. So I asked him about it and he told me. Course he begged me to keep it to myself, didn't want to lose his friends you see. But it was so obvious in my class, you only have to look. I'd thought the other Professors must have seen it too."

Minerva shook her head, she should have seen it, the son of two highly intelligence people obviously could have been doing much better in her class. The boy could produce a corporal patronus at thirteen for Merlin's sake. Of course Transfiguration was an entirely different subject but for the boy to be losing marks for things such as wand movement and loss of concentration? With such skill, those surely came naturally. As Hagrid had said, it was completely obvious, you only had to look. Minerva couldn't help but feel that she had failed her student both as his teacher and head of house, she'd just put it down to laziness. Who would have thought he was actually putting in an effort to fail.

She looked to her side and saw Severus clearly lost in similar thoughts. All humour was now gone from the Headmasters face as he contemplated Hagrids words, whether his concern was with Harry's self-sabotage or the apparent legitimacy of the cupboard stories, she didn't know. Minerva couldn't stand the tension but knew there was still more to discuss.

"He'll be sitting another NEWT this month won't he? If he's sat one every month since the school year began he must be planning on sitting another before January is out."

"Of course. There is a chance we could make contact with the boy on his way in or out of the exam. I'll call an emergency meeting with the Order and have guards stationed near the ministry exam rooms by the end of the day."

The Order was assembled in the kitchen of Grimmauld place within the hour. The Order members seemed to be just as shocked by the boy's academic success as Minerva herself had been. All but Remus Lupin. Of course Minerva shouldn't have been surprised that Remus was the only other teacher to have picked up on Harry Potter's deceit. He'd spent seven years in a dorm room with James Potter and Sirius Black after all, detecting deceit had likely been essential to living through the night in that room. And of course he was the professor who helped the boy with learning the patronus charm.

When Minerva had questioned Remus after the meeting he'd told her he'd realised what Harry was doing by the end of the first week teaching his class. Apparently he would get the same look on his face which Lily used to get when she knew an answer but the teacher didn't pick her to answer. Or when someone got what he must have considered an 'easy' answer wrong, he'd give them the look of disapproval Lily would often give the Marauders. McGonagall immediately recognised the look Remus had described, having seen it on both the Mother's and Son's faces during her teaching career.

The whole thing really started, however, when Remus had been running late for a patronus lesson one day. He'd entered the classroom to see Harry practicing OWL level transfiguration before he realised he was being watched. Remus had persuaded Harry into showing him the true extent of his skills, helped along with a threat of telling Minerva that perhaps he needed moving up a year or two in Transfiguration classes.

Minerva couldn't believe what the man was telling her, Potter likely could have sat his OWL exams in third year and passed with straight O's. Apparently when he'd gone shopping for school supplies with Hagrid before first year he'd brought the seven years' worth of books and had would spend his entire summer holidays and any free moment at school to study them. He hadn't been studying to get ahead, but because of his complete fascination at the topics he just couldn't put the books down. In third year Remus had suggested to the boy that he pick up a couple of extra classes only to find the boy was already studying Arithmacy and Ancient Runes independently from more books he'd picked up. The ever dedicated teacher, Remus had of course helped him in any way possible, finding more advanced books where he could, even setting the boy his own homework which he'd marked for him with feedback. Most weekends for the next two years, Remus and Sirius both had come to the school to see Harry, and in abandoned classrooms they'd work on his spell work and duelling.

Of course the pair had often tried to convince Harry to tell his friends, to get the grades he so easily could in class, to get the recognition he deserved for his hard work. But childhood insecurities had always come back around. He was too scared to lose his friends out of their jealousy. He was afraid to be 'the freak' at school any more than he already was if he got put ahead a couple of years as he should have been. He got more than enough unwanted attention as the boy who lived and really didn't anymore. He was also afraid of people accusing him of being a cheat to suddenly come out with such good grades. He couldn't stand the thought of all his hard work being dismissed in such a way. And hadn't that been Severus' immediate accusation when Bathsheda had told them about his Ancient Runes NEWT, and as ashamed as she was by it, she had thought the same.

Hearing all of this Minerva frankly wasn't surprised that he was already sitting his NEWTs now. He obviously had the skills with the O's he was achieving. Coupled with the fact that he'd likely been under the impression that people wouldn't be finding out about them, namely Granger and the youngest male Weasley. Given James Potters achievement with his own transfiguration skills, Minerva had, had to ask Remus if the younger Potter had done the same. Remus had laughed at the question, telling her with a wink that sometimes it's best to just not know, but with Sirius partaking in his advanced education, what did she think the answer was? Minerva thought Sirius would likely have been determined to have the boy completing an animagus transformation before his fifth year. Enjoying the challenge of helping the boy to beat the marauders own achievement. An achievement which she had knowingly turned a blind eye to. If she had 'accidently' left out the appropriate text book references, that had been for safety purposes, of course, it had nothing to do with her teacher pride.

When Albus returned to his office later that evening he felt lighter than he had in months. Harry Potter had not abandoned the wizarding world. He'd be willing to bet every lemon drop on the planet that the only reason Harry had disappeared was so that he could properly prepare himself to face the prophecy. Being in the school system, having to worry about his every mood in a political light, had obviously been holding him back. He had overheard the conversation between Minerva and the werewolf back at headquarters. He still couldn't help, however, the need to have the boy back in sight. So long as he was out there on his own there was always a chance that he would be caught by Tom and his Death Eaters. That was not a risk he was willing to take. He need the boy at Hogwarts and under his control.

Bringing back down the tomb of student grades for the 1990's and flipping back to Harry Potter's page he couldn't help but laugh at the boy's cunning. For he was certain it was cunning and not simple luck as he had always previously associated with the newly found intelligent boy. Right there between his O grades in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration, the book had automatically updated to have an unmarked Potions grade NEWT. Likely at the same time as the Order had been meeting to discuss how best to catch the boy on his way to his next exam, the boy had been sitting it this very morning.

While this newly revealed Intelligence and Cunning was no doubt going to cause many issues to Albus' efforts to get the boy back under his control, he could only hope that it would present the same issues to Tom. Despite Harry Potter being sorted into Gryffindor, Albus now knew for sure, he was a Slytherin, through and through. More sure even, than when Albus thought he had doomed all others to save his own life. While many of the more famous Slytherins were known to care of nothing but self-preservation, Albus knew from experience that the true Slytherins didn't run and hide, they just found truly cunning and misleading ways of solving their problems. Tom Riddle wasn't going to know what hit him.

A/N: I plan on continuing this fic until the end of the war which ever way I have it turn out. It won't be dreadfully long, probably just a few more similarly long chapters, five MAX.

You may be able to get some spoilers if you're that way inclined from my cover image, a picture of some of my original notes for this story, so long as you can decipher my scribble of course ;)