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And so Draco meets up with some Gryffindors...

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The corridor was packed with bodies, children running and yelling excitedly in every direction. Groups of them dashed between compartments, school robes flapping behind them; like a flock of hyperactive birds. Being so small actually had its advantage, as Draco was able to duck and weave with little difficulty; receiving only the odd jostles and shoves for his trouble.

He could hear one of the elder Weasley brood trying to call for calm, must be Percy doing his prefect rounds, and Draco did not envy him that! He had years before he had to even worry about rounds and patrols! Passing underneath the arms of a particularly enthusiastic kid, fourth year would be his guess, and trying to avoid the sudden swell of people, Draco jumped into the doorway of a compartment and slid the door open to move out of the way of the oncoming elbows.

He stumbled slightly into the almost empty compartment, and froze as the door shut behind him with a click. The cacophony of sound was instantly cut off and the sudden silence was almost pushing on his ears.

"Uhmm"

His eyes snapped up sharply and he drew in a breath of surprise. A pair of bright green eyes, framed by circular glasses, were peering at him cautiously. A quick glance to the left confirmed, that in all the carriages in all the train he had to fall into this one. Well, better make a good first, or in Potter's case second, impression.

He straightened up and smiled sheepishly at the pair of young boys in front of him. Oh Merlin, his palms were sweating. His face was starting to redden, he was certain. He coughed awkwardly, "Sorry… I um, there was loads of… and I didn't want to get squashed?"

MERLIN DAMN IT, WHAT WAS HE DOING? WHERE WAS THE CONFIDENT DRACO MALFOY?

His fingers were fiddling with the edge of his sleeves and his shoulders rose marginally. His father would have a fit if he saw him now, but he couldn't help himself. If all went well tonight, there would be no do over for today. He took a fortifying breath and made eye contact with both Potter and Weasley.

"Right, I'll just…" He motioned to the door as if to leave, when Harry quickly shot to his feet.

"I'm Harry!" He said quickly, he looked a bit surprised at himself for standing up and speaking, causing Draco to chuckle lightly.

"Draco, Nice to meet you Harry" He held out his hand for Potter to shake, waiting two agonising seconds before the boy grasped it happily.

"And this is my friend Ron" Harry chattered excitedly gesturing to the scruffy red head sitting by the window.

Sighing internally Draco went to shake hands with Ron also, surprised when the boy gave him a reassuring smile. "Ron Weasley, you first year too?" The boy gestured for Draco to sit.

The shock nearly bowled him over; Ron Weasley was trying to make him feel comfortable… will the wonders never cease! He plopped down onto the seat, almost opposite Ron, whilst Potter resumed his previous spot by the window.

"Yeah, my whole family has been to Hogwarts though; so I've been told what to expect."

Ron leaned forward at that almost bouncing in his seat with the movement. He exchanged a quick glance with Harry, "Do you know what the sorting is?" At Draco's confused expression he elaborated. "My parents never told me what happens in the sorting ceremony, my bothers told me stuff but…" he shrugged "I hope they were joking…" His smile was hopeful; Harry was also eyeing him with interest.

"It's nothing to worry about, trust me on that. You do have to sit on a stool in front of the school, but for no more than a couple of minutes at most." He could tell them they only had to wear a hat, but why spoil the surprise?

Ron let out a sigh of relief and collapsed ungracefully back into the seat, "Oh thank Merlin! I'm gonna kill my brother's, they were going on about wrestling trolls!" He pressed the heel of his palms into his eyes, before running them through his hair turning it to an even bigger mess than before.

Laughter burst out of him before he could stop it. "TROLLS? Merlin's drawers, they can't have first years wrestling trolls. They'd run out of kids!" He snorted a laugh again.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny! How was I supposed to know?" Ron was trying to frown at him, but the boy's mouth kept twitching at the sides. Harry was smiling slightly, and kept glancing between them both. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was worried as to how it would be received.

"Out with it Harry, what is it?" Draco said smiling at the nervous boy.

