It was the first of September and Hari travelled all the way across the country with Remus so that he could take the train with the others. Hari had insisted on it, despite knowing he could have just as easily travelled to Hogwarts which wasn't that far away. But, as Minerva was needed at Hogwarts a day earlier and Remus lived halfway between London and Caithness anyway, Hari simply made the trip with Remus instead.

Now, they were standing in King's Cross Station, Hari holding onto the trolley and staring at Platform Nine.

"Alright, take a deep breath. On a count of three, just walk straight at the wall and you'll find yourself on the platform, okay?" Remus was saying, one hand on Hari's shoulder. "I'll be right behind you, don't worry."

Hari looked up at Remus' unwavering certainty and nodded. He straightened up, narrowing his eyes in focus and then began marching right towards the wall. He closed his eyes just before he went through, bracing himself for a crash that never came. Breathless, Hari opened his eyes again to see a huge scarlet steam engine, steam billowing above it. People were all over the platform, calling out their goodbyes and hugging each other. There were owls in cages and cats in boxes hissing and children running up and down the platform, talking excitedly to each other with frazzled parents.

Remus appeared next, smiling and patting Hari on the back. "See? Told you it would be fine," he said, leaving his hand on Hari's shoulder.

Hari rolled his eyes and turned to look for any recognizable faces in the different huddles of people but slouched when he saw none. Noticing this, Remus squeezed his shoulder. "It'll be fine, Hari. Just find a compartment and get a seat and then you can look for your friends, okay?" Hari nodded, still eyeing the platform hopefully. Someone blew a whistle and more people began boarding the train in a hurry. "Okay, that's the train going in a few minutes. You better get on."

Remus helped Hari get his trunk and Hedwig's cage onto the train and then Hari jumped down to say goodbye. He reached up to pull the taller man down into a hug, nearly knocking him down. "Thanks for coming with me," he said into his shoulder as he felt warm hands wrapping around him.

"Of course, Hari," Remus replied, squeezing tight and then letting go. He ruffled Hari's hair. "I'll see you soon, Prongslet. Try not to get into too much trouble or Minerva might send you howlers across the hall."

Hari snorted and clambered up the steps onto the train. "I'll try not to!" Hari said, grinning. He waved once again and then lifted his trunk and Hedwig's cage and started making his way towards a free compartment. He found one not long after and put his stuff inside before going out to wave goodbye to Remus out the window.

The train had just started to pull out of the station when the compartment door rolled open. "There you are! I wasn't sure if you were taking the train or just going straight there!" Draco lugged his own things inside the compartment and dropped into the seat across from Hari. "Enjoy the rest of your holidays?" he added, stretching his feet out in front of him and making himself comfortable.

Hari was about to answer when the compartment door slid open again. A boy their age with familiar ginger hair and freckles appeared in the doorway, looking sheepish. "Sorry, do you mind if I join you? Everywhere else was full…" the boy asked, trailing off at the end.

"Yeah, of course. Come on in," Hari replied brightly.

The boy looked relieved and clambered inside as well, clutching a rat under his arm. He sat down beside Hari, eyeing Draco warily. "I'm Ron, by the way," he said, adjusting his rat so he could offer his hand to shake.

Hari took it, smiling. "Red hair and a pet rat. You must be a Weasley," Hari replied as he let go. "I've met your brothers," he added at Ron's confused look.

"Oh! Are you… are you Hari Potter?" Ron asked.

Hari nodded. "That I am."

"Blimey. I thought my brothers were lying when they said they met you at Hogwarts."

Hari laughed. Draco cleared his throat, clearly having had enough of not being in the centre of attention. "That's my friend Draco by the way. Can't stand not being looked at constantly," Hari explained, gesturing to his friend.

Draco held out his hand. "Draco Malfoy," he stated, clearly trying for confidence. Ron hesitated for a second, still looking wary. Hari's heart dropped, but then Ron took his hand, shaking it once. "Glad to meet you," Draco said politely, leaning back in his seat again.

