Little Brave Hearts || Neville Longbottom

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

The news of Harry passing out because of the Dementors spread like a wildfire, and it came to them without a surprise that Malfoy and his dogs were the instigator of this. They immediately teased Harry the moment they stepped out of their compartment and only stopped when Maykha pointed her wand at them. With the history of the girl's way of paying back, they knew better than to test her patience first thing in their return to school.

They made their way to the castle by a carriage that pulled itself. Maykha was yet to see any signs of Neville, and she was growing impatient the longer it took. She had already glanced at every student who made their way to the carriage, but she still could not get a glimpse of her friend.

When they reached the castle, she finally saw Neville coming down from one of the carriages after them, but she did not get the chance to talk to him when he went on his way to the Great Hall with Dean and Seamus. It only made Maykha grow more frustrated, seeing he did not even care enough to look for her.

"Hey," Hermione grabbed her and pulled her to the side, away from the two boys, "Did something happen between you and Neville?"

Maykha immediately shook her head, "I really have no idea. We were doing just fine during the Summer, exchanging letters and all."

"Then why is he acting so distant?"

"I don't know."

Determined to confront the boy later, all four of them made their way to the Great Hall. As they settled, she noticed that Neville was sitting a bit far from her, it was unusual from the boy who had always seated next to her. Maykha frowned, it seemed like the school year was just starting, and she was already dreading it.

Things just became worse when Dumbledore announced that there would be Dementors stationed around Hogwarts to search for Sirius Black. The news only made the already heavy weight Maykha was carrying on her shoulders even heavier. She could not imagine seeing those nasty looking creatures everyday around the campus. Harry paled next to her, knowing how scared he had been from his encounter with a Dementor just a few hours ago.

The urge to question their Headmaster's way of thinking suddenly emerged within her, but was quickly brushed off when he revealed that Hagrid would be their new Care of Magical Creature professor, and Remus Lupin was their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The last two announcements made her feel better. It was befitting for Hagrid to have that spot, knowing his love and deep knowledge for the magical creatures, and with their first meeting already took place, Maykha knew that Professor Lupin would be her next favourite teacher. In all honesty, she would prefer any D.A.D.A. professor as long as it was not Lockhart. They had not gotten any news about the man after his memory-charm-gone-wrong incident last year.

Not wanting to concern herself with their former professor, Maykha just brought her attention to the foods that appeared in front of them as they welcomed the first years who were sorted into their house.

After their feast, they were instructed to go to their respective dormitories to have a night's rest. However, with problems emerging one after another, it was unlikely for Maykha to fall asleep that night.

"Are you not going to sleep yet?" She heard Hermione said from her bed.

"Yeah, I can't sleep." She admitted.

With a sigh, Hermione tossed her blanket to her side and walked towards Maykha's bed. As she sat on the edge of the bed, Maykha scooted a little to give her a bit of space, to her surprise, Hermione grabbed her and brought her up into a hug.

"You know that I'm not really the best at comforting people, right? But you know, you always tend to bottle your feelings up on your own that it makes me worried," Hermione said. Though she found it unusual for her friend to voice her worry out loud, Maykha simply accepted the comfort.

"Thanks a lot, Mione."

"And whatever it was between you and Neville, I'm sure it will be resolved. Just give it some time."
...

Waking up not feeling rested, Maykha had no choice but to start her day. Despite Hermione's attempt to comfort her, she still had a hard time sleeping with her mind going to different places. She was scared, to say the least. There were a lot of things that she should be scared of, considering how much danger she had already been through. But one could find it funny that not even seeing a basilisk up close, nor a murderer on the loose made her feel as scared as she was with how unpredictable and uncontrollable things were happening to her. Above all, she was scared of her.

Brushing off that thought, she gave up trying to sleep as she decided to get up and have a quick shower, hoping that it was what her body needed to at least feel a bit better. After her quick shower, she clothed herself with her uniform and glanced on the full-length mirror next to her.

Third-year. She was already in her third year, yet it seemed like it was only yesterday when Professor Dumbledore knocked on their door and introduced her to a world that she thought only existed in fantasy. Although time was flying a bit too fast for her own liking, she was happy that she was becoming more and more used to the world of magic, not quite sure how she managed to live eleven years without using it.

It was still too early for her to go to the Great Hall and have her breakfast, so she just went to the common room to wait for her friends. As she reached the last step of the stairs that led to the common room, she noticed a boy was already sitting on her favourite arm chair. It did not take long for her to recognize him as it was Neville. With a nervous heart, she slowly approached the boy and sat to another armchair next to him.

"Hey," Maykha greeted. There was a hope in Maykha's mind, she hoped that she was just overthinking the boy's action and it was just a coincidence that he did not look for her last night.

The nervousness in her heart quickly melted away as Neville looked at her, and a smiled was formed on his face, "Good morning, Maykha."

Neville's voice caught her by surprise as it was not the voice Maykha remembered the boy had last year. There was a hint of maturity in his voice, a sign that her friend was already going through puberty.

Taking this opportunity, Maykha knew that she had to ask him about her worries. She needed him to give her the assurance that she was just thinking too much.

"So," Maykha started, "I was...I was looking for you yesterday."

"Oh."

"And I waited for you to talk to me. Why didn't you talk to me?"

It was visible that Neville was hesitant, but Maykha remained quiet. She was feeling anxious, so much that it made her feel like she would throw up as the boy's behaviour confused her a lot.

"There were...things I needed to do first," Neville finally answered.

"Yeah? Like what?" She tried looking at him, but he was constantly looking away from her.

"That...I can't tell you yet. Sorry, I really have to go," Neville just said before walking out of the common room, leaving Maykha heartbroken.

It was a good thing to have no one aside from her in the common room, because she did not have the energy to stop her tears from falling off her eyes anymore. Everything was becoming too heavy for her to carry. Suddenly, she did not have a will to go to her class anymore. As much as she wanted to cheer on Hagrid on his first day of teaching, she could not quite find the energy to think of others at the moment.