The Founders' Intervention
By: Sheltie
I still don't own Harry Potter at all
A/N: So, so sorry for taking so long. Huge writers' block kept me from completing this one. Right, summer before fourth year. Many things to do and so little time to do it. I had a reviewer wondering why the Horcruxes haven't been taking care of. I want to draw that out since it would be too easy to take care of them right away. As for the magic they are learning. Well, the magic they are learning from the founders is more of the ancient kind, which they won't be tested on for their O.W.L's or N.E.W.T.'s. Enjoy!
Chapter 16
Summer has begun and with it new summer lessons from the Flamels. Harry, Hermione, Luna, Susan, Neville, Daphne, and the twins sat waiting for Nicholas and Penny.
"Ah, glad you are here. This summer we plan on teaching you a very difficult piece of magic, but it will have great rewards in the future" Nick said.
This piqued the interest of the entire group.
"We're going to teach you all to be Animagus" Penny said.
This got wide eyes and shocked expressions.
"But I've heard the process is very long and hard to do" Daphne said.
"That's what the Ministry wants you to think to restrict the number of witches and wizards" Penny said.
"But you said it would be hard, so is it or isn't it?" Hermione asked.
"It will be difficult, but not what the Ministry claims it to be. Plus the method we're using is old. There are several ways to become an Animagus really. The Ministry boasts one. The one they can keep a tight rein on" Nick said.
"So what method will we be using?" Neville asked.
"Ah, it's one I found while traveling in America. The Native Americans or Indians as some call them have this unique ritual to reveal their animal forms" Nick said.
Hermione looked really excited and it took all her willpower to keep seated and restrained.
"Now, first we shall go over the ritual thoroughly to make sure you all know it. We don't want any mishaps" Penny said.
The group nodded.
"Very well, lets get started shall we" Nick said.
/Scene Break/
So the group began their Animagus training. It was long and hard since the first part meditation. Neville fell asleep twice and needed to be woken up by Penny shaking him awake. He felt embarrassed about this.
"Don't worry about it Neville. I almost fell asleep a few times too" Harry said stretching.
"Harry, this is important. You shouldn't be falling asleep" Hermione chided.
"I said 'almost' Mione. I almost fell asleep. But it is quite boring to begin with" Harry said.
Neville felt better that he wasn't the only one having trouble. The twins had the hardest time since they were both balls of energy and sitting in one spot for a long period of time just wasn't their style. But they did their best though you could see them fidgeting every once a while, which meant they have a long way to go.
Luna seemed to be a natural at meditation and took to it like a fish to water. Daphne was another that caught on fast. Hermione though couldn't turn her mind off to relax and was a bit frustrated at that.
But they all knew it would be a long time before they could make any actual progress.
/Scene Break/
When they weren't working on becoming Animagus Hermione decided to go more muggle this summer. So she invited her friends to have a picnic and enjoy some non magical games such as horseshoes, Frisbee, tag, and the sort. She had never really played these games when she was a kid since she was usually picked on, but this summer she was going to right this wrong.
Susan, Neville, Daphne, and Luna enjoyed these games most heartily. They enjoyed the simple aspect of the games and not using magic at all. It also go them all moving and they knew a good witch or wizard is not only fit magically, but physically too. You last longer in a fight. Not only that, but these were simple games, but so much too. They laughed and argued about points in horseshoes as well as who was it in tag.
Harry was enjoying himself as well since he never really had a childhood even though the founders did all they could. It isn't the same when you grow up with just adults and no children around. Harry was now finally acting like a kid.
Sirius seeing this sometimes joined in as a big black dog. He bound around barking around the others. It was great fun had by all and they always built up a great appetite for the picnic that was packed.
Sadly the twins couldn't join in since their mother wanted them home to be with family for the summer mostly.
/Scene Break/
Susan worked diligently on finding the Black family curse that was used on the Longbottoms. So far no luck. It didn't help that Susan couldn't read the books due to not having Black blood in her. Sirius and Narcissa were the ones doing the bulk of the research with Susan looking over every spell the two Blacks picked out. Susan had to look at each spell to see if that spell matched the condition the Longbottoms were in. It was a very slow process. It seemed the Blacks prided themselves in creating some very nasty spells.
