TEN MONTHS LATER:
Neville and Hannah sat in the waiting room at Saint Mungo's, awaiting the Healers news on Neville's parents.
Hannah grabbed Neville's hand and rubbed it soothingly.
"Everything is going to be fine," she murmured softly, hoping that could help calm Neville's nerves.
He looked over at her and smiled weakly. He patted her hand reassuringly.
But Hannah only returned the small grin slightly. She could see that his was deathly pale. He couldn't hide anything from her: He was nervous.
There would be much joy when Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom were restored to their full sanity and rejoined with their son, now after ten long months of therapy and the two constantly seeming to remember things more and more every day. But, Hannah knew that Neville was still nervous.
How would they react to seeing him? How would he react to seeing them? After all of these years… would Neville be able to restore the ties that he never had the time to make with his parents?
Slowly, he let go of Hannah's hand and rested his hands on his knees. He released a sigh of anxiety, slipping into his seat.
Hannah smiled sadly at him, crossing her legs, her heart racing. She was also a little nervous.
What would the Longbottoms think of her? Would they approve when they found out about Neville and Hannah's approaching wedding?
They had both been to their old friend from school, Lavender Brown, who was now a Witch Wedding Planner. She had been happy to help them plan their wedding and was very glad to see them, after so many years having last seen them at Hogwarts. Lavender had been assisting them for their spring wedding for nearly all of the ten months that had passed since Neville's proposal, from the invitations to the catering, not to mention the dance lessons the young couple took to be prepared for their first dance. That actually had been partially amusing to Hannah, since Neville, as cute as he was, had two and a half left feet.
Hannah gently looked down, rubbing the engagement ring that was wrapped comfortably around her left finger on her left hand. It had become a nervous habit of hers: She'd frequently find herself just rubbing the ring with her thumb, twisting it around her finger. Hannah did this often, most of the time not even thinking about it.
They had both been sitting there for nearly three hours. They had been called early that morning by the Head Healer in Frank and Alice's wing, asking them to both come in. He had mentioned that Neville's parents were ready to be released from the wizarding hospital.
Neville let his head fall into his hands, and then began to rub his temples, almost not able to take the wait anymore.
Just when Hannah was nearly positive that Neville would go rampaging into the wing, demanding to be informed of what was going on, a Healer stepped out of one of the rooms, and headed towards them, smiling in their direction.
"Hello, Mr. Longbottom… Ms. Abbott," the female Healer said, nodding at them both in turn and grinning broadly. "We are ready for you to come in now."
Neville's pale face turned a sickly shade of green as he shot up from his seat in the waiting room. Without another word, the young couple got up and followed the Healer out of the waiting room, and into the long corridor she had just come from.
"How are my parents doing?" Neville suddenly asked, after the three had walked in silence for a while.
"Oh, they're doing marvelously!" the Healer exclaimed, turning left in another corridor with Neville and Hannah following close behind. "They're remembering at a miraculous rate! They're already demanding to be let out, and they keep asking for you, Mr. Longbottom."
"Really?" Neville asked, amazed and dumbfounded at the same time.
"Yes, of course! Now, don't worry, we've told them everything: How much time has passed, that you are ok, that there was a second Wizarding War… you know, the usual things that went on during their loss of sanity." The Healer turned another corner and led them to the ward where long time residents stayed in Saint Mungo's.
There, emitting from one of the rooms was a series of loud yells, seemingly outraged and partially confused.
"My son! I want to see my son!" a hysterical woman shouted. Neville's blood ran cold. He knew that voice….
"It's been years! We know why we're here, just let us out!" a man screamed, angrier than the women and less panic-stricken.
Neville turned to Hannah and gripped her arm, his legs buckling underneath him as he recognized that voice, too. He looked at Hannah, his face hopeless and looking to her for answers. Even though Hannah was as pale as he was, she remained in control and reassuringly squeezed his hand that rested on her arm.
Another voice came from the room, one that sounded like a Healer, trying to calm the two other people down.
"Yes, we know, your son is on his way here. He's going to take you back to your home and-"
"My son!" Alice Longbottom continued to yell. "I want to see him now!" The woman sounded like she was close to crying.
Neville didn't think he could stand it anymore. He pushed past the female Healer leading the way in front of them, Hannah still attached to his arm.
"Hey! Mr. Longbottom, hold on! I'm going to take you to your parents!"
Neville didn't listen. He just went past and went through into the small room in front of them where all of the long term inhabitants stayed.
When he first stepped in, Neville noticed all of the residents near the front of the room looking afraid at all of the screaming coming from the far end of the room. They were all sitting there, confused, scared, and unsure of what to do.
Neville ran to the other end of the room, Hannah right at his heels.
"Mr. Longbottom!" the female Healer yelled after them, causing all of the room's residents to stir even more. "Ms. Abbott!"
They ignored her calls and barged right through the curtain separating the end of the area to the other beds in the room.
"Listen, he's our only son! We want to-"
Frank Longbottom stopped short when he saw the young man and his fiancé stepping into the space, looking anxious.
Two Healers stood in front of the Longbottoms, no doubt explaining all that was going on. Alice stood behind her husband, frustrated tears streaming down her face. But, when Neville and Hannah stepped through, all of the bickering that was once going on suddenly stopped. Everyone in the side of the room just turned and looked at the two that just arrived.
