The day of the practice potions OWL dawned chilly and gray. Normally Harry wouldn’t attend Potions class and would be out with Master Eadmond and Issac or Master Hunter and Mairi, but this was one day he couldn’t miss.

Ron grumbled the entire morning about having to go and sit an OWL early, especially because his effort wouldn’t count towards anything.

“It will though Ronald,” Hermione said in an exasperated tone. “This will show you what you have down and what you still need to study.”

“I have to study all of it,” Ron said. “I don’t have any of it down.”

Harry smirked at both of them as they made their way down to the dungeons. Others were also complaining as they made their way to class, including some of the Slytherins. Despite that it wasn’t the real potions OWL, there was a buzz of nervousness in the corridor and then in the classroom as they filtered in and took their seats.

“Harry, here,” Snape said, pointing to a student desk that had been set up front near the teacher’s desk.

“Why do you have to sit up there?” Ron asked Harry as they separated and went to different parts of the classroom.

“Having Potter up front ensures no one will accidentally see his test and copy from it,” Snape said, not looking up at Ron. Ron shot him a dirty look and took his seat, Harry’s usual seat empty beside him.

Once everyone was seated, Snape gave instructions to answer questions they knew and skip questions they didn’t know the answer to, and not to guess, and then passed out the tests. Harry picked up his thick packet of papers and as soon as the timer started, set to work answering everything he thought he knew for certain.

He flew through twenty questions about the 12 classes of healing potions, a full page about preparing and storing potions ingredients, and page upon page of questions about various ingredients and their properties. There were several essay questions he raced to answer, not sure he’d have time to get through the entire test in the hour and a half they’d been allotted. He felt bad for Ron and anyone else who had yet to study for their Potions OWL, because even Harry was finding some of the questions difficult.

There were at least 20 questions he hadn’t studied for at all, and his mind scrambled to find an appropriate answer given what he knew. He knew Master Snape didn’t want them to guess, but he was also under a lot of pressure to get as high of a score on the practice test as possible. If he didn’t get a high enough score, Master Snape might not let him go work with other apprentices during potions class anymore.

It wasn’t until he glanced up at the clock and realized he only had 10 minutes left but several pages to get through when he flipped a page and realized that he wasn’t taking a standard OWL practice test. He couldn’t be, because he was staring down at a page of questions on laws regarding potions use, storage, transportation and sale. Snape had beefed Harry’s test up with questions from his apprentice books.

He glanced at the clock again. Only nine minutes left. His pencil started circling answers again. He didn’t think he’d got all of the apprentice questions about law right, or about classes of potions on the last two pages, but he finished with one minute to spare, and slapped his pencil down on top of his completed test. He noted that at least half of the class was still struggling through their practice test when the timer ran out.

“Ensure your name is on your test. If I do not have a test with your name on it when I grade it, you will be taking the practice exam again,” Snape said. Goyle and Parvati scrambled to put their names on their tests as the class handed their tests in.

When Harry handed his in as his classmates were heading out the door for lunch, he said, “Mine wasn’t the practice OWL was it?”

“It was.”

“But it was more than that.”

“You appear to have finished it within the allotted time in any case.”

“Will I still be able to go work with Mairi and Isaac even if I didn’t do well on the apprentice questions?”

“We shall see. Return to my office after dinner and I will have your test graded for you.”

“Yes sir.”

Snape didn’t go to lunch, and Harry wondered if he’d skip dinner too to grade the practice OWLs.

“Well?” Hermione asked Ron as Harry made it into the hallway so they could walk to lunch together.

“Well what?”

“How did you do?”

Ron shrugged. “Who cares?”

“Ronald,” Hermione sounded affronted.

“Look, I’m going to study how and when I feel like studying, and no one’s going to pressure me into it.”

Hermione heaved a sigh but didn’t argue with him about it any more.

Later that evening when Harry went to Snape’s office to collect his test results, he was surprised when Snape handed him two stacks of graded tests, one that belonged to the Gryffindors, and one that belonged to the Slytherins.

“When you leave, take these to the Slytherin and Gryffindor common rooms. I would suggest giving the Slytherin tests to Draco or Pansy so they can hand them out. Inform them as well as the Gryffindors that there will be a review in class on Wednesday, and that all students should study and come prepared to answer questions on the test that they got wrong.”

“Er… do I just knock on the wall that leads into the Slytherin common room?”

“You have the password, do you not?”

“I do-” Harry really didn’t think the Slytherins would appreciate him barging into their common room, even on an errand from a professor.

“You are a Prefect now. So long as you do not step more than a few feet beyond the entrance to the common room, you will be fine, especially as you are on an errand. Now,” Snape held up Harry’s thick test packet and said, “You passed your OWL practice exam. You missed three questions, which I will expect you to have the answers to memorized by tomorrow morning. As for the Apprentice portion of the exam, you missed 7 out of 40 questions. I will expect you to have the answers of those missed questions memorized by the end of the week.”

