The social worker carefully opened the seat belt of Harry's car seat and picked him up. He was fast asleep and she made sure he was resting against her comfortably. She wondered if it had been the right choice to simply remove him. But what she had seen, had left only one conclusion and that demanded action.
She walked into Children's Services' headquarters, doing her best not to shake the small boy too much and made her way up the stairs to the pediatrician's office. She hoped that the female doc would be on duty as she had a feeling that Harry might not appreciate the avuncular older doctor who looked too similar to Vernon Dursley for comfort. She opened the door to the waiting area, encountering only empty chairs and walked through the unmanned reception area straight to the office door. She knocked once and opened it.
No, no, no, no! I haven't been bad, I've been a good boy! Where is she taking me, I need my room, my cupboard, it's too light here. I can't open my eyes. But I have to open them. I NEED to see the cupboard, I need to be silent and invisible before he finds me again. Please please please.
The doctor watched silently as the social worker set the small sleeping form down on the gurney, gently slipping a pillow under his head before she stepped away. She went to sit next to the doctor and they quietly discussed the necessary check-ups.
The doctor kept an eye on the little boy, wondering whether he'd come out of this unscathed. In her experience, children this age still had a fighting chance, if they were given much love, understanding and security. The older they were, the more scars they had to deal with usually. And for some, the wounds never closed. Those were the hopeless cases. The ones that on top of the wounds inflicted on their souls, often enough ended up inflicting wounds on themselves. And that all too often led to a fatal result. She could only do her best for this precious one and hope it would give him a chance to start over.
When Harry woke up, he wasn't sure where he was and very quietly sat up to look around. He noticed a reading lamp in a corner giving off soft comforting light and smiled. A restrained clearing of a throat made his head whip around and he stared with wide open eyes until he realised that the woman behind the desk was neither the social worker nor Aunt Petunia. He sighed in relief and climbed off the bed he'd lain on. "May I use the bathroom, please?" he inquired politely and the woman smiled, stood up and took his hand. "May I show you where it is, Harry? I'm Rhonda. We'll talk about dinner in a bit, once you've washed your hands." She winked at him and he wondered if she would slap him if he tried to touch her nice curly hair. For the moment though, he was content to be led to the bathroom, surprised that she let him go inside all by himself. After he had relieved himself, he washed his hands. For the first time since he'd been whisked out of the Dursley's home, he looked in the mirror above the basin. His eyes looked huge and he quickly washed away the tracks of dirt and tears streaking down his cheeks. It felt good, and he wondered only how long this reprieve would last.
When he returned, Rhonda picked him up and he let her, instinctively aware she meant him no harm. "Well, Harry, are you hungry?" "I would like something to eat, please, if it's no bother, Miss Rhonda?" he replied and she mentally shook her head at the phrasing. He couldn't be three and a half, he sounded as if he was closer to five. Would he even interact with children his age? Her mind went a million miles a minute, until she realised she still needed to find out what Harry liked to eat. "Shall we go for fish and chips, dear? Or would you rather have pizza? What do you like, Harry?" she asked and half expected him to jump at the chance of pizza. His response came rather unexpectedly for her. "I'll eat whatever you'll have, Miss Rhonda. I don't want to be a bother. Aunt Petunia says it's impolite to impose on others." Her smile was closer to tears than she'd been in a long time. What on earth had the people been thinking when they gave this sweet boy to a family like that? Why had no one bothered checking more closely? It made her mad and she tensed, but relaxed immediately when she noted Harry's reaction. He'd curled up and made himself as small as possible while still clinging to her. "No worries, Harry, we'll take a walk and see what we find, how's that?" Her smile had made him relax too and he nodded, still slightly apprehensive but too hungry by now to care.
The next morning, after a night spent inside the dresser of his room, Harry was Rhonda's first patient. She greeted him like someone she'd known for ages and made him laugh with her silly antics with her instruments while she casually checked his well-being. When she began asking him questions about his family, he clammed up and she soon determined it was a pointless endeavour. She knew he would need time, and most of all, someone he could learn to trust. When the examination was over, Rhonda personally took him over to their daycare program and stayed to watch his interaction with the other children there. Some of them came from places like Harry's family. Some of them lived in children's homes and some came from healthy families. It was an integrative type of daycare and Rhonda loved the effect the mix had on most of "her" kids after a while. Harry's approach was very tentative which was not surprising at all. But he did find another small boy that he built Lego castles with, and since he was deeply engrossed in his activity, Rhonda left to tend to her other patients.
