Warmth surrounded his tiny hands despite the cold, dark and dusty atmosphere of the small room they were crowded in. His cousin whispered quiet assurances to him, cautious of being too loud in fear of the other residents hearing. Silent tears rolled down Harry's face in unspoken despair, neither boy addressed it.

"It's okay Harry, I'm here. You have me-" The older boy comforted him. They both shook in the cold of the upcoming winter and lack of heating in the mouldy cupboard under the stairs that was not even designed to fit just one person, therefore left the pair cramped and close together. "You remember Harry? It's your birthday tomorrow. You'll get something special this year, I swear", Dudley continued confidently. The darker haired boy accepted his cousins reassurances and began thinking of all the opportunities they both would have as they got older. They would be eleven and closer to leaving this dreaded place.

Not just the cupboard, but this house. The house that Harry had been dumped in many years ago, and the House that Dudley had once called home.

"I'm finally catching up to you Dudders", Harry retorted light heartedly, despite secretly taking comfort in Dudley's inert big brother, protective nature. This caused the taller boy to smile warmly,

"Now you just need to catch up in other ways, vertically specifically…" Dudley teased. It was an ongoing joke that Harry was actually born to a pair of gnomes who were unable to look after the short boy and left the baby in the backyard of Dudley's parents. This, of course, was just a fairy tale and Harry had been born to a pair of drunks who crashed their car on the way back from the pub and left their mistake to his mother's sister and her husband. At least that's what they were both told anyways.

"Shut up Dudders, when I'm sixteen I'll be as tall as Uncle Vernon and I'll carry on my back cause you'll be really small!" He fantasised, thinking about himself running around Little Whinging with a smaller and fearful looking Dudley on his back. The fantasy put the older into a fit of laughter, he even had to place his hand over his mouth to prevent too much noise getting out, meanwhile Harry observed and beamed, just happy that he is able to provide some light in these dark situations.

"Alright, alright that's enough. Let's sleep, I'm excited for tomorrow", The latter exclaimed, allowing his cousin to calm and for them to lie in the small space at opposite ends, shuffling for a comfortable position that was not to be found. Feeling around the other end of the cot for a few seconds he found the warmth of Dudley's hand, which he grabbed in a vice-like grip. The contact which told him his friend was still there, and wasn't going anywhere. It let him sleep more soundly and easily, drifting before the other boy did.

Dudley let out a deep sigh as his pseudo brother finally relaxed into the cot in an unconscious state, usually it took the older a bit longer to fall asleep despite the presence of another with him. He looked upon the boy he called his little brother and slowly untangled his hand which was caught between the other and searched around with his hands for the piece of paper he was looking for. When he located the item he was looking for, he brought it up to his face, the dark of the cupboard not allowing him to read my of the letter but he was able to identify the clear 'Dear Mr Dursley,' and Hogwarts lettering atop it. He had received the letter just 7 months prior, on his birthday when he was set to work on weeding the nettles from the garden (bare hand, mind you) and an owl had dropped it on his lap and caught him off guard.

The letter had confused him at first, what is Hogwarts? Wizardry? He had been sceptical, however the clearly trained owl which delivered it to him had prevented him from disbelief. However, Dudley had not told his cousin of the acceptance letter for Hogwarts, not because he didn't trust him but it had only been addressed to himself, Mr Dursley. Dudley could not accept entrance to this… Supposed Wizarding school, and leave Harry behind. He just couldn't, so he decided to ignore it and allow another boy to take his place. He would stay with his little brother, even if the idea of escape brought tears to his eyes. Speaking of which, his tired and swollen eyes began to slip closed as the tired, and young boy fell asleep.

HP~DD~HP~DD

Harry awoke at the crack of dawn to the sharp sound of his aunt's heels on the wooden floorboards, and her grating voice which called out to the pair to get the hell up. He abruptly sat up, his bruised shoulder and aching back protesting loudly as he did so, and shook Dudley awake.

"Oi, Dud!" He whisper shouted, the dark bags under the oldest boy's eyes making Harry feel guilty for doing so, but waking the other straight away would be better for the both of them anyway.

"'m up-" He replied groggily, wiping his face and sitting up much less violently than the shorter had. Harry opened the cupboard door and they stepped out and into the kitchen where their aunt impatiently waited.

"Took you long enough!" She tutted and gripped Dudley's shirt and dragged him over to the stove. "Do some bacon, eggs, black pudding and spam," She ordered loudly. "And you," She spat, pointing at Harry, who cowered back nervously, "can do the toast, beans, coffee and set the table. Go!" The shrill voice heightened both of their headaches as they followed the orders obediently, almost sighing in relief when she began walking away. "And don't steal anything, or I'll take away your blanket and food privileges for three days."

