Dearest mother and father,

I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly. I'm sorry for not taking the time to even leave a note or let you know I was alright.

Mother, I hope you're feeling well and that you're resting. I'm sorry I can't be by your side and hear about how my baby sibling is doing. Merlin knows there are so many questions I'd like to ask you right now.

Please know that I'm safe.

I'm staying with Potter in his home and he has promised to keep my location a secret.

I understand if you want to disown me, I have shamed the family and myself deeply by letting that man fool me. I really thought I could start a life with him. Please believe me when I say that my plans to follow our traditions were heartfelt. I don't know why I let myself get tricked the way I did, so close to the wedding too.

But like Potter said, it would have been worse to find out his true colours after being married to him.

If you've read this much without burning my letter then perhaps there's some hope for me to someday see you again, and apologise in person.

Missing you.
Your son,

Draco.

Lucius read and re-read the letter multiple times, glancing up at the last place he saw Draco. Shame crept into his chest as Lucius remembered how he yelled at him, blamed this mess on him. Merlin, he even threw things at him, not knowing he was with child.

Yet again this was his fault. He didn't research the family properly, if he had just known before... if he had remembered sooner to go further back in time, to find those letters sooner, Davis would never have been one of the candidates he offered Draco.

With his thumb, he rubbed the muggle paper that Draco had written in, using some pale black ink and thinner, consistent strokes than what a quill would produce. He traced his signature, where Draco had not put down his family name.

He stared at it some more taking a deep breath before turning to store it safely.

oOoOoOo

Hermione got home.

"Ron, you would not believe who I trapped in the lift today." She said throwing her bag onto the couch but Ron ran to her from the kitchen and sat her smell from the kitchen told her he'd made something elaborate, meaning he was stress cooking.

"No, no you. You would not believe what I saw today." He said sitting down beside her. Hermione frowned in confusion at his urgency, and listened attentively.

oOoOoOo

Draco grumbled as he looked at himself in the mirror, trying to tighten his trousers. Unfortunately, the button was not reaching the button-hole and he stormed into Potter's room. "Potter! You need to call Smith because your energy is making me gain too much weight." He snapped, freezing in place as he saw Potter looking at him just as surprised, his scrawny body had filled in nicely in the last number of years and with only a towel round his waist, dripping from the shower, Draco felt his face heat up and looked down. "Sorry! I apologise."

He slammed the door shut once more and turned, going into his own bathroom and proceeded to wash his face with cold water. "Happy thoughts..." Draco whispered relishing in the cooling sensation.

Once he purged Potter's body from his memory, he sighed looking at himself in the mirror. "Blasted hormones..." He whispered and looked at the rounding face, his masculine features were starting to fade and his clothes not fitting right.

He went back to lie down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't let himself succumb to his hormones. But that stupid idiot made him yearn things that he shouldn't want. He'd tried being intimate and it was awful. He still flinched at the memories and it got him jumping out of the bed, shuddering with disgust. He looked back at the mirror and distracted himself trying again and failing to close his trousers once more. He sighed and patted his lower stomach.

"Well... it seems there won't be success today." With a caress under his bellybutton, he sighed and moved away from the mirror, throwing on the wizard robes he ran away with, so at least his unbuttoned trousers wouldn't be visible. He headed out and froze almost bumping into Potter, who was about to knock on his door.

"Hey, what was that all about?" He asked casually, fully dressed and ready to meet with Granger and Weasley for dinner. The idiot was wearing that delicious cologne that made Draco want to reach out and pull him closer. But he pinched himself to snap out of it.

"I can't attend dinner, Potter. My trousers don't close." He said, embarrassed, looking away annoyed.

"Ok... I'll go get you another pair." Potter said simply.

He scoffed. "What?"

"I'll go get you another pair right now." He said with a shrug.

"But-Potter wait they're going to be here any minute!"

"Can't hear you, I'm gone!" And just as promised Potter left the house. Draco watched him go and crossed his arms over his chest, wondering what to do in the meantime.

He sighed going to the kitchen, humming softly as he opened his 'ring-bound' notebook and he could not believe that muggles had come up with something so interesting. He opened the book he'd bought from the muggle bookshop, studying a new science that piqued his interest.

"Harry?" Ginevra Weasley's voice rang from the living room.

Draco froze, looking to the door with apprehension. Potter left the floo open to his friends, expecting only Granger and Weasley. Of course the youngest Weasley would have connection to the network too.

"Ron said they were having dinner..." He heard her say, her steps coming closer to the kitchen. Dinner was in fifteen minutes, it seemed the Weaslette decided to invite herself over... surely Potter wouldn't have invited her? Weasley then?

He stood up to try and go to his room and let her wait for Potter but by then she saw him and his sudden movement startled her. Before Draco could react, her wand was out and raw panic filled his heart as she sent a blasting spell his way.