Harry thought that missing only 10 out of hundreds of questions was pretty good. “So I can still go work with other apprentices?”

“You may, however, it will no longer be something you do three times a week.” When Harry’s shoulders fell, Severus said, “You are not in trouble Potter. Mairi’s uncle will be taking her out of the country for the next few weeks, and I need you in class more often.”

“Yes sir.”

“Be in class Wednesday.”

“Yes sir. Thanks. I’ll just go… deliver these.”

Harry backed out of the office. He paused in the hallway and put the Gryffindor stack of tests in his backpack along with his own, and then carried the Slytherin fifth year tests down the hall and around the corner to the Slytherin common room. He really didn’t want to do this. The last thing he needed was to start something up with Draco, or have someone complain to Umbridge about him.

“Quidditch cup,” Harry said aloud to the bare patch of wall, and it slid open to reveal the Slytherin common room. He didn’t step over the threshold though. Instead his eyes scanned the room for Draco or Pansy. He couldn’t see them. His eyes fell on a first year Slytherin who was staring at him though.

“Hey, can you get Draco or Pansy? I have something Professor Snape wants me to give them.”

The boy gave a solemn nod, eyes watching Harry like he was a wild animal about to strike, and then he moved off down what Harry could only assume was the hall to the boys dorms. A minute (and several curious and wary looks from Slytherins later), Draco came out of the dorm hall and strode straight over to the entrance and to Harry.

Harry wasted no time in handing the stack of tests to Draco. “The graded OWL practice tests from today,” Harry said. “Professor Snape asked me to deliver them to you to hand out to the rest of the Slytherins. He said there’s going to be a review on Wednesday, and everyone should study and come ready to answer the questions they missed on their exam.”

Draco accepted the stack of tests, but he didn’t move off or say anything for long moments. His eyes just watched Harry like he was trying to work something out. “With authority, Potter.”

“What?”

“A teacher sent you on an errand because you’re a Prefect, or an Apprentice. When you come to our common room, you’re supposed to do it with authority. You look like you’re sneaking into the enemy’s lair or something.”

“Uh… ok.”

“The next time you come, step inside and hold your shoulders back. You’re giving Prefects a bad name acting like you’re unsure of yourself.”

“Right.” Harry wanted to point out that he’d only been made a Prefect in December, but didn’t. Draco pulled his own shoulders back, as if to demonstrate, and Harry sighed and stood up straight.

“Better,” Draco said. “Act like a Prefect and people will treat you like one.” Draco turned without another word and Harry took that as being dismissed. Harry walked away and the wall entrance to Slytherin slid shut behind him. That had been so… unexpected. Granted, it had been a couple years since Harry and Draco had really fought or argued, but Harry hadn’t expected Draco to be cordial with him, or to give him advice. He thought about it all the way up through the castle to Gryffindor common room.

Once he was inside Gryffindor, he tracked down all the fifth years himself and gave them their tests back, relaying the message Snape had given him as he went. With authority, played through his head in Draco’s voice again and again as he handed the tests out. If Harry held himself a little taller while he handed the graded tests out, Draco didn’t need to know.

* * *

Harry didn’t know how he came to find himself standing alone in front of the fifth year OWL potions class Wednesday, but there he was. He’d come into class with Ron and Hermione like normal, but he’d barely made it inside when Snape handed him a sheet of parchment and told Harry to take over the review for the day. He’d said something about an emergency he needed to take care of, but not what that emergency was. Now Harry was standing there by Snape’s desk in front of the blackboard as the rest of the class filtered in and sat down.

When Neville finally hurried in and took his seat, Harry shut the classroom door and turned to find the entire class watching him, even Ron and Hermione. Some were giving him curious looks, others, mostly on the Slytherin side, looked irritated or wary.

“Master Snape had an emergency to take care of. He wanted me to lead the review.” Harry’s voice was quiet and unsure. He hated how he sounded even in his own ears. He caught sight of Draco, who was glaring at him. The blond boy tilted his chin up as if daring Harry to do something, and then pulled his own shoulders back. With authority. Right.

Harry cleared his throat and made sure he was standing straight and tall. “I have the list of concepts he wants us to cover.” He frowned down at the list. How would Snape do this? He’d lecture. Harry didn’t want to lecture though. His mind flitted to gathering aconite as Soren and Leighton taught him facts. That had been a lot more fun.

Harry strode to the Gryffindor side of the room and plopped the paper on the desk in front of Seamus. “Seamus, pick a topic.”

Seamus tilted his head at him a little, but decided to play along, which Harry was grateful for. All it would take was one student to resist, and Harry would lose what little control he’d been granted by Snape over the class.

Seamus pointed down at the paper at the 12 classes of healing potions and Harry said out loud, “Classes of healing potions.” He went back to the front of the room and asked, “Is there someone who has good handwriting that wants to write on the board?”

