Author's Note: Goodness gracious me! Well, you've certainly kept up your end of the deal, so here's mine: the next chapter. Let me warn you now that it's in much the same emotional vein as the last one . . . .

The first beds I laid eyes on were empty. Before I could look around properly, I heard Neville's voice: "I didn't want to ask you to come."

I swiveled round and spotted Neville and . . . his parents. They were, unmistakably, his parents. They were sitting in armchairs by the lone window in the ward, which was fitted with thin bars. Neville himself was sitting on the foot of a bed. No one else was in the room.

"I -- I'm sorry," I stammered, not moving any closer.

"No, Susan, I didn't want to ask you to come, but I wanted you to come."

Now I stepped forward until I was just a few feet from the three of them. "Oh," was all I could think to say.

Neville stood, took my hand, and led me over to the straggly, pale forms of his parents. "Mum, Dad, this is Susan Hopkins. We've been dating for a little more than three months."

I held out my hand to his mother, who looked at it uncomprehendingly. "Mum, shake her hand," Neville said gently. Upon this, she timidly put out her left hand, which I took and squeezed lightly. I went through the same process with his father. Neither of them said a word.

"Very pleased to meet you," I managed to get out, but they did not look at me; their eyes wandered, lighting on various features of the room, but not my face.

"They don't like new people," Neville explained. "It takes them a very long time to get to know and trust someone. They know that I come by a lot, and Gran as well; they're actually a bit attached to the three Healers who do shifts on this ward. Other than that, though, they're not really comfortable around other people."

"I'm so sorry," I began, but he shook his head.

"Don't start with all that. I'd rather you just got to know them a bit."

"Is the ward always this empty?" I ventured.

"No. Other people come and go, sometimes for years at a time. No one's got my parents' staying power, though." He chuckled a little, but it was not a happy sound.

I turned my attention to his parents, who were, after all, the reason we were both there. "How d'you do, Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom?" I asked them. They looked up at me for a moment, but quickly turned away again. I decided to act as though they'd answered. "I'm quite well, considering the events of today, thank you for asking."

Neville smiled grimly. "Anyone else dead down there?"

I started a little at his harshness. "No. They think Ron will be all right with the proper care. Ginny and Dean are healing up, apparently. Our Healer fixed Susan's leg. Hermione's very ill, but they're having a Curse Breaker come to take care of her. Everyone else seems relatively unscathed."

He nodded. "We were lucky, you and I."

"You didn't get hit at all?"

"A couple cuts, a few bruises," he said, "nothing major. You?"

I shrugged. "Same here."

"Like I said, lucky." He paused. "I want to tell them about -- about HER." I thought for a moment, then realized who he meant.

"D'you think it's a good idea?"

He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling; I was fairly sure he was fighting tears. "I don't know. But I want to."

"All right then." I reached over and took his hand. "Go ahead. I'm here."

Neville squeezed my hand, then dropped it and took one each of his parents'. "Mum? Dad?" They focused on his face, and I saw glimmers of recognition. "The woman who did this to you? Bellatrix Lestrange? She's dead. She was killed by a woman from your office. Bellatrix Lestrange is dead, and she'll never hurt you again."

I held my breath for a moment. I didn't know what I was expecting, but whatever it was, it didn't happen. His parents focused on his face for another moment, then let their eyes wander. Neville held on for another moment, but even he could not pretend for too long. He dropped their hands and stood up abruptly.

"Why don't you LISTEN to me?" he cried, and his parents, evidently frightened, cowered in their chairs. "She's DEAD, that stupid bitch is DEAD, you can stop HIDING from her now!!"

"Neville," I said quellingly, but he didn't -- or couldn't -- stop.

"Get up! Get up and TALK to me!" he shrieked, but they didn't. His mother began crying soundlessly, and his father put his fingers in his ears and rocked.

They were helpless and terrified. I couldn't let him do this to him, so I took him forcibly by the wrist and dragged him across the room. "Are you mad?" I hissed. "You're frightening them."

He seemed only half-conscious of what I'd said. "Susan," he said desperately, and my blood ran cold. Whatever he was about to say, it wasn't good. "Susan, you're a Seer. Tell me. Tell me if they'll ever be sane again."

The pause that came after his words was terrible. The world danced around me, and I found that I hadn't breathed in half a minute. I gasped for air, trying to think of a way out. Something. Anything.

