Disclaimer: As usual, the Harry Potter universe is owned by J.K. Rowling. I just own this fanfic and my OC. No copyright intended!

Ch. 2

Friends For Harry Are Discovered

The drive to the Chessington World Of Adventures Amusement Park/Zoo was uneventful. Harry was surprised to see all the rides they had as they walked up to the entrance. There were some roller coasters and some carnival rides. Once they were all within the vicinity of the park, Harry was able to get a better look. Aside from the rides, there were even fun houses and carnival booths, where guests can play games and win prizes. Harry doubted that he would even be allowed to go on any rides or even play at the carnival booths. Guests could also go to the zoo next door, after all it was Dudley's tenth birthday and the Dursleys always did whatever they could to make Dudley's birthday the best day for him.

A little later, the Dursleys approached a frozen treats stall and bought Dudley and Piers two large cotton-candy-flavoured ice cream cones. The vendor asked Harry what he would like, then the Dursleys reluctantly bought Harry an orange-flavoured popsicle. Harry enjoyed it, as it was the first time he had eaten something as tasty as something like a popsicle. At lunchtime, they went to a restaurant grill where they served hamburgers, one of Dudley's favourite foods. Dudley threw a nasty temper tantrum because he didn't see any ketchup, mustard or anything on his burger. Aunt Petunia tried to get Dudley calmed down by getting the workers to fix it, only for Dudley to declare that the burger was (in his opinion) 'contaminated,' so Vernon went to buy Dudley another burger. Once Vernon came back with Dudley's second burger, he and Petunia pushed the first one to Harry.

"You're allowed to finish this one!" they said.

Harry was more than willing to eat it, and did so right away. Piers was sniggering at the worker who had to make another burger for Dudley (who had a displeased look on his face, since the worker 'wasted' time). After lunch, they all decided to go to the zoo, where Harry intensified his efforts to keep his distance since he knew this would increase Dudley and Piers' odds to fall back onto their favourite hobby of beating Harry up. There were some interesting animals, which fascinated Harry. Harry's efforts to keep his distance from the Dursleys seemed to work a little too well, as neither Dudley, Piers, Aunt Petunia nor Uncle Vernon were in sight.

'Oh well, like they're gonna even care,' thought Harry bitterly. 'But at least I'm doing them a tremendous favour!'

So Harry tried to make the best of the situation and looked around at all the other animals. Eventually, he came across an enclosure that held a couple of big mammals that had big, front teeth. He watched the mammals walk around, sniffing everything around them.

"I wonder what kind of animals those are?!" Harry asked himself.

"Those would be capybaras!" said a voice from his left.

This made Harry jump in surprise, so he turned toward his left and saw a girl with brown hair in a low ponytail, blue eyes, and a cheerful grin. She appeared to be his age (maybe a year younger), but Harry decided to avoid asking that kind of question, not wanting to be rude.

"Capybaras?" asked Harry, intrigued.

"Yes," said the girl. "They're the largest rodents in the world!"

"Wow, I didn't know that!" said Harry with fascination in his voice.

"Well, my name is Karley," said the girl, holding her hand out. "Karley Bell!"

"I'm Harry," said Harry, shaking hands with Karley. "Harry Potter!"

Karley's eyes widened in surprise once she realized who she met.

"Are... you really?" she asked.

"Yeah," Harry sheepishly admitted, naturally believing he did something he wasn't supposed to. "Did I do something... wrong?"

"What... no," said Karley, puzzled by Harry's reaction. "You're the one who made You-Know-Who disappear!"

"You-Know-Who?" asked Harry.

"Yeah." said Karley.

She thought this was a joke at first, but quickly realized that Harry no idea what (or who) she was referring to.

"I thought..." she started saying, stunned that Harry was genuinely confused.

"No, I honestly have no idea." said Harry.

"Karley, there you are," said another girl who appeared to be Karley's older sister, as she approached the two. "You know better than to wander off alone!"

"Sorry sis!" said Karley in an apologetic tone.

"Well, mum and dad are worried," said Karley's older sister. "And you also know better than to talk to strangers!" She gave Harry an apologetic look.

"But Katie," said Karley, as her sister grabbed her hand and began walking away. "This is Harry Potter I'm talking to!"

Karley's sister stopped, turned around and faced Harry, then her mouth dropped open in surprise.

