This scene takes place before Chapter 1 of Power of Hogwarts.

Facing the Past

From the moment Harry woke at four in the afternoon, he knew it was going to be a bad night. He had managed to only catch a couple hours of sleep after working for nearly eighteen hours straight. His pervious shift had ended at eight in the morning but for some reason sleep eluded him. Harry couldn't understand it. He had worked himself to exhaustion to avoid the nightmares. It had always worked in the past. Why not today?

After splashing some water on his face, Harry was on his way to the emergency ward. For some reason the emergency ward had been so busy the last few days that extra help had been requested for each shift. Tonight Harry and J.J. were scheduled to work the floor. Personally, Harry thought whoever made up the schedule was out of their mind since J.J. was too much of a practical joker to work in the emergency ward but at least tonight would be entertaining.

Entering the emergency ward, Harry noticed J.J. standing by the nurse's station with Dr. Rolands. From the looks on their faces, Harry had a good idea what they were talking about. Dr. Rolands and J.J. were complete opposites in personality. The only thing they ever talked about calmly was their concern for 'Orion'. Harry let out a tired sigh and walked towards them. This is definitely going to be a long night. I can feel it.

"Ori!" J.J. exclaimed happily only to frown when he got a better look at Harry's face. "You look terrible."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the compliment, J.J.," he said sarcastically. "And you wonder why you're still single."

J.J. grinned. "Come on, Ori," he said good-naturedly. "We both know I'm this way with you so I can be my normal charming self around the female population."

Harry snorted in disbelief. J.J. was never charming to anyone. Everyone just thought that J.J. liked making a fool of himself for laughs. The problem was that J.J. was so convincing no one knew if he was indeed trying to make people laugh or if he was just that clueless. Never clueless, just misguided.

"All right you two," Dr. Rolands interrupted sternly although Harry and J.J. could see a faint smile on his face. "Now, Orion you've worked here recently so you know what's expected. I trust you'll keep J.J. in line." J.J. scowled but remained silent. Dr. Rolands looked directly at Harry. Waves of concern were pouring off him as he stared into Harry's eyes. "If it's slow tonight, you're going home." Harry moved to protest. "J.J.'s right, Orion. You look exhausted and if you refuse, I'll admit you."

It was Harry's turn to scowl. "You're abusing your position, do you know that?" he asked suspiciously.

Dr. Rolands stared at Harry with a raised eyebrow. "I am doing nothing of the sort," he said firmly. "I am simply looking out for your best interests as well as everyone else here. Do you really want to tell those kids up in the children's ward that you couldn't continue your little stories because you're too stubborn to realize you need to take better care of yourself?"

"Ouch," J.J. said bluntly. "Someone's switched into evil doctor mode."

Dr. Rolands pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. Waves of annoyance mixed in with the concern. "Get to work you two," he said then walked away.

J.J. shrugged his shoulders and gave Harry a playful shove. "Come on, Ori," he said with a sigh. "Time for the absolute joy that is our jobs."

Harry immediately fell into the routine he did every time he worked in the emergency ward. He helped clean up rooms and beds after a patient was either discharged or moved, retrieved supplies when asked, helped calm patients down, and even helped when Dr. Rolands needed an assistant. It wasn't necessarily a busy night but there was enough work to keep both Harry and J.J. busy. They rarely saw each other except for the occasional pass in the hallway.

The beds were just starting to clear when the hospital received a call that the injured of a car accident involving three vehicles would be arriving shortly. Harry and J.J. were instantly put to work to prepare four rooms and gather the necessary supplies. They finished just as the patients arrived. Harry and J.J. instantly moved out of the way and waited to be called upon. Dr. Rolands called for 'Orion' to help him with a young woman who was suffering from a broken arm and a head injury.

From what Harry understood, the woman was hit by a car of teenagers which caused her car to hit someone else. Harry remained by her side, doing whatever Dr. Rolands told him to until she had to be taken for x-rays. Once she was wheeled out of the room, Harry immediately started cleaning up when he heard loud voices from the hallway. He shared a glance with Dr. Rolands before he moved and poked his head out of the room. J.J. was trying to calm some extremely large man down and was failing miserably. Harry immediately moved to help, only to stumble when he caught sight of the man's face.

It was Vernon Dursley. He looked exactly as Harry remembered him. He was still big and beefy, with hardly any neck and a large mustache. The furious look on his face was exactly how Harry remembered it too. Standing beside Vernon was Aunt Petunia who also looked exactly how Harry remembered her. She was extremely thin and blond with nearly twice the usual amount of neck than what any human should have.

