AN: Hello readers. Thank you for spending your time reading this story. Thanks to those who have taken special interest to follow and favourite this fic, I really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is J K Rowling's property, not mine.

Here is chapter 3. Sorry for the slight delay.

Please read and enjoy. Please also put in a review at the end.

Chapter 3

Springtime blossoms

December 21st, 1999

Daniel Greengrass exited the Floo with little flourish and turned to his left. This was a house he was very familiar with, as the current owner was his cousin and business ally. He nodded to Martin Davis, as the man rolled his wheelchair forward, smiling.

"Welcome, Daniel. You're right on time, as usual. We are just about to start breakfast." Smiling still, he turned the wheelchair and rolled forward to lead Daniel to the dining room.

Daniel followed, feeling pity for his dear friend, as he did ever since that late April day when the harbour of Southampton was attacked. Martin was one of the only survivors, but he had lost his legs to a building's roof which had collapsed on him.

Ports at the time only ran for goods deemed purely necessary. Yet, the Davis brothers decided to help Algernon Longbottom. They had gotten tired of Algie's incessant pleading with Malcolm, which last gone on for 20 days. Malcolm had organised the export of the shipment and Martin was getting the paperwork sorted out.

If only Martin hadn't joined his brother Malcolm in assisting that bumbling idiot Algernon Longbottom that day. Now Martin had to take care of Tracy along with his own eleven-year-old son, Trevor, while not being able to pursue his usual career as an export officer for the ministry of magic.

It was good thing that oaf Longbottom was dead, otherwise he would have faced the wrath of the Greengrass family.

The two men were meeting to finalize plans for that year's Greengrass Yule party, the first they were organising since 1995. It was a party to which only select people with proven success and importance were invited.

"The number of invites has greatly reduced as a consequence of the war. I remember when my father used to send out more than twice as many invites back in the 70's, before the dark lord started his first movement." Daniel stated.

Martin agreed, "Malfoy, Rosier, Lestrange, Nott, Bones….So many families are dead or are just hanging on by their sole survivor. We've come out of it a bit better than most, although, I still regret the incident that happened with yours."

"We still suffered, although I have to agree, we could have suffered just as badly as the others who picked sides. Our ignorant society is still under the impression we supply food from the various large wizarding family estates. I wish I could be thankful that wizarding society pays so little attention to where they get their food from."

Both men sat in silent reminiscence of times past, when they and their families set up the business as it ran today. a few other families had caught on to their tactics and began doing the same. The Greengrass family business catered to supplies in the south of England, particularly London.

"So, how are Daphne and Astoria doing? I assume Astoria has completed her OWLs by now." Martin asked to which Daniel sighed.

"Astoria barely passed four OWLs. She is yet to decide what she wants to do with her life. She has been so finnicky it gets on my nerves. One day she wants to be a writer, on another, she wants to be a Pâtissier."

"Nothing's changed with Daphne. I wish we had not ignored Potter's warning for so long. We could have avoided that incident. I'm just happy Rob and I could find and put Flint underground in the nick of time."

"Anything from the St. Mungo's?" Martin asked, to which Daniel shook his head.

"Being in Tenerife, with just Selena, Ellie, Astoria, and Tracy did some good for Daphne. She took up painting and came back quite an artist. But she is still affected by that incident. She still avoids me. But we're now able to sit at the same table. She usually keeps to her room or the garden."

Martin chuckled at that, "At least she isn't going out there and throwing away all your money."

"Ah yes, here I was hoping you hadn't heard of Astoria's golden cauldron. That girl really needs to grow up and learn a lesson in responsibility." He muttered, rubbing his eyebrows.

"While Astoria has a few more years for that, Daphne is no longer a minor. Our family has money to take care of her. But is that all her whole life has to be? I don't want that for her! I want her to have a full life where she can do whatever she wants, not sequestered to her house as she is now." Daniel sighed while running his fingers through his dark hair.

