Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! But to everyone else, please show the love. I hate to beg for reviews, but if you enjoy the chapter in any way, it really makes my day to hear about it! I want to continue posting the chapters as quickly as I have been, and hearing from people who enjoy reading the story gives me all the more incentive to post quickly.

This chapter is dedicated to the memory of a good friend.

Chapter Four - Tea With Hagrid

In spite of his run in with Snape the previous night - and his impending detentions - Harry woke up tingly with excitement. Not only was it Saturday, but he was going to visit Hagrid, who definitely didn't hate him for being in Slytherin.

Doubly exciting was the fact that Snape was clearly hiding something - why else would he be lurking about in a forbidden corridor when all the students were in bed? And if Harry's dreams and the burning in his scar were anything to go by, Harry definitely needed to keep an eye out for him.

After showering and brushing his teeth, Harry quickly dressed and made his way downstairs for breakfast. The Slytherin table was mostly empty, as it was still rather early, but he noticed Draco sitting there and took a seat across from him. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Draco the previous night, so maybe now would be a good time.

"Hey," Harry said, pouring himself some cereal. "You're up early."

Draco shrugged, listlessly moving the eggs about on his plate.

"Couldn't sleep." At this, he stared at Harry accusingly, as though it were Harry's fault he couldn't sleep.

Harry frowned. "I'm sorry?"

Draco scowled, then dropped his fork. He took a deep breath. "Why didn't you invite me to go for tea at the half-giant's? I'm supposed to be your friend, and you didn't even ask me! Instead you asked that Mudblood know-it-all, Granger…and she's not even in our House!" Draco was practically panting, his face flushed.

Harry didn't know what to say. Finally, he asked, "how'd you know I asked Hermione?"

"Because I was in the library, and I heard you!"

Harry decided not to comment on the fact that Draco had apparently been eavesdropping on his conversation with Hermione. "Draco, why would I have asked you to visit Hagrid with me? You don't even call him by his name, you just call him 'the half-giant', and the first thing I ever heard you say about him was that he should get sacked!"

"Well," Draco said, looking slightly unsure of himself for the first time. "That doesn't mean I wouldn't want to go with you." Draco stared at him imploringly. "I'm supposed to be your friend," he repeated.

Harry nearly snapped back that he'd never claimed to be Draco's friend, but stopped himself just in time. It was true that he found Draco annoying for the most part, and sometimes he bragged worse than Dudley, but Harry didn't want to hurt him. He was still mystified as to why Draco wanted to be his friend, aside from the obvious reason of Harry's fame, but at least he wasn't in danger of turning against him like Ron had.

"You would have invited Weasley," Draco muttered petulantly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but I didn't." He sighed. "Draco, do you want to come to tea?"

Draco's face brightened, then was carefully smoothed back into composure. "I suppose I could fit it into my schedule," he drawled, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Do you promise you won't say anything rude to Hermione or Hagrid?" If he did, Harry thought to himself, he would never invite Draco anywhere again. And he would not be his friend.

Draco scowled almost imperceptibly, then nodded. "Of course. I'm a Malfoy, Harry," he said in an exasperated tone.

At half-two, Harry and Draco met Hermione in front of the statue of the humpbacked witch. Hermione looked slightly surprised, as though she'd been afraid that the whole thing had been a trick.

"Hello, Harry," she said brightly. She turned to Draco, regarding him curiously. "Are you coming to tea as well?"

"Obviously," Draco muttered. Harry gave him a look, and Draco flinched.

"Oh," Hermione said, looking between the two of them. "Well, I suppose we'd better get going. You said three, didn't you, Harry? It'd be bad manners if we were late."

Draco, amazingly, kept his mouth shut for the entire walk over to Hagrid's shack. Hermione, however, chattered on the entire time, barely allowing Harry a word in.

"…and did you know that the house-elves can Apparate at Hogwarts, even though there are anti-Disapparition wards? You know, it's possible that their magic is more powerful than ours! Why, then, do we treat them like servants? It doesn't make any sense, does it?"

Harry was relieved to arrive at Hagrid's hut, and quickly reached up a hand to knock on the front door.

"Look at this place," Draco muttered, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "How could anyone live here?"

Harry shot him a warning look. "You didn't have to come," he snapped. Draco shut his mouth and glared at the ground.

Hagrid opened the door. "Come in, come in," he said happily, moving out of the way to allow them inside. It appeared that the entire cabin was contained in one room - a very large bed dominated a far corner, and there was a small kitchen area with a sturdy looking table. A fire crackled on the opposite side of the room, and a large dog lifted its head and regarded them curiously.

"Behave yerself, Fang," Hagrid said warningly to the dog. Fang sighed and lowered his head to his paws, his tail wagging.

