Soul Seeker

NOTE: Yes, I mentioned m-preg, but this will NOT be an m-preg fiction. I already have two of those on the go.

I’ve been too pissed off to write lately, so that is why there wasn’t an update for The Lambs last weekend. Teddy’s birthday party makes me a little happier, so that’s what I’m writing first. If anyone has a problem with this, blame Brian Lennihan!

Also, in response to a review for the last chapter, Harry doesn’t expect Lucius to prove anything to him because that’s just his character. Even in canon, Harry performed feats to win people’s approval but he never expected anything back from them. He spent most of his life emotionally neglected, and as such he’s happy enough to be cared about, no questions asked.

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Words: 6,304
Chapter 6
Blood Red Lining
April 11th 1998.

The silver album was laid out in front of him, the front cover opened to reveal the first page. Harry smiled softly as he opened the vial. Its contents sloshed around inside the glass container, the color of it reflecting the light through the glass and sparkling wildly. Harry tipped the vial, allowing two drops of the liquid to land on the page. Immediately the Memoraflux potion absorbed into the page and the parchment turned a dove-gray color.

Harry closed his eyes. One finger was barely touching the page of the photo album, and he thought hard about the memories he wanted to share with his godson.

A crashing sound echoed from the hallway, and every member of the Order ran to investigate the noise. Many of them had their wands held out, ready to face the threat awaiting them. Remus rolled his eyes, and Harry and Sirius both chuckled loudly. On the floor by the door, was Nymphandora Tonks, her face as pink as her hair. She had tripped over the umbrella stand again. Remus, as well as being embarrassed for her, was watching her fondly. It was almost two years before they would get together, but even then, apparently, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

Harry opened his eyes and looked down at the page. There were three photos on it. The first was of Tonks, on the ground, pink hair and face, but grinning wildly. The second was the Order members watching her, Harry himself and Sirius were the prominent figures, clutching their stomachs and laughing uproariously. The third was of Remus. He watched his future wife with a fond smile that reached his eyes, and his cheeks were tinged red with embarrassment. The brunette teenager ran his fingers over the faces in the pictures fondly and turned the page.

He poured more of the potion onto the page and closed his eyes again.

Sirius had just died and Harry hated the way it made him feel. Remus had wrote to him earlier, and he was packed and ready, just waiting to be taken away from the Dursleys. Remus appeared in the doorway, a grin on his face, but his eyes were dull. Tonks followed him into the room. Her hair was a dull brown color and Harry frowned, wondering if she had loved Sirius just as much as him, but then her gaze traveled to Remus and her hair turned blond. But he looked away, and she was suddenly a brunette again. It dawned on Harry then, that Tonks was sad because Remus was. Sure, she missed her cousin, but she was hurt and upset that Remus was shutting her out. Harry hadn’t missed the way Remus’ face softened when he watched Tonks, but only when the girl wasn’t looking.

“She loves me,” the werewolf said suddenly, once Tonks had left the room.

“Do you love her?”

“I’m not good enough for her.” Remus answered.

The first of these three photos was of Remus standing in front of Harry. Harry was sitting on the bed, looking very morose and Remus didn’t look much better despite the fact that he was grinning. It looked false. Tonks was in the next picture, watching Remus with wide, hopeful eyes, but her hair was still that sad, depressed brown color. In the third picture, Remus was watching Tonks walk out of the door, and Harry was watching Remus with a frown. It probably wasn’t the happiest set of pictures, but Harry felt they were important. That was when Harry realized that two people he loved loved each other.

He made more memories, and then he went to Hermione and Ron, and each of them helped. Hermione gave him memories of Remus as the third year Defense professor and Ron shared memories of Tonks during Order meetings, since he spent every summer at the same house as her since Voldemort returned. They rounded up some of the other professors, who had worked with the couple, or who had taught them, and each of the other adults allowed Harry to use the Memoraflux potion on them. When they were done, the album was half full, and there was more than three quarters of the vial of potion left.

