For the whole of the winter and spring terms, Lady Hogwarts kept Headmaster Albus Dumbledore in detention. He was not allowed outside of his office to walk the halls of Hogwarts except for breakfast and for dinner. There were no evening strolls to examine student records in the infirmary or the classroom, nor was he allowed to cast compulsions from dark alcoves.
He was allowed to floo from of his office to attend Wizengamot sessions but if he returned by apparition or portkey, Dumbledore always arrived at the regular reception location just outside the gates that required Hagrid to come and allow him back inside the grounds of 'his' castle. And when he stepped inside the castle's front door, he found the statues blocked any movement in any direction except for his office. The staircases were always locked in place, and Dumbledore was not allowed to approach any of the dormitories or the kitchens.
The professors adjusted quickly and managed to conduct their classes without the headmaster's interference. The only change for them was that the rare meetings of the whole faculty occurred in the headmaster's office which would expand as needed.
The portraits of the previous headmasters were sullen and silent, neither chiding nor encouraging Dumbledore in any circumstance. And Fawkes removed herself from his office whenever he was present at his desk. She didn't sing for him once in those months of detention.
++***++ Gryffindor Dormitory
Iggy woke up the morning after helping free Lady Hogwarts and he shared the story with Neville and Harry about using the poltergeist Peeves and one of his tricks to begin the collapse of the cell where Lady Hogwarts was imprisoned.
[That made it appear that she got herself out,] he explained. [She promises that you boys and your friends will have a quiet winter and spring.]
While Ernie McMillian began his journey to being a true 'Hufflepuff' under the tutelage of Cedric Diggory, Luna Lovegood continued her lectures with the elves about not pranking the headmaster 'all the time'. Her reasoning that the 'occasional prank' was much more effective seemed to something the elves could agree with and so in the middle of January, care for Dumbledore's robes and rooms returned to normal and his cutlery at the table was missing only once a week.
After some debate, Harry and Neville tell Luna about Dumbledore's lemon drops. Because she knows that more students are summoned to his office and certainly offered the confection, she ventures into the kitchens after dinner one night. As a result of her foray into elven territory, she has one bad hair day herself, but after that night the lemon drops no longer 'flavoured'. When she sees lemon tarts delivered to the head table once a week, Luna stares but says nothing.
++***++ Augusta's Bravery
A few days after the boys returned to Hogwarts, Augusta gathered her courage and visited Frank and Alice in the Janus Thackery Ward at Saint Mungo's. When she was alone with them, Augusta applied a drop of the Breathe of Life to Frank's lips and eyelids. Then she did the same to Alice's lips and eye lids. After only five minutes, the couple appeared to be more aware of their surroundings. When they grew agitated, Augusta pushed their chairs close to each other and they were able to hold hands. This physical contact calmed them and the healers on duty were amazed. Two of the healers noticed the pleasant smell of a new perfume in the room but did not connect it to the improvement in the patients. Augusta returned every day that winter, but she only provided them with a drop of perfume every other day, to allow them time to recover.
"Their magic is glowing and healing them inside. It's just something that happened spontaneously," Andromeda Tonks told her bosses. "And Lady Longbottom is adamant that this remain secret for now. She wants to see how improved they are before the spring break so that her grandsons can see them."
"Grandsons? I thought there was just the one boy?"
Andromeda nodded and explained, "The boy-who-lived is a member of the Longbottom family now. I believe Alice Longbottom is his god-mother."
At the end of January, Frank and Alice were standing up and walking about the room all day, every day. They crawled into bed together at night and helped each other dress in the mornings. Then Augusta took them home to a specially prepared suite of rooms on the ground floor with a bedroom and bath just off a large sitting room with comfortable chairs, bookcases, and windows looking over the lawns and snow-covered gardens.
After two days at home, the two oldest Longbottom house elves, Sluggy and Slappy suggested that 'Mr. Frank' and 'Miss Alice' sit in the greenhouse with the roses each day.
"Will it be too much for them?" Augusta asked. "Elves get five minutes a week and it makes them happy forever it seems."
