Chocolate Frogs
Draco was rolling a trolley down King's Cross, looking up at the platforms as he went. He was searching for the plastic board that would say Platform 9 and Platform 10. He tried to remember what his father had told him.
'There's a brick wall between the platforms. You need to run through it with speed and confidence to go through to the other side where the Hogwarts Express is. If you're late, you will only run into a wall and look like a fool, all while attracting the attention of muggles. Do not be late!'
He walked up to Platforms 9 and 10 and looked at the brick wall in between them. Before he could get a running start he heard a voice from behind him.
"Stop being so loud about Hogwarts dear, King's Cross is packed with muggles. Of course they're probably too busy rushing about to notice anything unusual.
Which we should be doing as well boys, you're going to miss the train!" He turned around to see a group of redheads coming over to the Platform. There were four boys, all with trolleys, a little girl, and a plump and bright woman, who he assumed was the mother. The oldest boy looked confident, while the one closest to Draco's age looked a bit nervous. The middle children looked to be identical twins, and both wore unnervingly similar mischievous expressions.
The mother and the daughter looked to be bickering slightly, while the twins appeared to be 'consoling' the nervous boy, not very well by how his expression was growing more fearful.
"...All right Percy, you go first."
"I can't. There's someone in front of the platform."
Draco looked to both of them and realised he was still in the middle of the barrier.
"I-I'm sorry, here let me..." He struggled to maneuver his trolley out of the way. As soon as he did the oldest boy marched towards the wall and went through. Draco blinked twice. Huh. Seamless.
"Hello there dearie, are you okay?" It took Draco a second to realise the woman was talking to him.
"U-um, yeah I-I'm fine." Damn his stuttering.
"Do you know how to get through?" She smiled down at him understandingly.
"Yes you r-run through and- "
"Draco!" Another voice called. A voice that was familiar.
"Harry?" Through the crowd of muggles the messy haired boy from the shop pushed his large trolley through. A snowy white owl sat in a cage on top of it. It made Draco jealous. He had wanted his own owl but the manor already had plenty and his father said that he could use their's. He didn't get a pet either, not even one of the baby peacocks to look after for the year. And he'd just started reading about how to care for them.
"Uh, hi! How are you?" The other boy asked, struggling to push his packed trolley along.
"I'm o-okay, I was just about to go onto the Platform for the Hogwarts Express." While they were having their second meeting, Draco could spot the nice woman leading her twins through the platform, leaving only the nervous boy and the excitable little girl.
"Okay then, who's going next?" The plump woman addressed the first years.
"Um, well, the thing is - the thing is I don't know how to -" Harry began.
"How to get onto the Platform?" She asked kindly, the understanding face seeming to be her default. Harry nodded. "Not to worry. All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous." She turned to Draco. "How about you do it first." She said. "You look smart enough to be an example for how it works". He smiled happily.
"Okay then." He grabbed onto his trolley and looked at the barrier, getting ready. Much like he remembered the confident older boy do so, he marched up to it. He saw the brick getting closer and closer, but he pushed forward proudly, faster and faster and -
He was through.
He got out of the way for the other boys to come through and looked around the bustling Platform. The train was a scarlet steam engine, with a sign above it labeling it the 'Hogwarts Express'. He looked over to the ticket booth for tickets and only then did it hit him. He was going to Hogwarts! He grinned widely and when no one was looking, did a little fist pump in excitement. Finally!
From the barrier he saw Harry and the ginger boy come through, both of there faces lighting up in wonder. Then Harry spotted him.
He had a large smile. "Wasn't that amazing?!" Draco smiled back. It was relatively tame magic but for someone of Harry's upbringing, he could understand the excitement.
"It was." Draco looked past Harry to the nervous ginger boy. "What's your name?"
"Ron. Ron Weasley." The boy smiled. A Weasley? Draco tried to keep his face impassive and his opinion unbiased, but it was difficult with what his father had told him about Weasleys. Apparently they're just as good as Weasels, they live in a filthy hovel, have too many red haired children, and are as poor as dirt. Draco tried not to let any of that affect his view of Ron.
"Cool. Let's find a free compartment."
"I'll catch up with you. I need to say goodbye to Mum and Ginny first." He jerked a thumb behind him to Mrs Weasley.
"We'll see you then. Come on Harry," he tried to be confident as he led them across the Platform. Around them cats crawled and hissed at their feet while Owls hooted at one another. Draco tried to keep a targeted mind to keep himself from getting lost in the euphoria that was going to Hogwarts.
"Where's you mum?" Harry asked him from behind.
"She couldn't come with me to King's Cross. Too many people. I said goodbye to her at the Manor." He would miss her so.
