4 Chapter 4

A red-haired boy shoved himself into the room, hastily slamming the door shut behind him.

He was panting harshly, his face a stark white.

It was only then that he seemed to realize that there were other people in the compartment. "Ah, hello," he greeted with embarrassment. "Sorry about that. My brothers – they were chasing me with a tarantula."

The boy's face pinked, and Harry raised a brow.

"Sit down, then."

Ron looked between the two boy in the compartment, and he paused when he saw a shock of platinum blond hair.

Draco eyed the Weasley that just entered, but he didn't say anything. He was still busy thinking about what Harry had said previously.

He hesitated a little, but he still stuck his hand out to Draco.

"Ron Weasley."

Draco was broken out of his thoughts by the hand stuck in front of him, and he raised both brows in confusion. His father always told him that they wouldn't get along with the Weasley family, but it seemed like this one wasn't too bad.

Draco shook Ron's hand coolly. "Draco Malfoy." He returned to his contemplation again, looking like he was in a daze.

Ron was confused. "What's with him?" he whispered to Harry.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron stuck his hand out to Harry, who shook it quietly.

"Harry Potter."

Ron gasped. "You're Harry Potter?" The boy looked at the approximate area where his scar was, and Harry felt a spike of annoyance. "Do you have the… you know?"

At this, Draco broke out from his thoughts, rolling his eyes. "You have no tact, you know?"

Ron's face started to go red.

Harry started to interject, seeing that they were about to start fighting. "I do. But you shouldn't ask people about something that they got the very night their parents were killed, don't you think?"

Ron's face went red for a different reason. "I – I. You're right, that was thoughtless of me. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted."

Rather than not wanting them to fight, Harry was rather hoping that the two would become friends so that they could chat. Then, Harry didn't have to talk at every opportunity. He could just fade into the background and interject from time to time.

That seemed much more reasonable.

However, the two's clan or whatnot seemed like they had some kind of feud, and that rather interested Harry. What if two of their sons became close friends? What would their parents do?

A slow smile started to grow on Harry's face, which seemed to break some of the tension in the room.

"So, what's got you thinking so deeply?" Ron directed at Draco, apologizing without actually saying the words.

Draco huffed, taking the unspoken apology. "Well, if you must know, Harry here told me something rather interesting. It just made me think, that's all."

"Well? Don't just stop there. Share with the rest of the class, why don't you?"

Draco smirked. "Why don't you ask what house Harry's planning to go into instead?"

Ron tilted his head. "What house are you planning to go to?"

Harry smiled. "Why, Hufflepuff, of course."

"Wait, what? You're not going to Gryffindor?" Ron seemed shellshocked. He couldn't compute the Harry Potter not going to Gryffindor, where he would likely go.

Everything he knew about Harry Potter said that he was a Light wizard destined to be great. He just couldn't understand. Why didn't he want to go to Gryffindor like his parents had?

Harry flipped a page. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't judge me from those books that have no idea what they're printing. They didn't even ask me anything before writing them in the first place. I have half a mind to sue them."

Ron's face reddened again, and Harry absently thought that he'd have to break the redhead of that habit if he wanted to keep him around.

"Sorry. Well, it's just. Why not Gryffindor?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "What's so good about Gryffindor, then?"

"Well, that's where all the Light wizards are, aren't they? They're the best house!"

"No," Harry said instead. "That's a subjective opinion, really. What's the best for you isn't the best for someone else. Besides, I'm definitely going to ask to be put into Hufflepuff."

"But Hufflepuff is the house that all the rejects go to!"

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I think not. Do you really think a founder would allow 'rejects' to enter their house? No, Hufflepuff is known for their loyalty, as well as their hard work. I rather think that sounds lovely, don't you?"

Ron sputtered, and Draco made a big gesture towards Harry. "See why I was so dazed previously?"

The redhead nodded unconsciously, and the two exchanged looks. It was almost like they were bonding over Harry's weirdness.

Strangely, the two didn't seem to feel much of a feud between them, which made Harry both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

"Well, Hufflepuff doesn't seem so bad when it's put that way, does it?" Draco said, musing.

"I suppose not."

Harry ignored further attempts at conversation, having maxed out his social meter for the day. There was only so much he could force himself to be social in a day, considering he didn't feel the need to do so in the first place.

Having two 'friends' around was better indeed.

Hopefully they would stay that way.

But Harry still interjected from time to time in their conversation, making them think more positively about the house that they could potentially go in.

-

The Great Hall was just as grand as the books made it out to be, and the ceiling was a work of art that made Harry itch to deconstruct the spell work laid on it.

Ron said some nonsense about having to fight trolls, but Draco just rolled his eyes. "Don't be silly. We only fight trolls in October. We only have to get sorted by a dirty old hat."

Ron looked extremely relieved, before he glared at where he could see his twin brothers sitting in Gryffindor.

"I just knew I shouldn't have listened to them," he muttered to himself.

The Sorting Hat started its song, which Harry could hardly be bothered to listen to. Instead, he was studying his fellow first years, wondering who he could use and who he would discard.

It was too early to tell.

"Draco Malfoy!"

By the time they reached Draco's name, they were about halfway through the list.

The blond sauntered up to the rickety stool in front of the entire school and sat himself down. Professor McGonagall lowered the hat onto his head, and Harry watched with anticipation.

The hat made a few funny faces as it tilted here and there, clearly conversing with Draco in his mind.

At last, the hat shouted out for the hall to hear, "Hufflepuff!".

The entire hall was enveloped in silence, shock colouring their features.

Who didn't know about the Malfoy family, who had been supposedly under the Imperio curse in the previous war?

They thought that just like Lucius Malfoy, his son would have gone into Slytherin, as all Dark wizards and witches did.

However, much to their shock, the Malfoy went into Hufflepuff.

The blond slicked his hair back and walked towards the house of badgers.

It seemed to snap the house out of their stupor as they clapped enthusiastically. As he passed by a few upper years, they slapped him on the back with friendly intentions, all the way until he reached the first-year seats.

Draco's face was flushed, and he looked a little worried, but not overly so.

Draco looked over at both Harry and Ron and resisted the urge to give them a thumbs up.

If anything, he was being a true Slytherin here, masquerading as another house. What Harry said was true indeed, and he didn't regret anything.

While he was briefly worried about his father's reaction, he was sure that he would be able to convince the man before long.

"Harry Potter!"

For the second time that night, the Great Hall fell into silence again as they waited with bated breath.

The Sorting Hat only touched the boy's head for ten seconds before it spat out, "Hufflepuff!"

This time, there was a shocked silence before the entire hall went into uproar.

Harry didn't pay the fools any mention as he calmly walked towards Draco, smiling at the friendly calls that the house gave him.

He'd seen the way they reacted to Draco, who supposedly wasn't well-liked outside of Slytherin, and it made his eyes glitter.

This was indeed the house that suited him the best. Of course, the Sorting Hat didn't quite want to put him here, saying some nonsense like he would cause the entire wizarding world to bow at his feet or whatnot, but this was the best place for him to use people and manipulate their impressions of him.

Draco and Harry exchanged pleasantries with the rest of their house and their fellow first years as they waited for Ron to be sorted.

Harry already had the feeling that Ron would be joining them in the house of yellow and black.

Sure enough, when the Sorting Hat called out, "Hufflepuff!" for the latest Weasley, the Great Hall was shocked for the last time that night.

They were all reeling from the shocks they'd taken, and the professor's table was no different.

While they tried to hide their reactions, it was clear that never in a million years did they expect this to happen.

Hidden behind a goblet of pumpkin juice, a dark smile crept up on Harry's face.