"Here we are, Madam Malkin's! She'll take care o' ya, tell ya what to do and such, and I got another errand to run. Will ya be okay?"
"Sure," Harry peered into the shop, and it was mostly empty, an older witch in amongst the piles of clothes spotting him and coming out from behind the counter. "I think it'll be fine… they just take measurements, right? The robes are standard."
"Yep, all black is the Hogwarts uniform. Righ' then, I'll be righ' back!" He waved and then walked down the street somewhere else, and Harry entered the shop a little hesitantly. On one hand being sans-chaperone felt good as he was more used to being on his own, while on the other this was literally a whole new world and he found himself suddenly nervous to be walking it alone.
Luckily the witch who walked up to him was no-nonsense and gentle as she nodded to him, not even asking his name. "Hogwarts, dear?"
"Yes ma'am." She smiled at his politeness and lead him over to a stage of mirrors where an assistant pulled out a measuring tape and got to work while she wandered off and started shifting through racks of black material. The lack of niceties was kind of refreshing after so many conversations with salespeople today.
He was generally aware of someone else in the shop getting his measurements done beside him, but as he hadn't been chatting with the assistant taking his own measurements either, he hadn't really looked at the boy who seemed to be about his age too. Probably a future classmate? Either way he was enjoying the silent reprieve while it lasted.
Until… he felt hairs on the back of his neck stand up a bit, like someone was watching him. He blinked, glancing around the shop slightly so he didn't throw off the assistant's work as she was doing something with fabric down by his feet now, and realized with a start the boy beside him was staring right at him.
He had grey eyes and blonde hair is own startling unique shade styled artfully on his head, face pale and blank and most definitely staring right at him.
Harry met his gaze, thinking for half a second he'd look away since he was caught staring rather rudely at someone, but he didn't. His grey eyes bored into him, looking at him and also somehow not looking at him if that made sense? For lack of better option Harry stared back, wondering what his deal was.
When the seconds dragged on a little too long and it was definitely in the realm of awkward now, he cleared his throat lightly and shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to react to being under this kind of strange scrutiny.
"Ah… can I help you?"
At his words breaking the silence the boy blinked and reeled back slightly, his pale cheeks going slightly pink before he seemed to straighten up a full inch. "My name's Draco Malfoy. I don't think I've seen you around here--are you muggleborn?"
There was an intensity behind that question that Harry failed to get, but at least he was familiar with that term now. The boy was… weird, but getting his robes and definitely his age so he was probably going to be a classmate. Harry had never really talked to kids his age as they all hated him because of Dudley so… in the spirit of how well this day had been going he decided, what could a conversation hurt?
"Ah, no? My parents were wizards, but uh… they died, so I grew up in the muggle world. So, kind of?" He shrugged, aware he was probably oversharing, but he was curious about what was up with this boy and… the blond did not immediately start throwing things at him upon hearing him speak, so had nothing against the slightly blunt boy who was willing to talk to him.
At his words, the boy—Draco— seemed to relax slightly. "So you're pureblood. And don't know your way around the magical world."
Hagrid hadn't explained that term but if there was a term for having muggle parents then the slightly pompous title probably belonged to people with magical parents. The term alone spoke volumes about the wizarding world, but maybe it was just antiquated and hadn't died out yet, so he let it go.
"Ah… yes, that's about it. It's nice to meet you Draco."
"Likewise." He sniffed briskly, not even sparing a breath before he continued. "I can show you around the alley once you're done here. My family is old pureblood so we—I know my way around here and what's best to get. You're a first year, I'm assuming?"
Harry was stunned and opened his mouth to answer the question before his brain could catch up. "Yes, I am." Wait a second, did he just offer to show me around the alley? He didn't even ask for my name! "That's… that's very kind of you Draco. I'm here with someone from Hogwarts whose showing me around though, he just stepped out for-"
"The Malfoy family has better taste than what a Hogwarts representative, whose probably shown a dozen muggleborns around the alley by now, can do for you." The blond cut him off, puffing up a bit.
…what?
What in the world is he going on about?
Harry tried to collect his thoughts and cleared his throat politely. "I'm curious about the alley though, so I was hoping to discover it myself." He deflected.
Yes, he was getting a bit defensive of Hagrid, and the way this Draco Malfoy was coming off was a bit rude and snobby. At the surge of anger he felt threatening to break the control he'd developed over his composure, he took a breath. He remembered Hagrid mentioning about how his mother had had a temper too, and he wanted to be like her but not at the expense of his hard work to control himself and the patience he'd painstakingly built over the past couple years. He wanted to be like her, but his composure had gotten him this far in life and it'd be stupid to throw it away now just because it wasn't the Dursleys and their predictable vitriol he was facing.
It was kind of counter-intuitive, but his spike of anger reminded him of his connection to his mother, and inherently calmed him some. Because of this, the tone that came out as he said this was level and polite, with only a hint of his displeasure at what this boy was saying.
The Malfoy boy seemed to be pretty quick on the uptake and paused at his words and the tone in which they were said, his grey eyes shifting to the side slightly as Harry watched, like he was panicking slightly.
"But we—I can give you a better idea of what kinds of things to get."
"But I'll never learn if I don't do it myself." Harry countered smoothly, watching those grey eyes shift… something bothering him about it and causing him to lean back off his anger and reevaluate. "I…I'd appreciate the company, Draco. But I can do it myself, you know?" He spoke as gently as he could, wondering what his problem was… and figured it out when the blond's shoulder's relaxed at his words.
Oh, he just wanted to make a friend.
A split-second later Harry felt guilty for getting angry as it suddenly made sense. I mean, it's not like he'd ever gone about making friends before either, so he would be nervous trying to approach someone out of the blue too.