The elves smiled and promised to pop the couple into the greenhouse for no longer than one hour a day to begin their 'smelling time'. The first day, when Augusta checked on the couple after an hour of exposure, they appeared to be concentrating very hard and remained in each other's grasp for the remainder of the day. The second day, they talked with Augusta about Neville and Harry. Alice grew angry when she learned that her godson had not been delivered to her mother-in-law as required and promised to visit that 'conniving old wizard' in Hogwarts.
Their condition improved each day but the wizard and witch knew they were not strong enough yet to venture around much and they often found themselves napping for two hours after only one hour of activity. When Saint Mungo's sent Healer Tonks to evaluate the couple, the visiting witch was astounded.
"How have they recovered so quickly?"
Augusta smiled and replied, "It is almost like magic, wouldn't you say?"
"We must figure out what happened?" Andromeda stated. Her wand in her hand, she cast multiple diagnostic spells at Frank and then at Alice, verifying that they were indeed who they appeared to be, the condition of their magic, and the improving condition of their minds and bodies.
"We will agree to help with your evaluation and tests," Frank told the healer. "But only after our boys learn about this privately at the spring break. They have been told nothing and we do not want any rumours in the press."
++***++ Easter Break Comes Along
On the day beginning the 'spring break' between the end of the winter term and the beginning of the spring term, Augusta Longbottom collected Harry and Neville from Hogsmeade station rather than letting them ride back to London.
"Is everything okay, Gran?" asked Neville just before they apparated away from the Hogsmeade train station.
"Yes, Neville, everything is wonderful," his grandmother replied.
When they appeared in the receiving room at Longbottom Manor, neither boy recognized the couple standing before them.
"Neville, go and hug your mother and father," Augusta told her grandson. She turned to Harry and said, "And you, young man, Alice is your godmother so that makes them your parents as well."
Harry glanced toward his friend who was crying in the arms of his mum and dad, but he noticed that the lady–Alice–held out an arm for him and he flew forward. For the first time in twelve years, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom felt the arms of their parents holding them and making them feel safe and loved. With more tears in her eyes, Augusta sat in one of the chairs as she watched her family begin healing before her very eyes.
As the family settled into the lounge to rest after the emotional experience of their reunion, Augusta explained to the boys, "You did this with your Breathe of Life perfume. I started it at the hospital with the bottle and after I brought them home, the elves put them into the greenhouse for a time every day."
"The perfume of all the blooms woke us up and helped to heal our bodies and our brains," Alice told the boys before she kissed them both on the forehead for the twentieth time that hour.
"We have ten days of holiday," Frank said. "And your mum and I want to make the most of it."
During those ten days, there were many letters delivered via owls asking if Harry and Neville were okay–their 'abduction' from Hogsmeade station made the front page of the Daily Prophet and spurred speculation and gossip. They chose to ignore the newspaper, sent truthful letters to their friends, and spent time in the greenhouse grafting several new shoots of the Lady Evans and Lady Alice roses onto new root stock to grow into more bushes. (The elves glamoured themselves to appear as muggles and happily browsed through muggle garden centres to buy multiple roses that would make good root stock for grafted plants.)
And the continuous stream of elves through the greenhouse provided Frank and Alice with the important news from many of the magical households as well as gossip.
With the news breaking in the Daily Prophet at last about the cure for Frank and Alice Longbottom with the use of some magical potion and the sudden remembrance of the McMillian heir being 'cured' by a drop of something from a bottle, there were two attempts to rob Augusta Longbottom and take the alleged perfume bottle from her person.
The first attempt was made by Mr. Josephus Parkinson in the hallways of the Wizengamot. But as soon as ever the wizard lay a hand on Augusta, the formidable witch's spells threw him back into a wall where he cracked his skull. The man lay unconscious, and Dowager Lady Longbottom stood with a look of disgust on her face. When the Aurors were summoned with the healers, one wizard insisted that Lady Longbottom accompany him back to the DMLE offices where she would be searched, and her wand examined.
