Kate's first day at St Grogory's was going quite well until she noticed the boy sitting alone at the edge of the playground. None of the other children went near him; it seemed as if they were deliberately keeping a metre-wide circle around him at all times. She started to walk towards him but stopped when a girl grabbed her by the arm.

"You're not allowed to talk to him."

Kate blinked, confused. A small crowd of students had started to form around the other girl, deliberately averting their gazes and fiddling absentmindedly with their uniforms. "Why not?" Kate asked. The girl squirmed and one of the other children nudged her.

"Because...because Dudley Dursley said so!"

"Who's Dudley Dursley?"

"He's the Freak's cousin!" piped a younger boy. He pointed across to a startlingly large boy leaning up against the school building. A gaggle of lanky, unpleasant-looking boys were laughing uproariously at something he'd just said. Kate's eyes narrowed.

She turned on her heel, shoving through the crowd of protestors and striding purposely up to the boy nicknamed The Freak. He looked up at her as Kate approached; he was a skinny, dishevelled-looking boy in a shabby second-hand uniform. His dark brown hair stuck up in unevenly-cut lumps and his thick round glasses were held together in the middle with sticky tape.

"Hello!" Kate smiled and sat down on the bench beside him. He leaned around her, looking as the other children scattered, their expressions simultaneously horrified and mildly impressed. He sat back and gave Kate a concerned look. "You're not allowed to talk to me. Dudley won't like it." Kate shrugged, legs swinging gently. "I know but I don't really care. Would you like to be friends anyway?"

He gave a small smile and a curt nod. "My name's Kate. What's yours?"

"I'm Harry"

"That's a nice name"

Harry froze, his face paling, as a shadow fell across them. Kate looked up; Dudley Dursley glared down at her, his face quickly turning beetroot-red. He was flanked by a skinny, rat-faced boy, and two other overweight cronies.

"You're not allowed to talk to the Freak!" Dudley thrust a finger at Harry, practically spitting the insult. Harry flinched, glaring ferociously but saying nothing. Kate gritted her teeth and stood up, her arms crossed.

"Why not?"

"Because I said so alright?!"

"Yeah!" chorused Dudley's gang. Kate eyed them. She could probably take the skinny one but she'd need Harry's help to sort out Dudley and the others. Kicking, scratching, biting. Especially biting. She knew to aim for the soft parts.

"You're not. Allowed. To. Talk. To. Him." Dudley was practically spitting, his face a dangerous shade of purple. Kate glared evenly at him, arms still crossed. "Make me."

Everyone froze. The other boys gaped at Dudley who snorted and spluttered, glaring furiously. He glanced around to see if there were any witnesses; one of the teachers on duty nearby had noticed them and was keeping an eye on the situation.

Dudley dropped his finger, turned on his heel, and stormed off. Harry, smiling broadly, watched the rest of the gang waddle after him and turned to Kate. "He won't forget this you know."

"Good" Kate sniffed, head held high, Everybody was determinedly not looking in their direction, backs turned. Well that was fine by her. "They'll come back you know" Harry said wearily, "When the teacher goes away, they'll be back and they'll do..something."

Kate thought for a minute, then grinned. "Come on! I know one place they'll never find us." Harry looked uncertain, but he followed her across the playground. They spent the rest of the break squirrelled away in the library, and continued their new tradition through lunch, certain in the knowledge that neither Dudley nor his gang would ever be caught dead in the place.