Disclaimer: I do not, have not, will never, and will have never owned Harry Potter.

July 1, 1996

Harry was standing in a nice, cozy neighborhood. Unlike Privet Drive there was a nice, non-uniform feeling to the houses. Immediately in front of Harry stood a two-story house, surrounded by a white-picket fence and a small lawn. Opening the gate in the fence, Harry purposefully strode towards the house.

Reaching his spot near the front door he turned to those following along behind him, "Well, go have some fun". With a quick "Confringo," Harry broke down the door allowing his followers to rush past him and gain entry into the house.

Slowly making his way into the house, he relished in the sound of panic and screams coming from upstairs as his followers gathered the startled family. A short few minutes later the sounds of his followers making their way back downstairs could be heard.

"Ah, the Mudblood friend of Potter," Harry sneered, "how nice of you to join us. And it's your lucky night. Tonight we see how long the 'smartest witch of her age' can withstand pain before losing her mind entirely. Think of it as a learning experience. Crucio."

Harry awoke to the sharp pain in his forehead, feeling sick. Voldemort was attacking Hermione! Only, could he be sure about that? Just a few weeks ago Harry had dragged his friends along to the Ministry to save Sirius, only to walk into a trap that saw Sirius killed. But similarly, this dream from Voldemort seemed different from the one with Sirius. Could this actually be happening? If it was Voldemort pushing these images to him, what purpose would they serve? Even with the trap at the Ministry, there were still Death Eaters at the Ministry. So, even if the dream about the Grangers were a trap wouldn't there still be Death Eaters waiting to attack?

Harry quickly changed and hustled down the stairs to check the time (the Dursley's decided that he didn't really need a clock in his room as he should be up with the sun to start making breakfast). Seeing it was just past 1 a.m. he was unsure as to what to do. Assuming an attack was in progress sending Hedwig would take too long and would be putting her in danger. Additionally, neither the Granger's nor the Dursley's were hooked into the Floo network.

Starting to panic, he broke into the cupboard under the stairs in order to retrieve his wand. Only as he gained access to it did the thought cross his mind: if he performed any magic and there was no attack on the Grangers, the result would be expulsion from Hogwarts with his snapped…

Panic well and truly set in. Harry started to rush out the front door when his thoughts aligned enough for one important fact to break through: both families were muggles; both had telephones. Rushing back to his school supplies, Harry desperately dug around trying to find the phone number that Hermione had provided to him after first year. After what seemed like ages, but was in fact a few seconds, Harry located the number and ran to the kitchen to ring Hermione.

Dialing the number and waiting for someone on the other end to pick up was torturous. Every ring counted out more seconds wasted. After 30 seconds, he became convinced that there was trouble. Harry had to get there, NOW! And with that, there was a loud *CRACK* and Harry disappeared from the Dursley's kitchen, the phone falling to the floor still ringing.

3 days later

Neville Longbottom anxiously sat in the Wizengamot Courtroom 10 waiting for the trial of his friend, Harry Potter, to start. Seated with him were a number of others from the DA: the Weasleys, Luna Lovegood, Katie Bell, and the Patil twins. None of them would believe that Harry would do the things of which he was accused, so they had agreed to sit together in order to show solidarity for their friend. Harry was and is a good person who would do anything for a friend—something proven with how he handled the DA all through last year.

With this thought, the doors at the back of the chamber opened, revealing the members of the Wizengamot striding forward to take their seats. At the head of the procession was Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Neville was relieved to see him as Professor Dumbledore knew Harry and that he could never do the things of which he was accused.

After everyone had taken their seats, Dumbledore picked up the gavel and declared, "I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, call this, the twenty-third meeting of the year nineteen ninety-six, to order. Our purpose here is to determine the guilt or innocence of one Harry James Potter. Please bring in the accused."

Neville turned to look at the door through which Harry would enter, waiting to catch Harry's eye to offer his support. When the doors opened, it took Neville a moment to recognize Harry. Gone was the generally confident teenager Neville had gotten to know through the DA. Instead, Neville spotted a broken shell sitting in a wheelchair, someone who didn't even seem aware of their own surroundings, someone who looked eerily similar to his own parents… With a stifled gasp, Neville's heart went out to his friend. If he was in this state, it could only mean long-term exposure to the Cruciatus Curse.

The man wheeling in Harry was dressed smartly in near-black dress robes with his hair slicked back. He practically oozed confidence and power. The aura he radiated could really only mean that he was acting as Harry's solicitor. However, with Harry in his present state, Neville had to wonder who had actually hired this solicitor, as he was too well dressed and radiated too much power to be someone assigned by the court.

As they reached the defendant's bench, Neville's assumption that this was Harry's solicitor proved correct. The man parked Harry behind the bench, and then stood next to him staring up at Professor Dumbledore, as if daring him to continue the proceedings.

Following the solicitor's gaze back up to Professor Dumbledore, Neville could catch the faint hint of sadness in the old man's gaze down to the defendant's bench. With a brief flicker, the sadness disappeared, leaving in its place a neutral expression. He continued, "The defendant Harry James Potter stands accused of the following: one instance of apparition without a license; twenty-seven instances of underage magic in violation of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery; seven instances of the use of the Cruciatus Curse; five instances of the use of the Killing Curse; and finally, the murders of one witch, Hermione Jean Granger, and her muggle parents. How does the defendant plead?"

The solicitor answered, "Not guilty to all charges."

"Understood. For the prosecution we have Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and Albus Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot."

"For the defense, I am Marshall Tofty. Due to the condition of my client, he is unable to defend himself."

Madam Bones stood and asked, "Can you please elaborate on the condition of your client, and why it is he is unable to defend himself?"

Tofty turned towards Madam Bones and Neville could see a hint of a smile on the side of his face. "Certainly. On the night in question Harry James Potter was held under the Cruciatus Curse for an extended period of time." With this, gasps and mutters arose from the gallery. The solicitor waited for it to die down before he continued, "He has spent the time since the attack in St. Mungo's where they have attempted to treat him for the curse exposure. I have here a signed affidavit from his healer that he has been under treatment for Cruciatus Curse exposure along with a brief overview of his current condition." The solicitor then walked up to Madam Bones, handing her a copy of the document. After a brief glance at the providence of the document, she accepted it and made copies to hand out to the members of the Wizengamot.

After giving the members a chance to review the document, Tofty continued, "As the healer has noted, Harry is unresponsive and uncommunicative. However, through some questioning his healer and I were able to direct his mind to recall the evening in question and extract Harry's memory of the event. As the memory will need to be verified, I ask the court's indulgence in entering this into evidence now so that the memory can be reviewed by the DMLE and returned here when we are ready for our defense. Here is the sealed memory, along with sworn affidavits from the healer and myself that the memory has not been tampered with in any way from extraction to its sealing in the container." The solicitor approached Madam Bones once again with the memory and the affidavits, handing them over.

Madam Bones quickly cast a spell on the seal of the memory vial, and followed with, "Let the record show that the seal is intact, was placed within the timeframe listed in the affidavits, and has not been tampered with." She then called in an Auror and had them run the memory down for validation and verification.

"When the court is ready?" Madam Bones queried.

Neville looked up to Professor Dumbledore, who nodded towards her and directed, "Please proceed with the case for the prosecution."

What followed was a multi-hour slog through the witnesses and the introduction of evidence against Harry.

The first witness was Mafalda Hopkirk, who testified regarding the magical signatures detected. These showed that Harry had apparated and that there were more than 50 spells cast at the Granger residence. The follow-up by the defense was to ask, "Mrs. Hopkirk, is there any way for you to determine if the apparition was intentional or accidental?" When she answered in the negative, Tofty followed up with, "And from your records, has Mr. Potter ever been shown to perform accidental apparition?" After flipping through her records for Harry, Hopkirk responded, "Yes, it does appear that he has apparated accidentally before, when he was 6." After this Tofty thanked her and ended his questioning.

The next witness was the Auror who led the team that arrived at the Granger's house, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Madam Bones walked the Auror through the timeline of events after their arrival, the state of Harry on their arrival—practically comatose, like his current state—and the status of the crime scene. From Shacklebolt's description, it was obvious that a small, but intense, battle had occurred in the Granger's living room. The most damning piece of evidence from Shacklebolt came from his statement on the results of checking Harry's wand. Only 3 spells were seen, but 2 of those 3 were Unforgivable: a Stupefy, a Cruciatus Curse, and a Killing Curse. Added to this was that Harry's wand was found in his hand as he was lying on the floor at the scene. Tofty cross examined Shacklebolt with a series of rapid-fire questions, "When you arrived was Mr. Potter casting any spells?"; "Are you able to, with certainty, state who cast any of the spells at the residence that night?"; "Yes, yes, the spells were cast from Mr. Potter's wand, but did anyone on your team see Mr. Potter cast any spells?".

While Neville understood what Harry's solicitor was trying to point towards, looking at the members of the Wizengamot, Neville could tell that it didn't really matter. No one in the august body appeared to be swayed by this line of questioning. Either they believed Harry was guilty or were looking down on him with contempt, or they already believed he was innocent and were looking compassionate.

After Shacklebolt a couple more Aurors were called up to validate his claims and go into more details on other rooms of the house. With the prosecution's case finished, a one-hour recess was called to allow for members and visitors in the gallery a chance to grab some food before the defense would begin their case.

With lunch finished and everyone back in the courtroom, Dumbledore once again called the Wizengamot to order. "We will now hear from the defense."

Tofty stood and addressed the court, "As Mr. Potter was the only person present that night besides the perpetrators and the Grangers, none of whom are available to testify, and due to Mr. Potter's current state, the first piece of evidence and testimony that we would like to submit is Harry's memory of the event that we previously provided to the DMLE. Madam Bones, can you please confirm the contents of the memory vial?"

Madam Bones rose, "Our memory experts have gone through the memory and have indeed verified it. Towards the end of the memory there is evidence of a Confundus Charm being applied to Mr. Potter, but nothing up until that point has been tampered with in any way. As memories of events while under memory alteration spells are not admissible, only the memory up until that point will be allowed into evidence and to be viewed by the members of this court. Aurors! Please bring in the pensieve for viewing of the memory!"

Over the next few minutes the Aurors set up the pensieve for viewing Harry's memory. When the process was finally completed, Madam Bones approached the pensieve and dropped in the contents of the vial. "I would like to warn the court: our memory analyst has stated that the memory is quite graphic. As such, any members of the public that are here, especially minors, that may be upset by these graphic images may want to step outside." Here Madam Bones paused to wait for anyone that wished to leave, but no one made a move to get up. "Mr. Tofty, if you are ready?"

