Better Than Others

Summary: An offer from a Malfoy to a Potter, once more…

Fandom: Harry Potter

Date written: Sometime before September 20, 2011.

Rating: G

Word Count: 319

Disclaimer: Do I look like J.K. Rowling?

"You'll soon find out that some Wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

Al blinked. "Find out"? He already knew about that. There were the old, Dark, nasty Pureblooded families – like he'd thought the Malfoys would be, but he guessed they'd reformed after the War – and good, clean families like his, who'd gotten where they were by being pure-hearted and decent rather than rich and cruel. Of course some families were better than others. He blinked again, understanding what Mr. Malfoy must mean. Since he was in Slytherin and all, he was vulnerable to being dragged in by "the wrong sort", as Mr. Malfoy put it, and getting influenced by them. He suppressed a shudder. Oh, no, he didn't want that. If Mr. Malfoy was offering his guidance on that front, he'd take it a thousand times over.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy," he said, shaking Mr. Malfoy's outstretched hand. "I don't think I can thank you enough for this, really." There was no response. Al looked up, frowning. "Mr. Malfoy?"

Mr. Malfoy stared down at him, looking as if he had not only seen a ghost (to use the Muggle expression, since wizards saw ghosts all the time, of course), but seen a ghost belly-dancing in the nude at a formal dinner. Al, unsettled, stared back at him with wide eyes. "Mr. Malfoy? What's wrong?"

That snapped Mr. Malfoy out of it. "Nothing," he said, shaking Al's hand with vigor. "Nothing at all. I'm glad you accepted, Potter. You'll be glad you did."

"Well, of course," Al said, beginning to worry that Mr. Malfoy had been Confounded or something of the like. He was acting so strangely. "Who wouldn't accept a generous offer like that?"

For a moment, Mr. Malfoy's eyes defocused, as if he were recalling events long, long in the past. "You'd be surprised, Potter," he said in an almost wistful tone. "You would be surprised."