Sirius vowed to destroy most if not all the Black family spell books. He would not have any of this foul magic within the new Black family.
"Susan, you should get some sleep. You've been at this for two days straight" Daphne said.
She saw how this was affecting Susan. Susan's hair was unkempt and there was small bags under her eyes from late nights.
"I'm alright Daph, just a few more minutes" Susan said mindlessly.
"Merlin, she sounds just like Hermione" Fred said.
"Freaky" George said in total agreement with his twin.
"What did you two just say?" Hermione growled.
"Nothing Hermione" the twins said in union.
Hermione eyed the twins, but then went to Susan and with Daphne's help they dragged the Hufflepuff away from her work and to the couch. They laid her down and put a blanket over her. Luna went to the desk and neatly organized the notes Susan had then put them away.
/Scene Break/
The next part of summer was the Grangers introducing the group to the beach. They decided this to make Susan take a break from her research since it was taking a toll on her. It helped that Harry had a beautiful château in France right by a private beach. Neville and Harry got an eye full when their female friends showed off their new swimwear that they purchased when they went to the mall. Sadly the twins weren't able to join them due to their mother's protests of not spending enough time with their own family.
"Harry, they are wearing something, right?" Neville asked stunned.
"I think so," Harry said equally as stunned as his friend.
Now Susan, Daphne, Hermione, and Luna were wearing modest bathing suits that weren't too scandalous. But still this was more skin than any of the girls ever showed before and more skin than either boy had seen before. Remember the previous summer all the girls were wearing one-piece swimsuits. But this summer Emma decided they were ready for two piece numbers. But liked before they were very modest.
Susan's was a black two piece with Daphne a silver one, Luna a navy blue and finally Hermione was a light blue. They were all lounging on the beach with Emma.
Dan had to chuckle at the boys' expression and so wished he had a camera. He also wondered if he acted the same when he first saw a girl in a bikini.
/Scene Break/
It was several more weeks of pouring over notes til everything came together.
"I found it!" Susan shouted.
This caused the group of friends rush in as Susan was doing a victory dance. It was quite amusing to see since Susan still had her dishevel look and all around her was the scattered papers of her research. She was twirling around happily totally ignorant of the mess. As she twirled around she was doing a bit of hopping as well as she shook her body from side to side, her head bobbing and swaying to some unheard music.
Harry, Hermione, Neville, Daphne and Luna just stood there watching this for a few moments since it was a funny sight to see. Luna looked ready to join in since it looked quite fun to her.
"You did, you found the spell that'll cure my parents?" Neville asked.
Susan had stopped her dancing not caring at all that her friends had seen her do it since she was too excited to care about her behavior.
"Yes, I am pretty sure I have found the spell" Susan said happily as she bounced up and down like a five-year-old on a sugar high.
Neville whooped and holler as he grabbed Daphne, who was the closest to him in his arms and spun her around. Daphne had no problem with this, but was quite dizzy afterwards that she had to keep a hold of Neville til she regained her balance.
After they checked with Penny and Helga the next step was Sirius to undo the spell. Only a Black could undo the spell. Penny was there to mind things. Neville and Augusta were there on pins and needles as they awaited what was to come.
Sirius muttered the counter-spell and Penny monitored things. They were not sure if anything would happen right away since according to the notes the spell used had never been put on for this amount of time and they weren't sure if there would be any complications.
The first sign of hope was Alice opening her eyes and mumble something.
Neville nearly jumped out of his seat to his mom, but Penny held him back. She needed to do some more checks.
Next was Frank awakening. Soon both were showing signs of consciousness. Penny made more checks then nodded. Neville rushed over with Augusta following. Neville hugged his mom for the first time with tears pouring out his eyes.
"Neville, are you Neville?" Alice asked unsure at who she was seeing.
Neville was too choked up for words so he just nodded.
Alice felt tears streaming down her cheeks as she held her baby.
Frank was unsure as to what was going on. He turned from seeing his wife hug their son to find his mom in tears too. He then turned to find Sirius.
"Sirius, what's going on here?" Frank asked.
"It's a long story Frank" Sirius said.