The Auror grabbed Augusta by her arms while other Aurors debated their colleague's actions. After dragging Augusta Longbottom into a cell, the Auror was called to his supervisor's office. Before the man could say a word, the office door was thrown open by an enraged Director Bones who ordered both men confined in other cells. It took two days of yelling and negotiating, but finally the Wizengamot was called into session to discuss the attempt to 'steal' some object from Dowager Lady Augusta Longbottom.
Harry and Neville talked with Iggy and asked him to 'turn on' the headaches again. Then they confessed to Dad that Harry's protective magics would cause everyone who wished Harry 'ill' for the next couple days to experience terrible headaches. They explained how the headaches kept Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, and Minerva McGonagall from seeing them or plotting against them with headaches.
When the Wizengamot session began, Frank was determined to use the magic to his advantage. Before the lords and ladies of Magical Britain, pure-blood Mr. Parkinson claimed exemption from being dosed with the truth serum. He testified that he was simply 'pranking' Lady Longbottom and there was no theft intended.
In his rebuttal, Frank Longbottom accused Parkinson of assault with the intent to rape and commit line theft.
"The old battle-axe is too old to spark a child!" declared Parkinson.
"So, you admit the intent to assault and rape, my mother?" Frank asked. "I believe a blood feud must be called. I have fourteen hit wizards on retainer this morning and your family will be dead before nightfall. The feud will take you, your wife, and both of your young children."
Parkinson's face turning pale, remembering the wealth available to Lord Longbottom and the willingness of hit wizards to wipe out wizard, witch and child during any blood feud.
"I will admit to attempted theft of goods," Parkinson stated.
Director Bones added, "And Longbottom asks a fine of one thousand galleons but no time in Azkaban."
"I'll take it!" shouted Parkinson, relieved to get off so lightly when threatened with a blood feud that would wipe out his family.
An undersecretary wrote up the orders and Parkinson exited the building to arrange to pay the fine immediately.
"Wait!" shouted Cornelius Fudge as he realized what had happened. "What was it Parkingson was trying to steal?"
"The court will now hear the case of Auror Simons who also attempted to rob Dowager Lady Augusta Longbottom immediately following the same instance with Mr. Parkinson."
Fudge stood up and said, "The ministry is satisfied that Auror Simons meant no harm and we do not see the need to proceed with this case."
Amelia Bones stood and growled at the minister, "The DMLE and our operations are not at your beck and call, Minister Fudge. I am the person who decides if an arrest is warranty and if a case should proceed. And I must reveal my findings to this body."
Sensing his sometime-foe Cornelius Fudge was involved with this bruhaha, Grand Warlock Dumbledore permitted the director to present her case against one of her own Aurors.
The man was called to the witness stand and dosed with the truth serum (even pure-blood Aurors could be dosed with the truth potion when being questioned about crimes). Minister Fudge protested once again and so Director Bones knew what questions to ask: "How is Cornelius Fudge involved with your attempt to 'search' Lady Longbottom?"
"Cornelius Fudge ordered me to find the magic elixir that the witch carries on her person. A healer at Saint Mungo told me that they know she's got the same thing her boy used to save Baxter McMillian's boy at Hogwarts last fall."
"A magic elixir?"
"Yes."
"Who is the healer?"
"Gloria Parkinson, wife of Felix Parkinson and sister-in-law to Josephus Parkinson."
Frank Longbottom knew that the Parkinsons were all purebloods and Saint Mungo's wouldn't penalize the witch for violating her oath of confidentiality. Amelia Bones hissed with displeasure and fined her Auror for dereliction of duty and for false arrest.
"What is this elixir the healer was telling Auror Simons about?" asked Albus Dumbledore from his throne high above the floor where prisoners and prosecutors stood or sat.
Minister Fudge announced, "My sources tell me that Augusta Longbottom has a magical elixir that restores life to the dead! I must… The ministry must have this for study – such a thing would destroy all life as we know it!"
"While I doubt that life can be restored after someone dies, the recovery of Frank and Alice is remarkable."