Not an empty threat, the boys had discovered (painfully, at that), so neither dared to take any of their guardians' precious food for themselves as they cooked vigilantly. A heavy thundering from the stairs alerted them of the dreaded awakening of Vernon Dursley, a brute of a man. A filthy and alcohol smelling man, a child abuser at the least.

They scrambled to finish the dishes and plate them upon the table before the brute waddled into the doorway, luckily they were successful (this time). Harry didn't want to think about the last time they were unsuccessful.

"Move boy!" He shoved Dudley out of his position beside the table, the latter stumbling and falling into the counter with a thud. Harry grimaced, that would leave a bruise later. Retreating back to the corner to avoid the same fate as Dudley, Harry awaited his Uncle's approval of his large (maybe too large) breakfast. Said man lifted his head in disgust while looking at his charges, however pulled back his chair to collapse into. Taking this as approval, the pair shuffled away from the dining room and into the living room where Petunia awaited them for their duties today.

"Come!" She screeched, waving them towards her, gripping their ears and dragging them to the indicated position as she deemed them too slow for her liking. "You'll do the bathrooms, Vernon's office and fix that darned shed today, the roof has been caved in for months!" She exclaimed, scathing as if it was their responsibility to upkeep the shed. She hurried them out of the room, aggregated and unprovoked shoves to the young children's backs. They took this as their cue to escape the presence of their bitter guardians and began their duties for the day without a bite to eat. Luckily they could sip water from the upstairs tap, so as to not get dehydrated.

That's how the next few hours went, the manual labour they were tasked to do was almost complete despite them being distracted in the joy of the youngest's birthday.

"What can I do now that I'm eleven?" Harry asks curiously.

"Hmm… Well you're closer to being thirteen than yesterday?" Dudley replied sarcastically. "You can go to high school with me this year!" He exclaimed.

"I already knew that Dudders…" He retorted without malice, offering a cheeky grin. He enjoyed moments like this where he could pretend he were living a normal life, with the absence of Petunia and Vernon, it was him and Dudley against the world. Just two young boys who could laugh and be themselves, without any anger or trauma.

The contentedness never lasted long, it seemed in this household, as the order to start on the shed was bellowed from below them. They let out consecutive sighs, but the boys looked at each other in amusement, recollecting the moment they had just a few seconds ago. It would be alright, they were always alright.

Dudley made it out the door first and bounded down the stairs with no hesitation, Harry following shortly after however as life seemed to have it out for him, Vernon’s dirty work boot had been on the fourth to last step, leading to a nasty fall on the younger boy’s end. The taller of the two halted in his tracks to check that Harry was alright and saw how his face contorted in pain as he held his shin, Dudley let out utterances of concern and was making sure he was alright when his mother stormed past him and dragged Harry up by his forearm with no thought for his injury and scowled. Dudley sneered viciously at the thing he had once called Mum and accepted the inevitable slap it earned him without faltering. Dudley gently guided Harry out to the garden after that.

Truth be told, the oldest was quite distraught at the events of the day. Harry’s birthday, it was meant to be a day to celebrate, a day of freedom. But freedom was a myth nowadays. If Dudley had never experienced a birthday celebration, or the warm hug of a mother, he would not miss it, but he had. Dudley had felt cared for, loved by his parents, he was their pride and joy! Not like hi freak cousin, who didn’t deserve to be there anyway, as he had been taught, as he once thought himself. Well, until they began noticing- Weird things happening around their son when the freak wasn’t even away. When Dudley had managed to make the picture on his schoolbook dance, his parents had knew. The magic hating muggles had shunned their son, called him freak, called him weird. 6 year old Dudders had no idea why his Mummy and Daddy now threw him in the dark and scary cupboard with his cousin, and stopped giving him cuddles. He had cried. For days, for weeks! Harry just sat there and held his hand, no vicious words unlike his parents, no shoving him away when he got too close.

So he grew up, he grew a mind of his own, and began protecting his little brother. Nobody would hurt him anymore, not as he once had done himself as a spoiled brat, the spoiled brat who had lost weight at such immense pace that he had begun having dizzy spells and felt his bones and stomach aching in need of nutrients like withdrawal.