“Lucius, Narcissa?” Harry called as he pushed open the portrait of the yellow brick road. No body answered him. “Hello? Is anyone here?”

Draco appeared from their room, and he waved Harry forward. Both of his parents were in Draco’s room, each of them looking through Harry’s clothes. Everything he had bought in Diagon Alley the other day was on display in the room: draped over the bed and chairs, handing from the door or the hooks on the walls used for portraits.

“What are you doing?” He was more confused than annoyed.

“I needed to see if I had anything that would match something of yours, for tomorrow night.” Draco explained, giving the brunette a hug and a peck on the cheek. “I didn’t want our outfits to clash.”

Harry chuckled. “Draco. It’s a part for a one year old. He won’t notice if you came in green and I came in red.”

“Red and green should never be seen, Harry.” Narcissa offered up, leaning back on his bed, with a grin on her face. He rolled her eyes at her and she offered him a shrug, but she didn’t argue with her son.

“You’re demented.” Harry said finally and took a seat on his bed, next to Lucius. There was one bed, and half of it was covered with clothing, so he didn’t really have a choice of where to sit unless he wanted to try the floor. The elder blond didn’t so much as glance at him. His eyes were fixed on the silver album that Harry had placed down on the vanity table.

“May I?” He asked. Draco passed the book over when Harry nodded. Lucius flipped through it, with Narcissa watching over his shoulder as the picture changed. It wasn’t in any particular order, but Hermione had hand written small notes at the bottom of each page, naming the people in the pictures and the dates. There were pictures from when the Marauders were children, from when they graduated, some of the professors had even been at Lily and James’ wedding, and at Tonks and Remus’. Some photos were from when Remus taught at Hogwarts, and from the Order meetings, and some were of Tonks’ childhood since she went to Hogwarts as well, some were of her work at the Ministry.

“I haven’t got any of Andy or Ted yet, but I thought I could give her the potion and she could fill the rest of the book up.” Harry said quickly.

“We met him once, her husband Ted.” Narcissa said softly. “It wasn’t a pleasant experience.” She glanced at Lucius, who only rolled his eyes in reply.

“I suppose you’ll want it.” Lucius drawled, turning the pages again so it was a blank one staring up at him.

“If you don’t mind.” Harry pulled the vial from his pocket and poured two drops onto the page. “Touch it with your finger and think about the memory.” He instructed, and Lucius did as he was asked.

Lucius sneered at the couple that stood at the front of the church. A Muggle church: how plebian. Narcissa sat stiffly beside him, the Muggle beside her kept scratching at his crotch then sniffing his hand. She winced as he grinned at her, and Lucius shot him a glare before turning back to watch the couple. Andromeda Black and Ted Tonks, a Muggle, were getting married. Sirius Black and Narcissa were the only family members from her side to attend. Nearly everyone the Muggle knew was there, so half of them were sitting on the bride’s side of the church, which was unfortunate.

Andromeda looked beautiful. Lucius could admit that, despite the fact that she reminded him of Narcissa’s crazy other sister Bellatrix. Ted was a Muggle, there was nothing else Lucius could say about him. When the ceremony ended, the couple left first. They stood in the doorway of the church, shaking hands with their guests and accepting hugs and well wishes.

Andromeda stopped Narcissa on the way out, and pulled her younger sister against her. Her eyes were fixed on Lucius over the blond woman’s shoulder. “Be careful,” she whispered.

“It is you that need be careful, sister.” Narcissa said, pulling away. Her eyes flittered towards Ted, who stood awkwardly beside them. “This is my husband Lucius,” she introduced to the sister who hadn’t attended her own wedding a few months ago.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. This is my husband Ted.” Ted held his hand out but Lucius merely looked him up and down with a sneer.

“I am expected to touch it?” He mock whispered to his wife, not caring that any one could hear. Ted reared back as if he had been slapped and Andromeda looked horrified.

“How can you be married to him!” She hissed.

