Neville's Letter

It's a beautiful day in London. With the sun shining, children playing in the park, and the air filled with wonderful sounds and scents, no one can resist a smile! Unless, of course, today you are Neville Longbottom, all thoughts of happiness replaced with worry and fear. Some wizards and witches stop and stare confusingly at the 11 year-old boy standing on the front lawn of 86 Hedowlark Road, with his arms outstretched to the sky, as if expecting a gift from the Lord. Neville ignored them all, his eyes fixed expectantly at the summer sky.

Neville's mother let out an exasperated sigh as she looked out the bedroom window.

"Mother!"  She cried. "Get Neville back in the house! He's going to get sunburn from standing there all day, not to mention humiliation." She stared at the geering passerby.

A woman in her 70's walked with surprising speed into Mrs.Longbottom's bedroom, glaring at her daughter.

"Oh Alice, give the boy some hope, will you?" She replied. "He's been waiting forever for the letter, ever since he bounced across that street in London using magic. He's probably afraid that he's a squib or something. What nonsense, Of course he's not going to be one! In our whole line of Longbottoms, no one's ever shown the slightest amount of non-magical blood."

"So, what do you expect me to do?" Alice asked.

"You're his mother, what do YOU think you should do?" Snapped Neville's grandmother. "And besides, he won't get sunburn in such calm weather. I think I'll go outside for some fresh air myself." And with that, she ran to the door.

"One of these days, she'll break a bone." Alice sighed. Then, she too ran out the bedroom door.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Neville Longbottom knew perfectly well he wasn't deaf. He knew his grandmother had said it was this time of the year they deliver the letters. So why hadn't it already come? It was already the last day, and he was getting worried.

He ran back into the house and looked desperately at the wall clock in the kitchen. the only hand on the clock pointed to "Time to Degnome the Garden".
"Already?!" He cried frantically. "No, please don't do this to me..." he mumbled. He had waited all his life to go to Hogwarts. Ever since his cousin Marshall, a to-be 2nd year, visited on his break last winter, Hogwarts was the only thing on his mind.

Tap, tap, tap.

He kept on pestering his parents with questions until they finally said "I don't KNOW, Neville. Just wait and you'll find out."

Tap, tap, thump.

But he simply couldn't wait. What if he was a Squib? What if instead of the Hogwarts Acceptance letter, he got a message saying it was all just a big mistake, and he had no magical blood in him. He could just see it-

CRACK!!

Neville jumped and nearly screamed. He looked around for the source of the ear-splintering sound... and there it was, a snow white owl with a black crescent-like shape surrounding its left eye, carrying a letter with the address in green ink. Neville's eyes widened. That just had to be his Hogwarts letter! He was so relieved and overcome with joy that he opened the window and snatched the letter from the owl forgetting to pay a Knut, and not realizing the owl had made a rather large dent in the glass due to its frustration.

"MOM! GRAN! I finally got my- hey, let go!"

The owl hooed and made a beeline for Neville's vest. It got a firm gripping on it and began to pull. Neville struggled with the owl until finally, the impatient owl started pecking at Neville's skin in frustration.

Neville howled in pain, which Alice picked up all the way from the garden in the family's large backyard. And as another mother in the same situation would have also done, she started to panic and yell.

"NEVILLE! What happened? Are you hurt? Did those nasty gnomes bite you again? Wait there, I'll get-" She had aburtly stopped screaming when her son limped outside with a bruised arm and holding a letter with his good hand.

"NEVILLE!!-"

"Relax Mum, alright?" He said jokingly. "There's something else you need to see!" Neville proudly held up the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter.

But Ms.Longbottom did not care in the slightest what her son was holding in his other hand. "No Neville, first we need to- Oh!" She cried as her eyes moved towards his good arm holding the letter. She would never tell her son this, but any bit of happiness or relief that was in her mind earlier was magnified tenfold when she saw that letter.

Instead of a scolding, Neville got a bone-crushing hug and a kiss. "Oh, Neville honey, I'm so happy you finally- I mean... we're so proud of you!" He braced himself for more hugs and kisses.

"I ow um." He managed to say in the middle of being flattened into his mother's body. He then looked inside and saw the owl still waiting for its Knut, and beside it, he finally noticed the large dent in the window. He wondered if he should tell his mother.

"It can wait." He thought.

---

Ever since that day, Neville had been receiving letter after letter from his relatives all over the world. They all had similar things written in them saying "congrats, "good luck", or simply giving advice. There was only a week left until Hogwarts, and he was really excited, but he was drowning deeper and deeper with letters as each owl came.

"Gran! There's ANOTHER letter from Uncle Bobby in Japan! Where does he find all this time to write?"

Neville's grandmother walked into the busy kitchen. It was only 10:45 in the morning, and they were already receiving another seaful of letters.

"Oh don't be so sour on you relatives, Nelly." She teased. "They just love you so much and are happy for you!"

"Well, there certainly is such thing as TOO much love." He muttered back. And he meant it. Even his Mother and Grandmother had been slipping letters of congrats under his bedroom door, an addition to congratulating him in person every day.

"Oh, who is it now?" He asked grumpily as the 5th owl this morning swooped on their front door, carrying yet another letter.

The address read:

To: Neville
86 Headowlark Road
London, England
Europe
From: Your loving dad

"Looks like your father finally caught up with the big news all the way from Alaska!" Alice said.

Indeed he has, Neville thought, but secretly wished he hadn't. Almost lazily, he opened the envelope.

My Dear Neville boy,
  I Couldn't have been happier when I heard that my son has received his letter!
I'm just so happy that you're going to the most wonderful place in the world, where I spent the 7 happiest years of my life...

Neville's eyes lazily skimmed over the words. "I've heard that before, dad," He thought. But then something else wandered into his mind.

"Mum?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Does everyone in the family ALWAYS make such a big fuss when someone is headed to Hogwarts for the first time?"

Alice's smiling face turned into a rather guilty one. She has anticipated this question, but had never thought up a good response. An awkward silence hung in the air while Ms. Longbottom raked her brain for a reasonable answer.

"Well... yes." She replied guiltily.

There was another brief silence. Then, Neville surprised his Mom and began to laugh.

"Oh, don't worry Mum, I knew everyone was afraid that I was a Squib. Did you actually think I wouldn't go there myself?"

Neville's mother stared at her son in a emotion that seemed somewhat like relief, and turned that into a "Why-didn't-I-think-of-that" look.

Gran started laughing along with her grandson. "Oh, Alice, it's alright. Now that we've got that over with, we should start thinking more about the future, like all the wonderful times Neville's going to have at Hogwarts, and purchasing him a brand new set of robes, a wand..." Her lips curled into a devious smile.

Ms.Longbottom was confused for a second, but when she caught on to what her mother was saying, she was fuming. "Mother!! You could have reminded me while we were so busy with letters!"

"Well, it's not the last day, isn't it Neville?" Gran replied. She waved her hand over to the calender on the kitchen table. The calender immediately flipped its own pages to August 23.

Alice sighed. Her mother was so unflexable sometimes.

"Hurry up and get dressed, Neville. We're going to Grinlotts."