Out in the garden, Dudley tended to Harry’s leg, who was putting on a brave face and determined not to cry at his injury. Once he had ensured it wasn't broken, Dudley gave him a big hug and reminded him that they needed to get the shed done, else they were bound to get injuries ten times as bad. From a distance, Dudley heard a soft hooting of an owl on a nearby tree, followed by flapping wings which seemed to be… approaching at a fast pace. Harry looked up, alarmed, as a blur of white speeding towards his face and landing on his mop of hair and onto the floor. Confusedly, Harry and Dudley looked at the strange letter the owl had just dropped upon them. Looking into his eyes, Harry saw realisation and another unknown emotion spread upon Dudley’s face as he picked up the letter and handed it to the shorter.

On the front read:
‘Mr H.J Potter
The Cupboard under the Stairs,
Privet Drive
Little Whinging, Surrey’

“I think it's for you, open it!” The grin on Dudley’s face split from ear to ear, watching with as much repressed excitement as a two month old puppy. He did as he was told, anticipation building as he witnessed Dudley’s reaction.

‘Dear Mr Potter…’

He read the letter with even more confusion, and disbelief tenfold. Wizardry? But magic doesn’t exist- He thought.

“Is this a joke?” He asked, saddened, and disappointed that he had been so excited. His cousin’s changed from one to shock, then despair.

“No! No Harry it’s real, don’t you see? You’re a wizard, like me! I got a letter too, that's why Mum and Dad are so angry, they aren’t wizards like us. I promise Harry, it’s real.” Dudley reassured his distraught cousin.

“I-I’m a wizard Dudders? Really, we can go to school, really-really?” Dudley nodded quickly, no time to prepare as his brother threw himself in his arms.

The embrace ended quickly when a thought came to Harry. “But if you got a letter- Where is it? When-”

“That’s a story for another day bud…” He responded with a tight and awkward smile a he ruffled the already messy hair in front of him.

Severus Snape was not what you would call… A warm man. Neither himself nor his peers would imagine such pleasantries would come out of his cold, bitter mouth. Staff and students alike felt the cold breeze of dismissal at his mere presence. The man spent many years alone, and had become accustomed to the peace and quiet of his Hogwarts dungeon quarters.

However the man was also not a fool, he would not tell himself that he did not care when a young student arrived at his door, clearly a last ditch and desperate attempt to receive the help they needed. The wellbeing and visage of his Slytherin's was one of his only pride and joys. Which is why the teacher was preparing everything he may require for the upcoming year, lesson plans; risk assessments for students etc.

This was the year that Harry Potter would be arriving as a first year also, and the brooding man truly didn’t know what to think. On one hand, the boy was born of his talented and respectable mother, but then there was James Potter. His father. The marauders were not a group of people he would place on his ‘tolerable’ list, but instead those of ‘cockroaches’ and Severus would rather have tea with The Dark Lord himself than James Potter. Of course, said man had eventually grown from his childish taunting of the other and become an auror who held his guilt on his chest alongside his heart, but the anger for his childhood nemesis would still fester.

Despite the stress of his revelation, the bat of the dungeons continued his search for the safest potions for his first years to brew that with failure would not cause themselves and others harm, not because he cared (he would tell you) but because of his precious classroom. The stone floor was already damaged beyond repair, it did not require a makeover this year. With a dramatic swish of his dark cloak, he was retreating to his quarters. That was enough contemplation for the night.

HP~DD~HP~DD

Harry had drawn up a plan, on the scrap piece of paper in his hand was the details of their well planned escape from this hell hole. They had deduced between them that it would not suffice to just sit back and wait to see if fate took pity upon them, and if they wanted to go to this… School which they had been invited into that preparation would be in order. Of course, they didn’t have long to do so, only a month to plan it all. The letter they had been provided had told them of the items they would need, however to get those they would need three things.

‘Phase One - Money
Aunt Petunia keeps her money in her pink coat, left pocket. Every day, we take 3 coins from the pocket and store it under Harry’s Pillow inside the rip in the cot.’

Harry had written. This was a risk they both understood, stealing from their guardians was strictly forbidden and highly punishable, and if they found out that it was not food that they were stealing but money? They would be dead.

‘Phase Two - Travel’
London travel, buses are the best option. Sneak behind the crowd, be inconspicuous’

This was simple, both boys were quite short and under average, so sneaking onto buses and trains would be pretty easy they assumed. Taxis or anything else was out of the question, especially not their Uncle, asking him to drive them anywhere was like asking for a death sentence.

