Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.
In the morning, Harry woke up, when Teddy's voice penetrated his mind. 'Harry, wake up.'
'Thanks,' he mentally replied, before he thought to his familiar. 'Lucy, I'm going to pop myself to the hospital and try to heal the Longbottoms. Will you come with me?'
Even if the dog had been fast asleep, she was awake in the blink of an eye, jumped out of the bed and shook herself, before she dashed away, probably into the herb garden to release herself.
Harry pressed the button of his alarm clock, which then informed him that it was 4:30 a.m. 'Oh, that's a good time,' he thought. 'No one should be up at this time. If I manage to heal them quickly, I can simply pop back here, and no one will know that I did it.'
He quickly informed Lucy and held her paw in a gentle but firm touch, before he popped themselves right next to the bed of one Alice Longbottom, who according to Neville had once been his godmother.
HP
Lucy turned around to show him the room, where they found them in. Only one torch was lit on the far side of the room, however, he could recognise a human figure under the covers on the bed next to him. Concentrating on the parent of his friend, he felt that the person indeed needed his help.
'I can heal her,' he thought, recalling what he had learned from Misty and Poppy. 'It will afford a lot of magic, but her magic is strong, and that'll help me.' He carefully sat on the edge of the bed with Lucy perched on the floor next to him to show him the image of his patient. Laying both hands onto the woman's arm, he let his healing magic flow into her body, while at the same time trying to tap into her magic to assist his own.
He did not know how many minutes had passed. He concentrated on his magic in combination with hers and on the feeling of the woman's illness, which only very slowly receded. The thought 'I won't be able to heal two people at once' crossed his mind, when he slowly became tired.
He was fully awake, however, when all of a sudden, the door opened and someone stepped into the room. Pushing all thoughts about this intruder out of his mind, he focused on the task at hand. However, just after a small incantation penetrated his ears, his vision failed.
'Lucy!' his mind screamed, and he slowly began to panic; however, knew that he could not stop healing the witch or her illness could become irreparable. 'Teddy, please come to me and check on Lucy. I can feel that she's alive, but they did something to her,' he urgently thought to his other familiar, completely ignoring the quickly approaching footsteps and shouting behind him.
Just after he felt Teddy pop up next to him and Lucy began to show him his surroundings again, he knew no more.
HP
Alice Longbottom woke up to loud shouting. "What happened?" she asked, when she noticed something strange. An elf and a dog were standing next to her bed, where a boy was sitting on the edge but suddenly fell onto the floor. The elf then began to shout at the two healers, who were standing a few steps behind them, before the dog attacked one of the healers, jumped up at him and grabbed the wand out of his hand, only to snap it into pieces.
Her eyes widened in surprise, and she suddenly began to laugh, causing everyone's attention to turn to her.
"Mrs. Longbottom?" one of the healers asked in apparent bewilderment.
"What is happening? Where am I? Alice enquired.
"This boy and his dog attacked you," the other healer informed her. "What do you remember?"
"They did not attack her. They healed her." The house-elf straightened its small stature, glaring at the healer.
"Mrs. Longbottom, can you understand me?" the healer enquired in apparent confusion.
"Yes, sorry, will you please enervate the boy and then explain what we're doing here? Where is Frank, and where's my baby? Neville?" Alice slowly began to panic, realising that Neville was not with her.
"Enervate." While the boy slowly rose from the floor, the healer explained. "You were attacked a decade ago, and ever since then, you and your husband have been here at St. Mungo's. Your husband is in the bed behind you, and your son is living with his mother."
'What?' Alice thought in disbelief, feeling absolutely bewildered.
"How dare you come into St. Mungo's and attack patients?" The healer then turned to the boy who was unsurely hovering next to her bed, cuddling with the house-elf on one side and the dog on the other.
"Hello." The boy's voice was barely audible.
"Hello. May I ask who you are?" Alice asked in a soft voice, instinctively knowing that the child could not have attacked her.
"I'm Harry, your godson."
"My godson? I have a godson named Harry, but he's still a baby." Alice felt absolutely bewildered.
"Mrs. Longbottom, ten years have passed since you came to live here. Your son is ten already."
Alice's eyes widened in shock. "You're Harry Potter then? Is that true? You're so big already?"
"Yes." Harry smiled. "Just like Neville. He's a day older than me, and he's my friend."
