Thanks for reading! Please let me know if you enjoy! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Updates every Saturday!

—————————————————————

"None of your business, that's what it is!" Harriet cried as she roughly pushed Draco's hands away from her round belly.

"You're…...you're……" Draco stammered as his eyes went wide.

"I'm nothing." Harriet snapped, "I…...brewed an elixir incorrectly and it caused some bloating, that's all."

A shadow of sadness crossed Draco's face though he tried to hide it with a sneer, "So you just weren't going to tell me at all, Potter? I'd have a son or daughter walking through the world and just never know?"

"I told you, Malfoy, it's just bloating!" Harriet repeated.

"Fine, Potter." Draco spat in an icy tone.

Harriet watched apprehensively as Draco withdrew his wand and raised it towards her, "Since it's only bloating, then I suppose I'll stupefy you so we can finally have a little chat."

Harriet's green eyes burned fiercely as Draco called her bluff.

Draco lifted his hand but right before his lips moved, Harriet spoke.

"No!" Harriet cried, placing a hand protectively over her swollen abdomen, "Don't!"

A triumphant smirk lit up Draco's handsome face as he lowered his wand.

"I wasn't going to do it, Potter. I knew you were lying." Draco chuckled darkly.

Harriet frowned in response. As Draco looked at the omega, his omega, standing there in the street, with a delicate hand placed over their unborn child and her pink lips pursed together, he grappled with the urge to sweep her into his arms.

"We never even had a proper date." Draco said with a laugh. As he watched Harriet bristle at the word, he added quickly, "...And we don't have to, but will you at least speak with me? For a moment or two? That's all my letters have ever asked you for."

"Letters?" Harriet asked innocently.

"Yes, my letters. I have a hunch that you've received at least some of them." Draco said suspiciously as his grey eyes flickered back down to her belly.

Harriet shrugged her robes around herself, trying to hide her changed figure in the heavy volumes of fabric.

"I haven't said you were the father." Harriet quipped.

"That doesn't matter, I can tell." Draco replied.

Harriet looked surprised, "H-How?"

Draco's face twisted with anguish as he took a breath.

The smell coming from the omega was dizzying, maddening.

Spicy and sweet, urging him to protect and provide.

"...Because I'm your alpha, Potter." Draco said with absolute confidence.

It wasn't spoken as a question, it was asserted as an undeniable fact.

Harriet swallowed thickly.

"The Three Broomsticks is right behind you." Draco nodded.

Harriet glanced over her shoulder.

"Will you please come with me and have a chat?" Draco asked.

Harriet didn't want to accept Draco's invitation, but she thought that maybe if she gave in to his demands, sat down with him, and explained the situation, perhaps he would finally leave her in peace.

No more letters, no more hiding.

That would be a welcome relief.

Draco appeared outwardly calm, but inside he was reeling.

After Harriet nodded slightly, Draco chivalrously carried Harriet's Honeydukes bag for her.

"You don't have to do that." Harriet said as they walked across the street together.

"Expectant mother's don't need to carry heavy packages." Draco retorted.

"It's not heavy." Harriet mumbled.

Harriet didn't want to voluntarily acknowledge it, but it was rather…...nice, being cared for by an alpha, even in that small way.

The couple entered The Three Broomsticks and were discreetly shown to a private table in a deserted portion of the pub.

Draco's grey eyes were soft as he watched the omega lower herself into the seat.

Finally, he would be able to talk to Harriet.

Finally, he had a chance to connect with his mate.

Potter was his, he knew it!

As Draco ordered a coffee and Harriet ordered a hot chocolate, he narrowed his eyes while he started to plan.

"Go on, then." Harriet nodded at him from across the table, "You wanted to chat, Malfoy, so…..chat."

—————————————————————

Harriet was grateful that the pub was mostly empty that morning, that meant there was little chance that anyone would overhear their conversation.

"How are you feeling?" Draco asked.

The softness in his grey eyes as he gazed at Harriet startled her.

"I'm fine." Harriet said dismissively, "What did you want to chat about?"

Draco blinked incredulously at Harriet.

With a humorless chuckle of exasperation, he answered, "...What happened between us…..where we go from there….here….?"

"Nothing happened and there's nowhere to go." Harriet replied coldly.

"Clearly something happened." Draco insisted, his eyes once again moving back to the swell of her middle.

Harriet moved her chair up closer to the table so that her abdomen was no longer in Draco's view.

"That was an accident." She said quietly, "We made a mistake, Malfoy, everyone makes mistakes."

Draco scoffed.

Harriet's words hurt him more than she realized.

He had spent the last six months writing her a pining letter every day and all she had to tell him was that their mating had been a……..mistake?

"Well, I beg to differ, Potter." Draco replied. He leaned towards Harriet and hissed to her in a hushed whisper, "That night was not a mistake! And how dare you call our child an accident!"

"We didn't mean for this to happen on purpose, did we?!" Harriet hissed back.