Hermione’s hand went up, but he didn’t want to make the Slytherins think he was playing favorites with the Gryffindors, because that would only cause trouble. Teddy’s hand was in the air too, so he said, “Teddy. Will you write down the 12 classes as they come up with them?”

Teddy nodded, and went to the blackboard. He picked up a piece of chalk and then waited.

“Hands up if you know,” Harry said. “What’s the first class of healing potion?”

Most of the hands went up in the air, but not all of them. Harry called on Pansy, and she said with a bored tone, “Exterior.”

“Great, yeah, that’s it.” He turned to Teddy, but Teddy had already written '1 - Exterior.'

“2nd class,” Harry said, and hands went up. He called on Ron. “Blood restorative,” Ron said. Teddy wrote it down and Harry moved on to the next one.

“3rd class?”

He called on Crabbe this time, who said, “Core replenishing.”

It all went smoother than Harry thought it would, and before long they had the 12 classes of healing potions listed up on the board. Harry pointed at the board and said, “Someone tell me a fact about exterior healing potions.”

He called on Hermione because he hadn’t yet and she looked like she was going to burst if he didn’t, and she said, “Exterior potions are almost always topical creams.”

“Right. Someone give me two examples of exterior cream-like healing potions.”

“Bruise balm and burn lotion,” Draco said when Harry pointed at him.

“Yup. And what about the exterior potions that aren’t a cream?” Harry asked. “Someone tell me about those.”

He turned and pointed at Teddy, because he had his hand up with the piece of chalk in it, and Teddy said, “Non cream-like exterior healing potions are potions where the injured body part needs to be soaked in it, like Essence of Murtlap.”

“That’s right,” Harry said. “There’s another thing about the liquid exterior healing potions. Does anyone know?” No hands went up, so Harry said, “The liquid exterior healing potions are usually more about single ingredients liquified in water, or oils from single or double ingredients rather than an actual potion. Essence of Murtlap for instance is just Murtlap in water. Sometimes you’ll find witch hazel or aloe mixed into it.”

They moved on to the second class of healing potion, Harry asking questions and calling on students that hadn’t participated much yet, and then onto the third class of healing potions. Once they made it through all 12, he pointed at the list again and said, “Everyone put your hands up.”

The class looked doubtful but everyone did as they were told. He pointed at Neville and said, “You have 2 minutes. Teach us everything you know about class one healing potions.”

Neville gave Harry a frown, which almost made him laugh, because Nevill almost never frowned at Harry or looked irritated with him like he did now. Neville spent almost the entire two minutes telling the class about class one healing potions though, and Harry thought his friend had covered every single aspect they’d gone over.

“Ok, erase class one Teddy,” Harry said. He turned back to the class. “Neville, keep your hand down this time. Everyone else, hands up. Class 2,” Harry said, “2 minutes Goyle, go.”

It took them forty minutes of the two hour double potions class to get through the 12 classes of healing potions, but Harry felt like they all had a firm grasp on the concepts. When someone missed something, Harry asked for volunteers to fill in the missing gaps, or did it himself if the class couldn’t. He expected that Snape would have been back by then, but he wasn’t, so he took the sheet of parchment with the concept list down to the Slytherin side of the room and set it in front of Draco. “Pick a topic.”

Draco picked the preparation of fresh ingredients, and Harry set Teddy to writing down the classes answers again. Harry gave them information, asked questions, and then had students teach the concepts back to the class. By the time class was over, they’d made it through four concepts on Snape’s list.

“I think we’re doing another review Friday,” Harry said.

“Are you doing it?” Crabbe asked. Harry was surprised the boy didn’t look sullen like he often did.

“I dunno,” Harry said. “I was just doing it today because Professor Snape had something to do.”

Crabbe grunted and left the room.

Harry looked for a quill and then put a checkmark next to the four topics they’d covered. Ron, Hermione, and Neville waited for him to be finished and they left the room together. “Did I uh… did I do ok?” Harry asked.

“Actually, that was the most fun I’ve had in potions ever,” Ron said.

“But, do you have the concepts down?” Harry pressed.

“I do,” Hermione said.

“Me too,” Neville chimed.

All of them looked at Ron. “Yeah,” he said.

“Why did you teach it like that?” Hermione asked.

“That’s how they do it in the potions community.”

“What do you mean?” she asked him.

“Well, this summer for instance. I spent all day out in a foggy bog with two other apprentices that were further along in their apprenticeships than me. We were collecting aconite. As we gathered, they took turns teaching it to me, and then asking me questions about it. Then they had me teach it back to them. Then we prepared the aconite for storage, and the masters asked me questions about it. Then when I went to the apothecary the next day to sell what we’d harvested and prepared, the apothecary asked me questions about it and had me teach him what I knew.”


“That- doesn’t sound that bad,” Neville said.

Harry shrugged. “It’s kind of fun actually. You pick up the information quickly. It’s not normal for other apprentices to ask you questions, but any potions Master you come across will see it as their duty to make sure you’re learning what you’re supposed to, so they’ll quiz you and help you get the right information down. At least until you’re in your fifth and sixth year of apprenticeship. Then I heard it’s all on you to study yourself.”

