Chapter Nine:

A few hours into their train ride and Draco is still seething, silently now, at least.

Earlier, he had been grumbling under his breath and making promising threats that even had Verde nodding along. Ron had looked a little red at hearing the creative ways that Draco wanted to tell Dumbledore to shove it, but nevertheless he more or less agreed. Ron even mumbled a quiet, "I thought he was better than that," which resulted in Draco's eyes narrowing as he started up a whole other rant. And because of that, Nimmy took a surprising liking to Draco. She insisted on getting closer to the blonde and after reassuring Draco that Nimmy had more control than Verde with her anger, (which was a lie, but whatever), she ended up across the blonde's lap and looked pretty smug about it. It seemed, that even Nimmy had gained a favourite.

"Say," Ron pauses to maneuver Verde from where he's trying to climb onto the orangette's head and holds him in his hands instead, "What house do you think you'll end up in?"

"Slytherin." Draco answers instantly. "My family's been in it for generations."

A frown graces Ron's lips. "Same," he says, "I can't imagine being placed anywhere but Gryffindor."

With a tilt of his head, Draco shifts so he's facing Ron fully. "You don't particularly sound happy about that," he points out, gently picking Nimmy up and placing her onto his shoulder instead. The red and yellow snake wraps herself around Draco's neck and gives a content hiss.

"Don't get me wrong," Ron says, "Gryffindor is great. Really, it is. I just..." He trails of unsurely. With a shake of his head, he mutters a quiet, "Nevermind."

When Draco furrows his brows and twists his lips into a deep frown, Harry awkwardly clears his throat to stop him from asking a question which could potentially make Ron sad. Instead, he opens his mouth to speak. "I'd actually like to be in Slytherin," he admits. Ironically, when he says those words, it's like a bit of weight lifts itself from his shoulders.

At once, Ron and Draco gawk at him.

"But, but you're... you're Harry Potter." Draco breathes out, bewildered.

Harry can't help but snort.

About an hour later, Harry comes to realise one tiny, important detail.

Ron doesn't have a rat with him.

Traitor. Pettigrew. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill—

Harry gives a smile that doesn't quite reach the corners of his eyes. He can't think about Sirius. Not here. Certainly not now. "Verde," he calls, slipping into parseltongue. "I need you to stay with Ron until he gets a rat. It's ugly, missing a toe. Don't kill it, just... paralyse it."

"Of course, Master." Verde nods.

Ron and Draco stare at Harry curiously.

"I was just telling Verde to stay with Ron until he gets a familiar of his own." He explains. "Since it looks like you don't have one yet."

"Oh, um, thanks." Ron flushes and ducks his head, nuzzling his cheek carefully against Verde's black and green scales. "I'll take good care of him." He murmurs.

There's a sudden hoot at the side of the window which catches the three's attention. Harry slides the window open and steps to the side as a flurry of white feathers flies in. The coldness of the outside sends shivers running up his spine.

"Hedwig?" Harry raises a brow as the white owl sits on his shoulder. She gives another hoot and holds out a clawed foot. There's a small parcel attached to it.

"Did you order something?" Ron asks, holding Verde closer to his chest.

Going through his recent memories, Harry realises that he had indeed ordered something. A book, actually. "Yeah," He answers. "I did." Harry detaches the parcel from Hedwig's leg and then watches as the owl swoops back outside. He then quickly slides the window closed and sits back in his spot.

"What is it?" Draco asks.

Harry fiddles with the brown wrapping paper and opens it apart. "I ordered a family tree book," he says and then quietly adds, "I wanted to see if I had any living family out there."

"Maybe you do." Draco leans closer to peer at the book. "I think we have the same one in our library, but I've only looked through it about twice. I don't remember much of it, if I'm being honest."

Running his fingers down the simple black cover with a white tree, Harry hums. He then flips it open and thumbs through the pages. They feel soft under the pads of his finger tips. He stops when he gets to the Potter page. There are hoards of names, Hardwin Potter, Henry Potter, Fleamont and Euphumia Potter, Charlus Potter and... Dorea Potter (neé) Black.

"Oh." Harry blinks. "It says here that my grandmother was a Black."

"Really?" Draco raises both his eyebrows in wonder.

"Yeah," Harry nods. And upon further inspection, there's a Greengrass, a Rowle, a Sayre and also someone by the name of Linfred of Stinchombe. "Here," Harry says, passing along the book to Draco who grabs it eagerly. "You can have a look through it."

