Little Brave Hearts || Neville Longbottom

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

The day Maykha had been dreading had finally arrived. It was the day of their first Hogsmeade trip, and she could not even go. She had been excited about going to the village, to try the Butterbeer and going to Honeydukes. With her unsigned permission slip, her dream of going to that place was quick to fade away.

Harry tried to ask whether Professor McGonagall could do something about their case, but the professor only offered her sympathy as they needed to abide by the rules.

Right, because they needed a parental permission for a very friendly village but not when a Basilisk was on loose.

Maykha was not in a mood to get out of bed that morning, she simply stayed inside her bed until it creaked and saw Hermione beside her.

"Hey, sleepyhead," the girl called, "say, what do you want me to buy for you from Honeydukes?"

Her eyes twinkled by the mention of the shop of her dreams, and she immediately sprung up.

"You'll buy candies for me?"

"Of course, moron!"

Maykha threw herself to Hermione into a hug, thankful that her knew just how to cheer her up.

"I'd like to try one of their cauldron cakes, please!"

...

The Gryffindor Common Room was more busy that day, with students preparing for Hogsmeade, and third years being excited to try all sorts of things the older students had told them about. Maykha only smiled bitterly, jealous of their excitement.

Before she could even wallow herself into self-pity, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Neville wearing something casual, a simple shirt, jeans, topped by a lopsided jumper that made Maykha laugh.

"Good morning, Nevy," she greeted the boy as she extended her hands to fix his jumper, "Are you excited?"

"Well," Neville started, averting his eyes, "I am, but not as quite as I would have been if you're with me. Are you sure you don't want me to just stay here and accompany you?"

Maykha was quick to shake her head no, "I'll be fine, Nevy. And I don't want you to miss out on having fun just because I could not go."

Her words did not seem convincing enough as the frown on Neville's face seemed to deepened even more, making her chuckle as he looked like a child being separated from his mother.

"I'll just wait to hear your experience when you come back, so make sure you have fun, okay?"

Neville sighed defeated, "Fine. I'll have fun...for you."

Neville said the last line in whisper that she almost did not hear it. But maybe it was because Maykha was still getting used to his prepubescent voice that it made her heart run like it was being chased by a basilisk. She tried to keep it calm until the students were called by the prefects to escort them outside.

"That guy will be the death of me, I swear to Merlin," Maykha muttered to herself as she sat down on the sofa inside the quiet common room. There were some older students left, but it was noticeably less noisy than just a minute earlier.

"Hey, Maykha."

She turned around to see Harry who seemed to have only woken up, with his hair disheveled and a visible frown on his face.

"Good morning, Harry," she said, tapping the space beside her, inviting him to sit. His face looked like a candy was taken away from him and it was understandable. Between him and Maykha, Harry seemed to be more affected by the fact that they could not go to Hogsmeade.