‘Phase Three - Where?
We don’t know how to get to Magical London, but if we bother Aunt Petunia and trick her she might let something slip, else we will have to wing it (which will be harder)’

Ever since the boys figured out what they were, they had noticed… Things that Petunia often slipped. She just couldn't resist her taunting, the woman needed to let them know how freaky and unnatural they and Harry’s parents were, obviously not realising that both of them knew they were Wizards now. ‘Just like that darned old coot in Scotland… Of all places! Ha!’ She had said. So they had deduced that the school was in Scotland, easy enough since there was a direct train in Kings Cross to Edinburgh. Uncle Vernon had to travel to Scotland sometimes for his work, and the lazy man would not bother to drive there with his company car, that would be preposterous! So the boys knew that they would need to buy their supplies from ‘Magical London’ and get to Kings Cross.

Obviously, neither boy would realise how much their plan lacked in stability or holes, like where they would go from Edinburgh, how they expected to navigate London as children without consequence and suspicion that they may gather from any passersby and even the school itself.

And so they began. Dudley had managed to collect around £42 so far through their method, and finding spare change on the floor and in crevices where he was cleaning, and Harry had deduced that ‘Diagon Alley’ was where they would need to buy their supplies, however was unable to get anything else from his aunt. The day arrived when they planned to escape with all their possessions and knowledge, and Dudley woke Harry at 5am with a startling shake to the shoulder and practically dragged him out of the cupboard himself as he lifted the half filled plastic carrier bag which held their things. A few extra t-shirts, a thin woollen jumper which hardly fit wither (so they used it as a blanket mainly) and a few pens and paper, the money was safely in Dudley’s pocket.

The pair knew that 5am would be a suitable time as neither Petunia or Vernon would be awake, safely in a deep sleep and without suspicion. They snuck out of the front door, using the spare key which resided in the plant pot at the entrance to unlock it and once they were a safe distance from the building, began to sprint. They both laughed uncontrollably at how easily they had managed to get away, their unsuspecting relatives still snoring in bed. The refreshing breeze on their faces was relaxing, being outside but not in the confines of the garden (not by choice) and prickling in heat or shaking in the biting cold, this was freedom.

They were free.

It was by chance that the boys had managed to locate Diagon Alley. After a few hours of travelling sneakily through London, Harry had spotted a lady who had been wearing a dark blue midnight cloak, twinkling as if a replica of the night sky, and was guiding two young children through the large crowds. He saw how others seemed to look through the woman as if she weren't there, despite her… Interesting- choice of clothing. Eventually he had informed Dudley and they decided to follow her, they had nothing to lose anyway. If it leads to nothing, then they would turn around and try again.

It was when she walked into a dingy looking pub when they got even more suspicious; nobody else seemed to even see the pub, and so they followed her in shortly after. After all, it was a public place. Walking through the door, Dudley was stunted at the scent of alcohol which hit him. The acrid smell nauseated the pair and flashes of Vernon burst unannounced in their vulnerable minds, ducking from glass beer bottles and crawling on their hands and knees desperately trying to escape his boot. A deep voice snapped them out of the memories.

"Y'alright lads?" The brown haired, bearded man asked. He was sitting at a table near the entrance, and wore a similar cloak to the woman they had followed, but his was brown. "I'm Bobby Pomfrey, nice to meet ya's" Bobby offered them a smile.

"I'm Dud and this is H" Dudley said, pointing at himself and then Harry, deliberately omitting their full names, wary of any kind of mysterious adults who approached them. His desire to protect his brother took priority.

"H, 's that short for anythin'?" He asked, a curious look in his eyes. Harry couldn't detect any malice in his deep maroon eyes, but as a boy with trust issues, he wouldn't give in too easily.

"Harold," Harry said confidently. "Nice to meet you too." The shabby haired boy offered a hand for the other to shake, knowing that it was a peasantry some adults partook in. Bobby grinned and firmly took his hand in return, Harry was glad that he did the right thing. "So… Do you by any chance know where we could find Diagon Alley?"

"Oh! 'Course… did yah Ma's and Pa's let yah come alone today?" Pomfrey questioned, it was not unusual for wizarding parents to allow their children to roam around the shops of Diagon Alley for a short while after all. Dudley nodded in agreement. "Well follow me then laddies" He stood and waved to follow him as he approached a wall out of the back of the pub they were just in. Harry straightened out from a face of confusion to faux confidence, they couldn't go making people suspicious by acting like non-wizards when they asked to go to Diagon.

