Chapter 26: End of Sorrow

Bettany Hall, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England

February 14, 1986

The plant was dying. It was plain to the eye as the plant drooped that it needed more to sustain it than simple water and sunlight. It was missing some integral ingredient in the soil, some mineral that would have assisted it to remain healthy and to grow strong. Neville had not understood why his Grandmother had uprooted this plant from outdoors to have it placed in a pot and moved indoors. It had been growing strong and healthy out of doors. Now it was dying.

Neville could feel the withering of the plant as he gently ran his fingers over a stem of the plant. The leaf was curved, withering and readying itself to detach from the stem. He shook his head at the thought of letting that happen. Instead his fingers followed the stem down into the earth and he dug his fingers in until he found the roots. The poor plant was not getting enough nutrition. It needed to be watered more often than it was and it needed better soil, richer soil.

The House-Elves had obeyed Augusta and had uprooted the plant but they had not known to put it in soil exactly like that which they had found it. Instead they had used soil left over from the dig to build a grand pool in the garden. The pool was not for swimming though. His Grandmother intended to put little prettily colored fish into the pond. She had been obsessed with the idea ever since she had taken him to visit his mother's relatives, the Browns, and had seen that their grand gardens had a large pool with many magical fish in it. Neville had to admit that the Browns' pool of fish had been very pretty. He had liked his distant cousin, Lavender, who had taken him by the hand and shown him how to feed the fish.

He thought of Lavender as he felt the spark of his magic begin to feed the plant. A small smile curved his lips as he thought of his pretty blonde haired cousin. She had been just as shy as he was at first, but soon enough she had warmed to him and had taken him by the hand to show him around. They had laughed together over feeding the fish and she had shown him the plants in the gardens. She had applauded when she noticed him using magic to make one of the plants feel a little better. Lavender had then done the same thing, showing him that he was not the only one who could do it. He had felt less lonely with Lavender beside him, both of them feeding magic into Lavender's favorite flower bed.

He let his mind return to the present and slowly eased back the flow of his magic into the plant. He wanted to return it to a state of health, not make it dependent on his magic to survive. Lavender had warned him that if he fed the plants too often they would become dependent on him to survive, that they would morph and adapt to his magic and will. She reminded him of the stories of ancient sorceresses who seemed to have control over plants and fauna. He had learned a great deal from his cousin that day.

He sighed wistfully. He wished that his Gran would let him go back to the Brown's to visit Lavender again. Lavender had a younger brother to play with. Neville was envious of that. He was all alone. He had no one to play with and the adults around him were frightening.

Neville smiled at the leaf of the plant as it curved around his finger and for a moment he thought the plant was attempting to offer him comfort. Yet surely that was impossible. Plants didn't understand human feelings, did they? He would have to remember to ask Lavender. She would know, surely.

"It's time for a game, Neville," he heard his Great-Uncle Algie say and he froze. He wished that he could blend in with polished wooden paneling that made up the wall before him. Maybe then Uncle Algie would not be able to see him.

Neville looked up at Algie cautiously. "I don't want to play right now Uncle Algie," Neville said softly. He stumbled over his words, fear being his paramount emotion. Every time Algie wanted to play some sort of game with Neville it always ended with Neville hurt either emotionally or physically, usually both.

"Well that's a shame, because you are going to play the game anyway," Algernon said to Neville.

Neville shook his head in the negative and then yelped to feel himself lifted off the ground. He whimpered in fright when he was turned toward the window and found himself hoisted up upon the window sill with his feet not quite touching the edge of the window ledge. Tears blurred his eyes as he looked down at the ground below. Uncle Algie wouldn't make him fall, would he?

"Such a view from this spot," Algernon told him. "I had always thought that it was such a splendid view of the surrounding lands, but of course this view does not belong to me. It belongs to you," Algie admitted and there was a note of disapproval to his voice that caused a spike in Neville's fear. "Well, it will belong to you if you can bounce."

Neville frowned at his uncle in confusion. "What do you mean that it will belong to me if I can bounce? What do you mean by bounce? Uncle Algie I don't…" he pleaded but was cut off by his uncle's admonishment.

"Hush boy," Algie said sharply. He placed his hands to Neville's back and murmured gently to him. "It will be alright Neville. The game is simple. If you are a Wizard then you shall bounce, but if you are not a Wizard then you will have no magic to save you from the fall," Algernon explained to a trembling, frightened Neville.

Neville shook violently and whispered through his tears. "But you won't let me get hurt will you Uncle Algie?"

Algernon's voice was full of disapproval as he told him "Neville, if you don't get hurt then you won't learn."

If possible Neville shook harder. "I…I don't want to play this game," he said. Neville had never been so terrified. He moved his feet, straining to feel ground beneath him but he was held by the spell, still hovering where Algernon wanted him to be. "Please Uncle Algie, I don't want to play this game. Please let me down. Please let me go!"

