"And here's Neville, Alice. Don't you remember your little boy, Neville?"

Of course she didn't. Her vacant grey eyes look expressionlessly up at him. She never remembered you. Neither did your father. They just sat there. Might as well be dead.

"Neville, say hello to your mother," Grandmother's voice comes sharply from behind you. You sigh and go up to her, and kiss her cheek in greeting. She looks at you again, with the grey eyes that have nothing behind them. You can feel your heart breaking.

"Hello, Alice dear," Grandmother comes to greet her as well. You shuffle back awkwardly to the corner, not wanting to intrude. Of course, Gran wasn't as close to Alice as she was to Frank, but all the same.

"Neville is thirteen now, Alice," Gran says. You hear pride in her voice, pride that you made it this far, but also disappointment. Disappointment that you lack magical skill.

"I'm going to get a cup of tea," Gran says loudly to your mother. "Neville will stay here with you." She gestures you to come up. Again, you follow her commands as she departs out the doorway.

"Hi, Mum," you say as you approach her. She looks up at you. "I'm glad I can come and visit during the Christmas holidays," you say, attempting to tell her about your life, even though she can't understand. "I'm doing alright in school – the new Defense teacher is Professor Lupin, and he's really nice. He treats me wonderfully."

A strange look crosses your mother's face. It's as if she's actually remembering something! You lean in, to see if it was a trick of the light. You feel disappointment inside as the vacancy returns and her body sags back down into bed. You touch her arm comfortingly.

"N-N-"

Hope wells up again as you look in wonder at your mother, who hasn't spoken nearly at all in twelve years. "Yes?" You say, gripping her hand.

"Neville." She whispers. An ache in your chest builds up. She said your name. She's never said your name before. "Neville," she says again, a bit louder this time. "Neville."

She doesn't speak again after that. Gran returns and you spend an hour there, with your mother and father. When it's time to leave, you look back at Alice. She's curled into bed again, with your father next to her. Her eyes look a little less dead, though. At least it's some form of improvement.