"I feel all my money has now become a curse. But I won't stop in trying to get her back to old exuberant self." Daniel stated with conviction.

After a little silence, Martin started, "I do have to ask you a favour, Daniel. It seems like time in Tenerife changed Tracy for the better, she's been studying with me and Ellie for that last year. Would you mind checking if Sullivan would consider accepting Tracy as an apprentice?"

'It would be possible.' Daniel thought to himself. Sullivan was his family's accountant and was getting old. If he could train Tracy up to his level, Daniel would have someone he could trust to follow Sullivan, if and when he called it a day.

"I'll talk to Sullivan and write to you if he accepts. I think he will." Daniel answered, Martin breathed easy.

"Don't worry Martin, we're as good as brothers. I will make sure Tracy is taken care of, even if Sullivan doesn't agree. If it wasn't for that idiot Longbottom, I know you wouldn't even be asking me for this favour." Daniel stated.

"You do know that his family is now suffering for his foolishness as well." Martin pointed out. Daniel raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking him to elaborate.

"You see, the old idiot made some bad bets with goblins at the world cup in 94. In settling those bets, the idiot almost cleared up the Longbottom fortune. I know because I got a visit from Augusta after I had recovered, who explained some of the details to me."

"Since Frank and Alice were Aurors, and Frank's father died in 1984, Algie had been doing a very mediocre job at manging that huge estate. Augusta is in no shape to handle any affairs other than politics in the Wizengamot, and her grandson from what I hear isn't a very great wizard, nor has he shown anything that indicates his ability to handle something like this. From what I remember the children telling me, he was a clumsy and cowardly boy, with little to note in terms of academic achievement"

"You know, Augusta wrote to me in apology. I sent her a reply worthy of her family's depleted standing." Daniel cynically added. "Well, they brought it upon themselves. A pity though, that is another wizarding family that's gone to the dogs."

They were interrupted by the call of an owl. The pair looked towards the window as the newspaper owl arrived at the house. Martin picked up the paper after it was dropped onto the table in front of him by the owl. "Talk of the devil…" He muttered in shock upon reading the front-page headlines.

Seeing his shock, Daniel snatched the paper from him. "What the ****!" he shouted.

Daily Prophet

Potter, Longbottom and Patils to offer free Wolfsbane to all werewolves.

(Pictured Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Parvathi Patil and Padma Patil and Minister Tiberius Ogden)

Christmas has come early for werewolves as Harry Potter, Order of Merlin, First Class, and Vanquisher of the Dark lord Voldemort, was joined by his friends Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, and Padma Patil at the Wizengamot meeting today to announce that they would be making Wolfsbane potion available for free to all werewolves.

Mr Potter and Mr. Longbottom had approached interim minister Ogden in December last year, while still at school, with the proposal. The two then students have teamed up with the Patil family in making this plan fruitful. The Patil family will be acting as Chief producers and suppliers of the free wolfsbane potion.

The group and the minister announced the establishment of a ministry backed 'Charity for werewolves.' Witches and Wizards that wish to donate to the cause can approach representatives of the charity at the ministry or the Patil Family who will be utilizing the donated funds towards the production and supply of free wolfbane to werewolves.

As explained by Mr. Potter to all current members of the Wizengamot, the plan is to eradicate the disease that is Lycanthropy. Mr. Potter pointed out that the children of Werewolves did not possess the disease and did not exhibit any reaction to the full moon. The proof showcased was Mr. Potter's godson, Edward Lupin, son of Remus Lupin, known werewolf and former Professor of Defence against the dark arts at Hogwarts, and Nymphadora Tonks, Former Auror of the DMLE.

"We as a society drove werewolves to anger, to despair, and to Voldemort. We lost friends to those same werewolves, and we have seen a number of students turned by those same angry werewolves. Unlike with dragon pox or wizards' flu, our system didn't target the disease, it targeted the people and ostracized them. Our mission is to eradicate lycanthropy the disease. In order to do so, we wish for all current Lycans to be the last with the disease. If they are in a semblance of control during the full moon, they will not bite and turn anyone. I have seen this for myself with Professor Lupin when he had taken wolfsbane and had secured himself in his house for the full moon night."

