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"Mum, have some apple."
Beside bed number two in Ward 49, Neville, who seemed clumsy and dull to outsiders, carefully peeled an apple and used a fork to feed small pieces to the woman on the hospital bed, whose expression was vacant and who drooled from time to time.
Alice Longbottom, Neville's mother.
Although Alice could no longer recognize Neville, she instinctively felt affection for him. After eating a piece of apple Neville fed her, she stared at him and giggled foolishly.
Neville gently wiped the drool from the corner of his mother's mouth with a handkerchief, then fed her the second piece of apple.
He came here every year to visit his parents.
He had never missed a visit.
Neville's parents had gone to the front line against Voldemort not long after he was born. They were the pride of the Longbottom family and elite Aurors, widely respected by other wizards because of their powerful magic and their fight against evil.
Unfortunately, just after Voldemort had fallen, on the eve before dawn truly arrived, the couple were captured by Voldemort's most loyal followers. The Death Eaters tortured them with the Cruciatus Curse again and again until their minds could no longer endure it and collapsed.
They had been tortured into madness.
Neville, too, had been traumatized because he personally witnessed the miserable state of his parents.
In the end, his grandmother cast a Memory Charm on him.
Ever since Neville was old enough to remember, his parents had been in this vacant, helpless state.
When other children were spoiled by their parents, he had never known what motherly love was, much less what fatherly love was.
Would Neville envy others?
The answer was definitely yes.
But at least he still had parents, even though they no longer remembered who he was.
Neville had been raised by his grandmother since childhood. Mrs. Longbottom was a very great and strong witch. Not only had she endured the fact that her son and daughter-in-law had gone mad, she had also raised her grandson alone, being both father and mother to him.
After feeding her one apple, Neville gently and seriously tidied his mother's gradually graying, messy hair. A trace of heartache showed in his eyes.
Neville looked very much like his mother Alice, whether in face shape or hair color. But ten years had passed, and her hair had changed from golden to gray-white. Her face also showed the marks of time.
The three Unforgivable Curses were called unforgivable not only because they possessed extremely powerful force, but also because they were all exceedingly evil Dark Magic. Although the Imperius Curse and Cruciatus Curse did not have the instantly lethal nature of the Killing Curse, their harm to the human body was still enormous.
"Hee hee."
Alice smiled foolishly and handed Neville a bubblegum wrapper.
This was the only thing she had, and she gave it to Neville as a gift.
Neville held it as if holding a treasure, carefully putting it away in his pocket.
Almost every time he came to see his parents, his mother gave him one as a present.
Day after day, every time was the same.
So far, Neville had collected nearly four hundred of them.
Perhaps in outsiders' eyes, it was nothing more than rubbish. Mrs. Longbottom had more than once told Neville to throw this "gift" into the bin. But Neville still insisted every time on putting it carefully into his pocket.
This was a gift from his mother. It was his most precious thing.
Dudley and Hermione stood quietly at the door, silently watching everything before them without making the slightest sound. After Hermione learned the story of the Longbottoms from him, her eyes reddened instantly. She gently buried her head against Dudley's chest. Sentimental girls were like that.
At this moment, Neville seemed to sense something. He turned and saw Dudley and Hermione, then immediately stood up from the chair. His mouth opened. "Sorry, Big D, I..."
"Neville, there is no need to apologize." Dudley shook his head slightly. "I know about the Longbottoms. They are very great wizards."
Neville was somewhat at a loss and did not know what to say.
"May I take a look at your parents?"
"O-of course," Neville said.
Dudley first examined Alice Longbottom's condition, then looked at Frank Longbottom.
He frowned slightly.
The results were quite unoptimistic.
Not only mentally. Dudley had almost no experience in that area. What he was referring to was their physical state.
Although the Longbottoms were only in their forties now, their physical condition was comparable to that of people in their sixties.
This result was caused partly by the aftereffects of the Unforgivable Curses, and partly by a pure lack of nutrition.
"Neville, come see your parents more often when you can. Bring more food."
Dudley reminded him.
The body itself had a self-repair function. The premise was that it had to be guaranteed enough nutrition.
"Big D, is there a way to help my parents?"
Neville suddenly asked, almost as if driven by impulse.
Looking at Neville's round face, full of expectation, Dudley could not bear it. But he still sighed and told the truth. "I don't have a way for now."
Wanting to cure the Longbottoms, whose minds had collapsed after suffering one of the three Unforgivable Curses, the Cruciatus Curse, was much harder than curing the two old wizards struck by Memory Charms.
Memory Charms could be forcibly broken by other spells. In the original course of events, Voldemort had once used such a method on Bertha Jorkins, who had been struck by a powerful Memory Charm from Barty Crouch Sr., and had successfully broken its effect. Although that violent method had enormous aftereffects, it at least showed there was a solution.
But mental collapse from the Cruciatus Curse was simply not on the same level of difficulty.
It was not that there was no hope at all.
But the current Dudley could not do it yet.
He still needed to study further.
As for using the Philosopher's Stone, first of all, the Philosopher's Stone was not omnipotent. It could only serve as a pass to ignore the principle of equivalent exchange. Its effect on souls and emotions was especially much smaller. For example, it could not make someone else fall in love with you, nor could it resurrect the dead.
Using seven Dragon Balls to summon Shenron or winning the Holy Grail, uncorrupted, to make a wish would be more reliable.
'For now.'
Neville, who usually looked simple and honest, very keenly caught those words at this moment.
The flame of hope that had originally gone out in his heart reignited.
Although he was very excited, he did not ask Dudley when it would be possible. He knew that when it could be done, Dudley would naturally tell him.
As for the possibility that Dudley was lying, he did not consider it at all.
Big D never said he could do things he could not do. Since he had said this, it meant he had some confidence he could do it.
"Neville, Hermione and I will wait outside with the others. Spend more time with them."
Dudley patted Neville's shoulder and said a few words of encouragement.
"Study hard. Make yourself better. I think when the Longbottoms wake up, they will definitely hope to see a more outstanding you."
Of course, if such a day truly came and the Longbottoms woke up, what they would want to see even more was a Neville who had grown up healthy.
Aside from a very small number of scum, most normal parents hoped for that.
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