Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter Twenty

"What do you suppose a troll was doing in the dungeon?" Neville whispered to Kefira as they sat around in the common room. Many of the students had collected their dinners and headed back to the common room to finish before heading up to their respective dorms. While Kefira drowned herself in candies, she sat with Neville in front of the fire with Trevor placed before both of them.

"I dunno probably paying a visit to a relative in Slytherin." Kefira told him, making the boy smile. "No need to worry about it Neville, I'm sure the professors are more than capable of handling a silly little troll.

"Little troll?!" Seamus said looking over at her from where he sat on one of the armchairs.

"Yes, Seamus, that's what I said. " she said turning to him.

"Trolls are far from little, Kefi." Seamus told her. "They're giant nasty things. Big stupid creatures-"

"That's not nice, Seamus." Kefira said to the boy. "Don't go insulting the creature-"

"I'm not it's the honest truth. My mam told me that's why they name the failing grade after them."

"It's true." Neville said to Kefira. " My Gran told me the same thing."

"That's not very nice,  I don't think they asked to be stupid." Kefira said.

"Well no one asks to be stupid, it just happens!" Seamus said. 

Kefira walked over and patted Seamus on the head. "It's okay Seamus, we all understand. It's not your fault."

Seamus furrowed his brow at her words before whipping his head around.

"Oi! I'm not stupid!"

"Oh no of course you're not." Kefira smiled down at him. Seamus turned to Dean who was laughing but as soon as he met Seamus' eyes, he fell silent and looked away.

Kefira winked to Neville who grinned in response.

"Ugh, I regret eating all that candy now." she said rubbing her stomach.

"I told you." Faye said.

"Well, it was definitely worth it during the time. Those little chocolate nut things were amazing!"

Dean crossed his arms. "Now that the celebration was cut short, I'm bored. What are we supposed to do, it's still too early for bed."

"Hmmm...."

The children began to ponder.

"Did you guys ever hear the story of how the lion got it's mane?" Kefira asked them.

Dean, Seamus, Faye and Neville watched as Kefira perched herself onto the back of the sofa, crawling on it like a lion.

"So the king of the Savannah, grew envious of the horse's mane and demanded that all the other animals help create him one. Throughout the day, all the animals in the Savannah, collected leaves and twigs, placing them all around the lion's neck and head to give him the illusion of a man. However, when the lion gave his mighty mane a shake..." Kefira shook her head, " all the leaves and twigs fell to floor."

Neville leaned forward resting his chin in the palm of his hands enjoying the story.

"So the lion obviously angry let out a mighty roar! ROAR!" She leaped up, balancing on the back of the sofa. "He yelled at the animals, telling him that they didn't work hard enough.  He's so furious that he runs off head first into a tree. But not just any tree, this tree has beautiful golden leaves that shine like a thousand suns."

She crouched back down.

"Lion was so strong that his sheer force caused the tree to fall right on top of him. The other animals panicked and raced over to check the condition of their king. Fearful that he would be hurt or dead and if he wasn't, he would even more furious. However, when as soon as they reached the spot, lion had already pulled himself out from under the tree, but stuck to his head and neck were the beautiful golden leaves. Finally, the Lion had his mane and the animals were happy that their king was happy."

Kefira stood straight up and bowed before flopping onto the sofa.

"Where did you learn that story?" Neville asked her as Seamus volunteered to tell his own story of the Curse of the Banshee.

"My dad told me it all the time when I was really little. He had loads of them, how the lion got it's mane, how the rhino got it's horn..."

"Have you ever seen a rhino...up close, I mean?"  

"Well, as close as my dad would let me get. They're actually pretty docile, until you get too close. But I've seen all sorts of animals. For the longest time, I wanted my own pet zebra."

"A zebra?"

"Yeah...figured they weren't much different from horses, you know. But Mum told me no..but I could see that my dad was considering it." she giggled.

The two moved away from Seamus' theatrical story telling as Neville requested to hear the story about how the rhino received it's horn.

"Wow." Neville said as they sat in a window seat, once Kefira finished her story.

"Pretty cool, huh? My dad had all kinds of bedtime stories. He would have my sisters and I gather up in Rosemary's bed to listen to one of the stories, almost every night."

"I wish I had some to share." Neville told her.

"What? Didn't your parents ever tell you bedtime stories growing up?" she asked him grabbing the bottoms of her feet and rocking back and forth.

"Uh...no....not really. I was raised by my Gran." Neville told her. 

Kefira's eyes widened briefly before returning back to normal. "Oh..well, she didn't tell you any stories?"

"She's not really the type for storytelling."

Kefira frowned before perking up. "Well, I have plenty of stories that I can share with you!"

"Really?" Neville glanced over at her with a hopeful look.

"Of course, stories are meant to be shared that's how they stay alive."

"Your father won't be upset if you share all of the stories with me?"

"Of course not, don't be silly!" she laughed. "He loves telling people stories, he'll be excited to know someone else enjoys his stories. My older sisters don't care for them much anymore now that they're older. He'll be happy, believe me when I say that."

"Alright," Neville smiled. "Can I hear one more?"

"Sure! Let's see...oooh I have just the one...how the zebra got it's stripes."

Despite the troll in the dungeon ruining the feast, Neville had a really nice Halloween that year.