the boy that could have been

hogwarts

The rest of the train journey passed in the blink of an eye, and besides another visit from Hermione ("I knew I recognised you! You're Harry Potter! And you are...?") they were undisturbed, and by the time they arrived at Hogwarts the three were already good friends. They arrived and were immediately met with a ginormous bearded man.

"Woah." said the boys in unison, but Crescent grinned and waved at him.

"Alright Cress?" He smiled down at her.

"How do you-" began Harry, but he was cut off.

"My dad couldn't come home and my mum was... well, let's just say she's interesting. So Hagrid took me school shopping. He might look scary, but he's very kind."

They were shepherded into boats, and the three of them found themselves sharing with Hermione ("I heard there's a giant squid!"). Even she fell silent, however, when the castle came into view. Everybody gasped in awe, aside from a ferrety-looking blond boy ("Of course, it's no bigger than father's house, I knew it wouldn't be that impressing.").

Once they landed, Hagrid led them up to a rather stern-looking woman wearing emerald-green robes.

"Are you Minnie?!" Harry asked excitedly, then realised what he'd done and blushed bright red - which he seemed to be doing a lot. The woman, however, gave a small smile.

"You must be Mr. Potter, I presume? My name is Professor McGonagall. Wait here everybody, I'll be back in a moment to take you to your sorting."

She left, and the ferret boy approached Harry flanked by two eleven-year-old thugs, with Charlotte and her other friend giggling behind them.

"So, it's true. The famous Harry Potter has arrived!"

There was something off about this boy, thought Harry, but he decided to play it nicely.

"Yeah, that's me. What's your name?" 

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Ron scoffed, and Draco's head snapped towards him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours. Red hair and hand-me-down-robes, you must be a Weasley."

Ron's ears turned pink and he scowled. Harry opened his mouth to retort, but Cress got in first.

"Personally, I'd much rather have a nice big loving family like Ron's than be all alone in a mansion with only Daddy's money for company."

As soon as she spoke, Crescent seemed to realise what she'd done and backed away hastily, but a bunch of kids were already cheering for her. Draco looked furious.

"And I suppose you have neither? I know exactly who your father is, and he's not exactly around to play dolls, is he? He might as well have just run off, for all the good he does you."

"Hey." Charlotte said sharply, "No dad jokes, Dray."

Harry expected him to turn on her, but to his surprise he just nodded before turning back to Harry.

"Anyway, Potter, as you can see, there are different types of wizarding families. You don't want to go making friends with the...wrong sort." He stuck out a hand to shake, and Harry noticed that his nails were perfectly manicured. Interesting. Harry looked coldly up into his eyes.

"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks." He said firmly. Draco looked furious and opened his mouth in response, but before he could speak, McGonagall returned and tapped him on the shoulder. He scowled at Harry before moving away.

Harry felt a small hand slide into his own and looked down in surprise to see Cress trembling beside him. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as they filed after McGonagall into the Great Hall.

All of the first-years gasped as they entered. The room was humongous, and it was packed full of students. Harry could hear Hermione whispering facts to those around her, but he was beginning to get nervous about the sorting. His mother had assured him that it would be fine and he didn't need to know anything, but Sirius and James had told him all kinds of horror stories - he didn't believe the majority of them, but after meeting the Weasley twins, he wouldn't put it past them to prank the hat just like they had done...

However, it all went smoothly as student after student was sorted into their houses. Harry completely zoned out and didn't hear a word until he was nudged sharply by Ron. Apparently, it was his turn to be sorted and he hadn't even noticed.

Legs trembling slightly, he made his way to the stool and sat down. The sorting hat talked inside his head and deliberated for a while, before ultimately deciding to place him in Gryffindor, which was a huge relief. Whatever his mum might say, he knew that they all wanted him to end up in the same house they'd been in.