Author's note. Thanks to all those who helped me with Pottermore, I've got it better figured out now and I finally completed the Polyjuice Potion, that took several tries. And a big thanks to Pottermore its self for including all that nice background history, especially for the Malfoys, it was great.

Remember, any Snape snark sayings would be very welcome.

Enjoy and please review.

Ron and Hermione stared in surprise at Draco Malfoy who stood there with his two goons. Thankfully, as Malfoy essentially turned up every single train ride, they were able to recover their wits pretty quickly.

"You know Harry?" Hermione asked curiously and Malfoy immediately looked hopeful.

"No but I heard he was meant to be starting Hogwarts this year so I wanted to meet him. Where is he?"

"He's gone to the loo," Ron spoke up, mentally groaning at the sight of the smug blond boy. "He'll be back in a minute probably."

"Then I'll wait," Malfoy stated pompously stepping into the compartment along with Crabbe and Goyle.

Ron and Hermione exchanged a quick look before Hermione said.

"So, this is your First year too?"

"Yes," Malfoy replied in a rather bored tone, he clearly didn't think Ron or Hermione were worth his notice. "About time as well, father thinks it's a crime we can't learn sooner."

Ron quickly ate a jelly snake, trying not to twitch and react to the mention of 'my father'. It had been one of his top peeves when it came to Malfoy, that constantly boasting of his father did this, his father thinks that, argh.

Trying to smile and be polite, Hermione offered a bad of Bertie Botts every flavour beans.

"Bean?" she asked and Crabbe and Goyle instantly plunged their hands into the bag, an impressive feat considering the size of their hands and withdrew with a handful of random beans.

"No thank you," Malfoy said with a sniff and Hermione withdrew the now half empty bag.

Before the silence could stretch into awkward, Harry suddenly appeared at the door.

"Oh," he said in surprise, seeing just who was in his compartment.

Malfoy turned and his eyes widened in mild surprise as he saw who it was.

"You're Harry Potter?" he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Er, yeah," Harry said with a small smile, knowing he didn't exactly look like the savour of the wizard world in his baggy clothes and glasses. "I'm Harry, what's your name?"

"Draco Malfoy," Malfoy said, drawing himself up proudly. "And this is Crabbe and Goyle."

"Pleased to meet you," Harry said, musing that Malfoy had never introduced his bodyguards by their first name the first time round either. "These are my friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."

"Weasley?" Malfoy drawled with a slight sneer as Ron rolled his eyes. Here it came.

"My father's told me all about them, they all have red hair, hand me downs and more children than they can afford."

"So?" Harry questioned, wishing Malfoy wasn't such a git. "Does that matter?"

"Of course it does," Malfoy said as though it was obvious.

"Oh," Harry said with more patience than he was feeling. "I'm not sure why having red hair is a bad thing."

"Well...it isn't," Malfoy had to concede, he couldn't really state a logical argument against that.

"And as for having too many children, well, not everyone can be rich," Harry pointed out. "It probably makes things harder but not impossible. And if a couple really want a big family, surely there's no reason why they shouldn't do that."

"Yes...well," Malfoy tried to say, the conversation wasn't going the way he'd hoped. "It's not really that, they're Blood Traitors."

"What are Blood Traitors?" Harry asked curiously but it was Ron who answered.

"It means we're okay with Muggles," he said lazily, enjoying how flustered Malfoy looked. "We don't look down on them and we can marry them, Muggleborns and Halfbloods, no problem."

"Why's that a bad thing?" Harry now asked Malfoy who said.

"Because Pureblood wizards are superior and should only marry other Purebloods, otherwise, the magic can become tainted."

"Did you say your name was Malfoy?" Hermione questioned, earning an annoyed look and a curt "Yes."

"I've been doing some reading about the wizarding world," she began, seeing Malfoy's sneer at the obvious hint that she was Muggleborn. "And aren't the Malfoy's a very long, distinguished and successful line?"

"Why yes, we are," Malfoy said, very proudly as he drew himself up.

