Unnamed

Neville Longbottom awaited his parents in the foyer of Longbottom Manor. Saint Mungo's wouldn't release them until morning, at the very earliest, though they had been moved out of the ward to a private room. His father had throughly scandalized Gran by stating that he intended to take advantage of the privacy to start on a little sister for Neville.

It had been a good couple hours since Gran had flued Saint Mungo's. He'd been pacing in front of the fireplace most of that time. He was pretty sure that if he left it for even a few minutes, it would be when his parents arrived. He ran his hands through his hair again.

"Longbottom, if you keep doing that, your hair will be worse than Potter's," Mandy Brocklehurst said from her perch on a bench next to the main stair case, where Robert Hillard, the other one of House Longbottom's Summer guests had put her down after breakfast. She had a copy of last year's Second Year Defense book in her hands. "And I will have lost a bet with Turpin, for the first time, ever."

Neville looked over at Brocklehurst. He'd not been very happy when his Gran had written to inform him that they were taking in Brocklehurst for the Summer. He had no problem with Hillard, but Brocklehurst was one of the three Ravenclaw First Years who had conspired to knock Gryffindor out of the top spot. Neville knew that she had some connection to the ritual circle that had been the primary factor in putting Hermione in the pudding club. Near the end of the year, the removal of the circle had suppressed her ability to walk.

That was why she was stuck on the bench for the moment, and more than that, it was why she was spending the summer at Longbottom Manor, rather than at Brocklehurst Light. So Neville had to put up with the dirty blond raven in his house. He'd planned to avoid her, by spending as much time as possible in the Longbottom Greenhouses. That seemed to be about to be thwarted, as Hillard was working on a special chair as his summer NEWT project, that would allow her to get around the whole Manor.

"I don't think so," Neville replied. "No one's hair will ever be as bad as Harry's ... unless his and Hermione's genes are additive."

"Oh, the hair on their baby," Brocklehurst shuddered. "Potter can't do anything with his, and the only time Granger's looked good was Valentine's Day."

"Everyone looked good for Valentine's Day," Neville replied, looking into a mirror to see exactly how bad his hair was. "Percy and Penny saw to it."

"That explains so much," Brocklehurst said, putting down the book. "I've been meaning to ask, who was your date for the infamous Gryffindor First Year Valentine's Dinner? None of us could figure out who she was, and none of us saw her again."

"That was Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister," Neville said, trying to flatten his hair back. "She starts Hogwarts this September. Ginny was at Hogwarts when her mother came to talk about Fred and George, and then got caught in one of their pranks."

"With that red hair, I should have known," Brocklehurst said. "But Weasleys never have girls."

"Ginny will beg to differ," Neville said. "Though I think she thinks that her brothers believe she doesn't exist. Of course, that could be because they don't write her."

"Boys never write," Brocklehurst said, as a snowy owl swooped in through the open front doors.

"Well, it looks like Harry at least writes," Neville said, as he identified Hedwig. The owl landed on the newel post, and stretched out her leg so he could take off the message scroll.

"Good news, I hope," Brocklehurst asked.

"The best," Neville said, before reading out the message. "Harry James Potter and Hermione Jane Granger, wish to announce the birth of their son, Jimmy Anthony, weighing in at five pounds eleven ounces, at 9:34 antemeridian on this the third day of July, in the year of our lord, nineteen ninety-two. Mother and baby are doing well."

"A little light," Brocklehurst commented, as the flue activated.

Neville immediately turned around to spot his father and mother both stepping out of the fireplace. They were both wearing blue robes, that looked a bit large on them both.

"I told you he'd be waiting for us, Frank," his mother said.

"I didn't actually think he wouldn't be, Alice," his father said, pulling Neville against him with one arm. "Hello, son."

The sound of his father's voice, calling him son, nearly made Neville forget what he was planning to ask. Being held against his father, his arm around his shoulders, it was a feeling that Neville had never known he needed to miss. "Welcome home, Dad, Mum."

Neville's mother immediately snared Neville from his father's arm, drawing him into her arms, she held him right against her. "You're already up to my shoulders," she remarked, kissing the top of his head. "You were barely knee high." She kissed the top of his head.

