Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Dr. John Tonks was in his office when his brother came by to visit him, while he was between patients and he didn't have any surgeries scheduled until later on that afternoon.
"Do you need me to consult with you on any other patients? I thought that the war in your world was over, since you haven't referred any new patients to me?" he asked his brother Ted who was a Healer in the wizarding world.
"Yes, but it's a very heartbreaking case. It's a one year old toddler whose parents are missing but presumed dead. He's been in a coma for two weeks now with swelling in his brain that hasn't gone down any. I've put him on sedating droughts, which are like drugs in the muggle world, in order to prevent seizures that he started to go into when he was admitted into the wizarding hospital. Now, we plan on taking him off of them and when he wakes up the prognosis isn't very good. We expect him to live the rest of his life at St. Mungo's in our long term care ward, where we put our brain damaged patients. The only hope that he has is for you to examine him and to see if there is anything that you can do surgically for him," Ted pleaded with his brother hoping that there was anything that he could do to prevent this child from having a fate worse than death.
"I can't promise that I can cure him, but I can examine him if you have the permission from his temporary guardian. Hopefully, they'll be open to our ways, though we've persuaded other witches and wizards to apply muggle methods to their loved ones, especially when it's the last chance that they've got," John answered him.
"Its his grandmother and she's about as old fashioned as Andromedea was when I first met her, though now she's more open to muggle ways than she used to be. If it were Nymphadora she would be very open to any way of healing that could be used to heal her, so the grandmother might be open to having you examine her grandson since this could be the last chance that she's got of him living a normal life," Ted answered him. A couple of days later, about six mediwizards brought in one year old Neville Longbottom along with a man and a woman lying on stretchers followed by five people who looked hopeful that the muggle neurosurgeon could cause a full recovery to happen to their loved ones.
"Who are these people? I thought that I was just examining one patient, where did these other two come from?" John asked his brother.
"These are the kid's parents, they found them yesterday after we talked and I was able to get the grandmother to bring in the child, but she wants to bring in her son too and of course she also talked to the mother's parents so now they also want you to examine their daughter to see if there is anything that could be done for them. When they were examined at St. Mungo's they were diagnosed as having lost their minds and that they would live the rest of their lives there," Ted answered his brother.
"I only made the one appointment for the child, but I'll examine the parents since you didn't know about them, but as I told you earlier I can't promise anything," John reminded his brother.
"They know that, but they see you as their last hope, if there is anything that you can do it would also make Andy feel better, since her sister is one of the culprits who is responsible for this tragedy," Ted answered him.
John looked at him in shock, "What kind of family did you marry into Ted?"
"The kind that would hurt children if their parents oppose their ways," Ted answered him looking slightly embarrassed that his wife's own family would do something like this. John then went out to the waiting room, telling Neville's family that he was going to run some tests on the toddler to determine if there was anything that could he could do for him and that he was going to squeeze in his parents right after him.
A couple of hours later after he had ran the tests on Neville and his parents, he asked Neville's three grandparents to follow him to his office, where he would go over the test results with them.
"Do you mind if you hear all three results or did you just want to hear Neville's and your own child's?" John asked them.
"I think that we would want to hear the prognosis for all three of them, since we've been waiting for Frank and Alice to be found ever since I found Neville in the state that he's in now," Ethan, Alice's father answered for all of them.
"Very well then as long as I have your permission I guess I'll go ahead and start with Frank since he was the one who just stared at the ceiling when he came in. With Frank, I'm sorry but there's nothing that I can do for him, I don't think that he would be able to talk or walk for the rest of his life. There are places where he could go, where he would receive therapy to help him in living with his disabilities for the rest of his life," John told them while Augusta broke down in tears at the news that there was nothing that could cause her son to make a full recovery while Ethan and Jane Ashland, Alice's parents embraced her.
