Chapter Nineteen: Friends Reunited?

(i) Thank you everyone for the kind reviews. Please do continue to let me know what you think. I do like hearing back from you.

(ii) The characters and world of Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling. I make no money from this. Pity, I could use a bit of loot right about now.

(iii) And last but by no means least, a big thank you to my lovely, amazing beta, Queen_of_Stars.

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With the rush of working on the Longbottoms and testing out the cure they had learned, as well as dealing with the aftermath of Ron and Ginny's slanderous behaviour and work, Hermione had had almost no time for private research. She was desperate to read the books Minerva had given Severus for his birthday on Animagus visualisation. She was also quite aware that red sapphires did not exist in the Muggle world. She had always assumed that if they were red sapphires, they were known as rubies. But Severus was always very precise in his wordings, and if he had called them red sapphires, she knew there was a good explanation for such a naming.

Finally, towards the end of February, another Hogsmeade weekend was announced. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. The students would be out of her hair, the library would be almost entirely empty, and she could spend her day doing much of the reading that had piled up.

Her first course of action, however, as it had been every Saturday since the start of the New Year was to visit St. Mungo's. Together with Severus, she worked on Alice and Frank: massaging, chanting and hoping against hope that today would be the day when a more obvious sign was noticeable in the improvement of the Longbottoms. There were, of course, small improvements.

Alice would now, on frequent occasions, recognise Augusta and exchange almost lucid greetings with her mother-in-law. Frank and Alice both seemed to be sleeping much more easily, and they both seemed to be doing better at eating their food under their own steam and, indeed, carrying out some of their day to day activity without the aid of their Healers. But the moments of lucidity were sporadic, and Hermione wanted very much to have Neville reunited with his parents. Having lost her own so painfully, she wanted her friend to have the comfort she herself was denied.

On this particular morning, Severus was working on Frank while Hermione was working on Alice. They had both been given the potion in its latest and strongest form, and Severus was massaging Frank's forehead while intoning Pali verses. Hermione was doing the very same thing to Alice. Gunananda had sent the couple the most up-to-date of his research notes, and they had begun to experiment with it on their test-subjects. Suddenly, as Hermione and Severus began to chant together, they seemed to feel a building of momentum. Realising that collective intonation was raising the resonance of the magical build-up, they both redoubled their efforts, concentrating on the magic flowing through their hands as it was directed via massage onto the crown chakra. Neville, who was in the room, seemed to hold his breath and will his own magic to merge with Severus and Hermione as they came to the culmination of the chant. When they were done, they both sagged with exhaustion.

As the minutes passed and Severus and Hermione slowly moved to sit down, there was a shout from Neville. His mother had, for the first time, looked around the room with clear and lucid interest. As Severus and Hermione watched, Neville called for the Healers, even as he rushed towards the bed of his mother.

'Hello,' said Alice Longbottom cautiously.

'Hello, Mum,' said Neville. His voice was shaking with emotion, and tears were streaming down his face.

'Mum?' asked Alice, her voice filled with amazement. 'Neville, is that you?'

'Mum,' said Neville, throwing himself at her.

Alice struggled to wrap her arms around her weeping son, even as she tried to take in everything that was in the room. Her eyes alighted on the still prone form of her husband. 'Frank,' she cried, 'Frank.'

Neville seemed to come to himself, even as the Healers entered the room. Soon Alice was being subjected to a barrage of checks, even as she tried to look through the throng crowding her bed to catch a glimpse of her husband.

Finally the Head Healer turned to Severus and Hermione. 'I don't know what to say, but all of her vital signs and brain scans appear normal. It seems your experimental technique has finally done the impossible.'

Hermione and Severus beamed wearily. But their attention was once again captured by Alice. 'Frank,' she said, before turning to look at the Healer. 'What's wrong with Frank?'

This seemed to galvanise the Healers once more, and they all crowded around Frank Longbottom's bed.

Everyone in the room watched as test after test was done. Finally, the Head Healer turned once more to look at Alice. 'He seems to be asleep, Madam. Other than that, every sign seemed to be perfect.'

'Well,' said Alice decisively, 'wake him up.'

Neville laughed. 'Oh, Mum,' he said joyfully, moving to sit beside his father's bed. Looking over at the Healer, who inclined his head in agreement, Neville reached over and shook his father awake.

There was a grumbled mutter that sounded suspiciously like, 'Just five minutes more, Mum,' before Frank groaned and turned around. He seemed to start at the sight of a tall, strapping lad sitting on the edge of his bed, and a crowd of Healers surrounding him. Looking through the mob, Frank spotted his beloved Alice on the next bed.

'Alice,' he cried before struggling to push away the covers and sit up.

Soon the couple were united with their son and Augusta Longbottom. The old and stern witch was overcome with emotion. Tears poured down her cheeks unchecked as she hugged her son and daughter-in-law repeatedly.

