Chapter Nineteen

The box had been completely empty.

When Arthur Weasley had reached for the box, he asked the others what the worse to happen could have been.

Apparently there wasn't anything that could have happened. There didn't seem to be anything in the box and the three men look at each other with confusion in every part of their faces. It didn't make a bit of sense to any of them.

"A damn heavy box like that and there's nothing in it?"

"It sure looks that way, Fionn."

"That makes no sense!" The youngest of the three sounded quite put out, and the other two didn't blame him. Having a box follow him around everywhere he went and later turn out to be empty couldn't have made him too happy.

"Well, what do we do now?"

Arthur's question was met with helpless silence for a moment. The other two shrugged at him, as lost about what to do as he was.

"Well, I guess we take the box off your desk to start with and put it away somewhere. It's just a box, right? Billy?"

Arthur looked at Billy, who in all honesty looked like he'd be fine with throwing the thing in a bonfire and forgetting all about it.

"I guess so. It doesn't make for a good tip jar or anything. Besides, how is Arthur going to do any work with it there, getting into his way?"

"I suppose not. Well, let's move this thing. Slide it over to the edge and we'll pick it up from there. It's not like it's going to wreck your desk any worse. Sorry, Arthur."

The Weasley patriarch waved the comment off, since he was going to requisition a new one anyway. The bean-counters might deny him yet again, but he was going to try it. The three men grabbed on to whatever corner of the box that presented itself and tugged as hard as they could to move it.

In vain.

The box sat there, right in the middle of Arthur's desk, completely ignoring any attempts to move it. They looked at each other and tried to move it again without luck.

"This box is empty, right?"

Billy stuck his hand down in the box and felt around.

"I'm pretty sure it is."

Arthur thumped the side of it, resulting in a sound like any other wooden box.

"Well, what's the problem? What's keeping the thing on your desk?"

A giggle from behind the trio interrupted them.

"That would be my fault. Sorry!"

They looked around to the unexpected sound of the voice. On the couch rested a lovely woman. Her amusement was plain to see. The blonde curls framed luminous blue eyes and a laughing smile. The three could see that she was dressed in something that defied all ready expression. Arthur privately thought that Molly could never pull off whatever that outfit was and couldn't have twenty-five years ago either.

None were quite sure if she was wearing fabrics at all. It shifted as she moved, revealing tantalizing glimpses of a trim body. She chortled at their dumbstruck expressions.

"Close your mouths, boys. Two of you are married and all of you are far too young for me. Centuries, even."

Arthur snapped his jaw shut, barely remember to pull his tongue in first. It looked like the other two had the same problems.

"Um… who are you and how did you get here?"

"Hello, Arthur Weasley. 'How' was in that box," she pointed to the box in question with a slim finger, "and 'who' is quite simple."

The three felt their magics pulsing along with their heartbeats, responding to her presence.

"I'm Magic itself and I have a job for you!"

The surprise in their faces seemed comical to her even as she started to talk.

"You see, I want someone to be supports for Harry Potter and his bonded, Hermione."

"Harry and Hermione? They're bonded now?" Arthur smiled. "It's been a little while since I've seen them. I thought that was going to happen long ago, but only Fred and George believed me. Well, Bill and Charlie might have had some thoughts but with them out of the country and not really around them much, I don't know what they thought. I do know that she looked out for him a lot considering all the scrapes he's gotten into over the years."

The other two looked at him as he rambled. Magic smiled broadly at him and stood up to give him a hug.

"And you opened your home to him whenever he's needed it. Arthur Weasley, you've been one of the father figures he's needed and I thank you. As for the bonding, I'm not sure they quite understand it as a result of the recent ritual they did. As one of those father figures, Arthur, I'd like you to mention that to them. I'll talk to you about that later and tell you what they need to know. Oh, don't worry, I completely approve. He needs her a lot more than he really knows."

Arthur blushed as she tightened her hold on him for a moment. When she kissed his cheek and let go, he was as red as his hair. The other two glanced at each other, a bit jealous that they didn't get a hug. The redheaded man looked at the physical manifestation of Magic and spoke.

"I and my family will always support Harry, and Hermione of course, since we've pretty much adopted him as another son and her as another daughter. As the Head of House Weasley, I've always had a place for them and always will."