“No wonder you’re so good at potions now,” Ron said.

“Well, there’s still lots of studying out of the apprentice books too. When you guys took the practice OWL earlier this week, I took that plus a test with questions from my apprentice texts.”

“What?” Hermione asked, stunned.

“Yeah. I almost didn’t make it all the way through my test.”

“How did you do?”

“Three wrong on the OWL, seven wrong on the apprentice portion.”

He stopped walking when he realized his friends weren't with him. He turned back and found them all staring at him a few feet back. “What?”

“Mate, I didn’t even answer all the questions on the practice OWL and I barely finished. You had to answer even more questions on top of that?”

Harry grinned at Ron. “Yeah. The essay questions are what slowed me down. Those took time.”

“You had essay questions?” Hermione asked.

Harry frowned. Those had been in the middle of the test… he had been sure those were part of the practice OWL as well.

“I’ll show you my exam if you want.” He turned and pointed behind him towards the Great Hall. “In the meantime, can we eat? I’m starving.”

* * *

Snape almost never came to Harry’s quarters, but he did that evening. As soon as Harry let him in, he came inside and sat down on the couch by the fire. Harry took the comfortable chair.

“How did the review go?”

“We got through four concepts.”

“Only four? It was a two hour class.”

“Sorry,” Harry said.

“I only planned for two review days. At this rate it will take at least four.” Harry had felt like it had been a good day, but now he wasn’t so sure. That was until Snape surprised him with, “Pick up the pace a little on Friday.”

“Sir?”

“I have an unavoidable task I must complete on Friday during the time your class is scheduled. You will be leading the review again. Ideally you will take the class through 10 topics.”

“Oh… ok.”

“You object?”

“No.”

“So the class behaved?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Umbridge is throwing a fit that I let you take the class at all.”

“She is? How does she know?”

“At any point if a student takes over the class, or if a substitute must be acquired, it must first be approved by the Headmaster. He enquired at dinner about how it went today with you leading class. As it was only a review and there was no brewing involved, it was allowed.”

“Are we- in trouble then?”

“No, and I would appreciate it if you would lead the review on Friday as well.”

“But faster this time,” Harry said for confirmation.

“That would be ideal, yes.”

Harry was going to ask him what he had to do on Friday, but Snape pulled out a roll of parchment and started going over the questions Harry had missed on his practice exam. Harry answered questions for half an hour, followed by a short lesson Snape wanted to give him from chapter 12 of his ingredients apprentice text, and then Snape left him to his studies for the evening.

It was almost curfew when Harry had an idea and leapt off his couch to race off to the common room. He needed to ask around and see if anyone had bells he could borrow.

* * *

Harry didn’t know where Fred and George had come up with two dinging bells that sat on a table top, but they had them. They were the kind that would sit on the front counter of a shop that someone would touch the top and they would ‘ding’ to let the shop owner know that assistance was needed.

As soon as he got into the potions classroom with Ron and Hermione Friday, he had Ron help him push a table from the Gryffindor side right into the center aisle of the classroom. Usually this was left open for walking and to divide the two sides of the class, but not today. Harry set the two bells in the center of the table a foot apart, and bounced eagerly from foot to foot as his classmates filtered in. As soon as the last one was in, he shut the door and said, “Teddy, would you write Slytherin and Gryffindor on the board?”

Teddy left his bag at his usual spot and went to the board to do what Harry had asked.

“I’m doing the review again today, but Professor Snape says we have to be faster and get through more topics, so I need the Slytherins in one line behind that table, and the Gryffindors in another line, all facing the front.”

Once again, the class looked confused, but did as they were asked.

“Thanks Teddy,” Harry said. “Join the back of the line.”

Draco and Ron were at the front of their respective lines, right in front of the table. “Ok, step up into the hot seat,” Harry said. “I’ll ask a question, you ring the bell if you have the answer. First person that rings the bell gets the chance to answer. If you answer right, your house gets a point on the board. Answer wrong, and the person next to you gets a shot to answer for a point. Winning team gets bragging rights."

They still looked confused, though Harry noted that Hermione, Dean and a couple other Muggle born students seemed excited, recognition in their eyes. Harry had set up their review like a game show on the telly.

“Ready?”

Ron nodded and Harry held up the sheet of parchment he had almost a hundred questions scribbled down on. “Fastest way to cancel poison out in a potion?”

Ron and Draco clearly didn’t understand that it was a race, and took their time thinking about the answer. Draco hit the bell first and said, “Add another poison.”

“Correct. Be faster with the bell next time Ron,” Harry advised. “You two go to the back of the line.” He turned and put a mark under the word Slytherin while the next two people in each line shuffled forward. It was Hermione and Pansy.

“This ingredient will cancel out the effects of any poison if-” he didn’t get the chance to finish the question.

