Poems •Sirius Black• /editing/

Poems - 177.

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Chapter 177

Douglas Hopkins sat at his desk in the roomy office overlooking the city of London, even up high in the large building he was able to hear the busy traffic down on the roads, as well as the soft patter of rain hitting the large window. In his hands was a piece of parchment, scribbled with the messy handwriting of his oldest daughter, allowing the wide smile to erupt onto his lips as he sat there just about finished half of his work and allowing himself a short time to read the letter that had sat at the corner of his desk for a day.

"See this," Douglas spoke, turning the letter around, "this is a good child, this is a child who actually listens to the rules, and knows when to respect them," he glared at his son in front of him who was sporting a very evident black eye.

"I did what was right," Benji grumbled, glaring at his father when he heard the scoff tumble from his lips, "you know I did."

"I'm supposed to punish you," Douglas shrugged, "so you'll be punished."

"Bloody hell I'm seventeen, I have more things to worry about than you grounding me!" he exclaimed, his arms flailing until he winced at the pain spread through his stomach, "you would have done the exact same thing, and you can't even deny it."

"Maybe I would have," Douglas nodded, "but sending a boy to hospital, Benji, is not something to be proud of, I had to drive all the way to your school to get you, only to hear they're thinking about pressing charges?!"

"I didn't say I was proud, dad, geez, but he got what was coming to him, I couldn't let him just talk about her like that, she's my girlfriend, and he doesn't even know her!" Benji shrieked, "I don't care if you punish me for the rest of my life but I did what I thought was right, and I would do it again!"

"You would?"

"Of course, I would!" Benji grumbled, "he has no right to talk about Arden like that, he saw the picture in my wallet saying all this stuff about how he wanted to meet her, and wanted her in general, and you think I'm going to just sit back and let him do that? or laugh with him, I bloody well think not."

Douglas stared at his son, seeing the bruise on his eye, the cut on his lip, he knew that his anger wasn't as to why he did it, but the consequences of what could have happened, the fact that he could have been terribly injured and Douglas wasn't there to stop it, it reminded him that he was growing up, the letter in his hand reminded him that Adria was too, his twins where growing and he wasn't sure he was all too fond of it, he hated the thought of not being there for his kids growing up, and soon they wouldn't be with him.

Adria barely was as it was, nor was Alina, and well Alfie had already moved out, and both boys sat in the office knew that this caused Douglas to be more protective of Benji and Jude, they were the only two left with him in the house, the only two that was there all the time, so no matter what, any way that his boys could get hurt caused Douglas to go into over protective dad mode, and no matter what, he couldn't exactly help it, he was blinded by love for his kids to see that they were able to fend for themselves.

Well, not so much Jude.

"Look I'm sorry," Benji sighed, slumping into his chair, "I'm sure I could've told him in a more "mature" way how to piss off but you know, I was angry, and upset and mad that he thought he could just talk about her that way, and bloody hell you know Arden, if she was there she would've killed him."

"I'm not mad at you for hurting him, Benji," Douglas sighed, his shoulders slumping as he stared at his son, "I mean yes, in a way, there could have been a more mature way, but I brought you up along with your mother to fight for what you think is right, and I would have done the exact same thing, so being mad at that would be a tad hypocritical.