6 June 2008 A/N: Hello! I'm trying to update before next week, when I've got finals. You won't be seeing me at all then, so I'll try to make up for it now. How are the chapter lengths? And thanks to the following for either reviewing or adding:
-panther73110
-BrightFeather
-Mooglething: Sirius Black is still convicted but innocent. I decided that messing with his role would take too much thinking. (heh) And I'll be adding in little twists, so I'm not too sure about the little side adventures Harry will be having. Keep in mind that Draco and Harry are, at this point, still eight years old—I didn't think Draco would be too uptight at that age. I'm trying not to follow the Lucius/Narcissa stereotypes (either Lucius or Narcissa is an excellent or a horrible parent) while maintaining the attitude they held in canon. Let's just say both parents love Draco very much, but show it in…interesting ways.
-jabarber69: Well, you'll have to keep on reading to find out, huh. P
-munchnzoey: Thanks.
-koldy
7 June 2008 A/N: I've received several comments to slow down a bit and pay attention to detail. I'll try to do that, but you probably won't notice my effort until I get better at writing this (heh). Thanks to the following for reviewing or adding:
-Yunaine
-Tiffany's Hogwarts Secrets: I'll try not to fall into any already-used plot lines. Keeping in mind the strictness of Augusta Longbottom, I'm guessing that 'my' Neville will be much more balanced than canon Neville, but not a spoilt brat, either.
-Ivy: Thanks for pointing those out. I don't reread my chapters (gasp!) but I'll do that in the future. I was too excited about posting (hehheh).
8 June 2008 A/N: I'm finishing today! Promise! Oh yeah, and I posted a one-shot. If you click on my name and visit my profile page, it's called "A Sentimental Side". (If you'd like to read that). Thanks to:
- pacific.coast: Yeah, the characters are definitely different—keep in mind, however, that this is an AU. With the exception of majorly changed characters (Harry, Draco, Neville) everyone else should stay mostly the same as their canon counterparts. And all comments are appreciated, so don't think yours aren't helpful.
Chapter Three
Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter had, over the course of nearly a year, become very good friends. One could almost say that they were as close as brothers. Almost every day, the moment they woke up they would hurriedly eat breakfast, then rush out to the back yard to play Quidditch, or just fly about on their brooms. Thrice a week, a tutor would come in to teach Draco magical theory and general wizarding need-to-know things, and Harry would listen in and participate in the lessons. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had become somewhat fond of Harry as well, and treated him like another son. Every now and then, Lucius would take Harry and Draco to places such as wizarding zoos and Quidditch games. Narcissa, in turn, would take the two to Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and other shopping centers—visits that Harry soon grew to like, as all they did there was chatter while Narcissa picked out items for them. Slowly, the bond between Harry and the Malfoys grew stronger and stronger.
On June 31st, Harry's ninth birthday, the Malfoys had a large party with many of their friends—exactly the same thing they did for Draco several months prior.
The day started out ordinarily, with Harry and Draco waking up and rushing down the stairs (Harry hopping over the trick step) to hurriedly consume their breakfast. Draco grinningly said happy birthday to Harry, who had completely forgotten about the special day.
"So Harry, how does it feel to be nine years old?" Draco questioned, smirking slightly.
"Well…since I've only been nine for a very short amount of time, I can't really answer that. I suppose being nine makes me feel old. Like, wrinkled and crippled old. But I'm sure you would know—after all, you've been nine for much longer," Harry retorted, grinning back. "I wonder what will happen today? I've never celebrated my birthday before."
Draco gasped in shock as he stared at Harry in horror. "How could you have never celebrated your birthday? It's practically the most important day of the year! With the exception of Christmas and Halloween, of course. But to have never had been the center of a celebration that was completely about you—that's horrible! I really think your life was terrible."
"It was…good thing I met you, huh. I'm really lucky, I think," Harry replied thoughtfully. "Do you think your parents have planned anything?"
"Maybe. They're always up to something, but for the past few weeks Mother always looks guilty when I go up to the owlery and Father always hides whatever he is doing when I go to talk to him. Maybe they've got a surprise or something?" Draco replied, thinking back to the odd behavior of his parents.
Harry's eyes glinted a little as he said, "that would be wonderful. I still can't thank you all enough for taking me in. It makes me feel very…loved. And appreciative, but mostly loved."
"Aw…Harry has a majorly sentimental side! We're doomed! The next thing we know, Bellatrix Lestrange will break out of prison and announce that Sirius Black is innocent!" Draco exclaimed, laughing at Harry's moment of mushiness.
"Shut up, Draco. I was trying to be grateful, and you mock me for it," Harry said, mock glaring at Draco.
Still laughing, Draco ran off in another direction, leaving a slightly annoyed birthday boy standing alone.
--
That night
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Draco yelled out from a crowd as Harry walked in to the living room. Many of the adults laughed softly at Draco's antics, and several more laughed at Harry's expression.
The living room was absolutely swarming with people. Each one was decked out in jewelry and wearing expensive dress robes. Harry recognized quite a few from Draco's birthday party (of which he was proud of, because the party to him had been a whirlwind of introductions), but there were also a good number of people Harry was pretty sure he had never seen before.
"Happy birthday, Harry," said one witch, shaking his hand.
