The sixth chapter has finally been finished! Sorry for such a long wait!

Not even attempting to fight, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy rushed through the crowd, screaming for any sign of their son. Every spell that flew past their heads were ignored and every person that stood in their way were disregarded. They were no longer on the Dark Lord's side, all that mattered to them now was Draco's safety. Opponents were relieved as they realised that they did not have to fight the Malfoys, who were more than capable of firing dangerous curses in a duel. Other faces were half-curious and half-shocked to see Lucius look frightened instead of holding a stern expression like he usually did.

"Draco!"

Not even the young Malfoy knew the sound of his father screaming out his name. Although he had often sent gifts, Lucius always seemed so cold around his son and rarely spent any actual time with him. There were times when Draco believed that he was a disappointment to him, but the concerned shout was more than enough to convince him of his father's love for him.

Whipping around, Draco answered back, "Father!"

Lucius stopped followed by his wife. He had only just heard Draco's voice, but where it came from he did not know. Before Narcissa could ask, Lucius was already frantically searching left to right then behind him.

"Where are you, Draco?!" he bellowed.

Narcissa was also frantically spinning herself around for any sign of him. Her eyes suddenly widened as she saw her dear boy running towards them. Trying to hold back thankful tears, she called to her husband.

"He's alive, Lucius! He's alive!" He spun around just in time to see Narcissa throw her arms around their son. Without hesitation, Lucius walked and hugged the two of the most dearest things to him.

"I'm so glad you're fine, son." Lucius whispered.

Daphne tore through the crowd, the wind gushing through her face. All of the evacuees were surrounding the grassy plains that spread beyond the entrance of the school. Although many of the students were feeling eerie about the battle, Daphne was hysterical. She had not seen her younger sister since hours prior to the battle.

"Tori!" she searched within her sights then approached a group of Ravenclaw girls. "Excuse me, have you seen my sister, Astoria?"

Being Ravenclaws, they looked disgusted to see a Slytherin standing near them. Daphne was quick to notice their hostility towards her.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, but I haven't seen my sister and I think she might be-!" she cut off, not wanting to go any further. The girls' frowns soon turned into looks of sympathy and concern.

"What does she look like?" the tall brunette girl asked.

"She is about an inch or two shorter than me," Daphne described, "She has long blonde hair like mine, pale skin, blue eyes and she has a silver chain around her neck."

Before the brunette could answer, a blemish-faced girl stood forward beside her. She appeared to be just as worried as Daphne was.

"I haven't seen your sister," she reached into her pocket and pulled out a chain, "but I found this back at the castle just minutes ago."

Daphne inspected the silver chain she was holding. Her face paled more than ever as her shocked eyes glued to the jewel as if it were about to explode.

"I-is it hers?" the girl asked.

Daphne reached and took the chain slowly. "It is." she confirmed. Shaking her head in bewilderment, she rushed out of everybody's sights into the open field. She ran like as if she was running out of time, only to come to a sudden halt. There was nowhere else to run, she thought. As she stared out into the wood in front of her, she collapsed to her knees and wept. Astoria's disappearance was only part of the reason, the other part was that for once in her life, she did not know what to do. If her sister was dead, there would be nobody who would look up to her like a role model, nor will there be any good company back at the Greengrass house.

She knelt on the soft grass for at least half an hour now, although her loud sobs had turned into almost-silent whimpers. Daphne did not care about her surroundings at this point, she even mentally dismissed the fact that there was a war going on. Her hands were still cupping her face, restricting her vision to absolute darkness. Behind her began the sound of cheers, followed by the sound of crowded footsteps rushing out of the castle. Somehow, Daphne was already aware that the war was over, but she did not care about the result. Her awareness snapped back into reality as somebody called out her name in the distance.

"Daphne!" she slowly released her face from her hands and turned around instantly. A woman was running towards her in the distance, leading two other shadowed figures.

"M-Mrs Malfoy!" Daphne called, finally standing up tall.

Lucius and Draco stopped in front of her whereas Narcissa put a hand on her shoulder. "I have contacted your parents, Daphne. They are worried sick about your safety! Thank goodness I found you!"

Narcissa was about to continue, but Draco looked frantically around him as if he was trying to find something.

"Where's your sister?" he was not meant to sound concerned, but it came out like so.

Daphne's voice cracked, "I don't know...I don't know!"

The two men searched within their sights while Narcissa drew out her wand and notified Demetrius and Elizabeth of their elder daughter's safety. Narcissa did whatever she could to comfort a shaken Daphne who was close to hysterics. Draco was about to turn back to the women until he just caught a glimpse of shiny blonde hair flying around the crowd. Without thinking, he let out the loudest yell he had ever summoned.

"ASTORIA!"

The figure whipped around in a sudden motion. Her eyes had found Draco's and she slowly walked in the trio's direction. Again, Draco did not think and sprinted towards her, not realising the visibility of his relieved yet laughing expression. As he neared her, his intent of throwing his arms around her and his facial look suddenly withdrew and the two stopped in front of each other. They stilled and stared at each other, not knowing what to do next. Draco noticed that she was shaking and shivering from the freezing gust of wind.

"You're cold." he stated, then like a gentleman, he pulled off his coat and wrapped it around her.

Astoria looked up at Draco and gave him a warm smile. "Thank you."

They both looked up to find the Malfoy couple next to them and Daphne clasping to her sister in a strong embrace.

"My goodness...you're alive!" she laughed, happy tears streaming down her face.

When Daphne released her, Lucius inspected the younger Greengrass. She had changed. She was definitely not the small, fragile girl from the train station. Back then, she was at least half her sister's height; she was now about one or two inches shorter than Daphne. Astoria no longer looked like a weak animal; she had grown into a healthy and beautiful young woman. For once, Lucius no longer disgusted her as she finally seemed to be worthy of the Greengrass name.

"It's good to see you again, Miss Greengrass." he finally said.

Astoria replied, "You too, sir."

Daphne wiped her face but still looked shocked. "What happened to you? Where were you? I was looking for you everywhere!" she said quickly and breathlessly.

"Really?" Astoria responded, "I was looking for you too!"

Surprise and bemusement swept towards Daphne. "So...nothing happened to you?"

"No," Astoria replied, "but I lost my necklace during the evacuatio-!" Daphne pulled out the chain and handed it to her, much to her astonishment.

"You must have dropped it." she said.

Whilst Astoria adjusted the chain to her neck, Narcissa broke the silence.

"Your parents wished us to take you girls home."

With that simple statement, the sisters looked at each other then back at Narcissa and gave a light nod.

My apologies for the long wait, I had to study and prepare for my exam trials! I am still exhausted from finishing off my last trial! Please review on the link below.