To say that Harry Potter was fed-up would be an understatement.

The kind of totally moronic Ministry was know praising his every word after calling him a liar last year.

They FINALLY believed that Voldemort was back, but refused to take any appropriate reaction against him.

Dudley was avoiding him entirely, Vernon and Petunia still hated him, the whole Bill-Fleur thing was confusing and Sirius was dead.

His sixth year was going bad absolutely horrible.

So it all got worse when Hermione dragged him and Ron to the library at lunch.

"Hermione!" Ron groaned. "I'm hungry! Why don't you do the studying and WE can focus on eating!"

"We're not here to study." Hermione protested. "We all need to make friends in other houses!"

"What?" Ron spluttered.

"We have friends in other houses!" Harry agreed. "Luna and... and... Ernie, I guess. Err... Padma? Cho?"

"Exactly! You can barely think of any!" The bushy-haired bookworm looked smug. "Okay, I know a wonderful group of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws that Katie Bell introduced me too. They did seem a bit interested in meeting you though, Harry. I'm sorry." She seemed sorry.

"Fine." Ron huffed. "But I'm leaving soon to go eat lunch, okay?"

"Food always comes first, hmm Ron?" Harry mused.

"You know it, mate."

"Here they are." Hermione announced. The group consisted of 2 male and 1 female Hufflepuffs, and 1 male and 1 female Ravenclaw.

"Hullo, mates." Ron nodded slightly.

"Hi!" One of the Hufflepuffs nodded. "Ron Weasley, isn't it? We know Hermione, of course. And.. Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded, sighing.

He should be used to people knowing him by know...

"Cheers, mate." The Hufflepuff girl grinned. "The names Maisie Darwin. This is my twin sister, Clover. We're both in your year."

"Lewis Pip, in your year too." The older Hufflepuff boy extended a hand. "This is my younger brother, Rex."

"Greg Gregory." The Ravenclaw boy said in a monotone. "This is my cousin, Evelyn Gregory."

Ron shrugged and Hermione struck up a conversation with Rex but Harry remained frozen.

He was used to people knowing him, but he wasn't used to him knowing them too.

Little Whinging Primary School- 1987.

Harry Potter was being ambushed by a pair of identical twin girls... great.

It was better than dealing with Dudley, at least.

"Hello Harry Potter." One of them grinned, flipping her blonde hair. "I am Maisie Darwin."

"And I'm Clover." Her twin added. "We are going to be your friends this year."

"Why?" Harry asked, blinking. In Year 2 of Primary School, friends were not his priority.

"Because Dudley's rude to us."

This made sense to Harry. And so, the Darwin twins were his friends... anytime Dudley was not around, and a few times when he was.

Of course, Harry didn't make any MALE friends till Year 3.

Little Whinging Primary School- 1988

"Hey, Harry." It was Clover. Harry could tell because of the book tucked under her arm. "Isn't the new kid in your and Maisie's class? I wish I was with you guys..."

"Err, yeah, he is. His name's Lewis Pip."

"Pip?" Clover snorted. "What a last name. Anyway, could you introduce me? I heard from Jess who heard from Chloe who heard from Allie that he's from Greece. GREECE, HARRY!"

It turned out that Lewis did not come from Greece: he came from as far away as Kent.

But he DID think it was absolutely hilarious and made a point to learn as much Greek as he could. So their trio was expanded to 4. They had fun, they really did.

Year 4, however, expanded their group even more...

Little Whinging Primary School- 1989

"My little brother," Lewis announced while he, Harry and Maisie were running along the edge of the park (Clover was simply walking beside them, taking long steps) "is best friends with the younger brother of Gregory Gregory."

"The one in our class?" Harry frowned, brushing hair out of his eyes as he continued to run.

They were running, of course, from Dudley's Gang. The 4 of them did this so often, they were nicknamed 'The Sprinters'.

"Yeah, him. He used to be part of Dudley's Gang, didn't he?"

"Well, he left the Gang. Dud hates him now."

"His cousin's nice." Maisie mused. "Evelyn. They're really good runners, you know?"

"But are they sprinter material?" Clover giggled.

It turns out they were. After some hesitancy, Greg was accepted into their group. Evelyn kept her distance but she was there.

Until none of them were there anymore.

Little Whinging Primary School- 1990

Year 5 made no sense at all.

Evelyn, it turned out, had to get braces. This prompted relentless bullying from Dudley, which led to bullying of Greg for leaving the gang.

They kept their distance from the Sprinters.

Lewis and Rex were going to Scotland for their dad's work and wouldn't be back till next year.

"I'll see you at Stonewall, mate." Lewis had told Harry before they left.

And then Harry came down with the flu (read: got locked in his cupboard for setting loose a boa constrictor) and Dudley spread a rumor that he just didn't want to hang out with the Darwins.

Maisie and Clover might have just scoffed at this, except that they had seen Harry tending to the garden one day, as they were walking home after school. He didn't look like he had the flu.

That day, when Harry went to get his Hogwarts letter, he had no friends.

And as Harry stood in the library, listening to Ron flip through a Quidditch book, listening to Hermione and Rex talk about electricity, he couldn't help but think that he had found his first friends again.

"So..." Clover broke the silence, attracting everyone's full attention. "Would anyone like to go for a sprint with me?"