“At least he isn’t a Muggle!” She hissed back, her face pale and her hands clenched around the sleeve of Lucius’ robe. That was the last time she spoke to her sister; not that Lucius mourned that fact or anything.

Of course, there were three more pictures now. The first was of the couple standing at the alter, waiting to say their vows. The second picture was of the sister’s hugging – their last moment of affection, of family. The final picture was of Lucius spurning Ted’s hand, and Andromeda shouting at her sister. Narcissa looked nothing like she did now; she was cold and cruel looking, a little like she had been at the Quidditch world cup.

“We never met their daughter.” She said softly as Harry turned to look at her. Lucius bit his tongue so he wouldn’t say anything disparaging. He closed the book and handed it to his son’s mate.

There was a tense silence in the room for the minutes after Harry put the album away. Even Draco was quiet and still, his eyes flickering uncertainly towards his mate. Harry cleared his throat, and broke the tense atmosphere. “So, I’m useless with clothes. Which one of you is dressing me for tomorrow?”

XXX

April 12th 1998. Teddy’s Birthday.

The Tonks’ home had never been placed under the Fidelius Charm or any other secrecy spells. Now that the war was over, Andromeda felt no need to start placing any such charm around her home. The modest, Muggle home was filled with chatter and laughter and anyone who knew Remus or Tonks. Each person took turns cuddling Teddy and giving him a gift, which his grandmother insisted he was not to open until the end of the night.

When Harry finally arrived, it caused a bit of a stir.

His friends had flooed over from Hogwarts first. “Children!” Andromeda greeted, pulling Hermione and Ron into a quick hug and smiling at the others. Ginny’s eyes scanned the room, searching for Harry but not finding him. She figured this was the last place the Malfoys would go so she’d have Harry to herself for most of the night. “He isn’t here yet.” Andromeda said, noticing what the girl was doing.

Neville and Ron went away from the other, placing all of their gifts on the table with the others, before heading to the refreshments table. George stayed with Hermione and Andromeda while Ginny began to walk through the room, searching for Harry and not taken the other woman’s word for it. Harry was very good at hiding when he wanted to be, and Ginny knew him better than that bitch anyway.

The floo came to life and Draco’s blond head was easily recognizable. Hermione smiled in his direction, hesitantly, but warmly and he smiled back before turning in time to catch Harry as he stumbled into the fireplace. Draco dragged him out of the heath just in time for Lucius and Narcissa to floo in together.

“It’s rude to block the floo, Harry,” Lucius said softly as the brunette dusted himself down. Draco shot his father a look but Lucius ignored it.

“Hey Andy!” Harry called, turning to make his way towards her. “It’s ok that they came right? I mean they are Teddy’s family too, and I’m Draco’s mate so I’d be spending a lot of time with them anyway.” Andromeda dragged Harry against her, and held him tight. Her eyes were on the blond family, assessing each one individually and she was pleased to notice the tensing of the youngest’s shoulders when she held on to Harry just a moment too long.

She let him go and smiled. “He cares for you.” She nodded at Draco.

“He loved me. And I care for him a lot too.”

“It’s ok that they are here. Now, Teddy,” she called looking around, “say hello to Uncle Harry.”

Teddy didn’t answer, and when they spotted him he was standing, wobbly, by Draco’s feet trying to climb up the blond’s leg. Draco swallowed heavily but bent down obediently and picked the baby up. Teddy gave a squeal and his hands fisted into Draco’s hair, his own hair turning the same shade instantly. His amber eyes locked on Harry’s face as the brunette walked towards them, and they turned green. Draco grinned at the sight. If he didn’t know for certain, he would have said the child was his and Harry’s.

Harry’s eyes softened but Draco could tell that something about Teddy being held by him was making Harry sad. Narcissa cooed over the child and even Lucius looked momentarily interested by the sight of a child whose distinguishing features reminded him of his son and his son’s mate.

“Can he open his gift now?” Harry asked, handing over the album.

