The sight of the broken Longbottoms broke something in Cassius' soul, no one should have the means to harm someone in such a way. Neither Frank or Alice recognize Neville, despite his almost desperate attempts at conversation. "Mom, this is my friend Cassius..."
Cassius, looking at white haired, thin, scraggly, broken people, smiled for Neville's sake. "Hello there, it is an honor to meet you both." He gently grabbed their hands, both of them.
Alice smiled back, making a grunting sound, where as Frank nodded while whistling a dull tune. Neville looked devastated, but oddly hopeful.
"Neville is my friend, my first and best friend. I love him dearly."
Something shifted in Alice's eyes and in the air around her, a potent magic, it was warmer, and more lucid. She nodded, and reached out, grabbing his hand. "Good." She said, simple and sweet and entirely herself, despite the scratchy underused sound of it. "He needs all the love he can get."
Augusta, Neville and the mediwitch all went pale. Cassius kissed her hand. "I'll take care of him, don't worry, alright?"
Alice and Frank, who turned to them, smiled. "Thank you." The magic faded almost immediately, as if it could not save them from their shattered minds any further.
Neville started to sob at that, pulling Cassius into his arms. "Thank you, for whatever you did, thank you."
Augusta's hand landed on his shoulder, squeezing tightly. "He is right."
"They have dementia, Muggles get it sometimes. There is no cure, but sometimes, you can get their true selves to peak through. I think their magic helped."
The medinurse, a grey haired lady, turned to them. "Muggles get this?"
"Yeah, sometimes. Only when they are getting older. Well usually, there are exceptions... alcohol can make it worse."
"We need to research this, to see if we can save my Son and His wife!"
Cassius cringed at Augusta's tone of raw hope. "No one's cured it yet, people live like this sometimes for decades. It might be better to let them pass peacefully."
Neville's angry face stopped Augusta's rage. "He's right, this is hell Gran, let them go... or they will just suffer forever."
Augusta's eyes filled with tears, hate and hurt radiating outward. " I...why would you..."
"Gran, we are keeping them around for us, not them... we need to think about them."
She dropped everything, her tone soft as she spoke. " Alastor Moody said the same thing... years ago. We... just let us have this holiday."
Neville grabbed her hand, as did Cassius. "It's really brave for you to think of them, to break away from yourself."
They spent the rest of the day with Frank and Alice, just talking, and saying their goodbyes... and Cassius knew, from listening to Augusta, that Frank and Alice would be at peace by the end of the month.
He had not planned for that, but it was what was right... and no one could deny that.
As they left, Neville grabbed his hand. "Thank you for caring."
"Always. Besides, I promised..."
They shared a smile, one filled with promise and pain...
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
This was a joy to write, but super sad.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.
