Little Brave Hearts || Neville Longbottom

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

Maykha had finally been able to sleep well with one of her worries gone from the weight of her shoulders. Her friends also noticed that she finally looked better and back to her usual self, but Maykha knew that she was far from being who she used to be. Not with her identity still in question, and not while she was still not ready to know about it yet. She had received letters from them, asking for her to give them a chance to sit her down and explain everything, but she had not responded to any of their request yet.

Eating their breakfast in the Great Hall, Hermione came late running towards them.

"Okay, bad news, you guys," the girl said, catching her breath. "The hippogriff that attacked Malfoy was being ordered for an execution."

All four of them had their eyes widened in surprise. "WHAT?!"

"It was Malfoy's fault for being an idiot, and Hagrid specifically told us not to insult that creature!" Harry argued.

"Well, there's more. Malfoy's father even wanted for Hagrid to be fired as a professor from Hogwarts," Hermione announced.

Early in the morning and Malfoy already managed to make Maykha want to punch the hell out of him without even being present. The boy insisted on staying in the Hospital Wing despite Madam Pomfrey's assurance that he was already good enough to be discharged.

"I swear to Merlin, I'm gonna bury him in the Forbidden Forest before he could even have Hagrid fired from his job," Maykha threatened as she gripped the fork in her hand tightly. Imagining that the cutlery in her hand as a weapon she'd use to stab Malfoy multiple times.

"Whatever you are thinking right now, Maykha, please stop for the sake of humanity," Neville said, shaking his head.

...

With the past records of having Defense Against the Dark Arts as a class, Maykha could not seem to get herself excited as they all gathered around the classroom with a large wardrobe in the middle that kept on flinching on its own, not knowing what kind of creature that was kept inside.

There was a hope in Maykha's heart for this god-forsaken class when the headmaster announced their new professor to be Professor Lupin, as judging by the experience she had from the past couple of years, this class had quite a record of having some quite...memorable professors that filled in the job.

"It's intriguing, isn't it? The way you know that there is something inside that wardrobe but have no idea what it is, or at least, what it looks like," Professor Lupin said to the class as his voice echoed throughout the classroom. "Now, would anyone want to guess what is inside?"

Dean raised his hands, and the professor nodded on his direction to permit him to speak, "It's a boggart."

"Well done, Mr. Thomas. Now, can anyone tell me what a boggart looks like?"

"No one knows"

"Good lord!" Maykha flinched as she placed her hand against her chest, surprised by her friend's sudden apperance. She also felt Ron flinched when Hermione appeared to be suddenly standing right next to them. The two of them simply shot a look at each other as they were sure that the girl was not there just a few moments ago.

"Boggarts are shape shifters, and they take the shape of whatever particular person fears the most," Hermione explained and earned a praise from their professor.

"Very well, Miss Granger. That's what makes a boggart so terrifying. Luckily, there is a simple spell to repel a boggart. Now, without your wands first, repeat after me – Riddikulus!"

The class seemed to be cooperative as they all followed the instructions pretty well. However, some of the nasty comments made by the Slytherins, mostly Malfoy, who had his right arm in sling, and his gang, did not escape the ears of Maykha. She shot a threatening look on their direction as if telling them that one more nasty side remark from them, and Malfoy would not be the only one who would step out of the classroom with a broken arm.

Looking like they got her message alright, she decided to bring her attention back to the lesson.

Anxious was one way to describe what she was feeling, and another would probably be curious. She wanted to know what her boggart would look like, that was certain, but it also made her not want to know. Afterall, she knew it would not be as simple as a ghost nor an giant insect as none of those really scared her at all.

With the professor instructing them to line up after having Neville to demonstrate what the spell could do, Maykha found herself lost in her own thoughts despite the laughter and excitement she could feel from her classmates. It was not until Ron nudged her from behind that she realized that it finally her turn to face her boggart.

Taking a deep breath, she gripped her wand firmer on her side before stepping forward and prepared herself for what might appear from the wardrobe. With her heart racing because anxiousness, she could only hold her breath as Professor Lupin opened the door of the wardrobe.

Everyone in the room gasped loudly when they saw what the shape of her boggart had taken itself into. It was not a terror professor nor a terrifying monster that stepped out of the wardrobe. With confusion taking over her entire body, her face became pale as if it was drained out of blood.

Her boggart stepped closer until there was only a bit of distance between them, and it was then that she confirmed what her boggart really look like.

It was her.