Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter Sixty Three

Students cleared out of the Great Hall as they headed to their respective dorms and finally, Severus believed he was in the clear. Throughout the evening, the Walsh child had not approached him and he was thankful. He had already caught several of the glances sent his way by his former classmate. It was bad enough they would have to interact more than usual due to the wolfsbane exchange, but the last thing he needed was anymore conversation with one of the men he had grown to despise through his life.

Just as he went to exit out of the hall, he found himself startled as Kefira appeared before him seemingly out of nowhere. While his heart pounded in his chest at her sudden appearance, he kept his face calm.

"Miss Walsh, must we do this every year? You are to report to your common room or dorms after the feast, not wander through the halls." He scolded her.

Unlike the other students who obediently nodded their heads and scurried off, Kefira stood before him with a smile.

"Well, seeing as you get embarrassed when I approach the table, I figured I would thank you now." she told him.

"What are-"

"I wanted to thank you for my school supplies again."

"I do not know who informed you that it was I sending you the supplies but I assure you I would not go out of my way to do such a thing. You are not my responsibility, do you understand?"

The smile didn't fade from the girl's face, in fact, it seemed to grow wider with every passing second.

"Riiiight." Kefira said. "Okay, Professor Snape. Whatever you say."

"Return to your dorms right no-"

"I'm going! I'm going!" she laughed as she ran off. 

"Do not...run." he sighed and rubbed at his temples that ached. He turned to leave down the hall when he paused as he saw Remus standing a little ways away. He had obviously seen the interaction between them. Neither of the men spoke before Severus continued on his way, daring Remus to say anything about what he had seen.

"I'm not sure how all this stuff works." Kefira admitted as she walked beside Neville through the halls.

"What don't you understand?"

"I mean, if Divination allows us to see into the future, don't you think everyone would be doing it? You know looking into the future so they could plan accordingly?"

"But that would change the future, I think." Neville answered.

"How?"

"Well, the future happens because of a series of events occur, if you knew what was going to happen, who's to say you would follow the same series of events. You would try to get one outcome and probably wind up with another. Does that make sense?" Neville said.

"My brain hurts.' Kefira said rubbing the top of her head.

Neville smiled. "Maybe, Professor Trelawney will be able to explain it better."

The two quickly learned that unlike most of their professors, Professor Trelawney was a bit outside of the norm.

As her classmates whispered among themselves about the woman's appearance, the professor began to explain the process of reading tea leaves. Kefira leaned into Neville.

"I know this is going to sound weird, but I like her. She seems...fun."

"Fun? You think she seems fun?"

"Well how would you describe her?"

"Mad."

Kefira giggled. "Okay that fits too. But hey, would you rather be in her class right now or Professor Snape's?"

"Good point."

Divination didn't go so well for the two of them, or for really anyone during the first class. Poor Neville had succeeded in breaking two tea cups during the tea leave reading and Kefira couldn't find anything in her cup when the professor approached her.

"What have you found?" Trelawney said lowering herself to the girl's eye level.

"Uh...I'm not sure to be honest professor. So far my leaves seemed to have form what appears to be...a ...crescent moon? Or a croissant...I can't tell."

Trelawney peered into the cup. "The crescent moon...regards to the receptivity of the mind."

"Okay?" Kefira had no idea what the woman was saying but there seemed to be more to Kefira's cup.

"These lines here..." she pointed to what resembled a springy curl." ...this shows the changes and challenges that you will face this year."

"What kind of changes and challenges?" Kefira asked.

"Let's see," Trelawney squinted behind her large lenses as Kefira turned to Neville, who shrugged.

Suddenly, the professor smiled.

"Ah, there symbol of Venus appears..."

"I'm changing planets?" Kefira asked.

"No, child, Venus was the goddess of love."

"HUH?"

"How did she get all that from a bloody tea cup? The only thing my mum gets from her tea cup is her daily dose of caffeine." Kefira said as she entered the Common Room with Neville, Dean, Seamus, and Faye. "What are you laughing at, Finnigan?"

Seamus plopped onto one of the sofas. "Oh nothing, just little Kefi is finding true love this year!" he teased.

"Shut up! No I'm not!" Kefira protested. "The woman is crazy!"

"The only person who's crazy is you...crazy in love that is." Seamus laughed until Kefira took a throw pillow and began hitting him with it until Dean pulled her away and Faye helped Seamus sit up.

Kefira stuck her tongue out at Seamus before heading up the stairs to the girl's dorm.

"Uh Faye, " Neville said, " perhaps you should go see if she's okay."

"I'm sure she's fine, Neville, don't worry."

Neville frowned as his request was denied. But as he went to head to the boy's dorm, he saw Trevor head up the girl's dorm.

"Thank you, Trevor."

Kefira was lying on her bed irritated by the accusations of being in love with someone when she didn't even like anyone in that manner. 

She let out a sigh when something fell onto her stomach. She looked up and saw Trevor. 

She laughed.

"Who needs dogs when you have Trevor the therapy toad?"