AN: Fun fact, the name I gave Draco's owl in this chapter is the actual name of the Owl that was used in the Movies for him.

To fix my mistake

Chapter 4

-Dumbledore-

Frowning, Dumbledore looked up from his desk at the sound of tapping at his window. The source, as it turned out, was an incredibly small owl carrying a letter. Curious, he let the bird in and took the delivery, cutting open the envelope to see it was from his 'spy' with young Ronald.

Sir,

I went through the train to find the person you asked me to keep an eye on. I found him spending time with the Heir Longbottom and the Heir Malfoy. They were telling Longbottom about a plan they'd made over the summer where they were having their trust fund money moved to a new account as they expected for Malfoy to become disowned and that the person you asked me to look out for wasn't going back to his relatives. It seems this alliance was made before our own meeting. They also made mention of wanting to go to the same house. I'll work on finding more information and finding a way to intercede, perhaps when Malfoy and maybe Longbottom as well aren't around to contradict me or sabotage. If I don't get any other orders from you, I will assume that this plan is acceptable.

R

Mildly impressed at the young man having had the forethought to at least keep out the names of himself, Dumbledore, and Potter, he nodded to the small owl, letting it fly off without a response. If the scion of a Death Eater was already trying to sink its claws into Mr. Potter, especially one as rebellious as this 'Draco Malfoy' apparently was then they could be an issue. He needed Potter to be pliable, not rebellious. The pocket change he'd given the young redhead proving to be an acceptable investment. Now though, he had to ensure that the Sorting Hat obeyed the Greater Good and placed Potter into Gryffindor where the young Weasley boy could keep an eye on him. This Malfoy child could be sent to Slytherin, see if that ignoring of their 'plan' caused them to stop their interactions.

Humming to himself, he remembered hearing how Severus had been a frequent enough factor in the Malfoy household as the heir grew up. Perhaps have a situation that Minerva will be required to handle so Severus can go collect the first years from Hagrid. Children were petty and stupid, having an obvious authority figure showing disdain for one of their own and they'll ostracize him instantly. By the time they learn that Severus hated most of the students it would be too late and the young Weasley will have gained the Potter boy's trust.

With a grunt, he pushed himself from his chair to begin arranging things as they needed to be. For the greater good, everything had to go a certain way and nobody but him seemed to truly understand this, nobody but him was truly dedicated to the future of the wizarding world.

-Harry-

Laughing, Harry watched Draco wipe the goo from the gobstones off his face, his blond friend having just gotten doused during their game. "Laugh it up glasses." Draco flicked some of the gobstones fluid over at Harry and a nervously snickering Neville.

"Thank you for the invitation, I think I will." Harry grinned smugly, Hedwig hooting in agreement from his side while Draco's own Owl, a massive Eurasian Eagle-Owl named Ulysses, gave her the stink eye.

"Hello!" hearing a voice shouting from outside, Harry opened the door to see a kindly woman with a cart full of candy, "Anything off the trolley dears?"

"Chocolate frogs and wands please." Harry grinned eagerly, having discovered he had a sweet tooth over his time in Diagon Alley.

"Droobles for me." Neville requested nervously.

"Sugar Quills if you have any ma'am." Draco gave a polite nod as the elderly witch passed over their purchases and rang them up before moving on down the train.

"So, what house are you hoping to go to Neville?" Harry asked, getting back to their earlier conversation as he began diving into his sugary sweet lunch.

"W-well my parents were in Gryffindor." Neville gulped awkwardly, "And G-Gran tells me I should be more like my dad." Harry saw the expression on Neville's face, so similar to his own when people had asked about his parents in the past.

"But what house do you want?" Harry pressed, "I mean, Draco's parents want him to be in Slytherin, but he doesn't want that. So, what do you want?"

"I…Hufflepuff sounds nice." Neville flinched, as if expected to be teased, when nothing was said, the pudgy boy continued "They're supposed to be about loyalty right? Maybe…maybe I can make more friends. And if everybody already thinks little of them then they won't expect as much out of me. Oh! And their head of house is the herbology professor!" at the mention of that subject, Neville's face lit up brightly.

"Well Hufflepuff sounds good." Harry nods, giving Neville a smile.

"And you mentioned Herbology, are you good with plants?" Draco leaned forward intrigued.

"Yeah, I've always been happiest in my garden." Neville admitted shyly.

"That's awesome Neville!" Harry grinned excitedly and clapped his friend on the back "I really like Runes myself. And Draco's good at evil math magic."

