Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter Thirty Eight

The end of the school year was nearing, and Kefira was excited to see her family and tell all about her adventures at school, minus the detentions and getting into trouble. That part could be left out for her sake. She was in her bed dreaming about the upcoming family vacation, unsure of where her father was taking the family for vacation that year, but she was sure it was going to be loads of fun. Suddenly, her ears picked up on noise, stirring her from her sleep.

Picking up her head, she squinted through the darkness to see someone leaving the dorms.

"What in the-" she thought to herself.

It was only when the light had reflected off the bushy hair did Kefira recognize that it was Hermione. What was Hermione doing sneaking out during the middle of the night?

Waiting until she didn't hear any further noise, Kefira pushed her blankets off of her body and placed her feet on the floor. Careful to not disturb anymore of her dorm mates, Kefira left for the stairs. Suddenly, she heard voices in the common room, one easily recognizable as Neville's.

""You can't go out, you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble... I won't let you do it. I'll — I'll fight you!" Neville's voice rang out shakily.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Kefira suddenly heard a thump to the floor. She quickly hurried down the stairs to find the common room empty except for Neville lying still on the floor.

"Neville? Are you alright?" she knelt down by his side.

He didn't respond, but Kefira had to think back of what she had learned about the curse. It caused the entire body to become as stiff as a board and while the person could hear and see, they couldn't do much else.

Kefira didn't know what to do at first, but eventually she left back to the dorms to collect her own wand to release Neville from the spell.

As soon as the curse was lifted from him, Neville's feet and fingers began twitching.

Kefira offered her hand to help him up, as soon as he reached the sitting position he complained that his back hurt terribly. She helped him over to one of the sofas and sat beside him.

"Nev, what happened?"

"I-...I was trying to stop Harry, Hermione and Ron from leaving the dorms and getting themselves into trouble. They're going to get us all in trouble." Neville said.

"So you stood up to them?" she smiled.

"I tried to...but I failed even doing that."

"No, you didn't! Neville, I could hear you from the stairs, you were willing to fight them. That's amazing. That just makes you an even greater friend."

"It does?"

"Of course it does. You were willing to fight your own friends to keep them from getting in trouble. That's a true act of bravery."

"But...I didn't succeed."

"So what?" Kefira said. "You don't have to succeed in order to be brave, it's the fact that you tried."

"But I want to succeed." Neville sighed. "I want to be brave!"

She could hear the frustration in his voice growing as he sat there staring at the floor in disappointment that he wasn't able to stop the three from leaving.

"Neville, you're missing the entire point of bravery." she told him. "You don't have to be successful in every attempt. It's actually the attempt in what makes you brave. You went up against three people, not one, but three people ready to fight them. That's pretty brave if you ask me."

"Bu-"

"And more importantly, the entire thing was so much harder because they were people you consider to be your friends. If that's not a fine example of bravery than I don't know what is."

Neville sat quietly as he leaned back on the sofa to soothe his aching body with Kefira sitting next to him quietly.

"I feel like there's a bit more to this, Neville. Why is it so important for you to be brave?"

Neville bit the inside of his cheek before turning to her. "You promise you won't tell anyone...ever."

"I swear on my life." Kefira promised.

"I want to be brave like my parents. They were the bravest people I've ever known...although you're pretty close. But they..." he lowered his voice. "They were aurors."

"You mean the people who fight against dark magic?"

"Yes."

"That's amazing, Neville."

"Yeah, I know. They were amazing. They were incredible from what Gran told me."

Kefira didn't like where the story was going judging by Neville's saddened ton.

"What happened to them, Neville? Is this why you don't live with them?"

"I can't ever live with them. They can't take care of me...they don't even recognize me. They live in St. Mungo's. In the Janus Thickey Ward. It's the permanent ward."

The girl swallowed uneasily never expecting to hear such a tale coming from the boy.

"Why are they in there?"

"They were...they were tortured into insanity." Neville whispered under his breath. Instantly, her heart ached for Neville. Now everything made sense for Kefira, the reason behind Neville's want to be brave originated from his parents.

She heard him begin to cry in the darkness of the room, and felt even worse. Immediately, she pulled him into a hug allowing him to cry, because while many saw crying as a form a weakness, Neville had just become the bravest person Kefira had ever met.

"It's alright, Neville." she reassured him after he apologized, crying into her shoulder. "I bet my life that if your parents knew what you had done this year they would be so proud of you."

"Y-you think so?"

"I know so."