Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight

Anger surged through Kefira's small body that she was sure if she didn't calm herself in a matter of seconds, she was going to explode. Professor Snape had finally pushed her to the point where she no longer respected the man. It seemed since their last encounter that the man had taken his nastiness to a whole new level.

When she walked into Potions, she did her best not to make any eye contact with the man. She even decided to play it safe and not say anything to him.  All too certain that he was probably still upset with her from the Diagon Alley mishap, Kefira just wanted to slip under the potion master's radar and for the most part, she did.

However, Neville was the unfortunate one that Professor Snape decided to take his anger out on. Despite the effort that Neville put into his work, he failed miserably trying to brew the potion. Managing to melt six cauldrons and still struggling to make the potion, instead of helping the boy as a professor should, Snape made Neville's nerves worse by assigning him detention.

Kefira waited impatiently for Neville to return from his detention as she failed to land one herself so that she could keep the boy company or at least try to help. Snape was no dummy and quickly caught on to her actions, completely ignoring her. 

When Neville returned, she nearly rushed him, but stopped as she saw how pale the boy's face was.  He was slightly shaky and didn't say anything as he sat himself down on the sofa in the common room.

"Nevs...Nevs what did he do? What did he have you do?"

He didn't answer right away and it only made Kefira grow nervous for his mental state. She reached out and touched the side of his face gently until he looked up at her.

"Nevs?"

"He made me disembowel horned toads." Neville whispered to her. " A barrel of them!"

It didn't take anything else for the little red head to set out on the war path to confront Professor Snape. Neville tried to warn her against it but she didn't listen as she left the Gryffindor Tower. Not even Elizabeth calling after her could stop her.

She headed for the dungeon classroom first and found the man sitting at his desk, quietly. To get his attention, Kefira looked at an empty vial and knocked it to floor, bringing it to shatter. Immediately, Professor Snape lifted up his head and looked directly at her.

"You're going to clean that-"

"What is your problem!?" Kefira cried out to him. "What is wrong with you?"

"You will not address me in-"

"Why do you hate Neville so much? Why are you so mean to him? He's trying! He may not get potions right away but it's because you don't give him a chance. You don't help him. You're a pathetic excuse for a professor! You said I don't know what a real bully is, but I think I do, because I'm looking right at one. You ought to be fired! If not, you at least should feel some shame for the things you do."

"If you are planning to rack up detention to save Longbottom from his future-"

"Oh my...oh my Merlin." Kefira gripped at her hair. "You think I have some hidden motive being here? Really? I'm telling you that you're a bully and you should be ashamed of yourself for your behavior, and you think I'm here to cause trouble."

She shook her head at him and backed out of the classroom.

Severus stood up from his desk to go after and reprimand the girl for her outburst and rude behavior, but came to a halt when he saw Professor Moody walking past the classroom.

"Troubles in paradise?" The man said with a crooked look.

Kefira had heard amazing things about Professor Moody and his teaching style and definitely was looking forward to her first Defense of the Dark Arts class with the man. The fact that she had witnessed the man bouncing a white ferret about, who she learned was actually Draco Malfoy filled her heart with joy and the man quickly became her hero without her even saying one word to him. 

"Why are you the only one who's excited about class right now?" Seamus placed his hand on Kefira's head trying to keep her still.

She smacked his hand away and turned to her friends. "Why not? From what I heard, he's incredible. Besides, we need a good Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, I mean, I'm still bummed that Professor Lupin left. He was fantastic. Professor Moody has some big shoes to fill, but turning Draco into a ferret? Bonus points."

"Professor McGonagall didn't seem all that thrilled about him doing that." Neville pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's because she's supposed to be the strict one of the castle." Kefira shrugged. "Someone has to do it. I bet you anything though, back when she was a student, she pulled some pretty wicked stunts."

"McGonagall? Really?" Seamus scoffed at her.

"Yes really, I heard she was great playing quidditch."

"Who told you that?" Dean asked.

"Godric." Kefira answered casually.

The group came to a halt and stared at Kefira, except for Neville who smiled to himself.

"What?" Kefira gave them a look. "The paintings around here love to gossip, all they do is hang around all day."

Dean and Seamus groaned before walking away from her. 

"Oh come on, that was funny!" She called after him as she was left alone with Neville. She turned to the boy with a grin. "Ooops."

"It's okay," Neville reassured her. "I thought it was funny."

"Really?"

"Toadally." He smiled bringing her to smile right back at him.

The two headed into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and took their seats as other students filed in as well for the first lesson. Neville looked at Professor Moody and wished that he could share the same enthusiasm towards the man as Kefira did, but there was something about the man that made his stomach turn. It wasn't solely just the man's appearance, throughout his childhood, he had come across all sorts of peculiar looking witches and wizards. There was something else about the professor that just made Neville incredibly uneasy.

"Are you okay?" Kefira whispered to him as she leaned towards him in her seat.  He swallowed and tried to relax his face as he nodded his head. Not fully convinced, Kefira offered her hand to him. He quickly took hold of it, but only gave it a gentle squeeze.

"It's going to be alright, Neville. This isn't potions."

Kefira was right and wrong at the same time.

It wasn't potions, it was much worse.