Disclaimer:- Everything you recognise in this story belongs to JK Rowling and anything else is mine.

Author's Note:- This is my first attempt at Fan Fiction so please review so I can improve and make this a better read for you. Sorry about any mistakes please just tell me and I'll correct them.

The darkness lay on the street like a blanket, looking left and right he didn't know which way to turn, which way was home. If you could even call the place a home, where he slept said it all, a cupboard under the stairs where even the spiders avoided. Dudley had been chasing him around the neighbourhood with his group of thugs till late tonight but he had managed to give him the slip in the darkness of the side road he was now on. Harry decided to go to the right where a light was heading towards him, hopefully they'd show him the way back to Privet drive. His heart jumped into his throat though when he saw where the light was coming from, it was from one of the gang, Piers' bike. Hoping not to be seen as he was tired from being chased once today he ran across the road towards some bushes in someone's garden. Piers saw him however and jumped on his bike to catch up with him, followed shortly by the rest of the gang with Dudley waddling behind like a beached walrus. Piers slammed into him with his bike sending Harry sprawling to the ground smashing his chin on the tarmac. Before he could recover two of the others held him by the arms and his struggling was useless against them. Dudley caught up with them and the cousins stared at each other with nothing but loathing. Harry for his years of mistreatment by his aunt, uncle and the boy he was staring at and Dudley for the freak that had dared to enter his house with his weird ways.

Then the blows landed, all four where punching and kicking him trying to find any piece of flesh they could find on the boy. Harry thought to himself how much worse this was than usual but realised that this was his comeuppance for what had happened yesterday. He didn't know how he did it but at when Dudley and his crew had been chasing him yesterday he'd found himself suddenly on the roof of the school, away from Dudley so he couldn't have his fun. Dudley of course knew it was his cousins freakishness and thought he ought to teach him a lesson for using it. Harry's thoughts were cut short however when a lucky blow to the temple rendered him unconscious and he succumbed to the peaceful darkness.

Harry woke up to nothing but dazzling white. His thoughts raced, had they finally gone too far and killed him, would he soon be meeting his parents? As his eyes got accustomed to the brightness he started to look around. If this was heaven then why was he in a bed surrounded by machines? His groggy mind finally caught up and he realised that he was in hospital, that was bad. What if his aunt and uncle found out that others knew he'd been injured. He thought back to when a teacher had been concerned about his well being and had come to number 4. After being fobbed off by his aunt and uncle lies he was shouted at for hours about making sure others didn't find out that he was beaten and that it was his fault anyway for his freakishness. He went to bed sore that night and didn't eat for the rest of the week. He saw in his wrists tubes and wires which were connected to the machines. Harry started to panic and rip out as many of these tubes as possible, one came out and blood started flying everywhere and an alarm started screeching out. He heard 2 pairs of footsteps hurriedly walking down the corridor outside his room just before he fainted.

He awoke to the muffled sounds of 2 people talking in the corner of the room, trying to be as quiet as possible he started to try and get out of bed before one of them spotted him and came rushing over to him,

"Now you don't want to do that you'll hurt yourself again" the man said as he helped Harry back into the bed. The other lady left the room leaving just Harry and the doctor. "Now my name is Dr Murphy, but you can call me Kevin, what's your name?". Harry looked at the doctor fearfully. He'd soon learnt not to trust anyone, his friends at school soon left him when they realised being with him made them a target for Dudley, his family hate him and his teachers don't notice or care what was happening to him. Harry wasn't stupid though, his mind was working on overtime on how to get out of this situation and knew that if he didn't say something soon that they'd start putting his photo on the news or something like that.

"Tom sir, Tom Starling".

"I told you that you can call me Kevin, Tom. So where are your parents?" Harry decided that truth was the best policy in this case and whispered,

"They're dead Kevin"

"Who looks after you then?" Harry thought about this, did what the Dursleys do count as care?

"No-one."

"Ok Tom. I'll be right back I'm just going to get a lady called Mary to come see you. She's from social services and will talk to you about finding you a nice place to live off the streets." Harry nearly jumped out of his bed in joy at those words. He'd be leaving the Dursley's. No more living in a cupboard under the stairs. He was so happy he didn't notice Dr Murphy leave to go talk to Mary.

"Nurse Rodgers said you have a patient you need me to see Dr Murphy?". He looked at Mary appraisingly and not for the first time. Being a paediatrician he unfortunately saw her a lot but every time he saw her she seemed to get all the more beautiful, and all the more unobtainable. Her crisp business like appearance hid the heart of gold that he saw when she dealt with the children who came through here needing someone to care for them. She was about 5 foot 9 with a curvy figure which was accentuated by her pinstripe suit. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun with a few hairs neatly framing her face. He would guess she was in her late 30's and the left hand ring finger showed him she wasn't married.

"I've told you countless times to call me Kevin! Anyway, we have a young man in there aged between 6 and 7. From the state of his clothes and the fact he is so thin I would guess he's been living on the streets for quite a few years. His name is Tom Starling and seems to want to get out of here as soon as possible which makes me think he's afraid those who did this to him may find him here. We've looked for him on missing persons but no-one has declared him missing. Other than the malnutrition, old scars and some bruising he is in good shape now he's conscious again, he's a very lucky boy it's been touch and go this last week."