Neville didn't want to move out of her embrace. It was like what Harry said about Hermione's hugs. He didn't know what he'd missed until he'd got it.

"I see the Manor has some visitors," Frank Longbottom said, as Neville enjoyed his mother's embrace. "I'm going to guess that you're a young Ravenclaw, no doubt trying to get Neville to study."

"Mandy Brocklehurst," the girl introduced herself. "Madam Longbottom offered to host me this summer so I could recover from a leg injury. I may be a Ravenclaw, but I think I need more help from Neville than he does from me. He's number one in Herbology and fifth overall."

"I thought you were in Gryffindor, Neville," Frank remarked, looking at his son.

"I am," Neville said.

"Gryffindor and Draco Malfoy of Slytherin knocked all of Ravenclaw out of the top ten this year," Mandy said. "That's never happened before."

"Well, once Hermione gets a bee in her bonnet, you don't have a choice in studying," Neville said as his mother released him. "I'm still a bit upset that my fellow Gryffindors couldn't identify dialolus laquem silures. What was I doing tutoring them in Herbology if they got that one wrong?"

"I think that would be a deadly mistake," Alice said dryly.

"Oh yes," Neville said. "Dad, do you want your wand back? I can go get my own. I have enough saved."

"I think we'll both go to Ollivander's next week," Frank said. "Either of us could find a better match. Until then, I'm supposed to be avoiding doing magic until Friday, so you better keep the wand."

"Okay Dad."

Lavender Brown was busy giggling on the beach in France. If she wasn't careful, she was going to end up giggling so hard she'd loose control of her bladder. It wasn't her fault that she was giggling. It was her father's fault. Her father and his attempt to conceal Lavender's body, that is. Lavender hadn't noticed the glamours, but her mother had.

Her mother had been dispelling the glamours one after another since Lavender had arrived naked on the beach, just like the whole entire crowd that she had been associating with all week. Most of them were girls her age from France, having attended the French magical school, whose name kept escaping Lavender.

For the last hour, Lavender's father had been scanning the crowd to try to figure out who kept taking off the glamours that he had put on his daughter. Then about fifteen minutes ago, he'd caught her mother in the act. Since then Lavender had been watching her father chase after her mother with a bucket of what had started out as sea water, and was now a bucket of ice.

He'd lost the contents of the bucket at least twice as Lavender's mother had arranged to trip him, causing the bucket to be spilled on various passers-by. Two of them had joined the chase, and Lavender suspected that the chase was going to get a lot longer before it was done. She was very sure that her father actually had no intention of catching her mother until her mother decided to be caught.

She knew she wouldn't see her parents until the next morning once he did. How she was an only child, was a mystery to her.

"So, Lavender, did your mother tell you that I had a job for you?"

Lavender nearly jumped out of her skin when her uncle seemed to appear from no where and bend over her shoulder. He was in a black wetsuit, and appeared to have just come out of the Med. "Don't do that! And I don't take your jobs."

"It's tradition, Lavender," her Uncle Charlie said. "And you know I'm not asking for myself."

"I know, you're asking for Her Majesty, the Queen," Lavender said. "What does M need me for."

"M understands that you were involved in an encounter with a certain dark lord who was supposed to be dead at school this year," Charlie said, whispering in her ear. "Furthermore, you were third in your year in Charms. Your professor has indicated that you are capable of doing certain detection spells that may aid the mission. I believe that Professor Flitwick showed you how to detect possession, even past possession?"

"Yes, Uncle Charlie," Lavender said, as they resumed normal volume. "You're going to cut my summer vacation short again, aren't you?"

"Oh, I leave that up to you," Charlie said. "A two to three week Med Cruise, or nights listening to your parents because they never remember the silencing charms, and you aren't allowed to cast them. Which one can you have more fun with?"

"Put it that way, which way is the Oracle?" Lavender asked, as her mother tripped and her father landed on top of her. It looked like it would be a long night.

"I'm afraid we'll have to swim out," Charlie said, pulling a foil packet from his wet suit. "Have some Gillyweed."

"I'm going with Uncle Charlie now, Mother!" Lavender said, taking the foil packet, and heading towards the water. "Which way is that boat, Commander Brown?"