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First-year
Harry made a promise the day his cousin beat him for the last time—just the day before his birthday—that no one would step over him again, literally or figuratively speaking.
At the time, he thought of it as something silly; he knew he was at the bottom of the food chain, after all.
And there wasn't much he could change overnight, even if he became a wizard. He was not tall, nor have any muscle. And really, he wasn’t the brightest of them all.
So when the pretty blonde at the robe shop showed a little bit of interest in him, it felt nice. Not many girls –if any, actually– had shown interest in him before. She was a little bit rude, but the predators needed that to stay at the top.
“And I’m going to bully my father to buy me a racing broom.” The girl said, ignoring for completely the woman who was trying to get her measures. “Do you know how the house will you be in? Of course, I’ll be on Slytherin, the best deserves the best, don’t you think?” She asked, and without letting him speak, she continued yapping about nothing and everything all at once. “I hope you get sorted there too, you only need to learn how to move around, and you’ll be perfectly fitted, I’ll have you know. Female instincts.” She said before Harry got out of the store.
She did give him more information than Hagrid did, so even if they didn’t become friends, having her around might not be that bad after all.
***
The train trip had been a fiasco. Weasley had been nice, if a little bit dense (a pity he was so low on the food chain).
Longbottom reminded him too much of himself, making him feel uneasy.
And the Granger girl... good Lord, Harry wanted to cut her tongue right there. So when the blonde, as pretty as she'd been at the shop, told him he was hanging around with the wrong sort... well, he couldn’t disagree with her.
Harry saw the blonde get selected into Slytherin almost immediately. She was right after all; Slytherin was her house.
When it was his turn, the hat talked to him endlessly, about this and that, only to put him in the very same house as her in the end. He might have asked the hat to do it, or he might not. The results were the same at the end of the night: he was sorted into Slytherin.
Not that he didn't like it.
Everyone there seemed to know their ground better than the other houses.
Malfoy made him a little bit of space next to her and smiled prettily as she talked to the other girls and ignored him.
***
The Slytherin common room was big, humid, and kind of had a lot of silver. There were statues and paintings that moved (like on the hallways, but this seemed way much cooler). The other students weren’t as amazed as he was, so he tried to play it as coolly as they were.
Malfoy’s giggle and hushed whispers with the pug-face-like girl made it completely clear that he was not achieving it.
“Outside those doors, you’ll be the best of friends.” The older student said. He had big eye-bags under the eyes but was dressed to the nines. “It doesn't matter if you kill each other here, but out there you should show unity.” Harry nodded with the other first years. “Stick to groups, until you learn a few spells to defend yourself. And remember:” the older student said, “Be clever but not witty, we are not Ravenclaw; be cordial but not kind, we are not Hufflepuff. And above all, do not act stupid or get caught; we are not Gryffindor. Got it?”
“Yes sir.” Everyone answered in unison
“Good.” He said as he threw himself into a chair. “Go find your dorms–two or three per room, no more, we’re no savages.”
***
On Harry’s first night in the castle, it rained. No one seemed to mind, and he tried to sleep like the rest. But the bed was too soft, the rain and wind hit the window loudly, and there was no snoring for him to coordinate his breath with.
Weird. Everything was so weird.
Harry’s first day of classes could have not been worse. First transfiguration and the little fact that no one had told him that the bloody stairs moved, making him enter the class just in time (alongside Weasley).
And then Potions. Which, true, the answers had been on the first page of his book (he had checked it later after dinner, and he felt like an idiot), but he was paying attention to what Snape was saying.
Harry slouched in his chair after answering Snape, sliding the parchment back to Malfoy. “Thanks,” he muttered once Professor Snape went on to his speech.
Her handwriting was neat, and there wasn’t a single drop of ink on the edges, unlike Harry's.
“Next time, study.” She answered with a smile too bright to be true, then turned back to Parkinson, only to keep talking to her.
Harry took a deep breath and joined the conversation his dorm mates were having. He did need to learn to survive without her help.
***
Slytherin were not very into waking up so early, Harry noted as the week progressed. Only those who stayed up all night and those who played for the Quidditch team did. “Such a baby, and you are up so early in the morning.” The fifth-year said when he passed next to Harry at breakfast and went to pick up an apple. “Couldn't sleep, kiddo?”
