A/N: Don't own Harry Potter, she does. Wish I did. Sometimes I imagine I did. But I didn't. Do own this fic though.
A/N: 9-3-2004. Sorry for reposting the same chapter. I had left a mistake in here that I just couldn't live with keeping in.
"Mum!"
Mrs. Longbottom jerked awake, wildly looking around her. She felt strangely disoriented. It wasn't until she spotted the pretty pink wallpaper of Neville's nursery that she even remembered where she was. She felt a weight in her arms and was startled to look down and see Neville sleeping there, his pudgy face nestled up to her with a look of pure contentment. As her panic to faded, Mrs. Longbottom remembered what had happened. She had come up here to rock her grandson to sleep; however, it seemed she had put herself to sleep instead. She shivered and leaned back in her chair. A storm was raging outside, she could hear the winds howl and see the lightning light up the sky behind the trees. Drawing Neville closer to her she tried to remember her nightmare. However much she tried, all she could remember was a lot of screaming until finally she heard Frank call out to her, like he used to do when he was a small child.
She looked up at the clock. It was nearly midnight. Frank and Alice should've been home hours ago. Her concern growing by the minute, Mrs. Longbottom carefully got up from the rocking chair and padded across the room to put her grandson to bed properly. After making sure he was comfortable and warm in his crib, she quietly crept back to her rocking chair. Settling herself down, she resolved not to fall back asleep until she heard them come home.
Fixing her eyes firmly on the clock she waited, and worried.
Nearly an hour later she heard a tapping on the window. Startled out of her reverie, Mrs. Longbottom jumped, crying out softly. Outside, in the storm, an owl sat looking at her balefully. Her stomach fluttered nervously as she quickly got up to let the owl in. Once it was inside, the owl was instantly energized, buzzing around the room and hooting excitedly, happy to be someplace warm and dry after carrying it's message a long way in the storm. Flying around Mrs. Longbottom's head it dropped the letter right on the floor next to her feet.
Mrs. Longbottom stared down at the envelope for a long time, dreading what it would say. The nervous flutter in her stomach had settled into an ache of dread. Convincing herself it would be better to know, she slowly bent down and picked up the letter. Hands shaking, she tore it open. She nearly fainted when she saw the St. Mungo's letterhead. She read:
Dear Mrs. Longbottom,
We regret to inform you that earlier tonight, at approximately 12:15 this a.m. your son and his wife were admitted into our institution with severe injuries. We recommend that you come at once.
Hope to find you well.
Bettinia Blank
Healer.
Her mind reeled. Severe injuries? What did they mean? The letter fluttered back down to her feet, unnoticed. Suddenly something snapped in her mind "Come at once." Quickly and efficiently she began getting Neville around. Some part of her was amazed that she could be so calm and organized. Unhurriedly she woke Neville up; ignoring his cries she pulled out the warmest clothes she could find for him. Once he was dressed she wrapped him in a blanket, taking care that his face was covered from the cold and the rain. Next she took him downstairs, with the owl flying silently behind her. She showed the owl to Frank's owl cage where he could rest and get food before making his return trip.
Pulling on her own warm things, she resolutely set out for St. Mungo's.
It didn't take her nearly as long to get there as she feared. In hardly any time at all she had Apparated in St. Mungo's front reception area. In the middle of the lobby she saw a frazzled looking receptionist trying to field a small army of reporters firing questions at her. As Mrs. Longbottom got closer she could make out her words.
"No, for the hundredth time, I cannot give you any information about the Aurors that were admitted here tonight." She was saying exasperatedly.
Clutching Neville to her and fighting her way through the crowd, Mrs. Longbottom finally made her way to the front.
"Ma'am, I'm afraid you'll have to keep back, I can't release any information to you." The receptionist said finally noticing her.
"I'm Mrs. Longbottom," She said briskly, "I received a letter telling me to come at once."
Warily looking toward the reporters hastily scribbling in their notes the receptionist motioned her to follow. "I'll take you where you need to go." She said.
Mrs. Longbottom followed the girl up three flights of stairs until she reached a long hallway. A man and a woman were standing there, apparently expecting her. The man was tall and buly, the woman was small and had a warm presence about her.
