To the few people who were kind enough to leave a review:

Ms. Midnight Bandit:  Such as why I decided to write it.  Originally, I wanted to read a story about Harry before Hogwarts, and I couldn't find one I really liked that was true to JKR.  So – I tried.  And my original characters in Harry's class are all based on the kids from my elementary school days, or me and my sisters.  Staci, in fact, since you mentioned her, is actually my little sister.  Unfortunately, she acted very much the same way Staci Bree in this story does.

Arwen Undomiel:  I don't think this story will be nearly as long as Falling, maybe Overheard, though.  I doubt it.

Tine:  Nikki is based on my best friend from when I was a kid.  I figured, what better way to write Harry's classmates than to draw from the real kids I went to school with.  Sad, though.  I feel kind of bad.  I was one of those bitches who would have been mean to Harry.

Badger Lord:  Yes, there is someone like Staci in every class, isn't there?  J

Chapter Two

Staring at the clock, Harry tried to mentally wish the second hand to move faster.  In fact, Harry wouldn't be terribly unhappy if the minute hand would move faster as well, quite the opposite.  As boring at his arithmetic lesson was (and it was tedious), Harry wouldn't mind so much except for the fact that Malcolm was poking him in the back of the neck with the eraser on his pencil.  Earlier, Harry had tried to stop the torture by turning around and breaking Malcolm's pencil in half.  He now had detention with Miss Hudson and half of the class, especially Staci Bree and her cronies, thought Harry was a freak prone to random outbursts of insanity.  Miss Hudson had given Malcolm a new pencil, and now it was worse than it had been all day.  The look that Dudley had given him, however, made Harry think that maybe he should be wishing the hands on the clock to be going slower.  The Dursleys were not going to be happy that Harry had detention tomorrow night and Dudley seemed to think Harry needed punishment for such an infraction on his friend, Malcolm.  In the book (if Dudley even read books) that meant leisurely activity, and partaking in hobbies meant Harry Hunting.

"If train A leaves the station in London at nine o'clock in the morning, going 100 kilometers an hour, and train B leaves the station in Stratford-Upon-Avon at nine-thirty, going 100 kilometers an hour, when will they meet?" said Miss Hudson.

Probably with a messy bang in Oxford, thought Harry, cynically.  Honestly, who cared about trains, anyway?  Harry had never been on one in his life and part of himself wished to tell Miss Hudson so, but the fact that he already had detention kept Harry silent.  From across the room, Harry watched The Run Girls talking in whispers that Miss Hudson didn't seem to notice.  She was too busy helping Dudley with something he didn't understand.  If Harry knew his cousin, she was going to be there for awhile.

"Potter," hissed Malcolm, poking him at the nape of his neck and moving to flick Harry behind his ear.  Harry tried to ignore him.  "Potter," Malcolm hissed a little louder, "I know you can hear me."

"What do you want?" muttered Harry, writing random numbers down on his notebook paper to at least look like he was doing the problem.

"Can Dudley's parents afford plastic surgery?"

"Why?"

"Because you're going to need it after we get through with you this afternoon."

Harry rolled his eyes.  They were going to have to catch him first.  Granted, they always seemed to find him when he ran away, but Dudley's gang was full of big boys and Harry was much faster than they were.  He started to think over all the places he could hide when class let out.

Pondering how sad and pathetic this was, Harry skimmed over the possible places that he could run to for shelter before Gordon, who was the fastest of the five, could catch him.  It was only two weeks into September and Harry had already been beaten up by Dudley and his gang twice.  The first time was only the second day of school when Dudley seemed irritated that Harry was in his class again.  Piers had tackled him and held his arms back halfway home while Dudley pummeled him, clearly pleased with himself.  Uncle Vernon pretended not to notice the bruises on Harry's face and arms when he got home.  The second time was thanks to Staci, who it turned out Dudley did have a crush on.  Apparently, she wasn't allowed to tell Harry that he needed to go shopping, because as soon as Dudley saw the two conversing, he tried to show off by punching Harry right in the nose, causing his glasses to break again.  Shoving said glasses up the bridge of his nose, Harry decided to go for the kitchens.  He could easily slip out in the confusion and excitement that crowded the halls at the end of a school day.

