Chapter One:

If Love Is What You Need, A Soldier I Will Be...

Summary: Four years after the war ended, Draco Malfoy now works alongside Harry Potter as an Auror. Along with others, they work together to track down and capture the last remaining followers of the Dark Lord. During one mission, Draco discovers that not only is he a Veela, but he only has until his twenty third birthday to find his mate.

Author's Note: This is my first Veela story, so I apologise for that in advance. I've been planning this one for a long time to make sure I got everything just right.

Featured Review: Since this is the first chapter of this story, there isn't a Featured Review. For my newer followers, Featured Reviews is something I do all my works. It's a way to say thanks to those who stop and took the time to let me know what they thought. I pick a review and say why I liked it, if it made me smile or how it helped me.

Special Mentions: Again, since this is the first chapter there will be no special mentions. They're like Featured Reviews, but I show the reviewers' names instead.

. . . . . . .

Draco Malfoy woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his front door furiously. Groaning softly, he dragged himself out of bed and took a quick glance at the clock. Five am. Someone was seriously going to regret they were ever born. Putting on his robes, he left his bedroom and marched down the stairs to see his House Elf, Mitzi, opening the front door. Standing in the doorway was a very panicked and messy looking Harry Potter. Harry had recently celebrated his twenty first birthday and during the same week he'd been promoted to Head of the Auror's Office. It was a great honour for Harry, seeing as he was so young. Normally the Heads of Departments were well into their mid forties or early fifties. Out with the old and in with the new, he guessed. Draco had been working with him for almost three years now. While Harry had entered the Auror's Office as soon as he turned eighteen, Draco had waited until he was nineteen to make sure it was definitely the career he wanted to go into, and that he would be financially capable of supporting himself.

During their time as Aurors he'd actually grown close to Harry, much to the surprise of others. He wouldn't go as far as saying they were best friends, but friends nonetheless. They'd worked many cases together, so ended up having to spend a lot of time with one another. They started with making small talk, which turned into friendly chit chat, which later evolved into full on conversations. Draco ended up getting invited to Harry and the Weasley girl's wedding, he even went to the Stag do. During that small amount of time before the wedding, he'd formed a slight bond with Ron. They weren't exactly friends seeing as they'd still have the odd shouting match now and then, but they managed to put aside their differences and get along, well at work at least. Outside the office was a completely different story. Normally, Draco could put up with their crap most of the time, but waking him up at five in the morning was just taking the piss.

"Potter, I swear to God if you don't have a good reason for pounding on my door and disturbing my sleep, I will hex you so hard your grandchildren will feel it." Draco sighed, rubbing his temple to try and ease the pain that was forming there.

"Mitzi tried to open the door before it got too noisy for Master Draco, Mitzi is sorry." The House Elf apologised, causing a soft smile to form on Draco's face. Originally, Mitzi had belonged to his Father but one night Draco had given her a sock so she could be free. The sweet little thing had been so happy and overjoyed she pledged her eternal service to him. At first he'd told her not to worry about it, but when she'd followed him after he'd moved out of his parent's house, he knew she wasn't going to drop it. In the end, he'd agreed to let her be of service, but not all the time. He gave her a room of her own and never expected her to do anything she didn't want to. Yet she made him dinner almost every night and cleaned the Manor while he was out. Even though he told her hundreds of times not to do too much work, she did anyway. Maybe she just enjoyed being busy? He could never tell what was going on with that elf.

"It's alright Mitzi, why don't you go get yourself some breakfast?" Draco suggested.

"Mitzi will make some for Master Draco too!" Mitzi beamed, rushing towards the kitchen. After she was out of sight, Draco shot a foul gaze at Harry and all but yanked him into his house, closing the door behind them. After closing the door, he looked at Harry expectantly, crossing his arms slowly while performing his famous scowl.

"Why exactly are you here Potter, it's five in the morning and do I need to mention that today is my day off?" Draco sighed, his face full of irritation with slight hints of anger.

"It's Greyback. We've found him." Harry stated with urgency. Draco found himself momentarily shocked. They'd been hunting Greyback ever since the war ended against Voldemort. He'd managed to escape being captured and had been on the run ever since. He was the last of the Dark Lord's followers that was out there. If he was caught, the Death Eaters were finished. There would be no one else left to bring to justice.

