A few minutes later, the three of them sat down. Mrs. Longbottom passed over the cloyingly sweet desserts and took a cup of tea instead.
"Hello, Mrs. Longbottom," Will said. "I'm Neville's friend. You can call me Will."
"I recognize you, Mr. Behrens. I came to watch the Triwizard Tournament, and Neville kept telling me how much you'd helped him." Mrs. Longbottom looked delighted. "He's grown so much. It's wonderful to see him showing the makings of a Longbottom. We have you to thank, Mr. Behrens."
"Actually, Neville earned that progress himself. He studied hard and practiced diligently. He just needs more encouragement. You might try encouraging him more, Mrs. Longbottom."
"I'll try to change my approach."
Though Mrs. Longbottom said that, Will doubted she could easily change the way she raised Neville. She was always stern, forever invoking the Longbottom family and telling him to "uphold the family's honor."
"So," Mrs. Longbottom asked, "what would you like to know about Neville, Mr. Behrens?"
"There are some unusual aspects to Neville's magical structure. From what I've observed, it used to be abnormal, but it's gradually recovering. Given his memory problems, I'd like to ask what happened to him in childhood." Will activated Emotion Weaving, a Bonus Ability of Charisma, hoping Mrs. Longbottom would trust him a little more.
"Well..." Mrs. Longbottom hesitated. "Is Neville's condition serious?"
"No. As I said, he's already recovering, and there's nothing wrong now. I've been researching a few subjects lately, and his condition happens to be relevant to one of them. I'd very much like to know what caused the abnormality in his magical structure."
Mrs. Longbottom breathed a sigh of relief at his answer. "That's good... that's good..."
Then she looked at Will and turned to Dumbledore, as though checking whether Will could be