Chapter 3: An Attack

"Leave." With the command from his master, Lucius glided out of the room with his robes flowing out behind him. Draco shut his eyes, fearing the worst.

"Why did you disobey me, little Dragon?" Voldemort asked in mock sadness. Draco felt ten boney fingers cup his cheek. He refused to open his eyes. "Open your eyes, Draco. I've always loved your silver eyes." Draco's eyes didn't open. "I said, open your eyes." Voldemort said threateningly. Draco slowly opened his eyes, trying to hold back tears.

"You know that I love you, Dragon." He said, inching closer to Draco's face. Draco could feel the older man's breath upon his cheeks. "Sometimes, my dear, love hurts." With that, Draco found his lips caught in a one-sided kiss with the man he despised. The Dark Lord pulled back abruptly.

"When I show you affection, my Dragon," he began, "you must show me some in return. Do I make myself clear?" Draco felt the bile rise in his throat as his lips were captured again, trying his best to kiss the snake-like man back. Draco was a good actor. His nausea became almost unbearable as he felt the buttons of his shirt being undone by those dirty fingers.

Draco excused himself from the feast shortly after Dumbledore's speech. He had become overwhelmed by the threatening faces coming from the other students and decided that it would be best if he were to be alone for a little while. Blaise and Pansy had offered to go with him, but he turned that offer down.

Harry on the other hand, decided to follow him whether he wanted him to or not. As Pansy and Blaise turned back to their meal, Draco exited the Great Hall. 'They're blind,' Harry thought as he excused himself from his table. 'He's hurt and he needs someone.' And with that, he sped up in search for Draco.

Draco rounded a corner to collide with two rather tall boys. He apologized abruptly without looking up and made to continue on his way, but he was pulled back harshly by the back of his robes. His heart began to race as he looked up at their faces.

Draco Malfoy was face-to-face with Marcus Flint and Theodore Nott. Something told him he would not come out of this confrontation without some sort of battle. One in which he was sure he'd lose.

"Well, well, well," Nott growled as he advanced on the much smaller boy. "If it isn't the man of the hour. We were just talking about you, Malfoy."

"Don't do something you'll regret, Nott." Flint hissed. "We don't want to permanently damage our future Lord's favorite toy. Who knows what he'd do to us?" Nott nodded in agreement.

"We'll just… teach him some manners that are necessary when he's around good ol' Voldy." Nott added. Flint grabbed Draco forcefully and slammed him against the wall. Draco showed no sign of pain. After all, being emotionless was his trademark.

"So why'd you do it, traitor?" Flint whispered into his ear. "Why'd you deny the dark mark? Don't you know that it's an HONOR?" and with that last word, Draco was slammed into the wall again. "To be offered such a great privilege at such a young age is something that one should never pass up."

"And to think," Nott interrupted. "We thought you were the smartest of us all." Draco had no time to retaliate, as two fists met his face with great force. He could feel his lip split open and the sound of his nose snapping echoed throughout the corridor. The two boys smirked as they pushed Draco to the ground and kicked him in the stomach, counting kicks simultaneously to give him twice the amount of pain that either could have delivered alone.

Harry had lost sight of Draco. He was about to give up when hushed voices could be heard around a corner. He stopped and tried to hear what was being said.

"You – knew – you – had – this – coming – Draco," a deep voice said in between what sounded like blows. Harry froze. Someone was hurting Draco.

"Alright, this is getting boring," another voice chimed in. "What do you say we make it more interesting? Take out your wand, Marcus." Harry snapped out of his statue-like state and turned the corner with more speed and courage than he had ever imagined himself to possess.

A split second later, Harry had his wand drawn, practically poking Nott's nose with it. He couldn't help but gasp slightly at the sight of Draco on the ground. He couldn't even tell it was him, with all of the blood and the forming bruises.

"Get away from him." Harry warned. The boys smirked.

"Or what, Potter?" they asked together, almost eerily.

"Or I'll hex you. That's what. I've taken on your beloved Lord more times than you've laid eyes on him. I think I can take you, too." The boys laughed, but slowly turned and walked the other way, obviously frightened of Harry's power.

