More to Life

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Chapter Six - Two Years Later: Hogwarts Letters and Train Journeys

Nearly two years had passed since Harry's trip to Hogwarts and it was finally the summer before he would be starting school there himself. He found it difficult to sleep at night nowadays, so excited that the next morning might bring the arrival of his Hogwarts letter. So far there had been nothing. It wasn't bothering him too much since a letter from Draco a few days before had told him that the blonde boy hadn't gotten his yet either.

Just a few more days, Harry thought to himself, it can't be much longer now, can it?

Even though Dumbledore had once again offered Harry the chance to go to another family for a few weeks, he had said no. What has he got against Narcissa? Harry mused. Ok, so her husband was a Death Eater, didn't mean that she would be. He honestly liked Narcissa. She treated him much better than his Aunt or Uncle ever had.

Rain fell against the large glass windows of Harry's bedroom. He was back at Severus' mansion once more after spending much of the last two years at Draco's home. Harry had to admit it was the best two years of his live. The next seven promised even more and because of that, Harry couldn't wait.

Harry rolled himself over onto his stomach. It was a morning ritual these days. He would stare at the window to see if there was any sign of an owl. He'd wait for the inconspicuous tap at the glass, a sound he had gotten used to since Draco started sending him letters when he wasn't around. He hadn't seen the blonde since Hogwarts broke up for the summer, three weeks ago. He kind of missed the arrogance of his friend, how they would both end up joking about, pushing each other, trying to out fly each other.

Harry was just about to push himself out of bed, giving up hope for a letter that day when he heard a small tap. His head shot around to look through the window and sure enough there - squawking madly while flapping its wings rapidly - was an owl. It defiantly wasn't Draco's owl, Arwen.

Harry jumped off the bed and raced over to open the window. The Tawny Owl landed on Harry's bed and shook its soaking wet feathers. Harry let out a groan.

"Stupid bird," he muttered under his breath as he walked towards it. The letter on the owl's leg seemed perfectly dry. Without giving it a second thought, he untied the letter from the bird's leg and stared at the address written on the envelope in emerald green ink; Mr H. Potter, The Second Biggest Bedroom, Snape Manor, Plastow Green, Berkshire. He pulled out the letter and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

Dear Mr Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a letter of all necessary book and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress.

Harry couldn't keep the grin from emerging on his face. He quickly gave the annoyed owl a piece of bacon he had left over from the breakfast one of the House elves had given him and took off downstairs, leaving the window open so the owl could leave on its own accord.

Severus happened to be sat in the dining room, drinking something - Harry couldn't tell what - while reading a letter. The dark haired man shoved the letter in his pocket as he caught sight of Harry. The boy gave Severus a weird look but shook it off. The letter was probably nothing and besides, Harry had better things to be thinking about.

"I got my Hogwarts letter!" Harry shouted.

He could have sworn he heard Snape mutter, 'About time'. Harry was about to say something when Severus beat him to it. "Now you only have to wait another month."

Harry groaned. He knew that, he didn't need reminding. At least he had his birthday to look forward to in a few days. He already knew Severus was going to give him the key to his family's vault to keep for himself. The only thing was that he wasn't allowed to take it to school with him, though Harry could accept that; it wasn't as if he'd need it at school anyway.

Harry sighed, still gripping the Hogwarts letter in his hand. He noticed Severus had left the room while he was musing. Seeing no other reason to be downstairs, Harry returned to his room.

As he pushed the door to the room open, he noticed another owl sat in the place where the school owl had been a little while before. This owl he recognised.

"Hullo Arwen," Harry said fondly, stroking the head of the large brown and black Eagle Owl. He pulled the letter off the bird's leg and ripped it open in a hurry.

