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Piers frowned at the front door of Number 8 Privet Drive, his fist raised to knock.
He'd been kicked out of his house, again.
Mother was sick and her new boyfriend had taken advantage of her hospital stint to teach Piers his place.
His shoulder still throbbed from when he’d been shoved into the wall and Piers was sure that his bruised cheek would darken and swell into a nasty black eye within the hour.
He was worried that Dudley would find it funny.
Dudley did things like that; he found kids who got beaten up at home to be hilarious and categorized them as freaks.
Piers couldn’t afford for Dudley to decide he was a freak.
The only reason Piers had made such an effort to become Dudley's friend in the first place, apart from his top tier selection of toys and his playstation, had been for protection.
Dudley scared away the other bullies and being on Dudley's bad side was a fate worse than death.
Harry Potter was proof of that.
With a sinking feeling in his gut, Piers realized that this wasn't worth the risk.
He was bored, and he wanted to play Ridge Racer, but he couldn't take it if Dudley decided that he deserved to be hurt.
Not with his mum in the hospital.
Not with Jack kicking him out of the house under threat of a worse beating until sundown.
Piers just couldn't handle anything else. It was bad enough that he hadn’t had time to nick some breakfast before he’d been exiled. And Dudley never shared his snacks.
Pulling back his fist, Piers turned away from the Dursley's front door.
He jumped when he spotted Harry kneeling in the flower beds amongst the roses and staring at him, dirt smudging his cheek.
"Hullo Piers," Harry said warily.
"Hey Harry," Piers said softly. "Doing chores?"
"Yeah," Harry said with a sigh. "Aunt Petunia wants all this done by supper."
"That's… a lot."
"Yeah. Were you looking for Dudley?"
"No! Well, yes, but I changed my mind. I wanted to play some video games, but it's alright. I can just hang out at the park or something."
Harry looked up at Pier's bruised cheek with his unsettlingly green eyes. He seemed to think something over before he spoke. "I found a couple of fifty-pence pieces if you want to try out the new arcade. Dudley will steal them if I try to keep them anyways."
Piers had always liked Harry. He hated that he had to play along with Dudley's cruel games to stay safe. "Yeah? Wicked. What's your favorite kind of candy? I'll sneak you some next week some time, to pay you back."
Harry's eyes lit up. "Yeah? Brilliant. I… er, I don't really have a favorite. Anything you have is fine. Thanks, Piers!"
"Thank you Harry," Piers said, accepting the small handful of coins. "I didn't feel like dealing with Dudley's shit today."
Harry squirmed uncomfortably. "Yeah…"
Piers caught a glimpse of a bruise peeking out from underneath the collar of Harry's oversized shirt. Harry certainly understood why Dudley needed to be avoided sometimes.
"Thanks again, Harry. Don't, uh… don't mention this to Duds, okay?"
"I won't," Harry promised.
"Cool. I'll see you around, then. And I'll get you a few different kinds of candy to try out. You can tell me which one you like best for next time, yeah?"
Harry smiled. "Okay. Have fun at the arcade!"
"I will," Piers said.
Man, he wished he could be friends with Harry for real. He was always so nice.
Maybe someday he'd be able to give Dudley the finger and choose his own friends.
That would be nice.
He looked down at the coins in his hand, wondering if he had enough there to buy his mum a flower or two and still have enough to play a couple of games.