Thanks a lot to my beta-reader, Emma, for correcting my mistakes.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.

A great thank you to my moti-betas as well.

I'm not a native speaker of English!

Dear readers,

I really didn't want to start a new story before I finished, "Harry and his new famly 2" and then it should have been the sequel for "A Better Childhood" but now things had come different than planned. The plot of this story just didn't let me go and I had to start to write it down. I hope you will like it. Please let me know.

This story has James Smith in it. My old readers already know him, but I tried to make this story readable for people who doesn't know my others stories. So it should be no problem. If there is something unclear, please let me know.

Sunny

Chapter 1 – The Poisoning

Whimpering miserably, Harry lay in his dark prison. His back and his bum hurt horribly. They hurt so badly that he had pulled up his top and his trousers down so that nothing lay over the wounds his uncle's belt had left on his body. It was so unfair. Harry hadn't even done anything wrong. Dudley had bought a big plushy from the amusement park his relatives had visited two days ago while Harry had to clean the holiday home they were currently living in.

The plushy was a big brown bear, and Harry would have loved to cuddle with it while he had to sleep in the big frightening bed he had to sleep in. He wasn't used sleeping in beds as at home he lived in a small cupboard under the stairs. Here they didn't have one like this, so Harry had to sleep with his cousin Dudley in one room. Neither of the boys were happy about it, and Dudley tried hard to get Harry in trouble whenever possible.

This morning he had ripped out the eyes of the teddy bear, and then after flashing Harry an evil grin, he had started to cry loud and even had pressed tears out of his eyes. He was very good at this. Of course Dudley had told his parents that Harry had done this and even had threatened him to poke his eyes out as well. Uncle Vernon had been enraged, and Harry had never had a beating that bad. He didn't even care about the old used sock of Dudley's, that Uncle Vernon had pressed in his mouth to muffle his screams, so bad was the pain.

The pain was still bad, even though his relatives must have been gone for hours now. The only good thing was that Harry didn't feel hunger over all the pain. The bottom of the cupboard was wet from the eight year-olds tears when he rested his face on it. What had he done deserve this?

X-X

"What do you suggest we should do, Healer Smith?" Hannah Bencock, leader of the crisis team for Magical Accidents with Muggles, asked the calm healer.

"The shop the twins have placed their poisoned food in luckily was very small and only the local citizens go shopping there. The biggest problem we have is that we also have some tourist activities there. As we are in the middle of the week, we could be lucky that nobody left the area until now. We should act quickly and contact all the Muggles to examine them for side effects."

"The boys need to be punished," Dolores Umbridge, current leader of the Forbidden Underage Magic department, demanded shrilly.

"They are just boys, a little bit over ten," Arthur said fearfully. "They didn't mean any harm. They just wanted to make the Muggle's hair turn lilac. They didn't know the potion could have any side effects on Muggles."

"But it has and so they risked the life of Muggles and the discovery of our world," Umbridge said agitated.

"They are only ten years old, so they still fall under my responsibility, Dolores," Anna Castledoom, leader of the Children's department, chipped in.

Hannah sighed to get control of herself and then calmly said, "We are not speaking about punishment yet. So how should we contact the Muggles, Arthur?"

Arthur Weasley, not only father of the two mischievous potion brewer but head of the department for Muggle Artifacts, tried to keep calm. "We should contact them by telephone. That's their normal communication system and every house has one. We should tell them we are from the health welfare office and need to examine those who have consumed the... spiked food." He refused to call it poisoned.

"Can you help us with these communication systems, Arthur?" Healer James asked. "I could gather up a few healers, who can go through the list we have from the people in this area and the holiday houses."

Arthur nodded, still tense in his fear that his boys would be punished for this.

"That's a good idea, I think," Hannah said, hoping they could end this conference and the whole incident as soon as possible.

X-X

"Get out you freak," Uncle Vernon said and hauled Harry out of the cupboard. "What the hell did you do in there? Get your trousers up, you pervert."

Harry tried to frantically pull up his pants while his uncle pulled violently at his hair. The pain in his scalp was as bad as the pain of the clothes touching his wounds. "I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon."

"I hate hearing my name in your filthy mouth. Stop calling me by my name. How often do I have to tell you this until you get it in your empty head?" Again he threw the poor eight year old around by his hair. Dudley snickered when Harry was moved like a rag doll and big tears rolled down the small boy's cheeks.

"Go and make us something to eat!" Vernon pushed Harry in the direction of the kitchen.