BOOM!

oOoOoOo

The crystal bells in the corner of his office rang and Alfred stood up horrified. He turned to the two in the room. Clair stood beside a decrepit old witch who stood hunched over, a hood covering her face and her wand hand trembledas she hovered several hundred crystals over a map of Englad. The crystals swirled in circular motions and moved along the map slowly. "My son is in danger! Why haven't you found him yet?"

"F-forgive me, sir. He didn't take to my energy as expected." Her raspy, shaky voice said. He growled pacing back and forth. He couldn't blame her, and he needed the old woman for her skills in tracking. He stared impatiently at the crystals as they swirled faster.

"He must have visited St. Mungos before now! Listen to the alarm! I need him found now!" Davis yelled, throwing a lamp at her, which shattered to a satisfying number of pieces on the wall behind her.

"You've never had trouble finding them when they ran away from Alfred's brothers." Clair Filou stated, looking at the tracking witch with suspicion and Alfred's paranoia spiked, turning to glare at the startled witch.

"I live to serve the Davis family." The witch pulled her sleeve up and showing the markings enslaving her to their bloodline. A private invention of his own family.

Alfred growled, storming to the corner of the room, pouring himself a drink sitting next to Clair, far enough from the slave that she wouldn't hear them. "I should have bound him to me the second I took him." He hissed.

"You know the binding can be too dangerous on a wizard's changing body. We had to be sure he was pregnant before it was cast." Said Filou. Clair Filou was a trained healer, trained from generation to generation for their family for one purpose alone. Luckily for Alfred, he managed to find something to hold over her head and got her on his court. "If you had chosen a witch, it would have been more straight forward. You're lucky your brothers' wives weren't carefully guarded or they would have had a son already and you would have been out of the inheritance race."

"They're well-guarded now." Alfred grumbled.

"And lucky for you Madeleine had a female." Clair said as she kept looking at the moving crystal.

"I ended their pregnancies very easily, what makes you think I wouldn't have ended a newborn as well?" Alfred countered, finishing his drink and pouring himself another. "That stupid Draco... the moment I find him..." He hissed. "He's going to get my son killed without my energy!" He yelled and was satisfied when the old woman flinched.

"Calm down." Clair hissed, glancing at the slave who didn't look up and kept doing her work. "He has to go to St. Mungos at some point, the second he does the crystal will activate."

"My son could die at this rate if I don't get him back and now even the bells are ringing."

"He might be holding on, or I would have heard from my contacts that he'd been sent to St. Mungo's. Even the subtle comfort of a meal prepared from a trusted, comforting figure in his life could give him the energy required to sustain himself and the child a little longer." She said.

"His family doesn't cook." Alfred hissed.

"The fact that the bells rang means the child is still alive, if it's still alive sooner or later we'll pick up his signal." Clair insisted.

Before he could fall into yelling once more, one of the witch's crystals dropped into London's section of the map. With a shaky tap of her wand to the floor, the map zoomed in. The crystal shot into its new position and she zoomed in again, and again. As the bells weakened so did the crystal slow down.

"Faster!" The bells went silent and the crystal stopped, but did not turn from clear to red. Meaning location couldn't be confirmed. "Damnit" He hissed taking his wand out to kill the shaking woman, but Clair stopped him.

"Stop, we need her. It's ok, look how far we zoomed in. He must be in this neighbourhood." Clair said and grinned, "I'll send people to stake out these streets. The moment he comes back out... he'll be yours." Clair said and Alfred looked back at the handful of streets they narrowed down to. At most one hundred houses were here. It wouldn't take long to find him.

Alfred felt a thrill run down his spine and grinned. He really hoped Draco would show him the expression he'd been longing to see in those silver eyes since he met him.

Fear.

oOoOoOo

Draco felt lightheaded as the debris fell around him but didn't land, as if a shield was protecting him. No, not as if. A shield had been cast by none other than Ron Weasley, who'd rushed in just a split second early, to shield him from the blast. His right hand held the wand that saved Draco from getting slammed into the opposite wall. His left hand-held Potter's ex's wrist up into the ceiling, where the spell had been redirected. There was a dent on the ceiling and some debris dropped down, but settled.

"Merlin, Malfoy! Wear a bell next time!" Ginevra Weasley snapped at him, her free hand jumping to her own chest.

Draco dropped to his previous seat, clenching the robes over his stomach as he saw Ron Weasley release her hand and put down the shield.

"Draco! Are you ok?" Granger of all people ran past them coming to his side but Draco could barely hear her as his heart still pounded against his ears.

"What the hell are you doing here!" Weasley yelled at her, as outraged as Granger was concerned.

"I just... I was going to speak to Harry." He heard her respond but then Weasley dragged her out of the kitchen and as Ginevra's shock wore off, he heard them arguing in the next room.

"Go home!" He heard the older brother yell.

"I'm not going, I just wanted to see Harry, geez what the hell is up with you two? He startled me!"

