Neville awoke to the sound of his alarm clock; he groggily reached out of bed and turned it off. By his behavior one would not notice that it was this boy's birthday, he didn't seem happy in fact he seemed the opposite, completely miserable.
Neville's parents had given up their sanity in the battle against voldermort years ago, and now they were lifeless dummies sitting in a hospital bed, waiting to die. Neville's grandmother, who had been taking care of him all these years, insisted that he visited his parents often so that he would not forget their great sacrifice. Neville was proud of his parents but seeing them in that state made his heart break every time, he sometimes wished that his parents had died instead of torturing him with their lifeless presence.
'Neville dear get ready you don't want to keep you're parents waiting.' His grandmother called.
'You, aren't you coming Nan?' Neville inquired. He walked into his grans room to find her lying on her bed breathing heavily.
'No dear I think you're old enough to go by yourself and I don't feel quite up to it.' She said breathlessly.
'Alright, goodbye Nan.' He said, turning to leave
'Oh, and Neville, happy birthday.' She whispered a tear in her eye. He smiled sadly and left.
He noticed for the first time how tired his grandmother looked and how frail she really was, raising a child must have been hard for a women her age. Being 17 he could now use magic freely and was to travel to the hospital by flu. He slowly tossed the powder in the fireplace and thought hard about the hospital; in a puff of smoke he was gone. His grandmother slowly walked out of her room staring at the spot Neville had been moments ago thinking how proud her son and daughter in law would have been.
Neville landed on his rear with a thud in the busy hospital waiting room. He got up, brushed his robes off and headed to the young lady who handled the counter. She always smiled sympathetically at him when he visited and for some reason it made him boil up with anger. He didn't need to ask directions to their room, by now he had memorized every step, room 2030 next to the man who thought he was a fairy.
His footsteps echoed in the almost abandoned corridor, not many people came to visit the mental ward. On his way to his parents he passed a room with people singing happy birthday, he peered in and saw a little girl sitting on her mothers lap and a boy holding a cake that had 'happy birthday mum' written in clumsy handwriting with icing, despite the way it looked the boys mother smiled proudly at him and kissed them both. He turned away filled with envy, tears in his eyes he sulked the rest of the way to his parents.
He walked into the dark room to find his parents in the exact position they were in every time he came to visit. He walked over to his usual seat by his mother hoping, praying they could give him some sign that they knew who he was. But they just stared into the distance, their eyes glazed over. He felt so angry he got up and punched the wall, leaving a dent, his knuckles bleeding but he didn't care he sat back in the chair and started crying.
Suddenly his mother stared hitting the chest of drawers next to her with her palm and mumbling incoherently. Neville looked up shocked and slowly opened the chest of drawers. Inside was a shiny glass ball about the size of a soccer ball, he picked it up carefully and as he did the ball glowed and he saw a young couple in it; His parents. His mother opened her mouth and began to sing,
'Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,' His father joined in, 'Happy birthday dear Neville, happy birthday to you.' They laughed and his mother said 'I love you Neville.'
The glowing stopped and it returned to it's former appearance, just a ball. Neville looked at his parents tears running down his cheeks and he could swear he saw a glimmer of a smile on their faces. The gift was obviously meant for Neville when he was younger but it meant so much more to him now.
'Hey poppet, visiting hours are over, I've got to tuck your mummy and daddy in.' said the petit nurse standing in the doorway.
'Goodbye mum, goodbye dad.' Neville said slowly, and he walked out of the door, the glass ball in his hands. It was at that moment that he realized that even though his parents couldn't say they loved him; they still did and hadn't forgotten.
Fin.