Note: This story is about what it would have been like if Draco and Ron had swapped roles. How would Harry's adventure have gone if Draco Malfoy had become his best friend and not Ron Weasley?
Watch out! Due to this circumstance, the characters Draco and Ron (and their families) are rewritten! We have a "good" Draco and a "bad" Ron.
I hope you find my thought experiment as interesting as I do :3

Hagrid went back to the Leaky Cauldron, and Harry entered Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions alone.

Madam Malkin herself came towards him immediately, smiling. 'Hogwarts, dear?'

Harry nodded silently as she led him to the back of the shop and said that another customer was also being fitted up at the moment. Standing on a footstool was a boy with a pale, pointed face and white-blonde hair. A witch pinned up his black cloak, Madam Malkin placed a second footstool right next to him and asked Harry to stand on it. She then slipped a black robe over his head and placed pins to determine the correct length.

'Hi, I'm Draco,' the boy said cheerfully. 'Hogwarts too?'

'Yes. I'm Harry,' Harry replied with a smile.

'My dad's next door buying my books and ma's up the street looking at wands,' Draco said excitedly. His pale cheeks coloured slightly pink and he grinned broadly at Harry. He seemed pleased to have someone to chat to. 'I really want to check out the racing brooms later! Too bad, first years aren't allowed to have their own brooms, but I love being in the shop!'

Harry nodded silently, not knowing what to say. He hadn't even thought about racing brooms yet.

'Have a broom at home, o' course. What about you? D'you have one?' Draco asked curiously.

'No,' said Harry.

'Play Quidditch at all?'

'No,' Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.

'I do, best sport ever! Though my dad's really into this football right now … Anyway, I really want to play for my house! Know what house you'll be in yet?'

'No,' said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute. Draco seemed nice, but Harry didn't want to be exposed and have to admit that he had no idea about the Wizarding World.

'Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they. I don't want to end up in Slytherin, y'know … My whole family's been in Slytherin for centuries.' Suddenly, Draco seemed nervous and looked at Harry intensely, as if he was expecting something from Harry, but he had no idea what Draco was waiting for.

Feebly, Harry finally said, 'Okay …?'

Draco looked at him uncertainly for a moment, then smiled brightly again. 'But I want to try something new! And my parents think it's a good idea, thank goodness! I'd even be okay with Hufflepuff, I think …'

'Mmmh,' Harry said, wishing he had something interesting to contribute, but he didn't even know what these 'houses' Draco was talking about were all about.

'You're a bit taciturn, you all right?' Draco asked, frowning. Then he looked up in surprise. 'I say, look at that man!' he exclaimed, nodding towards the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice-creams to show he couldn't come in.

'That's Hagrid!' said Harry, pleased to know something Draco didn't. 'He works at Hogwarts.'

'Oh,' he said. 'My parents told me about him. He's, erm … a gardener?'

'He's the gamekeeper,' Harry corrected him with satisfaction, Draco nodding thoughtfully.

'Right, gamekeeper! Not a gardener … My memory … He lives in a hut near the edge of the forest. My parents like him. Looks nice – at second glance,' Draco quipped, giggling sheepishly.

'I think he's brilliant!' said Harry, giving his neighbour a shy smile. He wondered whether his new acquaintance would still be so friendly to him if Harry admitted that he knew nothing about the Wizarding World and was therefore a rather poor partner to chat with. Draco would probably take friendly note of this and then quickly find someone else to talk to.

'Why's Hagrid with you? Where're your parents?'

'They … they're dead,' Harry said curtly. He didn't want to talk about it now and spoil Draco's good mood.

'Oh, I'm sorry about that! Shoot, always talk before I think!' said the boy, fidgeting on the footstool in shame. The witch hissed angrily that he should keep still, otherwise she would accidentally prick him with a needle.

Harry hurriedly reassured him: 'No, it's all right! How were you supposed to know? I just don't want to talk about it right now.'

Draco nodded hastily. 'Yes, I see! Well, hm … But … could they do magic?'

Harry nodded. 'Yeah. My mum was a witch and my dad a wizard.'

'Oh, okay … just thought … Well, got the impression that you couldn't quite follow my babbling, so I figured … Um, you might have muggles for parents,' Draco explained, starting to fidget – again – and the witch hissed – again – for him to hold still.

Harry immediately felt relieved. Draco had realised after all and he hadn't fled in a huff, which Harry took as a good sign.

'I grew up with my aunt and uncle. They're Muggles. And they don't like magic, so I don't know much. Well, nothing really,' Harry admitted, sighing and looking everywhere but at Draco's face in shame.

'So you know the Muggle world!' he shouted excitedly, but before Harry could answer him, Madam Malkin told Harry that he was finished and could leave now.

He regretted that he couldn't talk to Draco any longer, said goodbye, and Draco said that they would surely meet again on the train.

Outside, Harry picked up his ice-cream cone and strolled alongside Hagrid with mixed feelings. Draco had been friendly, but he had also shown Harry that he knew next to nothing about the Wizarding World, and Harry had felt terribly stupid.

'Hagrid, what's Quidditch?' he finally asked, he had to start somewhere.

'Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know – not knowin' about Quidditch!'

'Don't make me feel worse!' said Harry. He told Hagrid about Draco.

'– and he really wanted to know if my parents were magical because he realised that I was completely clueless –'

'If he'd known who you were – he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folks – you saw 'em in the Leaky Cauldron. Anyway, no idea what the boy was goin' for, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a ling line o' Muggles – look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!'

'Okay, but what is Quidditch?'

'It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like – like football in the Muggle world – everyone follows Quiddtich – played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls – sorta hard ter explain the rules.'

'And what are Slytherin und Hufflepuff?'

'School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but –'

'I bet I'm in Hufflepuff. But hey, maybe Draco ends up there too, at least I'm not alone then,' said Harry gloomily.

'Better Hufflepuff then Slytherin,' said Hagrid darkly. 'There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.'

'Vol– sorry – You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?'

'Years an' years ago,' said Hagrid.

'But Hagrid, Draco said his family had been in Slytherin for centuries!' Harry remembered and looked at Hagrid, startled. It all made sense now. Hagrid had just said that witches and wizards from Slytherin tended to turn evil. Draco had certainly been waiting to see how Harry would react to the fact that his family had been part of to this house for centuries.

'He didn't come across evil …' Harry thought aloud about Draco.

'Well, he's only eleven, isn't he?' muttered Hagrid, scratching his beard.

Harry frowned. 'Do you think his parents were involved with V– You-Know-Who? They were in Slytherin …'

Hagrid shrugged with a sigh. 'Don't know Harry, how could I? Pointless to think about it, don't yeh think? And maybe he'll end up in Hufflepuff, that'd be a good sign, if yeh ask me.'

Afterwards, they continued Harry's shopping, got his school books, a pet snowy owl – a birthday present from Hagrid to Harry – and later Hagrid took him back to the train that would take him to the Dursleys.

Hagrid gave Harry the train ticket and reminded him how important it was that he took the Hogwarts Express and disappeared as Harry looked for him to wave goodbye.