"The defense is ready, Madam Bones."

"The Wizengamot, if you are ready?"

"We are ready," Dumbledore replied.

"Very well."

Madam Bones touched her wand to the pensieve to start the memory…

Harry arrived in front of the house from his dream with a start. The front door was clearly blown off of its hinges and the interior of the house did not appear to be in much better shape. Knowing that Hermione was being tortured inside Harry rushed in. Breaching the front door, Harry felt a curtain of magic pass over him. He must have passed through a silencing spell as he could now start to hear what was happening inside the house. Instinctively, he slowed down his forward progress in an attempt to hear what was happening.

"… and now, because of you, your mother will die. Avada Kedavra." Harry heard from a scaly voice he had heard all too recently at the Ministry of Magic and in his nightmares. A green light flashed in front of him as he heard a soft whimper from inside the living room. "Ah, a shame with only you left to play with. Are you still with us, mudblood?" The whimpering and light sobbing continued in the background. "It appears that you are almost broken. Well, let us continue. Crucio."

As Harry heard the curse cast again and subsequent screams, he quickly, but quietly, moved into the living room where he found Voldemort standing over his friend, staring down at her with a look of pure, unadulterated hatred. Around the room were the 4 Death Eaters that Harry had seen previously in his nightmare. No one had noticed his approach as all were staring down at the screaming girl, some with a face of glee, others with a look of hatred mirroring their master.

Turning to the two Death Eaters on his left, Harry raised his wand and fired off two rapid Reductos. His spells quickly flew forward and struck the first Death Eater in the neck, nearly removing his head from his shoulders. The second Death Eater had heard the first casting and had slightly more time to react, turning towards Harry as the spell sped onward. The Death Eater attempted to cast a shield but was unable to do so before the spell hit him the chest, spraying blood on the nearby furniture. Harry barely noticed this as he had turned toward the other two Death Eaters, finally noticing the bodies of Hermione's parents lying on the ground between them. Their glassy-eyed stares told Harry that both had already been hit by the Killing Curse.

As the second Death Eater hit the floor, the Cruciatus Curse being cast on Hermione broke off when Voldemort started turning towards Harry while simultaneously placing a shield between them. Similarly, the other two Death Eaters in the room cast shields and were already facing Harry. Voldemort glanced at the two downed Death Eaters as he finished his turn towards Harry. "Tsk, tsk, Potter," Voldemort admonished, "it is rude to barge in without knocking. And to then attack the houseguests… Very troubling indeed." Continuing in a tone reminiscent of Dumbledore, "I am afraid you may be going Dark, my boy."

"Oh stuff it Tom! Hermione, are you okay? Hermione?"

"I don't think that she will be able to answer you Potter. At this point, the only thing she is good for is screaming under the Cruciatus." Turning his head to look at the two other Death Eaters, "You two, grab the other two and get out of here. I have a score to settle with our friend here."

The two Death Eaters standing over Hermione's parents gave each other a quick glance and then started circling over to the bodies of their fallen comrades. At the same time, Harry started circling to where they had been standing, gaining a better view of Hermione and her condition. What he saw broke his heart. Laying on the ground, still twitching from her latest exposure to the Cruciatus Curse, Hermione's face was tear-streaked. Her mouth continued to open and close slowly, as if continuing to scream but without any noise coming from her. But worst was the look in her eyes. There was no recognition of anyone else present—the usual light in her eyes was gone, leaving behind a look that bordered on death.

"You bastard!" Harry screamed at Voldemort and began has attack. Harry focused everything he had on attempting to damage Voldemort. So focused, in fact, that he missed the disappearance of the two still-living Death Eaters. The furniture and knick-knacks in the living room provided ample opportunities to hide and block incoming spells. And after a short time, the scene from the graveyard played out again: Voldemort had cast a Killing Curse against Harry's Expelliarmus. Once again, phoenix song filled the air as a golden cage appeared around Harry and Voldemort. The only difference was that this time Voldemort was laughing.

"Did you really think that this would give me problems again? After seeing it last time, I have had plenty of time to determine an appropriate counter measure." With this, Voldemort drew a second wand and pointed it at Harry. "Crucio."

The pain was intense, even worse than Harry remembered from the graveyard last year. Worse than Harry had experienced from Bellatrix just a couple of weeks ago. Every nerve was set on fire, being frozen, and ripped from his body, all at once. He knew that he was screaming in pain, but at the same time could think of nothing but the excruciating pain that he was in. And it would not stop. Normally, he would have passed out from this amount of pain but still he was conscious and feeling the effects of this curse. All time lost meaning…

…

When the curse finally lifted, Harry could no longer think. The last words that he heard as he was surrounded by darkness were, "Avada Kedavra".

…

After a minute or two of blackness, Harry blinked his eyes and attempted to sit up. He failed. He then attempted to crawl towards Hermione, but failed again; his body was refusing to accept any commands. Lying on the ground silently, Harry managed to loll his head to look at Hermione. After a few blinks from Harry, a voice was softly heard incanting "Confundus".

Neville didn't know what to think. While watching the fight between Harry and Voldemort, Neville was stunned at how well Harry was doing. However, considering Harry's current condition, it was obvious that he was going to lose the fight. Still, when the phoenix song started and the cage appeared, he continued to be hopeful that maybe, somehow, things would be different from reality. Sadly that didn't happen. Once the killing curse was cast, he was once again reminded how Harry had already lived through the curse once, so a second time really should not be surprising.

Perhaps the oddest part, though, didn't come from the memory itself, but from Luna. While the memory was displaying black, Neville was looking around the courtroom attempting to gauge reactions from people. A soft whimper from next to him caused him to look at Luna, where he was surprised to see her crying while still intently watching the memory. She seemed to be reacting to events occurring in what was currently being displayed, even though it was just black and there was nothing to see. Neville put a hand on her shoulder and drew her into a one-armed hug that seemed to provide Luna some comfort, but she still continued to stare intently at the blank image being shown.

After the casting of the Confundus charm, Madam Bones stopped the memory. "This concludes the admissible part of the memory provided by Mr. Potter." She then made her way back to her seat.

Dumbledore then turned towards Harry and his solicitor, "Do you have any witnesses you would like to call?"

"Yes, Chief Warlock, we would like to call Miriam Strout, Mr. Potter's healer from St. Mungo's, to testify." A motherly-looking woman rose from the gallery and approached the witness stand.

After performing a quick background, Mr. Tofty got to the heart of the matter, "Healer Strout, based on the time Mr. Potter has been in your care for exposure to the Cruciatus Curse, in your professional option, is it possible that he could have cast either the Cruciatus Curse or the Killing Curse?"

Healer Strout sat considering the question for a moment, "No. In my opinion it would be a miracle if Mr. Potter was able to perform any magic at all right now, let alone spells as complex or requiring as much concentration and power as the two you listed."

"Thank you, I have no further questions."

Taking moment to quietly confer with Madam Bones, Dumbledore turned to the witness, "Thank you for time Healer Strout. The prosecution does not have any questions. You may return to your duties at St. Mungo's." After letting her step down from the stand, Dumbledore turned once again the defense solicitor, "Mr. Tofty, do you have any other witnesses?"

"No, Chief Warlock. The defense rests."

"Thank you. We will take a brief 15 minute recess and then both sides may present final arguments."

As Neville stood up to stretch, he noticed Mr. Tofty approach Madam Bones and Dumbledore. They briefly conversed and then all three exited the main chamber together to a sitting room for members of the Wizengamot.

The 15 minutes passed quickly for Neville; he was looking forward to this trial being over.

The three from the sitting room reappeared and took their places in the courtroom. Seeing everyone had settled down, Dumbledore called the Wizengamot to order to finish the trial. "It is my understanding that a plea-bargain has been reached?"

Mr. Tofty stood up, "Yes, Chief Warlock. Due to Mr. Potter's state his legal guardian has, on Mr. Potter's behalf, agreed to a plea of guilty to one count of apparition without a license and to two counts of aggravated assault resulting in bodily harm."

"Madam Bones, is this correct?"

"It is, Chief Warlock. Based on the evidence presented and the lack of any bodies at the crime scene belonging to those attacked by Mr. Potter, it must be presumed that they lived through the encounter and were healed upon leaving the Granger's residence." There were shocked sounds from around the courtroom. Based on Harry's memory, Neville had a hard time believing that the Death Eater that was hit in the neck would have lived through the experience.

"Very well. Considering that Mr. Potter is a minor, we find the following. For apparating without a license, as this is the first offense, the standard warning will apply and be added to Mr. Potter's record. For aggravated assault, Mr. Potter will be sentenced to 3 years of confinement, with the possibility of parole after 2 years. Due to Mr. Potter's current state of mind, this sentence is to be carried out in the secure ward of St. Mungo's hospital. If Mr. Potter's condition improves to the point that a healer clears him, he will be transferred to an appropriate, alternative facility at that time. If his condition has not improved, he may be moved out of the secure ward after his sentence has been served. As for the death of Ms. Granger, at this time there is not enough information available. As such, if Mr. Potter does recover the circumstances of her death may become clearer. This may lead to reopening of the case and prosecution against Mr. Potter at that time. This concludes the trial of Harry James Potter. Please take and secure him at St. Mungo's." Dumbledore banged his gavel, stood, and quickly left the courtroom. The sounds of shocked disbelief following him out the doors.

November 1996

Neville had just finished visiting with his parents on the 15th anniversary of their torture and subsequent dissociative state. Gran had been passed earlier but had left Neville to have some time alone with his parents. His mother had handed him a rose-colored candy wrapper today.

As he was leaving his parents' room, Healer Strout approached him. "Hello Neville. Hard to believe that it's been 15 years with your parents in our care here." Neville just nodded dumbly. "However, that's not what I would like to discuss with you today." At this Neville looked up, slightly curious.

"It's been a few months since Mr. Potter came into our care, and so far no one has come by to visit with him, like you do with your parents. I would have thought that whomever he stays with over the summer might have stopped by for a visit at the very least. Anyway, I was wondering if you would mind stopping through to see him? While he hasn't been showing any progress, having a friendly face he is familiar with may be good for him. Would you consider stopping through to at least say hello? You can also feel free to stop by after any—or all—of your visits with your parents."

Neville took a deep breath and stared intently at the ground. He was already feeling emotionally drained from his parent's anniversary. However, he also owed Harry a great deal for his help last year through Dumbledore's Army. Weighing it around in his mind, he made his decision, "I can stop through for a quick hello today, but I won't be able to stay long. My Gran is waiting for me upstairs before I head back to Hogwarts. However, in the future I'll try to stop in for longer visits."