Granger reached out, pulling his attention back to where he was as she held his hand. "I'm fine..." Draco whispered but his hands were shaking too much from how close he'd gotten to being hurt. He stood up, walking past her, wanting to get away from them as soon as possible.

oOoOoOo

Harry frowned as he got to the door and heard yelling. He turned his key and heard Ginny's angry yelling from the living room. He tensed hearing her voice but shook it off, closing the door behind him and coming to the corridor, seeing Hermione standing close behind Draco, who was starting to go up the stairs.

"Harry!" Ginny called him and he turned to look at her, confused at the warm expression she sent his way. Ron looked at her in warning, which she ignored, coming closer to him. "Harry, I'm sorry, I just wanted to see you, I had no idea he was here and he startled me." Harry felt his heart racing as he pulled his hand away from hers and went straight to Draco.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Nothing, is that mine?" Draco asked looking at the bag Harry was carrying. Harry nodded at Draco snatched the bag, going up to his room and slamming the door shut behind him.

Harry turned back to Ginny confused. "What happened? Ginny, why are you here?" Harry asked.

"I'm sorry Harry, I... I wanted to come before you were supposed to have dinner, I didn't know anyone was here. Much less Malfoy!" She took his hands and Harry looked at her hands, which were cold to him. "I'm sorry... I'll go, but promise me we can talk soon?" She asked, looking at him sweetly.

"Ginny..." Harry said.

"Whenever you're ready." She said and headed out, leaving through the floo. Ron sighed looking at Harry apologetically.

"I only told her we were catching up; I swear I didn't expect she would come over today..." Ron said. Harry glanced into the kitchen seeing the dent on the ceiling.

"How did you know she was here? First you told me you forgot something then you practically flew into the fireplace." Hermione said looking at Ron just as shocked but relieved.

"I-I don't know, I just... I was going to get... and suddenly I felt... I don't know suddenly I just reacted and next thing I know I have a shield on Draco-no-Malfoy and so angry at Ginny I..." Ron seemed even more confused than Harry but just hearing about what happened made Harry turn to look in the direction that Draco had left.

"I'll be right back." Harry said rushing up the stairs and knocked on Draco's door. He thought he would have to ask to be allowed in, but Draco opened the door instantly, pulling him inside the room.

"Hands, now." Draco ordered and Harry reached out, holding onto his hands, feeling the energy start flowing. Draco had his eyes fixed on their hands, though soon Harry's energy lulled him into serenity. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Harry leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together, feeling the flow of their energy. Soon the reassuring beat of the child's heart echoed against their ears.

Harry felt the energy settle and their hands push away. "Did she hurt you?" He asked directly.

"No... Weasley got there just in time, I... he came out of nowhere... if he hadn't appeared..." Draco looked as if the panic was returning and Harry reach out and held him by his shoulders.

"Do you need me to call Mrs. Smith?" He asked and Draco looked up at him with his silver eyes sparkling with unshed tears.

"Um... no, I'm fine... I'm fine." He dried his tears and Harry noticed he had already put his new trousers on. Harry also got him a new shirt which he was also wearing. He huffed at his reflection, brushing the specs of debris that managed to get onto his hair. "It would be nice if someday I could be the one that someone else feels indebted to." he huffed and stormed out. "Let's get this over with."

Harry followed him out and saw him heading down the stairs when Kreacher whispered for his attention. He turned to him, seeing him in the upper floors and he went up. "Kreacher? What's wrong?" He asked.

Kreacher stood out of sight from the lower floors and looked around concerned. "I sensed it, master Potter, sir."

Harry frowned. "Sensed what? Did something happen? Is Draco, ok? The baby?" He asked.

"I sensed the child's energy getting tracked. When the babe was in danger, something was listening." He said. Harry frowned, clenching his teeth together. "I broke the connection on time."

"Do you know who it was? That Davis guy?" He suggested. Kreacher rubbed his hands nervous at not having an answer. "It's alright... Thank you Kreacher, alert me if you ever sense anything else, I trust you and your powers." He said genuinely. Kreacher looked up at him with a hint of admiration before he hid it and faded into the shadows of the house.

Harry made his way down, meeting with Draco in the corridor. He smiled at Draco warmly and walked in together to meet Ron and Hermione.

oOoOoOo

Draco sighed as he sat down on the single place chair, feeling much more comfortable than he had in the last couple of weeks. He'd been ignoring the tightening of his clothes but now he felt so much more relaxed in the new clothes.

"Now... Harry... Draco." Granger said slowly. "Why don't you tell us what is happening." She said slowly.

Draco watched Potter as he smiled like an idiot and Draco felt his heart skip a beat, finding his affectionate look endearing. "Potter is becoming the child's father." They both stared at him for a long time and Granger reached for Weasley slowly, grasping at his hand and nodded her head slowly.

"Hmm..." Was all the noise she could make as she bobbed her head up and down while Weasley was still frozen. "I think I'll put the kettle on."