"We didn't realise we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun." -Winnie the Pooh.
-----------------> "I'M GOING TO NEED chicken blood, candles, marbles and a bottle of fire whiskey," Rose announced.
Neville shook his head. "I'm not supplying you with any of them, so think of another way. But fire-whiskey? Really? You need fire-whiskey for causing a distraction?"
Rose looked at him weirdly. "No. The fire whiskey is just to make myself feel better about kidnapping two people from a hospital." She told him. "God," she sighed. "I'm pretty sure this goes against the doctor or healer's oath."
Neville snorted beside her. "No, I think it's wonderful."
Rose glared at him. "Is that a note of sarcasm I detect in that statement?"
"A note? More like a symphony." Neville retorted. "I can't honestly believe we are about to do this." He sighed again. "This is a terrible idea."
"This is a fantastic idea." Rose corrected. "You just have a terrible attitude regarding anything fun. Besides, it's too late to back out. Scrap any previous ideas, because I just got a new one." She said and took a deep breath as she fixed a smile on her face. "Now let's do this."
------> 0o0 <------
Getting into St Mungo's was the easy part.
Claiming to be a distant visiting member of the Longbottom family from France was easy enough to do so when you had the Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom accompanying you. Not to mention that the healers were quite used to seeing Neville there, so they thought nothing of it.
In fact, they didn't even blink an eye at Neville's request to have some private time with his parents.
That was their first mistake. Their other mistake was that they checked the patients only every twenty minutes. However, their most important mistake was that they actually trusted their visitors.
Rose found it heartbreaking to see her god-parents this way. They had had to be truly formidable to have Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black herself personally target them. Rose had heard all the stories about the Longbottom's power, and she was deeply saddened to see the state to which they had been reduced to.
They were -are- her godparents.
For the first time in her life, Rose cursed her Aunty Bella in her mind. But more importantly, she made a personal vow to see to it that they were restored to their previous state of mind.
Neville smiled optimistically at his parents before looking at his god-sister. "So," he said. "What's the plan? You weren't so clear earlier."
Rose shrugged. "I don't exactly have one. I'm kind of hoping to just wing it."
"Wing it? You hope to wing it?" Neville asked her, his eyes slightly twitching. "You plan to kidnap my parents from the hospital-"
"-is it really kidnapping if their son just technically wants to take them home?" Rose mused.
"-Be sure to ask the lawyers to use that argument to free us after we get thrown in Azkaban," Neville said. "I still can't believe you're planning on winging it! What if we get caught?" he asked nervously.
"Chill, Nev. We won't..." Rose waved his worries. "Stop being such a pessimist."
"Yes, because worrying about my future in prison is called being a pessimist," Neville said sarcastically. "You do realise that kidnapping is illegal." He pointed out unhelpfully.
"Then that means that I can sue the Order for kidnapping me." Rose retorted. "But don't worry, I won't. Mostly because I like four of the Weasley's and you. Take it from somebody who had been kidnapped twice and a half times in her life, you are not going to go to jail." She said calmly before shrugging. "Besides, it's only illegal if you get caught."
"You have been living with Slytherins for far too long," Neville muttered before clearing his throat. "Which brings me back to my original question, what if we get caught?"
Rose shrugged again. "Then Murphy's Law will be proven true."
"Murphy's Law?"
"It states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong," Rose explained.
"Well, that is very reassuring." Neville inputted sarcastically.
"Don't worry." She repeated. "I'm a Potter, remember? And although my luck brings me in terrible situations, I always find myself being freed from it with very favourable outcomes."
Neville just shook his head and sighed. "So how do you propose we kidnap my parents?" He asked her. And Merlin, that felt weird to say.
Rose looked thoughtful. "I think I have an idea." She admitted.
Neville snorted. "Your idea better be brilliant because I honestly doubt it will be easy to kidnap somebody in a hospital that-"
"Kreacher! Mipsy! Gigy!" Rose shouted.
Neville watched as three elves popped into the room.
"What can we do for Mistress?" Kreacher asked politely.