“I went to bed early,” he answered plainly, sipping from his cup and already planning what he was going to do the rest of the morning.
“Oh well.” The guy munched over his apple and then smiled. “You know how to fly?” He said, showing him his broom. Harry only shook his head, flying classes had been suspended because some Gryffindor had fallen down the broom and broken his wrist. “Want to learn? We are short on the seeker side.”
“I don’t know how to play.”
“We’ll teach you, come on. Flint looks a little bit scary, but he’s just on the line with the exams, again . You’ll adapt.”
Flying. Harry learnt that morning was such a nice thing. And according to the other guys he was quite good too, seeing that he caught the snitch twice. They also said something about talking with Snape about adding him to the team for the next term.
When he made his way back, he was as hungry as if he hadn't eaten anything.
“Merlin, Potter, next time take a shower before coming here,” Malfoy said once he slid next to her. Harry only smiled and resisted the urge to pass his arm over her shoulder to keep bothering her.
“Will do Malfoy.” He answered. “Do pass me the tea first.”
She huffed but did. And then he heard the wings of various owls coming through the windows. “Oh, look at my sweet girl.” He cooed once Hedwig was over his plate.
“Oh, those monsters.” Harry heard Malfoy whine, straightening her short hair. “I hope that beast of yours there won't eat my Morgana.”
“I have you informed that Hedwig is a very nice lady, unlike others…” Harry had caught Morgana –Malfoy’s snake– terrorizing the other students' pets, specifically, she was fond of little rats and weird-looking cats. Morgana also liked toads, but after the incident with Trevor, she’d been forbidden from them.
“Oh, shut up, Potter.” Huffed, Malfoy took the newspaper from his hands. “Oh, look, someone broke into Gringotts. Daddy’s going to be furious.”
“Poor Mrs Malfoy.” cooed some girls, to which Malfoy only nodded.
“Oi, scarhead, didn’t you get a letter from them? I saw the seal from Gringotts. Does it say something important?” He had indeed received a letter from them, and with a sharp move, he dodged the blonde's hand trying to get it. “Let me read.” Oh God, she was going to be insufferable today.
“Let me do it first, then I’ll let you.” He told her.
It wasn’t anything important, the goblins told him that everything on his vault was alright and that he didn't need to worry about anything, even if the vaults were neighbours.
Harry pocketed up the money that he had drawn and then gave it to Draco to read, so she wouldn’t be so annoying.
***
The great hall was full of people talking and shouting. Harry would have preferred to spend dinner in his room getting to date with the work, but Malfoy had taken him by the arm and made him walk by her side.
“Did you hear about the three-headed dog on the third floor?” Harry asked as he passed Malfoy the mashed potatoes and watched her freeze for a second.
“I did,” she said after taking a bite. “How did you?”
“The twins told me.” He poured more juice into Malfoy’s cup before she started nagging at him to do it. “You?”
“The twins?” she turned to face him. “They’re expensive and won’t talk to anybody.”
“Call it an investment,” Harry said nonchalantly, crossing his ankle at the knee. “And they will talk to me.”
The blonde hummed, clearly pleased. “Snape told me.”
“You talk with the professor?”
“I take tea with all of them except the Gryffindor ones and the headmaster. Isn’t he creepy?”
“He actually is. Who has a violent dog around students?” Harry said.
Once more, he was late to the news. He wondered who else knew. Maybe all of them already.
Malfoy leaned over him after a moment. “Don’t worry, Potter,” she whispered. “You are the second to know.”
“Oh, fuck you.”
Malfoy giggled softly, her eyes gleaming.
***
Harry was not someone to keep a diary, but if he had, the only entry that it would have would be the following:
October 31st,
Malfoy hugged me as we ran to the dungeons. There was an ogre or something like that, I wasn’t paying much attention. She was scared and looked cute. She We ate all my candies (she kept hers for tomorrow morning, and although she promised to share them with me, I know better) and then she did her nails while I read for tomorrow's classes. That night, she fell asleep in my bed.
He was lucky that he did not keep a diary close to him, or he would have to burn it before some other Slytherin found it.
***
“Oi, you wanker!” Harry heard Malfoy shout above all the other students, he wondered if she had spelt his voice to make it sound even louder. “Look at where you are throwing that bloody ball. You are going to cost us thousands of points.”