The pompous attitude, the way he was trying to say I instead of we meant he was trying to do things for himself too, the same way Harry was attempting to stretch his wings from his relatives— only this boy was just trying to impress a potential new friend. He acted tough but you could clearly see he was acting to make a good show; he was just trying to be friendly… and was just very, very bad at it.
Harry couldn't help but find it startlingly amusing and automatically smiled broadly. The whole picture the blond painted with his chin in the air and his cheeks lightly pink was very endearing, and he'd never had a friend before either so…
Draco suddenly looked a lot less pompous when his pale cheeks turned a darker pink than before, seeming not to know what to say in the face of Harry grinning out of nowhere.
"You're done dear," The attendant said to Draco, who seemed snap out of it and hop down, but paused before going anywhere and glancing back up at the red head with more hesitancy than before.
"I can wait for you?"
Harry could only smile: that was a lot nicer, so he knew Draco could do it at least, underneath the bluster.
"I'd like that. My friend won't be back for a little bit, maybe we could check out the next couple stores on our own." He offered as an olive branch, and the blond's shoulders seem to relax even more.
"Sure." He agreed easily, shifting a bit to stand and wait as Harry got his measurements done. After a little while of awkward silence, he seemed to perk up in alarm and then suddenly got a very guilty look on his face for split second before controlling it back into something more blank. Harry had a fun time watching this play out in the mirror where Draco didn't realize he could see him.
The blond cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I… ah, I realize I never asked your name."
This guy is hilarious, Harry beamed internally, keeping his expression clear.
"Harry. It's nice to meet you, Draco." He repeated his earlier introduction and the blond paused once more… before smiling back very hesitantly. He definitely seemed like he wasn't used to doing such things.
Harry could only let out a soft laugh, not sure what it meant when Draco just quickly avoided eye contact and looked out the shop window distractedly. Harry simply grinned more; this guy truly was hopeless at being nice and it was just so endearing for some reason. He hadn't found another person so entertaining in a long time.
He wondered what kind of face he'd make if Harry told him he acted like a baby cactus and had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing outwardly and startling both Draco and the assistant taking his measurements.
In what seemed like no time at all Harry too was done, stepping down and smiling at Draco who remained poised and pointedly did not look at him with his chin tilted up and face directed at the street bustling outside the open double doors.
"Well the next store is a bookshop and the one after sells ice cream. Books are boring and we don't have much time so how about some of that?"
Harry would need to spend some quality time in the bookstore alone to get everything he needed, and it was sort of a task that actually required his attention. Ice cream however, sounded like something mindless and delicious that you did with a friend to hang out with them, and although he'd never done such a thing was game to give it a go with what very possibly might be his first friend.
The thought made him smile widely.
"I'd like that. Is wizard ice cream that much different from muggle ice cream?"
Draco paused, his unnaturally symmetrical face frowning and still somehow looking graceful while he did it. "I don't know anything about the Muggle world," He said boldly, like it was something to be proud of; like also asking why he would have ever bothered to learn such a thing. Harry mentally rolled his eyes, but he always did like a challenge, and oh boy did this one seem like a challenge.
"Well then you can tell me about the wizarding world, and I'll tell you about the Muggle. It's probably not as interesting but it has some perks you know. Like electricity for one; I've already noticed we don't have it here and I'll probably miss that the most going to Hogwarts." He confessed as they walked down the street to the shop clearly marked for ice cream (so Harry probably didn't need the help of being shown around but was smart enough to know that was in fact not the point of this).
"Electizzy? What is that?"
Harry almost bit his tongue off trying not to burst out laughing, but it was a close call and he turned his head away so Draco wouldn't see his expression, quickly gaining control of himself. "Ahem… ah, electricity. It's like lightning, in a broad term."
"How on earth would you miss that?" He inflamed, and Harry laughed at a more appropriate level for this conversation at his incredulity.
"Muggles use it very creatively is all. I'm still learning about how this world uses magic so maybe it's just how muggles get around not having magic?" He shrugged.
"But muggles not having magic is the point?" He raised one near-silver brow, clearly thinking little of this conversation.
Harry mentally sighed and switched tactics. "Do you have a television?" At the blank look he received he nodded once. "Well muggles have this thing called a television that they use for entertainment. What does the magical world do for fun then if they have no electricity and no television?"
"I've no idea what either of those things are, but I play Quidditch." Draco puffed up a bit, clearly proud of this. If only Harry had any idea what it was he was boasting about.
"There's a shop for that down the alley, yeah? It's some sort of sport on broomsticks?"
"You don't know about Quidditch!?" He squeaked slightly, grey eyes wide in alarm and Harry felt like patting him on the shoulder but refrained.
"Draco, I know nothing about the magical world. Since I learned magic was real this morning I've been to Gringotts and five shops—that's it." He reminded him patiently. "What are the rules of Quidditch then?"
Draco seemed to be having a very hard time wrapping his head around this fact, the idea that not everyone grew up knowing about magic as a fact of life seemed to be a revolutionary concept to him going by his wary expression and the confusion written into his eyes, but upon mention of quidditch he needed no other prompting to launch into a detailed explanation of the game's rules and principles. He apparently played a position called 'Chaser' which handled a ball called a Quaffle—there being more than one ball already throwing Harry off but Draco was more than happy to keep talking about it no matter what simple question he was asked.
They got their ice cream (and holy quaffle they literally have EVERY flavor he'd ever heard of and some that had to be magical because how the heck did they get that in ice-cream form? Like popcorn flavored ice cream, what the heck!?) and sat down at a table right outside the bustling café so Draco could keep talking his ear off about quidditch. Harry for the most part didn't mind, too caught up in what was probably the best ice cream he'd ever had (not that he'd often ate ice cream before this point) and the game was actually very interesting to him. He'd never played any sports since no one would ever let them join outside of mandatory gym classes but he liked to run and found the point of exercising to win something intriguing.
