Chapter 1

Draco Malfoy stood back as Goyle heaved their luggage into the overhead compartments before slumping down on the seat on the left-hand side of the carriage. Stepping closer, Draco waved his wand and cleared the dirt off the other seat and sat down heavily. He was excited for his first day at Hogwarts – kind of. There was no air of mystery about what house he'd end up getting Sorted into; every generation of Malfoy had been a Slytherin, and that's where Draco would go.

Crabbe lumbered in, having already found the food trolley, and was carrying an armful of sweets. As soon as he sat down next to Goyle, the pair were fighting over the sweets like idiots.

"Will you two cut that out?" snapped Draco. "Honestly, they're all the same!"

"Sorry, Draco," the pair mumbled. They cut their antics out.

Reaching into his book bag, he pulled out one of the assigned history books for first years – A History of Magic – pulled out his bookmark from the last third of the book and began reading.

As he turned a page, he heard the compartment door open. He assumed it was either Crabbe or Goyle going out to get more food, because Merlin knew those two loved to eat, but his head snapped up in surprise when he heard an unfamiliar voice speak up.

"Do you mind if I sit in here?" A small boy wearing the biggest, most ugliest clothes that Draco had ever seen, with big round glasses that almost swallowed his face whole, stood in the doorway looking nervous. In contrast to the state of his attire, behind him was a trunk that looked almost new. "Everywhere else is full."

Draco nodded brusquely. "Come inside – leave your trunk, Goyle will put it up," he said quickly, as the boy tried to drag his trunk in only to get the wheels caught in the grooves on the floor. Draco shifted over to make room. Nervously, the boy sat. "I'm Draco Malfoy. This is Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle." He gestured to both of them in turn.

"I'm Harry Potter," said the boy.

Draco's mouth dropped open. "You're Harry Potter – famous Harry Potter?"

"Erm, yes …" It almost sounded like a question.

What was the famous Harry Potter doing, dressing like he'd been taking fashion tips from giants? His shirt was almost hanging off him, the collar drifting down his shoulder to reveal a body that was barely more than skin and bones. Draco couldn't understand it.

"Right, well," said Draco, trying to save face. "Nice to meet you then."

Harry Potter smiled in relief. "Nice to meet you too."

Goyle slumped down in his seat again. Crabbe punched him in the arm for sitting on a couple packets of Droobles Best Blowing Gum, growling when Goyle returned the punch before fishing out the gum and eating both of them.

"Do you know what Hogwarts house you'll be in?" asked Crabbe gruffly.

"We're gonna be Slytherins," said Goyle, gesturing to himself, Crabbe and Draco with his index finger.

"Oh, um, no I don't," said Harry. "I don't know much about them. I hear Gryffindor might be good …"

Crabbe guffawed. Harry's ears went pink.

"Crabbe, do us all a favour and don't speak for a while," said Draco, rolling his eyes. "Rarely, if ever, does anything intelligent pass through your lips."

Crabbe frowned, like he was trying to figure out whether he'd just been insulted or not. But he went quiet, and that was all that mattered.

"What do you know about the Hogwarts houses?" Draco asked Harry patiently.

"Not much," admitted Harry. "I didn't know anything about magic or wizards or any of it before I turned eleven – that was only about a month ago now. Hagrid told me a little bit about the houses."

"Hagrid? The half-giant grounds-keeper?"

Harry sat up straight, brows furrowing. There was a righteous indignant air about him. "Yes, is there something wrong with that?" he asked sharply. "Hagrid's my friend!"

Wisely, Draco held his tongue on the insults he'd just been about to loose about Hagrid the Oaf, as he'd been dubbed many years ago. "No, not at all. It's just he probably wouldn't give an accurate description of the Slytherin house, that's all. A lot of lies have been bandied about regarding it."

"He said there's never been a witch or wizard in Slytherin that haven't gone bad," said Harry quietly, his body deflating as if someone had stuck a pin in him and stole the air inside. "He said it was the evil one."

Fury spiked in Draco. "That's not true!" He balled his hands into fists. "Slytherin is the house of the cunning and ambitious. Then there's Gryffindor, the house of bravery and courage. Ravenclaw, intelligence and – well actually I think it's just that. Then there's Hufflepuff, for the loyal and hard-working – and they're widely known as the most useless house because their traits are ingrained in the rest of the houses, so essentially Hufflepuffs don't have anything that anyone else hasn't already got. There's nothing in there about evil houses."

"Oh." Harry pinched his chin in thought. "So he was wrong?"

"Definitely wrong," said Draco emphatically. "Many people are just biased toward the Slytherin house."