The Wizengamot seems to have accepted the logic in Mr. Potter's assessment as they provided their unanimous approval. The Smith family, known for their metal work, announced to the body, that they would add to this cause with runic cages that would help werewolves secure themselves further during their transformation, to protect them from their own families.

It is known that Mr. Harry Potter has donated 50000 Galleons to the cause and Mr. Neville Longbottom has donated 15000 Galleons to the cause. Mr Longbottom has also stated that he is in the process of increasing production of key ingredients of the wolfsbane potion in the famed Longbottom greenhouses, to cater to the expected demand for Wolfsbane and reduce overall costs.

The Latest Ministry census conducted during January 1999 has found that there are currently 1600 people infected with lycanthropy in Britain. This would provide some welcome relief to those 1600 people.

We at the Daily Prophet hope that Mr. Potter, his friends, and the Ministry are successful in their mission.

Time-Skip

September 22nd, 2001

Three years had passed since the battle. Three years for his group of friends doing their level best to settle their lives down. 'At least for those who wished to.' Neville thought to himself as he relaxed on a conjured chair, in the middle of the western fields behind the Aconite greenhouses.

Looking up at the morning sky, Neville smiled at the thought of Luna. She had received a research role in the Department for the control and regulation of Magical creatures. She was slowly but surely becoming an expert at magical beasts, just like her Idol Newt Scamander.

A highlight of Luna's expertise flew over him. She had managed to find an Augurey pair nesting near the western wood, during one of her visits to the estate. Neville was in a state of shock, especially, when she managed to get close and feed them some of the roasted chicken, from her lunch.

Neville would visit the Augurey pair whenever he toured the estate. Observing them from a distance with a pair of omnioculars, as he didn't want to disturb them. Sometimes, he would Leave them a chicken carcass, just for the heck of it.

As he watched the weirdly beautiful birds fly overhead, he thought, 'Harry's going to be playing for the title this year, and a spot in the world cup team. I'll have to ask him for tickets.'

Harry Potter had moved out of Longbottom house a year ago. He got Grimmauld place completely overhauled and renovated, to the point that the house did not look like it used to. Gone was the old and gloomy house with dark memories; in its place was a bright and welcoming house. Kreacher had initially thrown a fuss, but a strong command from Harry put a stop to that.

Ginny had moved in with Harry as their relationship had picked up speed. They had also invited Andromeda and Teddy to live with them. Ginny had taken a shine to Teddy and had at times visited the Lupin boy without Harry. One time, when the group had met for dinner, Ron and Neville had joked loudly that Teddy would soon steal Ginny from Harry. They spent the next half hour spewing bat-bogeys.

After setting up the Charity for werewolves, Harry had joined Puddlemere academy as a way to kickstart his career in professional quidditch. The team could not say no, as Oliver Wood had harangued the team bosses into accepting his application. Within a year, he was part of the main team as their primary seeker. He had also trained hard to be able to play as a back-up chaser.

After she finished school, Ginny too joined Puddlemere academy. She was still on the team's academy roster as she needed to train in the team's strategy and tactics even further than Harry, because she was a dedicated chaser.

As he got up from the chair, he saw the Paper-owl flying towards the house. He vanished his chair and got onto his bicycle. He had replaced Algie's old bike. This one had fatter tyres allowing him ride on the farms unlaid paths. It enabled him to cover the whole estate, without leaving the ground.

As he pedalled across the bridge over the canal, and along the path leading towards the southern fields, the paper-owl brought forth memories of their favourite shouty ministry couple. Ron had passed the Auror exams and was about to finish his training in magical law enforcement. Come February 2002, Ron would then be a certified Auror, something that had terrified Harry.