"You weren't even in heat!" Draco snapped.

Harriet said nothing, but she scowled at him angrily.

"I was disappointed." Draco revealed, "I thought that you felt the same….spark...that night. I was expecting to wake up beside you and show you what a day being a Malfoy is like, but you were already gone……...Why? You didn't have to do this on your own, you know."

"I don't need your help or your pity." Harriet sniffed, "I've found a solution, so there's no need to worry about it."

"What are you talking about? 'A solution?'" Draco asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at the omega across from him.

"Do you want a child to grow up like this?" Harriet asked Draco seriously.

"...What do you mean?" Draco blinked.

"Do you want a child to be half-Potter, half-Malfoy? Raised in the shadows of our tormented pasts?" Harriet asked.

"You're being ridiculous." Draco scowled.

"No, I'm not." Harriet stubbornly insisted.

Draco watched while she rummaged around in the pocket of her robes and took out a photograph.

Harriet began to explain, handing the picture over to Draco as she spoke, "I've placed the baby up for adoption. There's a wonderful family who will welcome them with loving arms."

"You're giving away our baby?!" Draco spat, his eyes bulging at Harriet in disbelief.

"No, I'm helping my baby have a better life." Harriet huffed while Draco scowled down at the family in the photograph, "They seem lovely. I've met them once, briefly. They have a farm and everything."

Draco laughed and he looked up at Harriet with a bittersweet grin, "Have you gone mad? 'A farm and everything'? Isn't that what people do with dogs? Consign them to farms?"

"I'm the mother." Harriet snapped, snatching the photograph out of Draco's hands, "It's my choice, Malfoy."

"Not if I prove that child is mine." Draco scowled dangerously at Harriet, "I will not allow a Malfoy to be traded off like some unwanted mutt! And those are the strangest clothes I've ever seen, those people must be a bunch of beggars."

"Their clothes are perfectly fine for muggles, that's what muggles wear. Not that I expect you to know that, though." Harriet replied.

Draco's face went white and his mouth fell open, "M-Muggles?!?!"

"That's also none of your business." Harriet snapped again.

She quickly laid down a galleon on the table to pay for her drink and stood from her seat, "Goodbye, Malfoy."

Before Draco could protest or stop her, Harriet apparated away from The Three Broomsticks and arrived back at her apartment.

That was done and settled.

Good.

No more letters.

Harriet thought that she should have felt relieved and happy.

She didn't understand why she spent the rest of the day crying.

—————————————————————

Draco was thrown into such a gut-wrenching pit of hopelessness that he didn't know what to do with himself.

Rising numbly from his seat in the pub, he paid his bill, and left to wander aimlessly through the streets of Hogsmeade, apparating home late that night in time for dinner.

Draco had turned plan after plan over in his mind…….

What to do?

What to do?

A spoiled only child, Draco Malfoy was not used to being denied what he wanted, and what he wanted was for Harriet to return his feelings, acknowledge the fact that they were mates, and let him be a part of his child's life.

But that didn't seem likely to happen at all.

Although Draco could smell her sweet scent, the feisty omega didn't seem interested in receiving any more of his affections.

Why?

There coupling had been an expression of romantic bliss, their kisses had been genuine and their loving gazed had been honest.

Draco frowned and wondered if Harriet was rejecting him because of where he came from?

…..Who he came from?

Would she be acting the same way if his last name was "Weasley" or "Longbottom"?

A plan.

Draco needed a plan.

What he really needed was help.

Being raised as a pampered heir, Draco decided to seek help that night in the best way that he knew how………….from his parents.

Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy sat at the heavy, black-lacquered dining table enjoying their dinner that evening when Draco came barging into the room.

"Mother! Father!" He cried, his face a mask of angst, "I need you!"

Lucius narrowed his eyes but Narcissa frowned, immediately concerned for her dear boy, "What's the matter, Draco?"

"I've got a terrible problem that I don't know how to sort out." Draco said with a deep sigh as he walked over to the table and sat down.

"What have you done now, Draco?" Lucius asked dryly.

"I've taken an omega." Draco revealed.

Lucius and Narcissa exchanged a surprised glance.

For an alpha, choosing an omega usually meant that marriage was on the very near horizon. The Malfoys were a bit concerned since their son had yet to introduce them to his mysterious lover.

"Well, I took an omega….months ago. She…..disappeared. I've tried to contact her ever since." Draco explained, "I saw her again today and she's…….she's with child."

Lucius and Narcissa exchanged another surprised glance.

"Darling….?" Narcissa asked Draco gently.

"She doesn't want me involved…..or around at all, I don't think." Draco said with a frown.

Mirroring her son, Narcissa frowned too, but Lucius's eyes remained narrowed and he stared at Draco incredulously.

"Who is this girl, Draco?" Lucius asked.