"This ain't over, Malfoy," Nott snarled as they turned the corner. Harry watched them until they were out of sight, then immediately flung himself at Draco's side.

"Draco. Draco, please wake up. Wake up." But his efforts didn't seem to work as he lightly hit Draco's cheeks, hoping to get some sort of response. Harry rose to go find help when he heard a groan. "Draco!" he exclaimed and immediately found himself hovering over Draco's face again.

"I'm going to get you some help, alright? Just stay here." But Draco weakly reached up and grabbed his wrist as he moved to get up.

"What if they come back?" he asked with tears in his eyes. Harry noticed that his breaths were shallow. He wasn't going to last very long without help. Draco shivered. Harry took off his cloak and placed it over the weaker boy, and hugged him tight to his chest.

"You're going to be alright, Draco. You have to be." And with that, Screams of "Help!" could be heard throughout the school as Harry wiped the blood from Draco's face.

Harry had only been screaming for less than a minute when Ron's voice could be heard in the distance. "Harry! Harry, is that you? Are you okay? Where are you?"

"Ron! I'm over here! Follow my voice!" and within another ten seconds Ron came running. He stopped suddenly and looked at the two bloody boys on the floor.

"Oh, Harry. What happened to you two?" Harry looked down. He was covered in Draco's blood.

"I'm fine. It's Draco. Ron, run and get someone… any teacher you can find. Please, hurry." Ron nodded and sped away, to return quickly with Snape at his heels.

"Get away, Potter." Snape quickly said and fell to his knees by Draco. Harry didn't move from the boy's unmoving body. "I said GET AWAY!" Harry's eyes filled with tears as he watched Snape give Draco three potions and wave his wand. Harry observed his Potions professor. The man was clearly fighting back his emotions, and his hands were shaking almost violently as he force-fed the vials to his godson. Suddenly, the bloody mess resembled Draco again. His nose was fixed and his face was free of blood.

"Is he alright, Professor?" Ron asked, looking a little scared.

"I don't know." Was all he said as he silently levitated Draco and began walking away.

"Where are you taking him?" Harry asked, his voice cracking.

"The Infirmary, of course." Snape snapped as he continued to walk away.

Harry sighed and sat himself back on the floor, with his head in his hands. He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder gently. He looked up at Ron's face. The other boy was clearly not as distraught as Harry, but he was pretty shaken up.

"Harry, what happened?" Harry could feel tears well in his eyes as he tried to answer his friend's question.

"I don't know, Ron. Nott and Flint… they… they just… attacked him. Ron, I don't understand. Why would they do that to him? Weren't they his friends?" Ron nodded sadly. "Draco did something over the summer." Ron nodded again. "What did he do to make them hate him so much?" Ron sighed.

"I think that's something that you will eventually have to get out of Draco yourself."

"What makes you think that he'll tell me?"

"Well, you cared enough about him to run after him and defend him, then hold him and scream for help. He owes you an explanation at the very least."

"Maybe I don't want to know."

"Sure you do."

"What?" Harry asked, confused.

"You love him."

Harry simply stared at Ron after that last remark. Ron smirked.

"Come on, Harry. It's pretty obvious. You're so upset over this whole thing, and even being nice to him on the train gave me a clue. At first I simply thought you had gone mental along with Mione, but then it all clicked when I saw that jealous glare you gave her." Harry blushed and Ron laughed. "Hey, it's alright, mate." He said, slapping Harry on the back. "We all have a right to love who we want to. Now come on, let's get you cleaned up." Harry looked down at his blood stained shirt and nodded in agreement, feeling a little better.

Until he could talk to Draco, he knew he would have to endure the endless string of questions from his housemates, especially from Hermione. She and Draco had indeed ended on bad terms last time they spoke, but the girl obviously cared about Draco enough to be worried.

Luckily, when the duo entered Gryffindor tower, nobody was in the common room. They retreated to bed, and Harry sat awake for most of the night, wondering what to say to Draco the next day. The bottom line was that Draco needed someone to protect him, and Harry Potter was determined to be the one at his side.