At the gates of the Longbottom family estate.
With a crack, an old man with white hair and a white beard appeared.
A few minutes later, Dumbledore met Frank Longbottom, his wife, and old Mrs. Longbottom.
"Professor Dumbledore?" They were all rather surprised—why had Dumbledore come to the Longbottom family home at this hour?
"Has Neville got into trouble, Professor Dumbledore?" Old Mrs. Longbottom poured Dumbledore some tea, immediately suspecting her grandson.
"No, of course not," Dumbledore hastily denied. "Neville is a good boy. He has been studying Herbology with Professor Sprout lately.
"I believe he will become a very fine herbologist."
Frank and Alice, however, looked disappointed—they had wanted Neville to become an Auror and had even spent the entire summer holiday training him with that goal in mind.
Dumbledore turned to Frank. "Actually, I came here to ask Frank for some help."
"Me?" Frank was rather puzzled—what could he possibly do to help Dumbledore?
He might not even be able to cast spells yet.
When Will had examined them one last time before the school year began, he had said, "It will be at least a month before you can cast spells."
But there was another sentence that had left a deeper impression on him and Alice.
"If you don't want Neville to become an orphan, don't go against my instructions."
So Frank and Alice had been living like Muggles all this time.
Still, Frank wanted to hear what Dumbledore needed him to do. "Er, Professor, please go ahead."
Dumbledore did not explain immediately, however. His tone was apologetic. "I'm very sorry, but I would like to speak to Frank alone."
Alice and old Mrs. Longbottom naturally had no objections. The Longbottom family all considered Professor Dumbledore one of the best people in the wizarding world—the other was