Five minutes were left of class when Miss Hudson returned to the front to explain the solution of the problem to them and assign homework.  Piers turned around to first grin at Harry in a way that seemed he knew exactly what was going to happen after the bell rang, and then back at Malcolm.  The boys winked at each other, and Harry gritted his teeth as Malcolm started shoving his eraser into Harry's spine, causing him to squirm.

One more day, Harry told himself.  One more day of this and then you have the whole weekend ahead of you.  The pep talk did very little.  Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would probably have loads of chores for Harry to do to keep him occupied, but at least he wouldn't have to sit behind Piers and in front of Malcolm for two days.  Dudley might not be around, either, because Dennis had told him that Staci Bree lived just a block away - her backyard looked right into the Dursleys - and Dudley would want to go over and visit if she was ever going to be his girlfriend (yeah, right).

Shoving his things in his bag before the bell even rang, Harry prepared himself for the sprint out of the classroom door.  As soon as it sounded, he shot up out of his seat and shoved through the congestion into the hallway, practically knocking Miss Hudson over in the process.  From somewhere behind him, he could hear cackling that must have belonged to Dudley's gang, and Staci Bree announcing that running was so unattractive.

Rounding the corner leading to the kitchens and the cafeteria, Harry could hear heavy footsteps pounding behind him, probably Gordon, and he tried to run faster to avoid Dudley's gang.  Gordon's job was to catch him, and if Harry didn't hurry, Gordon would be holding him down until Dudley and Piers showed up.  Dennis and Malcolm would snigger off to the side while Piers took the job of holding Harry's arms back while Dudley slugged him.  In a desperate attempt upon hearing Gordon's voice, Harry ran outside to the school yard and made a wild jump behind the trash cans outside the kitchen doors.  He closed his eyes, waiting for Gordon to find him, but nothing happened, and Harry decided to chance taking a look.

Opening his eyes, Harry gasped and clenched his fingers around the chimney of the school kitchens.  What was he doing on the roof?  How had he gotten here?  He had just gotten outside; he couldn't have possibly jumped that high.  From below, he could hear Gordon kicking around the trash cans.

"I just saw him come out here," came Gordon's voice.  "Where is he?"

"He couldn't have gotten that far," said a second voice.  Dennis Mosier.

"He just came out here.  Dudley's going to be pissed."

"Where is he?" said Dudley, apparently joining his friends.

"I don't know!" said Gordon, irritated.  "He just ran out here, and now he's gone.  I've looked behind anything he could have hidden behind.  It was like he just disappeared."

Harry couldn't help laughing, even if he didn't know how he got up here, much less how he was going to get back down.  He would worry about that later, once Dudley and his gang had left to either look for him somewhere else or to go home.  Unfortunately, he didn't have to worry about that very long.

"Why's that kid on the roof?" said a loud voice.  Harry winced.

"How'd he get up there?" seethed Gordon, who had walked far enough back now to see Harry perched on the chimney.

"I'm going to get Mrs. Lipton," said Malcolm, disappearing from view.  Harry shifted and tried looking for a way down before the headmistress came out and saw this.  He had a feeling she wasn't going to think this at all amusing, and he imagined that this accident was going to merit a few more detentions.

Still wondering how he was going to get out of this one, a ladder appeared at the side of the roof, and a few minutes later, so did the school janitor.  In a foul mood to be retrieving Harry from the roof, he grumbled as he got Harry down, and carried off his ladder while Harry was left only to be greeted by Mrs. Lipton.  Her grey hair was pulled into a tight knot at the nape of her neck, and she had both hands on her hips, look sternly at Harry in what was probably the most disapproving look he had ever been on the receiving end of.

