Augusta Longbottom:
Augusta Longbottom nee Rosier had a few regrets in her life. She has had a lovely marriage with her husband and out of that marriage had come her greatest treasure, her baby boy Frank. Frank had been her pride and joy, even more so when her husband died years after the war with Grindelwald. He had sustained curse damage as a young man just before marrying her. Augusta had never cared about it. She thought the world of him, her brave lion of a man. She had loved him so much.
Augusta was happy that she had the years she had with him even if they hadn't been enough. She was just glad he had seen their son born, had heard Frank calling him papa before he died. The curse that had hit him as a young man had killed him after all.
Frank, her sweet baby had been a wonderful boy and when he grew up a great man, just like his father. He got good grades in Hogwarts, became a prefect and later Head Boy. He had been a social boy with lots of friends when he got sorted into Gryffindor. It's where he met Alice.
Sweet Alice, such a nice young lady. At first Augusta hadn't thought the girl was good enough for her boy but soon enough she came around. She only had to see how fiercely Alice defended her muggleborn best friend, Lily Evans, to know she was strong enough to be the Lady of House Longbottom. She was a good match for her Frank. The two had glowed with love and magic when they were together and that made all the difference to Augusta.
Her life had felt complete when they married and soon after had a beautiful little boy, Neville. The two had been such wonderful parents but then it happened. The most horrible day of her life. The moment everything changed.
It had seemed like the war was over and that they could finally relax again. Frank and Alice had come out of hiding and were looking for Alice's godson, Harry Potter. Lily and James had died protecting their son and when Voldemort went after little Harry Potter, he died. With that the threat of Voldemort and his Death-Eaters gone, Frank and Alice could come out of hiding.
Augusta could finally hug her son and grandson again and she had been sohappy. But it didn't last long. Soon after she got the news that Frank and Alice had been attacked in their own home by Death Eaters looking for their master.
Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange along with Rabastan Lestrange and Barty Crouch jr. had attacked her son and his family. Both Alice and her sweet Frank were catatonic due to extreme cruciatus exposure and unlikely to get better anytime soon, if ever. Neville, her poor little grandson had been hidden in a closet yet still had been able to hear his parents screams. The poor boy was in shock and most likely forever traumatised.
It had made her grandson a shy, quiet boy. She was ashamed to say that when looking back, Augusta really didn't have any patience for what she saw as her grandson's weakness. Then began her most bitter regret. Augusta had become so focused on the welbeing of the Longbotom family businesses, of her son and his wife, that she had forgotten about her poor grandson. Neville had not grown up with all the love and attention she could and should have given him. Frank would have been furious and how his baby had grown up. Not to mention Alice.
And to make matters even worse, there was her her brother-in-law. The brother of her late husband had always been an ambitious man. He and her husband had never been close after one was chosen over the other as the Lord of House Longbottom. Even though Algie was the younger son, he still felt he was the better man for the job. Yet, they had thought he had resigned himself to his position in their family. He had been a good uncle to her Frank, if a bit distant, so she had trusted him with her grandson, the Heir of House Longbottom, while she focused on the Family.
It had been a mistake.
Her brother-in-law saw it fit to try and take over the family. He had made her believe that Neville was a squib. Or near to it. It had made her behave cold to her only grandson whom she had seen as a disappointment both to her and to his father. Her poor grandson. It was only after the incident with Algie and the window that the scheming came to light. That she and Neville finally had a real talk about everything that had happened in her absence. How angry she had been at what he told her.
Little Neville, only ten years old had told her about his life as if it was normal. As if he deserved it for being a disappointment to her and their family. She had never been so ashamed of herself.
Augusta had trused her brother-in-law and what he did, what he did was unforgivable. She had just about murdered him after she had gotten Neville safe and sound back in his room with his House-Elf nanny.
