Chosen

Hogwarts Express

Harry threw himself onto the seat opposite Ron, putting his feet up along the empty seats. They had barely left the station when a disheveled looking Neville Longbottom stumbled into their compartment. 

"Hi guys." He panted, flinging himself into the seat beside Ron.

Harry checked his watch, "Only fifteen minutes late this time. I'd say that's a Longbottom record."

Neville shook his head, trying to catch his breath. 

"Gran decided to take the 'scenic' route to London. That woman will be the death of me." Ron chucked his head back laughing.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" The trolley lady called through the door and Harry stood up, ordering their favourites; chocolate frogs for Ron, licorice wands for Neville and sherbet lemons for Harry. They stacked the sweets into a pile and began their feast. 

There was a knocking on the compartment door and they looked up in unison. A boy with white blonde hair strode in, flanked by two burly looking boys who Harry thought should've been in one of the older years. 

"So its true. There's a Potter in the school." The boy concluded, folding his arms across his chest. He had a very pointed face, with steely eyes and a small mouth.

"So what?" Neville asked, pulling another licorice wand from the packet, either oblivious to the friction or not really bothered. The latter was more probable. 

"You're the son of Lily and James Potter, the only people to defy the Dark Lord four times."

"Still not seeing the point." Ron contributed and Harry was growing just as impatient. 

"I wanted to introduce myself." He finished, exasperated, then stuck his hand out, "This is Crabbe and Goyle." He gestured to each of them in turn with his head, "And I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Harry gauged his friends reactions. Neville shot Draco Malfoy a couple of dirty looks and Ron seemed just as irked but his presence. Harry looked directly at Draco then. He had a harsh exterior, standoffish and rude. But Harry could see it was a pretense; who else would introduce themselves with bodyguards? He was worried. He feared rejection. 
Before he had a second to doubt himself, or be peer pressured, Harry gripped Draco's hand firmly. 
"Nice to meet you Draco."

Draco looked stunned for a moment, as if he hadn't actually expected him to want to be friends with him. But as the shock faded, he relaxed into his facade again and dropped Harry's hand.
"Call me Malfoy."

"Malfoy, you're welcome to join us." Harry offered, ignoring Ron's 'are you crazy?' looks. 

Crabbe and Goyle clearly seemed to see this as their cue to exit as they shuffled abruptly from the compartment.
"Don't mind them." Malfoy commented as he took the seat next to Harry, already leaning towards the sweet pile. Ron glared some more and Harry, subtly, kicked his foot.
"This is Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom."

Suddenly, the door was flung open again and Ron rolled his eyes, "Oh don't mind us!" He said to whoever had just come through the door. Malfoy almost leapt out of his seat at the sudden commotion, dropping his recently retrieved chocolate frog. 

The girl that stood in the doorway was clearly out of breath. She took a second before she spoke, "Has anyone seen a rat? A boy called Dean has lost one."

She had wild curls that tumbled over her shoulders and down her back with toffee eyes that gleamed in the watery light that filtered through the window.  She had a small nose and big front teeth, but big teeth or not, there was something about her that made Draco swallow, his mouth going dry.

Malfoy scrambled to stand as the girl came in while Harry merely just raised an eyebrow. 

"Nope. No rat in here." Harry replied, flinging his arm out, gesturing to the rat-free room.

"Malfoy." Malfoy practically bowed to the girl and even Ron cocked an eyebrow at Malofy's behavior, "Draco Malfoy." He straightened up.

The girl frowned at him, "Charmed. I'm Hermione Granger. Anyway, if there's no rat in here I must be going." She took a final look at them, "You should start changing into your robes. I expect we will be arriving soon." 

She left and they all kind of sat, Malfoy standing, stunned from the whirlwind that was Hermione Granger, then began bonding over chocolate frogs.