Hagrid ushered them over to the table, where he had a tea pot and cups already laid out. Harry took a seat at the table, his feet dangling well above the floor.

"Nice of yeh ter come by, Harry," Hagrid said in his rumbling voice. "Wasn' expecting but one friend ter come with yeh, but tha's okay." He frowned slightly, but busied himself with slicing pieces of treacle fudge onto serving plates.

"Sorry," Harry muttered, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Had he done something wrong by inviting an extra person?

Remembering himself, he gestured towards both Hermione and Draco. "Hagrid, this is Hermione Granger - she's in Gryffindor - and Draco Malfoy, from my House."

"Hello," Draco said. "You might know of my father, Lucius Malfoy. He's on the Board of Governors for Hogwarts."

Hagrid grunted. "I know yer father," he mumbled, not looking at Draco. He set three plates in front of Harry, Draco, and Hermione, then sat back in his own chair.

"Gryffindor, eh?" he asked Hermione, who had a somewhat bemused expression on her face. "Tha' was my old House. And Harry here - both his parents were Gryffindor. Great folks, they were," he said, smiling sadly.

Harry swallowed his tea, a slight lump forming in his throat. He wanted to hear more about his parents from someone who'd known them, but didn't know how to ask.

"Yer classes going well, then?" Hagrid asked Harry.

Harry nodded. "Snape seems to hate me, though."

Hagrid frowned in confusion. "Snape? Why would he hate yeh? He's a little hard to git used teh, I'll give 'im that. But hate yeh?"

Quickly, and ever aware that Draco and Hermione were listening to everything, Harry told Hagrid what had happened the night before.

"Don't you think it's kind of weird that he was lurking around on the forbidden corridor?" Harry asked.

Hagrid snorted. "Now, Harry, Snape is a Hogwarts professor, and Dumbledore trusts him. I reckon he had a good reason fer being up there, and tha's all I'll say."

Harry nearly opened his mouth and told Hagrid about the dreams and his scar burning, but decided he'd already said too much in front of Draco and Hermione. He also wondered if he'd made a mistake by bringing Draco along - although he was behaving himself, it was clear that Hagrid was uncomfortable having him there. Why, Harry had no clue.

The room was awkwardly silent for awhile, interspersed with the occasional sound of sipping or chewing. Harry couldn't shake the feeling that he must have done something wrong, but for the life of him couldn't figure out what it was. Adult or not, Hagrid had been his first friend, and had saved him from the Dursleys. If Hagrid decided to follow Ron's example and reject him, Harry didn't know what he would do.

"So, what does the gamekeeper do, exactly?" Hermione asked Hagrid politely.

Hagrid looked slightly surprised. "Ah, this and tha'. Looking out fer the animals...whatever they want me ter do."

"That's interesting," Hermione said. "I just find everything fascinating right now - I'm Muggle-born, you see. My parents are dentists."

Draco coughed something into his hands - Harry nudged him in the ribs.

"Ow!" Draco whined.

Hagrid grunted something under his breath. "Nothing wrong abou' being Muggle-born," he finally said. "Harry, yer own mother was Muggle-born...never met a better, brighter witch than Lily. I'll have words with anyone teh say otherwise," he said, frowning at Draco.

Draco frowned down at the tabletop, his heels drumming against the chair legs. "Well, my father says-"

"Don't care ter hear what yer father says, Malfoy," Hagrid muttered darkly. "Murdering Death Eater tha' he was."

Draco stilled, gaping at Hagrid. "My father didn't murder anyone," he said vehemently, and somewhat shakily. "He was under the Imperius curse, you filthy, lying half-breed."

"Draco!" Harry said sharply, but his heart was barely in it. Hagrid had just insulted Draco's father, after all - it was understandable that he would be upset. Draco stared at Harry, something like hurt flashing across his face. He pushed out of his chair and ran, the door slamming behind him as he left.

Harry cringed, hardly daring to look at Hagrid. Although he didn't fully understand everything that had just transpired, he sensed that it was somehow all his fault.

"I'm sorry, Hagrid."

Hagrid waved a hand, chuckling uncomfortably. "Ah, it's no' yer faul', Harry. Can' change how some folk think." He glanced down at his wrist. "I reckon you two'd bes' be getting back, now."

"Would you like us to help you clean up?" Hermione asked, biting her lip nervously.

"Course not," Hagrid said. "Good of yeh ter offer, though. Real kind of yeh."

He walked them both to the door. Hagrid clapped Harry on the shoulder, nearly causing him to lose his balance. Harry smiled at him tentatively.

"I really am sorry - about Draco. He's actually not so bad, when you get to know him."

Hagrid frowned slightly, sighing. "Yer a good person, Harry. Jus' remember that not everyone is as good as yeh." He clapped both Harry and Hermione on the shoulders. "Yeh'll stop by again, won' yeh?"

