Keeping The Dark Lord (on his toes)

Chapter - 4 Going home ( 1 September 1991 )

Harry happily finished his breakfast and watched as one of the Peverell house-elves immediately cleared the table, leaving only a cup of tea in its wake. He had been a little creeped out on his second day to find twenty mummified house elves in a room next to the master bedroom, but it soon became clear that it had merely been Peverell house magic that allowed the elves to sleep while waiting for a new heir, instead of dying like so many other house-elves when the buildings were left without a master for too long.

He double-checked his belongings and closed his trunk before shrinking it and placing it on a chain around his neck. He then told Hedwig to meet him at Hogwarts because he knew how much she hated being stuck in a cage. One of the younger house-elves named Mina apparated him to a secluded part of the station and he walked the rest of the way, intent on grabbing a cabin before someone saw him.

He evaded anyone that looked at him too closely and finally managed to grab an empty cabin at the end of the train. Now came the tricky part…how the hell was he going to befriend both Draco and Ron at the same time without them blowing up at him or each other?

Hermione would be easy to make friends with and Luna would not be going to Hogwarts yet, and he would need to help Neville with a new wand before the other kids started teasing him…Harry sat back with a sigh, there was so much he needed to do this year. The only upside was that he already knew the year material so he would at least save some time while studying.

A knock on the door had him looking up and he saw a slightly hesitant-looking Draco standing there. He allowed himself to smile. “Hi Malfoy, just got on?”

The other boy seemed to relax as he nodded and entered the compartment to sit on the opposite seat. “It won’t be long until the train leaves so the compartments are going to fill up pretty quickly. You can call me Draco if you want.”

Harry smiled and gave him a nod, “Then you have to call me Harry. Are any of your other friends on the train?”

Draco seemed to regard him for a bit before he nodded. “Yes, they are but except for Blaize Zabini and Theodore Nott, the rest are mere acquaintances. I told them that I would catch up with them later.”

Harry tilted his head slightly in thought, “I thought you would have a lot of friends…”

Draco shook his head, looking slightly pained, “Unfortunately, the more ‘friends’ you have, the more chances there are for someone to stab you in the back. Being…what I am…doesn’t really allow the benefit of having a lot of people get close to me. I grew up with Theo and Blaize so I at least know what to expect.”

Harry latched onto that middle bit, “What you are? What do you mean?”

Draco looked kind of startled before he tensed, and Harry could visibly see how his mask fell back into place. It was a startling transformation from a friendly Draco to the prat he’d originally met at Madam Malkin’s in the past.

Draco looked at him closely, clearly searching for anything that could give away his true thoughts. “I am a Dark wizard, as you may already know…”

Harry almost burst out laughing right there. Draco looked like he’d just dropped a bomb in Harry’s lap and Harry wondered if the blond expected him to freak out and to start yelling or something. It was something he might have done in the past, but he was done with the whole light and dark ordeal, so he merely shrugged and laid back. “And? I read that there are many types of cores, and you can’t change your alignment. It just means that certain types of magic will come easier to you, as you well know. I am a Grey wizard so I should be the last one to judge.”

Draco seemed quite stunned at his revelation before he seemed to shake himself out of it. His body seemed to lose his tension as he looked at Harry, “What would it take for me to become your friend?”

Harry was quite startled at the question, but it was as good a place to start as any. “I thought we were already friends, but if you are asking what I would like in a friend, well, I only want any friends I make to get along without their blood-purity, house, or affinity getting in the way.”

Draco slightly wrinkled his nose at the statement, but he seemed to be thinking about it at least, “So if I want to stay your friend you want me to play nice with mudb-er Muggleborns?”

Harry nodded, “I don’t like the way that the Ministry is separating everyone, I mean we should be free to be who we are, whether that is light, grey, or dark, or even muggleborns, half-blood, or pure-blood.”

Draco seemed to think about it for a minute as he gazed out of the window before glancing back at Harry, “What if the muggleborns are killing our ways?”

Harry smiled, “Then it is up to us to teach them the truth. I think most muggleborns are as ignorant as they are because they are never given the chance to learn the pure-blood way of doing things.”

This left Draco almost gaping at him, but Harry didn’t draw attention to it, because he knew why Draco was reacting that way…it was the same thing Voldemort had wanted before he became insane.

Their conversation was interrupted by another knock on the door and Harry was surprised to see both Hermione and Ron standing there. They looked a little unsure, but Hermione spoke up anyway, “Can we sit here? Everywhere else is full…”

Harry gave Draco a pointed look, then turned back to Hermione and nodded. Draco didn’t look so happy at seeing Ron, and vice-versa, but the redhead seemed to be surprised when no insults were thrown his way as Draco merely nodded his head in greeting, “Weasley.”

It took a few seconds before Ron got over his shock enough to return the greeting, “Malfoy”, and Harry was happy to note that some of the tension left the room. Hermione seemed hesitant so Harry turned and held out his hand to her, “I’m Harry Potter.”

She took it, “I’m Hermione Granger…”

Harry could sense that she wanted to go on and tell him about how much she read about him, but instead, she turned to Ron and Harry held his hand out to the redhead as well. Ron took it, “I’m Ronald Weasley, uhm, do you really have the scar?”

Harry turned and saw Draco roll his eyes even as he shifted closer to see and he couldn’t stop himself from laughing as he uncovered his forehead. There were some things that would never change but at least he was off to a good start.

The conversation turned to houses, but after Ron made a dig at Slytherins, Harry made sure to point out that it was unfair to judge a student by their house. The redhead had flamed up in embarrassment until Harry explained that certain famous figures like Merlin had been in Slytherin, so it didn’t make it a bad house, just like being a Hufflepuff didn’t make you weak.

They had all been skeptical at his last statement until he pointed out that the famous Poppy Pomfrey worked at Hogwarts, and she had been in Hufflepuff. No one could refute his statement as both Ron and Draco had heard from their fathers about how protective the witch was with her charges.

The last vestiges of the tension seeped from the cabin after that and Harry found Ron happily discussing Wizard’s Chess with Draco, while he and Hermione talked about what their classes would be like. She confessed that she didn’t really know how to act around the pure-blooded wizards who seemed to look down on her and Draco seemed to take Harry’s advice to heart as he removed a book from his trunk and handed it to her.

“The book explains some of the hidden rules and formal ways of greeting, for instance, it is bad manners to call a witch or wizard by their first names unless given permission to do so,” Hermione immediately went red with embarrassment, but they reassured her that they hadn’t taken offense.

They all exchanged permission for the rest to call them by their first names and Harry bit back a smirk as he realized that, so far, his plan was working.