"Well, isn't that partly because the Malfoys are more sensible than most other Purebloods families," she continued and as Malfoy nodded, a little bemused by her point, she added. "They've avoided the horrible habit of letting their choice of partners get so small, they've been forced to marry their own cousins."

As everyone, even Crabbe and Goyle gaped at her, she said.

"Many Pureblood families have devolved either health problems or mental instability because they insist on only ever marrying Pureblood. As a result, many families have either fallen into ruin or died out. The Malfoys has historically abhorred inbreeding and have taken the more sensible route of marrying Pure and Half bloods. I also read that before the Statue of Secrecy, the Malfoy family was part of rich and royal Muggle society, one called Lucius Malfoy even proposed marriage to Elizabeth the First."

As Malfoy gaped in complete astonishment at her, Ron said.

"Really?"

"Oh yes, it's all there in Wizard genealogy and various history books," Hermione said confidently, making Harry realise she must have garnered more knowledge from the Black library than they'd previously suspected. "Although I'm not sure how widely known that is."

"What...what book did you get that from?" Malfoy demanded and Hermione answered.

"Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy was one...a very...uh...fascinating read. It mentioned some of old lines where the women married into the Malfoy family. There was also 'Proud and Pure: Ancient Wizard Lineage', that gave quite a comprehensive account of different wizarding families."

"Wow," Harry stated, that was certainly interesting.

"Anyway," Hermione finished. "Your own family, Draco, proves that not just associating with Purebloods is a good thing. After all, those Half Bloods either had a Muggle or Muggleborn parent."

Malfoy opened and closed his mouth several times, he was beyond stunned. No doubt Lucius and Narcissa had always skimmed over this part of Malfoy family history. And possibly, they hadn't had a Halfblood in the family for a few generations so it was easy to pretend they'd only ever married Purebloods. Trying to prevent a wide grin breaking out all over his face, Harry said genially.

"Well, I think that's cleared that up quite well."

He turned to a flabbergasted Malfoy and said.

"I don't know if your family has a history with Ron's but surely that doesn't mean we can't all be friends."

And he held out his hand for Malfoy to shake which he did. Harry then shook Crabbe and Goyle's hands although they were still staring at him. Ron and Hermione jumped up and also shook everyone's hands as Malfoy tried to regain his composure.

"But...but," Malfoy stammered, he was clearly at a complete loss of what to say.

"Why don't you have a bag of beans?" Ron suggested, placing the bag in Malfoy's hands as Hermione said.

"I can easily look up more information if you want."

"Really nice to meet you guys hope we can all be friends," Harry added cheerfully. "I think now would be a good time for us to get changed and clear up a bit, we'll see each other at the Feast."

The trio of soon to be Slytherins eagerly took this polite offering to leave and hurried away, not even saying goodbye. Ron sat back in his chair with a heavy sigh and said.

"Well, at least that's over."

"It went better than I expected," Hermione stated in a considering way. "I don't think I've ever seen him struck dumb like that."

"No but it was good," chuckled Harry before asking. "Was that really true about the Malfoy family?"

"It was," Hermione said with a nod. "I read all about it when we were away on the trip but things kept happening which meant I never got the chance to tell you. It's strange considering their beliefs but it does in part explain their success. The Weasley family must have some Halfbloods at least in their tree to have stayed healthy as well."

This made Ron nod.

"No one recent though," he stated. "Those who have married into the family have been New Purebloods, you know, ones who have been Pureblood for several generations but didn't start out that way."

"You learn something new every day," Harry quipped. "Well, I've no idea if this will make a difference in our relationship with Malfoy but at least we tried. With any luck he might avoid us just so we don't startle him like that again."

"Now wouldn't that be good," Ron sighed dreamily. "Malfoy completely and utterly avoiding us, never bugging us about how rich and important his father is."

"We can hope," Hermione said as she started to clear up the sweets a little, placing them in the hamper so that they'd be safe. "By the way Ron, I think you behaved very maturely with Malfoiy, despite his snooty attitude."

Ron shrugged.

