Breath of Life
by ChatterChick
Summary: They were happy. They were healthy. Their lives were coming beautifully together. Follow Neville and Hannah Longbottom on their journey to start their family.
***updated as of 04/05/15***
Thank you to all my reviewers, Gitana de Sol, lokilette, Sable Supernova, HPNARNIAFAN15404, alyssialui, whitetiger91, nymphxdora, The Rose in Death's Garden, The Lady Arturia, Nightmare Prince, Summer Leigh Wind, TwilightMoonbeams, LunaPadma, 0WolfMoon0, chocolatecheesecakes, RosevalleyNB, J.F.C, QueenRayne, Pie for President '16, JadedEpiphany, Mycroft-mione, Jemennuie and Guests for their support and encouragement throughout this! I was constantly tweaking minor things thanks to your thoughtful advice. If you've been silently following along, I'd really appreciate it if you could drop a few lines to tell me know what you thought. Cheers!
Also, this accepts Rowling's pottermore as canon. In the articles about the 2014 Quidditch World Cup, it says that there are rumours Hannah Longbottom retrained as a healer and applied for the Matron at Hogwarts. It didn't mention anything about them having children, so I took creative liberties for that part.
Epilogue
September 1st, 2019
The steam billowed out from the Hogwarts Express, just like Hannah remembered. Although this was her first time in years being on the platform in Kings Cross Station, having not been there since she had been a student herself.
All around them, students cheerfully waved at the Longbottom family.
"Hi Professor! Hello Madame Longbottom!" They greeted as Hannah and her family walked by.
Lavender's predictions all came to pass. Hannah changed her career shortly after Colin was born, eventually selling her half of the Leaky to her brother. She took her Potions and Transfiguration NEWTs the year she was off with Colin and then retrained as a healer the next. After a few years of part-time work at St Mungos, Professor Flitwick, the then Headmaster of Hogwarts, approached her about taking over from Madame Pomphrey.
The Longbottoms manoeuvred their way through the crowds on the platform, mindful not to get separated in all the chaos. Her little family had grown up over time, and now Colin was old enough to attend Hogwarts himself. Technically, Colin could have just walked over with them when it came time for the Welcome Feast and sorting ceremony. They still lived at the Green House in Hogsmeade, only minutes away from the school. However, Hannah and Neville wanted him to have as much of a normal school experience as he could. They knew it couldn't be easy for Colin to have both parents working at his school. So that meant apparating to the train station in London so that Colin could take a several hour train trip back up to Scotland like the rest of his peers.
"Hello Myron, been practising for the cup I hope? Hi Rachel, congratulations on those OWLs." Neville cheerfully greeted his returning students, although they didn't pause too long to chat. There would be more than enough time for that in the upcoming days. A little girl with a round face and curly blonde hair held onto his hand and merrily waved back at the bigger teenagers.
Hannah had gone back to Lady Pythia's Oracle twice more, just like Lavender said she would. The first time had been two years after Colin was born, where Hannah and Neville learned they were having a second son. They named him Anthony Frank Longbottom, after lost friend and Neville's dad. Then two years after Anthony was born, Hannah and Neville returned to learn about their third child. They had both secretly hoped for a girl that time and Lavender told them they would not be disappointed. In the end, Hannah had a set of fraternal twins. Grace Minerva Longbottom and Alice Pomona Longbottom were named in honour of Hannah and Neville's mothers and former mentors.
"Well, here we are." Neville said. The bright scarlet engine was close enough to touch. Colin didn't have any luggage with him, other than a knapsack with his new school robes so he could change on the train. Neville was just going to shrink the trunk tonight and pass it to a house-elf after the sorting.
Colin stood on the balls of his feet, clearly excited to start his journey. He took after her side of the family in appearance, looking a lot like Luke had with his curly blond hair, blue eyes and mischievous smile. Although Colin seemed to have a daring streak that Hannah insisted came from Neville's side. Anthony was much shier than his brother and looked more like Neville, although his face was more of a heart-shape and he had a slight wave to his hair. He stood close to her on the platform, curiously looking around.
Hannah knew she wasn't ready for her baby to leave her. He would be twelve in just over a month, but it felt like the years had passed so quickly. It felt like yesterday he was a tiny little baby and now he was going off to Hogwarts.
It wouldn't be too different, Hannah tried to remind herself. Colin would just be living in a dormitory instead of their home in Hogsmeade. Besides, being staff at Hogwarts gave her certain privileges and she could see her son every day at the school and have him home every weekend. Although, she was certain that would only embarrass him. Indeed, that seemed to be Colin's main concern as they stood on the platform.
"It's not going to be weird, is it?" Colin was asking. "You being my professor?"
"Only as weird as you make it," Neville teased. "If you misbehave in my class I'll have to ground you in front of all your new friends."
"Dad," Colin whined.
Gracie tugged on Hannah's robes, "Mummy can we sit in Daddy's classes again? Oh please, we'll be really good!"
Alice quickly spun around to plead her case too. While Gracie had dirty-blonde locks and Alice had Hannah's blonde curls, the girls shared the same angelic blue eyes. Not that Hannah was fooled for a moment. She had seen them use those to fool too many adults too many times.
"You'll have to ask Daddy." Hannah decided and immediately the girls started badgering Neville.
Neville sometimes allowed the twins to assist in his class when they were working in the less dangerous greenhouses. It seemed that Gracie and Alice inherited their father's green thumb, or at the very least liked playing in the dirt and picking flowers. Neville's students usually spoiled them something awful, slipping them sweets in class and giggling when they misbehaved. Now that the girls were seven they could send them to the tiny primary school in Hogsmeade and didn't have to have them underfoot on the grounds.
"We'll see." Neville amended. "But you'll be going to school yourselves! I think that will be much more fun."
The train whistled, signalling it was just about time to leave. They quickly said their goodbyes to Colin, wishing him a safe trip and telling him they'd see him at the school. Hannah started sniffing as she hugged him, feeling her eyes prick with tears. Oh drat, she really didn't mean to get so emotional.
Colin looked alarmed. "Mum, you're not going to start crying are you? You'll see me in a few hours!"
"Mum's just a little emotional seeing you all grown up," Neville nudged him. "Now, why don't you hop on that train and we'll see you tonight?"
Colin boarded the train, giving them another wave as he did so. It didn't take long for him to find a compartment with his friends. Soon enough, he, along with Lily Potter and Hugo Weasley stuck out their heads to wave goodbye to their families. Gracie and Alice skipped down the platform waving goodbye to their big brother as the train slowly pulled out of the station.
Neville wrapped his arm around Hannah's waist as they stood there waving the train off.
"It's not going to be the same without him around the house," Hannah told him. "Too quiet, you know?"
"We hardly have an empty nest yet." Neville gave a nod to where their three remaining children stood. "But it'll definitely be quieter."
Hannah wiped the tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes. It was so hard to believe that nearly twelve years had passed since Neville handed her her beautiful baby boy. "If it gets too quiet, do you think we could have another one?"
Neville kissed her in response, to the absolute disgust of their younger children. "Maybe."
A/N Well there you go! If you like my writing, or if you like stories about minor characters be sure to check out my other story "Seven Devils". It fits in the same universe as this one and follows Michael Corner during his seventh year. Or Colin gets his own story in "How to Charm a Witch". Cheers!