Chapter 11:

The Hogwarts group being treated at St. Mungo's was all in one large ward. The only students involved were Harry, Hermione and Neville but all of the staff was there along with Remus and Fawkes. Remus was allowed into their ward as he had at one time been a Hogwarts teacher. No one had been able to determine how to treat Fawkes so the phoenix was allowed to perch contentedly on Harry's shoulder. Severus was the most affected by the treatments as well as the first to show any changes. Since the charms placed upon him had been layered on for years it would take them a long time to remove them all without hurting Severus in the process or damaging his magical core. It turns out that the feud between Snape and the Marauders was another "project" of the headmasters to turn Severus into his perfect spy. Once that fact was revealed his irrational hatred for Harry disappeared and they were able to start to mend fences as both really wanted to get along for Hermione's sake. The magical suppression potions the three students had to be given had to be precisely brewed so they were waiting for Severus to recover fully to be able to assist the brewers for St. Mungo's.

The teaching staff, other than Minerva and Severus, was able to return to the school after 2 days of treatment. Classes had been canceled for the rest of the week and Ministry of Magic personnel had been watching the students while the teachers were being treated. They were also testing all the remaining students for charms or potions in case Albus was not revealing the entire truth. There was always the chance that with someone who had so much to confess that they would be able to hide some aspects or even forget some aspects of their crimes even with the use of the truth serum.

Minerva, Severus, Remus, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Fawkes were the last left in their room and had been told they would have to stay at least another 5 days. Hermione was both sad and glad that her mother was there. She was happy to spend some time with her since she had been in hiding and only able to keep in touch through letters, but she was sad that she wouldn't be able to show her affections for Severus with her mother present. Neville was slowly starting to emerge from his shell now that he realized that his magic had been suppressed and that explained his inconsistent performance with spells. He took the group to meet his parents, it broke Minerva's heart listening to him tell his parents about what Albus had done to all of them. Hermione was openly crying into Severus' chest as he painfully explained to his parents that they had been manipulated and if it wasn't for Dumbledore they would have been a happy family. Harry had been starting intently at Frank Longbottom when Neville was telling his story and thought he saw a momentary flicker of recognition in the man's eyes.

"Professor," he whispered to Severus. "What would happen if someone were to perform Legilimancy on them? Has anyone ever tried reaching out to their minds?"

Severus pondered the question for a moment, "I do not know if anyone has or not Harry but I do not see why we couldn't give it a try if Neville approves. I will examine his chart in the meantime while you convince Neville and explain the procedure." He hurriedly strode over to the healers office for the ward to review their files to see if it had been attempted before. After spending 45 minutes reviewing the file he realized that they had not been examined in that way as it had been "obvious that they had been tortured to insanity by the Cruciatus curse and there was no recovery possible other than making them safe and comfortable" the healer had compared it to patients of the Dementor's kiss and had given them a projected life expectancy of 10 years at the time of the attack. He found that they had never been given any treatment other than routine health scans and that the staff was astounded that they were in such good physical condition.

Harry had explained everything to Neville and he was nervous about allowing someone to roam around inside his parents' heads. "Mr. Longbottom I have just reviewed your parents files and there has never been any treatment given to them other than routine medical scans to make sure their bodies were in good physical condition. In fact there was never any initial testing done on them after the incident so we have no concrete idea of how far gone they are." Severus told the once scared boy.

Neville and the rest were shocked that his parents' mental health had been ignored entirely. "Do what ever you think may help them," Neville said determinedly, planning on having a long talk with his grandmother and especially with the healer in charge. He couldn't believe they wouldn't try everything they could think of to heal them. He accepted his parents' medical files from Severus and settled down to learn their entire contents and try to ignore what his once hated teacher was about to attempt.

