Lightning in a House of Serpents

The repercussions of having a half giant kick down your door

Harry watched Hagrid depart down the road before he stepped into a shop called 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions'. It seemed quite odd that Hagrid left so suddenly, claiming to be feeling ill, but he just shrugged it off as some weird wizard thing.

He felt quite nervous to be alone in a place he wasn't familiar with and was relieved when a smiling witch dressed all in mauve came up to him.

"Hogwarts, dear?" she asked, and when Harry nodded said, "Got the lot here- another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

She steered him to the back of the shop and stood him on a stool next to a pale faced boy who was in the process of being measured. She slipped a robe over his head and started to pin different sections down to give him a perfect fit.

"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes," Harry replied.

"My father's next door buying my books and Mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully Father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

"If first years aren't allowed brooms, then what would be the point in smuggling one in? Wouldn't you just get in trouble?" Harry asked.

The boy furrowed his brows and thought to himself. He looked sideways at Harry and blinked.

"I suppose you're right," the boy replied while nodding, "So I'm guessing you're fancying yourself to be in either Ravenclaw or Slytherin then?"

'What the Hell does that even mean? '

Harry blushed in embarrassment and looked down.

"I don't mean to be a bother, but can you explain what exactly a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin even is?" Harry said.

The boy seemed slightly put off by the request and gave Harry a weird look.

"You're not a mudblood, right? You seem nice and all, but Father has forbidden me for ever associating with their kind," he said.

Harry blinked and looked down to his feet. I know Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon only let me shower when I absolutely need to, but am I really that dirty for him to think I have mud in my blood? No, that's ridiculous. You can't get mud in your blood unless the doctor somehow used the needle to put mud in your veins..

"Sorry, I don't think I have mud in my blood. It's kind of impossible, really," Harry replied, "And you don't need to really worry too much about what your father thinks of your friends. They're your friends, not his. You seem like you can make the right choices on who to hang around with."

The boy nodded and started to answer Harry's question.

"Well there's four houses, you see, and at our welcoming feast us first years get sorted into one of the four houses. There's Hufflepuff-which is useless if you ask me, Ravenclaw- which is for the brainy folk, Gryffindor- where all the loud morons go, and Slytherin- the house of the ambitious and cunning. I'll be in Slytherin like the rest of my family for sure."

Harry felt very stupid for having the boy explain that to him. He wondered if that's what daily life would be like at Hogwarts for him.

"I think you'd do well in Slytherin," the boy told him, "Now I know this is our first time meeting, but judging off of first impressions, you don't seem moronic, nor do you seem useless. You seem like you'd do our house good."

Harry's face got redder by the praise the other boy gave him. It felt good to have someone feel he has a purpose. Growing up your whole life being told you're useless all the time does damage.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to see if I'm Slytherin material or not the night of the feast, huh?" He said with a shrug.

"Yeah," he agreed, shifting on his feet, "I guess we'll just have to see."

"The name's Harry, by the way," he said while sticking out his hand.

"Draco Malfoy," the boy replied while shaking Harry's hand.

Harry let go of Draco's hand and smiled at him. Draco, however, didn't smile back as he had his gaze directed at the shop window. Harry followed his gaze and saw Hagrid peering into the window holding two large ice creams. He did his best to point at them to indicate that he couldn't come in.

"That's Hagrid," Harry told Draco, "He brought me here after he told me that I'm a wizard. He's the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. Cool right?"

Draco looked like he was going to say something, but thought better of it. He instead nodded and pursed his lips.

"Do you like ice cream?" Harry attempted at making conversation.

"Of course I do. Although, I prefer vanilla or strawberry," Draco replied. "And you?"

"Hmm. I like chocolate ice cream the best, but I like a nice vanilla cone every now and then," said Harry.

Draco started to go on about how he thought pistachio ice cream was disgusting and it made Harry smile slightly. Not because Draco looked thoroughly upset over pistachio ice cream, but because he had made a friend. Dudley had always made sure that nobody talked to Harry in primary and he was glad that Dudley wouldn't be around to take this friend away too.

Before Harry could talk anymore to Draco, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done my dear," and helped Harry step off the footstool.

"I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts. Until then Harry," Draco said, flashing Harry a grin.

Harry nodded and grinned back.

"Until then."

Harry left the shop still grinning and didn't stop throughout the remainder of the trip. His grin only grew wider when Hagrid bought him a beautiful snowy owl, which he named Hedwig.

Harry felt, for the first time in a long time, confident in himself. He was finally going to prove himself worthy of being as of use as everyone else. He was determined to.

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Ello! So there's the first chapter! Yayyy! It was a bit shorter than I wanted it, but I'm not unhappy with it. I hope you enjoyed and I hope you'll stick around till the end. Make sure to tell me if there's any atrocious grammar mistakes and I promise I'll try to fix them. Please leave a comment as I would love to hear what you think! If you ever think there's something I should change or if there's something you'd like to see in the future, just tell me. Love ya.

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