"The manor? You live in a manor?!" Harry asked, flabbergasted. Draco nodded, keeping his eye out for a free compartment.
"Oh, here's one!" He opened up the door and began piling in his luggage. Harry started of with his owl, which Draco just had to comment on. "She's a beautiful owl."
"Thanks. Her name is Hedwig."
"Oh nice, a German name, right?"
"I'm not sure, I just saw the name in A History Of Magic. It sounded nice."
"I think it means combat or duel. Pretty cool name for an owl. The family owl I'm allowed to use is called Pluto. He's an Eurasian Eagle-Owl. Very big and can carry large packages, but it's quite painful if he lands on your shoulder. And he's no where as pretty as yours." Draco says as he helps Harry with piling their luggage in the compartment. Once they'd piled all of their suitcases and things under the seats, they sat down. On instinct, Draco straightened his back and locked his knees, keeping his hands neatly on his lap.
"Hagrid got her for me. For my birthday. He shouldn't have really, I didn't need a gift..."
"What do you mean, you didn't need a gift? Don't muggles give gifts at birthdays?" Draco asked, cocking his head.
"Oh, yeah, they definitely do. My cousin always had piles and piles of presents for Christmas and his birthday. I...didn't. Usually. I mean it's fine, I don't deserve them anyway, and Hagrid shouldn't have spent money on it, I could have paid, it would have been fine but he insisted...I should probably pay him back when I see him again he shouldn't have worried..."
"What do you mean you don't deserve gifts?" Draco got many gifts at Christmas and Birthdays. But over the years it had evolved from toys and sweets to purely books. Father knew what Draco liked, so what's the point in spending more time looking for gifts when books to study will do just as well? Last Christmas he'd gotten a butterfly in a jar from his mother. He didn't question how she did it, but knew he had to set it free as soon as possible. By Boxing Day the butterfly had died in the jar and Draco had a funeral for it in the grounds later that day. His birthday gift was a book of bedtime stories he'd left in the kitchen. She'd picked it up and re-gifted it to him obliviously. He was just thankful it wasn't another animal in a jar.
"I mean, I don't really need them at all. I have money left from my parents now as well, so nobody needs to buy me anything."
"But that's the fun of birthdays. Not needing to buy stuff yourself."
"I suppose so."
The carriage had drifted in an uncomfortable silence. Both boys didn't know what to add and were quietly fiddling with there hands, looking the other way. Thankfully a red haired boy intervened at just that moment.
"Hi! Mind if I sit here?" Draco shook his head and gestured to the seat beside him.
"Come on in."
Harry looked ready to talk again.
"Hi, your name's Ron, right?"
"Yep, that's right, Ronald Weasley! And, uh, you are?" He asked Harry.
"My name's Harry, Harry Potter." Ron's face went paler.
"Bloody Hell, you're Harry Potter?! He'd Harry Potter?" He asked Draco, gesturing wildly.
"Um, yes. He is." Draco said, experiencing second hand embarrassment that he probably acted exactly as this boy was.
"Blimey! Going to Hogwarts with the boy who defeated You-Know-Who. Wait...does he...do you have the - the you know..." His voice quietened down to a whisper as he pointed to his forehead. Harry nodded and lifted his fringe, revealing the bolts of lightening that streaked about it, ending behind both of his ears. "Bloody Hell! That's the real deal, that is. That's incredible! And you really got that from battling You-Know-Who?"
"I did." Harry said. "But I can't remember."
"Nothing at all?" Ron looked eager.
"Well...I think I remember a lot of green light. But nothing else. I was just a baby."
"Wow..." Ron trailed off. "So, were you really raised by muggles? What are they like?"
"Horrible. Well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are the worst, though. I wish I had siblings." Harry looked envious of Ron.
"Trust me, you do not. I have five brother and an annoying little sister and they're all the worst. I'm not one of the older ones so I don't get special privileges but I'm not the youngest so I'm not let off easily. I don't even have a twin! I'm the sixth in my family..." Draco stopped listening. It appeared he wouldn't get any information on being raised by Muggles and it was rude to interrupt so he just removed himself from the conversation. He pulled out a copy of the Big Book Of Stories, Tales, Myths and Legends from the top of his suitcases and began flicking through until he found the Myth of Gale and Rowan.
Gale and Rowan were regarded as some of the best known Wizards in 11th Century France. Gale excelled in charms and Rowan excelled in potioneering, both helping the muggle community secretly while in La Rochelle.
