Not twenty minutes into the very first dinner hour of term, Laura Harper was standing outside Teddy Crossley's classroom door with a pale, shaking Harry Potter in tow. It was not the way Teddy expected his first day back to go. The morning itself had been an utter nightmare - the children had all been excessively hyper and not inclined to listen. Gordon Pritchard had brought an enormous bag of Easter chocolates to class and spent the time eating them or throwing the crumpled wrappers at the other children, and everyone was just getting wilder and wilder until Teddy lost his temper and shouted at the lot of them. Looking at their shocked faces - Teddy rarely got angry and yelled even less - Teddy felt a little guilty, but it was to his relief and their own that the dinner hour had finally come. He'd been looking forward to some peace and quiet. That was before Laura showed up.

"Harry?" Teddy said, hearing the surprise in his voice. The boy flinched. He looked a fright. His arms were crossed over his chest, fingers picking compulsively at the elbows of his sweater, and the knees of his trousers looked to be spotted with blood. He had a livid bruise down the side of one cheek, and his glasses were twisted crazily and looked to be barely balanced on his pinched, frightened face. "My god, what happened?"

"Go wait in the classroom, Potter. Mr. Crossley will be in in a minute." The boy didn't move. Laura gave Teddy a look.

"Harry? It's all right, I'm just going to have a word with Mrs. Harper, then we'll talk. Can you go wait inside for me?"

Without looking at Teddy at all, Harry slid past him, into the classroom. Once the door clicked shut, Teddy rounded on Laura.

"What's happened? What's Dudley done now? I swear, if - "

"Calm down Ted. Dursley's got nothing to do with this latest stunt."

"What stunt? What's wrong?"

"Potter's been climbing on school buildings." Laura's tone sounded grim, and Teddy felt his jaw drop open. Whatever he'd been expecting, that didn't even come close.

"Harry? Are you sure?" The boy barely looked strong enough to climb a rope.

"Dimmick found him sitting on the chimney up by the kitchens. Boy's denying it now, but how else could he get up there? I've written a letter for the aunt and uncle." She held out a white envelope, the front addressed to Mrs. Dursley. "For now, keep him in the classroom with you for the rest of the day. We may have to have a meeting about whether or not suspension is necessary."

"Suspension? Harry?"

"It's not his first offense, Ted."

"But - "

"We'll have a meeting about it tomorrow. You can fight about it then." Laura ran a hand down her face and sighed. "Honestly, if it's not one thing with this boy, it's another. And on the first day back. Just keep him in the room and keep him out of trouble, at least until the end of the day, Ted. Please."

"Shouldn't I take him to the nurse? He's bleeding."

"Won't let anyone near him. Just goes stiff. He'll be fine - he didn't fall, that's one good thing about this fiasco. God knows how he got the whole way up there without being seen, but perhaps that's for the best - imagine if Sue broke his concentration. Potter pancake."

"Not that his relatives would care," Ted grumbled. Laura raised a hand.

"Not now, Ted, please. Just watch him." She handed him the letter. "And make sure his aunt gets this when she picks him up."

Teddy stared at the letter, slowly reached out and took it, felt it between his hands. He'd rather give the aunt a sound slap than hand her this little envelope of ammunition. I'll get the whole story, he thought, tucking it away. Harry would tell him. He'd go back in the classroom, see if the boy'd let him clean his knees, have a chat. There had to be more to this story, more that Laura didn't understand. There had to be.

When he went back into the classroom, he thought for a moment that Harry had run off. He wasn't sure how - there was only one door to the room, and they were on the second story! It wasn't until he heard a shuffling sound coming from the supply closet that he went to investigate and found him.

He'd fit himself in between the filing cabinets, under the bottom shelves. There wasn't really enough room for him. He had his arms wrapped around his knees, his eyes focused on the door. When Ted opened it and the light spilled in, the boy flinched back like a frightened animal. Teddy kneeled and tried to make eye contact - not something Harry was good at in the best of times.

