King of the snakes

Chapter one

The train ride was largely uneventful. Harry's mind was still reeling with memories of the last several weeks, the first of which was the mysterious letter addressed to him appearing on the Dursleys' porch. That one was somehow the most prominent, even against the man with the pink umbrella bursting down the door of the tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere. Harry supposed that was likely because of what it represented. The start of everything.

He stared out of the window, the red-haired boy whose family had helped him get to the platform - yet another weird thing, he'd gone through the wall - staring at him with curiosity and awe. Harry winced, not used to the attention.

"So you're like - the Harry Potter? For real?" Harry nodded absently, having been asked the same thing fourteen times in the last minute. "I just- wow. I never thought I'd meet anyone famous, much less- wow," Harry shifted awkwardly in his seat, a blush rising in his face.

The door slammed open, revealing three other eleven year olds, one small and blonde, and two large and muscular standing behind him. Harry flinched, but only for a fraction of a second, the calm and quiet facade returning to his face. The other boy huffed, moving to close the door, but upon taking a second look at the two in the compartment, froze.

"Are you- Harry Potter?" He asked, curiosity flitting across his face. Harry looked down in embarrassment, nodding. The boy's face lit up. "I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. Of course, no need to ask who you are - Red hair, freckles, hand-me-downs - you must be a Weasley." Ron's ears turned a shade of red that Harry didn't know was possible. Harry frowned, looking up at the blonde.

"If you just came here to be rude, screw off," He said, scoffing. Now it was Malfoy's turn to be embarrassed, a pink flush dusting across his cheeks. Ron shot him a grateful look, which Harry decided to ignore, just because he'd defended the boy didn't mean he had liked him.

"Ah- my apologies," Malfoy muttered, continuing after the pink had dissipated "Well, I just wanted to extend an offer of friendship," He said, sticking out a hand. Harry's eyebrows shot up, eyes snapping to the pale fingers in front of him. "No need to look so surprised," Malfoy smirked.

"I- er- yeah?" Harry grabbed his hand awkwardly, shaking it. A look of surprise flitted across Malfoy's face.

"Well then. I would offer you sit with us but-" Malfoy wrinkled his nose. "Seems you've already got company, Potter."

"No, no it's fine," Harry said quickly, avoiding looking at Ron as he gathered his things. "And, uh, call me Harry." Malfoy smiled, a true one this time. "Draco then," He replied, tipping his head. Harry nodded, done picking everything up. He looked back as they left the compartment, wincing at the expression on Ron's face.

Sorry Ron, he thought, remembering the letter from the night before. You must befriend Draco Malfoy. It is imperative to the future of the wizarding world. Sealed with the Hogwarts crest. Harry took a deep breath and followed Draco into the corridor.

"This is Vince and Greg," Draco told Harry as they walked towards the older boy's compartment. Harry gave a weak smile, and it was returned, the two seeming much less intimidating that earlier.

"You'll meet the others in a moment," Draco continued, walking alongside Harry. Harry nodded. "We're all going to be in Slytherin. You reckon you will too?" Harry blinked. Slytherin?

"Er- sorry- Slytherin? What's that?" Draco stared at Harry, pausing in the middle of the corridor.

"You know- Slytherin. The Hogwarts house? This is basic knowledge Po- Harry," Draco replied, his gray eyes wide in disbelief.

"No? Sorry, I'd never even heard of Hogwarts before three weeks ago, much less - what was it? Snitterin?" Draco let out a snort before quickly clapping a hand over his mouth, pink rising in his cheeks. Harry stared back at him, not laughing. Draco looked at him, clearly thinking he was joking.

"Wait- are you serious?" Harry looked down, embarrassed. "Oh. Uh, I suppose you'll find out tonight then?" He nodded, still slightly confused, but didn't care enough to pry. They arrived at the compartment, Draco pushing the door open with much less force than he had Harry and Ron's.

They were greeted by 5 faces, all looking curiously at Harry. He swallowed nervously. This could take a while.

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"So, Harry, truth or dare?" Pansy asked, popping a piece of cauldron cake into her mouth. The others had accepted that Harry was, in fact, The Harry Potter, pretty quickly to Harry's relief. He could only hope it would stay that way.

"I'll go truth," he decided, biting a chunk off of the licorice wand Theo had offered him. He'd had doubts about Draco and his friends when the former had been rude to Ron, but really Ron was annoying anyways, and there was likely a previous issue between the two. Also, they were nice, something Harry wasn't used to. And he was enjoying this new change greatly.

"What house are you going for?" She asked. Harry could see Draco open his mouth to explain to her that Harry, in fact, had no clue what those were, and shook his head slightly to shut him up.

"Reckon I'll go for Slytherin," He said confidently, hoping he'd pronounced it correctly this time. He sighed with relief inwardly when Draco and Pansy both nodded in approval.

"Prophet'll have a field day with that one," Theo snorted, not looking up from his book. At Harry's look of confusion, he clarified, "I mean, you're Harry Potter, beacon of light," He put air quotes around the last bit. "In the house of snakes? No one's gonna see that coming." Harry shrugged, still confused, but not wanting to seem like he didn't understand a word of what Theo had just said. (He really didn't).

"Truth or dare, Millie?" Draco asked, interrupting before Theo could continue. Thankfully, the game transitioned back smoothly. Draco dared her to kiss Blaise on the cheek, which she did, both of them blushing.

They arrived at Hogwarts two hours later, jostled in the crowd of the train. Everyone crowded into the corridor as the train came to a stop. Pansy had insisted that they all hold onto each other, not wanting to get lost in the crowd. Harry found himself sandwiched between Daphne and Theo, and gripping tightly to Vince's arm.

They made their way down to the boats, (boats? boats??), and split into two groups. Harry ended up with Draco, Pansy, and Blaise. It was wet, cold and rainy, just overall miserable. When they arrived at the other side of the lake, teeth chattering, they were all completely soaked to the bone.

However, this was all forgotten as they walked into the great hall. Four enormous tables full of students in red, yellow, blue, and green, and another full of what Harry assumed were professors. Beyond that, four large hourglass shapes, each one full of what looked like small gems, in the same shades as the students' robes. The real kicker was when the shabby hat on a stool started singing.

The hat was truthfully, not the most elegant singer. Thankfully it finished its song relatively quickly, and then first years started getting called to be sorted. There was a smattering applause as each person got sorted (oh, that's what Slytherin is), and a few catcalls. That is, until Harry's name got called.

The room fell silent at the sound of his name. Harry nervously walked towards the hat, (really, it was a miracle he didn't trip), and when he put it on, he nearly had a heart attack at the voice in his ear.

"Curious, very curious," it whispered. Harry squeezed his eyes shut. This is all a dream, I'll wake up any second back in the cupboard unde- The hat chuckled lightly from above him. "Not a dream, no no. The question is though, where to put you? Cunning, like a Slytherin, Brave as a Gryffindor, Loyal, cer-"

"Slytherin, please. Please put me in Slytherin." Harry didn't realize he was talking out loud until the hat responded.

"Oh? Well then, if you're sure, better be... SLYTHERIN!"

A/N: This will be my first (hopefully) full length fanfic! I really hope you enjoyed reading, because I sure as hell enjoyed writing it. I have a lot of plans in store for this story, so thank you for reading!