"That sounds great Neville. Follow me and I can help get you signed in so that you can visit Harry whenever you have time."

Neville followed Healer Strout over to a warded section of the wing and was quickly added to the wards, to be allowed passage through them. He was then asked to sign in and told that when he left he should be sure to sign out, too. Continuing to follow the healer, Neville shivered briefly as he felt the wards pass over him and allow him through. He was then led to Harry's room, where she then left him.

Neville walked up beside Harry's bed and looked down at him. It was just like looking at his parents earlier, and Neville had to hold back the tears that threatened to spring forth. "Hello Harry. I was just visiting my parents when your healer asked if I wouldn't mind stopping by and saying hello. I can't stay, but I just wanted to see how you were doing. I'll stop through again when I next visit my parents, which will in early December. See you then."

He gave Harry's shoulder a squeeze before he turned and left room, heading up to visit with his Gran before returning to Hogwarts.

Christmas 1996

"Happy Christmas Harry!" Neville exclaimed as he entered Harry's room. "I told our classmates at school that I was coming to visit you today, so some of them sent some presents along for you. I have some more time today than last visit so I guess I should also fill you in on what has been happening at school this year.

"You'll never guess who the new Defence professor is this year: Professor Snape! Here I thought that with my dropping potions I'd finally be done with him, but then he had to go and switch which class he was teaching. I could have really used a year without him.

"Since Professor Snape is no longer teaching potions, Professor Dumbledore hired the old potions professor back on, Professor Slughorn. Since I'm not in NEWT level potions, I haven't had a class with him. However, the younger members of the DA have been telling stories of their classes compared to the old classes, and it sounds like he is a really good teacher. It almost makes me wish that Snape had switched to teaching Defence earlier, so that I could have had a potions class without him breathing down my neck.

"Oh, yeah, speaking of the DA, things really haven't been the same without you and Hermione. You two really were the soul of the group. Ron started trying the lead the group but… well… no one was willing to listen to him, and it really made him angry. He really felt, as your two's best friend, that he should be in charge of the group. Instead, we've just been meeting and trying to have everyone help each other. That's been working fairly well, I guess. Though, it would've been better with you there.

"Right. Christmas presents. I've been prattling and you probably don't even care about that." With this, Neville started digging through his bag, getting out the gifts for Harry. "I have gifts here for you from my Gran and me, from Luna, the Weasley twins, Mrs. Weasley, and everyone from the DA last year got together to get you something. Just so you know, the staff here had to look through them to make sure that there were not any gifts that would cause problems.

"Well, I guess let's open these in order then. The first gift here is from my Gran and me." Neville pulled off the wrapping paper to reveal a copy of the photograph of Harry and Neville's parents holding them as babies, with the photo in nice silver frame. After a brief look for himself, Neville smiled sadly as he showed the image to Harry. He then placed the framed image beside Harry's bed after a few seconds of holding it front of Harry.

"The next gift for you is from Luna. I'm not sure what she got you, so let's see…" Neville pulled off the wrapping paper and held up the contained book for Harry. "A Beginner's Guide to Arithmancy. Not sure why she would send this, but there is no way I'll be reading this to you. I'd fall asleep before we got off the first page!" He chuckled quietly. "But, I guess that's Luna for you. Always doing something just a little bit different than what you might expect.

"Alright, next up is the gift from Fred and George. Since it got past the staff here, this shouldn't be any of the dangerous items from their store. Hmm, looks like they sent you one of their trick wands. Seems kind of tactless if you ask me as you don't have your wand anymore." Neville made a note to himself to have some words with the twins.

"From Mrs. Weasley… it looks like she sent you another one of her famous jumpers. I know that you typically put yours on when celebrating Christmas, so I guess I'll help you with it." Neville then took off Harry's glasses and pulled the jumper over his head. After wrestling with Harry's arms for a minute, he finally got the jumper onto Harry. He then put the glasses back on. "Perfect!

"Finally, we have the gift from the DA." He pulled out the final gift, which was fairly tiny, and unwrapped it, producing a golden snitch. "This snitch has been specially charmed to not leave the room in which it was released. No other special features, like disappearing from sight. If nothing else, we thought it would give you something to watch during the day." Neville then released the snitch to fly about the room.

"I have to admit, I was a little bit surprised that Ron didn't provide me something else to give you, but he did pitch in for the snitch… But enough about that, now that your presents are open, why don't I finish filling you in on what's happening at Hogwarts.

Neville told Harry all about his projects in Herbology and how Hagrid was doing in Care of Magical Creatures. "I was honestly surprised that Malfoy continued in Care considering what happened with the hippogriff. The rumor around the school is that he didn't have enough other classes that he could continue into NEWT year, so he was forced to take Care. You should have seen Malfoy's face when the rumor started going around. He lit up like a—" Neville started as Harry's arm suddenly shot out towards him. Neville attempted to scramble back, resulting in the chair he was sitting in tipping backward, leaving him on the floor. Looking up at Harry's still outstretched hand, Neville could see the golden gleam of a snitch.

February 1997

"Hello Healer Strout. How are things?"

"Hello Neville! I am glad I caught you before your visit to Harry today."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. Just the opposite in fact. I didn't want to get your hopes up previously, but it seems like your visits have been helping him out. Ever since your first visit, we have been seeing more frequent, and longer, bouts of movement and action from him. Still no talking yet, but we have seen him catch that snitch you and your friends provided him for Christmas multiple times now. So don't be surprised if he moves around a bit while you're in there."

"Oh, okay. I understand." On the one hand, Neville was happy that his friend appeared to be improving. On the other hand, he was a bit depressed that his parents had never shown any kind of progress, even though he had been visiting them roughly once a month since they were placed in St. Mungo's. He felt he needed to ask, but dreaded the response just the same, "Is there any chance that the progress we are seeing with Harry may provide anything that will help my parents?"

Healer Strout's happy demeanor quickly went somber, "Oh, I am so sorry Neville. I didn't really consider how hard this might be for you, seeing one person you care for get better, but not another. Rest assured, we are closely monitoring Harry's progress. If there is anything to be learned that may help your parents, we will learn it."

Neville nodded, still a little depressed, but put on a smile for the healer. "Well, thank you for continuing to look after my parents and friend. I should go see Harry now."

April 1997

Neville entered Harry's room and sat down in the chair next to the bed.

"Hello Harry," he started slowly while staring at the floor. "I'm sorry, but I haven't been a good friend these last couple of months. I skipped out on seeing you last month, and didn't stay very long the month before that." He took a deep breath. "The truth is, I was jealous of the progress that you've been showing, while my parents seem to be stuck in the same state they've been in for years. Sure, your condition was, and is, worse than theirs, and maybe you will only recover to the same level that they're both at now. But still, I couldn't help but be both jealous and angry with you for that. Stupid, huh? I don't really expect anything from you, but I hope that one day you will be able to forgive me."

Neville took another a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He was then surprised to feel a hand upon his. Looking up, he saw that Harry had reached out and was staring directly at him. After a few seconds, he heard a very faint, "Yes."

May 1997

Healer Strout was waiting outside of the Longbottom room when Neville had finished seeing his parents. "Good afternoon, Neville. I wanted to touch base with you again on Harry's condition."

Neville nodded to her.

"Since you reported in April that Harry had talked to you, we have been attempting to engage him in conversations; having any staff that enter the room attempt to talk to him. He has progressed to the point where he will recognize that someone has entered the room and respond to a greeting. He can also answer some basic Yes or No questions. And I really think that we owe this progress to you."

"Wait, what? To me? What did I do?"

"You keep showing up on your Hogsmeade weekends to see both your parents and Harry. Other than the staff, here you are the only person that's been to see Harry since he was placed in that ward. You are showing Harry that people out there still care about him and that there's something to fight for. Just keep up the good work." The healer patted him on the shoulder and left him to continue onwards to talk to Harry.

He entered Harry's room, same as he had for almost a year. Neville thought of the healer's comments and took a minute to compare Harry now to when he first started visiting. It was clear that Harry was now showing a significant improvement since he had first been entered into the ward. To start with, he was sitting upright, not propped upright. His eyes also held more light than they used to. In fact, he even appeared to be reading a book!

"Hiya Harry! Whatcha' reading?"

"Nev."

Hearing his nickname from the DA momentarily startled Neville. He looked down at Harry's lap to see a bunch of numbers and equations. "Well, I see that you're getting some use out of Luna's Christmas present, at least. I don't think I would be able to read that if our places were reversed. If you don't mind the interruption, how about I tell you about some of what's been happening at school since Christmas."

Harry looked up from the book at Neville. After a look back down at the book, Harry looked back up and nodded once.

He proceeded to fill Harry in on what he was doing in his classes, including his latest Herbology project. Malfoy and Ron had been getting at each other's throats, now that Harry was no longer present to draw Malfoy's ire. At the same time, some of the wind had left Malfoy's sails this school year. "In fact," Neville stated, "ever since the night you fought Voldemort, no one has seen him, and Death Eater activity has dropped off almost completely. The Aurors are actually making progress in rounding everyone up and sending them to Azkaban, including Lucius and Bellatrix."

The DA was still going, but Ron had continued to be pushed into the background of the group, much to his displeasure. Instead, Neville, Ginny, and Luna were seen as the leaders of the group. Neville would probably have let the girls handle the group themselves, but as they were in their OWL year they were looking for someone to help with any training and planning they might need. Though, if Neville was honest, Professor Snape was actually doing a good job preparing the students for their OWLs and NEWTs.

Ron was now dating Lavender Brown, and Lavender had started calling Ron "Won-Won", much to the amusement of the rest of Gryffindor, and the school in general. Since Harry was not in school, and Katie Bell was graduating next year, Ron had been handling the Gryffindor Quidditch team as captain, and things were looking promising this year for the team to get the Quidditch Cup.

Ginny had once again taken over for Harry on the house team as the seeker. Additionally, she had started dating Dean Thomas a couple of months ago.

Luna was still being Luna. Neville was at a loss to describe her. But she was currently at the top of her year, and was doing much better interacting with others while co-leading the DA.

"You know, this summer for your birthday, I'll see if I can get some of the gang together to come visit you. I know that you haven't had a lot of visitors, but it'll be the summer, so I bet I can get everyone to make an appearance. What do you think?"

Harry, who had been silently listening, did not respond. Neville shrugged to himself, and continued to fill in Harry for another 10 minutes, before he had to leave to make it back to Hogwarts before the gates closed.

July 31, 1997

Neville arrived via Floo just before 10am and found Luna was already waiting for him. As they headed up to the fourth floor, he filled Luna in on Harry's condition from when he had seen Harry last month.