"Anyway, how dare you come into the hospital without permission, let alone with a dog? Dogs are not allowed here."
Alice rolled her eyes at the healer's words; shaking her head, when the child began to apologize.
"I need Lucy, because I can't see, and I wanted to heal my friend's mother. I'm a natural healer. I'm sorry."
"Harry, you do not have to be sorry for healing me. Thank you so very much for what you did for me. Do you think you could heal Frank as well?"
Harry nodded. "Teddy, can you pop home and fetch me a dose of Severus' fresh-and-go potion? I need it, before I can heal someone else."
HP
Ignoring the healers' protests, Harry quickly took the small phial from the elf and gulped down the cool liquid, smiling, when he felt completely awake and fit afterwards.
"Lucy, please show me Frank Longbottom," he said aloud and followed the canine over to the other bed in the room, while the healers stormed up at Alice to question her and check if the unbelievable was really true.
He sat on the edge of Frank's bed and repeated the process, only barely noticing that Alice sat next to him at some stage.
HP
At the same time, at Longbottom Manor, Neville was having breakfast together with his grandmother.
"You've taken part of a ritual held by Voldemort?" the old witch all but shouted in apparent horror, just when Harry's voice penetrated his mind.
'Can you come back to Hogwarts? And bring your Gran. I must show you something.'
HP
"Lord and Lady Longbottom, as you both seem to be completely healed, you are free to go." The healer nodded at the Longbottoms before turning to Harry. "You, young man, however, will have to ask some questions one of them being how you earn the money to replace Healer Smith's wand, which your dog destroyed."
"She merely destroyed it, because you attacked her and Harry with it." In spite of being smaller than Harry, Teddy protectively stepped in front of him. "Stunning her was very dangerous, because Harry is blind and needs her to see."
'Thanks Teddy,' Harry thought to his friend. 'I won't have them question me. I only came here to cure the Longbottoms, and fortunately, everything went well. Had the healers not attacked Lucy and me, she wouldn't have broken their wand. I'm simply going to leave,' he resolved, before he reached out to touch Lucy's ear, made themselves invisible and popped behind Alice and Frank.
'Dad, I just healed the Longbottoms. I'm now going to bring them home. Is that all right?' Laying as much urgency as possible into the thought, he immediately received a positive response, albeit laced with bewilderment.
"Aunt Alice, Uncle Frank, please grab my arm, I'm going to take you to Hogwarts." Harry's voice was barely audible, but the two newly healed adults hurriedly complied.
Teddy was still putting up a verbal fight with the healers, and Harry quickly instructed him to pop right home into the Prince quarters at Hogwarts.
As soon as he received the elf's 'OK', he whispered, "Hold on tightly," before he popped Alice, Frank and Lucy home.
HP
Arriving in the living room, Harry felt that Regina, Severus and Teddy were in the room, before Lucy even showed their surroundings. "Teddy, thank you so much for helping Lulu and me."
Lucy showed him the elf, who was sitting next to Harry's favourite spot on the sofa, grinning broadly. "You did something incredibly good today. You deserved help. These healers were very unnice."
"Severus?" Alice spoke up in apparent bewilderment. "I am sorry for intruding here."
"Oh, sorry for not even introducing you." Harry bet his father to a response. "These are my adoptive parents, Severus Prince and Regina Lestrange. These are Alice and Frank Longbottom."
Regina smiled at their guests. "Please take a seat. Would you like some tea? Did you already have breakfast?"
"They missed breakfast." Harry quickly said, sensing that the Longbottoms seemed very uncertain. "Aunt Alice, please sit here on the sofa next to Teddy."
Alice complied, and Frank took a seat as well, before he apologized to Severus. "I am sorry. Harry simply took us away, when the healers released us, and we were uncertain what to do. Everything was very sudden. One moment, we were engrossed in a fight with Beatrix Lestrange, her husband and his brother …" He glanced at Regina, "… and the next, we wake up at St. Mungo's with two healers, a boy, a house-elf and a dog in the room, who are fighting against each other."
"Harry asked me through telepathy if he could bring you here, and I agreed." Severus' voice was soft and without emotion. "I believe that your mother might have had a heart failure if he happened to take you to Longbottom manor."
"That might be true." Frank nodded his head in agreement.
"Harry is extremely considerate for his age," Alice observed. "What happened to him though?"
