Disclaimer: All characters, places and references belong to J.. I only own the plot in this story.

Warnings: The characters might be a little OOC but It's only to fit my plot. Also this is a AU to 6th year, meaning Half-Blood Prince never happened. Future Slash, I dont know how specific yet but to be safe i will rate it M. Also some violence.

A/N: Hello everyone, this is the first story i have posted yet. Please note that my native language is not English, but like every other Author in my position we try to do our best. Hope you enjoy.

- Because I Care -

The silver dagger glinted under the moonlight.

Draco looked at it sadly before turning the tip to himself, placing it directly above his heart. He tightened his grip on the hilt and closed his eyes.

It's going to end soonHe thought, starting to feel the burning sensation of tears forming under his closed lids.

The pain, the loneliness. Everything was almost over. No one had cared enough to see the depression clinging to the young Malfoy heir. His so called Slytherin friends now ignored him, treated him with cold shoulders and sneers, and the rest of Hogwarts just simply did not care that the Slytherin Prince now was quiet most of the time, after all he was just another bully to them.

A lonely tear ran down his pale cheek and fell unto the blade of the dagger.

''How the mighty have fallen... Right Father?'' He whispered. His shaky voice was the only sound that danced with the wind's whispers through the grounds of Hogwarts.

If Lucius Malfoy saw him now he would have called him weak. Draco could almost hear his drawl in the soft whispers of the wind.

'Malfoys donot cry and they certainly donot take their own lives, only the weak take such easy path' He would say while looking at his son with a malicious sneer.

Draco gave a sad smile remembering the times Father had said those things to him.

'Malfoys do not do this' or 'Malfoys do not do that'. He never complained, after all he had loved his Father and Mother and had looked up to them.

All gone now. His Father was in Azkaban because of the Ministry fiasco and his Mother went into hiding somewhere in France, trying to run from the punishment of her husband's failure, leaving young Draco to fend for himself.

And that is when hell broke loose, the Slytherin lost the respect for the name Malfoy, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff did not fear him anymore and the Gryffindor looked at him with disgust and hate, after all the son of a Death Eater was a Death Eater in training.

Shaking his head Draco steeled his mind from those thoughts and focused on the cold dagger. Taking a deep breath he pushed it back away from him a few inches, and then in a quick movement pulled it to himself, expecting the cold bite of the blade to pierce his body.

It never came though; instead a pressure was holding the dagger back.

''Don't do it'' came the whisper from somewhere near his ear.

He opened his eyes wide, body frozen in shock, and stared down at the weapon still on his hands. Another hand was tightly holding around the blade part of the dagger, preventing it from reaching his skin.

The hand, only a few shades darker than his pale one, was dripping blood from where the blade was biting the strong fingers. The thumb of said hand moved slowly and gently caressed Draco's knuckles while the voice whispered'Don't do it'again near his ear.

''Who are you?'' Draco asked in a faint voice.

''Someone who cares'' And then everything was gone, the hand released the dagger and the voice disappeared taking with it all the warmth of the moment. It was only when the chilly breeze hit his back that he realized that something warm had been pressed there.

He took a shaky breath and turned around. Whoever had been there, was long gone by now. Draco felt the dagger slip from his now loose hold and fall to the ground with a soft 'clink' before he himself fell to his knees, hands pressed to his face, sobbing.

Unknown to him a green eyed boy watched him from under his invisibility cloak only a few feet away, his own tears rolling down his cheeks at the witness of his broken rival, a plain handkerchief fastened around his still blood dripping fingers.

-/-

Harry had never really cared about his blond rival, after all he had a bigger fish to fry aka Lord Voldedork. But when, during his usual night strolls, he spotted the Slytherin slipping through the double doors that lead to the school grounds with a haunted look on his face, Harry could honestly say that he felt as if his body had been submerged into a cold pool of dread.

The blond looked so fragile and broken... How had he never noticed this before?

I mean, sure he had noticed Malfoy's lack of insults and pranks but that was supposed to be a good thing right?

Wrong. Something inside his head was telling him that it was not good thing when someone starts losing height like the Malfoy obviously was, if the school robes that hung loosely around his frame where of any indication.

And that no, it was also not a bloody good thing when someone starts withdrawing within themselves.

Yes, how wrong he had been, Draco Malfoy was desperately in need of help.

So Harry did the only thing he could do, he pulled out the Marauder's Map from the back pocket of his jeans and with the help of his ever present invisibility cloak he followed the blond out of the castle.

They walked for about five minutes, Harry keeping his distance in case the blond was paying too much attention to the sounds around him (after all the invisibility cloak could not omit the sounds of footsteps), until Draco finally stopped at the border of the lake.

The raven haired boy took the chance to check the map, making sure everyone around the castle was moving like usual. Filch was walking down the corridor near the kitchen and Mrs. Norris was on the 3rd floor.

He took a glance at what Draco was doing and felt his jaw drop open and his eyes widen with horror.

The bloody idiot had pulled a dagger from his robes and was now pointing it to his chest.

''Stupid pompous prat, can't keep his bloody stupid ideas in his head'' the Gryffindor muttered under his breath. He watched for a few seconds but when he saw the convinced look on the Slytherin's face Harry threw caution out the window and leaped forward grabbing the blade of the dagger while trying to keep his body under the cloak. He kept his hiss of pain to himself and focused on whispering soothing words to the blond before letting go and backing off, putting some distance between them.

Ouch, Hermione is going to be worried about this He grimaced at the growing mess of blood that covered his fingers, casting a quick cleaning charm and fastening his handkerchief around the cuts.

Then suddenly Draco fell to his knees crying like there was no tomorrow face buried in his hands.

