Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Seven

"Is there a magic spell to get out of Divination?" Kefira groaned before flopping onto one of the sofa's in the Gryffindor Common Room. "That was terrible. The only funny part of class was watching Ron get in trouble with Professor Trelawney for his Uranus joke. Classic, I need to hang out with him more. It must be a red head thing, we're hilarious."

"Someone's being conceited." Seamus told her from where he was sitting across from Dean on the floor, the boys playing some sort of game with cards. Kefira lifted up her head and gave the boy a look before throwing a throw pillow at him. Seamus easily dodged it, however, the pillow went straight into the fireplace, causing the fire to roar loudly before the three of them.

The three went wide eyed before exchanging looks.

"No one saw anything." Kefira warned the two. "That didn't just happen."

"What didn't just happen?"

She jumped at the sound of Neville's voice sounding from behind the sofa. She spun around with a bright smile.

"Nothing!"

"Kefira set a pillow on fire." Seamus told the boy, causing Kefira's smile to fade into annoyed look. 

"Thanks, Fire Ant." She scoffed at him before sticking her tongue out in his direction.

"Anytime, Squirrel."

Neville scrunched up his face in slight confusion. "You set a pillow on fire?" He asked her. "Not Seamus?"

It was Seamus' turn for the smile to fade as Dean and Kefira began laughing at Neville's innocent question.

"No, it wasn't me!" He protested. "She threw the pillow into the fireplace!"

"Why?" Neville questioned Kefira.

The girl shrugged. "I missed Seamus' big head somehow!"

"Alright, that's it!"

Dean sighed as he set his playing cards down as his playing partner left the game to try and attack Kefira in the common room. Neville walked over with a smile and sat across from him.

"Every year, I think, hey maybe they won't fight as much...and every year I'm proven wrong." Dean chuckled.

"They do fight quite a bit, don't they?" Neville said. "It's strange to admit, but I kinda just expect it at this point. At least one argument a day. Should we be concerned?"

"Nah, I fight way more with my siblings than they do, so I just consider this sibling banter. Seamus is Kefira's brother from another mother and Kefira is his sister from another mister."

"Well," Neville smiled. "That's one way of putting it."

The beginning of the term was off to a good start for Kefira and her friends. Somehow they all managed to stay out of trouble, mainly Kefira, but she was certain it was because she hadn't had Potions yet. She was dreading the class more than anything because of Professor Snape. Neville seemed to dreading the idea of the class too, as neither one of them wanted to mention actually going.

It was her favorite class because it was a class that she knew she was good at, thanks to all of the detentions she had served under the professor. For some reason, she really enjoyed Professor Snape's bland and stern nature but she couldn't stand a bully.

The more he denied being a bully, the more Kefira lost faith in the professor ever being happy with his life. He had the opportunity to heal from whatever hurt him, but instead he channeled his pain in the wrong way. He just put it onto others to escape his own.

Anytime she saw the man in the corridors, she wanted to reach out to him, but she wouldn't allow herself to do it. All she wanted was Professor Snape to own up to what he had done and apologize to those that he hurt. But it would be much easier to get Hagrid to squeeze himself into a size small dress than the Potion's master admitting he was wrong.

She chuckled to herself.

"What's so funny?" Neville asked sitting beside her at the Gryffindor table for dinner. She glanced over at him and pressed her lips together.

"Ooh, I definitely didn't realize I laughed out loud."

"What was so funny?" Neville questioned again.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about it." She told him, definitely not wanting to scar Neville with what she had pictured in her head.

"Come on, tell me." He insisted before poking her side. She let out a giggle as her rib tickled. She pushed his hands away, and kept her own out to block anymore incoming attacks.

"Really, Nevs, I don't think you want to know."

"But I do. If it made you laugh it had to be funny. Please!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you." She sighed. "I was picturing Hagrid in a small red dress."

"Why?" Neville gave her a look of horror.

"That's not the question to ask, Neville." Ginny told him from across the table. "The important question is, was it strapless?"

Neville shook his head, when they heard a clearing of a throat behind them. Kefira and Neville turned around while Ginny looked up, to see Hagrid standing in the middle of the aisle.

"I think it would have to be strapless, I'm much too broad shouldered to pull off straps."

He gave the group of students a wink before walking off to go sit for his dinner.

Kefira had a wide smile on her face while Neville looked disturbed out of his mind. She rested her chin in the palm of her hand, while propping her elbow on the table.

"How is that man single? He's fantastic!"

"Why don't you take him out for a date then?" Dean teased her from where he sat besides Ginny.

"I don't think someone would appreciate that very much." Seamus grinned directly at Neville. The boy looked down at the table as his cheeks turned red, which brought Kefira to kick Seamus hard under the table.

She went to tell Seamus off about teasing her and Neville, when something outside the Great Hall caught her eye.

"Uh...does anyone else see Professor Moody swinging a ferret in mid air or was there something in my drink?"

The group looked over to where she was looking and tilted their heads in unison just as Kefira did.

"If there isn't a white ferret bouncing around, "Dean began, " I think there was something slipped into all of our drinks."