His eyes glowed and Magic clapped in delight. Arthur didn't realize what had happened, since he was speaking from the heart.

"But what about us? As far as I know, Billy here doesn't have any real knowledge of those kids, and I know I don't. Where do we even fit?" Fionn was lost and his voice showed it.

Magic laughed.

"You work in this 'Magical Accidents and Catastrophes' department, right? You should know how to create them, I'm sure." She ignored his surprise and turned to point at the younger man hiding a bit behind Fionn McCartan. "And Billy – such a cute little boy, I want one just like him – knows all kind of groups of people from going out to meet them and counting them all the time. Who better to find somewhere to hide my Chosen when they need to be hidden?"

They all stared at each other at that pronouncement, made as easily as dropping a couple of Knuts into a jar.

-===(| - |)===-

Neville sat at the bedside of the slight young girl he'd brought into the Hospital Wing. He felt responsible for her, somehow, and didn't want to leave her bedside until she woke up. Madam Pomfrey had told him that it would most likely be all day before that happened, but he didn't care. They had come to an agreement. As long as he wasn't disruptive to her domain, she would allow him to remain where he was. From the beady eye she'd directed his way, he knew that she meant what she'd told him.

So, he remained. For some reason, he found himself holding her hand. The rough calluses on his fingers from all the manual non-magical work he did in the greenhouses and the grounds of Hogwarts seemed to float over the soft skin of her hand. There was a feminine strength in that hand, he knew. Their dance in the greenhouse had told him that. Unfortunately due to her present condition, it was in abeyance.

It bothered Neville. Her limp hand in his bothered him more than he was able to put into words. So he did the only thing that he could for now. He remained at her bedside. Luna might have had a certain… kookiness… about her, but whatever had savaged her body the way it had was not deserved by her at all.

He felt his fist tighten up. It was the one that was holding her hand and he forced himself to calm down.

What was with him?

There was a noise at the doors to the Infirmary and he looked up to see Harry Potter and Hermione Granger walk in with two strangers. Neville waved at them and turned his attention back to Luna. The thought ran through his head that it was a rare thing when Harry came here willingly. He wondered if Harry was sick.

He snorted to himself over that thought as his glance wandered to the engraved plaque over the bed that Harry seemed to always be put into. A shadow fell over his seated form and he felt a hand land on his shoulder. Neville looked up to see Harry's concerned face.

"We didn't see you or Luna at breakfast, Nev. We just found out about her. What happened?"

"All I know is that I found her under some kind of weird Disillusionment charm, badly injured. There was blood everywhere and I didn't stick around to take any notes. She was in bad shape and I got her here as quickly as I could. Madam Pomfrey told me that it was a good thing I got here as quick as I did since her blood volume was severely depleted. If it hadn't been for her magic specifically focusing on something – what she hasn't figured out yet – Luna would have died."

"Was her father notified?"

Neville nodded.

"I think so, but I also think he's off on another expedition and can't get here quickly. I'm not going to leave her here alone."

Harry moved to the other side of the bed to pick up Luna's other hand and Neville saw the strangers move around to let him through. Hermione moved with him and put her hand on his shoulder as he perched on a bedside stool.

"Luna? We're here and we're pulling for you. I've been in these beds too much myself, so don't go trying to beat my time here. I don't think you could."

A snort from the nearby office came clearly through the open door. Harry cast a betrayed look at Madam Pomfrey, who'd stuck her head out the door to see who'd come in. She rolled her eyes at him and went back to whatever she'd been doing. The smirks on the faces of Hermione and Neville didn't make him feel better.

"What? It's true, right?"

There was a moment of silence broken by Neville clearing his throat. Harry looked up from looking at Luna's sleeping face.

"Yeah, Nev?"

The stockier young man flicked his eyes to the strangers and raised an eyebrow, but didn't release Luna's hand.

"Oh! Well, you weren't there at breakfast to meet them. It was quite a show." Hermione reddened at that. He gently laid Luna's hand down and stood up. "Neville Longbottom, meet James and Lily Potter."

"What?"

"Yep, it is."

Neville normally would be gaping at all of them, but they could see that his mind was more distracted by the young witch whose hand he still held. There was enough confusion there for him to ask the obvious question.