"Harry Potter," she snapped, "follow me."

To the right, Dudley's gang sniggered as he was led inside the very doors he had dashed out of before ending up on the roof.  Following the winding corridors, Harry stayed on Mrs. Lipton's heels as they walked into the school office, past the secretary who looked at Harry sympathetically.  Yanking the door open, Mrs. Lipton entered and let it fall back, almost smacking Harry in the face as he barely caught it.  She motioned to a row of chairs opposite her desk and she sat down in her own.  Harry took the second chair from the left.

"Explain what just happened," she said, simply.

"I - er - don't really know," said Harry, swallowing hard.  "My cousin - we don't get along - and I was trying to get away from him when I jumped behind the trash cans right outside the kitchen doors."

"What were you doing on the roof?"

"I don't know.  I jumped and then - I was just there."

"This is no time to be making up stories.  I suggest you tell me what really happened if you don't want me to call your parents."

"My aunt and uncle," Harry corrected.

"Why should I call your aunt and uncle instead of your parents?"

"Because I live with my aunt and uncle," Harry said, avoiding the looks that usually came after, "My parents are dead."

"How did you get on the roof?"

"I don't know."

"Tell me the truth."

"I am.  I don't know how I got on the roof."

Huffing, she said, "That's it.  Give me your telephone number."

Not knowing what to say even if he would have lied to her, Harry reluctantly gave her the number to the Dursleys.  There was no good explanation for what had just happened.  Harry supposed he must have been caught by the wind when he tried to jump, but Mrs. Lipton scowled at him as if he were being stupid on purpose, and punched in the last of the numbers.

The conversation was very short, Mrs. Lipton telling the Dursleys that Harry had been caught climbing school buildings.  Discovering that it was, unfortunately, Uncle Vernon who had answered by the roaring of his voice, Harry sulked in his chair.  When Mrs. Lipton curtly hung up the phone, she turned her attention back to Harry, told him he had a week's worth of detention, and told him to stay where he was.  Uncle Vernon would be coming to pick him up.

Harry didn't know what was worse:  waiting for Uncle Vernon and speculating what he would do upon arrival, or actually having Uncle Vernon show up.  He was very polite to Mrs. Lipton, extremely red in the face, and he looked like he was having trouble breathing, as he wrenched Harry out of his chair by his arm and dragged him out to the car.  Struggling to keep his bag over his shoulder, Harry heaved when Uncle Vernon shoved him in the back seat of the car, only to see Dudley smirking at him from the passenger seat.

"Climbing buildings, Harry?" said Dudley, as Uncle Vernon got in the driver seat and started the car.

"I don't want to talk about it," muttered Harry, shifting his attention onto the tattered remains of his bag.  Somewhere in the back of his mind, Harry thought of how he was going to have to get a new one soon.  That meant carefully planting the idea in Dudley's head that he would need a new one, because the Dursleys never bought Harry anything, much less after a stunt like this one.

"Cupboard," said Uncle Vernon the moment they stepped in the door.  Harry, still thinking about how he was going to make Dudley believe he needed a new bag, gaped at Uncle Vernon, his eyes wide.  A meaty fist curled around his skinny arm and Harry struggled to keep his balance as the door to his cupboard was wrenched open, Harry was thrown inside, and the door slammed shut.  "That is for climbing school buildings!"

"I wasn't climbing school buildings!" Harry cried, through the locked door of his cupboard.  "I was trying to jump behind the trash cans outside the doors of the kitchens!  I don't know how I got on the roof!"

"Don't tell lies," Uncle Vernon shouted back at him.  Harry could hear Dudley snigger.

"He's got detention tomorrow, too, for assaulting Malcolm," Dudley told his father.  There was barely any time for Harry to marvel at the fact Dudley knew the word 'assault' before Uncle Vernon started yelling at him again for having six detentions.

