The Difference One Frosty Friend Makes:

Summary: Just one difference. One. What would the wizarding world be like if Daphne Greengrass invaded Harry's compartment that day on the train. H/D, very slight Harry/Tracey, R/H, N/L, Minor Dumble bashing. Free!Sirius. Features: Friends from different houses, Weasleys, the Ministry, and Dursleys.

A Harry/Daphne Fanfiction

This story includes a Harry with many different friends other than Ron and Hermione. He will be friends with them and many others. Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Su Li, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Mac Millian, Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, Padma Patil, Blaise Zabini and of course Luna and Ginny and the Creevey brothers, Colin and Dennis. A few of the younger students as well, like Demelza Robins, Astoria Greengrass, Eleanor Brandstone, Emma Dobbs, and Natalie McDonald.

DRACO will be horrible in my book. He's not a nice person.

SNAPE in this story will have a shaky alliance with Dumbledore. He is still the same nasty, snarky, greasy git we all love though.

Minor DUMBLEDORE bashing [done bad things (for Harry) but now repents for them]

Will be a Grey!Harry story.

No pet snakes or an otherworldly creature as a familiar. HEDWIG through and through.

Not a super-powered Harry fic either. He's not the second coming of Merlin, but he will be very powerful, with enough training. Less or on par with Lord Moldyshorts.

FREE!SIRIUS. YAY! Yes he will be free. Not as soon as I would like but, it does happen.

DUDLEY is an idiot, a nice idiot, but one nonetheless. He will be a bully then try and make friends with Harry later. PETUNIA after shown the truth, feels regrets, nothing more. VERNON can go die for all I care. He's horrible.

OTHER CHARACTERS: TED and ANDROMEDA Tonks will be appearing frequently towards the end. As will a nicer NARCISSA Malfoy. FLEUR and VICTOR will be hanging around more after the tournament and will become welcome friends. Ministry personnel that will appear are, Amelia Bones, Kingsley Shackelbolt, Tonks, Gawain Robards, Proudfoot, and Savage.

Harry will also have an active mentoring relationship with the following teachers: Flitwick, McGonagall, Vector, Hooch, and Madam Pomfrey.

This is my first attempt at Harry Potter fanfiction. I'm a native English speaker and took Honors English classes. I hope with as much as I read the books, my spelling will be fine. Watch out for my grammar. It was always weird. I also love commas.

Disclaimer: FMKitsune says 'I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.'

Chapter One: A Cool Breeze (Harry meets Daphne)

At Kings Cross station, a be-spectacled boy with untamed raven hair sat looking at the family of red heads that helped him through the barrier. Harry Potter glanced out the window of the Hogwarts Express every now and then; his eyes studying the children and their mother. He heard a soft click and whipped his head around towards the sound. The door slid open and a girl, who would be considered very cute, with strawberry blond hair and soft brown eyes, came into the compartment.

Harry watched as she closed the door and sat on the opposite seat. She seemed to be peeking out the door and hadn't noticed Harry near the window.

"Hello," Harry asked and watched as she jumped in her seat and looked wide-eyed at him, her hands grabbing the seat stiffly. "Who are you?"

She appeared to compose herself and stare at Harry with cool eyes.

"My name is Daphne Greengrass."

Harry wondered why she suddenly appeared in his compartment. "Why are you here?"

She looked out the door before turning and answering him. "I was hiding from some of the more," a thoughtful look passed over her face, "forward boys."

Harry scrunched up his face, "What?" he said as he looked out the door just as she was.

The girl named Daphne stared at him with tired eyes. "Don't tell me you don't know? Slytherin mean anything to you?"

Face flushing in embarrassment, Harry shot back a quick, "Yeah I've heard of it."

"So you're not muggleborn then?" Her eyebrow curved up slightly and she appeared to be smirking.

Harry's mind was whirling a mile a minute. He didn't know what a muggleborn was and he only heard what Slytherin was from Hagrid and that boy from Madam Malkin's.

Daphne seemed to understand the flashes of emotion that flew across Harry's face and looked at him with a steely gaze- her eyes appearing darker.