/Scene Break/
Though there was magic to help the Longbottoms on their road to recovery they still had a long journey ahead of them. The Longbottoms found what had happened since they were out and they were not pleased. Their government, which they worked and fought so hard to defend let the killers they fought against free. It wasn't right.
They got to know Neville's friends and were happy to see how their son was turning out to be. He was a strong, proud confident wizard, but without the ego.
St. Mungo's released the Longbottoms though not by choice. Augusta fought the staff tooth and nail for it. She wasn't going to let her son and daughter-in law become guinea pigs for the healers so they could poke and prod them. It was planned for the Longbottoms to rehab in the comforts of a familiar place, Longbottom manor, and not to be studied like lab rats. Penny of course would monitor everything to make sure they wouldn't strain themselves at all.
Alice got along with Emma rather well and the two women became fast friends.
Emma helped with the Longbottoms' recovery by buying small weights they could use to build up muscle strength. Magic helped to keep muscles to atrophy, but they did nothing to build them. So they had to work to get back what they've lost the normal way by moving and exercising. Emma helped set up a physical training program for them with the help of Penny who knew what muggles did to get fit after an injury. That also meant learning how to walk again. They knew how to, but it was getting their legs to move. The first time they tried they both looked like newborn deer.
Their magic was another thing. They had to build up their magical cores to where they were since it seemed that their cores went into some kind of suspended stasis. Though it didn't explain why they needed to regain their former magical strength. It was probably a mystery they'll never figure out.
/Scene Break/
Neville was elated to have his parents back and spend a lot of time with them. This didn't bother the group since they understood Neville wanting to spend as much time with his parents to make up for the lost time they had.
Harry was a bit sad that there was no way to get his parents back. But Rowena filled a bit of that void. Alice also helped this by telling Harry stories about his mom. Alice and Lily were the best of friends.
Helga swamped Susan with praise for her skill as healer and Susan blushed under it all. It didn't help that Penny was heaping more onto the Hufflepuff.
Daphne was happy for Neville having his parents back. She was nervous how they'd react to her, but they didn't mind her a bit and they welcomed her family too. This pleased Daphne a lot though she'd never say why.
The Longbottoms welcomed Daphne though wary at first of the girl. But they saw how much Neville seemed to like Daphne and decided that she was alright. They met Daphne's parents and after some brief tension they all got along and soon new friendship were forming between the two. Talks of a Longbottom and Greengrass alliance was floated about.
This was a high point in the summer for everyone. No one knew that the upcoming school year it would be going downhill.
/Scene Break/
Time passed and soon it was Harry and Neville's birthdays and they had a joint party for the both of them. Alice was so happy to be celebrating her son's birthday. She had missed so much of her son's life that it kind of took a toll on her. She vowed to do her best to make up for it though she could she that Neville was no longer a little baby anymore and that hurt since she wasn't there to raise him.
She knew Augusta did a fine job, but to miss you own child's upbringing especially during those crucial years lingered with her. So she wanted to make this party the best it could be. Emma joined forces with Alice on this endeavor.
So Harry and Neville had a grand party and every one had a great time with Hermione keeping an eye on the twins to make sure they behaved themselves.
At the end of the party the Longbottoms got a great shock when they met the founders. Soon they were initiated into the fold of what was going on. They heard what the possible future and what changes had to be made and were done. This opened the Longbottoms' eyes to everything and they knew that there'd be some major changes and that their Neville would be a part of the changes.
/Scene Break/
The buzz of the World Cup was in the air and the group couldn't wait to go. Sirius had scored tickets for them all. They thought this was what the Longbottoms needed to help their recovery. A nice outing with the family. They arrived early and set up a few tents. One they had just for the kids since they thought they should have their own. The second was for the adults. Both tents were the biggest and best of magical tents.
At the moment the group was in their tent discussing the upcoming game with great excitement. With them though were Fred and George's siblings, Ron and Ginny. The Weasleys were able to get tickets and they arrived a day after the rest of them.
Arthur agreed to let the twins stay with their friends for the game, but the twins would have to spend some time with their siblings before the game.
"This is going to be great. I've heard Ireland is having a great year" Susan said.