They watched as he tapped the bricks to reveal a busy looking street filled with robed people (The pair assumed they were all wizards and witches) carrying all sorts of strange items. Dudley swore he saw somebody walking away from a shop with an old fashioned cleaning broom with strange carvings on it. The latter gripped Harry's large shirt and pulled him away from the entrance and into the alley.

Harry's senses were going haywire as he took in the new place around them, be scents sights and sounds surrounded him as he focused on trying to calm his heart rate. This was overwhelming, to say the least… He barely noticed when Dudley had begun to drag him away, vision spinning and feet tripping over each other Harry had to take a moment.

Dudley, noticing the boy's predicament, held the shabby haired head to his chest for a moment, knowing that Harry relished in the contact and affection he was provided, and then removed it to see if they were okay to continue. Harry nodded, relieved and they began their long shopping trip.

SS~SS~SS~SS

Severus had only realised shortly before the start of term that his potion ingredients stock was getting low, since he had been brewing the stock for the Hospital Wing, which was in high demand. Looking at the measly amount of unicorn hair and bicorn horn made him sneer. A trip to Diagon would have to do it. At least he could take pleasure in sneering at the to-be first years who left their shopping to the last minute, childish and lazy activities taking priority over necessities.

The sickly looking man strolled over to the fireplace and graciously dropped a handful of floo powder in and clearly spoke his destination before stepping into the fire with style. (Or as much style as a dungeon bat can muster)

The alley was, as expected, bustling with life and activity, young Hogwarts students crowded all the small crevices of the narrow-ish street. Being taller than most, Severus could clearly see over the heads of the crowd, and spotted Lucius Malfoy guiding his heir into Mary Pott's Shop of Lots and rolled his eyes. Sometimes that man was as obvious as can be, as heartless as he presented himself Lucius could never truly hide his sympathetic and charitable nature.

That would confuse the public, he thought. The elder Malfoy had embraced his change in character ever since the fall of the dark lord, and to other death eaters this came of no surprise, having witnessed Lucius break down on many occasions during the Dark Lords reign.

Severus dismissed his thoughts and continued down the alley towards the apothecary. The shop was hard to miss, the indistinguishable scent that was emitted from the building was sickening for many but homely for himself. Potions provided him quite the comfort and offered him a stress reliever when the dunderheads became overwhelmingly irritating. Having obtained his mastery so young, Snape had the freedom of thought with potion. He didn't need to follow silly instructions from another wizard who thought they had perfected their brew, but instead altered them himself. Perfect did not exist in his world, only improvements.

The shop was not as busy as many others, in fact it was basically empty when he entered. Severus greeted the shopkeeper with a courteous nod and started grabbing the routine items he required. Finally taking notice of the other occupants of the shop, he spotted an older man, crouching over the herbal section of the store and two others. Two boys who looked to be younger than his first year students, viewing the selection of cauldrons they had to offer. Must be shopping for the Hogwarts year, he thought, scowling at their grubby fingers grabbing at any old cauldron and not taking notice of the price. They were going to break something if he allowed them to continue.

Severus grabbed two cheap, second hand looking pewter cauldrons that looked acceptable enough and paid for them at the counter, walking back over to the boys and pulled them out of the shop by the back of their shirt. Squeaks could be heard from the pair as he straightened them back up outside and shoved the cauldrons into their arms and shooed them away.

"S-sir, uhmm… Th-", The taller of the two started, but Snape held up his hands to stop him.

"These are the standard Hogwarts cauldrons, if you have any issues take them up with your parents. These will do. No complaints please!" He sternly spoke. "There will be no requirements for gold cauldrons this year, they require skill above your level." He continued mocking, since the pair had still not shuffled away.

"Thank you sir-" The shorter of the two quietly replied, and led his accomplice away with him.

Before they were too far away to hear, he heard a small, "What was that?" From one of the boys. "Ungrateful brats," He spat. (Not to know that the words were wildly misinterpreted)

The first thought that had occurred to them was 'that was strange'. I mean, the boys had lived and existed in this world for a whole eleven years, and yet the act of 'gifting' an item (for Harry and Dudley, may I specify) out of pure annoyance for their curious eyes, well it was simply unheard of. Who in their right mind would waste their money on the scraggly pair? Harry hadn't known what to say, and ended up sputtering an incoherent sentence the man had taken as rude and swiftly escaped. Only after Harry had dragged Dudley away from the store had this been processed in his small brain, however.

"Who was that?" Dudley asked innocently. Harry merely shrugged, still staring onwards at the crammed street. "I don't know, but these looked pretty expensive, I'm glad we didn't have to pay." He snickered cheekily, allowing his childish nature to shine through since he feels less on edge than on the daily.

