This story is a challenge ficlet for a challenge by Gouken 2010.

The challenge is called 'He Was Right', and references Draco's boast on the train about the 'wrong sort of people'.

The challenge is that Draco must discover the Weasleys have effectively leeched everything they can off Harry, so chooses to send himself back in time, knowing that, the first change he does, he'll be erased and that's his chance gone.

Challenge requirements -
1. Future Draco must only do ONE act that stops the Weasley family cold on that 'accidental' meeting in King's Cross. The only thing he CANNOT do is outright kill any of them.
2. The new timeline cannot have Draco sorted into Slytherin, or Harry sorted into Gryffindor.
3. The Weasley Twins can have the Marauders' Map, but it must predominantly be Harry's.
4. At no time in the story must Harry owe a debt to Ron, Ginny, Percy or Molly herself.
5. This story is Manipulative!Molly ONLY! Dumbledore can be misguided, but not outright evil, and Snape... well, He's Snape. Nuff said. You can't really change Snape.
Optional Sixth -
Arthur must get divorced from Molly and take the Twins as 'true' Weasleys, and ensure his eldest two boys aren't stricken from the family tree.

This is only a sample of the 'He Was Right' challenge story, and will only be fulfilling the first two of the six parts.


Draco frowned darkly as he reread the headlines of the Prophet, that trusting hero Potter was declaring bankruptcy after his wife left him with nothing in the divorce. He had tried to warn the man once about the 'wrong sorts'. Of course in his foolish youth he had made it sound like muggleborns and half-bloods, instead of the leech-like vermin that sucked the blood out of the ancient and noble houses like the Malfoys, the Blacks, and the Potters.

Tossing the paper aside in a fit of rage, he cursed softly as he realized he couldn't blame Potter for this one. No, he'd learned about how his scum-sucking uncle had raised him, so of course the boy would latch onto the first family he came across. After their first encounter, it just kept getting worse between them. Mostly it came from Draco's misdirected rage at his warning being unheeded, and the slimy git clinging onto Harry's coat-tails.

Running his tongue along the back of his front teeth, he let out a soft laugh as he realized that Granger was a right wicked sort, and shouldn't have had to be sucked into the trap of the Prewetts, well Weasleys now. Looking back at the paper, he smirked as he saw Hermione at Harry's side during the press release, and the surviving Weasley twin. But none of the other family that had claimed to love him.

Perhaps it was time for him to do something, not give Harry money, as that would just be a slap to the face. No it was time to do something that he'd often imagined.

Pulling out a black silk encased book from the shelves of his family spells, he gulped as he realized this was going to be a single shot in the dark. He had to pick the act just right, or else his sacrifice would be for naught. Closing his eyes, he knew what he would have to do. Opening the tome, he let it fly open, the world blurring around him as the book whisked him away into the past. As the world returned to a more sedated pace, he couldn't help but marvel at the book he'd used. True to the promise his father had made, it dropped him off exactly where he had wanted to be. The station's changing rooms.

Reaching into the locker in front of him, he 'borrowed' one of the conductor's uniforms, and changed into it. True it was a little loose in the back, but it still fit well enough for him to fool the one person he had to.

Pushing his way onto the station floor, he smiled just as his target came into view, not even ten steps away. Giving the crowd a quick glance, his smile widened upon seeing the utter lack of red-heads in the area. This was his chance.

Walking over to the boy he gave him his best smile, and held out his hand. "Hello lad, name's Tom Felton, can I help you?"

"Oh... well I was looking for a platform... but the other conductor thought I was joking, sir," Harry offered quietly while holding up his ticket for the Hogwarts Express, which Draco knew no muggle not blood related would forget ever seeing.

"Ah, that's because he's not magical like us... Come on lad, I'll show you the way," Draco offered while helping the boy up from his luggage truck. Taking him over to the proper portal he distracted him with a few questions, so he didn't even notice they were going to hit the portal until his luggage had already passed most of the way through.

"And that is how we get to Platform 9¾. Isn't she a wonder?" Draco asked, while waving a hand at the gleaming train before them. "Go on and get a seat inside, my boy, I've got to go help others."

Harry didn't even notice as the strange conductor vanished into thin air barely steps away from the portal, his jaw was too busy embedding itself in the cement under his feet in amazement. This was wonderful, this was magical, this was awesome. Briefly he wondered if there might be some classes at his new school to teach him about those types of portals, and if he couldn't maybe set one up in his bedroom wall to somewhere nicer.

Meanwhile, as Harry went on to ponder about the future schooling he was about to receive and find a cabin on the train, two identical redheads were whining to their mother about running late. "Come on mum," one mewled plaintively for his twin to pick up.

"Let us go ahead," the other twin added on in the same bored tone.

"We promised," the first picked up in explanation.

"To meet Lee and-" the second continued, only to be cut off by a large woman who was obviously sick of playing verbal tennis with her sons.

"FINE! Just go, but you two behave or you'll regret it, so help me Merlin!" Molly snapped at her boys, pointing her hand at the portal to the train. "Ron, we'll wait another twenty minutes, but if that brat isn't here like Dumbledore said he would be, you are getting on that train. And it'll all fall to you, you fail me and you won't get any dessert next summer. Understood?"

"Yes mum..." the youngest boy groaned as he looked around for the messy black hair he'd been told was to be his best friend this year.