Hermione had been nominated to the Wizengamot. The first muggleborn to have a seat. The interim government had run for a year, working to rebuild wizarding society and bring back stability. By mid-1999, the government had achieved its task and was ready to remove the interim moniker from its name.

But, the Wizengamot had a lot of vacancies, 25% of the seats were empty. These were seats occupied by incarcerated individuals whose families had been stripped of any form of immediate re-entry. As a result, the remaining members were asked to nominate members of wizarding public who could act in towards the benefit of society. The list was then passed on to the public, who could vote for their top 5 candidates.

After three rounds, the Wizengamot was finally full. Unsurprisingly, Hermione was one of the first candidates nominated and voted. Harry was also nominated but he declined. Hermione was now working as a member of the Wizengamot while also working as an officer in the Misuse of muggle artifacts department. Augusta had taken her under her wing, guiding Hermione through the machinations of the Wizengamot.

With a Full Wizengamot, ministerial elections had been held. Interim minister Ogden declined to run, stating that he had done the duty that was required of him, but now preferred to be retired from politics. The election was close run and ended with Kingsley Shacklebolt being elected minister of magic.

Neville smiled thinking of his friends. His own life was settling into a foundation as well. Two years of full harvests, good returns from his deals and his plans going on track, mostly, meant that he was on his way to achieving his goal.

He pedaled on, 'I'll need to hurry, the contractors will be waiting and then I have the monthly house-elf meeting.' He thought to himself, grimacing at the latter.

Augusta sat down next to her son and daughter-in-law. She smiled sadly at them. "How are you, Frank?" She asked her son, only to receive a blank stare.

She turned to her daughter-in-law, "Alice?", Alice just continued tearing up a piece of paper while keeping her eyes away from Augusta. Augusta sighed. "I know it's been a while since I visited with Neville. But we've both been very busy. I only got some free time today to be able to make it within visiting hours."

"No, I know it is an excuse to not visit. But I wanted Neville to be here me when I visited. Unfortunately, he couldn't. He's overseeing something important for the estate. Although, I know he would have dropped it, if he knew I was visiting. But this is important for the next phase of his plans."

"I've been so proud of him, Alice, Frank. He's done so much and changed so much…I wish I was better to him when he grew up. He faced down the Dark lord, just like the two of you. He was instrumental in the dark lord's defeat too."

"Ever since he heard of the family's bad state, He just hasn't stopped working. Even before he left for school, he started of work to improve our state. Then, once he came back, he continued exactly where he left off. I've tried so hard to get him to slow down, but he's always refuses."

"Harry and Neville started a werewolf charity that gives free wolfsbane. Neville grows all the aconite and dragon flowers that the Patils needs for the free wolfsbane. You know, three years on and the Wizengamot still discusses the good work that the charity had done for society. Werewolf attacks have become a thing of the past."

Augusta took Frank's hand. "Frank, the fields of the estate have never been so full! He managed to harvest 840 tonnes of grain this year. Magical plant harvests have also doubled. We sold 500 Kilos of Floo flower to the ministry this year alone. All thanks to those stones he developed with Mrs. Walsh."

"When Roger Adkins, showed me our year-end accounts statement in April, I was so shocked to see 155000 Galleons in our vault! And Neville hasn't stopped. He got inspiration from the local muggles and has planted Apples in the Northern fields and plans to start his own distillery for cider and whiskey."

"I was apprehensive at first, with him visiting muggles and learning from them. But I can see my mistake now. They've given him ideas. Ideas that he plans and attempts. He had Bill Weasley modify the wards of the estate to allow muggles access to some land in the north. He plans to build his distillery there, along with a warehouse."

"Of course, He wasn't successful at everything he started. He failed at growing vegetables just like your father and Algie. Then there were his experiments with Poultry and Sheep, which were so bad that, even now Neville gives them an evil eye whenever he sees any." She snickered. "It seems he's only good at plants and not so much with animals."

