The day we met

The first day

Harry wakes up, stretches, and puts on his glasses. He looks through the Dormitory, which he shares with Seamus Finnigan, Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom. Dean's bed is empty, and so are Seamus's and Neville's. Harry's alone with Ron. 

'Ron, are you awake?' he asks whispering. 'I am now,' Ron answers. 'Good. Because I want to tell you something,' Harry says. Ron sits upright too. 'Tell me.' 'I think Draco's a creep-- but he seems really nice, I want to know him better', Harry says. 'Harry, believe me when I say that you really don't want that,' Ron says. 'If you say so...' Harry says. 

Then Hermoine walks in. 'There you are, guys! I thought that you were already in the Great hall, having breakfast,' she says and when she sees that Harry and Ron aren't even dressed yet, she adds: 'but I assume that you weren't ready yet.' 

Harry and Ron stand up from their bed. 'Wait for us in the Commonroom. We'll get dressed and pack our bag and then we'll meet you there,' Harry says. Hermoine agrees and walks to the Gryffindor Commonroom. Harry takes his robe out of his trunk and gets dressed. 

In the meantime, Ron takes a look at their schedule. 'Great. We have our first lesson with Slytherin: potions,' Ron sighs. Harry doesn't say it out loud, but he is happy somewhere, happy to see me again. 'Then Flying Lessons with Hufflepuff'. 

'What other lessons do we have?' Harry asks while packing his necessities for the potions class. 'Potions with Slytherin, followed by Flying lessons with Hufflepuff. Then we have lunch and then the two last lessons: Transfiguration with Ravenclaw and History of Magic with Hufflepuff again', Ron reads from his schedule. 'Sounds fun', Harry says laughing.

Both have packed their bags and now they're walking to the Commonroom. Hermoine's still waiting for the boys. 'Finally!' she says and she leads the boys through the portrait hole. Every Commonroom is guarded by a portrait. Gryffindor's portrait is the Fat Lady. 

The three arrive last in the Great Hall. Harry and Ron take a seat between Neville and Seamus. Dean, Fred, and George-- Ron's older twinbrothers-- sit in front of them. Harry looks behind him, that's where I sit. We wave slowly and almost unremarkable. 

Then Dumbledore stands up. Both Harry and I try to focus on Dumbledore. 'Goodmorning, students', Dumbledore says. 'Goodmorning, professor Dumbledore', it sounds from the audience. 'Today are the first lessons after the vacation. I don't expect you all to concentrate immediately, but I expect you to at least try to pay attention to the teacher. As you may all have heard from your Head of House, we also work with the so-called: "Housepoints". You earn them by giving a good answer or with good behavior, but you can also lose them if your behavior isn't good. Today are also the registrations for the Quidditch teams. At last, I want to say: let's have breakfast', Dumbledore says. He claps his hands and the table is full of Pumpkinjuice, all kinds of bread, bacon, eggs, and sausages. 

They haven't even started yet, when almost a thousand owls fly into the Great Hall, included Harry's and mine. I immediately see that mine carries a red envelope. I swallow. Goyle and Crabbe look at me. 'Hey look! Draco has got a Howler!' Goyle says. 

My owl drops my Howler and as soon as it reaches the table, it opens itself. The voice of my mother echoes through the room: 'DRACO MALFOY! YOUR FATHER AND I ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! WE HAVE EYES AND EARS EVERYWHERE AND THAT'S HOW WE FOUND OUT THAT YOU TALKED TO AND EVEN LOOKED AT AND THOUGHT ABOUT THAT KID OF A POTTER! GET FRIENDS OF THE "GOOD" SIDE, OR YOU'LL SEE THE CONSEQUENCES BY YOURSELF!' 

After that last word, the Howler tears itself apart. I can sink to the ground with misery. I see all the eyes of the whole Great Hall looking at me. 'Can you see it?' I say. 

They immediately look away. Harry's the only one who keeps looking, shocked, worried. 'I'll go to class. See you there,' I say and I stand up. 

