Harry sat alone in the hospital room. Dudley had left in the morning with Aunt Marge as soon as visiting hours began. Aunt Marge had made him feel like even more of a freak and failure than normal. Blaming him for the accident, because of his freakish behaviours, and then damn him to hell and back for the death of Uncle Vernon, her poor brother that had been a Godsend, all because he took in Harry. All Harry could think was good riddance, he had caused Harry nothing but pain for as long as he could remember. He knew it wasn't right to be thinking those thoughts, but after feeling scared of him for so long, it was relieving to not have to worry about being thrown into a cupboard without food for days or being hit with a belt buckle if he was in a really foul mood.
Harry was also a bit worried about his Aunt. He may not like her all that much, but she is his mom's sister, and Dumbledore had also said he needed to stay in her care so he could be protected by blood wards that his mom created, although he wasn't too sure if that was the truth, not after what he heard him say to McGonagall. Harry still wasn't sure why after begging Dumbledore to stay at Hogwarts over the summer, he had been refused, especially if he knew that Harry had been abused by his Uncle and Aunt, or even how it could be for the 'Greater Good'. So, Harry was feeling a little resentful, who could blame him. Hogwarts was meant to be the safest place on Earth but so far, as a twelve-year-old, he could see that it wasn't. Both of his years there had been spent battling something or trying to figure out what that something was.
A doctor had been through a few minutes ago to tell him that they were moving him to a new, private ward, and Harry couldn't fully understand why. He couldn't understand who would pay for something like that, especially for a freak like him. He was glad to be moving because the only other person in the room with him was an old man, that seemed intent on knowing why Aunt Marge had said why she did or trying to get him to talk to him. It was starting to freak him out a bit, he hasn't ever liked talked to strangers because they have always had weird things to say to him. Mainly the people he didn't know where wizards at the time, telling him how thankful they were of him. He didn't even remember the day his parents died, let alone what happened when Voldemort had tried to kill. He only knew that it landed him in his Aunt's house.
"Harry Potter?" A nurse called as she walked into the room. Harry hadn't seen her before, Harry wondered why the friendly nurse from early hadn't come again.
"That's me." Harry called out softly in response to the nurse calling him.
"I'm here to move you to your new room. You'll be moved to one of our private wards, and I'll be your personal nurse for however long you are here. You may call me nurse Rose or simply Rose. Also, on Monday a man will be coming over, as well as another doctor you haven't met, and a few tests will be done." The nurse kindly told him. "Now in the report of your injuries, nothing was indicated to you not being able to walk, however, there are signs that you are severely malnourished, and we don't want to be taking any chances, so a well-chair is on it's way over so I can move you, without the concern of you injuring yourself."
"Ah, okay," Harry was sure he would be fine walking, he could walk through Hogwarts without any problems, although he did often get tired. However, he didn't want to argue with the nurse, they were meant to know what was best for his health. Probably better than Dumbledore ever could.
"Tomorrow, someone from the childcare services will be here to ask you a few questions about your home situation, and any possible negligence. I heard that your Uncle already passed away, however, if there are any signs of abuse from your home life, then we will do our best to not let you go back. Although, I don't think there will be any problems, because of the man coming on Monday, and the tests he has asked us to do. I would tell you his name, but I have been ordered not to, I am however allowed to tell that he wants DNA tests done for you and himself. I think that the results from those tests will be quite pleasing, considering how confident he was about the results." Rose finished off as someone brought in a wheelchair. "Alright, your ride is here."
Harry carefully got off the bed with the help of Rose, and sat in the wheelchair, he was taken out of the room and passed many patients and doctors along the way to the elevator. They went up a few floors, into a better-looking reception area, instead of the sterile looking blue and white he first arrived in, this one looked homier and comfier.
"This area is dedicated to all our high-paying patients, that need treatment, but want to stay here in luxury," Rose told him, but she sounded like an advertisement, more than just explain it to him. He was taking into a room, and his breath was taken away, by a hospital room no less. He could fit the Dursleys entire lounge and maybe even the kitchen in there. There was a window on the opposite side of the room from where he walked in that touched the floor and the ceiling. The wall then went diagonal for a bit before t cut back to the wall, there was a door there, that leads into a bathroom. There was a bit of space after that, where there was a shelf built into the wall with a vase of yellow tulips in them. The hospital bed lay closely next to it was under this wooden area, that was like an upside-down L, some curtains ran around the edge of the wooden but were drawn open at the moment. The bed lay in the middle of that was the hospital bed. Its frame was like a hospital bed but looked like better quality, and the mattress looked thicker and way softer than the bed he had just been on and the sheets on it looked so warm. There was a carpeted area under the bed, but the rest was wooden. There lay a sink in granite counter on the same wall next to the door with a painting of a sunny beach above it. Opposite the bed lay two armchairs.