Severus sat down next to Frank on the bed and looked him in the eye before performing the spell and finding himself falling into Franks mind. He had seen the inside of the Crucio addled brain before and the vast emptiness inside Frank Longbottom's mind was nothing like the jumbled mess he had witnessed in those who had been exposed to too many Crucios. The cause of Bellatrix Lestrange's insanity was directly related to the number of times she was exposed to the curse throughout her life. He had been told that her parents used it to punish her, Rodolphus used it to keep her in line and she was subjected to it regularly from the Dark Lord. He had also seen into the minds of muggle's who were tortured to insanity and their minds were chaotic. Every memory and feeling was mixed about as if the person's memories had been put in a blender and the person couldn't make enough sense out of them to function. Frank's mind was the opposite of everything he had ever seen in relation to the pain curse; in fact it much more closely resembled a complete memory charm.

He ended the spell and turned to the group. "I don't understand it at all," Severus told them. "He should have had the same damaged psyche that I have observed in other victims of this curse yet he does not. Where I expected a jumbled mess of memory bits and feelings I experience a vast emptiness. If I had to wager an opinion I would say he had been deliberately and methodically memory charmed and perhaps never even exposed to the Cruciatus curse."

"But how is that possible Severus, the death eater accounts and all the symptoms matched. Besides it is nearly impossible to do what you just suggested. I can not even fathom the power level that would be needed for such a task." Minerva told him, her face pale.

"That crazy old goat lover," Harry grit out between clenched teeth. "I would be willing to bet that Dumbledore did this to make sure that Neville could not fulfill the prophesy. If his parents couldn't die to protect him since they were trapped in their own minds then he could not become the one destined to take him out. He is the only one with enough power other than Tom who wouldn't bother with such things and he is very skilled in the mind arts. He would be the only wizard alive capable of doing it."

Neville was practically steaming with rage, "He is lucky he is already locked up or I would murder him with my bare hands," he growled. He had spent his whole life admiring the man who had taken his parents from him, it was unforgivable.

"Can you do anything for them?" Hermione asked Severus trying to diffuse the situation as well as hoping something could be done for the two.

"I can try," Severus said with a sigh. "I am going to need all of your help. Hermione I need you to ward this area so tight that not even your father would be able to get in without serious effort. Neville you need to help me keep your parents steady, we are going to start with your dad first. Just hold his shoulders to the bed and keep talking to him in a calming voice. Minerva I need you to channel some of your power to me as it is going to take more than I have to get through anything Albus put together. Harry you are coming in with me. You have natural talent for the mind arts. Hermione will feed some of her excess power to you and you will feed your extra power to me but you will do it when we are inside Frank's mind." Once he had explained everything in more detail and Hermione had finished warding the room they began.

Severus and Harry sifted through the barren desert of Frank's mind searching for the block that Albus had put in place. What most people did not know was that the obliviate spell only blocked out the memories it did not destroy them. Any memory block could be removed with enough power and finesse. The Dark Lord never bothered with the finesse part and just powered through the blocks which would damage a person worse than the pain curse could, like he did to Bertha Jorkins. They were finally able to locate the origin of the memory charm and Harry began to channel more magic to Severus who was slowly chipping away at the "shell" of the spell like an archeologist trying to carefully remove fossils from rock. After what seemed like ages to the two men they were finally able to crack a very small piece out and create a hole the size of an egg.

"Frank Longbottom," Severus called through the hole. "Frank are you in there? If you can hear me please respond."

"I can hear you," a man's voice responded from the other side of the barrier. "Thanks be to God! I have been trying for what seems like an eternity to break free from here."

"Frank I need your help to break this barrier apart. If I do this without your help I may accidentally damage some of your mind." Severus told him. "I need you to come to this hole and help us pry it open."

"I cannot move," Frank told them. "Whatever Dumbledore did to me he has me stuck behind this type of barrier that repels anything I throw at it and any attempts to remove it."

"Does it look like liquid blue fire when something hits it?" Severus asked amazed at the lengths Albus would go.

"Yes, that's exactly it!" Frank told them, his voice sounded excited at not only the prospect of freedom but just from having someone to talk to.

