THE ASHCROFT FILES

Chapter One

A/N - thomas ashcroft is in no way connected to that ashcroft guy in america i named his ashcroft before that guy existed ive had this under my belt for quite a while lol well anyway enojy

Thomas Ashcroft looked around the platform, eyes rolling across the crowds of bystanders gathered there to catch the Hogwarts Express. He looked regretfully at a red-haired woman, hugging her red-haired children, and felt a wave of bitterness rise up in him. He himself had no one. Absent-mindedly, he ran a hand along the hilt of the sword hanging over his back, as if to remind himself, it was there. The only connection he had left to anything.

When others looked at him, they only saw what they wanted to see. A teenage boy, about sixteen, tall and lanky, but not too lanky, and rather pale. His hair, though, was black as the darkest night, cut to just below the tip of his nose, and his eyes were a piercing, silvery blue. They saw a boy, dressed in clothes that were long and tight and black, seeming to emphasis his gauntness, and a long sword hung over his back, the hilt sticking over his shoulder. From the way he walked, you could tell he knew how to use it. They couldn't see what was underneath that. Thomas himself was unsure whether his was good or bad.

The whistle on the train blew, and Thomas picked up his luggage and walked onto the train. The corridor on the train was crowded, not giving him room to put his long legs to use, and annoyance built up in him. He peered into compartment after compartment, each filled with people laughing and talking, and this did nothing to improve his mood. Finally he found an empty compartment, and sat down, stashing his luggage in the rack before sitting down. He stretched out on the seat, then the compartment door opened and a blonde boy stuck his head in.

The boy looked around briefly, nodded and opened the door the rest of the way, sitting himself down. Behind him was several other people, who also sat down. There were two thick, daft looking boys, a dark-haired girl and a blonde girl. The blonde boy, who seemed to be the leader, straightened his leather coat and said "You're the new exchange student, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am," Thomas said simply. Not unfriendly, really, just in a way that said he didn't like talking much.

The blonde boy stuck out his hand, which Thomas took. The nails on the hand were painted black. "Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," the boy said.

"Thomas Ashcroft," Thomas replied.

Draco gestured to the others and began to introduce them - the thick ones were Crabbe and Goyle (Thomas didn't bother remembering which was which), the blonde girl was Pansy Parkinson and the dark-haired one was Daphne Greengrass.

"Do you know which House you'll be Sorted into yet?" Draco asked.

"Maybe," Thomas said, "I was in Talon at Merlin Academy - that's sort of like Ravenclaw, I guess."

"Well, we're in Slytherin," Draco said, unaffected. "We know what we want, and how to get it, and we're not afraid to go as far as we have to."

Thomas gave a small smile. "Well, that sounds good."

"Are you Pureblooded?" Pansy burst in suddenly, her blue eyes fierce. "Because we in Slytherin don't like Mudbloods."

Draco's eyes dropped, but Thomas said, "No, it's okay. I'm Pureblood."

They spent the next hour chatting about small things, and what had happened over the holidays, and things like that. Finally, Draco had stood up and said, "Crabbe, Goyle, we need to go pay Potty a visit. Thomas, you should come too."

Thomas followed Draco down the corridor to another compartment. Draco opened the door and the three people in it looked up. One was short, dark haired and had glasses. The next was tall and red-haired, wearing an old red sweater. The last one was a girl, tall and pretty, her face framed with silky brown curls.

"What do you want, Draco?" she demanded.

"Now now, Granger, temper temper," Draco mocked. "I just wanted to introduce my new friend."

"Who'd want to be friends with a slimy git like you?" the redhead said venomously.

"Rack off, Malfoy, before I hurt you," the one with glasses said.

"I'm Thomas Ashcroft. Nice to meet you, too," Thomas smirked.

"How were your holidays, Potter?" Draco said sarcastically.

Harry stood up, wand in hand. "I said rack off and I mean it. I don't have time for your crap. And take your smartass friend with you."

Draco cast an uneasy look at Thomas, and then at Hermione, and finally nodded, that they should just leave. As they walked away, before the compartment door slammed shut, Thomas heard the redhead say, "'The exchange student might be nice, Ron!' Yup, he was pretty nice, the way he's friends with Malfoy!"

Draco turned to Thomas, then said, "We better go get changed into our robes now, before we get to Hogwarts."

Following Draco back to their compartment, Thomas wondered if he'd already got himself into something over his head.

A/N - okay folks thats the first chapter out of the way and i hope you liked it, please r/r