Neville Longbottom stood in the quiet kitchen of his Gran's house, carefully icing the cake he'd spent hours perfecting. It was simple, a modest chocolate cake decorated with soft blue frosting. The cake was for his parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom. Today marked their anniversary, though they had no way of knowing. For years, they'd been confined to St. Mungo's, trapped in a limbo of broken memories and shattered minds after the horrors Bellatrix Lestrange had inflicted upon them.
Neville packed up the cake gently and made his way to the hospital, trying to steady his nerves. It had been a while since his last visit. These trips were always difficult, even now that he was older. Still, he wanted to do something for them, even if they couldn’t understand.
Arriving at St. Mungo's, Neville was greeted by the familiar faces of the healers. They gave him a sympathetic smile as he made his way to the long-term care ward. Room 49. He hesitated before pushing open the door. His parents were sitting in their usual spots: his father staring blankly out the window, his mother fiddling with a scrap of old paper in her hands. She did that often, picking up small things, clinging to them as if they held some distant memory she could never quite reach.
"Hi, Mum. Hi, Dad," Neville said quietly, his voice breaking the silence in the room. He placed the cake on the small table by the window. "I brought you something. It's your anniversary."
There was no response, but Neville had long stopped expecting one. He sat down between them, looking at their faces, his father, once so strong and proud, now gaunt and distant. His mother, her eyes dull but her hands always busy, always moving.
"I... I wish you could see me now," Neville began softly, unsure if they could even hear him. "I've been doing really well. You'd be proud. I know you would."
He talked to them about Hogwarts, about his friends, about the battle that had changed everything. How he'd fought, how he'd stood up to Voldemort, how he'd helped bring the war to an end. But as he spoke, he noticed something that made his heart sink.
His mother's hands, usually so busy with scraps of paper, were clenched into tight fists. Her knuckles were white, and her whole body had gone rigid.
"Mum?" he whispered, leaning closer.
Her breathing grew shallow, her chest rising and falling in uneven bursts. Her eyes, once dull, now flickered with a terror that Neville had never seen before. Without warning, she let out a piercing scream.
"Mum!" Neville cried, jumping to his feet as she began thrashing in her seat, her hands tearing at the fabric of her clothes, her body wracked with violent spasms.
The door flew open, and nurses rushed in, their faces filled with urgency. One of them gently but firmly moved Neville aside while another prepared a sedative. His mother's screams echoed through the ward, and it took several of the healers to hold her down as she fought them, her eyes wide and wild with fear.
Neville stood frozen, helpless as they worked to calm her down. His father hadn't moved, hadn't reacted at all to the chaos unfolding beside him.
After what felt like an eternity, Alice was finally still, her body limp in the arms of the nurses, her breathing slow and even once more. They laid her back in her chair, one nurse smoothing her hair back from her pale face.
"I'm sorry," one of the nurses said softly to Neville. "It happens sometimes. It's part of the condition, she has waking nightmares."
Neville could only nod, his throat too tight to speak. He stood there for a moment longer, staring at his mother, who now looked so small, so fragile. He wanted to say something, to tell her how much he missed her, how much he wished she could have seen him grow up, but the words wouldn't come.
He turned to leave, glancing one last time at his parents. The cake he'd brought sat untouched on the table, a symbol of everything they had lost, everything that could never be.
Neville walked out of the ward, his heart heavy, tears stinging his eyes. He had faced Death Eaters, fought in the battle that saved the wizarding world, but nothing had ever hurt like this.