What I would not have given in those days to be able to walk down a hallway without mayhem. As always I could not help but go over in my mind all the things I would gladly have thrown away for such peace when I saw a large crowd of students up ahead. I heard shouting, and wincing from people closest to the commotion.

"Out of my way or it will be detention for the lot of you!" I bellowed menacingly above the uproar. "I don't care where you go, get out of here!"

Students scattered, including numerous Gryffindors and Slytherins. I thought I saw Minerva's hat coming toward the scene from the opposite end of the corridor. As the students cleared I saw the source of the crowd, and immediately I had to fight the urge to curse heavily. The two students clearly hadn't heard me, for they were in the midst of kicking and punching and tussling on the ground, wands forgotten on the sidelines. Knowing words would not get through any teenage boy's thick skull in the midst of a battle such as this, I swept over to where they fought, and dragged Harry off of Goyle, his fists still swinging and trying to do more damage.

"Let ... ME ... GO" he growled as he tried to get to Goyle, who had gotten up and was now being held back by a very angry and surprisingly strong Minerva, who had indeed come to investigate around the same time as I had.

"Harry James Potter," I said dangerously in his ear. I didn't need even need to raise my voice, and suddenly he went pale and his quickly bruising eye and bloody lip stood out even more starkly.

"I can deal with Mr. Goyle," said Minerva to me, knowing full well that I would want to hear Harry's side of the story first.

"Fine, I am sure you will punish him fairly for this," I said dangerously quietly as I gripped the back of Harry's robe, though he was no longer struggling. "I shall consult with you later in regards to the ... other side of the story."

Harry gulped, and Minerva went around the corner with a pale and bloody nosed but mostly unhurt Goyle.

"Come," I said, leading Harry to the hospital wing, where I intended to take him first before I talked to him about the incident. He came quietly, and by the way he hung his head I could tell he felt dreadful. I paid no attention to the way his shoulders shook as he walked obediently beside me. Well, to tell the truth I pretended to pay no attention to this. I was furious, but felt like I too had been beaten and bruised by what had happened. I did not like it when he got himself into trouble.

When we arrived we had to wait a few minutes, for Poppy had gone to tend with Goyle when Minerva called, and Laura had come over from the Library to tend to Harry as Minerva had told her I would likely be bringing him up. It was easier that way, as Laura would otherwise need to come for supplies and then go find Goyle, rather than go directly like Poppy could. I wasn't complaining of this, however.

I sat outside the screen while she patched Harry up. I could hear her talking to him, and was a little glad there was someone to play good cop to my bad cop, that is, in the words of old muggle police dramas Lily and I had occasionally watched on drizzly days over our summers.

"There's no need to be so upset," Laura told him frankly. "You're alright. Calm down; you're making the bruise salve run. Do you want that black eye to last?"

"You don't understand, I don't care about bruises" I heard him whisper, my keen hearing paying off. "He's going to be so mad."

Laura's voice was soft, and low and I had to strain my ears to hear it. "I think worried is more the word."

"Maybe, but that's not going to stop him from being really ... disappointed." I heard a heavy sigh, and I wished I didn't have to say anything about the fight, but I knew I needed to.

"No, but he won't be that way forever," said Laura. "I promise."

"Thanks Miss Baldwin," said Harry gloomily, though gratefully.

"Anytime Harry," she said. "Good luck."

She came out from behind the screen, and I asked her how he was. I followed her over to a cabinet, where she busied herself with putting bruise balms and bottles away.

"He seems alright so far," she informed me, shelving the bottle of dittany. "He has a pretty good bump on the head so I want him to stay here for a little while, possibly the night, just to make sure he isn't feeling any adverse side effects. The effects of a concussion can sometimes be delayed. However, I don't want to give him anything if I don't have to, so it would probably be better just to monitor him for a while. Which means that if you're going to give him a talking to, I'd suggest you do it here. Luckily for you and him, the wing is empty today. I'll be in the office if you need something."