After signing in, they passed through the ward and common area to the entrance of Harry's room. "Happy birthday Harry!" Neville greeted as he entered the room. "I didn't want to overwhelm you with people, so I only brought Luna along with me today." He felt bad for lying to Harry, but figured it was nicer than telling the truth.

It's a surprisingly difficult thing to gather a group of people together for a birthday celebration—especially when that celebration would be occurring in a secure wing of St. Mungo's for a convicted criminal. Neville had been attempting to gather the gang together in order to visit Harry for his birthday, but almost everyone had "other plans".

The only person that had blatantly (and honestly) refused to come rather than having "other plans" was Ron. Ron had told him in no uncertain terms that, as his current plan was to become an Auror after graduating, he could not be seen fraternizing with known criminals. He refused to join in the celebration, and even refused to pitch in on a gift for Harry.

The other Weasleys were at least a little better. Ginny and Dean were traveling to visit her brother Charlie at the Romanian Dragon Preserve, as Dean was considering a career with Dragons. The twins were attending a convention out of country, as they were looking to move their business internationally. Finally, Molly and Arthur Weasley were helping Bill and Fleur prepare for their wedding, and were going to be unable to attend a party for Harry. While none of the other Weasleys were able to attend, they sent along gifts.

Everyone on the Gryffindor Quidditch team from Harry's first through third years had gone on to play professionally. Sadly, with their tour and practice schedules, they were unable to make time to see Harry. While they were unable to attend, they were able to send along some gifts.

He had even attempted to invite some of the school professors, but all of the current professors were still dealing with the loss of Professor Dumbledore, and were needed to prepare for the start of the upcoming term, with things like visiting the new muggleborn students. Professor Lupin, on the other hand, wanted to come; however, due to some archaic laws, werewolves were not allowed visitation rights for convicts.

This left Luna as the only person available, willing, and allowed to visit with Neville. As it was just the two of them, they agreed to meet in the St. Mungo's lobby at 10am (the start of visiting hours).

Neville shook his head to clear his thoughts and bring himself back into the present. Harry turned to Luna and pointed up to his own head, "Wrackspurt infestation?"

"Wrackspurt infestation."

With a nod, Harry turned back to what he was working on.

Luna looked at Neville with a smirk and said, "I'm not really sure why they are holding him here when he's seeing so clearly." She then walked up next to Harry to see what he was working on.

Neville just stood there, dumbfounded. Harry was standing—which was progress in and of itself—but he also appeared to be writing on the walls. Correction, he was pretending to write on the walls. In one hand he held a quill. The other hand was held as if it was holding an inkwell, but there was nothing in that hand. Harry would dip the quill into his hand and then start writing on the wall. Curious as to how long this had been going on, Neville waved down a nearby orderly and was informed that it started back in May, probably shortly after Neville's last visit.

Perhaps even stranger than Harry's state was Luna's. She appeared to intently study what Harry was currently working on, before moving to his left to look at other sections of the wall, as if reading something. "Are you done with the book I sent for Christmas, then?" she concluded.

"Yes."

"Well it's a good thing that I'm here with your birthday present then, isn't it?" Luna smiled and pulled out what looked like another book for Harry. "Come, take a break from that and open presents!"

Harry looked back at Luna and back at the wall, "Not much time." He seemed torn between continuing his writing on the wall and opening the gifts.

Neville spoke up, "Well, we can do things quick here, and then maybe we could help you out?"

Luna gave him an odd look. "Are you picking up ambient wrackspurts?"

"Huh?"

She zoned out briefly before turning back to Harry, "Come on, everyone needs to take breaks to keep from inviting trundungles to the party." This finally got Harry to relent, and he joined them by his bed and the small pile of gifts. He started by opening the one from Luna, which turned out to be two new books: Advanced Arithmancy: Everything from One-to-Z and Spell Theory: Creating the Perfect Spell. From his old Quidditch team, he got a photo of them in their third year, with everyone's signatures. Each of the professionals also sent along a copy of their team jersey. Rounding things out were a variety of sweets. Neville made careful note of those that were sent by the twins.

Neville and Luna continued to chat politely as Harry stashed the gifts away in his room. He then walked back to the wall he had previously been writing on, picked the quill back up, and continued where he left off. The two guests looked at each other, and Neville gave Luna a small shrug. They got up to leave together.

"Thanks for having me over Harry," Luna stated. "Can I come and visit again sometime?"

"Yes."

A small smile on her face, Luna led Neville from the room. After clearing the ward, Neville had a question, "Why are you giving Harry books on Arithmancy and spell creation?"

Luna gave him a sideways look and shrugged, "Because the Blibbering Humdingers told me to."

Neville internally groaned and continued following her out.

August 1997

Since tomorrow was the first of September, and he would be returning to Hogwarts for his final year, Neville made his customary trip to visit to St. Mungo's to visit his parents and Harry.

Upon entering Harry's room, he found that Luna was already there and standing next to Harry. Only now, she was also pretending to write on the wall. "Luna? Everything okay?"

"Oh, hello Neville!" Luna responded without turning around. "Harry and I are almost done with this section. If you don't mind waiting a minute or two, we can join you then."

As he was waiting for them to finish, he picked up the Beginner's Guide to Arithmancy that he found laying out. He opened it up, and started flipping through the pages, not really reading it. After a few minutes, he heard Luna from directly in front of him, "So, who's the girl?"

"W-w-w-what?" Neville spluttered.

"The girl. Who is she?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Neville responded as he felt a blush rise on his cheeks. Yes, there was a girl, but they had only just started hanging out together, and he didn't want to bring it up just now.

"Oh, come on Neville. You are surrounded by Diligoflammas. There is no way you haven't found someone. Or is it a boy rather than a girl?" She asked slyly. "Don't worry, we won't judge." She pointed between Harry and herself. Harry just looked towards Neville curiously, but he got the impression Harry was not really looking at him.

"hannahabbott" he responded quietly.

"Really Neville. I couldn't understand that. Try again. Channel your inner Gryffindor."

"Fine. Just, fine. Hannah Abbott," he ground out. "You both remember her from the DA. Well, I was negotiating with her father for some plants, as he handles special orders. Hannah was there and we started talking. Then when the plants were delivered to Longbottom greenhouse, she came along and we spent some more time together. Anyway, we are just good friends. There is nothing going on."

"Uh huh. And I suppose that 'as friends' you're going to be meeting her on the Hogwarts Express?"

"Umm… Yes?"

"Well, make sure that you do."

"Right, well, anyway, there's something that I wanted to talk to you both about." Neville paused briefly to take a breath and gain his bearings. "As this is my NEWT year, I don't know if I'm going to be able to come here as much as I did last year. I remember during my OWL year that I had a difficult time getting here to see my parents on Hogsmeade weekends, with the workload I was under." Turning to look directly at Harry he continued, "I don't want you to feel like I'm abandoning you. I'll come if I can, but I need to keep my grades up and do well on my NEWTs if I want to get a good job as an Herbalist."

Harry continued looking at Neville with an unidentifiable expression. "I understand, Neville."

He let out a small sigh of relief. "Luna, will you be able to continue to come visit Harry those weekends, even if I'm not available?"

"I'd be happy to visit, if Harry doesn't mind my being here."

Harry turned to look at Luna and nodded once.

"Thank you Luna. And thank you Harry, for your understanding. I will definitely make the holidays—Christmas and Easter—I just didn't want to you to be surprised if I couldn't make it more often. Luna, I will let you know the week before the Hogsmeade weekends if I will be joining you or not."

"Alright, Neville."

With that, Luna and Neville continued to chat about the upcoming school term, guessing on who the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was likely to be, since Professor Snape had quit after Professor Dumbledore's death. They then turned to how Luna did on her OWLs and which NEWT level courses she would be taking. Turns out she had received all 'O's and was now taking Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Herbology, Charms, and DADA. She'd considered also taking Potions, but Professor Flitwick had recommended against taking 7 courses at NEWT level; of those, Potions was the one that interested her the least.

During the discussions, Harry appeared to follow along and answered questions when posed to him directly. He was definitely improving.

November 1997

Neville was feeling guilty. He had continued to stay in contact with Luna about Harry's progress (which sounded like it was going well) but he had not been able to get away from school and still properly juggle his new responsibilities. The only reason he was even here at St. Mungo's today was for the anniversary of his parent's condition. Hannah understood that he really wanted to be here for it and had agreed to meet him for a half-day date in Hogsmeade today, starting with a late lunch.

Having finished talking to his parents, he went to make a brief stopover with Harry, just to say hello. As he signed in, he noticed that Luna had signed in but not out, so she should also be there.

Making his way to Harry's room, he heard Harry yelling "I NEED MORE TIME!" The exclamation was followed by a pulse of magic, which did not disrupt anything, but did give Neville a slight pause. When he arrived in the doorway, he found Harry sitting on his bed, rocking back and forth, with Luna sitting next to him, an arm around his shoulder.

He could hear Harry's muttering from the doorway, "Time. Time. Time. Too much, but not enough. Need to be quick, but can't be too fast. The longer we wait, the better the chance. But the pain. I can't be the cause. Need to be quick. Need to be quick. I need more time…" Harry's mutterings quieted down, but he was clearly still distraught.

Luna looked up from Harry, towards Neville. Seeing him standing there, she gave a small shake of her head. She mouthed something that looked a lot like Later. He nodded his understanding and backed away from the room, signed out, and went back to Hogsmeade for his date with Hannah at the Three Broomsticks.

The next day Neville tracked down Luna in the library. "Hi Luna. What was with yesterday?"

"Not here, come with me."

Luna led the way to the Room of Requirement. As he waited for Luna to open the room, Neville started getting anxious from some answers. In short order a standard wooden door appeared, which opened into a small study with two chairs and a roaring fire in the fireplace. The door disappeared as it shut behind him.

Luna pulled out her wand and cast a variety of spells to sound proof the room, to keep anyone from entering through another entrance (not that Neville thought that was possible), to stop any listening charms, and to detect anyone that may be hidden in the room. The entire process took about a minute. He was impressed with the thoroughness she was putting into this, and was getting even more anxious as to what this could be about.

"Sorry about that, I just really don't want anyone listening in on what's going on with Harry."

"It's okay. So what's up?"

"He's been working on an Arithmancy project and has hit a stumbling block. Unfortunately, with the amount of time he has been working on solely on this problem and nothing else, he has surpassed me in my abilities with Arithmancy. I'm no longer able to effectively help him when he gets stuck on something."