Plus, he'd seen those broomsticks while walking with Hagrid and they looked wicked cool, like real professional sport's athlete things and not just your regular kitchen broom. The concept that he might be able to fly—like literally leave gravity behind him and take flight—a breath-takingly attractive prospect.
"And you can just fly whenever you like at your house?" He couldn't help but ask, Draco pausing to smile widely. He was still puffing up his chest quite a bit but he'd relaxed over the course of the conversation and the ice cream and so smiling didn't look so forced on him anymore.
"Of course, we've got a whole quidditch pitch behind Malfoy Manor. I've grown up flying my whole life, Father even got me a tutor a couple of times."
Pompous indeed, but being rich and a tad spoiled explained a lot of his personality. Luckily that was fixable—if he'd been inherently a jerk Harry would've had other problems.
"Of all the things I've seen about the wizarding world today I think I'm most excited about flying. When I wrote back to the Headmistress she said first years aren't allowed to have brooms though."
Draco made a face. "It's a stupid rule, but even Father doesn't find it worth making a fuss over it. Mother is always scared I'm going to break my neck or something when I go out flying so that's probably why. Anyway, just because we can't have brooms doesn't mean we can't fly—there are school brooms I think, and flying lessons first years can take."
"I'm definitely signing up," He decided immediately, mind trying to imagine what flying was like and failing. He couldn't wait to try it though, and thoroughly enjoyed day-dreaming about it as he placed his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand as Draco continued to talk excitedly.
"If you're any good we can try out for the quidditch team our second year, in any case!" Draco lit up a brightly at the idea, Harry too distracted about the news that Hogwarts had a quidditch team to put too much thought about why he was so happy about that.
"Hogwarts has a quidditch team? Who do they play against?"
"Of course they do—the house teams play against each other. Commuting to international wizarding schools to play quidditch is excessive outside of the professional league," Draco sniffed.
"What are houses?" Again, Draco looked flabbergasted and Harry could not help but roll his eyes that time. "Stop looking at me like that—I know nothing about this world, remember? Literally got here two hours ago."
"Oh, right." Draco collected himself quickly, schooling his expression once more. "Well, the houses are where you're sorted when you get to Hogwarts: Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. I'm going to be in Slytherin." He said, positively oozing pride and smugness as he said that.
Harry failed to see why that was so special, yet again.
"How do you know that if they sort us when we get there? Do you get to pick which house you're in?"
"Because my whole family's been in Slytherin since forever. Besides it's the best house so of course I'll go there." He said immediately, then pressed his lips together grudgingly. "I don't think you can pick which house you're in, you just get sorted there. It's kind of a tradition that no one who knows tells you what the sorting process is like though, so everyone finds out when they get there their first year."
"So you have no idea." Harry smiled with a raised eyebrow, enjoying Draco's pink cheeks.
"I do too. My whole family-"
"-has been in Slytherin, yeah, I got that. So why have they all been in Slytherin? What makes Slytherin different from other houses?"
Draco looked personally offended he'd not only interrupted him but also implied Slytherin wasn't special in the same breath, but answered anyway all the while giving him a wounded, betrayed look.
"Slytherin is where the ambitious and clever people go. Each house has characteristics so that when you're sorted there you're surrounded by like-minded people and such. Ravenclaw is a bunch of bookworms and Hufflepuff is a bunch of duffers. And don't even get me started on Gryffindor—they're idiots."
Harry couldn't help it, he laughed.
Draco just blinked, not quite sure where that reaction just came from. "Uh… what?"
"Draco, do you think you're, I don't know, a little biased? Because you sound super biased." Harry wiped away fake tears from the corner of his eyes as he grinned at his new friend, who just looked baffled.
"Biased? Why?"
"You clearly like Slytherin and want to be there. Isn't it a little unfair that I'm hearing about the other houses from someone who clearly doesn't like any of them? Why would anyone be content to have the other houses if they don't have any worth?" He pointed out.
Draco frowned like this was seriously concerning to him. "Well what do you want me to say about them?"
"How about what other people say about the other houses. Slytherin is clever and ambitious, so Ravenclaw is…"
The blond pursed his lips for a second as if this was a serious conflict for him, before tisking under his breath and giving in. "Well… it's said that Ravenclaws support wisdom or intelligence or something like that—they always have their noses in a book so who even knows what they support or not. I still maintain that Hufflepuffs are duffers but that's because they focus on things like friendship and hard-working-ness or whatever that is. It essentially means they're all saps who don't mind doing boring grunt work even if it's hard." He waved off, and while Harry was still getting a lot of Slytherin bias in here but could actually pick up some of the nice things Draco was glossing over quickly. It was rather amusing.
"Gryffindors, are the enemy." He announced clearly, and Harry raised one eyebrow at that.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. There's been a Slytherin-Gryffindor house war for centuries. We hate each other." He said matter of fact, and Harry had to sigh. He sounded like he too was reciting rhetoric someone else had told him, and here he thought Hagrid was bad enough.
"Okay, first of all slow down: you're not even in Slytherin yet so there's no 'we' or 'us' yet," He cut in and Draco blinked, taken off guard by his strict tone all of a sudden. "Secondly, I'm not going to school to fight people for no good reason other than that's what older generations have always done. I want to learn magic and I want to go flying. None of this rivalry silliness. Thirdly, since you have no idea what will actually happen, what would you do if you were in Gryffindor? Or I was in Gryffindor? Or Hufflepuff? No—what if you were in Hufflepuff, because if I recall to half an hour go you were the one who was being very friendly in showing me around the alley."
Draco looked very, very horrified the longer he kept speaking and Harry couldn't help but grin.
