The Visit

When they had finished their soup, Hannah went to Neville's room. She wanted to say goodnight before she went to sleep.

Alice fetched a few photographs from her own room. One of them showed Neville sowing carrots in the small garden of the house where they had lived with Frank. Carrot had been Neville's first word. She smiled wryly. Both she and Frank had hated to hide away, unable to do anything anymore. Growing their own vegetables had been one small thing they had been able to do for themselves.

A few of the other pictures showed Neville in the garden of Longbottom House, picking berries and looking for apples under the family's old tree. The last ones had been taken in Frank and Alice's house, showing Neville playing with a toy model of Hogwarts. One of them showed Dumbledore as well, he had visited them on Christmas. Neville looked quite frightened at the sight of the bearded old man. Dumbledore had been their Secret Keeper. That was why Voldemort had attempted to kill Harry Potter rather than Neville; the Potters' Secret Keeper had betrayed them. Dumbledore must have lifted the spell right after Voldemort had vanished though, he had never told them explicitly.

Alice really hoped that those pictures might help Neville to remember. It was hard of course, most children couldn't remember more than a few things from their early childhood. She wasn't quite sure if it was even possible. She hoped he'd allow her to use Legilimency, it would allow her to help him reach the right memories.

"You need to come, quickly," Alice hadn't heard Hannah come in. The look on the younger woman's face and the tone of her voice made it clear that she brought no good news.

"What's the matter," Alice said, following her swiftly.

"Neville's much worse," Hannah told her, while they were hurrying towards his room. "He had some sort of seizure right now. I managed to stop it with magic but it can happen again anytime."

Neville didn't look up when his mother and wife entered his room. The skin on his face had turned an unhealthy red now and was very dry. "Water," he croaked and Hannah gave it to him. He didn't manage to drink properly anymore, spilling half of the water around him.

Alice put the photographs down on Neville's bedside table. It was too late to try what she had had in mind. Neville needed professional help now.

"That's enough. We have to take him to -Hospital," Alice said, angry at herself. She should have thought of her plan earlier, it might have enabled her to spare Neville the humiliation. They weren't able to handle this situation on their own anymore though.

Hannah sighed deeply. "I'm afraid the people on night shift don't know what to do about this any more than Hestia does. I'd hate to see them experiment now. We have no choice. We need to ask Lestrange for help."

Alice stared at her, shocked by what she had just heard. "You can't be serious."

"I'm completely serious," Hannah responded. "He has invented this potion and he knows what kind of magic has been used in there. I know you don't like this but he and Neville have been working together for years now. I'm sure he'll help him."

"Hannah, we can't let him near Neville when he is in this state. We can't let him come here," Alice said.

"I don't think we have any choice," Hannah said. "And we shouldn't waste any more time arguing. Otherwise, it might be too late. You don't have to meet him. Simply stay in one of the other rooms while he's here. It's enough if I talk to him."

"You really want to do this, don't you?" Alice asked, her voice shaking.

"I'm sorry but I have to," Hannah said.

Alice nodded. She knew that she couldn't overrule Hannah's decision. She didn't want her daughter-in-law to have to invoke her position. As long as she was under Neville's guardianship while Hannah was a free citizen, she had the right do decide what was supposed to be done.

"If you must. I will not leave Neville alone with him in this state though," Alice told her.

"That's your choice," Hannah said curtly. "I just hope he's going to come here now in the middle of the night."

She drew her wand and summoned the mirror used for communication not bothering with avoiding wand use in Neville's presence anymore. He didn't seem to notice anyway. Tapping the mirror lightly with her wand, she said: "Lestrange Manor."

Alice was watching through the corner of her eyes. The mirror glowed in a faint light and a few moments later, the face of Bellatrix Lestrange became visible. If she hadn't known who it was, Alice wouldn't have recognised her. She looked older but unlike Alice still beautiful, the look in her eyes had changed in some way. She wasn't dressed the way Alice expected her to be either, wearing dark purple robes, her hair pulled back in a long braid.

"Bellatrix Lestrange here, I hear you," the other witch said.

To her own surprise, Alice didn't react with seeing any unwanted memories when she heard her speak. Maybe that was because her voice had changed considerably too, it was calmer and deeper now. Alice had other worries now as well.

"Good evening, I'm Hannah Longbottom."

"I know who you are. What's the matter? Have you been attacked?"

