Will was ecstatic. After begging and pleading and cajoling his parents, he'd finally gotten them to allow him to go back to school. His father had laughed about it actually. Apparently he'd been expecting Will to beg for more sick leave, not less. But Will had been sticking rigorously to his physical therapy schedule, and was showing more improvements than expected. He could walk around without getting immediately tired as soon as he stood up, but only for a few minutes before he had to sit down again. His arms were actually doing better than expected, and he'd switched to a wheelchair he could move himself by turning the wheels.

The school Will would be attending would be the Primary School for the area, so he was pretty confident that he'd be going to the same school as Harry. He just hoped they'd be in the same class. He'd astral projected a few times since the first time, and overheard a conversation between his parents. Apparently his mum was a decently famous lawyer (Who knew?), and the school had bent over backward to try to please her. Will wasn't surprised. A school system that let child abuse continue right under its nose probably wasn't the greatest when it came to social situations. But the fact that the school was acting like such a sycophant to his mother had some possibilities.

It was already paying off, Will noted as he was rolled up to the school's front doors by his parents. Someone had taken the time to build a ramp up the front three steps so he'd be able to get in the building. His mother was a little teary, but this wasn't her first kid's first day at a new school so she managed to get through it without crying. After goodbyes and hugs with his parents, Will found himself being wheeled down the hall by a pleasant-faced woman towards his new class.

"You'll just love it here," she was saying cheerfully, "Everyone is very welcoming and friendly. I'm sure you'll be making friends in no time!"

"I sure hope so," Will replied, beaming at her. He'd been practicing his childish facial expressions in the mirror while he was stuck at home, so he knew his gap-tooth grin was pretty cute. She smiled back at him, and wheeled him to a stop in front of a door. After knocking, she stuck her head in, and after whispering for a moment, pulled the door fully open. Will saw she'd been talking to an older woman who must be his teacher. The older woman smiled at him, and beckoned him inside. Wheeling his way in, he saw all of the other students sitting behind desks, peering over each other to get a look at him. He quailed under their stares, and hurried after the teacher.

"Alright class," She announced, "We'll be having a new student joining us this term, so please make him feel welcome." After she said this, she turned to face him and said softly, "Would you like to introduce yourself or would you prefer I did it?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

Will smiled, hiding his nerves, "I'd like to do it, Miss?" He looked at her in question.

"You can call me Ms. Taylor, and please go ahead and introduce yourself, I need to get class started." She said, seemingly smiling at him without realizing it.

Will turned to face the class, and smiled widely at them. "I'm Will Nelson! It's nice to meet you guys!"

Ms. Taylor nodded to him, "Where would you like to sit? Up here near the front?" She gestured to a seat in front of an overweight boy with an innocent expression on his face. Uh oh, that was probably Dudley, no thanks.

"I'm afraid my wheelchair might get in the way of whoever sits behind me, so can I sit in the back?" He whispered to her, frowning a little. She struggled for a moment and then seemed to cave, nodding to him.

'There's an open seat in the back right next to Mr. Potter," She said, and raised her voice a bit, "Harry, can you clean off the desk next to you? Will here, is going to be your seat neighbor!"

A dark haired boy in the back corner next to the window startled, and turned from looking out the window to look at the teacher. Will smiled at him and waved. Harry looked surprised, and quickly moved his things off of Will's new desk. There wasn't much, just a pencil and a damaged looking notebook. Will frowned at that, before plastering a smile back on. He moved his wheelchair as quickly as he could down the aisle, which was thankfully wide enough that he didn't need to worry about running over any feet.

Once he got to the back, he spun his wheelchair in a bit of a flourish, coming to rest seated behind his desk. He'd practiced that move a couple times at home as well, so he didn't end up toppling over every time he did it. Harry looked surprised when Will looked at him, and when Will smiled at him, Harry gave him a hesitant smile back. Seemingly realizing where he was, Harry schooled his face into an expression of disinterest, and turned to look out the window again. Will didn't mind, he counted the little smile Harry gave him as a win in his book.

That was all Will was able to do before Ms. Taylor got class started.