He couldn't remember a time where he'd ever grinned so much in a day, and he was decidedly not regretting coming to this world at all in this moment. Despite his initial reservations, this… this was not so bad.
He only amused himself further by looking pointedly at Draco to answer, where the blond just gaped at him a bit and seemed to be at a total loss of words. Poor guy seemed to have had his world rocked several times since meeting each other and Harry couldn't find himself feeling guilty about it.
Eventually, he took pity on him.
"I want to play quidditch with you, but would you be my friend anyway if we were playing against each other?" He wondered aloud, watching Draco's face do acrobatics in how fast emotions flickered across his face.
It all went too fast for Harry really to catch any of it, but he let the blond work through it even as the seconds ticked on in silence. Apparently, this truly was a revolutionary decision for him, and Harry felt a little worried his answer would be no. And the longer the silence stretched, the more his playful question seemed to sink with his stomach, as a cruel reality of his life took hold once more.
Ah… maybe it really was too good to be true, to think I could make friends. Silly me.
Draco seemed like a nice guy underneath the cactus-act, but that didn't change a life-time of conditioning to be someone maybe you weren't (Harry knew the feeling and could only pity this boy as he watched Draco struggle with this query).
He tried not to let it show on his face how much it actually bothered him when he said: "It's okay if you don't want to be my friend, Draco. The ice cream was good anyway, and I learned a lot."
Draco blinked, coming out of his thoughts enough to stare at him. The silence stretched on long enough that Harry thought maybe this was it—he'd had a friend for twenty minutes. It was a record.
It wasn't that this hypothetical question was ever going to be true; heck, they could both be in Slytherin and this was a stupid reason to not be friends over. But it wasn't about that.
The fact remained that Harry wasn't interested in fighting to be anyone's friend; he wasn't interested in fighting at all. He just wanted to be himself, to be free, and if someone wasn't going to accept that then he didn't need them.
He'd come this far on his own and he'd made a promise to be his own cheerleader, his own defendant and support when he needed one. He wanted to be Draco's friend, but he'd sworn to himself a long time ago that he wasn't going to be cruel to himself just for the sake of others, and bending over backwards just for the chance someone else might give him approval was not how he was going to live his life. It just wasn't.
If Draco couldn't say that he'd be his friend over something stupid like what dorm they were sleeping in, then he had no desire to be a good friend to someone who was never going to be a good friend back.
That didn't mean he liked standing up and that didn't mean it wasn't hard to smile like it didn't bother him.
Because it very much did.
But he wasn't the kind of person who would sit down and take this kind of hesitation, this kind of rejection. He wasn't the kind of person who gave himself away only to get nothing in return.
Not anymore.
"I hope to see you around at Hogwarts, Draco." He smiled like it didn't bother him and turned to head back to Madam Malkin's to wait for Hagrid, when a cold touch wrapped around his wrist. He startled and jumped back a little, whipping around to see Draco on his feet and leaning back as if remembering himself, his cheeks darkening noticeably.
"I'm sorry," he blurted out, looking awkward and glancing around the street uncomfortably before lowing his eyes to the ground slightly. "I didn't mean—you just took me off guard is all. I still think I'm going to be in Slytherin but I would… like to be your friend, even if you're not."
Harry evaluated him carefully, the ghost of a cold touch on his wrist reminding him of something… but he couldn't quite place it.
He pressed his lips for a moment. "It's okay if you're not comfortable being friends with people in other houses, people different from you… though I don't know why you'd be happy with that." He admitted, watching Draco looked up at him a little confused. "But I don't intend to not be myself because of someone else's opinion. You're okay with that?"
He did pause again, but only one second before his grey eyes settled into some emotion Harry wasn't familiar with, or that he'd just never seen on someone else's face before.
"Yeah, I am. I'd still like to be your friend, if… you'd like to me mine, given I'm not very interested in other houses."
Well, at least he's honest.
Harry smiled thinly. "If you can forgive me for being myself, I can give you the same courtesy then, Draco."
The blond looked quite relieved at that, his tense shoulders dropping a bit. "Sorry… for grabbing you. I thought you were going to walk away," he admitted with a flush of embarrassment. Harry rolled his eyes and plopped back down on the bench, tugging on Draco's sleeve to get him to sit down beside him too.
"I was." He admitted bluntly, Draco whipping his head up to give him a wide-eyed look. "I take being free very seriously. If I'm not free to be who I am then I'm walking away—that's something I promised myself a long time ago."
"Oh." He blinked rather lamely. "Ah… I can understand that, I think. I mean my father always says: 'Malfoys bow to no one'."
Harry examined his new tentative friend and the way his chin was tilted up rather arrogantly and reflected on this whole conversation so far. And snorted a bit ungracefully.
"You don't say?" He snickered.
The blond shot him a wary, slightly suspicious look. "Says the guy who was going to blow me off out of principle."
"Being free and being proud are not the same thing. I don't have to be proud of who I am in order to be who I want to be. If it suits me to bow my head to someone for some reason or another, I'll do it without question. If it doesn't, then I won't; simple as that."
"I… see." Draco said in a way that told Harry he absolutely did not see at all. Not that it mattered, he didn't have to understand in order to accept it. Luckily he did just that and shook it off easily. "Anyway, let's go back to quidditch,"
"How about classes instead? I'm going to go buy my books now and you did say you'd know more than a Hogwarts representative. Any tips for what I should focus on?" Harry quickly deflected the conversation. He'd known the guy less than an hour and already knew he could go on about quidditch if not stopped quickly.
Draco didn't seem to mind, although the glint in his eye told Harry he knew darn well that he'd been deflected. He puffed up in a way that was quickly become very familiar and relented without a fuss.
