authorsnote: 'prettylittlepetticoats stop making new stories, update your old ones first' I think YOU'LL FIND that my last new WIP was published: 01/03/2021: March, HA, it's been like 4 months! hem hem, I need to not be so triumphant probably
FYI that is me just preventatively getting in the way of the few rare reviews that complain and scream at me that I need to stop doing new stories. sorry folks! when a new WIP bites at me it demands to be written!

anywhooo, I do hope you enjoy this new story! it came to me and I simply HAD to write it. I am already loving the initial story I have sketched out and hope you do too. please let me know if you like the idea behind it!

as always do review and follow for updates but most importantly enjoy!

songrecs: seven - taylor swift (damn I've recced this song in like four fics, w/e folklore is soooo good to write to

"I have to do this" The boys voice was filled with sorrow, with despair, with fear. His hand shook as he held his wand, his eyes darted around the circular room of the Tower, as though hoping for an escape, as though hoping for an out. His eyes even darted madly to the balcony for a second, as though jumping was a way out before he tried to refocus on Dumbledore, his target, though his eyes still flitted around the room.

"I can dispatch members of the Order to your parents now, we can hide them and you Draco will be safe" Dumbledore spoke, in all his kindness and wisdom, offering an olive branch to the boy that had a wand pointed at him, but then that was Dumbledore's way, his kindness, his empathy. "You do not need to do this"

For a moment everything was still, the wind whipped outside the Tower but otherwise none moved. Dumbledore made no move to raise his hands in defence though surely wandless magic could have disarmed the boy trembling in front of him. Said boy also made no move, he held his wand firm but shaky, pointed at his Headmaster. He did not lower it, but he did not fire either.

But then his wand jerked down. Just a fraction, not noticeable unless you were looking, but it did, and that was all that was needed. Just a hint, a tiny little jerk, but that was enough.

Would be enough.

Draco Malfoy was not a nice person. He was a bully, as close to a racist as the Wizarding World has, a bigot, privileged and cruel, but that didn't and shouldn't condemn him. The dirty stain on his arm spoke to how much of a victim he was, and the jerk of his wand, as tiny and inconsequential as a move it was showed, he wasn't a killer, his soul hadn't been stained as such and shouldn't be.

"I…" He stumbled, shaking more violently now, his wand pointing to the floor, his eyes wide and panicked, almost like a wild animal. He looked trapped and scared; he was.

Trapped. The violent black mark on his arm spoke to that, trapped by the mad man his parents had followed.

Was he a victim or follower? Could he be both?

Victim or villain? Anyone who looked at Draco Malfoy, trembling and shaking would never call him a villain, just a boy, a boy who had followed his Father as so many did, a boy who had never stood a chance when raised by such bigotry, a boy who needed help.

"You're safe Draco" Dumbledores words were soothing and Draco relaxed just a hint, though the shaking didn't stop, not for a second, it probably would for a while. "You're safe, I promise"

"Safe" His voice was full of doubt, safe? He hadn't been that in a long, long time.

Safe.

Dumbledore was the only person who could offer that promise and even possibly believed, but even then, safe … for Draco Malfoy in this moment, it was hard to believe and it seemed so far away it was almost impossible to hope for.

After a second or two of Malfoy and Dumbledore stood still did the air seem to pause, freeze, time slowed. The wind even seemed to calm for a second or two, no longer the furious whirling of it around the Tower. Everything seemed to calm, to slow, for just a few seconds, just a minute or so.

'Safe'

And then everything seemed to jump to hyperspeed. Too fast.

Harry felt his body unfreeze and immediately he pulled off the invisibility cloak, to turn to Dumbledore and a shaking Draco Malfoy, who now looked at Harry in horror and a hint of confusion.

"Expecting Patronum" Dumbledore didn't turn to either of them first, but cast his Phoenix wandlessly and muttered to it (Draco's eyes widened as he realised just how easily Dumbledore could have disarmed him, wand or no), "Hestia, Didlys, go immediately to the Malfoy's, the Manor will be empty, take them to the West safe house, act quickly" Harry was sure he didn't imagine Malfoy sag slightly with relief, though his eyes remained manic and scared.

Harry took a step closer to Dumbledore then: what was next?