“Of course.” Andromeda led them towards a couch and Draco sat down first, Teddy still in his arms. Harry sat beside him and Andromeda handed her grandson the brightly wrapped package. “This is from Uncle Harry.” She said. “Say thank you.”

“Ta, ta,” the boy said, clapping his hands together. He reached out and Draco helped him remove the paper. On the front of the silver album were the words ‘Teddy Lupin, April 12 1997’ and beneath that was a small picture of a wolf lying curled around what looked like a pixie.

“A Nymph,” Harry explained with a grin. He opened the first page for the child. “That’s your mummy,” he pointed at Tonks, “and that’s your daddy.” Teddy grinned up at him, and leant away from Draco for a moment to give Harry a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “Happy birthday, baby.”

The party started winding down about 7pm, which was when Teddy was put to bed. Harry had offered to do it and when he came back he looked upset again. Draco wanted to talk to him, but every time he got near his mate one of the other’s would find him just a second sooner. With a scowl he walked away, leaving Harry with George.

“So,” the redhead said. His voice was still raw, out of use. “How have you been?”

“The same as I was three days ago, I guess.” Harry looked a little confused, but he had stopped dwelling on his upsetting thoughts, so he supposed George’s strange behaviour was a silver lining of some kind. “And yourself?”

“I was thinking about you, you know.” George moved closer to him, until they were almost flush against one another. Harry took a step back, his eyes wide. “I’ve missed you Harry. You, me and F-Fr-Fred,” he managed to choke out the name, “we used to have fun together didn’t we? Maybe you could help me invent things now if you aren’t going back to school?”

“Yeah, but I probably will. You know, I want to finish my education mainly because Mione might kill me if I don’t.” George chuckled, and moved closer to him again.

Across the room, Draco noticed and narrowed his eyes. He started to make his way towards his mate.

George’s lips were next to Harry’s ear when he next spoke, and the feel of his breath caressing his skin made Harry shudder and think of Draco. “We should get together some time, hang out, and have some fun. Merlin knows I need fun.” He pulled back, and his eyes were glued to Harry’s lips. The brunette looked a little disorientated when George leaned closer but didn’t speak. The redhead licked his lips but before he could act Draco’s scathing voice broke through his haze.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” He took hold of Harry’s arm and dragged the brunette away. “What is with you and Weasleys? Do they all try to get you into bed or is it just the younger ones?”

“What?” Harry asked with wide eyes. “It’s not like that. He’s lonely since Fred died and I was close to the Twins.”

“Close,” Draco repeated with a snort. He pushed Harry down onto the sofa, and sat beside him, leaning against his Dominant’s side. “Why were you sad earlier?”

“I was just thinking of Teddy.” Draco waited patiently. He thought Harry might say, he felt bad because Teddy didn’t have parents, or because Teddy reminded him of himself, but Harry didn’t say either of those. “I never realized how badly I wanted children until I realize I couldn’t have them.”

Draco looked momentarily horrified before he wiped all expression off of his face. He looked at his mate and sighed, “Were you cursed? Is that why you can’t have a child?” He sounded so sincere that Harry couldn’t even force a laugh.

“Draco,” he breathed rubbing the blond’s cheek. “We’re both male.”

“But I’m a Veela.” The blond said it as if it was common knowledge, and Harry supposed it might have been, not that anyone had told him about it. Sure he had been reading books about Veela, but he obviously hadn’t gotten to the chapters on reproduction. “All submissive male Veela grow a uterus when they come into their inheritance. They don’t menstruate but they are very capable of having children. We can have children, Harry.” His own hand was tracing circles on Harry’s thighs and the brunette grinned at him.

“We can have kids, really?”

“Yes.” Draco said softly. Harry leaned towards him, his lips pulled up in a soft smile and he pressed them against Draco’s with a moan. The blond melted into his touch, and when they finally pulled apart Draco was in Harry’s lap, with his hands tangled into Harry’s hair. He pulled back with a flush. “But not right now, ok? We should at least graduate first.”