"Potions for one, as the teacher is strict and will start the first class with our first potion, so since you've got no magical background definitely read up as much as you can. If you're not in Slytherin you're at a disadvantage."
He grimaced. "I went and bought my potions supplies earlier and the seller told me the Professor was a but of a bat."
Draco blinked in surprise and his face twitched like he almost smiled but caught himself just in time. "That, ah… well he shares a bit of a resemblance, maybe. Ahem—he is my godfather actually."
"Really!?" He sat up straighter, a little taken off guard by that. "So you really do know that he's a tough teacher."
"Oh yes, he's been mentoring me in potions since I was eight—not that we are ever going to tell my parents that," He quickly corrected him, eyes going a bit wide and Harry grinned, nodding his agreement. Draco huffed and waved dismissively. "He's the youngest potions master ever—literally a genius at what he does, and I even admire the guy but can admit he's not that great a teacher. Knowing about things and being able to teach them aren't always the same thing, and boy do I know that. If he weren't my godfather, I'd be studying my butt off just to make passing marks with his teaching style, and potions is by far my best subject."
"Yikes." Harry was liking this guy less and less, but could see where Draco was coming from. "What was that about not being in Slytherin though?"
"He's the head of Slytherin house and… well, maybe the others houses don't really like us—Slytherin that much," He corrected himself quickly, glancing at Harry as if panicked he was about to be scolded again and Harry kept his internal grin to himself. "The Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress were both in Gryffindor and… well, I told you about the rivalry. Slytherin kids are not favored by anyone so Severus balances it out by favoring Slytherin a bit excessively. He's also a royal grouch by personality alone, so other houses tend to vehemently not enjoy his classes."
"That's sounds a bit… well I mean… hm. I'm not sure what to think of it actually." Harry admitted. He couldn't blame one teacher for showing favoritism when everyone else apparently did it, and this one just had a sour personality by nature. "If the other houses don't like Slytherin, maybe that… I don't know, doesn't help?"
Draco just sniffed, nose pointed up. "Well we—they can't help it if the rest of the school doesn't like them. It's only fair."
Harry rolled his eyes pointedly. "Fair is a complexion or a carnival—not a right. If they think it's unjust then get even, but doing it so blatantly doesn't sound like it suits a house known for cleverness, now does it?"
The blond beside him seemed to deflate, blinking rapidly as those words sunk in. "Well…"
"Anyway, I bought a bunch of manuals from the Apothecary, so I guess I'll be reading those first. Anything else?"
Draco had still not recovered from his previous question and his baffled expression clearly said so, but managed to brush past it enough to move on.
"I've heard you can't do much to prepare for Charms so far as theory goes as it's mainly a practical course. If you know Latin it's second nature."
"Uh… isn't that a dead language?"
Draco looked at him like he was crazy. "No, is the basis of all magical-" he cut himself off at the heated look a pair of green eyes were cutting him with and nodded once. "Right, you didn't know about magic. Then I'd suggest taking Latin up quick."
Harry groaned.
Sure, let me just pick up a dead language in a couple weeks, no big deal. I thought Hagrid said muggleborns weren't at a disadvantage entering Hogwarts? Clearly that's somebody else's lie he was just repeating.
"Other than that I've heard transfiguration is a pain to learn. The professor is the head of Gryffindor house and biased as I said, but not as biased I think. She rarely ever gives out points though and is strict as anything, or so my father says. Mother says it's because transfiguration can be dangerous when you're learning it so she takes no nonsense, but Father thinks she's just got a stick up her bum. Which, coming from my father means more than you think it would."
Harry's curiosity was peaked, but let it slide for now. Bringing up the topic of his parents would mean broaching a conversation where it would be acceptable for Draco to ask about his parents and—well, just no.
"So, potions manuals, Latin, and my Transfiguration text. Got it. Seems like I have a busy month ahead of me." And boy did he have a plan on how to do it, thanks to the tiny pink baubles in his bag. He was almost looking forward to getting back to the Dursleys, and wasn't that a weird thought?
"I don't understand how muggleborns expected to excel in school without knowing Latin. That's just insane." Draco was shaking his head, sniffing again.
"Well I'm not a muggleborn but have the knowledge of one—Latin is a dead language in their world since I guess muggles have no need for it with no magic to deal with. It's not like I knew until you just told me that it would be helpful to know—I was told muggleborns weren't at a disadvantage going into Hogwarts since even pureblood children don't know much magic going into it."
"Well that's an utter lie." Draco brushed that off pretty quickly, and even with his rude tone Harry couldn't fault him seeing as all the signs were saying he was right. "Magic is tracked in households by the Ministry, but in households with full wizards and witches they can't tell who is doing the magic or not, so I've already had practice. I've grown up watching my parents perform magic and know tons of spells already just because they're common and Mother and Father used them all the time, not to mention the ones they taught me already. Father let me use his wand several times to practice too, and the Ministry will never know. I mean, before you get to Hogwarts it's not tracked as it's considered accidental magic, but then once you go to Hogwarts they say you're not allowed to use magic at home but in practice it's only ever enforced at muggleborn residences. Which means I can practice magic all I want over the summers and yet muggleborns can't."
"Which means I can't." Harry realized, a sinking feeling in his stomach putting a damper on the lighter mood that had slowly been returning since their mini spat.
Draco balked, seeming to realize he'd forgotten his new friend's status as a pureblood-slash-muggleborn-by-circumstance.
"Uh… you could visit?"
"Oh gee, as much as my relatives would love to get rid of me, I can't see them being thrilled with that." After all, if he wasn't there to cook breakfast every morning and their house kept spotless, then their tenuous peace would start to crumble quick, and it'd be downhill from there.
