A knock on the door, and a few seconds later all four of them had entered the Headmaster's office. Minerva McGonagall was also present as Deputy Headmistress. She shook hands with all three children. "I must say, I was a bit disappointed not to see you sorted with my lions like your parents before you, Mr. Potter," she began. "But I am sure that Slytherin will suit you as well. And of course, as Deputy Headmistress, you can always come to me with any concerns you may have."

Harry thanked the professor, shyness creeping into him as he met Dumbledore, the old man's eyes twinkling. Draco strengthened his occlumency on instinct and he could see that Snape raised an eyebrow at his godson in approval.

"Welcome, children," the headmaster greeted them. "Sherbet lemon?" he offered.

All three of them nodded and took some of the candy before sitting down in the chairs Dumbledore had conjured with a wave of his hand.

"I must admit, Harry, I am happy to see that you are counting on your friends for support at such a young age. It shows the makings of a great leader and wizard to be able to trust on others."

Draco struggled not to roll his eyes. Why the fuck did Gryffindors always come with this bloody crap instead of just getting to the point?

"I wanted to talk to you about your godfather, Sirius. I regret never looking into his case as well as I should have. He was a dear friend of your father's, and it never sat right with me that he was convicted of betraying them. Alas, my hands were tied when the last Minister, Minister Bagnold, and her cabinet decided to throw a lot of presumed followers of Voldemort into prison. Yet, a few days ago I learned from the goblins that Sirius Black had never actually been convicted. Imagine my surprise when I went down to the ministry and ordered them to show me the files of his arrest, and there were none."

"Weren't you the Chief Warlock at that time, Headmaster?" Draco asked innocently, planting the seed of doubt before he could continue. Dumbledore might be a great wizard, but he was not always to be trusted. He had hidden so much information from Harry in the past that Hermione had been ready to pull her hair out. Draco couldn't wait to give him a taste of his own medicine and make Dumbledore the one in the dark this time round.

Dumbledore sighed, sitting back in his chair. "I was, Mr. Malfoy. But I was also the leader of the Light. So many decisions had to be made in those days that I was spread thin. The case of Sirius was decided on without my presence, Minister Bagnold and Barty Crouch Sr. were overseeing the proceedings. They have always assured me that the young man was guilty and I never thought of looking into it… It is one of my biggest regrets."

Harry seemed to contemplate this before he spoke up. Draco could kiss him when he asked: "Do you know who decided to put me with the Dursleys, Professor? The goblins mentioned that I should have grown up with Sirius or the Longbottoms, and if something happened to them, a man named Remus Lupin or the Bones family. Nowhere did it say that I should be raised by my muggle family."

Harry's green and innocent eyes had definitely caught Minerva McGonagall off guard. Mhm. She also looked a bit miffed. Perhaps the feline animagus had also disagreed on placing Harry with the Dursleys?

"I'm afraid, that was me, Harry," the old man replied, regret filling his eyes. "Professor Snape has since explained the situation to me, and I am sorry for what has happened to you. Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, has offered to give you a physical and mental check-up if you would wish to go through some painless medical tests to undo any damage that might have been done to you."

The boy thought about this for a second. "But… Why? And why did no one ever come to check up on me? Surely someone must have noticed that I was sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs? It even said so on my Hogwarts Letter!"

"You were sleeping where?" Hermione bristled, her magic angrily crackling on the tip of her hair, making it even more frizzy. "Did you just say you slept in the cupboard under the stairs?"

"Albus," McGonagall scolded the Headmaster. "I told you that those muggles were not suitable for young Harry to grow up with, but you always assured me it was for the greater good. What greater good does this to a boy?"

At least Dumbledore had the decency to look ashamed at his actions. "The night Harry's parents died, his mother evoked an ancient strand of blood magic. She was especially gifted in both charms and runes. His blood, combined with the love for her child, protects him from harm. To keep the protections strong, to make sure no rogue death eaters would come after him, he would need to live with another blood relative… His Aunt Petunia being Lily's sister, was the strongest anchor to the blood wards which protect his home at Privet Drive."

"But, professor," Harry disagreed, "you must have known that Privet Drive never would be, and never was my home."