"You don't know what that is?"

Harry shook his head and opened his mouth to ask a question but was cut off by the hard voice from the girl in his compartment.

"It means people like you. Wizards and witches that are born from muggle parents. Many people look down upon them, some even call them Mudbloods."

Harry's face flushed. He stuttered out, "M-my p-parents weren't muggles."

Daphne appeared skeptical and continued to look at Harry with confused eyes.

Harry thought quickly about what Hagrid said, "Hagrid said that they were Head Boy and Girl." He had no clue what they were but he heard him say it when he came to the Dursleys.

Daphne's eyebrows arched up and searched him with wondering eyes. She appeared to be looking for words to say. "Really?" was all that came out of her mouth.

They both became silent after her reply. Harry went back to peering out the compartment's window. Unfortunately, he kept thinking about what that girl was here for. He slowly turned to look at her and found her looking at him.

She smirked and said, "I was wondering when you were going to ask me that question."

Harry's eyes widened.

She smiled and shifted in the seat so that she appeared more relaxed. "Come on," she encouraged.

"Um, so, why were you in here?" Harry blushed again. "I mean—"

"I know what you meant."

Her straight forward answer threw Harry for a loop. He sat near the window, stunned at the apparent change in Daphne. She turned her head and glared out the compartment door.

"My family has been in Slytherin house for a long time. I'll be going into that house. It's a hard place to be. My parents explained it to me. They told me to keep my head down and don't stick out. Unfortunately, many of the older Slytherins have the association with the Dark lord's views. The ones who oppose those are looked down upon." Daphne frowned. "You don't know how good you've got it." She whipped her head around and stared intently at him. "You have a choice." With a sudden jerk, the train started moving and the platform started to drift away. The girl looked longingly at the window; Harry could see it in her eyes. "I have to go." She stood up and reached for the compartment door. "Thanks for letting me sit here for awhile." She smiled faintly and stepped out into the hallway, gave a small wave and walked out of sight.

Harry kept staring at the place he saw her last. Not really believing in the strange encounter that happened. What was that? Was that girl really hiding? Harry had no clue what to think anymore. That girl really confused him. He was still watching the door when one of the red headed boys from earlier walked up dragging his trunk.

"Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full..."

Ooo000ooO

Harry Potter clutched his Nimbus 2000 as he stood on the Quidditch pitch. Oliver Wood was jumping for joy (of course), as was the rest of Gryffindor House because he was the new seeker. Harry didn't know what to think about it to be honest. He knew that he absolutely loved the feeling of being in the air. He just felt so incredibly free.

He grasped the broom handle and swung his leg over it and pushed off. The rush of the wind filled his senses as he rose higher and higher, and he stopped. The pace of the broom would be considered mild- right now; he just wanted to get a feel for it. Circling the pitch, Harry sped up faster every lap he took. He suddenly tilted slightly left and took off like a shot, feeling confident. He twirled his Nimbus into a corkscrew pattern and gathered his courage. He pointed his broom straight down and dove. The green of the pitch rose up fast as he concentrated on when to pull up. Eyes squinting, he yanked up at the last possible second; his shoes were dragging across the grass, a big grin appearing on his face.

A faint clapping noise could be heard from his right. He swiveled his head and found himself locked eyes with that girl from the train, Daphne Greengrass.

Cautiously, he drifted over to where she was sitting in the stands. "Umm…" She appeared to smirk at his confusion.

"I followed you here," was her terse reply.

Harry's eyebrow raised and he frowned at her. "Why?"

"You sure like to ask that question don't you, Harry Potter?"

"Well no, but I just don't know why you're here."

Daphne stood up from the bench she was sitting on and walked over to the edge. They were now only a few feet apart. "I forgot to ask you your name that day." here she smirked and rested her head on one of her hands. "Imagine my surprise when I found out I called 'The Harry Potter' a muggleborn."

Harry scowled and replied, "I'm nothing special."

"Really?" She appeared to not believe it. "You're Harry Potter and now apparently the youngest seeker in a century. If that's not special then I'm Professor Dumbledore." Daphne fixed him with a hard stare.