"Mipsy, hold Lady Longbottom. Gigy, take Lord Longbottom. Kreacher, is it possible for you to take both Heir Longbottom and me to the Planetarium?" Rose asked.
Kreacher nodded.
Rose beamed. "Great. Then I, Rosalie Dorea, Lady of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black give permission for Lord Frank of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom, Lady Alice of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom and Heir Neville of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom to reside in the Planetarium as long as they desire. This I say, and so I mote it to be."
Nothing happened physically, but Neville knew that Rose had just put a major amount of trust in him.
The Planetarium was the name that had fondly been given to the Main Black Manor (it was more of a castle than a Manor, to be honest), in reference to the Black's infamous tradition of naming their children after stars.
Rose had just given him and his parents unlimited access to it until perhaps they do something so terrible to make her revoke it. The Planetarium no doubt was warded and protected with so many dangerous curses that would have given him a fate worse than death should he have stepped into it without prior, direct permission explicitly from the Head of the family.
It reminded him to make sure that the Main Manor of his own family's was more secure- they had after all brought Rose without his notice. He made a mental note to give the Order of the Phoenix more restricted access as to who they bring to the Manor and how they enter.
Neville gave her a small smile.
One of the house-elves -Rose had called him Kreacher- looked at him expectantly for his permission to take him to the secret location of the Planetarium. Neville nodded in consent and at the next moment, he had the pleasure of experiencing first hand how it feels to travel with the assistance of a House Elf.
The Planetarium was beautifully extravagant, even more than the Malfoy Manor. But then again, he was standing in the main residence of the Blacks. This was to be expected.
Unfortunately, he was not able to truly bask in the glory of the Manor as Rose immediately started to drag him into a room (he remembered Rose telling him that Lady Malfoy had taken her and Draco Malfoy on a trip to visit all -and apparently there were a lot- the Black properties in Britain -Lady Malfoy had claimed that visiting all the International ones would take too long- shortly after Rose had claimed her inheritance. Her memory power must have been excellent if she could navigate the Planetarium despite having only visited only one time prior) where his parents were lying down safely on a bed.
Neville immediately rushed to their side.
"Are you ready to do this?" There was only seriousness in her face, no sign of the humour or mischief that was almost always present on her face.
They were her godparents just as much as they were his parents, and at that moment, Neville realised just how much she actually loved her family- whether she had met them or not.
"I trust you," Neville said instead. He could see how much effect his words had on his god-sister; because no matter her flaws and the bad things she had and would commit, that was what she was- his god-sister.
"Thank you." Rose breathed out, relieved. "You have no idea how much that means to me. You didn't have to -especially after all I told you- but you did, and for that, I honestly, truly thank you."
Neville gave her a small smile. "Make my parents and your godparents better, and we'll call it even."
A tear fell from Rose's face and before Neville knew it, he was tackled into a hug. He hugged back.
"They'll be fine." She promised shortly after releasing him from the hug.
Neville nodded. "I know they will."
"Look at you being optimistic." Rose teased before looking determinedly at Lord and Lady Longbottom. "Let's do this." She repeated her words from earlier.
------> 0o0 <------
It was a somewhat long process, and Neville was tense the entire time.
There were books spread out on the floor as they reviewed some last-minute things. This, after all, had to go perfect. There was no room for errors.
Neville had taken the liberty to go visit one of the Planetarium's greenhouses (there were about nineteen of them, and Neville personally felt faint upon seeing them and had to pinch himself to check whether or not he was dreaming) and picked out some plants that he felt might be useful in making them unconscious and numb, sort of like natural anaesthesia (by mixing cocaine, thyme and clove along with a few other plants).
They had decided to start with Lord Longbottom first.
Rose's hands were shaking as she started the process, but they shook less after Neville gave her an encouraging smile. He helped her draw runes around them, such as the one for good luck, health, happiness, strength, endurance and much more.
Then came the actual daunting process of removing one's memories.
