Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 15: Meet the Longbottoms (pt 1)

When Neville Longbottom was two years old ...

Algie Longbottom was annoyed.

When his children had been young, it had fallen to his late wife, Wendy, to tend to them while he worked long hours building his meager inheritance into a small fortune. Well, to be fair, "meager" and "small" were relative terms. Algie was rather prosperous compared to most wizards, and his inheritance had given him a substantial leg-up in the world. Still, his holdings were nothing compared to the Longbottom estate that went to his older brother, the late Lord Archimedes Francisco "Archie" Longbottom. But that wasn't what annoyed Algie.

Archie married Augusta Crouch ("Gussie" within the family) in 1953. Their son, Frank, was born in December of '57 and displayed his first bit of accidental magic at eighteen months. And that was that as far as Algie was concerned. Archie and Gussie had their Heir Presumptive, so barring mishap, Algie was on his own. With children of his own to feed, he put his nose to the grindstone to build up something for himself and his family, all the while knowing that Little Frank's life was assured. But that wasn't what annoyed Algie.

In 1972, there was a particularly nasty Dragon Pox outbreak that claimed Wendy and Archie both. Due to Frank's age at the time, there was a three month period in which Algie had been called to serve as Regent Longbottom until the boy turned fifteen and could provisionally claim his Lordship. Upon doing so, Lord Francisco Claudius Longbottom shook his uncle's hand warmly and gave him a small brass plaque. "To Algernon Longbottom. In appreciation for services rendered," it read. From that day to the present, the two would talk no more than a dozen times, the last of which was when Frank politely but firmly denied a request to sponsor Algie's son into the Ministry because "his grades just aren't high enough." But that wasn't what annoyed Algie.

In 1981, Death Eaters attacked Longbottom Manor and placed both its Lord and its Lady under the Cruciatus Curse for so long that both of them were driven mad and had to be committed to St. Mungo's. Augusta was named as the custodial guardian to their infant son, Neville, but Wizengamot law decreed that Algie would be the Longbottom Regent. It seemed that arrogant fool Frank hadn't bothered to make a will, and so the Wizengamot had exercised its discretion to appoint Algie as regent because if the boy was a squib or for some reason didn't make it to his fifteenth birthday, Algie was next in line of succession and so should be acquainted with the House's affairs. The most likely scenario, however, was that Algie was now committed to fifteen years of thankless drudgery managing someone else's estates while his own languished. He stoically accepted the regency and then turned control of most of his own businesses over to his son, Reginald, who he hoped was up to the challenge. But that wasn't what annoyed Algie.

What annoyed Algie was that the Brat wouldn't stop crying! He'd grudgingly agreed to take the boy for today because Gussie wanted to visit Frank and Alice in St. Mungo's and felt Neville was too young to go. Unfortunately, Neville was asleep when she dropped him off and so she did not realize that she had left "Ebby" behind. Algie didn't know who or what "Ebby" was and didn't much care, but it was apparently so essential to the Brat's happiness that he'd started crying immediately upon waking up in his playpen and seeing that "Ebby" wasn't there to greet him. And he had been crying for ever an hour now, despite the best efforts of Algie's house elves to entertain him, wailing over and over "Want Ebby!" while Algie tried to ignore the noise and get back to balancing the books for one of the farms he was now managing on the Brat's account.

Then, suddenly, there was a soft pop, and Neville's wailing abruptly ceased. Curious, Algie went down the hall to the living room where Neville and his playpen had been deposited. The boy was still there, giggling softly while clutching a soft black teddy bear with baby blue glass eyes. Neville looked up at Algie and smiled. "Ebby!" he exclaimed.