Slytherin Adoption

The Train Station

Draco Malfoy stood on Platform 9 ¾, nervously straightening his robes as he waited for the train to pull in. He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"It'll be fine," Lucius assured his son. Draco swallowed hard, his next words coming out as a whisper.

"What if nobody likes me?" Lucius knelt down so he was eye-level with the young blonde.

"Not everybody is going to like you," he admitted. Draco nodded and looked down at his shoes. "Some people might even hate you because of who you are. Because of who I am." Draco hung his head. "But you'll have Severus," Lucius reminded him gently. Draco looked up, eyes brightening as he remembered that his Godfather would be teaching Potions, like he had for the past ten years. "And you'll have Blaise and Pansy." Draco smiled at the thought of his two best friends. The three of them had grown up together and were practically inseparable.

"I guess it won't be so bad then," Draco said quietly. Before Lucius could answer, they heard a scream. His father stood in one graceful movement, wand in hand, and shielded his son from any possible attack. The platform had gotten quite crowded while they'd been talking, making it hard to detect anything. He started to turn back to Draco when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a small commotion. Several reporters had gathered around someone, a child from the looks of them, and were taking pictures. The child was obviously terrified as he tried to curl in a ball. Before he knew what he was doing, Lucius strode over and smoothly stepped in front of the boy, effectively blocking the reporters from seeing him.

"What gives you the right to scare a child just to get a few pictures?" Lucius hissed. At first, no one spoke up, not wanting to incure the wrath of the Malfoy Lord.

"I...It's Harry Potter s...sir," one reporter finally got out. A raised eyebrow was the only sign Lucius gave that he was surprised.

"I'll ask again," Lucius said softly. "What gives you the right to scare him to get a few pictures?" No one answered but when it became obvious he had no intention of moving, the reporters finally left. Lucius turned to the child, who was still curled in a little ball.

"It's alright, Harry," Lucius said gently. "They've gone." Slowly, the boy looked up. Then he said the most heart-wrenching words Lucius had ever heard.

"Who's Harry?" Lucius and Draco both stared at him in shock.

"Don't you know your name, child?" The older Malfoy asked softly, kneeling like he had a few moments earlier with Draco. Harry watched him with wide, frightened eyes. "What do your relatives call you?" The boy gave a small flinch.

"Freak," he whispered, looking down. Lucius had to fight to keep his anger out of his eyes.

"The name your parents gave you was Harry Potter," Lucius informed him. Harry's eyes flew to his, shining with joy before he quickly masked it. Lucius gave a small smile. "My name is Lucius Malfoy. This is my son, Draco." Draco stepped forward and offered his hand. Hesitantly, Harry took it.

"Hi, Harry," Draco smiled warmly. "Would you like to be friends?" Harry's eyes widened in shock.

"F...friends?" he echoed. "You w...want to be f...friends? With m...me?" Draco nodded and Harry finally smiled, before dropping his hand. As he did, his oversized t-shirt fell off one shoulder, exposing a huge bruise It looked like someone had tried to choke him. Before either Malfoy could ask him about it, a shout was heard and they were surrounded by red-heads.

"Lucius Malfoy!" Molly Weasley screeched. The former Slytherin winced and slowly stood, turning to face the banshee. "Leave the poor boy alone! You're scaring him!" Lucius glanced back at Harry and sure enough, he was shaking and trying to hide behind Draco, having gotten to his feet when Lucius did. Lucius turned back to Molly, eyes narrowed.

"You're the one scaring him, woman," he growled. "You and those damned reporters that were crowding him a little while ago." While the adults were arguing, Draco used the opportunity to gently tug Harry, who was still shaking, towards the train that had just pulled up.

Unforturnately, the youngest Weasley male had other ideas. He stepped in front of them, preventing them from going any further.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" he asked loudly, obviously having heard the reporters. Harry looked at Draco, then back at Ron and gave a tiny, uncertain nod. "Wicked," Ron breathed. "Do you have the scar?" Harry gave him a confused look. Draco decided he'd had enough. Weasley was ogling Harry like he was a unique animal at a zoo and it was clearly scaring the smaller boy.

"He doesn't have to prove anything to you," Draco sneered, eyes hard as he glared at the red-head. "Come on, Harry, let's go." He gently took Harry's hand and began towards the train. Again, Weasley stopped them by grabbing Harry's other arm, causing Harry to flinch violently and his shaking to increase tenfold. Draco narrowed his eyes as he glared at Ron.

"Let go of him," he hissed angrily but Ron ignored him.

"You really should not hang around Draco Malfoy," Ron informed Harry haughtily. "Especially since of who you are." His voice dropped to a mock whisper, though he knew Draco could still hear him. "His family's dangerous." Draco's heart sank as he waited for the raven-haired boy to look at him in fear, and maybe disgust, like most people who didn't know his family did when someone gave the same warning. To his surprise, however, that didn't happen. Instead, Harry took a deep breath and wrenched his arm out of Weasley's grip, though he was still shaking.

"T...they are my f...friends and I d...don't have to s...stand here and l...listen to you try to s...slander t...them!" He ran over to Draco and stood behind him, trembling horribly, his shaking hand gripping the back of Draco's green and silver robes.

"Father?" Lucius looked away from the Weasley matriarch, who had stopped ranting and was just glaring at him, and saw Harry clinging to Draco's robes. Draco tilted his head slightly to the left and Lucius's eyes moved as well, to the youngest male redhead who was blocking the way to the train. He had had enough and was about to just take both boys and apparate directly to the gates of Hogwarts when the Weasley twins stepped up beside their brother. They each grabbed one of their brothers arms and moved him out of the way, nodding at Lucius as they did. The blonde nodded back and ushered the two boys onto the train, giving Draco a quick hug as he did so.

"Where's your trunk Harry?" he asked as he lifted Draco's up onto the train. Harry finally let go of Draco and shyly held up his wand.

"T...this is a...all I have s...sir," he whispered. "My u...uncle burned e...everything else. E...even my o...owl." Tears filled his eyes and slipped down his pale cheeks. Luciuss nodded.

"I will send you some things then." He went on before the boy could protest. "Don't forget to write." He smiled at Draco and then Harry. "Both of you." He hugged Draco one last time. "Protect him, Dragon. He needs it." He pulled away, smiled once more, and then he was gone.