Harry had barely spoken the words when chaos ensued. Multiple silver instruments which were silently moving in the background were now starting to shatter, flying through the room, and making an awful screeching noise, Dumbledore's phoenix familiar flapped its wings to keep the debris from hitting the wizards and witches in the room, as Snape and McGonagall both put a Protego around the three children.

"Oh, Harry my boy. You have no clue what you just have done," the Headmaster said gravely once all the instruments had settled down again, most of them lying broken on the floor.

"By claiming that his aunt and uncle's home was never his home, he broke the blood wards at Privet Drive," Deandra explained to Draco. "They were his only form of protection from Voldemort and his allies. The strands that were attached to his magical core snapped. He isn't safe at that house anymore. Not that he ever truly was considering how he grew up…"

As Deandra and Draco had a mental conversation about what this meant, Dumbledore explained the importance of the blood wards and how they had been protecting Harry since he was a little boy to the other occupants of the room. He finally stated that Harry could never go back now because he would be an easy target for anyone who wanted to harm him.

"He could live with his godfather," Hermione piped up, interrupting the Headmaster's scolding of Harry's actions. "He lived with our family for two weeks this summer and he was perfectly fine. I'm sure his godfather would be able to properly ward his house, Professor?"

Oh, sweet and brilliant Hermione. She was always thinking of her friends, protecting them with logic and wit whenever needed. Technically, she was right and they had been perfectly safe at her house. What she didn't know however was that Draco had sneaked out of the manor to put up some wards of his own around her home. No death eaters were currently active, but Draco could not shake the feeling that if something would happen to them, it would have been his fault for not protecting them.

"The Black Estate has certain protections on it," the Headmaster agreed, cleaning up the mess of his instruments with a wave of his wand. "Once Sirius has been freed, and has been cleared to be able to take care of a child once he is in a healthier mental state, I will personally go and increase the Estate's defences," he promised.

"I'm sure the goblins will also be of assistance," Hermione said. "I'm sure they would want one of their biggest benefactors and last heir of a magical line to be protected."

Both Draco and McGonagall looked at Hermione, pride in their eyes. She was turning into quite the Slytherin already, standing up to the Headmaster as she did.

- Hogwarts, 31st of October 1991 -

The first two months at Hogwarts flew by, and Draco's apprehension of being a child and having to go through both the roughest years of puberty and school again had been mellowed because he was actually enjoying himself this time round. Crabbe and Goyle had never truly been his friends, but his friendship with both Hermione and Harry, as well as with some of his other housemates, was steadily growing. Even if he still was a snob and acted as if he was better than all members of other Houses, he was well liked by most of the other snakes.

Luckily, both Harry and Hermione had been thriving. Harry had even managed to get Professor Snape to bend the rules and now allow all first-years to try out for the Quidditch Teams of their respective houses. Draco was still unsure how that little bugger had done it, but Harry had just winked at him and said he'd just tugged on some of Snape's heartstrings. Draco had snorted his milk through his nose at that, thinking that it would be impossible for his godfather to even have any of those, even if Harry was Lily's son. Both he and Harry had made it onto the Slytherin Quidditch Team only a week later. Draco was a chaser and reserve seeker, with Harry being their new seeker. Things were looking up for sure.

When the boys were out flying, Hermione had spent her time studying with Daphne and Tracey in the library. A few days into the school year, Neville Longbottom had come to the three girls stammering and blushing, asking if he could join them since his Gryffindor housemates were not as interested in getting good grades as he was.

Draco soon noticed that what Neville lacked in confidence and raw magical power at this age, he made up for in knowledge in herbology and loyalty to his friends.

Harry had taken pity on his Gryffindor godbrother and his fear of Snape and was now always teaming up with Neville during potions, actually helping the boy. Who knew Harry would actually be good at potions if Snape wasn't breathing down his neck every time?

They had celebrated Hermione's birthday in the common room when she turned 12 in September, and in a game of truth or dare they had even snuck off to the third-floor corridor together with Blaise and Daphne to see what exactly was hiding there. Filch almost caught them when the five of them ran away from the giant three-headed dog, and tea with Hagrid a week later had taught them the creature's name was "Fluffy."

