A/N: Hello! I had this ready a month ago but then everything got busy, so here it is!

Enjoy!

I'm finally allowed to leave the infirmary under strict orders from Poppy to rest. Albus is the one to escort me back to my rooms. I tried to tell him it wasn't necessary, but a single look kept me from insisting further.

The walk is oddly silent, but not exactly awkward. Still, I'm used to easy conversation between us, so the longer he stays quiet the more anxious I become.

I can't help glancing at him a few times, but his expression is unreadable and if he notices me looking at him, he doesn't point it out.

Is he angry? Maybe now that the danger has passed he's upset with me for jumping into action without thinking it through.

The thought concerns me, especially because it's not like there was time for me to think it through. He defended me, true, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's not angry. If that's the case, I wish he'd just get it over with. Albus still makes no move to speak or look in my direction, and I stifle a sigh. I suppose if he's going to yell at me for being reckless, I'll just have to wait until he's ready.

Luckily, it doesn't take much longer to reach the portrait outside my rooms. I pause, waiting for Albus to walk away. To my surprise, he makes no move to leave, so I finally speak my password and wait for it to swing open.

Wordlessly, Albus gestures for me to go in before him. I turn back toward him as he closes the door behind us and open my mouth to speak, hoping that now he'll say whatever is bothering him.

"Mist—Miss Minerva!"

A high-pitched, squeaky voice comes from further inside the room, interrupting me before I can even think about what I want to say. I feel my brow furrowing in confusion, startled by the sudden and unexpected voice.

I start to turn, wondering how in the world anyone could have gotten in my rooms if I wasn't here, but suddenly a small body launches itself at my legs before I can fully turn around with a force that very nearly knocks me off balance.

"What—"

Despite my awkward position I manage to stay upright, and I look down to discover what has suddenly ensnared me.

"Pipsy?!" I can't hide the surprise from my tone.

The small elf has her face buried in my robes, her little hands fisted tightly in the fabric, but she refuses to look up as I say her name.

"Pipsy," I try in a gentler tone this time, but it just causes her to hold on tighter.

I can feel her trembling even before I kneel down to her level and touch her, though the movement does nothing to sway her from her position.

"My dear Pipsy, whatever is the matter?"

She shakes her head, and if I weren't so concerned it would have made me laugh.

"It's okay, Pipsy. Please look at me."

It takes a moment, but she eventually removes her face from my robes, and I'm sure I can't hide the shock from my face when I see the tears.

"Pipsy! What—"

She must see the worry on my face, because at that moment she forces herself to step back and tries to pull herself together, though the attempt fails miserably.

"Pipsy is sorry, Miss Minerva! Pipsy doesn't mean to cause you concern! She just—Pipsy was—"

"It's okay, dear, don't worry. Tell me what's wrong."

She hesitates, obviously not sure if she should explain herself, but it seems she can't hold it in, because the next second she blurts out, "Pipsy was just so worried!"

My brow furrows once again, and I turn my head slightly to glance at Albus, but he looks almost as confused and worried as I am.

"What?"

"P-Pipsy heard about you saving Professor Kettleburn, Miss Minerva! That was very dangerous!"

The last sentence sounds almost like a reprimand, but Pipsy speaks again before I can respond.

"Pipsy heard you were injured, so she came here right away. She couldn't help herself, Pipsy had to make sure you were alright!"

The tears are still pouring down her face, her breaths hiccupping every now and then. The poor elf is in such a state and I wonder briefly how long she's been sitting here like this, upsetting herself more and more.

I feel myself getting annoyed at this thought with whoever was silly enough to upset Pipsy like this, because surely she had to have been told. I doubt most people in the castle even know about it yet.

Then again, the elves were told to keep an eye out for any of Kettleburn's creatures, so I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised she's already heard about it.

I take a deep breath before I reach my uninjured arm out toward the elf and give her the most comforting smile I can manage.

The intent in the gesture is clear, but she still hesitates. All she can do is stare at me, eyes shining.

"Come here, Pipsy." I request softly. "Please?"

She doesn't need any further prompting, because the moment the words are out of my mouth, she launches herself at me once again and I have a nearly sobbing house-elf against my chest.

I adjust my position slightly to stay upright, but Pipsy doesn't seem to mind much. I feel myself smile as I rub her back to help comfort her.

"Sh," I whisper, "I promise I'm alright, Pipsy. Just breathe, everything is okay now."

I feel Albus's eyes on us, and I start to wonder what his expression must look like watching this, but right now my main concern is calming Pipsy down so I ignore it.

I continue murmuring to her until I finally feel her tears start to slow down. They stop completely a few moments later, but Pipsy isn't in a hurry to move away from me, so I let her take her time.

Pipsy finally moves away, but not much. She looks up at me sheepishly; the already bright green of her eyes seems impossibly brighter.

