Ron followed Harry stealthily into the Dursley's house. He followed him down a hallway, and expected to go up the stairs, but was surprised when Harry stopped at the cupboard under the stairs, opened it, and climbed in. Ron stood there, confused until Harry beckoned him in after him.

Ron slipped into the cupboard and was surprised to see some blankets and pillows. A bundle of clothes lay in the corner and there was a small shelf with some school supplies and—

Ron leapt out of the cupboard with a suppressed scream.

"Shut up" Harry hissed angrily. "What's the matter with you?"

"There's spiders in there!" Ron hissed back.

"So?" asked Harry. He was around spiders all the time; he didn't see why Ron was so upset.

"I—I can't sleep with spiders" said Ron shaking his head violently.

"Well there's no other option," said Harry.

"Can't we sleep in your bedroom?" asked Ron.

"This is my bedroom," said Harry angrily, blushing.

Ron stared at him.

"Muggles live in spider cupboards?" he asked incredulously.

Harry sighed. "No, just me. The Dursley's didn't want to waste a bedroom on me so I sleep here, if you don't like it you can leave" he said bluntly. Though as he said this his heart sunk. He really didn't want Ron to leave. He liked Ron, he was interesting, and Harry wanted to help him.

Ron gulped.

"Are—Are there a whole lot of spiders in there?" he asked.

"No" Harry lied firmly.

"Well, I guess I can try," said Ron.

He climbed slowly into the cupboard and sat down next to Harry, taking deep breathes. Harry looked at Ron, suddenly feeling bad. Ron was really scared. Harry wasn't afraid of spiders but he was afraid of Dudley and his gang.

Harry could only imagine how scared he would be if he had to get into an enclosed space with those brutes.

Ron felt something on his arm and froze. Harry looked at what Ron was staring at. A big spider was crawling on him.

Harry didn't know why he did it. It was instinct he supposed. He opened his mouth and an ominous hissing filled the cupboard. It was as if a gigantic snake were in there with them and the spider leapt off of Ron and ran from the cupboard. In fact, there was a small scuffle and suddenly over a dozen spiders ran across the walls of the cupboard and scurried out the door. The spiders were moving so fast; it was if they were running for their lives.

Ron clutched at Harry's arm as this happened and sniffled, trying not to cry.

After a moment he let go of Harry and took a shaky breath.

"D-Did you scare away the spiders with your magic?" he asked.

"I-I guess" said Harry, shocked. They both sat there for a moment, then Harry laid down.

"We should go to sleep now," said Harry quietly.

"Y-Yea" said Ron.

The pair laid themselves down in the nest of pillows and blankets, convinced that it would take them hours to fall asleep after all that had occurred, but five minutes later the two boys were sleeping soundly.

The next morning, Harry and Ron were woken up by an angry pounding on the door.

"Get up!" They heard a female voice demand shrilly.

"I'm up Aunt Petunia!" called Harry nervously.

"Get dressed! We're leaving in fifteen minutes!" a pair of high heeled shoes click clacked away from the cupboard and Harry hastily pulled on a shirt. Ron backed away to give him room. He felt his finger snag on something and looked down, frowning. One of his Band-Aids had come off during the night and—

Ron grinned and peeled off all the Band-Aids. Stuffing them into his pocket he crawled over to where Harry was putting on his socks. He nudged Harry's shoulder and showed him the healthy new nails adorning all ten of his fingers.

"Still think I'm not a wizard?" Ron whispered.

Harry gaped at him.

"Wow" he whispered. The incredible sight made Harry want to stay and ask Ron more questions but—

"Ten minutes, boy!" his aunt yelled.

Harry hastily grabbed a sheet of paper, drew some lines and scribbled a few words on it. Handing the paper to Ron he whispered:

"This is a map to the play park. Go there after we leave the house."

Ron nodded and Harry slipped out of the cupboard.

Ron waited a good a couple minutes after he heard the front door close before he climbed stealthily out of the cupboard. Looking around the Dursley house he saw a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a small bathroom with the door slightly open. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to stay just a couple more minutes he slipped inside the bathroom. When he emerged, his face and hands now clean; he went into the kitchen to grab some food.

To his delight Ron found a box of individually wrapped snack cakes in the cupboard and the remainder of the "pretzels" that Harry had given him. Grabbing the cakes, and pretzels out of the cupboard, Ron looked around the kitchen and found some bananas on the counter. Ron snatched a few and hurried out of the house.

