A/N: Alright, I think I'm ok…surprisingly last chapter only got one bad review where I was told my story turned to garbage, but to my loyal loving readers who still love this story thank you. I am glad that it didn't totally ruin the story for you. I swear on myself that I will not write something like that again. It will be referred to but not in the detail it was written in. Now let's get back to it and reveal the man who took poor Albus.

:::::Previously::::

"Oh little lamb, it's meant to hurt." He purred lapping at the bloody mark on the boy's neck. "So beautiful, just like your father was." The Master purred muttering something and Albus's vision returned in an explosion. The last thing Albus saw before the pain took him was a pair of cold dangerous silver-grey eyes, drinking in his pain.

Chapter 18: Ties that bind, never to be cut

The weeks stretched by as every Strigoi as well as Aurors not on an important case for the Ministry, everyone searching for Albus and coming up with nothing. Severus sat on the edge of his mates' bed in their rooms stroking his face lovingly. The whole thing, from Albus's disappearance to the search had put too much strain on Harry and Severus blamed himself as he looked at his pale sleeping mate. Blood tears slipped from his eyes as he pressed his forehead to his lovers. "I'm so sorry Harry, I'm so sorry love." He whispered.

The door opened and he sat up wiping at his face as Analessia walked in, flanked by her brothers. "How is he?" She asked softly.

"Still sleeping, I can't believe we lost the baby…I knew that male pregnancies were risky, I had to make a choice, but I couldn't even begin to imagine my life without Harry…when he wakes up he's going to hate me." He kept his eyes on the sleeping face of his lover, "I can't bring Albus home…and I killed our child."

Analessia lay her hand on his shoulder, "no, you did not. We have been working tirelessly to bring Albus home where he belongs. And you did not kill that baby, Mother and the other midwives said that the baby was too young to survive, the baby was stillborn anyway, and you chose to save your life-mate so that you could try again, when stress is no longer there. He will understand."

Severus looked up at her, his eyes filled with pain. "I want to give Harry everything; I want him to have the big family he has always wanted. Even with the laws in place…can we…can we try to have another child soon?"

Stelian laid a hand on his other shoulder, "yes you can, you look like shit Severus, when was the last time you slept? Or even fed?"

Severus shrugged, "I've been sleeping on and off constantly checking on Harry, I've had some blood…been feeding most of it to Harry when I can get his fangs out."

A soft groan came from the bed and Severus's head snapped around to see Harry slowly opening his eyes. "Sev?"

Severus leaned forward and took his hand lifting it to his lips, "I'm here love, how do you feel?"

"Like I fell off my broom after running into more Dementors." He chuckled as he looked around and saw the four Tepes children in his rooms and he blinked, "did I miss a party? Albus! Did you find him?!"

Nicolae shook his head, "not yet, we came down to tell Severus we might have a lead, and to check on you."

Harry laid back on the pillows, "I lost the baby didn't I?" He asked softly.

Severus closed his eyes at the pain that assaulted him, "I'm so sorry love…we tried, but the baby wouldn't breathe and we were losing you. I couldn't let the gods take you from me…they already took the baby, I couldn't lose you too" He held his mate to him his shoulders shaking with silent sobs, "I had to save you, we nearly lost you when the baby was taken away and wouldn't breath. I had to save you…please forgive me my love." He whispered.

Harry held the elder man close and stroked his hair, rocking him softly. "Sev…Sev please stop. It's not your fault. You have been working so hard to find Albus, and he isn't even yours, but you are putting in the effort to find him like he was your own flesh and blood. I knew this baby wasn't going to survive, I knew that when I felt that first stab of pain. We can move on from this, because of your love and your care I am still here, we will have time for a family, once we bring our son home."

Severus kissed his neck softly and he pulled back wiping at the tears on his face as he laid a soft kiss on Harry's lips before turning back to look at the Tepes children. "You said you might have a lead?"

Nicolae nodded as he walked forward and pulled a map out of the pouch at his hip and laid it out on the free side of the bed. "Uncle Dorian and his partner Mirana DuPionte were over in London, working with your odd little friend Luna Lovegood, might I say she is a beautiful woman and very intelligent, just a very different flavor of woman."

Dracul rolled his eyes, "get on with it Nic, your little fascination with Luna Lovegood is enough to make the rest of us sick."