Of all people why did it have to be them?

"NO!" Vernon roared, his face turning purple in rage. "I WILL NOT WAIT! I WANT TO SEE MY SON!"

Letting out a shaky breath, Harry moved to J.J.'s side. He wasn't going to hide from Vernon Dursley. He wasn't a scared little boy anymore. "I'm afraid that's not possible, sir," Harry said evenly. "Your son is currently being treated for his injuries. Please wait in the Waiting Room and let us do our job."

Vernon looked at Harry for a second before his eyes widened. A look of complete fury formed on his face as he reached out and grabbed Harry by his shirt. "YOU!" Vernon roared as he pulled Harry and forced him against a nearby wall. "YOU FREAK! THIS IS YOUR DOING!"

Harry glared at Vernon Dursley before raising a hand and striking Vernon at the throat. Vernon instantly released Harry and stumbled backwards as he wrapped both hands around his throat in pain. "I understand you are concerned about your son, sir," Harry said evenly. "But you must control yourself. Striking out on people who have never met you is not the answer."

Vernon growled as he moved to grab Harry once again but Harry was already moving. Turning his body, Harry grabbed Vernon's wrist and twisted it at a painful angle so Vernon was forced to his knees. Waves of pain and anger poured off of Vernon as he tried to pull his hand free. Harry twisted Vernon's wrist harder and moved so he had Vernon's arm pinned behind his back. Glancing up, Harry saw that two security guards had arrived and were standing beside a shocked J.J. and Dr. Rolands.

"Vernon," Petunia muttered fearfully. "It—it's not the boy. He may look like him but he doesn't have her eyes. Just look at him!"

The bulkier of the two security guards moved to Harry's side and grasped Vernon's wrist. "Thanks kid," he said gruffly. "We'll take it from here."

Harry nodded and backed away as the two security guards took Vernon Dursley away. Petunia seemed torn between following her husband and waiting for her son. She finally decided to quickly follow Vernon. Once they were out of sight, Harry let out a relieved sigh as he leaned against the wall. It looks like prison did nothing for Uncle Vernon. He was the still the same self-centered git that Harry remembered. At least I stood up to him this time. I stood up to him and won.

"Are you all right, Orion?" Dr. Rolands asked gently as he rested a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry nodded. "I'm fine," he said with what he hoped was a firm voice. He couldn't afford to have his cover blown now, especially by the Dursleys. "Goes with the job, right?"

Dr. Rolands stared at Harry skeptically for a moment before nodding slightly. "I suppose," he said guardedly. "I think you've earned your break. Take J.J. with you."

Harry nodded, relieved that Dr. Rolands wasn't voicing the questions he most likely had, including Harry's ability to defend himself. J.J., however, wasn't as tactful. He immediately pulled Harry towards the nearest eatery apologizing for not stopping the 'bad-tempered-whale'. Harry just let J.J. go on and on until the apologies turned into questions. A firm 'I don't want to talk about it' silenced J.J. completely.

An uncomfortable silence filled the air as they slowly ate their dinner. Finally, J.J. couldn't take the silence anymore. "Do you know them?" he asked quietly.

Harry glanced at J.J. before returning his attention to his meal. "No," he lied smoothly. "Must have been a case of mistaken identity."

J.J. nodded, a relieved look appearing on his face. "Good," he said firmly, "because if you did then I would have to take them outside and show them a thing or two." At Harry's confused look, J.J. clarified. "No one treats my apprentice like that," he said with a grin. "I thought you knew that."

Harry rolled his eyes but couldn't help feeling relieved. At least that crisis was averted. "So, their son was in the car accident?" he asked trying to sound nonchalant.

It was J.J.'s turn to roll his eyes. "Yes, the drama queen," he said in annoyance. "The kid is as big as a house. I'm amazed the ambulance didn't break down from the overload of weight. The paramedics were overjoyed to get rid of him. The kid was claiming that he was in agony the entire ride here and demanded something for it." J.J. grinned. "So we gave him two placebos and let his imagination do the work for us."

That sounded like Dudley. "How severe were his injuries?" Harry asked curiously.

J.J. snorted. "A sprained ankle," he said, "which he got when he was getting out of the car."

Now that really sounded like Dudley.

A/N: Okay, that really didn't turn out like I expected it to but I really can't think of anything better. I hope you all like it.