"Get rid of you? Why?" The blond seemed legitimately baffled at the thought of relatives not wanting his presence, and Harry had to clamp down on a hysterical little bubble of laughter that threatened to tear out of his chest. He had the sudden urge to pat him on his perfectly styled blond head and croon you poor, innocent child.
"Let's just say, they and I are not friends." He allowed diplomatically, and before Draco could ask—and his confused expression said that yes, he was about to ask—Harry pushed forward. "So the language I speak, the times I can practice, the examples I've been given… any other horrible ways I'm at a disadvantage before I walk into them unwittingly?"
"Er… honestly I'd have to think about it. I've never considered it from the point of view of someone who didn'tknow what magic was." He admitted.
Again, at least he's honest.
Harry laughed lightly under his breath. "You're hopeless."
"What? Why!?"
"You have such an endearing way of admitting you're self-centered."
Harry did not know what possessed him to blurt out the truth like that, but he couldn't regret it when Draco's pale complexion when a steady shade of creamy pink—the tips of his ears darkening to a heated rose.
"Wha—I—I am not self centered!"
Harry pointedly met his gaze in a challenge and lifted one eyebrow. "You are, and we've already established that I will not hold you for being yourself against you so long as you return the favor in kind. It's fine to admit it, but you're a bit thick if you think lying to either me or yourself will do you any good."
Draco just gaped at him, stunned. "Is this what you meant by 'not being proud' or whatever?"
"A bit. I am who I am, doesn't mean I'm a saint. But if you try to comment on my character, good or bad, then we've got a problem. I already know my faults and there's no issue with knowing your own." He waved it off gently, slightly worried he'd angered the blond to the point of him not being the one who wanted to walk away… but he didn't. Draco just sat there and cooled off in sullen silence until only the tips of his ears were pink.
"I am not self-centered." He repeated, but sounded a lot less sure of himself than he did two minutes ago.
"You're a bit self-centered. You don't care about any house by Slytherin, you've never even considered what it's like from someone else's point of view until I made you—twice now in one conversation—and keep forgetting the basic fact about me that I didn't know about magic until today. Did I miss anything?"
The blond simply pouted, and it was so dramatic and sulky that Harry had to laugh, causing Draco to pout even more and turn away pointedly on the bench with his arms crossed. Which, only made Harry laugh harder.
Suddenly, a sharp voice broke into their little bubble, both their head's snapping up at a nearby shout.
"Draco? Draco!" A woman's voice was piercing down the crowded street in barely contained urgency-boarding-on-panic and Harry spotted a composed (but visibly tense) man and woman in front of Madam Malkin's, looking around with a poised, regal air to them but clearly about to be panicked in a couple seconds if they couldn't find their son.
And it had to be Draco's parents, because they both had his unique silvery-blond hair, and even at this distance and Harry's poor eyesight, he could see that Draco had his father's jawline, but his mother's otherwise delicate, slightly pointed features.
"Mother! Father!" Draco called out to them, their heads snapping to the side at his answer in a sharp motion ill-fitting of their otherwise graceful, elegant posture. They hid it very well, but their posture relaxed as soon as they both had him in their sights.
"Draco, what on earth were you thinking? Wandering off like that! We were only gone for a minute!" The woman reached them first, neither parent taking a second less than necessary to cross the distance and descend on him.
"Apologies, Mother." Draco sulked a bit as she fluttered over him, and Harry bit his lip to keep form grinning.
"Who is this?" The silk blond man beside his wife zeroed right in on the redhead next to their son, and Harry felt his cheeks grow hot at the intent attention he was receiving. They did not seem pleased to meet him, and he automatically ducked his head a bit, having learned to defer to sharp, unfriendly adults to keep on their good sides. Too much trouble came from opening his mouth needlessly or being too brash with strangers who were likely a full grown witch and wizard who could take a brand new eleven-year-old who didn't even had a wand yet.
"Hello Mr. Malfoy. I'm Harry—I met Draco while we were getting our robes done and he was nice enough to show me around a bit." He defended his friend a bit, since they clearly were not pleased their son had wandered off from where they'd left him.
"Yes, he's a pureblood who was raised by muggles so I was just informing him of how things are done here," Draco chimed in, for some reason not seeming too concerned with his parents being upset about him wandering off. He also was right back to that slightly-too-pompous front he'd had on before Harry threatened to walk away. Harry just turned to the blond curiously, wondering what that was about… unless he was showing off for his parents?
He glanced back at the two adults standing over where they sat on the bench, seeming to tower over them… and they seemed stern, but caring. Protective and clearly not about to let threats pass uninvestigated. From the angle at which they were looking down their noses at them, Harry took a wild guess that they probably had just as high of expectations for their son as Draco seemed to have for people around him, which was where the pompous act came in, probably. Then again, Dudley had the same impress-my-parents-at-the-cost-of-my-independence complex if not to a lesser degree, and definitely not as refined.
Harry wondered if he would've had that complex too, had he had parents to grow up with and look up to.
Well, they were Draco's parents and he seemed to admire them, no need to cause a fuss on his behalf, so Harry figured he'd play along.
He grinned widely and leaned closer to the boy beside as if to prove the point. "Draco has been so incredibly helpful too; apologies for distracting him!" He tried to be as innocent and non-threatening as possible so they wouldn't get mad at either of them, and wasn't sure what it meant when Draco instantly stiffened beside him. But as they both were looking at the Malfoy parents he didn't see his new friend's expression, only felt him tense up from how close he'd leaned in.
Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy though, raised both their eyebrows almost in sync, which was a bit of an oddly normal motion on their previously arrogant faces. The mother turned her sharp eyes on Harry and seemed to evaluate him almost blatantly.
"Harry, was it?" She repeated as if testing the sound of his name and judging him heavily as she did it.
