Author's Note: Thanks to Liza for betaing. :)
Written for...
Daily Prophet Competition. Task: Choose one canon scene to change. (Harry and Draco meeting in Madam Malkin's. I made Harry open up more than he did in the book.)
Black and White
559 words
"Have you got your own broom?" the pointy-faced boy asked.
"No," Harry answered.
"Play Quidditch at all?"
"No," Harry said again, feeling like the boy was speaking a different language. "What's Quidditch?"
The blond's eyes grew wide. "It's only the biggest sport in history. Where have you been?"
Harry shrugged, embarrassed. The boy stared at him.
"You're not from a Muggle family, are you?"
"My aunt and uncle are Muggles. I live with them."
"But your parents…"
"They were a witch and wizard. They died."
The boy seemed dazed. "Why wouldn't one of our kind take you in? Growing up with Muggles must have been horrible."
Harry kept silent. He wasn't sure he wanted to talk about the Dursleys with anyone, let alone someone he'd only just met. Thankfully he was saved from answering when the boy spotted Hagrid outside the window.
"I say, look at that man!" he exclaimed.
"That's Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts."
The boy looked deep in thought for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something when Madam Malkin came by.
"That's you done, my dear," she said.
Harry hopped down from the footstool and turned back to say goodbye and found the boy staring intently at him.
"Is he helping you buy your school things?" Harry nodded. The boy pursed his lips. "You should come with me. I'm sure Father and Mother would agree. Better us than…" His eyes lingered on Hagrid.
"I like Hagrid," Harry said defensively.
"I only meant that you need someone to show you around, someone to teach you about Quidditch and other important things like that. It's not right, you going to Hogwarts without know anything." He offered Harry a smile. "I can help."
Harry glanced back at Hagrid, who was quickly devouring one of the ice cream cones he held.
"Can't Hagrid come too?"
The boy looked torn for a moment, until the seamstress who had been working on his robes told him she was finished. He stepped down to Harry's level and extended a pale hand. "If you'd like. I'm Draco Malfoy."
Harry smiled, shaking Draco's hand. "Harry Potter."
Draco froze for a moment. This was not a reaction Harry had expected after the spectacle everyone made of his name in the Leaky Cauldron. He wondered for a moment if Draco had even heard him properly when a tall blonde woman entered the shop and sauntered over to Draco's side.
"Are you almost finished, Draco? I told your father we would meet him in Eeylop's in a few minutes."
At the sound of his name, Draco came alive. "Mother, this is Harry Potter. I've offered to help him collect his school supplies."
Harry watched Mrs. Malfoy carefully, afraid she would be upset at being saddled with another child. Aunt Petunia would be. But instead Mrs. Malfoy looked delighted at the idea, once she got over a brief hesitation at his name.
The way Hagrid and Mrs. Malfoy acted toward each other as they made their way to Eeylop's worried Harry, but he quickly found himself being distracted by Draco's nonstop chatter about Quidditch and Hogwarts houses. Very little of it made any sense to him yet, but he smiled to himself, amazed that he had managed to make two friends in one day.
He only hoped the rest of the wizarding world was as welcoming.