Chapter 1: Unexpected Meetings

As Harry walked into the living room, his father got up and crossed to the other side of the room.

"Happy birthday, Harry," he said, hugging Harry.

"Thanks, Dad," he replied, returning the hug.

"Guess what arrived for you this morning?" asked Severus, a small smile playing on his lips.

Harry's eyes widened as realization dawned upon him. He ran into the kitchen and saw it, sitting there on the bench. His Hogwarts acceptance letter. It was finally here. As Harry walked over and picked it up, his father walked into the room, smiling at his now 11-year-old son.

Harry stood there for almost 10 minutes, grinning at the piece of parchment and re-reading it over and over again. Finally, he looked up at his father.

"It's here. It's actually here!" he said in a state of disbelief.

"Yes, it is," said Severus, beaming at his son. "How do you feel about taking a trip to Diagon Alley today?"

"Oooh, yes please!" Harry was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.

"Go upstairs and get ready. We'll leave in about half an hour," said Severus, exiting the kitchen.

Harry bolted up the stairs so he could get ready for his trip to Diagon Alley to buy all his supplies for his first year at Hogwarts. As he brushed his jet black hair, his mind went into overdrive. What type of wand would he get? What house would he be sorted into? Slytherin, like his father? Or Gryffindor, like his mum? Or another house altogether? Would he make any friends? What will the teachers be like? Nice or terribly mean? Would he be good in his classes? Would he be any good at magic?

Calm down, Harry, he told himself. There's no reason to panic, everything will be just fine.

"Harry, are you ready?" His father's voice jolted him back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm coming now," he called back.

Severus watched Harry bound down the stairs with a giant grin on his face.

He was so proud of his son. It didn't even matter to him what house he was put into, though he doubted Harry would be in Slytherin; he was too much like his mother for that. Maybe Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. Either way, it would hardly matter. Harry would thrive in any house.

"Are we going now?" Harry asked, arriving at the bottom of the steps.

"Let me get some Floo Powder and then we'll go," his father replied.

Severus swiftly left the room and entered a minute later.

"Okay," he said, smiling. "Let's go."

A couple of minutes later, the pair was walking down Diagon Alley towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.

"While you get your robes, I'll go to Gringotts. Stay in Madam Malkin's until I come back to get you," said Severus as they stood outside the robe shop.

"Okay," Harry replied distractedly, walking into the store. He turned around in time to see his father walking away, laughing to himself. When Harry turned back to the shop, he saw a blond boy getting measured. He vaguely recognised him. A Malfoy. Everyone in wizarding Britain knew of the Malfoys. Harry knew they had a son around his age but he had hoped against hope that they wouldn't be in the same year. Now it looked like they would be.

"Hey you!"

Harry looked.

"Yeah, you! What's your name?" asked the Malfoy kid.

Harry, slightly shaken, replied "Who's asking?"

"Malfoy…"

No? Really? thought Harry.

"Draco Malfoy," continued the boy.

"Well my name's Harry," he said, eying up the boy

"Harry who?"

"Harry Evans-Snape."

"Ohhh, so you're the kid that…uh, had a bit of misfortune when you were a baby. How sad," said Draco nonchalantly.

Harry stood there gaping. Did Draco really just say that to him? If so, he's just as much of a jerk as Harry had been told.
"Ah, excuse me? That's rather rude, don't you think?" he replied exasperatedly.

"I'm sure you'll get over it," Draco said, still hardly looking at Harry.

He was still shell shocked by the time Madam Malkin finally came over.

"Hello, dear. Are you here to get your Hogwarts robes fitted?" she asked.

"What? Oh, ah, yes," replied Harry, getting over the shock of what Draco had said to him.

"Okay, just come stand over here, please." Madam Malkin began bewitching bits and bobs to do the various tasks of measuring, cutting and stitching.

When Severus walked into Madam Malkin's, he saw Harry giving a death glare to another boy. And not just any boy, Lucius Malfoy's son. Great. Just great. His son's apparent enemy is a Malfoy.

"How's it all going? Are you almost done?" he asked, walking towards his son.

"Oh, um, yeah. Another minute or so, I think," Harry muttered.

Madam Malkin came over then.

"All done. Just come over here, Mr Snape, and we can sort out payment," she said cheerily.

"So you met Lucius Malfoy's son, then," said Severus as they walked out of the robe store and headed towards Ollivander's.

"You mean Draco? Yeah, I met him. And I hate him," replied Harry, his anger building.

"Oh? And why's that?"

"He practically insulted Mum!" yelled Harry, now rather mad.

His father stopped, his face flashed with pain as he said: "Oh. Go ahead and hate him then, but remember the Malfoys are an extremely powerful family."

"Yeah, I know," said Harry, his anger turning to sorrow and longing for his mother.

"On the plus side, Draco will almost certainly be in Slytherin House and I am fairly confident you won't be."

They continued walking to Ollivander's. Severus opened the door, let Harry through then entered himself. He, again, stopped and said in an icy voice:

"Hello, James."