Neville let out a whistle of appreciation. He was surprised that Harry had become that proficient in such a short period of time. Luna had been studying Arithmancy for 3.5 years. Harry was self-taught in a little under a year, having not studied it before he received the first book from Luna.

Luna sighed. "Harry has good days, and he has bad days. Yesterday was quite far on the bad end of that spectrum. Most likely, he'll resolve the issue before Christmas and be on to the next step of his project by then."

"Do you know what the project is?"

"Yes, but I won't share it with anyone."

Neville looked at Luna with surprise. They had run the DA together all of last year, and so far this year. That Luna wouldn't trust him with this really hurt.

"I'm sorry Neville. When I saw what he was writing on his walls, I decided to help him out. However, it's too big for me to share. If Harry decides that he wants it shared with you, I'll be happy to explain it then, but until I get the go-ahead from him, my lips are sealed."

They sat in silence together, starting at the fire.

Luna broke the quiet first, "Are you still going to be there for Christmas?"

"Yeah. I'll be there in the afternoon on Christmas Day to visit my parents, after spending the morning with my Gran. I'm meeting with Hannah and her family for Boxing Day."

"Okay. Oh, I told Harry before I left that you'd stopped by to say hello while he was in his funk. He said to say hello back, and that he's looking forward to seeing you for Christmas."

After a few more minutes of silence, Luna got up, canceled her charms and left the room. Neville stared into the fire, losing track of time, thinking about what Luna had said. He finally got up and made his way back to the Gryffindor common room, to work on his homework.

Christmas 1997

"Happy Christmas, Luna! Happy Christmas to you too, Neville!" Harry happily exclaimed. "It feels like it's been ages since you last visited."

Luna and Neville both responded with an enthusiastic "Happy Christmas!"

Luna continued, "And look at you. You've been managing your wrackspurt infestation quite nicely. At this rate, you may be wrackspurt free by early next year!" At this pronouncement, a dark look flickered over Harry's face, but was quickly replaced again by a smile.

Neville pitched in, "Sorry again that I haven't been here more. Classes have been exhausting. I'm only taking 4 NEWT level courses. I don't understand how you're managing 6, Luna!"

"Well, by being brilliant, of course!" This brought a laugh from everyone, including Harry.

Neville stopped laughing and looked in amazement at Harry. "Wow Harry, you're definitely doing better. I think that's the first time I've heard you laugh in years."

"Well," Harry replied in a snarky tone, "that's probably because you haven't told me any jokes." Which brought a laugh from everyone again.

"Well, I once again come bearing gifts, from myself and those that couldn't be here today." Harry led the group to the common area as Neville pulled out the presents for Harry from his bag, hoping that Harry wouldn't notice how few presents he was receiving at this point. He had one package from the Weasley family in general, one from the twins, and the one from himself. He spotted Luna also pulling out a gift for Harry from her bag.

Harry started with the Weasley family's gift, which proved to once again be a famous Weasley jumper. Harry got very excited and immediately pulled it on. This year it happened to be neon pink, and Neville's eyes watered just looking at it. "Exactly the color I wanted!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. Neville just shook his head while Luna smiled.

From the Weasley twins he once again received a trick wand, which he immediately stuck behind his ear in an imitation of Luna. The first year was bad enough, but to continue the joke into second year seemed quite mean to Neville.

Neville had gotten Harry a selection of plants that he should be able to grow and care for in his room. All of them were ones that didn't require active care, just the occasional watering. So if Harry forgot about them for a bit, at least they shouldn't die.

Finally, Harry received a few pictures from Luna. The first was a picture of everyone from the DA during fifth year. Apparently, Colin Creevey had taken the picture without anyone noticing. The second picture was one of her, Neville, and Hannah that was taken right before Christmas break. The last was one of Luna by herself, taken at the same time as the previous one.

From the look on Harry's face, it was clear that he enjoyed all of his presents, including the trick wand. Harry said, "Thank you both for the gifts. Now about my gifts to you…" Neville and Luna attempted to protest that they didn't need anything, but Harry waved them off. "Neville, yours should be ready the next time you see me. Luna, I have yours in my room. Let me go grab it." Without waiting for a response, Harry bounded off to his room. From inside there was the sound of shuffling parchment as Harry searched for the gift.

After a couple minutes, Neville decided he should try to see if he could help, and made his way to Harry's room. He reached the door just in time for Harry to come bounding back out again, colliding heavily with Neville, resulting in both getting knocked to the ground. The trick wand that had been stuck behind his ear hit the ground at the same time as Harry and Neville. A slight groan escaped from Neville, as he sat up he heard Luna laughing quietly. He shot her a quick frown, and she responded by sticking out here tongue and melodiously stating, "Patience is a virtue, even for brave Gryffindors."

Making his way back to his feet, he stepped over to Harry, who was gazing blankly at the ceiling. "You okay there, Harry?" He asked. When Harry didn't respond, Neville took a closer look at him. There was no sign of blood, but a far-away look had entered Harry's eye. "Harry?" Neville tentatively asked again. "Harry!" With his shout, the faraway look disappeared from Harry, who glanced up at him.

With a confused expression on his face, Harry asked, "What are you doing on the floor, Neville?"

"What am I doing on the floor?"

"Not exactly what I asked, but your rephrasing of the original question will suffice."

"You have been spending too much time with Luna," Neville muttered to himself.

With a tinkling laugh, Luna walked over and stood next to Neville. "Yes, Neville, what are we doing on the floor?" And with that, Luna lay down on the floor next to Harry, where they shared a wide grin. She picked up the wand from the floor and slid it back behind his ear.

Neville stood there, glancing back and forth between the two of them, as they both turned their grins onto him. With an audible grumble, Neville joined them in their 'standing'.

"So Harry, you had my gift somewhere?" Luna asked, after they had been lying on the ground for a few minutes.

"Ooh ooh, yes! Where did I put that?" Harry shot up and bolted back into his room, followed shortly by the sound of items in the room again being shuffled around. "Found it!" Harry exclaimed and rushed back into the common room. He looked around the room, but didn't see them. He looked like he was about to panic as he called out, "Luna?"

"Down here, Harry."

"Oh." Harry turned back to them, obviously relieved. "What're you doing on the floor?"

"Waiting for you, silly."

Getting a sheepish grin on his face, Harry simply replied, "Oh…" and dropped back on the floor. Wriggling up to Luna, Harry whispered, "Thanks for waiting. Not many people are willing to wait." With the sadness in his tone, Neville could tell that Harry had indeed noted the lack of other visitors, and decrease in people that had sent presents this year.

"Well, some things are worth waiting for. Let's see this then." Luna said as she grabbed the gift from Harry. It was fairly large, roughly 2 by 3 feet. Ripping the wrapping paper open, Luna took a look a framed piece of parchment inside. "Harry, this is brilliant." After a few more moments studying the parchment Luna demanded, "Where did you see this?" She was pointing to a specific area on the picture.

With the change in Luna's tone, Neville sat up and studied her closely; her usual dreamy, light-hearted manner had disappeared completely. Shifting his gaze to Harry, he saw a similar transformation; Harry's playfulness and general confusion disappeared, leaving a very serious-looking man staring at Luna. "You know what it is?" Harry asked.

"They are Entelechies. I saw them once when I was nine, and again throughout my second year in Hogwarts. Where did you see them?"

"They were there on that night." With the emphasis Harry put on the word, there was no question as to which night he was referring. "And if you…" Harry trailed off.

"But that means my mother…" Luna continued.

"Yes! It's going to work!" Harry sat up, pulled Luna into a hug, and kissed her. He then shot back into his room, leaving a shocked Luna sitting on the floor for Neville to help to her feet.

At this point, Neville was feeling quite confused. "Luna, can you fill me in on what Harry was talking about?" Crossing his fingers, he pleaded internally, Please don't let the answer be 'Entelechies'. Please don't let the answer be 'Entelechies'. Please don't let the answer be…

"Entelechies."

"I was afraid you were going to say that. Can I see the picture?" Luna shrugged, handing it to Neville. With the picture in hand, he looked for where Luna had previously pointed, but didn't see anything there. In fact, after studying the entire picture, he was unable to see anything drawn on the parchment at all. Confused, he turned it over, but the parchment wasn't even visible from that side of the frame. Even more confused, he turned to Luna and dumbly stated, "There's nothing drawn on this."

Luna responded while staring sadly in at Harry working on his project, "He drew it with magic. Since you can't see creatures, you can't see the drawing."

He had never heard of anything like this. "So what's drawn on it then?"

"What you have there is a drawing of all the magical creatures that Harry has seen. I can't think of a better gift." Neville was nonplussed by her statement. Finally he gave up thinking about it and handed the picture back to Luna, who lovingly put it in her bag.

They stood looking in at Harry for a few more minutes, but it looked like he was fully absorbed in trying to solve the Arithmancy problem Luna had told him about last month. The two of them started to move Harry's presents into his room, Neville taking care to ensure that the plants were on the windowsill such that they were unlikely to be knocked down. As they made to leave for the day, Harry called back, "Luna, I'm sorry." Luna turned around and looked back at Harry, and then shot Neville a look asking for a little privacy. Neville gave a slight nod and moved a little further away. Even still, he couldn't help but overhear, "I need to do this, I'm the only one who can" and "…Neville that I'm sorry…"

After a few more brief moments, Luna gave Harry a kiss before turning back with tears in her eyes. "Let's go Neville," she directed. And more quietly, as if to herself, "You best come back Harry Potter, we just found each other." With a glance at Luna to make sure that she was okay, Neville resolved to ask Luna about what Harry had said later.

10 minutes later

Neville and Luna had made their way back downstairs, getting ready to head back to their families via Floo. Neville had just thrown some powder into the fireplace when all of the outbound fires on the wall died, and he felt an anti-apparition ward go up. At the same time, he heard a klaxon alarm go off, followed by a voice boosted by a Sonorus. "Everyone remain calm. All security personnel, please make your way to the Janus Thickey ward on the fourth floor. Repeat, all security personnel, please make your way to the Janus Thickey ward on the fourth floor."

At first Neville was stunned by the announcement. Then he realized, Harry was in the secure section of that ward and must be under attack. Neville drew his wand. Luna attempted to stop him from rushing off, but he brushed her arm aside and bolted up the stairs. He would not allow anyone to hurt his friend.

Back on the fourth floor, Neville made his way down toward the secured section of the wing. However, before he got there, he noticed a congregation of security personnel outside a different room. A room he recognized all too well. His parent's room.

The security personnel appeared to be stuck outside the room, unable to enter, and Neville could hear the screams of his parents from within the room. Fighting his way past the guards, he found that he was able to get through the entrance and found something that he was not expecting: His parents were not the only ones screaming, so was Harry.