This part was painful to watch as Rose had to perform legilimency on him and had to watch each and every part of it and slowly start obliviating each of the memories slowly and carefully. She managed to do so and had cleared all of his memories up till where she could spot her Aunty Bella barging in the Manor gleefully.
However, that was when Lord Frank Longbottom's eyes flashed open, his strong occlumency barriers closed down immediately and forcefully evicted her from his mind, making her stagger back.
Neville's eyes were wide and Rose mirrored his expression of shock.
Lord Longbottom breathed heavily, a layer of sweat on his body. "I saw Lestrange! Take Neville and go- who are you?" He demanded. He looked to be searching for his wand but then realised that he didn't have it with him. He took a quick glance of the room. "Alice?" He asked, looking at the unconscious form of his wife sleeping soundly beside him. He turned back to face them, his eyes glaring.
Both Neville and Rose understood why the Longbottom's were considered so big of a threat then.
"What have you done to her? Who are you? Where am I?" He fired off questions to them, cradling his wife's head.
Both teenagers shared a glance.
Rose started first, hesitantly. "This is going to be hard to believe, Lord Longbottom..."
Frank Longbottom's eyes narrowed at her.
"But he," she said, pointing at her godbrother. "Is your son, Neville; and I am your god-daughter, Rosalie."
Frank Longbottom's stance did not change, but the glare of his eyes became frosty. "That's impossible. Don't lie to me. Neville is hardly two years old and Rosie visited just last week."
"That was fifteen years ago, dad," Neville said quietly. "It's 1997 now."
Frank's eyes widened. "No..." He said in a tone of disbelief. "You are trying to trick me."
Rose shook her head. "I wish I was, Lord Longbottom. But the truth is that fifteen years ago, Bellatrix Lestrange, Barty Crouch Jr, Rudolphous Lestrange and Rabastan Lestrange got passed the wards of the Longbottom Manor and used multiple unforgivables on both you and Lady Longbottom. You had been admitted into St Mungo's ever since."
Frank Longbottom looked around once again. "This isn't the hospital."
"No, it isn't." Rose agreed. "Currently, you are in the Planetarium, the residence of the Head of House Black. Neville and I brought you here..."
"The hospital let you?" Frank asked.
Here both teenagers gave a nervous laugh.
"We may have kidnapped you," Neville admitted. "Gran did say that I had to bring out more of the Gryffindor in me." He smiled sheepishly.
Frank -despite himself- laughed. "Why?" he asked once his laughter had decreased.
"We found a way to bring you back to how you were before the..." Rose trailed off.
"Why don't I remember anything then? If what you say is to be believed, why can't I remember being in the hospital?"
"To do so," Neville continued for Rose. "The only way to do so was to remove all your memories until before the incident, thus reverting your brain back to its original state."
Frank opened his mouth, but Rose cut him off.
"Lord Longbottom," she said. "We still have to do this to Lady Longbottom, and you need to sleep so your brain can start working again. I know you don't believe or trust us right now, but please, just try to understand. I don't want to have to stun you."
Frank Longbottom looked between the pleading figure of Rose to the longing look on Neville and nodded slowly. He looked back to his wife's beautiful face. She looked like she had aged since the last time he remembered seeing her, and if the two teenagers in front of him were to be believed, then so had he. He sighed tiredly, his head was aching. "What do I have to do?" He asked.
Neville shared a mental conversation with Rose. He then gave his father a potion. "I'm sure you recognise this potion. Don't worry, we didn't alter it or poison it in any way." He assured him.
Frank's eyes bore into identical blue ones before he nodded, resigned. "Alright. Please, just help my wife."
"Of course," Rose replied immediately.
Frank Longbottom took the dreamless draught potion and drank it, falling asleep instantly. He looked peaceful when he slept.
"It worked." Neville breathed out, tears falling from his eyes in happiness.
"I thought you didn't have any doubts." She teased, but he could see that she herself was relieved.
"Thank you." He told her again.
"I thank you more," Rose said. "Now let's do this for your mum."
