Chapter Text
Harry Potter, a 10-year-old Indian boy in shabby hand-me-downs with shockingly green eyes and a jagged scar, like a lightning strike on his forehead, stood, looking around the playground, unsure what he should do. Usually, at this point of recess he would be running from his cousin Dudley and his gang, but it seems that they had gotten bored with their normal Harry Hunting recess schedule and had found a new kid to terrorize.
He crept over to the opposite side of the playground from Dudley and his gang and paused. He wasn’t actually too sure what he should DO during a Non-Harry Hunting recess. With all the other kids continuing to avoid him and having never really done a normal recess time he was completely at a loss.
Harry was just starting to feel awkward standing around and considering trying to hide in the bathroom, when suddenly, a voice from behind him said, “Hello!”
Harry spun around to see a girl with light brown hair, pale skin, and green eyes smiling at him. He couldn’t remember seeing her at recess before, but then again, he doesn’t pay attention to the other kids much. He checked behind him, he hadn’t seen anyone else, but he just couldn’t believe that she could actually be talking to him. Seeing no one else, he tentatively responded, “Uh, hello.”
“My name’s Briar,” she started, “What’s your name?”
Harry blinked at her, very surprised that this girl wasn’t avoiding him like everyone else. Perhaps today is just a very strange day. Might as well make the most of it, “My names Harry. Harry Potter.”
“Well, nice to meet you Harry,” she said, “What brings you to this side of the playground?”
“Umm,” Harry stammered, suddenly unsure he was allowed to be over here, “Well, there wasn’t anyone over here so I came over here…”
She nodded, then she asked, “So you’re not doing anything? Would you maybe want to help me find a 4-leafed clover?”
“I thought clovers only had 3 leaves?” He responded, then cringed, hoping he hadn’t already messed up talking to her.
“Yes, most clovers have 3 leaves,” Briar said, “but some have 4 leaves and those ones are lucky, so I was going to try to find one.”
A lucky plant sounded a bit like magic, which his Aunt and Uncle hated. They would definitely lock him in his cupboard if they found out he was talking about magic plants at recess. He checked over Briar’s shoulder and noted that Dudley looked thoroughly distracted and decided to risk it, “Okay, sure. Do we just look through the clovers?”
She beamed, “Yep! And hopefully we’ll find a 4-leaf one! Come on!”
She started walking farther from the playground and towards the fence at the edge of school grounds. Harry followed, cautiously hopeful that Dudley wouldn’t notice them and chase this girl off, like he’d done to anyone else to ever show interest in befriending Harry.
About 5 feet from the fence she plopped down on the ground in a big patch of clover and waited for Harry, who sat next to her. She started picking clovers and checking them and Harry followed suit.
“So… what do you like to do?” she asked, shifting a bit as she spoke. She didn’t have any friends, so she wasn’t quite sure what to do now that they were introduced and doing an activity together.
Harry blinked, unsure what to say. He didn’t really like doing most of the things he did, considering most of his time was spent doing chores. And when he didn’t have chores he usually was just trying to avoid getting locked in the cupboard or beaten up by Dudley. Or he was at school, which also wasn’t often a good experience either.
Well, he supposed gardening was pretty okay. Aunt Petunia usually left him to it when he gardened, and he could drink water from the hose if he got thirsty, so it wasn’t so bad.
“Err, well I like gardening I guess.”
“Oh, ya plants are pretty cool,” She said, “I like to read. I usually spend most of my free time in the library. I’m usually in the school library during recess, but the Mrs. Cathford caught me today and made me come outside.”
Well, that explains why she hadn’t gotten the avoid Harry Potter memo. Harry shifted, suddenly realizing that she might be completely out of the loop and not know the risk she was taking. He felt a little bad, but talking to her was much better, if more awkward, then hiding in the bathroom or standing alone all recess. He really didn’t want to scare her off yet, so he said, “I don’t really go to the school library much. Is there one outside of school or are libraries a school only thing?” (He internally cringed as he said this as he realized how dumb he sounded and hoped she wouldn’t think he was stupid for not knowing what libraries are.)
“No, there are non-school libraries,” Briar said, “The Little Whinging Library is near Surrey, where I live. Well, if you asked my mother, she’d say I practically live at the library, but I just go some times.”
“Oh, I think I live in Surrey too,” Harry said, hoping that his awkward, obliviousness wasn’t making it too obvious how little he talked to other people, “What do you-umm, read?” He stammered, trying not to ruin the conversation.
“Oh! I read all kinds of things! There are so many cool things in books,” she exclaimed, “Most other kids think books are boring,-“ Briar quickly glanced at Harry to gauge if he also found books boring, and was spurred on by his attentive expression-“but I think they’re just looking at the wrong books. There are books on everything, the hard part is just to find the good ones that interest you.”
“Huh,” Harry said. He had read a few books in school, but Dudley doesn’t like reading, preferring to stare at the telly, so there aren’t many books in the house besides Aunt Petunia’s old cookbooks.
They fell into what Harry hoped wasn’t an awkward silence, as they continued sorting through the clovers. They didn’t manage to find a 4-leafed one before one of the teachers called them in though. He was a little worried Briar would be upset that they failed, but she said it was fine as the 4-leafed one’s were really rare, but Harry was still a little nervous. It was nice talking to someone and he didn’t want to mess up hanging out with her.
Harry didn’t want to but he said good-bye to Briar and headed into the school. He felt a bit sad, that had been the best recess he’d ever had, but he figured that Dudley was going to scare her off too so he steeled himself for when she would ditch him.