"Mrs. Longbottom?" The burly man asked her.
"Yes," She replied, fear knotting her stomach.
"We need to speak with you in private." The Woman said, "If you would like to leave your baby with the nurse here," She gestured towards the receptionist waiting impatiently behind Mrs. Longbottom.
"No." Mrs. Longbottom said firmly, hugging Neville even closer to herself, "he stays with me."
"Very well." The Woman said. "If you'll come with us, there's a Healer's lounge where we can speak privately."
Silently Mrs. Longbottom followed them to the very top floor of St. Mungo's. Shrieks of patients followed her down the hall; she shuddered to think that one of them might be her son. Silently the three of them made their way to a door marked "Healers only."
Following the other two in, the first thing that Mrs. Longbottom noticed was a long table, broken up by several outdated copies of "Witch Weekly". The room was warm with a cheery fireplace at one end of the room.
Shaking, Mrs. Longbottom settled into a chair facing the man and woman, who had settled in looking uncomfortable. "Could someone please tell me what's going on?" She asked, her voice sounding much too high.
"Ma'am, tonight your son and his wife were involved in a mission to bring in several Death Eaters." The Burly Man began, "I cannot tell you exactly what happened, but something went very wrong. Your son and his wife were captured by Bellatrix Lestrange."
Mrs. Longbottom stared at him, her eyes widening, "No, that's impossible. There must be some mistake. My son would never...."
"Ma'am, please," the Burly Man interrupted her. "Bellatrix Lestrange and her group of Death Eaters captured Frank and Alice. We believe that they were trying to find their missing master. When they couldn't tell her where You- know- who was she used the Crusatious curse on them." He looked at her very carefully, "Ma'am the pain was too much for them... they've... I mean to say..." He took a deep breath and held her gaze, "Ma'am both your son and his wife have been declared clinically and permanently insane."
Mrs. Longbottom barely dared to breathe, "What?" She asked faintly.
"Mrs. Longbottom," the woman jumped in, "My name is Bettinia Blank, I'm a healer here at St. Mungo's. The pain of the Crusatious curse, in the best of times, is traumatizing to the mind. We believe that Frank and Alice were hit by more than one person at the same time, and, furthermore, that the curse was inflicted on them for too long a period of time. I'm afraid the damage is permanent. We've done everything we can for them." She finished spreading her hands helplessly.
Shock coursed through Mrs. Longbottom. Her son... her son was so strong... there was no way this could happen. "I'm sorry," she said numbly, "There is a mistake.... You've got the wrong person.... My son.... He's too strong for that.... There's no way..." She broke off, looking down at Neville as tears filled her eyes, "He... he has a son... Neville..." Choking, she couldn't continue.
"Ma'am, I'm so sorry," The Healer said, "but, I'm afraid it is your son."
Mrs. Longbottom looked at Neville for a long minute. Pulling herself together she wiped her eyes, "Can I see them?" She asked.
"Certainly." Bettinia said. "We can arrange that."
Ten minutes later she was outside the door to the room. Her arms felt strangely empty without Neville, they wouldn't let her bring him in. Taking a deep breath she opened the door and went in the room.
Her son was in the bed closest to the window, she rushed to him first. Pulling back the curtain she gasped to see him sitting up in the bed and smiling at her. "Mum!" he exclaimed.
Mrs. Longbottom nearly fainted. "Frank? Oh Frank! I knew it couldn't be true." Sobbing, she sat next to him and pulled him into a fierce hug, "Don't ever do this to me again!" she said.
"Mum," Frank said as she pulled back from the hug. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Mrs. Longbottom began, "I'm just glad...."
"I didn't mean to break the vase."
The older woman went very still. "What?"
"My trunk wasn't supposed to be red." He said accusingly, "I told you I wanted blue to go to Hogwarts, everyone will laugh at me if I show up with a red trunk."
"Frank?" Mrs. Longbottom said quietly.
Frank started muttering under his breath. Staring straight ahead of him his eyes glazed over.
"Frank?" She gasped. "No... it can't be..."
"Mrs. Longbottom?" A healer said beside her.