"Let you go, let you down," Algernon said and he sounded cruel to Neville's ears. "Very well Neville, as you insist." Then Neville felt the hard push in the center of his back and he felt the snap of the hovering spell release him. He was suddenly falling and he screamed in terror as he plummeted toward the ground.

Neville had never been so terrified in the whole of his life. Coherent thought was lost to him as he fell through the air swiftly approaching ground. So, lost was he in his terror that he did not at first feel the warm magic that surrounded him. He finally noticed when he felt as if his descent was slowing. He closed his eyes tightly when he finally encountered the ground. He frowned in confusion when it felt as though he had simply fallen onto his mattress after jumping repeatedly upon the bed. It was a far cry from the pain and agony he had thought he would experience. He opened his eyes and noticed the sparks of magic all around him and at last he recognized the feeling.

"Grandma Callie," he managed to gasp out through tears of residual fear combined with tears of relief that he was safe, that he had not died due to the fall.

It was a moment later that the woman herself was on her knees before him and running her wand over him, scanning him for injuries. As soon as she was done she drew him close to her, enveloping him into a perfumed embrace. The familiar scent of lilacs calmed Neville and he let himself rest against her crying out his emotional hurt into her arms.

"Oh Neville, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Callidora Longbottom whispered fervently to her grandson. "I promise you, this is the last time. The absolute last time that those monsters will be allowed to touch you."

Neville wasn't sure what she meant by monsters. Did she mean Grandma Augusta and Uncle Algie? He only nodded, too upset to ask questions. He didn't want to do anything that would force his Great-Grandmother to stop holding him. He always felt the safest with Callidora. Her magic sung to him and always made him feel wanted and loved. He only felt that occasionally with Augusta. Sometimes it was as though she were holding back her love and Neville did not understand it. He never felt it with Great-Uncle Algernon. He was sure that the man did not like him at all.

'Of course, he doesn't like me. He just pushed me out of a window,' the thought came unbidden and with it a new wave of fresh tears. What had he done to make his Uncle Algie hate him so much? Why could he never please Uncle Algie and Grandma Augusta?

"Tildy!" Callidora exclaimed, summoning her own Personal House-Elf. With a crack the elf was before her, eyes widening at the sight of the young Lord Longbottom sobbing in Callidora's arms. "I want you to pack Neville's things. He will be coming to live with us at Gracewood,"

"Yes Lady Longbottom," Tildy replied before apparating away to do as Callidora had ordered.

"Really?" Neville asked softly through his sobs, his voice full of hope.

Callidora stroked a hand over his hair and smiled at him. "Yes, love, really," she promised him and then she arose holding him to her. "I must speak with Augusta and that vile brother of hers,"

Neville trembled. He didn't want to be in the same room as his Uncle Algie. A few tears leaked from the corners of his eyes and Callidora held him closer. "It is alright, Neville. I am here. I am here now and they won't be allowed to touch you," she promised him.

He nodded his head in agreement though he was not sure he believed her. Would she really be able to stop them from touching him, from hurting him again? She had saved him yes, but what if she had not arrived when she had? He would be dead on the cobblestones that is what. The thought brought on more tears. His great-uncle had tried to kill him. The thought chilled him to the bone.


"Augusta!" Callidora Longbottom called as she entered the great hall of Betany Hall. She was seething with rage and felt her magic crackling around her as she held Neville close to her chest. Augusta often claimed in public that Callidora was an unloving sort and that was why she had custody of Neville, well Callidora would never be crazy enough to believe that the boy needed to undergo deadly stunts to prove if he were a wizard or not. How dare Augusta allow Neville to be terrorized and in his own home no less?

Betany Hall did not belong to Augusta. It belonged to Neville, it was his as the Lord Longbottom, for Betany Hall had long been the seat of the Lords of the House. It was why Callidora had moved to Gracewood upon the death of her dearest Harfang. Augusta had not moved upon the death of Albert and that really should have told Callidora that Augusta was far too grasping. Oh, the signs were there, now that she looked. She was truly disgusted with herself for having ever let Augusta have custody of Neville.

'No longer,' she thought.

"Callidora, to what do I owe the pleasure?" the other woman frowned when she noticed Neville bundled in the other woman's arms.

"Your brother, he pushed Neville out of a window," Callidora said coldly to Augusta. "He attempted the murder of my Great-Grandson. He attempted the murder of the Lord Longbottom!" she exclaimed the last. Her voice carried, freezing Augusta and Algernon Wood who had just started to come down the grand staircase.

Augusta whirled to look at Algernon. "Is this true?" she demanded of her little brother. Had he really pushed Neville, even after everything she had finally shared with him?