The elder Tepes glared at his brother before looking back down at the map, "anyway, they were coming up on the edge of the city when Luna said she felt something, something strange. Did you know she was sensitive?"

"She was just the really odd girl in school, no one could make sense of anything she said. People called her Loony Lovegood, and no one ever knew how she made it into Ravenclaw."

"A sensitive is a type of Seer, they don't quite get the true Sight, but they can feel things or catch the odd glimpse of things. Anyway she said she saw, a thread, she associates people with threads of color. So they took her to the forest where he was plucked from. She found Hagrid and Neville's threads, something about one being thick as a snake and bright happy blue and the other slim and a sunny smiling yellow…we assume that's how she described Hagrid and Neville and she said she saw two more threads, one a silvery thin thread the other a golden honey color."

"Albus and Scorpius."

Nicolae nodded, "yes, anyway she said that when those two threads dipped off to split slightly and then became intertwined by what she described as 'a weird silvery black thread' she said it was a thread she had seen before but only when she was a young girl here at the school, and twice outside of her schooling, once in the Ministry and once during the war. She also says that threads also have ties to family, so should she look at the Malfoy line the thread would be silvery. She also said that the thread that intercepted Albus's was tainted, darkly tainted with madness."

Severus's brow furrowed before realization dawned on his face. "No…no it can't be. He's gone…there is no way he is still alive." He stood up and began to pace furiously.

Harry looked at his mate, "Sev…Severus stop! What are you talking about."

Severus walked over to the window of their rooms and looked over the grounds, rain hitting the window as thunder rumbled loudly, "think about it Harry. Silvery thread that is the Malfoy line, a silvery thread tainted by madness, Lucius was unstable at best after the Dark Lord returned, when he was defeated instead of going to Azkaban he was committed to a mental ward then later moved to one of the many Malfoy houses dotting England for privet care, locked away like a dirty secret. Then he just disappeared, the place he lived abandoned, no one knowing where he was. No word from him, everyone thought he had thrown himself over the cliff where the summer house sat, and that the sea or some creatures took his body. He has been presumed dead for years…but now…now this, but why would he want Albus? What does a boy he has never seen have to do with anything, with his madness?"

Analessia stepped forward, "Severus, he is also a Strigoi…he was taken by the first Master and turned and groomed with his madness to take over for him. Lucius Malfoy is the new Master…but he has not taken anyone but Albus. Harry…did Lucius have an obsession with you?"

Harry shrugged, "I didn't really have any contact with him…only his son in school I saved Draco from the Room of Requirement when it was on fire."

"Lucius was obsessed with getting back into good graces with the Dark Lord," Severus said softly. "when we were in meetings…he used…he used to blame Harry for his failure and said he would make him pay in any way he could, he started to truly descend into madness then…Cissa she was scared for Draco, worried that maybe Lucius was abusing him…taking out everything on him. And now Albus…Albus is a carbon copy, green eyes and all of Harry…the only thing he is missing is the scar."

Analessia covered her mouth with her hand, "he took Albus…to take his revenge. And he's had Albus for weeks…now we have a lead we can find him! There has to be some way we can find him." She looked to her brothers, "Lian? Nic? Is there a way we can do this?"

"Blood scrying!" Dracul cried suddenly hitting his fist into his hand, "we take blood from the Malfoy line and do a search that way. Hell it's how graddad found me when I took off when I was a kid."

Stelian rubbed his arm glaring at his youngest brother, "yeah, that hurt like fuck when he did that too."

Nicolae rolled up his map, "now that we can narrow down the search and we have a way of finding him through blood we can find Albus."

Harry looked around the small group in the room, "um…if we can use blood scrying to find Lucius…why didn't we just do that to find Albus?"

The five Strigoi gaped at him and Nicolae smacked his forehead. "We are fucking idiots! We have no time to lose, let's go now." He snapped as he rushed everyone out of the room leaving Severus and Harry alone.

Severus slowly walked over to Harry and sank down on the bed, "it's almost over…why didn't anyone think of that before?"

Harry kissed his forehead, "because we are all under stress, but yes…it's almost over. Can we go get something to eat? I'm starving."

Severus kissed him softly, "yes we can love." He helped him up and they slowly walked to the kitchens to get something to eat while the Tepes family rushed to work with the blood scrying.

A/N: A quick filler while I set up what is happening next. Is that a light at the end of the tunnel? Gods I hope so! Hope you all enjoyed.