"Why didn't you say that sooner?! Give me two minutes! Mitzi, would you save me some breakfast for later? Something's come up and I have to leave immediately." Draco called out to his House Elf, who responded with a simple 'Of Course Master Draco'. The amount of times he'd told her to call him just Draco was insane, yet she insisted on the whole Master thing. Strange Elf. Still, he loved her to pieces.

Running up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him, Draco was soon in his room and getting dressed. Once he looked decent, he quickly combed his hair and brushed his teeth, then ran back down the stairs at twice the speed he'd ascended them. Harry was waiting in the exact same spot Draco had left him in. Without saying another word, the two were out of the door and had apparated to the Ministry of Magic's Headquarters. Waiting for them were a large band of Aurors, with the occasion Hit Witch and Wizard here or there. They were instantly approached by Weasel...Ron.

"He's been sitting in the Forbidden Forest for the last twenty minutes. Luckily, since it's the holidays we don't have to worry about any students stumbling into him. He hasn't move since he got there, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was waiting for someone." Ron explained, talking directly to Harry but occasionally glancing at Draco.

"Great detective work there Weasley." Draco smirked.

"Shut it Malfoy, you may find I accidentally miss Greyback when we go after him and hit you with a hex instead. We'd hate for that pretty face to get messed up." Ron spat.

"You think I'm pretty? Such the flatterer." Draco gasped, placing his hand over his heart. Ron rolled his eyes, but smirked quickly letting Draco know all was forgiven.

"Enough you two, we've got more pressing matters to be concerned about. Ron, you're with me. We'll approach Greyback from the front and provide a distraction. Malfoy, you're with Zabini. Sneak up on him from behind and hex him if he tries to make a run for it." Harry ordered, glancing around at his team with an expression and posture of authority. He definitely made a good leader.

. . . . . . .

Draco watched from behind a tree as Harry and Ron slowly approached Greyback. Potter had explained they were going to try and talk him in first, so no magic was to be used unless things went wrong and Greyback initiated a fight. Of course Greyback was going to start a fight, but as always Potter insisted on being civil and giving the target the benefit of the doubt. That stupid tactic was going to get him killed one day.

"Hey Draco, got any hot friends you could hook me up with?" Blaise whispered, glancing over at Draco for a brief moment before returning to his hiding place behind a large pine tree that rested just a few feet to Draco's right. It provided the perfect cover, and was almost identical to the pine tree that he was hiding behind.

"What happened with Pansy? Weren't you two getting alone?" Draco asked quietly.

"We were, until she started talking about clothes." Blaise shuddered.

"She designs clothes for a living Blaise, she's going to talk about them." Draco sighed.

"She's a fashion designer? Since when?" Blaise questioned in disbelief, while watching Greyback intently. So far everything was going well. Potter's plan was working.

"Since two years ago, long before you two started dating. Don't you remember? We went out for a big dinner to celebrate her getting the job. Her parents even took us to the flipping opera." Draco groaned, amazed by Blaise's lack of perception.

"Really? I thought that was just for fun. I probably wasn't listening." Blaise shrugged. Sighing in irritation, Draco turned his gaze back to Greyback before he ended hexing Blaise instead. He cared greatly for his best friend, but sometimes he could be really thick. Moments later Greyback sent the killing curse straight at Harry, who only just managed to dodge it in time, then turned tail and headed straight for Draco.

"Looks like we're up." Draco smirked to Blaise. The pair stepped out from behind the tree just as Greyback reached it. Blaise cast a quick binding spell, causing ropes to tie around Greyback's wrists while Draco stuck his leg out and tripped the werewolf over before he could even react. The loud thump that followed even made Draco wince.

"Blood traitors! All of you! You will pay for this, mark my words!" Greyback snarled.

"Oh shut it. After two years you would have thought I'd be used to all the crap they spout, but it still pisses me off." Blaise sighed, hauling Greyback to his feet with some help from Draco. Surprisingly, there werewolf wasn't struggling that much.

"Nice work you two. Looks like you didn't inflict any injuries this time." Harry smirked.

"The day's still young." Draco shrugged, casting a quick glare at Greyback. Rolling his eyes, Harry knelt down to pick up Greyback's wand when he paused for a second. It was then Draco noticed what Harry had seen. Laying on the floor was a small ring, silver with a green gem lodged into the band. Carved into the inside of the ring were the words 'You own my heart, now and forever – Lucius". Draco's heart stopped in his chest and his face became even paler than normal. That was his Mother's ring. Not even caring about protocol, he turned on Greyback and punched him in the face, causing the werewolf to fall down on the ground with a loud thump. He didn't stop there. Within milliseconds, Draco was kneeling on the ground and punching him again repeatedly, over and over, ignoring the increasing pain forming in his knuckles.