Hermione slammed her hand down on the bell and said, “A bezoar will cancel the effects of any poison if swallowed by the person who is poisoned.”

“Right. Now we have a race. Be fast with the bell. Next in the hot seat!”

Parvati and Goyle raced forward looking excited, Goyle’s hand hovering above the bell. “Which class of healing potions does the Ponite potion fall under?”

Goyle’s hand slammed down on the bell and he shouted, “Healing class 7, core diminishing!”

“Point to Slytherin!” Harry shouted. He didn’t care who won, but seeing a competition like this, even one he wasn’t able to take part in excited him and brought out his competitive streak. He turned and chalked up a point under Slytherin and turned back to the group. Neville and Teddy were up. “Bonus question. Winner gets three points for their team.”

A murmur of excitement ran through the two lines. Both boy’s hands hovered over the bell. “Tell me the 5 ingredients of the Ponite potion.”

Both boys hit their bell, but Neville hit his first and listed all five ingredients, then gave Harry an uncertain but hopeful look.

“That’s right! That’s three for Gryffindor!” He turned and chalked the points up on the board.

When planning this review, Harry had wondered if the class would even want to play, or if they’d get tired of the competition halfway through. They all seemed excited to win bragging rights though, and the competition continued at a fast clip. They were on question 89 out of 100 when Severus opened the classroom door to a chorus of cheers, and paused on the threshold, surprised and dismayed by what he found.

“Slytherin pulls ahead by three with the bonus question!” Harry said excitedly. Severus watched as he turned and chalked up three marks on the chalkboard. There seemed to have been some sort of competition under way. Severus was about to speak up and stop it when the two lines of students shuffled forward and Ron and Draco came up to the table placed in the center of the room, hands hovering above two metal shop bells.

“Four classes of potions highly regulated by the Minis-” Both boys hit the bell, but it was clear that Ron had hit it first. “Ron,” Harry said.

“Hallucinogenics, pure poisons, love potions, and death potions.”

“Correct, that’s one for Gryffindor.” Ron and Draco hurried out of the way and to the back of the line and two more students came up. Harry asked this pair to list three potions in the hallucinogenics class of potions, and Neville listed three.

“I can do more,” Neville insisted.

Harry stood up straighter and raised his brows. “You can list more than those three?”

Neville nodded.

Harry turned his attention to Teddy and said, “Can you list more than the three he listed?”

“I can.”

“Point off!” called Ron, though other students from both lines were starting to shout it too.

“We go until a person can’t list anymore. Whoever lasts the longest gets the point.” Harry pointed at Neville and said, “Go.”

“Faic Rudan.”

Harry pointed to Teddy, who said, “Sy Fantazme.”

“Evanescet.”

“Latito.”

It was Neville’s turn again, but he looked like he had run out of potions to list off. “Neville?”

Neville held up a finger, looked like he was running over the list in his head again, and finally smiled and said, “Pereo Oculos.”

“Teddy?”

Teddy shook his head, and Harry said, “Point,” and pointed to the Gryffindor line. He turned and chalked up a point under Gryffindor and excited whispers broke out because the two teams were tied again. It was this moment that Severus chose to step all the way into the room and announce his presence, because none of the students seemed to realize he was there.

“What- is going on here?” he asked carefully.

The excited chatter of the class died immediately, and Harry froze. He had that look he sometimes did when he thought he was about to be struck, and it both unnerved Severus and made him angry on Harry’s behalf.

“Just- doing review,” Harry said, finding his voice.

“This looks like chaos,” Severus said.

Harry held up the list of questions he’d been going down and handed it to him. Severus’ eyes scanned down the list. “You made it through all of these questions today?”

“Uh… well, almost,” Harry said. “You uh, said you wanted us to move through the material faster.”

Severus let his eyes roam around the students. Some of them looked like they thought they were in trouble as well, and others looked hopeful. Draco and Ron’s eyes were up on the blackboard full of points. Severus snorted. Half an hour ago Albus had asked him in the corridor if he knew why Gryffindor and Slytherin were both suddenly up nearly thirty points a piece. Whether Harry intended to give away house points or not, the castle took his station as a Prefect and his ability to give and take points seriously.

“By all means then, continue. It appears there is a tie to break.” He watched as Harry’s shoulders slumped in relief.

“Last question,” Harry said. “Teams, pick who you want to answer the final question.”

Slytherin chose Teddy right away and made him stand at the table. Gryffindor on the other hand had a minor argument going on. Hermione wanted to be the one to take the winning point, but Ron was insisting he could do it, and Neville was saying, “I can do this guys.”

“Gryffindor?” Harry asked. Hermione huffed and stepped back. Ron looked between Neville and Teddy, and then motioned for Neville to step up since he’d been facing off with Teddy already and had won the last point.

Neville took a deep breath, looking like he was trying to settle his nerves, and then gave Harry a nod. “What are the seven uses of unicorn blood?”