Harry seemed chastised. 'Girls are so confusing.' Daphne seemed to read his thoughts because she blurted out, "Don't pout at me Potter. You know I'm right and no, girls aren't confusing. We just love to tease."

Harry didn't really feel in the mood to argue his point at the moment as he was still hovering quite a bit in the air on a broomstick. Looking down at the Quidditch pitch and tightening his grip on the broom handle, Harry asked, "How's it been so far? In classes and all that…" He trailed off as he saw Daphne shift on her feet out of the corner of his eyes.

"Fine."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. A minute later he finally got the courage to speak- so much for being a Gryffindor. "Really? Um, didn't I remember you say something about Slytherin being bad? I know that from Malfoy but…" Here he trailed off and glanced at her direction. Daphne's face looked as if chipped out of marble and Harry swore if you looked closely enough her eyes appeared to be holding something back.

"I said it was fine Potter. It's as expected." She finished in a frigid tone and glared down her nose at Harry's figure. "Don't ask me that question again."

Harry stared back in shock. What was… he let the thought trail off as he spotted Oliver Wood walking on the pitch with a set of Quidditch balls. He noticed that Fred and George Weasley were doing laps on their brooms. Turning back to face Daphne, "Um, looks like I have to go to practice…" his voice died out as he saw Daphne stand up and walk up, away from where he was hovering. She had almost got to the stairway before she raised her hand and did a backwards goodbye. As her figure disappeared from view, Harry became very irritated and annoyed. What's her game? What was that for? I was just trying to be nice. That conversation was really awkward. I just don't understand what that last part was… He turned and drifted down on his broom. He reached the spot where Oliver was and waited for Fred and George to finish their laps.

"Hey Harry," Oliver started as he came up next to him and placed a strong hand on his shoulder. "Ready for some Quidditch practice?" Harry would have sworn that his face lit up as if it was made out of neon. He must really love this sport.

"I guess." Giving a shrug. His mood was dampened from his encounter with Daphne. He couldn't stop thinking about what he saw. Those eyes- just like his…

Ooo00ooO

Harry had left the talk with Daphne drift from his mind by the time November started. He had many other things to be worrying about; mainly that three headed dog and what Snape wanted with it. He was just about to turn down the hallway to get to the library, when he heard his name. "Potter! Hey, Potter!" He swiveled in his spot and saw what appeared to be a girl running towards him. He was about to ask what she wanted when he noticed that her robes had the Slytherin crest on them. Instantly suspicious, he narrowed his eyes and glanced at her before turning around and continuing down the hallway.

He should never have left Hermione and Ron at breakfast. If he kept going she would just go— he never got to finish his thought when a small hand grabbed his shoulder and wheeled him around. A petite, angry face was inches from his. The girl's long black hair was down a bit past her shoulders and tied back in a low ponytail. He couldn't observe more because he suddenly had to focus his attention on two obviously angry blue eyes that were staring into his. "What the hell, Potter!" The girl was clearly angry about something. "I was talking to you! Do you regularly ignore people when you talk to them? Huh?" She still held the side of his robes and Harry could feel her hand clenching the fabric tighter as he stared back, dumbfounded. She did not want to wait for an answer apparently for she then shouted, "Hey, answer me stupid!"

"Hey, I'm not stupid!" Harry yelled back. This was the worst comeback of the year. Malfoy could have done better.

The angry girl stopped short. Harry strained his ears and heard a small chuckle. She quirked her lips and let out a much undignified bark of laughter. "Oh, Merlin that was amusing, Potter." The Slytherin relaxed her grip on Harry's shirt and pulled her face away from his. She kept on smiling, entertained by the fact that his face was still as confused as ever. He had to close his mouth he didn't know was open. "Daphne had told me that you were a weirdo and couldn't speak correctly. Looks like she was right. I will have to hang around you more Potter. You seem fun," here she held out her hand for him to take, not at all disturbed by the fact that he was staring at it as though it was some disease, "Sorry about the yelling. And I know you don't trust Slytherins all that much, however, just think of it this way…" she trailed off and while still keeping her hand extended, using her left hand to make small gestures, "You don't color a picture all the same color, do you?" the question seemed rhetorical, in Harry's opinion, so he kept his mouth firmly shut. "I know you don't," she kept going, not needing his answer. "Well, Slytherin is like the picture and the people in it are the colors. If we were all the same color that would make a pretty boring picture…" Her eyebrow rose as she let her left hand fall to her side. Harry's mouth opened again, in shock. Was she talking about Malfoy and them? Needing to confirm something he'd been observing for awhile now, he let the question fall from his lips,

