Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Sixty Nine

Madam Pomfrey kept the Hospital Wing as quiet as she could during the night and during the next day as she had Kefira rest. It had been quite the struggle for both the Healer and patient as Madam Pomfrey couldn't really figure out what was wrong with the girl and Kefira was refusing to stay in bed. The girl insisted that she was fine and didn't have any problem going back to her own bed. Eventually, Madam Pomfrey had to be a bit more forceful in her approach and put the girl to sleep with a sleeping draught.  She figured that would help the girl sleep through the night and a good amount into the morning, but that didn't seem to be the case either as Kefira awoke several times.

Finally, she got the child to sleep and stay in bed. Anyone who came into the Hospital Wing with any sort of injury, Madam Pomfrey advised them to see as quiet as possible while the girl slept. The majority of students that arrived at the Hospital Wing were actually visitors coming to see Kefira but she shooed them away, anyone that woke the girl was going to feel the wrath of Madam Pomfrey. 

However, she did allow a couple of visitors, one of them being Professor McGonagall who came to check on the Gryffindor girl after her classes were over. She saw the child still and resting on her side, the only sign that she was alive was the faint rise and fall of her chest. It was hard to see her so still and it brought the professor back to the time where the child had been petrified, which made her uneasy.

"Has she been recovering well?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Madam Pomfrey nodded. "Once I got her to finally sleep, you would think the sleeping draught would have knocked her out completely but she got out of bed twice. I had to give her a double dose and it finally kept her down. Although, I'm not sure how long it is going to last. The child is stubborn even in her sleep."

"I really cannot say that I'm surprised, Poppy," McGonagall said. "Were you able to-"

"Raise her body temperature? Yes. It was quite low as she established last night, I wasn't really exaggerating when I said she was as cold as a corpse. With as low as her temperature dropped yesterday had the other girls not brought her here as soon as they did, I feel as though we would have been facing a much more severe case. Right now, I'm blaming it on poor circulation. It was the only thing I could find that would relate to her symptoms. Feeling cold and the fatigue, it seemed to explain both. But she should be fine, I checked on her shortly before you arrived and she's practically about to burn up the blankets over there."

A small smile appeared on Professor McGonagall's face as she glanced over in Kefira's direction. "Well, I am glad to hear that. Hopefully, she will be up soon and ready to return to her-"

The two women were interrupted by another visitor, causing both of them to fall silent as they saw Professor Snape walk in. Out of the corner of their eyes, the women exchanged looks before Professor McGonagall approached the man.

"What brings you here, Severus?" She questioned with her left brow partially raised. 

"There was a rumor going about in my classroom that one of my students was sick. However, given the nature of that student, I wanted to check for myself to make sure that she was not skipping my class."

"If you are referring to Ms. Walsh than I can reassure you that she was not skipping out on your class to cause any mischief. She has been in the Hospital Wing since last night, being closely watched by Madam Pomfrey," McGonagall told him.

The man looked over where the two women looked to see the ball of red hair sticking out from beneath one of the blankets as the girl shifted in her bed. 

"What is her illness?" He asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Madam Pomfrey said. "Right now, I've narrowed it down to poor circulation, which seems highly unlikely for someone her age, especially with how active she is during the day. However, it did seem to cover her symptoms and once I gave her the treatment, her body heat has returned to normal. At this point, we're just waiting for the sleeping draught to wear off and we'll be able to hear from her how she feels."

Neville had been patient enough waiting for Madam Pomfrey to allow people to see Kefira, so when he returned the third time, he was fully prepared to beg the woman to let him in. Expecting to be turned away yet again, he was pleasantly surprised when Madam Pomfrey allowed him in.

"She just woke up a few minutes ago, she's a little disoriented from the draught, but she'll be free to go tonight," Madam Pomfrey told him.

Neville didn't have to hear any more than that as he was beyond thrilled to know that Kefira was alright. He looked over to where Madam Pomfrey directed him and saw Kefira sitting up on the bed. Her legs were hanging over, dangling inches from the floor as her eyes were focused on the floor for the time being. 

He walked over and stood in front of her for a couple of minutes before she finally lifted her head up to look at him.

"Hey Nevs," she greeted him with her usual smile. Her voice was lighter and not as vibrant as when she usually greeted him, but she still seemed on the verge of waking up as Madam Pomfrey said.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" He asked her.

"A bit ...dizzy," Kefira said.

"That's normal!" Madam Pomfrey called to her.

"But other than that I feel...I feel so much better, I don't feel cold right now which is nice and I'm starting to wake up."

"That's great, Kefi, that's really great."

"If it's so great, then why do you have a frown on your face right now, Nevs?"

Kefira was quick to note his expression before she reached a hand out and grabbed his.

"It's all my fault," Neville said. "I should have known that you weren't feeling well-"

She cut him off with a laugh. "Neville, don't be ridiculous," she said. "This isn't your fault. It's mine, if anything, I should have gone to Madam Pomfrey all those times that I felt so cold, but I just wrote it off as something else. "

"I know but I was so busy with just the idea of you wearing one of my jumpers that I didn't pick up on you being so cold."

"Neville, no matter what you say, it's not your fault," Kefira told him. "Really...unless you were like poisoning me or something-"

The boy's eyes went wide in horror.

"Not that I'm accusing you of doing so!" Kefira added quickly. "I'm just saying, there's no way this could be your fault. But hey, there's no sense dwelling on it any longer. I'm fine now, so why don't we just get out of here as fast as we can? I hate hospitals."

"Yeah that sounds good," Neville said with a faint smile. " Just as soon as Madam Pomfrey clears you to go we can. Everyone is pretty much waiting back in the common room."