Father

Year One

Big birthday parties this summer. Draco and Harry have both turned eleven.

A trip to Ollivanders for their wands. Draco gets one of hawthorn and unicorn hair before Narcissa takes him across the street for new robes. Harry is left alone with Lucius, trying wand after wand until something most interesting. Holly with a phoenix feather core, the lone brother to the one that had given Harry his scar. Lucius is intrigued, but Harry is frightened. He tries not to show it, but Lucius can tell. Lucius puts a hand on the boy's shoulder to comfort him and stops to get an ice cream.

Yes, the Dark Lord is gone. No, I don't think he's coming back.

A decade of peace has erased that fear, despite the whispered warnings of Albus Dumbledore.

Lucius has done his best to prepare his boys for Hogwarts. All the right lessons. New robes. New cauldrons. Harry must take care to manage his fame. Draco must stick close to him and keep Harry in good company. But no worries, so many friends already to ride with them.

The train is for Hogwarts. There is no talk of Durmstrang. Harry Potter must go to a school under the Ministry's watch. Draco must go with him. Narcissa fusses over Draco on the platform. Lucius straightens Harry's tie. Good luck, boys. Take care of each other.

Harry smiles. Draco laughs. They board the train, and Lucius takes his wife home.

On the train, Draco and Harry are already surrounded by their friends. Pansy, Gregory, Padma, Vincent, Parvati, even Theodore Nott squeezed into a compartment with them. They jostle and laugh. The girls giggle. Harry treats everyone to treats off the trolley.

"We'll all be together surely."

"In Slytherin!"

"Or Ravenclaw!"

"I'd die of shame if I get Hufflepuff."

"Gryffindor wouldn't be terrible."

"Doesn't matter. We're all friends forever."

"Forever!"

"Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one.₁" A girl with big front teeth and even bigger hair invades their sanctuary. "Hang on, you're Harry Potter! I read all about you."

Harry is wary. Lucius warned him of this. "Who are you?" he asks.

"I'm Hermione Granger."

"Never heard of you."

"Well, I'm not famous."

"There's no toads in here," Pansy interrupts coolly. She feels it her personal mission to guard Harry as well.

"I'll help you look," Draco offers. It seems like the gentlemanly thing to do. Besides this girl is something new, and he wants to explore.

"Draco," Harry says with a warning shake of his head. This girl is unknown to him. Unknown family could mean a Muggle-born, and Lucius would not approve.

"I'll be back," Draco promises and leaves Harry surrounded by their friends.

Up and down the train they walk.

"Let's try here," Hermione suggests, indicating a compartment full of red headed boys.

Draco looks wary. "Weasleys," he warns.

Hermione is not intimidated. "Anyone seen a toad?" she repeats.

"There's one." One of the Weasley twins points at Draco. Draco frowns, but Hermione understands his warning now.

"How rude!" she declares, slamming the door. They stalk down the hall.

"Wait! I'll help you look!" a voice calls. The youngest Weasley, glad to escape his brothers jogs after him. "You shouldn't mind Fred. He thinks he's funny."

The three of them look now. Up and down the halls. "You live with Harry Potter, don't you?" the Weasley asks. "I'm Ron, by the way.₂"

"He's like my brother," Draco tells them proudly.

"Wow."

A dark closet. "Lumos." Hermione's wand lights, and there, nestled in a boot lies the toad.

"Got it," Ron declares. Back to Neville with their prize.

Relief and gratitude shine on the boy's round face.

"Do you know a lot of spells?" Draco asks. He's intrigued.

Hermione Granger grins at him. Her fantastic hair swishes as she turns to grab her spell book. "I've been reading about them all summer, so glad to finally get a chance to try them out." Draco wants to see. Hermione casts charms. Draco's thoroughly enchanted.

He tries a spell too. Hermione corrects his pronunciation. Draco tries again, and this time the sparks fly.

"Wicked!" Ron declares. Neville nervously suggests they shouldn't be casting spells without a teacher around. Hermione considers this, and they play exploding snap instead.

An hour passes, and the cabin door slides open. "Where have you been?" Harry demands, annoyed that Draco has forgotten him. Pansy is with him, delivering suspicious looks to Draco's new friends.

"Oh, sorry," Draco says. "We found the toad."

"Harry Potter?" Neville breathes.

Harry rolls his eyes. "Come on."

With a shrug Draco follows him back to the compartment where their friends are waiting, but Draco is restless now. He knows these people too well, and new connections beckon to him. But Harry is his best friend, so he stays. He tries to tell Harry about the spells, but Harry is not as impressed as Draco might hope.

"I've never heard her family name before," Harry cautions. "You know what that could mean."

"You don't know everything?"

"She could be a mudblood," Harry whispers, trying to make Draco understand. "Father wouldn't like it. He told us to be careful."

"I don't care," Draco declares bravely. "If that's a mudblood, they're brilliant."

Harry worries for his brother now. Draco is given to flights of fancy, and this one could get him in trouble.

But the train has stopped. The boats take them to the castle and now it's time for sorting. Crabbe and Goyle into Slytherin. Granger's turn. Draco's expecting Ravenclaw, but no, Gryffindor! And Neville, Gryffindor too. Draco takes his place on the stool. Hermione smiles at him. He closes his eyes and hopes.

