Visting

Neville arrived in Diagon Alley with a pop. He was wearing his winter robe and was forced to wear a hat. He loved his wife but tore the hat off. He had just spent last night having supper with Frank, sometimes it feels like Neville never sees his kids anymore. He misses spending time with them, time went by too fast.

He entered into the ever busy Three Broomstick and sat down at table. He pulled out his pocket watch that belong to his father and saw it was the meeting time he had arranged with Alice. He chuckled at the fact he was on time while his entire time at Hogwarts he was always late. Being in Hogsmeade brought back all those memories. His trip down memory lane was broken by the waiter which he told that he was waiting for someone.

For once he had a plan on what to talk about with Alice. Of course there would be talk about school but there were many other things he had to talk about with her too. He was going to handle the Macmillans today. He was decided that around Christmas he wanted to talk to Alice about his parents, she was old enough to know now, honestly he had always wanted to tell her but Hannah wouldn’t let him. He had told Frank when he was even younger then Alice is now but Frank wasn’t nearly as sensitive. He had just talked to Frank about the Macmillans, it had upset Frank a bit since he had grown up with Edgar and the fact that Edgar was planning on being an Auror but didn’t get the chance was painful. Neville had seen the pain and hurt in Susan and Ernie’s eyes. He wondered how the other three Macmillan children were doing.

He sighed, it seemed like everything was changing again. It worried him, he had a good job protecting his kids from harm this far but with Frank an adult now and Alice in Hogwarts it scared him. He didn’t always believe Hogwarts was safe, who could blame him after everything that happened when he was a kid. Everything he had every done was to give them a better life, a safer childhood then he had, but he knew that it wasn’t always in his control. He still had to tell Hannah he was in the Order, he wasn’t looking forward to that but today is for Alice and for only Alice.

Before leaving her room, Alice made sure she put on her mother's silver necklace. She gazed at it in the mirror and smiled. Every time she met her father, she made sure she was wearing it. For some reason, she thought it calmed him down and brought some sense of stability when it came to Alice's safety. Like the necklace meant she was still her little girl and still a part of the family. Well, that's at least how she saw it. Anyway, wearing it couldn't do anything but help. The last thing she wanted is for her father to worry about her, which she knew he did a lot. No matter what Alice did or said.

The moment she stepped out in the cold, she was glad she choose to wear her thick scarf. The freezing wind kept pushing her hair out of her face and created chills down her spine. Winter has came more quickly than before. And although she disliked the cold and wet weather, there was one thing she did love about this time of the year - and that was Christmas. The time of year when school was done and she got to spent the holidays with her family once more. She missed her family a lot. That's the reason of her excitement for this meeting. She hasn't seen her father for a while now, which was rather unusual. He always tried to visit his daughter as much as possible. But Alice thought it was because of his new job at the ministry, which required a lot of his time and attention.

Finally, after a long walk, she came up to the door of the Three Broomsticks. She quickly rushed inside and let the warmth overcome her body. Gazing through the room, she smiled when she recognized her father's familiar face. She rushed towards her father and embraced him with a strong and long hug. With a large grin on her face, she took a seat across him. "I'm really glad you came dad. I know you have a lot of work to do these days..." she started.

Neville wouldn’t have been able to stop the smile that grew across his face even if he had wanted to. He was glad that Alice hadn’t gotten ‘too old’ for hugs yet. Well, it was honestly just a stage since Frank though an adult know will still hug his parents. He does feel bad for Susan who has Amelia who is going through that independent stage, Jessica who is angry at her parents and the fact that Susan didn’t have Edgar and Claire anymore. The only kid Susan that had always been close to her was Drew, for some reason Neville doubted that Drew would ever push his mum away.

“There is nothing that can’t wait. I’m just glad I’m back from Brazil. You should have seen your mother trying to speak Spanish and trying to buy at the market. I think we have overpaid on a lot of things. Oh yes, I did get this for you. I believe it’s a good luck bracelet, at least I think that is what the merchant said,” said Neville taking out a Bangle Ribbon Wrapped bracelet. “I wish I could have brought you but the timing just interfered with school. I’ll bring you on the next one over Spring break.” He knew that his kids would have been stuck in the hotel with Hannah if that came since there wasn’t much in Brazil. He was just there to find that plant that he is still preparing to present to the Ministry.