I smile at her, "Feel better?"

She nods, though now she almost looks embarrassed. "Pipsy is very sorry, Miss Min—"

I immediately shake my head and cut her off before she can finish the sentence.

"No, don't apologize, Pipsy. It's perfectly all right; it's my own fault for scaring you so. I'm sorry."

Pipsy's eyes widen and she shakes her head vigorously.

"No, Miss Minerva! Don't apologize to Pipsy! You did something wonderful today, Pipsy was just so afraid you were badly hurt…"

Her eyes move from mine to glare at the sling on my arm, and I fight off a laugh.

"I appreciate your concern. It was dislocated in a couple places and there was a sprain, but I'm—"

Pipsy cuts me off almost immediately when she hears my injuries. "You must be more careful, Miss Minerva! No more of this! Pipsy can't take it!"

The elf is basically yelling at me now, but I smile at her again anyway.

"I will do my very best, I promise."

She visibly relaxes at my reassurances. Now that I've succeeded in calming her down, I can finally ask the question I've had since I turned and saw her in my rooms.

"How did you find out, Pipsy? You weren't there, right?"

I certainly don't recall seeing her, but that's not saying much because I was so focused on chasing after Kettleburn at the time. Pipsy being upset after hearing about the incident is one thing, I don't even want to entertain the idea that the poor thing witnessed us plummeting toward the ground. I already feel bad enough that I've upset so many people as it is, and I don't want to add her to that list.

"Oh, no! Pipsy would have surely had a heart attack if Pipsy were there! No, another house-elf saw you going with Ms. Poppy and the others. He told Pipsy immediately because he knows how Pipsy feels about Miss Minerva. Pipsy came right away to wait for you."

I nod, thinking. "How long were you here before we came back?"

"Pipsy was here for maybe an hour. Pipsy isn't sure, she lost track."

I stare at her in disbelief. "Oh, Pipsy! I wish you weren't in here all by yourself for so long!"

Pipsy's eyes grow even wider and suddenly she almost refuses to look in my eyes at the same time she starts to back away from me. My brow furrows at the odd behavior.

"Pipsy?"

"Mist… Miss M-Minerva, Pipsy is sorry she came into your rooms without permission...Pipsy knows how you feel about that, she didn't mean to disobey!"

The elf sounds nearly hysterical again, but also looks like she's withdrawing further into herself every moment, trying to make herself as small as possible.

"What? Disobey?"

Pipsy flinches at the word, and I hold my hands out to her, but she doesn't come closer.

I think I hear Albus draw in a sharp breath, and I wonder if he knows what's going on, because I have no idea. I've never seen Pipsy act like this before. I made it clear to Pipsy long ago that she's not bound to me; I'm not her mistress, and I never gave her any orders for her to disobey in the first place, and yet she very obviously feels like she's done something wrong.

"No, Pipsy, that's not what I mean. Of course you're allowed in my rooms whenever you wish to be. I'm sorry, I should have made that clear long ago; you didn't do anything wrong."

Pipsy looks so relieved that I said it, and the tension and nervousness visibly leaves her almost immediately. It makes me smile, and suddenly it doesn't matter why she reacted so badly as long as she understands now.

"I only meant that you've been in here for so long this upset; I don't like seeing you like that; especially since it was my doing. You should have just come find me; that way you could see I was alright."

Pipsy nods, even managing a small smile. "You are alright, right Miss Minerva?"

I smile back, "Yes, dear. I was very lucky; it probably would have been worse, but Albus was there to help us."

Pipsy snaps her attention from me to Albus, and I look over my shoulder at him as well.

I don't think he was expecting our attention to turn so suddenly to him, because he looks so caught off guard that I chuckle at his expression.

"Thank you, Mr. Dumbledore." Pipsy says quietly.

I wasn't expecting it, but it's so sweet of her that I can't help grinning like an idiot, and even more at the stunned look on Albus's face.

He nods minutely, but Pipsy doesn't let her attention waver for too long, because not even a moment later I feel her small hand on my arm.

"Miss Minerva," I turn to her, and she's got a very serious look on her face that eerily reminds me of Poppy.

"Uh… Yes?"

"You must rest; Pipsy will bring you dinner here tonight. Are you in pain, do you need Pipsy to get anything from Ms. Poppy?"

"Oh, um... no, it's fine Pipsy. I don't need anything."

"Good; Pipsy will be back to check on you later, Miss Minerva."

The elf has the same look in her eyes that Poppy has when she's ordering patients around, so I don't even bother arguing with her and telling her this is unnecessary. Instead I just nod, and the elf disappears with a small pop!

After Pipsy leaves it's quiet in my rooms. I stand from my kneeling position on the ground and turn toward Albus. I smile slightly at him, expecting to see him still shocked at Pipsy's thanks. Instead, I find the same blank look on his face that was there when we were walking back to my rooms before Pipsy interrupted us.

