A/N: As always, reviews are love. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 6

The morning milk delivery was late, and matters did not really seem to improve from that point forward. Despite the fact they were not waken substantially earlier than normal, the children of the Dursley household were far grumpier than usual, even if it was difficult to determine given how sleep encrusted their eyes were and groggy their manner. If the adults of Number 4 noticed this however, they quietly chose to say nothing, each focused on their own inner musings.

Vernon eyed the two as he folded the morning paper, laying it flat so Petunia could give him his plate of kippers and eggs, laden with all sorts of fatty goodness. For a moment, he held doubts about sending that boy off with his son and exposing who knew how many other children. He was fairly sure the information of the number of other children in the nursery school was somewhere in the paperwork he and Petunia had skimmed when applying for the boys' admissions to the local nursery school. There were programs for newborns to two and three to five, but he and Petunia had both wanted their son at home, and later, it had seemed safer to keep Harry at home given how unpredictable accidental magic could be.

This year was an exception. The two boys would begin attending primary the fall after their fifth birthdays and Petunia had gradually convinced him that socializing with other children their age before primary officially started would only serve to help them make friends or alliances at the least. If this had been brought up when Harry had first arrived, Vernon would have no doubt vetoed the idea without even a second thought. However, while he would always love his son and favor Dudley more, neither he nor his wife would ever imply that little Harry was a dangerous freak that decent folk shouldn't have to put up with. It had been bad enough listening to his sister's not so veiled suggestions that he just drown Harry in a lake as she did the runts of her dogs' litters. His stomach had churned at that, which was saying something considering how formidable and cast iron his stomach had to be from the large amount of food he stuffed down his maw.

While Vernon would be the first to admit he still wasn't fond of or by any means happy with the idea of magic, he could not hate his nephew. His nephew was not the freak; after all, it had been that Black fellow who was the source of all their troubles. And he had been a freak not because of magic but because of his actions, for it what you do and what you choose that defines you more than anything you are born with, even if the thing you are 'born with' is magic power.

It wasn't just the slow change of heart involving Harry and magic though that made Vernon and Petunia change their mind about nursery school. They were also motivated by how keen both the boys were on learning. Dudley, smart boy that he was, tended to keep his interest only to items that were of immediate interest to him. Learning how to read labels like 'green olives' versus 'green beans' and the like was one way Petunia had employed to teach the boy how to read, but the now legendary Bertie Beans race (Harry had received far too many to get rid of by gifting, and Petunia and Vernon had quietly returned theirs to the play room after tasting mowed grass and lint respectively). Harry and Dudley had been quick studies to reading and writing because of this, and were even starting to pick up numbers past ten in an effort to boast more proudly. All of this, Vernon gladly encouraged, as well as their interests – even Harry's – in more manly things such as trains and tools and the like. He knew Harry was showing signs of being one of those striving scholarly types like Lupin, but he didn't much care. Harry's future wasn't the one he was worried about. His nephew would do just fine in the Wizarding World. Dudley was the one he had to make sure had a future worth growing up and reaching.

Collectively, these changes in thought had led them to apply and fortunately get in to the governmentally funded program at a local nursery school. Harry and Dudley would be attending from nine until noon Monday through Friday. Unlike some of the primaries in the area, now uniform was required, just the registration forms. They had been told to get the children their immunization shots to be safe, a trip that had required an after visit to the ice cream parlor. Still, the boys seemed resigned to the fact they were going as well as excited.

Well, they had before this morning. Of course, if Dudley was anything like himself at that age, Vernon thought with an amused twitch of his mustache, his brain wouldn't be interested in anything other than eating until he was about halfway through. Maybe less, Petunia was a much better cook than his mother had been.

Speaking of Petunia, she had her own thoughts on the subject of the boys and school. While she was going to miss her Dudders and the quiet constant presence of her nephew when he wasn't gallivanting with said son, the three hours with them gone meant she would have more time to do errands that did not involve chatting to Mrs. Figg and subtly finding a way to send one or both of the boys over to her house. This was a definite plus in her opinion.

