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"Come in, Harry" said Dumbledore softly as Harry was nervously standing outside of his office. Slowly, Harry pushed open the door to reveal Dumbledore's completely changed office. Contrary to his old office, Dumbledore had papers scattered across his desk and things seemed more out of place then last time Harry was present. There were even more odd contraptions here than during the last occasion that were strewed around the room and Harry couldn't help but feel curious.

Harry quickly turned his attentions away from Dumbledore's room and sat down in the chair in front of the desk. He didn't know what was going to happen or why Dumbledore didn't seem angrier, but then again, Harry had only seen him angry around Voldemort.

"How are you, Harry?" Dumbledore questioned gently, which surprised Harry a little bit. He didn't quite know how to answer that inquiry. He knew that he wasn't "fine", but for some reason, he didn't want to tell Dumbledore what was wrong with him. Maybe it was because Harry was ashamed.

"I'm...fine" Harry lied while still examining Dumbledore's office. The silence in the room though, made Harry change his attentions back over to Dumbledore. He was looking at Harry over his half-moon spectacles and seemed as if he was deep in thought. The penetrating stare that Dumbledore was giving him, made Harry feel a little uncomfortable.

Harry was uneasily fidgeting in his seat when Dumbledore sighed, "Then how was your summer?". Harry knew Dumbledore was searching for an answer besides "good" and "fine", Dumbledore wanted him to tell everything and that is exactly what Harry had to tell him. After all, it was not like Dumbledore didn't know about Sirius's death, and he had known that Harry losing his godfather was going to be one of the most trying times in his life.

After a moment to think, Harry responded plainly, "Not my best summer. I spent most of it locked up in my room and when I finally did go downstairs, I practically blew up my Uncle." He tried to show a fake smile to show that he was over it, but his efforts were wasted. Dumbledore could see right through what Harry was doing.

"You can't keep blaming yourself, Harry." Harry quickly looked up as Dumbledore's words were spoken and even though he knew they were true, he couldn't just stop blaming himself. He didn't know what to say so Harry just kept looking down as Dumbledore slowly stood up and went to the window. As Dumbledore was gazing out into the world around them Harry was back to thinking about how stupid he was. Harry had told himself time and again that if he had more since then a broomstick, he would have known how to save Sirius. He was telling himself these things yet again, in spite of everyone's efforts to assure him that it wasn't his fault. While Harry's mind was roaming and deep in thought about these things, Dumbledore spoke, "How did it start?"

"What?"

"The fight...how did it start?" Dumbledore said while returning to his seat behind the desk. He was watching Harry intently, and the twinkle in his eyes were blazing more then ever.

"Err, well...Malfoy had said some things about Ron and Hermoine so I kind of stood up to tell him to back off, but then Crab punched me. I didn't know what came over me; I just kind of reacted the only way I knew how. To fight back." Harry stared at Dumbledore sheepishly and looked down, still ashamed of how he had acted.

"Was the fight really about what Malfoy said?" Dumbledore asked matter-of-factly.

The truth to that was, Harry had no idea. He had been thinking about that and he didn't know if the fight was all really about defending his friends or if it was just a way to let out his anger. Harry didn't have a clue as to what his motives for fighting were; he just knew that he needed to find a better way to deal with things. "I don't know, Sir. All I know is that I was already mad at myself before Malfoy came along. Then he just made me angry at him instead."

Dumbledore nodded like he understood, and was rubbing his bright white beard before he replied wisely, "I have noticed a change in you, Harry. You aren't happy anymore. I know that it is hard, but what if you had died instead of Sirius? Would you want Sirius to be doing this to himself? What you are doing isn't helping him. Think about what Sirius would want in your life. Living a life that Sirius would have wanted you to have, would respect his memory more."

Harry didn't want to admit that Dumbledore was right, but he was. If Sirius was alive right now, and saw Harry, he would be so devastated. Harry had never thought to think of it in this light, he had only thought about the past. Now though, it made since to respect Sirius's memory and to live his life in honor of his beloved godfather. It was no use for Harry to wallow in his sorrow over losing Sirius; he had to brave. As Harry looked up at Dumbledore, there was no need for words; they both knew what Harry had to do. He had to change.

The punishment that Harry, Ron, Malfoy, Crab and Goyle received was extremely severe. They were not expelled though, as many of the teachers had threatened. They were all forced to serve five detentions together. The first night of detentions, they had to clean the trophy room and Malfoy of course had to make a comment on how he remembered when he challenged them to a duel and they had actually believed him. While Malfoy was having a good laugh at the memory, Harry had to hold Ron back. The punishment could have been much worse though, and Harry was thankful that it wasn't.

While the actual punishment for their fight was not that bad, the other students in the school were a punishment all in their own. They had been spreading insane rumors like wildfire ever since they saw the brawl. In Hogwarts, fights were a rarity, and so when they happened, it was a huge deal. Everyone kept on asking ridiculous questions as they walked down the hall like when one girl questioned if Harry had really blown off Malfoy's arm. Then, one day when Harry and Ron were all in Potions class, someone from the Slytherine house asked Snape what was the punishment for getting into a fight and Snape had responded by sneering, "Most of the time, you are expelled, but some students seem to think they rule the school and get out of their punishments easily." It wasn't all bad though, some people like Dean and Seams were actually congratulating Harry and Ron for finally giving Malfoy what was coming to him.

The whole school gossiping about the fight didn't really bother Harry as much as it aggravated Ron. Harry was used to the constant whispers as he passed, but Ron had never known that before. One day when they had been walking to their Charms class and some girl was pointing at them and telling her friend something, Ron just snapped. He turned around and told the girl to get her own life to talk about. What was funny though, was that as the girl was walking away she said, "No wonder the boy practically beat that Slytherine to a pulp, he is the angriest little red head I've ever seen!" Ron was in an irritable mood all day over that.

Once the talk started to wear down, Harry, Hermoine, and Ron were all starting to get concerned as to where Clara was. Ever since Harry had kissed her in the common room, no body had seen her. It had been two whole weeks since she had left and it was starting to make Harry feel a tad bit uneasy. He wanted to know if Clara was okay about her mother's death, because he knew better than anyone else how broken up she was over it. Ron was especially concerned over Clara's mysterious disappearance and every time he asked about her, Harry got that horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. Every time Harry started have this feeling in his stomach, or if he started to blame himself for things again, Harry reminded himself of what Dumbledore had said.

Since his talk with Dumbledore, Harry had made a great effort to be happier. He wanted to change, in order to live how Sirius would want him to. Finally, Harry was starting to be at peace with everything in his life and it was like a huge burden being lifted off his shoulders. He felt free now, and it was much easier to get threw his days. On one Friday evening though, his days were looking like they were going to get even easier.

"Guess what is starting up soon, Harry?" Ron asked in an excited tone. Harry smiled as he shrugged and started piling food into his mouth, waiting for Ron to just tell him instead of making him guess. After barely a ten second pause, Ron answered himself back, "Quidditch! And since Wood is gone, they need a new team captain!"

This got Harry ecstatic. Ever since he came back to Hogwarts, he just couldn't wait for Quidditch to start back up again. It was like the only thing that he felt he was decent at. Harry was a little uneasy though about Oliver Wood, their old team captain, being gone. He wondered who could fill Wood's shoes because Harry doubted that anyone could be as dedicated as Wood had been to the team. Whoever it was though, they would have a hell of a job to do. Harry shook his headof these thoughts as hegrinned widely at Ronandquestioned, "When is the first practice?"

Yes, things seemed to be looking up for Harry, but there was always that voicein the back of his head that wondered where she was. That voice also wondered,what would happen whenshe returned.