Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

December 8th, 2007

Draco picked up his robes and got off his chair, preparing to leave the hospital. He was the last one tonight, since Padma had left first due to her family emergency. He opened the door, surprised when he saw a lanky, young boy sitting in the hallway of St. Mungo's. He was crouching down with his hood covering his head, and he was holding his stomach. It didn't look good.

"Hello," he said, and the boy looked up at him, his eyes were teary. "Teddy? What are you doing here? Are you all right?"

"Er, yes," Teddy said, worrying his lower lip, "actually, no, no. I don't think I am."

"Come in, please," Draco asked, gesturing with his hand and opening the door wider. Teddy, his cousin, swallowed vividly and nodded, entering the room.

"Thank you, Draco," the Omega said gingerly, sitting on one side of an empty bed with his legs dangling a bit off the ground. He pushed his hood back and revealed his black hair, just like Sirius's. He was Remus and Sirius's child, only two years younger than Draco. He'd often visit Teddy as the boy lived with Andromeda, ever since both his parents died in the battle of Hogwarts. He needed comfort, it was hard enough for him to lose his family after the war.

"Teddy," Draco said, a soft smile on his lips. It wasn't his first time examining Omegas here, who always seemed so sketchy and on edge. However, Teddy was different, Teddy was his cousin. "May I ask why you're here at this time? It really isn't safe for us Omegas to wander in the street alone at this hour." He pulled out his wand and sighed. It must have been an emergency for Teddy to come here. The boy remained quiet, a blush rising on his cheeks and he was fidgeting with his fingers. Draco noticed it right away. "Teddy, do you want me to check if you're pregnant?"

Teddy looked up at him with wide eyes, unblinking. "How-how do you know?"

"It's an instinct," Draco said, smiling, "please, lie down, Teddy. It'll be a quick exam. You have nothing to worry about."

"Okay…okay," Teddy said, lying down on the bed and staring up at the white ceiling. He pulled up his white shirt, showing his stomach with trembling hands. "I-I wasn't sure, so I…"

"It's okay, Teddy, I know," Draco said, flicking his wand and murmuring a quiet spell, aiming it at the boy's belly. "I hope I'm not being too forward, but why are you here alone, Teddy? Where's Charlie?"

"I-I didn't call him, I want to be certain first. He's…he's in Romania," Teddy said, but his eyes deceived his tone when a tear rolled down his rosy cheek, which stirred a sense of curiosity from Draco.

Charlie Weasley and Teddy had been an item for more than two years now, when Teddy had developed a crush for the older Alpha after attending way too many lunches and dinners at the Burrow. Teddy had been twenty-three years old back then, so there'd been resistance at first, from the Alpha's side, since he knew there was a ten years gap between them, but the Omega wore him down gradually. Andromeda hadn't approved of it in the beginning, thinking Charlie had taken advantage of Teddy, but they'd proved everyone wrong with their steady relationship.

"Well, you two have bonded, Teddy, the least you could do is give him a call," Draco said, taking a deep breath in and pulling Teddy's shirt back down. The boy sat up again, looking at Draco, his eyes pleading for an answer. "When did you last do it, Teddy?"

"Two…two months ago, just before he left for Romania," Teddy said, his hand holding his stomach again. Draco was sure he knew the answer himself. "But I wasn't in heat, I didn't know that I…so I didn't take suppressants."

"Oh, Teddy," Draco said, his lips pressed together as he stroked Teddy's hair softly. "The chance of getting pregnant when you're not in heat is rare, but it still happens."

"So, am I?" Teddy looked at him, with his eyes green, gentle like Remus's.

"Yes, darling, you're pregnant, for two months now, and the pup is healthy," Draco said, and instead of the reaction he had hoped Teddy would show. The young man buried his face in his hands, seemingly disappointed by the result. "Teddy, is something wrong? Do you not want to have a pup?"

"No, I do, I do," he said, looking up at Draco again, the tears had returned to his eyes. "I just…I'm worried Charlie won't want one."

