Chapter 14: St. Mungo's Hospital
Christmas day has finally arrived, as everybody at the Uzumaki residence woke up ready for the holiday. "Merry Christmas guys," Naruto said, greeting the family. They also greeted Naruto as well as the two adults were drinking their morning coffee. "Ok let's open up some presents," Naruto said as he began to help Mito open her presents. Tsunade was recording this as this was their first Christmas they were spending with Mito. Mito opens her presents and the gifts she got were a stuffed wolf plush toy from Naruto, a play doll from Hermione, a dinosaur toy from Itachi, and a slug plush toy from Tsunade. Now some of Naruto's gifts were a Sony PlayStation with a couple of games released during launch from Tsunade, three volumes of the Berserk manga from Hermione, and last but not least from Itachi, Naruto got himself a sword. The sword was a chokuto, as the blade was straight edged, with its handle wrapped in black leather along with the scabbard being black as well.
"Come to the training room and try the blade out," Itachi said, as Naruto followed him to the room. "Ok I want you to charge your chakra to the blade," Itachi ordered. Naruto nods and as he charges his chakra to the sword, the blade glows blue like color. "Test it out on the training dummy," Itachi said, pointing at a training dummy. Naruto struck the dummy with the chakra sword and it cut through like wind. "What do you think?" Itachi asked. "It's perfect, it's a really good gift," Naruto said, sounding grateful for the gift. Itachi smiled and nodded at his student. Soon they head back to the living room to continue with the celebration. "Here Hermione, I wanted to give you this present," Naruto said, handing his girlfriend a small wrapped box. She opened the small wrapped box, and she was shocked by the gift he gave her. It was the pendant she saw from yesterday at the jewelry store and it was Naruto who bought this for her. "What do you think?" he asked. "It's beautiful Naruto…I love it," she said, thanking her boyfriend for this lovely gift. Naruto smiled and helped her put on the pendant. The pendant was beautiful as it worked well for her. After a few more gift openings, they all had breakfast before they went to go to St Mungo's to check up on Ron's dad.
Timeskip
They arrived at the hospital and saw that Harry and Ron, along with the other Weasleys and some of the members of the Order were there waiting for them. "Merry Christmas guys," Naruto said, greeting Harry and Ron. "Merry Christmas to you as well," they said. Soon they walked inside the hospital, as they looked for the room where Arthur Weasley was currently residing. They finally found the room and as they entered the room, they saw that Arthur was looking rather content, despite all the injuries he sustained from the snake attack. "How are you feeling dad?" Ron asked. "I feel absolutely fine," said Mr. Weasley brightly, holding out his good arm to give Ginny a hug. "If they could only take the bandages off, I'd be fit to go home."
"Why can't they take them off, dad?" Fred asked. Tsunade decided to explain the reason. "Unfortunately the snake that bit your father had a rather unusual poison that keeps wounds open. Fortunately I was here at the hospital helping your father out with the wound and currently we're working on an antidote for this problem. It was a good thing we were alerted about this problem early, otherwise you wouldn't have your dad alive." Everybody breathed a sigh of relief, as they thanked her. "Anyways I have other patients to tend to, so I will be best on my way," Tsunade said, as she left to go back to her work. Now the kids tried to ask Mr. Weasley about why he was attacked by the snake, but he dodged those questions as he didn't want to worry the kids. Soon the kids gave up the questions and decided to go exploring the hospital, as it was their first time here. One of the wards they came across was based on spell damage. They walked inside and saw some familiar faces such as Gilderoy Lockhart, who appears to be looking rather content with himself, along with…Neville?! "Neville, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.
"Oh…hey guys, I was just visiting my parents, with my grandma," Neville stated. "Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" said Neville's grandmother graciously, bearing down upon them all. Neville looked as though he would rather be anywhere in the world but here. A dull purple flush was creeping up his plump face and he was not making eye contact with any of them. They introduced themselves to Neville's grandma. "Neville…are they your parents?" Naruto asked quietly, as he pointed to two hospital patients who seemed to look rather worse for wear. Neville nodded, "Yeah…yeah they're my parents," he stated. "What happened to them?" Harry asked. "My son and his wife…were tortured into insanity by You-Know-Who's followers," Neville's grandma explained. Everybody was shocked and mortified, but Naruto was silent, as he was clenching his fists. She explained how they were aurors and very well respected in the wizarding community. Soon they saw Neville's mother and let's just say that everybody was shocked by her appearance.