"Thank you," I said gratefully. I was about to retreat, but paused for a moment as she shut the cupboard door. "I have never known Harry to get into fistfights ... I hope this isn't something serious."

"Perhaps he just needs someone to listen to the injustices of a teenager's life," suggested Laura kindly. With her voice quieter, she continued. "Good luck ... I think you could use it too."

I nodded, and she retreated into her office, and I left to go to Harry's bed.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him, figuring I might as well start off with that.

"Fine," he insisted.

"I beg to differ," I told him, sitting down in the chair by the bed. "That was some fight you got into. You had better have a very good reason for getting into a fistfight like that." I looked at him sternly. "What happened? I want the full story now, mind you."

Harry looked at his hands, which had been cleaned of blood. A thin white scar stood out starkly, marking the spot where he had split the skin on Goyle's teeth.

"Well, I was just walking down the corridor," Harry began slowly, then paused to reach up to rub the bump on his head gingerly. "I was walking, and Goyle started throwing insults at me. He's gotten pretty brave as of late, and you know, most of it I could ignore. Then ..." Harry grew paler.

"Continue," I urged him on a little sharply.

"Then he ... he started to insult Draco. He said awful things. That made me pretty mad, but I tried to keep walking, and then he started on you. It was horrible."

"What kinds of things did he say?" I asked, curious.

"He said that you were a coward, that you didn't have the guts like his father," Harry said, swallowing thickly. "He was obviously referring to him being a Death Eater. I think I stopped walking at that point, and then he said that ... t-that he hoped that you would go off and die."

I inwardly cringed. "And then you punched him, didn't you?" I supplied. Harry nodded, but stopped quickly as it appeared to hurt his head.

"You're disappointed, aren't you?" The colour continued to drain from Harry's skin.

"That was an awful thing for him to say, especially given the circumstances," I began, "but you could have hurt yourself very badly by getting into a fight like that. I think that if anyone can be the better man and walk away, it's you. I know it's hard, and I am a hypocrite having started many fistfights in school, but you are not like I was. Given the circumstances I think you know what you did was wrong, and you know you must try not to repeat the mistake. For your punishment ... I would like an essay on ways you could respond differently if confronted with a similar encounter in the future. Do you understand?"

Harry's eyes were slightly unfocused, and he had a strange expression on his face, as though he really didn't hear much of what I had said.

"Harry?"

His eyes widened. "Dad, I'm gon-"

Before I was given a chance to move he threw up spectacularly on the hem of my cloak. My stomach lurched as well, and I vanished the mess with my wand and made Harry lie down. I grimaced down at my cloak. I could not vanish what he had gotten on it as I could run the risk of vanishing the material itself, which irked me. I walked over to Poppy and Laura's office feeling slightly ill. I told her what happened and she too agreed that Harry's bump to the head had caught up to him. She gave me a look of sympathy regarding the cloak, and went to go get some potions.

I returned, and Harry hiccupped slightly and closed his eyes.

"Sorry ‘bout your cloak Dad," he said hoarsely while Laura poured out a measure of dreamless sleep for him. It was kinder to heal head injuries in the patient's sleep.

"You are forgiven," I said calmly, even though I really wished nothing more to take my cloak off and toss it out a window, regardless of the fact that it was horribly cold in the hallways.

Laura handed him the potion and he drank it in two swallows.

As his eyes were closing Harry whispered, "Will you be here when I wake up?" The words were only for my ears, and I whispered back that I would be. He smiled a in a pained sort of way and relaxed into the pillow, fast asleep.

Laura too watched him sleep for a second, and then collected the glass. But before going to return the glass and potion bottle, she paused.

"If you give me your cloak I can send it straight down to be washed," she said to me. "It's no problem, and will save you walking through the halls like that."

"Thanks," I said, undoing the clasp and shrugging it off my shoulders. I handed it to her and she took it carefully. Our hands touched briefly, and my eyes met hers. She looked away as I wondered if she too had felt a shiver run up her spine.

