Chapter 246: Lone Heroes

Ivan looked around the ward, which seemed to be a permanent home for its residents.

They had many more personal items around their beds than in Ron's ward; the wall around Gilderoy's bedside, for example, was papered with pictures of himself, all of which featured him beaming with teeth and waving to his fans.

He had autographed many of them in disjointed, childish handwriting. The moment he was deposited in his chair by the Healer, Gilderoy pulled a fresh stack of photographs toward him, grabbed a pen, and began signing them all feverishly.

"You can put them in envelopes," he said to Hermione, tossing the signed photos one by one into her lap as he finished them, just as he used to do at school. "They haven't forgotten me, you know, I still get a lot of fan mail..... Gladys Gudgeon writes weekly.... I just wish I knew why..."

He paused, looking faintly puzzled, then resumed uttering smile and signing off with renewed vigor. "I suspect it's simply my good looks..."

Ivan looked away, and there were two patients in the room besides Lockhart, a man and a woman, lying in the corner of the room, staring at the ceiling. They were mumbling to themselves and seemed oblivious to their surroundings.

"That's the Longbottom couple!" Noticing the look on Ivan's face, the Healer explained, "They've been here for a long, long time, for over a decade. They were here before I came to work."

Ivan was stunned. It turned out that they were Neville's parents!

They used to be Aurors and were also members of the original Order of the Phoenix. During the First Wizarding War, they fought bravely against Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

After Voldemort's defeat and escape, and just when people thought the war was over, they were captured by Bellatrix Lestrange, Barty Crouch Jr. and other Death Eaters. The Death Eaters tormented them both with the Cruciatus Curse, hoping to gain information about Voldemort and where he might have escaped.

Eventually, they were tortured into insanity, did not recognize their family, or even know who they were, and were sent for treatment at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Ailments and Injuries.

Without a doubt, they were both heroes, but unfortunately their end was very tragic.

"Did you just say the Longbottoms?" Hermione said in surprise, as if she had noticed something.

"Yes, that's Mr. Frank and Mrs. Alice Longbottom," said the healer. "Both of their old mothers, Mrs. Longbottom, came to visit them every day, and there was a round-faced boy. I remember his name..."

"Neville!" Hermione exclaimed.

Meanwhile, the door to the hall opened once more.

Ivan saw Neville, who was unhappy, enter, followed by a formidable-looking old witch wearing a long green dress, a moth-eaten fox fur and a pointed hat decorated with what was undoubtedly a stuffed vulture.

"Ivan, Hermione, you, you, you, you..." Neville jumped and ducked, as if a bullet had narrowly missed him.

He looked very surprised, then horrified. Neville looked at Ivan and Hermione, and looked at his parents lying on the back beds. He obviously didn't want his classmates to know about his parents.

The atmosphere was so embarrassing that Ivan wished he hadn't come to this room.

"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" said Neville's grandmother kindly, and approached Ivan and Hermione.

Neville looked like he'd rather be anywhere in the world but here. A dull, purple blush was creeping up his face and he wasn't making eye contact with either of them.

"Are you Ivan Mason?" his grandmother said, looking closely at Ivan and holding out a wrinkled claw-like hand for him to shake, "I saw your pictures and read your stories in the paper the other day. They said you and Harry Potter saved the Black's son, you did a great job!"

Mrs. Longbottom patted Ivan on the shoulder and looked at Hermione beside her.

"As for you, you must be Hermione Granger." She shook Hermione's hand and continued, "Neville has told me a lot about you. You helped him out of some sticky places, didn't you? He speaks very highly of both of you."

Neville didn't look at them, but looked down at his own feet, the color in his face deepening all the time.

"Neville's a good boy!" Mrs. Longbottom said, casting a stern look down her bony nose at Neville, "but he's not as talented as his father, nor as smart as his mother, I have to say..."

He jerked his head in the direction of the two beds at the end of the room, so that the stuffed vulture in his hat quivered alarmingly.

Ivan and Hermione were silent, and looked at the two people lying on the side of the bed, not knowing what to say.

"You haven't told your friends about your parents, Neville?" Mrs. Longbottom asked sharply, and noticed the anomaly in the atmosphere.

Neville took a deep breath, looked at the ceiling and shook his head.

Unconsciously, Hermione gently took Ivan's hand. He looked very sad. She was worried about Neville, but she didn't know what to do.

"Well, there's nothing to be ashamed of," Mrs. Longbottom said angrily. "You should be proud, Neville, proud! They didn't give their health and sanity for their only son to be ashamed of them!"

"I'm not ashamed," Neville said very weakly, looking anywhere but at Ivan and Hermione.

"The way you behave is very strange!" Mrs. Longbottom looked at him, then turned proudly to Ivan and Hermione and said, "My son and his wife were tortured to insanity by followers of You-Know-Who. They were Aurors, you know, and well respected within the wizarding community."

Hermione covered her mouth with her small hand and looked at Neville's parents.

At the sound of the noise, Neville's mother got out of bed. Her face was thin and worn, her eyes looked too big, and her head was white, thin, and dead-looking. She didn't seem to want to speak, or perhaps wasn't able to, simply sitting on the bed and beckoning to Neville.

Seeing her movements, the healer hurried to greet her.

"Ow!" Mrs. Longbottom sighed, looked back at Neville and staggered over to her son and daughter-in-law.

On her old back, there was a lonely desolation.

Neville did not move. He took a deep breath, lifted his head violently and looked at Ivan and Hermione, his expression was defiant, as if daring them to laugh.

Ivan thought he could never find anything less amusing in his life. His eyes moved elsewhere and he didn't look at Neville.

Beside him, Hermione's tears swirled in her eyes, looking at Neville with concern.

The two finally didn't know how they got out of the room. In the hallway, Hermione, who looked tearful, said, "I never knew..."

Ivan did not speak, and his heart was equally heavy.

Neville's life was similar to Harry's. In some ways, it was even more pitiful than Harry's.

Although he could often see his parents, they could not acknowledge him. He couldn't even bring himself to mention them to his friends.

For Neville, this was endless pain.

Ivan sighed and once again realized the cruelty of Death Eaters and the cruelty of war.

Facing a dangerous future, building up their strength as much as possible was the only hope they had.