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Chapter One
Piter De Vries
Eight-year-old Harry Potter had never counted his birthday as anything overly special, as his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon never gave him anything worthwhile, and his cousin Dudley only used the day as an extra excuse to beat him.
Today, Harry felt lucky to just have been able to get out of the house without being stopped, and was now at the Magnolia Road playground. Harry liked to come here often, unless Dudley was on one of his great 'Harry-Hunting' sprees. Thankfully Dudley was away with Uncle Vernon visiting his Aunt Marge and Harry hadn't been invited (or forced) to go, which was just fine with him.
Harry was sitting on his favorite swing, watching the other children laughing and running around. He wished he could join in, but the other kids were all too aware of the hatred Dudley's gang had for that strange Potter boy, ergo they were wise to just stay away from him. Harry was pondering what Aunt Petunia would do if he came home too early when somebody sat down in the swing next to him and said something strange in an airy, songlike voice.
"Mae govannen."[1]
Harry blinked, not reacting until he realized that the voice was, in fact, addressing him. Turning to see who spoke to him, Harry replied, "What?"
A boy with black, shoulder-length, wavy hair and striking, blue eyes sat there looking at Harry with a huge grin splitting his face. Harry guessed the boy was about his own age. Whatever he had said, it hadn't sounded like any language Harry was familiar with.
"Mae govannen," the boy repeated, slower. "It means 'hello.'"
"Oh," Harry said, still unsure what language on earth the boy was speaking. "Um, hello… Who are you? I haven't seen you around here before."
"Wouldn't expect that you'd ever seen me, seeing as how I only just moved here recently to stay with my Aunt Figgie."
"Aunt who?" Harry said, puzzled.
"My aunt, Arabella Figg. She lives over on Magnolia Crescent; I've called her Aunt Figgie since I could talk and the name just kinda stuck." The boy shrugged. "Since my parents died I'll be staying with her from now on."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Harry whispered apologetically. "My parents are dead too." He didn't know why he felt that he had to talk to this boy about his parents, but it just felt right. "I never really knew them, and I live with my aunt and uncle now."
The boy nodded sullenly. "That's very sad, but at least we have people who still love us to take care of us, right?"
"Right, if you call it caring," Harry retorted dully. Why was he telling this boy all his personal information? There was something about this kid, something that just made Harry want to blurt out all his secrets, to confide everything he could with him. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I ever got your name," he said to stop himself from revealing anything more.
"Piter, Piter De Vries," the boy said simply, extending his hand.
"Harry Potter," Harry replied taking it and giving it a few firm pumps up and down. When his hand came in contact with Piter's, Harry felt a warm tingle crawl up his arm and throughout his body, immediately putting him at ease. Was it just him or did Piter smile when Harry say his name? Almost as if he already knew...
"Oh, I know of you. Aunt Figgie told me that you may be dropping by every so often when your relatives go out for special occasions."
'Ah' thought Harry, 'that's why he looked like he knew me.'
"Yeah, my aunt and uncle don't like to have me 'ruin' their outings if they can get out of me being there," Harry explained. "Whenever they can, they drop me at Mrs. Figg's for an afternoon or longer."
"Well, Harry Potter, would you do me the honor of being my first friend in this new area?"
'Friend?' Harry almost choked at the word. 'He wants to be friends with me?'
"Uh… I'd love to, but you might want to be careful. My cousin, Dudley, and his gang of friends like to discourage anyone from associating with me..." Harry mumbled something else in a low voice.
"What was that last bit?" Piter said, looking at Harry's sullen face with concern.
Sighing, Harry repeated softly, "because I'm a freak," and turned away, not wanting to see the other boy's reaction.
"Well, I've only got two things to say to that. Firstly, I don't give a damn what your cousin or his little prat lemmings think; I will be friends with you regardless. And second, I severely doubt you are any more of a freak than I could possibly be." Piter boldly announced, getting up and walking around to look Harry in the eyes while giving him a mischievous grin. "If they try to give us any grief, they will sorely regret it."