"No bloody point in arguing with an eleven year old ferret," he stated. "Anyway, you can bet I'll probably end up saying something to him later on, he won't be shell shocked forever."

"Just do your best to ignore him," Hermione said soothingly as Harry opened his trunk.

"We probably should get dressed," he said as he began taking out his school robes. "Then we can relax and discuss anything else of importance."

They nodded and after they'd gotten their own robes out, Hermione went to the ladies while the boys closed the blinds so they could change. Half an hour later, they were reclined in their seats with Crookshanks purring on Hermione's lap while Harry levitated Hedwig a couple of owl treats.

"You don't have to wave your wand for every little thing," Ron pointed out, doing an impersonation of his mother.

"I don't but this saves me getting up," Harry replied smartly, making them all laugh.

"We won't be able to do that so casually once we reach Hogwarts," Hermione said sorrowfully. "At the moment, we should only really be able to shoot sparks out of our wands and maybe a couple of extremely simple spells."

"I'm sure we'll live," Harry said encouragingly. "We can still practise in secret and stuff. And at least when things get going, we'll be able to do more magic openly even if it's pretty basic stuff."

They nodded; it would be easier than the summer when they hadn't been able to do any magic at all. Ron now said.

"When can we get rid of that rat again?"

"Close to Halloween," Hermione said. "That way it'll be enough time for us to 'settle in' and start asking questions and it's not that long away that you have to put up with that rat."

"Sounds good," Ron said, stretching slightly before something dawned on his face.

"Hey...what about the troll?"

"Oh yeah," Harry said as he remembered this. "Quirrel's going to let the troll in as a diversion."

"But we don't need to interfere, do we?" Hermione said anxiously. "I mean, I was the only one not at the feast and that's obviously not going to happen now. Quirrel won't get at that Stone; he was just testing the defences."

"Yeah but Snape gets his leg badly bitten," Harry said with a grimace. "I don't suppose we could somehow block that door before the feast to stop anyone getting in?"

"We could research it," Hermione suggested. "The only problem is that Quirrel would probably try another night, one where people are wandering about."

"Well, we need to take him down before he gets to Hagrid," Harry said firmly. "After Occlumency, that's what we've got to research, banishing one soul from another's body."

"Quirrel probably worked a bit like a Horcrux," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Not quite as Voldemort was able to escape his dying body but it's similar. Possibly, you'd need to trick Voldemort into thinking Quirrel was dying; he would be forced to leave so that he didn't perish as well."

"And then make sure he didn't latch onto anyone else," Harry added grimly. "I think you're right Quirrel was never an actual Horcrux but we'll need to research to be sure."

"It's a shame Professor Dumbledore removed those books on Horcruxes," Hermione sighed, lightly stroking Crookshank's smooth fur as he was demanding some attention. "I do like being able to reference things."

"Well, there's a chance Sirius's home might have something," Harry suggested. "If we could get to the library before anyone else..."

"What about Kreacher?" Ron pointed out. "He wouldn't be happy with us messing around with Black family heirlooms."

"I'm hoping he'll be on our side by then," Harry said softly. "If Sirius would only give us permission to take a look, we could offer to clean it up or something."

"I don't think he'll let three First years loose in that house," Ron disagreed. "And neither will mum if she's got anything to say about it."

"If we had adult supervision," Hermione suggested. "To turn that place into a real home for Sirius, we could grab whatever books we wanted and take care of that locket. We can help Kreacher and encourage him and Sirius to get on. You can do that Harry; Sirius would do anything for you."

"I can try," Harry said with a slight grimace, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to convince Sirius of this. Sirius had despised his childhood home and Kreacher and had never made much effort with either. However, maybe being proved innocent and being a free man would mean he was more likely to make an effort.

"It could become a really lovely home," Hermione said encouragingly. "Remember how it looked once Kreacher started making an effort? You could get rid of the entire horrible dark decor and turn it into a beautiful safe home. It has so much potential if you could only convince Sirius of that."