The process with Lady Longbottom was easier since they knew what would happen. Like her husband, Alice Longbottom had woken up abruptly as soon as the very first memory of being tortured was removed and had forcefully ejected Rose from her mind. Explaining it to Lady Longbottom was also easier, because this time, the two just took an oath that whatever they were saying was true, so Lady Longbottom believed them.
She had hugged both the teenagers warmly with tears in her eyes. Not that Rose and Neville were taking this any better, none of them bothered to hide their tears. They promised Lady Longbottom that they would explain everything that they missed when both she and her husband were awake together -Rose said this part guiltily, because her god-parents were alive and a part of her was scared on what they might say- and that she needed to sleep so her brain could rest and comprehend all the information. And after one last hug and giving both of them a kiss on the cheek each, Lady Longbottom took the potion as well.
The two god-siblings spend the next hour planning on how to release the information -everything- slowly to them since they didn't want to send the couple to shock. They agreed that they would tell only the good stuff first and slowly release the bad stuff later over a period of time so that their brain could adjust. They both also decided to let the couple make new memories -to replace the ones they had to take away from them.
Rose volunteered the lovely private island owned by the Black's as a place where they could -safely- live during this war. Neville was reluctant at first, he didn't want to leave the Order defenceless, but at the end, he agreed because this was his parents. Sacrifices must be made. Not to mention that he really wanted to spend some time with them doing normal parent-child stuff. Rose also encouraged this saying that the island would be perfect since they wouldn't have to worry about multiple people bombarding the couple and it would be a safe environment for them to mentally, physically, psychologically and spiritually heal. They agreed to transfer Lord and Lady Longbottom to the island -Astra- tomorrow at dawn, about an hour or two before Rose had said the Dark Lord would strike, wreaking havoc across Britain.
Before they knew it, it was almost five in the evening.
"Hey Neville," Rose said. "Your KFC buddies might be wondering where you disappeared off to. Do you want to go and be with them? Who knows? Maybe Dumbledore might be planning some important stuff and telling you new information you simply cannot miss."
Neville chuckled at her words. His eyes slid to the sleeping form of his parents and then fell back on Rose's face. He gave her a soft, small smile. "I think I'll stay here for now. Somebody has to look after them when they awake." He said.
Both of them choose not to comment on the fact that the House Elves were more than equipped to do that.
"Alright." Rose nodded. "I have to go. I want to go and talk to Marvolo. I'll talk to you later, 'kay? I promise I'll be back in time to check on Lord and Lady Longbottom-"
"-Uncle Frank and Aunt Alice." Neville piped in, smiling.
Rose smiled brightly at his input. "-Uncle Frank and Aunt Alice's progress and I'll get some books on this subject while I'm at it. Look out for my letters, and if you by chance go back to the Longbottom Manor, then bring your grandmother here. I'll give her permission as well to come and stay at the Planetarium until Uncle Frank and Aunt Alice recover -it's best not to move them until tomorrow, I feel- I'm sure she'll want to visit her son and daughter-in-law."
He still didn't approve of what she was doing for the dark, but Neville smiled and nodded never-the-less. "I will. Be safe."
"You too," Rose said.
"Where are you going anyway?" Neville asked curiously.
"Hell, mostly." Rose shrugged. "But right now, I'm going to Slytherin Manor."
There was no harm in telling him that. Everybody knew of the Dark Lord's rumoured relation with Salazar Slytherin (the man was a parselmouth after all), all she had done was confirm it. Marvolo wouldn't be upset at that, he was always proud to showcase that he was a direct descendent of 'the greatest of the Hogwarts four'. Besides, the security of the Slytherin Manor was only a little less than that of the Planetarium. And that was saying a lot considering that the Black's were naturally paranoid and psychotic.
Neville didn't react, just like she'd expected. He just nodded in acceptance. "I'll see you in a few hours."
Rose smiled at him before shouting, "Kreacher!"
The House Elf popped in. "Mistress calls loyal Kreacher?" Kreacher enquired.
Rose nodded. "Take me to Slytherin Manor." She said with a smile.