AN: So! I decided I should update something. It's kind of sad that I'm not done with Lake yet, but it can't be helped. Ah well! Anyway, I think this crossover would be quite nice too. ^_^

Summary: There are many blonds in the world. No one ever said that the one Harry met in Madam Malkin's shop had to be Draco Malfoy, right? Hence, this crossover. "Hi!" the boy said, tone as bright as his hair. "Hogwarts too?" —And so, he ends up with a new friend.

Italicised opening passage taken from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, to provide the setting. And, of course, that's definitely not mine.

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Starting from Square One

(Alternative title: The World Cannot Survive This Particular Blond...)

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Square #1: A Friendly Blond Boy

One wild cart-ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life – more money than even Dudley had ever had.

'Might as well get yer uniform,' said Hagrid, nodding towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. 'Listen Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts.' He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.

Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.

'Hogwarts, dear?' she said, when Harry started to speak. 'Got the lot here – another young man being fitted up just now, in fact.'

In the back of the shop, a boy with the blondest hair he'd ever seen and some strange scar-like markings on his face was standing on a footstool, while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head and began to pin it to the right length.

"Hi!" the boy said immediately, tone as bright as his hair. "Hogwarts too?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"Have you gotten all your stuff yet? I was really quite bewildered when the letter came telling me I was a wizard, of all things, and when I realised I was supposed to send the reply the owl as long gone, so..." he laughed sheepishly. "Thankfully, another owl came by after a few days with the same letter, and so I replied and said, hell yes I want to study in Hogwarts! And then I realised I didn't have any idea where to get my school stuff... Bleargh..."

Harry couldn't help but give a small snort of laughter then, despite his attempts at being polite. The blond was unexpectedly friendly, which was really quite nice, he decided.

"How'd you find your way here, then?" he found himself asking the other boy, curiosity getting the better of him. "There's no way anyone would expect a whole street of magical shops to be hidden right here in the middle of London..."

Unusually vivid blue eyes glinted with amusement, as if sharing an inside joke with nobody. "There must have been something weird about my reply, 'cause the school sent a set of instructions for muggleborns – that's what they call people who aren't born into a magical family, I think – and in the end I just took the Knight Bus here, even though it's not advisable for most..."

"What's that?"

"Hmm... it's a crazy, crazy magical bus, which appears randomly when you stick your arm into the road, so it's kinda like a taxi, too," the boy shrugged. "It's fast, but it goes at such insane speeds with so little control most people don't like it much."

"Oh." Harry blinked. Well, that's... interesting, I guess. "So, you're here with..." he trailed off a little, even though he didn't really know why. "...your parents...?"

"Erm," the boy began awkwardly, then raised his shoulders slightly with a half-hearted smile. "I... don't have any. So I'm here alone."

"Oh," Harry said again, taken aback by the unexpected revelation. "I'm sorry." The other boy gave him a reassuring smile, mumbling something vaguely.

There was a slightly uncomfortable silence between them, before Harry surprised himself by offering, "Me too. My parents... died, when I was a baby." He ducked his head slightly, feeling rather awkward with such a subject.

The surprise and the brief, intense flash of what seemed like understanding in those blue eyes almost startled him, but both of them relaxed a little afterwards.

"Sorry," the boy said sincerely. "So... Did someone come along with you to buy your school stuff?"

"Yeah," Harry said, rather eagerly. "His name is Hagrid and he's the gamekeeper at Hogwarts. I think he's brilliant! In fact – hey look – he's right there now." He nudged his head towards the front window, as his arms were currently pinned down by the long black robes. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice-creams to show he couldn't come in.

The other boy leaned a little to get a better look, and quickly straightened again when the tailor witch reminded him to be careful not to fall off the stool.

"I'll take your word for that," he grinned. "He looks quite awesome."

Their measurements were soon done, and both boys were told to come back later for their finished robes. They stepped out of the shop, and it was only then Harry noticed the "scars" on the other boy's face were, in fact, strange markings which looked just like whiskers.

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And here ends the first chapter. *evil!* (if it helps, the next chapter's going to be 1K of words, at least.)

I'm working on this crossover, slowly. ^^;; The style I'm using for this fic, as you might have noticed, is quite different from my other fics. There's an obvious influence of JKR for obvious reasons... And the extremely British and still very 'young' setting sort of brings to mind another female writer – Enid Blyton. I've read all of her books since I was about 6, y'know, and that's how my English went from absolute zero (it's not my first language!) to today's level.

Anyway, Naruto's backstory regarding how and why he's here is going to be quite interesting... which is, of course, why I'm saving it up for later. (: I'm currently tearing my hair out over what wand core Naruto should have (I've already decided on the wood, thank goodness...) so it might be a while before the next chapter's up. If I push the wand part to the third chapter, though, you'd see the second chapter pretty soon.

So, which would you rather have? :3

~rakku^^