A/N
Seventh Season, Finals
Team: Wigtown Wanderers
Position: Chaser 3
Prompt: A Curse So Dark and Lonely; I used the main theme (twisted retelling of Beauty and the Beast)
Additional Prompts: (character) Neville Longbottom, (object) Wizarding Chess Set, (location) Shell Cottage

Note: AU because Hermione and Neville have non-canon careers

Beta: Bailey, Aya

Beastly Magic

On Wednesdays, Hermione liked to stop by the St. Mungo's and visit the children with Dragon Pox. Though it wasn't dangerous, especially to adults, it was highly contagious, so the children had to be quarantined. Hermione liked to drop in and tell them stories to make their short-lived isolation a bit easier. On her way out, she got behind two older witches gossiping loudly. She did a good job of ignoring them until a familiar name punched through her consciousness.

"Did you hear what happened to the Longbottom boy last week?"

"Yeah, horrible innit? I reckon he's stuck like that."

"Probably. I've got a cousin who's a Mediwitch on the Dark Curses floor, and he was there when they brought him in. Said the healers don't know what it is, much less how to treat it."

"Such a shame."

As the women stepped into the Floo, Hermione froze. She hadn't seen him in six months, but it was still impossible to think about. Neville was hurt? Neville was here?

Straightening her shoulders, Hermione turned around and headed for the front desk.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Granger, but I can't release any information regarding Mr. Longbottom's condition or whereabouts."

Hermione fought the urge to stamp her foot. "Why not? Supposed patient confidentiality has never stopped St. Mungo's in the past."

"This is a special case." The receptionist grimaced. "We're not keen on causing hysteria or widespread panic over his status. If you have concerns and are close to the family, reach out to them. That's all I can say."

If Neville's condition was that serious, she needed to know more. She wouldn't get much information from Augusta, who she barely knew. Hermione's best bet for information was probably a master Curse-Breaker and frequent St. Mungo's consultant. Thank Merlin Bill Weasley was her best friend's brother.

She brought forth a memory of Shell Cottage's front gate and spun on her heel. She had to find a way to help her oldest friend.

Hermione took a deep breath of sea air and walked toward Shell Cottage's door. Before she could reach it, Bill met her outside.

"Hermione," he said, greeting her with a hug. "Haven't seen you in ages. How've you been? Still with the DoM?"

"I'm well, thanks. I'm still with the Department and loving it. How are Fleur and the girls?"

Bill carded a hand through his hair and chuckled uncomfortably. "They're all great. They're with Mum for a bit, probably the rest of the summer. I'd invite you in, but you've got rotten timing, Hermione. I've got...unexpected company."

Hermione studied him for a moment then narrowed her eyes. "Let me guess. It has to do with Neville Longbottom and his mysterious illness?"

Bill blanched. "I—uh, you see—It's—"

"That's what I thought," Hermione said triumphantly. "I want to help."

"I'm not sure how you even know about it. No one's supposed to. Mostly because we don't know if there's anything anyone can do." Bill scrubbed a hand down his face, frustrated.

"But it can't hurt to try, right? Think of what an asset I could be. Besides, you know I can keep a secret."

Bill sagged against the doorframe. "Come on in, I'll put the kettle on."

"How did Neville wind up here? I expected to come here and squeeze you for information, not stumble upon everything. Granted, St. Mungo's was very tight-lipped about the whole ordeal."

Bill carefully stirred the sugar into his tea. "We need to start farther back, with what you already know. Years ago, Ron and the twins always said Neville was a bit slow and only cared about his plants, but the war changed him. He spent the year after you finished school studying up on everything he missed. He wanted to make sure no one ever had the power to become another Voldemort. Six years ago, Neville decided to get into curse-breaking and became my apprentice. When he finished two years later, he asked to be put on a different team, one focused solely on destroying anything Voldemort related."

"I don't like where this is headed."

"Last week Neville's team was helping to clear out a cache of dark objects belonging to some of the earliest families to support Voldemort. Neville was working on an enchanted vase with one of his younger team members when the other guy made a mistake and fell into the thrall of the vase. Neville knocked the kid out of the way, but he accidentally touched it."

Hermione rapidly tapped her fingers against her cup. "Okay, an enchanted item with a thrall. Not great. Belonged to an old, powerful family. Also not great. What happened next?"

"No one's really sure. The vase sent out a shockwave, and it knocked everyone out. When they came to, Neville was… Well, Neville was as he is now."

"Which is?"

Bill gulped down the last of his tea. "It's probably best if I show you."

Hermione followed him down the hall and came to the door of the room where Griphook stayed. She reached for the knob, but Bill grabbed her wrist.

"Just don't scream, okay? It upsets him."

With that, Bill slowly opened the door.

At first, Hermione thought that Bill had captured a large, dark brown bear and trapped him behind a shimmering shield. But as she looked closer, Hermione could make out a long sliver of pale hair that cut through the bear's left eye and down his chin, ending just above his heart. Hermione remembered seeing Neville right after the Battle of Hogwarts with a deep gash in the exact same place.