“You are going to hurt your voice, Draco,” Nott shouted.
“I’m going to kick Flint's balls if he costs us the match. And against the Gryffindorks above all!” She crossed her arms and then sat back at the benches. “I’m going to tell Daddy. And you better get on the team next year, Potter. We cannot continue with this misery.”
“I’ll talk to Flint.” He answered, not taking his eyes off the snitch.
“If you don’t I’ll talk to Daddy. He’ll arrange things for us.”
Harry groan. “Don’t bring your father into this, Malfoy.”
“You should really start calling me Draco , Potter. Or everyone will think that we hate each other.”
“Pay attention to the game, Malfoy. Will discuss this later.”
***
The term was near to end, and that meant that the grades for this half of the year were handed over. Harry did alright. Almost everything was Acceptables and two Exceeds Expectations.
Harry was all right with that. However, not everyone agreed with their grades.
“That bitch!”
Harry’s head snapped up. Malfoy was fuming in front of the wall where the grades were posted. When the cards exploded in his hand, he realized he'd been looking at her a little too long.
“What's her deal now? Another broken nail?”
“Worse.” Nott laughed, shaking his head. They were seated in front of the fire playing cards and betting the remnant of candies that were left from October. “She lost second place to a Gryffindor.”
“Granger?” he asked as he collected the cards.
“The very same,” Zabini answered. “She's been quite tamed this term. We needed a little bit of action.”
“Tame? She's been spitting venom at everyone.” Harry said.
“Mate, she once tried to turn Millicent into lice because she wore a prettier dress.”
“She gave her lice for half a year instead. No one ever found out it had been her.”
Harry couldn't help but laugh, only getting a sour look from Malfoy.
***
“You sure you don’t want to come home for Yule? Mother wouldn’t mind at all.” Zabini offered for the tenth time.
“I need the permit signed,” Harry answered, “the family which I’m staging won't do that.”
“Pity,” he answered. “Well, I’ll send you something for Yule then.”
“Will do too. Goodbye, Blaise.” The other boy smiled and ran to the carriages. “What do you want, Malfoy.”
“Did you know that you can send a letter to Gringotts and ask for the emancipation?” She said, hiding her hands behind her back. Her cheeks were red by the biting cold of December, it was likely to start snowing. A pity that she wouldn't be on the castle for the first snowfall. “With the Potter fortune, you could buy a nice house in Winchester. I can help you find a nice one, I know some nice villas that Daddy didn’t want to buy for the summer.”
“Thank you, Malfoy,” he said as he took his own scarf off and wrapped it around the blonde's neck. “You are going to freeze, go to the carriages that Parkinson is waiting for you.”
“See you in January, Potter!”
“Have a nice Christmas, Dray!” He saw the girl with even reddened cheeks stop running only to turn and stick out her tongue.
***
Harry tried to be awake for when the clock ticked to twelve, so he could open the gifts early and send a letter even earlier. But he’d been all afternoon flying around with Hedwig and some other guys that had stayed for the Christmas that he fell asleep in front of the fire.
So it was almost ten in the morning when he opened the packages that the others had sent.
He opened the shiny ones first. A little box full of Italian chocolates that Zabini had sent and a pair of goggles that Nott sent him too.
Then he opened Draco’s gift. It was beautifully wrapped in some smooth paper hat he didn't want to tear like he’d done with Zabini’s and Nott’s. When he finished opening, there was a beautifully tailored shirt with a match new brand cloak. And a handwritten note that read:
Lord Harry J. Potter,
It’s time you start dressing according to your status. You cannot still go around with those awful clothes on the weekend and pretend to be around me.
Regards,
Lady Draco L. Malfoy.
He also received other interesting things, like the invisibility cloak that was supposed to be his father’s. It was a nice material, he might be able to use it during winter if the nights got too cold. But he still believed that Malfoy’s was the best one of the other’s gifts.
It was the first time someone had gifted him something nice and useful, only for him, and that it didn’t belong to anyone before.
The only problem is that he didn’t know if the necklace that he had sent her (not the one she had been whining about, but one that was similar) was enough. He really hoped so.
He spends the rest of the day answering letters and sending them.