I sigh, the smile dropping as I force myself to look him in the eyes. I might as well get this over with.

"Albus, please talk to me."

The man just looks at me, and this is really starting to make me nervous. I can't place this expression on his face.

"Albus, please…" I move my eyes away from his, my resolve disappearing quickly under his gaze.

"Listen, if you're going to yell at me for being reckless, I wish you would just get it over with. I can't stand this; I've upset an astounding number of people today. I don't know why I'm so surprised, I honestly should have expected this."

I feel Albus's eyes on me, but I refuse to look at him again. "Be angry if you need to be, but I don't regret saving Silvanus, Albus. I don't, so I don't really know what else you want me to say about this. So please, yell at me for my idiocy to your heart's content so I can go to bed and try to forget this ever—"

My back was turned to Albus, so I didn't see him approach me. I don't even realize he's standing behind me until I feel his hands on my arms. I gasp as I'm spun around to face him, but I don't get the chance to look at his face because instead he pulls me forward into his chest. The hands on my arms move around to hold me to him, and I'm so stunned I do nothing to pull away from him.

"Albus?"

Saying his name only results in his arms tightening around me. I sigh inwardly. Never in a million years did I think I would worry so many people by doing something like this. Back in Oz, people not only would have been instantly suspicious, they probably would have rather seen me injured worse than I was.

"Albus, please tell me what's wrong. I said I'm alright."

"I know," He answers finally, voice strained. "You just scared the hell out of me. You could have been killed, Minerva."

"So Poppy informed me. Even so, I still wouldn't have changed what I did. I would have much rather thought it through better, but there was no time for that."

I say the words into his shoulder because he still hasn't budged from his position.

"Besides, apparently I have you to thank for keeping our injuries down to a minimum."

I feel him tense, and although I know the question will probably upset him, I ask it anyway.

"What happened out there?"

Albus pulls away from me just enough for me to look at his face. His already bright blue eyes are almost piercing as he looks at me, and I have to stop myself from flinching away from it.

"Armando and I were already headed out to check the progress you were making outside, and we heard Rolanda scream for you. I've never heard her sound so frightened. When I finally made it out of the doors and looked up…"

His eyes close momentarily, and I can practically see the image he's imagining in his head. "You were already going down, far too close to the ground. I just managed to slow you down. I shudder to think about the state you would be in if it failed."

I nod, knowing he's right. The odds of my being killed without that assistance were much higher. I look back up at him, and I can still see the far away look on his face.

"Hey, look at me." I put my hand against his cheek without a thought to try to bring him out of his head. I wait to see his eyes focus back at me before I speak again in a low voice.

"I'm right here, Albus. I'm perfectly fine. This bloody sling will be gone in a few days and it'll be as if it never happened."

He nods and tries to smile at me, though I can see this isn't going away that easily. Seeing him this upset is very nearly as bad as seeing Pipsy upset. His hands move to either side of my waist when my hand doesn't move away from his face, and the unexpected movement makes me jump.

Albus's hands instantly drop from my sides and he looks down.

"I'm sorry."

I shake my head, but his eyes are no longer directed at me so I know he doesn't see it. Suddenly all I want to do is make this better. This thought is what makes me wrap my arms around him and pull myself into his chest once again.

Albus freezes on the spot, and I swear for a moment he doesn't even breathe. I've never been the one to hug him first, but before I can start to feel awkward about my sudden move, Albus's arms wrap around me once again to keep me from moving away.

"Min?" He whispers, and I think he sounds almost worried. It makes me smile just a bit.

"Thank you for saving us, Albus. I know it seems like a simple thing that anyone would do if they could, but it's not. I can't explain it, but… Just thank you, for caring enough to help. And I'm sorry I frightened you."

I'm unbelievably relieved that his silence wasn't from a place of anger; the thought alone scares me more than I would have thought, because Albus has rapidly become one of my closest friends here. I'm not sure how I would have reacted to that being jeopardized because of something like this.

His arms tighten around me briefly before he speaks, "It's alright, dear. I know you didn't intend for today to be this eventful, just please refrain from nearly giving me a heart attack for the remainder of the school year, if possible?"

I chuckle, and I feel Albus's laughter as well before I pull away slightly to look up at him. Thankfully, the twinkle and playfulness has started to return to his eyes.

"I'll try, Albus."

"Good, because it's not just me, you know. I think if nothing else, today has shown you just how many people genuinely care for you here, yes?"

The smile I give him now is probably bigger than any other I've attempted today, because I suddenly realize how true that statement is.

"Yes, Albus. You're absolutely right."

A/N: Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I'm working on the next chapter, so hopefully the next update isn't too far away. As always, PLEASE REVIEW! :)

Until next time...

~Neve