But they had a terrible secret...they loved each other! Both being men, this was looked down upon by muggles, so they had to hide this from their town. Ordinarily the wizarding community would be fine with it, but they were going through a terrible drop in the wizarding population, and needed new magical children as soon as possible. Both being great wizards, they needed to give on their genes to the next generation, and so could not be together.
Both of their families nearly ripped them apart; Gale coming from muggles and Rowan being a Pureblood. Rowan couldn't ever step away from his family, he had to carry on the lineage. So he agreed to everyone that he would sacrifice his happiness and marry Madamoiselle Margeaux Denaelle. The decision broke both of their hearts but Rowan new it was for the best.
The wedding was in a month, and Rowan was forbidden to see Gale until after it was over. In this month however, Gale was working on a new spell. A spell that would save their love.
The night before the wedding, Gale managed to sneak Rowan out of his home onto a La Rochelle dock. In the moonlight besides the sea was where Gale Proposed to Rowan, promising his heart and magic if he would take it. Rowan did. And so Gale cast the spell onto the both of them, bonding their hearts and their magic forever.
At the wedding the next day Gale crashes it, and reveals the spell he cast. He claims that out of spite he took away both of their magic , and that they could no longer use a wand. They presented all the spells they knew for the audience while holding their wands and it appeared to be true. Since they were now squibs, the Wizarding community denounced them and exiled them to live among muggles.
In truth, Gale had managed to make him and Rowan the first wandless magic users, and they lived out the rest of their days in house beside the sea, helping muggles. Secretly but happily.
Draco loved this story. It was not as badass as the underdog story of Pluto the dragon tamer, but it was happier. He knew that if Lucius were to find it in the book he would burn the lovely pages, so he kept them as pristine and dog-ear-less as possible so as not to draw attention to them.
After a couple of hours of Draco reading and the boys talking, Ron suddenly turned to him.
"Hey, I don't think I caught your name." Ron said.
"I'm Draco Malfoy." Draco tried to sound proud. Ron's face curled into a disgusted expression.
"Malfoy? Wasn't your dad one of You-Know-Who's supporters?" Harry's eyes widened and Draco cringed. He had hoped his father's past wouldn't be brought up.
"He was. But he isn't any more. A-and anyway, he was bewitched!" He claimed, remembering his father's excuse. Ron didn't look like he believed it. To be honest, Draco didn't either.
"Yeah right. And what's with your name? Draaaacoooo. It sounds pretentious." Draco felt anger curl up inside him.
"Hey! My M-Mother gave me my name and it's the constellation o-of a dragon, Draconis! She l-likes the name a-and so do I." He replied, his face flushing.
"Oh yeah, your mum. Didn't she go loony a couple of years back? No one sees her outside of your big old mansion for months at a time. I've heard she turned to booze and is stuck drinking her cares away in that giant house of yours." Draco saw red.
"How dare you! My Mother is not a loony and she is not an alcoholic! She is perfectly fine and is the greatest person in the world! Maybe the reason she doesn't go outside a lot is because she'll end up meeting awful people like you!" He yelled at Ron furiously.
There was silence in the carriage.
Then a knock at the door.
Draco slid it open to a plump happy woman who reminded her of Ron's mother.
"Anything off the trolley dears?" She asked them while pushing along a cart piled high with sweets.
"No thank you, I think I'm going to take a walk. Excuse me." Draco picked up his book and held it tightly to his chest as he exited past the trolley lady.
In the hallway of the train, Draco walked. He wasn't looking for anything or anyone, he just wanted to get away from that awful Weasley. So lost in his own thoughts, Draco almost fell over a student who was crouched down on the floor.
"Whoa!" Draco steadied himself, gripping his book tighter. "What are you doing on the floor?" He asked the crouched figure. The person jumped up alarmed, and turned to face him.
"Sorry, it's just I've - I've lost my pet toad Trevor, I can't find him. My nan's going to kill me." The boy panicked. The boy had dirty blonde hair and was wearing a brown and green striped jumper. He was fiddling with his hands anxiously and looked to be shy of Draco's presence.
"I'll help you find him then. I'm Draco, what's your name?" Draco asked, holding out a hand for the boy to take.
"Neville. Neville Longbottom." Ah, a Longbottom. One of the Sacred 28. Draco had heard of him. His parents had been tortured to insanity by his 'Aunt Bella'. He guiltily felt closer to Neville as he thought about the state of his own mother. Neville took his hand and Draco heaved him up.
"Where did you see him last?"
"He was in his box in my carriage. He escaped somehow, and I already searched the entire carriage top to bottom, so I tried looking out here. Oh, he could be anywhere!" The boy said, panicked.
"Don't worry. He's a toad, he could only go so far." Draco thought for a moment. "Have you tried summoning him?"