"Yes ma'am." He nodded, polite as he could. She just pressed her lips together with her nose twitching once like she smelled something rather unpleasant, judging him silently with narrowed eyes. She had brown eyes, Harry noted, so Draco must've got his from his father—who remained oddly silent, as if thinking something in deep thought as he watched his son with unreadable eyes, and Draco squirmed a bit under the evaluation he was receiving.
"Who has accompanied you here today?" Mrs. Malfoy demanded a bit sharply, but still just this side of being polite.
"They sent a representative from Hogwarts ma'am, but he wandered off while I was getting my robes done. I was waiting on him here." Harry explained as harmlessly as he could, wondering just what was going on here.
Draco was really squirming on the bench beside him now, but Harry didn't fault him for having difficult parents. You couldn't control that; Harry half wanted to pat him on the arm and tell him not to be embarrassed on his account (he'd actually off himself out of mortification if the Dursleys were to be here making an introduction to Draco, after all) but refrained from doing so with the way Mrs. Malfoy was watching him suggesting she'd rather bite his hand off if he thought about making a careless motion towards Draco now. They were clearly still trying to evaluate if he could be trusted around their son, and still not sure but definitely not taking chances— and Harry could only admire the way they acted cool and yet clearly adored their son. Not that he'd wasted much time day-dreaming about what his own parents would've been like since he'd thought they were just drunks until today, but if he'd had to take a stab at wondering, having parents to who loved him, even if they were strict and embarrassing, was definitely on his wish-list.
He wanted to tell Draco not to be embarrassed, because a small part of him was actually jealous that he had parents like this who got too-involved and were pushy with new friends just because they wanted their son to be safe.
But that was a petty part of himself he didn't like to give much time in the light of day, and nor was this the moment to say something like that, so he kept his thoughts to himself.
"But your parents were wizards." Mrs. Malfoy cut off his wandering thoughts. Harry was not sure what being a pureblood was so important, but it was definitely important apparently. He shelved it, making a note to ask Draco later and get a full explanation sometime.
"Yes ma'am."
"What is your family name?"
He opened his mouth to respond but—
"'Arry! There ya are!" Hagrid's huge form cut into their little gathering, startling all three blonds enough to whip their heads up at the giant man in alarm. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy collected themselves in a split second, but Draco openly gaped at Hagrid for a long while, stunned that a human could be that big and somehow sneak up on all of them.
Hagrid seemed to notice about five seconds too late that he'd just interrupted something, and it took him another full two seconds to realize who it was talking to his young charge. His smile didn't drop but his cheerful demeanor seemed to evaporate in a puff of smoke, replaced by a slight awkwardness that haunted his huge frame. And really, when a man that big shifted his weight nervously it was a very blatant motion. "Lucius, Narcissa—lovely ter see ya." He nodded to them, perfectly polite and not quite as jovial as normal.
"Hagrid." Mr. Malfoy responded coolly, his posture dripping with distain as he glanced up and down the giant man in front of him.
Ugh, so they had the same pompous thing Draco did… uh, well that's probably where he got it from, to be honest.
"An who is dis then?" Hagrid turned to Draco now, and Harry panicked seeing the Malfoy's expressions darken like thunderclouds.
"Hagrid! This is Draco Malfoy, I met him getting my robes done! He was telling me more about the wizarding world," He burst out, bright and eager to make the tension go away and distract Draco's parents from going for Hagrid's jugular. While he spoke, reached out and looped his arm around Draco's tightly—silently sending a pleas with his eyes to the giant man to get the message that he didn't want to be judged for his new friend nor did he want this to cause too much trouble. He could clearly tell that for some reason the Malfoys didn't like Hagrid, and Hagrid wasn't too fond of them either although Harry hadn't realized it was possible for the jovial giant to actively dislike someone.
Or, more likely, someone told Hagrid not to like the Malfoys or told him something about the family that he took on faith. The Malfoys themselves seem to be snobs and Hagrid is… well. Hagrid. Not much of an explanation needed really.
Either way, Harry wasn't interested in picking fights and just wanted to be friends with Draco without a fuss. So he not-so-subtly pulled Draco closer to his side and gave Hagrid a wide-eyed look demanding he shut the quaffle up before he said something to ruin this. He loved Hagrid, he did, the man was hilarious and essentially a giant harmless puppy, but he did not trust what was going to come out of his mouth for a second.
Draco tensed up at the touch, but didn't shove him off either and Mrs. Malfoy didn't smack him for getting too friendly, so Harry called it a win.
Thankfully…Hagrid wasn't too dense as to realize Harry had just made a friend, and easy going enough not to put up a stink. Even if he did keep tossing glances at the Malfoys warily. "Well ain't that nice! Good fer you, makin' friends already." He nodded, more to himself and shifting his weight again.
"Hm!" Harry gave an agreeing hum, glancing at how Draco was doing will all of this, and was met with wide grey eyes seeming not to have caught up with what the hell was going on right then and just letting it happen.
There was a pause, and if they'd been normal people it would've been the moment Draco should've spoken up and introduced himself to Hagrid or at least say hello… but he didn't. With the way his parents were bristling, Harry guessed he might be in more trouble if he did and Harry had the urge to call them all hopeless to their faces but very barely restrained himself.
Hagrid either didn't notice the awkward air, or decided to be generous and ignore it, turning back to Harry with a nod of his giant, wild head.
"Sorry I ran off on you 'arry, but I wanted ta get you somethin' since those nasty Muggles wouldn't'a done a thing—'appy birthday 'arry!" He pronounced happily and produced a golden cage from behind his back, and in it… a beautiful white owl.
Harry's eyes went wide, and his mind left the awkward conversation about ten miles beneath him as his heart and mind leapt from his body and made a mad dash for the heavens.