"Wait what?" Neville blinked confused.

"For the last time Harry, Arithmancy isn't evil." Draco threw his head back and groaned dramatically.

"Math is evil, therefore math magic is evil." Harry nodded, perfectly confident in the logic of his statement.

"Still, if you're good with Herbology then we have all we need for wand making." Draco started getting excited, "Runes, Arithmancy, Herbology, and being able to get the cores from magical creatures are the things needed to make wands. We can always have someone else get cores for us for now but making wands sound awesome!"

"Yeah!" Harry started bouncing excitedly, "And I read about how runes can be used to enchant things. Hey Draco, we have a business here!"

"Hmmm, Draco and Harry's wands and enchantments does have a good ring to it." His blond best friend mused intrigued.

"Excuse you, It's Harry and Draco's."

"Draco and Harry's!"

"Harry and Draco's!"

"What about me?" Neville piped up as Harry and Draco both turned towards him.

"Neville's wonderous house of plants." They decided together, "You grow the wood, we make the wands."

"So, I don't get a say in this?" the nervous boy and his toad tilted their heads together.

"Nope."

"Not really."

All Neville could do was pout.

-Ron-

Following the half giant, Ron kept an eye on Harry, Malfoy, and Longbottom. "No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid shouted as everyone got to the edge of the lake. Moving quickly, Ron managed to get the last spot in a boat with his target. The others turned towards him, Longbottom vaguely recognizing him by the hair even if they'd never met. Harry showed zero recognition, which wasn't surprising. The issue though was that Ron could feel Malfoy didn't trust him. There was no real outward sign, the blond death eater in the making looked as polite as could be on the outside but something in Ron's gut told him to be careful around this one.

"Hey, I'm Ron, Ron Weasley." He ginned, trying to look easy going and welcoming even sa he wanted to glare at the Death Eater wannabe. He'd have to be careful though. This was like chess, no need to play his hand too early, wait for Harry to trust him first, maybe let Malfoy show his own colors too.

"Harry Potter." Harry nodded with a friendly smile and a wave.

"Neville Longbottom." The nervous first year he'd heard was a near squib nodded.

"Draco Malfoy." The Slytherin trying to hide its colors nodded cordially but stiffly.

"I can't believe I'm finally here." Ron looked up at the castle, not having to fake his jubilation at being here at the world's best school for magic, finally having a chance to prove that he was better than his siblings, that his family were idiots for writing him off.

"I know right!" Harry's eyes sparkled, "I can't believe this, all of this, is real!"

"It's real buddy." Draco shot Harry a grin that most would believe was genuine, but Malfoy couldn't fool Ron.

"So, Ron, what house are you hoping to get?" Neville asked curious.

"Gryffindor of course." Ron puffed up proudly "Where dwell the brave at heart. It's the house of heroes!" after hearing their conversation before he knew he couldn't outright insult other houses, but he could still praise Gryffindor like it deserved. And so, a debate was made about what houses everyone was expecting and, no matter how much he tried, he wasn't able to keep the focus on the Lion House where it needed to be.

Getting across the lake, and the crowd mingling to the point Ron wasn't alone with the group anymore, he saw Hagrid knock on the massive wooden doors as they opened to reveal a man who, judging by the greasy hair and hooked nose, was the 'Professor Snape' his siblings all complained about. "The Firs years professor." Hagrid nodded before heading to put away the boats.

"You all will file in and remain silent." Snape scowled down at everyone before his eyes zeroed in on Harry, "Ah, Mr. Potter, our new…celebrity." The disdain in the man's voice was palpable, "I expect you to behave yourself instead of making a ruckus like your glory hound of a father." A few people shifted away from Harry awkwardly, likely trying to avoid drawing the professor's attention.

"Professor, you're being quite unprofessional." Malfoy gave the professor a hard look as the Potions teacher blinked stunned, "Insulting a student like that before they're even sorted? I won't stand for you treating my friend like this." Ron saw Harry look gratefully at Malfoy and Neville who'd given a nervous nod of support.

Inwardly Ron was cursing himself for not having taken the chance to do something and get Harry feeling indebted to him instead of Malfoy. Focusing on his plans and ideas on how to salvage the situation, he just followed the flow of the crowd. It wasn't until he heard the name "Draco Malfoy." That he looked up, just in time to see the ancient sorting hat proudly shouts "Ravenclaw!" as Malfoy took it off with a polite nod to the professor holding the hat, waving to Longbottom who sat at Hufflepuff and Harry who was still in the throng of unsorted students.