Even though neither of the children seemed particularly thrilled to be attending class of any sort, even if it was only for three hours and wouldn't be just book work. Frankly, even Harry was put off by the idea of just sitting down and staring at a book all day with no variety. And this was why Petunia thought her plan to send them in this year was a good one. It would allow them time to adjust to the thought of being taught new information from new authority figures as well as provide an arena to develop social and communication skills outside of the family circle.

Of course, it also helped that Petunia knew for a fact that her son and nephew were more excited about attending when they were properly awake. She had set them down the evening before after having both boys clean up their drawings and just before she had to start preparing for supper. On the suggestion of Yvonne and then Remus, she had calmly explained to them what to expect and how to behave and had fielded a few questions from both. When it seemed they were finally calm on the subject, she had dismissed them outside to the now grey but no longer raining outdoors and told them to have fun as long as they did not track any mud into her house.

Now it was the big day, so to speak, and if she didn't know better, they had stayed up late talking rather than miss out on their hours of freedom. Petunia chuckled slightly, she had forgotten that feeling was almost intrinsic in children, not born of actually attending school and finding it boring, but born of the thought of leaving a world in which they knew the rules to one where new ones were enforced upon them by people they knew nothing about.

Harry and Dudley both managed to eat a healthy amount of food, although their ideas of 'healthy amount' diverged. Vernon, as usual, had lumbered off to the car sometime in the middle of breakfast. By the time the other members of the household were finished, several things were clear, most prominent being that Petunia was in a good mood and the universe was against them, because of course it was sunny today, couldn't have been yesterday though for love or money.

When it came time, Petunia ushered the boys to the car, reminded them both to behave and try to do well, but more importantly have fun, reiterated the behave part one last time with a pointed look at Harry, and then dropped them off. As this was their first time going, Petunia walked them inside until they met their minder, where she simply promised to be here at twelve or shortly thereafter to pick them up. She gave Harry a lunch sack for them both just in case she was late to tide them over, made a fuss over Dudley, gave Harry a nod and a bit of a smile, then left them to their own devices. Inside what they thought to be a rather odd building swarming with children playing around but knew to be a school of sorts in disguise.

The minder had brought them to what she said was the threes and fours nursery and asked them to join the other children. There was a little time for mingling and playing before another adult showed up and asked them to all sit in a circle. It was during this process that Dudley shoved Harry out of what he had wanted to be 'his' place. It wasn't meant malevolently, but the move caused him to be both chided by their leader and to be subject to a hurt stare from his cousin who then moved to the other side and sat next to a bespectacled girl. Their teacher, apparently oblivious to this or at least not caring overly much, then began a process many children would come to dread over the years – the introductions. Each child was required to say their name and something about themselves. While a fairly simple process, it wasn't as if many of the names would be remembered immediately anyway. The only one Harry or Dudley recognized was Piers. They weren't sure how to feel about that considering how badly they soaked him the last time they met. Harry didn't care either way as long as he didn't have to talk to Dudley for a while.

The morning passed with some co operational games and a review of letters and numbers to see where everyone was. Harry was relieved to note that he was not the only one somewhat bored by this, although he did enjoy actually knowing what was going on, and some of the songs and games were actually pretty fun.

By playtime, Harry had still not forgiven Dudley – simply because Dudley had not apologized. He looked vaguely uneasy, but also confused as to why Harry was avoiding him – something Harry himself did not understand. Didn't his cousin know by now he didn't like to be pushed around? Weren't they supposed to be friends enough he could at least ask before he took? It wasn't as if Harry had raced to take the spot from his cousin out of spite. It had simply been right there and looked like an alright place to sit down.

Dudley was, typically, oblivious to this, although at the moment he had the excuse of being occupied with something else. Piers Polkiss had approached him and was trying to befriend him again. Something about the way the scrawny boy acted seemed a little off, but Dudley was a rather social creature all things considered, and so he went along with it.

Harry kept mostly to himself, finding a picture book on cars from the bookshelf they had access to, and convinced their teacher to let him borrow it for the day. After promising the man more than once that yes, it would be returned unharmed; he joined another group of kids in the garden, leaving the book inside a cubby with his and his cousin's lunch sack.

All in all, it was not an awful experience, although both cousins would have preferred to be on speaking terms. Still, as first days went, the unluckiness that seemed to fill the air today had not been overly damaging.