As she finished, looking sombrely at her son looking off into the space to his left and daughter-in-law throwing up the pieces of paper she had torn up. She sighed, closed her eyes, and dipped her head downwards, tears welling in her eyes, this was the only part of her family yet to improve.

She felt something brush against her leg. Opening her eyes, she saw Frank's foot sitting against her thigh. Shocked, she looked at Frank, only to see him still looking away from her to his left. She sighed; it would have been too much to ask for so soon.

She then felt his foot tap her thigh again. And again. Now Augusta was in shock. Her son had never responded to anyone in all these years.

She covered her mouth in joy when she heard a sound from her other side. she turned to Alice to see her holding out her bunch torn of paper smiling.

Augusta choked back a cry in happiness and took the pieces of paper from her daughter-in-law. It would be added to Neville's collection. She got up and gave each of the patients a gentle hug, bidding them goodbye and left the Janus Thickey ward.

As she walked out, she saw her family's healer talking to a man and woman. As she neared them, she recognised the man to being Daniel Greengrass. Augusta stopped, as she did not want to be anywhere near that man. The letter she received from him two years ago was enough cause.

Seeing that healer March was unavailable at the moment, Augusta nodded to him when she caught his eye and turned around to leave the hospital.

"Mrs. Longbottom!" She heard Healer March and turned back towards the healer. "Would you excuse me for a moment Mr. Greengrass. I'll be back with you soon." She heard healer March say to Greengrass

"Mrs. Longbottom, I'm really sorry, I wasn't able to meet you earlier. I was rather busy with a patient. I do have a rather promising update to deliver to you regarding the treatment of your son and his wife.

"Your sizable donations have allowed us to bring in a specialist mental-magics researcher from Japan. She has devised some methods which have shown promise towards treatment of cases with severe psychotic spell damage and mental trauma such as your family members here. Some of her test patients have even fully recovered."

"Have there been any side effects?" Augusta asked.

"As per the current papers she has published, there have been no bad side-effects with the patients. Even those that did not respond to the treatment have not regressed any further than the condition they were in prior to the treatment. I was hoping you would sign your consent towards this treatment." Healer March replied.

Augusta nodded and began signing the forms presented to her by the healer. "When will the treatment begin? And for how long will it last? I expect my grandson will want to be here during that time."

"She is already on her way and is expected to be here in 5 days. We have 14 patients inline to receive her treatment, your family does have priority."

As she handed the form back to healer March, she mentioned the reaction she got from Frank. She then looked up to find Daniel Greengrass staring at her. She didn't outwardly display her surprise when Daniel nodded to her in greeting.

Augusta scoffed and turned around. Healer March walked back to the Greengrass family as Augusta got into the lift that took her to the Floo-enabled fireplace on the ground floor.

'I wonder why they were here. Must be routine check-up of some kind.' Augusta mused to herself, before leaving the hospital.

She mulled on the nod of greeting she received from Daniel. She was no strangers to the looks of contempt she received from the Greengrass brothers over the last three years. The Davis and Greengrass families were second cousins and hence the two pairs of brothers had grown together.

She also knew from her interactions with Robert Greengrass in the Wizengamot sessions that they held the Longbottoms in low regard. Robert had been heard proclaiming that the Longbottoms were has-beens, and that Augusta didn't deserve her seat in the Wizengamot.

"My Grandson put a stop to all that talk, didn't he." She said out loud, smiling proudly. Neville had truly transformed the standing of the Longbottom family. His work on the werewolf charity had given their esteem in society a well needed boost.

'Maybe that's why Greengrass seems to be trying to connect with us, or maybe it's because March mentioned 'sizable donation'. No matter, I won't make it easy for him, the words he said in that letter...', Augusta's thoughts tapered off on reaching the apparition point. She returned home to deliver Healer March's news to Neville

September 28th, 2001

Healer Naoko Yoshikawa sat in front of a restrained Alice Longbottom, waving a wand illumination in front of her eyes.