"Er, you too," Ron replied, ears turning as red as his hair. He turned away from Draco and looked out into the corridor.

Hari looked back and forth between the two boys, both of whom were adamantly not looking at each other. What on Earth? Hari thought, furrowing his eyebrows. He had never seen two people dislike each other so fast in his life. "So, are you excited to start at Hogwarts?" Hari asked, hoping to change the subject. He didn't want them to dislike each other before they even got to school. All the other Weasley's he'd met so far had been so nice and Hari sincerely hoped Ron would be, too.

Ron seemed to perk up somewhat at his question. "Oh, yeah. Definitely," he said. "My brothers have been telling me about it for years. I'm curious as to what will be the same as they said."

"I can confirm or deny things they've told you, if you like. I already live at Hogwarts most of the year anyway," Hari suggested.

Hari was in the middle of telling them both about Moaning Myrtle when there was a knock at the door of the compartment. A girl with coarse black hair, dark brown skin and large front teeth stood outside, already dressed in her school robes. Hari waved her in and the compartment door opened yet again.

"Has anybody seen a toad? Neville's lost his," she asked the group. She had a sort of bossy, commanding voice, not entirely unlike Minerva's.

"You know Neville Longbottom?" Draco asked, exchanging a smile with Hari. They both looked expectantly at the new girl while Ron continued to look confused.

"Yeah. We met on the train," she replied, raising her head up. She leaned out the doorway and called down the corridor, "Neville! I think you've got some friends here!" She stepped back into the compartment just as Neville Longbottom appeared looking very frazzled.

His stressed appearance brightened slightly as he saw familiar faces. "Oh, hey! Nice to see you guys," Neville greeted politely, nodding in Ron's direction as well. "You haven't seen a toad around, have you? Gran got me a toad for my birthday and I've already lost him!"

"Have you tried looking where they keep some of the trunks? I think they like darker areas," Draco suggested.

"I haven't!" Neville perked up. "I'll be right back!" And he hurried off back down the way he had just come again.

The girl stepped farther inside the compartment and sat down beside Draco, perching slightly on the edge. "Can I sit here?" she asked, looking around at the other three in the room. Her look gave Hari the impression that telling her no wouldn't be much of an option.

"You already are, but yeah," Draco drawled, smirking. The girl gave him a pointed look, raising her eyebrow.

"Don't mind, Draco. He just pretends to be rude because he thinks it makes him look cool," Hari cut in, trying to avoid even more people hating each other before school started. "Er, what's your name?"

The girl turned away from studying Draco and stated in a very practised way, "I'm Hermione Granger. And you are?" She looked at each other boys.

"I'm Hari Potter," Hari replied. Hermione's face lit up in recognition, but Hari was thankfully saved by her comments by the return of Neville. Thankfully, he was clutching a very squirmy, grumpy looking toad. "You found him!" Hari exclaimed.

Neville grinned, shutting the door to the compartment behind himself and sitting down between Hari and Ron. "Was he where I suggested?" Draco asked hopefully.

"He was! Thank you, Draco," Neville replied. He glanced sideways at Ron who was clutching his rat and looking almost as grumpy as Neville's toad. Neville shifted under his stare, glancing at Draco and Hari for help. "Hi… I'm Neville."

Ron nodded. "Ron Weasley."

Hari clapped his hands together, making almost everyone in the room startle, looking towards him. "Did you guys want to hear anything about Hogwarts before we get there?"

Thankfully, this question seemed to ease the palpable tension in the air as everyone began asking him questions. Even Draco, who had visited the castle on several occasions in the past, wanted to know more about Hogwarts. By the time it was getting dark and they were all stuffing their faces with the sweets from the trolley, Hari was glad they were all much less awkward with each other. There was a rather comical instance in which Ron failed to make his rat turn yellow, followed by Hermione fixing the stuck hinge of Hedwig's cage.

