Chapter 1
4 Months
It had been 4 Months since he went missing.
Draco wouldn't say he and Harry Potter are best friends or anything, but after the war, he and his friends (and maybe some others from hogwarts) were thew only reason he and mother weren't sent to Azkaban. His father was a different story and is rightfully rotting away there, but because Draco and his mother never actually committed a crime in the name of Voldemort they were spared an Azkaban sentence. That didn't mean they went unpunished of course. Their house was seized and they were denied access to any of Lucius's fortune which Draco was surprisingly not that upset about, after some time, Draco realized he didn't want anything from that man ever again, it was bad enough he still had to walk around with his name 'Malfoy' and the scar on his arm from where he'd removed the dark mark tattoo, he didn't want anything more to do with the "Malfoy's".
His mother went back to using her maiden name and lucky for them, she had access to her own fortune, it wasn't alot really, just some money from her family which rightfully belonged to her, it was enough to get them a flat in Knockturn Alley, after a few years they were able to start making a living as Narcissa opened the bottom part of the flat up to be a handmaids shop. She'd learned the skills as a girl and had continued the hobby as she grew older, and now she brought her services to those who lived in Knockturn Alley (mainly because they were the only people willing to take help offered by her and her son) but it kept them busy, when Draco wasn't serving the small amount of customers they got, he was practicing his potion making, as the years went by his love and skill for making potions became his passion.
It was around this time he started talking to Harry Potter again, in the beginning he didn't think he'd ever see the green eyed wizard again, but even as an apprentice Auror Harry had to venture to Knockturn Alley on occasion for work, their encounters were awkward at first, Harry happened upon their shop in desperate need of his cloak needing a quick stitch from a tear he'd accidentally made in the fabric while working. Despite everything that had happened between them at school and during the war, neither of them really had any animosity towards the other, it was just more like neither of them knew how to be when near the other and so it was awkward, but that didn't stop Harry from popping in every once in a while, he even stayed for tea some afternoons when his job allowed for a break. Over the next few years Harry and Draco's relationship transformed from awkward to friendly, he even saw Granger and Weasley a few times when they'd accompany Harry to the shop.
It was only once Harry had become a fully fledged Auror that Draco worked up the courage to ask about getting a potions license and permit to sell them. He knew he could just apply for one but he wanted to check with Harry as to whether or not he would be approved or if Harry thought the Ministry might deny him because of his past, but Harry told him to go for it and it gave him the courage he needed to send in his application, to this day he still wonders if maybe Potter had something to do with getting his application approved but he's been able to bring himself to ask and Harry certainly has never given any hint that he may have, probably not, why would he anyway?
After becoming fully licensed, Draco had saved up enough money working with his mother that he was able to afford his own shop/flat a few streets away from his mothers place in which he could sell potions from, totally legal potions of course, but that didn't mean he wasn't well informed on how to make illegal ones, if he was going to become a potion maker he needed to know all he could and Draco had left no stone unturned when studying for his occupation, which is what led him to consulting for Potter and the Ministry, he mostly deals with Harry and Weasley but sometimes other Aurors ask for his help on cases due to Potter's recommendation, some weren't to thrilled when they first learned it was Draco who was his consultant but after he proved to be useful, they saw fit to use his services when required.
Since then his relationship with the 3 friends has only improved, he now might even consider them his friends as well, only he won't dare say that to their faces, worrying he might curse them all by jinks-ing a good thing.
Draco's not sure why he's thinking about all this now, he's currently sitting with Granger and Weasley in their kitchen. They've been combing through Harry's case files for weeks trying to find any link to where he may be or who might have taken him and so far they've had no luck, it doesn't help that their wasn't much to start with, all they know is that Harry was assigned to a case that involved a group rumored to be Voldemort fanatics, they called themselves "Those who shall not be named" super original Draco thought while rolling his eyes first time he heard it, how naive they all were to just right this group off as some petty fans, how wrong they were.
"I don't understand how a wizard as famous as Harry can just vanish?" Ron exclaimed AGAIN, while he ran his hand through his hair while staring at a file sheet, some distress pheromones leaking out into the kitchen, Draco couldn't tell you how many time he's heard that phrase over the last few months.
"We know Ron, you've said that" Hermione sighs from behind her tea cup releasing calming pheromones to help de-stress her mate in doing so she finally stops with the incessant chewing of her lip to look at a different sheet, I look up from the few sheets in front of me that showed the most recent towns and villages Harry visited before he disappeared, they were all linked to other crimes Harry had dealt with and didn't seem to have any connection to the current one, in fact most of them had to do with small, almost petty crimes for an Auror of Harry's caliber, but he supposed all criminals had to be dealt with, even the little ones.
"Has anyone investigated the places Harry visited on some of these cases?" Draco asked, Hermione looked over at the pages Draco held up and nodded unenthusiastically before replying "Yeah, when Harry first went missing some Aurors were sent out to all of Harry's most recent locations that were linked to cases he'd worked on but couldn't find anything that led to his whereabouts" Draco looked back the pages again, none of the locations really stood out to him, except one, but not for any reason that had to do with Harry he didn't think.
After a few more minutes, Ron stated that it was getting late and they would need to put their kids to bed soon so they decided to call it another uneventful day. "Do you mind if I take some files home? I want to keep looking through them" Draco asked Hermione casually, he knew the 2 parents couldn't be on this case 24/7 even though they tried, they were more worried about Harry than you could actually see on their faces only cause they also had their kids to think of and a family to raise, "Of course Draco, if you find anything though, let us know okay?, no matter how small it may be" she said placing a hand on his shoulder, she knew Draco was worried just as much as she and Ron were, so he nodded and grabbed a box of files before bidding them farewell and apparating to his apartment.
Once along he let out all the Pheromones he'd been holding back while at the Weasley's house, he didn't want to interfere with the family's home by releasing his own stress there so he held it in as best he could but he suspects Hermione could tell, she's too smart not to have noticed even with her slightly weaker sense of smell.
Draco spent most of the night reading through some of Harry's old cases, eventually he found ones that drew his attention again and he was suddenly faced with the realization of what he must do. The case wasn't anything major, just some guy in a small town causing havoc, Harry was sent in arrest him, the only reason it caught Draco's eye was because the town was the same location that caught his eye earlier, it was familiar to him because it was close to where he grew up at Malfoy Manor, the village was only a few miles away from the estate, he remembers visiting it as a young boy with his mother, it's small and quiet, nothing ever happened there and that was probably exactly why it caught Draco's attention. Even though he promised Hermione he'd let her know if he found anything, small or otherwise, he wasn't sure this even had anything to do with Harry, it might have just been all in his head, so he decide that first thing tomorrow he was going to have to take a trip back home, just to be sure it was nothing, he leaned back into his small couch and ran a hand over his face, he paused when he caught a faint whiff of Harry's Cinnamon and Vanilla scent, it must've been stuck to the pages, suddenly Draco was overcome with a sense of mourning from not having more of the scent to breathe in but more than that he was mourning the person who belonged to that sweet scent.
'I will find you Harry, I Promise'