A loud tangle of voices filled the air of King's Cross Station the morning of September 1st as muggles, witches, and wizards filled the platforms. Draco pushed his cart, looking all around him to soak everything in. It was easy to pick out the other magical folk as they pushed their textbooks, owls, and belongings along toward platform 9 ¾. The muggles didn't seem to notice as they continued to go about their normal days. He chuckled at their complete oblivion which to him seemed almost archaic. Draco's amusement was interrupted by his father's sharp voice behind him.

"Look at this trash," he commented to his wife. "I swear, I don't know why this bloody school doesn't choose a more civilized way to get these kids to the Castle each fall. I told you, Narcissa, Durmstrang would have been a much more fitting choice for our son."

Draco shut his father's arguments out as he had many times throughout the summer. He knew how it would go. Hogwarts wasn't good enough for his son. His son deserved the best and neither that school or it's headmaster could give that to him. Durmstrang was a much more fitting school for a Malfoy and he would be given the best education.

Draco also knew his mother's response to that argument. Both she and her husband had attended Hogwarts and had turned out just fine. Plus, Durmstrang was much too far away, and she would miss her little dragon too much.

Neither parent had bothered asking Draco what he wanted. Each assumed that their son agreed with their point of view-which is what they did most of the time. If either Narcissa or Lucius would have thought to ask Draco what he wanted, they would find an opinion much different than their own. Draco had no desire to attend the Durmstrang Institute. He agreed with his father that Durmstrang would provide more suitable classmates for one such as himself. He also agreed with his mother that it was much too far away. Draco wasn't considered about the distance from his doting mother, however, as much as the distance from his best friend Theodore Nott.

As Draco approached the entrance to platform 9 ¾, he turned to see his parents still arguing about the value of Draco's education. When they realized that they had arrived, they stopped and turned to their son.

"Well, Draco, this is where we leave you. We'll see you again at Christmas. Send an owl immediately if you have any problems with that school."

Draco watched as his mother rolled her eyes at her husband.

"Aren't you going to see me off?" Draco asked.

Lucius seemed rather agitated by the question.

"Son, I have places I have to be after this and I would rather not deal with the filth that we already had to encounter at Diagon Alley. You're responsible enough to see yourself onto the train and remember this year, Draco- Malfoy's make powerful friends."

Draco nodded his head in understanding at his father. Lucius had already spoken to him about the possibility of the Potter boy attending Hogwarts this year. It was this boy that Lucius meant when he mentioned powerful friends. We have yet to see how his story will play out, his father had told him. But a powerful wizard he will be nonetheless.

"I know, fath—"

"This year is going to be particularly important for you, son." His father interrupted. "Things will be changing within the next year or two and we need to be sure to keep our allies close and our enemies within our sights."

"Yes, sir," Draco muttered. His father had been talking about these "changing" times quite frequently lately, although he never went into more detail than that. The only other clues that things were different were the revolving door of "allies" coming and goes from the Malfoy Manor. Lucius had recruited several of his old acquaintances to search for objects of "great importance"—whatever that meant. Draco was just happy that it meant more time with his best friend, as Mr. Nott was over quite a bit and brought his children along with him.

Draco looked then to his mother. In his mother's eyes, he saw something entirely different then agitation that filled his father. Tears threatened to spill onto her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around her son.

"I'm only an owl away, my dragon. If you need anything-ANYTHING- you just tell me, ok?"

Draco felt an unwelcome ache in the pit of his stomach as he realized that he wouldn't see his mother again until Christmas break. He squeezed her back a little tighter than usual, not even caring enough to be embarrassed to be seen clinging to his mom.

Behind them, Lucius cleared his throat and the two broke apart. Draco saw that the embarrassment that he usually felt when his mother tried to express her affection publicly had been transferred to his father.

"Come, Narcissa," his father said curtly. "Son, we will see you at Christmas."

Narcissa obediently pulled away from her son and went to stand with her husband. Both parents waved and then turned to return home.