"Oh, I'm really excited about going to Hogwarts now," Hermione said a few hours later after the compartment had been laughing for a good few minutes after Trevor made a grand escape and hit the window. "Every since I got my letter and learned I was a witch, I've been ever so nervous. But at least I know people, right?"

Draco turned away from Neville's attempts to coax Trevor in his lap and over to Hermione. Hari caught Ron narrowing his eyes at Draco suspiciously. "So, are you a Muggleborn then?" Draco asked slowly.

Hermione nodded, smiling.

"Is there a problem with that, *Draco*?" Ron asked, surprising everyone with the sharpness in his tone. There was earlier's tension again.

Draco scoffed. "Of course not, Weasley. I was just asking a question," Draco retorted, arching a challenging eyebrow. Ron sunk low in his seat, ears pink.

"Sorry. I just thought—"

"You just thought I'd hate Muggleborns because of my father, then?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes. Ron flushed as bright as his hair. Hari and Neville looked at each other in a silent question. Hari shot Draco a warning look and the blond sighed. "Look, I don't want to start off the school year with us already hating each other, alright? Just because our fathers don't get along doesn't mean we can't, right?"

Ron considered this for a moment before nodded. He held out his hand and Draco eyed it curiously. "Let's start over then. I'm Ron. Nice to meet you." A smile made its way onto Draco's lips and he shook Ron's hand again. The relief in Hari, Neville and Hermione's faces was extreme.

¤¤¤

Two hours later, they clambered out of the compartment together and onto the crowded platform of Hogsmeade Station. It was pitch black out now and students flooded out into fresh air again, stepping on each other's toes and bumping into each other in their haste to get up to the castle. Hari grabbed Draco's and Hermione's respective sleeves in an effort not to lose them in the crowd and saw Neville and Ron doing similar.

"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" called the familiar voice of Hagrid over the noise of the other students' chattering and shouting to each other. "Alright, Hari? Draco?" Hagrid greeted as their group neared him.

They followed Hagrid and the rest of the first years up along a path which led to a small beach with boats dotted along the rocks. Hari and Draco clambered into one of them together, one behind the other, while Hermione and Neville got into the one beside them. After a few minutes of everyone shuffling around, climbing into boats and trying not to fall over, the boats all set off across the lake. Not long after, Hari heard gasps of awe around him as everyone caught their first sight of Hogwarts.

Even Hari, who had already lived at Hogwarts for years, could admit that Hogwarts looked amazing from here. He had never seen it from the lake, much less this late at night, and felt strangely captivated by the twinkling lights in the windows and all the turrets and towers hanging over them. It was almost foreboding in a strange way, demanding attention and respect as all the boats slid across the inky water towards it.

Hari smiled as he followed everyone up the familiar path towards the steps leading up to the castle once they docked, listening to everyone's curious whispers as they crossed the grass and up the stairs leading to the entrance hall. They hurried inside the massive front doors and Hari beamed as he saw Minerva standing waiting. Her eyes landed on him for a split second, twinkling in fond recognition before she turned to address the rest of the students. Hari, who already knew the whole process, tuned her out so he could look around the entrance hall to see if it had changed since he'd been there a few months ago.

Once she was gone, the first years fell back into chattering once again. Hermione was in the middle of telling a girl about the entrance hall and Neville was trying to shove Trevor in his pocket as Draco helped him. Ron tugged Hari's sleeve. "The Sorting Ceremony isn't scary, is it?" Ron asked nervously, voice a pitch higher than normal.

Hari shrugged. He could feel a few other people turning his way. "It's nothing too difficult. Min—McGonagall just puts this talking hat on your head and it sorta sees into your thoughts before calling out whatever house you're best suited for," Hari explained, feeling more and more people looking over at him to hear what he had to say. He reckoned he would have to get used to people staring yet again. Probably even more so now that he was an actual student.

