The Weight of Responsibility

Cedric took advantage of the silence that followed to say "That is all well and good but in this matter, Megan and I will be Potters to protect Harry."

Daphne stepped forward and said "If you will have me, I too would like to serve in this capacity."

The two groups separated and went on their way feeling like they had made some progress in the fight for Harry. As they walked, Kathleen kept her arm around Luna and would squeeze her every so often. Forgetting that Luna was so much like her mother, it surprised her when Luna said "I'm sure your visit is not a mere coincidence even though it worked out rather well. What has my father done?"

Kathleen stopped and pulled her into a tight hug. "Xeno is not well dear. We found him wandering around the house calling out for you and Selene. He hadn't been taking good care of himself and was quite off balance."

Luna stared right back at her with her large grayish blue eyes. "So he finally cracked. I knew it was only a matter of time without me being there to hold him together."

Megan came over and said "It's not your fault Luna."

Luna's expression changed back to her dreamy mask. They all knew it was her way of hiding her pain but accepted it as just how Luna had dealt with pain ever since the loss of her mother. She finally said "It was going to happen sooner or later. Daddy just wouldn't accept mother's death and was looking for a way to contact her. He kept claiming that she hid the Lovegood fortune from him and he needed to know where it was."

Reginald said "Well that was true in a way. She did transfer the Lovegood fortune to the Gnomes and had them deposit a set amount of money in your father's Gringotts' vault every month. She claimed that the Goblins were not who they claimed to be as well as your father would have spent everything on some crazy idea or another."

Kathleen said "We took him to the mind healers at St. Mungos and they expect he will be there for a while. In the meantime, you will come live with us. We will have a portkey for you so that you can go back and forth between houses but we expect you to be with us for dinner every night as well as sleep there."

Luna's dreamy expression cleared for a minute when she said "Thank you Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Reggie. I have a feeling it will be one of my best summers in a long time."

"We hope so. We will also take you to visit him as often as you like."

Luna nodded and then a smirk formed on her face. She turned to Megan and asked "Will that be okay with you too?"

"Of course, why wouldn't it be?"

Luna started skipping off and yelled over her shoulder. "I wouldn't want to interfere with your snog time with Mr. Emerald Eyes."

Megan growled and then took off after Luna while the rest of her family laughed. Reginald asked Cedric "So are they really a couple?"

Cedric looked around and then said "Yeah, he asked her last night."

Kathleen smiled as Amos asked "You've seen him? When can we talk to him?"

"Yes we have and the earliest will be a few weeks. He's being put back together literally and will be under a sleep potion for at least a week if not longer. We'll know more when he wakes up and we have a chance to talk with him." They all smiled as they heard the sound of Luna giggling and Megan yelling while chasing after her. It was an old game they had played for a long time.

****

The unused classrooms were getting quite the workout that afternoon as numerous families were in them behind privacy charms. In most cases, the fathers had already yelled themselves hoarse and it fell upon the mothers to continue the tirades. In two of the rooms, the only parent available was two ladies that were well up to the challenge of tackling the subject on their own.

Augusta Longbottom sat across from her grandson Neville and stared him straight in the eye. She asked "Have you not known about the sworn alliance between Potter and Longbottom since you were old enough to understand?"

"Yes Gran."

"I seem to remember telling you before you got on the Express in first year that you were to find Harry Potter and never leave his side."

"Yes Gran, you did and I tried but Ronald Weasley blocked me at every turn and never gave me the chance to talk with Harry without him being there."

"You are a Longbottom; you should have ordered him out of the way. In second year, you failed to befriend him as well as last year. Have I not been thorough in my instruction? Did you not know that a Longbottom and Potter have always been together in school and were there to support each other? Did you not know that both families planned their children together so that this would always be the case?"

"Yes Gran, you were very thorough in your instruction. It is I who failed to do my duty."

"Failed to do your duty? Is that what you said? How can you call this year failing to do your duty? Do you call completely violating a blood sworn pact between to Ancient Houses just failing to do your duty? Neville, you turned your back on a Potter and the consequences for this will be enormous. I would even dare to say that when the full impact hits, magic will take a payment and as the sitting Lord Longbottom, I doubt your father will survive it in his present state."

Neville sat there with tears running down his cheeks. "I tired Gran. I tried to apologize and make amends but he wouldn't accept it. I'm just glad he knows nothing of his heritage."

"WHAT?"

Neville stumbled backwards and looked up at her in fear. She said "Explain what you just said!"

"Harry doesn't know what it means to be a Potter. When he first arrived, he didn't know anything about magic and still to this day, he's dressed in old hand me down clothes. Even the Weasleys dress better than he does."

Augusta paled "And you are just now telling me this. Do you know what else you have done? Dammit Neville, we are sworn to help a Potter when he is in need and you never thought these were things we needed to help him with? It's quite obvious that this year wasn't the first time you have turned your back on Mr. Potter. But it WILL be the last."

Neville Longbottom was almost catatonic after the arse ripping he just received from his grandmother. She went on to threaten him with living long enough to train his oldest child in the hope that HE would be suitable to take up the mantle of Lord Longbottom as she felt he was incapable of. In the end, she growled out "You'd better find a way to fix this or your life will be a living hell from this point on. I'm almost to the point of disowning you and blood adopting Harry so that HE can continue the line."

....

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