Happiness filling Harry's heart, he immediately hugged her back, saying "I can't say that I think the thought is enough, Hermione, because it was a horrid life. But I can say that I really am happy that you wanted to defend me. In any case, I want to be your friend- what else can I assume to be in front of your parents? However, I do have one condition."

Hermione was puzzled- no one had ever held out conditions for friendship in her entire life. Then again, no one had wanted to be her friend anyway, leading to the obvious conclusion that she was also friendless. She had to wonder what the condition was, so, while her eyes peered into Harry's, she asked, "What's the condition, then?"

Harry, with a goofy grin on his face- which Manny approved of- confidently declared, "Well, just promise that we will help each other out while studying!"

She immediately slapped his arm, yelling "Prat! Why wouldn't I ask the brightest boy I know to help me out anyway? Also, friends help each other out!". Then, thinking of something, she also decided and said "But I have a few conditions now as well!"

"Which are...?"

"You always have to sit next to me in class whenever possible! And you can't be friends with any girl who doesn't like me. This second one is an absolute condition, for your information!" she laughed, and Harry felt that her conditions were sillier than his own. He didn't want to be anyone's friend before anyway, so he had no problems whatsoever.

Harry quickly agreed and they untangled- and just in time too, as after one minute, the redhead twins came in and introduced themselves as Fred and George Weasley.

"Well, Harry, I see you have already started flirting", said Fred, after they had introduced themselves, and Hermione had timidly introduced herself, clutching Harry's arm.

"Which isn't wrong, or too bad for you", chortled George when he saw two poorly impersonated tomatoes in place of Harry and Hermione.

"But I suggest that you refrain from it for now", warned Fred.

"As our younger brother Ron is also gonna be siting here.", George continued, smirking at them.

"He'll be coming up in a minute", Fred informed

"So be nice to him!" , George concluded.

True to their word, Ron had come up in a minute, then sat with Harry and Hermione. And after the twins retreated, Ron had seen fit to introduce himself. Ice broken, they talked animatedly, concluding in a failed attempt at a spell by Ron, and successful attempts by both Harry and Hermione. Hermione repaired Harry's Sellotaped glasses, while Harry had removed the dirt on Ron's nose

Just then, the scrawny git from Madam Malkin's had come to greet (read bully) them, two giantish blokes right behind him.

"So it's true then- Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts! Wait- You're the slimy git who disagreed with me at Madam Malkin's, aren't you!? Well, this is Vincent Crabbe and this is Gregory Goyle, and I'm Draco Malfoy. You'll soon find that some people-" Malfoy had almost finished his speech when Harry had interjected, "Well, before you go any further, I'd like to speak to you in private. Perhaps your, ah, friends can wait outside a bit? These two can be privy as the talk is related to them as well."

Puzzled, Malfoy had sent them out. Then he had barely said anything before Harry said "I've got Silencing and Illusion barriers set up. You can drop the act.", shocking him to the core. The confused pair with Harry had asked him what he meant, to which Harry had fibbed, saying that apart from magic, barriers were something that he was naturally capable of producing. The reality needn't be mentioned

Malfoy thought for a bit before asking, "How did you figure out that I'm just acting?"

Harry had answered by saying that being bullied for at least 7 years of his life had given him the ability to see through a person's character on sight. Actually, he decided against hexing Malfoy because he saw that he was only pretending to please his father."I expect you just want friends who you genuinely like, which was impossible because of your father pressuring you to be a pureblood supremacist. How about you start defying him by being a bit more courageous?"

Malfoy had said that his entire family had been in Slytherin and that he wanted to break tradition. Harry agreed, saying that he deserved the chance, and so, they became friends, deciding that if they could, they would break his parents' mindset. Harry then pulled down the barriers.

Draco had promptly sent his ex-goons away, saying that they were worse than the trio behind him, and joyfully helped Ron explain the rules and customs of the Wizarding World, and by the time they were finished, those two understood a lot more. Halfway through, the lunch trolley had come up, which showed that Harry was a bit rich. They had eaten and talked their way through the rest of the journey.

At Hogwarts, the four people had all clambered into one boat while Harry had introduced the other three to Hagrid, who wasn't much pleased with Draco. Once they reached the castle, the ever-strict Professor McGonagall had told them to prepare for the Sorting, At the Sorting, Draco got his wish, being sorted into Gryffindor with the other three.

Harry, however was unusual- due to Manny's presence within Harry's body, The Sorting Hat- which had sung a song before it started Sorting students- had found it impossible to Sort Harry. Therefore, it had announced its decision to allow Harry to choose his house. Harry chose Gryffindor, of course, but Manny surprisingly approved, saying that Slytherin's rep wouldn't have done them any good. He also revealed that he was Gryffindor, while Harry was Slytherin. This was open defiance of the Sorting system, and Harry had asked the Hat to tell the Headmaster that he would like a private meeting at the earliest surreptitious opportunity.

In any case, the Feast at the Great Hall ended with Neville Longbottom finding his toad Trevor in a pile of doughnuts during dessert. The Gryffindor common room was warm and cozy, with a slight amount of the other house colours in addition to the red and gold of Gryffindor.

Harry had gotten to know his other dormmates- Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas and Neville- quite well, but only really felt friendly to three people- Draco, Ron, and Hermione. Once in bed, Harry chatted with Manny till the others fell asleep, then they got up, and stomped on the floor. Immediately, he understood a lot about the castle, and it's residents. Feeling satisfied, he decided to sleep, while Manny analyzed the info and put up some plans. They discovered recently that one of them could do one thing while the other could do another thing, as they did now.