Poor boyThe raven thought feeling a couple of tears run down his cheeks.

Something inside Harry wanted nothing more than to hold the blond close to him and comfort him, but he knew the touch would be unwelcomed right now, at least from him.

Draco would see it as pity and probably hex him, so the raven just kept his distance and watched over the blond. He knew it wasn't pity that moved him; he knew the Slytherin hardly deserved that. No, it was more like the silent sympathy of someone who understands. Harry had been through the exact same depression after losing Sirius and if it hadn't been for Ron and Hermione it would have been unbearable.

Despite everything that had happened between them, Harry just couldn't hate Draco. And he wasn't so cruel that he wished the blond to die, let alone in front of him where he could stop it.

The raven looked around and when he found a big rock nearby he sat, carefully slow to keep his feet from showing, all the while keeping his eyes on the Malfoy boy who still had to stop crying.

If he does not stop soon he is going to get dehydrated with so many damn tears

It seemed like hours later when finally Draco raised his head and Harry's breathe got caught in his throat. The Slytherin's eyes were red and puffy and fresh trails of tears glowed on his smooth cheeks and still, he looked just as beautiful as always.

Harry ducked his head when he felt a warmth rise to his cheeks but then he remembered that Draco could not see him.

Beautiful huh? He snorted.That's new.

Ok, so maybe the concept wasn't that new.

Surely anyone with two eyes and the tiniest bit of taste could see that Draco was handsome. With his pale fair skin that seemed to glow when the light hit it, the soft looking platinum hair and the jewel like silver eyes that always used to shine with mischief and pride but now were dull with sadness and pain. Yes, Draco Malfoy was a very handsome young man. But now with tear stained cheeks and red rimmed eyes he took his beauty to a more human level, an emotional sight that could only be described as beautiful. Harry found himself wondering if this was how sad angels looked like when they shed tears.

He pulled his wand from the pocket of his too big jeans and casted a heating charm on Draco when the boy shivered. The blond looked up but not seeing anyone just shrugged it off and slowly rose to his feet, cleaned his wet cheeks with his sleeve and started heading back to the castle.

Harry was preparing to follow when the glint of the dagger, still laying on the ground, caught his attention. He picked it up and eyed it curiously. It seemed mostly made of silver. The blade was simple, the hilt through had a crest engraved with an elegant 'M', probably from the Malfoy family and on the end of the hilt it could be seen a emerald with a tiny but very detailed snake around it.

I wonder if it's a family heirloom

Oh well, he slipped it inside his robes and headed for the castle. Draco was already walking down the hall towards the dungeons, with his head bowed and shoulders slumped. Harry watched through the Marauder's Map as the blond entered the room where he knew was the Slytherin common room and then up to his dorm.

Satisfied for now, the raven headed slowly for his own common room and dormitory, all the while his head filled with thoughts and ideas.

Helping Draco was going to be tricky, he knew he would never accept it willingly, as a matter of fact, he probably wouldn't accept even if forced. No, Draco could not know it was him. But that left another problem, how to help someone without letting them know who you are?

He sighed unhappily, and then mumbled the password to the Fat Lady when he reached the portrait and took off the invisibility cloak. It was late enough that no one would be around the common room, that was probably why he didn't notice he wasn't alone until a voice almost made him jump out of his skin.

"Welcome back Harry" it came from the sofa at the far end of the room. He gasped and reached for his wand but when he turned to the sound he noticed it was only Ginny, curled up in a blanket with a book on her hands.

"Hey Gin" He said sitting down next to her. "What are you still doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep" she replied with a shrug. "And you? What is your excuse Mister Potter?"

"Just came from my night stroll"

"I thought those were supposed to relax you, why the sad look?"

He hesitated for a second before sighing again and looking his red haired friend in the eyes.

"There is someone who needs my help. Someone very stubborn who will refuse it, but I can't afford them to refuse." He ran a hand through untidy black locks in exasperation. "So right now I am putting all my effort into ideas to approach them without giving myself away."

"Hmm... Have you considered not showing yourself as a human?" Harry scowled, confused. "What do you mean Ginny?"

"Well think with me. When you are alone and feeling sad, like during summer for example, who do you talk to? "

The raven haired boy flushed in embarrassment before muttering under his breath. "Hedwig I guess. It's not like you can talk about our world with the Dursleys"

The red head smiled sadly before squeezing Harry's knee "As I was saying. Try meeting this person as an animal"

"You know I'm not an animagus Ginny" the girl raised an eyebrow as if to say 'that's a first' and Harry blushed. "Ok so I have been reading about the subject, don't tell your brother please Ginny, you know how Ron is. This is something important to me. My father was one you know? " Ginny saw the pride and adoration in his eyes and grinned.

"I won't tell Harry. You must know that to find your animal form you can take a potion right?'' Harry nodded "Well that potion lasts for a few hours, so the wizard or witch can understand and get used to the feeling of being in animal form. Supposedly, it makes the process easier."

"It will be like second year all over again. I don't want to steal from Snape, Ginny.''

The girl seemed to think for a few seconds and then grinned again. "What about the Room of Requirements? You told me Filch gets his supplies from there, plus you will need that room to make the potion won't you?''

Harry looked at her surprised, before giving her a goofy grin and hugging her tightly. "You are a genius Ginny Weasley, thank you so much."

"Just be careful Harry, don't get hurt" His grin faltered for a second but then it came back more brilliant than ever.

"I won't" Then he hugged Ginny again and with a good night, made his way to the boys dormitory, plans still running through his thoughts.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Don't forget to give me a feedback, Im still a bit afraid people won't like the story lol.