"You're just saying nonsense, Teddy," Draco said, offering comfort by rubbing circles on Teddy's back in a soothing manner. "Charlie will love your pup, you'll just have to call him first. You're going to tell him, right?"

"Y-yeah, I should." Teddy nodded, jumping off the bed and smiling at Draco. "Thank you, Draco."

"It's the least I could do, for family," Draco said, guiding him out of the room. "I'll take you to the Apparition point together."

"You don't have to, really."

"No, please, I insist. We're family." Draco held up his hand and summoned his robes and bag, walking out of the hospital with Teddy alongside him. "And it's dangerous for a pregnant Omega to go anywhere alone. I suggest that you need constant protection now. Call Charlie, I'm sure he'll have no problem coming back in a second."

"Was…was Harry also protective of you when you…" Teddy asked as they both walked out into the street. It was winter, there was no snow, not yet, and Draco shivered slightly when the icy wind hit him. He walked down the empty road, finding his way to the Apparition point.

"Yes, extremely," Draco said, smiling when he thought of Harry. His husband, the father of their child, his Alpha. When he was pregnant with little Jamie, Harry had been at his most protective mode, always taking care of Draco, even with the smallest tasks. Draco was never not happy being with Harry. "Every Alpha is, when it comes to their bonded mate. You don't have to worry about a thing, Teddy."

"Thank you," Teddy said, "okay, yeah, I'll just call him."

"That would be best," Draco said, his nostril flaring a bit when he felt a gust of wind passing by. The hair on his arms stood up, and he swallowed, ignoring the wary feeling. "Here we are." He gestured to the Apparition Point and let Teddy walk in first. "Be safe, Teddy."

"I will. Bye, Draco," Teddy said, waving his hand at him and disappearing quickly, leaving him alone.

Draco looked up when the light of the street flickered above him, he furrowed his eyebrows and heard a small 'pop' sound behind him. Draco quickly grabbed his wand in his hand, a wave of uneasiness rose in him.

"Expelliarmus!" Draco spun around and aimed his wand at the dark figure behind him. Their wand flew back in the air, clattering against the street. He heard a low rumbling laugh as the person finally came into the light.

"Now, do you think that it would be that easy?"

Carrow, Amycus Carrow was standing right in front of him in the flesh. Before Draco could shout for help, he was attacked from behind, his body was held tightly by a hairy pair of arms. It was all so familiar.

"Greyback," Draco grunted out the words, using all his strength to struggle his way out but the werewolf was stronger than him. He could feel Greyback's hair close to his face, the monster's fangs grazing at his neck. "Don't fucking touch me!" he spat out loudly, hearing both of them laughing louder, his wand had fallen out of his grip and his body was lifted off the ground.

"Quiet, now, little Omega," Amycus cooed as he approached Draco, tilting his head up by his chin and the blond jerked away, thrashing his legs in the air. "Shut up, or you're going to die before your dear Alpha could find you."

The Death Eater raised a small knife from his hand and Draco hissed loudly as the knife drew a cut over his left cheek. He heaved heavily, glaring at the man before him. "A little something for him." He let the blood-filled knife drop to the ground next to Draco's wand and cackled loudly. "Let's go," Amycus spoke firmly and the next thing he knew, he was in some type of dark room. Greyback only let him go to push him inside it, cracking his knuckles as Draco fell on the dirty, damp ground.

"You disgusting rat! Let me out of here!" Draco was back on his feet, and he shouted at Greyback. However, the door was slammed at his face. Draco looked around the room, observing the structure. This was possibly an old Manor, based on the walls around him, he was in the dungeon. No windows, the door was sealed shut with magic. Draco touched it and yanked his hand away with a loud hiss when he felt like he was being electrocuted.

He roamed the small room, sighing as he slid down in the corner, drawing his knees close to his chest. He could feel the sting on his cheek, there was still blood dripping down his skin, but he couldn't do much without his wand. Draco dabbed the blood with the sleeve of his robes, flinching slightly when he grazed over the wound. He could feel his eyes filled with tears, but he blinked them away. He could not be weak right now, he had to find a way back.