"And this weekend," his uncle continued to roar, "you will be helping Mrs. Figg in her vegetable garden on Saturday, and doing yard work on Sunday!  No meals tonight or tomorrow!"

Harry could hear Uncle Vernon's heavy footsteps move away and Dudley stomped up the staircase, causing dust to rattle from overhead.  Pounding his fist once on the cupboard door, Harry sunk to the floor and clutched his knees to his chest.  He had missed both breakfast and lunch today, and was counting on dinner, even if it wouldn't be as much as he'd like.  That was two days without meals, then.  Even school wouldn't be an escape.  The Dursleys would never give him money for lunch, and Dudley wouldn't allow anyone to give Harry food.

Glad that Uncle Vernon had at least locked him in with his school books, Harry had nothing else to do but to begin on his homework.  It may have been years, and Harry may have been an expert on amusing himself to pass time, but things got tedious when you were locked away in a cupboard.  Working on his arithmetic problems, most of which had to do with trains, Harry fumed inside.  Why did these things always have to happen to him?

*****

Burying his face in his hands, Harry tried not to cry.

"Oh no.  Is Potter going to cry?" sneered Piers, who had been diligently watching Kevin along with the rest of Dudley's gang.

"Leave me alone," muttered Harry.  It seemed, however, that Kevin would not be abated.

The day after Harry's appearance on the roof had been nothing short of hell.  By now, everyone and their sister had heard about what happened, and Miss Hudson had been curiously watching Harry from the corner of her eye all morning.  Now, at lunch in the cafeteria all too close to where it had began and without the close surveillance of teachers, the boys had really started to dig in.

For ten minutes straight, Dudley had gone on about how angry Uncle Vernon had been.  Kevin seemed to think it was amusing, finding out that Harry had been denied meals, as he kept bringing the subject up.  Trying to ignore him, Harry stared at the table top and held his head in his hands, trying to ignore the headache he had formed from going without food.  It wasn't that terrible; Harry was used to these headaches, though that wasn't saying much.  Laughing loudly, Kevin flicked the fourth spoonful of his chocolate pudding into Harry's hair.

"Leave him alone," said Amanda, glaring at Kevin.

"I'm just sharing my dessert," said Kevin, innocently.  "I'm sure he's starving."

"You just stop that now," replied Amanda, grabbing the plastic spoon out of Kevin's hand and cracking it in half.  Nikki grabbed his pudding cup and squeezed the contents out onto Kevin's head.

"That's for being an ugly git," said Nikki, as Dudley threatened to tell on her.  When all she did was flip him off, Dudley sent Piers to get a teacher.

"I'm going to get you back for that," said Kevin, trying to comb the dessert out of his hair.

"You deserved it," said Amanda.

"Harry deserved what he got," said Dudley.

"Why?" said Nikki.

"Because he's a freak," said Kevin.

"Define 'freak,'" said Amanda.

"Look at him!  Look at his clothes!  Look at his glasses!  Look at his hair!"

"And he's got that weird scar," added David.

"That's no reason to throw pudding at him," said Nikki.  "I don't like you, but you don't see me throwing desserts around!"

"You just did!" shouted Kevin.

"That was because you asked for it," said Nikki, as one of the lunch proctors came over and took Nikki by the arm.  Harry assumed she was about to receive some sort of disciplinary action, and he felt guilty for getting her into trouble.

"Git," muttered Kevin.

"You just be quiet," said Amanda.  "If not liking someone because they're a freak is reason enough to throw food at them, then I may just dump my entire lunch on you.  Just because Harry's a freak doesn't mean that you can be nasty to him."

Amanda snatched her lunch bag, and smacked Kevin and Dudley over the back of the head with it before heading to the trash cans.  The glare in Dudley's eyes suggested that he was going to sic Gordon on her when there weren't so many teachers around.  Harry felt less guilty about this, being that Amanda was one of The Run Girls, and though Harry was faster, Amanda had never been beaten up by anyone.