The next sentence from the Malfoy heir's mouth shocked his parents more than anything else he had told them that night. Out of anyone he could have named, neither Lucius nor Narcissa expected Draco to look at them and say, "Potter…….My omega is Harriet Potter."

————————————————————-

After dropping his bombshells on his unsuspecting parents, Draco quickly left the lavish Malfoy dining room with a tortured sigh.

Narcissa went to follow after her son, but Lucius grabbed her the black lace of her sleeve and stood from the table, looking down at his wife.

"No, 'Cissa." Lucius said to his own omega, "I'll handle this."

Narcissa blinked as her husband chased after their son with his black cloak swirling behind him as he stalked out of the room.

Left alone, Narcissa sighed to herself.

Oh dear……….

Draco and the Potter girl?

Narcissa frowned as she thought about the frown on Draco's face.

Narcissa certainly didn't approve of her son's chosen mate, but she would rather he be united with his love than as miserable as he had looked a few moments earlier.

Narcissa couldn't help but smile as her mind wandered…...

A baby.

Draco's baby.

Harriet Potter may have been the Dark Lord's vanquisher and she may have had a mother who was muggle born, but……

Narcissa Malfoy deeply cherished her son.

She didn't think that her prejudices ran deep enough to allow her to hate Draco's child, no matter who the mother was.

—————————————————————

Lucius caught up with Draco in his bedroom. The door was open so the older Malfoy didn't bother to knock as he entered.

Draco seemed glad to see his father. Lucius appreciated the way that Draco looked over at him as if he were waiting for his direction, just as he had when he was a small boy.

"I know you don't approve, Father." Draco spoke.

As a former Death Eater, did Lucius Malfoy approve of his son siring a child with the Dark Lord's defeater?

No.

But before Lucius was a death eater, in fact, before he was a husband or a father, Lucius Malfoy was first and foremost a business man.

Profits had dwindled since the war. It turned out that supporting a failed fascist movement which promoted racism and endorsed genocide was unpopular with many customers in the wizarding world.

The Malfoys had fallen out of favor with the public but Lucius saw a wonderful opportunity in the form of his son's…..indiscretion.

What a wonderful press statement it would be if it were announced that Harriet Potter, the Harriet Potter, had chosen his son as her alpha and started a family with him!

As Lucius spoke, he could almost smell the metallic scent of glittering, gold galleons, "On the contrary, Draco, I've come to urge you to fight for what is yours."

Draco looked surprised.

Lucius and Draco regarded each other for a moment before he spoke, "But father, she doesn't want anything to do with me!"

"You seduced the Potter girl once, Draco." Lucius remarked, "Sure you can manage it again, this time, do not let her go so easily."

"I didn't let her go the first time!" Draco snarled angrily, "She left me!"

"Well, do what it takes to see that that doesn't happen again." Lucius huffed.

"The child complicates things." Draco huffed, "She pushed me away…….she's going to give the baby to a muggle family with a farm."

Lucius raised an eyebrow, "That you cannot allow."

"How am I meant to stop her?" Draco scowled.

"What's the best way to get what you want, Draco?" Lucius asked shrewdly.

Draco frowned at his father and blinked, unsure of what would be the acceptable answer, "...the imperious curse?"

"No, not the imperious curse, gold! Gold, Draco!" Lucius snapped.

Draco gasped in exasperation, "Perhaps not to our extent, but Potter's wealthy from her father's inheritance! She's not going to-"

"-I wasn't talking about Potter, you imbecile!" Lucius growled.

Draco fell silent.

"Do you know who these muggles are? The ones stealing your child?" Lucius asked.

"I saw a photograph of them." Draco replied, "They're only muggles, I can find them with a tracking spell."

"Good." Lucius huffed, "Go to bed and get yourself some rest, you've got your work cut out for you."

With a swish of his cloak, Lucius stomped out of his son's room, but Draco's frown remained.

Draco frowned while he showered.

Draco frowned while he pulled on his pajamas.

Draco frowned while he brushed his teeth.

Draco frowned while he laid down in bed.

He pulled the covers up over himself but his eyes didn't close. He was too busy thinking about Harriet and his baby to sleep.

More than anything, Draco wished that she was lying beside him. He would cuddle her close and kiss her gently. He could run his hands down her sides and touch her adorable belly again.

Draco marveled at the way her swollen womb had felt under his hands during those brief seconds before she had slapped him away.

Draco finally closed his eyes when he found peace in one irrefutable fact.

He still remembered the way her belly had felt…..

He remembered.

If the omega truly didn't want him involved, then why hadn't she just obliviated him?

She could have taken every memory he had of their tryst, of the letters, of the baby.

But she hadn't.

She hadn't because she really wanted Draco to step in and save her, to be there for her, to be a father to their child, for them to raise the baby together…...

Draco fell asleep with a smile on his face.

The great hero of the wizarding world really wanted Draco Malfoy to save her.

That was what gave Draco the strength fight for his little family.