Teddy hit the bell and listed six uses, but couldn’t remember the last one. “Do you yield the question?” Harry asked, and Teddy nodded.

Neville proceeded to list all seven uses, and the Gryffindor line surged forward with happy cheers, Ron shaking Neville from behind by the shoulders and saying loudly, “You did it! You had him! We won!"

The happy cheers and chaos would have continued if their class time wasn't up. Severus held up a hand and stood in the door, preventing anyone from leaving. The class quieted down, all chatter of the points race and how fun class had been pewtering out as they realized their path was blocked.

"You have a dozen more concepts to get through that were not on the list that I gave to Mr. Potter to review with you," Snape said. "It is Friday now. Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger, come to my office this evening directly after dinner and I will give you each the list of concepts that still needs to be covered to take back to your peers. You will all be taking another practice OWL on Monday, and will need to study the last twelve concepts."

Draco and Hermione both gave a nod, and Severus stepped out of the way to let the class pass by. Harry and Ron moved the table back into position on the Gryffindor side. When Harry went to pass out of the room, Severus said, "I have something to discuss with you this evening. Be in your quarters at seven."

"Yes sir," Harry said, nervous that he was in trouble despite the success he felt he'd had with the two reviews.

As they ate lunch a few minutes later, the fifth year Gryffindors were still talking about the fierce competition that had just taken place, and congratulating Neville on getting the winning point. Ron looked over at Harry and noted that he wasn't really eating his lunch, just staring at it. "Ok mate?"

Harry looked up at him. "Yeah, I just- think master Snape is upset with me."

"Nah, couldn't be," Ron said. "We learned a ton and got through all the material, right? Seriously, that was so much fun. We should be reviewing for all of our classes that way. That didn't feel like studying or learning at all, but I swear, my head is full of all the junk I need to pass my Potions OWL now."

Harry snorted and said, "The written portion. You still have to memorize and practice all those potions."

"Oy," Ron said, "I've been going to the potions labs!"

"Some of them," Hermione chimed in.

Ron looked from Harry to Hermione, and then back again. "You two aren't going to let me catch a break are you?"

"Neville's ahead of you," Hermione said. "He's only got ten potions left on his list to master and those are the ones from this year."

Ron huffed. "I'm just saying, I'm good to go on the written portion. Harry did a good job with the review, and I don't see how Snape could be mad. Even the answers I didn't know are seared into my brain now, and that was the most fun I've had in a class since Defense in third year when Remus had us dueling each other and I almost beat Hermione with that water charm."

Harry hoped Ron was right, that Snape wasn't upset with him. He pushed it from his mind as best as he could, but after dinner as he went to the common room to do some homework with his friends, and then headed back to his quarters at a few minutes to seven, the feeling that he might be in trouble came back again.

Snape knocked on his door at seven sharp. He was always punctual, though Harry supposed that wasn't a bad thing as he wasn't left to wait in his quarters for an extended time wondering how much trouble he was in.

The potions master came into the room and shut the door after Harry opened it. He moved to the couch by the fire and Harry followed, sitting across from him. Snape seemed to note right away that Harry was anxious, and said, "You are not in trouble."

Harry bit his lip. "How did you-"

"I saw the look on your face in class today when I came into the room. Despite the unorthodox method you chose to use, you did as I asked, and the class seems to have gotten the material down. You are not in trouble," he reiterated.

Harry took a deep breath, held it for only a moment, and then let it out slowly, giving a nod.

"I came to ask if you would consider running the same review for the fifth year Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw class next week on Wednesday and Friday. That class takes place during your Care of Magical Creatures class. As this will be considered part of your internship, you would be excused from both classes and would be given an extra day to do your homework for Hagrid."

"I can do that," Harry said with a frown. "Do you- have something you have to do again on those days?"

"I do not. Given that your method for review seems to be effective, it would be unfair to let the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw fifth years go without the same chance to review. Many of those students did just as poorly on the practice OWL as the Gryffindor-Slytherin class."

"Oh," Harry said. The man wasn't going to be busy, he just liked what Harry had done and wanted his help to get the other class ready for their OWL. Again, it wasn't praise… Snape rarely ever praised anyone, and especially not Harry. But this was- nice. Harry felt a warmth spreading through his chest. Pride, he decided. He felt proud of what he'd accomplished.

"So you will do it?"

Harry looked back up at him, unable to help the small smile that was on his face. "Yeah. I'll do it sir."

"I will inform the Headmaster, Professor McGonagall, and Hagrid then, so you can be excused from Care of Magical Creatures on those two days."

"Professor Umbridge will throw a fit," Harry joked. Occasionally he felt comfortable enough, especially here in his own space, to joke around in front of Snape like he would with his friends.

He hadn't even realized that he'd said it until Snape snorted and said with an undertone of amusement, "Yes, I'm certain she will. Retrieve your apprentice text on law. I wish to go over a section of that with you this evening."

