Attraction of up and coming protégée (4)
I believe the answer is:
draw
'attraction' is the definition.
(draw can mean something that attracts people)
'up and coming protegee' is the wordplay.
'up and coming' shows that the letters should be reversed in order (in a down clue, letters go up).
'protegee' becomes 'ward' (ward can mean a child under one's care).
'ward' back-to-front is 'DRAW'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for draw that I've seen before include "Make lines on a surface" , "Depict - raffle" , "Even-scored game" , "No-winner result" , "Take a gun from its holster" .)