After Augusta had calmed down John started to speak again, "With Alice, the damage done to her brain is less intensive than Frank's but it is irreversible. She's actually at a higher functioning level than Frank; she could live in a group home setting where she would learn life skills and possibly hold down a menial job in I guess what you would call the muggle world," John broke the news about Alice to the group while her parents looked like they were going to break down in tears until Augusta Longbottom broke the silence. "What about Neville? Is there anything that could be done for him, since he's just a baby," Augusta questioned John sounding concerned.
"Yes, because Neville was found two weeks before his parents, your Healers did the appropriate treatment in preventing any further brain damage. Though right now, he still has swelling in the brain and I can operate on him to bring down the swelling since it's not going down on it's own. With his age he should make a full recovery, though he might have learning problems later on but he can live a normal life. The recovery process will be long, but the total process will depend on him and when he wakes up after I take him off of the sedatives," John told them with the three of them looking relieved that Neville would be expected to make a full recovery at least.
"If we send Frank and Alice off to those places, would they be able to be together, since I would hate to split them up after what they've been through? It's going to be bad enough for them to be away from Neville," Ethan asked John.
"Unfortunately they would have to live apart, because they are at such different functioning levels," John answered him.
"I think that we would want for them to go back to St. Mungo's then, since at least there they would be together. When would Neville have his surgery?" Ethan replied with the other two women nodding in agreement.
"I've scheduled his surgery for 8AM tomorrow morning, and it should take roughly around ten hours. I can go ahead and sign the papers to transfer Frank and Alice back to St. Mungo's, but they can stay here until tomorrow evening after Neville's surgery so that way you can be close to them," John answered Ethan. "We're grateful for all that you're doing for our family, even if you can't cure Frank and Alice, at least Neville would be able to live a normal life," August told John looking as if she were about ready to start crying again over her son's future outlook.
After their conference with Dr. Tonks with him explaining what he would be doing to Neville's brain, the three of them got up and went into the waiting area where there was another elderly couple waiting for them. When they saw the expression on their faces they knew that something was wrong.
"Algie there's nothing that he can do for neither Frank nor Alice but he can open up Neville's head and give him somewhat of a normal life," Augusta told her brother and sister trying to look optimistic that this muggle doctor could at least "fix" her grandson.
"When are Frank and Alice going back to St. Mungo's and when do they plan on opening up little Neville's head? Will it stay open for the rest of his life?" Enid asked her sister in law.
"They're going back tomorrow after Neville's surgery and from what we were told, after they get done with rearranging the "wires" in his brain, they'll sew him back up with something called stitches. The surgery would take a while and it's scheduled to start around 8 AM and I plan on staying here for the entire surgery and I guess that Ethan and Jane would want to be here. The doctor seems nice enough though, since this is the only chance that Neville has for a normal life and he understands that we would want to at least let Frank and Alice know about their son even if they don't understand what we're saying," Augusta answered her sister in law about her little family.
The five of them finally left the London muggle private hospital after visiting with Neville, Frank and Alice with Augusta, Enid and Algie staying with the Ashlands who had a town home in London. In the morning, the five of them returned to the hospital bright and early at the insistence of Augusta and Jane, who wanted to be with Neville before he got pushed into the surgery by a young intern by the name of Dr. Jason Fletchley who had a young son at home around Neville's age. As expected about ten hours later, Neville came out of the surgery and a couple of days later the doctors gradually took him off of the sedatives that he was on for the past two weeks. A couple of days after he came off of the sedatives, he came out of his coma after which he spent another three months at the hospital learning how to walk, talk, eat and drink again, during which he always had one of his grandparents around to make him more comfortable around strangers. When Neville was finally released from the hospital, Augusta picked him up and took him to her home in Yorkshire where she had other family members waiting for him to throw him a welcome home party. The first words out of his mouth as soon as met him at the hospital were, "mama" and "dada" signaling that he wanted to see his parents. Of course as John signed the release papers, releasing Neville from the hospital he could hear his grandmother reluctantly promising him that she would take him to see his parents after they left, which seemed to pacify Neville for the time being. Not thinking about what Neville's reaction would be when he first met his parents after being in hospital for a long time, Dr. Tonks handed the release papers to Augusta who immediately left the hospital with Neville.