Harry nodded; maybe he could persuade Sirius to design his own dream home. Since he'd be proved innocent, he could easily go out and buy things for his house and since right now it wouldn't be Headquarters, they could do whatever they wanted with it. Harry did think it would be a good idea to keep it with all its protections as you never knew when you'd been a safe house. Hopefully, it wouldn't be difficult to convince Sirius of this.

"I can't wait to see Sirius," Harry now said with a smile. "I wonder if I could spend Christmas with him."

"I think it depends," Hermione couldn't help but say. "Where is Sirius going to stay once he's out of Azkaban? His house is a mess and I know he had a flat once but that's probably been sold by now."

Ron opened his mouth and then closed it. Harry noticed and said.

"What's up?"

"Well, I had a thought but it's probably stupid," Ron said, his ears going a little red.

"Ron, you know we won't laugh," Hermione told him gently. "And I'm sure whatever it is, it's not stupid."

"Well...," Ron said slowly. "This is just an idea but...with me and my brothers gone, the house is pretty empty and mum doesn't have much to do. I mean, she still cooks and cleans, teaches Ginny a bit of schoolwork and stuff but I think she gets bored. And since we're gone, there are loads of free bedrooms."

"Are you saying Sirius could stay at the Burrow?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Ron said with a nod. "Mum could look after him, feed him up and stuff and he wouldn't be alone. It would also distract Ginny a bit and Sirius could just relax and recover while we send him letters about Hogwarts. Um...what do you think?"

There was a pause and then Harry grinned.

"Brilliant Ron."

"Really?" Ron said in relief, he wasn't sure how his idea would be met. "Uh, Sirius and mum did argue a bit..."

"But they shouldn't this time," Hermione pointed out. "At the moment, everything's fine, we're just at school like normal children and there's nothing for them to worry about. Your mother was worried about us being involved in a War while Sirius believed we needed to be prepared to fight and they clashed. But now they can both relax and as you said Ron, enjoy hearing about how we're all doing at school. Your parents and Ginny can regale him with tales of Fred and George's antics, things like that."

As Ron smiled, Harry added.

"And I think Sirius needs a mother," he said softly. "And a father too. He never had that growing up and I know he had my grandparents for a bit but their gone. He might be thirty one or whatever but he needs someone to take care of him since I can't really. I know there's Remus but he's ill so often that he needs looking after as well."

"Mum won't complain if Remus visits," Ron said with a smile. "Although...has that Wolfsbane Potion been invented yet?"

"Just under two years ago," Hermione stated softly. "But it's extremely advanced and dangerous if you get it wrong. What a shame Professor Snape couldn't brew it for Professor Lupin."

"Just have to find a way to persuade him to," was Harry's answer, knowing that could easily be their most difficult challenge.

"We'll leave that for now," Hermione suggested. "I had an idea for something that would be good for us to learn."

"What's that?" Ron asked, carefully opening a chocolate frog and watching as it hopped about the seat.

"Healing," she said with a small smile. "Even if it's just small cuts and things, it would be really good to know."

"Funny, I was thinking that before the trip," Harry laughed. "I cut myself on a broken cup and started thinking 'I should probably have learned this before now.' We should definitely research that."

Ron nodded, he'd had enough damn injuries to last a lifetime and you could bet he'd get some more before the school year was over. Never mind Voldemort, Fred and George would probably be out for revenge against his little joke and it would probably be painful.

"Okay, I think we've got a good plan for the first half of this year," Harry said in satisfaction. "We'll just take our time and see how this week goes, that sound alright?"

"Yep," Ron agreed as Hermione nodded.

"Anyone want a game of Exploding Snap, Bertie Botts style?" Ron asked, making Harry grin and Hermione smile.

Exploding Snap, Bertie Botts style meant that every time you lost a game of Exploding Snap, you had to eat a bean the winner gave you. Even if you recognised this bean as one that was very disgusting or just a flavour you didn't like, you still had to eat it. Since Bertie Botts were such a lottery of flavours, if you kept losing, you could easily end up with bean after bean of horrible flavours.

