A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. Harry Potter is not mine this is a story from a fan.

A helping Hand

C9 It is all starting to get clear.

It was Friday morning when Andrea made her way over to Harry. Like every morning she would take him into a hug and have a little talk with him. It had only been yesterday that he had finally told her about the dog called Ripper.

Flashback:

"Harry what is that you have there on your leg".

Harry looked down and pulled up his trouser leg and showed her his bandage.

Andrea saw the bandage and became a little ill by just looking at it. The bandage he had on his leg was very dirty like it had been used for several years. There was some dried blood here and there and also some fresh blood from only a day or three ago. From the amount of blood, she knew that the wound wasn't that big but big enough to require a doctor. She could even see some fresh blood dripping from the side of the bandage. What troubled her was that the wound was badly wrapped like Harry had been the one who had done it himself. "What happened there Harry," she asked.

Harry looked down in shame as he said. "This is where Ripper, the dog of Aunt Marge bit me. When she got to Privet drive she said go fetch and I had to run and climb into a tree. I almost made it but he bit my leg just before I could pull it up".

In her mind, Andrea started to scream more and more at herself.So that is what happened. Not a playful dog at all, just a dog that is trained to attack. "Harry you do know that it is not good to have such a dirty bandage on an open wound, don't you".

Again Harry looked down in shame. "I know but it is the only one I have. I tried to do it good and nice but it hurt me so much when I wrapped it around my leg".

"I thought your Uncle took you to the doctor," Andrea told him with a clear disbelieve in her voice.

Harry's eyes got really big. "He told you that".

Andrea nodded.

"No, he didn't, he took Ripper to the vet, he never took me to the doctor".

Andrea got up and left Harry sitting at his spot near the fence. With a head full of storm she walked straight into the office of the headmistress. She slammed her hand on the table while she looked her straight in the eye. "I don't care if you like it or not. I don't care if you believe it or not, but I can tell you this" and she pointed her finger straight in the face of the headmistress. Harry Potter is not the problem here. His uncle didn't take him to the doctor he took the dog to the vet. So I'm going to take Harry to the hospital and you will run my class until I come back. I will also be looking for another job so be assured that I will leave in the near future".

End flashback.

Andrea sat down next to Harry at his spot next to the fence. "How are you feeling Harry," she asked as she took him into a little hug like she always did.

"I'm fine now," he told her.

Andrea smiled and gave him his medicine and a glass of water so he could take it. While he swallowed, her mind went back again to the day before.

Flashback.

It was an hour later that Andrea got back to the school. While she took Harry to the back of the class she gave a dirty look at the headmistress. "You sit here Harry and put your leg up on that chair". She then walked back to Dudley and hung her head near his ear and whispered. "If you tell anything about this to your father or mother, I will keep you in detention for the rest of the year. In those detentions I will make you run around the playground for thirty times every day" she hissed with a lot of venom.

It was for the first time that Harry saw his cousin, shaking in fear. While he nodded so fast that Harry was afraid that his head would fall off.

In her mind, she was very ashamed of what she had done to Dudley but the visit to the doctor had made her angrier than she had ever been.

End flashback.

"Tell me, Harry, did you have any trouble when you got home yesterday".

Harry shook his head "No, Dudley didn't say a thing he just went to his room and started to thrash it" Harry told her with the first real smile she had seen from him.

Andrea smiled. She now knew that her little threat had worked and that Dudley was a real bully. As long as he had the upper hand he was the guy. Intimidate him a bit and he would crumble like the little kid he really was.

Harry then went on to surprise her by giving her a hug of his own as he whispered. "Thank you for taking me to the doctor, no one has ever done that for me".

Andrea whispered "your Welcome Harry" as she got choked up by her emotions. Slowly she got back to her feet, a little smile on the corner of her mouth. Harry had just hugged her, a real hug all on his own. As she walked back to the school she could see the headmistress looking at her from her window. The moment she gave her a knowing smile the head of the headmistress disappeared.

Flashback.

Andrea had just been at the side of Dudley when she got up and narrowed her eyes on the headmistress. Her look very stern and her lips thin, like little lines. "Get out of my classroom now" she hissed. "I will speak to you during the break".

The headmistress wanted to react but thought differently about it and left the classroom without looking back.

As the kids went out to play, Andrea made her way to the office of the headmistress. She didn't knock, she just walked in.

"Andrea what is the meaning of this behavior".

"Don't you snap at me! I took Harry Potter to the Doctor, that is just around the corner of this school. You know when I was there I saw with my own eyes what that dog had done. And No, they didn't take Harry to the doctor. They took the dog to the vet".

"BUT".

"No, Buts Headmistress, the wound on the leg of Harry was infected and had to be cut out to get out of the infection".

"But".

"I said No, headmistress, I´m not making this up. There really is something wrong in the place where he lives. By believing everything his uncle and aunt are telling you, you are just as responsible as they are. So I will take care of it until it is all better or I will report you to the proper authorities when I have enough to report them" With that, she walked out and slammed the door behind her.

End flashback.

The rest of the day she took care of Harry as best as she could. After the class, she took Harry back to the street he lived and went on to her own little place. There she did something she hadn't done in a long time. She took a stiff drink and sat down behind her desk.

Dear aunty.

Andrea wrote down her first line and sighed deeply.

Dear aunty.

I know you asked me to wait and I will.
But I do have to tell you that I´m almost done with waiting.
This coming week I will go and look for everything that is happening with Harry.
Like I wrote you before there is something really wrong there. Last weekend he was bitten by a dog.
Now I know that it can happen and that it happens to a lot of kids.

However, the thing that disturbed me the most was that his guardians didn't even take him to a Muggle healer.
It was me that had to take him four days later. The wound on his leg had been infected and the infection had to be cut out.

Yes, Aunty, I know that poppy could have done it with magic but how would I have told her to help Harry Potter. Or bring him to St. Mungos without making it into a spectacle.

While I was there I saw many little scars. Now I know that they aren't hitting him so they have to be from incidents. Incidents they didn't take care of like they should have.

So I hate to do this but please tell me what the outcome is this weekend and I will take it along when I make my case to the child protection services.
I'm really sorry aunty but I do not want to wait any longer if I can help it.

Love you

Andrea McGonagall.

A/N: So this was it again at this time. See you all in the next chapter.