Chapter 4 – King's Cross and Hogwarts

Harry was tired, and grumpy, and nervous, and excited, all at the same time. He hadn't been able to go to sleep until after midnight when he had finally conceded that he wouldn't be able to sleep and had trodden to Severus' room. He had regretted it in the morning when Severus had woke him up at five am in the morning saying that they had to go early to beat the crowd and Harry needed to get ready and pack what's left.

That had finally woke him up as he remembered what day it was and just why he had to get up early, and he had jumped out of the bed in such a hurry that he had fallen to the ground, wrestling with the sheets to get out.

Now he was jumping around the manor, trying to figure out if he had anything left to pack and waiting for the Malfoys to come with nervous excitement. He had stuffed all his clothes, school books, extra books, muggle stationary that he still used because it was so much easier, quills, parchments, and anything else he wanted to take, in his trunk. Severus had bought him a trunk which was bigger on the inside than the outside and he had made full use of it. Still, he had left lots of things in his room and around the house because it was his and he could and nobody would stop him and here, there was no Dudley to steal it.

He had just came bouncing down the stairs to the sitting room, with his trunk floating behind him and Hedwig's cage in in his hands, when he spotted the Malfoys.

"You're here!" Harry beamed, and Draco grinned back, looking almost as hyper as him.

"You're going to have quite a year, Severus, trying to keep them in line." Lucius said amusedly, looking at the boys talking excitedly about Hogwarts and all they could do. The boys thought they were being discrete when they talked about all the pranks they would do on their fellow students, but in their state, they forgot that talking behind their hands doesn't mean anything if they don't lower their voice.

"Indeed," Severus agreed, shaking his head resignedly.

"Shall we go, boys?" Narcissa asked, hiding a smile.

They agreed enthusiastically and they went to the fireplace to floo to the Leaky Cauldron. The boys had refused, quite simply, to Apparate to King's Cross, saying that their day will not be marred by the awfulness that was Apparating. So, they would be taking a Ministry car that Lucius had arranged from the Leaky Cauldron to King's Cross Station.

As they sat inside the car, Harry fleetingly thought how Uncle Vernon's new car would never be able to compare to this and it certainly wouldn't have been able to jump in front of the traffic like that, or fit six people, two big trunks and two large owl cages comfortably when it looked much smaller from the outside.

They reached the station at ten and put their trunks and owls on a trolley because they couldn't let the Muggles see their trunks floating along on their own. Harry and Draco held hands as they walked through the station to platform nine and ten, pushing their trolley with the other.

"So we just, walk through the wall?" Harry confirmed, preparing himself for a nasty crash.

"Mhm," Draco agreed, smirking at him like he knew what he was thinking.

Harry squared his shoulders and tugged at Draco's hand, pushing the trolley firmly in front of him and marching straight to the wall. Just before they made contact with the wall, Harry scrunched his eyes shut and waited for the impact, which never came.

Instead, when he opened his eyes, he saw a scarlet steam engine waiting next to an almost empty platform, they were an hour early after all.

A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the ticket box had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it.

They dumped the trolley and picked up Orion and Hedwig's cages, their trunks following behind them as they made their way to a compartment on the train. They set down their luggage and came back out to where Lucius, Narcissa and Severus were waiting for them.

Lucius had two narrow boxes in his hand which he extended to both Harry and Draco. They looked at him curiously.

"Wand holsters." He said, opening a box and taking one out. He took Draco's arm and slid it in place. "You put your wands in there for safe-keeping and your wands jump straight into your hands at a thought. They also prevent from your wand being summoned from someone other than yourself."

Draco put his wand inside and tried it. His wand jumped out and clattered to the ground in spite of his efforts to catch it. He frowned at it.

Lucius chuckled, "It might take a little practice."

He turned to Harry and held out the other one, motioning him for his arm. Harry didn't try to protest and let Lucius put it on for him, he had learnt it the hard way that when his family gets him something, they will not be budging until Harry took it. Also, he secretly liked the thrill he got whenever he received a present.

By now, there was a crowd of people at the platform. Cats of every colour, shape and size wound here and there between their legs, owls hooted to each other and the sound of chattering and the scraping of heavy trunks filled the surroundings.