Neville watched pensively as Healer Yoshikawa diagnosed his mother first. The healer was impressive, both in terms of character and expertise. Some of the previous researching healers were also impressive and yet, they had still failed in treating his parents.

But, as long as his parents got a chance, he was willing to try. He watched on as Healer Yoshikawa moved to Frank and did the same as with Alice, casting diagnostic charms and certain unknown ones as well.

Sitting with him to his left were Shuichi Nakano, the translator who had accompanied Healer Yoshikawa, and Healer March. Augusta would be arriving a little later as a Wizengamot meeting had been schedule for the day.

He got up from his chair as Healer Yoshikawa stepped away from his parents and walked towards them and addressed him in Japanese, which Mr. Nakano translated. "Their cases are severe, and their treatment will require extreme care and diligence. But she has treated such a case before Longbottom-san. The patient had suffered similar circumstances as your parents, in a prisoner camp."

"Okay, that's good to hear Mr. Nakano and Ms Yoshikawa. So, what is next?" Neville asked.

"I will be placing them in a magical runic field. It will allow their magic to stabilize to a single harmony. Similar to the draught of the living death on a physical body. I will then perform my treatment which involves mind magics on them."

Neville looked a bit pensive at that. One of the prior researchers had already tried a similar method, without the runic field and failed.

"Will the runic field make that much of a difference?" Neville asked.

"Yes, the runic field is key. I took inspiration from that very same procedure to treat the war camp patient. Mind magic are just that, Magic. It is present in some quantities in all magical beings. When we use occlumency or legilimency, we harness the magic and channel it to our specific need. It is that very same mind magic that channels our happiness and love to produce a Patronus."

"When someone suffers the torture curse, the curse first attacks the mind and from there distributes the pain across the body. When applied in large amounts, the curse tends to fracture the mind magic of the victim."

Healer March piped in, "Yes, I have observed case studies of death-eaters who I believe displayed various states of mental instability as they were known to regularly suffer from the Curciatus at the dark lord's hand."

Hearing the translated message, Healer Yoshikawa nodded and continued. "In the state your parents are in, their mind magic is so fractured that it does not know which part of the mind to fix. The runic field will stabilize their magic, including mind magic to a single frequency. This will allow me to find and reset the pieces in correct order."

As an analogy she added, "Similar to bone, a small fracture can be healed in a cast, with no incision required, but a shattered bone needs to have the pieces reset in order to heal itself. We cannot apply skele-grow here as we want to keep the old bone."

Neville nodded in understanding, remembering his knee, "So Healer Yoshikawa, how long will the procedure take?"

"I would suggest you return in two days to know of the results. The procedure will take that long." Nakano translated and then turning to Healer March he asked, "A fully empty procedure room will be required. Ms. Yoshikawa will prepare the runic array in the room provided."

Healer March nodded and rushed off with some excitement in his step. It seems he too was happy at the prospect of healing their long-standing patients.

Neville left the room, a lost hope slowly re-kindling in him. He went to the waiting area of the Janus Thickey ward and sat down heavily with fists clenched and a small smile building on his face.

"Wow, you're rather cheery aren't you." He heard a voice say beside him.

Looking up, he saw a young girl with dark hair and a pleasant face looking at him from a couple of chairs away. He recognised her from somewhere but couldn't recollect her name. She was younger than him, had a slender build and lively brown eyes.

"If you consider this cheerful, then I guess I am." Neville replied. The girl scowled slightly and turned away muttering, "just trying to make small talk."

Neville ignored her and after a few seconds of closing his eye in contemplation, pulled out a notebook from his coat and went over the details that he had discussed with the contractors regarding the building of the warehouse and the distillery structures.

"Mr. Longbottom." He heard healer March say next to him.

