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“I want Gryffindor, please I don’t want to go to Slytherin.” Harry pleads with the sorting hat. He can feel everyone’s stares and it makes his skin crawl.
“Gryffindor is a good fit but it won’t offer you anything. Hm. Very Difficult, very difficult.” The hat muses, completely ignoring Harry’s plea.
“Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor.” Harry starts chanting, hoping that the hat would hurry up. He can hear the whispers of the other students at the fact that he still hasn’t been sorted yet.
“Slytherin will help you develop, give you new skills. Hm.” The hat continues and Harry feels like screaming at it.
After another five more agonizing minutes the whispers are getting louder and Harry’s contemplating just giving up and getting up. He’ll take any house at this point, to get off this cursed stool.
Finally after ages, the hat yells out, “BETTER BE SLYTHERIN.”
Harry heaves a sigh and practically bolts to the Slytherin table. He’s too caught up in his relief to realize that 3 of the 4 houses have fallen silent while Slytherins are yelling themselves hoarse.
~
Within the week, Harry regrets not fighting the sorting hat harder. Being a Slytherin is awful. Ron Weasley, who Harry had thought was his friend, had taken to ignoring him.
It wasn’t just him though. Frankly, the whole school doesn't seem to know what to make of him. People from other houses had taken to giving him a wide berth like he was a freak. It seemed his aunt was right on that count.
To be fair, everyone in his dorm is really friendly with him, offering to help him out with the smallest things. Too friendly, the suspicious part of Harry mutters. Draco Malfoy kept trying to approach him but Harry had taken to running away whenever he sees the gleaming blonde hair.
It doesn't help that almost everyone seems to know each other since they were young, or in the case of the other half bloods and muggleborns fit in astonishingly well.
Apparently the Slytherin dorm had a kind of truce where you could not insult others for being an ‘inbred pompous bastard pureblood’ or a ‘betraying your own kind halfblood’ or a ‘you don’t belong with us muggleborn’.
Harry doesn't understand how all the first years are getting along when they so clearly have different beliefs. ‘Or maybe you just don’t want to get close’, the treacherous part of his brain whispers.
Whatever. He’s used to being a loner. This wasn’t anything new. He could handle this.
~
“Do you need help with the charm?” Draco Sodding Malfoy asks.
Harry scowls as he tries the levitating spell. The feather shudders, before lifting off a cm and promptly falls down, along with his dreams.
“Your wand movement is off. This is how you do it.” Malfoy says as he flicks his wand softly and easily levitates his feather towards the ceiling.
Harry’s scowl deepens. He doesn't need help from a pompous, spoiled brat who thinks he’s better than everyone.
“Sod off Malfoy, no one asked for your help.” Harry spits and returns to his spell. Malfoy’s expression shifts briefly for a second into something unidentifiable before he sniffs disdainfully and goes back towards his hunking bodyguards.
“You could try being nicer to him, you know. He was just trying to help you.” Tracey Davis, the other half blood in Slytherin and his somewhat friend says next to him.
Harry doesn't bother responding and turns back to his feather. After another couple of failed attempts, he tries to remember how Malfoy did it and mimics it out of desperation.
The feather betrays him and steadily rises towards the ceiling.
Huh. Maybe he had been a bit unfair towards Malfoy. But who could blame him? The guy reminded him of Dudley. Of course Dudley had never helped him, or even talked to him politely…
Great, he messed up. Harry groans. Now he felt bad.
~
“I’m sorry for the way I acted in Charms. Truce?” Harry says as a way of apology, holding out his hand.
Malfoy looks at it and says, “I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks.”
There’s a moment of silence before they both burst out laughing.
Then Malfoy shuffles his feet and mutters, “Sorry for all the things I said about Weasley.”
Harry blinks. He wasn’t expecting that. “I think you should apologize to him. We’re not talking anymore anyways.” Harry casually shrugs, trying to hide his disappointment.
