"His uncle tried to drown him to scare the magic out of him. One of the nurses we have there informed us yesterday. He's still in St. Mungo's and we're thinking of talking to the parents," she said sadly, then smirked. "I do hear the uncle is in another ward because the father beat him almost to death."
"Do you have a name?" the concerned immortal asked, thinking it might be Neville.
"Yes, it's Longbottom," she said, confirming that belief.
"Hold off on that, I know the family, so I'll go and talk to them later," Hydrus said, and then changed the subject to the repairs the mansion needed. It took an hour to get the numbers situated. Then he gave his good-byes and Apparated to the house.
"Hey, Sirius, we need to get to St. Mungo's," he said, taking a seat on the sofa and interrupting the game still in play.
"What? Why?" the dogman ask, putting his controller down. He was losing anyway.
"We need to talk to Frank and Alice, seems their Uncle Algie tried to drown Neville. I was thinking of bringing Harry along with that old color ball. Harry can make a friend and the color ball will show the Longbottoms that Neville is magical."
"I thought you said it was childhood trauma that kept him repressed," Remus said, joining the conversation.
"I thought it was," the immortal shrugged, "I guess I was wrong."
"Well, Frank and Alice are good people, so I don't mind Harry befriending Neville. Let's get him ready and we'll go see what we can do." With that the two Blacks left the room with little Harry, got prepared and departed to St. Mungo's. When they got to the empty storefront Sirius said, "We're here to visit Neville Longbottom."
The mannequin nodded and they walked through the glass. They made their way to the reception desk and got the room number. When they entered the room they saw the Longbottom parents and little Neville still in bed.
"Hello, Frank," Sirius said, shaking the sandy-haired, lanky man's hand, and then turned to the petite mousy blonde next to him, "And Alice." He shook her hand as well. "This is my cousin Hydrus and my godson Harry," he introduced the two standing silently.
Frank nodded to Hydrus and quickly glanced at Harry's very faint scar. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here, Sirius?" He turned back to the man he knew.
"I heard Neville was here and wanted to introduce him to Harry, figured it might cheer him up, having someone his age around."
Hydrus approached the bed with Harry on his hip. Harry was holding the color ball and looking at the sandy-haired, plump, boy in the bed.
"Did you get an owie?" the dark-haired boy asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah," Neville replied sadly, still in shock about what happened. He looked at the dark-haired boy shyly and gave a little smile to show he was brave. He was a big boy now.
"Oh, sorry. Are you all better now? Do you want to play with my ball? It changes color when your magic touches it," Harry asked as he squirmed down and climbed on the bed.
"I don't have 'agic," the little boy said tearfully. "That's what Uncle Algie says." His little shoulders slumped.
Alice quickly went to her child and gave him a hug. "You don't listen to Uncle Algie," she said softly as she ran her hand through his hair. "He's a mean old man who doesn't know what he's talking about. You are my perfect little boy."
"Luv you, mummy," the sandy-haired boy said, snuggling into his mum.
Harry watched the scene with a happy smile and then brought the attention back to him and said, "Try." And he rolled the ball to his new friend.
The adults were watching with various degrees of anticipation, all but the time traveler who knew Neville was a powerful wizard. The ball made its way across the covers and stopped in front of the injured child. He reached out his little hands and shakily touched the ball. The ball instantly turned color and said "Purple."
Neville smiled and picked up the ball and shook it to make it change again.
"You're 'apposta to say 'pur-ple' and it'll change again," came the exasperated explanation from the four and a half year old.
"Oh, pur-ple," said Neville and the ball changed to red. While the two children played with the ball the adults talked.
"How did you know Neville was here?" Alice asked curiously as she got up to join her husband, hugging the man and smiling as she watched her child use magic. She never doubted he was a wizard and even if he wasn't she would never condone Algie's actions. She was very proud of her husband's reaction and hoped that old man stayed in the hospital a long time. Frank was talking about kicking the man out of the family and turning him over to the DMLE, it was Augusta who was staying his hand.
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