Then Luna, poor dead Luna, spoke in my memory. "If you are sincere, blood vanishes and fear gives way," she'd said, and I'd made up my mind before I knew it.

"I'm not a Seer," I whispered, and sat heavily on the nearest bed. I couldn't look him in the eye.

"Don't be stupid," he said bluntly, and in my astonishment, I almost looked up. "Of course you are."

"Neville, I'm telling you, I'm not."

"That's bollocks!" he cried. "You are! LOOK at me!"

Finally I looked up at him. His cheeks were tearstained, and his eyes were red. I had never seen him even close to being this upset. "I'm sorry," I whispered, knowing it wouldn't help at all.

It dawned on him then that I was not lying. He took a step back and looked at me in a sort of horrified confusion. "Wh--what are you? WHO are you?"

"Please, Neville, come sit by me," I begged, but he shook his head spastically. "I want to tell you, I want to tell you everything, but I can't, not while you're looking at me like that."

"Just tell me," he said, and I knew I couldn't win this fight.

"All right. All right. But you musn't -- you have to listen to everything, all right?" He nodded a tiny bit, and I thanked the stars for that bit of acquiescence. "Neville, I traveled in time to get here. I'm not really a year younger than you. I haven't been born yet."

He stumbled back, and when I made to get up, he waved his hands at me to ward me off. "No, no, no no no no no."

I began to cry, of course. "I had to come back. I had to help defeat Voldemort. I'm meant to be here for this year."

"Who ARE you?" he raged. "Just TELL me!"

"I'm -- I'm Ginny and Harry's daughter."

The look of horror that crossed his face at that moment almost made me retch. "You're joking."

"No," I groaned, and my tears fell like rain.

"You -- you let me believe -- and you're really -- " His face was screwed up in pain. "You've not even been BORN YET."

"Why does it matter so much?" I cried.

"Why does it MATTER? You're -- you're some phantom from the future, and you're asking me why it MATTERS? I'm old enough to be your father! I feel like a pervy git!"

"But you didn't know!"

"You're damn right I didn't know! Because you LIED to me!"

"I had to lie, Neville, please, you have to understand that I had to lie," I begged him. "I've lied to everyone. It's what I had to do to keep myself safe."

Again, it was if he hadn't heard me. "And you're here for this year, and then -- ?"

"Then I have to go back to my own time."

"Oh, that's brilliant. Were you planning on mentioning that, or were you going to let me go on believing you were a normal witch I might actually have a future with?"

"I -- I wanted to tell you! But I couldn't tell you before I trusted you, and it was just fun at the beginning, and then -- things just snowballed, and I didn't expect us to get so serious!"

"Susan, we haven't exactly been passing notes in Herbology," he said scathingly. "We've been -- YOU know. I was going to stay in Hogsmeade for you!!"

He had turned pink during this tirade, and I could feel myself doing the same. We weren't sleeping together, but we'd certainly progressed past the point of stealing kisses by the lakeside. "I lied about who I was, Neville, but I never lied about anything else. I love you," I said, and my voice broke pathetically on the last sentence.

"What am I supposed to say to that? That I love you too? Everything I know about you is a lie! How can I love someone I don't even know??"

I was sobbing in earnest by this point. "Nothing's a lie," I moaned. "Nothing's a lie except this one little thing. Can't you forgive me this one little thing?"

"I introduced you to my PARENTS," he said, and his voice was full of horrified wonder. "To my GRAN."

"Nothing's different. Nothing's changed. I'm still your Susan."

"You're not my anything," he said, and his voice chilled me to the bone. "Leave. Please, leave us alone."

I quailed at this, and put both hands on the bed for support. "Neville --"

"Get out."

"Neville, you won't -- you won't TELL anyone, will you?"

He barked a laugh. "That wouldn't go over too well for me, now, would it? 'Pardon me, Harry, were you aware I've been all but having it off with your daughter? Just wanted to clue you up.'"

I nodded mutely, then said, "I can't leave without -- you know I love you, yeah?"

"DON'T," he said, and his voice scared me.

Some long-buried instinct surfaced in me then, and I stood quickly, dashed the tears from my eyes, turned to the Longbottoms, said, "So nice to have met you, Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom," turned back to the door, and exited without looking at Neville. If I'd cast so much as a glance at him, my composure would have crumbled. Right now, I had to keep my cover, and if that meant putting on a mask, then that was the way it had to be.

