Harry and the others' arrival swept away some of the sadness in the ward. After all, this was something worth celebrating.
So Madam Augusta was the first to recover herself.
"You're all students from Hogwarts, aren't you?" she said in a tone of certainty, then looked at Neville, who was hurriedly wiping away his tears. "Are they your friends?"
Neville stood up and managed a weak smile at Harry. He did not speak, only nodded, afraid that if he opened his mouth, his voice would break.
Seeing that, Tver pushed a piece of chocolate into Neville's hand before Miriam could reach for a potion for him.
Naturally, Draco got one too.
Madam Augusta, however, hardly noticed her grandson's pale face. Instead, her eyes stayed fixed on Harry's forehead.
"Oh yes, I think I know who you are. Neville speaks very highly of you, Harry Potter!"
She reached out and shook hands with the thoroughly flattered Harry, then turned to Ron and Ginny.
"So you're the Weasley children? I haven't met you often, but your parents are both fine people, excellent wizards."
Ron flushed bright red and shook her hand rather stiffly. Ginny, on the other hand, was much more at ease, and curiously studied Madam Augusta's clothes.
"What is it, child?" Madam Augusta asked curiously.
"Nothing. I just think your outfit is very interesting," Ginny replied with a very tactful smile.
Augusta considered that for a moment. Looking at the embarrassed expressions on Harry's and Ron's faces, she decided not to pursue it further and instead turned to the last of them.
"Hermione Granger. Neville sings your praises, says you're the most outstanding witch in the whole year at Hogwarts."
Hermione seemed a little surprised by Neville's opinion of her, and shyly shook her hand.
Draco, meanwhile, happily crunching away on his chocolate, let out a displeased huff, though he did not dare say anything in objection.
After all, ever since he had started studying the Cruciatus Curse last year, although Tver had made up for it by teaching them a great deal of advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts, Draco had inevitably fallen behind in his other subjects. So in overall marks, he would never dare compare himself to Hermione.
Madam Augusta did hear that huff, and at once let the topic drop.
Draco was her grandson's friend, after all, and he had spent more than a year giving his time and effort to helping heal her daughter-in-law.
Even though she still despised Lucius for once having been a leader among the Death Eaters, she had finally let go of her prejudice against Draco.
"You excellent young witches and wizards have come here because Neville invited you, I assume, to witness his parents' recovery?"
At the thought, an irrepressibly happy smile spread across Madam Augusta's face.
But Ron and the others looked utterly baffled.
"Recovery? What's wrong with Neville's parents?"
Before Harry could stop him, Ron had already asked the question in confusion.
"What?" Madam Augusta's expression changed, and she turned a stern look on Neville, who was silently chewing his chocolate. "Neville, you haven't told your friends about your parents?"
When Neville said nothing, she grew angrier.
"This is nothing to be ashamed of. You should proudly tell them that your parents were tortured by Death Eaters in order to protect the peace of the wizarding world, to protect our lives!"
"It's all right, it's all right..." Mrs. Longbottom pulled the silent Neville into her arms with aching tenderness, tears once more spilling from her eyes.
"It's our fault. We haven't been able to stay by your side all these years. It's only natural that Neville would find this hard to speak about..."
"If you ask me, the ones who should be hated are those Death Eaters..." Miriam cast a sidelong glance at the awkward Malfoy family. "All right, the evil Death Eaters."
She stuffed several bottles of potion into Mrs. Longbottom's hands, then turned with commanding authority to all the non-patients in the ward.
"Alice has only just recovered, and Neville has exhausted himself badly. They both need proper rest. I think all of you should leave the ward for now and give them some space."
Seeing Draco being pulled along as everyone prepared to head out, Neville seemed to jolt awake.
"Wait. I still have to treat my father..."
"It's all right." Draco turned back in understanding. "We'll rest in the tea room upstairs. Once you've recovered, we'll treat your father."
"Besides, I need to write to Professor Snape and ask him to send the second batch of potion over as soon as possible."
So everyone had no choice but to leave the ward first, leaving only Madam Augusta and Neville behind.
"Let's write to Severus first, then head to the tea room."
Realizing how out of place his family looked here, Lucius tactfully made room for Tver and Harry's group.
"Sorry. I always seem to ask stupid questions," Ron said guiltily at once.
"That wasn't stupid... well, all right, maybe a little, but we really didn't know anything about Neville's parents, did we?" Hermione comforted him.
Harry's expression, however, was a little complicated.
"I actually did know. Dumbledore just wouldn't let me tell you."
"Just like there are loads of things he hasn't told me..." he muttered in the end, with a trace of resentment.
"Isn't that perfectly normal? Dumbledore wouldn't let you tell us about Neville's parents, just like he wouldn't let the Order tell you certain things either."
Ron was not very sympathetic. Although he wanted to know more secrets too, he also understood that some things had to be kept confidential, especially Order secrets.
"But this is about Harry. He has a right to know, not find things out by eavesdropping!" Ginny shot Ron an angry glare.
Tver, meanwhile, looked thoroughly puzzled.
"It's one thing for you lot to start arguing outside the ward, but could someone at least tell me why?"
Harry immediately let out a sigh of relief. He had been worried Tver would be evasive with him the same way the rest of the Order was, so he had been complaining in this roundabout way on purpose.
All he had wanted was to get the professor's attention.
"It's like this. When Mr. Weasley was injured, we overheard outside the ward that I... I actually saw the whole thing from Voldemort's point of view."
"And the Order of the Phoenix, and Dumbledore as well, think Voldemort might be able to possess me that way!"
"Oh, so that's what this is about." Tver looked speechlessly at Harry's aggrieved face.
"Dumbledore and I did discuss it, but we both think Voldemort controlling you like that is very unlikely."
"Harry, what worries us most is that when you're prying into information, especially Order information, Voldemort can use the same connection to learn those things from your mind. Do you understand?"
"You mean the spying goes both ways between You-Know-Who and Harry?" Hermione immediately caught what Tver meant.
"Exactly. That's why there are a lot of things we can't tell Harry. It's not because we distrust you. We just don't want Voldemort learning too much." Tver nodded approvingly.
In the original story, Dumbledore really had underestimated this point. He did have Snape teach Harry Occlumency, but the fact that the whole thing didn't backfire even worse was probably the greatest restraint either of them managed...
So Tver needed to remind Harry, at the very least, Voldemort could not be allowed to know that Tver had been closely watching his movements all along.
Harry, for his part, let out a long breath. Mutual spying was still dangerous, of course, but it was at least less terrifying than being possessed by Voldemort.
"Then what are we supposed to do? We can't keep everything from Harry forever, can we?" Ginny asked anxiously.
"Ah, that one will have to be left to Dumbledore to solve. I'm not exactly in an easy position myself at the moment, so I hope you understand."
Tver directly passed the burden off, or rather, ducked a burden that should not have landed on him in the first place.
Hmph. Dumbledore had carried Marvolio off, which left Tver stuck at the office all day. He barely even had time for afternoon tea anymore.