"Oh uhh, well we… we don't have to do like, like a test or something do we? I mean… I don't know any spells or anything. But I'm quite good at maths and science, if that, maybe that would help?"

"Maths? Science? " Ron was squinting carefully at Potter, "what's that? Is it a muggle thing?"

Red flushed the bespectacled boy's face, and he began fiddling with his hands. "Yeah, it's like maths is numbers and stuff. Adding and subtracting that sort of thing." After receiving an encouraging nod from both Ron and Draco, Harry continued sitting up straighter in his chair. "And science is all about how the world is. Like how animals, people and plants work. And the weather, and electricity and…"

He shifted forward on his seat eagerly, gesticulating with his hands. "We did this really cool thing with light, where we made a lamp-thing, using a battery and wires with clips and then made shadows and stuff."

"I have no idea what you just said, but that sounds awesome!" Said Ron grinning lopsidedly. "One question though…"

"Only one Weasley?" Draco teased lightly, "You have a better understanding of muggle technology than I do then!" All three were giggling now.

"Okay, yeah maybe more than one…" Ron said sheepishly "First one though, what exactly is a Batter-ray? Oh! And why do you need these wires with clips? And the shadows is that like the puppet show they sometimes do at fairs and stuff?"

"Well a battery" Harry put extra emphasis on the pronunciation of the word, "holds electricity…"

Ron had opened his mouth, clearly going to ask what electricity was. "Electricity" Again with the emphasis, "Is like energy, like lightning or something, you see?" Synchronised nodding all round. "Well you can use the energy in the batteryto make things work. The wires are like paths for the electricity. So the power goes from the batteryto the light bulb." At a look from both pureblood boys, Harry quickly explained, emphasised pronunciation included, a light bulb.

"And then we put it in a box to direct the light, and could make shadows with our hands and paper cut outs."

During the explanation Draco had discovered the rest of a chocolate frog in his pocket and was distractedly chewing off the head. "So like a Lumos, but using the battery" a small nod from Potter at his pronunciation, "as a power source, instead of a wizards magic. That's pretty cool, I wonder if we can have a go? Though I think Hogwarts has a dampening field around it that prevents muggle stuff working. Do you think I can get a book on this?"

Harry was nodding enthusiastically, "Yeah, I think they have them in shops and stuff. We had them at school, but you couldn't take them unless you had a library card."

Dare he say it? Draco was having fun! The terrible twosome weren't actually that bad, in fact he was rather enjoying chatting to them. It didn't take long for Weasley to start talking about his home, with Draco interjecting small things about wizarding households. Potter was passing round some Bertiebots Beans whilst they chatted about their upbringings.

Draco tried to play down his own experiences; he didn't want them to think he was boasting if he spoke about his privileged life. He did mention that he lived in a large manor house, and that he was an only child. He mentioned having house elves and he could tell from Ron's face that the boy realised that he was from old money.

He was saved from the conversation about house elves, by the timely entrance of one Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom. They all went silent as they stared at each other.

"Alright Granger?" He smirked, "Bertiebot?" He offered out the sweets currently in his hand. She groaned in response, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. He turned to the other boys, "I just have this effect on women" he joked with a wink. They laughed uncertainly, watching Hermione as she hovered in the doorway.

"No, thank you Draco. I'm trying to help Neville find his toad" leaning towards him, "what are you even doing in here anyway?"She breathed into his ear. He vaguely heard Ron tell Neville, that they still hadn't seen his toad, not since the last time he asked.

"I just sort of stumbled in, accidently"

Hermione rolled her eyes again and flicked the side of his ear. "Minister!" He all but shouted indignantly, before choking on his words at her wide-eyed look. Turning slowly, he clocked that the other three boys had stopped talking and were watching them curiously.

"Ah gentlemen! Allow me introduce Miss Hermione Granger. Hermione this is Ronald Weasley and Harry…" He paused, well aware that Harry hadn't given him his last name.

"Oh um, Harry Potter" The boy shuffled slightly in his seat, a slight blush rising to his face.