Hannah and Alice looked at each other, slightly confused. Why should anyone want to attack them? It had never occurred to Alice that they might have enemies who weren't Death Eaters.

"No, we haven't," Hannah said. "Sorry for bothering you at this time of day. It's Neville. He has taken a potion and is very ill now."

"So it went wrong?" Bellatrix asked. "The Memory Potion?"

How did she know about that? Alice asked herself. Had Neville told Lestrange why he had needed a sick note? Probably.

Hannah didn't waste any time asking why she knew. "Yes, it did. Could I speak to your husband, please?"

"Certainly. Wait a moment."

Alice sat down beside Neville who was gazing into space seemingly not seeing anything. She half-expected to wake up soon and realise that it was all a weird dream. Bellatrix Lestrange leading a polite conversation with Neville's wife? Something was off about her behaviour.

"Good evening Hannah. Bellatrix told me that something went wrong with Neville's potion. What happened?"

Alice overheard the conversation, still sitting next to Neville bed, trying not to think. She had learned to clear her mind at the beginning of her training in Mind Magic but the skill wasn't very reliable anymore. Since when had her son and Lestrange been on first name terms?

Hannah gave a short description of Neville's state, speaking very fast.

"I have to admit that I didn't expect side effects as bad as this," Lestrange said. "There's not much I can tell you about it from here. Do you want me to come and have a look at him?"

"Yes, please," Hannah said. "If you don't mind."

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I did. You'll have to give me your address first though. I've never been to your place."

Hannah told him, Alice thought that he should be able to guess where they were living anyway.

"You should better come via the Floo Network though," Hannah added. "There are wards around the house and I don't think we can let anyone in any other way. We are no Longbottoms by blood."

"Alright. We shouldn't waste any time trying to figure out how to get through any protective spells. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thank you."

Hannah seemed relieved while Alice had hoped that Lestrange would refuse so she could take Neville to the hospital as she had intended.

"I'll go down to meet him in the living-room," Hannah said, taking the half-emptied potion flask with her. "And you can decide if you want to stay. You really don't have to."

"Yes," Alice said. "I know." She still didn't intend to leave Neville and Hannah alone with Lestrange when Neville was so ill. Hannah knew little about more dangerous forms of magic, she might not recognise if he did something harmful. Alice was more likely to do so and she was going to stay. She would never be able to forgive herself if something happened to Neville while she was somewhere else, hiding.

He was shaking now as if he were very cold. Alice got up and put her hand on his forehead, Neville was still glowing with fever. The cold feeling must have different reasons. If only she knew what to do about it. Hannah seemed to hope that Lestrange would be able to help but Alice wasn't able to hope for that. She didn't want to depend on him, to give him power over herself once more. She would much rather had had Neville taken to the hospital. She hadn't had the strength to tell Hannah so, however.

"Mum," Neville said. His voice sounded as if he were trying to reassure himself she was really there.

"I'm here Neville," she said, taking his hand which was hot and dry as well now. "I'm here."

There were voices downstairs. So he had arrived. Alice didn't understand what they were saying and she wasn't sure if she wanted to.

"There are green stripes everywhere," Neville said slowly. "Green stripes."

Alice looked around. The room was lit by a lamp at Neville's bedside table and a salt lamp in the corner. Neville had used it as a child when he had been afraid of sleeping in the dark. He had told them when Deborah had shown similar fears. There were no green stripes anywhere.

"The walls are coming closer," Neville said, startling her. "The walls are coming closer. They're going to crush me!" He almost screamed the last sentence, raising his head.

"Neville," Alice said, trying to sound calm even though she didn't feel it at all. "Neville calm down. Everything's alright." He was still looking around wildly but didn't say anything more.

Alice heard footsteps on the stairs. For a moment, she considered leaving after all but she just couldn't do it.

"Hannah will be here with you soon," she told Neville and sat down on a chair in the corner behind the door in the darkest part of the room. He might not notice her there.

A few moments later, the door opened and Hannah walked in, accompanied by Rodolphus Lestrange. He wore grey robes with blue linings. It was easier for to concentrate on his robes, this way, she didn't have to look at his face. Lestrange walked directly towards Neville's bed and didn't notice her or at least, he didn't acknowledge her presence in any way.

"Good evening Neville," he said calmly which told Alice that he was really using Neville's first name on a regular basis.

Neville looked at the Death Eater standing next to his bed. Alice expected him to panic but he didn't do anything like that. "You are here too?" he simply asked with a hint of surprise in his weak voice.