"Hey, there. What's going on in here?" Teddy's voice was gentle, and Harry bit his lip.

"I'm in trouble."

"I don't know about that," Teddy said. He reached a hand out, tried to ignore the way Harry shied away. He cracked his head against the bottom shelf, and Teddy winced in sympathy. "Why don't you come on out and we can talk about it, all right?" He moved, as slowly as he could, and waited for Harry to take his hand.

Harry didn't. "I'm in trouble. A lot," he said again. He sounded almost regretful.

"Not with me," Ted said. And waited.

Harry never took his hand, but he did inch ever so slightly out from under the shelf. Teddy smiled at him. His arm started to ache. "Looks like you got banged up pretty good," Teddy said softly, which caused the boy to clutch his arms even tighter, sealing off the top of his body. Teddy didn't know what to do with his face - should he smile, try and put Harry at ease? He had seldom felt less like smiling. He tried anyway. "Why don't we get you cleaned up and then we'll have a chat, you and me. Did you eat anything before all this?"

Harry shook his head, warily. "He took my ticket," he whispered. Three guesses who'd taken it.

"Well - I've got extras from Easter tea. We'll get your knees sorted out, and anywhere else that's hurt, and we'll have a little snack and we'll talk."

"I din't mean to be bad," Harry said quietly, and Teddy's heart almost broke.

"I know, Harry. Come on. Let's sort all this out, and then I'll talk to Mrs. Harper and set her straight." Teddy reached forward again, and felt his smile grow genuine when Harry put his hand out too.

They left the closet, Teddy's knees giving a twinge as he stood up - he wasn't quite Harry's age anymore. They made their way to Teddy's desk. Harry was limping, not terribly, but enough to make Ted furious at Laura. How could she not insist Harry have medical attention? He got out the first aid kit and positioned Harry on the top of the desk, pulling his chair up so he was eye level with the boy's knees. He opened up the kit, took out the antiseptic, and looked up at Harry.

"Can you roll up your trousers for me, Harry?"

Harry didn't move. He was shaking, Teddy noticed, and his arms were wrapped tight around his chest. His head rested on the top of his arms - he wasn't looking at Teddy anymore. Teddy took a step in and started to gently roll up his trousers. His knees were scraped and bleeding, but nothing too terrible. He dosed a little antiseptic on the gauze and pressed it, gently, to the wound. This, as opposed to any of the comforting things Ted had been saying, made Harry look at him. The boy's face went totally white, and his head shot up. His hands reached for his knees, but stopped midair and gripped his waistband instead.

"I'm sorry," Harry blurted out, urgently. "I'm sorry, please, I really din't mean to." The boy flinched, and his knees twitched. "Please," Harry said, a hitch in his voice.

Teddy frowned. "It's all right, Harry, I believe you, I really do. We'll get you cleaned up and you can explain it all, all right?"

Harry twitched again, twisted himself awkwardly on the desk, and that time there were definitely tears in his voice. "Please stop. I din't mean to be bad, I promise."

Teddy looked up at him, for a moment confused, and when realization hit him he dropped the gauze like he'd been burned. Harry looked utterly terrified.

"I - Harry, I - " Teddy was at a loss. "Harry, I'm not angry with you. You - I'm just trying to help you. If you don't get your cut cleaned up, it can get infected and hurt more. I'm not angry. I just want to help. I promise."

"You were angry this morning. Because our class was bad." The words felt like a blow.

"I - I wasn't angry. I was frustrated. It was wrong of me to yell at you all like that. It was only a few of you being bad. You weren't." A pause. "Here." He pushed the gauze into Harry's hand. "You rub that on your knees, and anywhere else you're hurt, all right? Or else it might get infected. You don't want that, do you?" He waited. Harry mechanically shook his head. "All right. You do that, I'll get you some sticking plasters."

