The Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom

By Augusta Longbottom

I know there are those in Avalon who look upon my family and feel that we are a weak, soft house that rest too much on our past deeds. I admit I felt the same way at first. As a girl I had dreamed of marrying a Potter or a Black or even a Diggory, but never a Longbottom. They were not warriors who strode onto battlefields, winning wars and bringing glory to their house. They were the grass users, weak to the flame and the ice and much more. Even the name sounds like a joke. And even though I loved my husband with all my heart, I still mourned just a bit that he was not stronger and more determined.

But the Longbottoms have a secret. It isn't a dark secret, or a terrible one. No, this is a secret of success... and of true power. When I finally learned it I realized just how wrong I was about the House of Longbottom and how their strength was greater than any of the other families of Avalon. Pay attention and maybe you'll figure it out, once I am done.

The family Pokémon of the Longbottoms is the mighty Venasaur. There are several on the estate, sitting on their great hunches, watching all that pass by with half-lidded eyes. Most visitors comment about how they appear sluggish and lazy; I always laugh at that. So focused are they on the Venasaurs that they miss all the other Pokemon that gather around them, going about their lives. The Venasaur doesn't rest... it holds court and all others are its vassals. Why else would its flower be crowned if it were not king... or queen?

The history of the Longbottom clan is a paradox; if one were to try and count all the stories and tales in which our family was mentioned they would find their lives trickling away. To attempt such a feat is to try and count the stars in the sky or the grains of sand in the desert. And yet never once in those tales does a Longbottom serve as the lead. Oh, we fought in wars and stood up to the unjust and witnessed the impossible, but we were never in the center spotlight. We were off to the side and two steps back, observing... waiting. We are not the shapers of history, but the witnesses. Some might be bitter about that, but not us. We are happy with our lot.

Those few Longbottoms who have made something of a name for themselves always did so in the company of other heroes. Take the most famous, Sir Tarly Longbottom, who drove off the great Onix of the Lot. A mighty deed, to be sure, but only accomplished with the help of his brother-in-law Lord Richard Potter, whose Typlosion turned the sands to glass with its mighty inferno. That act allowed Sir Tarly's Venasaur to push the great rock snake back to Blackroot Bog, so that it would never bother Avalon again. That quest started the long history of friendship and brotherhood amongst the Longbottoms and Potters.

The heroes and nobles of history knew the worth of the Longbottoms. Our fellow lords and later gym leaders turned to our family first when they had a daughter to wed, hoping that she might become the next matriarch of Longbottom. The girls themselves might not be happy at first and whoever was chosen would look at her losing friends and wish she were them. I know I did, I'm ashamed to admit. But now when I look upon my friends, worn down with age, I know that their stares are no longer friendly but filled with jealous rage at what I was handed.

For that is the great secret of the Longbottom clan: we are gardeners. In our own home we nurture our kin and help them achieve their full potential. In the wild world we are like the sunflower, finding the brightest of lights and turning to face it, drinking in its warmth while others are forced to wait their turn. Any new rose introduced into our garden is pruned and replotted so that it might be more beautiful; in return, these pretty flowers help showcase the colors of those around them.

Other families concern themselves with having one shining light amongst a sea of dullness. Longbottoms create grand gardens were everyone plays their part, even if it is the merely serve as backdrop, in the name of making something bigger than themselves. We see what others cannot, ignore that which offers us little, and attract the attention of all that view us and our grandeur.

So say our words: "Both the weed and the rose grow from the same dirt. It is the Longbottoms who sees the difference."

~MC~MC~MC~

Author's Note: One more family history before we move into some actual stories and legends! Next up will be 'Lily's First Pokémon', written by Lily Evans herself when she was just a young girl, explaining how she got her Torchic.