Life in the Green Eyes of a Crazy Potter

Chapter Six: The Longest Day of My Life

A/N: Hey, thanks for reading and all the lovely reviews. It's been quite a hectic week, month, year, but I'm still rolling…just rather slowly. Thanks, Epona, for beta reading for me! You're a pal :D

Except for the 3am disruption in the beginning, the first week of term went as smoothly as Harry could have hoped for. Teachers were well-prepared for classes, students were mostly behaved, and Barney, the cranky, old caretaker who replaced Filch, was keeping his complaints to a minimum. Harry actually found that his job was much easier than he originally anticipated (given that everything was going quite well).

However, no matter how busy Harry tried to be, it still didn't relieve him of the memory of his horrible nightmare and the pool of emotions that were attached to it. Most nights, he would get no sleep and keep himself awake the entire night, especially if he felt that he might fall into that dream again. His face was becoming paler with the lack of sleep and bags were forming under his eyes. Most of the staff excused his change in appearance as the stress for taking on the demanding position. Little did they know, however, and it did not improve Harry's mood more that by the end of the first week he had not heard back from his best friend. Usually Hermione was extremely prompt when answering these kinds of letters, but seven days had already passed by and she still hadn't sent an owl. What could be keeping her? Perhaps she didn't get his first letter? On Tuesday of the second week, Harry sent off another letter to Hermione, feeling more confident that she would respond to this letter.

Putting the matter aside, Harry tried to focus on his work at Hogwarts. The peace that graced the castle over the first week had finally died and by the middle of the second week, it became common for five or six students to be taken to the Headmaster's office each day for further discipline. The students' records were filling up fast and by the end of the week, Harry found that he was corresponding more with parents than the students themselves about their behavior.

It was on one of these afternoons during the third week that something caught Harry's eye. While he was writing a letter to Mr. Spencer concerning his son's sixteenth offense (the latest was filling the girls' toilets on the third floor with dungbombs), Harry glanced out one of the windows and saw several red bullets flying around the Quidditch stadium. He paused for a moment and watched them soar for several minutes. As one of the red bullets ran into a giant hoop, he couldn't help letting out a loud snort.

"Must be try-outs," he said to himself hopefully, turning back to the mess on his desk.

"It is," a voice responded unexpectedly in front of him.

Harry jumped and looked up to see Professor Makis after he recovered from the sudden start. "Jolene," Harry greeted his colleague with amusement.

"Harry," the young women answered with a laugh. "Would you like to make any other comments about it while I'm here?" Professor Makis sat down in a chair across from Harry and gave him the impression that she hadn't come up to his office for the sole purpose of harassing him.

"No, everything's fine," Harry said quickly. He put away his quill and tried to straighten up his desk. "Is there anything I can help you with, Professor?"

Professor Makis' face became grave with slight hint of annoyance. Where had Harry experienced this look before? "Well, it's a number of things," she started uncertainly. "The teacher that you and Professor McGonagall hired- Professor Vex, I believe? - Well, he's gaining a reputation for himself among the students. He seems to be picking on certain people and irrationally taking points away from houses for little, insignificant things. I am a little concerned here seeing that some of my Gryffindors are being targeted. I don't want to lose the house cup because he can't handle students properly. I would really like to see this matter resolved sooner than later. He has already put a number of my Quidditch players in detention-"

"What are they doing to deserve detention?" Harry interrupted, already guessing at the answer.

"Nothing worth giving detention!" Professor Makis assured him. "I watched him give a student a week's worth of detention because he tripped over the boy's bag! He told the boy that it would teach him to be more responsible in the future. I was appalled! If I wasn't there to step in, the boy wouldn't have been able to go to the Quidditch trials this afternoon. Then he gave detention to a first year girl because her spell had backfired and caught his desk on fire. He told her that she did it on purpose. Honestly, how can you expect a first year to get spells right? I have been teaching Transfiguration for eleven years now and-"

Harry held his hand up and waited for the teacher to calm down before speaking again. "Thanks, Jolene. I will go have a word with Professor Vex right now and see if we sort this out," Harry told her. "If this happens again, I can trust that you will me know?"

"Of course, Professor," Professor Makis declared.

"Is there anything else you came here for?" Harry asked slowly, realizing that she had no intention of leaving. The room became suddenly warm as flames erupted from the fireplace on his right, but Harry ignored them.

Professor Makis smiled, quite delighted that Harry had picked up on her cue. "Yes," she answered, running her hand through her blonde hair and letting it fall again. It was one of those nervous habits that people do when they have trouble telling others bad news and it definitely wasn't encouraging to Harry. "It's your son. Well, actually, it's all of your children, Harry."

Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise. "What are they doing?" he asked, although it was quite apparent that he didn't want to know.

