Here go again, I thought exasperatedly when, for what felt like the hundredth time in the last twenty four hours, I found myself being tossed in the air like a rag-doll.

In fact, it was quite astonishing I still had all my limbs intact. And not only that, I thought with wonderment, I'd managed to keep hold of the sword.

One thing I hadn't managed to keep hold of, however, was Draco.

"DRACO!" I cried, as soon as I was able to speak; before I'd even opened my eyes.

I wouldn't lose him. I knew I could survive anything in life except for losing him. My prince.

"Neve! Are you okay?" A familiar voice spoke above me. Hands grabbed at me, helping me up to my feet. Every part of me screamed in pain; my body begging me to just leave it finally be.

I blinked open my eyes, nodding my thanks to Luna before I raked over the horror surrounding me, looking desperately for the one thing that would make me want to continue the fight.

"Draco," I rasped, seeing nothing but a chaos of bodies as people continued to battle.

What ever the explosion was, it seemed it hadn't been large enough to affect fight. But I couldn't work out where Draco and I had been stood and I couldn't see him anywhere.

"I didn't see what happened," Luna confessed, "all I heard was a loud blast and then your body being tossed to the ground, seemingly out of nowhere."

"I need to find him!" I sobbed, "he's on our side, Luna, he always has been!"

"I know," she smiled serenely, as if we weren't stood in the middle of a flipping battle, "but let's get you out of here. Draco wouldn't want you to be in anymore danger."

I realised I couldn't walk anymore, my right leg refusing to work at all.

"What's wrong with it?" I gasped, feeling panicked at how useless I'd suddenly become.

"It's probably broken," Luna shrugged, "here, lean on me, I'll drag us to safety."

We managed to make our way inside the castle, with Luna managing to deflect all sorts of curses and hexes.

The pain I was experiencing was unbelievable and I kept trying not to pass out as I clung onto Luna for life. I needed to stay awake so that I could find Draco.

But he was nowhere to be seen, and when Luna tucked us behind some pillars, I found myself trying to hobble back out.

"NO!" Luna barked, quite sternly for her. "You've done enough, Neve! You need to keep safe now whilst Harry finishes it."

"But I need to find Draco," I sobbed. I was terrified he was lying on the ground bleeding to death somewhere and no one was helping him because neither Death Eater nor Survivor could trust he was on their side.

"You're in no state, Neve," she said, "he wouldn't want you to risk your life for him."

And I knew she was right and so, exhausted, I closed my eyes as she held me to her, resting my head on her shoulder and thinking that I needed to stay strong for Trevor and Teddy.

*****

When I woke up, I realised I was no longer in the castle.

Instead, I found myself back in a familiar room of white, surrounded by beeping machines.

I felt a kind of horror trickle down my spine. I'd been here before; something was very, very wrong, but I couldn't quite reach what it was.

"Draco?" I choked, but I don't think any comprehensible sound passed my extremely dry and cracked lips.

"Oh Neve, we thought we'd lost you then! You gave us all quite the scare!"

I slowly turned my head to see the owner of the voice. Joy filled my heart, and tears pricked behind my eyes.

"Gran!" I rasped. Oh Gran, oh my lovely, sweet albeit terrifying gran. How I'd missed her.

And sat on her lap was my darling beautiful, grumpy yet affectionate toad. "Trevor!"

"Oh Neve, our brave Neve," Gran said proudly, her eyes glistening with tears. "You are our hero Neve, you won us the war! I always knew you were your father's daughter."

"Where's Draco?" I whispered, needing to know so badly.

"Save your strength, dearie," Gran said, and I could see her eyes flicker apprehensively as she refrained from answering my question. "You've been through a lot. But we won! Thanks to you and Harry Potter, You-Know-Who is no more!"

My joy at seeing Gran and Trevor was quickly pushed down by my fear about Draco. I couldn't even feel euphoric on the news that Voldemort was gone; not until I knew that Draco was okay.

"Please Gran," I said, a tear trickling down my face as I looked up at her imploringly. "Draco..."

Her face fell, and she glanced down at her hands which were wringing in her lap. "The Healer said you've lost a lot of blood, Neve, you've been out for nearly two days now, and you need to-"

"I need to know what's happened to Draco!" I cried, trying to sit up, but dizziness preventing me.

"Lie back down! You need to get better!" Gran said sharply as Trevor croaked in agreement.

I was going to argue but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in Harry! Come in my dear!" Gran said jovially as Harry, indeed, poked his head into the room, his face looking gravely over at me.

"Sorry to interrupt, Mrs Longbottom," he said politely, remaining just inside the door. "How is she?"

"Augusta, please!" She trilled delightfully. "She's awake as you can see, and the Healer said that with plenty of rest she should make a full recovery."

"Harry," I gasped, "where's Draco?"

I didn't miss the furtive panicked look he exchanged with my grandmother.

"She doesn't know?" He asked, raising a bemused eyebrow.

For crying out loud! I wanted to scream at them both. Something was going on surrounding Draco yet no one was telling me anything.

Which led me to believe only one thing.

"He's dead isn't he?" I cried, tears already falling down my face; the pain in my heart was unbearable.

"No. He's not dead," Harry said at once, finally stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. "At least... there is no evidence of that fact."

"No evidence?" I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"We don't know where he is," Harry explained. "He disappeared right after you killed Nagini, almost forty eight hours ago now. We're presuming he's done a runner."

"But he wouldn't," I said desperately, my heart racing with fear again. "Draco knew he wouldn't be in trouble because he was on our side; he saved so many lives!"

"Well, that's what's confusing us," Harry agreed, scratching his chin as he took the empty chair next to Gran, "but at the moment we are treating all Death Eater disappearances as deserters. Anyone with a Dark Mark will have to stand trial, you see, even Mal-" he stopped to correct himself, "Draco will need to be charged, but obviously given what he did for our side, it would be unlikely he would suffer any kind of sentence."

"Makes me wonder what else he did that he had to hide," Gran muttered brusquely, clearly not a big Draco supporter.

"On the contrary," Harry said, holding up a hand, "my own interactions with Draco tell me he was sincerely on our side. Many times he could have handed me over but he didn't. And then, right at the crucial moment, he gave up his only means of defence so that I could vanquish Tom Riddle. Everything else he did; receiving the Dark Mark, fixing the cabinet; returning to the Death Eaters when he thought I was dead - it was all under extreme coercion."

I found my heart flooding in such relief that Harry finally understood - that it didn't click with me at first what Draco's disappearance must have meant.

"His parents," I said at once, "they must have taken him. He finds it difficult to say no to his mother. Perhaps they-"

"Neve," Harry cut in. "This is exactly what is confusing us. We have his parents; they are both currently in custody after having handed themselves willingly over. And neither of them have any idea where their son is. Both of them are frantic with worry."

My eyes met Harry's and a cold fear trickled through me.

What on earth had happened to Draco, then?

*****