Harry Potter the Power Unknown By Priya Ashok

Chapter 17

"Flammel, before you begin, may I ask you to ask her why my son and his wife were targeted in the first place? They were members of the Order and would have given their lives for the cause all of us were fighting for?" Mrs. Longbottom's voice was strained and she looked as if she was on the brink of a massive collapse, which she was, but was trying her best to accept so many things naturally so that Neville who had a huge burden already would not have one more person to worry about.

Bellatrix did not look at the aged lady or her grandson who was hovering in concern and alarm over his grandmother. Talking directly to Nicholas she started, "My husband and I," and Neville and his grandmother looked up at her words listening and trying to make sense of everything, "were ordered to torture both of them into insanity, but to keep them alive as a warning to the members of the Order. I don't know more than that and I could not really ask."

Augusta Longbottom wept and Neville sat next to her, comforting her not realizing the tears fell from his eyes too, as he thought of the Headmaster whom his grandmother had always spoken of with awe and respect, was the man who had made his parents like they were today.

Bellatrix looked at her husband and they seemed to conversing mentally, before agreeing on something and Bellatrix cleared her throat for a conversation with the matriarch of the Longbottom family that was not a string of insults.

"Longbottom, while there is no cure for the spell I was told to cast, it was not the cruciatus, it was another Black magic spell, and I can provide you with a partial antidote, a potion that will restore their sanity. They may not get back their full magical strength at least not that I know of, and may not be as we were at their age, but they will recognize others and will be able to lead a normal life and as far as possible."

The old lady, who had looked up at Bellatrix as she addressed her, trembled in hope with the words that fell from her lips provided. The others stood in shock as they listened to the conversation that was taking place. Neville stood up from where he had been bending over his grandmother and walked up to Bellatrix, who was frantically searching for her wand and then cursed in frustration as she realized it was not with her.

Those who had their wands with them had pulled them out and readied themselves to stun Neville if he tried to hit Bellatrix. While all of them knew he had the right to punch her in the face for cursing the Longbottoms, Nicholas knew the real blame laid elsewhere and he would not allow the fragile truce that was now prevalent in the room to be broken.

But Neville did not do anything like that. He went close to her and knelt down and folding his hands, tears running down his eyes said, "Please!"

To say Bellatrix was shocked was an understatement. The boy had come to ask her to help, help when he could have ordered to and she would have done it just to be in this group that had given her a hope, a tiny ray of very dim light that was vaguely visible so, so far away. But this boy was begging and she realized how much he was hurt and wounded and the extent to which he had longed for his parents' cure, to have a semblance of normalcy in his life as well as in theirs.

She had been living a life that constantly shamed her, but all this time it was the jobs she had been forced to do as a death eater. For the first time she felt humbled and she was amazed it was not Harry Potter, not the Flammels but a boy who was almost a squib and a boy who was laughed at by everyone and who was ignored and pitied by one and all, that would make her feel this way.

"The fourteen years I was in prison were the best years of my life since I joined Voldemort." She said softly not looking at the boy who was still kneeling down in front of her. "I felt relieved that I would be punished for my acts in this life and start afresh in my next, praying that I be born magical and be given a chance to undo some of the bigger mistakes I have committed in this life.