"You do it on purpose?"

Real confusion flitted across her face, "Excuse me?"

"You let it happen," he stated a bit shakily, "I think Slytherins are just preserving themselves." His voice grew firmer. "You're not all as nasty as Malfoy and his lot. You just let it happen; the other houses think you are all nasty. You get painted by the same brush because you want to be. Despite there being," here Harry struggled for the correct word, "interesting people in Slytherin, you don't make friends in other houses because it's just what people from Slytherin do,"

The black haired girl opened her mouth to ask something else but Harry was on a row.

"Preservation instincts. The three other houses are against you because they paint you the same color, and you're the same color because you keep your distance… preservation instincts. A vicious cycle. Even if some people did get to know you they wouldn't trust you because Voldemort had come from Slytherin. His house is evil in the eyes of all Gryffindors. It's a shame. You protect each other from the other houses. Loyalty, a Huffelpuff trait. You have to be made of strong stuff to get treated like you do; something from Gryffindor. And cunning and smarts seem to go hand in hand in my book, so that's something from Ravenclaw."

Up until now, Harry had been looking past her, down the hallway. Now he took a small glance at her face and saw blatant shock and a bit of apprehension.

"It's sad really. I've noticed a couple things wrong with Daphne and some of the older Slytherins. They have a mask. I used to do that a lot when my cousin Dudley would pick on me. I wouldn't think I would ever find someone I like worse than Dudley but when I found Malfoy…" Harry looked over his shoulder, out the window, and down towards the frost covered grounds. "When I wanted a friend, Dudley would scare them away. Now that I didn't like Malfoy, the rest of the Slytherins were easy to ignore; use the same color, as you would say. It's easy, too easy, to do that. Everyone is fine with it, but it bothers me. Even though Daphne snapped at me …A few weeks later I realized that she was just protecting her way of life in Slytherin house. That and she's a girl and crazy." He stated this as if fact and peeked back at the girl's face that could now be described as amused awe.

"I'm sorry I did that. I colored you the same. I'm someone who knows what that's like," he frowned, "colored just by reputation."

Harry extended his hand for her to shake; hers long dropped to her side in shock. He didn't wait long for a few seconds after he offered it up, she grabbed it and shook. "I'm Harry Potter. I'm sorry you had to hear me rant like that…" he trailed off, not knowing her name. Merlin, I just was off in my own world with a total stranger. I don't even know her name.

"Tracey Davis. Nice to meet you, Harry Potter. Don't worry about that," the girl, now named Tracey, grinned. "You sure know all about us. Are we that easy to read that a 1st year Gryffindor can see through us like a glass house?"

Harry raised his eyebrows at this, "Glass house? Isn't that a Muggle idea?"

Tracey appeared to be wounded and threw her arms up in the air, "You caught me! I'm a halfy. Dad is a half, mum's muggleborn. Learned a few things." She winked at him. Harry stared at her incredulously.

"How are you so different than Daphne? She acts so cold…" Tracey shrugged her shoulders and Harry figured it just had something to do with the way different people cope. He opened his mouth as more questions poured out of his mouth, "You're a half-blood too? And…" he trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

"What?"

"Uhh…" He struggled for the word.

"Hmm?"

"You know," Harry's eyes met her and he steeled himself to a tough answer. "You know, I think I realized that the Slytherins do that because I can understand you. I think like you do." Tracey quirked her lips again and appeared to be egging him on to continue his thought. "The sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin." Tracey, for her part, looked as if someone just said that Voldemort was a closet Gryffindor.

