Acceptance
Chapter 1
Platform Peril

The sky was aghast with fat grey clouds, raindrops threatening to fall upon the grounds of the muggle world. I sprinted towards the infamous Platform nine and three quarters with my best friend, Ron Weasley, not too far behind.

"Get a move on, will you?"

"I'm trying! You push my trolley then, you whiny git!"

Just then, a faint sound made its way into my eardrums. A whimper, was it? A cry? It sounded like a child, not too far away. "Ron!" I called out. He finally caught up to me and shot me an exhausted glare, "what?" I motioned him to listen…

"Do you hear something? Perhaps a child's cry?"

"Sorry, mate. All I hear is the train moving off if we don't hurry up and get to the platform NOW. Come on, let's go."

And he pushed his way past me and charged through the wall between platforms nine and ten. I proceeded to go after him, but something deep inside me told me to check out the source of the soft cries I heard- there it is again! I rammed my way through the crowd, knocking several muggles out of the way, -by accident of course- and headed towards the sound. Soon, I found myself standing face to face with a little boy with blond hair, hiding in the corner of a wall. He had his head buried in his little knees and refused to look up, endlessly whimpering.

"Hey, little guy. You alright?"

The blonde's head inched its way up above his knees and looked at me, trembling in fear. His misty grey eyes resembled that of my rival at Hogwarts; Malfoy. But no, it couldn't be…Could it? I turned to leave, lest I be late. God knows what I'll do if I miss the train…AGAIN… But as I turned to leave, I heard a small voice.

"Dun weave Dwayco…Pweez…?"

I spun around instantaneously to see the blonde standing up and holding his arms out towards me, tears welling up in the grey eyes I knew so well. So it really was him…but how? How did he end up in the muggle world and why was he...small…? I simply stood there spaced out for a few seconds until Malfoy's voice chimed in again,

"Dun go…"

That was when my conscience kicked in. I was left alone as a child myself, to be cared for by what seemed to be the worst muggles in the world, and I had been treated like shit all my life until I got accepted into Hogwarts. No way did I deserve that, and no way would Malfoy, as cocky as I knew him to be, deserve to be abandoned in a place like this. I stole a glance at the clock, then back at a sad little Malfoy, and immediately scooped him up into my trolley and dashed to the platform. Thankfully, the train was still there, and before I knew it, I found my way to the same cabin as Ron and Hermione, hiding the little Malfoy under my cloak.

"Blimey, took you long enough. I was telling Hermione how someone was telling me to get a move on while he himself took five bloody minutes to get aboard."

"Sorry Ron. I got caught up with something at the last minute."

Hermione didn't say anything, but continuously stared at a bump in my cloak, which I tried desperately to hide. I failed, however, when Hermione asked what it was.

"Um, well…that's the thing I was caught up with at King's Cross…"

Hermione bent over and began prodding at the suspicious bump until Malfoy yelped out in pain. I decided that I had to tell them sooner or later anyway, so I lifted him out from under my cloak, earning a shrilly scream from Ron. Then I began to tell them about how I found him curled up in a corner by himself and how I simply had to smuggle him along.

"So, what you're saying is…this is Malfoy?" Hermione questioned.
"Well yeah, he did call himself Draco…" I replied.
"Bloody hell, Harry. You should have just left him there, he deserves it after all those years of being such a dick to us." Ron retorted.

I clenched my fist. How could Ron be so heartless? I answered back, "sure, Malfoy was a dick but he's obviously been through a lot and somehow got himself in this sorry state. You can't expect me to just ignore the cries of a little kid, Ron. You have no idea what it's like to be abandoned like that…alone…with no one to love and are for you…"

My voice faltered as it trailed off, and Ron apologized soon after. Little Draco sat at the corner, looking at the three of us, still trembling in fear.

"Well, if he's scared of us, why would he want to follow you?" Ron rolled his eyes.
"Uh, I dunno. Maybe it's because you just insulted him?"

I sighed and turned to look at Draco; he looked nothing like the Malfoy we knew. There was no more dominance, hatred or evilness in his eyes, all that remained was pure innocence and fear; fear of being abandoned. I understood that so well, and I would rather Malfoy not grow up in such an environment. Perhaps if he came to live with Ron, Hermione and I, as well as the other Gryffindors at Hogwarts, he might become a changed person, maybe he wouldn't become the despised bully that he was.

"Harry, you're not thinking of letting him live in the Gryffindor common room are you?" Hermione shot me a look of disapproval. How the hell did she read my mind? "Well, Hermione, what do you suggest we do with him then?"

"Simple. We're going to turn him in to Professor Dumbledore and let him handle the rest."
"Hermione's right, mate. We don't need an extra weight on our shoulders," Ron pointed out as Draco began climbing up onto my shoulder. "No pun intended," he coughed.

"Maybe you're right, but for tonight, just let him live with us okay? He needs some time to adjust to his surroundings before we dump him into someone else's hands," I negotiated. The two gave it some thought and eventually gave in.

Draco, as if understanding the situation, forced a smile in my direction and fell asleep in my arms. I brought the little boy closer, wrapped my cloak around him and blushed; he was adorable. My fingers skidded down the side of his bangs and stroked his cheek gently. Hermione couldn't help but giggle at the sight of me embracing the enemy, which caused a look of disgust from Ron.

"I know, I know, guys. This is weird but…I guess he's one of us for now."

I turned my attention to the blonde in my arms once more. If only he'd stay like this, I definitely prefer him the way he is now, compared with his former bully self. Whatever happens when we get to Hogwarts, we'll worry about later. But now, time seemed to stop while I secretly enjoyed this moment with the young Slytherin. Hopefully he'll grow to feel more accepted when he's with us, or better yet, with me.