“Of course,” Harry immediately agreed. He was finally allowed to live his life, and not to be unkind, but he had no wish for his life to suddenly revolve around a child. The knowledge that he could, when they were ready, have a child instantly removed the doubts that had started when he agreed to mate with Draco. They could have children: he wasn’t giving anything up to be with the blond. He kissed Draco again and held the blond tighter against him. Draco snuggled against his chest, pleased to have pleased his mate.

Ginny watched them with narrowed eyes, and George watched them as well, but his gaze was more curious than angry. A small smile pulled at his lips and he wondered if he would ever be as happy as they looked. Then again, he thought, Harry generally made people happy.

Some people chose to floo home, and some people chose to apparate. Of course Teddy’s grandfather had been Muggle, so any Muggle friends of the family chose to walk home or take a cab or a bus. The floo was in a room that was charmed so the Muggles wouldn’t notice it, and each of them assumed these strange people had already been there when they arrived. He watched them as they left, in groups of twos and threes, or alone. A grin split his face as he caught sight of the child waving from Harry Potter’s arms. Harry closed the door and he snarled violently into the night, his teeth bared through parted lips.

That boy was his. That boy would be his soon.

Remus might not have been an active member of his pack, but he had sired Remus nonetheless, and this was Remus’ cub. The child belonged with what was left of his pack. Potter, certainly, shouldn’t have the boy. Horrible, bespectacled human that he was; defeating the Dark Lord and ruining all of his fun.

Fenrir Greyback snarled again, before turning and disappearing into the darkness.

XXX

April 14th 1998.

Fenrir paced the length of the driveway. He knew it was foolish to stand out in the open, right in front of the house, but it was too dark for anyone to see him, and he was angry and impatient.

“Where are those fools?” He growled.

When Voldemort was defeated, not all of the Death Eaters had been rounded up. Many of his pack were captured or killed, but some had escaped and they were with him now, crouching behind bushes and cars, waiting. The Death Eaters that weren’t taken, or driven into hiding were supposed to be with him. But they were late.

He had found them, hiding in squalor and he had taunted them, insulted them, wounded their pride until they were as willing as he was to destroy Harry Potter and reign down anarchy on the Wizarding World. Not that the Wizards knew he had planned that. They would never agree to destroy their own world, but Fenrir wasn’t above lying to achieve his own ends. He hated the so-called superior world of the Wizards and Witches that rejected his kind. He had been one of them once, rich and important and bigoted, until he had been bitten and his life had changed so ultimately that he hadn’t ever looked back. Except once. Just long enough to kill his family. But then, he was no longer one of them.

They were the enemy.

They hunted werewolves, and destroyed packs, and castrated his kind so they couldn’t breed like ‘normal’ people. And now, they had taken one of his pack out of his care. Fenrir would have the boy back.

Several ‘pops’ echoed through the street, and five men in white masks and black robes appeared in front of the werewolf.

“Fenrir,” three greeted in sync. The other two nodded. Fenrir would never expect himself to being called ‘Lord’; that place was reserved for people stupider than those who followed them. Only fools built up an army that they couldn’t control. Fenrir would be content with just three five and his own pack.

“Let’s go.” He ordered gruffly. They already knew what they were meant to do, and they knew he would tolerate no mistakes.

XXX

April 14th 1998. Same time.

He was sweating, but he still felt so cold. Harry trembled, his arms wrapping around himself, trying to conserve his body heat. Sweat dripped off the end of his nose, and ran down from his hair over his ears and cheeks. He wiped it away furiously and shuddered. He knew where he was, he was outside Andromeda’s house, but this shouldn’t be happening. He hadn’t had a dream like this since Voldemort had recognized their connection.

A tear leaked from the corner of one eye as he watched the man growl and break down the front door. He followed them, careful to stay out of reach just in case one of them knew about his old connection with Voldemort and could sense him.

Voldemort was gone, he reminded himself. This is probably just a scarily realistic nightmare.

