Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.

Warning: This chapter hasn't been beta-read yet, I'll change it as soon as I get the corrected version back.

Forest of Mystery.

Two days after they late-night meeting, Albus showed up at the Manor while they were having dinner. Severus, a bit startled by his sudden appearance, invited him to sit down and eat with them. A house-elf popped in and added a serving on the table and the old man settled down with a small smile on his face. The chatter resumed between their teenagers, trying to suppress their curiosity at the Headmaster's presence. Once everyone was done, Albus requested a meeting with Severus, Kingsley and Remus, so the three men retired to the Potion Master's study to talk.

Ron, who had settled with his brother to play a game of chess, looked over his friends, who were all engaged in different activities.

"What do you think that was about?"

Lavender, who had been combing Shirleena's fur, frowned slightly. "I don't know, maybe something has happened at Hogwarts?"

All the teenagers frowned at that thought, but Bill quickly dispelled it. "I don't think the Headmaster would have taken the time to have dinner with us if there was something going on at the school."

Harry nodded. "He's got a point; Dumbledore would have just summoned Uncle Sev and the others if that was the case."

A few other ideas were tossed back and forth more for the sake of conversation than for a real hope to guess what the Headmaster wanted. It was not like anyone could usually understand the older man's actions. They had all settled down to their activities and some of them were even considering going to their rooms when the adults returned. Dumbledore had seemingly gone back to Hogwarts, since he was not there, but had left the three men with deep frowns on their faces. Looking back and forth between his friends and his mentors, Dean finally found his Gryffindor courage and was the first to break the tense silence.

"Is there something wrong, Uncle Sev?"

The man sat down with a sigh, rubbing his eyes lightly before looking at the children sprawled over his living room floor. "How many times have I asked you to sit on chairs?"

Groaning, Hermione and Neville complied with the implied request and went to sit on chairs while the other teenagers sprawled on the ground just remained there. Seeing that it was not worth getting into an argument with the children and knowing that he was just trying to gain some time, Severus shook his head and let the matter drop, addressing the question he had been asked.

"There's nothing really wrong, actually, I think you'll be quite pleased with the news Albus brought me."

The teenagers shared a confused look, but returned their attention to their former Potions Professor.

"Albus considered that since Voldemort is still on a killing spree and that anything could happen before he is brought down, you will be allowed to see your families, despite the danger that might put us in."

Several of the teenagers took in deep breaths of surprise. They had resigned themselves to not be able to see their relatives for a long while and now they were being offered the possibility to do just that much sooner than what they had expected. Hermione, that despite her growing longing still was able to keep a cool head, questioned the older man.

"How are we going to do this? I assume we don't want to draw attention?"

Kingsley, who had been sitting silently till now, nodded in agreement. "That's correct. We can't get them here because that might compromise our position and you really need a safe place to stay till Voldemort is dead. Remus and I will take a few of you each day to a safe house, where you will be able to visit with your closest family for a day before coming back here."

Harry and Neville, who, while happy for they friends, weren't as excited about it, exchanged a calculating look. That might be their chance, if they managed to arrange the different visits in a certain pattern, they would be able to sneak into the forest and out of it without anyone noticing. Severus seemingly had had the same idea.

The Potions Master took out a small paper and looked it over before talking again. "We've already organised the order in which you will be meeting your family. Tomorrow, Ron and Hermione will go, Harry will go with them since I'm certain Molly Weasley will be upset if he doesn't show up."

The smaller teenager rolled his eyes, knowing the man was probably right. Glancing at Ron, to see if he minded, he was a bit startled to see a slightly relieved look on his face. Seeing the puzzlement in his friend's face, the red-head shrugged lightly.

"Don't think I won't be glad to see mom, Harry, it's just that I prefer to share her enthusiasm so that I'm not her only victim."

That comment drew several laughs from his companions, specially from Bill, who knew exactly what the younger boy meant. After the laughter died down, Snape looked down at his list again.

"The day after that will be the turn of Seamus, Parvati and Lavender, and after that Dean will be allowed to see his family." The older man turned to watch the other orphaned boy besides Harry. Neville was looking out of the window, not moving and seemingly not paying any attention. "Neville."

He had to repeat the boy's name again before he turned around to look up at him, a lost look on his face. While Harry was in his same situation, he at least had the Weasleys to visit and he had been left with no one except for a few distant cousins he had barely met before. The Potions Master walked closer to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "If you want, we can contact one of your cousins to visit with you." The boy shook his head, it wouldn't be the same and he had no wish to feel their pity. The older man smiled slightly. "Well, then maybe you would prefer to go to Greenstead with Bill?"