Petunia was, however, late picking them up. Both boys understood as she had warned them before driving them over to the nursery that she had a quick errand out of town to do and wasn't positive how the traffic would be. So they sat quietly, eating the lunch she had packed for each of them (sandwiches and apple slices and crisps with a thermos of milk that stayed cold somehow for each). After Harry had his fill, the small boy pulled out his book on cars and began to read.

Well, this certainly caught Dudley's attention. The blonde boy tried to read over Harry's shoulder, but the truth was, Harry was a bit of a faster reader than his cousin. So while Dudley was able to see the pictures and read just enough of the text to be tantalized, Harry was continuously going to the next page before Dudley was done.

In an attempt to rectify this – this book was about cars and therefore Dudley thought he should get to know what it said – he sulked for a few moments before trying to wheedle Harry into reading it to him, or at least letting him see it after. The messy haired boy did not even seem to notice his cousin's existence though, much less acknowledge that his mouth was flapping and words were coming out of it. Dudley was just about to work his way into threatening to pummel his cousin when Harry's head shot up away from the book. At first, Dudley thought he was finally capitulating. That was, until he heard the hissing. Turning towards the sound, the pudgy blonde boy gulped, frozen stiff as his cousin stood up and immediately moved to shield him. Not too far away was an irritated snake that had apparently been interrupted in its basking. A pattern of dark spots ran down its back, but that was the extent Dudley was able to take in because he found his cousin pushing him towards the doors of the nursery and muttering for him to get out of the way, somewhere safe.

Terrified but obliging in this instance, Dudley ran. His first thought was to his own safety, but then immediately, he felt badly. His cousin and put himself directly in the path of danger – who knew what type of snake that was after all – and he had just abandoned him. Well, he'd show Harry. He could be brave too. He could help.

By the time Dudley returned with a teacher however, the snake was no where to be seen. A bored looking Harry informed the teacher that the snake must have found something better to do than threaten two small human children, but thanked him just the same for coming. Giving Dudley a slight nod, he smiled as Petunia chose just that moment to pull up. Harry proceeded to quickly grab both the lunch sack and his cousin and there was a mini race to the car.

Petunia, fortunately for her, did not seem to notice the odd dynamic between her two charges. While she did ask about their day, both only gave her bland details, neither mentioning the near fight nor the snake incident. Dudley did however inform her that it seemed a bit slow as she had already taught them everything they'd heard about thus far, but he had to admit the numbers were a bit trickier. He and Harry had only relatively recently begun getting farther into number counting.

With a smile, the horse necked woman reminded her son that it was the first day and not to judge them too badly. Not everyone was as bright as them after all. She also promised to help them if needed, and while this was mostly directed at Dudley, she took care not to exclude Harry in her phrasing, something that brought a smile to her nephew's face as well.

Later that afternoon found both the boys outside in the backyard at Number 4. Dudley was trying to enjoy himself, dejectedly pushing his Tonka truck around, but the play just was not as fun without his normal partner in crime. Briefly, he considered walking to Piers house and playing with him instead. That was, he considered it until he remembered how Harry had protected him from that snake.

Reluctantly, Dudley made one of the harder decisions of his life and left the truck to go talk to his cousin. Said cousin was certainly lying down in front of the rose bushes, staring up at the clouds while mumbling to himself. Dudley couldn't quite make out what Harry was saying, but assumed he was calling out what shapes he saw. He had played that game with his cousin occasionally when they were tired from running around but not quite ready to go inside. Clearing his throat, Dudley managed to get Harry's attention, although it was a bit guarded.

Taking a deep breath, he stumbled his way through one of the hardest sentences of his life.

"Harry, I… I just want you to know that I'm sorry, and… and I wanted to thank you for what you did back there, y'know. I… I panicked and you just… you just took charge and protected me even after I was a bit of a prat to you. So… so thank you and I hope you can forgive me."

Needless to say, Harry's immediate reaction was to be stunned, but slowly a smile spread across his face.

"Of course, Dud. That's what family's for, right? Friends again?"

With a bright grin, he offered his hand to Dudley who immediately shook it, then laughed, commenting that one of these days they would have to come up with their own secret handshake. Soon, Harry joined in on the laughter and was coaxed into joining Dudley in a new game that took up the rest of the afternoon.

