Disclaimer : The characters and idea belong to JK Rowling, so not me. This is my take on what I believe Neville's life had been like.
A HUGE thanks to my beta, Nicole, who helped me get my ideas straight and my sentence structure more englishy! No, no it can’t be true!’ Alice Longbottom told her husband, pleading for it to be a joke . Lily and James Potter couldn’t be dead, not them, not now. Not now that they were a happy family. Alice held her young son Neville close to her heart before she dared to ask about little Harry’s fate. ‘And Harry, you, you didn’t say if.. if…’ she couldn’t say those words about the little one, it was too painful for her mother’s heart.
‘He’s all right. You Know Who tried to finish him off too but he couldn’t and, well, it as if his power broke and he disappeared but Harry is fine. Dumbledore took him but he won’t say where, to protect him, in case He comes back.’
‘So, Harry’s ok, good, good,’ Alice whispered, thinking about the little boy who was Neville’s favourite playmate. The two boys always had so much fun together. Alice remembered the day after she had had Neville, how having seen the two little boys sleeping next to each other in the nursery, she had already known they would be good friends, just like their parents were.
‘But at least He’s gone Alice. Once the grief is over, we will have a good life. Neville will grow up in a world in peace. He will not have to live in fear and that’s what we were fighting for, that’s what Lily and James wanted for Harry too,’ Frank said, trying to console his wife and not be overwhelmed by his grief; he had to be strong; one of them had to be.
‘But they won’t get to see it,’ she said weakly, sitting in a nearby chair, still holding her son in a tight hug as if to say she would never leave him. The boy looked up at his mother and frowned, seeing her eyes full of tears, and not with their usual warm light. She smiled at him and kissed his forehead to reassure him.
A week after the horrible news, the reality begun to sink in and although Alice and Frank Longbottom, like many others, were trying to cope with the loss of their dear friends, the world was ready to admit and accept that Voldemort was gone and that they were now in a safer place. Some people happily celebrated Harry Potter’s victory over Voldemort, partying and getting out of their forced seclusion. The Aurors on the other hand, were working more than before, catching the Death Eaters that were now being denounces by their victims, coming out of the imperius curse. Everyday was a new beginning. Reconstructing the ministry that had been infiltrated; building new relations with the different creatures that had been under Voldemort’s grip, such as the giants and the Dementors; the many, many trials that would take place everyday to judge the misbehaving wizards who had helped Voldemort in his quest to conquer the magical world by force; and the giving a proper goodbye to the people who gave their lives to make this world at peace.
Alice and Frank were both Aurors and leading figures of the Order of the Phoenix. They tried to work on different shift in order to be with their small child, but when they couldn’t, Madam Longbottom, Frank’s mom, would take care of the boy. Neville was adored by his parents and their many relatives. He represented the future; the generation that would get to live in the new wizarding world; a safe place where they would not know fear and menace. At 17 months, Neville was oblivious to what was happening around him and the hopes his family were putting onto him; he was simply happy to be loved and cared for. His parents proudly admired his daily progress as he walked more steadily and added words (and sometimes, not such nice words) to his vocabulary. He was growing up to be a beautiful little boy, with his mother’s laughing and warm eyes and his father’s smile. He was extrovert and secure, finding it easy to approach and charm others with his smiling face, making it impossible to not be adored. A month after Voldemort’s disappearance, the tension was finally starting to diminish and the Longbottom family were happily settling in their new peaceful life, just like any other family.
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