Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts (TL)

On Christmas Eve, St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries is full of a festive atmosphere.

The light source in the waiting room switched to gold and red crystal bubbles, which hung from the ceiling like giant Christmas balls, flashing constantly.

Neville holding his grandmother’s hand in one arm and clutching his book bag in the other.

They made their way up to the Fourth Floor, and every ward door they passed through is adorned with a holly tree, which is wrapped with colourful ribbons.

“Neville, come on–”

Old Lady Longbottom told him, and Neville rushed to keep up a couple of steps behind her. They went into the Janus Thickey Ward, all the way to the innermost bed, and lifted the floral curtain, where a pair of male and female wizards were lying in bed.

If you ignore their pale, sickly faces and gray, dry hair, they looked like young couples sleeping soundly after staying up late, with smiles that naturally spilled from the corners of their mouths, but Neville just looked at them sadly, and rummaged through his book bag and pulled out a bouquet and put them in a vase on the bedside table.

Neville just about threw away the wilted flowers when his grandmother said with a stern face, “I’ll do it.” She grabbed the flowers with her splintered hand and gave him a complicated look, “Neville-” but she left without saying anything.

Neville sat quietly for a while, after he had fixed his mother’s hair, tucked the quilt corners, and folded the towels for his father, but after a long wait, his grandmother still failed to return.

He hesitated and got up to walk toward the door, two beds away, a woman with a long hairy face suddenly barked at him, scaring him and causing him to almost hit the wall on the other side.

Startled, Neville opened the door and looked around, still no sign of his grandmother. The golden stars on the tip of the holly tree at the door flickered, causing him to lose sight of the distant corridor.

Neville’s expression became hesitant, thinking if he should go back, but he suddenly heard a faint voice at the front of the stairs, and he remembered this soft voice – it belonged to his mother and father’s healer, the aunt named Miriam.

“Mr. Hap – the Longbottoms – two weeks -”

Hearing the familiar name, Neville’s curiosity got the better of him, and he tiptoed over, trying not to make a sound. Around the corner of the stairs, he saw Aunt Miriam with her back to him, chatting with a healer in a green robe.

“No one can guarantee when they will wake up, Mr. Hap is confident, and old Lady Longbottom trusts him …,” said Miriam.

The other young healer couldn’t resist saying, “But it’s just according to the newspaper articles, so who knows what his real level is?”

Miriam said with some hesitation, “Ms. Bonham believes him, too.”

The healer retorted, “But like you said, it’s been two weeks since the last time that Hap came over, and the Longbottoms have been in a coma for two whole weeks, he’s certainly caused trouble that he couldn’t fix, right?”

Miriam’s expression became more concerned, but she still looked for a justification, “The patient’s condition is stable …”

“Who can say what happened to the memory, maybe they just couldn’t wake up anymore! That Hap is also at best a professor at Hogwarts, not some kind of healer, after all.”

Miriam seemed to have convinced, “You have a point, when Lady Longbottom comes over, I will persuade her.” The two then walked away together.

Neville leaned against the wall, the smile on his face faded away. He thought hard about what he had heard. There is only one Professor Hap at Hogwarts, so the professor is treating his parents? But why did he never mention it to him?

Neville thought, perhaps he might have worried about him? But he thought of the conversation between the two healers just now, two weeks in a coma … his heart clenched up abruptly.

He rushed back to the ward, opened the door, and dashed back to Mom and Dad’s bed – they were still sleeping quietly.

‘Two weeks in a coma …’

Neville tentatively nudged his mom’s arm, there is no response, he used a little force, mom still did not move, even the smile at the corner of her mouth did not change.

He suddenly panicked, the unfamiliar healer’s words repeated in his mind like some kind of corrosive venom –

“Who can say what happens to the memory, maybe they just couldn’t wake up anymore!”

Neville muttered, “Not waking up – impossible! The Professor never does anything that he is not sure of, he is so strong and calm …” But he could not help wondering about it again: that healer’s words also made sense, yes, Professor Hap never showed healer’s skills.

Just like Harry, he excelled in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but he isn’t as good as he is in his Herbology class.

There is a sound of footsteps in the distance, one is his grandmother, who is the other one? There seemed to be some familiarity … Neville glanced over the gap in the entrance and saw a fine pair of dark brown shoes, it is Professor Hap!

He realized, as an afterthought, that he had entered in a hurry and forgotten to close the door.

Neville plopped down on his book bag at the end of the bed and pretended as if he hadn’t noticed anything, his ears quietly perked up.

“Professor Hap, we need to talk.”

It is the voice of his grandmother, and she sounds a little anxious about what is going on.

“There’s nothing to talk about! I should have quit a long time ago, if you hadn’t found Dumbledore, I would have never been here tonight.” A man’s voice said.

It is Professor Hap … Neville thought to himself, how did the professor give him a bit of a strange feeling, a bit … cold?

“But, Frank and Alice haven’t woken up yet, they, they–”

Neville heard his grandmother’s sobbing, and his heart speed up as the words of the green-robed healer bore into his ears once again, making it impossible to ignore them even if he wanted to.

The chatter outside the door sounded quieter, and Neville couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder. The gap in the entrance only allowed him to see his grandmother’s profile, and she looked sad, an expression he had never seen before.

In his mind, his grandmother had always been stern and tall.

“Don’t cry! Someone will see us, let’s find a private place and talk things out once and for all.” The man said impatiently.

A shadow swept across the room, and footsteps drifted away.

Neville’s heart thumped, he couldn’t quite believe the conversation he had just heard, the man’s voice sounded like a villain.

He bolted to his feet, not even noticing that his book bag is clutched in his hand, he tiptoed to the door and poked his head out along the gap, just in time to see the backs of the two as they turned to the end of the hallway.

Neville took a deep breath and ran out quickly, locking the barking witch inside the ward. An abnormal flush suddenly appeared on his face, and it wasn’t until he had chased them to the end of the hallway that he realized his footsteps were so loud that perhaps the two of them might have heard it.

He leaned against the wall and waited for a few seconds in silence, no footsteps heard, he breathed a sigh of relief and probed like a thief to look, it is a row of empty wards, the light in the hallway is very faint.

Neville boldly walked over, he did not know which room his grandmother and professor were in, so he had to find them one by one.

He pressed his head against the door of the first room with his ears pressed against it, but there is no sound inside.

He tiptoed to the second door, and before he could get close enough, a clear voice heard from inside –