Author's Note: This was inspired by alyssialui's story "Goodbye Mum," as it reminded me of my own family. Recently, my uncle passed away. He suffered from seizures during the first year of his life, and his life never developed beyond that of an infant. He couldn't do things we take for granted like talk and laugh. When he was younger, he could eat. In the end, though, he couldn't even eat. My uncle was living, but he wasn't truly alive. He couldn't do the simple things that so many of us, including me, take for granted. I truly believe that he is now finally happy and at peace. This little drabble is for my uncle and for everyone else who has been unable to live their lives to the fullest through no fault of their own. May you all one day find happiness and peace. May you all one day find freedom.
Even though Neville had always known that this day would someday come, it had still caught him by surprise when he had heard the news.
His parents had died.
At first, Neville didn't know what to think. Some would say that Frank and Alice Longbottom had been dead since the night they had been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and some of her fellow Death Eaters. The Longbottoms' bodies may had survived, but their minds had been reduced to nothing. They had no longer been able to recognize anyone, not even their own son, not even themselves.
Neville had often wondered whenever he had went to visit his parents whether or not they were suffering. Neville had often asked himself, "Did they still have enough of their minds left to even feel pain?"
Afterwards, Neville had always felt guilty for thinking of his parents in that way. It hadn't been their fault that they had been tortured. It hadn't been their fault that they only had their bodies left. It hadn't been their fault that they had lost their minds and everything that had made them human.
They had not even been able to recognize each other. The fact that they had once loved each other had become a concept that was beyond their comprehension.
Frank and Alice Longbottom had truly been reduced to a sad existence.
But Neville had still loved them. They were still his parents, even though their minds had no longer been there.
Yet Neville had often wished that his parents could be free of the sad existence that they had been forced to live in for so long.
And now Neville had finally received his wish. His parents would no longer have to live without their minds because they were no longer living.
Neville would have preferred to have his parents alive and with their minds fully functional, but Neville had also known and accepted that would have never happened. His parents' minds had been destroyed beyond repair.
Dying was the best thing that could have happened to Frank and Alice Longbottom, even though Neville felt awful for thinking that way.
"They are at peace now," Neville told himself. "They are free now."
Despite these words, though, Neville still felt the tears forming in his eyes. Frank and Alice Longbottom had still been his parents, after all.
But Neville had always wanted what was best for his parents, and what was best for his parents was for them to be at peace and to be free.
"It's finally over, Mum and Dad," Neville whispered. "You're free now. You're free now. Be at peace. You're finally free."