Minerva returned once again and led the first years inside the Great Hall. Hari had never been into the Hall like this with so many people watching him and the rest of the people around him, waiting and whispering. He caught sight of the Weasley twins sitting at the Gryffindor table and elbowed Ron in the side as they greeted them both cheerfully.

Minerva placed the stool and hat in front of the staff table and stepped aside to allow it to sing its annual song. Once it went silent again, Hari joined the rest of the room in clapping, though his gut twisted horribly. Suddenly, as Minerva conjured up her usual list of names to call out, it became so real. Hari was no longer just the strange kid that grew up at Hogwarts and wandered around doing mostly as he pleased. He was a student, normal, one of the first years. He was going to have to put that hat on and sit in front of the whole school while they waited to see which house little Hari Potter got sorted into.

Hermione was the first of his friends to get called up, hurrying up with scarily good posture and muttering to herself. After a long time of the hat making its decision, it called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" The table full of red clad students erupted into cheers and Hermione hurried over to join them. A few minutes later, it was Neville's turn to go. He tripped on his way up, nervous as he was, and nearly fell off the seat when he sat down. Then, the hat called, "GRYFFINDOR!" and he leapt off the seat. There was a murmur of laughter through the room as Neville had to hurry back to return the hat.

Finally, Draco was called up. Hari patted him on the shoulder encouragingly and watched Draco make his way up to the stool on slightly shaky legs. Hari chewed on his bottom lip nervously, heart hammering in his chest. Minerva lowered the hat onto Draco's head and they waited in silence. After a good minute or so, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" All at once, Hari saw Draco's face fall and with it went Hari's own. Whispers filled the entire room, particularly at the Slytherin table, as Draco walked towards the Gryffindors with his head held high. At once, Minerva got back into the sorting.

"Potter, Hari."

Hari took a deep breath as he made his way up to the stool. It was fine. He had watched this Sorting Ceremony loads of times now, there was nothing to be afraid of. He would be *fine.* He sat down on the stool and had one last glimpse of the Hall before the hat was placed on his head and obscured his vision.

"Difficult… Very difficult…" A voice whispered in his head, sending a shiver along his spine. "I see ambition and cunningness in your mind, but also courage… Interesting…"

All my friends are in Gryffindor, Hari thought. He heard the voice laugh in his head.

"I see… You care about your friends...Well… Better be…" The hat paused. Hari's heart raced. "GRYFFINDOR!" The crowd burst into applause and just as suddenly, the hat was removed from his head. Hari caught Minerva's small smile as he made his way towards the screaming Gryffindors.

He slid into the seat beside Draco and across from Neville and Hermione, thanking them for their congratulations. Down the table, the twins were telling anyone around them about how they knew Hari would be in Gryffindor. Hari rolled his eyes and turned to Draco. He was much quieter in his congratulations than the others.

"You okay?" he whispered.

Draco nodded stiffly. "I'm fine." He didn't look fine. He was as pale as a sheet, balling his robes into two tight fists and staring into his empty goblet. Hari squeeze his arm comfortingly before joining in polite clapping as 'Patil, Parvati' joined their table.

After Ron was sorted into Gryffindor and 'Zabini, Blaise' became Slytherin, the Gryffindors dove into conversation. Neville was in a conversation discussing blood status with two boys named Dean and Seamus, Hermione was telling anyone who would listen about the Great Hall's ceiling and Ron was stuffing his face with dinner. Draco remained silent for the entire meal, poking at his food with his cutlery and only managing to finish half of it. Hari, who didn't want to pressure him into anything he didn't want to talk about, kept his arm firmly against Draco's while he talked to Ron about Quidditch.

After a splendid dinner and an even better dessert course, the Great Hall fell silent for Dumbledore's usual speech. Hari, already knowing all the rules about the forbidden forest and Filch's rules about 'banned' items, zoned out of his speech and continued picking at the last crumbs of his treacle tart. That is, until Dumbledore mentioned something he hadn't mentioned before in all his previous speeches.