A few hours later when he found Hermione, he would find out that Tracey's exclamation of, "Bloody Hell!" traveled all the way to her workstation.

Tracey was speechless after that initial expletive. All Harry saw on her face was blatant surprise and disbelief. After she regained the basic functions of her face, Tracey laughed again, "You're pulling my leg Potter." She looked at him, "That has to be the—"she noticed his face was blank, "… You, weren't… kidding?" She appeared to blurt out the words one at a time, not believing what she was saying.

Harry stared back and in an unshakeable voice that caused Tracey to shiver, "No, I wasn't."

"Bloody hell…" This time it was no more than a whisper. "Potter, you…" She stopped talking as she watched Harry's face, which was turning red.

Raising his hand and pointing a finger at Tracey he bit out, "Now you know why I didn't want to tell anybody!" His arms, now folded on his chest, started shaking, "You think this is really funny, really? Harry Potter in Slytherin? Everyone would of treated me the exact same as you and Daphne. Like some disease. Then they would stay away from me because they would think I was mean and horrible like everyone else thinks of you. Now you…" He turned around and started walking away, trying to breathe deeply to calm down. He got a sense of déjà vu when he felt a small but very firm hand grab his robes.

"No!" Tracey shouted getting right up in Harry's face again. "No. You are you. What the hell did we just get through talking about? Well?" Harry only saw a look of pure anger on her face. "I was shocked because you defeated You-Know-Who and then would have been in Slytherin, the so called 'Death Eater' house. That was just something impossible to imagine. You should be you. Don't care about what other people think! Hell! We Slytherins don't care too much so you shouldn't either." Tracey let go of his robes and patted them as if she was dusting them off. Stunned, all Harry could do was stand there, straight as a board. Watching him with sympathetic eyes, she spoke with a soft voice Harry didn't hear her speak in yet. "The Slytherins would understand. They would treat you like one of them. The Ravenclaws would want to analyze you, not really caring about houses. Huffelpuffs, well, they would like you if you stayed on the light side." She scoffed at this, "Which is basically a given…" Her face changed to be extremely uncomfortable. "Now… the Gryffindors…" Harry understood what she was saying. Most of Gryffindor would be against him if they knew. Harry inwardly winced at the thought of Ron knowing.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's understandable." She looked at him searchingly. Apparently finding what she wanted, she smiled sweetly at him. "Thanks for telling me. No wonder you were put in Gryffindor, though. That took lots of guts and courage. Now, I want to tell you the reason I was calling your name earlier," Harry smirked at that. It was so long ago. "I wanted to thank you for talking to Daphne and for what you did on the train for her. It means a lot." Harry opened his mouth in annoyance but Tracey held up her hand, "I know all you did was let her into your compartment and be nice but her family is neutral and to many light side families that is as good as his supporters. She a nice girl once you get to know her. I've known her for years. Our fathers work at the same Law firm." She gazed at him curiously. Harry only tilted his head in question. "I've heard some rumors… That troll on Halloween…" She glanced behind her and behind Harry to make sure no one was there, and in a quiet whisper said, "Did you really kill it?" Harry felt dread clench around his throat. He finally choked out a "What?"

"I heard that you and Ron Weasley killed it that's all."

"No we didn't kill it!" Harry shouted in surprise. He took a moment and calmed himself. Where in the world did she hear those rumors? Who's been spreading them? Hermione will flip out when she hears this! He ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly making part of it stick up to a more obvious point. "No, we, well me and Ron went to tell Hermione there was a troll and when we got to the girls bathroom, the troll was already going in." Tracey gasped and a hand flew over her mouth. "I tried to get it. I jumped on it and then it grabbed me and started swinging its big club at me." Harry stopped the story for a moment, "Ron was having a hard time in charms and all, and he couldn't do the levitation charm correctly, told Hermione off about being a know-it-all afterwards. That's why she was in there for starters." He looked back at Tracey. "Well, Hermione coached him in the bathroom, right then. 'Swish and flick!' So he trapped the club in a wingardium leviosa and then released it, knocked the troll right on the head!"