Severus and Hermione watched the reunion with identical beaming smiles before quietly slipping out of the private room.

The Head Healer joined them out in the corridor and shook their hands in congratulation. 'Severus, Hermione,' said the Healer. 'Your work is extraordinary. Please convey my felicitations at this stupendous breakthrough to your partner in Sri Lanka. I would like to start setting up a link to have some of my people trained in this new procedure. We have a number of patients who could benefit from this discovery.'

Severus and Hermione were, of course, delighted. Severus knew that Gunananda had been struggling to find the financial resources needed to carry out his research. The infusion of British wizarding capital to his facility would ensure that the native healer would be able to further his research.

Exhausted but contented, Severus and Hermione returned to Hogwarts. Severus was planning on having a long, relaxing soak, but Hermione had plans to hit the library. She was too keyed up after the extraordinary events of the morning to rest. She had much to research, starting with the mystery of the red sapphires that made up her engagement ring.

Hermione loved the solitude of the library. Everyone seemed to be at Hogsmeade, and the quiet helped her come to grips with the magnitude of what they had achieved. She realised that it was the bond she and Severus shared that had helped them heal the Longbottoms. She suspected that Severus would be coming to the same realisation as he soaked in the bath. Putting that on her mental list of things to discuss when she was next with her beloved, she focused on solving the mystery of the red sapphires.

Luckily Hermione's many hours in the library had taught her where to begin her search. The ignored Magical Geology section soon provided the ever eager student with a number of books on magically formed minerals and chemicals. Red sapphires were listed in the third book she consulted called Substances, Magical. As she read the information, tears of amazement came into her eyes. The entry read:

Red Sapphires, also known as Sita's tears, are found only in a specific part of Ceylon. The exact site is a closely guarded secret, and the stones are mined by single caste of goblins known as the Randeniya. Legend has it that the stone came into being when the royal consort Sita was abducted and brought to Lanka by the demon king Ravana. At Sita's suffering over her separation from her beloved and godlike Rama, the pious Sita wept bitterly. As a tribute to her purity, devotion and piety, the gods transformed her precious tears into blood red sapphires with unique magical properties. Unlike normal rubies, red sapphires, when worn, bestow clarity of heart and mind to the wearer. They have the ability to cure infertility in women and, when crushed and mixed with unicorn milk, help bestow sight to the blind. When given as a token of pure and unconditional love, red sapphires bring the couple the gift of everlasting love, as was found by the holy Rama and Sita. Red sapphires are specially auspicious when worn by brides for they ensure fidelity, prosperity and loving kindness in the magical home.

Legend believes that the red sapphire was the stone that was given to Prince Vijaya by his demon lover and Yaksha Queen Kuveni, which allowed Vijaya to wrestle power from her brothers and become the first historically recorded king of Lanka.

Hermione realised that Severus had gone to extreme lengths to get her a ring that held within it strong magical properties. Not only was her engagement ring imbued with spells and enchantments to ensure prosperity, the stones themselves allowed for the couple to enjoy ever-lasting love. She understood that he was showing her how much he valued her and how much he craved her love and affection forevermore. It was obvious that he had spared no cost, wanting to show her his unconditional love and devotion. She could not forget that he had not expected her to accept his ring; he had merely wanted to give it to her as a sign of his fidelity. She vowed that she would always be worthy of the honour of wearing such a precious sign of her beloved's love for her.

The news of the Longbottoms' recovery made front page news of the Daily Prophet. Following so soon after the Weasleys' scandalous fiasco, it helped cement Hermione and Severus' place as heroes and saviours of the wizarding world. They were the much discussed and analysed couple. Severus, of course, scoffed at the sudden outpouring of letters offering them congratulations and felicitations. He could not forget the way he had been treated in the past. He scorned all the empty affectations of the public and became even more entrenched in his privacy. Hermione could not fault him on his desire for seclusion. She too knew how fickle the affections of the world were. They had each other, they had their true and dear friends, and they were content. Public adoration was nothing but a distraction and waste of time.

Harry, however, had begun to realise the error of his ways. When he learned of the work Hermione and Severus had put into helping cure the Longbottoms, he was ashamed. He realised that he had to seriously work on controlling his own Dark impulses. Quitting professional Quidditch, he enrolled in the Auror Training Programme. This was seen as a very good sign by everyone in the Order. In March, a now contrite Harry wrote to Hermione. In his missive, he said:

Dear Hermione,

Harry

Hermione was pleased to receive a letter from Harry, but it pained her that it was so very cold. She longed for the lengthy and childish letters he had written during their Hogwarts days that were filled with all of his thoughts and actions. Nevertheless, when she wrote back, she too admitted that she didn't want to lose their friendship. However, Hermione was very clear on the fact that since she going to be Severus' wife in the not too distant future, Harry had better accept the idea of her with Severus or lose her. Hermione insisted that she would not leave Severus or hurt him in any way.