Standing between his parents, with one hand on each of their heads, was Harry. The level of magic in the room was making it hard to breathe. As Neville still had his wand out, he pointed it at Harry and yelled, "Harry! Whatever you're trying to do, you need to stop! You're hurting them! Harry! STOP!" However, Harry gave no indication that he'd heard.

From the doorway he heard Luna cry out to him, "Don't interrupt Neville!"

But the pain of his parents was too much for him to bear. So he cast a spell at his friend, "Stupefy". He stood waiting for the familiar red beam to shoot forward, but when nothing happened, he looked down and saw that he was holding a rubber chicken. "What?" He asked mostly to himself.

His brain refused to process this turn of events.

And refused.

And refused.

And finally it made sense. The twins had sent Harry a trick wand for Christmas. A wand that Harry had supposedly dropped after running into him. He normally kept his wand in his pocket. Harry must have exchanged the wands after he ran into him. Which meant he was planning to do this all along.

Neville saw red and ran at Harry pitting his yell of rage against Harry's scream of pain. However, just before he reached Harry, a final pulse of magic shot out, slamming into Neville and throwing him back against the wall. As he hit the wall, everything around him went dark.

Boxing Day 1997

Neville moaned and opened his eyes. Blinked. Closed his eyes and opened them again. What he was seeing made no sense and must mean he was dreaming.

"Good morning Neville," his mother said from above him. Next to her stood his father.

"Mum? Dad?"

"Yes, Neville?"

"Are we dead?"

"Do you really think you'd be in as much pain as you are, if you were dead?"

"Probably not."

"There's your answer then." His mother said with a smile as she reached down and pulled him into a hug. His father then joined in around them both. "We're so sorry that we weren't there for you growing up, but you've grown into a remarkable young man."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I need a quick moment of Neville's time, now that he's awake," he heard the voice of Healer Strout interject. "He was hit with an unknown, powerful magical shockwave and I would like to verify that there are no lingering effects. This will take but a moment."

Reluctantly the Longbottom family parted, giving Neville a view of the Healer.

"Now then Neville, what is the last thing you remember?"

"Getting thrown backwards from the magical shockwave as I rushed at Harry to stop him from hurting Mum and Dad." As he answered, the healer cast a diagnostic charm.

"Any lingering effects that you can feel?"

"I have a bit of a headache still," he admitted.

"Well, if that's the only thing you're feeling, then I think that we can count you lucky. You certainly came out of the experience in better condition than Harry."

"Why, what's his condition?"

The healer sighed. "His state is similar to when he was first brought in a year and a half ago. But enough of that. Here is a headache tonic. Drink it down and I'll let you get back to your family." Neville gratefully drank the potion, scowling at the foul taste that all healing potions seemed to contain.

As his head cleared, he stopped the Healer from leaving, "Wait a moment Healer Strout. I have a couple more questions. First, how's Luna? She was practically right behind me when I was hit with the shockwave. Second, could you contact the Abbotts and let them know that I won't be able to make it today and the reason why? I'll contact them as soon as things settle down."

The healer looked at him a moment before responding. "Miss Lovegood, and in fact everyone that was standing outside the door, is physically fine. I'll send a message down to reception to ask them to send an owl to the Abbotts on your behalf." With that the healer left the room.

Neville looked back and forth between his parents and didn't know what to say. Instead he just started crying, as did they, and they all once again gathered into a group hug. After sitting and crying together as family for a few minutes, he finally noticed that someone was missing, "Where's Gran?"

"She'll be along shortly," his father answered. "She needed to go into the Ministry to inform them of her leave of absence and that we've woken up."

Within the hour his Gran had arrived, looking happier than he'd ever seen her. He then spent the rest of the day, and the rest of his Christmas break, getting to know his parents.

January 1998

The news of his parents awakening had hit the Daily Prophet a few days after Christmas. They had not yet been seen in public, but it was well known that Neville was still in Hogwarts and would be returning on the Express. Needless to say, Platform 9 3/4 was a madhouse of people. Everyone was waiting, hoping for a glimpse of the returned heroes.

The noise was the first thing that hit Neville as he walked through the barrier. The second thing to hit him, before his eyes could even truly register it, was the press of bodies on the platform. As people caught sight of him, the crowd quieted down. And then in walked his parents: Frank and Alice Longbottom, heroes of the first war with Voldemort. After a brief moment for their appearance to register, the crowd burst into applause.

Neville felt his face flush as his family became the center of attention. Looking back at his parents, he could see that they were fairing little better. And it was at that moment that Rufus Scrimgeour, the current Minister of Magic, stepped forward to shake their hands for a photo op.

After getting their photo taken, Minister Scrimgeour called up some Aurors to provide an escort for the Longbottoms, to ensure they could safely see Neville off to Hogwarts. For this he was grateful, as he was not looking forward to pushing his way through the throng of people. With the Aurors spearheading the way, they were able to get up to the Express, and he was able to give his parents a quick hug goodbye, before boarding the train.

He found an empty compartment near the back, pulled the blinds on the exterior window closed, and attempted to breathe and relax.

Ten minutes later, the compartment door opened and Hannah stepped in. She took a quick glance around the compartment and saw they were alone. She then launched herself at Neville, wrapping him in a hug, her belongings forgotten by the door. Not long afterwards, Susan Bones joined them in the compartment and was kind enough to put away Hannah's belongings. As Susan was Hannah's best friend, Neville had become quite close to her, as well. They'd ridden together at the start of Christmas break, and now Neville could only hope that the rest of the student body would leave them alone for the trip back.

Sadly, this was not to be. Shortly after the train started moving, Neville had to deal with an almost continuous stream of well-wishers and the occasional prat (Malfoy) stopping past the compartment. Thankfully, Hannah and Susan took on the role of bodyguard for him, ensuring people said what they wanted to say and left as quickly as possible.

About an hour out from Hogwarts, the stream had died down to a trickle when the compartment door opened and Neville saw Luna. He'd not seen her since Christmas and it appeared that she'd gotten very little sleep since then. Her normally cheerful persona was gone, leaving a lost, tired, and depressed young woman in her place. Closing the door behind her, she took one look at him and promptly collapsed to the floor, breaking down in tears.

Neville was at a loss; he had no idea what to do. Thankfully, he had a girlfriend that did. "Longbottom, get over there and give the poor girl a hug." She directed, flicking his ear. Grateful for the assistance, he did exactly as told. He sat down on the floor next to Luna and pulled her into a tight embrace. He then sat there, holding her as she cried herself out.

A couple of prefects once poked their heads in, presumably hearing the crying, but twin glares from Susan and Hannah sent them off to continue their patrols.

After 20 minutes, Luna started to calm down. A few minutes later, she finally said something. "Sorry for stealing your boyfriend, Hannah," Luna attempted to joke, but her heart wasn't in it.

Hannah waved a hand, "Don't worry about it. He'll just owe me some time later."

"Wait, why do I owe you?" Neville asked. From the looks he got, he realized that he'd just stuck his foot and part of his leg into his mouth. He quickly backpedaled, "I mean, when would you like me to make it up to you, dear?"

Hannah's glare at him lightened as she pulled out a notebook, "Well, it appears my schedule is open tomorrow. I'll expect you in the library at 5." The chuckles from Hannah and Susan let him know that he was okay, at least for now. He helped Luna to her feet and moved himself into the bench beside Hannah, as Luna gingerly took a seat next to Susan.

"So Luna, are you okay?" Hannah queried.

Luna let out a long sigh. "No. Not really." She looked to Neville, "I'm not sure how you were able to deal with it for 16 years. It's only been a week, and I'm already falling apart."

The two other girls were obviously confused, but Neville understood. "It got easier with time. When I was younger I was angry with the healers, my Gran, even my parents for their condition. It took me years to get used to the fact that I would never know my parents, even though I could see and touch them. For you it's probably even worse. You talked to him before and remember what he's like. I didn't remember my parents in any state other than the one they were in.

"However, he managed to heal once, I know that he'll do it again. And this time he'll have the both of us and my parents there to help him along."

Hannah was looking concerned at Luna, "Did something happen to your father?"

Luna sent Neville a questioning glance, "You didn't tell her?"

He gently shook his head, "My family decided to keep it a secret."

Luna considered this briefly, looking back and forth between the two other girls in the compartment. "Would you like to tell them?"

"If you're okay with it. I trust these two."

With one last glance at the two girls, Luna nodded and went through her process of ensuring that the compartment was secure. When she was finished, Luna gave another nod to Neville.

"We're referring to Harry. He'd started healing, and was getting back to his old self. But, then he healed my parents, and in doing so, he has reverted to the state he was in at the time of his trial." The two other girls looked shocked at this revelation. "We don't have much time before Hogsmeade, so I'll be brief. This all started when I was approached by Healer Strout…"

Ten minutes later, Neville had successfully relayed the pertinent information to the two girls. "So, Luna and Harry had gotten quite close, and now that he is back to his catatonic state, she is understandably upset." Hannah clarified.

Luna gave her a small nod. "Oh, Neville, Harry actually gave me a letter to give to you. He said it was related to your Christmas present."

He opened the letter and couldn't help himself, "At least he managed to find some real ink." His comment confused the two girls, but drew a small chuckle from Luna, for which Neville was glad.

Happy Christmas Neville!

Now that you are reading this I hope that you have been reunited with your parents. I didn't have a lot that I could get you for Christmas, but then I knew what would be perfect. I can only hope that the process I devised worked. Most likely I had to steal your wand to break out of the ward. If I did, I'm sorry for the trouble this caused.

You may be wondering what possessed me to even attempt what I did. Well, part of it was altruistic. You were the only person other than the standard hospital staff that visited me. While I may not have been able to respond to you, and I may not have understood exactly what you were saying, I was certainly aware that you were there. The comfort that you provided to me meant more to me than anything I can ever do to repay you. However, I must admit I also had other motives. First, I needed to prove to myself that it could be done. When I get better, please let me know how it went. Second, without this I would likely have been transferred to Azkaban in a few months, and if I never see a Dementor again, it will be too soon.

Sadly, I now need to ask you some additional favors. First of all, please keep an eye on Luna. I suspect that this might hit her hard and if so she will need a good friend to help her through it. Second, I would ask that you continue to visit when you are able. Having friends come to visit may not seem like much, but truly, it is something for which I can never repay you.

Finally, I have a message that I would like for you to give Luna (I trust that she didn't read this message before handing it to you). Please tell her "There were no Nargles in the mistletoe at Christmas, I double-checked. I will be waiting for you and while I pray that you will wait for me I will understand if you don't."

