Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter Seventy Six

Kefira had found a lovely tree to climb and had perched herself on a strong branch to look out at the land. She smiled to herself as she found herself surrounded by a peaceful silence. She had long lost the tracks of the possible dog that was traveling the grounds, and instead took it upon herself to rest.

She was staring out ahead when she heard a twig snap. She turned her head and saw nothing.

"Hello?" she called out. There was no response but she heard further movement.

She raised a brow as she leaned back on the branch looking around.

She went to call out again, but she had allowed herself to get too distracted and instead of focusing on holding a steady grip on the branch, she lost her balance and fell out of the tree.

Immediately, the air was knocked out from her as she landed on her back. She let out a groan as she lied in the snow.

"Ow."

The sound of things moving about caused her to look over to see an animal peeking out from behind a tree. She turned her head fully and saw a black dog cautiously step out from behind the tree.

"Uh...hello." she said pushing herself to sit up despite the pain she felt.

The dog remained still just watching her. The dog's fur was unkempt and matted in some areas, it was thin it's ribs sticking out despite being covered in the dark fur.

"You look hungry." Kefira said. "I don't have much on me, but I did pack a sandwich if I got hungry, but you seem to be in greater need of it than me."

She dug into her pockets and pulled out the wrapped sandwich. "We're not really supposed to take food out of the Great Hall but...well...here." She offered the dog the sandwich holding it out.

The dog didn't move.

'Well, I'm not going to hurt you." she laughed. "Go on, take it."

The dog took a couple of steps towards her, it's eyes never once looking away from hers.

"I assure you I didn't poison it!" she promised.

Finally, the dog took the sandwich from her hand in a quick snatch, and it was gone within seconds.

"You were really hungry. I'm afraid I don't have anymore food on me at the moment. I'm sorry." she frowned. "But I can certainly bring you some out here, so you don't end starving to death. It sounds like a horrible away to go for anyone. And I promise I'll add more meat to the next one."

The dog gave a loud bark in agreement. 

Upon returning to the Gryffindor Tower, Kefira's back was incredibly sore, but she was in a better mood after spending a couple of hours sitting with the dog. The dog still seemed incredibly cautious when she left it. Any noise and it was ready to run no matter how hard Kefira tried to reassure it, that everything was okay.

She was rubbing her back when she came upon Elizabeth who was watching her walk up the stairs.

"What happened to you?" the portrait asked before taking a sip of her wine.

"Fell out of tree." Kefira responded casually.

"Ah."

"Pixie Tickles."

Elizabeth opened up the entrance for her.

"It's a bit early to be drinking, don't you think?" Kefira said before walking in.

"I have nowhere else to be." Elizabeth shrugged.

"Well, happy drinking then."

"Thank you, I hope your back feels better."

"Thanks!"

As she walked further inside the common room, Kefira saw Neville sitting on one of the sofas alone.

"Hey Neville!" she said making her way over to him, happy to catch him alone for the time being.

"H-hi Kefi."

"Uh, are you okay? You look like you're about to be sick." she said.

"I'm fin-...what happened to you?" Neville asked with sudden concern as he saw her holding her back, and several little leaves and a twig in her hair.

He stood up and pulled the twig and one leaf from her curls.

"Oh, I got into a fight with a tree." she told him.

"What?" Normally, the statement would sound absurd, but with trees like the Whomping Willow, Neville wouldn't have been too surprise to hear such a thing.

Kefira laughed. "Yeah, but don't worry, I won. The tree was all bark and no bite."

Neville giggled as Kefira grinned.

"No but in all seriousness, I fell out of a tree." she told him.

"How did you manage that? I've never seen you fall out of a tree."

"Well, I got distracted." she said as the two of them sat down.

"By what?"

"A dog."

"A dog?!"

"Yup. He was adorable too! Black and fluffy. I gave him my sandwich."

"That's ni- you snuck food out of the Great Hall again?" Neville asked in amusement.

"It's a dumb rule anyways! Besides it was worth it, the poor dog looked half starved to death. I felt worse that I didn't sneak out more."

"I'm sure the dog was grateful for any food at that point."

"I hope so, because now I'm hungry." Kefira said as the two of them heard her stomach growl.

"You're in luck." Neville said. "I still have candy left over from the last Hogsmeade trip."

"Yay! Thank you Neville!" she said wrapping her arms around him in a hug. 

Neville's face turned a bright red, but he didn't feel sick to his stomach anymore.