"Normally, they are no trouble at all," Professor Makis began. "Lynn and Isaac have always been great kids and, despite his faults, Daniel is quite the character. However, they have all been giving some attitude in my classes. Lynn has been ignoring the advice I give during our practical lessons and she hardly takes notes in class. Daniel has become rather obnoxious during class and has been harassing other students. Isaac hasn't been turning in any of his assignments and when I question him about it, he tells me that it's because 'he doesn't feel like it' and 'he shouldn't have to do homework.' I have already given him two week's worth of detention, but if he's keeps this up, he will be up for suspension."

Harry nodded silently, feeling anger and embarrassment mixing at the bottom of his stomach. Giving attitude? Not doing homework? Being rude and obnoxious? He had never had trouble with them before! Why were they starting now? At least Lizzy wasn't included. He had at least one child that knew their boundaries.

"I'm not too familiar with the younger one, Lizzy…"

Never mind.

"I know with first years, they tend to be chatter boxes. Yet, as many times as I warn Lizzy, she still has a problem with talking during class," informed the teacher, who watched her colleague's expression fall again. "I have also overheard her say many rude and disrespectful things and-"

"Thank you," Harry cut her off abruptly. He stood up from behind his desk and stretched his arms and legs. He felt that he had sat there long enough and endured listening to his children's faults long enough. "I am sorry that they have caused so much grief this early in the year, but you can be assured that I will take care of this problem immediately."

Professor Makis was slightly disappointed at not having said everything that she wanted to say, but gave in to Harry's unspoken request for her departure. It didn't occur to her until she was half way to her own office that she had gotten carried away in letting Harry know about his children's behavior. Professor Makis had always known Harry to be a sensible man, but one who held a lot of pride in his family. Then there she was, informing him of everything that they did wrong! Perhaps she had been too harsh? Maybe if she had thought this through and presented this to Harry in segments, he wouldn't have sent here away from his office in such a manner. Then again, another part of the teacher told herself that this was Harry's job and if he couldn't take it, then perhaps he should reconsider being Headmaster. Perhaps it was this bitterness that caused her to reprimand her last Transfiguration class that afternoon so sharply…

After the door shut behind Professor Makis, Harry let his head fall in his hands and then rest on his desk. He sat for a moment in silence, trying to repress his humiliation and his desire to get revenge on the teacher who so gracefully informed him…but that wasn't going to solve anything and Harry knew it. Professor Makis had done nothing wrong; she was only the messenger. His real anger should be with his own children who had disrespected him and for Professor Vex who was letting something he couldn't let go affect his work.

Harry recomposed himself and decided that it was time to take that visit to Professor Vex's office. Still recalling his earlier conversation, Harry absentmindedly walked over to the fireplace and tossed a handful of floo powder inside. A coughing noise from the fireplace disrupted Harry's thoughts and he quickly realized that he had just thrown floo powder all over his wife's face.

"Thank you, dear," Ginny said sarcastically, trying to spit out the powder into the fire.

"Gin! I'm so sorry!" Harry apologized, bending down next to his wife and brushing off the powder into the green flames. The flames swallowed the powder with small hissing noises and pops that tickled Ginny's chin.

"Make sure the next time you plan on going somewhere, you check the fireplace to see if it is already being used? I don't want to imagine what would happen if you actually tried to jump in," Ginny laughed, her teasing brown eyes sparkling as she looked up at her husband.

A rare grin appeared replaced the concerned frown and lit up Harry's entire face. Even the dark bags under his eyes and pale complexion seemed to disappear. However, they didn't go completely unnoticed and Ginny questioned how he had let his health fall so rapidly in such a short amount of time.

"This job as been stressful, Gin," Harry explained. "I have been working solely in my office for the last week. As soon as I can things straightened up here, everything will be fine."

Ginny still remained unconvinced. "You're going to kill yourself, Harry, if you keep working like this!" she told him in a nagging voice.

"Everything will be ok, I promise! Just give it some time. I have only been on the job for three weeks."

"Yes, and you're already killing yourself. Now, what's this about our children being rude and disrespectful at school?" Ginny continued.

"What? You heard that conversation?" Harry said in surprise.

"Yes, I did, and I want to know what that's all about," Ginny replied seriously.

Harry hadn't really thought about letting his wife know about their children's behavior. He knew that he would only need to talk to his children once and that would settle the matter. It wouldn't require upsetting his pregnant wife and it would fix the problem. Now, Harry didn't seem to have a choice.

"Just what you heard, Ginny," Harry replied half-truthfully, not meeting his wife's intent gaze. "I will take care of it, though. I will have a talk with them tonight."

However, Ginny's eyes bore through her husband like a knife cutting into a pumpkin. She could read his expression and knew that he was still hiding something. Yet, she knew that it wouldn't do any good to keep pestering him. "Alright," she sighed, "I trust that you will take care of them. That wasn't all that I came for, though. When do you plan on visiting your wife and daughter?"

