I wanted to thank everyone for the reviews, mostly because I didn't expect to get any yet. I'm mostly writing this for fun, but if I can entertain others doing that as well, I'll be really happy.
It took Will a few days, but he figured out where Harry was going right when school ended. The library. Will had never pegged Harry as the studious sort, but upon thinking about it a bit more Will figured the library was likely the last place Dudley would ever want to go, so it was probably safe. He didn't follow him in there though. Harry deserved a place where he felt safe, and Will wanted to give Harry some space. He figured what he was doing was toeing the line of stalking someone, so he wouldn't go to the library while Harry was there unless asked.
His relationship with Harry had improved though. They shared Will's lunch during break, and chatted during down times in classes. Harry was hesitant to talk about himself, but Will had managed to get him to tell him a little bit. He now 'knew' that Harry lived with his aunt and uncle, and that Dudley was his cousin. That had been a bit of a wild conversation. It had started friendly enough, but Harry had run to the bathroom and while he was gone Dudley and his gang had approached Will.
"Hey Dud, isn't that the cripple that hangs around with Potter?" One of his goons, Piers Will thought it was, said snickering.
Will sighed, and ignored them. He wasn't 'crippled' as they put it, but that still wasn't a nice thing to call anyone. Not to mention how prejudiced it was. But kids could be cruel, and they were essentially parrots for things their parents had said. Thinking about it that way, Will felt a little bad for them. He turned to look at them and saw that they were staring at him, obviously expecting him to do something. What that something was, Will had no idea. Cry, maybe? Attack them in rage? Will did neither.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Will asked, flashing a smile in their direction. Dudley paused, wrong-footed. That hadn't been what he'd been prepared for, obviously. He plunged on ahead anyway.
"Why are you still hanging around Potter anyway," Dudley complained, "You have to have noticed how weird he is by now." He stomped his foot, as if that would get Will to do what he wanted.
"I like his sense of humor, and he's nice and helpful. He's a good friend," Will replied, "Why does it matter to you?" He cocked his head to the side, looking confusedly at Dudley. Dudley had a strange look on his face. Like he'd never even considered the idea that someone could actually like Harry.
"All you're doing is asking for trouble," Dudley replied, almost growling out the words. "You could get in a lot of danger doing that."
"What's life without a little strife to keep things interesting?" Will laughed, before going silent at the look on Dudley's face. It was a mixture of suspicion, anger, and was that a bit of fear?
"You're just as weird as he is," Dudley finally decided, and turned to walk away. "Whatever, you'll end up just like him in the end. All alone." He kicked Will's backpack as he walked away for good measure.
Will sighed and did his best to pick up the papers that had scattered from Dudley's kick, but it was a bit difficult to get them all. As he struggled, Will heard a "Here, let me-" and a hand helped him get some of the papers that had fallen under a picnic table. It was Harry's hand of course, and Will smiled sheepishly at him.
"I'm sorry-" They both said, and then stopped chuckling.
"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong." Will said, smiling ruefully.
"Well, neither did you." Harry added, chuckling.
"These are my papers we're picking up, aren't they?" Will replied, putting the last of the papers back in his bag.
"But you didn't knock them over."
"Neither did you. As far as I'm aware it was Dursley's fault."
"But he's only doing this to you because of me!" Harry nearly shouted, surprising Will. He hadn't realized Harry was getting upset. Thankfully they were off in a corner of the playground, so there weren't that many kids around.
"I think you'll find I can be quite annoying, with or without your influence." Will replied, trying to add some levity to the conversation. Harry snickered despite himself, then fell silent. He pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. Will rolled his chair closer to Harry, and put a hand on his shoulder. He flinched, but didn't pull away, which Will took as a sign of acceptance. He was shocked to see just how small Harry looked at this moment. "Why do you think he's like that? As far as I can tell he seems to hate you for no reason." Will asked. He knew the answer of course, but he was curious what Harry would say at this point in time.
"He's always been like that." Harry muttered, turning his head to the side so he could look at Will. He paused, considering Will for a moment, before blurting out, "He's my cousin."
Will stopped. He wasn't sure what to do here, but Harry probably expected some kind of reaction. "I figured it was something like that," Will said, which was partially true. "Does he treat you like this at home as well?" Harry nodded, looking away. "Why don't your uncle and aunt do something?"
"They think he can do no wrong, They baby him." Harry grimaced. Will grimaced in sympathy, before being struck with an idea.
"Why don't you come over to my house?" Will asked, smiling at Harry. "It'd be fun!"
Harry was as enthusiastic about the idea as Will was. Any time away from the Dursley's was probably a blessing for him. Will had to burst his bubble a bit though, by telling him he'd need permission from his parents and Harry's aunt and uncle. But Will had a bit of a plan that he filled Harry in on. All he needed now was his mum's cooperation.
"You want to have a friend over?" Mum asked, surprised, "That sounds like fun! We'll need to talk to their parents first, who is it?"
"My friend Harry," Will said, before frowning, "But I'm not sure his aunt and uncle will agree."
"Why not?" Mum asked, somewhat concerned, "Is it too far of a drive?"
"No," Will said, frowning, "They live at Number four, Privet Drive, a few blocks away. It's just that they don't even seem to… like him." He was afraid he was pushing too much, too fast. Harry still needed the protection of the wards on Privet Drive, unfortunately.
Will looked up, and saw that he had suddenly had Mum's full attention. It was a bit unnerving to be honest. His mum had been proven to be extremely quick on the uptake so far, and he always felt like she was seeing right through him when he had her full attention.
"What do you mean, they don't seem to like him?" Mum asked casually, but Will wasn't fooled. She was watching his every movement. Probably what made her such a good lawyer.