Only through mere guesswork and deduction had the pair been able to locate somewhere they could convert their money. After stepping in a few shops they had realised the currency was different around here. Dudley assumed their money would easily fund their needs, forty two whole pounds was more money than he could even imagine seeing. (Even if Vernon's telly was two hundred) Harry had no clue.

The bookstore was the easiest, a small run down second hand store suited the brothers better than the new-book smell emitting from the shop across the path, through the queue. An old lady with a funky smell had helped them find some of the books on their list, Harry and Dud had decided they had only really needed one of each copy though, once they realised the books were not as cheap as they expected. They could just sit beside each other in class, they discussed.

"Why are there so many things to get? My arms hurt." Harry whined, his thin arms were not designed to carry a dense cauldron filled with huge books stacked almost to his nose. Dudley was having an easier time of it, though, having the longer-arm advantage. For once he thanked his family for his superior height genes. "It's because it's a magic school Harry, there must be so much more to learn." He responded easily, hiding his snicker behind the books. "If it was really THAT magic, they would just abra-cadabra some books on the spot when we get there." The shorter rolled his eyes as if his point was obvious. Dudley decided he wasn't going to win this argument, and backed down with a mere shake of his head.

DD~HP~DD~HP

They had concluded their trip having picked up over half of their items, the books which were listed, the cauldron which they were given (forcibly), some second hand robes from a dodgy shop nobody seemed to want to approach, and some of the cheaper and smaller items. One shock they had faced was the price of the wands they were supposed to get. Harry thought Ollivander may have been a bit selfish with his prices as he eyed up the shrapnel he carried in his pocket. They had made the decision to acquire wands from a different place or later, since it was just not an option at this point. Maybe the school would even give them spare wands, like Harry and Dudley's old school lent their students PE kit sometimes.

Harry, however, kept reminiscing on the first shop they had entered. The shop where they had been approached by a tall, emo looking man who grunted, groaned, and purchased them a cauldron each. He couldn't think of anything more juxtaposing. It brought a smile to his face, and thought it must have been a lesson not to judge a book by its cover, or in this case, don't judge a cauldron at first glance.

It was fair to say the boys had felt out of their depth after the tiring shopping trip for only a day and a half. It hadn't been very hard to sleep rough in the nighttime, since that's what they had been doing for years already, but it was quite scary hanging around in a strange magic alley in the nighttime. At some point, they had spotted a few ominous figures lurking around the entrance to the alley that connected to this one, the one which they had purchased many of their items from. The daytime was a breath of fresh air for the boys (except for maybe the stench which they likely exuded from the outdoor conditions). Exploration was a saving grace, Harry had claimed, stating that he possibly would have 'died of boredom' had the streets not been filled with fascinating and mind-blowing experiences.

"Look a' that, H!" Dudley's eyes widened to the size of plates as Harry looked over to what the boy was pointing towards. Nearby was a large group of people, all with ginger hair, exiting a car that had just quite literally flown to the ground. "Is that a-"

Harry exclaimed before he could finish his sentence. "A flying car? There's no way..." His loud squeals of excitement had clearly caught the attention of the family who had exited the car, and the older woman's expression looked quite concerned as she rushed over to the pair.

"What are you boys doing over here? Arthur, these two muggle boys must have gotten lost, oh my-" Her rambles were quite difficult to understand at first.

Dudley held his hands up in a defensive motion. "I'm sorry miss, but we aren't muggles, you see-" They had discovered during their time in the alley all sorts of information, including wizarding terms such as muggle. "We are wizards, me and Ha- Me and H." He stumbled over his words clumsily before painting a confident look on his face once more. "We got our Hogwarts letter."

"Ahh! My apologies boys, first years then? Hmm..." She looked deep in thought. "What are you doing all the way over here in Diagon then? You better catch the train, it leaves today!"

Harry stood stock still, shocked at this information. He had assumed that they had more time before they had to catch the train. "What do you mean, Ma'am?" He asked politely.

"The Hogwarts Express takes you all the way to the school. It's at King's Cross, where are your parents anyway?" The lady looked around for any adults who may have been supervising the boys, however returned to look at the pair once more after finding no one who looked suitable.

Dudley glanced briefly at Harry before answering for them. "Well, you see they work real hard and really wanted to be here, but they couldn't, so we had to come alone today." He hoped the lie was convincing enough, and whether it was or wasn't didn't matter, as the orange-haired lady ushered them towards her family.