"How does this weekend sound?" Harry offered, feeling regret for being away from them for so long.

"Good," Ginny smiled happily.

"It's a date then."

"Are you going come tomorrow afternoon?"

"Of course, tomorrow is Friday, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, huh? Oh no, Abby, don't!" Ginny cried. "Abby is pulling on my robes on the other end. I need to go, Harry. I will see you tomorrow night." Ginny disappeared with a small "pop," leaving Harry sitting in front of the fireplace with thoughts of what they would be doing that weekend. After a deciding that a quiet weekend would seem nice for a change, Harry stood up and glanced around the room as if the room was going to tell him what he was supposed to do next. It wasn't until he noticed the floor powder in his hands that he remembered his promise to Professor Makis.

Once again, he threw the floo powder into the fireplace and watched as the green flames erupt. "Professor Vex's office," Harry called in what he hoped would sound like a professional voice. He stuck his head into the fire and experiencing the stomach-twisting sensation of being on a roller coaster before his colleague's office came into view.

Harry was both relieved and disappointed to find the man grading papers behind his desk. "Professor," Harry called, both announcing his presence and clearing his soot from his throat. "May I have a word?"

The man looked up from the stack of parchment in mild surprise. "Headmaster, could we have this chat some other time? I am quite occupied at the moment," Professor Vector replied indifferently.

"Excuse me?" said Harry, quite taken back.

"Professor, I have a lot on my plate at the moment and I wish not to be disturbed," Professor Vex continued in exasperation.

"Oh, then excuse me if I am wasting your time, Professor," Harry spit back angrily, pulling himself out of the fireplace.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher did not bother to look up at the man talking to him, but instead nodded approvingly which angered Harry even more. "Thank you, Professor, for being so understand-"

"No need for the flattery, Charles," the Headmaster said in a voice so full of disgust that it caused the teacher to look up at him. "I think this is a perfect time for a chat, don't you?"

"I…er…Professor, I-"

"What is this I am hearing about treating students unfairly?" Harry demanded.

"I don't know what you are talking about," said Professor Vex, trying to dismiss the notion. "You know how students exaggerate things."

"Are you trying to tell me that fifteen students and three teachers are exaggerating about you treating certain students unfairly?" Harry countered. Alright, so maybe that wasn't entirely true, but it was quite apparent by the expression on Professor Vex's face that he wasn't aware of this.

"I…er…I…"

The man stumbled over his words for several seconds before Harry stopped him. "Charles, the next time I hear another student complain of an unjustly given punishment, it will be your job. Do I make myself clear?"

Professor Vex nodded solemnly. "Good. Thank you for your time, Professor," Harry said coldly and left the man's office. His blood was still boiling with fury and he needed the walk back to his office to cool him down. Wait, his office? The thought of going back to his office made Harry ache and he couldn't imagine spending another minute there. No, he couldn't go back there.

Instead, Harry found his feet leading him past the Great Hall where hundreds of students were eating their dinner and outside into the cool afternoon air. Even though it was nearing October, the weather was still decent enough to be going outside without a cloak, although in an hour's time, Harry knew he would be longing for the warmth of the castle again.

He strolled through the grounds, by the lake, and the spot where Hagrid had once lived. Memories of the Gamekeeper filled Harry's mind and he hurried past the spot where the hut had once stood. No one had seen the giant since Voldemort was vanquished twenty-two years ago and after Ministry had failed to locate him after five years of searching, Harry chose to let go of the pain and sadness for his greatest friend and teacher. He had realized then and even now that he couldn't dwell on the past anymore. He had a wife, a family, and a bright future that he couldn't walk away from.

Continuing on, Harry found himself heading to the Quidditch Pitch. As he got closer, he recognized the uniforms of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. Harry guessed that they must be starting try-outs for their Quidditch team as well by the looks of the eager crowd of students. Recollections of his earlier days as a Seeker replaced the gloomy feeling the memory of Hagrid left and by the time Harry returned to the castle, he was in much brighter spirits.

Still, he had one more job to finish before the day was done. From the way it sounded as he walked into the Entrance Hall, dinner was over and most of the students had made the journey between the Great Hall and their common rooms. Harry assumed that his own children had followed the crowd and headed in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

Just as Harry thought, all four of his children were occupying themselves in the room with the rest of their Gryffindor classmates. Lynn sat in a corner of the room reading a book, Daniel was surrounded by a group of fourth and fifth year guys laughing and joking, Isaac sat by the fire playing with puzzle that he had received for his birthday and Lizzy was talking rapidly with another first year girl at one of the tables. It didn't take long for the room to notice his presence and just as quick, the noise in the room died down and became still.

"Dad!" Lizzy cried, her voice sounding high pitched compared previous to the low rumble of voices.