He went to the sink, washed his hands, tried to get his head together. All right. All right. There was something wrong here, more than Laura thought, this wasn't about climbing on buildings, this was something else, this was the journal entries and the bullying from Dudley and the sour aunt and the mean uncle, this was all those things, but he could figure it out, now. He had time, and he wasn't going to just let it go.

When he turned back to Harry, he almost swore. Harry had finished dabbing at his legs, and the scratch on his face looked like it'd gotten the same treatment. He was now applying the gauze, with a tight, squinted look to his face, to his side. He'd hiked up his school shirt and sweater and there was - what was that? A scar, a bruise? A sore, maybe. Teddy didn't know what to do, but realized probably what he shouldn't do was panic. Too late, his head thought as his breathing picked up.

"What's that?" Teddy heard himself say, in a casual voice. Harry dropped his shirt and the gauze and looked at Teddy with an unreadable face. Teddy leaned down and got the gauze, then threw it away. "Did you hurt your side?"

Harry did nothing. Then, very quickly, only once, he nodded.

"Do you need more antiseptic?"

No answer.

Teddy got another piece of gauze, poured some antiseptic on it. Hesitated. Did he want to do this? No. Did he have to? Maybe not technically, but...Before he could change his mind: "Here - I'll hold up your shirt and you can rub that on, all right?"

He thought for a moment that Harry wouldn't do it, and he wasn't quite sure what he should do if he was refused. It would be wrong - and probably an offense worthy of termination - for him to hold down a student and try to see under their clothes. And the nurse didn't like Harry anymore than Anthea or Laura seemed to, and no one else seemed likely to care. After a long moment, though, Harry's hand came out and grabbed the gauze. He lifted his shirt, and Teddy saw.

It was a dog bite. Not a big one, and most of the marks didn't seem to go beyond scratches, there were two nasty looking puncture wounds on either side. Remarkably, they didn't look infected. Harry started to wipe down the area with the gauze. It had to hurt, but Harry didn't make a sound.

After they got him all bandaged up (was that a bruise, lurking off to the side of the dog bite? Harry pulled his shirt down too fast to be sure), Teddy took out his sandwich and offered Harry half, poured him a glass of water, and sat. Harry regarded the sandwich warily. His glasses still didn't look quite right, and it made him seem even more vulnerable.

"Eat up. It's ham."

"It's yours," Harry said. His hands were on his knees, and Teddy could see his fingers twitch.

"I'm still full from Easter." He made a show of patting his stomach. "Go on."

Harry picked up the sandwich and began nibbling it with the air of someone savoring an especially delicious dessert. Teddy tore a quarter off of his sandwich and began eating that.

"What happened today, then, Harry?"

Harry stopped eating - he barely had two bites of the sandwich left as it was - and stared at the sandwich. "Dunno." One of his legs started to kick in a nervous rhythm.

"Mrs. Harper said they found you on the roof." Harry's leg kept kicking, and he started to fidget with the hole in his trouser leg. "Come on, Harry. Talk to me."

"I - it was an accident."

"Oh?"

"I - Gordon was mad because - it was my fault. Because you took his sweets."

"Gordon said this?"

Harry made a tiny shaking motion with his head.

"Dudley?"

A tiny nod. "He - they were chasing me. Like Ripper."

Teddy cast his mind over Harry's previous journal entries. "Ripper is your aunt's dog?"

Harry grimaced. "She's Dudley's aunt. Not mine."

"Did Ripper bite you?"

"They made him chase me up the tree. He got me before I made it all the way up."

"Who made him chase you? Dudley?"

Harry's shoulders tightened, and he shrugged.

"I - I don't like being chased. That's all. I was running and I was just going to hide behind the rubbish bins but then there was a wind or something and I was on the roof but I din't mean to, I swear I din't mean to, please..."

Ted stood up and moved to the other side of the desk. Harry jerked back in his seat, but Ted just kneeled down in front of him and, gently, put a hand over Harry's still fidgeting fingers as they tugged at his trouser.

"I know, Harry. It's all right. I'll sort it out."

And he would. Somehow. He just didn't know how.