"Would you boys like to travel to the station with us? It won't be any hassle at all-" The children who had been standing with her looked towards them both with curiosity and at some point, the boy had scrunched and covered his nose as to block out the displeasing smell which they had been emitting. Harry noticed this action and scowled. Of course, he knew that they probably looked worse for wear, but the boy had clearly exaggerated and it irritated him.

At some point, Dudley had agreed to travel with the family as to make it easier for Harry and himself, not having to travel all the way there only to have missed the train. The flying car journey was entertaining, not only had the car somehow expanded and allowed for more space for all of the children, but also Harry constantly stared out of the window in awe and disbelief. The journey was short, however, but that may have been due to the man's ungodly driving speeds within the air, Dudley was certain some laws were broken. The car was parked swiftly, and everyone was ushered through the station and towards platform 9.

"The twins will go first, they'll show you what to do." The twins had been quite funny during the car ride, constantly cracking jokes together and pulling everybody's ears (actually, quite literally.) Fred and George sprinted towards a wall on one of the pillars, and Harry's heart almost dropped to the floor thinking they were running head first into a brick wall, however was left even more breathless when their figures simply disappeared through the other side of the wall, now no longer visible. He had zoned out, not realizing that everybody else had also gone before he was being dragged by Dudley towards the wall. It was scary at first, but the pair let out a relieved laugh after they made it through the other side without receiving a nice bruise on their foreheads.

The large family exchanged goodbyes with each other, which only made Harry jealous and so didn't care to stick along much further after offering their sincere thanks to the woman, Mrs. Weasley. Luckily, any luggage that Harry and Dudley carried was light, since they hadn't purchased all too much, and so they were able to carry the bags easily onto the train and onto their empty cart. Harry secretly hoped that the younger Weasley boy sat in a different compartment, but felt quite guilty for thinking so afterward, after all, it isn't fair to judge a person based upon first impression.

Only minutes later, all of the children who remained on the platform rushed onto the train as the conductor announced their departure, and it didn't take long for the compartment to fill more. A shy-looking dark-skinned girl with cropped hair who looked a few years older than themselves sat quietly across from them, offering an awkward but sweet smile to them both before grabbing a book from her carry-on. A boy who looked even older than the previous girl also entered the compartment, however, he seemed a bit more confident in his greetings.

"Freshies! Oh my god, Cole! Look how small they are, god- My age is showing..." He muttered the last part before a second, somehow even taller male entered behind him.

Cole shot apologetic looks their way before slapping his friend's shoulder playfully. "Sorry about him, Jay, he is a bit... Err- Eager. I think his head's gotten too big, being a prefect and all..." He whispered light-heartedly. Harry and Dudley didn't mind, however. All three of them seemed welcoming, and it helped calm them both as the train set off towards Hogwarts. A lot of the conversation onwards was led by Jay, who seemed eager to include the rest of them in very strange conversations, but Dudley found it to be the funniest thing ever, apparently.

"Right? And the beetles began to run away! As if they hadn't just been a regular stirring spoon seconds prior! Snape was so pissed..." The nonsense he spouted gave them an insight, however, into the school itself. The incident he had described had happened during a Potions lesson, I mean who could imagine them learning how to make real-life potions?

At some point, a lady with a cart had come down the train corridor with snacks she was selling, however, Harry was almost certain the measly pennies he had left were enough to purchase anything. This didn't prove to be an issue, as Cole and Jay had bought a pile the size of a bowling ball of pure sugar and candies.

"Here!" Jay yelled before throwing a chocolate frog box right at Aaliyah's head, who had quickly ducked to avoid the impact. With no injuries, the boys began to introduce new magical candies to the pair who barely even ate muggle candy in the first place.

"This is my favorite," Harry announced, his mouth stuffed with Jelly Slugs, whilst Dudley munched on a freshly caught chocolate frog. At that moment, Harry and Dudley had looked like children for the first time in a while, simply stuffing their faces with sugar with little to no care in the world. (Maybe a narrator would call this Small Mercies.)

The view of the castle left them completely and utterly breathless. Not only the view, but the fact that this was the school that they would be attending was amazing, a real life magic school. They came to a stop into the station slowly, and they wore their cloaks as they prepared their bags. A wave of children exited the large train as it came to a stop, Harry and Dudley waited for the crowd to dissipate slightly before leaving with them. Jay, Cole and Aaliyah walked away towards their year group, and the first year's were called towards a tall, hairy man with a lantern in his hand.