Harry tried to stifle a yawn, the fatigue from all the activity was finally catching up to him. "Potter children," he said calmly. "Follow me." He walked out of the portrait hole and led the four Gryffindors into an empty classroom down the corridor. Each child shared a mystified look when their father shut the door and turned back to them.

"Alright, you guys are good kids. Yes, even you, Daniel," Harry gave his disbelieving son an affectionate smile, but it was quickly replaced with a serious expression. "When I get reports from teachers that my children are being disrespectful, it tells me that something is wrong. Would any of you like to tell me something?"

Harry scanned their faces as they turned to look at one another. He couldn't tell whether they were truly baffled or if they were trying to hide some sort of truth from him. "Anyone?" he persisted when none of the children spoke up. Still, each child decided to remain silent.

"So if there is nothing wrong, then it is safe for me to assume that you are being disrespectful on your own accord?" Harry concluded.

"Who is telling you that we are being disrespectful?" Lynn blurted out.

"It doesn't matter who is telling me; what matters is-"

"It's Professor Vex, isn't it?" Lizzy spoke up. "He's so mean!"

"He is always against me, Dad!" Daniel defended himself. "He's a-"

"Daniel!"

Isaac snorted. "He is, though," the boy confirmed.

Harry listened to his children's complaints for another moment before interrupting them. "Alright, look," Harry said. "It shouldn't matter who is reporting this to me, but would it make you feel better if I told you that it wasn't Professor Vex?"

The words did magic and left their mark on each child's shocked face. "Really?" Lynn said in bewilderment. "Then who?"

"It doesn't matter," Harry repeated. "What really matters is that I don't want to hear any such report ever again. No more talking back to teachers, practical jokes in class, harassing other students, and when teachers ask you to stop talking in class, you need to be obedient. Each of you needs to arrive to class on time and your homework needs to be completed and turned in when it is due. I want you to give the same respect to each of your teachers that you give to me and this includes Professor Vex."

"But-!" Lynn and Daniel protested.

"I don't know what has gotten into you guys, but it has only been the first three weeks of school," Harry said irritably. "I don't want to have this talk with any of you again. If we do, then more disciplinary actions will be taken. Got it?"

A round of grumbles and nodding heads was enough for Harry and he excused them back to their common room. He made sure the four returned to their common room before he traveled across the castle once again. Harry was now more exhausted than he had been all term and didn't know if he would be able to go another night without sleep. After picking up some food from the kitchens and munching on it on his way back to his office, he gave in to his desire for sleep and decided to turn in for the night. Though, another surprise was waiting for him when he walked in.

"Hedwig!" Harry breathed. The snowy owl returned the greeting by landing on Harry's shoulder and nipping on his ear playfully. Harry stroked her gently, taking care of her fragile frame which was getting brittle over the years. It was a miracle that she was even alive, although letting the owl live at Hogwarts over the years instead of around his hyperactive children over may have helped. After he gave the owl a treat from a box next to her cage, Harry found the object that had worried him for the last three weeks.

In neat, slanted writing, Harry recognized his name in Hermione's script written across the envelope. He tore past the cover and opened the contents inside. To his disappointment, the words inside were short.

Dear Harry,

It is wonderful to hear from you, but that probably isn't the reason you sent two letters. You were asking about dreams. I searched in the library at the Hospital and then I went to the Ministry and Ron gave me a special pass to use the library there. You won't be surprised to know that there isn't a lot of information on dreams. I am assuming that you had a nightmare? Could you tell me what it was about? It will give me a focus on my research. If you need anything else, let me know.

I hope to hear from you soon,

-Love, Hermione

Harry read the letter two or three times before he finally set it down. He didn't know where to start or what to write to Hermione. On the one hand, he was bothered that it had taken her this long to reply, but then to ask him to tell her about his nightmare? Repeat every horrible thing that had happened to him in the past 39 years? She couldn't possibly understand the pain he had gone through that night and that week. Hermione wasn't there to hear his mum's voice screaming in his ear, or his dad's last attempt to be brave, or Dumbledore's last words before he was murdered. Then Voldemort's voice right next to his ear…The voices were so real and so vivid that Harry knew it was more than just a dream and it scared him more than anything.

No, Harry finally resolved, Hermione hadn't experienced these things, but she was the only person he could trust to help him. He couldn't live another day like this.

Dear Hermione,

I am coming home this weekend to visit with Ginny and Abigail. Would you and Ron like to join us for lunch on Sunday afternoon?

Hope you are doing well,

Harry

The letter was put into an envelope and Hermione's name was written hastily on the front. Harry set it on his bedside table, deciding that it could wait to be sent off until morning. He didn't want to exhaust his owl by having her take a second trip in the same day. So, instead, Harry slid into his bed and fell into a much needed, deep sleep. This had certainly been the longest day of his life…