"Albus!" shouted Frank Longbottom. "Do not refer to myself and my wife so casually! Our return from Janus Thackery is a miracle of magic and you will not attempt to weasel your way into this new family secret."
"Now Frank… I am the Grand Warlock and I ask you to remember that!"
"Point of order, Grand Warlock," said Lord Greengrass.
"Yes Lincoln?" replied Albus ignoring the man's position in society and in the Wizengamot.
Lord Greengrass stood and said, "I ask Albus Dumbledore to understand that none of the lords and ladies of this chamber will permit him to use our given names going forward in any proceeding. If he is disturbed by not being referred to as 'Grand Warlord' or some such title, then he must be able to understand the importance of proper procedure with recognizing the members of this chamber. If not, I shall call for his removal and commitment to Saint Mungo's for a mental evaluation."
"Lincoln Greengrass! How dare you question my mental state?" demanded Albus.
"Like Parkinson, I have sources too. I understand Gringotts Bank has a standing order to take Dumbledore into custody if he should ever set foot inside the lobby of the bank again for theft from orphans!" shouted Lord Harold Grievous from his seat.
The middle-aged wizard stood and said, "I move that we remove Albus something-something Dumbledore from his position of Grand Warlock."
Frank Longbottom smiled as the chamber descended into shouts and arguments. He owed Lincoln Greengrass a bottle of wine and instantly decided he would vote the Longbottom and the Potter seats for almost any wizard that Grievous nominated to throw Dumbledore out on his wrinkled old man's butt.
After Dumbledore beat back the move to oust him by promising additional funding to the DMLE and to the Department of Mysteries, he managed to return the discussion to the magic elixir in the possession of the Longbottom family. In the ensuing argument, Lord Longbottom and Lord Greengrass cited four different laws passed by Wizengamot affirming a wizard's exclusive right to their family magic, their property, their discoveries, and any livestock and plants.
Sighing mournfully as any notion of obtaining the elixir for study was beaten down, Albus Dumbledore said, "But think of how this could help others."
Anticipating another explosion, Frank Longbottom said, "When my sons are grown, they can make the decision about dealing with the elixir."
"Boys! You mean your son! Do you mean the boy-who-lived?" demanded Cornelius.
"Yes, that's correct," replied Frank.
Turing to the headmaster sitting in his throne, Fudge called out, "Dumbledore! Get them to hand it over at Hogwarts!"
After a long pause, Dumbledore admitted that he couldn't do that.
"You are headmaster! Give 'em fifty house points and take the elixir from them!"
"I am not able to do that, Minister."
Now Frank Longbottom said, "Yes, Headmaster Dumbledore, tell everyone why you can't see Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom."
"What? What do you mean? How can that be?" demanded Minister Fudge as Dumbledore cringed, knowing the revelation that was about to be announced along with the blossoming headache.
Frank announced clearly, watching for faces to wince with pain, "Harry Potter is protected by the love of his mother and father who died protecting him. The spells that Lily Potter cast to protect her son mean that no one who bears ill-will for him can see Harry Potter. Last year in the madness that was Hogwarts, Harry Potter adopted Neville as his brother and that extended the protections to my son."
The minister, Dumbledore, several undersecretaries and members of the Wizengamot cringed as their heads began to pound with pain. But Frank wasn't done yet; he continued, "It is humbling to know that a muggleborn witch was so brilliant, and powerful enough to cast a spell that has lasted for all these years since her death. Can you imagine how powerful the boy will be when he is grown? And everyone who can't see him will never know when he aims his wand in your direction."
"Auror! Bring me a headache potion!" called Cornelius.
"No, me!" shouted Cantankerous Nott. "Me first!"
Everyone noticed that Dumbledore apparently carried headache potions with him as he downed one quickly and recessed the session. Then he banged the gavel and made everyone who wished ill on Harry Potter to wince once again.
The next day, Frank and Alice took Neville and Harry to Ollivander's wand shop to get Neville his own wand. Augusta was embarrassed to admit she had forced Neville to use Frank's wand for the first two years of his instruction.
