Chapter 170: Chapter 170: Miracles

Chapter 170: Miracles

21^st December 1995, Hogwarts Earth 2

(Harry Potter POV)

“Ron’s dad was in an accident a few days ago, so we came to visit him for Christmas. What about you?” Hermione answered.

Harry cringed at Hermione’s answer, knowing that the boy was probably visiting his parents. He had read older versions of the daily prophet from the library, to get a better idea about the Longbottom’s fate, and was horrified to have visual confirmation about what happened to them, that this wasn’t a story. If he was honest, Harry would prefer having his parents die than having them become barely more than vegetables, walking bodies. Dumbledore was right about there being worse fates than death.

Before Neville could answer, a loud voice answered for him, “Friends of yours, Neville, dear?”

Harry stiffened and looked at what has to be one of the most intimidating women he had ever seen. No wonder Neville was bloody terrified of her. Neville gulped, probably more uncomfortable with the situation than Harry himself.

Yeah, he definitely wouldn’t want to be in Neville’s place, right now. The poor guy looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world but here. A dull purple flush was creeping up his plump face and he was not making eye contact with any of them.

Before he could answer his grandmother’s question, the woman gave them a once over, and nodded, “You must be Harry Potter, then. Merlin, you’re basically a miniature copy of your father when he was your age. And from that, I assume that this young lady is Hermione Granger, and this young man is Ronald Weasley. I have heard a lot about you from Neville. He speaks most highly of you.”

The members of the golden trio flushed at the compliments, and Neville stepped up, “Guys, this is my grandmother, Augusta Longbottom.”

Everyone mumbled their greetings to the woman. Dear Merlin that woman is intense, no wonder Neville was a nervous wreck in school.

An awkward silence reigned after the usual pleasantries, a silence that Madam Longbottom chose to break, “So, what brings you to this dreary place on Christmas of all days?”

Ron answered for him, “We’re here visiting my dad, he’d been in an accident in the Ministry. He’s all healed up now, but the healers want to keep him for observation for the next couple of days.”

“Ah, I heard about that. A snake attack of all things, in the middle of the Ministry too. If that’s not a sign that there’s something to what Dumbledore was saying, I don’t know what is. As for us, we’re on our yearly visit of Neville’s parents. We always try to see them every holiday.”

Ron, as always didn’t even try to think before speaking, “Why? What do they got?”

Harry visibly cringed at this response. This was one of the times that he wanted to punch Ron in the face as hard as he could for not watching his mouth. Hermione seemed to have the same idea as she stomped very strongly on his foot, making the redhead yelp in pain.

Mrs. Longbottom though, wasn’t angry at Ron’s answer, and instead looked at her grandson sharply, “You haven’t told them about your parents, Neville?”

As the boy started to splutter, Harry chose to save him, “He actually told me, Mrs. Longbottom. He thought, I’d be a little more understanding, especially since if things were different, we would have probably grown up together. He probably didn’t want to spread it around too much, especially with how busy he’s been this year, catching up to everything. I even heard Professor McGonagall say that she’s never seen someone make this much progress in a semester.”

The grateful look Neville sent him made Harry stifle a chuckle; the boy was still terrified of the woman’s ire. The elder woman though, relaxed, “it’s nice to see that you’re not ashamed of your parents' sacrifice and I have to say that I am glad that you’re finally realizing your potential, your parents would be proud of you. I know I am. I even got a letter from your head of house, praising your efforts. Even your potions grades have gotten better,” she looked at the trio and asked, “do you know what started this improvement. Young Neville wouldn’t say anything.”

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry who was now pressed to answer, “I think it was Professor Sayre. On our first week, she held me and Neville after class and told us that we weren’t realizing our potential and got us to catch up what we missed. After about a month of study, we were mostly caught up and she let us continue, on our own. I don’t know what Neville’s lessons were, but I think it had to do with magical control. There was never a problem with his magic, just something messing with his control which is why his spells came out weird. After he learnt to compensate, he’s apparently one of the students with the most potential in school, and that’s Professor Sayre’s words not mine.”

Harry didn’t tell her about the wand swap since she would have said something if Neville had revealed this little snippet, so he had to improvise. It seemed to work, since the elder woman looked proudly at her grandson, “So, all this time, it was a small problem that’s been holding you back. I knew you had it in you, Neville.”

The boy flushed and averted his face and gave Harry another look of gratitude.

Mrs. Longbottom, though, continued, “for those that don’t know about Neville’s parents, they were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who’s followers. They were Aurors, very respected and very powerful. My son, Frank and his wife, Alice, were praised as one of the most competent teams in the DMLE. After Voldemort disappeared, the Lestranges hunted them down in their own home and proceeded to torture them for information. But they gave them nothing, and protected Neville who was home at the time. They were some of the bravest and kindest people on the planet, and what happened to them was a tragedy, but in the end, they might have lost themselves to madness, but they protected their greatest treasure.”

Neville was tearing up slightly at the story. Hermione was looking horrified and even Ron was looking down ashamed of his previous comment. The elder woman continued, “would you like to see them. I think having some visitors would do them some good, especially James’ son.”

Harry just nodded and walked with Neville and his grandmother towards the long term ward, his friends following them. When they arrived, they saw a couple, sitting on their beds. First, he saw Alice Longbottom, who’s face looked thin with a blank expression on her face, looking at the ceiling. She got up, looked at them and slowly walked towards Neville and gave him candy wrapper.