"Ok, I'll go in and speak to him now Dr Murphy." She walked to the door hearing him say after her "It's Kevin!"

Dumbledore paced angrily around his office constantly checking on the wards at no. 4 Privet drive. At first when it showed Harry absent he hadn't noticed, it was now 3 days later and he was starting to get scared. The boy was supposed to fight for him against Voldemort and now he was missing. If word got out the saviour of the wizarding world was missing then people would start asking some awkward questions about him. He aparated over to Privet drive unable to hold back any longer, knocking hurriedly on the door he waited tapping his foot impatiently. When Petunia opened the door to see an old man with a long, grey beard wearing a cloak covered in gold stars and moons she tried to close the door in his face. Dumbledore saw she was about to do this and put his foot and the door and forced himself into number 4. Petunia quietly followed him into the lounge where he dramatically conjured himself a chair even though there was one spare. This drew Dudley and Vernon's attention from the TV and they all sat staring at the headmaster.

"Where's Harry?" he said plainly with a serious expression and no twinkle in his eye. When answers weren't forthcoming immediately he delved into Petunia's mind looking for a memory that could explain his absence. He saw as Dudley came in the house and told his parents that Harry was unconscious on the floor about a mile from the house. Vernon had a look of glee over the thought of having finally got rid of the boy until he thought that maybe the police would blame them as his guardians. Petunia on the other hand was thinking that the boy would never tell anyone, that was if he wasn't dead already. No-one would survive long outside on a cold night like tonight, especially not unconscious. Dumbledore quickly withdrew from her mind and the Dursley's quivered at the look of fury he wore. "Do you know how valuable that boy is to me? Of course you don't you stupid muggles. As no police have come asking questions we can assume he is dead, so that no suspicion is raised I am going to transfigure this teacup into the body of Harry. It will be good enough to fool the police and you will have him buried before I tell the wizarding world about this. We'll make it look like an accident, he fell down the stairs and his neck broke, no questions asked. You'll be free of the boy and if you play your part well there will be no suspicion of neglect. Do we have a deal?" With a small nod from Petunia he transfigured the teacup and then put the fake body of Harry Potter at the foot of the stairs with a snapped neck and some blood trickling out the head. Petunia was disturbed by how easy it was for him to do this and became even more fearful of the seemingly innocent headmaster. She went to the phone and called for an ambulance acting very convincing, meanwhile Dumbledore was considering how to tell the Wizarding world and come out of it looking good.

Mary walked into the room to see Harry lying on the bed with a massive smile on his face, she couldn't help but be curious what had got the young man so happy after being in a coma for 7 days. "Hello Tom, I'm Mary and I work for social services. I'm here to chat to you about how you got here and see if we can do anything to help you. Now I hope you don't mind me asking but you're looking awfully happy for someone who just got out of a coma." Harry was unsure what to say, he knew he couldn't mention the Dursleys or he would be in for a world of pain when he got back home, also this was his chance to escape from them. Dr Murphy seemed to think he was living on the streets before this so he thought he would run with that.

"Well I was trying to look for something when this gang came up and attacked me, that's all I really remember. I'm sorry I can't remember more."

"Don't worry Tom that's no problem. I've got some paperwork here you're going to have to help me fill in as we don't have you on any of our systems. How long have you lived on your own?" He didn't want to lie to her as she seemed to genuinely care for him and he hadn't seen that often in his life but he didn't feel it was lying as he felt alone at no. 4.

"Since I can remember Mary. Can you tell me what will happen to me?"

"Well once we have filled out these forms you will become an official British citizen and will be issued a birth certificate and passport as soon as possible. Once Dr Murphy has discharged you we'll put you in an orphanage where you will be cared for and hopefully someone will come and adopt you. Does that sound ok Tom?"

"That's great Mary, thank you so much." After filling in the forms Mary left and Harry quickly fell asleep. It had been a long but eventful day, he was free of the Dursleys and could now start afresh as Tom Starling.

Over the next week Tom grew stronger with 3 meals a day and with proper care he was looking healthier than ever before. Dr Murphy brought up the scar on his forehead and Tom had said that he didn't know where he had got it. When Dr Murphy offered to speak to someone in plastic surgery about fixing it he was over the moon as often kids at school would pick on him calling him scar face and other names.

Mary visited every day and although her job had taught her to stay detached from the children she couldn't help be drawn to Tom. He had an insatiable curiosity, a kindness you don't see from kids who grew up in the way he did and something else, something different. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but decided that he was just special.

The day came for him to be discharged and after long goodbye's with all the children in his ward, nurses and Dr Murphy who he had grown close to this past month Mary took him to the car to drive him to the orphanage. Mary loved kids, that's why she became a social worker and when her 8 year old son and husband had died 12 years ago in a car crash she thought she would never love again. She cared for them but always kept her distance so she wouldn't be hurt again. As she looked at the young boy sitting next to her though she realised he had wormed his way into her heart and she couldn't bear to lose him. She built up the courage to broach the matter with him, "Tom, how would you feel if you didn't go to the orphanage?"

"Was I a bad boy? Are you going to leave me on the streets? Was this all some cruel joke..."

"Calm down Tom, no I'm not going to leave you on the streets. I was just wondering if you would rather I adopted you? You could keep your name and you could..." She was cut off by Tom giving her a massive hug with the biggest smile on his face she had ever seen.