"Neville?" Hermione whispered, raising a hand as if to touch the near-invisible barrier.

The beast snarled gutturally, but it almost sounded like, "Go away!"

Hermione leapt back, clenching her hand in front of her mouth, and Bill quickly shut the door.

"How long has he been like this?" she asked.

"It wasn't like this, not at first," said Bill. "He looked like a bear, but he was talking and acting normally. His team rushed him to St. Mungo's, thinking the hospital could help him, but the Healers were afraid to try much and instead isolated him. Personally, I think they were afraid of him. The longer he was isolated, the more bear-like he became. The hospital decided they couldn't keep him, for the safety of the other patients. Augusta asked me to go to Longbottom Manor and set up a room for him there, but I'm not a Longbottom. I couldn't fully access its ward scheme. We grew quite close during his apprenticeship, and I couldn't stand the thought of Neville hurting his gran. So I sent Fluer and the girls to stay with my parents and brought him here."

Hermione gently patted his hand. "You're a good man, Bill Weasley."

"A fat lot of good that's done Neville so far," he said with a snort. "He's a little better than he was, but not by much."

She looked back mournfully at the door. "There's got to be something I can do for him."

Bill laughed and said, "Oh dear, I do believe Hermione's got a cause. Where are you going to start?"

"I just want to help my friend," she said with a huff. "And for your information, I planned to start by looking into the item he touched. What can you tell me about it?"

"Usually I'd be able to tell you a lot more, but the team leader has been pretty hush-hush about the whole thing. All I know is that the vase was probably a Black heirloom."

A smile bloomed across Hermione's face. "Then I know just the place to start."

Early the next morning, Hermione knocked on the door of Shell Cottage.

"Hermione, don't you have to work like the rest of us?" Bill asked sleepily.

"I had four months of vacation days saved up. I'm not working on a major project right now, so I sent Croaker an owl and let him know I'm on vacation for a while."

"Not one bit of that surprises me."

"But look at what I found!" Hermione chirped. "I went over to Grimmauld Place last night—"

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" he said, setting two teacups on the breakfast table. "What was it?"

"I was looking through some of the shadier grimoires and books on the family history when I came across this."

She spread a piece of parchment across the table. On it was a picture of a dark green vase with swirling black, red, and gold accents.

"From what I heard, that's pretty much what the thing looked like," Bill confirmed. "What did you find out about the curses?"

Hermione slid him the paragraphs that had accompanied the entry about the vase. "I'm sure you'll know more about it, but it seems to me Neville and his team got past the layered insanity curses, somehow bypassed some kind of blood ward—"

"Atwill's Solution, probably," Bill said absentmindedly.

"—and made it down to the final layer of protection. I'm hoping you'll read the description and come to a different conclusion about it than I did."

"...shall turn into a progressively bear-like creature...progression and regression of mindstate...condition can become irreversible...only an act of true, selfless love can completely break the curse," Bill finished reading. He scanned the page several more times and cursed. "Of course the Blacks would think of something so, so, so—"

"A solution most of them seemed incapable of finding," Hermione whispered. "I thought so too."

"So what do we do about it?"

"You're going to explain this to Madam Longbottom. I'm staying here with Neville."

Bill's eyes grew wide. "Hermione, you can't do that!"

"Do you think your wards are going to fail?"

"No, but—"

"Is there any real risk for me?"

"Ahh, no—"

"And human contact is supposed to help him?"

"Well, yes—"

"Then I'm staying."

Hermione marched back to Neville's makeshift cell and threw open the door. "Good morning, Neville!"

From where he lay on the bed, Neville growled at her and threw a pillow in her direction, which bounced right off the barrier.

"There's a small exchange slot on the floor," Bill said, pointing to an area of the shield that glowed a bit different from the rest. "Just tap it with your wand."

"Thanks, Bill."

As soon as he walked away, Hermione plopped down on the floor and said, "Come on, Nev. I know you miss having people to talk to. If I had to guess, it's been almost a week since anyone talked to you normally."

The bear looked up from the bed and nodded.

"Well, you're still Neville to me, so that's exactly how I'm going to treat you. And I find it quite rude that you're basically ignoring me. Is that any way to treat a visitor?"

With a grumbling noise, Neville crawled out of bed and lumbered over to the barrier.

"And are you going to stare down at me, or are you going to sit?"

Although he growled a little, Neville lowered himself to the floor.

There was a long moment of awkward silence as Hermione tried to figure out how to have a conversation with someone who couldn't really talk back. She could feel Neville growing frustrated with the tension when a brilliant idea hit her. She rummaged through her favorite beaded handbag for a moment and eventually pulled out a battered wizarding chess set.

"Do you like chess at all?"

The bear perked up a little and made a so-so motion.

"Well, I'm rubbish at it, and you'll probably beat me every time, but I'm up for a few games if you are."

