Two Women

The wind chilled her thoroughly, whipping her hair and cloak about her as she climbed the small hill and stepped through the wrought iron gate. She pulled her cloak tightly around her own frail shoulders, her steps wavering slightly over the cobblestone pathway. She pushed a swath of pale hair that had managed to pull loose from her braid off her face and her eyes danced across the heavy tombstones, searching for a particular name.

There, in the corner, she found what she had come for. A black marble slab with the name "Longbottom" carved into it in flowing script. She made her way across the hilltop to the patch in front of the stone and sank to her knees in the soft green grass. She laid her hand on the cool marble and allowed a slender finger to trace the name. The lump that had been rising in her throat the entire walk here threatened to stop her breaths and the tears that had been blinked back so many times tugged at her long eyelashes.

So long she had waited for this moment without knowing it. So long she had wished for this chance without realizing it. For so many years she had been in such a state, unable to speak to him, hug him, tell him she loved him. Unable to tell him everything she hadn't known she had been thinking.

Not until very recently when someone had found a potion that somewhat reversed the effects of that horrible curse had she realized. She had wanted to tell him she was proud. She was so proud to have him as a son. To tell him it was not his fault - none if it would ever be his fault. But she had never had the chance. And she never would.

"Neville..." she whispered softly, her voice breaking in her throat as the tears slipped down her wind pinkened cheeks. "Oh...oh how I wish I could remember you more clearly. How I wish I could just hold you, just once." She tried to calm the sobs that trembled her lips and shoulders. Her hands shook slightly and she laid them in the grass, leaning forward to lay her forehead against the smooth marble.

"He was a wonderful wizard. And an amazing friend," a soft voice offered from behind her and the woman turned suddenly, startled. A tall young woman stood a few rows of tombstones back, her face framed with red hair, cheeks stained with tears, her green eyes bloodshot and glistening.

"Who are you?"

"I am a friend. Of Neville's. Of many people here, actually. I come to visit them whenever I can. I know I should just let go of them...but that can be awfully hard," the younger woman stared at her hands, encased in fingerless gloves. "I'm Ginevra. Ginevra Finnigan. You must be Alice Longbottom."

The woman on her knees nodded and gazed back towards the tombstone. The younger woman stepped closed, lowering herself to a small stone bench, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You knew my son?"

"Yes, rather well. He was a year ahead of me at Hogwarts. Good friends with me and my brother, among other people."

"Please...please Miss Finnigan - "

"Please call me Ginny. Everyone else does," the young woman smiled. Alice smiled weakly in return.

"Please, Ginny. Can you tell me about my son?" Alice turned from the grave, placing her cold hands in Ginny's gloved ones. Ginny smiled warmly and pulled the woman up to the place beside her on the bench. Alice stared into the young woman's eyes and all she could see was hurt and pain. Despair. She wondered if her own eyes mirrored the same emotions. She wondered if the young woman's eyes always looked that way or only here. She was sure her own showed no happiness, no joy. For she could find none. The world held no good thoughts for her to awaken to - only death, destruction and pain. Everything she had once loved and cared about was gone.

"What would you like to know?" the young woman asked tenderly and Alice's mind filled with questions.

"What did he look like? What did he sound like? Who were his friends? What was he like? What did he do?" Alice asked anything that came into her mind, things she had been longing to ask for years. "What happened to him? No one will tell me."

"I remember he used to be nervous - when I first came to school and I'm sure even more so the year before, which had been his first year. But that changed as he grew more confident in himself, as he learned that he was good at things and could do just about any magic if he focused and really put his mind to it and followed his heart. He saved my life during my fifth year and helped save the entire wizarding world his seventh. You should be proud of him, Mrs. Longbottom. He was a wonderful wizard. All he ever wanted was to be like you, and his father. And, from what my parents and a number of other people have told me, I think that he was."

Alice smiled slightly, blinking back tears that welled in her eyes once again. "He was a good wizard?"