Draco watched them recede back into the throng of people until they disappeared. He then realized that he was standing alone in the midst of a crowded station and needed to get moving. Turning to the brick wall beside him, Draco tightened his grip on his cart and took a deep breath in. He didn't breathe back out until he had passed through the magical barrier onto platform 9 ¾.

…..

All sadness about leaving his parents behind vanished as the atmosphere of the station immediately changed. Young witches and wizards rushed to and fro, greeting friends and gathering their luggage, steam bellowed from the train, parents said their teary goodbyes. Draco stood transfixed as he drank it all in. He jumped as a slap on his back woke him from his reverie.

"Draco!" a familiar voice shouted. When he turned he was face to face with none other than Theodore Nott. Theodore's short black hair was styled impeccably as always, sweeping slightly up and to the side. Draco noticed his friend had grown yet another inch or two since the last time they had seen each other, which made him look even skinnier than usual. Behind his friend stood Mr. Nott and Theodore's younger sister, her hair was just as dark and straight but she was obviously not blessed with her brother's height.

"Hey, Theo. Where's all your stuff?" Draco asked when he saw that his friend didn't have a cart like his full of luggage.

"Already on the train. I was just saying my goodbyes and then I was going to come looking for you."

Both Theodore and Draco made their way over to the small Nott family, one less since Mrs. Nott's death several years ago. Mr. Nott greeted Draco kindly enough and inquired after his father. Their conversation steered towards Draco's family until Theo's sister interrupted suddenly.

"Daddy, can I please just step onto the train and see what it looks like?"

From the way that Mr. Nott looked down at his second child, Draco could tell this had been the subject of argument all day.

"Harper, I told you no," his tone was harsh and Draco could see tears starting to form in Harper's eyes. She brushed them away when she saw Draco looking at her.

Theodore went to his sister then and bent down to level himself with her. Even though there was only a year difference between the two, she was much smaller than him.

"Hey," he said as she tried to turn away from him. "I'll be back for Christmas before you know it. Next year this will be you and you can sit with me and Draco all the way to Hogwarts. Isn't that right, Draco."

"Yeah. That is if you won't be too intimidated to hang out with the coolest second years on the train," he teased. He was happy to see that his response had brought a smile to Harper's face.

Just then the train whistle blew and all of the students who were not already on board started rushing in the same direction.

"Get going boys," Mr. Nott said. "We'll see you at Christmas, Theodore."

"Bye dad. Bye Harper!" Theo called over his shoulder as he and Draco made their way to the train.

…...

Once aboard, the two boys made their way to the compartment where Theodore had already placed his luggage. Draco hoisted his bags to the storage ledge above them and sat beside his friend.

"Harper seemed pretty upset to see you go," Draco said once they felt the train began to lurch.

"Yea, I think it's going to be pretty hard on her," he responded. "It's just going to be her and dad…" Theo stopped there but Draco could see a look of worry pass over his friend's features. He knew that, like his own father, Mr. Nott could be demanding and strict. They were both former death eaters. Mr. Nott, however, had been much harder on his children since the death of his wife five years earlier. Draco had the sinking suspicion that their home had become much more violent since their mother's passing.

"She can't wait to come with me next year," Theo continued. "But I think she's worried she won't be placed in Slytherin, and you know how dad would feel about that."

Draco was shocked. He couldn't even imagine not being placed in Slytherin. It was almost a given. Except for the occasional bad apple on his mother's side, everyone on both sides of his family tree had been sorted into Slytherin. He knew the same was true for Nott's family. Draco had been raised to assume that's where he would be placed as well.

"Why does she think that?" Draco asked.

"We heard dad talking to our uncle a few weeks ago about it. They're afraid she'll be sorted Ravenclaw. You know Harper, she's curious about everything. Just last month she was in the backyard taking notes on the nesting patterns of garden gnomes."

