Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Meanwhile at St. Mungo's, officials informed both Charles and Augusta were informed that both Frank and Alice would be rescued that night, leaving out the part about the possibility of them being seriously hurt. They had also received the good news from the hHealers that Neville was healing nicely and would be able to leave the hospital in a couple of days. The only thing that they could do now was wait for Neville to be reunited with his parents, which they hoped would happen really soon. While they were waiting for their return Meanwhile, they were at St. Mungo's with Neville, who was improving daily,; today that day, he was had been able to walk around the ward. They even took him to the children's play area where he got had gotten to spend time with the other children on the ward. Augusta even got to talking with one of the mothers, who turned out to have been one of Neville's playmates when he was younger. Her youngest son was in hospital after having a bad reaction to a potion that he was had been taking for a bad cough, to where he could hardly breathe. He was only there overnight for observation to make sure that he was okay after he was had been treated. The two boys seemed to be getting along, ; even Augusta was thinking about letting them play together after the two children got out of the hospital, and maybe Frank and Alice would let Neville have him as a playmate once they were found and could go home together with him. The pesky reporters were still there, but were kept away from the patients' rooms and the children's play area. Though Still, a few of them did try to get in by offering to volunteer there, which the The Healers let them, as long as the cameras were left out and they signed a confidentially confidentiality agreement. The Healers told them that Neville could go home in a couple of days, if he kept on improving. This was the first time in a few days that Augusta didn't wish that Neville was the Boy Who Lived instead of that Potter boy.
Meanwhile, the two Aurors were getting ready for their rescue that night.
"Is there anything else that we can do in the meantime? I don't feel right just sitting around here," Derek asked Moody.
"Well, we're meeting with Severus later to discuss our plans for this evening to rescue the Longbottoms. At this point, from the information that we've gathered, that they're still alive, though seriously injured, which means that we'll need to have a couple of mediwizards standing by as well," Moody answered his young partner, trying to sound as professional as possible. A few minutes later, Severus arrived for their rescue mission. his meeting with the two Aurors to discuss their plans for the evening.
"Well, I'm supposed to be meeting both Rodolphus and Bellatrix at their home at 8PM tonight," Severus told them.
"What do you plan on doing once you find out if they have them or not?" Derek asked.
"IWell, I'll cget in contact with you, ; don't worry about that," Severus replied.
"What would be the signal, if they have them?" Moody asked.
"I'll let you know by shooting red sparks in the air," Severus answered him.
"Won't they find out that you're spying on our side and that you're trying to rescue their prisoners if you do that?" Derek asked him.
"Oh, but there isn't any other way to alert you guys to their whereabouts, is there?" Snape asked.
"I don't think so, unless one of us is an animagus Animagus that can get past the wards that they probably have put up on their house, but neither of us are as far as I know;" ," Moody replied.
"I'm one," Derek commented.
"How? You aren't registered with the Ministry, so how can you get by with it?" Moody asked, looking interested in his colleague's ability.
"Well, I'm registered in Canada, and since I'm here on exchange from there, I don't have to register here, which would make a great asset in catching criminals. I'm a Doberman pincher by the way, which could scare suspected criminals or even prisoners," Derek answered him, sounding proud of his abilities.
"If Derek goes with you, won't they know if you have a dog or not?" Moody asked Severus.
"Maybe, but then again, they may not care, if it's something that can be used against their prisoners," Severus answered while seriously considering the suggestion.
"Then can I go with you?" Derek asked, looking eager for the challenge.
"I guess so, but don't be too eager to change back into human form too early, depending on what we find," Severus replied.
"I can do that," Derek reassured him.
A few hours later, both Severus and Derek arrived at the LeStrange Lestrange residence, with Derek transformed into a dog.
"Good, I'm glad to see that you finally joined in our plans, Severus, and it looks like you brought a friend to join in our fun," Rodolphus told him after letting the two visitors inside.
"Bella, look who's here to carry out our plan;" ," he told his wife, who had just come from upstairs to see who was at the door.
"Severus, I'm so glad that you decided to join us after all, though unfortunately it's too late for us to get anything from our captives about Voldemort's whereabouts. sSo right now, we're just having our fun with them until they die. But then, we'll find someone else who'll know where Voldemort is, and then kidnap him and force the information out of them. him," Bella told Severus, sounding excited at the prospect of finding her master and bringing him back to power.
"Who?" Severus asked, sounding shocked and interested at the same time.