"And with good reason!" The compartment door was shoved open with a loud bang. A ginger-haired boy with an unsightly amount of freckles wearing robes almost as tattered as Harry's stood there glaring at Draco in disgust. "I heard what you were talking about, and you're wrong. You-Know-Who was in Slytherin, and he's the worst of the lot! My mum says that everyone goes bad in Slytherin!"

Draco figured this boy must've been a Weasley. It explained the hair and the clothes perfectly, for no one else would want to go around looking like they'd just rolled in dirt.

He stood up. "How stupid can you be?" He sensed Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. "Just because You-Know-Who was in Slytherin doesn't mean we're all evil."

"Planning on being a Slytherin, are you?" demanded Weasley, sneering at him. It made him look uglier than ever, in Draco's opinion.

"So what if I am?"

"Then you're evil too!" Weasley turned to Harry. "You shouldn't listen to a word he says, or he'll corrupt you. He's gonna be evil as well and he'll drag you down with him."

"Excuse me?" shouted Draco.

"He will not!" Harry leapt to his feet, his hands balled into fists. He was nowhere near the size of Crabbe and Goyle, therefore was much less intimidating, but he fixed Weasley with a glare that was intense enough to make Weasley gape stupidly. "Draco is my friend."

"He's a Malfoy!" yelled Ron, jabbing a finger at Draco. "Don't you know anything? Malfoy's are all evil – they were working for You-Know-Who!"

Crabbe and Goyle were cracking their knuckles, readying themselves for a fight.

"You shut your fat mouth about Draco and his family!" said Harry. "Nobody asked for your opinion, so leave."

If Weasley's jaw opened any wider, it might drop off his face entirely. "Wow, you're stupid."

Had Draco blinked in that moment, he would've missed the way Harry deflated once again looking devastated. There was clearly a history between Harry and the word 'stupid', one that upset Harry greatly – and Draco wasn't going to have someone like Weasley come along and bandy about insults to his new and intriguing friend.

"Alright, I've had enough." Draco whipped out his wand and levelled it at Weasley. "Get out of here now before I curse you into next week."

Weasley laughed cruelly. "Come off it, Malfoy, you don't know how to do anything like that."

"Are you willing to bet on that?" Draco arched a brow, lifting his wand fractionally. "After all the things you think you know about my family, are you really willing to stand there and gloat on the off-chance that I don't know anything that could harm you?"

Weasley stepped back half an inch, no longer looking quite so sure of himself. His hand twitched toward his wand, but Draco knew he'd never go for it, not when Draco had the clear advantage.

"Whatever," muttered Weasley. He span on his heels and marched off, but not before Draco heard him say, "Slimy Slytherins … shouldn't be let in Hogwarts at all …"

Crabbe slammed the door shut just as Harry cried, "What's his problem?" Looking over at Harry as he stowed away his wand, he found Harry almost vibrating with anger. "He should learn to mind his own business!"

"He's a Weasley," said Draco, snorting. "They think that everyone's business is their business. You'll get used to it, I'm sure. He looked about our age."

"I don't want to be in the same house as him."

"All the Weasleys have been Sorted into Gryffindor," said Draco, sneering. "As far as I'm aware, a quarter of the brood's already been there for years."

"Then I don't want to be in Gryffindor any more," said Harry. He sat down, but Draco could tell that he was pinching the palm of his hands to keep his cool. "I don't want to have any more to do with Weasleys."

The door opened.

"Excuse me," said a girl with bushy brown hair. She was already wearing her uniform. "Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville has lost one."

"We saw one type of toad," said Draco, "but I'm not sure if he's the one you're looking for."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry grin and felt glad that someone had gotten the joke – Crabbe and Goyle were as gormless as ever; their eyes were narrowed in thought, as if they were trying to figure out when they'd last seen a toad.

The girl frowned, canting her head. "Excuse me?"

"No, I haven't seen one," said Draco impatiently. He picked up his book again.

"Well, please let me know if you – oh! Is that a History of Magic?" Her eyes went wide with excitement. "Have you gotten to the part where they explain the enchantments on the ceiling of the Great Hall? That's one of my favourite parts. I wish I knew what charms they are!"

"I already know about the Great Hall," said Draco. "I've read this book four times."

"Really?" Without being invited, the girl stepped in the compartment and shut the door behind her, before lunging for the empty space beside Harry, who immediately budged up to make room. "What's your favourite part?"

"How the school was founded, of course," said Draco.

"Oh, yes! Mine too!" said the girl. "I loved it all, really. See, before this year I'd never heard about magic," Draco caught Harry perking up at this, "so I want to learn everything that I can!"

"You're Muggle-born?" asked Draco, with an arch of his brows.

The girl nodded. "Yes – oh, how rude of me. I haven't introduced myself yet! I'm Hermione Granger." She held out her hand.

