Neville and his grandmother, Augusta Longbottom, lived in the ancestral Longbottom home. It was a building as ancient as the Potter family's old home, but unlike the Potters', which had fallen into disrepair, the Longbottom house was impeccably clean inside. And unlike the Potters, who were left with only Harry, the Longbottom family still had many members, such as Neville's uncle and great-uncle. They had all moved out after coming of age, so only Neville and his grandmother lived in the old family home.
Madam Augusta seemed like a very strict witch, but she was quite warm toward Dudley and Hermione.
"You must be Mr. Dudley and Miss Granger. Neville talks about you two all the time."
Dudley said respectfully, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Madam Augusta."
Dudley felt genuine respect for the seemingly stern old woman. Neville's parents... had been tortured into madness by Bellatrix Lestrange with the Cruciatus Curse for standing up to the Death Eaters and Voldemort. They had been in St. Mungo's Hospital for eleven years. For all these years, Madam Augusta had been both a mother and a father to Neville, raising him alone and holding their family together.
"You are the first friends Neville has ever invited to our home. I was so surprised when he asked if he could have you over!"
"I'm so glad he's made friends at Hogwarts."
You could see that Madam Augusta was genuinely happy.
"Neville is such a timid boy. I was so worried he'd be bullied at Hogwarts, and he learns so slowly. I was worried he wouldn't be able to keep up with his lessons." Madam Augusta went on and on, her voice filled with deep care and hope for Neville.
"Grandmother!" Neville's face turned beet red. It was unclear whether it was from embarrassment or shyness.
"Neville is wonderful," Dudley said seriously. "He's very brave and has a strong will. He's a true Gryffindor."
Madam Augusta didn't expect Dudley to praise Neville so highly. Neville's face grew even redder.
Then, Dudley added, "And he was sixth in our year."
"Yes, yes, Neville told me," Madam Augusta said, sighing happily again. "He said it was all thanks to the help of you two, Mr. Dudley and Miss Granger."
"He's changed so much in just one year. Especially his body... he's gotten so much stronger." When she mentioned 'stronger,' Madam Augusta's gaze fell on Dudley. She had thought her grandson was exaggerating, but it turned out he wasn't at all. Is this really a first-year wizard? He's as big as a half-giant!
Dudley shook his head. "That's all the result of his own hard work. If a person doesn't put in the effort themselves, all the help in the world is for nothing." A few simple sentences put a huge smile on Madam Augusta's face. There isn't an older person in the world who doesn't love hearing praise for their grandchild; it makes them happier than any compliment for themselves. And she was truly grateful to Dudley and Hermione. She knew better than anyone what Neville's personality had been like a year ago. Now, he was a little man.
After showing Dudley and Hermione to their rooms and telling Neville to study with them, Madam Augusta left to let the young people catch up. As the head of the Longbottom family, she had a lot on her plate.
So, Dudley and Hermione settled into the Longbottom ancestral home. Life returned to its familiar routine: training, practicing, and studying. A simple three-part cycle. Hermione, however, added lessons from Madam Augusta, and Dudley spent his extra time researching alchemy and how to modify magical items.
Madam Augusta was an incredibly powerful witch, easily a match for Professor McGonagall of Gryffindor. Hermione was absolutely amazed by her masterful skill at Transfiguration. Unfortunately, Madam Augusta was much less skilled with general charms, a result of a grudge she held against the subject after failing her O.W.L.s in it, which made her think it wasn't a worthwhile subject to study.
Although the Longbottom family didn't have any famous ancestors, their family line had never been broken, and they had many rare magical books. While they couldn't directly increase his power, many of them gave Dudley great ideas.
Many peaceful days passed in this way. During this time, Dudley acquired two new pieces of jewellery: a ring with a red stone (the Philosopher's Stone) and a ring with a blue stone (a magical power crystal). "If I get eight more rings, I could cosplay as a certain Marvel villain," Dudley said to himself.
Three owls eventually shattered the peace. They brought the second-year booklist for Hogwarts.
"Break with a Banshee, Gadding with Ghouls, Holidays with Hags, Travels with Trolls, Voyages with Vampires, Wanderings with Werewolves, and Year with the Yeti... Are these Defence Against the Dark Arts books? It looks like a set of novels!"
Hermione stared at the list of books on the parchment with a strange look on her face. The Defence Against the Dark Arts books were the most noticeable; the list was nearly as long as all the other subjects combined. And none of them were standard Defence Against the Dark Arts texts; they were all novels. And frankly, they weren't even as good as the novels Dudley had written.
Hermione had read Dudley's Lord of the Rings and Dragonlance Chronicles more than once and had become a dedicated fan, constantly asking Dudley for the next part of the story.
"It looks like the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for our second year will be this fellow named Lockhart," Dudley said, tapping the name on the parchment. All ten books were written by the same person, so if he wasn't the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, he must be a die-hard fan of the author.
After hearing this, Hermione groaned. "I hope he's not like last year's Quirrell. I didn't learn a thing."
Maybe you'll learn even less this time, Dudley thought. Of all her subjects last year, Quirrell's class was the most disappointing; she had learned absolutely nothing. The only thing she learned was how to fight a troll. How could she help Dudley if she couldn't learn anything? Hermione took out a quill and began writing on the parchment. She planned to buy her own books and self-study based on the usual Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum. She had done this at Oxford Dragon Elementary School whenever she had a bad teacher.
It was clear she had given up any hope for Professor Lockhart.
Well, that's our Hermione for you.