She confronted Algie. And then she found out what he had been planning. He had planned to make the true Heir of his House weak, a squib. And if the boy still got an invitation to Hogwarts he would try to cause an accident. It would have been easy to make it look like an accidental magic mishap. Childeren got hurt in those often enough. That way his line would get to be Lord Longbottom, starting with him.
It could not stand.
Algie Longbottom got away that day without any memory of what had happened, that she had found out what his plans were. It was only that after Neville had gone of to Hogwarts that Augusta made her move. She would protect her grandson.
Augusta was very sad to announce that her brother-in-law, Algie Longbottom had met an unfortunate end. He went for a walk in the woods behind his cottage when he walked right into the range of a Womping Willow.
There wasn't much left to identify him with.
Poor man.
Yet it had made her busier than ever. Algie had taken on a few duties of the Lord after Frank's incapacitation and now with that slimy bastard gone, everything was on her shoulders. She tried to do better with her grandson and their relationship did improve a lot.
Still, she had not seen what disadvantage she had given Neville with giving him his father's wand. She knew it wasn't a good fit for the boy but she was so bussy that she kept forgetting giving him a new wand. Then the Ministry happend. Neville had been fighting Death-Eaters with a wand that didn't fit him. She had made him use that wand and it could have gotten her grandson killed.
Augusta had been so scared yet so proud. Her boy was growing up in a good man. From then on she could see the man he was growing up to be and she couldn't be prouder. So she hugged the life out of him when she saw him, she apologised for making him use his father's wand and she promised to take him to Olivanders as soon as possible.
That summer had been so very good for them. They had talked and worked on their relationship as grandson and grandmother. Augusta had promised to do better and Neville truly seemed to believe her. They would get through this.
Augusta had been surprised when she had recieved the letter from her Neville's friend, Harry Potter, the summer after it all happened. Neville had told her about the boy and what she had heard has worried her. The last Potter didn't seem to know anything about his heritage according to her grandson. He wasn't recieving any training to survive this war and from what Neville had told her, dangerous and mysterious things happened every year at Hogwarts around the last Potter.
That last thing was enough for Augusta to go to the Board of Hogwarts but the rest of the members didn't seem to know anything either. No one knew anything about the Stone, possessed teachers, Trolls, Basilisks or Dementors and Werewolves attacking students. It was clear that Albus was up to something. Why would the man have kept it quiet? They could have helped!
Why hadn't the wards around the school kept the dangerous creatures out? Why had all those dangers focussed around Harry Potter?
Also, Albus Dumbledore had assured them that the boy was taken care of and educated in their culture. That was already clearly not true with what her grandson had told her but seeing the boy from close by for the first time shocked her. It was even worse than she could have imagined.
The boy was thin. Much to thin to be healthy for a boy his age. He tried very hard but he was not used to the manners normal to the nobility. It was a worrying sight for someone she knew now was not only the last Potter, but also the Lord of two Houses. One of which thought to be extinct!
Albus Dumbledore had assured the Wizarding World that the boy standing in front of her was well taken care of and well educated in their customs.
It was a lie, she could see that immediately.
He came here asking for her help and after listening to his story he certainly got that. The poor boy had gone through so much that could have been avoided if only someone had tried. The boy was only her grandsons age and yet he had the eyes of an old man. Or maybe an abused animal expecting the worst of people.
It was horrifying.
She would teach him. She would teach him how to survive this world of theirs and how to make it bend to his will. She would teach him everything he needed to know to thrive. And she would love him like his grandmother would have. Euphemia had been a friend of hers and she would not have stood for what is happening to her grandson, kind and fierce lady she had been. She would ask Amelia Bones for help since he seemed to trust her and Andromeda Tonks too. The boy clearly needed a lot of healing after the life he led.
Dumbledore wouldn't know what was coming for him. He had made an enemy out of House Longbottom with the treatment of her newly adopted grandson. No one messed with her or her family and got away with it. Not that he knew that yet.
No worries, Augusta knew how to deal with interfering old men.