Algernon nodded his head in the affirmative. "It was a game to determine if he were a mear Squib or if he were a Wizard. If you did not coddle him so, by slowing and cushioning his fall then we would now know, once and for all."

Augusta looked momentarily stunned.

Callidora felt her rage boil inside. "You insignificant little worm. Just who do you think you are to sit back and cast judgement on this child? He is Lord Longbottom, you are the younger brother of the Wood family. You are beholden to the Longbottoms. Your whole family is."

"More the reason that we be permitted to know if that," he paused and pointed at Neville. "is a Squib or a Wizard. He has shown no remarkable talent and no magic. I believe he is a Squib."

"More like you want him to be a Squib because it would mean that Neville cannot be Lord Longbottom and you think that the title would fall to House Wood," Callidora spit out even as she ran a comforting hand over Neville's hair. "I promise you that I would do all in my power to ensure that the Woods never become the heirs of the Longbottom estate."

Augusta frowned. "You cannot undo the will of your own father-in-law. His will stated that if Harfang did not have a son to inherit then the Wood family would be the inheritors of the title and estates; rather than letting the title become extinct and the estates fall into ministry hands," Augusta argued.

"Yes, but Harfang and I had a son, didn't we?" she said pleasantly to Augusta. "You were swift to marry him when you realized you'd never get to marry the man you really wanted," she sneered the last because of the memory of how it had pained her son, Albert, when he realized that Augusta did not really love him.

"I..Callidora, whatever you think of me, know this," Augusta paused a moment to gather her composure. "I truly came to love Albert very much. It might not have been the passionate regard that he deserved and had longed for, but I loved him deeply. I miss him every day."

Callidora frowned at that, for she could read no lie from Augusta. She had seen it often enough herself, the regard for which Augusta had held Albert. She had loved him in her way and deeply at that, but it had not been enough of what Albert had needed and as his mother that had angered Callidora. It still angered her, but Albert was gone and so was Frank, in a matter of speaking. Neville remained and it was Neville that she had to fight for, not memories of Albert or Frank.

"Very well," she conceded. "You loved Albert, and I know you loved Frank, so why then have you given so little of your love to Neville? He has been bereft of father and mother and he has needed great care."

Augusta frowned in anger. "I have done all that is right by Neville. I have been making him strong. There are terrible people and horrible things out there and one day he'll have to face them. I need him to be strong enough to face them and to destroy them."

Callidora felt her ire spike once more. "He is a child, he is not a weapon!" she exclaimed.

"That is a matter of opinion, isn't it?" Augusta said calmly. "After all, he is already a Lord. If he can be, must be that, then he can also be made into a weapon to keep himself safe and those that he loves."

Callidora frowned at her, fighting to reign in the spikes of her magic. Neville's weight in her arms was a comforting distraction that steadied her. "What if Neville had turned out to be a Squib, unable to save himself from that fall?"

Augusta looked at Neville and her expression looked stricken for a moment before it smoothed out to one of non-chalance. "Then, he would have died and I would have known that he would never be capable of saving us from the likes of evil or jealous wizards."

Algernon looked smug from his position just behind Augusta. It was clear that Algernon and Augusta did not think highly of Squibs. Callidora could not fault them for that. She had been brought up to think of Squibs as less than them, a subspecies of their own, set apart even from Muggles. Many families simply killed off the Squibs in their family. Harfang had thought differently of Squibs. He had always been kind to them, treated them well. A few Squibs were still employed at Gracewood due to Harfang's generosity. It took her many years to understand that when Harfang saw them, he saw living breathing people and not a label of gender, race, age. Her Harfang had always been a truly impressive and generous man.

Could Neville grow up to be a good man like her beloved Harfang had been? The potential was there, if he were to be raised in an environment where he could feel safe enough to grow and flourish. Oh, why had she ever thought that could be with Augusta? It had been a moment of weakness on Callidora's part. Augusta had just lost her beloved son, Frank, to madness invoked by over-exposure to the Cruciatus Curse. Callidora had willingly left Neville in Augusta's care to give her daughter-in-law a reason to continue. Now, she regretted the action. Neville had clearly not been properly taken care of and furthermore, it seemed more and more to Callidora that Augusta might need to see a Mind-healer. Perhaps she should have been forced to see one years ago, when Frank was driven insane.

"I am taking Neville to live with me," Callidora informed Augusta and as she knew would happen, Augusta immediately protested. Algernon joined his sister in the protestations and Callidora smirked cruelly at them. "Think you that I care for either of your opinions?" she asked with a cruel edge to her voice. "There is no reason that either of you could give me to excuse what happened today. You, Algernon Wood, attempted to murder the Lord Longbottom and you Augusta Longbottom allowed it to happen."