***
On the first day of the term, Draco was already fuming over everything. She didn’t even acknowledge his presence when they jumped off the carriage. “She’s in such a mood,” Parkinson said. Walking next to Zabini. “I’ve heard that his father gave her a dress down because of the grades.” She whispered. “And that if she didn’t fix it, he would…”
“Parkinson,” Harry said, and she shut her mouth. “It’s not lady-like gossiping behind one's back.” She nodded twice and decided that the floor had better figures than the rest of the views. “Did you do something interesting during Christmas?” He asked Zabini, who simply started to tell him how boring the balls were.
(He had already heard everything from Draco’s speaking letter, but he nodded and laughed at the precise story points.)
That afternoon, after the banquet, he slid up to where the girl's dorms were. He knocked twice on the open door and waited for the blonde to look at him. “Hey, you need help?” Harry asked, leaning into the door frame. Malfoy was on her bed, books sprawled around her and her wand tying her hair in a bun.
“Get lost, Potter.”
“And here I thought you needed help with Granger…” He sighed.
“As if I need a saviour in shining armour. Get. Lost.”
“Very well then,” he straightened his back and smiled at her. “I'll go tell someone else what Granger is afraid of...”
“Fear?”
“Ah, now you’re interested. A pity, you told me to get lost.”
“Wait—get inside, you wanker.” she said, signalling for him to come in. “How did you get here? Boys aren’t allowed on this end,” she added after Harry sat at the other end of the bed.
He only smiled and shrugged. He wasn’t about to reveal his secrets to her, not yet, at least.
***
Harry had zero ideas for Malfoy’s birthday.
Like zero-zero. And he would not ask Parkinson as she might most certainly snitch him to Malfoy, so he was on his own. He was thinking about a pair of earrings that would go with the necklace (which he was not sure if she liked as he had not seen her wearing it) when he received a pat on his back, only to see the twins when he turned.
“That one was neat!”
“How did you do it?”
“Do what?” Harry asked. He had not been paying attention to anything that happened at the great hall that morning.
“The cockroach thing!”
“Granger and the other chicks went nuts!”
Both of them shook him by the shoulders. Harry let them be. “I didn't do anything,” Harry answered, and it was a half-truth because he did cast the hex, but it was Malfoy who put everything in order for him to do it.
“It was a little bit mean, the thing with her grades and all...”
“She was so happy to be first...”
“What?” He turned to them sharp. That he was not aware of happening in the plan.
“You don’t know? Someone asked for an exam revision.”
“Seems she had three questions wrong. One in history, another in Herbology, and the last in Transfiguration. How did you do that?”
“I didn’t—“
“ ‘Arry!” It was the first time he had ever heard his name in such a sweet voice. When he turned, she had Greg and Vincent next to her, carrying her supplies. She was wearing the necklace that he had gifted her on Christmas and was waiting for him at the Great Hall’s doors. “We are going to be late, stop talking to them!”
“Coming!” he shouted back. “Talk to you later, guys.”
***
“You didn’t need my help!” Harry said as soon as they both entered the common room. He shoved her to the nearest wall. No one dared to interfere.
“I told you so.”
“Then why—“
Draco smirked.
“So she knows her place. The exam thing could be anyone, but that... that was personal. I won’t have her walking around like she’s better than us. Better than me.” She looked at her nails in disinterest.
“And if you want to get yourself known around here, you should start doing the same. I recommend Longbottom; he's a weak link. I would prefer you start with the youngest Weasley but...”
“I'm working on the twins,” he growled.
“There you have it, then,” she said as she slipped out of his grasp. Before she left, she tossed a vial into his hands.
“What is this? Venom?” he asked but drank it nonetheless.
“Don’t be an oaf, Potter. I asked Mother to send it. Something to fatten you up, you look like a waif half the time.”
“And you look like a boy the other half.” he shot back.
With a sudden impulse, he reached over her to tug a stray hair from her ponytail. Malfoy gasped before turning and storming out of the common room.
Harry took it as his win.
***
In the end, he bought her a bracelet. She wore it perfectly.
***
“I challenge you to a duel, Malfoy.” Harry heard Wesley say and he grounded. “You too, Potter as you might be also in this… in all of this.”