Today being All Hallow's Eve, Harry had been in a bit of a mood. His godfather had started writing to him in a two-way diary after he was acquitted and had been telling him stories of his parents while he was recovering from his stay in Azkaban.

Draco's anonymous letter to Madam Bones had led to the capture of "Scabbers the rat", A.K.A. Peter Pettigrew. Ronald Weasley had been none the wiser and had assumed his rat must've crawled off into a corner and died somewhere. None of the adults wanted to traumatise the child, but Draco was sure Weasley's parents had been in for a surprise when Madam Bones popped up at their doorstep, questioning them about a pet rat one of their children owned. According to Harry, his godfather had almost actually ended up in Azkaban again when they told him they'd found Peter Pettigrew. Lord Black had attempted to sneak out of St. Mungo's to enact his revenge, but was stopped by a stern Madam Bones as she encountered a big black shaggy dog in the hallways of the hospital. Needless to say, he'd received a bit of a scolding and was told to register his Animagus form with the Ministry.

"We can just not go to the feast tonight, mate," Draco said as he lazily levitated the feather in front of him during Charms class. "I'm sure one of the house elves will bring some food to the dorm and we can just hang out there."

"Thanks," Harry smiled. "I get that everyone is celebrating, especially since this is the day that You-Know-Who disappeared. But to me... It's the day my parents died," he whispered to his friend, also levitating the feather and making it go in circles around Draco's head.

Right as they were going to agree to just hang out in the common room, Draco overheard Hermione talking to Ron. Somehow the two of them had ended up sitting next to each other, Daphne flanking Hermione's other side.

"It's Leviosa, not Leviosar," Hermione told the redhead.

The boy frowned and grumbled at her as she perfectly cast the Wingardium Leviosa charm and let her feather float all the way to the ceiling.

"Nice one, Mione," Harry smiled at her, giving her a thumbs up, making his own feather twirl down as he lost his concentration for a second.

She preened at his praise and pointed her wand at him, making her feather tickle his cheek.

Harry got her back with the tickling charm that he'd learned from one of the older Slytherins and Hermione begged him to stop, her own feather also slowly falling down now as she was trying to suppress her laughter.

Right as they were packing their book bags at the end of class, Weasley said loudly to Finnigan and Thomas as he flung his wand in the air: "Honestly, what a nightmare. It's Leviosa, not leviosar. I wonder how her so-called friends put up with her. They probably only like her because she does their homework for them, bloody know-it-all."

Draco stopped in his tracks. He could feel it again. The hurt. Fucking Weasley. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but cringe because he too had been such a git to Hermione the first time round.

Before either he or Harry could tell the idiot off, he could feel Hermione's magic reach out to the redhead and when he turned to look at her, he saw that she was secretly pointing her wand straight at the Gryffindor, the last whisper of a spell leaving her lips.

Suddenly, Ron's own book bag flung up forcefully, smacking him in the face.

"Bloody hell!" he yelled, holding his nose with both of his hands.

"Seems like you finally got that pronunciation right, Weasley," Hermione smirked at him. "You just need to learn where to aim your wand."

Hermione swung her own bag over her shoulder, walking off with Daphne and Tracey as the three girls were giggling.

Harry and Draco stared at her back in awe.

"She's bloody scary sometimes. Remind me to never get on Mione's bad side, even if she isn't always as easy to deal with," Harry whispered to Draco as they made their way down to the dungeons for potions. "Weasley is probably just jealous of her. She's passionate and she's smart. Kids don't like it when you show off, I know from experience…" he mused. "But she, and you, were the first two friends I've made. I don't want to see her hurt. She's like my annoying big sister, always nagging me to do my homework, wanting me to be the best me I could be. And I kind of like it, someone worrying and taking care of me," he said earnestly.

Draco smiled at his friend, putting his hand on his shoulder. "You should tell her that, mate."

Harry nodded, and the two boys entered the classroom, Draco smirking at Hermione and Daphne's bench approvingly for her earlier display in the Charms class. Hermione wiggled her eyebrows at him, and when he tentatively reached out, he could feel that her feelings had settled, she wasn't hurt by Weasley's words anymore. Good.

