The Other Side of Hogwarts

The March soon turned into April, and the residents of Hogwarts noticed that the weather was turning warmer and warmer. It wasn't at all unusual for them to gather on the grounds outside the castle or near the lake to study or catch up with friends and acquaintances.

Among many students, there was also one special – at least, according to the whole Wizarding World. The boy himself didn't feel like he was anything worth mentioning, especially since he grew up in an environment where his very existence was undesirable.

"Harry! Why are you spacing out, what's the matter? If it's about the Transfiguration essay due to tomorrow, I am sure that we will be able to come up with something in the evening. The day is too good to ruin it with schoolwork," casually commented Ronald Weasley, Harry's best friend.

"No, it's not the essay… Although since you mentioned it, I will be worrying about it now," joked the bespectacled boy with a half-hearted grin.

The exams were still far away, yet the teachers seemed to think that they were right upon them - if the work they piled up was any indication. The first-years, especially purebloods or half-bloods who didn't go to school before Hogwarts, were experiencing stress for the first time in their lives – they were desperately trying to cram their heads with knowledge while regretting the fact that swallowing a book whole wouldn't make one automatically know everything in it.

Otherwise, there would have been a long line to the Hospital Wing, with students all having symptoms of indigestion.

"Then what is it?" the redhead Gryffindor continued questioning, trying to distract himself from his own thoughts about books and screaming mothers, waving slips with bad grades.

"I am worried about Hagrid. He is insisting on raising the dragon, but if anyone sees it – he could get kicked out of school! Worse yet, Norbert started breathing fire. Sure, it's just small flames right now, but at this rate, in a week or two, Hagrid's hut could be burned!" Harry whispered with obvious frustration.

"Well, what can we do? He refuses to part with it – even the offer to take it to Charlie in Romania wasn't accepted… 'As long as no one sees it, it'll be alright' he says," Ron incredulously scoffed.

Harry silently shrugged his shoulders, unable to think up of any other solution.

Besides, this wasn't the only issue he was concerned about. After the Christmas break, he found out about Nicholas Flamel from a Chocolate Frog Card by chance. Then, after carefully questioning Hermione, who was slightly friendlier with them after Halloween, he found out about the Philosopher's Stone.

Harry couldn't help but be suspicious of Snape – there was no way that something as enticing as a stone which grants immortality and unending wealth wouldn't entice normal people! The fact that his leg was bleeding that day when the whole school was distracted by the troll was definitely not a coincidence.

After all, it wasn't like the castle was hiding countless monsters which could seriously endanger students' lives, right?

There was also one time when Harry passed the Staff Room, only to hear Quirrell talking with himself about someone threatening him, and Snape watching him closely.

"What are you, boys, doing here?" Harry's thoughts were interrupted by another voice, this time it was a girl. The dark-haired boy turned his head to see Hermione, who stood a few steps away from them with a pile of books in her hands and a bursting bag hanging on her shoulder.

Ron got up on his elbows from the lying position he was in earlier and greeted the Gryffindor girl with a wary expression:

"You are not here to force us to follow your colored timetables again, right?"

The bushy-haired girl coldly snorted at the ungrateful redhead, but she couldn't maintain her serious expression for too long – her lips soon stretched into a smile.

"No, I saw that the weather was nice and decided to come out. But it doesn't mean you should slack-off! The exams are in eight weeks, and you can't even transfigurate a matchbox into a teacup!" Hermione couldn't help but lecture a bit.

Ron sighed with exasperation and exchanged slightly amused glances with Harry.

"Come, join us. You are the one who needs a break the most," invited Harry with a crooked grin.

Hermione nodded and, with a reluctant glance at the pile of books, finally settled down on the lawn.

"I just can't help it," she sighed after a moment of silence. "No matter how much I study or practice spells, I can never catch up to Malfoy!"

Ron grimaced slightly at the mentioning of the Slytherin year-mate. It wasn't enough that he grew up as the youngest boy among the many outstanding oldest brothers – there were two more people, the same age as himself, who were being lauded by whole Magical Britain due to their many talents and achievements.

