I'm so sorry for the delay in updates. The reasons why can be found in the previous chapter. But I'd also like to send out a HUGE thank you for everyone who has given me their support. You don't know how much it means to me.

(Neville POV)

The office chair was cold and hard against my back. I was beyond exhausted, but the rigidness of the chair mixed with the hard pounding of my heart, I couldn't have so much as dozed if I had wanted to.

After weeks of paperwork, of begging, of people treating me like I was absolutely mad, of my friends yelling at me to let it go, that I was only hurting everyone all over again, the graves were finally exhumed.

The result?

Empty coffins. All four. Empty. As if nothing had ever been laid there. As if we had never mourned over it. The gravestone above it was meaningless.

Now I sat in this bloody fucking chair with no idea what to do next.

I had spent endless, countless hours obsessing over getting the casket open, to see if he still laid within the velvet covered walls. I had thought that, whether he was in it or not, I would be given a sense of peace.

But there was none of that. I realized now that, no matter what would have happened, there never would've been peace. If he had still laid in it, I would've been devastated that he was still gone, and forever would be.

But knowing he wasn't, sitting here wondering where he was, was he still with them, was he okay, what they had done to him, it was worse. Much worse.

"Neville?"

It took all my strength just to raise my head.

Blaise stood in the doorway, eyes bloodshot and hooded, arms crossed, looking at me unsure.

"Yes?"

He sighed, walking further into the room. "I… I'm so sorry for the things I said to you. I was in pain, I had lost my best friend, my brother. It hurt so much that I didn't stop to think that you had lost more than that. You lost your best friend and husband and the father to your children and I'll never forgive myself for the way I spoke to you when you came to me for help. I'm so sorry, Neville. To you and to Draco. I owe you both more than that."

"Blaise, don't-,"

"And I won't rest until we find him. I gave up on him the first time, and I refuse to do it again."

"Blaise, I can't expect you-,"

"All of us, mate."

I turned to look towards the door once again as saw that Harry, Ron, Theo, Terry, Marcus, Crabbe, and Goyle had all piled into the room. There were varying degree of sleeplessness and fatigue written across their faces.

"But I have no clue where he could even be. They could be anywhere in the world by now. It's been over a month."

"We don't care." Harry gave me a soft smile. "We won't stop. Not until he's home."

I smiled. "You guys… really don't know how much this means to me."

"He means the world to us too." Goyle spoke up in the back. "We want him safe. At home. With you and your kids."

Blaise nodded, rolling up the sleeves of his button up. "Now come on. We've got to get started. We've already lost too much time."

(Val POV)

"You're starting to look like you." I looked over at Draco sitting in the wooden chair at the old, rickety table, giving me a small smile. "Your hair's starting to get shaggy again."

I chuckled, returning the smile. "You are too. Both your eyes are open."

Having been here for over a month, Montague and Darkboe had eventually gotten bored with Draco, just waiting for the time to put their next plan in motion. Draco had gone from huddled in the corner, the majority of his body black or blue or yellow or green, his eyes swollen shut, his lip busted. Now the darker bruises had faded to a dull yellow, his black eyes were gone, and his lip was back to its normal size. He had gotten a little more rest and had gotten atleast a few bites of food in him a day. He was starting to look and act like himself again. And as long as he stayed out of Montague and Darkboe's way, they begrudgingly allowed him to do so.

Draco rolled his eyes at me. "Yeah. By the way, there's still some chicken left in the refrigerator if you're hungry."

Montague and Darkboe, using a series of glamour charms, went out and did as they pleased – restaurants, muggle movie theaters, the like. They would always bring back some scraps of food, just enough so it was insulting and demeaning. Like we were dogs.

"Starving." I opened the creaky door, the dim light shining out and grabbed a white take out plate, ripping the already miniscule piece in half and offered Draco the other piece.

He smiled, but shook his head. "You eat it. You need it more than I do."

"That's not true."

"It is."

Things had changed. We were alone a lot of the time and we would just talk. About everything. About Neville, about their kids, about how things were after we broke up.

There was no judging. No anger. We were like two old friends.

And it scared me. Because it was genuine.

The thought of Montague and Darkboe… What they had done, knowing that I had just let it happened? It made my blood boil. And knowing what they had planned and knowing that I couldn't do anything about it… I hated it. I wanted to help. And I couldn't.

