Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Authors Note: I know I haven't finished my other story and I will, at some point. I have very bad writers block so if you have any suggestions let me know. I thought of this when watching the first movie again, so I'm giving it a go. The first chapter or so is gunna skip through scenes of the first movie but slightly different..eh, you'll get it.

Promises

Chapter One: Challenges

The Hogwarts Express left promptly at 11am on the morning of September 1st with all of its students safely onboard. It was my first year at a boarding school and my first year as a witch and I was nervous, very nervous. I was smart and I was good at magic but I was never very good at making friends. I had a tendency to intimidate people or just look like a know-it-all. The second I stepped onto that train, after saying goodbye to my parents, I was terrified.

I found myself a compartment towards the back of the train and settled down for the long journey with my transfiguration book. My mum always taught me to be prepared. I was still dressed in the clothes I had come onboard with and they were fairly plain, just a pair of jeans and a pink sweatshirt.

I had just gotten to chapter two when there was a knock on the compartment door. The door slid open to reveal a blonde boy wearing a black turtle-neck and jeans.

"Hello." He said. I smiled politely.

"Hello." I replied.

"Umm, would it be okay if I sat in here with you?" He asked politely. I nodded and motioned to the seat in front of me. He placed his bag on the shelf above me and sat down in front of me. "Thank you. I was supposed to sit with some other people but I find them so annoying. I'd rather be by myself but you seem friendly." I smiled again.

"I assure you, I'm quite friendly. Hermione Granger." I said, holding out my hand. He shook it and smiled.

"Draco Malfoy."

"Dragon." I said softly.

"Yes. It's Latin. I come from a long line of people with aristocratic names, being pureblood and all." He said, matter-of-factly.

"You're pureblood. You must know a lot about magic then." I stated. He nodded. "I don't know much myself. Only what I've read. My parents aren't wizards so it wasn't like they could teach me." I laughed but noticed his smile falter a bit. "Is everything okay?" I asked.

"You're muggleborn." He replied.

"Yes, is that a problem?" I asked timidly. I knew very well of the prejudices of the wizarding world. I had read about it in Ancestries by Timothy Hayward. He smile perked up a bit.

"No, I suppose not. My father told me not to associate with you're kind, but he doesn't need to know does he." He laughed slightly.

"No he doesn't." I responded, smiling boldly. "I suppose you'd have to keep up appearances in school though?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yes, but I could still see you occasionally and we could talk or something." He smiled again and I nodded vigorously.

"So, I see you're reading our transfiguration book, have you learned anything?" He asked me, gesturing towards the book in my lap.

"Not too much, but I know a little. For example," I pointed my wand at the book on my lap. "Avifors." The book slowly began to grow feathers and before long a beautiful parakeet was sitting on my lap. He looked at me astonished.

"Brilliant." He replied, and I noticed him whisper something under his breath. The parakeet slowly transformed back into my transfiguration book. He pouted and looked at me. "Aww, it didn't hold. What a shame." I laughed.

"I saw you reverse my spell, you big dummy." I joked whilst laughing. He smiled and put his hands up in mock surrender. "That was good though, reversing the spell is almost as hard as casting it. I challenge you…"

"You challenge me?" He said with a fake look of shock on his face. I laughed again.

"Yes, I challenge you to change my book into…a puppy." My face lit up at the thought of a little puppy in our compartment. Dogs were incredible animals. I had a puppy at home before I left. Her name was Lilith and she was a gorgeous border collie.

"I can try. Fivoris." He said and waved his wand slowly over my book. Slowly it began to transform and before long an adorable Siberian husky puppy was sitting on my lap. I squealed and began to pet him. "You can't keep him." I stuck my tongue out.

"I know. He is very cute though." I replied, scratching the little puppy behind his ears.

"My turn. I challenge you.." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a quill. "to change this into…a collar for Scorpius." He passed the quill to me and I gave him a quizzical look.

"Scorpius? What kind of name is that for a dog?" I asked, laughing slightly. He shrugged.

"I like it."He said smugly.

"Avifori Collosus." The quill transformed into a simple black collar and I fastened it around Scorpius' neck. Before long, both our bags were open and we had transfigured half of our belongings into play things for little Scorpius. He was absolutely adorable. An hour passed and Scorpius had fallen asleep, leaving us to talk.

"So, your dad works for the ministry?" I asked, curiously.

"Not really. The Malfoy family have a lot of power and my father will assist the ministry every once in a while. He has access to it whenever he needs though." He replied.

"I would love to work in the ministry one day." I sighed.

"I wouldn't. It's so much work." He said, grimacing at the thought. "What about your parents?"

"My parents are dentists." I stated. He looked puzzled and I remembered wizards didn't have dentists. "They fix your teeth."

"Oh." He said, still slightly puzzled. He shook it off. "We should change into our robes." I laughed at him. "What?" He asked.

"Scorpius is wearing half our clothes." I replied. Draco looked over to the dog and sighed. "We should change him back now." I said, a sad look gracing my face.