"Yeah, but Bulgaria has Viktor Krum" Fred said.
"Yeah, he's like the best Seeker in the game today" George said.
"But one player can't win the entire game" Hermione said.
"Oi, what do you know about Quidditch" Ron said glaring at Hermione.
"I know enough" Hermione said.
Ron folded his arms and just kept glaring at Hermione. He had to be on his best behavior or else he wouldn't be able to see the game meaning he couldn't start any kind of fight.
Meanwhile Ginny was doing her best to catch Harry's attention with everything she knew. Daphne saw these blatant attempts to flirt with Harry. But she held her tongue since she knew that it wouldn't work at all against Harry at all. He loved Hermione and nothing at all would change that.
Luna, who was sitting on the other side of Harry since Hermione was on the other was the only thing blocking Ginny from sitting by Harry.
Neville sat beside Daphne chatting with the rest feeling good. He didn't really care about the Quidditch match at all since it paled in comparison to his parents being back in his life.
/Scene Break/
The Quidditch match was stunning to see as they watched the fourteen players zip and zoom around at speeds that were almost inhuman at times. The group didn't have a team to root for so they cheered just for the heck of it. Harry bought Omnioculars for all of his friends though they balked a bit when Harry pushed the item into their hands. But they knew Harry would ignore their pleas.
Fred and George gave a bit of commentary to what they were seeing though due to the speed of the game they had a hard time keeping up.
In the end Ireland won though Bulgaria nabbed the Golden Snitch.
After retiring back to their tents they all talked about the most thrilling match they had ever seen.
"Merlin, I've never seen anything like that. They are faster than any match at Hogwarts" Neville said.
"That's because the players are pros and they play at a different level" Hermione said.
"Well it was a great game no matter what" Harry said.
Everyone agreed with this.
Before they were able to head for bed screams were heard and the group all had their wands in hand. They rushed out and found chaos all around them.
"What's going on?" Susan asked.
"Don't know, but I don't think this is an after party" Harry said.
Luna whipped around and blocked a stray spell that was coming at them.
"Thanks Luna" Daphne said.
Luna just nodded. She had a serious face on.
Soon the adults came out.
"You guys get out of here, NOW!" Sirius ordered.
The teens were about to argue, but Adrian appeared.
"Sirius is right, go now" he said.
They wanted to argue more, but the rest of the adults came out.
"Go, and take the Longbottoms with you. They aren't strong enough to fight" Narcissa said.
"Where would we go?" Susan asked.
"Here take this" Sirius said as he tapped a length of rope turning it into a portkey.
The group grabbed the rope and felt that hook in the navel feeling and soon they ended up on the floor of Potter manor in a pile.
"Is everyone alright?" Susan asked.
After getting to their feet and checking themselves for injuries they found nothing.
"Well, what are we going to do now?" Daphne asked.
Most of them didn't want to go to bed since they were wired due to the flight they took, but the Longbottoms urged them all to bed so they could at least get a bit of rest.
/Scene Break/
Hermione huffed as she closed her paper and tossed it on the table. It was the morning after they left the World Cup. The group was sitting at the table eating breakfast. Fred and George decided to leave for home to let their mom know that they were alright.
"Something wrong Hermione?" Daphne asked.
"Just the Ministry doing their head in the dirt act" Hermione said.
"Ah" Daphne said.
The article in the paper that dominated the front page covered the incident at the World Cup. Though it had that Ministry spin, which meant little fact and a whole lot of dung.
"This is just a sign of things to come, the year ahead will be quite troublesome" Luna sung.
"Luna, was that a prophecy of some kind?" Susan asked.
"No, I don't think so, but I do sense that this year will be harder than what we've faced before. We best be prepared for anything" Luna said seriously.
There were nods all around. They knew Luna would never joke about something like this.
End of Chapter
A/N: okay that's the end of this chap. Thanks for all of you who stuck with me while I took my oh so sweet time to write this. Sorry for taking so long on it. The next chap will be the beginning of the fourth year and probably the start of the Tri-Wiz as well. I am working on changing some things for the tournament this time around. Next chap will be up some time in the new year. Thanks for reading and please review.