Disclaimer: Still not my characters. Still playing in JKR's sandbox. Twisted plot is mine and that is about it. Enjoy!

Chapter Two

Draco realized he had a golden opportunity. He could mold Harry Potter into a profitable tool… erm… ally. All he had to do was to prove his value to Potter, maneuver him into a plausible position to allow him to remain friendly publically, and continue to guide him from the shadows. Piece of cake for a Slytherin.

With Harry watching his every move, Draco began to realize the monumental task he had set himself, to teach Harry Potter, THE Harry Potter, enough to fake his Head of Household responsibilities in a group raised on duty and obligation. It was not possible. That 'piece of cake' was made of stone… well, Carrara marble. Appearances must be maintained.

So… he had to cheat.

Draco smiled at Harry and Harry began to be worried about what his teacher was thinking.

Draco leaned back against the window, looking at Harry. He had decided on how to start cutting down on the amount of information Harry needed to know immediately. His father would be proud.

"Ok", Draco began," The first thing you need to realize about 'faking it', is most of the time people will help you. They know what they expect you to know. As long as you do nothing to contradict their expectation, they will continue to believe you know everything they think you know. Even if you do contradict their expectations, if you give them the slightest reason to, they will believe you have done it on purpose to test them! Sadly, the average wizard is painfully stupid."

Harry's brows furrowed deeply as he considers this. It was very similar to things Uncle Vernon had told his cousin, while attempting to teach him the family business. "Just remember Dudders, everyone is an idiot. A salesman's job is to make sure the mark doesn't know you know he is an idiot until after you have his money. If you do your job right, he will never know. That way he will come back, give you his money and thank you for the privilege." Yeah, this sounded suspiciously like Uncle Vernon. Maybe his uncle was smarter than Harry had thought…

Draco waited for Harry to process his words of wisdom. "Do you understand?" he prompted.

Harry nodded slowly, but the furrows were gone, so Draco accepted this and moved on.

"Other things you must know. There are three major political divisions in our world, poorly referred to as; Dark, Grey, and Light. There are many sub-groups in each of these groups. We are going to ignore those for the rest of this trip. It would take too long to give you enough information to not embarrass yourself. Speaking of…"

Draco stands and invites Harry to stand also. "This is a training technique. It is not pleasant, but it is effective. You must be able to mask your emotions. NEVER let anyone know when you are upset, angry or worried. Sometimes even letting people know you are happy is dangerous, but it is generally less dangerous to let people know you are happy. Anger must always be masked. It can, and eventually will, be used against you. Do you understand?"

Harry clearly remembered Uncle Vernon using Harry's facial expressions as reasons to punish him. He had learned to school his expressions early on. Who knew Uncle Vernon was teaching him valuable life lessons? Harry nodded.

"This is normally done with wands and pain curses, to prevent bruising or accidental broken bones." Draco pulls his left sleeve above his elbow, takes a deep breath and looks Harry in the eyes. Presenting his left arm, palm up, Draco orders, "Pinch me."

Harry is understandably confused and slow to respond.

"Harry, pinch my arm, HARD, and watch my face."

Harry didn't really want to, but it seemed important to Draco so he reached out, grabbed a tiny bit of Draco's forearm, pinched it firmly and then twisted it hard. Harry knew how to pinch. Another lesson he could thank Uncle Vernon for.

Draco was surprised Harry pinched him so hard on the first try. Most people would have to be bludgeoned into it. Not Harry. Draco tensed and curled his toes as he had been taught, digging his great toe into the tiny metal spike installed just for this purpose. He focused on the pain in his toe and the tension in his foot, letting the pain in his arm get lost in the background noise.

Harry watched Draco's face carefully as he twisted. Draco's face never twitched. Only a slight change in the light on his eyes showed any change at all. His face could have been carved of stone. After a second, Harry stopped pinching Draco and waited for Draco to pinch him. It was obvious he would be next. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, blanking his mind of hope or desire. He put forth his left arm and waited.

Draco was impressed. Harry not only pinched him hard the first time, but had correctly determined he would be pinched next. Looking Harry in the eye, "You must control your emotions. I will pinch you now." Draco reached forward and grasped an inch of skin along the tender inside of Harry's forearm and pinched and twisted hard. When Harry did not show any emotion, Draco twisted harder, and then as hard as he could. Harry looked at him with a totally blank face, as if he did not exist. Draco released Harry's arm and stepped back to regroup.

"Impressive, Potter. It took me months to learn that level of control. How did you do it?"

