The Cowardly Lion (Book 1)

2: Of the Hogwarts Express and Harry Potter

Draco's last month with his father was not fun. True, it was exactly the same as every other month he'd spent with his father - and his mother, but she wasn't nearly as bad as his father - but this time, Draco had a messy black-haired, glasses-wearing boy to figure out how to find, once he reached Hogwarts. Dare it be said? He was impatient.

And it bothered his father so much that Draco had already been punished - the Cruciatus Curse, Lucius Malfoy's favorite that Draco wasn't allowed to mention - and now had to keep silent once more.

Finally, the day arrived that Draco was on the Hogwarts Express. He arrived early, but the boy was nowhere in sight, and after a while - five minutes - Draco's parents decided that they'd had enough of waiting with the "commonfolk," especially after a bushy-haired girl passed them by, accompanied by two bewildered- looking Muggles.

Draco wanted to wait longer, but then it was so close to eleven that he had to get on the train. He knew he was supposed to sit with Crabbe and Goyle, but they were terrible conversationalists - mostly just grunting in agreement - and Draco really wanted to sit with his maybe-friend from Diagon Alley.

Then he heard the first whisper.

Normally, Draco wouldn't have cared who Harry Potter was, or where he was sitting on the Hogwarts Express, but he knew his father would want a more accurate description to complain about, so he trudged towards the compartment that Harry Potter was supposedly in, with - unfortunately - Crabbe and Goyle in tow, who had come looking for him.

Apparently they were absolutely worthless without a leader, and Draco - sadly - was their new leader.

Draco's jaw dropped when he realized why the boy had seemed so familiar - he'd read all about him, promising his father it was just to know my enemy and all that rot. Crabbe and Goyle were already complaining about him, but Draco made them be quiet.

"So you're Harry Potter, huh?" he asked, approaching the compartment. The redhead sitting across from Harry Potter, a Weasley, no doubt - the Weasleys all have red hair and more children than they can afford - scoffed as Draco approached.

He knows. He knows I'm a Malfoy.

"Yeah," Harry Potter said unsurely, glancing at Weasley for support. Since Crabbe and Goyle had noticed that Draco wasn't insulting Harry Potter, they had stopped insulting Harry Potter as well.

Not that Draco had ever insulted Harry Potter...today, of course.

Draco mentally groaned. If he sat by Harry Potter today, which he really wanted to do, Crabbe and Goyle would surely rat him out, being the brainless lumps they were, and his father would be furious.

Unless...what if he thinks I'm only pretending to befriend Harry Potter? Draco couldn't keep the facade up forever, but if his father thought he was only pretending to befriend Harry Potter, well, then, it would buy Draco some time.

To figure out how to survive the wrath of Lucius Malfoy when he found out Draco wasn't pretending.

"And you're a Weasley," Draco said, before he could stop himself. When the Weasley started glaring, Draco immediately backtracked. "Sorry, it's just...my father told me..." There was nothing Draco could say that wouldn't immediately insult the Weasley, thus also making Harry Potter think he was a bad person.

Aren't you? All Malfoys are bad, remember?

Draco had learned this lesson the first time he'd met a Mudblood - er, a Muggle-born, and she'd performed better magic than his father ever had.

"That all Weasleys have red hair," Draco finally finished.

"And who's your father?" asked Weasley, narrowing his eyes. He knows, he knows I'm a Malfoy...