"Really?" she asked. "Are you really... Harry Potter?!"

"Yeah." Harry once again, sheepishly admitted.

Then he lifted his bangs to reveal his scar, thinking that this might've had something to do with what (or who) Karley must've been trying to refer to. They both widened their eyes in surprise even more.

"It... It really is... you!" said Karley's big sister, then she held her hand out at Harry. "I'm Katie... Katie Bell!"

Harry shook hands with her. Then Katie led Harry and Karley over to a nearby bench.

"So Harry, where have you been, all this time?!" Katie asked once they sat down on the bench.

"Living with my relatives." said Harry.

"Your relatives?" asked Katie.

"Yeah," said Harry. "My aunt, uncle and cousin."

"I thought you'd be living with a wizarding family," said Katie. "Or do you live in the muggle world?"

"Muggle world?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," said Katie. "Muggles are what we wizards and witches called non-magic people."

"But magic doesn't exist," said Harry, who was baffled. "Or does it?"

"It does," assured Katie. "Karley and I are magical, witches to be exact!"

"So that means I'm a... wizard?" asked Harry.

"Yes," said Karley. "Who told you that magic doesn't exist?"

"My aunt and uncle," said Harry, who started coming to several conclusions. "Seeing that they hate magic, especially my uncle!"

"That likely means that they're muggles," said Karley. "They're non-magic people!"

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." said Harry.

"Your parents were magical," said Katie. "They were some of the nicest people in the wizarding world."

"I didn't know that," said Harry as he was coming to realize the real truth. "I was told that my parents were drunks and that they died in a car crash."

This angered Katie and Karley. They couldn't believe that the saviour of the wizarding world was told a bunch of lies. Katie put an arm around Harry's shoulders in a comforting manner, while Karley held one of Harry's hands, also in a comforting manner. Harry flinched, but eased up when they were trying to comfort him.

"Harry," Katie began to explain, with seriousness in her voice. "Your parents didn't die in what was called a car crash. They were murdered by the darkest wizard of all time. They died trying to protect you. Those relatives of yours, they've been lying to you about all that! We don't think any less of you, do you understand?"

"Y-Y-Yeah," Harry stuttered. "I-I-I d-doooo!"

"We also want to be friends with you!" said Karley.

"R-R-Really? Fr-Fr-Friends?" asked Harry.

"Of course, Harry!" said Katie and Karley, smiling at him.

"Wow, I didn't think that this would ever happen!" said Harry, who was overjoyed.

"Why is that?" asked Katie and Karley in unison.

"Because... I never had any friends, until now," said Harry. "All because of my cousin Dudley and his friends. They would always beat up any kid, or threaten to beat up any kid who approached me to try and befriend me. They would always make sure I didn't have any friends by making up all sorts of lies!"

Harry lowered his head as he finished. Katie and Karley were shedding tears once they found out what Harry's life was really like. They remembered reading books about Harry that claimed that Harry was living a wonderful life, in peace, and away from people who only saw him as The-Boy-Who-Lived and not Harry as a person. Now they know that Harry wasn't living the life that the books about him claimed. They gave Harry a hug, who flinched again. But Harry eased up, now knowing they wanted to be friends with him, and allowed them to continue hugging him.

Harry was, for the very first time a happy wizard. He was relieved that he was, for once forming friendships. But unfortunately for Harry, his rotten luck was just about to return.

"Sometime, when a wizard or witch reaches the age of eleven," Katie started filling Harry in a little bit on the wizarding world. "They will get an invitation to attend Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry!"

"Wow," said Harry with fascination. "But I will be turning ten on July 31st."

"That's a bummer," said Katie with some disappointment in her voice. "I was also hoping to get the chance to introduce you to some of my friends. I will be starting Hogwarts this September."

"But I have to wait another two years," said Karley with disappointment in her voice. "I turn nine on August 17th."

"I'm already eleven," said Katie. "My birthday was on May 12th."

"Well, happy belated birthday Katie!" said Harry.

"Thank you, Harry!" said Katie.

"Well, well," said a sneering voice. "What do we have here?"

The three friends gulped and looked behind them. Harry gasped in horror that Dudley and Piers had found him. Dudley and Piers were angry that Harry had befriended somebody.

