A Neville SI

A Neville SI Chapter 22

Neville grabbed her hand. "Please, Gran, I just need to see them... Maybe there's something I can do. Please, Gran." He looked determined as he said that.

Augusta hesitated but, seeing Neville's determination, she let our a sigh and asked the nurse, "Can we please have a copy of the reports?"

The nurse, not knowing what to say, replied, "I... I need to ask the healers first." With that, she left to find them.

Later that night, Neville lay on his bed, looking at the ceiling. They had returned to the manor after their visit.

The healers agreed to send them the report files.

As Neville lay there, he thought, "Why do Neville's parents look like my mum and dad? Were they transmigrated here too? Or is this a sign that they can be saved?"

…

Neville and his grandmother appeared on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters with a loud crack of Apparition.

Neville had gotten used to Apparition after the first two times and was now able to remain composed when side-along Apparating.

He looked sleepy, wearing a grey jumper, a red scarf, and brown trousers, with his sling bag hung across his shoulders. His grandmother had charmed his clothes with a warming charm to keep him nice and warm in the cold winter, and Neville appreciated it. His gran was wearing a green coat to stave off the cold, along with her usual vulture hat.

Speaking of the vulture hat, over the two weeks Neville had stayed at Longbottom Manor, his curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he had asked why she wore that hat and if the vulture was real. Much to his surprise, the vulture was indeed real. According to her, it was fashion and symbolised status in the olden days, and she wore it now because she had gotten used to it.

"Come along now, Neville," Augusta called, ushering him out of the Apparition zone.

Neville pulled along his trunk, following his grandmother into the throng of people.

The station was filled with parents and their children waving goodbye as they parted ways after the winter break.

Neville yawned as they walked nearer to the Hogwarts Express.

The steam from the scarlet Hogwarts Express billowed into the crisp morning air, mingling with the excited chatter of young witches and wizards returning to school.

"Have you got everything?" Gran asked him.

Neville, yawning, replied, "Yes, Gran, I've got everything packed."

Augusta chided him, saying, "You shouldn't have stayed up all night reading."

Neville smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm just a little tired, Gran. Nothing much."

She sighed as they came to a spot near the Hogwarts Express. She then hugged him and asked him to be safe and not go finding trouble, saying that she would grow more white hairs if he got into more mischief.

Neville smiled and hugged her back. "I'll keep that in mind, but no promises," he grinned.

She covered her face in exasperation. "What am I going to do with you, Neville?"

Over the holiday, Neville had grown close to his grandmother. She hadn't had the easiest time after her son and daughter-in-law were unable to take care of their son, and she'd had to raise him at such an old age. Neville found her fun to discuss topics with and to learn spells from. Over the past two weeks, she had taught him a few spells.

The Hogwarts train whistled as steam billowed out of the engine. Augusta looked at her wristwatch and said, "Oh, look at the time! The train is about to leave. You should go and find a compartment and meet your friends." She gave Neville another hug and said, "Goodbye, Neville. We'll meet again at the end of the term. And remember to write me a letter every week."

"Will do, Gran. Goodbye, and take care, okay?" said Neville as he waved to her and pulled his trunk along into the train.

Walking down the narrow corridor, Neville found an empty compartment at the end of the train. Entering the compartment, he heaved his trunk into the luggage rack, then sat down.

Neville settled himself beside the window and took out a book from his sling bag.

It was a book on neurology; he needed to know how the brain worked and which part of his parents' brains was affected if he was to cure them.

He had first looked through the Longbottom library for any books on healing and had found a few—a potions book about healing potions explaining the ins and outs of brewing healing potions, what ingredients do what, and why a specific ingredient is used. He had found the book a must-read and had brought it along to Hogwarts after asking permission from Augusta, of course. But there weren't any books on brains and the effects of magic on specific parts of the brain. He had asked Augusta about any books she might know of, but she didn't know of any. Of course, she had done her own research over the years to find a cure for her son and daughter-in-law. Neville had asked her if there were any mind healers or books pertaining to that. He vaguely remembered reading something about mind healers in some Harry Potter fanfiction. Well, it turns out there was no such thing—only healers; they don't have specialists in areas like in the Muggle world.

