Minerva glances narrowly at the headmaster over the top of her glasses. He is wearing a long purple and blue robe with what looks like little jewels embedded in a random pattern along the neckline. He is playing idly with his beard and clearly doesn't seem to be taking this whole thing as seriously as he should be."Surely you can't think this is a good idea Headmaster" She says despairingly, trying not to let her clear disapproval show in her voice and failing miserably. Dumbledore continues to smile and winks at her by way of answer. Severus chuckles from the chair next to her and Minerva just shakes her head.

.

.

He wakes suddenly in a panic, skin slick with sweat. It was just a dream he tells himself. Only, it wasn't just a dream. Draco Malfoy was really sorted into Gryffindor. He checks his watch, deciding that its unlikely he will be able to get back to sleep now that the realization has set in. 5:30am. Perfect.

He rolls out of bed as quietly as he can, hoping to avoid waking anybody else in the dorm. He doesn't need to deal with famous Potter or his stupid ginger sidekick this early in the morning. He throws on some robes red trim, eugh and makes his way quietly down the stairs. He stops with a shock as he reaches the bottom. Harry Potter is sat in an arm chair, staring idly at his wand, twisting it back and forth between his fingers. Draco considers retreating back up the stairs, but too quickly Harry glances up and notices him and the chance is lost. He quickly adjusts his face into a sneer and strolls confidently over to Harry. "Potter" he says, making sure to keep a level of arrogance in his voice, "ready to reconsider your choice in friends yet?"

Harry eyes him wearily and then slowly shakes his head "I'm not going to stop being friends with Ron, if thats what you mean" He hesitates slightly before continuing "But that doesn't mean we can't be friends too" he says softly. Draco sneers in response "Yes it does" and stalks out of the dorm trying to pretend that his heart isn't pounding in his ears. Why is this happening to me?

Draco wanders down to the great hall, stomach grumbling. The tables are decked out with an abundance of food, more than all the students could possibly eat, but this isn't anything special to him, he's used to having Dobby at home. Thankfully it's still early and so not many students have gathered for breakfast yet and so Draco is able to get a seat by himself. He takes this opportunity to gather his thoughts before having to face anybody.

He is mid thought when he spots Bubo fly into the room. His stomach fills with a mixture of dread and hope. Please let father have a solution.

The response is brief:

Draco,

You do not disappoint. All is going to plan. Severus helped. Be sure to make friends in your new house.

Your Father

Draco has to read the letter a few times before the meaning really sank in. Father had planned this. He was supposed to be in Gryffindor. And somehow Snape was involved? This was all just feeling a bit much for him and he struggled not to let the panic rise in his throat. If this was fathers plan then that meant that he wasn't going to fix it. He wanted this to happen. And what about the part telling him to make friends? Was that about Harry? Did father want him in Gryffindor so that he could spy on Harry Potter?

He let out a sigh and looked up from his letter, shocked to realize that the hall had filled up around him. He tucked the letter into his cloak pocket quickly hoping that nobody else had seen it. He could feel that somebody was standing close behind him and so he turned to regard who it was and tell them to back off if they didn't want to experience his wrath.

He was surprised to see two first year Slytherin boys standing behind him, shuffling on their feet uncomfortably. They were both large and thuggish in appearance, and the vacant expressions on their faces made it appear that they did not have many brain cells between them.

"Can I help you?" Draco asked, eyeing them with suspicion.

"I'm Crabbe" said the larger boy "and this is Goyle" he said pointing at his friend.

"Our fathers told us that we were supposed to seek you out on our first day at Hogwarts" Goyle continues, "apparently our parents have had an arrangement in place..." he pauses as if he is uncomfortable continuing but after a big breath quickly spits out "we're supposed to back you up. Help you with anything you need help with." He coughs uncomfortably, glancing at Malfoy as though afraid he's going to be told to leave. But Draco's face is forming its first smile since he arrived at Hogwarts. [i] of course! With all the distraction of being sorted into Gryffindor he had totally forgotten what father had told him about his henchmen who would be waiting for him [i/].

"Well," Draco says, unable to keep the grin off of his face "took your bloody time about introducing yourselves didn't you?!"

His smile grows as he sees the two boys squirm at his words. "Meet me this evening in the trophy room and I'll fill you in on everything that's happened so far. Until then, bugger off!" Draco says, making sure to fill his voice with authority like father had taught him. Clearly this worked well as the two boys fell over themselves running back to the Slytherin table. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

.

.

The first morning of classes went by uneventfully for Draco, it was mostly just an introduction to all of the subjects that he would soon be taking and as he had grown up in a Wizarding family he had enough background knowledge to make the day a bit of a bore. It wasn't until the afternoon and his first ever potions lesson that the day started to become more interesting. Draco already knew Professor Snape quite well as he was a close friend to his father, and the pair had spent many late evenings locked away in Lucius' office. He also knew that Snape had somehow been involved in getting him sorted into Gryffindor, though he still didn't truly understand why. This was also the first lesson that Gryffindor would be sharing with Slytherin.

As soon he walked into the dungeon he knew that this class was going to be different to the rest. Snape was clearly not bothering with the boring introductory class that the rest of the professors had deemed necessary.

"You" Snape sneered, pointing at Seamus Finnigan and flicking back a strand of greasy black hair that had fallen into his face "will be paired up with... Parkinson" He said with a sly grin.

"Miss Granger, I think Mr Goyle would make the perfect partner for you" Both looked utterly repulsed at the idea.

"Malfoy. You'll be partnered up with the famous Harry Potter. Try not to be too starstruck." He chuckled darkly, "Now remember, you will be in these pairings for the rest of the year, so act wisely"