Somehow, he had gotten inside of the house before the Death Eaters. His eyes locked on Teddy. The boy was red faced, and he was trying to cry but Andromeda had a hand closed over his mouth, muffling any noise he made. “Ssh,” she kept saying, rocking him lightly.

Harry ran after her as she sprinted towards Nymphandora’s room. She locked the door after herself. She put Teddy down and shushed him again, before dragging Tonks’ desk into the middle of the room. She stood on the desk and pushed back one of the tiles in the ceiling. It revealed a smallish square hole, just big enough for Harry to squeeze through but not Andromeda. She grabbed her grandson and pushed him up into the attic. “I love you precious.” She whispered, “don’t cry. Be brave and stay really quite for me.” She pulled the tile back into place and cast a Notice-Me-Not spell on the area.

She left the room then, leaving it open behind her because a locked door is always suspicious, and ran to her own bedroom. She was a second away from throwing the floo powder into the fireplace when a hand closed around her wrist.

“Uh, huh, uh.” A voice cooed.

“Jannson,” someone shouted. “Have you found them?”

“In the master room,” Jannson yelled back. He squeezed Andromeda’s wrist, and with a gasp she dropped the handful of floo powder she had been holding. The green powder fluttered down onto the carpet and Andromeda allowed a tear to fall as eight other men entered the room. Bringing up the rear, and possibly the scariest of them all, was Fenrir Greyback.

Harry started screaming soon after, begging for it to stop, hoping to wake up and be able to save her, but he just kept dreaming. It didn’t take much longer for Andromeda to start screaming. Nobody heard Teddy crying over the screams.

In the bed, Draco jolted awake and instantly tried to calm his mate down. It took a further ten minutes of screaming to wake the elder Malfoys and by that point Harry’s scar was bleeding profusely. His arms were flailing, and his fingers were scratching at his forehead. His eyes were squeezed closed but tears still managed to leak past his eyelids and Draco wiped them away with distress.

“What’s wrong with him?” Draco shouted.

Lucius hurried to the bed and pinned one of his arms down. Narcissa grabbed the other arm. “Try and wake him.” Lucius ordered. With a blush Draco bent down to place a kiss on Harry’s lips.

“Wake up, love.” He whispered, his voice shaking.

Harry’s eyes snapped open and he screamed when he realized he couldn’t move his arms. Immediately Lucius and Narcissa let go and Harry jerked up into a sitting position. His eyes flew wildly around the room, bloodshot and red. He took one look at Draco, and remembered what Teddy had looked like with Draco’s hair colour, and leapt off the bed. He stumbled, but kept going. The Malfoys watched him run from the room and it only took him twenty seconds before he was on his feet and chasing after his distraught mate.

Draco found him, banging his fists against the stone gargoyle that protected the Head teacher’s rooms. The Gargoyle jumped aside when Draco appeared, obviously reluctant to let the boy go alone. Harry burst into the office, ignoring he fact that he might have woken Professor McGonagall up from her sleep and he threw the powder into the fireplace. The fire lit up, and he called out the destination. Draco followed him without hesitation.

The elder Malfoys had caught up and they were just entering the fireplace when Minerva appeared, rubbing at her eyes. “What in Merlin’s name is going on here?”

“Harry had a nightmare, he woke us up screaming.” Narcissa said breathlessly. Lucius was about to say something offensive but the way Minerva’s face paled had his breath catching in his throat.

”What is it?” He asked, his voice uncharacteristically soft.

“This can’t be happening. Not again.” Her hands were pressed to her chest and the portrait of Albus Dumbledore sighed morosely but held his tongue. It was not his place to tell Harry something that Harry needed to learn for himself. “Where did he go?”

Narcissa spoke the destination and the flames sprang to life. She and her husband disappeared and Minerva followed soon after.

When the fireplace sprang to life the Rouges (as they would henceforth be called by the Daily Prophet) apparated away. They couldn’t risk that Andromeda had somehow managed to alert the Aurors. If they had known it was only two teenage boys they would have stayed and had a good time.

