Draco and Narcissa walked through the overcrowded King's Cross train station. The boy pushed his trolley through the busy hordes of people hurrying last minute to catch their morning train. They had left hours before the Hogwarts Express was due to leave. The mother and son were so eager to finally escape from Lucius's clasp...if only for a moment.

Narcissa led Draco toward the platforms. The signs slowly counted down by number. ...Twelve, eleven, ten, nine... Draco and Narcissa paused in front of the farthest brick column between the ten and nine signs.

"Now," Narcissa directed, "run right into the column and you will be at platform 9 ¾."

"Is there a platform 9 ¼?" Draco asked trying to stall to work up what little courage he has to run into the wall.

"Don't ask silly questions," Narcissa stated in her quiet, monotone voice. Her long, greasy blonde hair flowed behind her back and vivid red lipstick covered her thin mouth. She wore a lengthy green cloak with glittering sequin trimmed sleeves.

"Sorry."

"Come. If you are scared, remember to not close your eyes. Just hold onto your trolley and do not let go," she smiled, thinking. "I lost control in my first year and I collided with some blonde guy with a ponytail...I'd have to mention that sometime to Lucius."

"That's not making me feel any better," muttered Draco.

"Draco..."

Draco glanced up at his mother.

"Go on. You do not want to miss the Hogwarts Express, do you?" Narcissa said proudly smiling at her son.

"But the train doesn't leave until, what, an hour?" Draco protested.

"Draco, don't be defiant," Narcissa scolded sternly, her smile disappearing. Her quiet yet clear voice seemed to be the loudest noise in the station. She gazed at him her expression blank, but still innocent and begging. It was the very countenance she Lucius to get her way or receive her husband's rare sympathy.

"Fine," mumbled Draco. He gripped his trolley tightly, closed his eyes, and plowed into the column. He continued to run with no idea of when to stop. Draco opened his eyes and began to excitedly take in his surroundings.

Draco was standing in a large severely crowded platform filled completely with wizarding families dropping off their children. Joyful first years pranced around showing off their robes to anyone who would look. Proud prefects and Head Boys and Girls stared self-centeredly down at their younger inferiors. The Hogwarts Express was absolutely long and enormous. Smoke billowed from a large pipe on the front of the train.

Narcissa suddenly appeared behind Draco protectively clasping his left shoulder. Her blood red fingernails dug into Draco's flesh.

Draco pushed her hond off of his shoulder. He turned around and met her blue eyes. "What if...what if I am not in Slytherin?" he asked sincerely. It was a question that was burning a painful hole in his mind. "Would father disown me?"

"If you were in Hufflepuff, he certainly would if he could," Narcissa replied darkly.

"Oh, thank you so much, mother," Draco said disappointedly.

Narcissa nodded. "Let me take your trolley for you, Draco dear."

Draco released his tight grip on the trolley handle, and only then he realized how tightly he was holding on. His knuckles were ghostly white and sore. He let go of his trolley and strpped back to let Narcissa take the reigns.

"You better leave, I am not quite positive the train is up to waiting," Narcissa quietly mentioned.

"But..." Draco began, his grey eyes staring sadly at the swirling smoke whirling around his feet.

"Draco, before you go," Narcissa said quietly, "There is something Lucius wants me to tell you."

This can't be good, Draco thought miserably. He raised his eyebrows, awaiting his message, "Alright, what is it?"

He would like you to notify him of any Slytherin mu..mudblood," she warbled, as if she had terrible trouble expressing those words. She took a deep breath and regained her serious composure. "And he wants you to know that he has given you his full permission to give any mud...muggle born student a difficult time. He claims they have no right to belong in Hogwarts."

"That is not news to me," Draco scoffed, kicking the floor and stirring up the grey smoke.

Narcissa ignored him. "Go on," Narcissa said, extending her arm and making a shooing motion with her thin, pale hand.

Draco turned around and began to walk away from his mother. A sea of colorfully dressed wizards and witches filled the gap between them.

"I love you." Narcissa whispered as Draco moved farther and farther away. "Draco."

The boy turned around once more.

"Lucius loves you," Narcissa called.

"I sometimes wonder," Draco sourly retorted with a disbelieving sneer. He began to walk back to Narcissa but she stermly glared at her son, begging him to leave.

Draco sighed. He continued to leave, each and every step distancing him from home. He pushed between a large group of chatty young witches endlessly muttering, "...sorry...excuse me...my fault...so sorry..." before finding himself at one of the train entrances. He slowly took a loud, deep breath as if he was attempting to refill himself full of confidence.

Draco marched up the metal steps and found himself standing in the narrow center aisle. It was lined with many tiny compartments with two comfortable leather benches enclosed by a sliding glass door.

He slowly walked through the aisle peering into each and every compartment. Most of the compartments appeared to be much too full for Draco's taste. It seemed to be much too impolite to interrupt two friends from having the time of their lives. Soon, as he reached the middle of the seeming endless Hogwarts Express. He recognized almost nobody other than this one black haired boy staring out the window. It was the boy from Madam Malkin's.

Draco's artificial smile disappeared and a real genuine grin took its place. He reached for the door's latch, but a redheaded boy dressed in a scarlet jumper with a large letter "R" stitched on the front, came plowing down the aisle. He was carrying a rather large chubby rat and appeared maddeningly nervous. Assuming that the boy was just another first year with little idea of what to do, Draco backtracked into a nearly empty compartment and shut the door behind him.