“We haven’t had a lot of time to talk and I’m not sure if your mother gave you money for the Daily Prophet so I’m just going to say upfront. Do you have any idea what happened to the Macmillans?” he asked. He wanted to get this over with then the rest of their time can be light hearted.

Alice looked curiously at the bracelet her father placed in front of her. I was beautiful and just perfect. She took it in her hands and inspected it a bit. "It's wonderful...thank you. she said with a large smile upon her lips. She immediately took it and put it on her wrist. After admiring it for a while, she returned her attention back to her father. "It doesn't have some sort of protection spell on it or a tracking spell, right dad?" she asked chuckling in a teasing manner. She was joking of course, but honestly she would be that surprised if it did. Her father was always very protective of his family, although Alice never understood the reason why.

"Oh it's fine that. I was quite busy here at school with homework and everything. And I'm sure I would have just been in the way of your research anyway" said Alice shaking her head. She really didn't mind not going to Brasil that much. Somehow spending a lot of time in a foreign jungle did not seem that appealing to her.

The subject of conversation changed very quickly and Alice noticed her father's expression became grave and serious. She expected the usual questions about school and friends, but instead she heard something very different. She thought about her answer for a while, as she did not what to answer. She heard a few students gossip about it a few times but she honestly did not know what was going on. So she just simply shook her head. "Umm...no I guess not"

Neville gave a slight smile. Alice was no innocent; she had no idea about how dangerous the world was. He knew he couldn’t keep her sheltered forever but he wasn’t sure he was ready to show her what the world really is. After all that has happened to him how could anyone blame him? He often had to tell himself that he and Hannah aren’t his parents and her kids aren’t him. “Chucks, I knew I forgot to do something. Oh well, I just do it on the Christmas presents,” chuckled Neville.

“I promise for Spring Break it isn’t going to be a research trip but a normal family vacation,” said Neville. He wasn’t sure where it was going to be but he has several months to figure that out. He knew he’d at least make it fun for the kids.

“Alright, there isn’t a great way to tell you this….You remember Edgar and Claire, right. They were the oldest two, I know that you didn’t really hang around them much so don’t be upset if you don’t remember them. But at the end of last month Edgar and Claire were killed by Death Eaters, we expect but there isn’t much proof,” said Neville as serious as he could. He wasn’t sure how Alice was going to react.

With the mention of a family holiday trip, another grin appeared on Alice's face. "That would be lovely! And I'm sure Frank would enjoy that as well..." She wasn't sure what place her father had in mind, but she wasn't really all that picky. It was just the concept of a family trip she enjoyed the most.

She attentively listened to her father's words and tried to catch up with it all. Yes, she did know Edgar and Claire. They were not really friends, but she knew them. She did know their younger siblings a bit more. Even then, she was wondering why would her father mention such a thing to her. And then she quickly realized why. A cold wave splashed across her body and she stood there motionless, deeply in shock. Their death did surprised here indeed, but it their suspected killed that shocked her even more.

The mention of such a terror brought up a fear inside her that Alice didn't know existed. She opened her lips to speak but no words came out. Rubbing her wrists underneath the table, she tried to calm herself down. She wasn't even sure why she was reacting like this. She shouldn't be at all, especially in front of her father. It took her a few moments to bring herself together. She looked up her father and noticed his obviously worried face. "Oh..." was all she could say at this time.

Neville read Alice like a book. He couldn’t blame her for being scared. He was scared of even the idea of Death Eaters at her age. He didn’t want her to be scared but if she didn’t know about them she was even in greater danger. He felt awful for having to tell her about Death Eaters right after a murder.


“Back when I was your age I was petrified of Death Eaters. But that summer I had a talk with your Great-Grandmother that changed everything. I always knew why I was so scared of them but I now knew why I now hated them. It was my fifth year when I came face to face with one in a duel. I wasn’t scared then and I never was scared of them anymore. Why? Fear is what makes them strong. If there is no fear they have no power,” said Neville. He knew that is how he kept Dumbledore’s Army together his Seventh year by killing the fear of the members or trying to kill the fear, some just wouldn’t change.

“There is a lot you don’t know about the past. I used to think it was better you didn’t know but after what happened to Edgar and Claire I doubt that was the right choice. None of the past was hidden from any of the Macmillan children that is what gave Edgar an edge, he fought but whomever killed him was even better,” said Neville “I was around your age when my entire would was changed when the Second War started and I don’t want you to end up like some of my friends that had no idea what terror, chaos and death that came with Death Eaters. I want you to be know about them so you can defend yourself against them if ever you had to, which I hope is never.”

