Dear Wizarding Britain
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I probably wouldn't be playing around on fanfiction.
During the month of January, there was very little improvement in Neville's condition. He would obviously go through the motions of sleeping and waking, but when he was awake, he generally just stared off in space and didn't interact with anyone or seem to acknowledge that anyone was present. He had to be hand-fed, though he thankfully still retained the ability to chew and swallow.
Hermione learned through research in the library how to connect him to a magical catheter and such, so that his waste and bodily fluids would automatically vanish, rather than collect in a bag that needed to be changed out in the manner that muggles would have to do so.
Luna had been the one who spent the majority of the time at Neville's bedside, at her own insistence, alternating between reading him herbology texts aloud and reciting her adventures with her father as they searched for creatures like the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, Umgubular Slashkilters, and Dabberblimps. Occasionally, she would notice a slight flicker in Neville's eyes, whenever she read about a certain plant and its properties; however, it was there and gone in less than a second, replaced by a vacant expression once again.
Harry and Hermione took turns convincing Luna to take breaks in order to sleep, eat, and shower, or even to just explore the island. On those occasions that they were able to convince her to take a break, one of them would sit with Neville until Luna returned.
As was Hermione's habit when it came to solving problems, and during the times she wasn't sleeping, eating, showering, or sitting with Neville so that Luna could do such, she threw herself into research, reading everything the library had to offer in relation to healing and the Cruciatus curse.
Harry's task during this time was leaving the island a few hours every day, using his metamorphmagus abilities in order to search every magical bookshop he could find and purchase any and all relevant texts for Hermione to read; occasionally, buying a book for himself that caught his eye as it related to magical defense, charms, or transfiguration; also, buying every potions book he laid an eye on, so that Fred and George would be able to expand their knowledge of potions and perhaps even find a cure for Neville that way, which of course led him to the apothecary for potions ingredients for the twins' use as well.
While the twins didn't usually take a turn sitting with Neville, they were still helping in their own way, using the texts that Harry returned back with and creating new potions in attempts to find a cure. Even though they were hitting brick walls, as it related to finding a cure, they were still inventing new ways and uses for potions, so it wasn't a total loss.
It took a while for Harry to get comfortable with the idea, but it just made sense that the majority of the disguises he assumed were all in the female form, because everyone in the world over would be looking for a male Harry Potter, and not a female going by names like Rose Belafonte, Lacy Ebon, and Jasmine Hughes. Rarely, he would go out as a male by the name of Dale Robinson.
So in spite of the teasing he endured from Fred and George, he made himself practice until he was comfortable walking in heels and dresses, reading about fashion in Witch Weekly, and learning how to apply makeup in both magical and muggle ways. He did still have issues with his vocals, but was able to overcome it with a special charm that Hermione had found in the library and helped him to enchant several pieces of jewelry with said charm.
His Rose persona was that of a 20-something-year-old red-head with hazel eyes, a petite build, and average beauty with a shy disposition, which is the form he used the most when he was shopping for books.
Lacy was the persona Harry used when shopping for potions books and/or supplies. As Lacy, he presented as a brunette in her late-30s, grey-eyed, a bit on the pudgy side with a maternal look about her. He based his costume on an upper middle-class version of Molly Weasley, making sure to dress well off enough to not be looked at twice for his sometimes large purchases at the apothecaries that he shopped at, but to not come off as too wealthy since he didn't want to look like an easy target.
Jasmine was the newest female disguise he had adopted. He used Jasmine when he wanted to explore the muggle world, which is what he also used his male form of Dale for.
He intended to use Jasmine's disguise for attending acting classes — which he had yet to sign up for — that he felt would work well to help sharpen up his acting skills when he donned different looks. Granted, he felt as if he was doing okay so far, but he tended to stay to himself and didn't interact with more than the shopkeepers when he was out; however, he felt that acting was a skill that he needed to have if he were to use his metamorphmagus gift to the best of his ability. He needed to be able to mentally become whatever disguise he donned. He also hoped this class would shed light on a technique he could use for disguising his voice, without having to rely on the use of charms.
Jasmine's look was that of an eighteen-year old, strawberry-blonde with pale green eyes, just under five-and-a-half feet tall, with a slightly curvy figure and average beauty. Even if he was in the muggle world, he still didn't want to draw enough attention to himself that he stuck out enough to be remembered as more than just a pretty face. Merlin forbid that he made his female forms attractive enough to be constantly hounded by other men trying to ask him out on a date or worse.
Dale was who he became when just wanted a break from it all, so when he wanted to cut loose and go sit in a muggle pub or go out dancing in a muggle club, he became Dale. This was also the form he used for learning muggle hand-to-hand combat and intended to use for going to muggle university. It was the only form he allowed himself to stand out in, keeping his hair a bright, shaggy blue with ice blue eyes. He kept his height around six feet, with defined muscles and a slight tan. Sometimes he'd wear his hair blue with bright green tips or vice versa, only the most stuffy of muggles would pay him the least bit of attention for his hair, though his appearance did garner him quite a bit of the female attention, which he had yet to allow himself to do anything about. All in all, being Dale was his outlet and a way to embrace himself as the son and godson of a marauder.
Harry took a break from visiting bookshops as Rose after he found several tomes that detailed the art of occlumency and legilimency. While he no longer had the mental connection to Voldemort, after a glance through some of the books, he decided that it would be a good skill to have, as you never knew when one would come face to face with someone who had no qualms about one's privacy. Plus, they had pretty much hit a brick wall with Neville's recovery, such that they were beginning to worry that he'd end up exactly like his parents.