"Please eat something? You didn't eat yesterday."

Draco sighed, giving me half a smile, before taking the chunk of chicken and popping it in his mouth. "Happy?"

I nodded. "You've got to keep your strength up too."

I didn't want to feel this way. It was out of the blue. It didn't make any sense. It all happened too fast. I should've been angry at him, should've hated him. I didn't even like him when we were dating how many ever years ago. But now… I regretted everything. Absolutely everything.

Draco crossed his legs, looking at the table top. He reached forward, running his finger over the outline of a ring left from a glass. A smile ghosted over his lips.

"Thinking about your kids again?"

"Always." He sighed, dropping his arms. "Lila would always get mad that her sippy-cups didn't leave a ring. She always wanted to do exactly the opposite of what we wanted her to. So instead," Draco laughed, "She would just dump her cup out on the table. I get so mad just…" His eyes were welling with tears. "Just thinking about it."

"You'll see them again. Soon."

"I just…" He wiped at his eyes. "I miss them so much. I miss Neville. I don't care what happens, I just can't forget the sound of them laughing or the memories of Neville spinning them around in the living room and falling back on his ass. And Toby." A small sob left his throat. "He's so little. If I… if I never go home, Lance and Lila and Clementine will always have memories of me, even if they're just small. But Toby. He probably has already forgotten I even exist. And Merlin, Neville. He has such a hard time sleeping without in the bed and now… now I'm gone and he has the kids to take care of and I… I just…"

The front door suddenly slammed open making both of us jump.

"Good news!" Montague's voice was slightly slurred as if he were drunk. I saw Draco duck his head slightly, letting out a shaky sigh. I immediately felt protective over him and hatred at myself knowing that, if it came down to it, I wouldn't be able to help him. He stumbled into the kitchen, grinning, Darkboe in tow. The man, as usual, seemed to have no clue where he was. "Things are moving along a little faster than planned. We're ready to go now."

I stiffened, looking down at Draco. "Now?"

Montague, the stench of vodka following him across the room, tossed his arm around my shoulders. "What's wrong, Sumner? Not up for what we've got planned? Hell, you were part of the planning process, buddy."

Draco's head popped up. "What?"

Montague's eyes narrowed as he pointed at Draco. "You keep your fuckin' mouth shut."

"I'm going to stay here." I said, shoving him off of me. "We already discussed that I'm not going to be apart of it."

"You what?" Draco looked at me. "You discussed? Do you know what's going on?" When I didn't answer, his eyes narrowed. "You fucking know. You know everything that they're planning. And you were going to sit there and try to act like you were my fucking friend. I honestly thought that I could trust you. I guess I made that mistake once already didn't I?"

That hurt.

"Draco, I just-,"

"Don't. Just go ahead and let him do whatever he's going to do. I'm sure you were planning on it anyway." He let out a humorless laugh. "God, you know, you are a piece of shit, but I don't guess I could ever say you weren't a good actor."

Montague pulled out his wand, laughing. "I don't know what you two are going on about, but I'm drunk off my ass and ready to fuckin' murder some people." He pointed the wand at Draco. "You'd better get ready too, Princess. The mixture of that potion and what I'm about to do, you're going to be my pretty little slave."

I saw the fear and the realization in his eyes before he set his jaw, his eyes glinting. The fear was gone. There was just anger and hatred written across his face.

But with the bright flash from the tip of Montague's wand, his silver eyes turned a deep, empty black. The anger was gone. Everything was gone. He was completely blank.

Montague grinned, his teeth stained and rotting, his eyes glazed and bloodshot. "Now we get to have some fun."

(Page Break)

Here we go! I've made some final decisions concerning the plot and hopefully I'll be able to write a little more than what I have been lately.

And addressing the review I just got from a Guest user, I totally agree. I don't want to offend anyone nor am I offended. I really just want to get out the point that I can't write all the time. And I hope I got that across. It just, with my family, school, two jobs, and a social life, not to mention these Fanfictions aren't the only things I write, it's hard to update sometimes.

And I can't give a real date that I'll update, but I'll say ASAP. Which will be easier now that I've got my computer up and running (not to mention I'm super excited about the next chapter ;) )!

Thank you guys for all your support. Really. It means so much.

Reviews are Love!