Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter Seventy Seven

"Why are we going out here, Kefi?" Neville asked on the morning of Halloween.

"Well, the poor dog must be all skin and bones now...oh no." she said suddenly.

"What?!" Neville looked around nervously.

Kefira touched her hand to her throat. "I almost sound like my mother there for a minute. Whew, that was a close one."

Neville sighed in relief. "Don't do that. You scared me."

"Sorry Nevs. Anyways, I brought out several sandwiches for the dog."

"Several?"

Kefira opened up her robes to reveal the sandwiches lined in her inner pockets.

"Tada." she smiled.

Neville laughed. "I was wondering what smelled like lunch meat on our way down here."

"Well, I wasn't sure what kind of meat the dog liked, so I brought a little bit of everything."

"I think it would be safe to say that the dog would like anything if he's starving like you said." Neville said.

"Good point. But who doesn't like having options, right?"

"What happens if the dog doesn't come out while we're here?" Neville questioned.

"I just normally leave the food by the tree where I first met the dog. But he normally shows up."

"Are you sure the dog is safe to be around? It could be wild, Kefi and-"

"He's fine, Neville. He's a bit skittish, but I think it has to do with the fact that he's so hungry and probably exhausted."

Trevor let out a croaking sound from where he rested on Kefira's shoulder alerting the two to look the other way.

Neville quickly went to scoot back but Kefira grabbed him by the robes as she caught sight of the dog.

"Relax will you? Animals can sense fear."

"Good, because I'm scared."

"He's not going to hurt you, Neville. He's a sweetheart."

She dug into her pockets and pulled out one of the sandwiches.

"Roast beef!" she told the dog.

"I don't think he understands you, Kefi." Neville said.

"You're probably right, but look at his eyes, he looks quite intelligent, doesn't he?"

Neville glanced at the dog but looked away quickly.

Trevor leaped off of Kefira's shoulder as she neared the dog and landed on Neville's shoe before letting out several calls up to his owner.

Neville quickly picked up the toad that appeared nervous and held him in his hands securely.

"It's alright, Trevor."

The dog and the toad seemed to stare each other down for a moment before the dog focused on the food before him.

While the dog feasted on the sandwiches Kefira had prepared for him, Kefira sat beside Neville talking excitedly about the Halloween feast.

"Halloween is probably my favorite day besides Christmas...and I think they are pretty close to tying."

"Really? Close to Christmas?"

"Oh yeah, my dad loves Halloween! Normally, we wear scary face paint and try our best to scare each other around the house."

"Why?"

"Because it's fun!"

The dog barked.

"See, he agrees."

Finally, it was growing cold, even for Kefira but she insisted on keeping the dog company for awhile longer.

"You're going to end up freezing out here." Neville told her watching her teeth chatter as she tried to shake off the cold feeling.

"How are you not cold right now?" she asked folding her arms.

"I don't know. It's funny isn't it, I used to be the cold one."

"Hilarious." Kefira replied.

Neville sighed. He knew he wasn't going to convince her to go inside the castle, especially while the dog was still around them finishing up his food.

"Here.." he said scooting closer to her. "We can share my robes."

"What?" Kefira looked at him.

"I mean, you're small to fit....just come here." He said before removing his arms from the sleeves and throwing it over the both of them.

"Wow Neville." Kefira said suddenly as she was engulfed in warmth.

"What?"

"You're like a space heater!" she told him curling into his side.

"Err...thanks Kefi."

"Hey! You know what we should do after here?"

"What's that?" Neville asked, praying that it wasn't something incredibly adventurous. "We should go hang out with Godric. Trust me, you're going to love him, he has the best stories. But just a warning, he's rather conceited."

The cold became too much for Kefira and they headed back to the castle leaving the dog, with the promise of returning with food. However, as Neville slipped on his robes to head back inside, he didn't notice the slip of paper that he kept in his pocket fall to the ground.

The slip of paper that had all the passwords to the Gryffindor Common Room written down on them.

"Come on, Neville hurry up!" Kefira called as she picked up Trevor.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Neville said running towards her.

Once the two were out of sight, a small gust of wind went to carry the paper away but it was stopped as a paw slammed it back to the ground.