Disclaimer: I'm the queen of the world, so everything is MINE!!!! evil laughter. Not really. I'm just a humen. The boys are J.K. Rowling's, and I don't get any profit from it, so please don't sue!

A\N: was beta-ed by the wonderful auroranq , livingiseasy and spae. They really did a brilliant jub on it, so for the remaining mistakes, I'm the one that needed to be stoned. Thank you for listening.

- Chapter one – the protector -

Harry really didn't know why he was summoned to the headmaster's office. It wasn't so unusual for Harry to get a message by owl, it was just that he hadn't done anything lately. Well, maybe Dumbledore just wanted to chat? At least, Harry hoped that's all he wanted from him.

He was in his last year at school. Even if he hadn't won against Voldemort yet, he knew the last battle was fast approaching; the losses on both sides were already great. He didn't want to start wandering around doing secret missions. He was okay with a lot of intensive training, but he didn't like doing secret stuff, it was really, just stretching out the war; in the end he'd have to fight Voldemort face to face anyway.

Whatever it was Dumbledore wanted, Harry wasn't going to run to him. He was on his way, at his own slow pace. It took him about fifteen minutes to reach Dumbledore's office, and now he stood in front of the door. Just as he raised his hand to knock, he heard the headmaster's voice telling him to come in, so he rolled his eyes and opened the door.

He wasn't expecting anything really, but seeing Draco Malfoy sitting on a chair in front of the headmaster's table, with his legs drawn to his chest and his body trembling a little, honestly surprised Harry.

The old headmaster smiled his bright happy smile at him; the one that made his eyes twinkle like precious stones. The one Harry never could leave unreciprocated; he always smiled back to that smile of Dumbledore's.

"Come in and take a seat, Harry. Care for a lemon drop?"

Harry refused politely as he sat down. Was there really anyone besides Dumbledore who even liked those lemon drops?

"No? And you, Draco?"

Apparently there was someone, because Draco said a small "Thank you, sir" and put one in his mouth. His eyes fell shut and an expression of pure bliss became evident on his face. It passed quickly, but it left Harry open-mouthed with wonder and the old man in front of them looked very pleased. Whether it was because of Draco's bliss or Harry's wonder wasn't clear, but the old man's pleasure left Draco with a shy look on his face, making his cheeks a little bit flushed and his face and eyes downcast. Harry had never thought that he'd ever think of Draco Malfoy as cute, but contrary to his beliefs, cute was the word that passed through his head just then.

Harry cleared his throat, trying to clear his head with a slight shake. Unfortunately for Harry he didn't realise that this would cause the other two present to look up at him. When they did he couldn't help blushing faintly. He was so desperate to make them look at something else, or just to distract them, that he asked, "What did you need me for, headmaster?" As the words left his mouth, he wondered if maybe his words were too rude for talking to your headmaster. The old headmaster didn't seem to mind though, because he smiled at him and clasped his hands in front of him on his desk.

"Oh yes. Well, let's start with the reason why the both of you are here." He stopped for a second to glance at Draco and then at Harry, and went on. "Earlier today, someone hexed Mr. Malfoy. We don't know who it was, or if the hex was just a joke or some sort of revenge. If it was for revenge, we don't know if it was something personal or... perhaps... something that has to do with Voldemort.-" Dumbledore stopped. A small shriek had escaped Draco before he clasped a hand to his mouth. The shriek made Harry look at him with astonishment, the Malfoy he knew for over six years would never have done something like that! Especially because of someone saying the Dark Lord's name, what with his father being a Death Eater and all. Yet he was positive that that was what he had just heard! Draco Malfoy, The Draco Malfoy, had just screamed at Voldemorts name!

As Harry looked at him, Draco looked a little embarrassed, but it was partly concealed by his frightened expression. Just as he was about to look back at Dumbledore, he noticed the tears on Malfoys lower lashes. For a moment he didn't know what to do, he just stared. But as Draco started to cry, something in him screamed for him to do anything just so he would stop. That voice started to screech in his ears as he saw Dumbledore kneel in front of Draco and try to comfort him. It was so insistent that it forced him to his feet and between Draco and Dumbledore. Still standing, he wrapped his arms around Draco and pressed the boy's head into his abdomen. One of his hands was stroking circles on his back and the other one was stroking his hair. It seemed to calm the crying boy in his arms. It seemed natural to start purring. He began quietly as if he wasn't certain it would help, and then louder as he felt Draco's shoulders relax a bit more. He didn't care that the headmaster was just behind him or that it wasn't normal to purr like this. Since when was he normal anyway?