"Harry I need you to leave Frank's mind. A specific potion is needed to take down the barrier. I have the antidote to the Mind-prison Poison in my potions case in my robes. Hermione will know which one it is. I need you to have her administer it to Frank. Give three drops, wait 30 seconds, give 6 drops wait 60 seconds and than give 9 drops and wait 90 seconds before administering 3 more drops. Squeeze my shoulder when she administers the first drops so we know to be ready in here." Severus told him.

"May I ask why this antidote was not administered before?" Harry asked.

"It would kill anyone who was not under the effect of the potion," Severus told him. "Now once she begins the antidote Frank will start to thrash around the rest of you need to make sure he and I continue to maintain eye contact or I will loose my connection and not be able to help him remove the block."

Hermione was shocked when Harry came to and demanded the Mind-prison Poison antidote. She quickly located the correct bottle and got ready to administer it, making sure to cast a full body bind on Frank first to maintain eye contact. She knew
Frank would be sore if he came to but she also knew Severus needed to maintain contact and a few sore muscles were worth being in your right mind for the first time in years.

"Ok Frank," Severus told the other man. "As soon as that barrier is down I need you to hurry over here and help me destroy the memory charm. Your body is going to get tired from the antidote so we need to work quickly before you fall into a healing sleep and I loose the foothold I have."

"Not a problem." Frank replied. "May I ask why I didn't recognize the barrier? Auror's are trained to recognize all known poisons."

"It is a potion I developed for Dumbledore many years ago and was a secret until recently. Without the antidote you would never be able to escape from your own mind. We were investigating alternatives to the Dementor's Kiss for prisoners in the event that the vile creatures turned against the Ministry." Severus told him right as the barrier began to shimmer and start to collapse. "Wait until all the blue is gone and then get over here." Severus said; glad to see the antidote working so quickly.

As soon as the last remnants of liquid blue flames were gone Frank rushed over to where he could see a miniscule hole in the memory charm barrier. "What do you need me to do?" He asked as they had never covered this in auror training as it was usually only done by a professional healer.

"Just start peeling back at the barrier starting at the hole. As long as you are helping me your brain should recognize that it is being freed not attacked and no damage should occur." Severus said and the two started peeling away at the charm. It was like peeling an onion as there were layer upon layer upon layer of spell work. They were finally able to get the hole large enough that Severus believed Frank could fit through. "Now that we have made a large enough hole you should just be able to step out onto this side and your memories will start to flow out of the hole and fill up this space again."

Frank heaved himself through the hole with Severus' help and was finally out and able to view the vast waste that was his mindscape. He turned to finally look at who was helping him and almost jumped back with shock. "Severus Snape?" Frank asked astonished. At Severus' nod Frank just smiled. "Well no mater who you are I am eternally grateful. I owe my life to you, if there is ever anything I can do for you do not hesitate to ask." He said and shook hands with Snape as they watched a river of memories and emotions flow out of the hole.

"Now I will break the spell connecting us and you should awake in the real world." Severus told him, satisfied he had finally done something to rectify all the wrongs his two 'masters' had created.

What had appeared to be hours of time spent in the mind had actually only been a few minutes before the two men were back in reality. As soon as Hermione saw Severus move she released Frank from the body bind. Frank blinked and slowly started taking in his surroundings. Neville was frozen in wonder and irrational fear at the end of the bed, out of his dad's line of sight. He was suddenly afraid his father would be disappointed in him and wouldn't want him. Frank moved his gaze to Harry and gasped. "James?" He croaked his vocal cords unused to speech. "How? What?"

Harry realized the man did not realize how much time had passed and a sad look came over his face. "Mr. Longbottom I believe you have mistaken me for James Potter. If you remember he died October 31, 1981 along with his wife Lily. I am their son Harry." He told him carefully. "I am very sorry to say that you have been trapped in your own mind for close to 16 years."

"Alice? Neville?" Frank croaked, tears running down his face as he realized everything he must have missed in the lives of those he loved.

