Part 2

The front door was being opened and closed again.

"Ah, Bellatrix is back," Lestrange said. "Let's go. We've discussed everything of importance I think."

"Yes. Thank you for answering my questions," Neville said bracing himself for the meeting with Bellatrix.

"You're welcome. I promised you that I would share these things with you and I stand by that," Lestrange said.

They came across Bellatrix in the hallway. She was wearing dark green silken robes, her long black hair held by a golden slight. There were no visible traces of Azkaban anymore. No one who didn't know could have guessed that she and Alice Longbottom were almost exactly the same age.

She walked with an air of pride and authority. Not for the first time, Neville noted, how different the two of them were. Rodolphus seemed ordinary, someone who tended to fade into the shadows if he didn't draw someone's attention on purpose. Bellatrix commanded anyone's attention just by being there.

As soon as Rodolphus started to speak he too held a seemingly natural authority. Neville knew by now that this was the sign of advanced dark magic users. Witches and wizards who had learned to use their powers to influence others in many different ways.

"Good evening, Mrs Lestrange," he said politely.

Her dark eyes were gazing into his. "Good evening, Neville," she said.

After all those years he still had to fight the urge to back away when he heard her speak.

"I've heard how well you've done fighting this curse on Crabbe's son," she said. "This indicates that you do have a certain talent for the Dark Arts after all."

Neville knew that coming from her these words were supposed to be praise but he still didn't like them. He wanted nothing to do with the Dark Arts.

"Don't you think a bit of practical knowledge in this field would suit you well? I'm sure Rodolphus would be glad to teach you."

"I'm sure Neville is quite busy with the other things we have to do," her husband said quickly. Neville gave him a grateful look. "A healing job is more demanding than most people believe and Neville has a family to look after as well. If you wish to learn any dark magic you're free to ask me of course, Neville."

"Yes, thank you. At the moment, I really think I'm too busy though," Neville said.

He did note how they were always using his first name while he was addressing them as Mr and Mrs Lestrange. In his case, Neville didn't mind that too much, he was Rodolphus' apprentice in a way after all. He would have preferred Bellatrix calling him Mr Longbottom though.

There was no one else around to claim that title anymore after all.

They walked into the dining room where the House Elves had already laid the table.

"Where are Roderic and Roxy?" Bellatrix asked.

"I've sent them to their rooms. They've been playing in the back cellar once again."

"Mimi, would you tell Roderic and Roxana to come here?" Bellatrix addressed one of the House Elves.

"Of course Mistress," the House Elf said, bowing.

"Thank you."

Not for the first time Neville thought that Bellatrix was unexpectedly polite towards House Elves. Maybe it wasn't that surprising after all though. House Elves never ever questioned her superiority.

The Lestranges owned a round table where all three of them settled down. A few minutes later the children arrived. Roxana sat down next to Neville. He couldn't see any injuries but he was wondering what the back cellar might be and why the children weren't supposed to go there.

"You've been talking a long time," Roxana said accusingly.

"There were many important things to discuss," her father told her.

The Lestranges didn't bother to show off with their food because of Neville's presence. The food consisted of a bake with broccoli and potatoes as well as some salad.

Roxana smiled when she saw the food. "Okay, that tastes good," she said.

"You do know that broccoli is a kind of cabbage as well," her brother said.

Roxana didn't look pleased.

"Cabbage is very healthy," Neville told them. "You really should try to get used to it."

The discussion with the children made his tension lessen a bit. "Debbie really likes it."

"Well, then we already know what we're going to eat when she's here to visit us," Bellatrix said. Roxana made a face.

Deborah isn't going to visit you, Neville thought. The way things were looking, he and his daughter probably wouldn't get around that though.

Roxana kept talking to Neville. "I really love Quidditch. I hope I can play on the Slytherin team when I'm at Hogwarts."

"You can't know which house you'll be in," Neville told her.

"But everyone in my family has been in Slytherin. Mum and Dad wouldn't want me to be in another house, would you?"

"Nowadays you can find suitable company in any house," Bellatrix said.

"Quite a few Lestranges have been Ravenclaws in the past," Rodolphus added. "The Sorting Hat actually considered this house for me a well."

"You've been sitting on that chair for ages," Bellatrix said with a smile. "And when you joined us, you didn't look happy at all. I didn't understand. I never wanted to be anywhere else."

"Why didn't you want to be in Slytherin, Dad?" Roderic asked.

"Well, I didn't have a problem with Slytherin per se. I desperately wanted the Hat to tell me that I was intelligent at that time though. And it only could do so, if it send me to Ravenclaw. Slytherins don't have to be intelligent as we all know."