“Look at that ‘Arry, he can barely talk.” Draco laughed, leaning into him. He only hummed, too tired to really pay attention to them. He just wanted to go on his way and go to sleep. The exams were now over and that stupid carrot insisted that they had something to do with the incident even if they had proven themselves innocent. “We accept.”
“We do?” He whispered to Draco, who only hit him on the ribs with her elbow, to stay quiet. Wanker. “We do.”
“Alright,” the carrot kept talking. “Neville will be my second. I supposed Potter would be yours,” Draco only nodded with her smug smile. “Tonight, after curfew.”
“At nine in the trophy hallway?”
“Very well,” Wesley said, turned and went on his way.
Only then Malfoy laughed. “Potter, lend me your quill and a parchment. I’m going to leave Flich a note.” Harry nodded and did.
“Can we go now? I’m tired.”
“And who told you to wake up so early.”
“Oh, just let me be.”
***
“You’ve heard? About the unicorn thing.” Harry said as he sat next to Draco and took a toast from her plate.
“Poor creatures. I heard they sent The Gryffindors to the Forbidden Forest to catch the person that’s doing that.”
“Person?” He asked, mouth full.
“Mh.” She started filling him a plate. “Unicorn blood will revive even the… For Merlin’s sake, Potter, do stop eating like a troglodyte for once in your life.
“Well, better that we weren’t there that night, or we would have been there too.”
“Indeed. Now eat. I don’t want to be late for class.”
***
“You look ridiculous!” Harry said, tugging one of Malfoy’s braids under the hat that they were forced to use.
“Speak for yourself, Potter.”
“Oh shut up you two, I want to finish the year in peace a quiet, and it’s enough we’ve to bear with the headmaster's speech,” Pansy said, finishing her cup of juice.
“Again?” He hissed.
“Every single year,” answered a fourth-year who had come late and had to sit with them. All of them groaned and waited for it to start.
***
“I cannot believe it,” Draco whined for God’s know how many times. “I just can’t. Is he stupid? Is the senility coming over his head already? Should I tell Daddy? I must certainly will.”
“Oh come on, Malfoy, it’s not a big deal, we came second to them.” Harry tried to calm her down. She was becoming quite annoying, even to being on the same wagon as her.
Everyone had cheered at the first and false announcement, and Draco even stood and clapped alongside the other Slytherin. At that moment, the table exploited in cheers and claps as if he was watching the New Year's Eve countdown in London. He also saw an older couple kissing at the other end of the table, most certainly they were in their last year.
He wondered how nice it would be to kiss their partner in such an event.
But then the old man had to ruin it. Why didn’t they give the cup to the Gryffindor directly and all that would have been ignored? Even Snape was not pleased with that.
“Which is even more unfair,” she said, throwing herself next to Pansy, who was more interested in her novel than another thing that happened around her. “I’m also intelligent, why didn’t I get fifty points? Nott also plays chess, he can be awarded by other fifty.”
“Yeah? And the last sixty? Who would have got them?”
“Certainly not you, Potter. But most certainly not Longbottom. I’ve seen him fall from the moving stairs.”
“I’m pretty sure that we hexed him to fall, Malfoy.”
“But did we see him or did we not?”
“We did.” He conceded because he was so very tired to hear him complain over and over. “Whatever, look, we are going to be on the station in every second.” He pointed through the window.
Draco stood once more and started taking her robes to show her pretty baby blue dress. She wore it beautifully. She nudged her friend to take her nose from the book to also get rid of the robes. He did the same.
Everyone stepped out of the wagon and walked to the station. “They do fit, after all.” She turned to him and smiled. Greg and Vince were carrying her and his luggage.
“They do.”
“Very well. Do buy yourself one more pair of shirts.” She said, turning to see where her parents were. When she stopped them, she waved and only her mother returned it. “Bye Potter.” She said and turned once more, but Harry took her by the wrist.
“You never told me where you bought them.”
“My parents are waiting for me. And we are a very busy family, you’ll see.” She said, smiling cheekily. “You’ll have to ask in the summer.”
“Very well, then, Lady Malfoy.” He said and took her hand and kissed the back of it, “I shall send you a letter then.”
“Fuck you.”
“Such a foul language for a lady.”
“Later Potter.”
“Have a great summer, Malfoy.”