"Oh, why are you here at this moment?"
Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Longbottom had finally managed to soothe her daughter-in-law Alice's frantic emotions and gently coaxed her back to her hospital bed, rather than leaving her crouching barefoot on the cold tiles of the bathroom attached to the hospital room.
She was just about to go outside to get some food for Neville's mother and father—who, despite all the commotion and disturbance that had filled the room with noise and movement, was still sleeping—when she turned around wearily and caught sight of Sirius, Tonks, and a frail-looking Hermione sitting in a hospital-issued wheelchair appearing hesitantly at the doorway.
"We came to see if we might be of some assistance, Augusta—" Sirius said with genuine concern across his face, even though they hadn't been formally invited into the private ward and were still respectfully hovering at the threshold.
"Just a small situation that escalated briefly, but nothing I cannot handle on my own—" Mrs. Longbottom said as she straightened her posture and stood up from beside the hospital bed. Despite the confident assurance in her words, the recent physical and emotional struggle had clearly taken a considerable toll on her aging body.
As she stood up, her back ached, and her daughter-in-law, Alice, who had only moments ago finally agreed to lie down, immediately sat up anxiously, desperately grabbing at Mrs. Longbottom's sleeve to prevent her from leaving, while fearfully eyeing the unfamiliar figures lingering in the doorway.
"Don't worry, Alice—" Mrs. Longbottom said in a tone of gentle resignation. She turned toward Sirius with an apologetic expression, "Alice seems particularly worried about your presence, Sirius. If it's not too much trouble, could you please get some food for Frank and Alice? This happens to be the busiest period at the hospital, and the staff are completely overwhelmed with emergency cases—"
"No problem at all, Augusta—" Sirius agreed without hesitation, understanding the situation. He turned smoothly to leave but after taking only two steps down the corridor, he suddenly remembered something important and paused, turning back to Hermione with a reminder, "Don't forget what the Healer clearly instructed, Hermione. You can only stay outside your room for strictly half an hour, not a minute longer—"
With that, Sirius left hurriedly.
"May we come in, Mrs. Longbottom?" Tonks asked respectfully.
Mrs. Longbottom didn't respond immediately to the request. Instead, she carefully looked at her daughter-in-law's reactions, and through some unspoken communication system that had developed between them, she apparently received her answer. She turned back towards them and beckoned them forward.
"You may come in. Alice seems to like you—" She said with slight surprise in her voice.
"Please excuse our intrusion—" Hermione said in a weak voice.
When her eyes finally fell upon the fragile lady lying in the hospital bed, Hermione instantly bit her lower lip to stifle a gasp, and her brown eyes now dulled by her own injuries were suddenly filled with tears.
The woman resting in the bed was thin and haggard, her body shriveled beneath the hospital nightgown, appeared alarmingly frail and vulnerable. Her facial skin did not have a hint of natural luster or healthy glow, and her hair now was mostly streaked with premature gray, she appeared at least a decade older than her actual age.
Yet strangely, when she cautiously examined the newcomers, Hermione and Tonks, there was an unmistakable gleam of awareness in her distant eyes—not the thoughtful, perceptive gaze of the talented Auror she had once been, but rather the timid, uncertain look of a frightened child confronted with unfamiliar strangers.
Neville's mother still had tear stains trailing down her cheeks, undoubtedly from the experience of awakening alone and not immediately finding Mrs. Longbottom beside her bed.
"Alice, allow me to introduce you to Tonks and Hermione. They've come to visit you—" Mrs. Longbottom said to Alice.
"Hello, Mrs. Longbottom—" Hermione managed to say with a voice overflowing with barely contained emotion.
Looking directly at the woman who had now physically shrunk behind Mrs. Longbottom's, using her as a human shield, Hermione felt too overwhelmed with sorrow to say anything more.
Throughout their years at Hogwarts, Neville's typical clumsiness had been something of a running joke among students and faculty. During the past two years, the malicious group led by Malfoy had taken particular delight in relentlessly tormenting Neville for his forgetfulness and apparent magical incompetence.
Among the professors, apart from Harry, Neville was unquestionably the student that Professor Snape seemed to dislike most venomously in all of Gryffindor House. Even within the somewhat supportive Gryffindor Tower, numerous students regularly liked to make what they considered harmless little jokes about Neville's awkwardness and frequent magical accidents.
Yet throughout it all, Neville never seemed to harbor grudges about these continuous humiliations. He had always showed extraordinary resilience, and persistently tried his best to fit harmoniously into Hogwarts and be genuinely friends with everyone around him, regardless of how they treated him.
But who among them could possibly have imagined that behind his timid smiles and quiet determination, Neville was silently bearing such unimaginable personal pain and family tragedy!
"This young lady," Mrs. Longbottom said clearly while pointing a finger toward Hermione's wheelchair, "Hermione Granger, is one of Neville's good friends at School—"
Hermione observed that immediately after the old lady said this piece of information, Neville's mother, who had been anxiously hiding behind her with only a part of her head visible, showed a noticeably brighter, more focused gleam in her eyes. She mumbled something completely indistinct, producing barely audible sounds that had no recognizable words.
"That's right, Alice—friend of Neville's—" Mrs. Longbottom confirmed loudly with patience, already very skilled at interpreting these unclear sounds after years of experience, "They attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry together—"
There followed another series of unclear, vague sounds.