"Where's my Mother?! What have you done to her you piece of shit?!" Draco yelled, hitting Greyback right on the nose, breaking it upon impact. Before he could strike again, Draco found himself being pulled away from Greyback by Ron and Blaise, both telling him to calm down, but Draco wasn't listening. He struggled furiously against them, trying to break free from their hold so he could punch Greyback again.

"We'll take him back to the Ministry and use some Veritaserum on him, he'll be telling us where she is in no time. Just calm down, mate." Ron sighed as he held Draco back.

"There's no time for that! God knows what this piece of shit has done to her! She could be dying!" Draco protested, struggling against Ron and Blaise as hard as he could.

"This is what he wants Draco! The more you fight him, the longer it'll take for us to get access to the Veritaserum. Just calm down. We're going to find her, just stop struggling, please." Blaise begged. After a few moments, Draco stopped struggling against them. They slowly let him go and he marched off before he could change his mind. He went to apparate back to the Ministry before his anger got hold of him again. They were right, Greyback was just trying to delay the inevitable.

Moments later the group was back at the Ministry and making their way to one of the interrogation rooms. When Draco attempted to enter the room, Harry stopped him by firmly grabbing his shoulder. Before Draco could even think to yell and demand that Harry move, the raven haired wizard spoke up, cutting Draco short.

"You can't go in there Draco, you know that. There's a conflict of interest. I promise, we're going to find her, just wait outside and I'll come find you as soon as we know where she is." Harry promised. Sighing softly, Draco shrugged Harry's hand off his shoulder and nodded hesitantly. Once again, he knew he had to back off. If he didn't he'd just end up making things worse. Greyback would use Draco's emotions to his advantage and delay the finding of his Mother. Running his hands through his hair, Draco slowly made his way to his office. He needed to be as far away from that interrogation room as possible. He'd march straight in there once Potter was gone if he simply waited outside. Once inside his office he collapsed into his chair and let his head fall onto his desk, letting out a yell of frustration and anguish. People passing by were probably wondering what the hell was going on, but he didn't care. He needed some kind of outlet, or he was going to go mad. Shortly after he'd yelled, there was a soft knock on his door. He recognised the gentle taps instantly and sighed.

"Come in." He called, not even bothering to raise his head from the desk. He didn't need to. He knew who it was. The sound of the door opening and then closing softly only proved his point. No one else was that polite, not in the Ministry anyway.

"Draco, what's going on? I saw you all marching in here with Greyback, but Harry was refusing to let you in the interrogation room. Has something happened? Did you break protocol again?" She demanded, her voice soft but authoritative.

"He's got my Mother, Granger. He dropped her ring when we were grabbing him. He's probably got her locked up in some dungeon, having done god knows what, and I did nothing to protect her. This is all my fault." Draco whispered, refusing to look up at the witch who was now right next to him. His friendship with Hermione had proved the most surprising, to himself especially. They'd started talking at Harry's wedding, mainly just making fun of how everyone was dancing after having one too many drinks. Then when he started getting invited to the Weasley's family dinners they started talking more and more. To his surprise, they had quite a lot in common, besides being the smartest in their year back at Hogwarts. As time passed, they ended up working together and formed a close bond. She was probably one of his closest friends.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, you stop thinking like that right this instant! This is not your fault, you couldn't have know Greyback would go after your Mother." Hermione sighed.

"But I should have! I should have had people guarding the Manor until Greyback was caught! If I hadn't been so blind she'd be safe and he wouldn't be sitting in that room with that bloody smirk on his face!" Draco yelled, suddenly pushing himself up into a standing position. His chair fell back onto the floor from the sudden movement, causing a loud crash to vibrate across the walls.

He could sense her jump in shock, but he refused to look at her. Instead he closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall, trying his best to calm down. The last thing he wanted to do right now was get into an argument with Hermione. Not now. She was probably the only person who could keep him from going insane right now. After a few moments of silence, he heard her take in a deep breathe before she began to speak.

"Draco, I..." She started, only to be stopped when the door flew open.

"Draco, he told us where he's keeping your Mother! Come on, let's go!" Harry exclaimed. Not wasting a second, Draco grabbed his wand from off his desk and followed Harry down the corridors, leaving Hermione standing there in his office for several minutes after he was gone.