Still staring at her son she answered, "Yes?"
"I'm sorry but I have to give him his potion now."
"Yes, yes of course." Brushing her hand over her eyes she stood up.
Catching sight of the healer Frank cried out again, "Mum!! Mum? Is that you?"
Numbly, Mrs. Longbottom backed out from behind the curtain. She stood there for a moment listening to the healer talk soothingly to Frank and hearing her son ask if he could please have that owl in the window? All of the boys in his third year had them except for him and would she please buy it for her?
Choking back a sob she approached the other curtained off bed. "Alice?" she asked quietly. Hearing no answer she pulled back the curtain and gasped. "Oh Alice!" Her daughter in law was lying in the bed, staring fixedly at the ceiling. Her mouth was open, a little drool escaping from her pale lips. But she wasn't making a sound.
"Alice, I'm so sorry." She said coming forward and sitting on Alice's bed. Leaning in to stroke her hair she whispered, "I'm sorry for everything I said about you. I'm sorry that I never gave you a chance." Tears streamed down her face, "I promise you, I'll take care of your son." She couldn't find any more words, "I'm so sorry." She whispered again.
Crouch Sr. was nervous. The team of Aurors had left five hours ago and he hadn't heard a word from Longbottom. As he paced in front of the fireplace in his study he went over and over the plan in his mind, double checking for anything that could've gone wrong. He looked up at the clock for the hundredth time and swore, it still hadn't moved. It was now one o'clock in the morning, five hours since the Aurors had left on their mission.
"Dear?" A questioning voice came from the hallway, "Is something wrong?"
Crouch looked up and saw his wife, standing silhouetted against the hallway light. "No dear," he answered her, "don't worry about it go back to bed."
She came forward and Crouch was appalled at how pale she looked, I really should pay more attention to her, Crouch thought regretfully, she doesn't seem to be getting any better. "You know I can't sleep without you there." She said frowning a little, "Are you sure nothing's wrong? Barty hasn't come home and I'm getting a little worried about him."
"He isn't back yet?" Crouch had barely registered that his son was gone.
"No."
"I'll talk to him in the morning. He shouldn't stay out so late, he knows it worries you." Crouch said, coming up and putting his arms around her waist. "Why don't you go back and lie down, dear, I'll be there shortly. I'm just waiting for some news."
"I'll wait with you." She said taking a seat in one of the armchairs in front of his desk. Crouch smiled a little and went to the other chair to join her.
"Are you feeling any better?" He asked her gently.
Mrs. Crouch put a hand up to her cheek, "Somedays. But the healer still doesn't know what's wrong with me."
"I'll take you back to St. Mungo's in the morning." Crouch promised, "I'll go with you this time."
She smiled at him. They sat in a comfortable silence for nearly twenty minutes before the doorbell rang.
"Finally!" Crouch exclaimed jumping up from his chair and rushing down the stairs to his door. As he opened the door he was expecting to see Longbottom instead a tall Auror stood there, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously.
"Good evening, Mr. Crouch." The Auror choked out. "I've come with your report on the events of this evening." The Man stood in the doorway eyeing Crouch in a strange way.
"Yes, yes, I've been expecting someone," Crouch said impatiently, "Won't you come in?"
Without a word the Auror stepped into the brightly lit foyer of the Crouch home. Looking around the house nervously he began. "The raid began at exactly eight oh nine this evening. The Aurors apparated into Marley's field and directly proceeded inward to trap the Death Eaters in the center of the field. However, when the Aurors got within ten feet of them, the suspected Death Eaters disappeared. It was then that the Aurors realized that Frank and Alice Longbottom were missing, as was another member of the group, a new guy by the name of Eric Mortenson. As you know we've suspected Belletrix Lestrange to be a potential Death Eater for a long time. The Aurors immediately apparated back to Headquarters and contacted the Minister of Magic. Although he was hesitant to give permission for the Aurors to raid the Black family home, he was finally persuaded. The Aurors blasted in at exactly twelve oh three this morning. Once inside they heard the sound of screaming and followed the sound down to the basement where they saw a small group of Death Eaters. Frank and Alice Longbottom were chained to the wall on either side of the room. After a short struggle we managed to subdue the Death Eaters and take Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom to St. Mungos where they have been declared clinically insane. It is believed that they were tortured with the Crucatious curse until the pain made them lose their minds." The Auror stopped his speech there as if uncertain whether or not to continue.