Once the family left the shop with Neville's new wand, some hidden wizard cast a spell to throw wet flour onto every person outside the door to reveal the location of the hidden boy-who-lived. Seeing the shapes of two boys appear behind Alice and Frank who were also covered with flour, the man made his move.
"Got you now…" Cantankerous Nott began to shout but suddenly there was a loud pop, much like when fifteen different house elves popping away at the same time. Pieces of the man appeared all along the alley, and his head landed neatly on a pike on Gringotts Bank. The only item left was the wizard's wand that clanked to the cobblestone street.
When Aurors arrived and questioned the flour-covered Alice and Frank, two of them continually asked, "Where are the boys?"
When the Longbottom couple just laughed at the Aurors, the wizards grew angry but when Director Bones was summoned, she saw both boys clean of flour, seated at a table eating ice cream at the nearby shop. Bones quickly cast a spell that petrified both Rosier and Shacklebolt. When his sleeve fell away (thanks to a mischievous house elf) Rosier was revealed to be a previously unknown death eater. The man is carried away to be questioned with truth serum by Madam Bones.
Frowning at Shacklebolt, she sighed and sent him to a holding cell. She confided to Frank that the otherwise brilliant Auror was a Dumbledore devotee. "I keep trying to break the compulsions on the man."
At the end of the spring holiday, while Frank and Alice remained at the manor resting after the tumultuous ten-day vacation, Augusta escorted her grandsons back to the platform at Kings Cross Station where they were joined by many friends, and a few curious students from other years, but never captured the attention of students or parents with ill-intent. Those students seemed to still be unable to see 'you-know-who'. The phalanx of house elves that escorted the two second year boys would make quick work of any adult wizard or witch short-sighted enough to try and 'find' Harry, Neville or this supposed 'bottle of magical elixir'.
After they returned to Hogwarts, Iggy removed the headache jinx again but kept his charges invisible to everyone who wished them ill.
++***++ A Conference with Parents
Late in May, just before exams, Minerva McGonagall sent a letter to Lord Frank Longbottom about his son's performance in her core class of transfiguration.
In part, the letter reported that 'Your son's poor attendance and lack of class participation means he is likely to fail this class. I must speak with you urgently at Hogwarts.'
Just before lunch on the appointed day, Hagrid hurried to the gates to welcome Frank, Alice and Augusta Longbottom to the castle. At the front door, the trio were greeted by Professor Flitwick, and Professor Pretzel who escort them into the Great Hall.
Seeing their parents and grandmother appear at lunch, Neville and Harry rose from their places at the table and rushed over for hugs and kisses but only to the limit allowed for good purebloods in a public setting. At the Ravenclaw table, two fifth-year witches and one sixth-year wizard found they could see the two boys for the first time all year and this spurred some intellectual debate along the length of the table.
Draco Malfoy, long used to seeing Harry Potter now, gave the family reunion only minimal attention. He was dealing with Patsy Parkinson's nerves again today as she had never recovered from the threat of a blood feud with the Longbottom and Potter family.
"Should I say anything to them?" she asked the boy she once believed to be her betrothed.
Hearing the upswell of talk and glancing toward the head table where Dumbledore and McGonagall were arguing, Neville asked, [Harry, Iggy, can we do headaches for just a little while?]
[Sure! One cringing headmaster coming right up,] Iggy replied.
After a pleasant lunch where elves made certain the Gryffindor table had excess foods of every possible kind (and shorted the head table), the family made their way to a room designated for the conference. And the headmaster was already in room when Professor McGonagall led in the Longbottom family and directed them toward chairs. While they walked over to the uncomfortable looking seats, Lady Hogwarts transfigured them into overstuffed, comfortable chairs.
Dumbledore found himself seated on one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs without a cushion and he caught Minerva's look of unhappiness with the chair provided for her. They began a general conversation that quickly ended when Alice refused to even consider any questions about the recovery of herself or her husband.
"You called us here to discuss Neville's performance in your transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall."
