Disclaimer: I do not own HP.

I figured you guys wouldn't mind if I posted a chapter early.

Brittney – Really? I wasn't thinking about it, but I do try to portray the characters close to canon, while at the same time ensuring that they're dynamic (like Draco, obviously he isn't the same, but I try to make it so that it's a plausible change). The only character I purposefully avoid doing this with is Ginny, as I didn't like her OoTP version at all. Also, on characters like Parvati who suddenly become major characters in this story, obviously I have to extend parts of her character that weren't included in the books. One character that was really tough to write was Luna Lovegood, which is why I took her out. I just couldn't get the dreamy quality right.

Jdcrmn – Thanks!

Squigglius – Well, it was pretty uneventful yes. I try to make it so that something happens in all the chapters – i.e., that they're not all filler – but I felt it would be good to slow down some.

Emily – Oh yes, The Lord of the Rings Series is definitely awesome. I'm crazy about it; I have all the Extended Edition movies and have watched all the extra stuff on the DVDs – multiple times.

Anyway, hopefully all of you who missed reading the previous chapter will read it before reading this one accidentally.

Chapter 38 – St. Mungo's

Nurse Pamela Tarla of St. Mungo's Hospital stared at her long fingernails. She was having a rather uneventful day, but she didn't mind. It was a typical work day for Nurse Tarla. Being with the Longbottoms, nothing really happened much. Usually she brought a book, but, having woken up late, she hadn't had the opportunity to do so today.

Pamela sighed. The Longbottoms had been the same for sixteen-odd years – although she hadn't been caring for them that long – and showed little sign of change. They had hardly any memory, and none at all of the events that happened before their horrible torture. They were, shortly put, insane, and possessed only lingering qualities of personality. They didn't even recognize their own son – a fact that, the first time Nurse Tarla had encountered it, had been somewhat of a shock to her system. It was horrible, really, not only to them but to everyone so close to them. Sighing again, she absentmindedly bit her fingernails.

"Ah yes – Peter – that lady over there told me something important, and now I can't remember it." (Being addressed as "the lady over there" was not odd for Nurse Tarla anymore – they couldn't remember her name.)

"Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom, your son was hurt in an attack by a spell. He is being treated by Nurse Pomfrey at the Hogwarts Medical Wing, and will be quite alright."

"Son? Ah yes, I remember him," Peter Longbottom said slowly. Pamela, shocked, looked up.

"You do?"

"Why yes, why shouldn't I? Nice boy. How old is he again? And his name?"

"You tell me, he's been here countless times." Pamela pushed. If Peter was actually remembering something besides his wife's name, it was an extremely rare occurrence. Something worth exploiting. Peter stared blankly back, however, and Pamela, saddened at the lost chance, decided that she might as well tell him.

"Very well, his name is -"

"Neville," Peter suddenly started. A shadow passed over his face. "He's named Neville, isn't he? And he's – he's sixteen." Pamela nodded dumbly. Peter suddenly collapsed on the bed, his face now ashen, his body shaking slightly. "I – I don't feel so well."

Ronald Weasley surveyed Hogwarts from his vantage point in the Forbidden Forest silently, his black eyes scanning the dark quickly. Soon, he would be able to make his move. The only thing that was stopping him was a Quidditch team – the Slytherin Quidditch team, in fact. Ron saw Malfoy hovering in the background, scanning the performance of his team. Humorously enough, Malfoy obviously appeared to be in a tetchy mood, and the play of his team had turned razor-sharp thanks to it. One beater in particular, who, shockingly enough, seemed to be a girl, seemed to be hitting accurately and flying well. Ron passed the time, absentmindedly petting the Thestral next to him and surveying the Slytherin team's Quidditch strategies.

It was late in the night when Malfoy and the rest stopped. Ron vaguely heard in the distance some altercation between a small kid and the Slytherins. Ron gritted his teeth and restrained himself from teaching the Slytherins a lesson. Finally, the team retreated away into Hogwarts. The grounds were now extremely dimly lit, a faint glow being cast by the moon, a few solitary rooms lit up in the immense expanse of the castle. Ron knew his way far too well around the grounds to be lost, though. He mounted the Thestral and directed it up towards a high window that appeared to be closed, the wind whipping around his hair and robes. Ron gestured toward the window and a faint click was heard as the window opened. Ron silently crawled in. Hopefully, Harry was still awake.

Harry surveyed the chess board thoughtfully. Chess couldn't be called one of Parvati's favorite pastimes, but she played it often enough and was smart enough to be good enough to have skill comparable to Harry's. Harry was up, but only barely. Smiling, he finally saw a good move.

"Check."

Parvati sighed and started considering her moves. Harry took the time to glance over at Hermione. She had been poring over her book, reading and scrutinizing, occasionally scribbling a note down or circling a particularly useful section. However, Harry hadn't heard the sound of pages turning for a bit, and the silence was a bit unnerving. Hermione, in fact, wasn't even looking at the book anymore, but staring at the wall in front of her, stroking her chin absentmindedly.

"Hermione? What is it?" Hermione jumped suddenly, and then responded.

"I just thought I heard something, that's all."

Harry suddenly became acutely aware of an odd whipping sound that hadn't been there before.

"Look! The window's open. Wonder how that happened?" Parvati remarked, already going up to close it. The whipping sound had actually been the wind blowing into the curtains.

Crap! Harry, as Ron had hoped, was indeed awake, but was being accompanied by Hermione and Parvati. The fact that Hermione was awake wasn't actually bad at all, but Ron didn't want Parvati around. Ron didn't hold any particular grudge against Parvati, but seeing her would require a lot of explaining, something he wanted to avoid. Just get to Dumbledore, quick.

"I just thought I heard something, that's all," Ron heard Hermione remark.

"Look! The window's open. Wonder how that happened?" Ron cursed under his breath upon seeing that Parvati was approaching. Looking for a refuge in the hallway, Ron stole away into the boy's dormitory, and silently shut the door. Turning around and heaving a sigh of relief, he came face to face with none other than a fast asleep Seamus. Neville and Dean, oddly, didn't appear to be there. Seamus shifted in his sleep and Ron listened at the door – he could still hear them, just very faintly. After he was sure Parvati had gone, he opened the door a crack to ensure that he could hear them better.

"Something wrong, Parvati?"

"Thought I saw something, but it must've been a shadow."

"All right then. What's your move?" Harry asked. Hermione's scribbling and page-turning recommenced.

Oh my god, go to bed! Ron had been waiting for what felt like hours and Parvati, Harry, and Hermione were still out there. Ron didn't even see why they were still out there. Hermione appeared to be scribbling in some ungodly huge book, and Harry and Parvati were just playing chess. Ron groaned to himself before slumping down at the end of the hallway. How long could they keep this up?

Finally, after another hour (The hour now being 3:00) Hermione rose and yawned.

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm going to bed."

Harry grinned upon hearing this.

"Parvati, you know what that means." Parvati smiled and rose along with Hermione.

"Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight you two." Harry seemed to rest for a bit on the floor, contemplating something, before rising. Ron stirred from his vantage point at the end of the hall, tensing himself. Harry approached the end of the hall and opened the door to the dormitory. He didn't go in, however, because Ron grabbed him.

"Harry!"