Visiting Hours

The tiny charmed birds on Luna's earrings twittered sporadically as she stepped through the glass department store window that concealed the entrance to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. She'd only been there once before, when she was nine. That day still loomed in the back of her mind, vividly terrifying.

The flash, the horrible rebounding of light and flame, the hiss of seared flesh . . . then nothing. Her father had rushed into the room at the sound of her shriek, his face blanched at the sight of his wife lying prone on the living room floor. He'd scooped her mother up in his strong arms, thrown the entire jar of Floo powder into the fireplace, and dived into the green flames, shouting "St. Mungo's!" She'd followed him--he'd forgotten she was there. Then the Healers at St. Mungo's prying her father's arms off of his wife's body, pleading with him to accept her death as he yelled and threatened to hex them all. They'd had to sedate him, in the end.

"Hey." A hand brushed her arm and she looked up into familiar brown eyes. "You all right?"

Luna nodded, feeling selfish. Her mother's suffering had been brief; now it was long over. She had more immediate things to be thinking about. "You?"

Neville gave a shrug and shaky smile. "Sure." He gestured to the flight of stairs across the lobby. "Fourth floor."

A small boy with acrid blue smoke billowing from nostrils dashed into the lobby, followed by his frantic mother.

Luna raised her eyebrows at Neville and he smiled again, stronger this time. The two of them waded through the rapidly accumulating clouds of azure smoke to the staircase.

"Well," Neville said as they climbed the stairs, "I thought I'd messed up about every spell ever written. But I never did that."

"It was a lovely color," Luna replied.

Neville chuckled. "I guess it was."

They were a quiet for a few moments, each absorbed in their own thoughts as they made their way out onto the fourth floor landing. Neville turned and went through a set of double doors leading down a long corridor and stopped before a door marked 'Janus Thickey Ward.'

"I haven't been here since the week after Gran's funeral," he said quietly, sounding ashamed.

"Do they know?" Luna gestured between them with her left hand.

Neville caught her hand in his and shook his head, his expression lightning. "I wanted you to be here." They smiled at each other briefly and she gave his fingers a brief squeeze. Neville took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

A small window opened in the door and a pleasant faced woman squinted at them for a moment before smiling broadly. The window snapped shut, and then the door opened.

"Good afternoon Mr. Longbottom!" she greeted him warmly, and then turned to Luna. "How do you do, dear?"

"I'm very well, thank you," Luna answered, releasing Neville's fingers to shake the woman's hand.

"Hullo Elizabeth," Neville responded. "This is Luna Lovegood."

"Lovely to meet you, Miss. Lovegood!" she exclaimed. "Lovely, lovely. Alice just woke up from a nap, dear," she said, addressing Neville once again. "You've perfect timing. You can go on back whenever you like."

"Thanks, Elizabeth, I think we'll go back now."

"That's lovely dear, I'll be back in my office if you need anything. Have a nice visit." She smiled brightly at them once more, and then retreated into a cubicle to the left of the doorway.

"It's down here," Neville said, walking the length of the ward to an area sectioned off by flowered curtains. Some of the other patients called out to him as he passed, and he waved and smiled in return.

"Ready?" he asked, one hand poised on the edge of the curtain. Luna nodded and he pulled the drapery back, allowing them to slip inside.

It was a small space, a square of spare tile floor with two beds and a nightstand. Parchments adorned the walls, drawings proceeding around the room in chronological order. The ones nearest the window were mere colorful scribbles, farther around there were rough houses, a portrait or two. Near the end hung carefully drawn sketches of plants; Luna recognized one or two of the exotic flowers from the Hogwarts greenhouses; and there was no mistaking Neville's delicate artistry.

Frank Longbottom, once one of the Ministry's most promising Aurors, stood at the window in a pair of faded blue pinstripe pajamas, clutching his pillow and staring out at nothing. Alice perched atop her blankets, feet curled under her nightgown, tapping on the metal rod of her bed's footboard.

"Hullo Mum, Dad," Neville greeted them. Frank shifted so he was gazing at them instead of out the window. Alice tilted her head at Luna momentarily, then resumed tapping on the end of her bed.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom," Luna said. They made no response.

"This is Luna," Neville continued. "She's my fiancée. We're getting married in May."

Still nothing. All was quiet for a few moments except the steady beat of Alice's fingers.

Tap, tap, tap . . . pause. Tap, tap, tap . . . pause.

Luna stepped closer, watching the older woman stare intently at her drifting fingers.

"I've been seeing to the house, selling some of Gran's things . . ." Neville told his parents what had been happening with the lawyers, what kind of wedding cake they thought they wanted, his plans for starting a rare flora nursery.

Tap, tap, tap . . . pause. Tat, tap, tap . . . pause.

Luna placed her fingertips on the part of the bed Alice wasn't touching and tapped an answering rhythm.

Tap-tap, tap-tap.

Alice looked up, startled. Then her fingers returned to the metal bar and beat out her pattern, with Luna's added at the end.

Tap, tap, tap, tap-tap, tap-tap.

Luna created a different pattern, again Alice echoed it. Neville watched in silent amazement. He touched his wand to a blue box secured to the wall, and a moment later the healer on duty poked her head in.

"Something the matter, dear?" Elizabeth asked. Neville shook his head and gestured towards his mother and Luna, looking dazed.

Tap-tap-tap, tap, tap, danced Luna's fingers.

Tap-tap-tap, tap, tap, Alice mimicked. Then; Tap, pause, tap-tap.

This time, Luna mirrored the older woman. Tap, pause, tap-tap.

"Sweet Merlin . . ." breathed the mediwitch.

Frank took a step closer to his wife's bed, looking curious.

Tap-tap, tap-tap.

Tap-tap, tap. Tap-tap.

Alice stopped mid-pattern and hopped to the floor. She looked at all the faces around her and then sidled to the wall, standing pressed against the head of her bed.

Elizabeth sighed and withdrew. Neville was watching his mother with awe. Then a gentle chiming broke the silence, and Neville blinked.

"We have to go," he said, his voice sounding huskier than usual, "that means visiting is over. It was nice to see you, Mum, Dad. Love you."

"Goodbye," Luna said gravely to them both. "It was wonderful to meet you." They started to leave, but paused at the sight of movement.

Alice then turned and lifted her pillow. Beneath it lay a single, carefully flattened Droobles Best Blowing Gum wrapper. The wrappers were always her presents to Neville, the one sign of affection she'd shown him in the twenty three years of his life.

Alice took up the wrapper and looked at it intently. She glanced up at Neville, then at Luna, and back to the wrapper. Seconds later she looked up at them again. Her attention returned to the wrapper. Then, with the utmost care, she tore the wrapper exactly in half down the crease. Padding on bare feet, she crossed the empty space and deliberately placed one wrapper piece directly at Neville's feet, and one before Luna. Satisfied, she drifted away and sat on her bed again.

Luna stooped and retrieved her gift, smoothing the crinkled paper between her fingers. "Thank you, Alice," she said softly. Luna opened the silver locket around her neck and tucked the wrapper into the empty space adjacent to the smiling picture of herself and Neville from last Christmas. "That's my first wedding present."

Neville thanked her as well and stowed his wrapper into his pocket. Elizabeth poked her head in again and reminded them it was time to leave, so they made their farewells and exited the ward. Once they reached the stairwell, Neville stopped.

"She's never done so much before," he began, eyes bright and intense, "she . . . I. . ."

Luna put her arms around him and he hugged her back fiercely.

"I love you," he whispered over and over into her hair, "I love you."