Hearing that, Neville was disappointed but understood. The magical world, from what he remembered from his previous life and living in it now, was stagnant and lacked innovation. The magical world as a whole stayed stagnant compared to the Muggle world because of magic itself. The people of the magical world relied on magic too much, in Neville's opinion, which had led to them being stagnant in all fields. The Floo Network was invented in the 13th century, and everyone was just content with it and didn't try to innovate after that. The wizarding world seemed to run on the notion, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

He had to custom order this book from a bookstore in the Muggle world, and to do that he had to convince his gran to bring him to a Muggle bookshop. He had told her that Hermione had mentioned her parents were dentists—they are healers specialising in teeth—and if there are specialists for teeth, then there must be specialists for brains as well. Augusta had asked him if he was suggesting taking his parents to see a Muggle healer. Neville had told her that he doubted they could cure them, but they might know more about the brain and how it functions. Seeing how insistent Neville was being, Augusta had acquiesced, and they visited a bookshop and browsed through it. Neville really wished the modern internet was a thing in 1991. They had gone to a few bookshops until one accepted a custom order for the book since they didn't sell these kinds of books. It took them a week and a half, but the book arrived late yesterday evening, and he had stayed up the whole night reading it, which would explain why he was tired now.

Neville was so absorbed in the book's content that he missed the train leaving the station. A few minutes into the ride, he heard a knock on the door to his compartment.

Neville yawned and looked up from the book, seeing it sliding open to reveal Hermione with her bushy hair. She wore a red jumper and a purple scarf around her neck. She exclaimed, "There you are! I've been looking all over the train for you, Neville. The others are in a compartment further down."

Neville gave her a weak smile and said, "Good morning to you too, Hermione. How was your holiday?" shutting his book.

Hermione sat across from him and said, "It was fine—spent Christmas visiting family. What about you? You look like you haven't slept in days. And what's that book you've got there?" She asked and peered over to get a look at the book.

Neville, seeing this, looked down and said, "Oh, this? Just a book I found," showing it to her.

Hermione took the book and exclaimed, "An Introduction to Neurology! You're studying neurology? Isn't this a Muggle book? This is quite advanced. Where did you get it?" She started reading.

Neville internally cursed himself. He didn't want to let Hermione know about his parents, and he especially didn't want to let her know that he knew about the Muggle world—that would blow his cover of him losing his memories.

Neville said, "It was Gran's. Found it interesting and wanted to read it."

Hermione nodded and asked if he could lend it to her.

Neville shrugged and said, "Yeah, sure, after I'm done with it," taking the book back.

Hermione, after giving him the book, asked, "You haven't answered me yet. How was your Christmas break?"

Neville yawned and said, "You know, the usual—working out, spending time with Gran. Learned a few new spells from her," he said, putting the book into his sling bag.

Hermione waited a moment before asking, "Wait, you practised magic outside of Hogwarts? You know it's against the rules—you could get expelled!"

Neville yawned again and said, "Oh, that. According to Gran, the Trace doesn't work in magical households."

Hermione looked askance and said, "But... but that's just not fair! That means kids from wizarding families have a huge advantage if they can learn at home." She crossed her arms and glared at Neville.

Neville yawned again and said, "And according to Gran, the Trace can't really identify who used magic. It's more of a location-based spell. It's mapped to the general area where the kid lives. If any magic is detected there, it'll automatically pin the kid as the one who used it."

They chatted along the way, and were soon joined by Seamus, Dean, Parvati, and Lavender. They all chatted as they continued their journey.

Soon, night fell as they arrived at Hogsmeade Station.

They left their luggage and got off the train, walking along with the other years to the Thestral carriages.

They rode the carriages down to the castle.

They walked into the Great Hall among the students as it erupted into chatter while it filled up.