The other person in the compartment made a light cough of irritation.

Draco slowly turned around to see who he had unfortunately disturbed. The person who was in the cart turned out to be two. The boys appeared to be an exact image of the other forcing Draco to do a double-take, half-expecting himself to be hallucinating. They were fiery redheads bought with short noses dotted with noticeable orange freckles. They both grinned mischievously at Draco, trouble clearly up their sleeves.

"What are you two looking at?" Draco snapped, slightly overwhelmed.

"You, of course," one twin said.

"Honestly, what else would we be looking at?" the other continued, beaming idiotically.

"The backs of our heads?" asked the twins in unison.

"Um..." Draco glanced into the aisle. It was getting more crowded by the minute with last-second procrastinating students. He stared for a quick moment before finally deciding to stay awhile then leave the twins while the train was moving. The twins didn't seem too bad, although they definitely did not appear to be the most trustworthy of people.

"Come on," said a twin.

"Stay awhile," mentioned the other.

Draco sat down on a leather bench across from the twins. Further studying the boys, they looked to be a few years older than Draco. Possibly third years at the greatest. The boys didn't wear their dress robes, seeing that the train hasn't yet left the platform. They both slouched in their seats calm and confident, with a wild glint in their chocolate brown eyes. They looked to be only a few inches taller than Draco, who was also reasonably short for his age.

"I'm Fred, and he's George," the first twin started to say.

George continued, "But we are commonly known as-"

"George and Fred," stated Fred, pointing to the opposite twin the name belonged to.

"-Or those other bothersome idiots," George confidently finished, smiling widely.

"Hi," said Draco, managing a weak wave.

"Hello dear sir," George replied. "And who exactly are you?"

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," Draco informed, extending his arm for a shake.

Fred outstretched his own arm and reached to shake Draco's but George shouted, "Stop!" as he slapped Fred in the face.

"What did you do that for?"

Draco stared at George - at Fred - then back at George. He raised his eyebrows quizzically. He started to say, "What was..."

"We want a decent-ish first impression, don't we?" George asked, sternly glaring at Fred.

"Not really," Fred honestly answered his twin, flashing a grin.

"True," agreed George, as he returned a knowing smile.

Fred reached into his woollen shirtsleeve. He unsnapped something wrapped around his wrist with a loud click and pulled it out. It was a ribbon-like bracelet, and he dropped it on his lap.

"Body-bind bracelet. Me and Fred made it first year," George proudly explained to Draco, twirling it by the tips of his fingers as he admired his creation.

"Ah..." Draco said, curiously raising his eyebrows. Interested, he then asked, "May I see it?"

"If you don't mind getting the body-bind hex on you-" Fred began.

"-And get forgotten about-" George continued excitedly.

"-When we lock you in a bathroom stall, so-" said Fred.

"Why not?" George asked.

"I-I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" Fred pressed on.

"Very."

"Fine," said both of the twins in unison. Disappointment rang through their voices.

"Do you have any siblings?" Fred asked Draco, trying to make conversation.

Draco awkwardly shook his head for a clear 'no.'

"We do," George said. "Bill and Charlie are the oldest, and then there's perfect little Percy, us, and Ron, then Giverva. She's too young to go to Hogwarts, yet. One more year of not being able to flush her down the toilet."

"But don't call Ginny that by any means, or she'll strangle you. Wait a second, do tell her that so she'll strangle you," Fred added.

"Is Ron a first year?" Draco asked.

"Yeah," the twins answered at the same time.

"So he's that terrified looking kid who's carrying a rat?" Draco asked, trying to be sure.

"Yep," Fred replied.

"That's him," George added. "He's got Bill's robes his first year. He was supposed to get mine, but they looked a bit short for him. I realize I am not that tall, but by Merlin, I was scrawny," George told Draco.

"You still are. You're pretty ugly and scrawny," Fred interjected.

"You two are identical."

The twins rolled their eyes in unison. "No, we aren't."

Fred turned to his brother, and said, "Remember when we burned a hole in the side of your robes last year?"

The twins laughed, their previous disagreement forgotten. "Mother was furious!" Fred exclaimed.

"I like it when she's mad..." George added with a devilish grin.

Suddenly the train seemed to quiver. Draco looked out the window. The scenery quickly changed as the train began to leave the platform.

"It's about time we are leaving to-" said a twin, George.

In unison the twins started to belt out:

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald,

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could use some filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of -"

"What are you singing?" Draco interrupted, speaking to anyone who would bother to answer him. He recognized his mother singing this to him whenever he was depressed after being publicly humiliated by his father, Lucius.

"But, that was my favorite part," George childishly whined, gaining a laugh from Fred and Draco.

"Too bad," Draco responded. "What's your surname?"

"Weasley," the twins answered in unison.

"Oh?" said Draco. As informed by Lucius, that disastrous family are full of insane blood traitors, unhealthily obsessed with the lives of muggles. He was warned to stay away and make little acquaintance as possible. But, the twins did not seem too bad. Well, they didn't seem like the greatest influence on a young child. Other than that, why don't break a few rules for a change? Father isn't here and can't stalk me, so what's life without a little risk? Draco thought.

Word count: 2,001