"Teddy! Leave poor Trevor alone!"

I quickly plucked the grouchy looking toad up off the floor before Teddy could chase him any further.

Teddy was crawling everywhere. I never realised a baby could move so fast; it was exhausting to say the least.

For the past three months, our quiet little household had turned into chaos. Teddy may be small in body but his presence was huge.

A knock at the door made me start, I decided to take Trevor with me to answer it, knowing Teddy was safe since Gran and I had literally baby-proofed the whole house so incredibly well, that it was like we were living in ball of bubble wrap.

When I opened the front door I was not prepared for the visitor who stood before me and I had to stifle the gasp that caught in the back of my throat.

For there, on the threshold, was Narcissa Malfoy.

She looked like a broken shell of her former self. Gone were the glamorous good looks she had once been proud of; her hair hung limp and her face had aged about twenty years since the battle, despite being less than a year ago.

"Neve? Neve Longbottom?" she said faintly. "I do apologise for turning up unannounced, but my name is Narcissa Mal-"

"I know who you are," I interrupted quickly, my heart thudding crazily in my chest, "you're Draco's mother."

Trevor gave a strangled croak and I looked down startled to see I was almost choking him in my tightened grip.

I quickly placed him down on the ground before shakily rising back up to face the woman who resembled the lost boy I loved so much that it literally hurt my heart to look at her.

"I- I was wondering if I could see my nephew," she asked, her voice trembling, almost nervously, "my great nephew, I mean. It would mean a lot a me."

"Of- of course," I breathed, having to place my hand on the wall to steady myself; the emotions surging through me were terrifying. "Come on through."

She followed me silently into the kitchen where she released a gushing sigh as she spotted Teddy, who was unsuccessfully trying to angrily open the cupboard door where we kept the chocolate.

"He's beautiful," she breathed, immediately swooping down to scoop him up in her arms.

I watched silently as she wept into his mop of white-blond hair.

I wondered if it was that colour on purpose; when I had left him only half a minute earlier, it had definitely held a hint of purple mixed in with a touch of scarlet.

I moved across the kitchen to put the kettle on, allowing Narcissa to have her moment with Teddy.

When we sat down at the kitchen table less than five minutes later, with Teddy still in her arms, she finally spoke.

"I know he's still alive."

I froze, having been in the process of lifting my coffee to my lips.

"You- you do?" I trembled, my heart suddenly racing crazily in my chest.

"I can feel it," she said fiercely, holding Teddy a fraction tighter. "A mother knows these things; I would know if he was dead. And I also know that deep in your heart, you haven't given up on him either."

The truth was, I never spoke about him anymore. Gran didn't want to hear it, Harry didn't want to hear it; no one wanted to hear it.

Gran, understandably, wanted me to concentrate on Teddy ("You're his whole world now, Neve; think of what your mum and dad went through. Don't let anything else ruin this chance of parenthood that they never got.")

To Harry, Draco's disappearance was a constant reminder in an area of his life that he had failed at; and it became apparent he didn't want to be reminded of it anymore ("Sometimes people just don't want to be found," he had said when I last enquired about how the investigation into Draco's disappearance was going. "You need to let him go, Neve.").

So, being faced with someone who, like me, loved Draco more than anything and wanted him to be found; I felt kicked into a new rediscovered energy.

"What are saying?" I asked, shakily lowering my cup so that when it hit the surface of the table, coffee slopped everywhere.

Narcissa looked me deeply in the eye; unwavering, determined.

"I say come hell or high water we don't stop until we find him and get him back to where he belongs. Back to us."

I was not going to argue with that.

*****

It was dark. It was always dark.

He couldn't remember what it was like to see the light. What he'd give to feel the sun's rays on his face again.

It was a dream he would often let himself indulge in; lifting his face to the sky as the natural warmth hit his skin, the scent of her sweet shampoo filling his nostrils, the sound of her laughter dancing in his eardrums.

He didn't cry anymore. He had stopped crying a long time ago; when, exactly, he couldn't tell. He had no idea of how long he'd been there; lost the concept of time entirely.

All he knew was that he had to stay alive for her. He never gave up hope that he would one day see her beautiful face again; look into her sparkling hazel eyes and tell her from the bottom of his heart that he loved her, that he'd always loved her.

The girl with the toad. The funny, awkward, always clumsy girl who he had watched grow into the courageous beautiful princess warrior that she was on that last day he ever saw her.

His frog princess.

Neve.

*****