"I'll get you a dog." He said, noticing the look on my face.

"No, you won't." I said, wiping a tear away from eye. I was smiling slightly.

"I will. I promise. And Malfoy's keep their promises." He replied and waved his wand over Scorpius. He changed back and our belongings fell to the floor with a soft thud.

I reached over and removed my robe from the pile of objects.

Draco stood up and picked up his belongings.

"I should go back to my friends and give you some privacy, but, I'll see you at school right?" He asked, heading for the compartment door. I nodded, smiling, and he left the room.

I changed into my robes, placing my previous outfit in my bag, smiling because of Draco. I had made a friend, and we hadn't even arrived at the school yet. Suddenly, things began to look up.

I had just settled down into my seat again when a short plump little boy opened my door asking if I'd seen a toad. Hogwarts was going to be a whole new adventure.

***

Draco stood proudly in front of Harry, another new friend I had made, along with Ron Weasley, holding out his hand in friendship.

"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." He said smugly. Well, I thought, that was a tad presumptuous. I knew it was a cover from what he had told me on the train, but still, it was very rude.

"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks." Harry replied, pushing Draco's hand away. I stood there silently watching the exchange next to a girl named Lavender Brown. She was very pretty but seemed a tad shallow and was very proud of herself. She had just spent the last ten minutes telling a group of girls next to us the correct way to wash our hair so we could have locks like hers. It was pathetic.

I could tell my new friend had not come across as a nice boy to Harry and Ron. Ron's face was so red I thought he might explode and Harry had a defiant grin on his face as though he had just beaten someone. I stepped back a bit as Draco and his gang walked past me, but I noticed him smile slightly at me and shake his hand by his side in a sort of wave. Maybe he wasn't as bad as he pretended to be.

***

"It's Levi-OOOOH-sa, not LeviosAR! She's a nightmare, honestly. It's no wonder she doesn't have any friends!" Ron announced to the group of boys, Harry included, he was walking with and they all laughed. How dare they? I was only trying to help him.

I walked forward and shoved past him, trying not to make the tears on my cheeks obvious. I didn't know where I was going to go but I just kept walking.

I had finally decided on hiding out in the girl's bathroom for dinner when I heard loud footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Draco running up to me.

"Hey." He gasped, out of breath. I laughed slightly.

"Hey."

"Look, I heard what those buffoons were saying. Don't take it personally. He's just upset because you got the spell right." He said, sounding extremely sincere. He was hunched over and struggling to breath from running so far, but he had a small smile gracing his face.

"He didn't have to be so mean though." I responded, wiping a few tears from my cheeks.

"It's a boy's nature. We get embarrassed so we make fun of the person who embarrassed us. I'm sure he'll come around. Don't know why'd you'd want to be friends with a Weas.." I tutted. "Sorry."

"I'm going to go the girl's bathroom and clean up a bit. I'll see you later okay?" I said, starting to walk away backwards so I could still see him.

"I'll make sure that doofus doesn't hurt you again. I promise." He smiled. "And you know that…"

"Malfoy's always keep their promises. I know, I remember." I said and he beamed at me before turning tail and running back towards the Great Hall.

***

The great hall was in a panic as I stood up from the table and ran for my life, following the Slytherin prefect. Trolls were stupid but definitely creatures you didn't want to mess with. What they lack in intelligence, they make up for in strength and ferocity. I stopped in the hallway and remembered not seeing Hermione at dinner. She must still be in the bathroom, I thought. I immediately changed course and high-tailed it to the second floor girls bathroom.

I paused at the corner and saw the troll not ten feet from me. It hadn't seen me yet so I ducked behind a suit of armor. The great beast slowly trudged past me, carrying its huge club behind it. It was hideous and appeared to be wearing a torn up table cloth. Trolls: great sense of fashion. I snickered before remembering why I was there.

I crept softly behind it and watched in horror as it walked straight into the girl's bathroom. Not ten seconds later, I heard Hermione scream. I stepped forward, with no battle plan whatsoever, to rescue her when I saw Potter and Weaslebee run into the bathroom.

Not out of cowardice, but for the soul reason that she needed to see that they cared about her, I decided to let them handle this. But could they handle this? Would I even be able to handle a full grown mountain troll? I heard another scream and for the first time in my life, prayed.

I clenched my eyes shut and waited for five painful minutes of screams and grunts coming from the battlefield of the bathroom, before I heard a loud thud and several professors stormed in.

She was safe.

I decided to stick around to hear the outcome and watched the trio leave the bathroom a few minutes later. Somehow, Hermione saw me and smiled. I smiled back and shrugged as if to say "They handled it." I think she knew what I had done and smiled again, letting me know that she didn't think I was a coward. That's all I wanted.

***

Authors Note: Ok so I know so far this is EXTREMELY out of character for Draco but I see him as a defiant little 11 year old so isn't too worried about his father's wishes right now. Next chapter will be Year 2 and maybe some drama? And definitely some more In Character moments for Draco. Please review; let me know what you think.