He would not talk about his parents now. Alice wasn’t ready, he could see that. Frank was much different from Alice. He didn’t want to upset Alice; she was his baby girl after all. He knew that she wouldn’t understand how much she meant to him until she knew but he didn’t mind. He wanted to slowly stop shielding her from the world. He knew Hannah was going to very unhappy once she found out that he done this much without her but he thought it was for the best and Hannah wouldn’t argue with that.

Alice listened to her father speak, but somehow it didn't make any sense. He spoke of war, danger and Death Eaters. All of these things were familiar to her in a way, but she never associated it with her family let alone with herself. It was just something she could never even think about. Of course she heard stories about her dad and the war. But that was usually from someone else and a very mild, pg-13 version of the truth. She was used to not asking questions about the past. Her parents didn't like to discuss it and she just accepted it that way. Pushing what happened deep into the back of her mind, she barely even though about it to be honest. Until today of course.

After hearing her father's story, for the first time in her life she felt sorry for him. And for a second she could almost see the pain he hid behind his eyes as he spoke. Now at least she understood her father's caution and worrisome nature. It all made sense now. She felt like she was living someone's life before this and was just woken up by the truth. But the question was, did she wanted to be waken? He spoke about her having to protect herself in the future, which even upset her more. Was her family somehow marked? Where they a special target for the Death Eaters? It seems that they weren't just a 'normal' family as Alice though.

"Wait...," started Alice shaking her head in confusion. "I don't understand. Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" she asked with a genuine hurtful tone to her voice. She didn't like the idea of people hiding things and lying to her, especially her dad. "Does Frank know about this? Am I really the only person in this family who was kept in the dark about all of this?" was the second thing that came to her mind. With the mixture of all emotions, even anger appeared in her voice. The idea that her family thought she was the only one would couldn't 'handle' this information made her furious. They might have been right, but it make her mad nonetheless. "It's just not fair..." said Alice through a whisper.

Neville let Alice go through the emotions. He had to tread these waters carefully. He knew that there was no going back now. He had to be honest; it was the only way now. He understood why she would be hurt and angry, he would have been too.

“Alice, me and your mum thought it would be better if you kids didn’t know about it until you were in your teens. We wanted you to have a real childhood without nightmares of Death Eaters. I told Frank when he was thirteen; he found a photograph where I had to explain everything. I just wanted to wait a bit longer for you not because I didn’t think you couldn’t handle it but I wasn’t sure I—I could tell you what really happened. All those rated R parts of the past, the parts that no one wants to talk about because it requires reliving a very dark time,” he sighed. He ran a hand threw his hair. He wished he had brought Hannah now. Frank was much easier than this.

He was about to continue talking when he saw Hannah burst into the Three Broomsticks looking like an angry Veela. “NEVILE LONGBOTTOM! HOW DARE YOU DO THIS WITHOUT ME AGAIN!” she yelled. “Oh great,” he sighed.

“Love you too, honey,” said Neville. Hannah sat down next to Neville glaring at him. “You aren’t out of trouble yet,” she said shaking a finger at hi. Neville just rolled his eyes. “Let’s continue now,” he said.

She saw how difficult it was for her father to speak of this. And in her own way, she understood why. Right now, she just wanted to forget they said anything in the first place and not mention it anymore. But that wasn't how things work. After her father spoke, she still thought his reason for not telling her was more about her sensitivity than his own. She had a feeling she needed to defend herself, always hating being marked as the 'weak one' in the family. "He found a photograph of what?" asked Alice curiously, wondering what kind of picture would be enough to get such a confession out of their father. "But why was it any different with Frank?"

Somehow she wasn't surprised her mother came in when she did. She always preferred being in complete control of every situation. And that could only be done with her presence of course. With the manner of her entrance and her appearance, Alice couldn't help but give her mom and soft and small smile. "Hi mom" she said softly. Great she thought, now both of her parents were here. This definitely couldn't get any more difficult. Dad was just...trying to explain that's all. You shouldn't be mad. I want to know. I have to know. said Alice nodding her head.

But this time she definitely didn't want to hear the child version of this story. She wanted to hear the truth, the complete truth. And even thought she might not like it at all, it was better than living in such an oblivious state as she was before. Realizing she had no idea about her family's past, she had a lot of questions that needed to be answered and only hoped her parents would agree to tell her the truth. "Everything... not just some parts of the story. The whole story. Please"