Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Fifty Two

Sitting with a vial in hand, Kefira had a look of concentration on her face as she tried to figure out what she was missing from her serum when suddenly Hermione came into the girl's dorm. She walked over and set a container down in front of the girl.

Kefira eyed the bottle before looking up at the girl. "What's that?" she asked.

Hermione gave her a sympathetic smile. "It's called Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and Scalp Treatment. It's supposed to work on all hair types eliminating frizz, and taming hair like ours."

She saw the redhead girl's expression drop as she eyed the bottle and then eyed the vial in her hand.  Kefira let out a groan as she set her homemade mixture down on her nightstand before grabbing the container of Sleekeazy.

"Where did you find it?"

"Hogsmeade is full of it right now,' Hermione explained. "I guess they were anticipating a lot of the girl's needing it for the Yule Ball."

"I should have known," Kefira said with a sigh. "Well, it's good to know something like this exists."

Hermione let out a small laugh. "I agree, I bought plenty of it for the ball, feel free to use some if you want."

"Thanks, Hermione."

Rather than letting Neville continue his search for the proper plant for the mixture, Kefira headed down the stairs to find the boy. Luckily, she was fortunate to catch him just walking into the Common Room.

"Neville!" She ran over to him, nearly barreling into him as struggled to slow down. Neville looked around, wondering what she was so worked up about. But then again, he knew he should have questioned it as 

"What's going on?"

"Our serum...is...well, it's not going to work out," She informed him. Neville's face dropped. 

"But why not? I swear I looked up all the plants I could and I think I have two really good candidates. I'm so-"

He stopped talking as Kefira held out a container to him. " What's this?" He looked it over before his face drained of all color. He looked up at her, expecting to see a look of disappointment on her face, but instead she greeted him with a smile.

"I don't understand why you're smiling, I feel like you would be upset by this," Neville told her, handing back the container. 

"No, why would I be disappointed, Nevs?"

"Because we spent so much time working on it, and it was all for nothing." He looked down at his feet.

"But it wasn't for nothing, silly," Kefira laughed.

"What?" He looked up at her once more in confusion. 

"I got to spend plenty of time with you and we did learn plenty, didn't we? I think we're onto something Neville. You and I could figure out other serums that have other uses. This was just beginning," She said in a positive tone.  "I think we should think of other things, make sure we do our research to make sure there isn't already something like it, and then go for it."

"You think we could invent something?"

"I don't see why not?" She shrugged. "Do you think we could do it?"

"Of course," Neville smiled at her. "Do you want to get started on coming up with some ideas?"

"Yes!"

With the two brainstorming, they ignored Lavender and Parvati running in until the two girls approached Kefira. They glanced up to see the girls giggling and looking at her and Neville.

"Why are they smiling at us like that?" Neville whispered to Kefira.

"It's best not to question, Nevs, they're mental. We've established this long ago."

"You've got a package, Kefira, we found it resting outside the entrance!" They held out the large box to the girl, which rested in her and Neville's lap. 

She recognized her mother's handwriting on the outside of the box before tearing off the wrapping. She lifted the top to see an emerald color fabric stick out.

"What is it?" Neville asked.

"It's her dress robes, Neville!" Lavender shook her head at the boy. "Goodness-"

"Hey," Kefira glanced up in the direction of the girl with a stern glare. "Watch your tone."

Lavender's eyes widened slightly before she shot an apologetic look in Neville's direction.

"It looks like you'll be in the Slytherin house for the Ball, Kefi," Parvati chuckled noting the color. 

Kefira's expression lightened up as she glanced down at the robes. "I don't think my mum was going for that when she picked out the color."

"Yeah, she was probably just going for the robes to match your eyes," Neville said peering over at her. Everyone could see Kefira turn red as she kept her eyes focused on the package in her lap.

"And you two aren't going to the ball together?" Lavender questioned with a puzzled glance.

"No," they said together.

Lavender exchanged a glance with Parvati before the other girl shrugged and they headed up to the girl's dorm.

The girls had reminded Neville that he wouldn't be taking Kefira to the ball because he didn't act fast enough. He was glad to know that Kefira's feelings for him hadn't changed since the summer, but he really didn't want to risk the idea of someone else coming in between them again after the ball. He wasn't sure what to do though as they had both confessed how each other felt about one another, what was there left to do?

He went to ask her a question when Kefira turned to him first.

"You'll save me a dance at the ball, won't you?" She asked him.

The question caught him off guard. "You want to dance with me? I don't think I'm much of a dancer, Kefi."

"Doesn't matter, I'm not much of a dancer either, but I would like a dance with you."

He cleared his throat and nodded his head. "I will definitely save you a dance."

"Good," she grinned. "I'm looking forward to it."

That was all the encouragement Neville needed in order to start practicing his dance moves.