Draco Malfoy looked extremely uncomfortable as he walked down a London street one evening.
It was his first time venturing into the muggle world and so far, it was not at all to his liking.
Draco had grown up very sheltered, spending his days at either Malfoy manor or Hogwarts. During his time as a Death Eater, he rarely had to leave the familiar confines of either.
Draco scowled as his polished, black shoes glinted in the streetlights.
Why did Potter have to make everything so difficult?
Draco was wearing his most muggle-appropriate suit, which was simple and black, hoping that it wouldn't draw too much attention.
He eventually reached his destination and walked up the steps to a brick townhouse which was positioned at the end of a long row of shops.
Using one hand, Draco smoothed out his black silk tie before he very warily knocked on the door.
His face was tense with anticipation as he heard commotion come from inside the dwelling.
Draco's heart sped up as footsteps approached......
His rapid pulse crescendoed as the door finally swung open.
Draco came face to face with a smiling muggle man, whom, he had to admit, besides his clothing, didn't look all that different from a wizard.
"Good evening!" The man greeted Draco in a friendly tone, "May I help you, sir?"
"Good evening." Draco replied, "Are you Mr. Roberts?"
"I am." The man replied with an apprehensive nod.
Draco did not try to hide the anguish on his face as he implored the muggle in front of him, "My name is Draco....Smith. I need to speak with you immediately."
The man blinked in surprise at Draco.
Draco tried to focus on holding his tortured expression and not slipping into a smirk that celebrated the cleverness of using a pseudonym.
That had been his own idea.
"Draco Smith?What an unusual name." Mr. Roberts remarked, "I beg your pardon, sir, do I know you from somewhere?"
"No, sir....I do ask that you pardon my intrusion." Draco explained, "But it's come to my attention that you and your wife are in the process of adopting my child."
The man stared at Draco incredulously but Draco saw sympathy in his gaze.
Good~.
Slowly, Mr. Roberts stepped aside and welcomed his unexpected visitor into his home, "Well, Mr. Smith, won't you come in?"
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Draco followed the muggle man inside the house. They walked through a narrow hallway until Mr. Roberts paused and ushered Draco into what the Malfoy heir realized was a small living room.
Others would have called it quaint.
Draco thought it was cramped.
Didn't Harriet say this family had a farm?
"You'll have to forgive the mess." The muggle man said with a smile to Draco as they sat down on the firm furniture, "We haven't had a chance to clean today. The children have made this place a wreck! They've just been so excited.... It's not often that we come to our city house."
Ah.
Draco sniffed in understanding, "That's quite alright. My family owns several properties as well."
A very awkward silence passed between the muggle and the former Death Eater until Mr. Roberts cleared his throat and went on, "I'm quite sorry...... but the birth mother we're working with hasn't mentioned you at all. She told us the father wasn't involved."
"That's because the father didn't know." Draco spat. To Draco's dismay, his tone sounded more ominous than he intended.
Mr. Roberts looked at his guest apprehensively but Draco drew in a breath and tried to calm himself as he spoke, "She never even told me about the child.....I stumbled upon the news by chance. I have no mate or little ones of my own, you see, but that doesn't mean I've resigned myself to a life of loneliness. I had a chance reunion with the.....mother, recently, and I have no intention of abandoning my son or daughter. Please pardon my interruption of your evening, but I implore you, sir, will you revoke your part in this adoption? If it's a financial matter, rest assured, I can pay any price."
"Money isn't......." Mr. Roberts began, clearly distraught by Draco's plea, "Money isn't the object, Mr. Smith. My wife and I have been on the list to adopt a third child for years.....This is the first time we've been chosen by a birth mother and we're quite proud."
Draco's face contorted in anguish.
Mr. Roberts thought that the man in front of him was expressing his disappointment, but really Draco was already starting to feel guilty about what he was preparing to do.
Draco had come and asked the muggles nicely to back away from his baby. He had even offered to compensate them as well. If neither of those strategies worked, then he felt he would have no choice but to use magic against them.
Nothing harmful, of course, but the use of magic would bring the need for more magic to cover his tracks and Draco would prefer a simpler resolution.
Regardless, through money or magic, that evening, Draco Malfoy was determined to win his fight against the muggle family who were seeking to adopt his son or daughter.
"You're a father yourself?" Draco asked, feigning surprise.
"Yes." Mr. Roberts said with a bright smile, "I have one girl and one boy. They're the light of my life."
Draco capitalized on that statement as he hissed in reply, "Then surely, Mr. Roberts, you can understand my pain! Would you not do the same if one of your children was trapped in a similar situation?"
"......Yes." Mr. Roberts admitted with a heavy sigh, "Yes, I'd do the same......Has your lawyer received the results of your paternity test, Mr. Smith?"
"Paternity test?" Draco blinked.
"Yes......to prove you're the father?" Mr. Roberts asked, "The adoption order has already been issued by the court. As the adopting parents, it would be almost unheard of for us to rescind our offer. I'm not certain that we can..... My family and I will gladly honor your request, Mr. Smith, but this is out of our hands now. You'll have to take the appropriate legal channels to disrupt the process at this point."
Draco felt his heart sink deep in inner turmoil.
What a hassle Harriet had made of this whole affair!
It all sounded very complex to Draco.
Apparently, muggle law had several differences than the laws of the wizarding world.
In the Roberts' small living room, Draco came to grips with the nauseating fact that gold wasn't going to solve his problem.
Would magic be useful?
Perhaps not.
Event if Draco obliviated the muggle family and made his escape, there would be others coming after him and his son or daughter due to the intricate complications that Harriet had set in place.
"So.......how do I go about that?" Draco asked.
Mr. Roberts was surprised that such a dapper gentleman would ask a ridiculous, naive question, but he was kind and patient.
