The book came far faster than he expected, the next day at dinner it soared in being carried not by owls, but by two huge rock buzzards that bawked and screeched angrily during transit. The huge birds wer necessary, as he tome was gigantic, easily weighing twenty pounds and was two feet tall, six inches thick and a foot-and-a-half wide. Despite it’s size and the ornery nature of the huge birds, it landed with surprising grace on the table. Neville was quick to procure the birds two large spent bones from some of the serving trays to feed the enormous birds, who took them with a snap of their beaks and flapped up into the sky. It was hard to avoid questions, as the huge ornate grimoire had the name “LONGBOTTOM” inlaid in silver text upon a leather cover, but it quickly died down, allowing him to rush it off to the library. He knew the historical section by heart now, and slid a few choice books and scrolls from their positions for reference, then sat down in front of the huge book. “Come out, Luna, I know you are there.” he said in a flat, determined tone. There was a pregnant silence before he heard footsteps from behind them. “How did you know I was there?” she asked in a tone that tried to hide embarassment with amusement “Where else would you be? Come sit down, you might as well make yourself comfortable” He said flatly as he began to carefully open the huge book. The earliest pages were almost indecipherable due to the cruel passage of time and its effect on language, though magical script carefully provided translations whenever his eyes followed the ornate words. Luna pouted a bit, but pulled up a chair to the table next to him to look at the tome, only to pull out a strange pair of glasses, each with unusual crystalline lenses, her voice came out filled with interest, "I can't make out any of the words, it just looks like scribbles." "You aren't a Longbottom. The book is designed to only be read by memebers of the family, and in this case, only by the eldest son. It's pretty common in old families to help keep secrets this way." There was a pause, "So if I married into the family I could see it?" She asked quizzically "Yes." he responded, alarm bells going off in parts of his brain he wasn't particularly used to. The ancient book was clearly a work of art, the sort of thing that any of the great families would own and cherish. The writing was ornate, drawn by a careful and skilled hand as it described the great exploits of notable Longbottom's going back into history, though Neville wasn’t lingering there, he carefully turned the majority of the pages over, then scrolled past the most recent exploits of his parents, and finally to the section he wanted to see, The family tree. Wizarding families are enormously complex affairs, especially pure blooded ones that date back into the past. While this book obviously focused on the Longbottoms, the inter-marriage between the various ancient houses was impossible to ignore. He had to sort through page after page of side-families, associated families, offshoots, entire ancient families that were so entwined that their entire genealogy was listed just to be safe. About three quarters of the way through the section he found the ‘Main’ family lineage that the book took extra care in displaying. Starting with the most recent, a sparkling red line glowed that demonstrated the unbroken patrilineal line of the family that terminated in his name. The various siblings, cousins, second cousins were also listed, and each name had a birth date, death date (where applicable) and notes about their lives and jobs when it was deemed necessary. He shuddered a bit, as an only child, the line of his family nearly terminated with him thanks to the Death Eaters and Voldemort. Feeling the weight of his ancestors on top of him always made him uncomfortable, but it wouldn’t stop him now. He followed the glimmering red line from page to page, and it surprised him just how many ancestors he had, the centuries began to tick by as the page turned, over and over, the 1900’s gave way to the 1800’s, he then started going back two pages, then three, as the turn of the first millennium crossed he slowed, until he came to the seventh century, taking the pages carefully Then as he crossed to the page that would take him to the sixth century, the pages suddenly turned up blank. He stared at the empty sheets of paper, confused, moving back to the sheets that had the family tree and back finding the terminator page at roughly 595 AD. Frustration hit him like a wave as he grit his teeth, “No, no NO Not now! What happened to the rest of it?!” he said loud enough for one of the library ghosts to shush him from across a bookshelf. Luna was staring at the pages, seemingly irritated at the complete lack of information that should have been there. The book showed no signs of stopping it’s encyclopedic knowledge of the family tree, so why stop there. In Neville’s hand started turning blank page after blank page, tears were streaking down his cheeks from months of constant stress and frustration when something fell out of the pages, a small envelope addressed to “My Grandson.” His shaking hands broke the wax seal and opened the