Harry doubted that Piter truly meant what he said about Dudley regretting anything, but knowing that somebody didn't care a whit about what other people thought about Harry or his strangeness still felt good. He looked up and gave Piter a shy smile, which was returned by his new friend.
"So," said Harry, "what do you want to do?"
Piter rubbed his chin thoughtfully, leaning in closer to Harry. "Well, we could play… TAG!" He yelled, tapping Harry on the nose and running off in the other direction, squealing in delight. Harry bolted after him, stumbling slightly as he rocketed out of the swing, but slowly catching up to Piter, enjoying the advantage of his slightly longer legs. The two boys continued like this for almost an hour until, exhausted, they collapsed together on a grassy spot a ways away from the playground, both clutching their sides and giggling uncontrollably.
"That. Was. Great!" Piter wheezed between sniggers.
"Yeah, it was." Harry agreed. He was aching all over from the constant chasing and his legs were on fire, but he could not remember ever having such a good time.
"Harry?"
"Yeah, Piter?
"I really like doing stuff with you. Do you want to play again tomorrow?"
Harry thought for a moment. He really liked Piter, and he would want nothing more than to meet with him again, but he doubted that he would be able to get out of the house again so easily.
Gloomily, Harry answered "I'm not sure if I can manage to get away again tomorrow."
"Well, if you can't get away, why don't I come and just get you?" Piter asked, eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Well I'm not sure that the Dursleys will…"
"It's settled then" Piter interrupted. "I'll come and check on you every week to arrange what we can do and when with your relatives. I mean, how bad can they be?"
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
The next day Harry was vacuuming the sitting room after breakfast when there was a loud knock on the door. Uncle Vernon opened the door to find a brightly smiling Piter standing on his doorstep.
"Dudley," he called, "one of your little friends is here for you." He started to turn away when the boy shook his head at him.
"Actually sir, I'm here to see Harry Potter." Uncle Vernon looked at him, dumbfounded.
"You're joking, right?" he asked, in all seriousness.
"Nope." Piter replied simply.
"BOY!" Vernon called. Harry stepped out from behind the corner he was watching the exchange from.
"How many times have I told you not to tell people where we lived?" Vernon said, glowering down at Harry.
"Sir, Harry never actually told me where he lived; I kinda figured it out by myself." Piter said matter-of-factly.
Uncle Vernon, still eyeing Harry suspiciously, turned back to Piter. "Well, now that you found where he lives, what do you want?" he questioned coldly.
"I wanted to know if Harry could come out to play," Piter said looking Vernon right in the eye. "You see we met at the park yesterday and I was hoping we could set up times for us to meet over the week. Harry said he had chores to do and wasn't sure when he could meet me at the park over on Magnolia Road, so I decided to come and see when Harry would be available," he added quickly with a wide grin.
At this time Dudley finally appeared to see why his father called him, coming through the door from the kitchen and stopped next to his father, directly in front of Harry blocking his view outside. "Who the blooming hell are you?" he sneered.
Piter, who looked like he was expecting this reaction, stuck out his hand and said to Dudley "I'm Piter De Vries, Harry's friend. You must be his cousin Dudley."
Dudley looked as shocked as if Piter had sprouted a second head and, ignoring the offered hand, said flatly "Why'd you want to be friends with that freak? You got a death wish or something?"
"Why not, I don't think that he could be any worse than some people." Piter said curtly, looking pointedly at Dudley for a moment, then turning back to Uncle Vernon, ignoring him. "So, what days can I expect to be able to play with Harry, sir, so that I can tell my aunt when to expect me home late?"
Vernon studied the boy for a moment, and, shooting a fierce glace back at Harry, started to name off the days, and gave very rough estimations of the times that Harry might possibly be free those days. The nearest one was conveniently almost a week away from then. Piter was slightly disappointed at first, but hid it well under a bright, optimistic exterior.
"Alright then, I guess I'll show up next week to play with Harry then, sir." Piter said, while shooting a conspiratorial grin at Harry.