Andromeda had killed two werewolves early on, but Harry hadn’t cared about their fate. He avoided the bodies effortlessly, already having known where they had fallen, but Draco tripped over the first. Harry pulled the blond to his feet. He had his wand out, held steadily in front of him, at eye level. Draco followed his example and pulled out his own wand, but his hand trembled and he had to keep his other hand on Harry’s shoulder in order to calm himself.

Harry remembered what had happened and he knew where he would find Andy. She had killed two of them in her bedroom and she had run, as far from where Teddy was hidden as she could make it. He found her, just where he remembered, sprawled at the base of the stairs.

When the Rouges apparated, the pack had thrown themselves through doors or windows, and ran away, but Fenrir remained. He crouched over the woman who was barely breathing and hissed, “Where is the cub?”

She gasped something at him that Harry couldn’t hear, and Fenrir reached out to slap her. An ‘Expelliarmus’ hit him first and he flew back against the living room door. He chuckled as he pulled himself to his feet. Fenrir pulled something out of his pocket and Harry recognized it as Andromeda’s wand.

“I will find him.” He promised. He aimed the wand out the window, “Morsmorde,” he roared and a sickly green light lit up the sky above the house. He pointed it back at her. Harry prepared himself to defend Andromeda but no spell came. Fenrir grinned, his eyes on Narcissa’s pale face, and she stared back at him from the threshold with wide eyes, and then he apparated away.

Harry threw himself to the ground. “Andy? Andy, you’ll be ok, you’ll be fine. He’s gone now.” Harry waved his wand over her, casting every healing charm he had learnt from Hermione but nothing happened. “Come on,” he muttered. “He’s gone. It’s ok now.”

“Why didn’t he kill her?” Harry heard Draco ask. Hesitantly his own hand came out to find her pulse – he couldn’t find it. He recoiled with a gasp and Draco looked down at him, comprehension suddenly dawning on him. “She’s already dead isn’t she?” His mother nodded sadly.

“Where’s Teddy?” Minerva asked. She had begun searching the house and had fire called the Aurors.

The moment he heard his godson’s name, Harry sprinted up the stairs, and nearly knocked over several of the arriving Aurors. When Draco followed him, and found him, he was standing on top of a desk in Nymphandora’s room, talking into a hole in the ceiling.

“Teddy, love, it’s me, Uncle Harry. Will you come down for me, love?” He reached a hand up and gave a relieved cry when a tiny hand squeezed around his thumb. He took the boy’s arm and pulled. When Teddy was close enough to the gap, Harry manoeuvred him so that his legs were dangling down. With his arms around Teddy’s small waist he pulled the boy from the attic and replaced the ceiling tile. “It’s ok, baby, I’ll take care of you.”

He stepped down off the desk, and Draco was behind him without delay. His arms went around his Dominant’s waist and he pressed his face to Harry’s back. “It’ll be ok, Harry.” He whispered.

Harry knew Draco was lying to make him feel better, so he said nothing in reply. He just hugged his godson and took comfort in the fact that he had someone like Draco in his life. Someone who could and would love him despite all of the crazy shit that happened to him.

The Aurors took Teddy from him when they had finished cleaning up and taking photos or whatever it was that Aurors did. Harry didn’t care. He didn’t want them to take Teddy.

“He has to stay with a Wizarding Family Services worker until the matter of his guardianship is resolved.”

“Well, I’m his guardian.” Harry pointed out. “He doesn’t want to go with you.”

“We’ll take care of him, Mr. Potter. You’ll need to visit the Ministry tomorrow and make every thing legal.” There was no particular level for the WFS at the Ministry, so it shared Level Three: Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. It was a relatively small sector, and so there was deemed to be no problem sharing with the Family Services branch of the government. “You’ll see him tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Harry whispered. He waved at Teddy as the boy was taken through the floo. Eyes the same color as Remus’ looked back at him over the shoulder of the Auror who held him, and they swam with tears as the boy waved back slowly. “Tomorrow.”

XXX

April 15th 1998.