"Harry," Severus said. Harry looked up at him and saw that he looked almost nervous.

Harry smiled at him and he continued, lowering his voice and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I want you to remember that even though you will live in the dorms of the house you are sorted into, you are always welcome into my rooms any time you need me," Severus looked at him seriously, "There is already a room prepared for you, and should you ever have any problem, I want you to promise that you will come to me."

Harry stared into the onyx eyes before nodding.

"I promise, Sev."

Severus considered him briefly before smiling a little.

"Good. Draco, you should know, the offer stands for you as well."

Draco nodded, smiling brightly at him.

"Now, boys," Narcissa said, looking at them with shining eyes, " Write home as soon as you can, okay?"

She gave them tight hugs and kissed their cheeks. Lucius gave them both brief hugs and smiled at them, pride shining in his eyes. Severus just rolled his eyes, but Harry and Draco grinned and tackled him in a hug, ignoring his protests that his reputation would be ruined and that he would be seeing them in a few hours anyway.

If Harry's eyes were sparkling just a little too bright at the familial affection, no one said a word about it.

"Come on," Draco said, tugging him towards their compartment as they jumped on the train as the whistle sounded. Harry followed him, skipping slightly and almost giddy with excitement.

They crashed down on their seats, put up the silencing and locking charms that Lucius taught them on the door, and looked at each other, grinning like loons.

"We're going to Hogwarts!" They squealed together and burst into slightly hysterical laughter.

"Let's play chess," Draco suggested after a while, gasping for breath.

"OK," Harry agreed, just because it made Draco happy. Harry had no interest in the game and only ever lost at it.

While they played, the train carried them out of London. They sped past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, continuing to play chess for a while before Harry begged for mercy and they practiced taking out their wands from the holsters until they perfected it. Then, they took out one of the spell books they had found in the Prince Library, cuddling together on the seat and looking for a new spell to practice.

Around half past twelve, there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a knock came at their door. Draco sighed and untangled himself from Harry, letting up the charms on the door.

"Come in," Harry called.

A smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

Harry and Draco grinned before leaping onto their feet and going to the corridor. Their trunks already had lots of sweets inside them but they still bought more and tipped it all into an empty seat. One can never have enough of candies, after all, especially those yummy Chocolate frogs.

They went happily through the candy, steadily increasing their sugar rush.

"You know," Harry said, sucking on a liquorice wand, "Sev will kill us if he knew that we were eating more sweets after the lot we ate in the ministry car."

"He will," Draco agreed, not taking his hand out of the Every-Flavour Beans box.

Harry grinned, and shrugged, and opened another chocolate frog, catching it swiftly as it made its escape attempt.

"You know," Draco said wistfully, "You'd make a pretty cool Seeker. It's too bad Uncle Sev didn't let us play Quidditch this summer, we could've trained you up."

Harry opened his mouth to answer but shut it when he saw the card he had in his hand.

"Draco," he cried, "I found Ptolemy!"

Draco gasped before looking at the card.

"That's brilliant! Our collection's nearly complete!" Draco said, before sighing and saying smugly, "This is so going to be our year."

Harry just shook his head at him with a fond smile.

The countryside flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers and dark green hills.

There was a knock on the door of the compartment and Harry let it open, to reveal a round faced boy who came in, looking tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

Harry shook his head silently but Draco made a disgusted noise in his throat.

"A toad. Why are you even bothering to look for it?" he sneered.

The boy looked even more miserable at that, and sniffled.

"Draco," Harry snapped. Draco pouted and looked away.

"Sorry about him. He's kind of grumpy like that." Harry said.

"I am not–" Draco started indignantly, before a glare from Harry shut him up. He huffed and crossed his arms.

Harry turned back to the boy and said soothingly, "I'm sure he'll turn up."

"Yes, well, if you see him…" he moaned, before leaving the compartment.

Harry turned back to his sulking boyfriend and sighed.

"Draco," he said, looking at him exasperatedly, "did you have to be so mean to the poor boy?"

"I was just saying…" Draco muttered, still pouting, "I mean, if I ever had a toad, I'd lose it as quick as I can."

"Of course," he continued haughtily, peeking hopefully up at Harry from under his eyelashes before continuing his not-so-fake act. "I'd never have to have a toad."