"Did he say the corridor on the third floor is forbidden?" Hari whispered to his friends, "That's never been forbidden before…"

"Anybody else a little worried about the fact he mentioned dying a painful death or is that just me?" someone in an older year asked a few seats down. Hari was inclined to agree. What could possibly be sitting up in the third floor corridor that had the potential to *kill* students? Why would Dumbledore let something like that on the grounds at all nevermind *in the school?*

Hari was pondering this while his other fellow Gryffindors discussed the speech as they followed Percy Weasley up to Gryffindor tower. They said their good nights to Hermione as she went up the girls' staircase and the rest of his friends traipsed up the spiral staircase leading to their own dormitory, labelled First Years on a golden plaque on the door.

Inside the dormitory, all their trunks and pets had been brought up, no doubt by house elves, and the 6 boys began getting ready for bed. Hari was in the middle of hanging up his *Magpies* poster on the wall behind his bed when he overheard Seamus whispering something to Ron at the next bed over. He craned his neck to listen, still Spellotaping his poster to the wall.

"I can't believe a Malfoy ended up in Gryffindor," Seamus was muttering, shaking his head and glancing at where Draco was quietly unpacking his trunk. "We have to share a room with some future Death Eater for 7 years? How could we survive?" Hari's blood ran cold at Seamus' comments and he shot a look towards Draco, sincerely hoping he hadn't heard.

Draco gave away no hint that he'd heard anything, except that his cheeks were faintly pinker and his hands trembled slightly as he pulled out his pyjamas and started to get changed. Hari glared at Seamus behind his bed post as Draco quickly excused himself to the toilets, slamming the door slightly as he exited.

"Are you happy, now?" Hari seethed, stomping around his bed to glare directly at Seamus. "I think he might have heard you." He gestured wildly towards the door that had just shut behind Draco. The other boys in the room paused their movements to stare at Hari's outburst.

Seamus rolled his eyes, putting his hands on his hips. "So what? D'you think I want to share a room with someone like him for the rest of school?" he goaded. "I would've thought you of all people would agree."

"You don't even know him!" Hari snapped. "He's not like that. You're not exactly like your father, are you? So how can you accuse him of being like his before you even speak to him?"

"How would you—" Seamus' curt reply died on his tongue as Draco returned to the room, dressed in his pyjamas and clutching a dripping toothbrush at his waist. He looked around at the stunned faces staring back at him and caught Hari's furious glare towards Seamus, understanding immediately. Draco sighed and moved towards his bed without a word. Draco climbed into his bed and the curtains around his four poster shut seconds later, obscuring the blond from view.

Hari threw Seamus a dirty look before going to his own bed. He was shaking slightly with anger as he got ready for bed, avoiding eye contact with any of the other boys in the room. When he was fully changed and washed, Hari gave Neville a short 'good night' and climbed into bed, shutting the curtains just as Draco had done a few minutes prior.

As he lay in the darkness of his bed a while later, staring at the ceiling in the silence that followed everyone else going to bed as well, Hari rolled over onto his side. In the bed next to his, he heard the familiar sniffling of his friend and fell asleep fitfully, wishing he could do something about the situation they now found themselves in.

¤¤¤

The next morning was tense as the six boys got dressed and ready for bed. Seamus was whispering to Dean and eyeing Hari and Draco suspiciously while the other four boys tried to avoid them. When they made their way downstairs together, Dean and Seamus broke away from the group while Hari, Ron, Neville and Draco joined up with Hermione at the bottom of the stairs. She looked slightly frazzled, but nonetheless cheerful in her perfectly done uniform, though she eyed the other Gryffindor girls as they walked towards the Great Hall.

"How was everybody's evenings?" Hermione asked, breaking the silence between them.

Hari shook his head, twitching his head towards where Draco was just ahead with his hands in his pockets. "I'll tell you later. It wasn't great," Hari muttered to her out of the corner of his mouth. She looked slightly alarmed but nodded understandingly and they fell back into silence as they moved towards the hall.