Neville thought of Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy Parkinson. This was definitely true.

"The Sorting Hat asked me if I wanted to go to Ravenclaw. I told it that I didn't know if I was good enough. Then it said "better be Slytherin." And I believed I wasn't good enough of course. Being a Slytherin wasn't exactly fun while Dumbledore was Headmaster. Three thirds of the school hated us right after the Sorting and the teachers hated us as well", Rodolphus said.

Neville coughed. The idea of Slytherins as innocent victims of prejudice did seem quite counterfactual to him.

"Our Head of House couldn't have cared less about the house. The only good thing about it all was the fact that your mother was there as well," Rodolphus told his children.

"You used to care way too much about these people's opinions," Bellatrix said. "As I've told you countless times even back then."

Roxana was looking at Neville expectantly. "What about you? You've been in Gryffindor, haven't you? Did you want to go? Did the Hat send you right away?"

Neville swallowed another piece of broccoli and a few potatoes. Did he really want to talk about this here? Why not, those memories held no power over him anymore.

"I've worn the Sorting Hat for a very long time as well," he said.

"Why?" Roxana asked curiously.

"It wanted to put me into Gryffindor but I wanted to go to Hufflepuff," Neville told her. "I tried to persuade the Hat that Hufflepuff was the better house for me. I was anything but brave you know. I used to be scared of my teachers, of the darkness, of flying, of magic, well scared of almost anything."

"Really?" Roxana gave him a disbelieving look.

"Really. I loved plants though and I knew that Hufflepuff was the only house with plants in the common room and the Herbology teacher was their head of house. I also knew that it was the house where I would be accepted the way I was. The only house where people wouldn't make fun of me."

In front of his inner eyes Neville saw himself growing up in Hufflepuff house instead. He had stopped fantasising about that during fifth year when he had finally received a bit of respect in Gryffindor but he had never been quite convinced that the decision had been right.

"The Sorting Hat didn't want to let me go there, because my parents have been Gryffindors probably. In the end, it simply sent me there no matter how much I protested."

"You argued with the Sorting Hat?" Rodolphus asked incredulously.

"Yes. I was sure it was better that way."

"I don't think the Hat had any choice," Rodolphus said. "Someone who was prepared to question its authority at this age couldn't be anything but a Gryffindor."

Neville had never looked at it that way. Maybe it was true.

"It did go well then, didn't it? You are brave after all," Roxana said.

"In the end, it did get well, yes," Neville told her. There was no need to speak about the terrible months and years that had come before. At least not in detail.

"At the beginning, I was very clumsy and tended to forget everything. I used to be bad at practically everything. Over time, it all got better."

"But why? Why have you been like that? You are really brave and talented and everything after all."

Roderic was very curious. Like always.

"I don't really know," Neville said. It wasn't a complete lie. He didn't know how the things he had experienced as a child had caused these results. Even if Roderic had not been the son of the people responsible for it all and if they weren't sitting at the table with him, he wouldn't have told the child about that. It was way too personal and not meant for the ears of an eight-year old either.

"I've just been glad that it got better when I grew older."

"I would have wanted to know," Roderic said.

"I'm sure. You always like to know everything," Neville said.

"He really does," Roxana said grinning. "Once, Roderic asked Mrs Crabbe why she was so fat."

"She is really fat. I just wanted to know why. How should I know that she'd be offended?" Roderic asked. Roxanna giggled.

"We've been though that before, Roderic," Bellatrix said.

"There's one thing you should remember," Rodolphus said. "Things might not always go smoothly when you're learning about your magic but that doesn't mean it will never get better."

"Yes. And maybe you won't have any problems at all," Bellatrix added. "I always loved being at Hogwarts. It is one of the few places in our country which is completely magical. Almost everything else has been shaped by Muggles, Hogwarts has not. There used to be a few Mudbloods, but let's not count them."

The term still made Neville flinch, no matter how many times he had heard it by now.

"There's so much magic everywhere. All the charms on the buildings, the magical creatures living there, the flying. You can find something new every day. It's the place where you can discover what it really means to be a witch or wizard. The years I've spent there were the best years of my life."

She put a hand in front of her mouth as if shocked by what she had just said.

The look on Rodolphus' face made it clear that he hadn't expected this kind of statement from his wife anymore than Neville had.

"It is a great honour to serve the Dark Lord in his rule over our nation of course," she added swiftly. "I merely wanted to express that I used to have a good time discovering magic without having the responsibilities of an adult yet."

"I don't think anyone misunderstood that, Bella," Rodolphus was quick to reassure her. "We've all been remembering our youth and a certain longing for this time is quite natural. I know this kind of feeling too though it's not related to Hogwarts so much in my case."