Harry was going to reply, a smile twitching the corners of his mouth, when the door slid open again. They had forgotten to lock it.

The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with lots of bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth, with him.

"Have you seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she had a very bossy sort of voice and Harry could just imagine the insults Draco would throw at her. He threw a warning glance at Draco, who promptly shut his mouth, and answered the girl.

"No, sorry, we already told him we haven't seen it." Harry said.

The girl nodded and said, "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, and this is Neville Longbottom. Who are you?"

"I'm Harry Potter," he nodded at them, before grabbing Draco's hand, "and this is my boyfriend, Draco Malfoy."

Hermione squeaked, "Boyfriend?"

Draco's eyes narrowed, "Yes," he drawled, "Is that a problem?"

She cleared her throat, "Not at all. Just…nothing. Anyway, I've read all about you, of course, Harry. You're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and The Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century. I took all those books for a bit of extra reading, I've learnt all our set books by heart, of course, I just hope it would be enough. Oh, do you know what house you'll be in? I asked around a little bit, I hope I'm in Gryffindor. It sounds the best, by far. Ravenclaw doesn't sound too bad, I guess…" She finally trailed off.

Draco's eyes had gone stone cold and Harry felt really uncomfortable.

"Well," he sneered, "If you are done with your foolish rambling, then you should get out before you find yourself on the other side of my wand."

Hermione looked greatly insulted but the boy, Neville, just groaned and tugged at her hand, dragging her out of the compartment.

As soon as the door shut, Draco put up the charms once again before, turning to Harry, his face red with anger.

"Are you okay, Harry?"

Harry was quiet a moment.

"I'm fine. It's just…I'm going to have to deal with this all the time now. People thinking they know me because they read about me in books." He mumbled quietly.

Draco sighed and just cuddled back to him, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips – their third one in total – from which both boys pulled out blushing furiously. And just like that, all was fine with Harry.

"I bet she'll be going to Gryffindor, the idiot." Draco commented disdainfully.

"Draco," Harry admonished, "Gryffindor doesn't necessarily have to mean foolish idiots. That's just your prejudices talking. And I'm sure she must be nervous and didn't realise that it might make me feel bad."

"Merlin, Harry! You're as bad as a Hufflepuff, sometimes. She clearly made you uncomfortable. Why defend her?" Draco said.

Harry chuckled, "You know I am a Slytherin."

Draco grinned, "That's true," and let the topic drop.

It was getting dark. The sky was a deep-purple above the mountains and forests. It seemed like the train was slowing down.

"Come on," Harry finally sighed, "We should put on our robes. We must be nearly there."

They shed their jackets and pulled on their long, black robes, nearly bouncing with excitement and sharing nervous grins.

A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

They put the rest of the sweets in their trunks, taking a chocolate frog each to ease nerves, and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way towards the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then, a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and they heard a voice booming, "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

A big hairy face on the body of a giant of a man was looming over the sea of heads.

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

From Lucius' description, that must have been Hagrid.

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Harry and Draco clutched each other's hand tightly but otherwise, their carefully practised calm masks were up. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who had lost his toad, sniffed once or twice in the silence.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!" from the other students and even Harry and Draco gave hastily stifled gasps, even though they had spent the whole summer in two magnificent manors.

The narrow path had opened suddenly on to 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 by the shore. Harry and Draco sat down in one, and no one dared to occupy their boat with them in face of Draco's glare. Draco's face was awfully smug when the boats moved forwards.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then – FORWARD!"

The fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as the first boats reached the cliff. They all bent their heads and went through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out on to rocks and pebbles.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" Hagrid said, checking the boats as people climbed out of them.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. Draco snorted and rolled his eyes. Then, they scrambled up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Hagrid said, before raising a gigantic fist and knocking three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was so big you could have fitted the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right, where the rest of the school must already be, but Professor McGonagall showed the first-years into a small empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, Harry and Draco went to the far corner of the room to stand away from the others, leaning against the wall casually while the others formed an unusually tighter group than they normally would have, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have your classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on a tall, red-headed boy, whose nose was smudged with dirt.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber and Harry swallowed imperceptibly, turning to Draco.

"We're as prepared as we could get, Harry." Draco reassured him in a whisper, squeezing his hand. Harry nodded, looking back at the other students.