"Happy birthday," a man said, congratulating him.
Harry was whisked about from one pureblood to another, and was confronted by many variations upon 'Happy Birthday'.
Self-refilling platters of food were piled prettily on two long tables that spread from one end of the room to the other. Beautifully decorated goblets of a variety of drinks, including firewhiskey, pumpkin juice, and butterbeer, would appear on floating boards in the air.
Every now and then the great front doors of the Manor would open to even more guests. The pile of presents by the main fireplace grew as guests arrived, flooing in with a puff of green smoke.
Harry headed towards Lucius Malfoy (avoiding all the well-wishers). Lucius was talking to a tall-ish man with oily looking hair and a prominently hooked Roman nose, and their discussion seemed more than a little lively. The wizard, who was wearing a big black cloak, waved his arm around as he 'yelled' in harsh whispers while sneaking looks at Harry. Lucius, on the other hand, looked calm and prepared for all the questions, answering them evenly and disregarding the wizard's rantings.
"Lucius, thanks for all of this," Harry said upon reaching Lucius. "This is amazing. I can't thank you enough for this, and your taking care of me for the past year."
Lucius looked at Harry fondly, but brushed off some lint from Harry's dress robes and told him to stand up straight.
"Harry, you can consider yourself part of the family. We will support you as long as you wish to stay with us," Lucius replied warmly.
"Thanks," Harry said with a smile. He turned to the other wizard and asked, "who are you?"
"I," the oily haired and grumpy looking wizard replied, "am Severus Snape. Pleased to make your acquaintance," Snape said, not looking pleased to see him in the least.
"Likewise, sir. Apologies for interrupting your…conversation. Please excuse me," Harry said, nodding to Snape and backing away.
Harry spent another hour or so wandering around the first floor and being accosted by witches and wizards wishing him a happy birthday. It was, generally speaking, quite a boring hour, as it was filled with taking several steps in one direction, being bothered for a few minutes, then taking another few steps, and being bothered again, and another few steps…let's just say that it was a considerably long and pointless process.
During that hour, Harry munched on all matter of deserts and even dared to try a sip of firewhiskey, though the burning he received down his throat was enough to dissuade him from ever drinking the reddish liquid again.
Thinking that, if he met one more person, he would explode and start bashing his head against the marble floor, Harry snuck upstairs to hide from the crowd. He peeked out from behind the banisters, watching Narcissa talking excitedly with a group of witches and Lucius sweep around to talk to random globs of people. The guests were generally clumped in clusters, with obvious distinctions—one cluster was completely female, and each witch was practically staggering under the weight of the amount of precious metals and rocks they had on. Add on the extravagant dress robes they were wearing, and their over the top makeup—the witches looked most definitely wealthy, but mindless as well.
Another cluster, one that was mostly male but had several witches scattered throughout, wore very simple but expensive dress robes—the type one would wear to a Ministry event. The members of this cluster seemed to be at the Manor for the simple purpose of striking business deals with other guests—a reasonable goal, especially because Lucius mingled among them for quite a while. (Harry guessed that Lucius earned more money through contracts during each social event than he spent on them—and Lucius spent a lot).
Then, there was a cluster of people who all seemed to dislike each other very much—Harry, listening carefully, could hear veiled insults. That particular cluster seemed to be competing for something…status, perhaps. The conversation was rather superficial.
"I do like your necklace very much…I have the same set, except mine is a real Guardovatch," one witch would say.
"You must be mistaken. My necklace was handmade by Farasay, whose pieces are so much more classy than Guardovatch's," the other would reply.
There were also scattered people who weren't in clusters throughout the room. Harry was trying to figure out why they were at his party at all when Draco poked him on the shoulder.
"Escaped, did you?" Draco asked, his mouth turned up in amusement.
"Yeah," Harry whispered back, glancing at the crowd. "And you shouldn't be laughing, you escaped too."
"Ah, but I'm not the birthday boy, am I?" Draco returned.
"Fine, point taken," Harry said. "Hey, do you know Snape? The oily-haired guy with the hooked nose?"
"Of course I do!" Draco laughed, "he's my godfather! Why, did you meet him?"
"Er, yeah. He doesn't seem to like me very much, and I have no idea why."
"I don't know either," Draco shrugged. "He's a bit stiff and suspicious of people in general, so don't take it personally."
"But…"
"Stop. You're just being silly. There will always be people in the world who don't like you. All you can do is be more powerful than them, and you need not worry about it at all," Draco said, sounding every bit like Lucius.
"Yes sir," Harry replied, bowing to Draco mockingly. "So, are you going to help me take over the world so I can ignore everyone who doesn't like me?"
"Of course! But I'm obviously going to be king," Draco replied smugly.
"What am I going to be then, queen?" Harry asked, laughing at the thought.
The two continued their plans for taking over the world as they chattered on late into the night, oblivious and happy in their naïveté and innocence.
8 June 2008 A/N: Sorry about the short-ish chapter. I just thought this was a nice place to end it. Comments? Suggestions? I'm trying to think of a better title, but I don't want to give away the plot, either. Oh yeah--I need a beta! I think an outside look would help a lot, so if any of you readers beta (or know a good beta), please tell me. I'll try to post again maybe later today or tomorrow, but after that, you won't see me for a week. Toodles!