Neville’s father though, barely reacted to them, and laid down on his bed, staring silently at the wall in front of him. Neville’s mother grasped her son’s hand and slowly walked towards his father who got up as soon as he looked at his son. Harry noticed from the back that Alice Longbottom’s eyes gained some sort of focus, or more like, lost some of its blankness.

Neville’s grandmother followed him to his father’s bed, looking confused, murmuring, “this has never happened before.”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Alice Longbottom spoke, “Neville.”

It was a raspy sound, but it was unmistakably a word. From Neville and Mrs. Longbottom’s gasp, she must have never spoken before. Mrs. Longbottom looked at her, “Can you say it again, Alice dear, say Neville.”

Alice looked at her son and smiled. It was a strained smile, like she hadn’t done it in years, “Neville!”

It was louder this time and the poor boy had tears coming from his eyes; he must have never heard his mother ever say his name. After that, his father seemed to sit up and look towards his wife, “Alice, Neville…”

Both of the visiting Longbottoms seemed to be crying, as they watched their family members speak for the first time. Mrs. Longbottom pretty much leapt towards her son, “Frank, Frank, can you hear me?”

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The man answered with a confused tone, “Mum?”

The woman enveloped him in a hug, “Oh, Frank, my boy!”

The severe looking woman was gone and in her place was a grieving hopeful mother, who had just been given hope for the first time in a very long time.

Neville’s father looked confused, “What happened, where am I? Where’s Alice, where’s Neville?”

Slowly, it was like a fog was slightly leaving his eyes, he was starting to get even more coherent. His wife didn’t seem to be too much behind, “Frank? Neville?” she called out.

Frank answered her, “Alice? Are you alright?”

The woman answered back, “Yes!”

Frank took a good look at his surroundings, “What happened? Mum? You look different. Where are we?”

“We’re in Saint Mungo’s, Frank, we need to call the healers now.”

“Healers, what for?”

His crying mother answered him, “what’s the last thing you remember?”

Alice was the one who answered, “We were home. You-Know-Who had died a few days before and we were going out to celebrate. Then, we heard the wards just shatter. We hid Neville in the cupboard, in case we were attacked. Then, they came. Bellatrix, her husband, his brother, and Crouch Junior. They kept asking us where their master was. It’s a little fuzzy. They wanted to know where Neville was, too, for some reason. We wouldn’t give him up, and we had no idea where their master was; we thought he’d died, too. They started to use the Cruciatus Curse, again and again. It was so painful, and the woman was laughing and laughing. I tried to hold on, but all I could do was scream. After that, all I remember is fuzzy.”

The woman was progressively turning hysterical, “where’s Neville? Is he alright?”

The Longbottom Matriarch looked at her sadly, “Neville is fine. He’s absolutely alright, so don’t worry. You were taken to the hospital, both of you, after the attack. The Lestranges were arrested and sent to Azkaban. It just took a long time for you to get better.”

Frank Longbottom looked confused at this, “How long?”

“Fifteen years.”

“Fifteen years!!!” he shouted back, “What happened to Neville? Where’s my son?”

He looked up at the young man hugging his wife and seemed to recognize him. He walked towards the boy and hugged him, “Neville!”

Alice seemed to react as well and noticed for the first time her son, hugging her. She chose to embrace him even further.

Neville’s grandmother, though, left the ward, running to get a healer to check out her son and daughter in law. Meanwhile, Neville was tearing up, hugging his parents for the first time in his life. Suddenly, Neville’s parents started to shake, probably from the damage from the Cruciatus, and almost fell over. Harry helped his friend hold them up, getting them to sit on their respective beds. Frank looked at Harry, confused, “James?”

Harry shook his head, “Harry, I’m a friend of Neville’s”

Alive looked at him closely, “You’re James’ and Lily’s son, aren’t you?”

Harry nodded, and she answered back, “I’m sorry about what happened to them. They were good people.”

Harry nodded, not trusting himself. A part of him wanted to rage at the injustice. Why did Neville get his parents back and not him? The realization made him sick to his stomach; while he wished that he was in Neville’s place, he’s still glad for his friend’s happiness. Neville was one of the kindest and bravest people Harry had ever known, and he deserves to have his parents with him, especially after only seeing them in the hospital for so long.

Harry turned and saw a peculiar envelope on the table next to the beds. Alice seemed to notice it as well, and grabbed it with her shaking hands, “It has Neville’s name on it.”

Neville grabbed it and opened it up. He read out loud, “You have kept your side of the bargain and have impressed me. This is me, keeping mine. Happy Yule, you’ve earned it. S.”

Both Harry and Neville stiffened in shock, suddenly remembering a conversation they had a few months back with their Defense Professor. Neville mumbled, “I thought she wasn’t serious, that she was pushing me just to be better. I didn’t believe her.”

Harry nodded stupefied and watched as the note slowly turned to dust in Neville’s hand. Neville’s father looked at his son in curiosity, “Who’s this S? What bargain were they talking about?”

Before the boy could answer, the ward door slammed open, letting in half a dozen healers who ran towards the two recovering patients. He heard a few mutters of impossibility and miracles. But either way, Harry knew that it was time for him and his friends to leave. He motioned to Hermione and Ron and turned around towards the door, trying to do his best to quell the envy in his heart.

 

 

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