Later that evening, Draco and Harry were in their common room, lying on the carpet in front of the fireplace. They had forsaken their robes for muggle clothes and Harry was currently missing one eyebrow that had been singed off while they were playing exploding snap. The rest of the school was enjoying the feast, but the two of them had decided not to join. Their excuse had been that they wanted to do some more practising on the Quidditch field and wouldn't make it in time for the feast.

Hermione had quickly realised that Harry probably didn't want to attend the celebration of his parents' death and had promised him that she would bring him some treacle tart.

When Draco pouted that she wasn't planning on getting him something, she'd quipped back that she'd already seen him sneak one of her sugar quills from her bag after potions and would therefore not be bringing him any more sweets.

As Harry lost another eyebrow, Draco couldn't shake the feeling he was forgetting something important. Sometimes he felt like his past memories were like a distant dream, almost as if he'd never actually lived it. Deandra had hypothesised it might be because so many changes had been made that the new memories were taking up more room in his brain, pushing the old ones to the background. He just hoped that he would never forget her.

When Daphne burst through the doors, followed by the rest of Slytherin House, Draco could feel the panic rising inside of him. The only problem was, it wasn't his. A shiver ran down his spine as he realised that it belonged to Hermione.

"There's a troll in the castle," Daphne cried out as she saw the two of them, not even blinking at Harry's singed off brow. "Please tell me Hermione came back with the treacle tart and apple pie for you guys? She told me and Tracey that she was coming down to the dungeons to spend some time with you, but that was almost twenty minutes ago…".

The blonde witch turned to one of the prefects who also looked distressed, realising a snake was missing. "Have any of you seen Hermione?"

Meanwhile, Draco's pulse had risen. Hermione's core was flaring out in panic. He could feel her. It was then that it hit him. No fucking way. That first year, he remembered the gossip mill saying that Harry Potter had defeated the troll that somehow got into Hogwarts. The Slytherins had all claimed it was to gain more fame and had scoffed at the Boy Who Lived's tendency to look for danger. Draco had never thought he had done it to save Hermione. Why had she never actually told him this? If he'd known he'd tried to convince her to spend time with him and Harry instead.

Deandra's words that first day on the train echoed in his mind: "Some things, are always meant to happen. They may not happen in the way we expect them to this time round."

He had to think of a plan, and started locating her in the castle by sensing out her magic. It wouldn't be that easy to miss for any of the Professors either, seeing as she was lashing out in fear and burning through it quickly. Fuck. Hermione was going to die if he didn't do anything. There was no Harry to save her this time. No one even fucking knew where she was.

Daphne was now hysterically clinging to one of the prefects, doing her best to get help for her friend. "We have to get Professor Snape, what if the troll gets to her?"

Draco elbowed his way through the crowd, making his way to the exit. "It's already found her," he exclaimed, as Harry now too was making his way to the exit, ducking under the prefects that were trying to stop them.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, it is way too dangerous for a bunch of first-years-" one of the prefects began.

Fuck this.

"Accio, Nimbus 2000s!" Draco called out with a flick of his wrist. Both his and Harry's brooms came zooming down the staircase, half of Slytherin house either blinking or dodging the two brooms coming straight at them. Had a first-year just performed a fourth-year spell?

"Hermione is in trouble," was all he said as he handed Harry his broom.

Harry didn't need to be told twice and both boys jumped onto their brooms as soon as they reached the entrance to the common rooms and Draco sped off, Harry in pursuit. She wasn't that far away from them, he could sense her in one of the girl's bathrooms.

Hogwarts itself seemed to know that they were trying to protect their friend, as all the doors opened and none of the stairs dared to move when they sped past. Draco thanked whatever Spirit connected to the Leylines was helping them now.

"People will be talking now," Deandra said in the back of his mind. "You should not have been able to perform that spell, and they know it."

"I know," Draco replied, focusing on Hermione's magical core instead of his future issues, praying to Merlin that his broom would be faster. Why couldn't the Firebolt be released yet? In hindsight, he should've shrunk it and stuffed it in Hermione's beaded bag when he came back. "I'll figure something out. I can't just let her die."