Harry smirked, "You are not my first teacher in this subject."

Draco gave a quick shudder as he considered the implications of that comment.

'If those muggles were responsible for this, if they were the reason Harry had a level of emotional control most Slytherin first years would sell their grandmothers to achieve and if Harry became his ally at some point in the future, then someone was going to have a long series of really bad days.' Draco thought.

Shaking his head free of those thoughts Draco continued, "This may be easier than I had thought. Please, sit." Draco returned to his corner seat, back into the corner, watching the door and Harry equally.

"Look at me. Do what I do." Draco raised his eyebrow and tilted his head back slightly. The overall effect was clear. Draco was looking down his nose at Harry. Draco waited and watched as Harry repeated his expression. "Excellent! Now, how did you feel, being on the receiving end of that look?"

Harry thought briefly, "I felt like you didn't like me. More like you thought I was beneath you."

Draco smiled, "Exactly. How about this?"

Draco repeated the previous expressions but added a half curled lip.

"It looks like you stepped in something unpleasant and are trying to decide whether to have it cleaned or just throw the show away." Harry commented thoughtfully.

Draco grinned, "Exactly! You seem skilled at reading body language. Who was your teacher?"

Harry dropped his eyes for a moment, "My Uncle's moods required forewarning. I learned quickly."

It was as Draco had feared. Not that it was that much different from what his father had done to him. But his father had done it deliberately, to train his son to survive the coming darkness; survive and prosper. But Harry's uncle was a muggle. Allowing this to go unpunished would set a bad precedent. Yes, Harry's family would be receiving a belated lesson. Maybe not soon, but the appointment was unavoidable at this point. Only the date was left to be determined.

"An interesting training method. I must look into that in the future." Draco smiled. "But that is a side thought for the moment. Attempt the expression I just gave you. Good. Be sure to narrow the eye opposite the raised eyebrow. It adds to the effect. Watch."

Draco demonstrated the variations and Harry could clearly see the difference.

"Try it again," Draco ordered. As Harry was giving his best sneer Draco added, "Oh by the way, the entire wizarding world knows your mother is a slut. Shame really. Still she is, oops, sorry, WAS a mudblood. They are not good for much except a quick shag and then only if your hand is injured."

Draco watched Harry carefully as he became obviously angry.

"There! That! DON'T DO THAT!" Draco said loudly. "Your enemies are going to try to provoke you. A dead mother is a gift on a silver platter. You can be certain someone will try it. If you react like that… EVERYONE will try it. Well, everyone who wants to hurt you. You must never let anger show. Do you understand? Knowledge is power. Do Not Give Away Knowledge! Understand?"

Harry nodded quickly.

Draco continued, "Now, WITHOUT that deep breath you like to take, control yourself. Blank your face. Smile. When you can't smile is when you are going to need to the most. One day it could literally be the difference between life and death. Make yourself go cold, emotionless. Make the anger obey you, not the other way around. After you have it under control, think of something to make you smile. If it makes you happy, imagine the bastard in front of you screaming as you break his bones one by one. Then smile. That was not a hypothetical, Potter. Smile. NOW!"

Harry's face had gone blank during Draco's comments. Now he imagined a spell that would make Dudley look and sound like him. The mere idea of Dudley having to put up with even one day of the hell Harry lived through made him smile.

Draco shuddered. Whatever Harry was thinking of, was pure evil. No one smiled like that because of a happy thought. But, this could be useful.

"Harry, whatever you are thinking, remember it. That smile is frightening. When you get some years and training under you, that smile will be terrifying. Remember it. Use it. Now try for a happy thought. A thought that will generate a warm smile. Think of your best friend and the most fun you ever had."

Harry's face slowly broke into a genuine grin, warm and happy.

"So, what did you think of? Who is your best friend?"

Harry chuckled, "I only have one friend in the entire world."

Draco looked confused. How could someone his age have only one friend? "Who is it? Must be a muggle, since you only just learned about the wizarding world."

"Nope," Harry grinned wider. "My only friend in the world is you. You have shown me more affection than anyone I have ever met. You are the only one who has ever tried to help me stay out of trouble. You are the only one who has ever given me the time of day."

Draco was speechless, literally. He could not process how Harry's statement could possibly be true. That raised his opinion of Harry's muggles from 'negligent muggles' to 'abusive muggles'. Yes. This would be corrected, whether Harry ever became a formal ally or not. When this story comes out, and it is certain it will someday, it will seem muggles can abuse wizard children without consequence. However, by the time this story comes out, these muggles will already be a cautionary tale.

