1

Draco didn't like this. He didn't like it one bit. He didn't like being sat in an overly soft armchair in a corridor outside Potter's office, briefcase resting on his lap and fingers drumming against it out of sheer boredom. He didn't like the constant rush of interns and aurors and other members of staff, or the hum of conversation that seemed to come from every direction. He didn't like the stale smell of cheap instant coffee that hung in the air. He didn't like anything about this situation, including the reason he was here.

Potter's office door swung open, and Weasley stepped out, still talking to Potter over his shoulder. He turned, grin still on his face, but it slipped off when he saw Draco standing opposite him, foot tapping with a mixture of annoyance, impatience and need for dramatic effect.

"Can I help you, Weasley?" It wasn't exactly friendly, but it wasn't cold or cruel or the typical Malfoy sneer or drawl either, and this evidently shocked the other man into action. He blinked at Draco once, twice, three times before visibly jolting himself back into reality and shaking his head a little.

"No, Malfoy. Harry's… all yours, I guess." He gave a pathetic little wave before walking away and disappearing round the corner.

Draco re-adjusted his suit a little before entering Potters office. He was sat behind his desk, hair as unruly as it had been in Hogwarts, although now there were flecks of grey amongst the inky black mess, glasses perching on the end of his nose, quill scratching frantically across the parchment on his desk. Draco cleared his throat and he glanced up, eyebrows furrowing for a fraction of a second before his face became impassive.

"Mr. Malfoy, I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long." He placed his quill back in the inkwell and gestured to the seat in front of him. "Please, take a seat, and explain to me why, exactly you're here. Your letter was incredibly vague."

The door swung shut behind him as Draco seated himself, briefcase never leaving his hands. He fiddled with it for a minute, eyes seemingly searching the leather before he took a deep breath and met Potters gaze. "I'm here because I'm calling in a favor."

Potters brows rose and he sat back in his seat. "And just what favor might that be?"

"I need you…" Draco stopped, scrubbing his face with his hand. When he met Potters gaze again, it was different. A glamour had been dropped, and he looked tired, haggard, aged. His face held all the telltale signs of sleepless nights due to stress and worry. "I need you to protect my son."

2

Draco Malfoy had, against all odds, become a well-respected man. After Hogwarts, and after many years of fighting against prejudice, stereotypes and mistreatment, he became a diplomat. Or at least that's what Harry gathered from Malfoy's explanation of his job.

"I work for the Ministry. I collaborate with foreign Wizarding Governments and negotiate various things with them such as international peace, trade, war, money, environment, and wizard and magical creatures rights."

"So you're a diplomat." Harry stated.

"Yes. Honestly, Potter, I didn't know for sure you were aware of what the position entailed."

And Harry believed him, funnily enough. "And why, exactly, does this mean your son needs me to protect him?"

"Not you, exactly."

"Then why are you in my office?"

"Because I was thinking more along the lines of your son doing it."

"Albus?" Harry blinked at the man, a perfectly earnest look upon his face. "Why him?!"

"He was top of his class, wasn't he? And from what I've heard he's the best the corps have seen in years. Since you, I believe. You, as head auror, can't just go gallivanting off. Your son, however, can."

Harry sighed and closed his eyes, massaging the bridge of his nose. "It's possible. If you'd actually tell me what the hell was going on, I could give you a more definite answer."

He bolted upright at the sound of something crashing onto his desk. It was Malfoy's briefcase.

"Everything you need to know is in there. Every relevant document, profile, account and statement."

Harry unlatched it, and stared. Malfoy had used an invisible extension charm, and before him sat one of the largest piles of paperwork he'd ever seen in his life.

"Could you not summarize it for me?" He asked weakly.

Malfoy grumbled, spelling the case shut and getting comfortable in his chair, before opening his mouth and starting to talk. "Long story short, Potter, I'd been placed in Tunisia to discuss potential trade. Textiles, raw ingredients, fuel, food etcetera." Harry nodded, settling back in his chair as well. "Anyway, wherever I go, Astoria and Scorpius accompany me, Scorpius mainly tags along because he loves the idea of following in my footsteps career wise as most children do. So we've been placed in a secure location and we're following procedure as normal, when suddenly a Tunisian official comes bursting into my meeting, shouting something about an attack on the hotel we've been placed in. We're talking all out fighting, explosions, total and utter chaos. We all rush off, myself and the other foreign diplomats, because all of our families are there. We arrive and it's…" He shakes his head and runs an unsteady hand through his hair. "It's not even a building anymore, Potter. It's just rubble. Miraculously the wives or partners are still standing, huddled together. Astoria's helping them all because she's a trained healer and I, like the others, breathe a sigh of relief but then… Then we notice that they, the wives and partners, are the only ones there. The staff of the hotel are gone, and so are-"

"The children." Harry murmurs, a tightening in his chest meaning that it's the best he can do. Draco simply nods.

"Luckily Scorpius had been back in England at the time of the attack picking up something Astoria had forgotten. He arrived back at the site just after the Law Enforcement officials arrived. I thought… I thought we, as a family, had got away. But then Astoria showed me this…" Malfoy handed him a piece of paper inside an evidence bag. Harry stared at it blankly, a foreign language staring back at him. "It basically says that they're coming after us. That whether it's England or not, they'll be there. They're going to hunt Scorpius until he is theirs too. It says, Potter, that they're going to find him, and that he's far from safe."

It took Harry less than a minute after that final, damning sentence to make a decision. He opened the briefcase once again, placing the letter on top of the mound of paperwork and shutting in with a snap. He stood, picking up the case and walking around the desk. "If you'd like to follow me, Malfoy, I'm going to go hand this over to my son."

I know there's a lack of the actual pairing in this chapter, but it's just me setting the scene~

Wah, I know, SO MANY FICS ON THE GO AND NOT ENOUGH COMPLETION HAPPENING. But this idea has been with me since September 2012 and I told myself I wouldn't work on it until one of my fics was finished. But then I hit the wall and it was like this was all I could write. ;_; Please don't get mad at me...

But yeah, track and review if you're liking the sound of this!