Tracey lowered her hand revealing a gaping mouth, "Wow. Just wow."

"We didn't kill it. Just knocked it out. Professor McGonagall was having a fit. Hermione took the punishment for us. We got out of there safe. No killing. Not so sure about Snape though…" He mumbled the last bit but she still heard him.

"What about Professor Snape?"

"Uh…" Harry said.

Tracey smirked. "Not this again. Come on, what is it?"

"Well… Snape was limping and his leg was bleeding. We thought he used the Troll as a distraction to get past whatever that three-headed dog is guarding on the third floor…"

"Huh?" Now it was Tracey's turn to be confused. "What dog?"

"Fluffy. Hagrid named it. Horrible name for that… dog. Hagrid says he's guarding something that has to do with a Nicolas Flamel. That's what we think Snape's trying to get. He tried to kill me at the Qudditch match." Tracey appeared stunned. "My broom was jinxed and everything."

Tracey thought for a moment before an answer came, "Professor Snape is a right bloody bastard. A few of the Slytherins hate him for his blatant favoritism. But, how could he do that? Try and kill you, I mean. Doesn't seem like the type. He would probably rather kill you to your face. The three-headed dog is Hagrid's? I knew he was weird." She held up a hand to stave off Harry's protest. "He and his dangerous animal obsession are going to hurt someone someday. Anyway, Weasley would probably know about Flamel. Heck anybody with a lick of sense could figure it out."

Harry's cluelessness appeared on his face.

"Really? With how many of those things Weasley consumes, you would think he would stop to read the back of the cards he gets. Guess I gave him too much credit…"

Harry was really confused. Did she actually know who Nicolas Flamel was? Hermione was going nuts scouring the library for information and all he had to do was talk to Tracey? "Why would Ron know?" He asked. Harry was really confused about that. Ron was helping them search. How could he know?

"Chocolate Frogs, for goodness sake! He eats the lot of them. Dumbledore's card has on the back information on Nicolas Flamel. They made the philosopher's stone… said to grant immortality…"

Harry's eyes widened to the point where they could be mistaken with saucers. "The philosopher's stone… really? Was it that easy- to just look at the back of a Chocolate frog card?"

Tracey stared at him in amazement. "What'd you expect? Some ancient tome of awesomeness to pop out of nowhere and give you the answer? Sometimes you just need to look at the simplest places for answers." She raised an eyebrow as Harry kept staring at her in shock.

"H-Hermione has been going absolutely bonkers, searching the library. The only section she hasn't checked out yet is the restricted one."

"Holy mother of Merlin! Geeze, I've heard stories and all but that takes the cake Potter. Granger is a super bookworm! I have no clue how she is a Gryffindor…" Tracey turned around and peered down the hallway. She walked to the next window over and motioned Harry to follow her. "See there? That tree?" She was pointing to it through the window. Harry followed her gaze and spotted a rather large tree near the lake. "That's going to be our 'friendly spot'." She chuckled at this. "No it's not a romantic spot or someplace where I'm going to lure you to, to have my wicked ways with you." Harry blushed, "It's just going to be someplace private where we can talk as friends. Since nobody trusts us Slytherins. Can you trust me enough to believe me?" Tracey turned to him with pleading eyes. Harry was surprisingly glad that he could answer this question with a simple quick answer.

"Yes." He smiled at her. She smiled in return.

"It was fun, Potter. Being a part of your little adventure was interesting and wild. You have to tell me why you wanted to know about Nicolas Flamel some other time though." She smiled ruefully at her next sentence, "Daphne will start to miss me by now. I better be on my way."

Harry frowned at this. Tracey was really the first person at this school that he felt comfortable around. Hermione was a bit too bossy. Ron was very clingy. Neville was very shy and he couldn't talk properly to the boy. Fred and George were older than him and he was always worried that they would suddenly play a prank on him. Tracey was nice and fun, not bossy, clingy, shy, or a prankster. He wanted to talk some more.