Meanwhile:
Daphne was slowly coming to grips with having fled her family home with the aid of Blaise's house elf. Before she had had the chance to acclimate to her surroundings, Lopsy had relocated them several more times, before they found themselves in a small populated town in Argentina for a time.
Thankfully, Blaise had been able to procure them a wizarding tent for them to live in, which they warded with all manner of charms and wards, plus a few that Lopsy added for them, so that they could remain as inconspicuous as possible. Thankfully, Argentina was a diverse enough country that no one gave a second glance at their appearances, it was just their accent when they spoke that they stuck out like sore thumbs.
It was after Daphne's first restful night of sleep that she remembered the parchment she had found on her bedside table the night she escaped and went searching through her discarded clothing to find it.
After an unsuccessful few minutes of searching, Daphne could have slapped herself before she thought to use the summoning charm, and then it was flying towards her in a matter of seconds. The moment she had it in hand, she recognized her name on the outside of the folded parchment in sister's handwriting, then she opened it with trepidation.
Dear Daphne,
I'm sure you were as surprised as I would have been at this turn of events, had I been in your shoes. Don't think I didn't notice your lack of trust and faith in me, though I suppose I didn't give you any reason to, what with the way I've treated you and everyone else in order to remain inconspicuous at our poor excuse for a school.
I hope that that Weasley prank item aided you in your escape. Yes, I've known for a while that you were planning to escape our family and the war. I didn't know exactly when, until I saw your reaction when I mentioned the Notts and the betrothal contract. I took a chance in guessing it would be tonight, which is why I've chosen to leave you this note, which was charmed to return to me, had you not left the wards last night. It's amazing the sorts of things one can find in the library under the guise of being bored.
I'm glad you've escaped this life. You don't deserve to be forced into a loveless marriage with an imbecile.
And I realize that this has left our family open to retaliation, but please don't worry for us. Despite what it may look like, I know that father and mother truly love each other, so I doubt that mother could have been persuaded to leave even if we tried. And as to that betrothal contract, well, even if they do force me to take your place in it, the joke's on them. Since I'm the one who inherited this blood disease, I don't have a long life expectancy anyways, and I've found and brewed this lovely potion that renders me sterile, until I've taken the antidote.
So even if they do force me into the contract in your stead, they cannot force me to bear them a heir; although, I somehow doubt they'll want to take me in your place after they find out about the blood disease, because they won't want any possible heirs to be afflicted with it.
I fear I must sign off now, so that I can sneak this letter into your room. Please stay safe and make the most of your freedom. I hope to see you again in this life, if not, I'll see you in the next one. I love you, big sister.
All my love,
Astoria Greengrass
Tears were pouring down Daphne's face at the conclusion of her sister's letter. Merlin, how could she have been so wrong about who her sister was? Now, all she could think about was all of the lost time, because no matter what her sister's hopes were, there was a very low chance of them being able to see each other again, not with the Dark Lord in charge of Britain.
As the months passed by, Harry had finally been able to make decent progress with learning legilimency, practicing with Hermione and the twins, Luna's mind was too chaotic for legilimency to work properly on her. Occlumency was much more difficult for Harry to learn, but he was stubborn so he kept pushing himself further and further, until one day he had an epiphany that just made everything click and he found himself probably on par with Snape or Voldemort, though he had no way to truly confirm that. While the twins and Hermione became proficient during their practice with him, they were still not able to completely shut him out, even though they could fight him off for a time.
It was coming up on the July of what would be Harry's and Neville's eighteen birthdays when Harry was taking his turn to sit with Neville, while Luna took one of her mandatory breaks, that Harry made eye contact with Neville during one of his rare flashes of lucidity and Harry found himself within Neville's mind and he found himself wondering why he hadn't thought to try this method before.
Very carefully, Harry began picking up the pieces of Neville's mind that had been shattered. He gently wove his way through the chaos, slowly putting his friend's mind in some semblance of order.
After what felt like hours, Harry noticed what appeared to be Neville puttering around in what resembled a greenhouse. As he found the doorway and slowly let himself in, Neville turned around quickly and tensely, but relaxed when he saw Harry and said, "Finally, I was beginning to think no one was going to figure out how to find me, " then he collapsed and Harry found himself back in his own mind and body, blinking his eyes into focus, as he felt someone shaking him as if trying to get his attention.
Harry turned and noticed the worried looks on his friends faces, but smiled at them reassuringly before turning back to Neville, who was awake and looking around to take in his surroundings. He finally focused on Harry, then moved his eyes to see Luna, Hermione, and the twins. Neville gave a little smile and said, "Hey," with a croak in his voice from disuse.
Hearing his voice caused everyone, except Harry, to exclaim in surprise and Luna quickly conjured him a glass of water and was beside him as quickly as if she had apparated there, gently helping him up and helping him drink some of the water. Finally, after having enough, he relaxed back on his pillow and asked, "What have I missed?"
A/N: I don't have a clue if legilimency would work for this scenario or not. If it does, why wouldn't they have tried it in canon? I have read stories where a similar method did help the Longbottoms, I just can't remember which stories, so I can't quote them for reference. I've read far too many stories over the years for me to remember, because they all run together now.