Hogwarts waits for no one, at least that was what their mother told them when she woke them at 7am sharp the next morning. Both boys showered and dressed, and they grabbed their trunks on the way out the door. Harry looked back at the house he had grown up in and thought about how much had gone on in this house. He felt tears prick his eyes. No time for crying, he thought, you have to get in the car. He would miss home while he was at school. He felt Draco grab his elbow and with a slight pull, he got into the car, grabbing his copy of Hogwarts: a history out of his bag. He had read the book too many times to count and the pages were showing signs of wear now, but he liked it. Books deserve to be read, not just look pretty on a shelf.
He wondered if Hogwarts actually had ghosts. He had never seen a ghost, but he had read all about them. Draco said that he saw one once in the backyard but Harry was pretty sure he was lying. Draco just wanted to seem cool, which he was in Harry's eyes. He glanced over at his brother, watching him smooth down his gelled blond hair nervously. He reached over and grabbed Draco's hand, smiling at him. A silent message spread from one brother to the other, we'll be okay. Draco smiled back nervously, squeezing his hand. They'd get through this together. They'd gone through so much together so far that they had to get through this. Harry and Draco had gone through so many new days at a new school that this would be a piece of cake. Besides, wizarding school couldn't be that bad. It's not like they were going to be in mortal peril while they were there. Hogwarts was the safest place in the world, according to Hogwarts: A History.
The car ride to London was filled with the anxious tapping of feet and the drone of the man on the radio. Harry kept reading the same page of his book over and over, unable to concentrate on the words. He couldn't tell if it was excitement or fear that overtook him when the train station came into view and they parked the car. He climbed out of the car, shaking his hands and bouncing on his toes to get rid of some of the energy he was holding tight in his shoulders. Draco opened the trunk of the car, and they both grabbed their carts, including Harry's owl, Hedwig, and Draco's cat, Jinx.
Draco glanced at him barely a moment before he said "race you to the platform!" and took off towards the building with his cart. Harry followed closely after, their mother yelling at them from where the car was parked and hurrying to a quick pace to keep the boys in her sight.
Harry won, as he normally did. Draco may be more athletic than he was, but Harry had more stamina. He stopped just outside the entrance to the platform to wait for his mother. When she got there, sputtering and out of breath from running all that way in heels, he knew that if it wasn't such a big day then they would both be in big trouble.
She pursed her lips, huffed, and muttered a quick "You're lucky I love you so much" at them before leading them through the platform. Harry stuttered to a stop. Bloody hell. He could practically feel the magic in the air, feel it rushing through him and onto everyone else. There were kids of all ages running around and parents catching up all over the platform. But what amazed him the most was the train. Bright red, and a steam train, it took up most of the room.
"Woah." Draco whispered next to him, just as awed as he was.
"Yes, yes, the train is gorgeous, let's keep moving boys. Come on." The boys were tugged toward the train, passing a group of people surrounding a dark-skinned boy holding a box in his hand. Draco watched as they were dragged to the Hogwarts Express, and he could have sworn that he saw a furry spider leg extend out of the lid when it was opened and the people around him screamed.
Harry looked down at his watch: 10:47am. He hugged his mom goodbye then went off to find a carriage on the train for them. Narcissa pulled Draco into a hug and placed a kiss on his temple, leaving a smudge of lipstick which Draco was quick to wipe off. She chuckled then yelled after him to be safe as he ran onto the train to find his brother. She wiped her eyes as the boys waved at her from their carriage.
Harry got down a few books and set Hedwig down on the seat next to him, watching Draco settle down in the seat across from him. "Are you aiming for Slytherin?" Harry asked him while grabbing his copy of dracula from his canvas bag.
"I don't think I have any choice. Father would kill me if I wasn't in Slytherin. Well, I suppose he would accept Ravenclaw but I'm not a ravenclaw. Not even close. What house do you want to get put in?" Draco put his feet up on the seat next to him and relaxed against the window as the train started moving. If his mother could see him now she'd be scolding him.
"I don't know. Maybe Slytherin or Ravenclaw. Both my parents were in Gryffindor though, so I'm sure that has some effect, right?" Harry pulled his knees to his chest and sat his chin on them. "I'll probably get put in Ravenclaw, though. I read too much to not get put in Ravenclaw."
"Ravenclaw isn't just reading, nerd." Draco tapped his temple like telling him to think. "You have to actually know things. I don't think-"
Harry would never get to know what he was going to finish that sentence with because a boy knocked on the door to the carriage and opened it. "'Scuse me, uhm, neither of you have uh seen um, seen a toad, have you? I lost mine. His name's Trevor." The boy was red faced and pudgy and Harry kind of felt bad for the boy.
"No, I'm sorry we haven't seen a toad. I'd be happy to help you look though." Harry smiled at him, reaching out for his hand and ignoring the glare that Draco was giving him for doing so. "Harry Potter, it's a pleasure."
The mousy boy grabbed his hand and shook it, his palms sweaty. "Neville Longbottom. That, that would be great, thank you."
