Disclaimer: Harry Potter is from the creative genius that is J.K. Rowling. We are not her. This is merely a fanfiction to tide us over until 12:01 a.m. July 16. (Book 6 hurray!)
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Alaire had never felt happier than she had those first few days of vacation. There were no other females paying THAT kind of attention to her man. There were no classes to get in the way of any snogging plans. She had a week until her parents arrived to spend with Neville ALONE. And everyone seemed to be talking to everyone else, even Harry. All seemed to be finally going the right way for the first time since she found out she was empathic.
So she had a horrible sense of foreboding, when Neville began acting strangely as he walked her to the stairs one night.
"Neville, what is it?" she asked quietly hoping she wouldn't hear any of those horrible 'This isn't working,' 'My feelings have changed' phrases uttered from his lips. What he did say, though, shocked her.
"I- I want you to come with me to visit my parents tomorrow. My Gran will floo in and we'll go together," he said quietly.
"Your parents?" Alaire said in shock. Whenever Neville briefly talked about his mum or father, she had sensed sadness and a void from him. "But I thought they were gone."
"They are in away," he said looking down at the floor. "Physically, they're still here. Mentally . . . Look, I understand if you don't want to go."
"No," Alaire said placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Of course, I'll go."
"No, forget I said anything," Neville snapped a bit. "They're in St. Mungo's in an untreatable ward. That's no place for you really."
Alaire smiled lightly. Neville had no idea most empaths worked in hospital wards like that. Individuals with gifts such as hers were typically used in the medical field. Empaths were sometimes used to read the emotions – happiness, sadness, pain – of those patients that are not able to communicate directly with hospital staff. Being able to sense one's emotions in such cases helped dictate a say between the patient and his or her treatment as well as between patients and family members.
"If you will be there, I was meant to be there with you. Take me to see your parents, Neville. Please."
Neville looked up at her. Nodding his head he said "All right then. I'll owl Gran to let her know," and gave her a peck on the lips before heading up to his dormitory.
Alaire sighed as she lightly touched her fingertips to her lips. That had been quite unexpected. She had the feeling she was the only one Neville ever asked to visit his parents with him.
The next day Alaire dressed as nicely as she could hoping to impress Neville's Gran. She had asked the others about her, with some scary results. Ron had said something about Snape in a dress. Harry had mentioned something about a vulture hat. Hermione had said she was a stern older woman, while Ginny had come out and said that she was overbearing and the reason why Neville was so timid to begin with. Needless to say, Alaire was terrified as she waited in the Headmaster's office with Neville to meet this woman.
Soon the fireplace jumped to life with green fire. Out came an older woman with white hair and, sure enough, a vulture attached to her hat and holding a red purse.
"Neville," she said sternly, without really looking up at him as she brushed herself off. "Are you ready to go, boy?"
Neville clasped Alaire's hand. "Yes, we are."
"We?" the older woman looked up to see Alaire and scowled. "Huh, well, all right then if you must. Best not to doddle. Into the fireplace with both of you."
Neville nodded and pulled Alaire into the fireplace with him. "St. Mungo's," he yelled.
A moment later they arrived in a large building with white walls trimmed out in lime and orange. There were several men and women sitting in waiting chairs. An entire family was covered in boils. One person's face was half duck and half human. A man was trying to scratch the middle of his back where a giant horn had developed. The most unusual one seemed to have sprouted donkey ears with a coconut coming out of his left one.
"Come on! Don't dally," snapped Grans as Neville lead her away from the waiting area and up a few flights of stairs.
"I don't think your Gran likes me," Alaire whispered to him as the climbed up the stairs.
"Don't worry," Neville said lightly smiling back at her. "I don't think she likes me much either."
Alaire chuckled lightly, but it was enough for the older woman to hear her and shoot her a sharp look.
As they were headed toward a wing that read "Untreatable Spells" a portly witched approached Gran. "Mrs. Longbottom, how good to see you again," said the woman.
"Yes, yes. Happy Christmas, Esther. How are Frank and Alice?"
The portly woman looked worried for a moment causing the trio to stop. "I'm afraid Frank had a bit of a fit this morning."
Alaire felt Neville tense. "Was mum hurt?"
"Hush, boy," snapped his Grans. "What happened, Esther?"
"Just the usual, Mrs. Longbottom. However, we felt it best if we gave him several calming potions. I'm afraid he will be asleep for most of the day."
As Gran and Esther continued to speak, Neville pulled Alaire aside.
"You have everyone tuned out, right?" he worried.
Alaire smiled. "Don't worry, Neville. I'm fine."
"Maybe this was a bad idea. I don't want you to get overwhelmed. I can take you back down to the lobby and floo you back to Hogwarts."
"Honestly, Neville! Do you think I'm that fragile? Maybe I should get Ginny Weasley to get me one of those lovely chocolate bars her brothers concocted when we get back just to prove to you how strong I am."
Neville flushed brilliantly. "That won't be necessary."
"Are you two finished?" Grans snapped. "Time is wasting."
"Yes, Gran," Neville said squeezing Alaire's hand. "I want Mum and Dad to meet Alaire."