Thanks for being the best friend that a guy could ask for.

Harry

Neville had tears in his eyes after reading the letter. As he didn't think he could talk right now, he passed the letter to Luna, so she could read it for herself. A minute later, she was crying again and was being comforted by Susan, while Hannah was comforting him.

July 1998

It had been a long six months, but Neville had finally finished his NEWTs. While he didn't yet have his results, he was confident that he'd done well.

With the gift Harry had given him for Christmas, Neville had pushed himself harder than ever before. He made sure to have the mornings of Hogsmeade weekends available to go visit Harry with Luna and his parents. After going on the first weekend without her, Neville invited Hannah along, as well.

All told, more people were visiting Harry than ever before, even though his progress was still slow.

The healers were unsure if the slower progress was due to cumulative damage from the Cruciatus Curse, the process used to cure Neville's parents, or something else entirely. However, one thing was certain, Harry needed more time to mend.

Neville was still immeasurably grateful to Harry for giving him his parents back. The monthly visits to see Harry were also a great chance to see his parents and spend more quality time with them. Now that he was done with school, his family was planning a summer trip, something he'd never done with his Gran and never had the opportunity to do with his parents.

But first, there was an important trip that Neville needed to make to visit Harry. He invited his father along, but asked his mother, Luna, and Hannah if they'd mind if he and his father visited Harry alone. He called it some "quality male bonding time". They'd laughed and teased him a bit, but had agreed to have a girl's day out to give them time together.

Neville and his father once again checked their wands outside the wards. This was a new precaution, added after Harry had managed to steal Neville's wand last Christmas. In hindsight, it was obvious that they shouldn't have been bringing wands into a secure location, but in this case it had worked out in Neville's favor.

As he and his father arranged their chairs around Harry's bed, Neville jumped straight in, "Dad, Harry. I'm in love with Hannah. I think I want to marry her. I wanted you both to know, and get your input before I did anything."

His dad gave him a long look, "Son, if she makes you happy, you should go for it. Don't let anything stand in your way."

Feeling a hand on his, he looked down at Harry. Harry wasn't look at him, instead looking up at the ceiling without seeming to see anything in particular, but Harry had given his hand a slight squeeze.

"Thank you both. Your support means the world to me. Harry, if everything works out with Hannah, we'll look into having a wedding next summer, after your release. I can't think of anyone else that would be suited to being my best man."

His father spoke up, "Now, Neville, you need to decide: how are you going to ask her father for permission?"

Neville audibly gulped, much to his father's amusement.

September 1998

"Harry, I don't have a lot of time. I just wanted to let you know that she said yes! Hannah said yes, and we're getting married! I'll stop through again to fill you in on the details later!"

Neville caught a flicker of a smile from Harry before he left to make his way to Longbottom Manor, to inform his parents and Gran.

Christmas 1998

As Neville reflected on the last year, he knew that he owed a substantial amount of his happiness to Harry, someone who only recently started speaking individual words in response to questions asked of him. This had started back up again around October, much to Luna's delight. She could once again communicate, at least a bit, with Harry.

They'd worked out a schedule to ensure that Harry received at least one visitor every week. This was broken up between Neville's parents, Neville and Hannah, and Luna. Neville would visit, with Hannah when she was available, every other week and in the afternoons of any Hogsmeade weekend. Luna would visit Harry by herself in the morning on Hogsmeade weekends, and with Neville when he showed up in the afternoon. Finally, Neville's parents would visit on any other weekend. They knew what it was like to be trapped in a bed, unable to communicate, and they sympathized greatly with the young man that had both saved them from that torment and was now going through it himself.

The date for Neville's wedding to Hannah was sent in middle of July, when Harry should be let out of confinement. Sadly, the ministry hadn't found Harry eligible for parole, citing his breakout of the secure wing, even if it was to heal Neville's parents.

Perhaps the strangest occurrence over the last year was the complete lack of any Death Eater activity. They appeared to have dropped off the map completely. While his parents had not rejoined the Aurors—at least not yet, anyway—they still received some details from previous co-workers on the state of the world. The question now was, what had happened to Voldemort? He was clearly seen at the Ministry of Magic in June of 1996, and in Harry's memory in July. But after that, it was like he had disappeared. Last time this had happened, in October 1981, Dumbledore had managed to get some idea of what had happened to him, but this time, absolutely nothing. Still, no news was good news, right?

This year for Christmas Neville only had a single gift to bring to Harry besides his own—one from the twins. Judging based on the wrapping, it once again appeared that the twins had given him a trick wand. If so, the talking to he'd given them last year had clearly failed to sink in and he would have to go to their store to give them a good cuff upside the head.

Luna was already in Harry's room when Neville, his parents, and Hannah all arrived together. She was sitting on the bed with Harry, his arm around her shoulder, and both of them staring at the wall with a dreamy-eyed look on their faces. Breaking the silence, the Longbottoms all belted out, "Happy Christmas!"

In an eerie display, Harry and Luna turned their heads as one, tilted their heads slightly, smiled and replied in a much more subdued manner, "Happy C-C-Christmas." Luna stumbling on the second word, just like Harry. The new entrants to the room stood there staring at them nonplussed. After a few more awkward moments, Luna burst out laughing, while Harry's smile grew wider, his eyes showed he too was laughing. This then cracked up the Longbottoms and Hannah, which set off a round of laughter throughout the room.

As gifts were exchanged, Neville noticed that Harry and Luna had teamed up to give out gifts together. While not overly surprising, since Harry was not able to go out to get anything on his own, he was happy for his two friends as things seemed to be continuing to go well between them.

The gift from the twins had indeed been a trick wand again this year; and like last year, Harry had it tucked behind his ear, copying the way Luna typically tucked her wand behind her ear. Luna then pulled out her own trick wand (her real one was checked with security) and tucked it behind her ear so they would match. Surprising everyone, Harry leaned forward and kissed Luna before pulling back. The two of them both now sporting Luna's trademark dreamy expression on their faces.

June 30, 1999

The nervous energy in Harry's room was practically palpable. In less than a week Harry would be free. In roughly three, Neville would be married. He was understandably nervous, but he was not really sure why Harry was nervous. So he asked.

"I'm nervous for two reasons Neville. First, I have never had to give a best man speech before. You know how I am with groups of people. It took a few sessions with the DA before I was comfortable getting up there and speaking in front of everyone. Second, I don't know how people are going to respond to me being out of here. I mean, I'm still expecting to receive a summons to appear before the Wizengamot to answer questions about Hermione. I think that they're still convinced that I'm responsible for her death."

"But you're not."

"I know that, you know that. Hell, they probably all know that. But if they're anything like Fudge, they probably feel like they need to be seen 'doing something', even after all this time, which will result in my receiving a summons."

"Speaking of summons…" Neville heard a woman's voice from the door. He turned to look and saw Amelia Bones. "We don't actually need you to appear before the court. It will actually work just as well for me to perform the questioning here. Does now work for you?"

Harry frowned at her, "Do I have a choice?"

"Not really."

"Then now is great. Do you mind if Neville sticks around? I'd like to have a friendly face here."

"Mr. Longbottom may stay in the room. However, I'll need to ask him to stand away from you, in plain sight of me, and out of sight from you to ensure that he does not attempt to influence your answers. I have also brought along Healer Strout, who has reported that you are in sound enough mind to be questioned under Veritaserum. She will also be the one providing the serum to you. As you're currently incarcerated, you may not refuse. Do you understand these restrictions and requirements?"

"Ye—Wait a minute. If those already incarcerated can be questioned under Veritaserum, why wasn't this used after the first war with Voldemort in order to ensure that all of his Death Eaters were captured?"

"This is a new law that was enacted by Minister Scrimgeour shortly after your trial. We've also made use of this policy in order to go after Death Eaters. Rest assured, the DMLE is not allowed carte blanche in their questioning. We may only ask questions which pertain to cases for which we have evidence to suggest your involvement. We may also ask the direct question 'Are you a Death Eater?' and if you answer in the affirmative, we may follow that up to determine what acts you may have committed as a Death Eater that were unlawful. Now, with that explanation, do you understand these restrictions and requirements?"

"Yes, I understand."

"Healer Strout, would you please administer the Veritaserum to Mr. Potter?"

The Healer approached Harry and whispered to him, "I'm sorry Harry. Court orders are that I have to provide updates on your progress."

"I know. Don't worry about it."

In a more officious voice, she recited, "Mr. Potter, if you would please open your mouth and stick out your tongue, we will be giving you three drops. After all three have been applied to your tongue, please swallow at least once." After this explanation, she expertly applied three drops of the serum and Harry swallowed. Neville noticed the dreamy look on Harry's face that he often got, especially when around Luna.

Madam Bones began the questioning, "What is your name?"

"Harry James Potter."

"When is your birthday?"

"July 31, 1980."

"Are you a Death Eater?"

"No."

With this, Madam Bones started referencing her notes. "We are going to start with going over the details from the memory you provided. In the early morning of July 1, 1996 did you apparate to the residence of Hermione Granger?"

"I do not know."

"How do you not know?"

"I have never been taught to apparate, so I am not sure if what I did was apparition."

"Apparition is a point-to-point instantaneous movement used by witches and wizards. It typically results in a loud-sounding crack and, while in transfer, it feels a bit like you are being squeezed through a tube. Based on this description, would you say that you apparated?"

"Yes."

"And how many times previously had you been to Ms. Granger's house?"

"I had never been to her house before."

Madam Bones was nonplussed. After a moment's consideration, she continued her questioning. "If you had never been there before, how did you know where to apparate to? You need to have visited the destination before in order to apparate there."

"I had seen the location in a dream."

"You knew how to apparate there based on a dream you had?"

"Yes."

"Well, that's a new one…" she muttered quietly. "Continuing on. How did you know that Hermione was in danger?"

"Because I had seen it in the dream."

"The same one that showed you where to apparate?"

"Yes."

"Had you had dreams like this before?"

"Yes."

"Have you had any since the incident with Ms. Granger?"

"No."

"When you arrived at Ms. Granger's residence, what did you see?"

"Four Death Eaters and Voldemort. Voldemort was torturing Hermione after killing her mother. Upon entering the room I saw her father was already dead, presumably killed earlier."

"How did you respond?"

"I cast a Reductor curse at each of the two nearest Death Eaters."

"Why didn't you use a Stunning spell?"

"They were torturing my best friend, and the first spell I thought of was the Reductor, so I used it."

"You then dueled Voldemort, correct?"

"Yes."

"What was the effect that occurred between you and Voldemort?"

