Left Behind
"Alright, I'm finished! I filled out your form; will you take him now? I need to pick up my son!" The screech of his aunt made him scratch a yellow mark on his drawing of space.
Frustrated, Harry grumbled a bit. The doctor asked him to draw her a picture while they waited, and he ruined it! Harry was about to rip the paper apart but was stopped by the lady's hand on his shoulder.
He looked up, only to be greeted by a soft smile. "It's okay, dear. No need to rip the paper, you know what? It looks like a shooting star! If you draw a star at the end of the streak, I bet you I could make a wish and it would come true."
Harry looked back at the paper. She was right; it was kind of like a shooting star. He smiled back up at the lady before drawing the star.
A brown man in white slightly sighed at Petunia before speaking up. "Ma'am, we still need his medical records; we need to know what immunizations he has had. So we can keep him up to date."
Petunia rolled her eyes and said, "I don't know what he has and hasn't had! We got him when he was one; I don't know what my blasted sister gave him."
The man slowly blinked at Harry's aunt. "Ma'am... he has had other shots, right? He is six; he has had to have other shots since he was one. Like his Dtap?" By the look on her face, the man could tell she had no idea what he was talking about. "How about his flu shots? His IPV? MMR, Varicella?" The man's voice cracked in apparent horror. "Nothing? He has had nothing?"
Petunia rolled her eyes once more and looked at him like he was stupid. "No, nothing. He hasn't been sick; we didn't believe he needed it. He was sick once, and after two and a half weeks, he was fine."
The man looked positively faint, and the room was quiet once more. Harry could see one of the security guards grip his belt so tightly that his knuckles were white.
"Two and a half—ma'am, you do understand that we can't have him around the other children until he gets his immunization, right? It is a risk to his health, and quite frankly, he should have never been able to step foot in school without any of them."
Petunia glared at the doctor. "What does that mean? You can't take him? My husband said that you guys only take people in by schedule! You must take him; my family can't deal with him for another night! It will be even more difficult if we bring him any other day. I bet if we were to take him home, he would be unruly! He always is, throwing things around when he doesn't get his way; he always breaks my son's toys and then blames my Dudders for it. Ha! Like my own son would destroy his own toys!"
Harry frowned and shook his head. No, he didn't; he never touched Dudley's toys! He never threw anything! He looked up at the doctor lady, trying to get her to understand that his aunt was lying. He didn't want her to be like everyone else who took his aunt's word for it. In an attempt to get the doctor lady on his side, Harry quickly grabbed the drawing and waggled it in her face, hoping she would take it.
He was ecstatic when she gently grabbed it from him and smiled at him. Harry wiggled a bit in his seat, happily.
The guy calmly explained to Harry's aunt. "Yes, ma'am, we do run on a schedule, so we can keep things calm around here. Technically, he is supposed to have his shots already, but we see that you are very stressed about this. We don't want him to be irritated by the constant moving, so here is what we will do. We will enter him into the infirmary upstairs and get him updated, then we will simply move him to the juvenile psychiatric ward down here once we finish. You will have to come by when that happens, though, because you have to sign your permission to let him be a ward."
Mrs. Dursley threw her hands up in the air. "What do you mean? I have already signed so much; you mean to tell me I have to sign something else? Can I just do it now?"
The man shook his head. "No, it isn't possible; since he is in your custody, you have to sign a release form from the infirmary. Signing it now would be falsifying records, which is illegal. You would have signed it today, but for his safety, he can't interact with the other children, so you have to sign it at a later date."
The woman huffed, "When will he be released from the hospital?"
The man shrugged. "Probably by the end of next month, he has a lot to catch up on, and we have to monitor him for any adverse reactions. We will also have to check up on other things, like his growth patterns; he looks very small for his age. It is really all by the book; you see, this stuff would have to be done anywhere he goes. Honestly, the school he goes to should be questioned; every school requires this documentation, you know."
Mrs. Dursley paled after hearing the news. "Oh, okay," she replied faintly. "I guess I will come back next month; no need to rush. Take your time; health is important after all."
The man sat back in his chair and smirked a bit. The two finished up the paperwork, and Mrs. Dursley strolled towards the door before stopping. Turning to Harry, she gave him a strained smile. "You be good, okay, Harry? Don't cause too much trouble."
With that, she walked out of the building, leaving Harry behind.
"Hey!" Harry jumped up and turned to the nice doctor. "A month? Where is she going? Why'd she leave? Am I sick? I don't want to be sick! I want to go back home!"
The lady tried to smile, but Harry could tell it wasn't working. "Don't worry, dear, we will try our best to take care of you, okay? It's going to be alright, I promise!"
But Harry wasn't having any of it; he was pretty sure his aunt left him in a room full of strangers. He was also pretty sure they were talking about keeping him here for way longer than a month, and he didn't want any part of that. Harry could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He wanted to go home.
Before he could stop himself, he crumbled to the ground, wailing. He knew he was acting like Dudley, but he didn't care. He knew his aunt and uncle would yell at him to stop if they were here, but they weren't; they left him alone. So, knowing this, Harry continued to ball his eyes out. He didn't notice the security guards walking towards him, nor did he notice the doctor lady trying to comfort him; all he knew was that he wanted to go home and that he was sorry for whatever he did to his relatives for them to leave him.