The next day at school while other kids were still getting dropped off by their parents, Dudley hauled his cousin over to meet Piers, or rather, to meet Piers again. The rat faced boy wasn't particularly friendly to Harry, seeing him as competition for Dudley's protection. You see, Piers wanted to make sure that he would be safe from the bullies he had heard existed from his older brother. He had been advised to find the strongest, most confident seeming boy in his group and stick to him like glue. Even after the pelting he had received at the party, Piers knew Dudley was the best candidate. While young and uneducated for the most part, four year olds certainly were not as stupid as some adults tended to believe. Piers wanted to be Dudley's second in command of sorts in the forming hierarchy, but the only way he could become that was if Harry was out of his way. He had hoped the two cousins' behavior yesterday meant he had a shot, but now he was starting to think otherwise.

Not knowing how to react now, but wanting to drive the other small boy off, he sat next to Dudley and asked whether or not Harry was going to go sit next to the four eyes. While he was disappointed when Dudley spoke up first saying his cousin was free to stay here if he wanted, Piers was actually a bit frightened when he noticed Harry's glare and quiet statement that the girl had a name and that was Linda. He then proceeded to motion the girl over to join them and had introduced her to Dudley with a bright smile, only mentioning Piers' name once and with slight disdain.

Piers Polkiss was not the smartest boy, but even he had to wonder if perhaps he had chosen the wrong person to attempt to form an alliance with. Maybe it was Harry he should have befriended. However, not being the smartest boy, he quickly dismissed this thought and continued to act snottily to Harry in small ways throughout the day. Not that Harry even acknowledged it. It was rather aggravating, being ignored so completely.

They ended up having a session on arts and crafts that day, and it was during this period that Polkiss' patience snapped. They were fashioning puppets out of lunch bags using felt and paper and some other nick nacks. While Piers found this rather boring, it was kind of fun to pretend to bite things and talk in funny ways. Somehow during the construction though, Potter managed to get himself almost stabbed with flying scissors (one of the dunces in their group had ignored the warning not to run with them). Potter wasn't hurt of course, but he was a bit shaken. This didn't bother Piers a bit; it was Dudley's apparent concern over him that caused his irritation.

"They need to call your mum and have her kiss it all better, Potter?" He snapped waspishly. "Oh, that's right; you don't have a mum, do you?"

It was a low blow, and a rather stupid one, but he was a four year old boy and thus given to rash and immature decisions.

The mix of anger and sadness on Harry's face would have frightened him if the Williams girl – what had Potter said her name was? Oh yes, Linda – hadn't put a comforting hand on his shoulder and asked him to ignore the stupid boy. This would have emboldened him if Dudley hadn't gotten right up in his face and told him in no uncertain terms to leave his cousin alone.

Now this seemed rather unfair to Piers. After all, Dudley had bothered Harry himself the other day. Pointing this out didn't seem to help him any though, because all Dudley did was snort at him.

"Yeah, and he's my cousin, isn't he? I got a bit of a right to seeing as I live with him. You don't. I'm the only one that can mess with him. So you better lay off or else."

Swallowing, Piers managed to gather a bit of either bravery or recklessness to himself and asked, "Or else what?"

Potter and Williams came up behind Dudley and the two boys gave him a rather creepy smile.

"Trust us, Polkiss…," The green eyed boy said with a smirk.

Dudley finished the sentence, "You don't want to know."

Interestingly enough, this incident was relayed to Petunia in the car. While Harry had not been keen on bringing up an almost fight or the snake incident the day before, he was more than happy to bring up his cousin protecting him, much to Dudley's embarrassment. Petunia seemed rather pleased with her strong little boy though and even made Dudley's favorite dessert as a reward.

Later that night, a rather confused Harry was finding it impossible to read The Adventures of Martin Miggs because for some reason, the blasted pictures were moving. It was the strangest thing because whenever he read the comic with Dudley, they stayed still like proper pictures should. It just didn't make sense.