After this exchange everyone fell silent and continued eating. Neville wondered if Bellatrix Lestrange had had other dreams in her life at some part. To him, she had always been the Dark Lord's most faithful who had devoted her entire life to his cause. Could it have been different? Did she wish that it had been different sometimes? He couldn't really believe that. Probably, it was just like she had said, she had enjoyed the time without responsibilities and without memories of death and pain she had brought over others as well maybe.

Roderic was the one to break the silence. "Neville, can I ask you something?"

"Oh no Roderic, not again," Roxana muttered more to herself than the others.

Neville looked at the boy. His grey eyes were exactly like his father's. Between them, it tended to be the other way round though. Neville was the one who wanted answers.

"You can," he told the boy, wondering if the question would have to do something with his body weight or Hogwarts career. He'd never have expected what came next.

"What's the problem between your Mum and my Dad?"

Neville dropped his fork to the floor, spreading broccoli all over the Lestranges' expensive carpet.

A hint of red crept over his face while he picked it up again and used a quick cleaning spell on the fork as well as on the carpet. This bought him a bit of time to think of a response. He couldn't simply answer with the truth of course. Even if he had wanted to do so, he would never have done it during dinner in front of Roderic's little sister.

"Why are you asking me that?" Maybe the boy's response would give him an idea for an answer that could satisfy his curiosity for the moment.

"Well, I've met your Mum at Flourish and Blotts," Roderic told a surprised Neville. His mother had never told him that she had been to Diagon Alley and obviously had the misfortune to walk into the Lestranges.

"I recognised her right away. She looks a lot like you. She seemed very scared though. Tried to hide from us or something. And Dad simply ignored her. Didn't even say hello. He must have seen her though."

Neville suppressed a sigh. It wasn't surprising that this made the boy think that something was wrong.

"Dad told me it was because of the Phoenix feather thing. I don't believe this though. He's always polite to these people as well and she's your mother!"

Neville looked into Rodolphus' direction. He obviously did not want his son to know the truth.

Before he could say anything, Bellatrix was turning to her son. "Listen Roderic, you know that there was a war before you were born, don't you?"

"Yes, you've told me so," Roderic said.

Neville was sort of glad that she was taking the duty to answer from him but he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what she was going to tell him. He didn't feel like eating anymore at all.

"We were fighting on the Dark Lord's side and Neville's mother Alice Longbottom was fighting for the other side. She was an Auror and a member of the secret society Albus Dumbledore had created to fight us."

"She was an Auror?" Roderic asked. His tone made Neville wonder what he had been told that Aurors were. Surely something very different from everything Neville knew.

"Yes. And this way, we have of course, been enemies. Unlike Neville and many other people she has never formally accepted that the Dark Lord has won the war. That's why she has to wear the Phoenix feather your father has been talking about. I don't want you to talk to such people on your own."

She cast an accusing look into her husband's direction. Probably, because Rodolphus had failed to keep this meeting from happening.

Neville felt anger rising in his throat at the implication that his mother might harm Roderic or Roxana. Maybe she merely wanted to keep the children away from such people because she didn't want them to find out the terrible truth. They were supposed to view their parents as heroes and their side as the good one. The same story that was told to the entire Wizarding community nowadays.

The broccoli had gotten cold and Neville couldn't force anymore of it down without feeling an urge to gag.

The floor clock in the living-room was tolling nine times.

"My apologies but I think it's time to leave now," Neville said, vanishing the small rest of food on his plate. "Thank you for your invitation."

"I'll accompany you to the door," Rodolphus said.

Neville said goodbye as politely as he could, Bellatrix seemed a bit taken aback but said nothing.

Roxana gave her brother an angry look. "He's leaving because of you and your questions."

Neville considered telling the children that it wasn't their fault but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Roderic' rather tactless questions had caused the entire situation even though the boy's curiosity was quite understandable.

Neville considered asking Rodolphus Lestrange about the meeting in Diagon Alley but decided not to. As far as Neville understood the situation, pretending not to have seen his mother had been the best option in this situation. Neville was very sure that she did not wish to speak to Lestrange.

If he had really attempted to act like you normally did if you met your staff member's mother, a very awkward situation would have resulted. There was no normality between them, there couldn't be.

Neville was feeling relieved when he had left the Lestranges' house behind and stood in the seemingly deserted fen once again. He hoped they weren't going to invite him again anytime soon. Maybe his sudden departure had offended Bellatrix enough to keep from inviting him in future.

Neville preferred to discuss healing magic related matters at 's. He also didn't want to face the Lestrange children's questions.

Having to deal with those of his own children was more than enough.