Dear Harry,

I will be seeing you in a few days anyway so I will make this short. I got my Hogwarts letter this morning. The owl woke me up at five am so I am not best pleased about it. (Here, Harry giggled) Just writing to see if you had gotten yours. It may be a stupid question but who says they haven't forgotten you? It's a long shot seeing as though you are Harry Potter. You should know I'm manically laughing at you now. (Harry groaned. Draco still liked to rub in the fact that Harry was famous just to annoy the poor dark haired boy.) Only a month to go now.

Is Severus being... I don't know... weird? My Mother got a letter yesterday but she hid it as soon as I walked in the room. When she thought I had left she burnt it. I'm probably looking into it more than what it is, but you can't help but be a little careful nowadays, right? I wonder if this is the reason we went on holiday at such short notice. I wonder if it is about Death Eaters...

Anyway, I'll see you in a few days.

Draco

Harry had almost forgotten about how Severus had hid the letter he was reading as soon as he walked into the room. He re-read Draco's letter again then shoved it in the bedside table drawer. He wondered if it was about Death Eaters. He knew Severus was one, or at least the Death Eaters themselves thought he was one. The Potions master had told him, not outright, that he was a spy for Dumbledore.

Harry hadn't heard anything from the Death Eaters for well over two years now. They weren't just going to give up, were they? Harry was the reason for their Dark Lord's demise. Harry had the feeling that the word 'demise' wasn't as final as he hoped. Draco had told Harry that he didn't believe that Voldemort was truly gone. There was no body on that fateful Halloween night nearly ten years ago. No one knew exactly where he had gone so pronounced him dead.

Harry had this nasty feeling that life at Hogwarts wasn't going to be as easy as he once thought.

*~*~*

Harry's birthday flew by and soon enough it was the first of September.

His birthday had been nice enough. He had gotten the Gringotts key from Severus as well as a Snowy owl to take to school with him, which he named Hedwig. Draco had smuggled him some Dung bombs with a grin, saying how fun Hogwarts would be with them. Narcissa had given him a small snake pendent with two small emeralds for eyes. Harry could feel that some kind of charm was cast on it, though he didn't know what.

Draco had turned up that day with some theories on what his Mother's letter was about. A popular choice was it was from a Death Eater, which one he had no idea. Since Draco's Father had been a Death Eater they probably thought Narcissa was still loyal the Dark Lord.

"She was going around muttering about how the Dark Lord was a half blood and didn't know anything. Did you know he was a half blood?" Draco had asked him.

Harry let out a laugh. "Doesn't that defeat the purpose of what he was doing? Trying to get rid of everyone with Muggle blood when he has it himself?"

Draco shrugged. "No one ever said he was sane, did they?"

They had soon forgotten about the letters, the excitement of going to Hogwarts was catching up with them.

So on the morning of 1 September, Harry had been woken up by Draco jumping on his bed like a mad man.

"Get up," in a voice that betrayed the way his face was lit up. "We'll miss the train if you don't get up right now."

"Oh alright," Harry grumbled. He muttered 'tempus' at the air in front of him and watched a faint trace of light write the time. 5.30am. "Draco!" he yelled. "The train doesn't leave till eleven! It's half five!"

"We have to get there the muggle way," Draco said, clearly repulsed by the idea. "There are no floo points anywhere near Kings Cross. We can't Apparate yet and we can't use a Port key near muggles."

Since Severus Snape had already gone back to Hogwarts, Harry had been staying at Malfoy Manor that night. The journey to Kings Cross was uneventful - unless you count Draco's whining. In the end Harry had threaten to clout him around the head if he didn't shut up. Draco kept on whining until he realised Harry was serious then stopped. The rest of the journey was quiet after that.

At Kings Cross, Harry soon realised something.

"Platform nine and three-quarters? Where the... where is platform nine and three-quarters exactly?" Harry found himself staring at the signs that said '9' and '10' but no '9 ¾'.

Draco sniggered. "I worry about you sometimes, Harry." He dropped his voice down to a whisper. "What have a told you about not letting muggles find out about us? Now think about it."

"So it's hidden?" Harry asked slowly.