Draco had no knowledge of how the muggle world worked and he had no one to contact about such matters. He wanted to at least gather Mr. Robert's opinion and compare it with another later.
".......Well, first you need to prove your paternity and present that to the court in order to claim father's rights." Mr. Roberts informed Draco after he thought, "Then you can petition the court to have the adoption reversed. If they grant you custody-"
"-What do you mean if they grant me custody?" Draco cut in, narrowing his eyes.
"If they grant you custody," Mr. Roberts continued, "Then the process will be cancelled and the child will be placed in your care."
Draco sat on the muggles' sofa and thought for a moment, with his face puckered as if he were in terrible agony.
The Malfoy heir hadn't been so overwhelmed since Lord Voldemort had ordered him to murder his headmaster.
Perhaps not even then.....
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A week after Draco's visit to the Roberts' home, Harriet woke up late one morning and blinked as she looked around her humble apartment.
There was a noise, a loud, irritating noise.
Ring, Ring!
Ring, Ring!
Harriet slowly pulled herself out of the bed and placed one hand on her aching belly and another against her throbbing temple.
She hadn't felt well recently but she attributed it all to stress.
Harriet would never admit it, but as the birth grew closer, she doubted her decision more and more with each passing day.
Shuffling into the living area to answer the muggle phone that Harriet had spelled to work without an outlet, she answered it hesitantly, ".......Hello?"
"Hello, Miss Potter? This is Langston Borrow, your attorney?" A voice came from the other end.
"Oh, yes. H-How are you?" Harriet said dismissively. As she held the phone, she stumbled while blackness edged at the corners of her vision.
"I'm doing well and I hope you are! I'm afraid I have some distressing news. We've run into a problem with the adoption." Langston replied.
"Problem?......What problem?" Harriet mumbled, lowering herself down onto the sofa.
"You're being sued for paternity by a......Draco Smith? He claims to be the father of your child. He's asking for a definitive test and it seems the court has already granted him an order to have it performed. If he can prove the child is his and the court deems him a fit parent, then I'm terribly sorry, Miss Potter, but the Roberts family won't be able to adopt your baby."
Harriet's head spun even faster when she heard that.
"I.....I don't know a Draco Smith." Harriet replied in annoyance. She swallowed thickly when her throat began to tighten.
"Well, according to him, you do, or at least, you did. With this court order, he can force the test to be completed. Should the results prove his claim to be false, then that's a different matter." Langston added.
"A-Alright......thank you." Harriet mumbled.
"Miss Potter?" Harriet heard her attorney ask but the phone fell out of her hand and she didn't bother to try and grab it.
Langston heard a click on the other end as the phone hit the floor and Harriet tried to hold onto consciousness.
Harriet's green eyes fluttered while she laid back on the sofa. The foreboding, black ebbings at the corners of her vision gradually darkened the world around her.
Draco wanted a paternity test.....
Draco wanted the baby.......
Those thoughts swirled through Harriet's mind just before she lost her battle and drifted away.
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It was a complicated thing in the wizarding world to perform genetic tracking magic.
Draco had spent long hours mastering his new skill, but the day that he received the court order to officially request a paternity test from Harriet, he was finally successful at performing the useful spell.
With a flick of his wand, Draco was able to trace down the additional piece of himself in the world.
His unborn child.
The fact that his journey brought him directly face to face with an apartment door in Hogsmeade which he assumed belonged to Harriet should have been proof of enough of his paternity.
If only he could get that acknowledged in a muggle court.
Draco had no intentions of waiting any longer than necessary.
Six months was enough.
Desperate to reverse the adoption quickly and break down the walls that Harriet kept placing between him and her, Draco had decided he would escort his pregnant omega to have the test completed, wherever that would take place in the muggle world.
Raising a hand, Draco knocked on Harriet's apartment door and waited patiently.
When he heard nothing from the other side he knocked again.
It was nearly noon.
Surely she was awake?
Growing impatient, Draco unlocked the door with a swipe of his wand and peered inside.
"........Potter?" He called out uncertainly.
The flat was small but bright.
A sense of unease prickled up his spine and Draco was suddenly gripped by the instinctive feeling that something was wrong.
When the silence lingered, Draco dared to step over the threshold and into Harriet's apartment.
"........Potter?" Draco called again as his eyes scanned over the flat.
When his gaze fell on Harriet slumped onto the couch, he drew in a breath.
It was apparent from her unnatural pose that she hadn't taken her nap purposefully.
"Potter!" Draco cried, racing over to his omega and shaking her slightly to see if she would rouse, "Potter! Look at me!"
Panic flooded through Draco's veins when Harriet's eyes failed to open.
Without a second thought, Draco carefully scooped the pregnant omega into his arms and apparated them both out of her apartment and straight to Malfoy manor.
Draco couldn't take her to St. Mungo's, that would attract far too much publicity.
Draco had no idea how to get to a muggle hospital without apparating. Besides that, he didn't even know what one looked like.
No, he decided that the safest place for his mate was the womb-like seclusion of his childhood home.
Immediately upon their arrival, Draco placed Harriet carefully onto his large, soft bed and sent for help.
The Malfoys had been served by the same healer for decades. Now an elderly woman, she was stern but kind. Draco was positive that the family healer would be able to help Harriet just as well as the staff at St. Mungo's and much more than a group of ordinary muggle physicians.
While he waited for the healer to arrive, Draco pulled a chair next to Harriet's bedside and sat down. Lovingly, he took one of her hands into his and gently stroked the back of her knuckles with his long, pale fingers.
A frown of despair was fixed firmly on his handsome face.
Draco wasn't sure who he was more worried about, his unborn child, or the omega with whom he was so deeply in love.....