"Wake up, boy," a female voice said.

Draco slowly opened his eyes, wincing at the bright surroundings. "Whe… where am I?" he asked, his voice raspy.

"Drink this," the woman who was standing beside him commanded and he gulped down the warm liquid gratefully.

As his head cleared, Draco remembered what had happened earlier. That means this has to be…

"You're in the Hospital Wing, Mr. Malfoy. You fainted on the Hogwarts Express. Oh, I'm the Nurse here, call me Madam Pomfrey," the woman explained.

"Oh… hello," Draco said. "What time is it?" he asked.

"The perfect time for you to leave, Mr. Malfoy. If you hurry up, you will still manage to catch up with the other first-years before the Sorting Ceremony begins. Come on now, you will be perfectly fine," the Nurse said and ushered him out of the room.

"My my, just how weak can someone be, to faint during the train ride…" Madam Pomfrey said out loud and sighed. "I have a feeling we'll see each other often, Mr. Malfoy."

A little bit sweaty from the run, Draco managed to find the other first-years waiting to enter the Great Hall. He tried to fix his appearance and put on a smug persona. He combed his platinum hair with his hand, and walked up to the other children slowly.

"Draco, are you okay?" His two faithful companions walked up to him. Which one of them had voiced the question, Draco didn't know.

"I'm perfectly fine, of course," he said nonchalantly and eyed the crowd carefully. After a second, he spotted Harry Potter, chatting with… the boy from the compartment?

Draco's legs almost failed him for the second time that day. He managed to grab onto something at the very last second, while his brain started to think of possible explanations.

The boy choked. I heard it. And now he's here, chatting and smiling with his murderer. How is this possible?

Oh Merlin.

Oh no.

Harry had not only killed the boy. He resurrected him too! And wiped his memories as well, surely!

With these thoughts racing through his young mind, Draco was suddenly aware of someone looking at him. Oh no… He tried to compose himself and catch his breath, but it proved fruitless. Harry and the other boy walked up to him, an action which caught the attention of most of the crowd.

"Hey, are you okay? You hit your head pretty bad…" Harry said as he closed down onto him.

Draco was staring at the pair of boys in front of him, trying hard not to appear as terrified as he actually felt. He is a complete psycho… He's trying to act concerned, but he's actually checking if I told on him…

"Ye… yes, well, I'm doing fine, just fine, perfectly okay, never better, haha…" Draco winced as even he noticed that his attempt at sounding nonplussed failed terribly.

Harry's friend… victim… raised his eyebrows. "I'm Ron Weasley by the way. Didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier, cause of… you know," he said sheepishly.

Draco grimaced. "A pleasure to meet you, I'm Draco Malfoy." Well, being a victim of the Dark Lord would be a suitable place for a Weasley. At least that's what father would say.

Ron eyed the blond boy suspiciously.

"So… excited about the Sorting?" Harry asked, his question directed at noone in particular.

Ron shrugged. "Somewhat. I figure I'll end up in Gryffindor, like my brothers. I just hope that the troll we'll be fighting isn't too strong. I mean, my brothers taught me a spell or two, so I should be okay, but what about you guys?"

Harry gave them a forced smile. "I'll be fine, probably. At least I hope so." He eyed Draco's still sweaty form with concern. "But what about you, shouldn't you get a note from the nurse or something? You should probably rest now, not duel a troll."

Draco was offended, but the Dark Lord might've been right. Draco was still trembling slightly. Surely they wouldn't make him fight a troll in this condition, he was too weak… No. I'm not weak. I'm a Malfoy. We are powerful. We are as strong as lions, and as… no, wait, not like lions, that was a mistake, I didn't mean it like tha—

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The applause was rather muffled when the Sorting Hat announced his new House. Draco walked up to his table, not meeting anybody's eyes.

My father will hear about this. Oh Merlin, he will.