She set up the pieces and thought for a moment about her first move. Finally, she moved a pawn and passed the entire chess set through the exchange slot. She held her breath as the bear examined the board and then, with two claws, daintily moved one of its own pawns before passing the set back through. They played a few more moments before Hermione broke the silence again.

"Do you realize we haven't seen each other in six months? I feel bad for losing touch with you."

The bear made what she swore sounded like a noncommittal noise.

"I know work was crazy for us both, but that's really no excuse. Do you mind if I talk a little and catch you up on what's been going on with me? When we get this sorted, I promise to sit and listen to you do the same thing."

The bear grunted once and shoved the board back toward her.

She made her move. "I'm assuming that means okay?"

Neville passed the board back to her and grunted twice.

After studying the game for a moment, she snorted. "I guess that was actually bear-speak for 'check' and 'checkmate.'"

Neville guffawed, and Hermione laughed too as she reset the board. They played several more games, Hermione updating him on every facet of her life. When Hermione's growling stomach drowned out Neville's "checkmate" grunt, she left to go pick up lunch from the Leaky Cauldron. It was funny watching Neville's paws try to handle a spoon, but they compromised and both drank their beef stew straight from the bowl. The rest of the day was great fun, and Bill returned from work to find them both sprawled on the floor, laughing at one of Hermione's terrible jokes.

"Guess I don't have to ask how your day went?"

"We had a great day, didn't we, Nev?" Hermione asked, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Yes!"

Both Bill and Hermione's eyes snapped to Neville.

"Neville? Can you speak?"

"I. Think. So."

The voice was gravelly and wild, but after a few more questions, they realized Neville was able to speak in short sentences.

"Today has been a complete success!" Hermione said. "If we keep this up, we'll have you back to almost human in no time!"

"Augusta's working on the fully human part," Bill added.

"Love? How?" Neville asked.

"She just said to expect some visitors this week."

The next day, Hermione and Neville were halfway through a chess match when there was a knock at the door.

"Guess your gran's guests have arrived."

Hermione opened the door to see Susan Bones.

"Hey, Susan!"

"Hermione! It's been too long."

"Are you here to see Neville?"

Susan followed her into the house. "Yes, Madam Longbottom said he was finally ready to start talking about betrothals. I know you're not into the whole traditional pureblood thing, but I appreciate that you're using your legal knowledge to help Neville navigate the betrothal process."

Hermione wondered what lies Madam Longbottom fed this girl to get her here, but she played along. "Yeah, it's a difficult situation for him. When did you last see Neville?"

"Oh, only a few months ago. We got along great, like always."

With her hand on the knob, Hermione said, "Well, just know he looks a little different now, but underneath it all, he's still the same Neville."

Susan laughed. "I'm sure it's...Merlin's saggy left—"

The redhead hit the floor with a thud.

Hermione and Neville exchanged a glance.

"Well," he said, "Went as well as I expected."

Hermione chuckled, levitating the girl down the hall and onto the couch. She returned to the game, and five minutes later they heard a shriek and a slamming door.

"Wonder how many she'll send?"

"Gran's relentless. It'll be fun."

For Hermione and Neville, the next two weeks passed in a blur of takeout, chess, and a ridiculous number of suitors. Some they knew, and some they assumed Augusta had dredged up from her many contacts in the wizarding world. Eventually, they formulated a system to rank how well girls handled seeing Neville's bear form. Surprisingly, the highest scorer was Daphne Greengrass, who actually squeaked out a few sentences before fleeing when the bear talked back.

Through it all, Neville grew progressively more human. After a week and a half, he could speak normally, and his claws had basically disappeared. But, in the end, that was it. They were both dismayed he'd gotten as close to human as possible, barring an act of true love. It was a major source of tension for the two, and after a fortnight of constant companionship, it all came to a head.

"I just wish there was more I could do," Hermione moaned. "I hate that I can't get you any further."

Neville snorted. "You've spent every waking minute with me for two weeks. That's more than anyone has done. I'm should feel bad about disrupting your life."

"It's still not enough, though."

"It is. You've got to go back to work."

"Why? Don't you want me here?"

"Of course! But what about your career! All that work to get where you are!"

Hermione stamped her foot. "I'm telling you, I don't care about my career at a time like this! I'm staying here with you!"

A swirl of golden light filled the room, followed by a small shockwave that knocked them both to the ground. When she sat up, Hermione saw Neville. Human Neville. She ran over and pulled him into a tight hug.

"You're you. But how?" she murmured.

Neville shrugged. "The book said I needed an act of true and selfless love, but you don't love me, right? We're just friends. "

It was like someone flipped a light switch. Hermione smiled up at him and shook her head. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before. Of course, I love you, Nev. I already said you're my oldest friend. I was willing to put my career, which has been my life, on hold until you were cured. Love doesn't always have to be kissing, sex, or marriage. Love is caring, sacrifice, friendship. The ancient Greeks actually had a word, philia, which means—"

"I get it, Hermione," Neville interrupted with a playful laugh. "I love you, too."