Heaving a sigh, he looked around the play room with a bored expression. He didn't want to work on his beans' flavour list, that was no fun if Dudley wasn't there, and while he could read one of the Marvel comics, that was another activity that was better to do with Dudley because he often had to help his cousin pronounce certain words or look up their meanings in the dictionary Marge had given him. It was rather funny how a gift that was meant to be an insult could be so helpful. Harry debated asking his aunt about the pictures, but then remembered how she had reacted when those cups of hot chocolate had come to him at his request. He hadn't meant to do anything of the sort, it was just that he and Dudley had been so cold and it looked so warm and soothing…

That was water under the bridge now of course. Still, he thought it might be best to ask Mr. Lupin instead of his Aunt Petunia. Of course, he supposed he could ask Mr. Pettigrew, but he didn't know his number, and he didn't even know the man that well yet. Mr. Lupin was a bit like an uncle to him and he loved the man dearly for treating him like a son whenever he visited.

The comic book still had him unnerved though, so he turned his attention to something else, rather bored but not quite ready to give up and join Dudley watching the telly until Uncle Vernon came home.

Glancing to the abacus, he fiddled around with the beads a bit, forming different combinations before giving up as it only made a vague sort of sense to him. One of the few things he did retain and understand from Mr. Lupin's attempt at explanation was that there was more than one type, that his was modeled after the Chinese design, but there were several wholly different forms. While this was all well and good, it meant rather little to Harry and so he gave the cause up, heading downstairs and actually prompting Dudley to join him in a friendly wrestling match. A bit of a foolhardy thing to do, but at least it was actually doing something instead of staring blankly at a box.

A few rounds later – all of which Dudley won – the competition had turned into a race that Petunia immediately directed to be held outside. While Dudley dominated the strength department, it was no secret which of the boys was more agile and even though Dudley convinced a few other boys in the neighborhood to join in, he was still the first to make it to Magnolia Crescent and back.

Resting on the front porch, Harry was soon met with some exhausted but rather happy boys. Grinning to his cousin, there was some light teasing before waving the other neighbor kids goodbye and heading inside. Naturally, they had to wash their face and hands (after taking off their dirty shoes before they dirtied the house), but that was alright, they still had adrenaline running through their systems.

The run and wrestling somehow made it to the discussion at dinner. Later, neither Harry nor Dudley were particularly sure why, although Harry thought it was possible Uncle Vernon wanted to know why their faces were red and clothes and hair such a mess. Whatever the case might have been, Vernon started going on about rugby and football and wrestling. He probably mentioned other sports, but later the boys were not able to recall. He mentioned that even though they were little, they could still learn the basics. He puffed up a bit throughout his ramble, pleased to have such a strapping son and to be making a good influence on his nephew. Excelling at athletics was a very manly thing to do, just as much as tinkering with tools was, if not more so.

Harry had the distinct impression that his impulsive move was going to lead to a lot more tiring hours spent exercising, and he was right, but at least for the most part it was fun. The push ups and weights that his Uncle would later order them to do were not his favorite part at al - so naturally they never did it, and even the laps that his Uncle would occasionally join them or time them on wasn't particularly exciting in and of itself.

However, Vernon had caught a glimpse of a possible future for his son as some sort of athletic star. While Dudley had always been outgoing and it was clear he had the ability to throw his weight around, he didn't tend to exert a lot of effort for no reason. To Vernon's mind, racing after his skinny cousin just to beat him back home was no reason. He was pleased enough that Dudley had shown signs of being athletic that he even decided to grace Harry with his coaching skills as well – a fact Harry would not really appreciate until later, but such is the case with most lessons one learns at the tender age of four.

The one thing the exercise did immediately bring to Harry and Dudley was respect. It took a while, but eventually Polkiss had muttered an apology. The rat faced boy was more of a hanger on than an actual part of their band. It was a motley sort of crew that eventually flocked to the two cousins. Linda Williams stayed by Harry's side from the day they met, but later others joined in. None of their minders or teachers ever seemed to mind, because the Potter-Dursley gang did not consist of troublemakers. If anything, they prevented more serious incidents from happening. This was not to say that they were perfectly behaved children, as this is rather impossible to expect. This did also not preclude them from having their own inner tiffs. Most spats tended to be resolved either quietly, in Potter's manner, or after a short competition as Dudley favored. If all else failed, Linda's method was actually the one employed – pranking.