Gryffindor!

Harry's heart sinks. He's a parselmouth. No place but Slytherin for a Parselmouth. How many other friends will leave him? But not all is lost. Theodore goes to Slytherin. Pansy goes to Slytherin. Padma to Gryffindor and Parvati to Ravenclaw, but at least they all escaped Hufflepuff. Harry's turn. He sits on the stool and hopes. For Slytherin, for friends, for Father's--for Lucius's house, for Narcissa's approval, and in he gets. Slytherin!

Dumbledore watches, brow furrowed thoughtfully.

Harry's scar burns, but only for a moment. Pansy asks what's wrong? Nothing, Harry assures her.

Draco's delighted and disappointed. But it'll be okay, he assures Harry. We're still brothers.

To the dorms. Harry to Slytherin. Draco to Gryffindor.

Harry's far from lonely, but he misses Draco sharply. His near brother has a new best friend, a girl, a Muggle-born. Harry tries to reason with him. Father won't like it! But Draco doesn't care. She's the shooting star as far as the teachers are concerned, and Draco's always been attracted to the shiniest thing in the room.

Harry finds some comfort with Snape, who has been almost like an uncle to him and Draco. Harry wasn't sure Severus had liked him at first, but Lucius had insisted Snape give Harry a chance. Time had allowed them to grow close. Snape was a frequent guest at the manor. To Harry's dismay, he wouldn't help with Draco's problem. "It's natural for Draco to make friends with his housemates."

Draco isn't Harry's only worry. His scar has been hurting. This scares him a little, though he can't say why. Sometimes it does. Most of the time it doesn't.

He wants to try out for the Slytherin Quidditch team, but Marcus Flint won't let him. "No first years on my team, but you can be the mascot." Harry fumes at this. Lucius had practiced with him and Draco every weekend. He thinks he at least deserves a chance. He bugs Marcus about it. "Let me try. Let me try." Until the older boy agrees to let him train with the team. "But only as a back up." Harry has to be satisfied with this.

Prospects seem bleak for the Gryffindor team. No good seekers are trying out. Draco and Ron have gone to watch Ron's brothers, but the students trying out are hopeless. This one can't catch a quaffle, much less a snitch. That one can't stay on their broom. First years never make house teams, but Draco feels he has to try. And he does. And he makes it.

Draco can't believe it. Harry can't believe it. Lucius can't believe it. Narcissa's not surprised. Lucius must come to Draco's first game.

So Draco gloats; for once, he's more special than Harry. Harry glowers. How can Draco waste his time with Weasleys and mudbloods? For the first time, the boys aren't all laughter and best friends. They're glares and cold shoulders. Uncle Snape reminds them that they're the closest they have to brothers, warns them that he's uneasy about Professor Quirrelll. Asks them to note anything strange.

Excitement at Halloween, a troll in the dungeons. Harry trots obediently down to the Slytherin common room, Pansy clinging on his arm. He passes Professor Quirrell, and his scar burns. But maybe he imagines it?

He tells Draco. Draco's still too mad to care. Harry just wants attention.

But it's Gryffindor's first game. Draco gets the attention. Youngest seeker in a century₃. Draco doesn't get the snitch, but it doesn't matter, not much.

Classes, exams, burning scar, and back on the train again. Time for Christmas. Harry and Draco back home at the manor. Dinner. Narcissa has missed her son. How is school, Draco? Do you like your classes, Draco?

How is Quidditch, Draco? Lucius asks.

Harry feels the first burn of jealousy. "Draco's a blood traitor!" he declares.

Lucius gives Harry a stern look. Narcissa scowls. "What's that?"

"He's made friends with a mudblood."

"Don't call her that!" Draco snaps. His parents' worst fears confirmed.

"And a Weasley!"

Draco, really? Draco, you can do better. Draco, you know better.

"Ron's cool, and she's brilliant!"

"Draco, I forbid you to speak to that girl again."

Narcissa winces. Draco boils. He runs upstairs to his room. Narcissa shakes her head. Could Lucius have done anything worse than forbid him?

What else could I do? Lucius asks. Draco will see reason. He puts a hand on Harry's shoulder, thankful for the warning. Narcissa goes to sooth her son.

And how has your school year been, Harry? Favorite classes? Any trouble?

My scar, Harry confides. It burns sometimes.

Lucius feels a cold prickle down his back and must know more. Where does this happen? When does this happen? He listens. Bit by bit, pieces fall into place. This teacher, Quirrell, something not right about him. Even Snape suspects him.

Lucius must know if something is threatening his ward. He writes Dumbledore, writes the other governors. Quirrell is out.

Oh, happy Christmas! Harry is all safe and new socks. Draco is all sulks, but mother does her best to cheer him.

Back on the train, to Hogwarts again. Harry is hopeful. Friends to greet him. Maybe his brother will be sensible now? But no, five minutes out of the station, and Draco's off to find Hermione, still boiling from being forbidden.

Harry gives up. After a few weeks, the boil cools. Draco and Harry remember they're best of friends, and a truce is formed.

Harry doesn't know that Dumbledore had discovered Quirrell's secret. He doesn't know that Voldemort fled Dumbledore and left Quirrell to die from his leaving.

No, for Harry it's a fairly normal school year.