Common Dislikes

By Angelis Raye

AN: A challenge from the Sacred Bookshelf! The specifics:

Theme: What if Harry had picked Draco over Ron?
Genre: Angst
Rating: T or under.
Word limit: 1000-2500

!- Harry's Point of View -!

There was nothing that could have stopped his choice when Hagrid had decided to take him to the shops in Diagon Alley the next day, favouring to go when it wasn't as crowded. That day, Hagrid was cursing all day: someone had successfully stolen from Gringotts on his birthday. Oddly enough, Harry didn't get pointed out to very many people as he might have the previous day.

The day that Harry went to catch the train, he was just as down as he ever was. He had wanted to get their early so that he could make sure that he wouldn't miss the train, if it was really going to be there. After searching for a bit and not finding it, tired of hauling around his cart, Harry sat on it, waiting for some help. He'd already asked the conductors, but they thought he was crazy. Perhaps that Hagrid person was lying to him that time!

Suddenly, Harry saw a streak of white and black out the corner of his eye. There were two men -- one his age and the other was old enough to be the parent. The two of them were talking that marked them distinctly as magical folk.

"Father… why must we come this way? It's… full of those disgusting muggles!" the boy whispered fiercely, hold his cloak close to him.

"Draco, we must see if he's here. You know that… it would do our master a great good if we were able to get him on our side." The elder was walking with a cane that looked like he didn't really need, but it looked for show. Indeed, these two people were like the some of the wealthier-looking wizarding families that he'd been told about by Hagrid.

Knowing that these two would be able to help him, Harry stood and dusted himself off. "Sirs?" he asked, a bit shy. "Could you help me find Platform 9 ¾?"

!-!

"You're Harry Potter?" Draco (Harry had gathered that was his name) asked, surprised.

"Yeah… that's me. It seems that I'm quite a celebrity…." he grumbled.

"Oh, yes… but did you know what you did?" the blond raised both of his eyebrows.

"Well, not really. I don't remember much from when I was a year old."

"You," Draco swallowed -- he had to get the boy into his "master's" hands. "It was you… of course! No one can destroy the Dark Lord on purpose at one year of age!" he chuckled lightly.

!- A Year Later -!

"Harry, why don't you just run away from those stupid muggles, then?" the blond drawled, looking over his shoulder at his scowling friend.

"Because then Dumbledore would just stick me right back there! And they might not give me enough food for me to last out the summer, is why!" Harry replied, grounding Dumbledore's name out like a dirty word.

"That's true…" Draco thought for a moment. They were on the train back to Hogwarts again, in the same compartment that they'd be in the time they'd first become friends. "What do you think might happen this year?" he asked. He knew his father had been up to something when they had visited Diagon Alley earlier the summer with Harry, after they'd gotten him from the muggles' house.

"Draco, I'm sure that whatever your father has planned will work just fine."

"As long as it kills all the mudblood, right?"

"Oh… that would be a nice benefit."

!- Another Year Later -!

"Draco," Harry asked, watching the scenery pass by as they were on the train. "Is Sirius Black really a member of the Dark Lord's highest?"

"Oh… you heard that rumour?" Draco laughed, amused by the statement. "Well, no really. He was framed, from what my father said. Wormtail -- he's a Death Eater -- pretended he was killed by Black when he was actually trying to get revenge. He was locked in Azkaban for it, really!"

"Blood traitor?"

"Yeah, he was… my mother's cousin, really. Such a shame, that. Two of the Blacks were traitors and then one has to run off and die."

"I still can't believe that Dumbledore still has his position after what that Weasel did," Harry muttered, frustrated as his eyebrows knitted together.

"You're just upset that you weren't the one responsible, is all! Really, I think that you hate mudbloods and muggles just as bad as they said Salazar Slytherin did! No wonder you can speak Parseltongue."

The dementors only showed Darkness… his memories flitted through his mind, but it wasn't enough to effect him as it did the mudbloods.

!- And Another Year Later -!

"Harry… you know what's going to happen this year, don't you?" Draco asked, intrigued.

"Since I don't think it's any of your business…" he trailed off, his head was against the glass.

"That's not very fair!" he scowled.

"Your father thinks that you may ruin it with your overzealous attempts, Draco. Don't question your father's orders."

"I hate it when you're right, Harry… But you're often so quiet that it doesn't happen very much." Smirking, Draco could only imagine what was going to happen in their fourth year.

!- The night of June 24th, the Third Task-!

"Ah, yes… Harry Potter, I'm glad you came tonight," the Dark Lord hissed, drawing closer to Harry and the other Hogwarts champion -- Cedric Diggory. The weak Slytherin heir ordered him to be bound to a headstone as Wormtail gathered supplies for the potion that Harry knew he would be helping with.

When it was over, the Dark Lord arose from the cauldron more human than he would have been without the Sorcerer's Stone from Harry's first year. It had sustained him enough to give him a better hold on the soul that he had left and it was all because Harry had been taken to Diagon Alley a day later.

!- A Year and a Few Months Later -!

"Harry, you're supposed to kill him?" Draco asked, bewildered.

"I'm foretold to -- that doesn't mean I have to," Harry grumbled, his face tinged slightly red.

"It doesn't do for a Slytherin to blush, Harry…"

End.

I know that it was a little awkward to say the least, but I believe it turned out somewhat all right. I wanted it to be a little awkward to keep off-balance.

This was my first Harry Potter one shot!

Was it all right?