(very minor tidying, March 2013)

Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: The following is my take on the way the scene in Madam Malkins could have gone if Draco Malfoy had actually paid attention and engaged his brain. Deviation from canon commences at about the point Hagrid arrives outside the shop window...

Draco Malfoy stared out the window at the huge man the other boy had just said was called 'Hagrid'. How in Merlin's name, he wondered, did a boy who didn't know about quidditch (if the expression on his face had been anything to judge by), know Hagrid and that he worked at Hogwarts? And Hagrid seemed to know the other boy, smiling at him through the window like that, waving ice-creams…

Assume, then, that the other boy was with Hagrid to do his shopping for school supplies, but what kind of pupil would be accompanied by a huge oaf like that, instead of either their parents or a proper member of the Hogwarts staff? Honestly, Hagrid was more someone you'd send along as a bodyguard than…

There was one person who might be going to Hogwarts this year, who could need a bodyguard that Draco could think of… Someone who hadn't been seen about by reliable witnesses anywhere in the wizarding world for nearly a decade. Draco sneaked a surreptitious glance at the other boy's forehead. It looked like there was some sort of mark or scar there, under the fringe.

Draco's brain belatedly caught up with the comment about 'savage' about Hagrid that his mouth had just been making, and stepped in to correct the situation.

"Absolutely savage in a fight, I mean to say." Draco said. "Ferocious and brave, and not the brightest of wizards, but absolutely loyal to Dumbledore."

The cold expression which had been advancing across the other boy's face resolved itself into a look of confusion.

Time for Draco to go fishing.

"I heard that Harry Potter might be going to Hogwarts this year." he said, watching the other's expression, carefully. "I expect you've heard about him and the famous things he's done?"

He saw the boy flinch, slightly.

"I really doubt he's what other people make him out to be."

"Oh, but everyone says Albus Dumbledore sent him away to learn secrets of alchemy under Nicolas Flamel, or to be brought up on a dragon reserve, or to be guarded by a clan of civilised giants." Draco said, inventing wildly. "Aren't you in the least bit curious about where he's been living or what he's been doing?"

The other boy snapped.

"Look, I'm Harry Potter, and I've been living with my muggle aunt and uncle and cousin ever since the night that evil wizard killed my parents. And they never told me anything about magic, and until the Hogwarts letters started arriving they kept me in a cupboard under the stairs. I didn't even have my own bedroom. And they tried to stop me going to Hogwarts completely, until Hagrid came and fetched me. He had to come to an island in the middle of nowhere where they were trying to hide me." Harry sagged, deflating suddenly.

"Oh." said Draco, genuinely shocked. A mere moment ago this had been a game for him, his thoughts full of the Hogwarts glory possible from an association with The-Boy-Who-Lived, but now he was concerned… no, horrified… about the way another boy, his own age, had been treated by his guardians. He vaguely noted the reference to 'letters' as if there'd been some sort of trouble with Harry's getting the one, but right now there were bigger things on Draco's mind. "I'm sorry to hear that they treated you like that." He looked sharply at Madam Malkin, and did his very best to look important. "This doesn't go any further, do you understand? Not unless Harry wants it to." He looked at Harry. "I'm Draco Malfoy. My father has a lot of influence in the Ministry. I can try and get something done about it, if you'd like?"

"No. Hagrid fixed things, so I hope they'll treat me better." Harry smiled for the first time. "He twisted up Uncle Vernon's gun, and gave Dudley a pig's tail."

"Oh, well, good for Hagrid." Draco said. 'Uncle Vernon' at least was presumably one of those relatives Harry had mentioned, as might be this 'Dudley'. He had no idea what a 'gun' was and his father didn't think much of Hagrid, but clearly Hagrid had helped to make Harry's life at least slightly better.

"And you're done, dear." Madam Malkin said to Harry.

"Look, what's your address?" Draco asked. "I'll try and write to you over August, to check you're okay."

"Number four Privet Drive, Little Whinging." Harry said.

Draco repeated it several times to himself, to memorise it.

"Okay. Expect an owl from me in the next few days." he said. "You do know how owls work, right?"

"No, but Hagrid can explain it to me as we go." Harry said. "We're still shopping for some of my school stuff." He actually grinned. "It's amazing having my own money to buy things for myself for the first time in my life."

Draco tried not to shudder too much. It was incredible to him that muggles could treat a wizard like Harry Potter this way. It was behaviour every bit as savage, stupid, and cruel as he'd heard his father often go on about. Worse, even, given who they were doing it to. Draco resolved at that moment to do his best to make friends with Harry Potter, to get him away from these awful muggles, and to bring them to account for the way they had treated him. He was The-Boy-Who-Lived, not some house-elf.

Author Notes:

I know this one's not exactly an original idea, but I thought I'd give writing my own version of the scene a go.

This Draco is slightly less distracted by the thought of broom shopping than canon Draco. (At least I assume that's the reason canon Draco doesn't recognise Harry Potter the way that the occupants of The Leaky Cauldron do practically the moment that canon Harry Potter does so.) And despite being raised to no doubt believe that he's better than most people, he is only an eleven year old boy (and I would assume actually drilled into having some sort of manners, unlike Harry's cousin Dudley).