Draco did know Harper, almost as well as he knew Theodore. The Notts had been close to the Malfoy family as long as Draco could remember. Because of Mrs. Nott's death, both Theodore and Harper had spent countless hours at Malfoy Manor under the supervision of Mrs. Malfoy while their father's met and talked about who knows what. Draco considered the Nott children to be the closest things to siblings that he ever had.

"I don't think there's anything to worry about," Draco said, trying to take Theo's mind off his worries about his little sister. "My dad says that all great witches and wizards are sorted Slytherin. Just because she's smart doesn't mean she'll be sorted Ravenclaw. She's a Nott for Merlin's sake."

Draco's reassurance seemed to lighten Theo's mood as did the trolley that arrived minutes later loaded with chocolate frogs and licorice wands. As they ate their fill, Crabbe and Goyle entered the compartment, probably-Draco thought- lured in by the smell of sweets.

Both of the boys who had just arrived considered themselves Draco's friends. Draco considered them more like his lackeys. Theo was someone he enjoyed hanging out with, someone that compared to him in both interests and smarts. Crabbe and Goyle were pretty dull to say the least, but they came in handy when they were needed.

"Did you hear who's on the train?" Goyle asked Draco and Theodore. When both boys shook their heads he continued. "Harry Freaking Potter. Word is he's further up in the train with some dirty ginger boy. Wanna go see if he really has a scar on his face?"

"I'm good," Theo responded. "I don't care to gawk over some scar head."

Draco was about to agree with Theo until he thought about what his father had told him earlier in the day. Malfoy's make powerful friends. His father would expect him to at least introduce himself.

"Sure," Draco finally decided. "Theo, we'll be back."

"When you get back tell me how big it is. I bet it covers his whole face," he said sarcastically.

Draco rolled his eyes and jokingly flipped his best friend off as he followed Crabbe and Goyle out of the compartment and through the train.

The boys got to the compartment that Potter was rumored to be in and walked right in without knocking. Draco immediately recognized the boy he had met at Madame Malkin's robe shop early in the summer.

"Is it true? They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

When the familiar boy confirmed that he was indeed the Boy that Lived, Draco introduced himself, Crabbe, and Goyle and extended his hand. When the red headed boy beside Harry let out a snigger, Draco looked over at him and wrinkled his nose in disgust. He was obviously a Weasley. Draco's father knew them from work. Apparently they reproduced like rabbits and couldn't afford anything past food to feed their litter. From the look of the boy's dingy clothes, this was true.

"You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better that others," Draco explained to Harry. He realized that if the rumors were true Harry hadn't had much contact with the wizarding world throughout his life, so Draco wanted to help him the best he could. "You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

To Draco's surprise Harry returned his offer with a look of surprise and disgust.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself," Harry responded. It was obvious that he was talking about Draco when he referred to the wrong sort.

Draco felt the hairs on his neck bristle in anger. He couldn't believe this boy had just insulted him. The tension in the room rose as both parties prepared to defend their honor.

Draco laughed as Potter and the Weasley boy tried to make themselves look threatening. Both were skinny and didn't look like they had been in a fight in all their lives. He on the other hand had thrown a punch or two and even though he was just as small as them he had Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him. Stupid but powerful friends, just like his father had instructed him to make.

"You're going to fight us, are you," Draco taunted.

"Unless you get out now," Potter responded. The boy's voice wavered with obvious fear. Crabbe and Goyle sneered back at him menacingly- that was until they caught sight of the candy sitting in the bench behind the two boys.

As Draco's two giant bodyguards lurched forward to take the treats, Goyle let out a booming yell. When Draco looked over at him, he saw the large boy flinging his hand through the air. Attached to it was a mangy grey rat. Its front teeth sank deep into the flesh of Goyle's finger. With one final shake of his arm, Goyle was able to detach the rat from his appendage.

Like two frightened animals, Crabbe and Goyle ran from the compartment back the way they had come. Draco didn't want to leave the confrontation that had been started but didn't fancy the odds now that he was left on his own. He was out the door and headed back to his compartment before Potter and Weasley could say another word.