"—She's fine, Alice, just recovering from a minor magical accident. She'll be healthy again very soon!" Mrs. Longbottom reassured her, tenderly stroking Alice's graying hair.
Through careful observation of the old lady's responses, Hermione gradually translated what Alice had been attempting to communicate with her mumbled sounds.
After realizing that Neville's mother, despite her mental state was expressing concern about her well-being touched Hermione deeply. She felt a sudden wave of regret crash over her that in all these years, she had never directly asked Neville about his family circumstances, never discovered that his parents had been suffering in this heartbreaking condition while he struggled silently with his studies and endured constant mockery!
Somewhat soothed by Mrs. Longbottom's confirmation, Neville's mother appeared slightly less frightened of them. She slowly emerged from her hiding place behind the old lady, crouched on the mattress, and her trembling hand began fumbling for something concealed beneath her pillow.
A moment later, under their gazes, she pulled out a colorful, animated piece of paper.
Hermione recognized the item immediately, despite her foggy state—it was unmistakably a Drooble's Best Blowing Gum wrapper.
Neville's mother gently stuffed the wrapper into the old lady's hand, then softly pushed her arm in Hermione's direction, her eyes suddenly showing pleading which was perhaps the clearest expression she had shown since their arrival.
"I've told you, Alice. Neville is at Hogwarts. He's only been away from home for less than ten days since the term began, hasn't he? He simply cannot return so quickly, even for a visit—oh, very well, alright, I will ask on your behalf—" Mrs. Longbottom finally acquiesced with resignation, having clearly engaged in similar things countless times before.
Turning to Hermione, she explained, "Alice would like you to take this to Neville when you eventually return to Hogwarts—"
In virtually any other context, Hermione might have found this curious exchange slightly amusing or perplexing, but now, understanding the tragedy behind this simple gesture, she was struggling not to dissolve completely into tears before these strong women who had endured so much.
"I—I would be happy to, ma'am!" Hermione managed to respond in a hoarse, emotion-choked voice.
Recognizing that Hermione's condition prevented her from reaching out, the perceptive Tonks gently took the colorful wrapper from Mrs. Longbottom, carefully folded it and placed it in the pocket of Hermione's hospital gown.
This action made Alice happy, and she even began softly humming a strange, disconnected tune that might once have been a lullaby.
With noticeably lighter, more lively movements, she eagerly fumbled beneath her pillow once again and pulled out something else—a piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum that had been wrapped in the paper.
"This is a gift from Alice, for you—" Mrs. Longbottom explained with a deep sigh as she also tucked the gum into Hermione's hospital gown pocket. "It's her way of thanking you for taking the wrapper to Neville—"
Observing the woman who was now contentedly playing with her fingernails like a child, Hermione felt as if an enormous, sharp stone had become permanently lodged in her heart, making it painful to draw breath.
'Wasn't there any way to treat them?'
Hermione opened her mouth, intensely wanting to voice this question that burned within her, but before the words came out, her rational mind forcibly closed her mouth again.
She was certain that Mrs. Longbottom must have already explored every conceivable treatment option available in the wizarding world. Since Neville's parents had suffered this distressing fate because of their courageous resistance against Voldemort and his followers, it seemed highly probable that even Professor Dumbledore himself must have personally visited them but was powerless and couldn't help.
'What about Professor Watson then?'
Hermione couldn't suppress this hopeful thought that spontaneously appeared in her mind. It wasn't that she naively believed Professor Watson's magical abilities surpassed those of Headmaster Dumbledore, or that his healing expertise was somehow superior to the collective knowledge of the highly specialized Healers at St. Mungo's who had dedicated their entire careers to treating spell damage.
It was just that during the first half of the year, when Professor Moody had been teaching them about the three Unforgivable Curses, Professor Watson had unexpectedly supplemented the lessons with some fascinating theories.
His perspectives on the Unforgivable Curses seemed to have surprised even Professor Moody, who had spent the majority of his career fighting dark wizards across continents. Perhaps he might have some innovative, unconventional ideas that had never been considered before?
As Hermione was deeply absorbed in this line of speculative thinking, her attention was violently jerked back to reality as she suddenly perceived a shadowy figure abruptly jump up on the other side of the curtain that separated Neville's mother's hospital bed from another patient's.
'That must be Neville's father!' Hermione instantly realized.
With a swoosh!
Neville's father, who had been lying in the adjacent bed throughout their entire visit, suddenly grasped the dividing curtain and violently pulled it aside, exposing himself to everyone's startled view.
"Oh, dear Merlin, please leave quickly!" Mrs. Longbottom, who had always appeared capable, showed signs of panic for the first time since they had met her.
"Frank tends to lose his temper with strangers when he hasn't slept well! He used to be quite gentle!"
Mrs. Longbottom hurriedly rose from her seat and made her way to the other hospital bed, trying to intervene before the man—who looked equally haggard with graying hair like his wife, but whose eyes were now filled with bloodshot, irrational rage—could succeed in throwing water vase from his bedside table at them.
"We'd better leave quickly and call for help!"
Recognizing that staying here would only further aggravate the situation and potentially endanger everyone in the room, Tonks frantically pushed Hermione's wheelchair out of the room.
Inside the ward, only Mrs. Longbottom remained, still struggling to "battle" with her son, while Neville's mother sat confused and terrified, at the head of her bed.
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