"A wonderful wizard. He started out a little rough, but he realized after awhile that he was capable of doing anything that any of our professors threw at him. He was wonderful with Herbology - I think he probably would have gone to work with St. Mungo's if..." Ginny trailed off for a moment and looked up at Alice. She wasn't sure if she should - or could - tell Alice what had happened to her son.

"No one will tell me, Miss Finn - Ginny. No one will tell me what happened to my Neville. I'm his mother. I have a right to know," she pleaded. "I need to know."

"He was a friend of Harry's, Harry Potter. Harry had helped him and taught him a lot, and Neville looked up to him. So when Harry said he needed help, Neville was the first one there. They actually came to help me. I had been taken, apparently I made good bait. But they all came and fought. I didn't actually see Neville get injured, but I know he was there and I know he was fighting with everything he had. And the Ministry said that, with the number of people and the wounds inflicted, it wasn't possible for there to be a single person here that night that didn't fight valiantly and that was not a hero. Neville was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class after his death. And I know he deserved it. One of the members of the Magical Law Enforcement crew that came that day told me that he must have been the one to finally bring down Lestrange - Bellatrix Lestrange." Alice let out a tiny gasp of air and Ginny knew that the name was recognized. Alice held her eyes closed as she tried to fight the tears, her lips trembling. "He loved you, more than you know. I helped his grandmother - Mr. Longbottom's mother, I presume - clean out his room that summer. She could not do it alone and I needed to do something to help. I had nowhere to go, not really, no family. I lost almost everyone that day. But as we were cleaning out his room, I found a box. And it had all these wrappers in it. And I remembered one Christmas that we happened to see him at St. Mungo's and I remembered you giving him a wrapper. So I wouldn't let him grandmother throw it away. She thought it was just trash, but I knew that it was more. I still have them if you would like them."

"Wrappers..." Alice said absently, trying to remember and she tried to brush the tears away. There were so many years that were just a haze in her mind. "I did give him wrappers."

"And he kept every one. He loved you and his father so much, Mrs. Longbottom. And I know he wanted to make you proud."

"He did. I can't think of anyone that I would rather have for a son. I just wish I could have known him better."

"I know he wished the same thing." Ginny looked at the ground and wiped at her eyes again. Alice just watched the young woman for a moment. This woman had lost so much because of one man. One man had destroyed so many families, so many lives. She had nothing left and was much like Alice herself. Alice smiled softly and laid a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Miss Ginny...thank you."

"For what?"

"I have never really known my son. When he was alive and I could know him, I was not in a state where that was possible. And now that I am able to observe and know people, he is no longer here. Thank you for introducing me to him. It was nice to hear someone tell me about him."

"I'm sorry I upset you..."

"No, no, dear. Thank you. I needed to know - I wanted to know - what happened to him. It is important that I know." Ginny nodded in understanding. She had told numerous parents, friends, and family members the basic details of what had happened that night. And it never stopped hurting to relive it.

"I should really be going, Mrs. Longbottom. My husband will be wondering what kept me so long," Ginny smiled weakly as she stood. "It was very nice to meet you. Would you like those wrappers, Ms. Longbottom?"

"Please, call me Alice. I would love them. And I hope I will see you again."

"I am here a great deal. I am sure you will. I will send them to you by owl as soon as I return home." Ginny turned and crossed the soft lawn, stopping at the gate to turn back for a moment. "Never doubt that he loved you, Alice, and wanted you to be proud." Ginny smiled again and set off down the hill, disappearing a few moments later.

Alice stared at the path Ginny had taken for a moment before turning back to the black marble that stood stoically before her. She smiled at her reflection in the glasslike surface and once again ran her hand along the letters.

"I love you, Neville. And I am so proud of you. Please know that. I will love you forever and I will always be proud. I just wish I could tell you." She sat on the bench and stared at the name for a few long minutes before standing and wiping her tears away. She breathed deeply and started towards the gate, a new calm washing over her as she knew that she had told him and she knew that he had known, all his life, that he was very loved.