It took nearly half an hour for Ron to find the play park. It wasn't far away; it was just hard for him to properly decipher Harry's instructions. When Ron arrived he saw several curved…things…suspended by chains that were attached to metal bars. He stared at them curiously, wondering their purpose.

Ron set his food down and looked around the rest of the playground. He saw a sort of metal fort with ladders and slides. He also saw rings dangling suspended off the ground. Ron climbed the fort and went down the slide. Ron knew what slides were, but he rarely saw them anywhere except for on trick staircases. He could see why muggles used them for amusement though. The sensation you got when going down them was kind of fun, it was almost like flying.

Ron heard a shriek of joy and turned around to see a little boy that was younger than his little sister climbing the fort.

"Mummy! Mummy! Help me go on the monkey bars!" He called.

His mother obliged and held the boy gently around the middle as he went across the rings.

Intrigued, Ron waited until the boy was finished and climbed the fort again. He looked at the rings. The other boy had to have his mum hold him for this, but he felt no need for that. The rings weren't that high off the ground.

So Ron gripped the bars and went across. It was fairly easy, though dangling above the ground was a tad unnerving without having a broom underneath to support you.

Ron heard a squeak and saw the boy sitting on one of the chain suspended things. The boy rose high into the air and fell back down, but then he swung backwards high into the air and swung back down, it was like a pendulum. Ron was fascinated.

He clambered onto a swing and eagerly waited for it to move.

It didn't.

Ron frowned.

The kid had to have someone push him…yet again the kid had also needed help on the (he had called them monkey bars?) so maybe it was just because he was little that he needed help.

Ron leaned forward, the way he would if he'd been riding a broom, but still the device would not yield. Ron kept trying, moving his legs forward and backwards. A giggle sounded from next to him.

Ron looked over and saw a girl who looked a bit older than the little boy.

"Silly, you need to move your legs like this" she demonstrated a strange leg movement. Ron tried it and to his surprise the swing moved.

Ron did the leg motion repeatedly, pleased when he got a little higher each time. Before he knew it Ron was high above the ground. He laughed.

Mugglesreallyaregoodatfindingwaystopretendtofly. Thought Ron. True, it wasn't as exciting as flying, but something about the way the device (he heard one of the kids call it a swing) moved was very entertaining.

Ron stayed on the swings until his rear end was too sore to continue, then he ate some of the food he'd set down and laid in the shade of an elm tree.

Ron smiled as a breeze tickled his freckles and slept for the next few hours.

Meanwhile Harry was going through the school day. As usual he was friendless thanks to Dudley and his gang, but he didn't mind so much today, he was looking forward to seeing Ron again after school, he had so many questions to ask about wizards, but first he had to getto the playground. He had been forming a plan. When the final bell rang for the day he was quick to put his plan in motion.

Harry did something he never imagined he would do, he ran up to Dudley.

"Dudley," said Harry.

The boy turned around.

"What do you want freak?"

"I need a favor," said Harry.

"Why would I do any favors for a freak like you?" asked Dudley giving Harry a slight push.

Harry stumbled backwards.

"It'll benefit you more than it benefits me," said Harry standing his ground while trying not to shake in fear at the boy looming over him.

Dudley didn't reply, but Harry could tell that he'd piqued his interest.

"I want Aunt Petunia to drop me off at the play park after school today. If you tell her that you'd had a really bad day and wanted an ice cream, she'd get you one.

The thing is though, she hates having me around so she'll get it to go instead of eating it inside and you won't be able to order a second helping. If I wasn't with you she would stay long enough for a second helping, but she wouldn't want me home by myself. If you tell her to just drop me off at the play park you two can get ice cream and you can bully her into buying seconds, and you'll probably be able to convince her to buy you a toy from the shop next to the ice cream parlor."

Dudley looked thoughtful.

"So…So…you would get to go to the play park, but I would get ice-cream and toys?" he asked.

"Exactly!" said Harry. "Think about how many things you'll be able to convince your mum to buy when she doesn't have me to worry about."

Dudley glared at Harry.

"Okay, I'll do it, but you have to do my homework for me tonight," said Dudley.

"Deal," said Harry.

So the two boys headed out to the car where Harry's aunt was waiting.

Dudley climbed into the front seat while Harry climbed into the back.

"How was your day popkin?" asked Petunia, looking at her son fondly.

Dudley promptly burst into fake tears.

"What's wrong Diddykins?" asked Petunia, reaching over and throwing her arms around Dudley.

"I h-had a bad daaaaaayyyyy," Dudley sobbed. "Everyone was s-so m-mean to me!"