One was Harry - who was okay since he was a Gryffindor and didn't act like a prick. Moreover, the Boy-Who-Lived was his best friend, so how could Ron dislike the other boy?

The other was Draco Malfoy – the boy genius, who earned praises wherever he turned.

It was like they lived in two completely different worlds – Draco was wealthy, intelligent, powerful, and had his own company. The boy even had a phoenix as a familiar!

While Ron… well, he was jealous of the other, but the difference between them was so large that it didn't even matter because there was no way to catch up.

"Hermione, you know that you are no worse than Malfoy. It's just that he had a better starting line – but you will catch up with him soon. You shouldn't risk your health because of the obsession to best him," Harry advised with concern.

"I know, I know… Hannah said the same thing, though in slightly different words," the bushy-haired girl admitted reluctantly. "But I can't help it! Susan once mentioned that Malfoy seldom studies the coursework – he's either off socializing, or learning advanced material. Look, even now he's dozing off under a tree while his friends are studying!" Hermione complained indignantly, as though others putting less effort and achieving better results than her was somehow offensive.

Harry and Ron simultaneously turned their heads in the direction that the girl indicated.

And indeed, there he was, lying against the tree with his eyes half-closed, while Theodore Nott, Daphne Greengrass, Hannah Abbott, and Susan Bones were discussing homework. Almost every time some Slytherin, or even students of other houses, passed by – they would greet the blond boy with a smile, or at least politely nod in his direction.

Harry sometimes wondered whether he would also be a part of that group if he was ever sorted into Slytherin. After all, the Sorting Hat almost placed him there – it even wanted to, saying that he would be great there. Harry also didn't protest at the time – although Hagrid and Ron all said that Gryffindor was the best, he thought that Slytherin also wasn't a bad house. And Draco, whom he met at Madam Malkin's shop, didn't seem like a bad person.

Ever since coming to Hogwarts, Harry learned a lot more about the blond Slytherin.

First of all, although Harry was famous for surviving the Killing Curse when he was a baby (and for vanquishing the Dark Lord), Draco Malfoy managed to distract almost everyone from those facts – for which Harry was very grateful.

The Slytherin was very high-profile – in every class, no matter what questions teachers asked, or what spells they had to practice – Draco was always the one with the answer as well as the first to complete the task.

Granted, the boy wasn't trying to show-off – he never raised his hand unless everyone else was stumped, unlike Hermione, who almost jumped on the desk every time a teacher asked a question which she knew an answer to.

Secondly, Draco Malfoy had a lot of connections. He knew the name of every year-mate, and never failed to smile politely when passing them in the halls. The Slytherin boy was also familiar and close with a lot of older students, most of whom were purebloods or, at least, half-bloods with outstanding families behind them.

It wasn't like Malfoy was discriminating against muggle-borns - it just happened naturally. A lot of jealous people spread bad rumors about the other boy, and muggle-borns, who had no prior connections to the Magical World, avoided him. Draco also didn't go out of his way to make friendships with that particular circle of students.

Harry, unlike many others, was always skeptical of the rumors about other people unless he saw the events happening with his own eyes. After all, Dudley also liked to spread many lies about himself, to the point where he had no friends before coming to Hogwarts.

"Well, it doesn't matter," finally commented Ron with slight indifference. "Rather than studying all the material that you know already anyway, you should try to think on how to get rid of the dragon in Hagrid's hut. I swear, every time I pass it by, I wonder whether it is the last time I will see it. Maybe tomorrow it will be burned, who knows?"

Harry smiled and playfully hit Ron's side with an elbow.

"Well, it's indeed a serious issue," Hermione nodded and stood up. "Let's go and make sure that Hagrid has a place to sleep in tomorrow."

The boys grinned and, after gathering things up, followed the girl while quietly discussing how to convince the gentle half-giant to part with his 'cute' new pet.