They looked positively terrified. Harry snorted. It was hilarious.

Someone had got the rumour going that it would be some sort of test and Hermione Granger was muttering under her breath, about all the spells she'd learnt and wondering which one she'd need.

Draco turned to him, grinning and snickering quietly.

Then several people screamed and Harry almost jumped but caught himself just in time.

"What the–?"

The crowd gasped. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first-years. They seemed to be arguing and a fat little monk was saying, "Forgive and Forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance–"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed them.

Nobody answered. Even Draco was startled, having never seen a ghost before.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"

A few of them nodded mutely.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar, "My old house, you know."

Draco made a small disgusted noise in his throat and Harry's lips quirked at the sound.

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," she said, "and follow me."

They joined the line at the very end behind a tall, dark-skinned boy, and walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. The tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first-years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the students, with the teachers behind them. Harry had spotted Severus and had given him a smile, which no one except him would have known was nervous.

There were hundreds of faces staring at them which made Draco huff and mutter "Rude," under his breath. Above them, there was a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. The pictures in the book describing the enchanted ceiling couldn't have looked plainer than that second. It looked like there was no ceiling at all and that the Great Hall simply opened on to the heavens.

Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she placed a pointed wizard's hat. It was patched and frayed and extremely dirty and Harry saw Draco wrinkle his nose beside him.

The Sorting Hat, Harry thought.

The hat twitched and a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth.

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became still again.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward, holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said, "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of the line, put on the hat, which fell down right over her eyes and sat down.

After a moment, the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" And Susan joined Hannah at the yellow and black table.

"Boot, Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second to left clapped this time and several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry.

Mandy Brocklehurst went to Ravenclaw, too while Lavender Brown became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the far left exploded with cheers. A pair of red-headed twins could be seen cat-calling.

Millicent Bulstrode became the first new Slytherin and Harry thought that the Slytherins did look adequately mysterious like Draco had said.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Harry noticed that sometimes the hat shouted out the house almost at once while it took a while to decide on the others. Seamus Finnigan sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted and Draco gave him a look that said 'I told you so'.

Neville Longbottom became a Gryffindor and had to run back to the stool amidst peals of laughter when he had ran off to the Gryffindor table still wearing the hat.

When Draco's name was called, he gave Harry a smirk and swaggered towards the hat.

The hat had barely touched his head when it screamed "SLYTHERIN!" and Draco gave him a smug look and a wink, making Harry chuckle, as he joined the Slytherin table.

There weren't many people left now. Harry gave Parkinson a glare that went unnoticed except by Draco and Severus when her name was called.

Then at last, it was Harry's turn.

"Potter, Harry!"

Suddenly, the formerly quiet hall burst into whispers.

"Potter, did she say?"

"The Harry Potter?"

It irritated Harry to no end and he decided that if he was already going to cause chaos, he might as well do it with style.

As he stepped forward, he drawled, "It's Potter-Snape, actually," in his best Malfoy/Snape tone.

He heard hundreds of tiny little gasps all over the room as the stunned witch dropped the hat over his eyes. He could just imagine Severus shaking his head exasperatedly at him with a fond smile, while Draco shook with laughter, and he allowed himself a smirk.

He looked at the black inside of the hat and waited.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where shall I put you?"

Slytherin would be nice, Harry suggested slyly.

"Oh, yes. You could be great in Slytherin, no doubt about that. Though you could be in any of the houses. But I expect Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that. Yes – it must be SLYTHERIN!"

The last word was shouted into the hall and Harry smirked outwardly while inwardly he felt like a giddy child on a sugar rush. There was an astonished silence in the room as he walked casually to the Slytherin table, looking back once to give his guardian a smirk/smug smile which he returned, rolling his eyes though they shined with pride, before the table burst into thunderous applause and booming cheers, the loudest anyone had got yet. A few students got up to shake his hand vigorously and then he sat down on the seat next to Draco, opposite the house ghost, which he supposed was the Bloody Baron by Severus' descriptions, who gave him an approving nod.

Draco gave him a beaming smile and grabbed his hand.

"Told you you'd be a snake!"

The Sorting continued as the applause finally died down, but Harry wasn't paying attention.

