The Little One with Green Eyes

39: The Guardian's Task

-November 30, 1991-
"I can't believe they expect us to stay awake in that class," Theo complained loudly as he walked through the halls of Hogwarts. Beside him, Draco marched with a similar expression on his face. "I mean, seriously! People don't even call it 'Magical History' anymore! People just refer to it as 'Naptime'."

Draco chuckled. "Binns is ancient. I wonder, do you think he was this dull when he was alive?"

"Probably," Blaise chimed in, knocking shoulders with Draco. "I asked Mama about him, and she said he was dead while she was in school."

"No one knows how old he really is," Pansy explained, placing a marker in her book. "I heard he just died in the teacher's lounge, got up and went to class---didn't even realize that he was a ghost."

"Do you think he knows he's dead?" Theo asked, a slow grin sliding onto his face.

"I hope so," Blaise said with a frown. "Could you imagine the shock he'd go through if someone told him he was dead?"

"Maybe he'd finally go to the 'Great Beyond'." Draco said, a mocking tone filling his voice as he quoted the headmaster.

Theo snorted and shook his head. Draco and the rest of his friends laughed along with him as they walked to the Great Hall for dinner. As they sat down for the feast, Draco couldn't help but think about how fantastic life had been recently.

Little One was doing much better according to his mother, who swore up and down that Little One was smiling and handing out flowers again. It made him feel better, and the nightmares of finding Little One laying in his own blood were finally going away. School was easy and Draco was having no trouble keeping up. Not to mention, his friends were getting along great, and Draco was getting closer and closer to Theo.

It felt like nothing could ruin his day.

So of course something came along to ruin it, because it was Draco's own fault for jinxing it.

It started as he was getting ready for bed. The dorms seemed unnaturally cold that night, and as Draco was changing into his pajamas, his skin broke out into uncomfortable goose flesh. He shivered as he crawled under the covers of his bed.

As he closed his eyes and fell asleep, he could've sworn he saw something flash through his room.

He instantly recognized the blank nothingness of his dream, and he shivered. It was the same nothingness, the only difference was that this time, the nothingness wasn't dark. It was impossibly bright. This was the nothingness he was trapped in during the Sahamian ritual. He looked around, his gray eyes squinting as they tried to find the mysterious being that Draco knew was there.

His breath comes out in a sharp mist, and Draco feels the cold smother him. "Where are you?" Draco asked, his teeth chattering. "Why am I here?"

He can feel the presence now, that overwhelming feeling of power. It brushes up against his back and sends shivers down his spine. When it speaks, Draco hears hundreds of voices overlap on top of it. The voice sets him on edge and causes him to grit his teeth.

"Hello Guardian." it says.

"Why do you call me that? Who are you?" Draco demanded, spinning around in the hopes of seeing the mysterious being, only to be greeted with more nothingness.

"Your task has been set, young Guardian," it told him. "I bid you fulfill it."

"I don't know what that means!" Draco cried. "What are you talking about? What are you?"

"Your task has been set," it repeats, and Draco is struck with the urge to pull his hair out. It was so frustrating to talk in circles with the being. He didn't know what was going on, and it was driving him crazy. "Protect the Master."