"Of course, it's the least I can do." Harry got up and put his book on his seat, turning to his brother who was still glaring at him. "When the trolley lady comes around, can you get me some chocolate frogs?" At Draco's stiff nod, he muttered a quick 'thanks' and left the compartment.
"Alright Neville, what does this toad look like?" Harry turned to Neville, pushing his hair out of his eyes with one hand and gripping his wand with the other.
"Uhm, it's green. Like a darkish green. Pretty bumpy and fat." Neville's eyes strayed to where Harry had pushed his hair out of his eyes and his eyes widened at the sight of the ever famous lightning scar. "So you're, you're like the Harry Potter?"
"Harry sighed as he opened the next compartment down and asked them if they had seen a toad. As he received a negative response, he answered Neville. "Yep, that would be me. Voldemort and all that."
Neville gasped, and upon getting another negative response, he whispered to Harry to not say you-know-who's name. Harry rolled his eyes, checking the next compartment.
"I figure that since he's the one that killed my biological parents that I have a right to say his name. I'm not scared of a faceless figure." The next compartment contained a small girl with a mane of hair bigger than she was. "Have you seen a toad? My friend Neville's lost one. He's bumpy and dark green, if it helps refresh a memory."
"No, I'm afraid not. Sorry. I'll help you look, though. I think I might have seen him earlier. I'm Hermione Granger." the girl, Hermione, reached forward and gave Harry's hand a death-grip handshake. Before Harry could introduce himself she continued talking. "My parents are muggles. They're dentists. This is my first year at Hogwarts and I'm extremely excited. I've read all of my textbooks multiple times. I do hope I'm prepared, do you think I'll be behind since my parents are muggles? I sure hope not, that sure would put a damper on my first year."
Harry wondered how she could go without breathing for so long. "No, you should be okay. I was raised by wizards and I've only learned as much as you can from a book."
They kept checking compartments, Neville joining the conversation every once in a while, and eventually they ran into a pair of redheaded twins. Harry felt like he was watching a tennis match as the twins introduced themselves as Fred and George Weasley and then bantered between them for five minutes, until revealing that they saw their little brother with a toad earlier. As they passed the twins, Harry shook his were so excited, even with being older students. He could only hope to still be that excited about magic as he gets older.
They eventually found the twins' little brother, his name was Ron, sitting with a rat and a toad. When Neville saw the toad, he excitedly proclaimed "Trevor!" which was a bit of a weird name for a toad, but Harry couldn't judge considering that he had named his owl Hedwig. "Thank you for watching him." Neville said next to him, and Harry leaned out of the doorway to tell Hermione that they had found him. Hermione joined them in the doorway, which really wasn't the best idea since the doorways were small, but they crowded into the compartment with the boy.
"You have dirt on your nose, did you know that?" Hermione told him, and Harry watched Ron's face blush bright red as he hastily rubbed at his nose. Not very great at first impressions, huh Hermione?
Harry held his hand out to Ron, telling him his name and getting another 'the Harry Potter?' question he always got. Harry had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. No, I stole his identity and am now acting like I'm him in order to learn magic. Yes of course he was 'the' Harry Potter. Who else would he be.
Harry left the compartment first, wanting to get back to Draco. Neville followed quickly after him. "Harry?" Neville said behind him, and Harry turned to look at him in question. "Do you, do you think that I could, uhm, nevermind it's, it's stupid."
"Do I think that you could what?" Harry asked, wanting to get out of the hallway so they didn't block people.
"Do you think that I could sit in you and your friend's compartment? I don't really have any uhm, friends and you're the first person to be nice to me here." Neville rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at his feet.
"Yeah, sure. No biggie. Just to warn you though, Draco can be a little nasty towards new people. Don't take it personally, it's just his personality." Harry turned around and led his way back up the hallway.
"Wait, Draco as in Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy, death eater Lucius Malfoy." Neville stopped and when Harry turned around in anger, Harry saw he had wide eyes.
"If you want friends, you can't make them by judging people based on their family. His family took me in and raised me as their own son and I will not tolerate any biased slander towards family. Ever. Me and the Malfoys are a package deal. If you want to be friends with me, you have to not judge the Malfoys based on their past. If you can't do that then you can go and find Hermione and sit with her." Harry was fuming. This always happened. People always judged his family as if they were child murderers or something. It wasn't fair. Sure Lucius wasn't the best person but he was a good father and that's all that mattered to him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I won't judge him until I get to know him, I promise. I just want a friend, that's all." Neville looked like he had been slapped and Harry felt bad again. He hated when his temper got the best of him. It just wasn't him, it felt like someone else took over his body.
"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have yelled. Lets just go and eat a bunch of chocolate frogs, okay?" At Neville's nod he continued to his compartment, passing a few people he knew along the way. He sat down across from Draco and moved Hedwig so Neville could sit next to him. There was silence in the compartment until Draco quickly and in a stiff movement, handed a chocolate frog to Neville. Neville took it and thanked him, and Harry felt the tension lessen, if only a little. Maybe this year would be okay, even if him and Draco were in separate houses.