Looking away, Will played up his nervousness. He didn't have to fake it, it was pretty real at the moment. "They have both Dudley and Harry, but Dudley seems to have all of the best stuff, and Harry's stuff looks all ragged. Plus, Dudley isn't very nice to Harry at school, and apparently it's not too different at home." Was that too much? It wasn't too much, was it? He was walking a fine line here, trying to help Harry's home life, but without getting him removed from the Dursley's. Not yet at least. But hopefully after they start Hogwarts.
His mum 'hmm'ed, and turned away from him. "Maybe I'll take a trip over there to invite him over to our house personally." And to scope things out, more like. But Will didn't say that bit out loud.
"That could work," Will said, "And maybe you can talk about how you're an important lawyer as well. I think that would help."
Mum looked at him again, "You know I don't like doing that. It was bad enough with how your school treated us after they found out." She paused, drumming her fingers on the table. "Do you really think it will help?"
"Show up in one of your nice business pantsuits, I bet they'll fall all over you." Will recommended, smiling.
His mum stood up. "Alright then, I'll see what I can do." She headed to the stairs, but stopped before ascending. "Will?" She called, and Will froze in position. He turned to look at her, nerves flaring when he saw he had her full attention again. "Do you think there's actual abuse going on there?"
Will stopped a moment to consider. As far as the books said, the worst was starvation, Vernon and Dudley manhandling him a bit, and Petunia swinging a frying pan at Harry's head. But good ol' JK had been quoted saying she actually downplayed the abuse, seeing as the first couple books were for kids. It might actually be more important than he thought to get Harry out of that house.
"I… don't know. But what I've heard is pretty bad." Will decided on saying. Mum nodded, and straightened her shoulders. After a quick trip upstairs to change, his mum came back down looking like she was ready to take on the entire supreme court. A lovely pantsuit and some sensible heels, with her hair pulled back, and it looked like she'd pulled out the big guns in her heirloom pearl and diamond necklace. She looked dressed to kill, or at least issue some subpoenas.
"I'll be back in a little bit, call your brother and sister inside for a snack in about a half hour. I already prepared some apple slices and sandwiches for you guys. I'll be back not too long after that." Mum called on her way out. Will waved, and rolled himself to the kitchen.
About an hour later, his mum was back. She also had a rather bewildered Harry with her. Will had gotten his sister fed, his brother nearly made himself sick on too many sandwiches, and all in all everything was alright. Dad was scheduled to be home soon as well, so they'd have a full house tonight. As everyone was getting things ready for dinner, Harry sat dazedly on the living room couch. Will wheeled up to him and plopped down onto the couch next to him.
"What happened?" Will asked, "You seem a little out of it."
Harry shook himself a little and looked over at Will, bemused. "When your mum showed up, I was in the backyard weeding the flowerbeds, I missed some of it, but your mum is probably the coolest person I've ever met."
Will flushed, and smiled at Harry shyly, "Yeah, she's pretty great."
Harry continued, "From what I could hear, Aunt Petunia was fawning over her as soon as she arrived. Once it got out that she was here for me, not Dudley, Uncle Vernon tried to discourage her, but she steamrolled over him. We left them thinking it was good that I'd be spending time with you guys." He seemed almost in awe.
"That sounds about right," Will smiled, shaking his head, "Mum has the ability to completely take over a room just upon entering it. She'll have them doing what she wants, and thinking it was their idea. You'll see." He got up and sat back in his chair. 'Come on, let me show you my room." Will said, holding out his hand. Harry smiled at him and took it.
It had taken a while, but Will had gotten his new room in the new house exactly how he wanted it. He still had most of "Will's" old stuff, but any of the really childish stuff he had convinced his parents to put away. (They thought he was going through an 'I'm an adult now!' phase.) It had hurt too much to look at, thinking of the child that was gone. The only things he'd kept from 'his' toddler years were a blanket and stuffed bear that had obvious sentimental value. These things were kept in a box in the back of his closet.
His room now was on the ground floor, with light sky blue walls speckled with painted clouds (He'd had fun helping his parents paint those). The ceiling was done in a navy blue and covered in the same plastic glow-in-the-dark stars as his room before. He had a large, comfortable bed, a desk for doing homework, a dresser for clothes, and a shelving unit with cubbies and drawers for toys, books, and other kid treasures.
Will gave Harry a little tour of his room, showing Harry his stuff, but Harry seemed the most interested in the painted clouds on the walls. Will supposed they were somewhat impressive. His dad was a pretty good painter and had managed to make some of the clouds look almost real. His mother was not as good, but still decent. Will's clouds were somewhat embarrassing.
"I like the clouds," Harry said, smiling.
"My parents and I painted these together!" Will said happily.
"You painted these? That's impressive." Harry exclaimed gesturing to one of his dad's clouds, a darker purple one that looked like it might rain at any minute.
"Oh! No, my dad did those. I did, uh, the ones over there." Will said, a little embarrassed, pointing to the little lopsided clouds over by his desk.
"Oh," Harry said, flushing a little bit, "Those ones are pretty good too."
Will laughed, "You don't have to lie to me, but thank you for the compliment."
Harry chuckled, but continued, "It's still better than anything I could do."
"Have you tried?" Will asked, "I'm pretty sure I have some art supplies around here somewhere."
That was how they ended up spending the afternoon drawing. Truth be told, Harry wasn't that good of an artist, but neither was Will. Will was better at drawing people, but Harry was pretty decent at drawing cats, for some reason. When Will saw that he started laughing. Harry joined him not much later.
"Why are you only good at drawing cats?" Will choked out through his giggles.
"I don't know?!" Harry wheezed out, wiping his eyes. He was laughing so hard his eyes had welled up.
"Oh, my sides hurt!" Will laughed. He hadn't laughed this hard since before he died. They had a good time, laughing and joking, until mum called them for dinner.