Wot In The Harri Potter?

4 - The Friend

The silence remains thick in the air long after Draco, Crabbe and Goyle have left.

I silently will Ron to say something, but he is too busy glaring out of the window with his arms crossed over his chest.

I idly eat my jelly beans, thinking about what it will mean to be friends with that Draco boy. I feel Dudley will approve, especially with the likes of Crabbe and Goyle.

"Why did you do it?" Ron says suddenly, just as I bite into a vomit flavoured bean. I pull a face and spit it out into my hand.

"What do you mean?" I ask as I throw the spat out remains into my owl's cage.

"Shake Malfoy's hand, after what he said about my family?"

I frown, thinking back to what Draco had said. "That you all have red hair and freckles?"

"He called me poor! You don't know what that's like, Miss I-Can-Buy-The-Whole-Trolley-And-Never-Have-To-Live-Off-Corned-Beef-Sandwiches!"

I narrow my eyes at him. "You don't think I don't know what that's like? Up until recently, my dinner was whatever leftovers I could scrape out of the bin!"

I am liking Ron less and less and I am beginning to wish he'd never sat with me in the first place. If Draco had called him poor then it was probably because he had heard him sniggering at his name.

"There's no need to lie," Ron spat. "Everyone knows you've been brought up by rich Muggles."

Incensed, I stand up, grabbing my owl and trunk.

"Where are you going?" Ron asks as though this is all some big shock to him.

"Anywhere where you're not!"

But as I struggle up the train corridor with my luggage, I see to my dismay that every compartment is full. Damn Ron. I refuse to go crawling back.

So, giving up, I sit on my trunk in the middle of the corridor, my owl squawking noisily next to me.

"Ditch Weasley, did you? Can't say I blame you."

I look up at the familiar drawling voice. Draco stops in front of me, smirking. I notice he has left his bodyguards behind, presumably to purchase the snacks which are bulging out of his pockets.

I shrug coolly. "I just fancied a change of scenery."

Draco's eyes fixes upon my noisy owl. "Don't think your bird thinks much of it out here. Why don't you come and sit with us? There's room for one more."

I'm not going to lie, but the idea of sitting with a bunch of people I don't know sounds terrifying - especially when it seems that everyone already knows me.

But Draco has invited me and it will look rude to turn him down at this crucial friend making stage.

So I follow him. We enter a compartment where he introduces me to the rather intimidating crowd already seated inside.

"You've already met Crabbe and Goyle," Draco gestures to the thickset boys who both nod at me. "And this is Blaise and Pansy. Everyone, this is Harriet Potter. I saved her from a Weasley."

I begrudge that last comment, but I don't show it. Instead, I smile nervously at the pretty girl with a sharp, black bob, and an alarmingly handsome boy who looks way older than the rest of us.

Neither of them return my smile, which only heightens my nervousness.

"She's alright," Draco assures them as he takes the empty seat by the window, leaving the only empty space left between him and Goyle. "We actually already know each other."

Well that is a bit of a stretch. We had a very one sided five minute conversation in a robe shop. But I don't say anything, instead I drag in my trunk and owl and (with Goyle's help) stow them away in the overhead luggage shelf before settling down next to Draco.

The girl called Pansy catches my eye, and I shrink back at the sudden scowl on her face. "Weren't you brought up by Muggles?" She spits venomously.

"Hush, Pansy," Draco says at once. "Like I said, she's alright."

"They weren't all that to be honest," I shrug, buoyed on by Draco's kind words. "Apart from my cousin, Dudley."

This seems to satisfy Pansy somewhat, eventually dropping her scowl and replacing it instead with a smirk. "Daddy always said that it was barbaric that Dumbledore made you grow up with them. You should have stayed amongst your own kind - with us."

And I am not ashamed to admit that hearing this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. For the first time in my life, I am sat with a group of kids, none of whom want to pinch me or tease me rotten about my appearance. Instead, I feel accepted.

I try to swallow down the bubble of guilt when I think about Ron sitting all alone in our compartment.

*****

By the time we arrive at Hogwarts, I have shared many a tale of the 'awful' Muggle world I have come from. Even Blaise took an interest and gave a quiet chuckle when I told of the time Uncle Vernon broke down in tears after a power cut meant he had to miss his favourite cooking programme on tv.

I left out the part about what happened afterwards, how I was beaten black and blue with his belt before being locked in the cupboard for three days without food.

"Hullo there young Harri!" Hagrid happily cries as I step down onto the platform. To be honest, he had been so pissed up when we parted, I'm surprised he even remembers me.

Draco joins me by my side, glaring up at the gamekeeper. "Is this great big oaf bothering you?"

"No," I say immediately, throwing Hagrid a grateful smile. "He's just showing us the way."

We end up on boats, with me sharing one with Draco. The castle is so beautiful as we approach it, I can't help but gasp out loud.

"It'll do for a school," Draco drawls, following my gaze. "But I'd have sooner gone to Durmstrang."

I have no idea what Durmstrang is, but I can't help but feel that this boy is probably a little spoilt.

Nerves get the better of me as we line up for our Sorting. I have no idea what house I'll be in, but I do hope I will be with my new friends, otherwise what a waste of time that all was.

One by one, the Sorting Hat sorts my peers.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" It bellows as a pink faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbles towards the cheering table on the right of the hall.

Hermione Granger, the girl with the bushy hair, gets Sorted into Gryffindor, followed by Neville Longbottom, the now no longer toadless boy.

When Draco is called, he swaggers forward, and gets his wish at once: the hat barely touches his head when it screams, "SLYTHERIN!"

When it is eventually my turn, I feel a little sick.

The last thing I see before the hat drops over my eyes is the Hall full of people craning to get a good look at me. I wait.

"Hmm," says a small voice in my ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... So where shall I put you?"

I grip the edges of the stool in silent anticipation.

"SLYTHERIN!"

I take off the hat and walk shakily towards the Slytherin table. The cheers I receive are deafening.

All the Slytherins jump up to shake my hand, I am so overwhelmed by the volume of acceptance that I almost miss Draco ushering me over to sit next to him.

"I knew it!" He murmurs in my ear once the cheers have subsided. "I knew from the start that you were one of us."

I turn to smile at my new friend. And I know, in this very moment, that I have made the right decision in accepting his handshake.

Dudley would be proud.

*****