Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter Eleven

The first morning of her first official day at Hogwarts, Kefira awoke just as the sun was coming up, casting a warm glow through the window of the dorm. She sat up in her bed and looked around to the other girls that were still sleeping in their beds.

So quiet and so peaceful.

"WAKE UP!"

Faye sat upright immediately as Lavender fell out of her bed. Parvati and Hermione both glared in Kefira direction at her abrupt and loud wake up call that they didn't ask for.

"Morning' ladies." Kefira greeted them as she jumped out of bed.

"What do you think you're doing yelling like that first thing in the morning?" Hermione asked her with a stern expression.

"I was waking you all up, I thought it was obvious."

Faye grinned from her bedside as the other girls grumbled and covered themselves back up.

"Well," Kefira said looking over at her. "I think it's safe to say they are not morning people."

"Most people aren't at this hour." Faye yawned.

"You got up no problem."

"I'm used to it. My little brother wakes up pretty early and I'm usually the one he comes to first, because my parents sleep like rocks."

"I don't know how anyone could sleep right now-" Kefira began.

"It's very easy," Lavender said lifting her cover up to reveal her face, " you close your eyes and breathe!"

"Someone's cranky." Faye chuckled placing her feet the floor. "Come on, Kefi, why don't we just get ready for the day?"

"You don't have to tell me twice!"

While Faye was still left showering, Kefira had finished getting dressed and made her way down the staircase, however, as she reached the bottom step, she looked back to the stairs. The prefect last night had informed them that if they so happened to try and sneak boys into the dorms that the stairs would turn into a slide, never allowing a boy upstairs.

She should have never informed Kefira of the charm placed on the stairs, because all Kefira wanted from that moment on was to slide down the stairs over and over.

She also continued to annoy the prefect with questions such as why the prefect was so concerned with eleven and twelve year old girls trying to sneak boys up into the dorms?

Stepping into the common room, Kefira wandered over to one of the windows and glanced out from the window seat.

"This is-" she was suddenly interrupted by a loud croak. She turned her head, her damp curls whipping her in the face. "Oh, morning Trevor."

The toad sat contently on the windowsill.

"How are you this morning?"

With another croak, Kefira grinned at the toad.

"You know my dad used to tell a toad joke all the time. Let's see if I can remember it..." she tapped her chin as she pondered deep into her memories trying to remember the joke correctly.

"Oh, now I remember. What did the bus conductor say to the toad?"

She allowed a moment of silence to pass over them.

"Hop on!"

The silence continued after the punchline until Kefira dropped her arms in defeat.

"Yeah, I remember now, it wasn't really that funny."

"Trevor! Trevor!"

Kefira looked over her shoulder to see Neville coming down the stairs in a panic, and on the last step, he slipped falling to the floor completely disappearing from view.

She walked over to where he was on the ground, groaning as he rubbed his back.

"Are you okay?"

Neville looked up, surprised to see Kefira awake that early in the morning, he was sure he would be the only one awake. Of course, he had woken so suddenly to find Trevor missing again and immediately began running around in search of his pet.

She offered her hand to him after asking if he was okay.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." he answered taking her hand.

He wasn't expected her to pull him to his feet so easily either.

"What are you running around for?" Kefira asked him.

"I lost Trevor again." he admitted shamefully.

"You didn't lose him, silly." Kefira smiled.

"I didn't? B-but he-"

"He's right over there!" she pointed in the direction of the windows. "Come on."

She led him over to the area where the two children found Trevor still resting in the windowsill basking in the morning sun.

"He doesn't look lost to me, if anything he looks right at home."

"I-I don't know why he keeps running away from me." Neville frowned.

"I don't think he's running away from you, Neville. I think he's just trying to stretch his legs out. He's a toad, right? Do you expect him to sit still all the time?"

"No."

"Well, you have to let him move around a bit. Trust me, I don't think he's going to leave you like that, I think he wants to explore. Curious little toad, he is."

Neville stared at Trevor who continued to bask quietly.

"I guess you're right." he sighed.

"There you go!" she said clapping him on the back. "Hey want to hear a toad joke?"

"Errr...."

Suddenly, Trevor leaped down from the windowsill and hopped over to them landing Kefira's shoe.

"Okay, I won't tell it again." she said. "But even if we didn't find it funny, someone else might have. My dad thought it was the best joke in existence."

Neville glanced back and forth between Trevor and Kefira. The girl was talking to his toad, having an actual conversation which then turned into an argument.

"Umm.."he decided to interrupt the two unsure where the conversation was going, considering Kefira seemed to be the only one talking, although Trevor had let out a series of croaks during the time.

"You c-can tell me the joke, if you want."

Kefira looked down to Trevor triumphantly. "See?"

She faced Neville. "Okay, what did the bus conductor say to the toad?"

"I don't know." he said honestly.

"Hop on!"

For the first time since they arrived off of the Hogwarts Express, Kefira saw Neville smile and then he let out a small laugh.

She was going to have to let her dad know in her first letter that someone had found the joke funny.