Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Sixty

Kefira was looking forward to the second task coming up as the castle seemed to be lacking some excitement since the Yule Ball. However, she very well noted that the competitors didn't look overly thrilled about competing, except for Krum. He always looked ready and willing, which Kefira wasn't sure whether to find it admirable or obnoxious.

"Obnoxious," Neville's voice rang in her ears. She furrowed her brows together for a moment in confusion before looking over at him. Neville didn't bring himself to look over at her as he focused on his Transfiguration book. 

"Uh.."

"Sorry, but you were voicing your thoughts out loud again," Neville told her. Kefira made a face at the ground.

"I really need to stop doing that," she said giving the back of her head a scratch. "Oops."

Neville smiled but remained focused, hoping that by the end of the year, McGonagall would be able to say that he did something right for a change in the class. 

"It's okay," he said. "I actually like knowing what you're thinking, sort of helps me figure out in what direction you'll take a conversation."

Kefira laughed. "Aw, come on, Nevs! Don't you like surprises?"

"It really, really, really depends on the surprise, Kefi," he said flipping the page, only to discover that some of his pages were stuck together. Now it certainly made sense as to why things were jumping so rapidly in the lessons.  He let out a small and quiet laugh to himself as he began to peel the pages of his book apart gently. As he did, he smelled the sweetness of maple syrup and realized the culprit of his sticky pages, probably had to do with one of Kefira's pancake mornings.

He was about to mention her possibly drowning his textbook in syrup, wondering if she had helped herself to a few of his pages for breakfast when he realized it was quiet.

Too quiet. 

Normally, when Kefira voiced her thoughts out loud it could always pinpoint what she was up to or what she was about to do. Silence met that he was clueless.

He quickly glanced over to see if Kefira had abandoned her post beside him only to be met with a small kiss on the lips. His eyes widened and his entire body began to tingle before Kefira's laugh rang in his ears.

"Surprise!" She said throwing up her hands. "What do you think of that kind of surprise?"

She continued to laugh at his expression as he seemed to be in a daze, his Transfiguration book fell out of his hands and onto the floor. 

"I...I...like those kind of surprises," he said before looking back over at her. She gave him a wink before picking up his book and placing it back up on the table for him. Suddenly, the two were approached by Ron, who carried an envelope in his hand and stood in front of them awkwardly. 

Kefira raised a brow, confused as to why he was just standing there without saying anything to them.

"Can you speak?" She asked the boy.

"Er...sorry, I was just making sure that I wasn't interrupting anything over here," he said before looking directly at Neville. The boy quickly lifted his textbook to hide his face that he was sure was redder than Kefira's and Ron's hair merged together. 

When he didn't receive an answer from Neville, Ron turned back to face Kefira before holding out the letter to her.

"I got this in the Great Hall, but I'm pretty sure it was meant for you. I guess maybe your owl got mixed up because of the hair," he said. 

Kefira took the letter from him with a smile. "Thanks," she said. "I'll be sure to pass any mail along to you if your owl drifts my way."

Ron returned the smile before leaving the two at the table. Kefira shook her head while muttering that Loxie was a piece of work. 

"I could understand if the bird was partially blind but how could she mistake me for Ron?"

"Well...he has let his hair grow out longer this year, hasn't he?" Neville interjected. 

The two became quiet for a good moment before they bursted into giggles. She wiped at the invisible tear in her eye.

"I'll have to tell Ginny that one later," she said before tearing open the top part of the envelope. 

'Is it from your family? Your parents or your sisters?" He asked curiously. 

"Nope, not from any of them," Kefira said. "Which is rather odd, normally by now my parents have sent me a million. It's from Bandile."

"Bandile? How is he doing?"

Neville wasn't expecting Kefira to receive mail from the eccentric man and judging by her face, she hadn't been expecting it either. However, she did look incredibly pleased as she read it over.

"Dad wasn't kidding when he said Bandile's handwriting resembled chicken scratch," she giggled. "It's like deciphering a code. But check this out, Nevs, Uncle Bandile said he wants me to hang out with him over the summer for a couple of weeks. He said he already spoke with my parents about and they said it was fine. I can actually see the Uagadou School of Magic, I was so bummed when we couldn't see it over the summer."

Suddenly, it became quiet and she glanced over at Neville with a small frown.

"What's wrong?" Neville asked her with a worried expression.

"I should ask him if you can come along too, I know we were planning on hanging out and-"

"Kefi," Neville reached out his hand and placed it over hers. Her little hand was so cold in comparison to his despite the both of them being inside. "We spend the majority of the year together at school, I don't think it's going to hurt for you to spend some time on your own with your family."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to be bored," she said. "No offense to your gran or anything."

He chuckled. "Well, maybe I'll spend some more time with Uncle Algie, he's always entertaining to be around."

"I really need to meet him and hang out with him. He sounds like a trip."

"He really is."

***

Sitting in a chair by his desk, Bandile glanced over in the direction of his window with a smile on his face. After receiving confirmation from Alana and Cardel, he had sent the letter to Kefira and was pretty sure of the answer he would receive from the girl. He had several plans now that he knew the girl was a witch. He always assumed there was something special about the child, whether it was being the only redhead in her family or her personality, he always figured there was something different. He was glad that he was right and there was plenty that he wanted to show the girl.

He heard the sound of an elephant in the distance and let out a laugh before pushing himself up. The candlelight behind him revealed the shadow on the wall. The shadow of a man morphing into a hyena before the animal lept through the window outside and disappearing into the night.