Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Sixty One

On the morning of the second task, the school was buzzing with excitement as everyone was instructed to go to the Black Lake to observe. It was a cold day in February as all the students were getting ready to head to breakfast and then down to observe. Neville woke before Kefira did along with Dean and Seamus. He knowingly went into his trunk and found one of his warmer jumpers and waited for Dean and Seamus to finish getting ready before heading down to the common room.

As he arrived down, he could hear a few girls coming down the stairs from their dorm, laughing and giggling about something. He paid no mind to them as he waited patiently.

"Come on, Neville, Kefira will catch up later in the Great Hall," Seamus said. "She knows where we all eat. Let's go get breakfast."

"N-no, I'm okay. I can wait," he said in a patient tone. "You two can go on."

"But-" Seamus went to argue but Dean pushed him forward mumbling something about Seamus minding his business. A few minutes later, he heard skipping down the stairs, which he figured was Kefira but it turned out to be Ginny. She gave him a small smile in greeting.

"She's on her way down, she ended up getting caught up because all the showers were in use this morning. I've never seen so many people want to shower at the same time. But I heard that they're going to be taking plenty of pictures during the second task, so I guess everyone wants to look their best. Kefira just woke up complaining that she was cold."

"I figured she would be cold, that's why I grabbed my jumper for her, I hope she's not getting sick. She's been a lot colder than normal."

"I doubt she's sick, Neville," Ginny said in a reassuring voice. " I mean, I think a good indicator if she's sick is if she's is quiet and still and after watching her drag a seventh year water hog out of the showers, I think she's feeling just fine."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I am," Ginny smiled. "Hey, have you seen Hermione by any chance?"

"No, I haven't, sorry," he said.

"No problem, well, I'll see you guys in the Great Hall or at the second task," she said with a wave before leaving through the portrait hole.

Neville nodded to himself before Ginny's words finally clicked in his head of Kefira dragging a seventh year out of the showers. 

"Oh dear..."

He hoped that she wasn't in a bad mood that morning. 

Eventually, he heard another person coming down the stairs and much to his relief it was Kefira. She was muttering to herself as she attempting to flatten her hair a bit. 

"Morning, Nevs," she said flashing a smile in his direction.

"Good morning, are you okay?" he noted how much she was patting her head.

"I'm just...trying to get my mane in order," she sighed. "Note to self and others, the drying spell does not work very well on my kind of hair. "It just exploded everywhere and..."

She moved her hands away from her hair only to have it poof back up. "Ugh...this is going to get annoying. I tried tying it up earlier, no such luck. The poor little hairband didn't stand a chance. It just.." She made a gesture of it snapping before looking at him.

Neville wore a small smile on his face. "Well, I know it bothers you, but it doesn't look bad at all. I...I always like your curls."

Kefira chuckled. "Well, I like them too, I just don't like them all in my face!"

"I can help you there..."

The two jumped slightly at the voice butting into their conversation to see Angelina Johnson standing behind them on the steps leading up to the dorm.

"You can?" Kefira said. "You're not going to try and shave my head right?"

Angelina shook her head. "No!" She laughed. "I wouldn't dream of doing that, especially to your precious mane. It's become the trademark of the Gryffindor house over the years. Besides, what's a lion without a mane?"

"A lioness?" Kefira said bringing them all to laugh.

"Fair enough," Angelina said. "But I was just going to offer to braid it for you. It'll keep it out of your fair like you want."

"Oh thank Merlin," Kefira sighed in relief. "Rosemary tries to braid it when I'm home, but since I can't bring her here...that'll be great. Thank you!"

Neville continued to wait patiently as the older Gryffindor girl quickly braided Kefira's hair to keep it out of the girl's face. He laughed softly to himself as several of Kefira's curls rebelled against the braid and stuck out but they didn't get into her face. Angelina finished in a matter of minutes before telling Kefira she was done.

Kefira lifted her hands back up to her hair and grinned. "This is great, thank you!"

"It wasn't a problem, I'll see you two later. I need to grab something to eat before the second task or the only thing people are going to hear is my stomach."

When Angelina left, Neville quickly stuck his jumper out to Kefira before there were any more interruptions. She eyed the jumper before looking up at him.

"You know, I was just about to ask you if I could borrow one," she said. "I'm telling you, Nevs, you just might be a Seer."

"About time you two showed up,' Seamus said when the two arrived at the Great Hall and sat with him and Dean. "I was beginning to think you two got caught up in...other matters."

Suddenly, Seamus was struck in the face with a grape.  Dean shook his head at the boy.

"We really need to work on cleansing your mind, Seamus. Get some of that holy water the muggles use..."

"Or a bat," Kefira said. "I was just letting Angelina braid my hair and your mind goes completely somewhere else, Seamus. "

"Sorry," Seamus grinned as she lowered her choice of weapon fruit. 

"No, you're not," Dean and Kefira called him out.

"You're right, I'm not!" He laughed before being pelleted with another grape. "Ow! Kefira!"

"What? I didn't throw that one."

Seamus rubbed the side of his head before looking at Dean. "It wasn't me!" Dean said lifting his hands up.

The boy looked over at Neville who had a book covering his face.

"Neville!"