So, the usual disclaimer, I own nothing.
"All things truly wicked start from innocence." -Ernest Hemingway
A young boy with white-blond hair was pulled along by his mother as she glided down Diagon Alley. They passed the quidditch shop and he saw that they had a model of the latest broom – the Nimbus 2000. Other boys his age crowded around it looking in awe through the window reverently whispering about the top speed of the broom and its many features. He longed to join them but such behavior was below him, as his father had repeatedly reminded him. No matter, he'd just ask for it for Christmas.
They entered Flourish and Blotts to purchase his books for his first year at Hogwarts. His mother gave him permission to wander about the store as she went to collect his texts. Draco meandered disinterestedly up and down the aisles – few of the shelves' contents caught his interest, and those that did could already be found in the extensive Malfoy library.
Draco wondered how much begging he would have to do to get a Nimbus before Christmas. Maybe if he behaved extremely well at the Parkinson's Ball, didn't put up a fuss as he usually did about the stuffy dress robes, and made nice with Pansy, his father would buy it for him.
He was startled out of his plotting by a voice loudly exclaiming over some book. He peeked around the shelf and saw a young girl, around his age, holding The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1). He supposed she was going to be a first year at Hogwarts as well. She was wearing a pretty white dress that swirled around her calves as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other. He looked disdainfully at her frizzy brown hair, mentally contrasting it with his own slick blond that was painstakingly combed and styled every morning. Her hair was loose down her back and fell in her eyes as she quickly scanned through the book. Draco stared at her wondering how she could show such interest in such a mundane book. Definitely a Ravenclaw, he decided.
She seemed intelligent enough, judging by her interest in the text. Much more so than any of the other girls he knew, at any rate. Pansy and Daphne would rather gossip about boys and compare makeup charms than browse books. Draco had been rather under the impression that all girls were of a similar mind. This one seemed different. He wondered if they could perhaps be friends at school. He was sure to be in Slytherin and the girl looked like she would be sorted into Ravenclaw – it was not uncommon for snakes to mix with eagles.
Suddenly the girl looked up and Draco found himself captured by dark brown eyes. He saw her rosy cheeks and pink lips. Beautiful, he thought to himself.
"Draco!", his mother called. He jerked and averted his eyes from the mysterious girl. "There you are Draco, come along now, we've got to get you fitted for your new robes." As his mother practically dragged him out of the store, he noticed a man and the woman standing at the counter. His mother did as well. "Muggles", she sneered "Can you imagine what your father would say Draco? Muggles in Daigon Alley." Draco could very well imagine his father's opinion on the matter. He had made no secret of his disdain for their type.
"Mother, I've found the book!", Draco's mystery girl exclaimed as she ran over to the muggle couple. Mudblood. He felt his heart sink. There was no way a Malfoy could be associated with one of them.
Later on as he lay in bed, Draco found his thoughts drifting to that girl again. Come now Draco, she may be pretty and she may be smart, but she's still a mudblood and she will always be beneath you, not even worth your notice. Forget about her, she has no place in your world, a voice very like his father's whispered in his mind. With that final thought, Draco drifted uneasily into sleep.
"GRYFFINDOR!", the hat cried. Draco mentally swore. It was bad enough she was a mudblood, she just had to go and be sorted in Gryffindor as well, house of the self-righteous and idiotic.
"Draco Malfoy!" Upon hearing his name, Draco gave himself a mental shake. He straightened up and walked up to the stool with all the grace expected of a Malfoy. The hat was placed on his head barely a second before it cried "SLYTHERIN!". He smirked. Of course he was Slytherin, with his pedigree and family history, how could he be anything else? He sat next to Crabbe and Goyle and impatiently waited for Blaise to join him.
"Harry Potter!" Bloody Potter, making me look like a fool, I hope he gets sorted into Hufflepuff. Bloody serve him right. Draco observed curiously that Potter's sorting was taking an inordinate amount of time. He noticed him scowling at the hat and wondered if Potter was actually trying to argue with it. "GRYFFINDOR!", the hat finally declared. Draco scoffed, of course Potter would get sorted into that house.
After all the first years had been sorted, the headmaster stood and gave a speech. Draco was quite unimpressed. All that fuss about Albus Dumbledore, Supreme Mugwump, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Grand Sorcerer, not to mention he was rumored to be the only wizard the Dark Lord had feared. If you asked Draco, Dumbledore was just a barmy, old codger who appeared to have gone colorblind judging by his offending robes.
Dinner was satisfactory, of course nowhere near the caliber of a proper meal at Malfoy Manor, but passable enough. As Draco ate he scanned the students in the Great Hall taking note of which purebloods had not been sorted into Slytherin. The Weasley boy of course, "blood traitors, the lot of them" he recalled his father saying, the Longbottom boy, and the Brown's girl. All three had been sorted into Gryffindor. He made a mental note to write to his father and inform him of the outcome of the sorting.
Well that went better than expected. I'm hoping to see this story through to the end unlike my other story which kinda got abandoned... In any case, school finishes in two weeks so I'll have plenty of time to work on this. I hope to get the next chapter up in a week or two but I still haven't decided what events to keep from the original story and what I want to tweak. In the meantime, I would very much recommend the fanfic Pure by Hesaluti, it's one of my favorite Dramione stories. Any suggestions are welcome and reviews are greatly appreciated.