Neville and the rest of the first-year Gryffindors walked over to Harry and Ron and sat near them.

Neville greeted them, "All right, lads?"

Hermione also said, "Good to see you both. How was your Christmas at the castle?"

Harry said, "Oh, hello, you two. It was brilliant." Harry looked like he wanted to say something but decided to save it for later.

Ron, looking at Neville, said, "Blimey, mate, you look like you haven't slept in days."

Neville yawned and took a seat next to Harry. "Yeah, I haven't slept since the day before."

Soon after, Dumbledore stood up and welcomed everyone back after the winter break, and then the food appeared.

After dinner, the Gryffindors went up to the common room.

Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione decided to stay in the common room. They moved to the corner—their usual spot near the window.

They sat down, and Hermione asked, leaning in, "So, what did you find?"

Harry leaned in and said that he had received an Invisibility Cloak on Christmas.

Hermione asked, "Who sent it to you? Aren't those like super expensive?"

Ron nodded and said, "Yeah, they're dead expensive. They can go for more than 10,000 Galleons."

Harry said, "I don't know who sent it, but apparently my dad lent it to them, and they were returning it."

Neville yawned; he was already dozing off and was only half-following the story. He asked, "They returned it?"

Harry nodded and said, "As Hermione suggested, I used the Invisibility Cloak to sneak out and tried looking in the Restricted Section. The book I opened started screaming bloody murder."

Hermione gasped and said, "Oh, Harry, what if you were caught? You could have got into trouble!"

Harry nodded and continued, "Yeah, I almost got caught by Filch and ran into Snape threatening Quirrell about something."

Hermione asked again, "Professor Snape was threatening Professor Quirrell?"

Harry nodded and said, "Well, while I was running away from them, I found this mirror in an abandoned classroom." He paused and said, "I saw my parents in it. I even showed it to Ron."

Ron nodded and said, "Well, I didn't see Harry's parents, but I saw me winning the Quidditch Cup and being Head Boy."

Harry said, "According to Dumbledore, the mirror shows the heart's deepest desire."

Neville, dozing off, said, "Yeah, doesn't sound dodgy at all."

The three of them looked at him, and a while later Hermione asked, "So you haven't found anything on Nicolas Flamel?"

Ron and Harry shook their heads and said, "No, we didn't want to risk getting caught in the Restricted Section again."

Hermione turned to the dozing Neville and shook him. "What about you, Neville? Did you ask your gran?"

Neville looked at her and said, "Huh? Yeah, Nicolas Flamel, yeah. He's an alchemist from France. Dumbledore was his student or something. He's known for creating the Philosopher's Stone," saying that he started dozing off again.

Hermione exclaimed, "That's where I've heard his name before! I had you guys looking in the wrong section. He was the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone," waking Neville up.

Harry asked, "Wait, what's a Philosopher's Stone?"

Neville, wanting to cut the conversation short, said, "The stone can turn any metal into gold."

Hermione quickly added, "And it can also produce the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal."

Ron asked, "Immortal?"

Hermione said, "It means you never die."

Ron sounded offended. "I know what it means!"

Hermione shot him a look and said, "That's what Fluffy's guarding on the third floor—that's what's under the trapdoor: the Philosopher's Stone."

Neville said, "I doubt that," yawning. He stood up. "I doubt Nicolas Flamel would give something so valuable to Dumbledore of all people." Standing up, Neville said, "Well, I'm knackered. I'm off to bed. See you lot tomorrow." He slung his bag over his shoulder and paused before digging into his bag and taking out a small album.

Neville handed it over to Harry and said, "Here you go, Harry. I almost forgot—this is for you."

Harry took it and asked, "What's this?" as he opened it.

Neville shrugged and said, "It's pictures of your mum. Apparently, my mum and yours were best friends, and my mum was even your godmother and yours mine. Anyway, I copied some of her pictures for you."

Harry was stunned, looking at the moving pictures of his mother in the album—from when she was their age to when they were adults.

Neville yawned and said, "Well, good night." He was too tired and just wanted to sleep.

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