Dumbledore had frozen him in place once they'd returned from their mission, had trapped him beneath his invisibility cloak. His mentor would say to protect him, Harry would grit his teeth and was, annoyed he couldn't help.

However, he could see Dumbledore's thinking. Harry would have just disarmed Malfoy without even asking, would have been reckless and brash, Dumbledore instead had talked him down. Not Harry's preferred method, he was too hot-headed for that, but it had worked.

As always he relented, Dumbledore had made the right move. As he always did.

Still, he took a step forward, wanting to help now, as he always did.

"No Harry" Dumbledore urged whipping back around to them both, his wand still forgotten to the side, where Malfoy had disarmed him "Both of you need to get back under the cloak, and now" His voice sounded more urgent than Harry could remember and so he found himself stepping closer to Draco's side, ready to throw the cloak over them both, not even considering for the moment who Dumbledore was asking him to work with, not even questioning his mentor. Never.

Sure, he often disagreed with him, but openly question him? There was a difference. The former Dumbledore even encouraged but the latter Harry would never do, not with how much he respected him, trusted him.

"Harry" Dumbledore spoke then and gripped his arm, pulled him closer and his voice dropped to a whisper, his grip steady as he spoke so only Harry could hear.

Harry suddenly felt that as Dumbledore looked urgently into his eyes that this was perhaps the most information Dumbledore would impart to him. He wasn't sure why he felt that way nor where that feeling came from but he suddenly felt even more tense and kept his gaze locked on those clear blue eyes that he had looked in many times before.

"Keep Draco Malfoy with you, keep him by your side, he will be more valuable to you than you realise" Harry went to open his mouth then, certainly not expecting that but Dumbledore gripped him closer, "His family will be safe, but he will not, Voldemort will seek him, you must, must stay together, the trio will become four, promise me, promise me now, this is vital"

"But sir..." Harry went to speak, to protest, but as Dumbledore pulled back and Harry saw the seriousness of his expression any protest died on his lips.

"Promise me" He urged again, and Harry could only nod. Dumbledore had always asked Harry to trust, never this blindly but to trust all the same, and trust he would. How could he not? This was Dumbledore.

"Good" Dumbledore even seemed to sag a little, relax and then he looked at them both, "Under the cloak now., and leave by the side door, now"

"But sir..." Harry repeated the words but again as Dumbledore spoke his protest died once more.

"Your promise Harry" Harry knew he was talking of his earlier one made, 'To follow my order' and so he nodded, a promise made was to be kept, especially one made to Dumbledore, as much as he didn't want to, he did.

And so he stepped closer to Malfoy, trying not to think of who he was, of their horrible childhood rivalry, that would come later he was sure, now he just nodded at Dumbledore, threw the cloak over them both and made for the side door, Malfoy following, not a word having left his lips, he still shook though, and Harry felt a pang of pity, even for his hated nemesis.

He quickly made for the door, as Dumbledore had ordered and hoped his mentor would give him further clarity later, to explain why, though he felt a horrible sense of dread then, he wasn't sure he could explain it but it settled in the pit of his stomach as he reached for the handle of the door.

But then he froze again, but not by choice just as he hadn't the first time. No, he could recognise it now, he had been immobilised again. He did manage to move his eyes, to look sideways at Malfoy who was also immobilised now, that same scared expression frozen on his face.

He heard steps then, hurrying up the long winding stairs that led to the tower. This time though it wasn't a terrified Malfoy, holding a shaking wand up to Dumbledore, no, instead it was other people, worse people who flooded the small room.

This time it wasn't Draco Malfoy that held a wand to Dumbledore, but rather the Death Eaters he had let inside.

soo thoughts?

I know this was short and the next chapter might be as well, we are just setting up! the majority of this story will cover the deathly hallows and will obviously differ wildly from canon, but we need to get to that point! and so expect some set-up before we dig into the juicy plot.

pairings wise this will be dramione most likely, I haven't decided my harry and ron pairings yet so do throw me suggestions! I usually pick the same couple for harry but I'd still like to hear your ideas and I am SUPER open on ron's so send them my way!

I do hope you enjoyed, please let me know if you'd like to read more.

I promise to update soon, I really mean it!

speak soon