"…what? That's…"
"She's yours, have at it!" Hagrid shuffled forward on his huge feet and pushed the cage into Harry's startled hands, dropping Draco's arm in shock in order to stop it from dropping to the ground, but his fingers felt numb as they wrapped around the metal wire. "Toads are a bit ol' fashioned and cats make me sneeze— but owls 're dead useful they are." Hagrid chatted happily, pleased with himself for his gift.
But Harry barely heard him.
That's… she's…?
He stared into the cage as if not believing what he was seeing, and a pair of huge golden eyes stared back at him. She was simply breathtaking, the color of pure snow on an untouched field and feathers sleeker and classier than any of those fancy brooms or quills he'd seen on this vibrant, colorful alley. In this place where every color seemed to slam into each other all at once, she was a stunning pure white that stood out just as wonderfully and beautifully as Harry could've ever dreamed or imagined. She hooted softly when all he did was stare at her, and he felt his heart clutch painfully in his chest.
"I… got… a birthday present?" He wondered quietly to himself, totally shocked and only half aware he'd said those words out loud.
The owl hooted lowly at him as if to answer, yes, you did you silly boy— and he was so wrapped up in her gaze that he entirely failed to notice the Malfoys' reaction to that statement.
He didn't break his gaze away from her, half afraid this was going to be a dream or a joke if he broke eye contact, but he addressed Hagrid.
"Useful? How?"
"Wizards use owls to send letters to one another. They can find anyone anywhere so long as they're not warded against getting mail." Draco supplied automatically before Hagrid could open his mouth, and Harry turned wide, slightly wet eyes on him, still stunned but his mind racing with thoughts so quickly he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself.
"R-really? So, I can send a letter to you with her?"
Draco seemed to straighten up pointedly as he nodded firmly. "Of course." He huffed in a matter-of-fact way… but his eyes were slightly hesitant, as if asking him a question.
Without thinking twice, Harry grinned, silently reassuring him that this awkward confrontation with his parents meant nothing, and that hell yes he'd be sending his first friend a letter!
He remembered himself quickly and turned back to Hagrid, knowing his eyes were slightly wet and his grin was so wide it kind of hurt his cheeks, but he didn't care at all in that moment.
I have a friend, and I have a birthday present—there is nothing to think twice about for once.
"Thank you, Hagrid! This is amazing! She's beautiful!" He was not an earnest person by nature, but he gave everything he had to be as sincere as he could in that moment, because Hagrid had to know that this… there were not words for this.
I seem to be speechless a lot all of a sudden... and I hope it doesn't stop.
"Ah, no problem. I've always loved animals and after those nasty muggles ya deserve a real present." Hagrid waved off, shifting his feet once more out of abashed fluster instead of nerves now.
"She's wonderful." Harry said simply, because it was true, meeting the gaze of owl once more, and she gazed right back. "What will I name you? Any ideas?" She hooted louder and flapped her wings once as if to say she didn't know either. "Well then we'll just have to think on it." He grinned at her, and by the way her feathers fluffed she seemed content with this plan.
"It's your birthday?" Draco's tone was a little odd, but Harry couldn't be bothered to decipher what it meant with his first real present and a bleedin' owl at that in front of him.
He hummed vaguely in acknowledgement, before a thought hit him. He looked up suddenly at Draco who blinked in alarm at the green eyes suddenly shining brightly in his face.
"I've never had a present or ice cream on my birthday before—thank you for showing me this place, Draco!" He grinned his too-wide grin again, and was far too happy in that moment to give a flying quaffle that Draco's parents were right there, watching this all go down.
Draco very quickly glanced down the street at some shop over Harry's shoulder rather than meet his eyes. "N-no problem."
Harry let out a peal of laughter at his clear discomfort and the way his ears tinged pink.
After a pause as Harry enjoyed watching Draco fidget under legitimate gratitude, Mr. Malfoy cleared his throat politely—but curtly to catch everyone's attention.
"We're about done with our shopping today, so say your goodbyes Draco. You can write to your… friend, later." He cast an unreadable look Harry's way as he said that and honestly Harry was too wound up to even be bothered by it, much less acknowledge it.
"Yes father." Draco complied immediately and stood, glancing back at him with a warmer smile, though it was back to his small, polite smiles instead of real ones. "It was nice to meet you Harry." He said politely, clearly well trained to have good manners and making sure to be on them in front of his parents, both of them acutely aware they were being watched like hawks now.
"You too Draco, I'll write a lot then, and you can tell me more about the wizarding world, okay?"
The blond gave a slightly shy smile back, though the hesitancy might've been because of his mother's hand coming to clamp down on his shoulder. "Of course." He waved, and all Harry managed to do was wave back before the Malfoys had steered their son away lightning fast and disappear into the crowds without so much as a nod of their own towards either Harry or Hagrid.
Harry sighed. That seemed like it was going to be a bit of a problem if he was going to continue being friends with Draco. But, it wasn't like he'd spent the past ten years dealing with difficult relatives or whatever, so it'd probably be fine.
Probably.
"The Malfoys, eh?" Hagrid huffed after a couple seconds of silence, Harry realized he'd been watching the place his new friend had disappeared for a bit longer than necessary. His attention was brought back by the distinctly unsmiling, uncomfortable look on his giant friend's face.
Well that didn't bode well.
"What is it Hagrid?"
"They're sort of known ta be a dark family, or so they say." The man hedged, clearly not thrilled to be having this conversation.
"Dark?" Harry frowned, realizing this would probably answer a lot of questions about Draco's parents' behavior, but by Hagrid's expression it was not going to be a great learning experience.
"Ah… why don' I buy ya another ice cream?"
Harry frowned.
000
Twenty minutes later, Harry decided that popcorn flavored ice cream was actually a horrible flavor for soft serve and that he'd been right all along: making friends was not his strong suit.