Please read the author's note at end, and help me if you can.

Chapter Eighteen: Department of Children Services

Harry slowly flew around the quidditch pitch, worry knowing at his stomach. Instead of waiting until the end of the week a women from Children Services had come the next day. Thomas had come to get them both, but Harry had been sent away. Harry spoke aloud to Ron.

"How could I being there change his answers? I haven't done anything wrong! Why are they doing this?!" Harry sighed and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. You haven't done anything wrong. I just don't know what to do." Harry clenched his broom and fought back tears.

"It's fine, mate, don't worry about it." Silence fell as they flew around.

"What am I going to do? They can't take him away from me. I… I can't handle it." Ron stayed silent not sure what to say.

"Maybe they won't take him away," he said consolingly.

"They think I abused him! I wouldn't ever do that not after what the Dursley's did to me. How could they think I did that?" Ron shrugged his shoulders not having an answer for his friend.

Brian looked across the table fearfully at the brown haired woman. He clung tightly the stuffed stag in his arms, wishing his daddy would come back. They had come up here, but the mean lady had made Daddy leave. He saw her lean forward, but stared at his stuffed animal while tears filled his eyes.

"Hi, Brian. My name is Ms. Holt, and I'm from the Department of Children Services. Do you know what that is?" Brian nodded his head, getting a little angry. He wanted to say that it was people who took children from their parents, but kept quite. "Do you know why you're here? Why I'm here?" He nodded and wiped his face.

"You want to take me away from Daddy. Why couldn't he have stayed?" Brian saw her warm smiled, but wasn't fooled. He could tell this woman didn't care what happened to him and his daddy. She just wanted to get paid. He had seen the same warm smile, but cold eyes, on his mean Daddy plenty of times before he had been beaten.

"We find that the children answer our questions more truthfully if the parents, or parent, isn't here. I'm just going to ask you a few questions, and I need you to answer them truthfully, okay? It's always important to tell the truth." Brian nodded, keeping his annoyance at bay. He really wanted to scream at this lady, but of she decided if he could stay with Daddy, or not, he would have to be nice.

"Have you ever been hit by your father?" Brian nodded, and then clarified his answer.

"My first Daddy did. My biolocikal-"

"Biological?" He nodded.

"That's the word. I can't say it right. He did, but my new daddy doesn't. He's really nice. He loves me, takes care of me, gets me things, and he never, never, never, never, never, never, ever, ever, ever hits me. He promises he never would because he knows what it feels like to be hit." The woman raised her eyebrows.

"He does? How does he know?"

"His aunt and uncle did. They called him a bunch of names to. He lived in a cupboard under the stairs until he got his Hogwarts letter. That's why I like him so much. He understand what my biolok, that word I can't say, did to me, and he knew how to much me feel better when I had a nightmare about it." He paused and squeezed the stag harder. "And when I have nightmares about Voldemort." He looked up at the woman, but still saw no sympathy in her eyes. She made a note on her papers.

"Has your new daddy, Harry Potter, ever hit you in any way? Like, maybe a spanking even?"

He shook his head, confused. She had already asked that question. "He's never spanked me."

"How does he punish you?" She didn't even look at him when she said it. Brian was in danger of splitting his stuffed animal in half from holding it so tight, and his hand was beginning to hurt.

"A time out, or sometimes I have to go to bed early." She didn't move except for hand going across the paper. She looked up from her paper and leaned forward.

"Has he ever touched you?" Brian actually saw warmth come into the woman's eyes, but didn't understand the question.

"What do you mean?"

"Has he ever touched you somewhere that he's not supposed to? Has he ever touched you and made you uncomfortable?" He was still a little confused, but shook his head no. "Do you know what I mean when I say 'private parts'?" Brian nodded.

"He's never touched me there. Only when he was drying me off, but it was just to get me dry. He wouldn't do that. Why would anyone ever do that?"

"You're first daddy never did?"

"No, he just hit me." The woman looked him over critically from his scared expression, too bright eyes, and his stuffed animal clutched tightly in his hands.

"Why are you so scared? No one is going to hurt you," she said softly. Brian wasn't fooled by the 'warmth' in her eyes.

"Because I don't want to be taken away from Daddy. I love him, and he loves me. I like it here. It's fun, and I have friends here. I don't want to go a foster home. Everyone says they hurt you, starve you, and are really mean. I don't want to go there. Please, don't take me away from Daddy." He wasn't able to hold back the tears down streaming down his cheeks.

"I am not the person who will decide that. It will be a jury who does, and the judge how presides over the court room. Someone will come tomorrow to talk to you again. Your headmaster will tell you where to go." She left the room without another word, leaving Brian to cry into his stuffed animal until Thomas came back in. He looked up tearfully at him when the old man entered the room.

"I don't want to leave Daddy. Why do I-hic- have to leave him? He-hic- didn't do anything!" Thomas gently picked the child up and settled him on his lap. The old man gently rubbed his back, and tried to reassure the child, until he managed to calm down a little until only the occasional tear escaped his eye. "Can I see Daddy now?" Thomas sadly shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. He's being questioned by someone just like you were. I told him to come up to my office when's he done, which should be soon, but until he gets here how about I get some hot chocolate for you, and we can read a book?" Brian nodded and sniffled.