Harry was scared, never had his body hurt like this. He could hardly see through all the tears while he prepared the food. The spaghetti found its way easily into the big pot. Harry's moves almost were mechanical, but here in the new surrounding it was harder for him. He didn't dare to spend time with taking care for himself. He knew he had to be quick as his relatives had plans for the afternoon. Fearing he would have to spend the rest of the day in the cupboard, Harry quickly cut the onion, now not being able to see more than edges. Adding the tins of tomato sauce and meat to the pan he cooked the goulash.

When he finally dared to wash his face and clean his glasses, the meal was almost done. Harry placed his glasses back on his nose and turned to the cooker. His heart stopped beating. On the small table beside the cooker stood the tin of tomato sauce and beside it an old tin of dog food that had stood amongst the tins in the cupboard. Who know how old it was and who had left it here.

Hearing heavy footsteps coming closer, Harry ran over to the table and quickly hid the empty tins, just in time. His uncle stepped into the kitchen and looked suspicious at Harry. "What have you done?"

Harry knew saying nothing would just convince his uncle that something was wrong. Playing dumb was the best. "Goulash, sir."

"Stupid freak," Vernon muttered and stepped over to the cooker. Harry's heart seemed to try to jump out of his chest.

As if in slow motion Harry saw his uncle taking the big spoon, stir the dog food goulash a few times and then spoon up some of the disgusting substance. Harry watched his uncle's face knowing this would be the death of him; his uncle would kill him for this.

"At least you are good for something, freak." Uncle Vernon scooped another spoon of it in his monstrous mouth before he turned to Harry.

The small boy looked in shock at the ugly tongue that slipped out of his uncle's mouth to scoop some of the goulash off of his mustache.

"Go tell you aunt and cousin to come for lunch and then go to your room and change your clothes. What if someone comes and sees you like this, freak?"

X-X

The telephone rang, and Harry jumped. His relatives had left for shopping, and Uncle Vernon hadn't locked Harry in the cupboard again. Some of Uncle Vernon's business partners had this number here, and Harry was ordered to answer the calls and tell them to call later.

With shaking hands Harry took the receiver. "Hello?"

"Hello, with whom am I speaking?" a male voice asked.

"Harry." Harry cursed inwardly. "Ehm... this is the telephone of Vernon Dursley."

"Hello, Harry, are your parents around?"

"No, my uncle and his family are out. You need to call later."

"No, no, wait, Harry," the male voice said. Harry wasn't sure if that was a good idea. He wasn't allowed to speak with stranger or with anyone at all. They could find out that he is freakish and that would be a big shame for his relatives.

"I'm not allowed to talk with other people."

The voice at the other end didn't say anything. Harry didn't know that it was out of shock and not because the person had finished the call, so he put the receiver back on the cradle. Not having been able to take one step in the kitchen again to clean it, Harry jumped as the telephone ran again.

"Hello," he said shyly. "This is the telephone of Vernon Dursley."

"Harry, it's me again. I'm Doctor Smith. Please don't hang up again. It is important that we talk. You and your family could be in danger."

Harry's mouth clapped open. "Danger?"

"Nothing too bad, but I'm calling from the Health Welfare Office. We have been informed that some of the food in Mr. Lorenzo's shop in Minsterton had been poisoned. Therefore I need to know if you have bought and consumed food from this shop. I need to examine you and your family to be sure that you have not been affected."

"I bought some tins and groceries there yesterday." Oh, what if he had poisoned his relatives? Uncle Vernon will kill him. Then Harry remembered he hadn't used anything beside the tomato sauce and the spaghetti from the shop. "Are the tins poisoned? Or the dog food tins?" Who knows when the tin was brought and where, so better to be safe than sorry.

"Yes, some tins were soiled as well. So I should come over and check you and your relatives, Harry. When will they be back?"

"I don't know. Today, very late I think. They will eat outside. You better should come tomorrow morning. I don't think they have anything planned then."

Again there was a short pause at the other end of the receiver. "How old are you Harry?"

Oh, oh, this question was not good. The tone with what it was asked made Harry's alarm bells rang. "I need to stop talking with you now. You need to come tomorrow to check my relatives, sir." With that he hung up.

X-X

"What is it darling?" Clara asked worriedly, seeing the expression on her husband's face. "Did someone already show side effects?"

James shook his head to clear it. "That was really weird. I talked with a boy. He seemed to be very young and alone in the holiday house while his relatives were outside. He said they would come back very late because they ate outside. What is he doing alone?"

"Maybe he only sounded young. You know those things change voices, James," Clara said, trying to calm her husband.