Augusta glared at her. "You do enough as the Regent for the Longbottom Title and Estates. I will continue to raise Neville."

"No, you will not," Callidora rebuked. "I will not leave Neville in your care ever again," she said sternly. Then she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "In fact, you will not be permitted to see him unless you agree to begin seeing a Mind-Healer, Augusta," she told her daughter-in-law. "Algernon Wood, you will never be permitted to visit with Neville. With any luck the two of you will never again see one another."

At that moment Tildy reappeared before Callidora. "Lady Longbottom, Tildy has packed Lord Longbottom's belongings as you requested."

"Thank you Tildy," Callidora managed before Augusta sneered at her.

"You cannot take him. I'm friends with the Chief of the Wizengamot and I know that he'll never let you take Neville from me," Augusta said invoking her relationship to Dumbledore as a means of frightening and cowing Callidora into letting her keep Neville. Callidora was far from cowed however.

"Good," Callidora said with vehemence. "Please do tell him. Then we can explain before the Court of Justice how Algernon Wood attempted to murder a Lord of the one of the old Great Houses, and how on top of that the Lord in question was under the age of eleven and was not even old enough for a practice wand," she smirked at Augusta.

Augusta paled slightly and she looked away from Callidora to stare broodingly at the far-left wall. "Will, you be pressing charges against Algie if I don't agree with this?" Augusta asked of her.

"Yes. Algernon shall be placed in prison if you do not fall into line," Callidora told her daughter-in-law. "That you care more for that worm's well-being than Neville's own is despicable."

"He's my brother!" Augusta snapped at her. "He's my younger brother."

Callidora fought the urge to hex the woman that her son had loved. "What he is, is a grown man capable of thinking through his possible actions. Neville is your grandson and he is a child. He is a child, Augusta. Five years-of-age only. He never deserved to be treated this way. Not under your care. You should have kept monsters away from Neville, not brought them into his house."

Neville tightened his hold upon Callidora and she once more ran a soothing hand over his soft hair. "Do not worry now, love," she murmured gently to him. "They will not touch you again."

"Tildy, take Lord Longbottom's belongings to Gracewood Hall," Callidora said. "Unpack them and put them away appropriately in the blue room," Callidora ordered and watched as Tildy nodded and then disappeared.

"Betany Hall belongs to the Lord Longbottom. I will give you and Mr. Wood a week to prepare your Dower Lodgings and move from Betany. You know better than to attempt to take items from Betany without permission. If either of you chooses to do so then you will be fined for theft."

Algernon glared daggers at her even as Augusta looked ready to argue. No doubt Augusta thought as a member of the Longbottom family that she had the right to take whatever she wished from Betany Hall. Even Augusta was not so foolish. The Longbottom's might be a Light family because they had ever produced Witches and Wizards with a great affinity for Light magics, but that did not mean that they were not also a Great Pure-blood family. There were spells and protections upon many of the items in Betany Hall that would curse Augusta and Algernon if the two thought to remove them from the home without the permission of the Lord Longbottom.

As Callidora turned away from Augusta and Algernon and walked calmly from Betany Hall and down the lane toward the end of the wards so she could apparate Neville to Gracewood Hall, she wondered which magic considered to be the Lord Longbottom? The courts currently considered Neville to be Lord Longbottom because there would be no chance of bringing Frank back from his break with sanity. However, Frank yet lived. Did magic then considered Frank Longbottom the Lord Longbottom and Neville was the Heir Longbottom? It was something she would need to figure out and soon.


First I would like to say Happy Birthday to my friend LeonisAriesBlack, who is here on FFnet and you should really read his story sometime. I hope that you like this Chapter of Renewal which I am dedicating to you as a Birthday Present!

About Neville's relations...

He is related to the Wood family through his Grandmother Augusta. Oliver Wood of Gryffindor Quidditch fame is Neville's Second Cousin. Oliver is the grandson of Augusta's older brother Oberon Wood. Algernon "Algie" Wood is Augusta's little brother and he is Neville's Great-Uncle.

He is related to the Brown family through his mother, Alice Fawley. Neville's maternal Great-Great Great Grandfather was Clover Brown. Due to this Neville is a third cousin once removed from Lavender Brown, Sorrel Brown, Pansy Parkinson, and Fay Dunbar. Pansy's mother was Azalea Brown and Fay's mother is Laurel Brown.

He is related to the Black family through his paternal Great-Grandmother Callidora Black. He is the fourth cousin of Leonis Black and of Draco Malfoy. He is the third cousin of Harry Potter. He is the second cousin twice removed of Dudley Black (formerly Dudley Dursley). He is the second cousin once removed of Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ronald, and Ginevra Weasley.

Next Chapter: Leonis Black meets Neville Longbottom.