"Thanks." Draco mumbles and then starts flipping through the pages with a weird glint in his eyes. Ron shoots closer to the blonde and looks over his shoulder. "What are you looking for?" He asks.

Draco doesn't answer him. Instead, he stops at a page and grins. It's not a nice grin either, it's kind of sharp. It looks odd on Draco's young face. He places the book onto his lap, points something out to Ron and then moves his finger across the page a few times. Each time, Ron's face brightens in surprise more and more.

Harry watches as Draco wraps an arm around Ron's waist and pulls him closer to himself, like personal space suddenly doesn't seem to matter to him at all. Ron instantly blushes and raises his head, eyes wide in alarm. Draco also raises his head, but now their faces are mere centimetres apart.

Popping an apple flavoured sweet into his mouth, Harry gazes at Draco and Ron with rapt attention. Dear Merlin, those two looked like they were about to kiss.

Draco smoothly tilts his head and moves to talk directly into Ron's ear. The movement looks so easy, too. He whispers something that has Ron gasping and exclaiming, "Really?"

"There's also a Black in the Weasley family." Nimmy voices quietly from Draco's neck. "Two of them actually. And a Crouch," she pauses as she squints her eyes down at the book on Draco's lap. "These human letters are always so hard to decipher," She complains. "There's also a woman by the name of Yaxley."

Harry props his elbow onto the ledge of the window and places his chin into the palm of his hand. Huh. So the Weasley's, a prominent light family, were related to some dark families as well? That was interesting to know.

The rest of their journey is spent on mindless chatter. They talk about which lessons they're excited for, which Professors they'll hope they have and many other things. Eventually they get changed into their robes and before they know it they're getting herded onto small boats by Hagrid.

It hurts to see him.

But it's even more painful to see Hermione stood at the side, awkwardly climbing into a boat along with Neville.

"You alright, Potter?" Draco asks, turning back around when he doesn't feel Harry following after him

"Yeah, Draco." Harry smiles, "I'm good."

"It's cold," Ron complains once Draco and Harry join him in the boat. He tucks his hands between his knees and hunches his shoulders. "And we're surrounded by water. It's making me anxious."

"He certainly smells like it." Verde comments somewhere from underneath Ron's robes. He's hiding inside them, trying to keep himself warm.

"It's okay," Harry reassures, "the trip shouldn't be too long."

"Hopefully," Draco mutters under his breath.

When Hogwarts comes into view, Harry can't help but give a content sigh. He's home. He's finally back home. Students all around him awe at the sight and whisper amongst each other. Harry helps Ron climb out of the boat and onto the ground. He looks very thankful. The trek up to the castle is oddly silent, like the new students are filled with so much wonder that it's made them speechless.

The moment Harry steps foot into the castle, warm magic washes over him to welcome him back, almost like a mother would do when her child returned home from playing outside. It felt nice and calmed him down.

Before Harry even knows it, they're walking into the great hall in pairs. Harry is stood next to some female he doesn't know the name of and behind him, Draco walks with Ron.

Harry overhears Ron whisper, "What if we have to battle a troll?"

Draco answers him with an amused, "maybe we do."

It makes Harry give a small laugh.

One by one, the students are called out by Minerva Mcgonagall. One Hufflepuff here, one Ravenclaw over there, a Gryffindor here and a Slytherin there. On and on it goes, until Hermione Granger is called. The bushy haired girl sits on the stool for a long while, much like she had the first time. Harry waits for the hat to shout Gryffindor, but when it opens its mouth to speak, it releases a yell of, "RAVENCLAW!"

With an open mouth, Harry claps along with the students. What's going on? Why wasn't Hermione in Gryffindor? Granted, she would probably do better in Ravenclaw, but still. This was confusing. And weird.

After a while, Draco Malfoy struts to the front. The hat barely touches his blonde hair before it bellows out a, "SLYTHERIN!"

A few minutes later, Ron hesitantly takes a seat on the stool. The hat is placed onto his ginger hair. Harry sees Ron mouthing words, but he can't quite make them out. It isn't really much of a surprise when the hat twists the corners of its supposed mouth and reluctantly yells out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Harry claps the loudest when Ron gives a blinding smile and happily makes his way towards the table of yellow and black. Somewhere in the back, Harry hears a perfectly timed, "That's our Ron!" It's definitely from the twins.

Professor Mcgonagall skims her eyes over her piece of parchment. "Harry Potter," she voices softly.

Dumbledore leans closer over the high table, peering down at the first years with twinkling eyes.

Harry steps up, ready to overthrow everyone's game.