"Why that old meddling Auror, Alastor Moody. He's even better than the sweethearts that we have now. Of course, we first thought that if we killed their son, then the Dark Lord could come back, because of the prophecy. We knew that the Dark Lord planned on killing both babies that night, so after hearing about the Potters' deaths we thought that he had gone to the Longbottoms to kill their child. Of course, when we got there we found out that their little brat was alive, as were his parents. We thought that they might know where he was, since the "sweetheart Aurors" was were famous for bringing in our friends and other faithful followers of the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, they didn't tell us anything, not even when we made them think that they're son was dead, nor after being tortured for a few rounds with the Cruciatius Curse. Now, they can't even recognize their own son, even if they saw him, so we're going to continue having our fun with them until they're dead. Now your little doggie can join in on the fun too," Bella informed them, looking pleased with herself during the entire spiel. She motioned the two of them while motioning the two of them to follow her to the dungeons, where they found the worst thing that they had ever seen in this war. and looked pleased with herself during this entire spiel.
They saw the two Aurors that they were searching for on the ground, looking like they hadn't eaten in days and surrounded by their own waste and blood. Severus couldn't help but gag at the site, . but as soon as he saw them, Derek changed back into human form and signaled to the other Aurors that they had found them. In a matter of minutes, the Lestrange home was invaded by Aurors to go after them and to search the house. In their search, they found two other suspects who gave them a run for their money, . they They were surprised to find Barty Crouch's son there but they weren't surprised to find Rodolphus's younger brother there. The four suspects then went into four different directions, trying to avoid capture by the Aurors. Of course, they didn't realize that they the Aurors would split up to follow each of them. Moody went for Rodolphus, while Derek went for Bellatrix. When Moody finally caught up with Rodolphus, he began shooting off spells at Moody, who while he retaliated with some of his own. Unfortunately, Rodolphus got in a few good cutting spells at Moody that hit his left leg, but Moody kept on fighting him, determined to catch him no matter what.
While the battle between the Aurors and the suspects were was going on, the mediwizards entered the building to bring the Longbottoms to St. Mungo's for evaluation, and two of them stayed on call to assist with any injuries that occurred during the battle. The four suspects gave the Aurors a good fight and didn't a run for their money and didn't surrender easily. At the end of the skirmish, the four suspects were finally caught and sent on their way to Azkaban. With Alaster Alastor wanting wanted to go with the rest of the Auror team without getting his injury looked at. He insisted on witnessing the prisoners get being processed and settled into Azkaban before he had his injuries checked out. When he finally agreed to go to St. Mungo's it was too late for them to save his left leg, so they had to amputate it. and h He would be fitted with a wooden one that he would wear for the rest of his life. He was more concerned with finding out what had happened to Alice and Frank after they found them. When they did arrive at St. Mungo's, the reporters gathered around them, hoping to get a picture of the two Aurors and to find out about their condition. The reception witch on duty kept out the reporters the best that they she could. The senior Longbottoms were notified as soon as Frank and Alice were brought in. Augusta was already there with Neville, while and Charles came in as soon as he heard the news.
"Well, they're alive, but I need to speak with you privately in order to let you know about their condition," a kind and sympathetic Healer told them as he led them into his private office. "Right now, it doesn't look good for the both of them; right now it looks like they'll never recover fully from their injuries. Frank is in a comatose state right now, though that could change at any time. We did check for brain injury and he is so damaged that if he wakes up, that he wouldn't be aware of what's going on around him nor be able to recognize anyone that he knows, including his own son. On the other hand, we had to sedate Alice so that the mediwizards could get her here without her screaming every time that she saw us, and we had to keep her sedated to continue examining her here. She is in the same physical condition as both are dehydrated and malnourished. We're force-feeding them both nourishing and rehydrating potions right now. There is one difference with Alice though: she was two months pregnant, and she lost the baby. Do you have any questions?" the Healer informed them, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.
"When will we be able to see them?" Augusta asked, trying to hold back the tears that she wanted to shed.
"Will Well, you can see them right now, since they're settled in a ward, but afterwards I want you to go home and get some rest since you've spent the past few days here with Neville and he's doing fine now,'" the Healer answered her.
Augusta tried to protest, but her husband interrupted her. "I agree with the Healer, Augusta. y You do need to get some rest, since it looks like we're getting ready to have our world turned upside down."
Finally admitting defeat, she agreed to go home, at least until the morning when Neville would be released, but when they left the Healer's office, the Healer she gave a small vial of sleeping draught for Augusta in case it would be needed. Before the couple left for home, they went up to the fourth floor, where they saw Alice and Frank looking peaceful, as if they hadn't gone through hell the past few days. On their way out, they found one of the Aurors, who let Charles know about Moody's injuries, and since he was sleeping at the time, they decided to visit him tomorrow the next day when they came back to the hospital. When they left the hospital, they were trying to avoid the reporters that were congregating towards the exit. Though Charles did tell one reporter that he would ask his wife about granting an interview, since he could sympathize with them and he wasn't as obnoxious as the other reporters. They went home and mourned their shattered dreams for their future.
Author's Note: Please read and review.