"Ov'r 'ere folks, First years with me!" The shorter bunch gathered around the man, and he led them towards a large, beautiful lakes with boats lined up at the shore. The students mounted the boats, Harry was in front with Dudley right behind him, and a taller girl behind him. The boats moved by themselves on Hagrid's command, he had announced his name not long prior.

"This is absurd..." Harry muttered mostly to himself, but Dudley snorted in agreement. Dudly grazed his hand across the surface of the water, nodding in contentment. The anxiety of their new adventure was subdued by this amazing experience, and he would savour every moment of it. "What do you think the inside looks like?" Harry asked whilst glancing towards the castle once more.

Dudley pondered the question. "Maybe like a big cathedral-" They had once been taken to a place of worship in hope of being 'healed', according to Vernon. "Or maybe the walls are made of marble with floating tables and chairs." His face was dead serious as he said so.

"I hope so..." Harry laughed at the suggestion, anything was possible in this new world, the building could be filled with gigantic robots who teleports them to class, with no teachers, only big computers which made you smarter just by looking at them... Harry's mind wondered to endless possibilities. As he did so, the boat rocked to a stop, and the group began dismounting them, and he followed suit. They were guided towards the castle doors, which opened in such an extravagant way that Dudley thought they must be showing off.

"This Pr'fessor will take you from 'ere." Hagrid gestured towards a gaunt but friendly looking woman, with hair hair in an elaborate style that looked like it was being held together with magic (and it may well have been).

"Welcome to Howard's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I am Professor McGonagall, I teach Transformations and am the Gryffindor Head of House." She spoke in a Scottish accent, Harry noted, and sounded quite pompous, if he said so himself. "We shall be heading to the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony."

Dudley glanced at him confusedly. Of course, they had heard of such thing in passing from other students, but neither had any clue of what it entailed. She led them through the front doors, and the boys stared in awe at the high ceilings and grand structures within the building as they walked through. There were torches mounted to the wall, and the doors to the Great Hall were huge, with a dark, pretty wood. No words escaped their mouths as their jaw hung slack, a few other students seemed as amazed as them, a few looked simply ecstatic and some looked unfazed at the castle at all.

"Are you ready?" The professor asked, and all of them nodded quickly. The doors opened without anybody touching them, and inside was filled with rows of students sat at 4 different tables, all leading to one table, placed higher up, with the teachers sat behind it. All eyes turned towards the first year's as the walked down to the front of the room, including the teachers. Dudley inspected them, and noticed a man who looked oddly familiar, wearing a blank expression and long, black hair. He nudged Harry and gestured towards the Professor, and the boys eyes widened in realisation.

"That's the man who bought us the cauldrons." He whispered in Dudley's ear. The man in question roamed his eyes across the group, stopping for a second on the pair who were looking his way. He raised his eyebrow before returning to his inspection of the new students. Harry turned to look towards Dudley, "Strange..." He muttered.

By now, they were all stationed near a platform, holding a chair and a dusty old hat which sat atop the other, and they only noticed the silence after a name was called. "Hannah Abbott!"

She walked up to the stage and sat on the chair, the hat was placed on her head gently, and she sat for around fifteen seconds before the hat on her head suddenly yelled "Hufflepuff!" And she left and walked towards one of the tables.

Harry startled at the loud shout after the bout of silence, and startled even further when he realised it was not a teacher that had yelled, but the hat itself. I mean, was it even possible for an object to speak? Harry looked upon all the items nearby with weariness, stepping away from the chair which he had previously been standing by. Dudley seemed to notice this action and chuckled in amusement. The amusement was shortly wiped off his face at the yell of his own name from the Professor's mouth.

"Dudley Dursley!"

SS~SS~SS~SS

The whole ordeal was a bore, really. Sitting at a tall table for hours, being stared at by snotty teenagers was not on Snape's list of 'fun activities' for the week, and wholly believed that the first day of school should always be erased from his memory, however here he remained, in both body and spirit. He had, of course, made his predetermined judgements on the new first year's simply off first appearance, though it was interesting to see the return of the ungrateful boys from the other day, who had been staring at him already.

He pretended to look as interested as he could as name by name, students were called to be sorted into their houses. Well, until a name he couldn't quite pinpoint was called.

"Dudley Dursley!"

He was certain he had heard that name before, or at least the surname. As a potions master, his memory had grown to become immaculate, and so it irked him to hear something so familiar yet be unable to identify why. His eyes roamed to the boy from the alley, and he squinted his eyes in thoughtfulness.

Who was Dudley Dursley?