"Why don't you go pick on somebody your own size." said Katie and Karley defiantly.

"Oh, we can't do that," said Dudley, with an evil grin. "They'd hit us back!"

"Now, kindly hand the freak over," warned Piers. "Or you feel mine and Dudley's wrath!"

"No way, Piers," said Harry defiantly. "We were having a good time!"

Dudley was angry that the 'freak' had made friends, and was now defying him.

"How dare you make friends," shouted Dudley, outraged. "Freaks don't deserve friends!"

"Well, I'm no freak," said Harry. "That only exists in your head!"

All of a sudden, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon arrived not long after. They, too were angry to see Harry with friends. Uncle Vernon turned purple-faced with anger, and started breathing like an angry rhinoceros.

"You had been warned, boy," snarled Uncle Vernon. "We give you room and board, and this is how you show gratefulness?"

"You are an ungrateful freak!" snapped Aunt Petunia. "We told you never to wander off!"

Dudley and Piers decided to 'teach' the girls a 'lesson,' where Dudley punched Karley in the stomach, while Piers pushed Katie with all his might, causing her to fall to the ground and land on her bum. Karley clutched her stomach in pain while Katie was stunned that she saw Harry's cousin punch her little sister, without remorse. Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry by the back of his shirt, pulling him away and back to their car.

"Thanks alot, Freak," Dudley blurted out at Harry, with sarcasm. "You had to ruin my day, again!"

Karley managed to recover and looked up at Harry, who was being dragged away. Harry's shirt almost slipped off and what Katie and Karley saw just about made them throw up. They saw all sorts of scars and bruises. Some of the bruises were fairly recent (which were a purple-bluish colour), along with some of the scars. They were horrified beyond belief.

"Come on, Karley," said Katie. "We'd better get back to mum and dad!"

"Okay," cried Karley, whose stomach still hurt. "I-I just can't b-believe what I saw!"

"Me, too!" said Katie.

So they walked around the zoo, looking for their mum and dad. They found them who were waiting by the elephant enclosure. Mr. and Mrs. Bell were relieved when they saw their daughters.

"There you are," said Mrs. Bell. "What took you so long?"

"We met Harry Potter." stated Katie.

"What, really?" asked Mr. Bell.

"Yeah," said Karley. "We started chatting with him, but then his cousin and his cousin's friend eventually found us, followed by Harry's aunt and uncle."

"What happened then?" asked Mrs. Bell.

"They dragged Harry away," said Katie. "And his large over-sized shirt kind of slipped off and revealed some scars and bruises, some of them were recent."

"Oh my." said her parents in unison.

"Harry's cousin even punched me in the stomach," said Karley. "While that friend of Harry's cousin's pushed Katie to the ground!"

"I can't believe that," said Mr. Bell. "We'd better get home, and I'll contact Amelia Bones. Hopefully she'll be able to help out!"

And with that decision, the Bell family left the vicinity of the park/zoo combo, then they found an alley, and soon they disappeared. Meanwhile, the Dursleys and Piers made it back to Number 4, Privet Drive. Dudley and Piers left to go meet up with the other members of their gang, while Harry was to be 'punished.'

"HOW DARE YOU MAKE FRIENDS," shouted Uncle Vernon, as soon as he, Petunia and Harry were in the house. "WE GIVE YOU A PLACE TO LIVE AND FOOD TO EAT! FREAKS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE FRIENDS!"

"I'm not a freak," said Harry irritably. "And I have just as much right to make friends as you all do!"

"Yes, you are a freak!" snapped Aunt Petunia. "You didn't have any permission to befriend anybody!"

"You guys even lied to me," said Harry. "Magic does exist, and my parents never died in that car crash!"

"OH THAT DOES IT!" yelled Uncle Vernon.

He got out his belt and started whacking Harry with it relentlessly. After doing this for five minutes, he dragged Harry into the cupboard under the stairs forcefully, then he dead-bolted it.

"There's no... such thing... as MAGIC!" yelled Uncle Vernon into the vent grates.

Once he was done, he closed the vents. Harry silently cried into his pillow. Why did he have to have such awful luck? He finally made a couple friends, and Dudley and Piers decided to ruin it. Why couldn't he be with a family who loved him? Will that wish ever be granted? That was all he ever wanted. Was it really that hard? Was that too much to ask for?

To be continued!