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Harry gazed across the table, trying to place the woman's face. He knew he had seen her before, but couldn't remember where. Why did she seem so familiar? She looked up from her manila folder and smiled at him. "You don't remember who I am, do you?" Harry smiled and shook his head.

"Sorry, but no. I know I've seen you before, but I can't place your face."

"The last time I saw you, you were six years old and very frightened. Does that help any?" Harry's mouth dropped open as it clicked.

"You're the caseworker when charges were brought against the Dursley's! Ms…"

"Mrs. Price. I decided to take on the case when I saw that you were the one being accused of child abuse. I didn't want to think that you had done that, but I wanted to see you again, and to see how you turned out. I'm so sorry that the case didn't go through. No one will believe me, but I saw your uncle pay the other attorney big bucks to crop the case." Harry nodded before she was finished.

"I know he did. He yelled at me for hours about how much I had cost him. He would've hit me, but he was scared that someone would see, or hear, again. It's fine though; it wasn't your fault."

"It's not fine though, Harry. You shouldn't have had to go through that, and if these charges are true, he's possibly at fault." Harry saw an opening and took it.

"They're not true. I would never abuse Brian! I wouldn't ever put someone through what I had been through, especially when he was already abused by his biological father. I've never even spanked him, or had any inclination to. I love him. You don't know how I do, how much I need him." He paused, collected himself and leaned forward. He briefly explained about Sirius, how he had met him, and how he had died.

"I was really depressed. I tried to kill myself. I didn't know else to do, to me that was the only way to make everything better. I got better, it still hurt, but it wasn't so bad. It felt like there was this huge whole in my heart, and I didn't know how to make it go away. Brian's done this for me. Ever since I've been taking care of him, it's slowly faded, along with the pain of Sirius's death. It still hurts sometimes, but I can now think of him without bursting into tears. I can remember the good times and laugh again. My grades are much better now to, I'm second in my class, and some of my teachers think, if I work a little harder, I could graduate early. You can't let them take him away from me. I need him, I view him as my own son, and if he gets taken away…"

She sighed. "I know how much you care for him. I have two children of my own, and it's obvious that you do love him, and view him as your own." Harry looked at her.

"I sense a but." She sighed again.

"But the fact of the matter is that you're underage. Very few times has a minor been granted this, and you're two years underage-"

"I'll be seventeen in July. I'm not even a year under." He frowned at her.

"No one told you?"

"Told me what?"

"You're going to be tried by a muggle jury and judge. I'm from the muggle Department for Children Services."

"What? Muggle jury? This is going to court? I though it would just be like people at your office deciding if I got to keep him.

"No, since there are charges of abuse against you, and evidence of it, so they say, you will be tried. I have a good attorney friend who will be more than willing to take your case. She's the very best. She comes from an abusive background also. She's your best chance for keeping Brian."

"You… you mean I could really loose him? How do they have enough evidence for that?"

She scowled darkly. "They don't. The attorney, Charles McAdams, is infamous for getting false evidence and convincing a jury that it is true. My advice would be to go sympathy, and hope for a lot a mothers and fathers. Here's the number for my friend, Brittany McAllister. I would stay longer, but I have to leave. Good luck!" She waved cheerily at him and left.

Harry stared down at the business card, mind reeling. How could they do this? How could anyone be this cruel?

Harry held the towel out wide while Brian continued to play with his bath toys. "Come on, Brian. It's time to get out; the water's all cold now." The child abandoned his toys and set up to let his daddy wrap the towel around him and left him out of the tub. Harry wrapped the towel snuggly around him, and let the water out the tub. He began crying him.

"The lady today asked me if you had ever touched me in a way that made me uncomfortable. I didn't understand at first, but I did after she explained it a little more. Do some people actually do that? I mean, I'd about it, but I thought it was something adults used to threaten kids with." Harry stopped his drying and looked him in the eye.

"Yes, some people, very sick people, do that. It's not something that adults use to threaten kids with. It's illegal, and you can go to jail for it. It's not right, and no one, and I mean no one, is allowed to touch you there, or see those parts, unless I say so. If anyone ever does, tell me immediately, okay?" Brian nodded solemnly, shocked slightly by Harry's serious tone.

"Well, he's allowed to see me naked?" Harry picked the child up and carried him back to his room in the quarters he had found.

"Me, Aunt Brittany, Uncle Remus, Ron and Hermione if need be." Harry paused trying to think of anyone else. "Madame Pomphrey is necessary, and any other doctors."

"No one else?"

"Nope, and you'll probably be able to tell if they're allowed to, or not."

"Okay." Harry got him dressed and then settled into the rocking chair he had transformed from a toy. Harry opened the book Brian had picked out and began to read. By the end, the child was almost asleep. Harry closed and book, and carefully stood up, being sure not to jostle Brian to much. He led him in bed, and tucked him in.

Harry kissed Brian's forehead, dimmed the lights, whispered 'I love you' and left.

Author's Note: What I know about law proceedings and foster care and how all that works, is from Law and Order: SVU and Judging Amy. Does anyone know about what the sides are called? Like the Plaintiff and Defense Attorney? Does the Defense Attorney represent the one who's being accused of something? They keep saying it for Scott Peterson, but I don't understand. Help would be wonderful!! If no one knows, I'll look it up.

RECORD UPDATE!!! Lol. See how much two stories is?? And it's long!! Over 2,000 words, and 4 pages in Verdana size 9!!!! I'm proud of myself. Lol.

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!