When they were dismissed for recess, Harry headed for the lavatory instead of the schoolyard.  Staring at himself in the mirror, Harry tried to finger comb the pudding out of his hair, and after getting most of it, Harry turned on the tap and proceeded to dunk his head under the stream of water.  Working the pudding out, Harry ran his fingers through his hair, squeezed out the excess water, and started to use paper towels on it.  Wishing injury or extreme pain on Dudley and Kevin, Harry managed to get his hair clean, and once he was no longer dripping water all over the place, he went outside.

"You know that kid in our class," Harry heard Kristy Grover telling the rest of Staci's gang.  They were standing a few meters away from the swings, and Harry, leaning against the wall of the school, could hear them very well.

"Which kid?" asked Staci.

"I don't know.  I think his name is Richard.  He wears really bad clothes and has big glasses that make him look like a bug."  Kristy demonstrated this point by forming circles around her eyes with her forefinger and her thumb.  Harry sighed, pushing said glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, I know who you mean," said Staci, while the other girls nodded.  "His name isn't Richard.  It's Clarence."

"I thought it was Marcel," said Staci's twin, Jennifer.

"No, it's Richard," said Kristy.

"I thought it was Benji," said Mindy Sanford.

"I thought it was Clarence, too," said Sara, who was wearing a completely different outfit (one that actually matched) than what Harry had seen in class before lunch.  That must have been what was in the shopping bag Staci was carrying around with her.

"It is Clarence," said Staci.  "I know what you heard.  It's about the trash, right?"

"Yeah," said Kristy.

"What about trash?" said Mindy, scrunching up her nose.  Sara imitated the face.

"Well, Clarence was running from that fat boy that's always looking at me," said Staci.  "And he went to jump behind trash cans -"

"Ew," said Jennifer.  "What was he doing around trash?"

"How should I know?  What do I know about trash?"

"Good point," said Jennifer, still looking disgusted.

"Anyway, he went to jump behind trash, and then he was - like - on the roof."

"Ew," said Mindy.  "What was he doing on the roof?  Aren't roofs dirty?"

"How should I know?  What would I know about the roof?"

"Good point," said Mindy.

"Oh gods!" said Staci, pointing at Harry.  She swaggered over to him, the rest of her gang following with Sara jerking her hips from side to side, trying to look like Staci.   "It's Clarence!"

"No, it's Richard," said Kristy.

"I thought it was Marcel," said Jennifer.

"Benji!" said Mindy.

"It's Clarence," said Staci, sighing, tossing her hair.  Sara nodded and tossed her dirty blonde hair, too.  "Hi, Clarence."

Harry looked hard at her, pressing his lips together.  Then, meekly, he said, "My name's Harry."

"What?" said Staci, frowning.  "No, that doesn't sound right.  Well, anyway, Clarence is an icky name."

"Marcel," said Jennifer.

"Benji," said Mindy.

"Richard," said Kristy.

"Harry," said Harry, nodding, as if it would get the point across clearer.

"No," said Staci, shaking her head.  "That doesn't sound right.  Well, now you're name is - Jason.  Jason . . . wait, okay, what's your last name?"

Somehow, Harry didn't think it would matter what his last name was.

"Potter," he answered slowly.

"Jason Potter?" she said, scrunching up her nose.  "Who would name their kid Jason Potter?"

"My name isn't Jason.  It's Harry."

"Jason, Jason, Jason . . ." she said, tapping her cheek with her index finger and frowning.  "Well, Potter has to go.  It's so -"

"Plain," finished Kristy.

"Plain," echoed Sara.

"Fine.  Jason . . . no last name.  You can be like Madonna.  One name says it all."  Staci imitated the hand motions that Harry had heard her telling Sara was to a song called 'Vogue.'

"My name's Harry," he repeated.

"Whatever, Jason," said Staci, tossing her hair, and brushing past him.  Sara tossed her hair and followed.  Jennifer, Mindy, and Kristy looked hard at Harry before following after their leader.