"Jamie, your papa will be home soon." Harry rushed over to his crying son's bed with his hands full of bedtime storybooks, but Jamie shook his head frantically. He looked over at the clock on the wall and he felt worries crashing inside him. It was late already, Draco should be home by now.

"I want papa!" Jamie fussed, hot tears rolling from his eyes down to his flushed cheeks. Draco was always the one to read stories to their pup before his sleep, since Jamie had explained to them both that Draco had a softer voice, which Harry could not deny, the Alpha truly didn't have a knack for storytelling.

"I know, sweetie," he said, pulling the blanket up to his son's stomach and wiping the tears off his face with his hand.

"Harry! Are you here?" Harry stood up when he heard Ron's voice. It was an emergency, he could sense it from Ron's tone.

"Stay here for a while, honey, I'll be back," he said, ruffling Jamie's blond hair and feeling a small ache tugging at his chest before getting out of the bedroom.

Ron was there, breathing heavily while he was still in his Auror robes. "Ron, what's wrong?"

"I…" Ron stuttered, his eyes sending Harry a guilty look. "Draco-…"

"Draco? What's wrong with Draco?" Harry stepped forward, his heart speeding up at the name of his mate. "Ron, tell me. What's going on?"

"He's missing," Ron finally spoke up. Harry stilled in his spot, staring at his best friend and sucking a sharp breath as his heart seemed to stop beating. He was rendered speechless until Ron continued, "We found his wand on the street right outside of St. Mungo's, and…and a knife with blood on. We think it's his blood, you're the one who can scent it."

Ron gave Harry the wand in his hand, Draco's wand. He held it tightly, his breath shuddering when he thought of what Draco had gone through. "We also found his bag, that's it. No witness, nothing, I think he's kidnapped."

"Give me that," Harry asked for the bloody knife in his hand and Ron handed it to him. He eyed the knife carefully, there was a Latin sentence carved in the handle, it looked old. When he brought the knife close to his nose, Draco's scent filled his nostril and he balled his hands into fists, enraged by the situation.

His mate was kidnapped, and injured right now. It was Harry's fault, he should have picked Draco up, he would always pick Draco up from his work, but today Jamie had been too fussy coming back from the Burrow, and Draco had told him to stay back and wait for him to return. And he didn't, he had gone missing.

"Harry, you need to calm down first, you know that. Or else you might not be included in the mission," Ron said with a hand on his shoulder, trying his best to comfort him, but he couldn't stop thinking of where Draco could be right now, what he could be doing. Was he suffering? Was he abused? Harry felt the ache in his chest again, wincing at the pain, Draco was hurt, that he knew. "We will find Draco, I know it."

"Fuck, okay, we'll go to the Ministry," Harry groaned, grabbing his robes from the back of the couch and noticing the bedroom in the hallway. "James, I forgot about that." There was too much in his mind, he needed someone to take care of Jamie, he needed to find Draco.

"I've called Pansy and Hermione," the Omega said, and he nodded, he was glad Ron had thought of that for him. "They'll be here soon, don't worry. Go to the office first, Neville is there already, I will wait here for the girls."

"Okay, okay…thank you, Ron," he said as Ron tapped at his back, pressing his lips in a thin line.

Harry stumbled into the Floo to quickly get to the Ministry. He rushed to the Auror Department, seeing Neville standing in front of the door with a worried look. "Neville."

"Harry, you're here," Neville breathed out, opening the door in and leading him to his table. "These are the pictures of the scene." He pointed to the stilled pictures of the street, the knife and Draco's bag. Harry forced himself to stand upright, to not fall on his knees and he hoped he won't have to kill anyone to save Draco because he might just do that. Every fibre in him was screaming for his mate, for his husband, and to save him. "Penelope said the knife must belong to one of the Death Eaters. So it must be them that kidnapped Draco."

"How many Death Eaters are there? Those have not died yet from the war or imprisoned?" he asked, his hand holding up a picture of Draco's belongings. Only Voldemort died in the war, and the rest either ran away or had been locked up in Azkaban since. Though the latter was rare, some had even escaped.