When I pass the Gryffindor table, I hear some Gryffindors laughing. I sigh. "Shut up guys. That wasn't funny", Harry wants to say, but instead, he remains silent.

'For today's lesson we don't need our cauldrons, just our books, and brains', Severus Snape says. He's the potions teacher. Neville wants to ask something, but Snape ignores him. 'No, Mr. Longbottom, we also don't need our wands, we never do, during this lesson,' he says, so Neville puts his hand down. 

'I want you to read the first page of your book and then I hope that you can answer this question: what do you get if you mix Unicorn hair with Dragon blood'. 'Professor Snape, I forgot my book...' Harry says, while saying that, Harry looks hopefully at me. Snape sighs irritated and looks through the classroom. 'Alright then. You work with... Mr. Weasley'. Harry sighs and sits disappointed next to his friend. 

After less than five minutes, Hermoine's hand rises up. 'Yes, Mrs. Granger?' professor Snape asks. 'I know the answer, sir', she says. Harry looks surprised at her. 'Yes?' Snape asks. 'When you mix Unicorn hair with Dragon blood, you'll get a very strong poison, sir', Hermoine says. Snape looks satisfied. At least, as far as his face can tell. 'Ten points to Gryffindor'. 

Snape walks back to the front of the class, where his desk stands, and he writes something down on his board, our homework (at the end both Slytherin and Gryffindor received 15 points).

The next lesson is Flying lessons with Hufflepuff. The Gryffindor students and the Hufflepuff students walk to the Quidditch Fields. The teacher and Quidditch referee, Rolanda Hooch, is waiting for them. 'Goodmorning students. For today's lesson we learn how to pick up our broomsticks without touching them,' Rolanda says. Every student stands on the left side of their broom. Harry stands next to Ron and Hermoine. 'Good, put your right hand above the broom and say loud and clearly: up! if you say it on the right way, your broom will fly to your hand,' Madam Hooch explains. 

'UP!' Harry says and his broom immediately flies into his hand. When he looks next to him, he sees that Ron and Hermoine have more difficulty with it. On his other side stand Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Their brooms don't even move. 

'Good, if everyone's broom is from the ground, we can start with the right position when sitting on it', Madam Hooch says. She looks satisfied with her class. The children whose brooms are still on the floor pick it up and wait for the next instruction from Madam Hooch. 

'Lay your broom on the ground again and step over it with one leg, like this,' Madam Hooch shows it briefly. Harry lays his broom on the ground and steps over it with one leg. When everyone stands as Madam Hooch said, she goes further: 'now, grab your broom with both hands and pull it up so that you're almost sitting on it.' 

Everyone looks at Madam Hooch's example first and then they try it themselves. 'The last step is easy: put your legs up and just float for a moment.' Madam Hooch puts her legs up and floats on her broom. Excited whisperings. 

'Now it's your turn. Be careful: the broom knows it when your afraid, you have to trust it'. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine sit on their brooms and float too.

When the last one of the class has floated too, even Neville did, the Flying class is over (both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff got ten House points). All the Hufflpuffers and the Gryffindors leave the Hogwarts Grounds and walk into the castle. 

On their way, they pass the Slytherin students. Harry's looking for me. When his eyes have found me, he walks to me. Harry's the only Gryffindor who dares that. 

'Hey Draco', he says. I don't know what to say. 'Uhm... hey Harry', I say. 'How were your first two lessons?' I look to the ground, trying to hide my colored face. 'They were okay, I guess,' I answer. 'We had flying lessons today', Harry says, he sounds very happy with that. 'Really? What did you do there?' I ask. 'We had to pick up our brooms without touching them and then we had to float on it!' 'That sounds like a great lesson, Harry!' I look at him. He looks really cute when he's so happy. 

Then he's called by his friends. 'I'm sorry Draco, Hermoine, and Ron are calling for me. See you later!' Harry says and he leaves me alone. "It's okay. See you later!", is what I wanted to say, but I don't say it.