Not waiting for any magical being to open the door to the girls' bathroom, Draco exploded the door with a well-aimed Bombarda and hopped off his broom, Harry next to him and raising his wand.

Hermione was standing next to the sinks, the front of her robes having smudges of apple pie and treacle tart on them. She held her wand defyingly up to the troll, but Draco could feel her panic and fear.

The troll was about to swing at her with its club and without even realising his magic reached out to her. "Protego Maxima!" he yelled, his arm stretched out straight to point his wand directly at her, the most impressive shield he'd ever conjured separating Hermione from the troll.

When the club hit the shield, a loud resonant sound went through the bathroom, making the troll stagger backwards. The beast, now even more angered than before, turned around and started running at the two boys.

"Locomotor Mortis!" Draco cast, tangling the troll's legs together, right as Harry and Hermione yelled in unison "Wingardium Leviosa!".

The troll started falling over, and Harry aimed the troll's club at the monster's head, knocking him out.

Right before the Slytherin prefects, as well as professors McGonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore entered the bathroom, Harry looked at Draco in awe. "Mate, you have to teach me some of those spells. That was bloody brilliant."

"Oh, dear Merlin," McGonagall exclaimed, her hand on her heart in shock as she observed the troll and the three Slytherins. "You two, explain yourselves," she said pointing at Harry and Draco

Before either Harry or Draco could answer, she noticed Hermione who had huddled herself into a ball, the panic finally taking over her body now that she knew she was safe. She was blinking and clearly in shock, Draco's shield still surrounding her.

"Oh my, Miss Granger!" the Deputy Headmistress cried out, going over to the girl.

"Minerva," Snape said as he took her by the wrist, stopping her. He squinted his eyes at the shield surrounding Hermione's side of the bathroom and pulled his colleague closer to him. "It would not be wise to attempt and get through this particular shield."

He raised an eyebrow at Draco curiously. Draco hadn't realised what he'd cast at first, but both he and his godfather recognized the silver sheen on the shield for what it was. Malfoy family magic. Well fuck. He'd overdone it. As his body slowly aged, his magical core grew, throwing way more powerful spells than he should be capable of. Anyone would be able to deduce that his expansive knowledge of spells wasn't normal for a regular 11-year-old.

"It's alright" Draco said as he approached Hermione, dropping the shield with a wave of his wand.

It was too late to hide the shield now. The adults had seen what he could do. He'd better come up with an explanation, and fast. But his first priority right now was Hermione, the girl he'd sworn to protect. What a fuck up he'd been if she'd almost died to a troll. He crouched down, taking both of her hands in his, rubbing soothing circles on them as she looked up. "You're safe, Mione. Harry took over your levitation spell and knocked that brute out for you."

Tears were filling her eyes. Panic was still swirling around Draco's mind. He sighed, wanting to help her. He told himself, it would just be this once as he looked into her eyes, grabbing the magical thread that bound them together and sent a soothing wave of pure calm to her.

It seemed to work, as she regained some of her senses. "You… Came to save me?" she stammered, looking from Draco to Harry who had also approached their friend and was crouching down as well.

"Of course we did," Harry answered. "Even Daphne was screeching like a harpy in terror in the common room for someone to come find you. Don't tell her I said that though, she might have my head if she knows I compared her to a sharp-beaked monster."

"But. Why? You could've died…" she whispered, the professors now also slowly approaching the girl as Madam Pomfrey had entered, calming draughts in hand.

"This git right here is the Boy Who Lived, remember?" Draco joked. "If Voldemort can't kill him, then a lousy troll won't be able to. I was just here to do some of the heavy lifting so our local celebrity could get all the credit for saving our best friend," he said.

"Best friend?" she asked, as Madam Pomfrey now crouched next to her, rubbing soothing circles on her back as well.

"Do you even need to ask that, Hermione," Harry scoffed. "We wouldn't be the silver trio without you."

A grateful smile broke out on her lips, and the panic started to fade as she threw herself forward into both boys' arms, making all three of them tumble backwards in the most awkward group hug on the bathroom floor. Draco's hearth clenched as he stroked her hair, realising how close he'd been to losing her. Again.