Longbottom's eyes widened slightly and darted to Harry's hairline, searching for the lightning bolt scar. Draco thought he played it off very well, raising only a single eyebrow before tilting his head in a very 'oh, okay that cool' kind of way.

Hermione was something else though; she was eyeing the dirt smudge on Ron's face with pursed lips and didn't even react to Harry's name drop. "Pleasure"she drawled, before turning to Harry with a small smile.

After a few minutes of idle chatting, during which Hermione revealed that she was a muggleborn, was nervous about the new world she was entering and that she too had done the light bulbproject, Draco insisted that he help Neville and go look for the toad.

"Wouldn't worry about it," Ron Interrupted "It'll turn up before we get to Hogwarts. Someone will find it and make sure it gets to you."

"No harm in trying though is there?" Draco spoke brightly, clapping his hands together and heading into the corridor.

There were less people milling about, most had returned to their carriages to get ready for the approach to Hogsmead station. Neville shuffled into the corridor after him, smiling shyly. Shortly followed by Hermione who, on her way out, told the boys to get into their school robes and Ron to clean his nose.

"What?" she spoke sharply, after seeing his raised eyebrows. "They need to get ready!"

"Uh huh"

"They do!" Raising her nose in the air Hermione led the way down the train, Neville and him trailing after her.

"Sure thing Granger"

She was chewing slightly on the inside of her cheek, a small frown on her face. Trying to ignore his growing smirk. He decided to cut her some slack and fell back into pace beside Neville. The poor sod looked almost distraught about his toad.

They spent the rest of the train ride asking people about Longbottom's toad, and the boy himself told him all about how his uncle had dropped him out a window; and then got him Trevor as a congratulations. That was a little bit shocking; Draco couldn't imagine anyone trying that on him. Maybe if he hadn't shown magic at a very young, his Father may have resorted to the chuck him out a window method. He'd like to think not, but future actions would make him a bit weary in that regard.

Avoiding the clamour of students, Draco leapt off the train, waving Jauntily to Hermione and Neville as they were swallowed by a swarm of students. Chuckling to himself at the indignant look on Hermione's face, he made his way towards the giant man waving a lamp around. As the cry of 'first years' rattled around in his head, he prayed to any deities still functioning that this was the last time he would have to make this damnable boat trip.

Half a soggy hour later, he and the rest of the first years were trudging their way up the steps to the entrance hall. He barely had the energy to act surprised at the ghost entrance, "Ah… Oh no, such surprise… Gasp" This all said in monotone as he yawned slightly. This earned him a kick from Hermione, who had slinked up behind him.

"Honestly Minister, who knew you were so violent?"

"Part of my charm." She smiled sweetly at him, "I've been thinking"

"Dangerous"

A smack on the arm this time, "I'VE BEEN THINKING," she repeated with emphasis on her words, almost daring him to interrupt again. "About where to meet tonight. If we are sorted into Gryffindor and Slytherin respectively, it might be a bit tricky to get to each other without being caught."

"Well there is a passageway that leads almost directly to the seventh floor from the Slytherin corridor. Room of requirement?"

"Is there really? Okay, meet you there at half eleven? Allowing for any patrols, Peeves and anything else that might go wrong."

Nodding in agreement, they walked side by side as they approached the great hall, filing into place with the other first years.

Just let the sorting hat place him in Slytherin this time. Then he could move on from this day and work out how the bloody hell they were going to live the rest of their lives. He watched as Granger got sorted into Gryffindor again, she nodded encouragingly at him as she took her seat.

"Malfoy, Draco"

And here we go again. The hat slipped over his head and before he got a chance to layout his arguments, the hat had yelled Slytherin. Really he was a little insulted; it didn't even have a chat with him. McGonagall whipped the hat off his head, and he trudged over to the Slytherin table plonking down heavily.

Only a few more hours and he would be sneaking out to meet up with Hermione Granger. What a way his life was going, if only Father could see him now. He sat there laughing to himself, happily snacking during the feast, whilst the other members of his house gave him funny looks.

Oh well, who gives a shit?