Tracey apparently noticed the look on his face. "That's what the tree is for, duh!" She stuck her tongue out at him. Smirking, she turned and walked down the rest of the hallway. As soon as her figure disappeared from his view, Harry turned back towards the window.

He felt really surprised at himself. Harry's logical side was quite amazed that he made a new friend so easily. He had barely known Tracey for an hour. His heart however couldn't get over the fact that it was so sudden. Harry never had a good friend to talk to when he was at Privet Drive. He hoped that it wasn't too good to be true, that someone else wanted to be his friend. He had connected with Tracey but he couldn't help but feel anxious…. Did she actually want to be friends with me? She could be lying… Harry turned away from the window and started walking down towards the entrance hall. The confrontation with Tracey was confusing and he just wanted to be alone for awhile. However, he decided that he wanted to go visit Hedwig. She wasn't a person and he could use some company he guessed. Turning away from the Great Hall, he walked slowly up towards the Owlery. Grasping his arms over each other to stifle the slight shiver he made, he ascended the steps and turned around to look upwards. A rustle and a soft weight on his right shoulder caused Harry to stare at Hedwig.

"Hi, Hedwig." She hooted as a hand came up to stroke her plumage. "Did you go hunting today?" Harry turned and opened the door to the Owlery and stepped out. A cold breeze flew by and Hedwig ruffled her feathers. "Will you come down to the lake with me girl?" A soft hoot was the reply. He started to walk to the lake at a slow, steady pace. Halfway there, Harry looked over to Hedwig, her face buried in her chest. "Hedwig?" Her face popped out of its hiding spot. "You like me right?" To Harry, for it appeared to be just his imagination but it seemed that Hedwig was glaring at him. "Ok, Ok, I get it." He sat down on a cold rock on the bank and Hedwig hopped to his knee, which he pulled up to his chest. Now fully facing her, he looked in her eyes. Hedwig appeared to know that she should just stand still and watch him back. Reaching up with his right hand, his left firmly grasping his legs together, he stroked her. A quiet voice came next, "Are they really my friends? I can't help but feel that they'll find out about the Dursleys or things…" He lowered his head, "and stop being friends with me…" Hedwig shifted on his knee. He laughed; it sounded a bit harsh. It was all too perfect. He had wished for friends for the longest time. Now he had them; and then what? He had no clue how to proceed. He knew something, anything, was going to happen. And he wouldn't like it one bit.

OOoo00ooOO

It was Christmas morning and Hogwarts was drafty- make that beyond drafty. As Harry curled up into his blankets, he could hear blowing winds and a sharp click, now and then, coming from the furnace in the middle of the room. A ray of light suddenly appeared through the window and hit him straight in the face. Squinting and with a look of disgust on his face, Harry shifted under his covers. The sun just had to wake him up. He thought for a moment if he could possibly go back to sleep. Giving it up as a lost cause after a minute of wishing to sleep, he stretched his legs- and bumped into something. Peering over his covers while sitting up, Harry spotted a pile of presents. A grumble startled him from his intense stare at the objects at the foot of his bed. Ron sat up and rubbed his eyes, blinked a few times, turned towards Harry, then toward his presents. "Christmas!" Thrusting his fists into the air, Ron tore off his blankets and did a jig on the floor. His happy energy spent, Ron flopped onto his bed and grinned at Harry, "Merry Christmas Harry!"

Harry, for his part, was watching incredulously. He could not believe what Ron just did. Where did he get his energy? Harry rationalized it well. He, of course was expecting presents. Harry had no clue, however, why Ron was so happy when he was away from his family. If it was him… No, Harry did not want to go there. A mumbled "Merry Christmas" was all that was heard for Ron had dove into his presents only to open the one from his mother and hold up a jumper that clashed with his hair. "Mine's always maroon…"

Harry watching Ron open his present from his mum found a similar shaped present in his mysterious pile.

"Oh, she knitted you one too."

"One what?"

"A Weasley jumper- Go on, open it!"