"Thirteen," the Beta said quietly next to him, as if he was afraid Harry would explode. "Penelope is getting a list of their names right now, we have to find their locations as well."

"We will find each and every one of them," Harry murmured, he would go to the bottom of this bloody world if it meant he could find Draco again. His heart throbbed and he steadied his breath, he wanted to stay calm, it was just too hard. Just the thought of being separated from Draco made his whole body burn with the need to be close to him again. He'd never thought something like this would happen to them, and he'd find out who it was that took Draco, and he'd kill him.

Harry waited outside patiently, his arms crossed before his chest. He couldn't rest his eyes for a second since he found out Draco had been going missing. In the morning, Teddy had come to the Ministry when he heard the news and had confessed that he was the last person to see Draco. Neville and Penelope had been interrogating him since, to get more information, and his memory, if he let them.

The door was opened, and Teddy walked out, a frown across his lips. "I'm sorry, Harry," his voice was quiet, and Harry shook his head. "I couldn't help much."

"No, it's not your fault," Harry said, accepting the hug that Teddy gave him. "You should return." He broke away from the embrace and Teddy nodded, walking the other way as Harry let out a sigh.

"How are you holding up?" Harry turned around when he saw Ron, with a fresh cup of coffee in his hand. "Have some coffee. I know you didn't sleep at all last night."

"How can I?" Harry held onto the cup, almost too tightly that it spilt over the edge, burning his skin just a bit, but it was nothing compared to the pain he was feeling in his chest since last night.

"We are able to locate half of them, we're still trying to find the rest. It's hard, they've gone in hiding mostly after the war," Ron said, handing Harry the file. Harry flipped it open, watching the faces of Death Eaters he had once fought again, a snarl tempted to appear on his lips. "Harry."

"Yeah?"

"You need to take a rest," Ron said, attempting to take the file back but Harry was clutching on it tighter. "You haven't slept at all."

"I don't need sleep."

"You can't find Draco with no energy!" Ron exclaimed, snatching the file from his hands finally. Even for an Omega, Ron's strength was better than most. "You have to take at least one hour of sleep."

"I can't."

"Okay, you know what?" Ron said, sighing, "You should go home, bring Jamie to Draco's parents. They haven't heard the news. You need to tell them, have them babysit Jamie, then you can go find Draco. Does that sound good?"

"Ron-…"

"Harry, if you don't listen, you know who I'm going to call," Ron said, squinting his eyes and nodding when Harry realised who he was talking about. "Yeah, I'm going to call the Minister for Magic, and she's going to have you out of the mission if you're being stubborn."

"You can't just threaten me with Hermione being the Minister for Magic, Ron."

"Oh, well, would you look at that? I already am. And as always, Hermione's going to kick your arse if you don't listen, Harry," Ron said, Harry knew he was only looking after Harry like he always had, since they were like brothers, but he couldn't stop thinking about Draco. "I know it's hard. But I know Draco won't want you looking for him when you look like you're about to die yourself too. Do you think he enjoys seeing you like this?"

Harry thought about what Ron was trying to tell him and sighed exasperatedly. He was right. He could see the worried look Draco always had whenever Harry forgot to take care of himself, and through their bond, he didn't want Draco to feel his exhaustion as well. "All right," he said, and Ron flashed him a soft smile.

"Okay, that's good, I didn't have to pull out the big guns," Ron said, smacking Harry's back and guiding him to the lift. "You know I also hate it when we have to drag Hermione in. She'll scold us both."

Harry huffed out a laugh, the first that he'd had for the last twelve hours. Ron pushed him into the lift and pressed the button for him. "Go back home, change your clothes, take care of Jamie, sleep for an hour or two, I'll go to your place to pick you up after. Then we will go, sounds good?"

