A/N - Once again thank you to everyone for the positive reviews. I hope this chapter is up to standard, this is not an area that I am an expert in so please tell me if something I write seems unrealistic. Once again reviews are welcomed with open arms.

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters from the series.

Chapter 2 – The Process Starts

Albus Dumbledore sat reclined in an armchair next to the warm flickering glow of his office fire. Dumbledore was certainly relaxed, that is until the fire turned green and the head of Arabella Figg swam into view. The message she brought with her left him feeling anything but relaxed.

"Albus, the Dursley household was just raided by the police. Vernon and Petunia were arrested and taken away."

Albus jumped up from his chair in a panic and was soon crouching in front of the fire. "What of the children?"

"Neither returned home from school today. All I know is that Harry appeared to be in pain this morning when he was taken to school. The police will not tell me anything."

Dumbledore raised his wand and brought it through a series of complicated swishing movements. This allowed him to remotely check on the condition of the charms he had cast to protect Harry.

"Arabella, I can say for certain Harry is still alive, the fact the protective wards still stand tells me that much. The condition they are in though is alarming! They are on the point of collapse which can mean one, some, or all of three things. Harry is close to death, the Dursley's are close to becoming incapable of looking after him, or Harry barely considers Privet Drive home."

Arabella was horrified, any of those conditions was terrible for the little boy who was her neighbour and she knew young Harry led a hard life. Dumbledore though, was close to panic stricken by this news, he was one of very few people in the world who realised just how important Harry Potter was for the entire wizarding world. The fact the wards were now so weak had put the child prophesised to pull the wizarding world from darkness in grave danger. For the first time in his long life Albus Dumbledore was at a loss as to what to do. He desperately needed more information and hoped it would soon be forthcoming.

The next day saw Albus receiving some more information in the form of a muggle newspaper forwarded to him by Arabella Figg.

Midnight Raids in Little Whinging.

Last night police stormed a house in Little Whinging and arrested a young couple. The couple were later charged with several counts of wilful neglect and assault on a minor. The police have issued a statement saying that, in the interests of child protection, they will not be releasing any names at this point.

A local school recognised that a child starting at the school yesterday was showing signs of an abusive home life, and appeared to be in not inconsiderable pain. The child in question collapsed from a panic attack when approached. An ambulance was called to the school and the unnamed child was hospitalised.

A spokesperson from the hospital has informed The Little Whinging Gazette that the child is currently stable but requiring intensive care due to severe physical and emotional trauma

It did not take long for Albus Dumbledore to put two and two together. The couple who had been arrested had to be Vernon and Petunia. Arabella had after all witnessed their arrest late last night. This meant that the child in hospital had to be either, Dudley or Harry. Albus had never been a gambling man. At this point in time though, he would be prepared to bet his entire Gringotts vault that it was Harry Potter who was in that hospital.

Tracking Harry was not going to be an easy task. Most wizards would think tracking a magical minor in the muggle world to be an easy task. Sadly they could not be more wrong. Because Harry had not yet produced accidental magic, nor did he possess a wand, the ministry trace had not yet applied itself to his magical signature. Even if it had it would be of little help. Unless the child actually performed magic. Because of this the wizarding world were no more equipped to find a missing child than the muggle world.

Whether or not Albus would be able to have any say in what happened to Harry now he was unsure. For the moment, he would simply put all his efforts into tracking the boy down and making sure he was indeed safe.

The old wizard had more to worry about than just Harry's safety. When word of this disaster got out into the wider wizarding world there would be a public outcry. The ministry would be out for the blood of anyone who had allowed this to happen. Albus Dumbledore now had some serious thinking to do if he was going to protect both Harry and himself. Harry had to be Albus' priority but he would never be able to protect Harry or any of his students if he was up on a negligence charge. He had to come up with a plan, and he had to do that fast.

HPHPHPHPHP

It had taken several hours of gentle coaxing to keep Harry from scrambling out of bed every time Natasha had her back turned. Even after the bath he had still been insistent that he was too dirty to be allowed in his bed. Thankfully she did eventually manage to persuade him to stay put but it had been no easy task. A relieved Natasha had left the boy sleeping soundly in order to go to this meeting. She was hopeful that she wouldn't have to rush out of the meeting in order to coax Harry back into bed. Harry was after all on a cocktail of painkillers that would make anyone drowsy. Now that the consultant had added a sedative to the IV, Natasha was fairly certain that Harry would not wake up again before her shift ended.

Three people were sitting in the meeting room when Natasha arrived and one of them signalled for her to take a seat before beginning the meeting.

"Now that we are all present we can get this meeting underway. But first I think some introductions are in order. For those that don't know me, I am Henric Von Rickman, the paediatric consultant in this Hospital. This is Andrew Crawley, senior social worker with Surrey Social Services children's team. Sitting to Mr Crawley's left is PC Alun Davies. Lastly of course is Nurse Natasha Stevens, Harry's named nurse." Henric gestured to each person involved as he spoke, before passing around some documents for each person.