Pointing to a nearby box and speaking to someone unseen, Alice smiled broadly as the wooden box transfigured itself rather rapidly into a tall, narrow pottery jar.
"Very good Neville," his father said to compliment the boy.
"Did Neville do… Did your son do that?" asked McGonagall.
"Of course, he did the spell," Augusta said. "We sat here and watched him do it."
"No, he isn't in the room," Dumbledore replied.
Professor Pretzel coughed and said, "Excuse me Headmaster, but Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Potter are both here in the room."
"Where?" asked Dumbledore, his wand appearing in his hand and a sudden, blinding headache knocking him back in this chair.
Frank turned to McGonagall, his former head of house and asked, "How does Neville look, professor?"
"What do you mean? He looks like a boy…I'm certain," sputtered Minerva McGonagall.
Alice asked, "But you still can't see him? Have you called on him in class?"
The transfiguration professor's face turned even more sour looking, and she admitted, "No, I don't see him, so it never crosses my mind to call on him."
Frank asked, "And what are Neville's test scores in your class?"
However, Minerva McGonagall didn't want to answer that question either. Clearing his throat, Dumbledore whispered as best he could, "That 'other boy' still influences him!"
Confused only momentarily, Alice asked, "Do you mean his brother? Harry Potter?"
Because they still carried ill-will for Harry Potter in their hearts and minds, Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall were struck with terrible headaches, much worse than anything they had experienced in months. Somewhere in the dungeons of the castle, Severus Snape stopped brewing the Liquid Luck potion, threw the potion away, and plunged his chamber into darkness after downing a dreamless sleep to avoid the headache.
In London, Cornelius Fudge and his trusted secretary, Delores Umbridge were blinded by headaches that afternoon that suddenly appeared as they plotted to remove 'that boy' from the Longbottom family and gain control of the magical elixir.
While the headmaster and deputy headmistress were incapacitated by their headaches, Professors Flitwick and Pretzel both provide glowing reports for Neville's performance in their classes. When they spoke of Harry Potter and his grades, both Dumbledore and McGonagall rose and stumbled from the room, begging elves to bring them headache potions.
It was three days before Dumbledore remembered that he had wanted to ask 'Frank' to command his mother to return his possessions taken from him at Longbottom manor the previous year. Now, he would have to wait for another opportunity to present itself.
'I need my wand back…but I won't think about you-know-who again,' he swore to himself.
As she always did, Professor Pretzel compiled and sent a comprehensive report to her boss at Gringotts regarding Lord Longbottom's recovery. Several goblins were very pleased and Sowsbreath went to work preparing several reports for Lord Longbottom.
++***++ End of Second Year
At the end of the year, as the Hogsmeade Express pulled into Kings Cross Station in London, Harry and Neville hung out the window, shouted and waved to Frank and Alice who were on the platform waiting for them. The elves collected their trunks, and the two boys ran ahead of their friends to embrace their parents, with happy tears. They waited for the others join them on the platform, promising to visit and write over the summer with Hermione, Luna and Creevey family. Strangely, it was the appearance of Draco Malfoy that quieted them down.
"Lord Longbottom, Lady Longbottom, the House of Malfoy is pleased to see you well and stirring among company," he said before making a polite bow.
"Heir Malfoy, House of Longbottom sends greetings to your lady mother," Frank replied.
Luna, Ginny and Colin combine their voices to quietly silence Hermione's questions and comments and allowed Draco to greet Neville and Harry as his equals and for the two boys to reply with proper words. After Draco had moved along, Alice explained, "Now in September, when Draco greets Neville and Harry, they can formally introduce the four of you to 'Heir Malfoy' and he will acknowledge you."
It took almost four minutes to answer a few of Hermione's questions and Alice promised to send several books to the muggleborn girl.
"My good friend, Lily Evans, asked all the same questions, Miss Granger. She learned and excelled at the proper manners required to blend into Magical Britain."
However, Luna was confused.
'I didn't see that coming! Well poo!' she thought before turning to find her father. 'If I remember, I will ask Iggy about that on the first of September.'
++***++ End Chapter Scene