He didn't think about that moment for fourteen years, when his brother Ted paid him a visit to warn him that his sister in law had escaped from prison and that his life was in danger, since he had operated on some of her victims the most memorable was the little one year old whose parents he couldn't save from their fate.
"I don't care what could happen to me, I'm going to keep on treating my patients until I'm no longer to do it anymore. Besides, it wouldn't do any of my patients any good if I just up and left because some psycho could be after me because of our relationship, but I want you to promise me one that that no matter what happens that you would do anything to get the best treatment possible, no matter if you and Andromedea have to be separated," John told his brother who was reminded of that wizarding family who didn't want to separate their children.
It was two years later, before Ted gave John an update on the war in the wizarding world. Late one night, when John wasn't on call at the hospital he heard a knock at the door and when he opened it, he was surprised to see Ted standing there looking anxious.
"What are you doing here at this hour? Is it Andromedea or Dora? You know that I can't operate on family members and I'm sure that you can't treat your own family members," John asked sounding worried that something had happened to his sister in law and niece.
"I have to leave them for right now, since our government wants all muggle borns to register with the Ministry. I'm not registering on principle and I do know that would put me on top of their target list, due to both my marriage to Andy and our work that we've done together on difficult cases. As far as I know both Andy and Dora are doing fine, even Dora is expecting her first child and she did get married over the summer to a nice older man. They seem to love each other deeply," Ted answered his brother updating him on the situation.
"Do you want me to go with you, since I'm probably up there on their list as well with all of my work with dealing with the brain injuries that they've caused?" John asked his brother with concern in his eyes.
"No, because your services may be needed right here," Ted answered him.
A few weeks later he found out exactly how needed he was when a seventeen year old boy came to him for treatment from the Hogwarts infirmary. Unfortunately there was nothing that he could do for him except recommend some good remedial therapists for him. At least this time his parents agreed for him to see the therapists unlike some of the times that he had to deliver the heartbreaking news that there was nothing that he could do for their loved one. On one March day when John was at home during his day off from the hospital, he received a package that was delivered by an owl, thinking that it was from Ted he happened to open it and he got the biggest scare of his life. When he opened the box he saw Ted's head looking straight at him, knowing who it was from he went straight to the authorities to report it. They told him that they would look into Ted's murder and took the box and the head for evidence. A couple of weeks later he received Ted's head back and since that was the only part of him that he had, he had a quiet and private burial for him planning to tell Andromedea and Nymphdora where he was buried after the war. He assumed that one of them would let him know when it would be safe for him to visit them. In early June, he received an invitation from Andromedea inviting him to a memorial service for those who had died in the war like Ted and he was sadly informed that Nymphodora was killed in the final battle along with her husband, leaving behind they're infant son for Andromedea to raise on her own. When he arrived at the memorial service he was greeted by Andromedea who was dressed in all black and she led him to his seat towards the front where they had reserved seats for the family members of those who had lost someone in the war. Andromeda told him that he could meet Teddy later, which was Nymphodora's young son but that he was staying at home with a babysitter. One of the younger Hogwarts students was watching him for her to allow her to come to the memorial without worrying about how Teddy would act in public. He was touched to see how the wizarding community came together to support those who had lost family members and was surprised that medals were going to be handed out to all of those who had fought valiantly in the war. Andromedea accepted three British flags and medals for bravery on behalf of Ted, Nymphodora and for someone named Remus Lupin, whom he assumed was Nymphodora's husband. John was surprised to see that some of the people receiving medals for bravery were survivors of the war and when he saw one of the recipients for leading the resistance at the school he recognized the name but he couldn't remember where until he saw the young man accepting the award. He was his memorable patients and he was proud that he had grown up to become such an honorable young man, though the last time that he saw him was when he was a year old and crying for his mommy and daddy in the hospital. When the young man sat back down, he saw a middle aged woman sitting right next to him who looked vaguely familiar to him. When he realized that she was the young man's mother it brought John to tears that at least this mother could see her son accept an award.