"Hi," said Nikki, coming up to him with Amanda, and for a brief moment, Harry feared that Nikki was about to call him Clarence.

"Hi," he said.

"I just wanted to tell you that I think Kevin is a buggered up arsehole."

Amanda giggled at Nikki's cursing, and glanced around to see if any teachers were nearby.

"Did you get the pudding out?" asked Amanda.  Harry nodded.

"You didn't get in trouble, did you?"

"I got a pink slip," said Nikki.  "No big deal.  I'm actually very excited.  It was my first one ever, and Amanda and I have been trying to get one since they were instituted in third year."

"I'm jealous," said Amanda.  "I tried to get in trouble for breaking his spoon, but only Nikki got in trouble."

"She's bummed," added Nikki.

"Did you really end up on the roof?"

Biting his bottom lip, Harry nodded.  "Er - yeah.  I don't know how.  I just - did."

"Why are you talking to him," said Dudley, and Harry was roughly elbowed aside as his cousin stepped in front of him.

"Hey, Wide-Load, get outta the way.  I was talking to Harry," said Nikki.

"You aren't supposed to talk to him."

"I'll talk to whoever I want to talk to, fat-arse."

"I'm not fat," said Dudley, sneering, as he was joined by the remainder of the gang.  They loomed behind him, looking unpleasant.  "I'm big-boned."

"No one's bones are that big," said Amanda.  Nikki looked around on the ground, grabbed a stick, and poked Dudley in the stomach with it.  Amanda's upper lip curled up and her nose wrinkled, looking a lot like Staci when talking about trash.

"Ew, look at his fat jiggle," said Nikki, laughing.  "That is definitely not bone."

Dudley grabbed the stick out of Nikki's hand, and for a moment, Harry thought he was going to hit her with it.  Instead, Dudley broke the stick in half and threw it at Amanda, who was laughing at him.

"Shut up," said Dudley.

"Shut up?  That's the best you can come up with?" said Amanda, who had allowed the stick to fall next to her.

"Of course that's all he can up with.  He's so stupid that those fat friends of his probably had to whisper it in his ear, too," said Nikki.

"We aren't fat, and I'm not stupid," said Dudley.  "Harry's a freak.  You're the stupid ones.  Only a stupid person would talk to a loser like Harry."

"At least Harry isn't as big a loser as you are," said Nikki, and Harry noticed that Dudley was starting to go the same shade Uncle Vernon went just before throwing Harry in his cupboard.  Amanda must have noticed, too, because she tugged on Nikki's sleeve.

"Nikki," said Amanda.  Nikki ignored her.

"And you are stupid.  You're stupid enough to think I'm the idiot."

"Gordon," said Dudley, and all it took was saying his name, and clenching his fists.  It didn't take Harry's keen sense to be able to tell when Dudley wanted to hit someone to know that he wanted to strangle Nikki.

Exchanging looks, Nikki and Amanda both said, "Run!"

They took off across the schoolyard, and Gordon waited for a nod from Dudley before tearing off after them.  Sneering at Harry, Dudley kicked him in the shin, and looked around until he spotted Staci.  That hungry look was in his eyes again as he left, and walked over to the object of his affections.

Leaning back against the wall, Harry first watched Dudley talking to Staci, who was inching away from him and holding Kristy in front of her like some ritual sacrifice.  Glancing the other way, Harry saw Gordon trudging back in the direction of Dudley's gang.  Just beyond where he was, Nikki and Amanda were peeking out of a few bushes, their heads just barely visible beneath all the green.  Sliding down to the ground, he began to think of things he could do tonight before going to bed.  He had to get up early tomorrow, after all.  Mrs. Figg needed help in her vegetable garden, and Aunt Petunia had volunteered Harry for it.  He could hardly wait.

Will be updated when it's updated.  Once again, writing this as I post, a rarity, so if you have any ideas for what you'd like to see happen to Harry, let me know.