"I was told it is called Priori Incantatem after the last time that it happened."

"When was this?"

"Immediately following the third task during the Triwizard Tournament."

"So, you had previously fought against Voldemort and walked away?"

"Yes."

"Why wasn't I ever told of this?" she muttered to herself. Harry answered anyway.

"Fudge dismissed the comments immediately. I never knew I should contact you. I do not know why Dumbledore never did."

Madam Bones cursed quietly to herself. After getting back in control of her emotions, she continued on. "How long were you under the Cruciatus Curse from Voldemort?"

"I do not know."

"Were you hit by the Killing Curse?"

"Yes."

"How did you live through it?"

"I did not."

"What?"

"I did not."

Thoroughly confused, she asked the question on Neville's mind, "If you didn't live through it, how are you here now?"

"I came back."

"From where?"

"Seeing my parents."

Neville let out a small gasp. Madam Bones also appeared to be in a bit of shock from the statement. "Can you explain what happened when you were with your parents?"

"We talked briefly. They said I had the choice of moving on with them or coming back here. I wanted to save Hermione and stop Voldemort, so I came back."

"Do you remember getting hit with the Confundus Charm?"

"Yes."

"Now, the memory you provided was not admissible in court as the Confundus is used, in part, to keep memories from being recalled correctly. However, Veritaserum has been shown to occasionally have the ability to help someone recall these events without error. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. Until I tell you otherwise, please limit your answers to events occurring after the Confundus Charm hit you. Did you cast the Cruciatus curse at Hermione Granger?"

"No."

"Did you cast the Cruciatus Curse that evening?"

"No."

"Who did?"

"Harry Potter."

Neville was sure his face mirrored the confusion he currently saw on Madam Bones. "Are you Harry Potter?"

"Yes."

"So, that would mean that you cast the curse that evening."

"No. I did not."

"But Harry Potter did?"

"Yes."

Madam Bones was pinching the bridge of her nose by this point. "Alright. Let's move on. Did you cast the Killing Curse on Hermione Granger?"

"No."

"Did you cast the Killing Curse that evening?"

"No."

"Who did?"

"Harry Potter."

"And are you Harry Potter?"

"Yes."

"So you cast the curse."

"No. I did not."

Madam Bones was clearly not having a good day. At this point she was rubbing her temples as if she was starting to get a migraine. "Did Harry Potter cast the Killing Curse at Hermione Granger?"

"No."

"Whom did he cast it at?"

"Voldemort."

"Was the person we found at the scene killed by the Killing Curse?"

"Yes."

"And who was that person?"

"Voldemort."

"I have here a picture of someone, can you tell me who it is?"

Neville saw the picture, one of Hermione from her fifth year at Hogwarts. Harry identified it as such.

"Here is another picture, can you tell me who it is?"

This was a picture of the crime scene, where Hermione lay dead on the floor. Harry responded, "It looks like Hermione Granger."

"Correct. This is Hermione Granger dead on the floor due to the Killing Curse."

"No."

"Was the person we found killed by the Killing Curse?"

"Yes."

"And was that Killing Curse performed by Harry Potter?"

"Yes."

"Who was that person hit by that Killing Curse?"

"Voldemort."

"If that was Voldemort, where is Hermione Granger?"

"I do not know."

"Do you have any guesses?"

"Yes."

"Where would you guess she is?"

"Not here."

"Yes, I can see she is not here. Can you be more specific?"

"No."

Continuing to rub her temples, Madam Bones took a minute more to think. "It would appear that the Confundus Charm that you were hit with has managed to corrupt your memories to the point where we will not be able to get any useful information from you. Healer Strout, please administer the counter agent."

The Healer walked up to Harry, directed him to open his mouth, and applied the counter agent to his tongue. Shortly thereafter, the dreamy look left Harry's face.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Potter. I'll provide the testimony you just gave us to the Wizengamot along with my personal statement. You may want to contact your attorney again, as it's possible that the court will decide to bring you up on charges for the murder of Ms. Granger."

With that, Madam Bones and Healer Strout left the room. Luna entered shortly after. "Was that what I think it was?"

"If you think that was an interrogation under Veritaserum to see if I killed Hermione, then yes." Harry looked decidedly unhappy.

"And from your tone and face, I take it that it didn't go well."

"That would be an understatement."

"So, are you ready?"

"As ready as I'm going to be."

"And are you going to have to heal her, too?"

"Honestly, she didn't look good Luna. You saw her in the pensieve memory at the trial. I don't want to miss the wedding, but I also don't want to be in Azkaban for something I didn't do. I think I'll have to heal her so she can help stop me from going to prison."

Neville interrupted their conversation, "Just what are you two talking about?"

Luna looked at Harry, "Should we tell him?"

Harry stared at Neville, "Probably."

"I'll tell him tonight at my house so I can ward the room first."

"Alright. You'll see me tomorrow, I hope I'll see you, too."

Luna walked up to him and gave him a kiss. She then jumped into the bed with him, where they both silently stared at the wall where Harry had been writing over the last two years.

Evening June 30, 1999

Neville patiently waited as Luna cast her suite of spells to secure a room. When she finished, he asked, "So what's going on with Harry?"

"You remember that Arithmancy that Harry was working on?"

"Yes, you said you couldn't talk about it without his permission."

"Well, that's what we were talking about earlier. What Harry has been working on is a way to save Hermione. As I'm sure you're aware, the magically significant numbers in Arithmancy are 3, 7, and 13. What Harry has done is create a spell that lets him go back to an event that many years in the past, where the length of time spent in the past is inverse to the number of years…"

Early Morning July 1, 1999

Harry anxiously watched the clock in the room while holding onto three trick wands, two Christmas gifts from the twins and one gotten from Luna before she left last Christmas. The twins were geniuses; the trick wands focused magic exactly like a real wand, which is why it was so difficult to tell you were holding one. The real benefit of these trick wands for Harry is that, if the spell is overpowered enough, it can still be forced through the trick wand.

Harry started by casting a Disillusionment Charm on himself, feeling the cold, slimy feeling run down him. He looked at the trick wand to see that it had turned into a plastic egg, like muggles use for Easter. Harry threw this into the rubbish bin as he waited another minute for his window of opportunity.

As the clock struck 1:14, Harry pulled out the second trick wand and cast "Tempus Tri-Transulto," spun on his heel, and shifted with a soft *crack*.

July 1, 1996

Harry arrived with a soft *crack* immediately behind Voldemort at the same time that Voldemort was casting the Cruciatus Curse at Harry to break the Priori Incantatem.

It was difficult, but also very strange, to watch himself get tortured. He knew that he needed to wait until the Killing Curse had been cast at the younger Harry before he made his move. While he waited, he slowly and carefully pulled out his last trick wand, while holding on to the teddy bear the second wand had turned into.

The Cruciatus Curse kept going and going and going. It would make a battery company proud. Harry was beginning to understand why it had taken him so long to heal from the curse, when Voldemort finally let up 8 minutes later.

Harry needed to remain perfectly still in order to not give away his disillusionment. He watched as Voldemort walked up and taunted him before finally casting the Killing Curse. At the sound of the 'K' in 'Kedavra', Harry heard two simultaneous soft *cracks*. After the green beam hit the Harry on the floor, Voldemort start laughing maniacally, "I did it! Finally, that stupid prophecy is over! No longer is there anyone that has the power to kill me!"

Harry was too busy watching himself on the ground to actively listen to Voldemort. He saw his younger self's eyes open and head loll to the side. He then heard another Harry cast Confundus in a whisper. Instantly Voldemort was on guard. "Who's there?"

Harry's Disillusionment ended as he addressed Voldemort, "Hi Tom. I've been waiting a long time for a rematch. Accio wand." As the younger Harry's wand flew to his hand, Harry threw the teddy bear and new throw pillow onto a nearby couch, freeing his hand to catch the wand. Voldemort stood there in stunned silence. "No taunts this time Tom? I thought better of you."

"How is this possible Potter? I just killed you."

"Lucky for me, I was only mostly dead. I'm told that there is a big difference between mostly dead and all dead." Harry deadpanned, though he knew Voldemort wouldn't understand the reference.

"Prepare yourself! Stupefy!" A red beam made its way towards Voldemort who started laughing as he batted it away with his wand. However, he had missed the two other red beams coming in simultaneously from two other directions. Both hit Voldemort and he collapsed to the floor. "Well, that was anti-climatic. Now to set the scene…"

Harry walked over to Voldemort and took his wand, noticing that the other wand Voldemort held was Hermione's. He pocketed Hermione's so that he could return it to her later. He then turned Voldemort's wand against its former master, casting an Incarcerous and Petrificus Totalus.

Harry walked over to Hermione, who was still staring up at the ceiling, gaping like a fish. "I'm sorry that I wasn't able to get here earlier, Hermione. But know this, I'm here to help you now." He cut off a piece of hair from her head and held out his hand. "Polyjuice Potion, please." Without looking at which version of himself handed it to him (he would be disillusioned or cloaked anyway), Harry felt a vial placed in his hand. He added the hair to the potion and stirred it once. Harry then walked over to Voldemort, forced his mouth open, and poured the potion down his throat. Harry then forced him to swallow the potion and waited for the transformation to take effect.

Harry now needed to dress Voldemort in the clothes that Hermione was currently wearing. A summoning spell to get some new clothes for Hermione and two switching spells later, and the Polyjuiced Voldemort now looked exactly like Hermione did earlier. Harry placed Hermione on the couch and moved Voldemort to where she used to be laying.

Next he took his younger self's wand and cast Crucio on Voldemort, who now looked like Hermione. This had the added 'benefit' of waking Voldemort up. He didn't hold the spell long, just long enough to ensure that Voldemort's body would show exposure to the curse.

Finally, Harry walked over to Voldemort and looked down on him, "It's over, Tom. When you die there will be no more magic in your body to turn it back to normal—not that your look is normal. No one will ever know what happened to you. As far as history is concerned, tonight you disappeared forever. Avada Kedavra."

Harry went back to his younger self and placed the wand in his hand, ensuring the hand gripped it tightly.

With his work completed, Harry picked up the unresponsive Hermione and waited for the Tempus Tri-Transulto to end, returning him and Hermione back to 1999.

A/N: Thanks for reading! This story was my first foray into the world of writing fan faction. It ended up larger than I originally intended, but I feel that it also ended up better due to that. I hope you enjoyed reading it at least as much as I enjoyed writing it.

A shout-out to my friend parallax0hr who was nice enough to beta the story for me.

Edited 2015-02-08: Fixed a couple of very minor plot holes and fixed the 'Madame' and 'Madam' issues.