It's been a few years since I became a father for the first time when my son Frank was born.
Now, I have a daughter on the way in a few weeks.
I have gathered Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Hannah at the Leaky Cauldron.
"Well, " I say clearly, "I know you all already know this, but it's time to make it official. I am naming my daughter Alice after my mother."
The nanosecond the words are out of my mouth, huge, burning tears suddenly erupt from my eyes and slide down my cheeks like a waterfall. I fall off my chair onto the ground.
"Neville, are you okay?" asks Ginny kindly as Hannah offers me her hand and helps me to my feet.
"This is an extremely emotional moment, " I say once I'm back on my feet, "You all know the story about my parents and how they were tortured into insanity but there's an aspect of this story that I haven't shared before. Now is the time to tell it."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Hannah maintain a respectful silence. They all understand the pace and timing of this reveal has to be on my terms.
As I take a deep breath and look around at my friends, I say, "I always told you lot at Hogwarts that Herbology was my favorite subject. This is factually true. But I also told you that I desired a career in Herbology because of my interest in magical plants. While my interest in magical plants is legitimate, it is not the real reason I pursued careers in Herbology. The real reason I pursued careers in Herbology was the hope that I might someday discover a new plant or untap something hitherto unknown about an old plant that might bring relief and cure to mom and dad."
"Oh, Neville, " says Hermione sadly.
"I know today that that was never a possibility. I didn't fully appreciate this as a child or a teen, but my parents, despite being physically alive, were killed by Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch. They don't have a medical condition. What happened to them is not something you can find a medicinal cure for. No medicine can undo torture, especially torture as severe as the Cruciatus Curse causes. As a boy, I was desperate for mom and dad to be cured and it took me awhile even into adulthood to understand and accept that no miracle could make that happen."
I look around and see the tears on the faces of my female friends. I understand. They may not understand exactly how I feel, but this would be a hard story for anyone to hear.
"What kind of person was Alice, to your knowledge?" asks Harry.
"Just the same as Frank, " I pipe up proudly, "Brave, loyal, hardworking, and kind. Mom and dad were quite simply, good people of high character."
"They were stolen from you, " says Hannah, "But you can give to them by keeping their legacy alive."
"That's exactly what naming my son and daughter after my mom and dad is all about, " I say firmly, Frank and Alice will keep the names of Frank and Alice alive. But I will raise them to know who they were named after and what kinds of people those people were. The best I can hope for now is that my son and daughter will grow to be people who embody the type of people my mom and dad were."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Hannah all nod their heads and say "good luck" quietly.
"I have one more announcement, " I say.
"Let me guess, " interjects Luna, "Alice will be your last child."
"Ah, Ravenclaw smarts, " I say brightly.
"You're sure you aren't having any more kids?" asks Harry.
"I actually decided while I was still a Hogwarts student that two would be the number of kids I would have, " I explain, "But now that I've named them Frank and Alice, there's no way I want any more. Just Frank and Alice to honor Frank and Alice."