Looking up, Neville put his notebook back, and turned his attention to the healer. "Healer Yoshikawa has started on the runic array. I hope you understand that I too wish that your parents will be able to recover. When I read healer Yoshikawa's paper, I was immediately drawn to similarity of the case that she had treated to that of your parents." The healer said, placing a comforting hand on Neville's shoulder.

Neville nodded and asked, "How much will this treatment cost healer March?"

"There is no payment required from your end Mr. Longbottom, I used your donation from three months ago to focus on healing the patients in this ward. Some of the money I utilized in hiring specialized healers similar to Yoshikawa. The rest I given out as research grants to that will focus on treating the ambiguous cases we have." Healer March said smiling.

Neville smiled as well. "I made it a goal after the battle at Hogwarts to help as many people as I can and in whatever way I can. It's good to see that you are able to help me achieve my goal too Healer March."

"You have already done a lot Mr. Longbottom. Do you know, we haven't received a single case of werewolf attack in the last six months. At this rate, the objective of the charity that you and Mr. Potter started will be achieved, at least in magical Britain."

Neville blushed and quietly accepted the compliment. He saw his grandmother approaching behind the healer and excused himself in order to inform his grandmother of the earlier discussion.

"Umm, excuse me healer March?" March turned to the dark-haired young girl.

"Yes Ms. Greengrass?" He replied.

"How much of a donation did he make?" She asked, "Normally I wouldn't say, but since you're receiving rewards from his donation as well, I'll make an exception. He donated 100000 Galleons." Healer March informed the girl.

The girl's eye went wide in shock and turned and stared at the Longbottoms talking some distance away, both members smiling hopeful smiles. Healer March smiled and walked away from the site.

"Astoria, come, we can go home now." The girl heard her mother say from her other side.

Astoria Greengrass turned and got up to follow her mother, still shocked at what the healer had said.

Seeing her younger daughter's state as they entered the lift, Selena Greengrass questioned her. Astoria babbled out to her mother of the happenings from a few moments ago with Longbottom and March.

Selena too was shocked. Ever since their return to England at the end of 1998, she had been made aware of the situation of her family with regard to the Longbottoms. The Letter that Daniel had sent in reply to Augusta's apology for Algie. Her Brother-in-law's public proclamations. The refusal of the family to deal in any produce produced by the Longbottoms.

The contempt they held for the Longbottom boy had been seen since before the Southampton attack. Even at Tenerife, she had heard of the boy being referred to as a Squib by her children. She heard of the way the students at the school had mocked him for his inability to do magic properly.

The announcement of the 'Charity for werewolves', had done little to change the family's views beyond the initial shock it brought on. They had chalked it up as primarily Potter's undertaking.

Hence, the family was left stunned at the Yule party of 1999, when Susan Bones, during her retelling of the battle of Hogwarts, had informed the family of the boy's exploits during the final years of Hogwarts and how he was among the people instrumental in defeating the dark lord. How the so-called squib had defiantly faced Voldemort and had summoned the sword of Gryffindor to kill Voldemort's familiar.

She shook her head morosely at the thought of what had happened at the hospital, prior to the Astoria's interaction with the Longbottom boy.

Astoria had, a year ago, begun to show symptoms of a Greengrass family blood curse that would have ended her life in a few years. They were at the hospital to receive an update on a recent research study that had made headway in to curing Astoria's condition. The results of the study looked promising, and it had given Selena hope at the time.

She was told by the healer overseeing the research, that the Hospital had received a recent influx of funds that allowed for continued and increased funding of the research study pertinent to Astoria's case. This increased funding allowed for more expensive tests which provided better results.

Now, she heard, from her own daughter, that the one responsible for the influx of funds was the same Longbottom boy that they had so derided.

She chuckled, causing Astoria to look at her strangely as they reached the hospital's fireplace. They had taken the blame an uncle held and had allowed it to encompass the remaining family. And now, the nephew had inadvertently saved her daughter.

'Wait till Daniel hears this.' She thought to herself.