“Well, he doesn't know what he’s missing out on.” Malfoy - Draco - says, offering him a smile.
And that’s how Harry finds himself with another friend in Slytherin.
~
Harry and Draco become fast friends, and promptly terrify the rest of the school population. They’re the type of friends who affectionately call one another git and prat. They’re the type of friends who can never shut up and forget about everything else around them.
Half the time they’re arguing and 90% of their conversations make no sense. They’re not supposed to get along, but somehow, inexplicably, they do.
The other Slytherins have long since given up trying to understand them.
~
“Wait, Harry, what's the glass thing that shows multiple pictures?”
“Do you mean a tv?”
“YES that’s it. I told you it started with t Vincent.”
~
“Wait, are you serious? There are mermaids in the lake? Actual mermaids?”
“Merpeople, Harry.”
“And they’re blue and scream? Do you even hear yourself?”
“Yeah but the screaming is only when they’re above water.”
“Cause that makes perfect sense.”
~
They stumble upon the third floor corridor sometime in November when they’re trying to run away from Filch.
(They might have screamed upon seeing Fluffy)
When they finally escape, Draco writes to his parents about almost being bloody murdered by a three headed giant dog.
~
It’s not long before Luscius Malfoy storms into Hogwarts with Narcissa Malfoy right behind him.
However when they go to the third floor corridor, there’s nothing but an old classroom with creaky floorboards.
They didn’t account for Narcissa Malfoy though, who promptly casts a couple of spells that reveals the trapdoor.
Her son is many things but a liar is not one of them.
~
They find the philosopher’s stone and return it to the rightful owners.
Somehow, in the midst of all this drama, the defense against the dark arts teacher disappears.
~
“Are you sure I can come home with you Draco?”
“Of course. I’m not letting the muggles come near you again.”
~
Luscius and Narcissa Malfoy aren’t particularly pleased with having Harry Potter in their manor. However, they do love their son and he seems to like the Potter kid.
They’re many things but they aren’t bad parents.
~
The Chamber of Secrets is open again. Was it too much to ask for an uneventful year?
Of course in the case of one Harry Potter, it was.
~
“Harry, what’s in your hand? Is that a diary? I didn’t know you kept one.” Draco asks as he spots Harry hunched over a small black book.
Harry flushes dark red before muttering, “It’s not mine. I found it in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. It’s pretty cool, it writes back to you.”
Draco is about to tease Harry for going into the girls bathroom before the rest of the words catch up to him.
“Are you daft? The book has illegal dangerous dark magic! That’s the only way it’s replying! It could have done something to you!” He cries out, before snatching the diary from Harry’s hand.
They glance at the diary, momentarily too stunned to speak.
Draco does the only sensible thing. He promptly owls the book to his parents.
~
Imagine Lucius Malfoy’s surprise when he sees the diary he never thought he’d see again. Emailed to him by his son no less. He frowns as he reads the letter.
Narcissa Malfoy reads the letter and asks, her voice icy, “Did you know about this? And it wasn’t supposed to be in Draco’s hands right?”
As much as Narcissa Malfoy loves her husband, her son always comes first.
When he shakes his head, she immediately calls out “Incendio” and sets the book on fire.
The book remains unharmed as her spell dies out.
“Lucius, what exactly did you accidentally give our son?” Narcissa asks, her voice deceptively sweet.
Lucius Malfoy winces at his wife’s stern glare. Whoever said Lucius Malfoy was the scarier one had never met Narcissa Black Malfoy.
~
It takes them three days to figure out it’s a horcrux.
They may have been Voldemort’s supporters in the previous war but he had just tried harming their only son. Or well, part of his soul did.
That was just off the table.
Narcissa takes great pleasure in casting Fiendfyre on the diary.
~
For all the talk of the chamber being open, there were only a couple of attacks. Then the rest of the year remained suspiciously silent.
No one could figure out why but they weren’t complaining.
~
“What happened to the diary anyways?”