Draco introduced himself and the others in turn and, wondering what his father would think of this, shook Hermione Granger's hand. After the incident with Weasley, Draco didn't really have it in him to be an arse; he'd already gone over his quota for the day. Besides, he could finally talk about books with someone who'd understand what he was saying, and that was a plus.

"I don't know much about magic either," said Harry softly, his cheeks red from embarrassment. "It's nice to know I'm not the only one."

Hermione smiled at him sweetly, grasping his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't you worry; I'm sure people like us will catch up eventually."

"I hope so," said Harry.

"I'm sorry, but what was your name again?" she asked.

"Harry Potter."

Her eyes bugged out. "Harry Potter? As in – as in the Harry Potter?"

"Erm … yes?"

"Oh my goodness, wow! I've – I've read all about you! You're in almost all of the history books I've picked up, it's amazing that I'm actually able to meet you," gushed Hermione. Then she pinched the inside of her wrist. "I'm sorry, if you don't know much about magic, then I doubt you know what I'm talking about. I apologise if I freaked you out a bit."

Harry blinked owlishly at her, as if he was still trying to process everything Hermione had said; she spoke a mile a minute. "No, it's fine."

"Right, okay – it's very nice to meet you, Harry," she said. She still looked flustered. "I suppose I better continue on and help Neville find his toad. He'll be ever so distraught if he doesn't find it. Thank you for talking to me, Harry, Draco." She offered a smile to Crabbe and Goyle, and it was possible she'd already forgotten their names. "I'll see you later!"

"I hope you caught most of that," said Draco wryly. "I'm afraid I don't speak fast-forward."

Harry smiled.

At the Sorting ceremony, Hermione joined Harry, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. She was positively beaming with excitement – Draco wondered how much longer it would be until she became her own light source.

"I'm so excited!" she said, unnecessarily. "Ooh, I wonder where I'll be placed."

"Silence, please!" said Minerva McGonagall, who'd introduced herself to the first years not five minutes prior. Everyone in the Great Hall went obediently silent. "Thank you. The Sorting ceremony will now commence."

One by one the new students were called up to the platform to place a wizened old fat atop their heads. Within seconds to at least a minute, the hat would shout the house that the student would now belong to, and said student would rip the hat off their heads and run to that house's table.

Crabbe and Goyle were both Sorted into Slytherin, but there'd been no doubts about that.

"Granger, Hermione," called McGonagall.

Hermione squeaked, paling dramatically.

"You'll be fine," said Harry encouragingly. "Go on."

As Hermione walked up the platform, she wobbled alarmingly as if her knees had almost given out on her. The hat just barely grazed the top of her head when it shouted, "Ravenclaw!" and the Ravenclaw table burst into applause. Cheeks pink, Hermione took the hat off and raced for the table, where she shook the hands of her fellow first year Ravenclaws.

A few more people went up, before McGonagall cried, "Malfoy, Draco!"

The same with Hermione, the hat barely touched his head before it cried, "Slytherin!" just like he knew it would. He wasn't going to be the Malfoy that broke tradition, after all. Sitting down at the Slytherin table, Draco nodded to Harry, who looked quite lost, standing there on his own.

You'll be fine, he mouthed to Harry, giving him the thumb's up. Behind Harry, he caught sight of Weasley sneering at him, but he didn't dare return the gesture in case Harry thought it was directed at him.

Minutes dragged by.

"Potter, Harry!"

Draco sat up, once again interested. The Great Hall had gone deathly silent for a second, before whispers broke out. He knew what they were saying; "Harry Potter, coming to Hogwarts? The Harry Potter? I bet you he'll be in Gryffindor, 'cause he's brave. Or Ravenclaw, because you have to be smart to defeat the Dark Lord! No way he'd be in Slytherin or Hufflepuff!" Draco rolled his eyes. He wouldn't be surprised if students were quickly placing bets on what house Harry would be Sorted into.

The hat touched Harry's head, but unlike with Hermione and Draco, it didn't give an answer straight away. Thirty tense seconds went by, then fifty. Draco wondered if Harry was going to become the first hatstall of the year.

Finally, around the minute marker, the hat opened its mouth and proclaimed, "Slytherin!"

Happy, Harry almost threw the hat aside in his haste to sit next to Draco. For a moment the only sound was his feet slapping against the stone floor, before the students broke out into frenzied whispers, filling the Great Hall with a sound akin to the buzzing of bees.

"Quiet, please!" said McGonagall. "The Sorting ceremony is not yet over."

But Draco didn't pay the rest of the Sorting any attention; he was captivated by the exultant grin Harry was shooting him as he said, "I'm so happy I get to be in the same house as you, Draco!"

And from the Ravenclaw table, Hermione waved.

Draco knew then that this year would be anything but uneventful.