I visited the toilet on the second floor, performed an Anti-Puffing Charm on my eyelids, washed my face, and breathed steadily until my heart stopped thudding noisily in my chest. After a few minutes, I felt ready to face the music.

In the emergency room, I found Dean, Susan, Ernie, Harry, and Ginny all waiting for me. "You've been gone for ages!" exclaimed Ernie. "Wherever have you been?"

"Around," I said evasively. "How are Ron and Hermione?"

"They'll be Unfreezing Ron any minute now," Mum said, and though her voice was hoarse and weaker than usual, she was sitting up on her own, and her color was back to normal. "The Curse Breaker came round for Hermione, and she's just being observed now. They think she's fine."

I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. "Thank heavens."

"Where's Neville?" asked Harry in a low voice.

My heart jumped, and I put a hand to my chest involuntarily. "Visiting relatives on the fourth floor," I said, deliberately being vague. I knew most people didn't know about the Longbottoms' condition. But I saw Harry's head incline slightly, indicating his awareness. "Ginny, are you all right?"

She shrugged. "The cut was quite deep -- I'll probably have a scar. But they healed it up, and I took some potions to boost my blood supply. I've survived worse."

"And Dean? How are your hands?"

He smiled at my concern. "Nothing to worry about. I'll be drawing again in a week."

"We're lucky, then," I murmured.

"Except Luna," Harry said bitterly, and I shut my eyes. Of course. Luna.

"They said when you came back, they'd give us a Portkey back to Hogwarts," Susan Bones said. "Should we tell them you've returned?"

"No, they said Neville should come back with us," Dean pointed out. "D'you know how much longer he'll be?"

I struggled to remain calm. "I think he's probably lost track of time," I replied. "Let me go talk to someone who works here."

I ignored my parents' quizzical looks and walked over to the witch who'd processed us. "Ma'am, can I ask you a favor?"

She put a hand on my arm. "What's the matter, dearie?"

I wanted to collapse into her arms and tell her everything, but I just put my chin up a little higher. "We'd like to get back to school, but we can't go without Neville Longbottom. Can you send someone over to the Janus Thickey Ward to ask him to come down?"

"Of course, you poor thing. We'll get you back to school right away. Do you want to see Ms. Granger before you go?"

I nodded eagerly, and motioned at Harry and Ginny to come over. "She says we can see Hermione," I explained.

Their eyes lit up, and the witch ushered the three of us into a room with a whole host of empty beds with gray sliding curtains around them. Hermione was about halfway down on the left, and she waved merrily at us when we entered.

"I'm so glad to see you!" she cried. "My friends are here to see me!" she called to the attending Healer. We stared at her, and she continued. "Isn't this room lovely? D'you see these curtains? They SLIDE."

"Hermione, are you all right?" Ginny asked, putting a hand on her blanketed leg.

"I'm brilliant!" she cried. "The Curse Breaker came by and uncursed me, and then they gave me a whole bunch of potions!"

"Anything . . . else?" I asked, truly baffled by her behavior.

"Oh, I wouldn't stop crying at the beginning, and it was hurting the Curse Breaker's concentration, so they cast a Cheering Charm on me. Wasn't that awfully clever of them?"

As terrible as I felt, I had to stifle the urge to giggle. "Well, Hermione, we have to go back to school, but we're glad you're feeling better," I said firmly. "They said you'll be fit to come back tomorrow, and we'll see you then." I patted her on the knee; Ginny squeezed her hand; Harry, surprisingly enough, kissed her on the cheek. Then we turned to leave.

"Oh, all right! Have a good trip back!" she called after us.

In the lobby, we waited another few minutes, and then Neville joined the group. Unlike me, he'd not had a chance to clean himself up, and his face was red and wet from crying. Though Susan, Dean, and Ernie looked puzzled, Harry and Ginny had looks of sympathy on their faces. Of course they'd attribute his tears to seeing his parents. It was an unexpected blessing in disguise, and I was thankful for it, regardless of how tiny it felt against the weight of Neville's implacable anger.

Someone scrounged up a Portkey to Hogwarts that would take us to the front gates (as traveling by Portkey to the castle's interior was strictly forbidden). The seven of us -- Neville standing as far as he could from me -- grasped the Portkey, and I felt the tug behind my belly button that meant I'd soon be back at school. It was only then I recalled that it was still Valentine's Day.