"Now we all know why we are here," Mr Crawley started. "A four year old boy is currently lying in a bed on the intensive care ward at this hospital. It also appears that these injuries may well have been deliberately caused. No medical attention was sought by the child's legal guardians. At the very least here we have a case of neglect. At worst, and I strongly suspect this to be the case, we have an abuse case on our hands. I would ask those on Harry's medical team to please give us some idea as to the severity of Harry's condition."

The look of disgust that was firmly plastered onto Henric Von Rickman's face spoke volumes. He pointed to the pile of paperwork in front of him, "Take a few moment to read through those notes and then I will talk of Harry's condition." Every person in the room eyes progressively widened as they read, heads started to shake and there were several sharp intakes of breath.

"As you can see, Harry has first degree burns, is about half the weight he should be for his age and build, and has multiple scars from previous injuries. Blood results have shown he is dangerously short of potassium, calcium and iron. For those of us who are not medical professionals I will make this quite clear. The levels of vitamins and minerals in this child's blood are so dangerously low he is constant danger of cardiac arrest. He will also be highly susceptible to infection and will break bones with alarming ease.

In all honesty it is a miracle that Harry is still with us! As you can also see I have recommended full body MRI and CAT scans, which I cannot do without a parent or guardians permission. We also have serious concerns for Harry's psychological well-being which Harry's named nurse is in a far better position than I to explain."

Taking her cue Natasha then took up the mantle of speaking.

"I am as disgusted as anyone here by the state of young Harry's physical health but I can tell you I am far more concerned for this child's emotional health. I have spent near enough the entire shift trying to keep this child in bed and not because he is being belligerent either. Harry is absolutely terrified. Every time I catch him I put him back in the bed and spend the next twenty minutes with him pleading and begging me to be allowed to lie on the floor. He repeats over and over again that he isn't allowed in a bed. I think I've finally got through to him that he can stay in that bed and the moment I turn my back he is out of it and back on the floor. We have actually had to sedate him because he is putting his life at risk getting stressed like that. With his blood minerals so low the last thing we need is a raised pulse rate that could lead to a heart attack.

Harry doesn't really respond to his name, it's as if he is not used to being referred to by name, and has no sense of self-worth. He keeps getting out of bed because he thinks he is spoiling it by lying in it. You know that boy actually referred to himself as a dirty little animal in front of me."

That last statement was too much for the kindly nurse. Tears started to flow and no matter how hard she tried to continue Natasha just couldn't say anymore. She just hoped she had said enough.

"Mrs Stevens, I am so sorry but I'm going to need to ask you for a statement. If what you say is true, then we have more than sufficient grounds to charge Harry's guardians." Alun Davies did indeed sound very sorry to be asking this but it was essential to do so, as the first medical professional to speak to Harry, Natasha was in a unique position to offer evidence that might just get the Dursleys convicted of their crimes.

"I think from Natasha's words and the medical report provided by Mr Von Rickman, we can safely say that Harry cannot return to the Dursley's care at this time." Several growls of dissent came from various people in the room at Andrew's words, but PC Alun Davies came to his rescue.

"None of us here want to see Harry returned to those people but we must abide by the law. We cannot permanently remove a child from their guardian's custody without convincing evidence and a court order. We will need to gather the appropriate evidence to have that application accepted by the courts. Not something I think will be difficult to do I must say."

"Worry not, Harry will not be returning to the Dursleys if it is not safe for him to do so." Henric's reply was aimed at everyone but he had primarily been speaking to Natasha. "Social Services and the Health Board have a duty of care here. Harry is in no state to be discharged anyway and I do not see him able to be discharged for a couple of weeks minimum. Andrew has already applied for a temporary care order which should give us consent to perform the medical examinations we need to gather evidence. As soon as that is done he will be applying for permanent custody."

The sound of the monitor alarm sounded as the meeting concluded. Natasha and Henric jumped up to find out why the alarm was going off and flew through the door. "You know he has probably just got out of bed again pulling the leads out of the monitor. That alarm has been going off all day," Natasha said. Henric wasn't convinced though, the boy was heavily sedated he should not have been waking up for a while yet. Henric had also been worried about using sedatives because of Harry's poor health, but had decided to anyway to keep the boy in that bed and to try and reduce his stress levels.

The consultant and nurse rushed through the door to find a little boy still in the bed and the monitor leads still attached to the monitor even if not to the child in question. That same child was sitting up chewing his hands. The bed sheets were crimson with blood were Harry had pulled out his cannulas and he looked deathly pale, he was also visibly shaking. Whether those shakes were caused by blood loss or by fear needed to be determined quickly.

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry was feeling very confused. There was noise everywhere and two people had come running into the room before he could get out of the bed. But they didn't look angry, they didn't look happy either though.

Having had very little experience of adults showing concern Harry had not recognised the looks of concern for what they were. He didn't understand why these two were staring at him or why they were not telling him off. Harry was scared by this, he could cope with them being angry, he might not like it, but he could cope. But not knowing why they were looking at him like that terrified him and this was why he was trembling. He would very much have liked to try and get away but he was feeling dizzy and just didn't have the energy to move.

