Harry changed into his robes as the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade Station. Harry grabbed his trunk and turned around watching Draco transfer himself from his seat to his wheelchair. Harry wasn't sure if he should try to help Draco but was surprised with the ease that Draco was able to transfer. Draco looked up at Harry with a smug smile, as if he knew what Harry had been thinking.

"Where is your trunk?"

"It was already dropped off at Hogwarts by my parents." Harry nods in understanding.

They wait until the hall is less crowded before exiting their compartment. They make their way to the front of the train. Harry stepped off the train onto a dark platform, Sacha tightening around his waist from the cold. Harry turned around to see how Draco would get off the train. To Harry's surprise the stairs transformed into a ramp and Draco rolled down.

A lamp came bobbing over the heads of students and Harry heard a familiar voice. "Firs' years! Firs' years over here." Hagrid's big hairy face appeared over the sea of heads. "C'mon follow me, any more firs' years? Mind yer step now! Firs' years follow me!" Slipping and stumbling they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a very steep narrow path. Harry heard Draco mumble about wheelchair accessible paths. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees.

"Yeh'll get yer first sight o' Hogwarts in a sec." Hagrid called over his shoulder, "Just round the bend here." There was a loud "Ooooooooh!" The narrow path had opened onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water.

Draco looked up at Hagrid and asked "How am I supposed to do this? My father was told that when I went here I would be treated like other students and that I would get to experience the same things."

Hagrid looked down at Draco barely hiding his dislike. "Hogwarts isn't going to make special accommodations for you. I you can't get onto the boat then you can go back and get on the carriages with the older students" he snarled.

Draco frowned in thought. He was not going to let people bully him out of doing things. "What are you going to do? I'll go with you if you want to go back and get on the carriages" Harry offered. Draco shook his head and wheeled his chair up to the edge of the lake near an empty boat.

"Harry, do you think you could pick me up?" Harry looked at Draco, he was skinny and didn't appear to weigh a lot. He'd had to pick up a lot of heavy bags of fertilizer when tending to Aunt Petunia's garden.

"Yeah, I probably could."

"Great, um, can you pick me up and put me in the boat?" Harry stood shocked for a second. Everything Harry had learned about Draco up until this point had pointed towards Draco being fiercely independent. Harry stepped closer to Draco's chair and leaned over it. Draco wrapped his arms around Harry's neck and looked up into his eyes. Harry smiled down at Draco and scooped an arm under Draco's legs and lifted him with ease. Draco tightened his arms around Harry's neck and leaned a little closer as Harry walked over to the boat. Harry gently lowered Draco down into the boat, and noticed Draco's full-face flush.

"Are you good?" Harry asked. Draco nodded and glanced up at Harry before looking back down.

"Can you get my chair? All you have to do is touch it and say Parvus." Harry walked over and did as Draco said. His chair shrunk to about the size of an apple and he handed it to Draco before he got into the boat next to him. Harry wondered if Draco was embarrassed, he hopped he hadn't made him uncomfortable.

Other students around got into groups and boarded boats of their own. A girl with brown bushy hair got into Harry and Draco's boat and sat across from them.

"Everyone in?" Hagrid said with a pointed look at Draco. "Right then...Forward!" The fleet of little boats moved off all at once across the lake, which was smooth as glass.

The girl sitting across from Harry and Draco smiled at them and introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Hermione Granger. Do either of you know what House you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor. It sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin. That was You-Know-Who's house."

Draco and Harry just stared at her. 'Is everyone brainwashed by Dumbledore' Draco wondered as Hagrid yelled "Heads Down!" as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the face of the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle until they reached an underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. Harry took Draco's wheelchair and the second he set it on the ground it returned to full size. Harry once again picked up Draco and placed him in his chair.

"Thank You"

"Anytime"

Hagrid and the first years made their way into the castle.