School was boring and frustrating, in equal measures. The math was stupidly simple, and English was laughably easy as well. Science and Art were fine, at least there were experiments to run and art to make, but Geography and History were surprisingly difficult. He was surprised when the first question's answer was something different than he expected. Was he just remembering it wrong, or was this world's history somewhat different than his? Physical Education was boring as expected though, seeing as he couldn't participate.

What was interesting was what happened when lunch rolled around. As soon as the break was announced, Will turned to Harry, "Could you help me find the lunchroom?" Harry seemed surprised, but nodded his head.

"Alright," He said, before considering, "Do you need me to push you or-?" Harry let his question trail off, looking embarrassed.

"No, I've got it!" Will said brightly, turning his chair to face the aisle. Harry stood up and made sure all of his things were out of the aisle for Will to move past. Will smiled at him, and they headed off to lunch, Harry slowing his pace to let Will keep up. They talked about simple things as they entered the lunchroom, and Will laughed at Harry's dry wit. He was pretty funny actually. Will sat at the end of one of the lunch tables, and waited for Harry to get his lunch. As he sat waiting, the large boy from class walked up to him with another even larger boy leading the way. Will had only thought the boy in class was Dudley, but this even bigger boy must be him.

Dudley? smirked at him, "I heard from Malcolm here that you were getting chummy with Potter." Malcolm nodded and cracked his knuckles. Will supposed it was to look tough, but he was having a hard time trying not to laugh at the sight of this child attempting to be threatening.

Dudley must have misread Will's cramped facial expression as one of fear, because he smiled nastily at Will. "You'll stay away from Potter if you know what's good for you." He said, slamming his hand on the table for emphasis, looking over Will's shoulder.

Will smiled at them, "thanks for the advice. I'm pretty good at judging people, so I'm sure I'll do what's best for me." He turned his head, and saw they'd drawn a lot of attention from the other students in the room. He also saw Harry standing forlornly a little ways away, a hurt expression on his face. Will beamed at him and waved him over, "What are you standing over there for? Come on over!" He called.

Harry's face perked up, and he smiled a little at Will. After a nervous glance at Dudley, he started walking over.

Dudley glared at Will, sizing him up. He snorted dismissively and said, "Whatever. You'll figure it out soon enough. Everyone always does." He trudged off, knocking into Harry as he passed sending Harry's lunch tray to the floor. "Oops," He laughed, and high fived Malcolm as they left.

Will frowned at Dudley, turning his chair to face Harry, and started helping him pick up his lunch. The milk was okay, just a little dented, but the sandwich was pitiful and the apple was one big bruise. Harry sighed, setting his tray on the table, and started unwrapping his sandwich. To be honest, the school lunch wasn't that great before Dudley knocked it on the floor. The sandwich looked old, but at least it wasn't moldy. Will looked at his lunch and smiled. Opening it quickly, he saw that his mum had packed extra, just as he asked. He'd told her it was in order to make friends, but he'd been afraid of what Harry's lunch situation was like. It was worse than he thought.

He pulled out a cupcake, the frosting a little smushed from being carried around all day, but still good. There were a couple more, all rather small. "Want one?" Will asked, holding the cupcake out to Harry. Harry looked shocked, like he'd never even had a cupcake before, and with a sinking feeling Will realized he probably hadn't. Keeping the smile on his face, Will gestured to him, "I have more if that's what you're worried about, or if it's because it's squished-"

"No!" Harry blurted out, then looked embarrassed, "I'll take it, thank you." Taking the cupcake, Harry unwrapped it with more care than had ever been shown to a pastry before.

"You know it's not going to break, you don't need to be that careful." Will said wryly, and Harry snorted, before chuckling. He took a bite and smiled, but to Will it almost looked like he might cry.

"Are you alright?" Will asked, concerned, "I have a few more if you want another one."

"I'm alright," Harry said, rubbing a quick hand over his eyes, "Just got something in my eye s'all."

Will decided not to call Harry's bluff, and they had a nice lunch together, splitting the food between them. Will loved Harry's sense of humor. Did he say that already?

After school Will tried to talk to Harry again, but he'd disappeared. As Will had to get to choir rehearsal, he decided to try to talk to Harry tomorrow. Choir was good, they made him feel welcome and the songs were fun, but Will still felt like there was somewhere else should have been.

This one was a little shorter than I would have liked, but it felt like a natural stopping point.