Chapter 16: Brave Longbottom

Chapter 16 – Brave Longbottom

Both witches searched the crowd excitedly and soon discovered Dumbledore and the youth. They quickly squeezed out of the crowd excitedly.

"Welcome, Headmaster Dumbledore! I really can't believe that you would bring such exciting good news!"

An old woman in the lead excitedly shook hands with Dumbledore and spoke joyfully from the bottom of her heart.

"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Bonham. Please allow me to introduce you to this gentleman here. He is the wizard who developed the magic spell, Mr. Feng Qin. Without his profound knowledge in this area, I'm afraid this spell would not exist in this world. Qin Feng, this is the current director of St. Mungo's hospital, Ms. Anna Bonham, who was also a descendant of the first director."

(Author's Note (CN): There are differences in how names are called in Chinese and English. In order to make the writing smoother, I will use the writing method "Qin Feng", just an info for the readers.)

Dumbledore greeted Dean Bonham with a smile, pointed at Maple beside him and introduced him to this old woman who had devoted her life to medical work.

"Oh! What a handsome young man. Nice to meet you, Mr. Qin! I don't know how to express my gratitude to you. Without your efforts, I'm afraid there would be many more wizards suffering an unimaginable misfortune."

Dean Bonham already had her own guess about the wizard who appeared beside Dumbledore today, but after hearing Dumbledore's personal introduction, she was still amazed by this young and promising wizard.

"You are overrating me, Mrs. Bonham, please just call me 'Qin'. This spell was a joint achievement of me, principal Dumbledore, and Mr. Flamel. As long as everything goes well, it would be the best compliment for us." 

After tightly shaking Mrs. Bonham's rough hand, Maple replied warmly and calmly.

"In any case, salute to you, gentlemen."

Seeing the eyes that started shifting towards them again, Mrs. Bonham mentioned to Miriam Strout, who was walking beside her.

"Miriam, can you bring us to ward 49? I believe the Longbottom Family can no longer wait, can they?"

This middle-aged woman named Miriam wore an elegant filigree wreath on her head and had an extremely gentle temperament. She was the chief therapist of the ward the Longbottoms were staying in.

"Of course, Mrs. Dean, please follow me."

Miriam's voice was gentle as she agreed softly. At the same time, she bowed slightly towards Dumbledore and the young man, expressing her respect.

She was called over by the dean without knowing anything, but after listening by the side, she recalled the Longbottoms situation and the dean's excited appearance. A somewhat unbelievable guess appeared in Miriam's mind.

"If this is true, then this would be a great achievement!"

While a little restless, Miriam took the three of them to the fifth floor, curse injury department, ward 49. Only then did her wandering mind receded and embarrassed, she hurriedly apologize, 

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Dean, I was still in disbelief just now…"

"It's alright, Miriam, I was also the same when I received Dumbledore's letter."

Looking at Miriam's flushed cheek due to her loss of composure, Mrs. Bonham smiled kindly, completely understanding the turmoil in her heart.

Hearing the movement outside the door, hurried footsteps sounded from inside the ward, before Miriam could raise her hand, the white wooden door was suddenly pulled inward, such force made people wonder whether the door was going to fall apart.

Then came a hoarse and trembling voice of an old woman

"Miriam? You are back? Did you see Dumbledore and Mr. Qin? Did they say anything? Frank and Alice…"

Maple, who was beside Dumbledore, did not make a sound, merely watching the old woman in front of him quietly…

A green robe, a fox scarf around her neck, and a large red handbag in her hand. She is dressed in plain and simple cloth, just like an ordinary English lady. She is Neville's grandmother, Augusta Longbottom.

Whether through the story in his past life, or the current reality in front of him, both told him of the vicissitudes experienced by Mrs. Longbottom.

The wrinkles at the corner of her eyes told of long-dried tears, the stooped back, a testament of the heavy burden of responsibility she held, and the strong and somewhat arrogant eyes were the fiercest resistance against misfortune.

"She is undoubtedly a brave Gryffindor, and Gryffindor would be proud of her."

Maple thought of Dumbledore's comments when talking about the old lady.

"Bravery was it…"

Maple chewed on the words in his mind, recalling the various definitions and interpretations of the words, as he tried to find a feel similar to the throbbing of "despair".

Unfortunately, the "Galan's Cave" continued to be calm, so Maple had to temporarily give up the idea and concluded in his heart.

"At least I still have no idea where my bravery lies."

While Maple's thoughts were spinning. Mrs. Longbottom noticed the three people behind Miriam. The anxious and worried look was quickly replaced with an indescribable excitement.

"Oh, Anna, it's been a while! Dumbledore, you have come! That's great… That's great… this must be Mr. Qin, right? Come in quickly!"

Mrs. Longbottom spoke incoherently while staggering sideways to let Dumbledore and the other three enter the room.

The ward was cleaned spotlessly, while the Longbottom couple, Frank and Alice, were lying on two adjacent white beds.

The middle-age couple looked haggard, their eyes that should have been clear had become dull and lifeless due to the previous pain.

Frank was lying quietly on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling without saying a word, as though dazedly recalling something, and from time to time muttered a few words of unknown meaning.

Alice, with long gray hair, sat on the hospital bed. Her back leaned against the bed board while stroking the hair of a blond boy by her side with a smile on her face, which seemed quite harmonious.

But as long as anyone observed closely, only dead silence could be seen from Alice's eyes. The so-called shallow smile was probably an instinctive reaction due to the closeness to the boy in front of her.

As for the six-year-old boy, his round face had a dull look which broke the original cute and smart look on his face.

With Maple's current level, he could tell with just one glance that this was a side-effect of the not-so-subtle forgetting curse left on the boy.

Of course, Maple also recognized the identity of the boy in front of him as the future "Sword Master" – Neville Longbottom.

Mrs. Longbottom's next words also confirmed Maple's guess.

~~~

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