"I am happy to give you a reason to smile. But NEVER say that again. Let everyone think you have loads of friends in the muggle world, at least until you have made more friends in the wizarding world. We are trying to portray you as a powerful, knowledgeable Head of House. Only having one friend, a friend you only just met at that, will paint you as 'pathetic' and 'loser'. At this point, Harry, image is more important than reality."

Draco's next words are lost as he pulls his wand and points it at the opening compartment door.

A harried-looking, bushy-haired girl is standing there with her mouth open as she holds very still, looking at the wand pointed at her.

Draco has his public face on, the perpetual sneer, as he asks, "Well? What do you want?"

Hermione stammered, "A boy lost his toad. Have you seen it?"

Draco smiled, "No we have not seen the young man's toad." He puts away his wand as he rises and walks to Hermione. "My apologies for my rude behavior. I was expecting someone else. I am Draco Malfoy, scion and presumptive heir of the Ancient House of Malfoy." Draco extended his hand, "and you are?"

Hermione was amazed at the rapid change in the situation. At first it seemed she was about to be cursed, just for opening a door! Now this young gentleman had apologized and was formally introducing himself. Taking his hand tentatively, Hermione replied, "Hermione Granger." For a moment it seemed Draco grimaced, yet his smile became even larger as he turned his wrist, bowing and bringing her hand to his lips, kissing the back of her hand gently.

As Draco stood, before releasing her hand, "If you should ever have trouble during the coming year, remember my name." smiling brightly.

Hermione stammered, "Yes, well, umm, I need to find that toad. Please excuse me." She seemed slightly in a daze as she left the compartment.

Draco turned to Harry. "That is how you do it. Ms. Granger is a mudblood. I would as soon swim in sewage as touch her. Yet, I did so as a lesson to you. Notice how she left? She believes she has made a friend. She thinks if she gets in trouble I will help her. I told her to "remember my name". That is all. No promise of aid was given. That is a VERY important point, Harry. As Head of House, your word carries weight, a lot of weight. Breaking your word is an extremely bad precedent to set. It will haunt you all your days. So, make sure your words are EXACTLY what you mean and nothing more."

Harry opens his mouth to ask what a "mudblood" is, but is interrupted by the door sliding open with a bang. A redheaded, pale skinned, freckled boy about his age barged in.

"A bushy haired girl said Harry Potter was in here", the redhead said, staring at Harry.

Draco stood calmly and pulled himself up, sneered at the redhead, then turned to Harry, "And this is an example of how those without manners behave. Judging by his hair, complexion, and the state of his robes, not to mention his manners, I assume he is a Weasley. Given his apparent age, Ronald Weasley is most likely, the sixth or is it the seventh son of Molly Prewitt and Arthur Weasley. The Weasley's all get sorted into Gryffindor, the home of the brave… and stupid. Well, that was a bit harsh. Foolhardy is a better term. They charge into the fray without considering consequences, without a plan, hoping everything will work out."

Ron reached out and grabbed Harry's arm, pulling him off the seat and obviously intending to pull him out of the compartment. "Come on Harry. You don't need to stay here with this filthy Slytherin. All dark wizards come from Slytherin, just ask anyone!"

Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry, waiting.

Ron expected Harry to welcome him. This wasn't going according to expectation. Harry needed rescuing from the foul Slytherin git and Ron was going to rescue him, whether he wanted it or not. Harry would thank him later.

Ron pulled again, "Come on! Harry, you have to know some wizarding families are much worse than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there!" Ron pulled again, harder.

Harry saw the look on Draco's face. It was obvious this was a test, to see if Draco's hasty lessons had been understood. Ron didn't seem to want to harm him, but his persistence was more than annoying. Harry planted his feet and swung his arm in a large circle, breaking Ron's hold on his arm. Apparently Dudley had taught him valuable lessons also. Who would have guessed?

Harry blanked his face and addressed Ron imperiously, "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks." Harry drew himself up to his full height before addressing the sputtering Weasley again, "Who are you to lay hands on the Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter?"

Ron was confused. This was not going as expected. Harry had invoked Head of House status! Oh, this was not going to be good. There was a howler in his near future…

Ron stuttered, "Um, I just, I was, I mean".

Harry saw Draco smirk, so he decided to add a bit of fuel to the fire, "Who is your Head of House, Weasley?" Harry added a sneer as he tilted his head back to look down his nose at Ron.