He looked at the High Table. The giant man who had led them to Hogwarts caught his eye and gave him an uncomfortable smile. At the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, who gave him a piercing look that made Harry uncomfortable, before looking away back to the sorting. Severus sat next to a nervous looking man wearing a large purple turban who, when Harry caught his eye, gave him an undecipherable look, before going back to his nervous act. Harry narrowed his eyes and filed this information away for further inspection.

The last person to be sorted was Blaise Zabini and Harry clapped with everyone else, making space beside him for Blaise to sit. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.

The Headmaster had got to his feet and was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all here.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you!" And he sat back down while everybody clapped and cheered.

Harry exchanged an incredulous look with Draco.

"Sev was right," he muttered, "He is mad."

"That he may be," said a brown haired girl across from them. She had a shining prefect badge on her robes, "but he is the called most powerful wizard of our time."

She smiled at them and said, "I'm Gemma Farley. Fifth year prefect. It's nice to meet you, Harry, Draco."

Harry was about to answer but he caught sight of the previously empty table and stifled a gasp. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table, not even in the feast they had had at Malfoy Manor just a day before. There was roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs.

Harry and Draco grinned before piling some of everything in their plates except the humbugs. It was all delicious.

Gemma laughed, "The feasts in Hogwarts are the best," she said.

They nodded vigorously in answer.

The Bloody Baron suddenly spoke.

"I hope you help us keep the House Cup this year, new Slytherins. We have won the House Championship for six years in a row, now. I would hate to see if the Cup should go to Gryffindor." He gave a scary smile which made several first-years edge away from him and Draco discretely rolled his eyes at Harry.

"So, Harry," he heard a voice from his right and he turned to look at the dark-skinned boy.

"How did you become Harry Potter-Snape?" his voice was incredulous and Harry knew that most of the table would be listening to his answer.

"Severus was the one who rescued me from my muggle relatives," he said coolly, "They didn't quite like magic, you see, and so he got custody of me."

The people around him looked disbelieving.

"They let him take custody of you?" An older boy asked while another muttered, "Muggles," darkly.

"Father helped, of course." Draco drawled and Harry nodded.

Severus had already told them that it would be best if no one knew of the guardian bond, so they had perfected their story. Even if they could have, Harry wouldn't have told them, he already had too much attention as it is, he didn't need a rare bond getting mixed up with his name.

"Lucky you," a first-year girl said, "The Head of House is your guardian."

Harry smiled, "He is pretty cool."

She smiled back and said, "I'm Tracey Davis, by the way."

The food was now replaced by dessert. Blocks of ice-cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs…

Harry helped himself to some treacle tart as the others too introduced themselves.

"Daphne Greengrass," a girl with long blonde hair said.

"Theo Nott," said a boy with short brown hair.

There were two mountains of boys called Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Then, there was the pug-faced girl with long brown hair.

"Pansy Parkinson," she simpered from Draco's other side and Harry stiffened.

"Harry, did you just growl?" Blaise asked.

Harry didn't answer and simply stood up.

"Move Draco." He said and then sat down in Draco's seat instead while everyone else watched incredulously. Draco was blushing embarrassedly.

"What–?" Pansy stuttered. Harry shot her a dark look and turned back to his dessert stubbornly, holding Draco's hand tightly.

"Draco?" Daphne asked hesitantly, "What was that about?"

"Oh," Draco blushed a little, before straightening his back, trying to hide his smile. "Well, Harry doesn't like the fact that I was betrothed to Pansy. As soon as he found out, he made Father terminate the contract."

It was silent for a moment before they burst into laughter. Harry glowered at them in a perfect imitation of Severus but no one noticed.

"Oh, Harry, darling." Pansy giggled, putting a hand on his arm, "Don't worry. I have no interest at all in your Draco. Especially since he is a boy."

"Oh," Harry blinked before saying awkwardly, "Er, okay then."

He blushed as the others laughed harder before finally giving in and letting out a few chuckles himself.

His new school was turning out to be promising.

A/N : I'm back, finally! Sorry for the long wait, I was giving my exams but there you go, another new chapter! Some of it was similar to the original book but that was necessary! I hope you guys like it!

Oh, and don't be shy, review, favourite and all the like. I need motivation, after all. ;)

Kay