"It's well into evening now, so he'll be out until morning at least," she informed me quickly. "It's my shift tomorrow, so I'll floo you if he wakes any earlier, if you would like of course."

"I would appreciate that," I said. "Thank you again." She nodded, and hurried away.

I sat next to Harry's bed for a while, but when I got up to leave I was taken by a sudden fit of coughing. Laura rushed out of the office, looking alarmed and still holding her quill in her hand from adding to Harry's file. I thought perhaps she may have believed that I had left already.

I recovered, stowing my handkerchief in my pocket, which now contained a few new blood stains.

"That cough is still bothering you, isn't it?" Laura said with concern. "Are you sure you don't want me to do a few spells? I might be able to find you a potion to help with it."

"It's been improving slowly," I said, my insides squirming from the lie. "I'm already taking something for it."

"I hope you feel better soon," she said sincerely. "If there's anything I can help you with, just let me know."

I nodded, wishing she could help me. For a second I thought she saw the pain in my eyes, but in an instant her expression was gone, leaving me to wonder if I had imagined it. We parted ways. I felt slightly uneasy, leaving Harry there in the hospital wing, though I knew that he was in good hands. I have been told this feeling in a parent is common, and for me it seemed to occur more frequently as days went by. I was very thankful for Harry, more than ever now. I was sorry for the fact that things were being made difficult for him, but I knew that in order to help him through it I needed to see what was good amongst the bad, and show him. I hoped that someday he would in fact be able to see these things, for despite all of the pain and suffering, I was thankful for all that I had, after years of taking things for granted. I suppose you only really realize just how much you have been given until you watch the world as you know it slowly slide away. In the silence that pressed in on my senses I walked through the corridors, not for the first time wondering how it was that after all those years with the best reasons to die, I now had the best reasons to live. Then again, doesn't one only see the audience when the shadow of the curtain is falling over the stage?

***

"How is your head?" I asked Harry the next morning as he ate his breakfast. Laura had taken the liberty to ask the house elves for an extra couple slices of toast for me so I could spend more time with Harry. I certainly appreciated it, and so did Harry.

"Better," he replied with spirit. "I feel great actually."

"Good, because after you finish your essay ... I have some frogs that need gutting," I said, straight faced.

The look on Harry's face at the mention of frogs made me break my composure and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yes, you are most certainly back to normal," I said. "I was joking, Harry. The essay is still your only punishment."

"Good," he replied, now rather amused. "Where's Draco?"

"He and Hermione are visiting the kittens down at Hagrid's."

"That's what they say, at least," Harry said with a light laugh before taking another bite of toast. It was his favourite catch phrase lately when on the subject of Hermione and Draco, because he knew it made me cringe, even if I knew very well they were in fact at Hagrid's and not doing anything they shouldn't be. Sometimes that boy's sense of humour could be quite alarming.

"One of these days you'll find your tongue in a jar in my office," I said as menacingly as I could. Harry raised an eyebrow, a move freakishly similar to my usual response to something ridiculous.

Damn.

"I miss the days when I could scare you with that," I remarked almost wistfully.

"See, the problem is that I know you just love the sound of my voice," Harry said, lying back and putting his arms behind his head before flashing an impish grin at me. "You live to hear my stupid comments."

"Something like that." I rolled my eyes, but could not conceal the half smile upon my face. "I daresay you will be well enough to go to classes today?"

"Miss Baldwin says I can," Harry replied cheerfully, picking a toast crumb off his shirt.

"Which reminds me ..." I muttered checking my watch and getting up. "I must be on my way. If you feel ill at all through the day come and tell me, although I have little doubt you're back into fine condition."

"Okay. See you Dad," Harry said, getting out of his bed and pulling on his socks, which he had taken from the pile of clothing Ron Weasley had brought down for him earlier.

"You know where I'll be," I said. "And take it easy.

"I know Dad. You too, okay?"

I promised I would, and left to go get ready for my first class.