She no longer had the plump, happy-looking face Harry had seen in Moody's old photograph of the original Order of the Phoenix. Her face was thin and worn now, her eyes seemed overlarge, and her hair, which had turned white, was wispy and dead-looking. She did not seem to want to speak, or perhaps she was not able to, but she made timid motions toward Neville, holding something in her outstretched hand. It was a wrapper for some kind of bubblegum, as Neville took it despite his grandmother's insistence of not taking it. Soon they left the ward, leaving the others looking shocked. "This whole time Neville has been suffering…in a way he's like me and Harry," Naruto said, as the others looked at him. "Yeah…he's like us," Harry said, quietly. Harry turns to the group, "Dumbledore told me but I promised I wouldn't mention it . . . that's what Bellatrix Lestrange got sent to Azkaban for, using the Cruciatus Curse on Neville's parents until they lost their minds." Everybody was silent, as they couldn't say anything.
Timeskip
Everybody decided to head to the Black residence for Christmas dinner. After a whole day of being at the hospital, some quality time with friends and family was needed. While the kids were talking with each other, Mrs. Weasley came up to the room to call Harry over for something. "Harry, Professor Snape is here by the kitchen. He would like to have a word with you," she stated. This surprises Harry, but he figured to see what the man wanted, so he left. "I wonder what Snape wants with Harry?" Ron asked. Naruto shrugs, "Who knows really? Probably something important."
Soon the time for dinner arrived as everybody was at the table. Tsunade, Itachi, and Mito arrived as well, since Tsunade had to work only a few hours on Christmas day. But a surprise guest of honor arrived and it was Arthur Weasley. "Dad, how did you get out of the hospital early?!" the Weasley kids asked, surprised that their dad is here instead of the hospital. "Well thanks to Tsunade's quick thinking regarding my condition along with her medical skills, the doctors have managed to create an antidote that has cured me within a few hours, so I'm practically fine, although they required that I take time off from my job, which I did of course." He raises a glass, "I would like to make a Christmas toast. To Mr. Harry Potter…without whom I would not be here. Harry!"
"Harry!" everybody said in unison and soon everybody dug into the meal. The Christmas dinner was a turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables, whereas for dessert, it was a fruitcake. After dinner was over, everybody decided to spend a little more time in the living room. Naruto was in one of the guest rooms, when Hermione came by with Mito. "Oh hey Hermione, what are you doing here?" he asked. "Nothing much, just checking to see if you are alright and also wanting to thank you again for the gift you gave me." Naruto nods, "Well once again you are welcome, if you want to come on in," he offered. She entered the room and sat next to him. She looked beautiful to Naruto, as he couldn't even try to keep his eyes off her. "What?" she asked innocently, as she placed a hand on her face as she feared she might have a piece of food on her face, "Is there something on my face?"
Naruto shook his head, "No, no, I'm just admiring how beautiful you are." She blushed, "O-oh you flatter," she said. "I'm surprised you didn't bring your guitar," Hermione stated. "Actually I did, I just sealed it ya know," Naruto said, chuckling. "Well I was wondering if you could play it, I mean I always did like it when you played the guitar, as it is soothing," she said. Naruto nods and summons his guitar, as he grabs it, ready to play. He played a tune("Closer" by Joe Inoue) and he played the song to his heart's content. After he was done, both Hermione and Mito clapped. "That was beautiful, Naruto," she complimented. "Oh trust me, I could play another song," he said, as he began to play "Forever Young" by Alphaville, while also singing the song to her. But before he began to sing, he summoned a clone of himself for a purpose. He offers his hand to Hermione, "Want to dance?" She smiled and took his hand. The clone began to play the song and sing, as the real Naruto ends the night off by dancing with Hermione. It was a wonderful night to end off Christmas.
Note: Hey guys, so I just got a comment regarding a question as to who will die to Bellatrix at the ministry. I have been thinking about it as well since I don't know how I will approach this situation, so let me think on that part.