Halfway through breakfast, while Hari was buttering up another slice of toast and telling Hermione and Ron about which of the teachers was most likely to give a lot of homework, the owl post came in. Hedwig landed daintily in front of Hari, careful not to step in his breakfast as he pulled away a letter from Remus off her foot. He smiled to himself at the congratulations from Remus and was just stroking Hedwig's soft feathers when he heard a loud scoff followed by the tearing of paper.

Hari looked up at the noise to find Draco, bright pink, tearing up a letter he had just received into multiple uneven pieces and throwing it angrily onto the table. Without another word, he grabbed his bag and stormed out of the Great Hall, plainly ignoring the stares that followed him out of the room.

"What was all that about?" Ron asked, raising his eyebrows and turning away from the doors to look at the pile of paper.

Neville carefully picked up a few of the pieces, trying to gather some sort of meaning from the torn papers. His eyes widened and he dropped the paper as if he'd been burned. At the shocked faces of his friends, Neville leaned over the tale to whisper, "I couldn't read everything but his parents don't sound very happy that he's in Gryffindor. There were a few really mean words that I could see."

Hermione gasped, covering her mouth with her hands and Ron choked on his bacon. Hari looked back at the doors Draco had just gone out of. No wonder he looked so upset…

He was trying to decide whether or not to go after him when Minerva started walking down the table, passing out timetables to the students. She stopped by their group, smiling at Hari before looking over the names on top of the schedules and handing them out to the first years. "Where is Mr. Malfoy?" she asked, eyebrows furrowed as she held up his timetable.

"There was a bit of an… incident. I can get it to him instead," Hari offered, already holding his hand up to collect the paper from her. Minerva gave him a tight lipped look, eyes darting to the torn up paper still on the paper and then down the aisle towards the doors.

"Very well," Minerva said, handing Hari Draco's timetable. She bent over to whisper in Hari's ear, "Come to my office after your last lesson. I'll need to speak with you." Hari nodded and she straightened up, continuing down the table with the papers.

As Hari led the way to their first lesson, Charms, he couldn't help but worry about his friend's disappearance. Even as Draco appeared shortly after the lesson had started, instantly sliding into the empty seat beside Hari, he still felt strange about how Draco had reacted.

The majority of Hari’s first lessons went by smoothly, without a hitch. While it was odd being a proper student, calling the teachers by their surnames after knowing them for so long, Hari enjoyed getting to learn new facts about the school that only students could know. Potions class with Severus Snape proved to be a particularly interesting lesson.

Draco dragged Hari and Ron to sit next to him at a table by the front of the room, joined by Hermione Granger, who already proved herself to be the smartest student in every class thus far.

When Professor Snape entered the room, tension grew and the room went deadly silent. Dark robes swishing around him, Snape moved to the front of the lesson and began going over his strict ground rules and the basic curriculum for the year. Hari eagerly took notes, zoning out slightly as he listened to Snape’s drawling voice.

“Mr. Potter.” Professor Snape’s voice cut into Hari’s thoughts and he glanced up from his notes, all eyes turning towards him. “Can you tell me what I would get if I added powdered asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” He raised his eyebrow at Hari, clearly trying to make him stumble or mess up.

Hari wracked his brains quickly for a memory of anything to do with asphodel and wormwood, trying to ignore Hermione’s enthusiastic attempts to raise her hand by him. “I think you’ll get… a sleeping potion? The Draught of Living Death,” Hari replied, remembering a conversation with Snape from years ago suddenly.

Snape’s lips twitched and he nodded fainty. Hermione dropped her hand in disappointment.

“And tell me, Mr. Potter, where can I find a bezoar?”

Oh, that one’s easy! thought Hari, smiling.

“Stomach of a goat, sir,” said Hari, not even giving Hermione a chance to raise her hand this time. “It can cure poisons.”

Professor Snape sniffed, looking around the room like he wanted to be anywhere but there. Next to Hari, Draco was snickering to himself, smirking slyly between Hari and their professor.