Crouch reeled for a moment. Frank Longbottom was one of the best Aurors to come from the Academy in years. His loss was a terrible blow to the Ministry of Magic.
"Go on man," Crouch prompted, "Who were the Death Eaters that you apprehended? I'll personally make sure that they pay for this outrage" He growled.
"Sir, there were four of them," The Auror said, looking more fearful by the minute, "Belletrix Lestrange, Rodophus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, and..." The man hestated again.
"Yes?" Crouch snapped again, "Who was the fourth one?"
"The fourth one, sir..." the man said, looking like he wanted to bolt out the door, "The fourth one was your son, sir, Bartemous Crouch Jr."
A shriek came from behind them. Crouch turned around just in time to see he wife sag against the stairs, her eyes wide with shock. "What?" She asked, "No, not Barty... Barty would never join You-know- who.... He would never..." she trailed off, growing pale.
"Are you quite sure?" Crouch asked the man, his voice quiet and low.
"Sir, there is no doubt, we found him in the dungeons with the rest of them. We heard the screams going into the house. We know that he was there and that he is, at the very least, an accomplice to the night's horrendous events...." Crouch couldn't hear any more, all he could hear was the rushing in his ears. Rage like he had never felt before was coursing through him.
"My son..." he dimly heard his wife whisper, "My son..."
"He's no son of mine!!" Crouch shouted, "My son would never join the Death Eaters!" He burst into motion; going over to his weeping wife he picked her up by her forearms and bellowed, "Do you hear me? He's no son of mine!!!!"
A/N: Ha! Next chapter. Wasn't sure if I would ever get this one done. This is the first chapter I've actually written since I put up this story. The first three were at least mostly finished when I first posted. All this means in that the next chapter will be written completely from scratch over the next week or so. Umm... I apologize if you thought this chapter was a little dull. All we have left now to go through is the trial and a bit of the aftermath...don't want to go to much into it though. Expect two more chapters on this one. In other news, I got a second part time job and I don't know what that's going to do to my posting schedule, combined with the fact that classes started on Monday. I'll get the chapters out as soon as I can though. I've also got plans in the works for a Percy fic sometime, but don't expect that for a while. So far it is nothing but an idea bouncing around in my head. Okay... well... Review! I've got a system where I don't put up the next chapter until I get at least four reviews on the chapter before it (actually if I get no reviews I'll still post... I just thought I'd try to scare someone into reviewing who maybe hasn't yet... so never fear my faithful readers... the next chapter will go up!) And now my turn to reply!!....
Stroppy-Teenager: It never made since to me that they would come to his house. I figured that after the prophecy they would've, at the very least gone into hiding. Also, he was an Auror, I always thought that it would take something like this to lead him away. I tried not to make him seem too gullible. Thanks for your comments!
Danny Barefoot: I never really thought of Eric being seen as a sacrificial lamb. As the author of this little fic I'm not always aware of how other people will read it. To me it was horribly obvious what he was. It actually makes me glad that it came as a bit of a shock. As for the "Frank could only watch helplessly." It takes me a long time, several references to my nearest thesaurus, and many many rewrites to get words that I like. I seem to have a problem using good words sometimes. When I go through and do rewrites (yes I do have other ambitions for this piece, like possibly submitting to Sugarquill or another fanfiction website) I will change this sentence. Since I am looking at posting this story in other places I really do appreciate your comments on what could be fixed and on what is particularly strong (so I know not to mess with it.) Thanks for your longish review, I actually squealed with joy when I saw the length.
Miss Piratess: (blushes) thanks. I'm glad that your liking this so far. Update your story soon?
Amber Magic: Thanks. I'm glad that you like it! I want this story to be sad, as you can probably see from this chapter. I'm all about the angst.
tapdancing humbugs: Umm... I'm really curious about your review. Very unorthodox. If, next time, you could kindly comment on my story I would greatly appreciate it.