"Five points to Harry Potter," Draco said with a little sarcasm.

A young looking girl, most likely a first year, heard Draco and gasped. She then ran off to catch up her Mother shouting, "Mum! I saw him! I saw Harry Potter!"

Harry just glared at Draco. "Thanks mate."

Draco smirked. "Don't mention it."

"Believe me, I won't." Harry shook his head. "Today is just going to be one of those days, isn't it?"

"Here we are boys," Narcissa interrupted Harry and Draco's conversation before the blonde could say anything clever. Harry was quite relieved by that. Narcissa bent down to kiss her son on the cheek, but Draco backed away. The blonde woman chuckled. "Don't worry dear, I won't embarrass you," she said fondly. "Have a good year, won't you?"

"Yes, Mother," Draco replied monotonously.

"Too old to show your Mother a bit of affection now, Draco?" Harry asked, the amusement clear in his voice.

Draco scowled and gave his Mother a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you at Christmas, Mum," he muttered.

"Are you going to show me how you get to this platform then?" Harry asked to break the silence.

Draco pointed to the wall they were stood in front of. "See this?" Draco then walked through the wall with his luggage. Harry blinked at the wall for a few seconds before Narcissa's voice snapped him out of his stupor.

"Just walk or run if you want to. You'll walk straight through it as if it was a door." She gave Harry's hair a ruffle. "If you feel like everything is getting on top of you, don't hesitate to write."

Harry looked shyly at the ground. "Thank you. I don't just mean for that either, I mean for everything. You didn't have to take me in..."

"But I wanted to," Narcissa injected.

Harry smiled. "Bye then." Without looking back he walked towards the wall. As Narcissa told him, he did indeed walk through it.

Harry's eyes immediately fell on the scarlet steam train that was waiting next to the platform. A sign on the front of the train said Hogwarts Express and another sign hung over the platform said the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. He saw that Draco had come to stand next to him also looking at the train. Harry smiled. They were finally going to Hogwarts. He wondered if he was going to wake up and find that he had been dreaming about the last two years. Even if he was, he was determined not to waste any time. He grabbed hold of Draco's sleeve and dragged him towards the train before giving him a shove through a carriage door.

They quickly found an empty compartment. Harry quickly gave Draco another shove and slammed the compartment door shut behind him. The dark haired boy glanced at Draco, who was smirking. Neither of them spoke until the train started moving, making its way up the tracks towards Hogwarts.

"Look, I'm going to get noticed at the sorting, right? Just let me deny the fact that everyone is going to be staring at me for a few more hours." Harry interrupted the silence when he noticed Draco was still smirking at him.

Draco honestly felt sorry for the boy now, not that he'd tell him that to his face. "Oh alright," he finally replied. "It's only going to get worse."

Harry scoffed. "Thank you so very much for reminding me."

"I'm only telling you the truth, and admit it you don't get that from me very often." Draco told him. "And besides what do you think everyone is going to say once their precious little Boy Who Lived gets put in Slytherin?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow. "Who says I'll be in Slytherin?"

Draco smirked. "Oh trust me, you will be. I haven't known you for two years for nothing. I'm glad to know I've rubbed off on you."

"Can't you stop being conceited for two minutes?"

"No."

"It was a long shot anyway," Harry said with a smirk.

The door to the compartment shot open and in the doorway stood a small boy, probably an inch or two taller than Harry was. His short light brown hair was spiked with gel and his brown eyes were looking at the two boys sat on the seats.

"Mind if I sit here?" the boy asked boldly.

Harry gave a shrug. Draco looked the other boy in the eye and nodded.

"I'm Blaise," the boy offered when he had had enough of the silence enveloping the compartment. "Blaise Zabini. You're both first years, aren't you?"

Harry gave the boy a nod, while Draco introduced himself.

"I'm Draco Malfoy and that's Harry-"

"Potter," Harry interrupted quietly, looking at Blaise to see what his reaction was.