Neville was snapped from his fears by his father's voice asking about him. "I'm right here dad," he said stepping into view and looking into the lucid face of his father for the first time in his memory. Like Harry he had very few real memories of his parents before they were taken from him so it was like seeing him for the first time.

Frank looked at the young man before him and smiled a watery smile. His son looked a lot like him but there were definite features of Alice as well. He held out his hand and was soon engulfed by the strong arms of his now teenage son who he had not held since he was a toddler. "Oh son," Frank whispered finding he could talk better if he was quieter. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there to watch you grow up. You look so strong and handsome." That broke apart Neville's fears and allowed the dam of emotions to crack and the two cried together for a few minutes while the others began preparing to perform the same treatment on Alice to give the two men some privacy.

Severus was surprised to see that the memory charm on Alice was not as complete as the one on Frank. There were a few rogue memories floating around in the empty space all of which showed her and a baby Neville together. It did not take him as long to crack through her memory charm as he had Harry's help again and since Harry understood what was going on he was able to help direct the magic and it was a quicker process. "Alice can you hear me?" Severus called through the small crack in the memory charm.

"Yes, please help me! I'm trapped in here. Please hurry I have to get to my son, he's in danger!" Alice screamed once she heard them.

"Alice, can you come over here to me or are you surrounded by what looks like a barrier of liquid blue flames?" Severus asked needing to know if they needed to administer the antidote to her as well.

"That's exactly what it looks like; please you've got to get me out of here!" Alice called and it was easy to hear the desperation in her voice.

"We are going to administer an antidote to the barrier, it will start to flicker. Once it is totally gone I need you to hurry over here and help me tear apart this memory charm barrier. You will start to tire after the antidote so we will need to work quickly. As soon as we have a big enough hole opened that you can fit through we can release you and your memories." Severus explained to her knowing she needed to be told everything so she didn't waste time once the barrier was down.

Hermione put the body bind on Mrs. Longbottom and started administering the antidote; she was hoping they would be done by the time Frank asked about her as it would be easier on Neville to only have to explain everything once. She was surprised with how little time it took until Severus returned and quickly removed the body bind on Alice, letting her blink and look around at her surroundings.

"Please, you have to help me find my son." Alice pleaded with Hermione as soon as she saw her. "We were under attack and I saw my husband fall but I need to know what happened to my baby!"

Hermione was impressed that she was able to speak so forcefully even after not speaking for so long. "Mrs. Longbottom I need you to relax," Hermione soothed. "Neville is fine, he's safe and you can see him momentarily." Alice relaxed at that news and waited to see what else the young woman had to say. "You have been trapped inside that barrier in your mind for a while now. Time does not flow the same inside your head as in the real world."

Alice blinked tears away as she processed that thought. "How long? How much have I missed?" She asked dreading the answer and hoping her son had been well looked after during her absence.

"It's been almost 16 years," Hermione told her not knowing how to lessen the blow that she had lost that much of her life.

"Oh Neville, oh no that means I've missed all of his childhood, how will he ever forgive me for not being there for him?" Alice asked desperately trying to hold back her tears.

Neville had pulled apart from his father just in time to see his mother awake. He heard what she asked and hurried to her side. "Mum, don't worry mum it's not your fault. I'm just so happy to have you back." Neville told her as she wrapped him in the hug that he had been longing for for some time.

After Neville had calmed his mother some he turned to look at his teachers to see what to do next. "Alice, Frank I know you two have lots of questions but for right now you need to be checked out by a healer and hopefully moved to our ward. We will be able to answer everything you need to know then but please be patient as you are still weak from the antidote." Severus told them after seeing that Neville was too overwhelmed to make any decisions.

"Frank?" Alice asked, hope tingeing her voice. She had thought he fell in the attack; maybe it had not been fatal?

"I'm here love," he told her as they turned in their beds to face each other. When he heard her voice and saw her in the bed next to him his heart had broken as he realized she had met the same fate as him. His boy had been alone this whole time, it was more horrible than he could have imagined, and he just hoped they would be able to get through it. He was just thankful they were all together again.