“But not all of them,” added Snape, narrowing his eyes. He cleared his throat, glancing around the room. Every single student was enraptured by the conversation, hanging onto both their words like verbatim. He looked back at Hari, thin mouth twitching again. “And finally, Mr. Potter, what is the difference between wolfsbane and monkshood?”

On that question, Hari was stumped for a good few seconds. Hermione almost toppled out of her seat as she jumped up and down, raising her hand in the air and hopping on her seat. Hari glanced sideways at her, as though her mere expression might give her the answer. Finally, Hari decided to just guess, using his limited knowledge of potions from the textbook he read before school.

“Are they… the same?” Hari hesitated, chewing on his bottom lip.

Professor Snape pursed his lips together and turned away from Hari, moving back to the board. “10 points to Gryffindor,” he murmured. “Although, you may not be so lucky next time, Mr. Potter. Good… work…”

He sound almost pained saying it, but Hari couldn’t care less, feeling on top of the world after answering each one of Severus Snape’s difficult questions.

At the end of the day, just as Minerva asked, Hari bade goodbye to the rest of his friends and made his way up to Minerva's office. It was a familiar route for him, having spent many afternoons in her office while she graded papers and he read or played with toys. He knocked on the door and waited for her voice to call him in and then stepped inside. She was sitting behind her desk, already stirring two cups of tea when he entered and made for his usual seat.

"So, how was your first day as an actual student?" she asked, handing Hari one of the tea cups.

Hari took a tentative sip of his tea, which was exactly as he always drank it and sat back in his seat. "It was good. It was weird having to refer to the teachers by their surnames when I've just been calling them by their first names the entire time," he admitted, telling her about accidentally calling Filius by his first name and making him fall off his stool.

Hari enjoyed relaying the different classes he had so far, answering her various questions about his thoughts so far. Her lips twitched as he told her about Severus trying to catch Hari up in surprise questions only for him to answer them easily after having watched him make potions when he was younger. Hari was enjoying himself so much as he spoke to one of his favourite people that he forgot exactly why she had asked him to come speak to her in the first place.

Minerva placed her finished cup of tea to the side and leaned forwards on the desk, clasping her hands together. "Now, do you mind telling me about this alleged 'incident' which took place during breakfast that sent Draco out of the Great Hall?" she asked. Hari told her the whole story about the previous night with Seamus' comments and their argument and finished off with telling her about how he had torn up the letter from his parents before storming out with all of his things. When he finished, Minerva sighed, leaning back in her seat.

"I was afraid this may happen," she admitted, shaking her head disapprovingly. "I have seen on another occasion in which a student was sorted into Gryffindor when the entire rest of their family were in Slytherins. It wasn't pretty then and this doesn't sound good now either."

"I don't know what to do, Minnie. I've never seen him so upset before…"

Minerva placed a hand on top of his on the desk, squeezing lightly. "All you should do is be there for him, Hari. What Draco needs right now is to be reminded that other people still care about him even after his parents have taken this… reaction."

Hari nodded, thinking about what she said. He already knew he was going to keep being Draco's friend, but he still wished there was something else he could do to help his friend. "This other Gryffindor you mentioned… What happened to them?" Hari asked, hoping this could possibly give him some more ideas.

Minerva stiffened, pulling her hand away. She put both the empty mugs away, looking anywhere but at Hari. "I can tell you that later. But you should hurry before you miss dinner," she said, giving him a forced smile. The door opened behind him and Hari took this as his cue to go, Minerva clearly not up for talking to Hari about the other student.

Hari walked uneasily back to the Great Hall feeling anything but hungry. What could have happened to the last person to have been sorted into a house their family didn't agree with that would make Minerva look so upset at the mention? Did she think the same could happen to Draco? How did she expect Hari to help Draco when she wouldn't even tell him what had happened last time?

Hari sincerely hoped whatever horrible thing obviously happened last time wouldn't repeat itself this time.