"Yeah," Harry said, at the same time that Hermione said, "of course."

Hagrid chuckled, scratching absently at his beard. "Well, good nigh' then."

Harry didn't know what to say to Hermione as they walked back to the castle. Finally, he said, "sorry about that."

Hermione looked at him curiously. "What about? I had a good time." She raised her eyebrows. "Can't say the same for Draco, though."

Harry sighed. "I knew inviting him was a bad idea."

"Well, Hagrid did sort of provoke him, I thought. But, Harry…you did know that, didn't you? About Draco's father?"

Harry shook his head. He remembered Hagrid telling him about the witches and wizards who'd evaded Azkaban based on their claims of being cursed, but he didn't remember any names.

"Well, Lucius Malfoy did follow You-Know-Who, but claimed he'd been under the Imperius Curse. I read it in Hogwarts, A History." She bit her lip, glancing at him nervously. "And…well, people like the Malfoys don't exactly take kindly to people like me. You know…Muggle-borns." Looking supremely unhappy, she said, "but it doesn't mean I don't think you should be his friend! I wouldn't tell you who to be friends with - you're friends with me, after all."

Harry gave her a tight smile. "At least you want to be my friend, still. After I got Sorted into Slytherin…well, it seems like everyone's scared of me now or something. Except for the other Slytherins, of course." He shook his head, absently kicking at a pebble. "I mean, not everyone in Slytherin can be bad, right?"

"Of course not," she said emphatically. "Why, that's just a silly thing to believe." She pursed her lips, shaking her head. "Just wait, I'll do some research in the library tomorrow - show everyone how much good has come out of Slytherin." She smiled at that, obviously cheered at the prospect of a day spent at the library.

Harry walked Hermione back to her common room, with the promise of meeting her at the library the following day. There were still a couple of hours left until dinner, so Harry headed to his own common room in the hopes of finding Draco.

Draco wasn't there, but Blaise, Vince, and Greg were playing a game of Exploding Snap.

"Want to play?" Blaise asked hopefully as Harry approached. "I could use a worthwhile opponent." He laughed at Vince's and Greg's expressions. "I'm just kidding, you two." He then mouthed not to Harry, who snorted.

"Maybe later. Er, I was looking for Draco, actually."

Blaise shrugged. "I wouldn't bother him if I were you. He ran upstairs like his arse was on fire - nearly bit poor Vince's head off for talking to him."

Harry winced. This was all his fault. Nodding, he said, "thanks, Blaise. I've got to talk to him, though."

Blaise shrugged again. "Your funeral."

The first year boys' dormitory appeared to be empty, but Harry could see that the curtain had been pulled around Draco's bed. Harry approached it hesitantly.

"Draco?" There was no answer, but Harry could have sworn he heard a sharp intake of breath. He tried again. "Draco, I know you're here."

The curtains were ripped open, revealing a furious looking Draco. "What do you want?"

Harry shifted from foot to foot. He had basically no experience with this sort of thing, unless one counted the time Dudley's friends had taken turns flushing his head down the toilet because he'd talked back to them. He supposed not.

"Look, I'm sorry that things didn't go well. I had no idea that Hagrid felt that way about your father."

Draco's lips trembled. "He's a bloody liar. Stupid, ugly, smelly, half-breed…"

"Well, you shouldn't have said those things to him, either," Harry cut in, a stab of annoyance slicing through him.

"Yeah, take his side, just like you did back there!" Draco tugged the curtains shut again.

Harry wrestled them back open. "I didn't take his side! If you'd listen a second you'd see that I was just trying to keep the peace between you two!"

Draco's eyes watered, and he ducked his head, wiping furtively at them. "He's a liar," he repeated. "My father never murdered anyone - he told me he was under the Imperius curse. My father wouldn't lie to me, Harry." His voice was full of conviction, with absolute trust in his father.

Harry sighed. "I believe you," he said, silently adding, that you believe him.

Draco smiled, then gripped Harry's arm. "I knew you wouldn't take that idiot oaf's side."

Harry tugged out of Draco's grip, as usual a bit taken aback by Draco's possessive attitude towards him. It would take some getting used to. But then, that was just Draco.

Draco reached for something under his bed, pulling out an expensive looking box of chocolates. Harry's mouth watered just looking at them - he never got to have treats like that at the Dursleys.

As if seeing that, Draco smiled in satisfaction. He patted beside him on the bed, and shrugging, Harry took a seat. "Mother sent me these chocolates the other day - she misses me so," he said with a roll of his eyes. "We should eat them all before Greg or Vince find them."

Relieved that neither Draco nor Hagrid seemed overly upset with him, Harry grinned and reached for a chocolate.

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