It had been relatively simple to get custody of his godson. The difficult part had been gaining access to the Ministry. Apparently you were no longer allowed to use the floo unless you were an Auror, a Professor or a worker at St. Mungos. He had tried to floo from Hogwarts but was spat back out because he wasn’t a recognized Professor. Harry had tried to use the visitor’s entrance, but there was a cue for the telephone box stretching all the way back to Kings Cross. That left Portkeys. The difficulty of course was finding one. Every member of the Wizengamot, or Ministry worker had a private one, but they were all keyed to the person’s wand. To steal a Portkey meant stealing a wand, and Harry would have felt a little guilty about that.

In the end, Harry fire called the Ministry and reported a theft. Generally the Aurors would have been too busy with the events of the night before to take notice of a petty crime, but since it was the Boy-Who-Lived reporting the crime, they flooed over to Hogwarts for him.

“What has been stolen?”

“My godson.” He said icily.

“Do you know who?” The man asked, his eyebrow rising slightly.

“Yeah. You guys. You took him yesterday, told me to come to the Ministry and now the Ministry won’t let me in.”

“Ah.” The Auror put away his notebook and quill and took hold of Harry’s elbow. “If you’ll allow me.” The Auror stepped into the fireplace first, and Harry followed him. The Auror held Harry’s elbow for the entire dizzying ride, and when they came out in the Atrium, the Auror held Harry steady while the boy tried not to fall on his face.

“Thanks for that.” The brunette grinned.

“Level three,” he replied with a grin.

Harry returned ten minutes later with Teddy, who had fallen asleep on Harry’s shoulder. His friends met him in the corridor outside of the Headmistress’s office and they talked quietly among themselves as they walked Harry back to the Slytherin Head Boy dorms.

He tapped out the correct sequence of bricks on the yellow brick road painting, while his friends weren’t looking of course, and he entered the room. He tried to smile at Narcissa, who sat puffy eyed on the sofa. Lucius sat beside her, with Draco in his lap, and the younger blond was crying too. He reached a hand out to squeeze Draco’s shoulder as he passed and he nodded to Lucius before entering his bedroom.

His and Draco’s double bed had been moved to the side of the room, instead of in the middle. On the other side of the room was the crib they had portkeyed over from Andromeda’s house. Harry had wanted Teddy’s things to be familiar to him, to help him settle in better. He lay the child down and tucked him under the blankets and tried not to cry. Teddy was so young, just over a year old and already his had lost his parents and grandparents. He was even younger than Harry had been. He was all alone now.

No.

Teddy wasn’t alone. He had Harry, which was more than Harry had, and the brunette was determined to do everything he could to keep his godson safe. He left the room, closed the door behind him and left the suit altogether. His friends were still waiting outside and Harry sunk down on to the floor when the portrait closed.

“It’s not so bad.” Ron tried to console his friend.

“Yeah,” Luna agreed airily, “Teddy is alive.”

“No. It could have been worse, but it is still ‘bad’. When something good happens to me, when I’m happy someone has to come along and shit all over my parade. There is no silver lining to this. It’s the opposite in fact. If there is any lining at all, it’s blood red.” He chuckled and Hermione reached out to pull him into a hug. “This cloud has blood red lining.” He laughed again, but it broke off into sobs quickly. He heaved slightly, his face against Hermione’s neck as he tried to remember how to bleed.

“My life is lined with blood.” He spoke softly now, his voice quiet and tense and each of his friends felt his pain as if it were their own. Harry hadn’t looked this broken for a long time.

Not since Sirius died.

XXX

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QUESTION: Did Fenrir Greyback die? No… not in my story. QUESTION: Regarding chapter 8, what was the name of the pub in Hogsmeade? All I can think of is Hogs Head, but that’s not the one I want.

People don’t review this as much as they used to… Would it make you all happier if I told you the story is going to get angstier now? If you review, I’ll give you a Hillbilly-Harry (I hope BOOMrobotdog just read that lol), barefooted and wearing dungarees.