He barely even had a chance to cover a foot section before his younger sister whined, "But muuuum, you promised me I could see him... I even have my lines memorized like you told me!"

"I know dear, but if he's not here, he's not here, and we'll have to try again should Ron let us down," Molly tried to mollify her daughter, patting her lightly on the head. "I know you won't let me down, and so you'll get Ron's desserts should he fail this year."

"MOOOOOOOM!" Ron complained loudly, turning red in the face at the thought of losing his two kilos of sweets per week, just to watch his little sister wolf it down.

The final piece to fall into place was just walking into the cabin that Harry had found, with orders for the two flunkies that had flanked him on either side to wait for him outside. "Potter, I fear we got off to a bad start. I want to warn you about falling in with the... wrong sort."

"Look, I don't know who you think you are bu-" Harry started, to be cut off by the blond holding up a hand.

After a moment, the other boy settled in and sighed heavily. "Forgive me, I'm horrid with this sort of things. I'm Draco Malfoy, as I introduced earlier, but today I'm here on behest of my mother," Draco explained, and at Harry's blank look he tried a new track. "Does the surname Black mean anything to you?"

Getting a negative response he counted down from ten mentally before starting anew. "As you may have gathered, you are something of a celebrity in the Wizarding World. Now Mother has it in her head that you are likely to be the next heir to the House of Black, since your godfather Sirius would have likely put it in his will for you to be, and probably didn't remove that line. My mother is Narcissa Malfoy, formerly Black, and she doesn't want her family's long and prestigious line to be ruined."

"What I am to teach you about is the wrong sort, the social leeches that will drain you of every knut to your name, and then leave you alone and destitute..." Draco explained, getting a nod from Harry to continue. What followed was several hours of discussion over the various proper sorts for one to associate with.

Shortly after the conclusion of their discussion, a soft knock sounded on the door, alerting Draco that his henchmen had either wandered off, or were asleep on the job. "Come in," Harry offered warmly, allowing a bushy-haired girl to enter their compartment.

"Excuse me, but I'm looking for a toad that's gone missing, have you seen it?" the girl asked while her eyes roamed over the cabin. Draco smiled to himself as he realized that this might just be the type of friend that Harry needed. She seemed the helpful sort, and her tone had a bit of a cultured edge to it.

"I'm sorry, miss, but we haven't seen a toad, have you asked the Prefects to try and summon it?" Draco offered, hoping to save her a bit of trouble.

"Oh thank you! That would make a lot of sense, I'll go and find one now," the girl stated, before pausing and looking at Harry closely. Without a second thought she smiled and waved her wand over his glasses. "Occulus Reparo."

With that the raven-haired boy's glasses fixed themselves, and the two exchanged names before the girl disappeared into the halls in search of a prefect. "Hermione Granger huh? Can't say I know that name..."

"I think she's a good sort... but I'll keep my eye on her, Draco," Harry stated with a friendly smile as he held out a hand. "Thank you."

"It was my duty, but it turned into an honor," Draco suggested with a smile of his own before shaking his hand and standing to leave. "Now, I'll be leaving to attend to matters elsewhere on the train. We should meet before the welcoming feast. Have a good day."

Harry nodded as he held open the door for Draco. "Thank you again."

Draco smiled as he walked away, finding his two stooges hovering over the Honeyduke's Express like a pair of vultures. However, before he could start to scold them, he noticed the frizzy-haired girl from earlier returning to the cabin with Harry, and a smile spread over his face. She would likely be the good sort that his mother encouraged him to talk to.

Putting that aside for further investigation later, Draco went off to see Pansy, his betrothed. These meetings tended to be such a bore, and sadly, since Pansy was such a stickler for the old ways, it meant that he would be stuck there for a longer time than he wanted.

Unfortunately the necessities of the meeting took longer than he'd hoped, and he hadn't been able to revisit Harry before the arrival at Hogwarts, just as he feared they would. Pansy was such an unpleasant girl, that it made it very hard to even pretend to care about her. Thankfully Daphne Greengrass had been around to provide him some relief from her.

Getting up to the stool after his name had been called, he sighed and felt better about his day so far. Knowing that things were looking up, and going according to schedule, he just had to study a little for the 'test' that his godfather was going to give during his first lesson and he would be set. After all it would be good for him to gain points for "HUFFLEPUFF!" on the fir-

Wait a minute... what?

The hat was lowered off his head, allowing him to survey the stunned reaction the rest of the school was having in a similar manner to himself. Finally he allowed himself to be led to the nearest seat of the Hufflepuff table, where everyone else gave him the same incredulous stare he was giving them. Father would not be pleased to learn of his sorting. Knowing his godfather, he would know by the end of the day, whether Severus liked telling him or not.

His mind had just exited its state of gridlock just in time to hear Harry's name being called. The hat was placed on his head, and Draco managed to compose himself with dignity and grace that he had lost initially. This was just a minor setback for the proud scion of the Malfoy line.

And so when the hat let out a cry of "RAVENCLAW!" he was able to clap loudly for his friend, and begin hoping that his father wasn't going to kill him when he came home for the Christmas holiday, that is if he was still a part of the family.

Looking over at the Ravenclaw table, he smiled at seeing the bushy-haired girl from earlier sitting there, welcoming Harry to their new house. They would certainly be among the proper sort in that house, and at least they hadn't been stuck in Gryffindor.

Now to see about getting himself transferred over to Slytherin, or to play this to his advantage.