~*~
The next day, when he was on his way to the door to go out to recess, someone grabbed him hand and pulled him into a bathroom. The girl’s bathroom. Harry had tensed when the hand grabbed him, but Dudley and his gang had already stampeded out to recess, so he let them drag him off. Mostly because he was curious as to who cared enough about his existence to pull him into a bathroom.
Harry turned and saw the girl from the day before, Briar.
“Hey!” whispered Briar pulling him away from the door to the hallway, “Keep quiet! I don’t want to get caught. You said yesterday that you haven’t been in a library before, so I thought I’d take you to the school one, and the easiest time to go is during recess.”
“Didn’t you get caught and sent outside yesterday?” Harry asked quietly, “Also, the library is in the school for students’ so can’t we just ask to go?”
“Well in theory we can,” Briar answered, “But in practice the teachers have weird ideas about when and how long we should spend in the library. Plus, this way’s more fun! And ya I got caught yesterday, but that was yesterday! Now it’s today, and today we’re not going to get caught! Now, let’s be quiet well everyone finishes going outside.”
Harry shrugged and went along with her plan. It might be a little odd, but she was right, this did sound more fun and probably faster than asking a teacher. Adults were often strange and unreliable in his experience, especially teachers. Plus, if he did this then there would be no risk that Dudley and his gang would chase him all recess.
After a few minutes, when everyone was definitely outside and away from the door, Briar said, “Okay! The coast is clear. Let’s go!”
Harry smiled as he and Briar speed walked down the hall towards the library. It was fun to do something with someone else, even if that something was just sneaking to the library. It felt nice, like how he imagined having a friend would feel.
When they got to the library, the opened the door and slipped in. As soon as they did, a voice behind they went, “Briar! Didn’t Mrs. Cathford just tell you off for hiding in the library during recess? And now you’ve gone and dragged some poor soul with you?”
Harry and Briar spun around, backs to the door, to see the grayed haired librarian trying to look scolding, but looking far more like her two favorite grandkids had just snuck in.
“Mrs. Hart!” Briar quickly said, “This is Harry and he’s NEVER been in the library before!”
Mrs. Hart smiled at her and replied fondly, “Well now, that’s just a travesty, isn’t it? Thank goodness you snuck him in!”
“Yes, exactly!” Briar said smiling and nodding, “See, I knew you’d understand how important this is. WAY more important than some silly outside time!”
Mrs. Hart sighed, chuckling a little, “Okay, fine Briar. You and your little friend can hide in here today, but you do need to do as Mrs. Cathford says at some point and actually go outside during recess. Some sunlight and fresh air is good for you!” She then turned to Harry and said, “Well young man, welcome to the library! Now, your name is Harry, yes?”
Harry blinked. He was shocked that this random adult let them off the hook so easily (and surprised that she thinks they’re friends, does Briar think their friends?), but replied, “Yes Mrs. Hart, my name is Harry Potter.”
“Well then Harry,” Mrs. Hart said smiling, “A friend of Briar’s is a friend of mine. Don’t let her drag you in here every day.” She turned, once more with a scolding look on her face, to look at Briar, “You have to actually go out to recess at some point.”
Briar smiled sheepishly, then turned to Harry, “Well, anyways do you want to go find some books? Come on!” and started off into the shelves of books with Harry tailing behind her. She led them to a table at the back of the library and sat down. “Well,” she said, “What do you want to know?”
“Oh, um...” Harry said, and he thought about it. There were lots of things he wanted to know, like why his Aunt and Uncle hated him so much and why they can’t stand the word magic, but he doubted there were books on that. How did he turn his first teacher’s hair blue and why did he live in a cupboard? Actually, now that he thought about it, most of the question he had weren’t likely to have books that answered them. So, he turned to Briar and said, “I’m not sure. I haven’t really read much before…”
Briar nodded, “That’s okay,” she said, “It took me a bit to figure out what I wanted to read at first. Right now, I’m trying to figure out how electricity works. If you want I can give you a book that I’ve read before to see if you’d like it?”
“Sure,” he said. Anything she can find is most likely going to be leagues better than spending recess getting hunted so Harry wasn’t going to be too picky.
“Well, uh” she said, stammering a bit, “Would you- well do you want to read about real things or do you just want a story?”
“Well,” Harry said thinking a little, “Do you know any good stories?” Briar nodded and rushed off into the stacks for a minute or so, before coming back with a small brown book and a bright green book with lightning on the cover. She passed him the brown book and shifted awkwardly before saying, “Sorry if this isn’t how you wanted to spend your recess. I uh-well most people don’t really like me that much and I got excited that you were willing to talk to me…”
Harry blinked, maybe he wasn’t the only one who everyone ignored, and said, “No this is great, I wasn’t planning on doing anything anyway. No one else really talks to me either.”
“Uh-ya I noticed,” she said, looking a little guilty, “that’s why I went up to you yesterday. I figured that we were both going to spend recess alone we could maybe, like be alone together or something.”
Harry thought about that. Dudley didn’t like it when anyone tried to be Harry’s friend, but he couldn’t get mad at them for being alone together. He smiled, “We could be like, alone buddies.” Then flushed as he realized how dumb that sounded.
But Briar was smiling too. “Yes! Alone buddies!” she said happily. They smiled at each other, and Harry looked down at the book she had passed him. “So, what’s this book about?” he asked.
“Oh! Yes, that’s the Hobbit! It’s the first part of this cool series,” Briar said, and as she went on about the book (which did sound interesting) Harry smiled, hopeful for the first time in a while that things might improve for him.