By noon she had made a few calls, and the couple she'd had in mind offered to come over for a quick get-to-know to see if Harry would consider staying with them. In Rhonda's opinion, Harry's best chance was to be integrated in a family again as soon as possible. He was too small and vulnerable for a children's home, and she knew this particular family was perfectly suitable for what she had in mind. The parents were dedicated to providing a home for children who'd been victims of abuse. The father was a talented surgeon, but was in a position to keep his hours flexible enough to fully support his wife in the care of the children. She had completed her studies of child psychology and would have made a great social worker if she hadn't preferred this more personal form of helping children. Currently they had one other foster child, a boy slightly older than Harry who had lost his parents and older sister in a car crash when he had been 7 months old. His only memory of family were his foster parents and he was utterly happy with them. Rhonda thought that the similarity of the situation would allow Harry to work through his fears while at the same time having continuous positive support. Now she "only" had to convince him too.
After lunch, the children were split up in groups, depending on age and interests. Without Harry's knowledge, the boy he sat next to had been snuck into the group by Rhonda to allow the boys a chance to get to know each other without undue pressure one way or another. "Hi there, I'm Nathan. But everyone calls me Nate. What's your name?" the tall blond boy introduced himself to Harry with a smile. Harry flinched, intimidated by his height and caught completely off guard by the friendly approach. "Um... Ha-Harry. Hullo Nate," he stuttered and then smiled in spite of himself. As much as some animalistic urge in him made him want to run, this boy was as different from Dudley as day from night. He sensed he'd have no need to escape. He looked around for Rhonda, but they arrived to the park they could play in all afternoon just then and he was distracted by Nate's enthusiasm immediately.
By the time the group returned, parents were waiting to pick up kids and Harry grew anxious, wondering if Vernon and Petunia would simply take him home again. When Nate saw his parents and sprinted off with a happy shout, he suddenly felt very alone - until Rhonda called his name and he ran to meet her, almost jumping into her arms. At the last second he reined himself in and only smiled at her. She smiled back and took his hand to walk over to Nate's family with him. "Harry, I believe you know Nathan already..." "NATE! Rhonda, I TOLD you so!" Nate piped in and they all laughed. Except for Harry who was shocked at the bold way his new friend acted towards Rhonda - she was a DOCTOR after all and one had to be polite. Or get punished. He held Rhonda's hand harder as she went on with the introductions. "This is Alicia, or Mrs. Davis, but I'm sure she will prefer it if you call her Alicia." "That's right, Harry, do call me Alicia, or Lisha, like the little brat here," she reached for Nate's head and tousled his hair until he begged her to stop, fit to fall down as he was giggling so much. "This is my husband, Anthony. But he goes by Tony when he's not working. When he's at the clinic, he's Dr. Davis, but we try to avoid needing him in that capacity." She laughed and the tall man knelt to get to Harry's height. "Would you like to come see where Nate lives? I think we can rustle up another bed for the night and tomorrow morning we'll bring you right back to Rhonda and the other children here." Harry looked up at Rhonda who smiled and nodded in reassurance. "I'll be waiting for you tomorrow, Harry. You'll have fun, I'm sure, while I'll work tonight.. and you'll be safe, I promise." She leaned down and hugged him, before Nathan reached for his hand and dragged him away to their "cool car, look we even have another car seat for you! It's a Spiderman one, I picked it out and you can have my Batman sheets for tonight too..."
By the time they had eaten supper and the boys had brushed their teeth, Harry was fit to pass out. It had been a long day for him and he felt overwhelmed. He'd never been allowed to sleep at someone else's place, not to mention make an actual FRIEND. Even though Nathan was a bit much for Harry's hurting soul, his enthusiastic chatter also soothed him. Alicia put them to bed, gently hugging Harry and telling Nate his dad would come say goodnight in a minute too. In spite of Nate's continued assault on his ears, Harry started dozing. When the door opened and the tall shadow of Dr. Davis stood in the lit doorway, he panicked. He tore out of the covers and ran for Nate's dresser. He climbed in, slammed the door and sat behind Nate's shoe boxes and on some matchbox cars. But even the metal bits poking through his pajamas couldn't take the anxiety away. He willed himself invisible, his heart beating so hard he thought it would jump out of his chest, and sat hugging himself, waiting for the inevitable opening of the door.
When it did, he pinched his eyes shut, waiting for the equally inevitable yelling and being dragged out and punished.
Dr. Davis opened the cupboard door slowly, after telling Nate to stay in bed. Gently he told Harry not to be afraid, that everything was ok and that he had no problem if he chose to sleep in there. But that maybe, just maybe, would Harry like a blanket? As he finished opening the door, he realised he'd been speaking to empty space. He told Nate to turn on the light and gasped when the cupboard remained empty. Harry had vanished.