"But how?"

Lily grabbed a chair and sat down by Neville.

"I'd say it's a long story, but short form: Hermione grabbed Harry and did a ritual. We're back. Harry was very red in the face after she grabbed him," she finished firmly.

Neville raised an eyebrow and looked up at Hermione, who'd gotten a distinct blush.

"Apparently not just Harry, not that it matters. It's not hard to embarrass him. It's entertaining, sometimes. Are you really…?" His tone indicated that he was a bit hopeful.

Lily grinned.

"Yes, we are and proven by the Sorting Hat too. It's been a while since I've seen you, Neville. I remember having changed my godson's nappies a few times. I'm pleased to see him holding a pretty girl's hand now."

Neville blushed this time and Harry snickered. Lily looked at him.

"Don't laugh too much, son of mine. Between you and Neville, there was a lot more cleaning and sanitizing to keep both of you in nappies. Nobody figured out who was worse."

The snicker cut off abruptly. Neville whispered to Harry, "Better hope she doesn't have baby pictures hidden somewhere, mate."

Lily smiled. Neville wasn't as quiet as he thought he was.

"Even better. I have memories of baby baths and Harry streaking on his broomstick."

Harry nearly swallowed his tongue when Hermione innocently said, "Oh? The Headmaster has a pensieve. Care to share?"

To his dismay, Lily looked at the other witch and smiled. The godbrothers looked up at James, who held up his hands.

"Don't look at me. I'm not getting in this one. I know better."

Mildly frustrated, they looked at each other, and Harry picked up Luna's hand again as James continued with his thought.

"I have a few memories of my own, you two. It wasn't just brooms when the two of you decided to compete. Why, I remember this one time…"

Harry cleared his throat loudly, hoping that Madam Pomfrey hadn't heard that.

"Sirius and Remus used to place bets on one or the other of you. Frank thought it was hilarious, but Alice had to be a spoilsport about it."

Neville's eyes jumped to James, who looked back at him.

"Uh… who won?"

"Oh, I'd say it was about even."

"What did Mum do?"

"Gave us all a right wigging about it, then demanded Frank take her out for dinner on the winnings. He knew it was the safest thing to do, and to avoid sleeping on the couch for a while he did just that, even though neither of you placed enough for even a shot of cheap Firewhiskey. He took her out and didn't say a word about it. We all chipped in that day to prevent Frank from suffering too much. Alice was smug about it for a week."

Neville snorted.

"I can see that."

Lily eyed James. He looked at her a little uneasily.

"And just where was my dinner night out, hmmmm? I'm sure the castle house-elves can find you a nice, somewhat comfortable couch while I stay in that nice cozy bed."

James shut up quickly and looked at Harry.

"Don't look at me, dad. I'm not getting in this one. I know better."

Hermione patted his shoulder in congratulations. Trying to change the subject before any spousal battles erupted, Harry looked at Luna, then Neville.

"So, Nev, it seems like there must be a spark between you two. Care to comment any?"

There was another light blush from the Gryffindor holding her other hand.

"Well, I'm not… you see… uh…. Well…"

The more he sputtered, the wider Harry's grin got.

"Nev. Relax, your secrets are safe with us. It's not like we have any gossipmongers in here now, right?"

He was fairly sure Madam Pomfrey would stay quiet about anything she heard in here. He wasn't sure she and Professor McGonagall wouldn't lay any bets anyway. Meeting Hermione's eyes, he saw that she seemed to have much the same thoughts. In fact, she looked like she was going to lay her own bets. Harry hoped that Neville didn't notice. He didn't see the gleam in Lily's eyes.

Neville took a deep breath.

"We danced in the greenhouse."

Lily's eyes widened and she smiled at her godson.

"Oh, now we're getting somewhere. Just a dance? Two? Three? Before or after curfew? All night?"

James leaned down. His expression would have done any Daily Prophet reporter proud.

"Did you snog her a good one?"

"James!"

"What? It's a reasonable question. I would have if it had been you."

Lily shook her head, but considering the color on Neville's cheeks there wasn't a need to answer that. She leaned over and gave him a hug. He leaned into her hug, feeling his magic reach out for that maternal feeling. She felt it too and held him close.