The brown haired boy just raised an eyebrow ever so slightly and stared intently at Harry for no more than a few seconds.

Harry spoke before Blaise could. "I don't need no wise cracks about my size, or hair, or the scar."

Blaise looked a little taken back before he grinned slightly. "I see you don't take any crap from anyone."

"Blame Draco," Harry commented.

"Yes, by all means blame me for making you the charming person you are right now," Draco said with amusement.

"What, you want me to thank you for being an enormous pain in the arse for the last two years?" Harry said, carrying on the banter between them.

"No, I'd just like a little appreciation once in a while," Draco said in a fake huff.

Harry giggled as once again the compartment door was slammed open. The quite tall, quite plump dark blonde haired boy leaned on the doorway. Harry stopped laughing.

"Heard Harry Potter's on the train somewhere." The boy's eyes flicked up towards Harry's lightening blot scar. "So you're Harry, are you?"

"Unfortunately," Harry mumbled. Draco heard him and sniggered into the back of his hand. The new boy was still expecting an answer. "Yes. And you are?"

"Malkin," the boy replied with a smug grin. "Stuart Malkin." The boy then gave Draco a disdainful look. "What are you doing sitting with Malfoy."

Draco got to his feet, but Harry beat him to talking. "Draco's my friend, which is more than I can say for you."

Malkin scowled at Harry. "So that's how it is, is it?" Without another word the boy walked out the compartment. Malkin's voice could be heard at the other end of the carriage saying, 'Found Potter... Not only that he's hanging around with Slytherins,' followed by people gasping.

"He was friendly," Harry said.

Draco snorted. "Yeah, real friendly. Ten Gallons says he's in Gryffindor."

"No bet," Blaise said, "There's no contest."

"Why is everyone so malicious towards Slytherins? I mean I bet you Gryffindor has some Death Eaters as well, maybe Ravenclaw." Harry asked.

"True, but since most of them come from Slytherin, they immediately think we're all like that," Blaise said. "I wonder if opinions will change if you get in Slytherin, Harry."

"He's right," Draco added, "You're the least likely person to be a Death Eater."

"Think about it though, Draco. It could work the opposite and everyone could fob him off as being one of his most loyal followers," Blaise said.

"You do know how to make me feel better, you know," Harry moaned.

A male voice sounded throughout the train. Attention please. The Express will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave all your belongings on the train; they will be taken to Hogwarts separately.

"We're nearly there then," Draco said quietly.

"Hmm... bye bye quiet life," Harry said dramatically before laughing. The other two boys joined in the laughter.

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Sorry couldn't resist calling Draco's owl Arwen *giggles* plus I suck at names so it's the best I can come up with. Plastow Green is a place in Berkshire, a real place I have no idea what's there though I've never been anywhere near Berkshire in my whole life since I live in Nottinghamshire *waits for people to crack Robin Hood jokes*. Berkshire is a county next to Wiltshire, which we all know now is where Malfoy Manor is. *cheesy grin* See? I have a point for everything... ok most things. If some things sound familiar it's because I had Philosopher's Stone sat in my lap when I wrote it.

Dare I say I see the beginnings of an actual plot!?

Blaise Zabini in the book is never said to be a girl or a boy, so in my story he's a boy. Crabbe and Goyle will appear. The only reason they weren't in this chapter was because Harry dragged Draco onto the train so fast he never found them and never went looking for them since he didn't want to leave Harry on his own. *notices the gagged Draco trying to deny it* Excuse him...

What else... oh yes Stuart Malkin. Yes as in the Malkin shop in Diagon Alley. He's related to the woman who runs the shop, I'll explain later. He's your typical Gryffindor, hates Slytherins *grins* Oh I'm going to have some fun beating him up...

The sorting next chapter. We'll see Ron and Hermione there. *unenthusiastic smile* What's everyone going to say to Harry being in Slytherin?

Leatrix Malfoy ~ 20^th October 2003