"No, something is seriously wrong there. I know this, Clara." James looked up in the brown eyes of his wife, those eyes that often could soothe pain and worry from him, but not today. "He hung up when I asked him for his age and he never stated that he ate anything, just that he bought the food. He even said I should come to examine his relatives, he didn't include himself."

"James, please, I know you are worried, but don't let your mind form stories by now. You know how important it is to access a case with a clear mind and without prejudices."

James snorted. "So you agree with me that this is already a case."

Clara smiled at him. "Of course I do. I know your intuition never fails you. I just ask that you don't worry too much. You will check on him and his relatives tomorrow. Do you want me to come with you?"

James shook his head. "Maybe I am just overreacting."

X-X

"What did you tell him, boy." Uncle Vernon shook Harry until he saw stars.

"Nothing I swear. He said the food is poisoned and I was worried about you. He will come to check on you tomorrow. Maybe you need some medicine."

Uncle Vernon hit Harry hard on the back of his head. "Pray that you didn't poison us, you damn freak."

"But... but I didn't know the food was poisoned. You sent me to the shop." Harry held his cheek as this comment had earned him a hard slap in his face. "I'm sorry, Uncle."

"You should be, freak." He grabbed Harry by his hair and pulled him to the cupboard. "You will spend the night in there and tomorrow you will hide upstairs."

X-X

"Hello, Harry," James said. Oh he had definitely overreacted. The boy wasn't starved. Maybe he was eating only sweets when his relatives leave him alone. He needs to have a serious word with them.

"I'm not the freak," the fat boy stated, disgusted. "I'm Dudley. You need to check if the freak has poisoned us."

"Dudley," a thin woman exclaimed, shocked. Then she smiled faked at James. "We shouldn't let him watch so much TV. Boys!"

James's alarm bells rang so loud in his head, he could hardly concentrate. What the hell was going on in this family? He forced himself to remain calm and follow the thin woman and her fat boy into the living room where an equally fat man sat.

"The doctor is here, Vernon," the woman said, tense.

"Ah, come over here." Vernon waved him over.

"I will start by checking your son, Mr. Dursley." How could the whale of a man suggest he would examine him first and not his son. This family was horrible, and James even felt sorry for the fat boy.

James used Muggle methods to check the vitals of the people and took a blood sample for safety to test if the potion was in their bodies. During his examination he very faintly used his ability to scan patients with his hands by magic. Unfortunately this method even caused Muggles to feel a faint tingling, so he needed to distract them during the scanning with other things.

Those people here were so dumb or ignorant that James hardly needed any distraction. They showed some abnormalities but that could also be from their eating disorders. The blood samples were the only things that could say for sure if they were poisoned.

"There are some worrying results, but I can only be sure that they come from the poisoning after I have checked your blood samples. I shall contact you tomorrow. Where is Harry? And I should better examine your dog as well," James stated when he was finished with his examination.

"What dog? We don't have a dog," Vernon said, shocked as if the idea to have a dog disgusted him.

"Oh, Harry told me something about a dog. So where is Harry?" James almost feared the answer.

"The boy ran away," Vernon lied.

"Mr. Dursley?" James asked sternly, knowing full well the man was lying.

"It's like I said. He ran away. Now please leave and inform us about—"

"I won't leave until I have examined all the people that could have come into contact with the poisoned food, Mr. Dursley. So if you don't want me to call for help in this case you should better tell me where Harry is." James was slowly losing his patience out of worry for the boy. This happened seldom as James was a high ranked healer for physical and mental health problems.

"The boy is very shy and is scared of strangers. I can assure you he hasn't eaten that food. He... he needs a special diet," Mrs Dursley explained, her eyes wandering fearfully to the ceiling from time to time.

"A special diet of what, Mrs. Dursley? The boy has to eat something after all."

"He has eaten," Mr. Dursley screamed and slammed his fist on the couch table.

James's alarm bells rang so loud he wasn't sure he could listen to the lies of these people any longer. Arthur had told him to threaten people that won't cooperate with some people called the police. They seemed to be the Aurors of the Muggles.

"If you won't show me Harry in the next few minutes, I will call the police, Mr. Dursley. This poison is dangerous, and I need to make sure everybody in this area is checked over."

Mr. Dursley seemed to be close before an explosion and Mrs. Dursley close from fainting out of fair. James was very worried for the small boy he had talked to yesterday. He should have checked on him immediately. What have those horrible people done to him?

Please let me know if you are interested in this story, and if I should go on posting here.