Little Brave Hearts || Neville Longbottom

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The classroom was quiet, and it was what Severus Snape liked during the holidays. No students there to bother him, and no Iglehart to push his patience down to its edge.

Sitting on his desk to finish the remaining work he had left, the sight of the chocolate wrapper his student gave him caught his attention. He had been meaning to throw it away, but doing it always slipped from his mind.

The girl reminded him of so many people in his past, good and bad, making her presence felt both nostalgic and annoying for him.

Severus looked up when he heard the door of his classroom opened, only to see that it was Dumbledore who entered. "Severus."

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore?"

The headmaster walked towards him with his hands behind his back, "How have you been?"

Severus had this feeling that Dumbledore was not there just to ask him how he had been but he just gave the old headmaster the satisfaction of answering his question with a simple, "I'm doing fine."

"Good. I've observed you had developed a quite close relationship with the girl."

"I think not."

Dumbledore chuckled, "If you say so," he said, "Say, does she, by any chance, remind you of someone, Severus?"

Snape stopped for a moment, taken aback from what the headmaster just asked. He looked suspiciously at Dumbledore before answering.

"I am afriad so. Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing... nothing," and just that, the old man turned his back and left the classroom. Snape left confused as to why would the headmaster go and see him in his classroom just to ask him about one of his students.

He knew the headmaster often spoke in riddles, and it was the best if he did not dwell on it any longer. He did not make it his business to mind whatever Dumbledore was on.

...

"This is Japan?" Maykha asked her parents as her jaw dropped in astonishment the moment they stepped out of the Narita Airport.

"You do like stating the obvious, dear," her mother snorted, "Oh, there's your Aunt Erika!"

Maddison started running towards her sister-in-law and quickly pulled her into a tight hug.

They decided to travel to Japan for holidays and visit her mother's step brother and his family, whom they had not visited for almost six years.

Maykha and her father followed the footsteps of her mother and greeted her Aunt Erika, "Long time no see, Aunt Erika."

"Oh dear, you grow so big already," the woman said with a slightly harsh Japanese accent but enough for Maykha to understand. In fact, her English improved since she last saw her aunt.

Just then, two figures appeared from her aunt's back, whom she recognize instantly as her twin cousins, "Reina! Ren!"

Maykha threw herself in the arms of her cousins she truly missed.

"Good to see you too, little cousin," Reina said, laughing as they released her from their hug.

She beamed at her older twin cousins, "You have no idea! How have you been?"

"We've been fine. Come on, let's get inside the car," Reina suggested as the girl dragged Maykha by hand.

The three of them, actually, the two of them talked nonstop since all Ren did was to read a book and nod if being asked. Maykha, smiled at the thought that perhaps, if the twins were also a witch anc a wizard in Hogwarts, Ren would definitely be placed in Ravenclaw, while Reina was definitely a Gryffindor. Or Hufflepuff, maybe.

Maykha eyed her other cousin who haven't talked that much since they arrived, "Ren, you never really talk that much, do you?"

Reina wrapped her arms around her brother's neck teasingly, "Don't mind him, Maykha. He's just a man of few words."

Ren just stared blankly at his sister and rolled his eyes as he struggled to release himself from Reina's arm and went back to reading his book. Maykha just looked at her other cousin before laughing with her.

The two were older than her for two years, making them thirteen years old as of the moment. They were really close when they were little and until their parents decided to live in Japan for a reason her ubcle never disclosed. The three of them never really lost their communication. They atleast update each other with their lives once a month before her education at Hogwarts, where not only her time to write for the twin had become scarce with the amount of Nicolas Flamel hunting shr did in the library, but also because she did not know exactly what to write. She cannot possibly write her discovery of the Wizarding World, unless she wanted to freak her cousins out and have her expelled from the school.

When they arrived at their relative's house, Maykha saw a man standing outside, waiting for them.

"Is that Uncle Mason?" Maykha asked, glancing at the man who was waving at them.

"The one and only," Yuiko answered. As her Aunt Erika parked the car, the twins went outside first to greet their dad and Maykha followed.

"Hi, uncle," Maykha was surprised by how the man aged quickly. Although she knew that the gap between him and his wife's age weren't that big, it was as if age was harsher on him than it was on her aunt.

"Goodness, the last time I saw you, you were so little!" the man said, running his hand through her hair and ruffled it.

"And the last time I saw you, you were so handsome," Maykha joked.

"I still am, but stress couldn't be avoided specially at work."

Maykha heard Reina snorted, "Who told you you're handsome?"

"Well if I'm not, then nobody would call you pretty," her dad teased.

"Yeah right, papa," Reina said, rolling her eyes.

"You never changed...except the fact that you've became quite old-looking," Maykha's mother appeared from behind, carrying some of their luggages. She then proceeded to kissing her step-brother on his cheeks.

"Hey, can everyone please stop commenting on how much I've aged? It's starting to hurt," Uncle Mason faked sad. Despite his words, he was smiling at her mother and pulled her into a hug.

"Long time no see, mate," Herbert greeted Mason. The man helped them to carry their things inside their house.

As Maykha observed the whole interior of the house, she noticed how traditional it was. They had to leave their shoes outdoor and the rooms of the house was covered with tatami and the ambiance was quite relaxing. The doors were also the traditional sliding door and they had to sit on the floor in the living room.

Aunt Erika had prepared some Japanese snacks for them to eat while talking about how their lives had been in the last six years.

"How's your little girl? We haven't heard much about her lately," Mason asked his sister who instantly became quite uncomfortable. Maykha's parents knew they should never talk about her being a witch and when Maykha was bound to secrecy, her parents did too.

"O-oh it's because she's studying in a boarding school and she's barely spent her time at home," her mother reasoned and fortunately, the others seemed to not question the excuse any further.

Maykha looked at her Uncle Mason secretly. For some reason, she felt something weird about him. The restlessness that was visible on his face, it seems as if there was something more behind that. Fear? She didn't know but it was as if the bags under his eyes were telling another story.