The room was modern, a completely different style to what he was used to. He was used to the old-fashioned traditional furniture at Hogwarts or the second-hand run-me-downs that were just about broken from Dudley. However, Harry most certainly liked the clean open feeling that the modern design that they before him, if only he knew what lay ahead of him, then he would know that this wasn't even a taste for what was to come. The room was a monochromatic theme of beiges.
Harry didn't know what to think once he had been left alone, who could be paying for all of this, he doubted it would be out of the Dursley's money, and he doubted that Dumbledore even knew he had been in a car crash yesterday. Heck, he didn't think any wizard would know about him being in a hospital, let alone one that would let him stay here, and put him into a private room instead of going to St Mungo's, where they could have him fixed in a few minutes. Harry wasn't going to deny that he liked this new room, it made him feel like someone cared for him. Even with what the nurse had said about DNA tests with some man she couldn't name. He doubted that anyone could be related to him outside of the Dursleys and his parents. He knew it couldn't be his grandparents because he had already tried to find his Dad's parents when he got to Hogwarts. He had contacted the Goblins through a letter, only to be sent a response that sadly his grandparents had died, shortly before he was born, to dragon-pox. He had also been informed that no living relatives of the potters were close enough in blood to take care of him and that his mother's parents had been killed by death-eaters shortly after Voldemort's defeat. So, he was stuck living with the Dursleys, and there was no possible way someone could take custody of him through blood relation. Unless there was something else, he hadn't been told, but that would be normal for him.
When the nurse Rose had come back later to take down what he wanted for lunch, he asked about his trunk that had been with him in the car crash and asked for any books to read that were for his age, he might as well entertain himself because he had no idea if there was anything worthwhile to watch. He was yet again left to his own thoughts after Rose said she would ask about his trunk and she would later tell him that it had gone with the jar in the tow-truck and she would see about returning it to him, considering it had the initials H.P on it. She brought in a few books for him to read, one being the first book of a series called Percy Jackson. The book proceeded to take up the rest of his time until the next, although he did stop to eat and shower, and obviously sleep, it would have been a great tragedy to not sleep in that bed while he was still there.
The next day, as he had started on another random book that was in the pile that was brought for him, after finishing the previous one, a kind-looking man that looked at least 1.7m tall and had brown eyes with salt and pepper hair, knocked on his open door.
"Harry, may I come in?" He had asked.
"Uhh, yeah, sure." Harry was finding it awkward to be meeting so many new people, that he would probably never see again once he left.
"My name is John Green, and I'm from child-care services. I'm just going to ask you some questions. Is it alright if I sit?" Harry just nodded at him. The man proceeded to move one of the chairs to the side of his bed and sit down. "I wanted to talk to you about your household environment. As the doctors have alerted me about some signs coming from you that are a bit concerning, and we would like to know what caused them. Do you think you can answer the questions I am going to ask?"
"I..I'll try my best to sir."
"That's all I can ask for, and please call me John." The man, John, told him in a softer voice, already picking up on Harry's fidgeting, he was clearly uncomfortable, and would rather not talk about it.
"Okay…. John." Harry knew he could do this, all he had to do was tell the truth, but now that the opportunity had presented itself, he wasn't so sure he could.
"Harry can you tell me about anytime that you felt threatened at home?" All it took was that one question to set Harry off on his life story about living with his Aunt and Uncle, minus all the magical stuff. By the time John had left he was in shock, he had had worse cases, worse in a physical abuse sense, but the amount of emotional, verbal, and mental abuse that twelve-year-old boy had faced, was not something he often came across. Vernon Dursley can be glad that he is dead, otherwise, John would have not lived that rest of his life with any peace in it. He didn't know what to do with Harry's Aunt, Petunia, as she was very touch and go, but in all his life he never thought he would be wishing someone dead. He needed to find the other boy very quickly, so he could be in a loving household that would care about his health and not treat him like his parents had.
Harry was exhausted after talking so much, and after eating lunch a little later, due to John being there, he fell asleep, after having his cheek swabbed for his DNA. Only to wake up in the early hours of Monday morning. He quickly went to the toilet before opened up the book he had been reading and waited for the day's events to happen. Harry was disturbed from his reading by a knocking on his door. He turned to face a man that looked like an older version of himself, only the man's eyes were brown, and his chest looked like it was glowing.
At exactly six am Tony Stark walked into the hospital to have his DNA taken and tested with Harry's and at precisely 6:45 am Tony stood outside Harry's door. He watched as Harry was absorbed into whatever book he was reading. He looked like a miniature version of him, although his hair was longer and was an uncontrollable mess, a trait of Stark men. Tony finally built up to knock on the open door, DNA results in his hand. Tony was struck by emerald-green eyes that looked straight into his soul.
Sorry for the little bit of a cliffhanger. Please tell me how you found the chapter, or even your overall thoughts on the book so far. If you have any ideas, please feel free to share.