Harry awoke to the, by now, customary shrieks that so kindly alerted him to breakfast time. He stretched and then lay back, content for a moment to simply bask in the plans he had made last night with Dudley and Piers. However, when the shrieks increased in volume, he knew it was time to get up. As he pulled on his uniform, he mused to himself about the week following his gang's big entrance. The downfall of the Wolves had indeed shaken the school up, but not in the way that Harry had anticipated. Piers had reported that the Wolves were the top dogs, which it seemed they were, but his reports had failed to mention the large amount of other gangs simmering restlessly just underneath the Wolves' dominance. The toppling of the school's best had now cleared the way for any of these smaller gangs to move in and take their place at the top.
His uniform on and his mind buzzing, Harry walked down to breakfast and sat at the table across from Dudley. Harry's large cousin had been in a fight the previous day and still bore the marks of it on his broad chest, but fortunately his parents had not bothered to inspect him that night. Harry did not know how well they would take to their little boy getting in fights all the time, but he suspected it was better Dudley than Harry.
Breakfast was the usual fare: lots of bacon, lots of eggs, some baked beans, and a large fried tomato for each of them. Once Harry began digging into his food, he thought about the list of gangs Piers had presented him and which ones he should focus on first. He knew that, in order to run the school, he would eventually have to establish dominance over all the gangs, but order was everything. Some gangs had influence over certain aspects of school, others had others. Harry sighed in exasperation. He had never needed this sort of knowledge before; he had never even had real friends before.
Before too long, his plate was empty and his stomach was full so Harry stood up and went back up to his room to plan out the order. He had just pulled out the list when he heard a knock on the door.
"Yeah?" Harry turned towards the door
"It's me, Harry. Can I come in?" Dudley's voice came through the door.
"Of course, Big D. It's open." Harry turned back to his list.
The door opened and Dudley walked in, sitting on Harry's bed. He watched Harry pour over the list for a few moments, then stood again and stretched. Still not attracting Harry's attention, Dudley waited another moment or two then sighed loudly.
Harry looked up, "What's up, D?"
Dudley, still mid sigh, quickly closed his mouth and took a deep breath. "Harry, can you help me out with my math homework tonight? I just don't understand any of it."
Harry, after so much thinking about complex plots and schemes, smiled at this mundane problem. "Of course, Big D. Can't have my main muscle flunk out in the first week."
Dudley let out a big sigh. "Thanks, mate. I really get all that fighting stuff, but this homework just doesn't work." He walked over to Harry's third-hand desk. "What are you working on, by the way?"
Harry spread out the paper and shook his head. "I'm just thinking about which gang we need to take out first. Taking out the Wolves made all this a lot more difficult."
Dudley frowned at all the names on the list. "Why not just go in the order they're on here on?"
Harry grinned and pulled out a pen. "See, this group of three? They're all in an alliance. If we take on one, we take on all three at once." He circled the three names. "Same with all of these." He circled the rest of the alliances on the sheet, leaving only a few straggling names alone. "I was thinking of starting with these loners first, but I need to get some perspective on it all."
Dudley frowned. "Well, ok. I think I could take them, though."
Harry grinned at his cousin. "I know you can, mate. I know you can."