Suddenly, Alice whimpered from behind her husband and move forward, toward to where Neville and Hannah stood.
"N-Neville?" she choked out, more tears forming in her eyes. "Son?"
Neville could barely speak. His parents looked so different; they nearly looked like any other pair of parents, now that their sanity was restored.
"Mum?" he squeaked, moving past the Healers to get a clear look at his mother and father. "Dad?"
The three Longbottoms just stared at each other in wonder, all of them mixed with intense and different feelings stirring inside of them.
Before Neville could even speak, his mother ran up to him and gave him a tight hug.
"Oh my goodness… it's really you, Neville!" she said, sobbing tears of joy. "You look just like your father!"
"Except for your face," his father interjected, smiling at them both. "Then you look like your mother."
"And you're so grown!" she exclaimed. "The last time we ever really saw you… was when you were a baby…."
Alice's sentence broke off suddenly, as she stepped away from her son and clasped her hand over her mouth, a fresh stream of tears making their way down her face. But Neville had a feeling they weren't tears of joy.
"Mum?"
At the sound of the small word, Mrs. Longbottom only cried harder and let her husband step in front of her, directly across from Neville.
"I-I'm so sorry, Neville," Frank stated, his eyes filling with tears too.
"What do you mean?" Neville asked, completely perplexed.
"We… we left you for so long," Frank said, his voice cracked.
"But there was nothing you could do about that," Neville said, shaking his head. "And… Gran and I came to visit you a lot-"
"It wasn't the same as being with you when we weren't in this hospital!" Alice said loudly, stepping forward again and grabbing Neville's shoulders suddenly. "And you've been so brave, son."
"If only we could have been there as you grew up," Frank said, then he took a stride forward and swallowed his son in a hug. "My goodness, Neville," he said, "you've grown so much… we didn't even get to enjoy seeing you as a child. I wasn't there for you to talk about girls. And we weren't even there to see you off on the train to Hogwarts-"
His words broke off at the sound of a loud sob escaping his father's throat. Alice patted Frank's back in a comforting way, then, after a while, he let go of the firm hug.
Neville couldn't speak. He just stood there, looking at his parents in admiration and complete awe.
They were the brave ones. They had lived all of these years with a burden worse than death: Being driven out of their right minds with torture. And Neville was glad they were finally cured.
"But enough of this talk," Frank said, drying the tears on his face and scanning the room as if looking for someone. He turned to Neville and asked, "The workers here have been telling us that you have a girl in your life now, Neville."
Neville blushed and responded, "Actually, I do," then looked back to see if he could spot Hannah among the Healers.
It was true. The word about Neville and Hannah's wedding had been slowly spreading in the wizarding world, and so had the news about Neville's parents. So somehow, it had even reached his once insane parents.
Once he had spotted Hannah near the door, looking on at Neville and his parents reuniting, not wanting to intrude, Neville grabbed her hand and swept her to the part of the room where his parents stood waiting.
"Oh… Neville," Alice said, looking at Hannah. "She's so pretty; what a lovely girl for my son!"
Alice smiled at them, her eyes shining. Frank stood beside her and proudly looked at Neville.
Hannah blushed and looked at her toes, Neville's hand still in her's. "Thank you, Mrs. Longbottom."
"Oh please," Alice said, "no need to be so formal; you're basically a part of the family! Call me Alice. And you can call Mr. Longbottom here Frank."
"Neville?" Frank said, throwing his son a questioning look. "Are you going to tell us this lovely lady's name?"
"Oh… right!" Neville quickly regained his composure, turning to Hannah and then back to his mother and father. "Mum, Dad… this is Hannah Abbott."
"Pleased to meet you Hannah," Frank said, extending his hand for the girl to shake.
Hannah let go of Neville's hand, took Frank's hand graciously and shook it. "Same to you, Frank," she said, making sure she didn't call him Mr. Longbottom.
When Hannah turned to Alice, hand extended for her to shake, Alice look at Hannah for a second and then opened her arms and hugged the girl tightly, ignoring the handshake completely.
"My goodness," Alice said, joy flooding her voice, "Neville's grown up so fast… he's even got himself a girlfriend."
Neville scratched the back of his neck nervously. Apparently, only pieces of the news about him and Hannah had traveled to his mother and father.
"Um… Mum?" he said carefully.
Alice released Hannah from her hug and turned to him. "What is it, Neville?"
"Well," he began, not sure how to tell her his news, "Hannah and I… we're getting married. I proposed to her several months ago."
Alice and Frank stopped for a moment, gaping at him in astonishment. Neville was ready to hear the lecture about how he wasn't ready to get married or should wait a little longer and let them get to know Hannah before they were ready to fully accept her into the family.
But, instead, his father merely smiled at him and said, "We've been gone a lot longer than we thought, Alice. Soon we'll have a whole pack of little grandchildren running around." He put his arm around his wife and said to the two fiancés, "Congratulations to both of you."
"At least our sanity was restored before you held a wedding," Alice chimed in. "I wouldn't have been able live with myself if I knew I missed more than my son growing up: His wedding."
Neville smiled at them, knowing that now, after ten months of anxiety and wait, they would restore the bonds they never even had time to make and would one day be a true and complete wizarding family.