Author's note: This is the very last chapter of this fic and then it is *sob* finished. But if you are reading it now and it was posted years ago then please do still review because I will still be on the site writing other fics and I love to hear opinions on even the ones I have finished as I revise them all the time and I am forever changing things.

I have purposely never referred to the teacher as he/she until this chapter and it is very interesting how in reviews some people put is he blind and some people put is she stupid. Isn't it weird how we automatically make assumptions? So pause now and think what gender you think the teacher is before moving on, I would love to know if you were correct or if you were surprised! I think only one reviewer noticed the neutrality of the teacher!

As I have put in every chapter (though I forgot last chapter oophs!) this fic is dedicated to the super genius; Morphox!

Please review!

Chapter 5 (the very last chapter):

A small envelope fell out of the register Annabelle Simms was currently rummaging through. She picked it up curiously, she recognised the writing from somewhere. She studied the envelope, turning it over in her hands as she racked her brains to think of where she recognised it from. It came to her very suddenly, Samantha Green! The headmistress! But they were very friendly why would she have sent her such an official looking letter.

Intrigued she sat on her desk and ripped the envelope open. Two wads of paper fell onto her lap. She chose the smallest and began to read:

Dear Miss Simms,

Please cross Harry Potter off your register and empty his desk. He no longer attends our school. No forwarding address is available for his school books.

Regards

Samantha Green

Headmistress.

Amanda let the little piece of paper slip through her fingers and flutter to the floor. Little Harry Potter had gone? And so suddenly? Why? How? Where? Feeling slightly dizzy she reached for the next piece of paper hoping it would answer some of her questions.

Hey Amanda!

Sorry for the formal letter but it was school procedure, now for the real gossip! That little year five kid, Harry Potter, you know the accident prone one? Well, he has been taken away from his Aunt and Uncle! They were abusing him. He is in a bad way apparently as well. I expect he will be in a care home when he comes out of hospital. My friend (the one who lives down the little boy's road) well, he saw the police and ambulances. The little kid was taken off in one, there was blood everywhere apparently. But there was no sign of the rest of the family, they had left. The police found an article about Australia, they think that they emigrated there but gave the boy a good beating before they went and left him for dead. It takes a long time to get approved to emigrate so they must have been planning it for a long time. They think the abuse has been happening ever since the boy moved in. Imagine! No one ever guessed, he never gave a single sign! It's dreadful. Shall we meet at the coffee house at four and talk more then?

Love

Sam

Amanda stared at the piece of paper with mounting horror. Harry was abused! And all that time she had passed it off as an over reactive imagination and it was true! A small child had been crying out for help and she had ignored him. Ignored the signs and his pleas. Even the letter from her friend held clues that should have been picked up. 'you know the accident prone one.' He had never been accident prone at all.

She had swallowed all of those stories about his injuries, she had stood in the same room as those child abusers, admired them even for what they were doing for their nephew. She ran to the bathroom and was sick. When she had finished she leant against the sinks and stared at her reflection. Her hair was sticking up from where she had involuntarily clutched it while reading the letter, her cheeks were flushed and her eyes shone with unshed tears. She had failed, for the first time in her life she had failed and the person she had failed was nothing less then a small child.

Wasn't it her job to look after the children? To be on the watch for this kind of thing? She had failed her job, she had failed her parents but most of all she had failed herself. She had learnt to look out for this kind of thing, she had been on training courses about this kind of thing. The main part of her job was to report this kind of thing other than the obvious tasks like setting work and marking essays. Essays!

She ran into her classroom and began collecting all Harry's essays.

-I like dogs because they can't talk or shout.

-My uncle likes drills and shouting.

-because Aunt Petunia doesn't like them and she says I don't deserve one

-and it would protect me against bad people.

-My very favourite thing about the park is that Dudley is not there.

-My best experience was when my aunt and uncle went out for the day and left me by myself because Mrs Figg was visiting her brother. I got to watch TV and to play with Dudley's toys! I ate lots of food and spent four hours at the park without having to worry about getting back before they noticed. It was lots of fun but I wish they hadn't got back so soon.

-Describe an imaginary person:

He is very kind to everyone and never shouts.

-My family have died and I live with my aunt and uncle who don't act like a family. They don't feed me or love me. They don't spend money on me or buy me clothes. They give everything to Dudley. I don't have a family…but I wish I did.

They were full of clues, in fact she couldn't find a single essay that didn't even Dudley's essays held clues:

- My parents are constantly punishing him to try and make him a better person.

How could she have missed them? How could she have been so blind? She could no longer hold back the tears and they flowed freely down her cheeks. She slid down the wall and sobbed. It was an hour later when her tears stemmed, she glanced at the clock. The school opened in half an hour. She quickly gathered up her things and scattered Harry's essays across the tables so that the police could see them. Then she left, she left the classroom far behind. She couldn't stay, she could no longer help children after she had made a nearly fatal mistake. She knew that the child's emerald green eyes would haunt her every night. She would never be able to forget that she had been too late…just as her teacher had been to save her own innocence. That was why she became a teacher and yet she had fallen into the same trap.

She was too late.