A shaky hand attached itself to the wrapping. With a small tug it fell away to reveal a jumper- a jumper… Mrs. Weasley gave him a jumper. His impossibly large eyes roamed over the emerald green jumper…

"It's ok if you don't like it Harry… I mentioned to mum that you didn't expect to get a lot of presents…"

"It's fine Ron. I love it." And love it he did. He couldn't believe that she knitted this all for him. She had only met him once.

As Ron turned back to his presents, Harry grabbed his next one.

From Hagrid. Is it dangerous? -came to mind. Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he couldn't find any air holes… No live animals in there. It was a flute. He gave it a once over in his hands. It's interesting… He picked up the next one only to find it was from his Aunt and Uncle. Out came a fifty-pence coin. Ron was fascinated by it, so it was immediately tossed over to him to keep.

The next one came with a note that said,

Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well.

Harry opened the present and a silvery cloak draped over the bed. It felt like velvet… and so soft.

"Whoa! Bloody hell, that's an invisibility cloak!"

Harry swiveled his head towards the exclamation. Ron was staring at it with wonder in his eyes and a look of awe upon his face.

"Really?" Harry questioned.

"Yeah," Ron gulped, "Try it on."

The cloak slid over his shoulders and he glanced down. His legs were missing! So were his hands! His body was gone!

"That's amazing…"

Ron was still staring at it when the door burst open and Fred and George barged in. Harry quickly stuffed the cloak under his covers.

"Greetings, Oh brother of mine!"

"How are you this fine morning?" Something caught Fred's eye. "Oh? What's this? Harry's got a jumper!"

Harry blushed. George and Fred were getting closer and were inspecting his jumper.

"Ours are never this nice…"

"Harry, what did you do to get this high quality jumper…?"

"It doesn't have a letter on it…"

George dramatically fell back on the door frame. "She doesn't know her own children's names… She doesn't love us…" Fred just stood still pretending to be horrified.

Harry was horrified. Did they think…? "They're just teasing you Harry." Ron snorted from his bed.

Harry's shoulders relaxed. Merlin, they're gonna be the death of me…

Fred picked George off of the doorframe and turned around to look at Harry. "Merry Christmas! Were you guys opening your presents?" He watched Ron give a big smile and Harry a small one. Fred's eyes, Harry noticed, glanced down to his pile. "What's this? An unopened present?" Fred grabbed a small box with a purple bow on top. Harry stared at it as if he had never seen it before. Really- he hadn't. Was that present hiding? How did he not know about that one? -or see it? His stare never wavered as Fred shook it and determined that it wasn't anything breakable.

"Who's it from?" asked George as he dropped his elbows up, onto Harry's covers. He was about as tall as the bed now. Fred crouched down and did the same. Ron just rolled his eyes. Harry grasped the very small present and flipped it over in his palm. Undoing the bow, he opened the lid and was speechless.

Fred and George, apparently worried about his speechlessness took the gift from his stunned fingers and looked inside. George shoved his hand in and drew out a small green thing. Ron came over and questioned what it was and why it had him so shocked. Harry couldn't' answer for a moment. His throat was suddenly dry and his stomach just flipped. His reply was so quiet that the three Weasley boys had to lean forward, "It's a… a… crayon."

"A crayon?" Fred repeated. "What's that?"

"You… you use it to color pictures…"

Ron's face was the picture of confusion. George was turning the crayon in his hand. And Fred, "Is it a Muggle thing?"

"Yeah…" What Harry found astounding was not the crayon itself- no, that's not what he was so shocked about. It was its color…

A deep emerald green…

OOoo00ooOO

6,204 Words. Published 1/18/11, Tuesday. Edited [2-7-11] [2-24-11]

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at this. I've been reading fanfiction on this site for some time and have an idea of what I look for in a story and tried to put it in this one. Please Review. I hope good ones will make me write faster because honestly it took me awhile to just write this. Like 4 months… The next chapter will, hopefully, be shorter. But I plan to cover the rest of first year in that one so my hopes aren't high on that being shorter. Be nice in your reviews please. And if you have any suggestions please give them. If you want something in the story, I'll consider it, if it fits. And if not, I'll explain my reason why. Thank you.