A pair of hands grasped Harry's hands and gently, yet firmly, pulled his hands away from his mouth. As his hands moved a wave of nausea came over Harry and a paper bowl was held under his mouth. When Harry didn't throw up he found himself being gently laid down whilst someone applied pressure on the back of his hands. Harry didn't know what to make of any of this. He had been bad, he'd made all the sheets dirty, he'd covered them in blood. No one was beating him. They were being nice, like Aunt Petunia was to Dudley if he scraped his knee. "S sorry," Harry squeaked.

After seeing that Harry was alright Henric had left to continue his ward round so now Harry was with just Natasha again.

"Alice, can you get me a fresh set of cannulas please," Natasha called to another nurse who was passing the door. A few moments later the nurse returned with the requested items, handed them over and left to continue whatever she had been doing before she was called away.

Natasha went to refit the cannulas into Harry's hands. As soon as he saw the needles, Harry tried to snatch his hands away with a terrified squeal. "Please, please no, I be good. I be good."

Harry's begging broke Natasha's heart but he had to have intravenous drips, if he was going to recover any time soon, and for that he needed to be fitted with cannulas. So with a heavy heart she reached out again and grasped the little boy's hand.

Tears flooded down Harry's face, his begging had never worked before, so why would it now? He couldn't stop the tears though, as when Uncle Vernon used needles, it really hurt. This was one punishment he just couldn't cope with. Harry had learnt that if he struggled it hurt much more, so he let the lady take his hand and just sat there shaking with fear, while constantly pleading for this to not happen.

Natasha cleaned the back of Harry's hand and then took the cannula out of its sterile wrapper. The boy was trembling and biting his lower lip so hard it started to bleed.

"This may hurt a little," Natasha said. As gently as she could, she fitted the cannula and reattached the drip. Confusion crossed the boy's face and finally the cries of "no" and "please" ceased.

"See Harry, that wasn't so bad was it?" Natasha said in her most reassuring tone.

"It no hurt?" Harry questioned, he was eyeing the needle and the drip apprehensively as if expecting it to suddenly make him hurt terribly. "Please don't make me hurt bad. I be good now."

Something had just clicked for Natasha and she had to be sure before it could be put in her report, but if she was right the people who had made this boy so scared were absolute animals. "Harry, I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to make you feel better. Harry, did anyone ever put a needle like that in you that made you really hurt?" The nervous nod of the head was all the answer Natasha needed. "Now be a good boy and promise me you won't pull that out again."

Harry replied with another shaky nod of the head and quite little, "yes miss."

Natasha ruffled Harry's hair. "Good boy, now get some sleep." The look of shock on Harry's face was both wonderful and terrifying at the same time. Natasha made a little note to give this boy as much positive re-enforcement as she could. She even went as far as to get permission from Henric to give him a little treat of a square of chocolate for good behaviour.

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry was very tired and was finally alone. He liked being alone, when he was alone nobody saw him being bad, so nobody hurt him.

Natasha had told him to be a good boy, and she had basically told him taking the thing out of his hand was bad. Harry might be a nasty little brat but he was never bad on purpose, despite what his aunt and uncle said, nor was he stupid. It had taken him a little while, but he had realised he was allowed to stay in this bed. He had been caught in it several times now and no one had hurt him, so it must be allowed. Every time he had been got out of the bed he had found himself back on it. So here he lay trying his very best to be good. He had also left the thing in his hand like he had been told.

Harry must have fallen asleep, because he was woken up by Natasha the next morning. He'd been bad again. He was supposed to be awake and ready to work when Aunt Petunia came to the cupboard. "S sorry miss. I be good now, sorry." He readied himself for the blow he was sure he was going to receive, but it never came.

"You haven't been bad Harry, so you don't need to say sorry." Natasha didn't look cross at all. In fact she was smiling at Harry. "I spoke to the night nurses, and they told me you were a very good boy all night and did everything you were told." Natasha then handed Harry a square of chocolate. "This is for you, because you were a good boy." The smile on Harry's face was priceless. "Now what do you say?"

"Sorry miss," he tried to hand the piece of chocolate back again.

"No I gave you that so I don't want you to give it back. What you forgot to say was thank you."

Harry's eyes were wide and hopeful, "th thank you," he stammered.

"Good boy," Natasha smiled and handed Harry a second square of chocolate.

Harry's eyes nearly popped out of his head he was so surprised. People weren't nice to Harry like this, but he didn't let his surprise make him forget the manners he had just learnt, so with a slightly more confident voice he said "thank you miss."

"Good boy."

Natasha thought she had made some real progress here as she watched the wonder and joy emanating from the little boy. What she had said to Harry was no lie either, the night staff said he had behaved impeccably overnight, despite waking several times in pain. They would have liked for him to have called for help but no one had expected that. What had them so impressed was how polite and well behaved he had been each time he woke. How anyone could treat this sweet child the way he had been Natasha would never know.