Uncle Vernon merely grunted and shut the door as Piter turned to walk away. Harry knew what was coming next as his Uncle turned and scowled furiously at him. He had the same look that Harry had seen whenever he did anything that seemed just innocent enough to be strange and strange enough to appear innocent.
As Harry had thought, he spent the entire week in his cupboard and only had one meal every other day, if you could call burnt toast and half a glass of water a meal. All because he let himself be followed home by a complete stranger. To the Dursleys, anyone who would willingly associate with Harry could never be anything more than a stranger. Harry swore that he saw Piter leave the park in the complete opposite direction as him, and reasoned that his friend must have doubled back and followed him home so that he would know where Harry lived. Harry also wondered how Piter guessed that he had loads of chores to do, as Harry had never hinted at it himself.
However, true to their word, for once when concerning Harry, the Dursleys let him go out three times a week to play with Piter in the afternoons after his chores. The two friends did everything they could imagine and more together, from roaming the streets to just sitting on the lawn of Mrs. Figg's house and chatting the day away. But, just as Harry's life couldn't be any better, the inevitable problem finally erupted when Dudley caught Harry and Piter in the park with his entire gang.
"Hey look Big D, its Potter," sneered Piers Polkiss, Dudley's right hand and 'best' friend.
"Who's he with?" asked Malcolm and Dennis, the two biggest boys of the group, next to Dudley himself.
"Oy Potty, who's you boyfriend?" jeered Gordon, the final compatriot of the group.
"Let me handle this, Harry," whispered Piter, and before Harry could hold him back or tell him to run, he stepped towards the five menacing bullies.
"I'm going to tell you this once and only once, you lot. Sod off if you know what's good for you, or you will learn to regret your words." Piter stated with unsurpassed confidence.
Amidst all the responded taunts and insults, Dudley stepped forward, towering over Piter by at least half a foot. "De Vries, you'd better stay away from that freak if you know what's good for you," he threatened, but Piter didn't back down. If anything, this statement seemed to only embolden the small, ebony haired boy further.
"I think," he stated flatly, "that you have no clue with who or what you are messing with, therefore, I will do as I see fit, and I see fit to be friends with Harry, and you cannot and will not stop me."
"Have it your way, then," Dudley sneered, and the others all cracked their knuckles preparing for what they thought would be an easy beat down.
Piter surprised all of them when he struck first; punching with all his might into Dudley's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He followed up by kneeing the larger boy in the face and sweeping his legs out from under him, laying Dudley flat on the ground, moaning in pain sporting a bloody nose.
The other four boys looked shocked, but for only a moment, before springing in to avenge their fallen leader. Somehow, Piter moved out of their way, seeming to disappear and reappear behind them and sucker punching Malcolm in the kidney, while simultaneously kicking out at Piers, catching him in the groin. Dennis tried to throw a punch at Piter, but found his fist caught in the smaller boy's hand, who then turned and used the bully's momentum against him and flipping him over onto his back in the dirt.
Gordon managed to grab Piter around the waist, pinning his arms at his side, but before anyone could start to lay into him. Piter threw his entire body weight backward, overbalancing the stocky boy and landing full force on top on him in the dirt. In seconds Piter was back on his feet and in a fighting pose staring down all the older boys, daring them to make a move.
"Five against one, I don't think it's very fair, do you? Maybe you should get a few more, so it might be a challenge for me." Piter sneered at the bullies, who then decided discretion was the better part of valor, and fled.
Sighing slightly, Piter turned to look at Harry, and grinned at the look of absolute shock on his face.
"What?" he asked.
"You just took on five kids twice as big as you and won," Harry said stupidly.
"Your point?" Piter retorted, suppressing a fit of laughter. "You honestly think just 'cause I'm small means I don't know how to kick some arse when needed?"
Harry had no answer for him, as at that they both burst out laughing until their sides threatened to split open.
[1] : Mae govannen : Greetings, hello
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