"You mean Accio-ing him?" Neville asked, looking concerned.
"It works on live things. Do you want to try?" Draco asked.
"Oh no, I'm rubbish at magic. I don't even know the wand movement." Neville looked sheepish.
"It's easy, really. Just a curve of the wrist. You have to have the image of what you want summoned clear in your mind, and then you utter 'Accio'" Draco demonstrated the movement with his own wand. Neville grasped around for the wand in his back pocket and held it with two hands.
"Are you sure? I don't want to hurt him..."
"He'll be fine, I promise. Just try."
"O-okay." Neville held his wand out and waved it in a curve. "Accio Trevor!"
Nothing happened for a moment.
And another moment.
And another.
"Gah!" Neville yelled out suddenly as a toad flew past Draco and into his face. "Trevor! Don't run - or I guess hop - off again! I couldn't find you for forever! How did you get out of your box?" Neville scolded the toad on his face. Draco nearly snickered at the display, but kept it in.
"What's going on out here? I here magic!" A girl from another carriage burst into the hallway. She had dark brown skin and lighter brown hair. Her hair was bushy and seemed to be trying to get of off her head, curling around in stray locks. She had slight buck teeth and a bossy sort of voice. Draco liked her already.
"We were just doing a spell to get back Neville's pet toad." Draco explained. He then turned to Neville. "Can I move into your carriage? Some people in mine are rather...rather rude." Neville's face lit up.
"Sure! If you're sure you'd want to, my carriage is empty other than for me."
"Perfect, I'll get my things." Draco turned to the bushy haired girl. "It was nice to meet you miss..."
"Granger! Hermione Granger, yes." She answered immediately. Draco nodded and turned back around to his original carriage.
Once he'd made it he peered through the window. The two boys inside were sitting on a pile of sweets and were exchanging chocolate frogs. Draco never liked chocolate frogs much. He didn't like food that moved, and was never one for collecting cards. Harry just laughed at something Weasley had said, and Draco couldn't help but feel bitter about it. He stomped those feeling down and entered with a blank face.
"I'm just here for my things." He heaved up his suitcases from under the seat. Both Harry and Ron had fallen into silence and were now staring at him as he struggled.
"Do you want any help?" Harry asked.
"No thank you, I am fine." Draco said. His face and voice softened a tad when he saw Harry's expression. "I'll see you when we get to school. Maybe." He looked to Ron. "Weasley." He managed to make it seem like a greeting, a farewell and a slur at the same time, with a careful derision he was rather proud of. He heaved his suitcases out of there and closed the door behind him, his trousers now covered in chocolate stains.
Once he made it back to Neville's carriage, he saw that Hermione was in there as well, looking to be chatting his poor ear off.
"- And as it turns out, they haven't even recorded all of the possible secret rooms and passageways in the castle, and that new ones are discovered and kept secret as each school year goes by, so there's a good chance that we could find one. Of course, I won't have the time, as I'll be learning as much as I can about the wizarding world. I need to know the laws, it's full school curriculum, how it transfers to the huma- I mean the 'muggle' world. I want to know the origins of wizardry, and how you've managed to keep it so secret. I'm guessing there's a memory spell, because you can't keep an entire world a secret without making some slip ups, right?"
"Are you a muggleborn?" Draco interrupted.
"I suppose I am. Are you?" She asked him primly.
"I'm a Pureblood. So is Neville." Draco nodded his head towards the other boy as he sat down.
"Pureblood, doesn't that mean pure wizard? Like magic from all sides of the family?" She asked.
"Kind of. It means you have an extensive heritage of wizardry on both sides. Mine goes wayyyyyyy back. So anyway, you're a muggleborn. I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask you about the muggle world." He said, getting right to the point.
"And I have a couple of things I'd like to know about the wizarding world." She said back bossily, standing her ground. They both ended up staring each other down with Neville in the middle, both wanting information and on a quest to get it.
"What if you do it a question for a question?" Neville intervened, getting slightly scared. They both turned to him then back to each other. The tension in the room evaporating they both agreed and nodded to this.
"Okay I got first question! What school house do you think you'll be in? I'd like to be in Gryffindor because it sounds like the best. Albus Dumbledore himself was in it!" Hermione shot out.
"Oh no way is Gryffindor the best! Don't you know that Merlin was a Slytherin! And Newt Scamander was a Hufflepuff! Recklessness usually gets both people hurt, it doesn't save one person, and why self sacrifice when there's probably another..." They continued to question and bicker for the rest of train ride. Neville tried acting as the mediator every time things got heated, but eventually gave up.
They carried on until they got to Hogwarts.
And after they got to Hogwarts.
Of course.