"Yes, you wife asked me to come."

"I've messed up," Neville said. "It's my own fault that I'm this ill."

Alice hated to see him blame himself like this but at least he wasn't talking about green stripes and moving walls anymore. She simply didn't know why he was so insecure about himself. If he hadn't been, doing this at the hospital would never have been an issue.

"No Neville. Your potion is perfectly fine," Lestrange told him. "Hannah showed it to me. You've done nothing wrong. What's happening here is not your fault."

"The potion is okay? But why then?"

"I'm not quite sure but I'm going to try and find out what's wrong," Lestrange said. "I'm going to make a diagram of your magic first."

"Hestia already made one earlier this evening," Hannah said, looking around. "It must be somewhere here."

"You've told me that his state has worsened," Lestrange said. "Some things might have changed again, this can happen very quickly. Don't worry; the magic used to do this isn't harmful in any way."

He had completely changed back to his Healer persona, acting as if nothing had ever happened between his time as a Healer and as Voldemort's head of the Health Care Department, Alice thought. To Lestrange, it probably didn't make much of a difference if he was trying to make someone feel better or worse.

It was outrageous and she would have liked to say so but for Neville's sake she did not. Instead, she stayed silent, chewing her own lip until she drew blood. It's salty, metallic taste reminded her of that night again. Lestrange, using his gift to make her own magic turn against her and destroy her defences against the Cruciatus curse. When she had begged him to stop because she couldn't stand anymore, he had told her: "I know that," before doing it again.

This was about Neville now, she told herself, trying to push the memories away presence so she could see what he was doing to him now. She recognised the spell as the same one Hestia had used earlier but this didn't make her feel less uneasy. Hannah handed him a piece of parchment and a quill and Lestrange made the newest drawing.

"We'll be back with you soon, Neville," he said after he had finished. Hannah got up and walked with him towards the door. Alice wondered if she should stay or follow them for a moment, then decided to do the latter. She wanted to know what he was going to tell her, what he intended to do.

They walked to the other end of the corridor and Lestrange turned around. For a moment, he was looking at her as if he had seen an Inferus. She did almost look like one of course, Alice thought.

"Surprised to see me?" she asked.

"I shouldn't be," Lestrange said his usual impassive look back on his face. "This is about your son after all."

"Yes. Is there anything you can do," Hannah asked quickly, attempting to step between the two of them literally and verbally.

"His magic has become dangerously instable," Lestrange said. "This causes the physical symptoms as well. It would have been wiser to take him to hospital as soon as you realised that something went wrong. Waiting for so long hasn't improved the situation."

Hannah looked as if she wanted to explain herself but thought better of it.

"There's nothing we can do about this now though. It has happened. Neville's in a very childlike state of mind at the moment. This isn't surprising. He has taken a potion which is supposed to reconnect him with memories of his earlier childhood. He's not acting like an adult who can take charge of his magic but again like the child who can do nothing right. That's why he's so focused on having brewed the potion wrongly. He probably feels that the situation is completely outside of his control."

"It is, isn't it?" Hannah asked.

"By now, yes. His magic is dealing with the situation in ways ruled by his subconscious and they're in conflict with each other. That's the reason for his symptoms."

He showed them something on the diagram he had just made. "Maybe you can see that the potion has achieved its effect. The Memory Charm is strongly damaged. It would be gone completely soon if Neville's magic stopped defending it."

"So you have to make him stop defending it?" Hannah asked. "How can you do this? The Imperius curse?"

"The Imperius curse would do more harm than good here," Lestrange said. "It would take even more control away from Neville himself. This needs to be done with a specific form of Legilimency."

This form of magic had been what Alice had had in mind as well. She didn't know what Lestrange meant when he was talking about a "specific form" of Legilimency. She wasn't going to ask though.

"This should be reasonably safe for him but it would be better if you didn't stay in the same room."

Alice wanted to protest but decided that this wouldn't be much use anyway. She remembered that he had often refused to let relatives or colleagues stay with his patients during his early time at Hospital as well.

Hannah didn't feel like taking this quietly. "But why? We want to be with him. I don't think he should be alone."

"He's probably going to resist," Lestrange said. "Given his state it's quite likely that there will be some accidental magic. You could get injured. It will be more difficult for Neville if he thinks he might harm you. Some things are easier without worried family members nearby."

Hannah sighed deeply. "Alright. We'll wait in the living-room. You'll know what you're doing."