Harry hopped up off of the comfortable chair he'd been sitting in, and went to the little bookshelf he was keeping all of his books and textbooks on. He brought back the apprentice text and handed it to Snape.

For the next hour, Snape went over a chapter of the book with Harry, answered his questions, and then quizzed him on what he'd learned and then had Harry teach it back to him. It wasn't as exciting as learning it in quiz format, but Harry was comfortable and warm there in his cozy quarters, and by the time Snape left, Harry still had a small smile on his face.

* * *

Harry didn't see Snape at all on the weekend, but as soon as Monday rolled around, Snape came back to his quarters at seven after dinner, and kept coming by at seven each night to go over Harry's apprentice books with him.

As it turned out, most of what Harry had been tested on during the practice OWL the week before wasn't OWL material at all, but questions geared at telling Snape what Harry was struggling with in his apprentice books. As Harry had done well on that test, Snape was now moving through new material. It was all material that Harry needed to get through to pass his apprentice exam at the end of his second year of apprenticeship, but concepts that Harry had been struggling with or hadn't studied much yet.

Knowing that the man was going to come by at seven each night, Harry changed his routine with his friends. He, Ron, Hermione and Neville started studying for their other OWLs on Saturday and Sunday, spending the majority of their day in the common room at Harry's favorite table which was up on a platform under a window. The rest of the week, Harry tried to get his homework done during lunch, dinner, and the hour right after dinner, so he could be ready to study with Snape at seven.

Things weren't always easy between them, but there was a tenseness that had been there before that was gone now. The man didn't snap at Harry when he answered questions wrong, and he didn't always just expect Harry to be up to no good. The fact that he'd had Harry lead the review for two days in class, and then had him lead the review for the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw class the next week was proof that he was starting to trust Harry. That made Harry proud too. Most of the other teachers trusted him… hadn't looked down on him with disdain, except Umbridge. But it meant something that Snape no longer thought he was up to no good, because Snape was technically his guardian. This thought, along with several others about the time he spent with Snape brewing, learning, and teaching Mairi and Issac about preserving mushrooms all gave him a warm feeling.

* * *

"Harry, there you are," Ron said, coming up behind him. He looked out of breath.

"Hey."

"Harry, Dean's been complaining about the grade he got on last week's assignment in Transfiguration and I just realized why. You didn't get a hundred on that assignment about the process of transfiguring elements of water and fire either did you?"

"No," Harry said with a grimace. "Don't remind me." He was ready for his Potions OWL and doing well with all the studying Hermione had been making him do recently for Charms, but Transfiguration was still a sore spot. He'd never been really good at the subject.

"Well I just realized why Dean did so bad on it and I thought maybe you might be struggling for the same reason. You're treating the elements like a solid… like when you go to transfigure a pincushion or something," Ron said as they walked. He was still out of breath, but not because they were hurrying through the halls. He was just talking quickly and seemed excited to get all of the information out. "But it's not a solid, is it? It's water, or fire, or air. You jump into a lake and you don't smack into a hard surface unless it's iced over, you fall through it. Remember when McGonagall was telling us about the fifth form of Transfiguration? It's like that."

Harry frowned, working over the information. "So… push your magic through the object?"

"Exactly. You're not casting at it, you're casting through it."

"You're sure that's how it works? The book didn't say that."

"Positive. I just wasn't thinking about it until this morning when I was in the shower. When I'm transfiguring something in class, I'm not really thinking about how I do it, but I was practicing transfiguring the water in the shower and got to thinking about how my magic was flowing through it."

"Ok," Harry said. One problem down, and about seven hundred to go when it came to his issues and mediocre grade in Transfiguration.

"Hey, I have to go to Quidditch practice, but tell Dean when you see him yeah? In fact, tell Dean, and then make him explain it to Seamus, and make Seamus explain it to Neville."

"Why?"

"That's how you said they do it for potions apprentices right?" Ron shrugged. "Seems like it worked out well for you. Might as well do it with Transfiguration too, right?" Ron waved, hurried past him and disappeared around a corner, already running late for Quidditch practice.

Harry found Dean in the common room twenty minutes later, and explained everything Ron had told him. "And tell Seamus," Harry said. He explained the concept of teaching others to cement the information into their brain, and Dean went off to find Seamus.

He didn't see Ron again that evening as Quidditch practice ran late and Harry was due to meet Snape in the dungeons to brew a new potion Harry hadn't heard of before. The next day however, Ron found Harry at lunch and pulled out the list of concepts they'd been given at the start of the year in Transfiguration class.

"This is a copy of my list," Ron said. "Cross out all the stuff you're good to go on."

"You're helping me?" Harry asked for confirmation.

"Hey, I can help," Ron said, indignant.

"I know you can, I just wanted to be sure that's what's happening." Harry took a Muggle pen out of his bag and started crossing things off. What he was able to cross off was a paltry twenty items out of sixty eight. What he crossed off was a pretty even spread over the four and half years of Transfiguration classes they'd been through. He understood some things, but the gaps in his knowledge were apparent on the page spread before he and Ron.