letter. “To my beloved Grandson. I want to first apologize to you, for I was never a particularly good grandmother to you, nor a good mother to my son. The demands of the family regularly got the better of me, and keeping the lineage intact has always fallen to the women of the family. If you are asking for this book, it can only mean that something terrible has happened and that you require the information within this book to assist you. I cannot deny the scion of the Longbottoms this, as is demanded of me of my duties as matron to the line, and as will be the duty of your future wife. The final pages of this tome are hidden from prying eyes, and only the first born son of the lineage may reveal what is there. I do not know, I was not told, as it was not my place to know. I was only told that you would know the password, and the knowledge within is for your eyes only. The safety of our family hinges on your secrecy. I love you, Neville. While I have never shown it, I am proud of you and hope you will forgive me for my failings. Love, Augusta Longbottom” Nevilles eyes welled with tears and his heart swole with emotion. This letter was the first thing about the world that felt good and his soul could only take so much. He crumped to the floor and sobbed, gribbing the letter to his chest. Luna’s silence helped, he probably couldn’t handle another deeply confusing or disturbing conversation in that moment, he let the emotions finally run dry before rising up, and Luna finally spoke. “What password was she referring to?” she asked, as Neville carefully moved the pages to the first blank one and pulled out his wand, tapping the page gently and saying.. “Pendragon.” The page suddenly shimmered and burst into a roaring flame curling into a blackened heap and then suddenly unfurling and restoring itself as if time went in reverse, at the base of the page a pulsing red dot shot upward and stopped, a name emerged, “Hereward Langbotem” he said quietly, with black lines flowering out to show siblings and his wife, it shot up once again, and pulsed “Oswald Langbotem” with its accompanied branches, “Seabert, Selwyn, Tate, Wylfred…” Neville’s voice trailed off at the writing that pulsed hugely and the name slowly emerged “Arturus Pendragon… married to Gwenhwyfar… His father… Uther Pendragon.” Neville sat back, his eyes wide open as he stared at the wall. “But why the name change?” he asked the air, only for Luna to respond “I told you to ask yourself why a king, embroiled in a war would have his newborn son close and in the open.” Luna said calmly, “Arthur was betrayed by Mordred and Morganna LeFay, that is well known history. Merlin himself battled against her constantly. They almost certainly sped him away to a minor lord or even a commoner to raise. Langbotem means 'bottom of a valley" which probably suggests where the family lived... it's the modern equivalent to 'Jones' or 'Smith'" she explained “But Arthur was a muggle,” He said rubbing his temples, before looking down at the book, ink welled up around the name of Arturus and Gwenhyfar that made his eyes open wide “Gwenhyfar was a witch.” he said quietly, there was an amusement to his voice, a lot of old wizarding families would not be happy with such knowledge that the scion of their family line was a muggle. “He could have also been a squib, there isn’t much difference and they may not have made the difference back then… He did know about wizards, and Merlin knew him and actively worked with him. “Okay but… What does this have to do with m-” he stopped himself, he already knew the answer at this point, him asking was simply another cop out attempt to run away. He clenched his eyes shut to push down and force away the fear, “Better question… What does this mean?” She stared at him with that characteristic ‘bigger than worlds look’ as if such a question was absurd, but she responded nevertheless, “You can feel evil as it acts. You feel the suffering of those around you as it happens. What do you do to an evil when it is in your presence?” Neville gulped. He was afraid of that answer. He said nothing, though he was careful to close the book and stare at it as his mind processed the gravity of the situation and the knowledge in his mind. His hand felt the crisp parchment of the letter his grandmother sent him, he was ALMOST willing to ignore Luna’s phrenology calipers comparing the distance between the tip of his nose and his forehead. ‘The question never really was why me… was it’ He thought, his hand slowly tightening around the letter, ‘it was always me because it had to be me.’ He looked down at himself, a rather weedy young man who has had the roundness of youth get burned away by the onset of young-adulthood. He still was physically weak, fragile and scared. Not quite so short, sure, but was this really the king everyone had been waiting for? “Interesting, your forehead suggests a distinct attraction to blondes, I was expecting something more interesting than that.” she said as she twirled her own long straight hair, peeking at it and then blushing pink again. Neville didn’t respond, he just stood up and began walking. “Neville? Where are you going?” She asked “To find Ron and Seamus”. #Malfoid