Draco was impressed. True, Ron Weasley was just an eleven year old boy, but he was pure blood, so he knew the protocols even if he refused to follow them. He knew just how much trouble he had gotten into. Harry was learning quickly. Draco smiled, knowing it would set Weasley off. Time for another lesson. This would be painful, but without pain, there is no progress.

Ron saw Draco smile and desperate to divert attention from the boat load of trouble he had just gotten into, he snarled at Draco, "This is your fault! What have you done to Harry?"

Draco sneered (it was his best expression, having practiced it endlessly before his mirror), "I have done nothing to Harry. We were having a quiet conversation until you barged in to 'save him'. That is what you think you are doing, right? Saving him from 'this filthy Slytherin'? It is plain to see you are not the brains of the family. Thank Merlin for that. Your brothers are all much smarter than you, aren't they? And that sister of yours... Well, at least she is a pureblood. She can at least be useful as breeding stock to an older and wealthier pureblood House. You should get at least a few galleons as a bride price. Then your father should be able to buy you new robes. Assuming she is a virgin. She is a virgin, right Ron? You haven't been 'fishing in the family pond', have you? I think that is the-".

Whatever Draco planned to say next was lost as Ron crashed into him, spilling them both to the ground. Draco curled up, covering his face and ears with his arms and hands while drawing his legs up to protect his tender bits.

Harry watched as Ron bowled Draco to the ground and was sitting on him preparing to pummel him. Shaking himself free of his momentary paralysis, Harry planned to pull Ron off. Which is why he was so stunned when Ron suddenly disappeared from the fight. Looking toward the door Harry saw Ron being shaken soundly by what had to be his older brother.

"But Percy," Ron shouted "That damn Slytherin git was saying awful things about Ginny!"

Percy looked sternly at Draco, being helped to his feet by Harry. Percy said, "Did you speak poorly about Ginny?" Percy seemed to be at war with himself, but maintained an even tone.

Draco replied with disdain, "I did nothing of the sort and resent the implication made by this person. He was the aggressor here. I only stated facts. Your sister is pureblood and, if virgin, could be betrothed to a wealthy pureblood House for the purpose of increasing genetic diversity in their next generation. I also mentioned Ronald might get new robes from the situation."

Percy's lips drew into a tight line before replying, "I can't take points from your House, as you are yet to be sorted. However you both will have detentions for fighting."

Harry has stunned. Why would Draco get a detention for fighting? He had not fought!

"Percy Weasley" Harry began, "Draco did not retaliate to your brother's attack. He raised neither hand nor foot against Ronald Weasley's attack. Why is Draco being punished?"

Draco had planned to raise these same questions to his godfather, Professor Snape, when he reached Hogwarts. But Harry raising them now had some potential to offer further options.

Percy drew himself up and looked down his nose at Harry, "I do not have to defend my decisions to an unsorted student, especially one not directly involved in the event. Are you involved? Did you strike either participant?" Percy was sure that would shut up this kid. Who was he anyway?

Harry knew that look. Draco had taught it to him not two hours ago. Harry smiled internally. This might be fun. Sneering as contemptuously as he could at Percy, Harry replied, "No I did not strike anyone. Yes, I am directly involved, since your brother was attempting to kidnap me. What are the penalties available to a Head of House when an attempted kidnapping is prevented and the criminal captured? That boy" Harry indicated Ron with a flick of his chin, "used physical force in an attempt to remove me from this compartment against my will. Draco Malfoy, heir presumptive of the Ancient House of Malfoy, attempted to aid me by distracting this criminal. As you saw when you entered and apprehended the culprit, his distraction was quite effective. And now you want to punish Draco Malfoy for coming to my aid? … I think not."

Harry turned to Draco, standing as tall as he could, using his most dignified voice, enunciating each word carefully stated, "I, Harry James Potter, Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, offer you Draco Malfoy, scion and heir presumptive of the Ancient House of Malfoy, the protection of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter."

Draco closed his eyes tightly, thinking 'Oh crap!'.

A loud thump caused Draco to open his eyes to see Harry awaiting his answer, Ronald Weasley unconscious on the floor, and Percy standing with his jaw hanging open and eyes as wide as saucers.

AN: Harry is trying to help. He has NO IDEA what a big mess he just created! (I told you I was aiming for humor!) This is the last major event prior to sorting. Next chapter, Draco will try to explain to Harry what he REALLY offered! And will end with Harry being sorted. Hope you all enjoyed this! Review and let me know what you think, please.