Paternal Instincts

Chapter 8

"So, I assume your favorite Quidditch team is the Phoenix Pioneers, since your dad owns it," Draco broke the silence after the initial discomfort about his scar and mother's death has passed.

"Yeah ... but my personal bias aside, it's a good team though," Harry shrugged.

"That's true, I suppose. I usually root for the Pioneers when they aren't playing against my favorite team, the Blazing Dragons," said Draco

"The Blazing Dragons? Good team. Abrith is a great Keeper and Yaxley is a great Beater."

"They are, aren't they? I like the chasers, Triton and Brinx from the Pioneers."

"They're the best," Harry agreed.

"Isn't it nice that you finally found someone to talk about Quidditch with, Draco," Theo looked up from his book.

"Oh, in case you didn't know, these three are hopeless if you ever want a conversation about Quidditch," Draco explained to Harry as Theo playfully held out his tongue and went back to his book. "Did you see the Quaffle that Abrith saved in the last ten minutes of the game when they played against the Chudley Cannons in the semi-finals? Impressive wasn't it?"

Harry and Draco continued having a fascinating conversation about Quidditch and eventually went on to talking about the spells that they tried at home and the subjects they were most interested in learning. They were both the most interested in the subjects involving a wand and the least interested in the "boring" History of Magic.

At about half past twelve, the trolley lady arrived and the five boys bought a handful of treats from her cart. They discussed Chocolate Frog cards and the wizards on the cards. Albus Dumbledore was on one of their cards. To Harry's surprise and discomfort, all boys expressed a disdain for Dumbledore whom Harry thought to be quite respectable from what he had heard of him. The headmaster had also visited his place a few times. But he recalled what his dad said about Lucius filling Draco's mind with rubbish and knew that their fathers were responsible for putting such thoughts into them. To avoid his dissonance, Harry changed the topic to Nicholas Flamel, a wizard on another one of their Chocolate Frog cards.

Crabbe and Goyle noisily threw Bertie's Every Flavored beans at each other as they tried to catch the beans with their mouths. They were only successful about half the time.

"Just ignore them. They love acting all silly. You'll get used to it," Draco said to Harry as he shot them a slight glare. "Are you still hoping to get into Gryffindor?"

"My dad said it doesn't matter which house I get into, but I can tell that he would be slightly disappointed if I don't get into Gryffindor. I hate disappointing my dad."

Harry didn't want to specifically mention Slytherin as not to hurt the feelings of the boys he knew were planning on getting into Slytherin.

"I understand what you mean. My father would be disappointed if I don't get into Slytherin and I hate it when I disappoint my father too," said Draco understandably.

"Me too", Theo agreed.

"I suppose it might be a bit of a problem if you got into Slytherin. My father told me that that Professor Snape and your dad used to hate each other in school. Not just your dad, but your godfather too. He's my mother's cousin isn't he?"

"Do you know Professor Snape?" asked Harry.

"He comes around for dinner occasionally. My father used to be his mentor during his first year and my father's seventh year. They're still quite close."

"Is he alright?" asked Harry, trying but failing to hide the slight fear in his voice.

"He's alright. You're afraid he'll take out his hatred for your father out on you, aren't you? He can't take out his grudge on you even if he wanted to. He's not allowed to. And with your fame, he can't get away with it either," said Draco.

Just then, the compartment door slid open and a girl with bushy brown haired girl entered with a shy looking, round faced boy beside her. They both looked familiar and the girl was already dressed in her Hogwarts robes.

The girl introduced herself as Hermione Granger and the boy beside her as Neville Longbottom and asked if anyone saw a toad as the boy had lost his. She had a bossy voice. All five boys shook their heads. The girl then stared at Harry and he recognized her. She was from the sister school of Brownstone, the all boys private school he used to attend. Her school was right across his school. He had seen her a few times and he knew her by name, but they had never spoken to each other.

His class teacher had told his class all about how Hermione Granger was the top girl in her school and how her grades were higher than theirs. Harry was in the Honours class and a few boys in his class felt insulted that a girl got better grades than them. Harry usually got mostly As and a few Bs. He was really good at Math and usually got A+s for it.

"You're from Brownstone aren't you?" asked Hermione.

"Yes," said Harry.

"Are you muggle-born too?" she asked excitedly.

"No, he's not muggle-born. He's half-blood. But I suppose I can't expect a mudblood like you to know who Harry Potter is," said Draco.

Harry's stomach let out an uncomfortable lurch. Hermione didn't seem shocked and he knew it was because she didn't understand what the word "mudblood" meant. This made him sympathize with her even more. The boy with her, Neville Longbottom looked shocked and just as uncomfortable as he felt. He now remembered hearing about Neville's parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom who were part of the Order of the Phoenix with his parents and were tortured to insanity by four Death Eaters. He remembered seeing his parents on a group picture of the Order. That's why Neville looked familiar, as he had a striking resemblance to both his parents.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Hermione's eyes glowed as she eyed him intently.

Harry nodded.

"I've read all about you. Did you know you were in ..."

"Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century. Yeah, I know," Harry finished for her.

"Look ..." Draco began.

"We've already said that there isn't any toad in here. Will you both please look elsewhere. We'll let you know if we see one," Harry cut Draco off as he stood up and ushered them outside of the compartment.

He didn't want to hear Draco insult Hermione for being muggle-born again. Even if she seemed a bit annoying as a know-it-all with a bossy voice, Harry didn't think she deserved to be insulted for her blood-status.

"How rude", Harry heard the girl say as he closed the compartment door.

"Thanks Harry. I thought we'd never be rid of that mudblood", said Draco. "And why is that boy concerned with finding his toad? If I had a toad, I'd lose it on purpose, wouldn't you?"

"Umm hmm," Harry agreed.

They remained silent for some time as Harry was left to his thoughts. He was really confused and didn't know what to feel about Draco. On one hand he seemed alright and it was nice talking to him about Quidditch, school subjects and family. On the other hand he was prejudiced against muggle-borns and his father was a supporter of Voldemort. But his Uncle Remus did say that Draco was only eleven and he could possibly change his opinions with the right influence. Could he really be influenced to be changed his bigoted mindset with the right influence? 

=to be continued=

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Sorry that this chapter was fully on the train. I needed an elaborate train sequence between Harry and Draco for the future plot. Please let me know if it's too draggy and if I should hasten the pace of my story.