"Who was mean to you darling? Tell me their names, I'll call your school right away!"

Dudley sniffed theatrically and said.

"I d-don't want that it w-w-would make things worse, I think they'll leave me alone t-tomorrow, but they were just so meeean!" Dudley whimpered.

"Oh, my poor Diddykins, is there anything I can do to make it better?" asked Petunia.

"W-Well. Maybe S-Some I-I-Ice cream would be nice," He took the opportunity to glare back at Harry, "I don't want him to come though!" he said.

"He always r-r-ruins things for me! I know you can't leave that freak alone in the house, but can't you drop him off at the play park?" asked Dudley.

"Of course sweetums," said Aunt Petunia, putting then car in drive and heading out. Harry kept a straight face, not wanting to ruin the plan. When Harry got out at the play park his aunt leaned out of the window and hissed.

"You stay here and don't cause a scene. If there's any trouble, your uncle shall know about it!"

Harry nodded nervously and watched as she drove away. Harry looked around the park and saw Ron, sleeping under the shade of a tree.

Harry hurried over and shook him.

"Wha—? Oh, hi Harry," said Ron.

"Hey, Ron" said Harry, sitting down next to him.

Ron held out the box of cakes to Harry.

"Have you tried these? They're brilliant!" said Ron with a grin. Harry looked at the box of cakes and went pale.

"Where did you get those?" he asked, looking suddenly frightened.

"The cupboards at your house why?" Ron looked at Harry and saw him looking at the ground as if not really seeing it.

"Those were Dudley's cakes," said Harry, his voice wavering. When the Dursley's find out…They'll kill me."

Ron looked confused.

"Do cakes hold some kind of importance to muggles?" asked Ron in confusion.

Harry shook his head.

"No, Dudley just likes them."

"Then why would they be mad? There's another box in the cupboard at your house, Dudley can have those," said Ron.

"You don't get it," Harry snapped angrily. "The Dursley's hate me! My aunt and uncle only care about my 'precious' cousin Dudley. When they find out those cakes are missing they'll say I stole them, Uncle Vernon will beat me black and blue and stuff me in my cupboard! And no amount of your so called 'magic' will make the feeling of a stomach that's gone two days without food any better!"

Harry was shouting by the end of this tirade and he was shaking.

Ron stared at him.

"You family would do that?" he asked, eyeing the boy up and down.

Harry gave an angry sort of hysterical laugh.

"Of course they would! What am I to them? A waste of space! A reject! A freak! They hate me! And, and—" Harry's eyes filled with tears and the angry edge in his voice was replaced with one of pure misery "and I don't even know why." Harry buried his face in his knees and hid his tears.

"How come everyone treats me like I'm some sort of monster? Why do they hate me so much?" Harry was holding back sobs.

Ron frowned. He didn't know what to say. What couldhe say? He'd gotten Harry into trouble and said boy was currently having a break down on the grass next to him. Ron did the only thing he could think of, he pulled Harry into a hug.

Harry instinctively flinched and tried to push him away, but Ron held on tighter, trying to calm Harry down.

"It's okay," said Ron, patting the boy's back uncertainly. "It's okay."

Harry stopped struggling and his shoulders shook a little.

"No it's not," he whispered.

Ron just sat next to the boy as he shook in pain and fear, holding him the way his mother held his sister when she was upset.

He thought for a minute before letting go of Harry and scuttling around until he was facing the younger boy.

Harry did not meet his eyes, so Ron put a hand on his shoulder and asked.

"Do you want to see the wizarding world?"

Harry looked up, his eyes red.

"C-Can I?" he asked.

"You can if you come with me to London," said Ron.

Harry hesitated.

"Is—is it possible for us to make it on our own in—in your world?" he asked

"Well, that's what I'm going to try, and if you come with me, we'll have a better chance," said Ron.

Harry looked away, thinking.

"Look," said Ron, "if anyone's got reason to run away, it's you. You said it yourself, there's nothing for you with the Dursleys. Those gits aren't family; they're mean old muggles. The way I see it we might as well stick together, it'll be better for both of us and…" Ron looked at Harry's face, "I've always thought it'd have been nice, to have a little brother."

Harry didn't look at Ron, but he stood up looking determined.

"Well, if we're going to leave we should do it now, my aunt will be coming to pick me up and I don't want to be here when she does," Harry narrowed his eyes, thinking. Then in one swift movement he grabbed the food Ron had brought and stuffed it into his backpack.

"Come on, Ron," said Harry. "We're going to the train station."