"Here's a new bag," Hermione said, bringing one out from the hamper as Ron took out his slightly battered pack of cards.

For the next hour, as the country grew wilder and wilder, the trio played their game, enjoying doing something fun and completely normal. No one else visited their compartment; everyone was very settled in their own compartments and weren't prepared to start wandering the train. The sweet trolley came back to their area of the train and Harry bought some more sweets but the non perishable ones. It was always nice to have a packet of sweets lying around your section of the dorm.

Naturally, he split this up between his friends although Hermione only wanted a couple of packets of whizzing whizzbees, she still preferred not to constantly gorge on too much sugar. Ron happily accepted several different packs of sweets and these were packed away so they wouldn't be nibbled on during the remaining journey.

"We'll soon be there," Hermione said sometime later, glancing outside at the dark countryside. "I...I can barely wait."

She sounded both excited and nervous at the same time and Harry knew why. This was their test, could they do all they wanted to do and still appear as normal First years to everyone? Harry knew it was unlikely to work out how they wanted it to but he still felt they had a good chance at making a difference.

"Nearly there," Ron stated as the train began to slow down half an hour later. "We'd better get our trunks ready."

They made sure everything was packed up, which included putting Crookshanks back in his basket to the cat's extreme annoyance. The train was slowly down even more so they stepped out into the corridor which many others were doing as well. Finally, the train came to a screeching halt and the doors all opened, allowing students to disembark onto the platform.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?"

"Hello Hagrid," Harry greeted with a wide grin, it was so good to see Hagrid there, waiting for the First years.

Hagrid beamed at him before hollering.

"C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

They all followed Hagrid, joining a gaggle of their peers as they descended a long narrow path until they came to a stony boat where a small fleet of boats were waiting for them. Everyone stopped, gasping as they gazed at the magnificent sight of the castle which stood atop a high ridge, lights glittering in every single window or so it seemed. The trio smiled as the saw Hogwarts fully restored to its former glory, completely un-ravaged by any war.

"Alright," Hagrid now said. "Four to a boat, in yer go."

"Trevor...no," Neville cried as his toad did a gigantic leap out of his master's hands and making for the shore.

"I got him," Ron shouted, scooping up the toad just before he reached the water.

"Thank you," Neville said in relief, taking Trevor back. "I couldn't leave him with my stuff, he'd run off."

He sounded so utterly miserable that Harry said.

"Do you want to join our boat, Neville?"

"How did you know my name?" Neville exclaimed and Harry pointed to Hermione who waved as she climbed into a boat.

"Oh," Neville said with a huge blush but he still came into the boat with them.

"Everyone set?" Hagrid asked before roaring. "Right, we're off."

With a jolt, all the boats set off, moving completely independently and causing a lot of squeals from various excitable children. Hagrid was in the lead boat and because of his size; no one else had joined him. The night was clear with only a light breeze meaning the water only rippled with the passage of their boats. Harry thought he saw a tentacle break the surface but it was gone before he could focus on it.

Hermione was wringing her hands, she was really nervous now. Ron noticed and took one of the hands, giving it a squeeze while blushing furiously. She shot him a very grateful smile which made him go even redder. Harry hid his own grin, watching as Neville gazed in awe at the castle, not realising that Trevor was slowly slipping out of his hands.

"Watch out for Trevor," he hissed and Neville squeaked before taking a better grip on the gloomy.

"Thanks," the young boy said gratefully, he really didn't want to lose his beloved toad.

"No problem," Harry said as Hagrid called for them to duck the ivy covered stone archway.

The boats bumped into stone docks and everyone scrambled out. Hagrid led them up the stairs until he reached a heavy wooden door which he banged on twice. And it was opened by a stern looking woman with a tall witch's hat. She surveyed them all before saying.

"Welcome to Hogwarts."

Author's note. I know the sweet trolley is never mentioned returning but if you've ever been on a train journey that lasts at least an hour, there's always a trolley that comes round at least once so I hope you'll forgive me this little bit of fanon.