While Severus explained about his treatment by his relatives and gave them a short outline of his life at Hogwarts, Regina called Cicero and asked for breakfast for all of them.
Once Severus finished his explanation, they began to eat their breakfast in thoughtful silence, before Alice suddenly stared at Regina.
"Ms. Lestrange…"
"Please call me Regina," the former Squib replied, smiling. "I can imagine that you're surprised by my family name."
Alice and Frank nodded, grimly.
"I was a Squib and cast out of the family as a child. By chance, I got to get to know Severus and Harry, and under Salazar Slytherin's guidance…," she pointed at the portrait of the ancient wizard, "… Harry managed to give me magic. Anyway, I went to Gringotts and accepted the ladyship over the Lestrange family, which was possible, because my brothers and sister-in-law are in Azkaban. I will, however, and I promise you that, head to Gringotts tomorrow morning and kick all three of them out of the family. Please be assured that neither Severus nor I condone what they have done."
"Thank you, Regina." Alice smiled warmly at the woman, who would have attended Hogwarts with her if she had not been a Squib at that time.
Once they finished breakfast, Harry spoke up. "May I call Neville here? I believe that he will be over the moon with joy if he sees his parents."
"Yes please." Alice was the first to react. "Thank you so much for everything you have done for us."
"You're welcome." Harry smiled, feeling very happy. 'I really like Alice. No wonder that my Mum made her my godmother. Now, I have two sets of godparents, a father, a mother and soon a little brother. I must be the luckiest boy in the world.'
'Neville, can you come back to Hogwarts? And bring your Gran. I must show you something,' he telepathically contacted his friend.
While they were waiting for Neville and his grandmother to arrive, Severus informed Alice and Frank that Harry had only learned of their condition during a ritual on the day before yesterday.
"What kind of ritual?"
Sensing that Alice really seemed interested, Harry explained everything about Marvolo's ritual worshipping Canola, the deity of magic and music. His explanations lead to further questions, and in the end, Severus explained all the details about Marvolo, the Lord Gaunt and former Dark Lord, who had done evil things under the Imperius curse.
"I always thought you were a Death Eater as well," Alice said, frankly.
"No, I was a spy for Dumbledore." Severus' voice was firm and believable, and the Longbottoms nodded in understanding, even when he added that he and Harry were fully on Marvolo's side at this time.
"It's Dumbledore who placed me with my relatives and did not even check up on me once, before Severus did and brought me here." Harry spoke up, gently caressing Lucy's ears.
"What happened to Sirius? Wasn't he Harry's godfather?" Alice's question led to more explanations, and by the time lunch was about to commence in the Great Hall, Alice and Frank decided to take their side and not Dumbledore's, and they realised that Neville and his grandmother did not seem to show up anytime soon.
"Perhaps, we should ask Minerva to call them here. She will wish to see you as well, and perhaps your mother will come if she invites her," Severus suggested and headed to the fireplace.
HP
It was almost thirty minutes later that Minerva arrived, closely followed by Neville and his grandmother.
"It's really true." Minerva let out a loud gasp, which seemed to alert Neville and his grandmother to the apparently unexpected presence of Alice and Frank.
"No, that can't be true." Augusta's voice was cold and firm. "These must be imposters, as Frank and Alice are at St. Mungo's."
"Not anymore." Alice smiled at the old woman.
"Mother." Frank stood from his seat and stepped over to his mother, who immediately pulled her wand, causing Lucy to jump up from the sofa and growl at the old witch.
HP
Alice felt as if she was in a wrong film. So much had happened, since she had woken up that morning – hearing that she and Frank had be incapacitated for more than nine years and her Neville was not a baby anymore, meeting Severus, whom she believed to be a Death Eater, and his lovely wife, the head of the most evil family she knew, then actually seeing her big baby, Neville, trailing into the room behind her mother-in-law, who was ready to attack them in disbelief.
While Frank and Minerva dealt with Augusta, she reached out for her son. "Neville, come here. Is that really you?"
"Mum." The child glanced at Augusta, however, carefully stepped around the old lady and hesitantly allowed her to embrace him.
"My baby," she breathed, "you're so big all of a sudden." Tears began to leak from her eyes.
"Don't be sad, Mum. I am so very happy to have you back." Turning his head, he uttered, "Thank you, Harry. I will never forget what you did for me today. I don't care that Gran forbade me to see you again; I will always be your friend."