"Yeah, okay," Harry said, and Ron gave him a curt nod as the door to the lift closed. He slipped in the inside pocket of his chest and pulled out a small picture, smiling when he saw Draco again. It was a picture of Draco that Harry had taken just a year ago, when his Omega had been trying to cook again, but it had failed miserably. Draco had had pancake batter on his nose, and he was smiling brightly in the picture, with his long hair tied up in a messy bun, and he was wearing Harry's apron.

Harry brushed his thumb over Draco's face, swallowing the lump in his throat and ignoring the twinge in his chest that was still there, never stopping. Draco was hurt, but he was still alive. "I'll find you, I promise," he whispered and pressed the picture to his chest, feeling their bond through his heart. He would save Draco, and that was a promise he intended to keep.

"How long am I going to stay with grandpa and Grammy, daddy?" Jamie asked as they walked to the threshold of the Malfoy Manor. Harry knocked on it twice, waiting for an answer. He hadn't told Jamie what happened yet, and he didn't know where to even start. "Where's papa?"

"Papa is…he will be back soon, Jamie. You stay here with your grandparents for a while, okay?" Harry kneeled on one knee and smiled, stroking Jamie's hair as the door opened.

"Grammy!"

"Jamie!" Narcissa said, smiling as Jamie lunged at her, wrapping his little hands around her waist. "What are you doing here?"

"Narcissa," Harry said, standing back on his feet and exhaling. "I have to tell you about something." Narcissa seemed to have picked up his tone, and she nodded, letting him in the Manor with Jamie still clutching on her.

"Who's that at the door, Cissy?" Lucius's voice echoed from the living room, and Harry wasn't sure how to tell them either.

"Jamie, why don't you go play in the garden, I'll come to play with you in a minute," Narcissa said, cupping Jamie's face tenderly. "I'll make you your favourite snack too."

"Thank you, Grammy!" Jamie squeaked, rushing out of the door again and Harry followed Narcissa into the living room. Lucius was sitting on the couch with a thick book in his hands. He looked up and placed the book down, surprised by the visit.

"Harry, what are you doing here? Is Jamie here as well?"

"Hi, grandpa!" Lucius looked to the side, beaming when he saw Jamie press his face on the window, yelling loudly through the glass.

"I have something to tell you two," Harry said, taking the spot on the couch before his in-laws. "It's about Draco."

"What is it? Is there something wrong with our son?"

"He's…he's gone missing," Harry said, and Lucius dropped the book from his hands. Narcissa was wide-eyed as well, her teacup she was holding earlier had shattered on the ground. "Last night, he was kidnapped, it seemed. And we're suspecting that one of the Death Eaters is behind this."

"Death Eaters?" Lucius exclaimed, drawing in a sharp breath as Narcissa placed a hand on his, calming the Omega down. "A Death Eater has kidnapped my son? How is this possible?"

"Is he…alive?" Narcissa asked softly, her hands trembling on top of Lucius's. "Can you…feel him?"

Harry gulped, he could still feel Draco. He was there, the soul bond they had for each other was the only thing that was helping Harry stay calm. He could feel everything Draco was feeling, and it hurt him even more because of that. "Yes, he's still alive. I can still feel him."

"How is the investigation going? Is there any clue?"

"We haven't been able to locate some of the Death Eaters," Harry said, answering Narcissa's question while remaining in his posture. Lucius was fuming next to her, Harry could feel that the old Omega was anxious about his son, but his Alpha was right there, and she was consoling him with just her touch. "When I return, I'll find them. I was hoping you'd take care of Jamie while I look for Draco. I-I can't…"

"We understand," Narcissa said, giving him a nod, "We'll take care of Jamie until you can find our son. Until then, we'll try our best to help you too."

"Yes, we can help you, give me the list of the Death Eaters," Lucius said, his voice frantic, full of worries. "I can find where some of them stay, I have good sources."

"Thank you."

"Anything to help you find our son," Narcissa said, and Harry glanced at the window, watching Jamie playing with the white peacocks in the garden. He'd bring his mate back, he had to.

Notes:

A little backstory I changed: Remus and Sirius bonded and had Teddy in 1982, hence Teddy is younger than Harry and Draco by two years.