Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Forty Seven

The scoring came out for Harry, as all eyes fell on the judges, everyone seemed to favor Harry's attempt, giving him high marks. All except the headmaster from Durmstrang, Karkaroff, who only scored Harry with a four.

"What?" Kefira looked down to Neville in disbelief. "A four? How is that fair? He gave Viktor...oh wait. What a swine! BOOO!"

Neville quickly covered her mouth as she tried to boo the man, as he held back a laugh.

"It's alright, Kefi, he did well! He did great and we have plenty to celebrate! He tied in first with Krum!"

"There shouldn't have been a tie, but whatever! Let's head back to the tower before everyone decides to file out. I'll wind up getting trampled out here!"

Neville decided to take the lead in that moment, taking hold of Kefira's hand and leading her out of the stands, into the direction of the castle. She didn't seem opposed to him holding her hand the entire way, which brightened Neville's mood even more.  When they arrived back to the Gryffindor Common Room, the area was buzzing with excitement as everyone was working to get the celebration underway before Harry arrived back.

Kefira and Neville found Dean sitting in one of the corners, working in one of his drawing pads.

"Hey  Dean, what are you working on?" Kefira asked as Neville released her hand gently. She plopped herself down to sit beside the boy as Neville joined them as well.

"Check it out," Dean said with a grin, lifting the book up for them to see. In a short amount of time, Dean had been able to create several drawings of Harry on his broomstick out flying the dragon, and a couple of Cedric with his head on fire.

"Is that Cedric or Seamus?" Kefira giggled. 

Dean looked down at his work with a laugh. "Well, looking back on it now..."

The older students brought in loads of cake and pumpkin juice in preparation for a long night of fun. Lee Jordan and the twins were fully prepared to start off the night with a bang as fireworks had been snuck into the common room. 

"This is going to be quite the night," Kefira said as Dean left them to hang up his drawings to make a banner. Neville scooted closer to sit beside her.

"Just imagine if Harry wins the whole thing," she told him. "Then the Gryffindor Tower is just going to be a party central."

Neville's face paled slightly. "That's a lot of noise."

She patted his leg softly. "It'll be okay, Nevs, we don't have to attend every party. Just as long as we show Harry the support, I think we have it covered."

Suddenly, Harry arrived along with Hermione and Ron and the party started off with a bang as planned. Lee Jordan unleashed the Filibuster Fireworks, setting off sparks and stars into the common room as everyone welcomed the Gryffindor champion with cheers.

Kefira walked over personally and congratulated the boy along with Neville and pretty much all the Gryffindors. Harry seemed to be in a much better mood as he celebrated and it seemed he and Ron were on better terms.

As crowded as the Common Room was, Kefira always found a seat when it came to settling in Neville's lap. Eventually, all the attention was brought back to Harry as Lee called on him to open up the golden egg. Everyone gathered around to witness what would happen. Harry pried it open and while nothing jumped out, something certainly screamed out.  A haunting wail screeched into the room, causing everyone to flinch and cover their ears.

"Shut it!" Fred called out.

Seamus stepped forward eyeing the egg with a disturbed look. "What was that? Sounded like a banshee. Maybe you've got to get passed one of those next, Harry."

"It was someone being tortured!" Neville's voice rang out. Kefira looked over at him, watching as Neville drained of all color, while his food slipped on his plate and onto the floor. " You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Don't be a prat, Neville!" George told him. "That's illegal." 

George went on to compare the screaming to Percy's singing, believing Harry had to fight Percy in the shower.

Kefira placed her hand on Neville's shoulder and helped him collect the food off the floor.  Neville tried to calm himself down by biting into a custard cream, but it didn't take long for them to hear Fred trying to offer something to Hermione.

"It's the custard creams you have to look out for..."

Neville choked on the cream until Kefira hit him on the back and gave Fred a deadly look.

"Uh... Just my little joke, Neville."

But it turned out it wasn't too much of a joke as Neville suddenly turned into a large canary before Kefira's eyes. She didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned. 

It didn't last long as the feather's molted and much to her relief, Neville returned back to normal and joined in on the laughter.

But he definitely decided to leave all the other pastries and desserts alone for the rest of the evening.

Kefira seemed to have used up most of her energy during the task from cheering and used the remaining bit to celebrate in the common room as she was one of the first to fall asleep. Much to Neville's delight, she fell asleep against him in one of the armchairs, while still wearing his jumper from earlier. 

"Wear her out, did ya, Neville?" One of the twins called to him, causing the boy to become bright red in the face. Luckily, Ginny came to his defense pushing her older brother away with a scolding face.

"I swear, Neville, you're the only one who can get that girl to actually sit still," Seamus said from where he sat beside Dean. He had Dean's drawing pad on his lap, going over some of Dean's earlier drawings.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," Neville replied in a worried tone.

"No, it's not a bad thing at all. At least, we can get some peace and quiet for once," Seamus laughed looking down. However, it was a mistake to look away as Kefira removed her shoe and chucked it in the boy's direction while keeping her eyes shut.

"Hey!" Seamus looked up as the shoe struck his arm.

"Watch it, Finnigan," Kefira's voice growled before she nuzzled into Neville's side further.

"I thought you were asleep!"

"You thought wrong!"