Dumbledore wasn't bothered with the purring teen, though. He had other things on his mind which involved the two teens in front of him. He had a look on his face that stated, explicitly, that he knew something they didn't, and what's more, it had just been proven that he was right, again. The older man was so pre-occupied with his thoughts that he barely heard the boys in his office talk to each other.

"What is it, Draco? What happened?" Harry asked Draco, who still had his head pressed to Harry's stomach. Harry didn't seem to notice the way his voice was low or that he was still purring. He didn't notice the way he spoke to Draco, addressing him by his first name and not as Malfoy. The-Boy-Who-Lived was too busy caring for the weeping boy.

"V... Vol... The Dark Lord is mean. Mean people are scary. They want to hurt Draco. Draco don't want to be hurt." While he was talking, Draco removed his head from Harry's abdomen and looked up into the emerald green eyes of his comforter. Draco was pouting. He was so cute like that, with his lips full of attitude and his grey eyes (actually they were more blue then grey but Harry had a suspicion that that was only because he was showing emotions that weren't hate or arrogance) were opened widely, making him look very young and vulnerable. At the sight of him, Harry's heart tightened and the only thing he wanted to do was hug Draco until he suffocated from it. Yet Harry knew that that particular course of action wouldn't stop the boy's fear of the Dark Lord, and he also knew that he had to help Draco overcome his fear.

"The mean man is very old, tired and weak. I'm younger and stronger than him, I'll keep you safe and out of his reach, don't worry. It will be fine. You don't have to fear him anymore, I'll always be there to protect you from him, I promise. Alright?" As Harry said the words "I promise" a soft white light wound around them like a silken ribbon. The light ribbon illuminated them for a few seconds, yet only Dumbledore saw it. The two youths were too busy smiling at each other and nodding, in Draco's case.

Dumbledore let them have one more minute before he cleared his throat, breaking the spell around the two. A new determination was in his eyes, but Harry and Draco were too occupied with feeling embarrassed, that their headmaster had witnessed everything between them, to pay attention and didn't notice it.

As Harry let Draco go and they both straightened their robes, old Dumbledore walked back to his armchair behind the desk. If in the beginning of this meeting he hadn't been one hundred percent sure that he was doing the right thing, now he had no doubt in his mind. And so, with that joyful thought and a smile on his lips, Dumbledore started to explain everything.

"You see," he said to them when they all sat down in their seats. "In the middle of the summer, young Mr. Malfoy sent me a letter asking to join us. Who am I to deny someone the chance to redeem themselves? Of course, I agreed and asked if he would like to come and end the summer vacation here at Hogwarts. He agreed to come in a week's time. Alas, the news about a Death Eater's son coming to the light side didn't stay quiet for long.

"It wouldn't be so bad if not for this hex. It's a very rarely known hex. It's purpose is to make the victim vulnerable. It makes him very obedient and passive." (Which, to Harry, explains the way Draco had been acting) "The victim of this hex can't lie or hide his feelings. It basically make them return to their six year's old self. At first sight it looks like a hex children would use against each other, but in reality, dark wizards use it far more often. It's very functional for those that need a willing enemy for dark rituals, as it makes the victim agree to every single thing said to him, even if it is killing him.

"So, we really cannot know for what purpose this one was cast." Dumbledore stopped his long speech to measure the two young boys' reactions. It seemed to him that it was going well. "Well, this is where you come in, Harry, my dear boy. Because there's a chance that Voldemort is behind this, and we need someone to protect Mr. Malfoy. As it is, the probabilities are high, that Dark lord or no, that it was cast by someone inside Hogwarts. So the one protecting Mr. Malfoy needs to be with him constantly. And I think that you are the more suitable one for the role. What do you say?"

- TBC -

A\N-2: I really hope you liked it.
If you did, Please review me. If you didn't, Please review me. If you don't have an opinion, please review me. In other words please review my no matter what. Lol. Thank you. Oh, and just so you'll know, I have the second chapter almost finished . And I won't abandon it if I have someone reading it. So if you read this and wont to read the continuation of it, this is one more reason for you to review me. Please.