"Son, what you want to do is silly nonsense. They will not remember her a minute after we leave. They won't even recognize you once we're in there." She took a deep breath and looked Alaire up and down looking for anything she could comment on. Finding nothing, for once, she simply said, "However, I'm glad you finally brought a friend to meet your parents. You shouldn't be ashamed of them. They are a brave bunch. You couldn't ask for anyone better than my Frank," the older woman said with an exaggerated sniff and dab to her eyes as she pushed open a door and entered a room. "If they can't remember her, she can remember them."
As they walked further into the ward, Alaire was struck by how white everything was. It was almost like some sort of surreal dream. She wondered why they didn't try to color things up a bit. She was quite certain that she too would go insane if she was stuck in this room for very long.
She barely noticed Gran was still talking until she caught the phrase "bringing one of those rebelling colonists to meet your parents. Honestly have you no sense of country?"
"Gran, why don't you go wait outside while I introduce Alaire then?" Neville said his voice taking a sharp tone to it.
The older woman huffed. "Neville, are you telling me what to do?"
"No, ma'am. But I am asking for a few moments alone with MY parents and Alaire, if you don't mind."
"I don't know what you hope to accomplish." She stared at Neville who for once stared back. "Fine."
She turned and left the room muttering something about brash Americans. Neville sighed. "Sorry."
"It's all right. I just didn't realize your Grans didn't know we won the Revolutionary War and all," she said, bringing a light chuckle to Neville's lips.
"Well, then, here we go," Neville said as he took Alaire's hand and went through a pair of curtains.
On the other side was a man sleeping on a narrow bed. Alaire couldn't see his face but his body was gaunt and his feet and hands continuously twitched. A woman with Neville's roundish face and his eyes was sitting up on the neighboring bed. She wore a bright red robe and purple slippers. Her hair was tied back with a purple ribbon. She had gum wrappers around her and seemed to be playing with them.
"Mum," Neville said increasing his grip on Alaire's hand. The woman looked up and though her eyes seemed a little dull, Alaire noted that if you looked closely enough you could see what appeared to be a little twinkle.
Neville walked closer to her. "Happy Christmas, Mum," he said sitting down next to her in bed and pulling Alaire down next to him. Neville took his mother's hand away from the gum wrappers and held onto it. He kissed her hand lightly. "I'm staying at Hogwarts this Christmas. Grans isn't too crazy about it, but it is my last year and I wanted to be with my friends. Looks like I'll graduate in June if I survive my NEWTs."
The woman didn't seem to be paying any mind to anything Neville said. She had looked at him briefly as he sat down, but her attention went again to the wrappers. Alaire could tell that every visit must have been like this for Neville. She didn't know how he could handle this. He was much stronger than anyone ever gave him credit.
"The nurse said that Dad had a fit this morning," Neville said as he turned to look at his father's face. The man simply snored loudly in reply.
Neville slowly tucked a stray stand of his mother's hair back behind her ears. "I'm glad you didn't get in the way this time. It scares me a little when he thinks he's still fighting Deatheaters and gets violent. The nurses said he'll be asleep most of the day."
Neville talked for several more minutes about various things before he took a deep breath and looked at his mother as straight as he could. "I really wanted you both to meet someone. There's a good reason I'm not going home with Grans for the holiday. I want you to meet the love of my life, Alaire Goodknight. Alaire, this is my mum, Alice Longbottom."
Neville placed Alaire's hand in his mothers hoping his mum would understand that the simple gesture meant that this was someone he wanted her to meet and maybe remember in the future. He had no idea that as soon as Alaire's hand touched his mother's, she took down the wall she had built in her mind to block emotions out.
She wanted to know this woman who had given birth to such a wonderful man even if it meant personal pain. Suddenly, raw emotions struck her hard making her jump up from the bed, her hand still in Alice's. The movement startled the other woman, but she remained seated.
"What's the matter?" Neville panicked as he reached to pull Alaire away from his mother and break their bond.
"Neville," Alaire's voice shook as she looked from Alice Longbottom to Neville. "She-She knows you. She . . . there's so much confusion." Alaire closed her eyes for a moment steadying herself. The pain was almost unbearable but one look at Neville's astounded face made her continue. "She doesn't understand what happened, she doesn't understand all this, why she can't do things, but when she looks at you. . . she's so proud. She's proud of you, of who you've become. She loves you," Alaire said tearing up. "I- she just loves you, Neville."
Emotions overwhelmed Neville. Relief, happiness, grief, sadness, and pride that he had done something right in his parents' eyes washed over him. He looked up to see Alaire let go of his mother's hand. He pulled her to him and leaned his head against her stomach and sobbed.
"Oh, Neville," Alaire said as tears ran down her cheeks. She swayed as both Alice's and Neville emotions cursed through her leaving an indelible mark on her heart. She had wanted to do this since she first found out about Neville's parents so many weeks ago. She only wished Neville could sense his mother's feelings directly.
Then a strange thing happened. She felt a soothing hand on the top of Neville's head caressing his hair. Alaire began to feel happiness seep up through the pain she had just felt.
"Mum?" he questioned through his tears. His mother's brown eyes danced as she smiled lightly and laid her head on his shoulder. She hummed a little tune as she awkwardly patted Neville's knee. Then she sat up, dug deep in her pocket, and handed him a piece of gum. Neville could only smile as his mother gestured for him to chew it. She then took the wrapper from him and gave it a deft twist.
When Gran came into the room five minutes later, she was shocked to see Alice Longbottom smiling as she, her son, and the American girl sat on the hospital bed humming happily and making a daisy chain of gum wrappers.