“I bet mom destroyed it the moment she read the letter.”
~
It takes Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy the better half of the next month to create a tracking spell for all of the horcruxes. They didn't graduate top of Hogwarts just to sit around and look pretty.
It’s pitifully easy to destroy them afterwards. She even managed to catch up with her aunt, Walburga Black.
Narcissa was disappointed. Voldemort deserved to suffer a slower and more torturous death after killing poor Regulus.
She might have been especially vindictive when casting fiendfyre on the locket.
Family comes first after all.
~
Pretty soon, the only horcrux left is the one in Harry Potter. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy are stumped on this. Although they weren’t against murder, they didn’t particularly want to murder their son’s best friend.
“Dementors? They can't stand it when people cheat death anyways.” Lucius asks after hours of researching.
Narcissa purses her lips. “That might work but it’s too unpredictable. They could suck out both souls instead, they’re quite greedy. We could cast avada kedavra and hope it only takes Voldemort’s soul?”
“Too much left to chance.” Lucius mutters as he combs through another book.
“We could ask the goblins. They specialize in rituals.” Narcissa finally suggests with a resigned note, after they have exhausted every other possible idea.
Lucius purses his lips, displeased at asking help from a goblin. It’s the only viable option left though.
~
“What’s this for?” Harry asks, as the goblins prepare to start chanting.
“They’re just transferring the Potter vaults to your name.” Narcissa Malfoy says, as she smiles down at him.
Harry and Draco stare in wonder as the goblins start chanting.
(Somewhere in Albania, Voldemort's non-corporeal form is destroyed with a scream.)
~
Narcissa Malfoy swears as she reads the headlines which scream, “SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES AZKABAN.”
She had forgotten about her estranged rebellious cousin. Maybe she could just ignore it. What Harry doesn't know won’t hurt him.
~
It's their third year and there are dementors on the school grounds. For Harry Potter. Naturally.
There’s never a boring year when Harry Potter is your friend.
~
Harry thinks he’s finally going to have a peaceful year when sometime in March, Sirius Black slips into the dorm room when everyone was supposed to be sleeping. Harry doesn't have time to do anything but scream as he sees his gaunt face standing beside his bed.
“Stupefy!”
There’s a thud as Sirius Black falls to the floor and everyone else sits up with a jerk at the noise.
Harry stares at Draco’s still outstretched arm, impressed but still horrified at what could have happened.
Draco simply shrugs. “Mom taught me a couple things after I became friends with you.”
~
Sirius Black was innocent. And apparently the actual murderer was Ronald Weasley’s rat. Perhaps it had been better in the long run to not be his friend. Oh, and his defense professor was apparently Sirius Black’s ex lover. And wait! It gets better. He's also Harry's godfather and his father's best friend.
This was getting ridiculous but no one was insane enough to suggest he could fool veritaserum and hard proof.
~
Although Narcissa Malfoy was forced to reunite with her estranged cousin for the sake of her son, there was something good that came out of it.
Lucius finally managed to convict Dumbledore for obstruction of justice in Sirius Black’s case.
Last she heard, he was now occupying the cell next to her beloved sister and the rat he let loose in the school.
~
With that incident, the rest of their Hogwarts years was a breeze, with a notable exception being fourth year.
Nothing happened to them perse, it was more about a death tournament being reinstated.
Entertaining to watch on the sidelines though. They managed to make a lot of money selling badges supporting the various champions.
~
“Do you want to be my date?” Harry asks nervously.
“Of course. Who else would agree an hour before the yule ball?” Draco replied sarcastically.
(They got drunk over spiked punch and found Fleur and Pansy making out. They might have taken pictures for blackmail purposes with the new muggle phone Draco got.)
~
Harry doesn't know what his life would have been like in Gryffindor but he can’t imagine himself anywhere else right then. He supposed he should send a thank you to the sorting hat.
(Somewhere, the sorting hat is smirking at successfully avoiding a second wizarding war.)