Ron pointed at a first year concept that Harry hadn't crossed off. "The mental box," Ron said.

"Yeah," Harry mumbled, embarrassed that he didn't have this and several other first year concepts down. He had never understood those things when they'd been taught the first time around. That was back before Hermione was on them to study all the time and answer questions, and Harry was still trying to form new study habits, learn to write with a quill, and find his footing there at the school.

"No big deal," Ron said. "Look, this is one of the key concepts. If you don't have this one down, then it makes sense why you'd be having trouble with everything else." He held up fingers on both hands, trying to make a square. "Imagine you have this box in your brain."

"Ok," Harry said.

"No, seriously, close your eyes mate. See the box in your mind."

Harry closed his eyes there at the breakfast table. Hermione had yet to come down to breakfast. She'd wanted to go to the library early to find an Arithmancy book, so Harry and Ron were sitting by themselves way at the end of Gryffindor table.

"Describe the box," Ron said.

"Erm… it's a box."

"What color is it?"

"It has to have a color?"

"Give it one, but actually see it in your head as that color."

"White."

"Ok, tell me about the white box."

"Erm… it's a cube? It's white? It's got four corners on the top, and four on the bottom."

"Is it solid? What size is it? Does it have any doors and windows in it? Does it have a texture? What does it taste like?"

Harry opened his eyes, and raised a brow at Ron. "What does it taste like?"

"Yeah, what does it taste like?"

"I can't lick an imaginary box Ron."

"Sure you can."

At Harry's bland look, Ron laughed. "Ok, imagine that you're standing next to the box. Then imagine that you stick your tongue out and lick it. Then tell me what it tastes like. Just make something up."

Harry closed his eyes again, did as instructed and said, "Strawberry licorice."

"And the rest of the stuff about it?"

Harry shrugged with his eyes closed, finding the exercise to be pointless. He didn't see what any of this had to do with Transfiguration. "I don't know, it's smooth, and it's solid. No texture, no windows or doors or anything. It's taller than me… like a house."

"Ok, well there you go, that's the mental box." Harry opened his eyes again and Ron continued with, "You just imagined up a whole box, and you know everything about it, right? That's half of what transfiguration is. It's not just a spell you say and a wand movement like charms. You have to transform one thing into a whole other thing, and you can't do that if you don't know what it's supposed to look like, taste like, feel like, its size… all of that. But now that you imagined the box, and you know everything about it," here Ron pushed a bread roll towards Harry, "You could do basic transfiguration on this roll and turn it into the white box."

Harry picked up the roll and looked at it dubiously. He thought the roll looked like it wanted to remain a roll. Harry had been able each year to manage some transfigurations in class, but he'd always struggled to make them look right. Maybe this was why.

With another look at Ron, who gave him a nod of encouragement towards the roll, Harry began to cast a basic transfiguration spell. He imagined the white box, smaller this time, and the taste of strawberry licorice, because Ron had told him to and Harry trusted him. As he cast, the roll began to morph and change. Moments later, a white cube sat on his hand. It had a strong scent of strawberry licorice.

"Hey! Look at that! Good on you mate!" Ron said, giving Harry a slap on the back. "You know who else always does poorly in Transfiguration?"

Harry looked up at him, question in his eyes.

"The first years."

"Thanks," Harry grumbled.

"No, I'm serious. There's a whole group of first years in Gryffindor that complain about how bad they are at Transfiguration every night. They sit by the fire and moan and groan about it. Why don't you go teach them the mental box, and I'll look over the list and try to figure out how to help you with the rest."

Harry blew out a puff of breath. "Yeah… ok." As a fifth year, and as a Prefect, if he tried to teach a group of first years in the common room, it would look like he was only trying to help them out. Harry knew for a fact that Parvati and Lavender also struggled in Transfiguration, but thought that maybe Ron knew how embarrassed Harry might be trying to re-teach them a first year concept.

Later that evening, while Ron was out at Quidditch practice again, Harry found the group of first years that always sat on the floor by the fire in the common room, and sat down with them. They all looked surprised to see him sit down in their little circle, legs criss crossed like he was just another first year.

"Sir?" one of them squeaked.

Harry looked at the boy with mousy brown hair, and laughed. He wondered if this was how he had looked to Soren and Leighton when he'd called them sir. He hoped not.

"You guys are having trouble in Transfiguration, right?"

Several of them nodded.

"I thought maybe it's because you haven't practiced the mental box enough yet. Everyone close your eyes."

As Harry walked them through the same exercise that Ron had made him do that morning, he noted that Lavender was paying close attention from the couch by the fire. He only glanced over at her once, but she was taking notes, eyes flickering up to Harry and what he was saying.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to pass Ron's information along to her and Parvati as well. Perhaps he would the next time Ron taught him something he needed to know for his OWLs.