Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
On July 30,1998 Neville Longbottom was at breakfast with his grandmother and the Lovegoods who were staying with them until their house could
be rebuilt. He had already received a birthday present from his friend Luna Lovegood, which was a painting of the garden in the back of
Longbottom Manor. He wasn't too surprised when he received an owl from St. Mungo's since he figured that it was one of their regular updates on
his parents condition whom he was going to visit later on that day, but he was worried when he was summoned to come to the hospital
immediately. He quickly gathered up his Gran and went to the hospital hoping that he wasn't too late to give his final goodbyes to one or both of
his parents. When they finally did get to St. Mungo's they waited impatiently to give their information to the Welcome Witch so
that they can get to the Janus Thickey ward. When they finally got to the Welcome Witch they were directed immediately to the Healer's office
where the two of them were prepared to hear the news that either Frank or Alice had died and they needed to pick up their personal belongings
and to make funeral arrangements. They weren't prepared for the news that they were about to receive.
"Neville, Augusta I have some good news it seems that Frank is tracking with his eyes, where he can follow one of the mediwizards with his eyes.
This means that he could be coming out of his coma."
"That's great, so when can we see him?" Augusta asked,excited by the prospect of having her son being able to interact with her for the first time
in sixteen years.
"In a few minutes, but first I need to let you know that I would recommend transferring him to a muggle hospital since they would have the
capability of being able to determine if there would be any further damage after he wakes up since they have more experience with those things."
"Can't you help him here, since he was put in that condition with a curse and those muggle doctors wouldn't understand how he came to be in a
coma in the first place?" Augusta protested wanting not to separate Frank and Alice for any period of time.
"We can but we don't have the capability to look into his brain that they do, and besides one of our Healers will be coming along too as a
consultant on his case. However there are some doctors who do know about the wizarding world who are either squibs or related to wizards," the
Healer tried to persuade her.
Neville looked hopeful and finally agreed to transfer his father, since magical means couldn't heal him maybe muggle means could. The Healer had
almost forgotten that Neville had taken over as his parent's guardian and power of attorney on his seventeenth birthday last year. He immediately
handed over the papers for Neville to sign and arranged for the transfer right away. Both Neville and his grandmother were to be met at the
entrance to St. Mungo's by one of their Healers to accompany them to the muggle hospital to supervise Frank's treatment. The two of them were
surprised to see Healer Augustus Pye coming out to meet them since he had been reassigned from the Janus Thickey ward four years ago to the
creature bites ward. Augusta wasn't too reassured by the eager look on his face, like he wanted to watch those muggle doctors cut up her son or
something else equally babariac. Though she had to at least go along with Neville's decision and she did agree that since there wasn't too much
that magical means could do for Frank so maybe it was time to explore muggle means of healing for him. She only hoped that the muggles didn't kill
him with their healing means, but she knew that everyone said that both him and Alice were better off dead anyway. When the three of them
arrived at St. Katherine's hospital, since Frank had arrived there earlier, they were informed at the front desk which floor he would be on, though
when they arrived at the floor, Healer Pye was summoned to observe the tests that Frank was going through at the time while Augusta and Neville
were told to wait for the doctor to come out and let them know the results of his tests. The muggle didn't come out for nearly an hour when they
were summoned to his office with Healer Pye following them. When they were gathered in Dr. Tonks's office he immediately pulled out Frank's file.
"It looks like Frank's brain has been healing itself over the past sixteen years though he almost woke up eight years ago and for some strange
reason he was placed in a medically induced coma."
Augusta and Neville looked puzzled at that news about his coma being induced for the past years though they felt that the Healers had a good
reason to keep Frank in a coma. Dr. Tonks noticed how puzzled the two of them and reassured them that there was probably a good reason for
keeping Frank in a comatose state.
The two Longbottoms looked at this muggle doctor with renewed interest and hope since they could bring Frank back to them.
"Right now we are waiting for him to wake up and then we can determine what needs to be done from here, though it would take a few hours for
him to wake up and when he first wakes up since he was in this state for a long time, he probaly won't be vocal and it will seem that there is no
improvement in his condition. He will need to go through intensive therapy in order to relearn how to do everyday tasks and to be able to
communicate with you."
"When can we see him?" Augusta asked eager to see her son.
"Right now and I can have one of our nurses show you which ward he is on," Dr. Tonks informed them as he took them over to the nurse's station
to direct them to show them which room Frank was in.
When the two of them arrived at Frank's ward they were surprised to see Frank hooked up to various muggle things which the nurse assured
them that was normal for someone in his condition and that the tubes had medicine in it that would help him to wake up plus a substance in it that
would help Frank keep hydrated. Both Neville and Augusta decided to wait by his bedside to wait for Frank to wake up, since they could eat lunch
afterwards and besides they wanted to be the first people that Frank saw when he woke up.
"Tomorrow we can bring Alice by to visit with you, I'm sure that we can check her out to visit with you in hospital. Hopefully by then you'll be awake
and she can be reassured that you are doing fine. You do know that today is Neville's birthday and it would be the best birthday present for him if
you did wake up today, and not tomorrow," Augusta told her son while Neville thought it strange that she was talking to him like he could hear
her, though they had been told that Frank could still hear them in his condition.
A few hours later when Frank did wake up he just opened up his eyes and stared at the wall since he was unable to move his head. Augusta went
to get the nurse while Neville wondered if his father would be able to speak with them soon and that this was just the beginning to him "waking
up". Neville's hopes were dashed when the nurse came over to his bed, satisfied that his father had woke up and went to get the Muggle Doctor.
When the doctor examined his father, Neville was reassured that Frank would get better but that he would need to relearn how to do everything
since he hadn't used those normal everyday skills at all for the past sixteen years. Neville was upset by this and he had to leave wondering what
good the muggle hospital did for his dad since he didn't seem to be any better. Neville wondered what good it would do for his mother to see his
dad like this other than to reassure her that Frank didn't die.