Alice hated it that she spoke for her as well without even asking but she knew that she wouldn't be able to get her own wishes. Now that they had a second opinion in favour of Legilimency, she could try it herself but Hannah seemed determined to entrust Lestrange with Neville's treatment now.

Reluctantly, Alice went downstairs with Hannah. Rationally, she knew that Neville was alone with Lestrange often enough and that he had plenty of opportunities to harm him if he intended to do so. She still felt it was wrong to leave her son like that though.

They sat down on the couch, neither of them spoke. Alice was angry at Hannah for involving Lestrange but she knew that saying so would be useless. S

he hated how Hannah didn't seem to care about her feelings but she probably did what she thought was best for Neville. Alice knew that Hannah really cared for him, no matter what she did. She didn't have to endure the memories Alice had to carry around every day of her life either. Hannah didn't even know any details about the attack, Alice had never told her or Neville. She didn't want him to remember it all in the presence of Lestrange of all people but she couldn't tell them that either. Did he intend to tell Neville his own story of the attack? Was that why he didn't want to have her nearby? Neville had not witnessed the worst parts of the torture. What he had seen probably wasn't different from the things he had been forced to witness later under the Carrows. Alice was glad about that because this way he wouldn't be forced to leave with memories too burdensome. At the same time, she was upset because he might not understand what had really happened. Maybe he'd think she was supposed to get over it, that she was overreacting.

Hannah's regular breathing showed Alice that the other woman had fallen asleep. How she could sleep now, Alice didn't understand. She was tired as well, after those nights spend awake but she would never sleep while Lestrange was here, carrying out some form of unknown treatment on Neville. How had he been able to win her trust and Neville's as well? Alice too was tired, but every time her eyes wanted to close, she jerked awake again, when she realised what was going on.

Much later, she didn't know how much, Lestrange walked into the living-room. Hannah was wide awake in an instance. Maybe she hadn't been so trustfully asleep after all. She got to her feet and asked: "How is he?"

"He's asleep now," Lestrange said. "He's probably going to sleep for a while now, let him if possible. When he wakes up, the charm should be gone."

"So he'll be alright?" Hannah asked.

"Yes, he will be. It will take a while for his magic to readjust though. Neville needs to do the RMP but it shouldn't take too long I hope."

"What is "RMP"?" Hannah wanted to know.

"Reconvalescent Magic Program," Alice answered quickly. She didn't feel like listening to another lengthy explanation from Lestrange. "I'm familiar with that." The program was surprisingly effective as she had discovered when doing it herself. It had led her back to reasonable magical skill quite quickly.

"So is Neville," Lestrange said. "He's prescribed it plenty of times and I had him do it back at school. I'd like to check his magic again when he's finished so I can see if he's up to start working again."

"I will do that," Hannah said. "Thank you very much for coming here at this hour. I know you didn't have to do this."

"It's been a matter of course," Lestrange said. "We need Neville. Talented Healers are rare and nowadays even more so. Now tell me, do you think the house will allow me to leave through the door?"

"I'm not sure," Hannah said. "Maybe you should better use the fireplace again."

"Very well. Good night."

Lestrange stepped towards the fire place, relighting the dying fire with his wand and throwing a pinch of powder into it. The flames turned green and he stepped in. A few moments later he was gone.

Alice took a deep breath.

Hannah extinguished the fire again before turning to Alice. "Seriously, did you have to be so impolite? We needed his help."

"What does it matter? He doesn't care if I'm polite to him or not," Alice said.

Hannah shook her head. "I don't understand why you wanted to meet him at all."

"I didn't want to meet him. You wanted to invite him here," Alice reminded her.

"We had no choice. I don't think anyone else would have been able to help him now," Hannah said.

"We don't even know if he said the truth," Alice said.

"Let's go to Neville then," Hannah said. "I wanted to do this anyway before I went to bed."

When the two women entered Neville's room, they really found him asleep. His face had returned to a healthy colour and the fever seemed to have gone.

Alice was relieved of course, but angry at the same time because they had needed Lestrange's help again. It would only make him feel even more like the one who could decide over their life and death. It was useless to try and explain this to Hannah though. She didn't know what exactly had happened and gladly accepted the role Lestrange had chosen to play again. Hannah couldn't know how hard it was to be "polite" when the last words you had spoken to someone had been pleas of mercy while his answer had been the Cruciatus curse.