"Show her what a Longbottom stands for. The Potters are with you, too. Potters and Longbottoms stick together. Don't forget that," she whispered to him.

"But she's got to wake up first to be able to show her," he whispered back. His eyes were worried.

"She will, godson. It may take her a little while, but she will. I bet your magic has been reaching for her all this time. You haven't let go of her hand this whole time you've been sitting in that chair, have you?"

"No…" His whisper trailed off as he came to a realization. His eyes grew wide.

"Then wait and let her heal. Then when she's ready, take her out for another dance. Show her that romantic side all Longbottom men have, hmm?"

He nodded as she grinned at him.

"I will."

She smiled and ruffled his hair.

"I know you will."

She let him go after kissing his forehead and they took their leave after Lily told him to remember to eat something and take care of himself. Harry told him that there would be more explanations later. After they left, Neville looked at Luna's still form. He remained still for many minutes before coming to a decision in the stillness of the otherwise empty room.

"Luna, I want to dance with you and hold you in my arms again, but I can't do that with you in this hospital bed. Come back to me."

There was a pause as he placed a light kiss on the back of her still hand.

"Luna Lovegood, may I have this dance?"

Behind the closed eyelids, her magic responded to his with a silvery pulse.

-===(| - |)===-

In the Owlery's main administration offices, an old owl grinned to himself as the winds of magic shifted around him yet again. It was about time. He drafted a messenger leaf and sent it off. Lady Hedwig would like this, if she hadn't noticed it already. There were things happening that neither liked or understood and didn't know what to do about, but this was something to enjoy.

He turned his attention to the monthly budget report. What the name of The Great Thermal was Jessup thinking? Did he expect to get this much for the quarter, much less the year?

Sighing in annoyance at self-important owlish bureaucrats yet again, he made some corrections. Sooner or later he was going to have to have Jessup in his office… yet again.

-===(| - |)===-

Professor Snape was almost finished with his potion as a portion of his mind chewed over what he had seen earlier. His mastery of the mind arts helped to keep him upright in the wake of the absolute shock he'd just suffered an hour or so ago, but the familiar actions of brewing a potion helped steady him. His equilibrium was almost completely back to what was normal for him.

A knock on the door interrupted Snape before he could finish the stirring of the blood replenishment potions for Madam Pomfrey. It was his habit to fill her stocks of various potions since he was the most efficient brewer in Britain and could create a finished potion in a fraction of the time than everyone else. This allowed him to devote less time to that chore, which was useful during Quidditch season.

Without stopping the stirring motion in the cauldron he was working in, he waved a hand at the door to unlock it using wandless magic. He held up a pointer finger at whoever came into his private potions lab in an unspoken command to wait for him to finish.

There was no interruption for the next few minutes and he was satisfied as the cauldron entered the final parts of the process. Snape reduced the heat and murmured a timing spell to cut it off after seven minutes of simmering. There was nothing else that he needed to do after that, so he put a lid on the cauldron and turned to see who his visitors were.

To his shock, it was James and Lily Potter.

His surprise must have found its way on his pale face, because James held up both hands. Neither hand held a wand and his fingers spread apart.

"We have come to visit you in peace – and with good will."

Despite himself, Snape rolled his eyes.

"If you say 'Klaatu barada nikto,' I'm going to hex you."

James stopped, confused. "What?" He was interrupted by a snort from Lily. He looked at her. "What is he talking about?"

She shook her head, a small smile on her lips.

"Nothing. Muggle movie reference."

"Ah, okay, if you say so." He faced Snape again, who was looking at him with a disbelieving sneer. "But seriously, I did mean the 'good will' part, but we do have a lot of air to get cleared. All three of us."

A dark eyebrow rose.

"And what exactly could I trust you with? I can't think of anything."

James stopped.

"Okay, that's a fair question. How's this? We – meaning the Marauders – went too far too many times while we were in school – all of us. For my part, we meant what we said, Lily and I."

The eyebrow had been descending, but it rose again.

"So is that all? I have brewing to do if it is."

Lily stepped forward.

"No, Sev, there isn't. You've behaved very badly to not just my son, but a lot of others."