The boy's head snapped up, his eyes opened wide in amazement. Bill, who didn't know anything about this, just raised an eyebrow, waiting to see what that was about. He knew that Greenstead held one of the most important herbolary research labs with hundreds of greenhouses attached to the property, but he wasn't sure why they should go there.

Neville was barely able to contain his excitement at the news. "To Greenstead? Really?"

Severus smiled softly. "The Headmaster said Professor Sprout was in need to several new exemplars for her classes but she didn't have the time to go to Greenstead herself in the middle of the schoolyear. Albus thought you might like to go, he has arranged for you to meet Professor Hyder, who is one of the top researchers in his area. He will show you around and you might want to show him your discoveries on the plants of the Forest. Without telling him where you've gotten them from, of course."

Nevilles pleasure filled face nodded eagerly. He had always dreamed about going to the Research Centre, and he was quite sure that the Potions Master had a hand in this trip. He quickly stood up and hugged the older man tightly, who returned the hug warmly. The other teenagers smiled relieved, having felt bad at their lack of forethought. Bill, on his part, shrugged lightly. He felt someone should have asked his opinion first, but at seeing Neville's face he let it go. After all he would have said yes anyway.

The next day Ron was the first one up, much to his surprise. He was nervous, Kingsley had told them they would not only be meeting his mother and father, but also most of his siblings. Percy wouldn't be there, Bill had told him there had been a fight between their parents and the other boy, and since then Percy hadn't been in contact with his family. Ron was a bit sad about it, the older boy was his brother after all, but he couldn't say he was surprised about it. The other one who would be missing was Ginny. She was still at school and could hardly miss a day of classes without raising some questions.

He had been mussing over the subject of Percy for about half an hour when he was joined by Neville. The other boy was still dressed in his pyjamas and immediately served himself a cup of tea before nodding towards his red-headed companion.

"Good morning, you're up early."

Ron grunted, making Neville smile slightly.

"Nervous?"

The red-head rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, my mother is going to go nuts."

Neville smiled slightly. "I'm sure that despite that you are looking forward to seeing her."

Ron nodded, a small smile now playing on his lips. "Yeah, she can be bossy and overprotective, but she is still my mum, you know?"

A sad light entered the other boy's eyes. "Yeah, I know."

A small touch to his arm drew Neville away from his dark thoughts. "Are you sure you're alright about this, Nev?"

The other boy shrugged and smiled slightly. "I'm fine, the pain of not having parents will always be there, but it's not like I'm alone. I have all of you, you're my brothers and sisters, and we all have Severus. I'm sure he was the one to organise my trip."

Ron nodded in agreement. "It seems more than likely."

Neville looked deep into his cup. "I am fine, in fact, personally I believe that Harry has it worse than I."

Ron blinked and looked up at the other boy, a frown etched on his face. "Harry will be with us."

Neville raised a hand lightly. "Don't take it the wrong way, Ron, I'm sure your parents will be glad to see Harry too, but that doesn't change the fact that they are your parents. Severus arranged that trip specially for me, you and the others are going to see your own families, but Harry will have to settle with coming second to you. I think that that might be harder than to not be there at all." At Ron's troubled frown, Neville patted his arm. "Don't worry about it, maybe I'm wrong, but I think that that is how I would feel. I would just caution you to try and include Harry as much as you can today, you know how he is, if he thinks that he's in the way he'll withdraw and sit in the smallest corner he can find to not draw attention to him."

A voice joined them from the entrance. "Don't worry, Neville, we won't allow him to hide away."

Both boys looked at Hermione, dressed in muggle clothes. She walked to their side and sat next to Neville. "You're both up early."

Ron shrugged. "I was too nervous to sleep anymore, I was just rolling around in my bed, trying to find a comfortable position, but it was no use, so I decided I might as well get up."

The girl nodded in understanding. She had been reading in her room for the last two hours, so she knew exactly how he was feeling. Turning to their friend, she patted his hand gently. "Don't worry about Harry, Neville, we'll make sure to keep an eye on him. Besides, I would be surprised if Severus didn't show up at some point to make sure everything is going alright. The man is most protective of the two of you, he wouldn't have allowed Harry to come with us if he thought he might be hurt."

Both boys nodded in agreement, slightly amused grins dancing on their faces. Ron was about to comment, but they heard voices approaching, so with a silent glance to each other, they let the matter drop.

To be continued...

A/N: Thanks to all reviews.