The healers had been summoned and were remarking on the miraculous recovery of their patients until Harry and Severus ripped into them about their lack of care and how they were never actually suffering from post traumatic Cruciatus exposure. Amelia Bones was then brought in to question the healers in charge about why the Longbottoms were never examined properly and never received any treatment as well as to see with her own eyes that her friends were safe. They had all been aurors together and she was so happy they were healthy again and their family would be allowed to heal. After the questioning revealed that the healers were working under the influence of Dumbledore it was determined that every healer was to be questioned. The Longbottoms were moved to the ward the others were staying in and Poppy Pomfrey was brought in to check them for any further spells or potions.

It took the 6 from Hogwarts the rest of the day and night to explain everything that had happened in the past 16 years to the two Longbottoms. Neville was sitting contentedly between his parents on an enlarged hospital bed just enjoying having them around while he let the others do most of the talking. He couldn't describe the content and happy feeling he had; it was most definitely the best day of his life. His parents were back, they loved him and were proud of him and they would be able to be a family again, it was everything he ever dreamed of come true.

Frank revealed that there never was a death eater attack on them that he knew of. Dumbledore had come to their house to tell them that Voldemort had made a mistake when he killed the Potters and that Neville was the real child of the prophesy and that he needed to make sure they were safe. He told them it would be better if they gave Neville up for adoption and hid him in the muggle world. He told them they should put a magic suppressor on him and keep him hidden until he was needed. They refused and told him they would go under the Fidelius charm and he became angry. He told them that if they wouldn't do as he said he would just do it himself and before either could react he had cast a magical binding spell at Neville where he was playing next to them. Frank was able to pull his wand before he too was hit with a curse. He was unable to protect his mind when Dumbledore entered and trapped him inside.

Alice didn't remember much about that day other than seeing Frank fall and that they were under attack from someone they trusted. She also told them that they had an ancient enchantment around Neville at the time that was triggered to dark magic. If any dark magic had been cast Neville would have been portkeyed away to the Auror offices and Amelia would have been immediately notified as she was Frank's partner. Alice didn't have a partner at the time of the attack as she had been partners with James Potter and she was still grieving his loss when they were attacked. She also told them that she had been wondering how baby Harry had been attacked in the first place as she and Lily placed the same protections on both boys and only someone with a large amount of raw power as well as exact knowledge of what spells were placed on the boys would be able to dispel them. She and Lily should have been the only ones who could undo the spells.

"What I don't understand is why the Lestranges bragged about torturing you to insanity then?" Minerva told them. "Bellatrix was practically bragging about it during her trial."

"Perhaps Albus got to them as well," Remus told them. "They had been off the radar since Voldemort disappeared, maybe Albus had them captured someplace and modified their memories as well and then released them to be caught ensuring that he was never implemented in the attack."

"Sounds plausible after everything else he's done." Hermione told them. "He is also strong enough to have dispelled the protection on both Harry and Neville against dark magic."

"Why didn't he just kill me or Harry and be done with it?" Neville asked confused as to why all the manipulation and not just go for end results.

"After Harry defeated Voldemort it would have been suspicious if the world's hero mysteriously died and there was no need to kill Neville since his parents didn't die to protect him." Hermione told them logically. "I think he had probably planned for Harry to die that night when Peter gave away their location. He had to have known Peter was a death eater and was the secret keeper since he would have had to been the one to cast the spell as it takes a very powerful wizard or multiple less powerful wizards and you cannot perform the spell if you are the one being hidden so that rules out Lily and James casting it, Peter is hopeless and if Sirius and Remus had helped cast the spell Remus would have known Wormtail was the traitor, so that only leaves Dumbledore to have cast it."

Severus smiled fondly at Hermione and pulled her closer to his side. He was in awe of how smart his witch was and couldn't imagine his life without her in it any longer. "You my dear are entirely too logical and intelligent, you make me seem as thick as a Weasley!" He teased her earning himself a smack which was able to ease the tension in the room as they all laughed.