"Dunderheads, the lot of them."

Lily stared at him, a tic starting at one of her eyelids. "You know better than that."

He returned the stare with interest. "Very well, I grant that some aren't as deadly as others."

"But you're still stuck on events that happened twenty plus years ago. I've heard about my son's very first lesson. Why did you ask him upper-year questions and then ridicule him for not knowing?"

"So, this is what this is about? The Potter prince went crying to mummy? Why didn't you bring this up earlier in the Great Hall, before all the witnesses?"

James sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Look, Severus," Snape looked surprised at not being called 'Snivellous' and looked harder at him, "there's a saying I once heard that goes something like 'resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.' One of the things we saw on the other side was the souls burdened down with the resentments and grudges and grievances and I don't know what all else. All the bad stuff that people carried over in life from day-to-day and year-to-year. It was something that both of us had holding us back too and we spent time trying to identify the cause of all that. We couldn't escape the conclusions there. For me at least, it was like being slapped in the face with a big fat trout."

"And?" The word was drawled out.

"And yeah, getting hit with a Voldemort special delivery didn't help with that either since it stings like a bitch when you wake up in the afterlife, but since time doesn't apply there as it does here the crippling grudges and stuff tainted the so-called enjoyment Lily and I could have otherwise had. Seeing all that crap felt like it was aging us, if again not at the same rate as we would have been in life. Aside from worrying about our son, from the glimpses we saw from life with the Dursleys. He didn't have a good time with Lily's lovely sister Petunia."

Snape grimaced. James saw that.

"Yeah. Me too. Never liked her. I don't know what you might know, but let's just say that we're going to sit him down later and have a long talk with him, then probably have a very long talk with them depending on what he tells us."

Lily looked up at Snape and motioned him closer. Unsure what she was up to, he slowly approached. She whispered something in his ear that made his eyes go wider, before his Occlumency shields slammed down and his face evened out. He looked down at her face, with the green eyes he remembered so well.

"Are you sure, Lily?"

She shrugged, looking a little lost. "I don't know for sure, yet. We only saw glimpses at certain times and certain circumstances. You've seen him more than we have during his time in school, remember? That's more time with him than we've had."

James wondered what his wife had whispered in the other man's ear that had such an effect, and he could see that she wasn't going to tell him what it was.

"Severus, look, the reason we didn't jump all over you in the Great Hall is that we want to set an example for the kids in there. There were first years and second years that didn't need to see either Lily or me hex you up one side or the other. Probably third years, too. Private discussion is better, since frankly what we have to say to each other to clear the air is most definitely none of their business."

Lily nodded at what he was saying.

"Tell us. Why did you treat our son that way? Was it because he looks so much like James and it reminded you of the stupid way the Marauders treated you?"

Snape was silent for a moment, and the other two didn't push. They could see that he was thinking about it.

"To some degree, but if you say anything about that outside of these walls…"

"We won't." Lily said. "But you need to apologize to Harry. I mean it, Sev. You've got a hell of a lot of making up to me where my beloved son is concerned."

She could see the stubbornness in him.

"I mean it, Sev. I think you know what I'll do if I hear of you doing it to him again. I won't leave enough of you for DMLE to blot up with a roll of paper towels. You have a lot of changing to do."

James was wondering what paper towels was, but apparently the other man did.

"Ah, distinct promises of violence aside," they both turned to look at him, "Voldie's got to go. He nearly destroyed Magical Britain last time."

"I agree. That's why I'm working against him even if he doesn't know it."

James and Lily wasn't expecting that, and it distracted them from what they had planned to say.

He bared his arm to reveal the Dark Mark, which was sinister on his forearm. It seemed to pull all the light out of the room.

"I hope to see this fade to nothingness and the day that it does is the day he finally dies. If that means I die the same day, then so be it."

"Why are you so set against him?" James wondered. "I thought you just happened to be a Death Eater, through and through?"

Snape grimaced. He walked to a cabinet and took out a large dusty bottle and three glasses. Those went on a side table. The bottle itself wasn't clear glass, but some opaque material that settled onto the table with a solid thunk.

