Draco softly rapped his knuckles on his mother's bedroom door and entered.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" She asked, her face rife with hurt as she cradled Nova in her arms.

He crossed the room to her, reaching out immediately for his daughter.

"I was trying to protect them!" Draco implored as he felt his body sigh in the delightful feel of having Nova back in his arms, cradling her soft, warm body to his chest.

She had changed so much, he marvelled as he looked down into her big wide eyes - his eyes. His heart filled with blissful elation as she appeared delighted to see him, her face creasing up in joyous laughter as she reached her pudgy little fingers up to grab his face.

"Nova," he breathed, closing his eyes contentedly, "Daddy's missed you so much."

He heard his mother release a noise that sounded like a mixture between a laugh and a sob. He opened his eyes to see her clutching her heart and looking as though she was about to burst into tears.

"H-How old?" She stuttered, as tears swam in her eyes.

"Almost six months," Draco murmured, kissing the top of his daughter's head of dark hair, "and growing more beautiful every day."

"She'll be looked after with us, Draco." His mother gushed, "I'm sending staff out to get provisions. I won't let anyone harm a hair on her head."

"She needs her mother." Draco said sharply, feeling his heart twist horrifically at the thought of Aurora chained up down in the cellar.

"It is not safe for her to be with her, Draco, not with the Dark Lord watching over." His mother said firmly, yet calmly. "You must know that. I can give little Nova a safe life here with me. With us."

"What's going to happen to her? What's going to happen to Aurora?" Draco asked imploringly, clutching his daughter to his chest.

But his mother said nothing and instead just looked at him sadly.

He already knew the answer, of course.

*****

I looked up sharply as I heard the click of the cellar door being unlocked.

My heart hammered in my chest, wondering what was going to happen. I had no idea how long I'd been down here since Draco left me with the news that the unconscious woman sharing my prison was in actual fact the mother I had thought died when I was a baby.

It felt like hours but it could have been only minutes for all I knew. There was no concept of time down here. Just nothingness as I waited for something to happen.

I could have wept with relief when a white-blond haired Slytherin stepped inside.

"Draco!" I sobbed as he strode towards me, carrying what appeared to be a large holdall.

"Nova? Where she is? Is she okay?"

"Shhh, she's fine," he murmured soothingly as he knelt down besides me, dropping the bag to the floor. "She's with my mother. I promise you she will not let any harm come to her."

He pulled me to him, gathering me to his chest and I could have wept at the feel of his arms around me.

"God, I've missed you Aurora," he breathed, "I've missed you more than you could ever know."

I wanted to say it back, but fear gripped at me. I had no idea what was going on or when I was going to see my baby again. I felt like someone had torn my limbs away from my body and cut my heart and lungs out.

"Draco, I'm so scared," I sobbed. "Why am I here? And why is my mother lying unconscious on the floor next to me when I'd been told she's been dead all these years?"

"Do you trust me?" Draco asked, forcibly placing his hands upon either side of my face, making me look up into his piercing silver grey eyes.

"With my life, Draco." I answered truthfully.

"Firstly, you need to know that I'm going to figure a plan to get you out of here, but I need time to think carefully how to do it. This cellar has been fitted with alarms which means that if I free you from your chains or try to Disapparate you out of here, they will be alerted and catch you instantly. Possibly even kill you. I can't risk that. So, in the meantime I'm going to look after you as much as I can get away with. I've got food and water and blankets. It will be enough to make us comfortable for the nigh-"

"Us?"

"I'm not leaving you, Aurora. Do you really think I can go upstairs and sleep soundly in my bed knowing that you're down here, like this?"

"But what about Nova?" I asked, my heart feeling like it was bleeding without her.

"I told you, my mother is taking good care of her. Let me take care of you. Please."

"And my mother?" I stuttered, daring to look in the woman's direction again. "What happened with her? Why is she is here, in your house?"

"I honestly don't know, Aurora." Draco said apologetically. "The first time I knew about it was the night I arrived back here after- after..."

I could see he was struggling to say the words. I wanted to put my arms around him, but my bound wrists prevented me from doing so.

"It's okay, Draco." I murmured, as he started sobbing. "I know you only did what you thought you had to do."

"How can you not hate me?" He wept, tears spilling down his cheeks. "I endangered our baby. I endangered you."

"I could never hate you, Draco." I assured him. "I love you, I always will."

He held me tightly to him, burying his face into my hair.

"I promise you I'll do everything to get you out of here," he murmured in my ear. "Everything."

And, after checking on the woman who apparently was my mother, Draco gathered me to his lap, wrapping his arms around me as I wept silently into his chest, feeling so relieved to be back in his arms, yet so lost and terrified without my daughter.

I couldn't help but wonder, with a feeling of such cold horror in my stomach, if I'd ever hold my baby ever again.

Or if, instead, I would end up like the woman beside me - a mother torn from her children, destined never to see them grow up, or indeed in Cedric's case, just never ever again.