Neville felt as though he had sunk into a warm sofa. Tver's embrace gave him courage, or rather, drew out the courage that had long been hidden deep inside him.
"Potion."
This was the third time Neville had called for Draco, but this time his voice was the firmest and steadiest yet.
Draco hurriedly shoved the pain-relieving potion, something close to an anesthetic, into Neville's outstretched left hand.
Faced with Mrs. Longbottom in this condition, he simply could not bring himself to feed her the potion himself.
But Neville, even using only one hand, was far steadier now. Quickly but firmly, he fed her the new dose, and the last one.
Then he closed his eyes again and slowly, carefully, began channeling his magic.
As for Mrs. Longbottom, once the potion took effect, together with the soothing magic Tver had left behind, her expression gradually returned to normal. She looked like a sleeping baby, peaceful in a way that made everyone feel at ease.
Seeing that, Tver let go at just the right moment and stepped back to his original place.
"This... I've never heard of treatment like this. I never even imagined such a possibility," Miriam said, staring in disbelief. With her professional knowledge and experience as a Healer, she naturally understood the method Neville was using.
But understanding what he was doing did not mean she could comprehend it. In fact, it was precisely because she understood that her shock surpassed everyone else's.
"There's nothing impossible about it." Tver gave a soft chuckle, his eyes, like Madam Augusta's, full of gratification as he watched Neville and Draco.
"Their knowledge of the Cruciatus Curse was taught by the world's greatest expert in Dark Magic research. The potions they're using were brewed personally by a top-tier genius."
"And they are the finest students in the world."
Unfortunately, Draco, crouched beside Neville, completely missed the professor's evaluation of him. He was wholly focused on Neville's condition, and without needing to be told, would occasionally raise a potion bottle to Neville's lips.
Yes, the remaining potions were meant for Neville.
Even after years of Tver's teaching, Neville's control over magic still could not be called truly precise.
But since he was the only one who could carry out the treatment on his mother, he had no choice but to rely on potions to forcibly stabilize his magic.
The side effects were obvious. Neville's strength was draining rapidly. Sweat poured off him, and before long his thick clothes were soaked through, as though he had just been hauled out of water.
Yet in contrast to Neville's increasingly pale face, his mother, Mrs. Longbottom, was gradually regaining focus in her eyes, and in the bright sunlight they sparkled.
Tver quietly released a thread of diagnostic magic. First he checked Neville's condition and confirmed that the potion's side effects were only draining his stamina and would leave no aftereffects.
Then he discreetly began examining Mrs. Longbottom.
"Because of the disarray in her soul, her brain has been overtaxed trying to protect the body as much as possible. Once the soul problem is resolved, the brain's own recovery, together with all the potions she's taken over the past decade, will allow for a very good recovery."
Miriam had reached the same conclusion. The moment she sensed that Mrs. Longbottom's condition was improving, she immediately began discreetly examining her as well.
That, in turn, let Tver understand why Mrs. Longbottom could recover so quickly.
"Speaking of which, I must thank you again for all your care over the years."
Madam Augusta was suppressing her excitement so hard that when she spoke, the words seemed to come out squeezed through her throat.
Never mind anything else. Just those lively eyes, so normal and alive, were enough for even Lucius, who knew nothing about such matters, to see that Mrs. Longbottom's condition had improved.
As soon as her gaze steadied, Mrs. Longbottom focused on the person in front of her.
Even though before she was tortured, Neville had still only been a swaddled baby, she recognized at once that the person before her, the one doing everything he could to heal her, was her son.
"Ne... ville..."
More than ten years without speech had caused her language to deteriorate badly, but she still repeated her son's name again and again, gradually improving from hoarse fragments to something clearer, brighter.
"Ne... ville... Ne... ville..."
Neville slowly opened his eyes. His bloodless lips trembled as they parted, and in a voice tight with tears, he said softly, "Yes, Mother, I'm here. I've always been here."
"Neville!"
Mrs. Longbottom's eyes immediately filled with tears, and at last they spilled over, as though she were pouring out more than a decade of longing all at once.
Her withered hands lifted in disbelief, trembling as they reached out and traced Neville's wet face.
"In my memory, you were still a baby in swaddling clothes, crying for milk. And now, you're already grown, grown enough to save your mother..."
Her voice was hoarse, and she spoke weakly, but she still forced herself to say every word fully, clearly, and firmly.
"You've only just recovered, so you should rest first before talking any more. There's no need to rush right now."
Miriam sniffed and said gently to Mrs. Longbottom, "I need to prepare some potions for you, but this time, I won't have quite such a headache over it."
Seeing the puzzled look in her daughter-in-law's eyes, Madam Augusta hurriedly began explaining everything, recounting all the many things that had happened over the past decade.
Watching this warm scene, Lucius felt distinctly uncomfortable.
For the first time, he found himself, a former Death Eater, envying an atmosphere like this.
As if sensing his parents' strange mood, Draco suddenly looked at them with feeling.
"If something had happened to you, I would have fought just as hard to heal you."
"...Thank you."
"P-Professor, and Neville, what happened here?"
Harry suddenly stepped cautiously in through the doorway with Ron, Ginny, and Hermione behind him.
At the end of the last school year, Dumbledore had told Harry about Barty Crouch Jr., so naturally Harry also knew that Neville's parents had been tortured into madness.
But seeing Lucius and his family, a Death Eater family, here left him thoroughly baffled.
He glanced at Neville's family and the Healer, all of them quietly wiping away tears, then at Draco, looking openly smug, and at the complicated expressions on Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.
Judging by the scene, and to put it bluntly, he had briefly thought Lucius had brought his family here to flaunt themselves. If Tver had not been present, Harry would already have had his wand out.
...