"You can do a poison detection spell on those. Once I break the seal, I'm not going to stop until the bottle is empty. If that means I have to drink the whole thing myself, that bottle's going to be empty tonight. You want to know why, then we drink this. If we beat the hell out of each other in the meantime, oh well."

The others' eyebrows rose at this. James used a Potter family spell to detect any poison, while Snape put his cauldron under a stasis spell. He looked at Lily.

"How did you come back from the dead, anyway?"

Lily smiled.

"Magic. Magic, the Brightest Witch of Her Age, and a ritual she still hasn't quite told us about."

Snape rolled his eyes.

"Of course it was. She's too smart for her own good sometimes."

James finished what he was doing and Snape poured out the drinks. Raising his drink to his lips, he paused. There was something about the way Lily had said that last part. Something occurred to him and he groaned.

"There aren't going to be any little Potters running around now, are there?"

He shuddered at the thought and threw back his drink to stave it off. It didn't help, so he refilled his glass as quickly as he could. No one noticed that the bottle refilled itself to half of what had been poured out.

"No. You don't have to worry about that. Not that kind of ritual, at least."

"Thank Morgana for small favors," he grumbled.

"Hey! I think being a Potter is great!" James yelped.

"You would."

Lily took back the conversational reins after glaring at the other two.

"Now, about the way you treated him and others?"

Her green eyes bored into his dark ones, and against his will he found himself confiding things the same way that he had done as they did growing up.

"I have to play a role. Assigned by who, I won't say. Circumstances dictated that I have to be a…" he paused momentarily for a suitable description.

"A bellend? A dribbling dick? A true arsehole to end all arseholes? A right bastard? A really huge cock-up? An absolute… Oof!" James found his recitation of suggestions cut off by the backhand to the gut delivered by his loving wife.

Snape rolled his eyes again.

"Yes," he drawled. "I've had to pretend to be you. On a good day. Using that example, it wasn't hard."

"Hey!"

"Shut up and drink. I'm nowhere near drunk enough for this conversation I don't want to have anyway."

-===(| - |)===-

The next morning, James and Lily found out that the liquor, which had gone down quite smoothly, produced a hangover that refused to respond to any hangover potion. This didn't prevent the understanding they had come to with Snape. The venom was finally excised although he would never be James' friend. It had taken several hexes, some borderline Dark curses, quite a few shouted words from all parties, screamed imprecations and dire promises, broken furniture (although the potions had been untouched,) four black eyes, five broken hands, a ripped tendon or two, eleven broken ribs, a broken nose, two hyper-extended knees, twelve ripped-out fingernails and some lacerations in rather sensitive areas.

Madam Pomfrey had her work cut out for her. She had to wait for the hangovers to end, since it was a whiskey made from a blend of magical grains that caused all her wand diagnostics and treatments to throw up errors. Without proper information, she had to poke and prod and work using the manual method.

She was so peeved at the actions of the three of them that she had to act. Madam Pomfrey invited every Weasley she could find to demonstrate various Weasley Wizarding Wheezes products under the open Hospital Wing windows that Snape and James Potter had been positioned closest to. She silenced all outgoing noises. Professor McGonagall heard about this and made a show of purchasing as many explosive fireworks and pranks as she could, after demanding demonstrations of the products, of course. Professor Flitwick did the same thing, and roped the Headmaster into looking too. However, the old wizard was more interested in the candy displays and bought out the entire lemon, lime, and raspberry display. Throughout the rest of the day, there were scattered reports of a large canary with the oddest twinkling eyes and feathers trimmed in the most unique colors ever seen in various places in Hogwarts.

The twins sold out their entire inventory in six hours of non-stop noise, explosions, music, and flashes of light. There had been at least seven runs back to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes to restock the temporary remote location. To the three detainees in Madam Pomfrey's care, it was quite a horrendous experience but her point was well made by the end of that six hours.

The next day, the mediwitch received a beautiful card from Weasley Wizarding Wheezes. It sang a sweet song, danced a merry jig around her breakfast plate and burst into a shower of confetti accompanied by the mellisonant music of unseen harps. The confetti melted away to reveal a certificate for the largest gift basket that Honeydukes carried and a discount for any Weasley Wizarding Wheezes products for the next three months.

For the rest of the day, Snape and the elder Potters avoided the Infirmary and each other.