"I will always be yours, and there's no need to thank me. It's my early Christmas present."
"What?" Alice could not help asking in disbelief. "Why did your grandmother forbid you to see Harry?"
"Because he took me to a ritual together with You-Know-Who and is even friends with him. He was actually very nice." Neville glanced up into her face in apparent uncertainness.
"Rubbish," Alice replied. "From all I heard, he is not evil anymore and only did evil things, because someone put him under a dark curse. Apart from that, friendships are one of the most important things in life, and of course, you may choose your friends yourself." She gently kissed the boy's head, noticing how he visibly relaxed in her arms.
"Oh Mum, I am so happy to have you back." Neville let out a deep sigh of apparent happiness.
HP
Suddenly, Minerva caught everyone's attention. "Alice, Frank, what are you going to do now? Are you going back to living at Longbottom Manor, or do you wish to remain at Hogwarts for a while to get used to daily life nine years into the future?"
Alice and Frank exchanged a glance, before Alice spoke up. "Harry already offered the same, and we'd like to accept the offer. We're not comfortable enough with our new situation to simply go back to normal life and would like to have some time to adjust. We also wish to consider what to do now. I believe that at least I don't want to return to the Auror office, especially not after pausing for almost a decade. Of course, Neville may stay with us if he so wishes."
"Of course!" Harry smiled, when Lucy showed him Neville's eager face. There was nothing left of his usual shyness.
"Minerva, could you perhaps assign the Longbottoms quarters near us, so that we could help them adjust?" Regina's voice was as pleasant as usual, and Harry and Neville nodded, eagerly.
"I shall do that; however, I should take you to meet Albus first. We cannot have you live at Hogwarts behind his back."
'We could very well,' Harry thought, however, knew better than to contradict. "Perhaps, we could offer Aunt Alice and Uncle Frank some new teaching positions. I'll have to speak with Marvolo about it. He once complained that classes at Hogwarts are insufficient," he spoke up, pensively.
"Keep Voldemort out of Hogwarts, or I will send Neville to Beauxbatons."
Everyone stared at the old witch in disbelief.
"No." Neville cast his grandmother a defiant look, which Harry already knew too well from Teddy.
Frank was the first to find words. "Mother, I believe that it would be best if you returned home now. We will ask this very nice elf… Teddy, was it? … to fetch Neville's most needed belongings for him."
"I shall do so," Augusta replied. "Lord Prince, may I use your fireplace?"
"Of course," Severus replied, wearing a blank expression, as he gave the permission. "You may always return through this fireplace if you wish to visit your family."
"Augusta." Alice spoke up in a soft voice. "Thank you so very much for raising Neville in our stead. He has become a very fine young man."
Augusta merely nodded before turning back to Severus. "Thank you." With that, she elegantly stepped into the fireplace and vanished in the flames, causing everyone to let out a collective sigh.
"Maybe, we were a bit harsh." Alice seemed pensive.
"I don't think so." Regina smiled. "Seeing how shy Neville was, when he first visited us, I believe that she was very strict with him."
"We're missing everything that happened during the last nine years, so how will we even be able to continue raising him?"
"Don't worry. We're all here to help you. I will have much time anyway. I have been teaching at a muggle university but gave up my position with the end of the year, because our second child is supposed to be born at the beginning of March. I am sure that Minerva, Severus and Harry will help as well."
"Of course," Harry replied, grinning broadly, while Severus showed his confirmation with a sharp nod of his head.
"I will help you, too," Neville announced, before Teddy pulled him into a conversation about what he wanted him to bring him from Longbottom manor.
HP
When Minerva left with Alice and Frank, leaving Neville with Harry and his family, Severus turned to his son.
"Harry, you're as meddling as the headmaster." He shook his head in apparent annoyance – or was it amazement? Harry was not sure. "By the way, do you remember what you called me, when you contacted me before bringing Alice and Frank here?"
Harry frowned, slowly shaking his head. "Severus?" he whispered.
Severus smiled. "You called me 'Dad'."
Harry felt himself blush. "Sorry, Severus."
"No, my son. You have nothing to be sorry about. On the contrary. I liked it. Thank you, Harry."
Neville grinned broadly. "So, we both have real parents now. Aren't we the happiest boys in the world?"
Harry unconditionally agreed.
