Courage {Neville Longbottom} (ON HOLD)

Chapter Twenty Two

Neville regretted losing his temper with Kefira, especially as it seemed that the girl's spirits were low since she was called to McGonagall's office. Luckily, she had escaped with Professor Umbridge and Professor McGonagall, but Neville could tell as soon as she entered that something was wrong. She wasn't radiating the confidence she normally did and her expression looked extremely troubled. However, when he and the other boys had asked her right away if she was alright upon entering the Common Room, she reassured them that she was fine. But he didn't believe that for a second and even though, he wanted to talk to her further, Kefira excused herself and left up to the girl's dorm.

He didn't want her upset but he wasn't sure what to do. He knew that Umbridge was the cause of added stress and Kefira had claimed during the summer that she was going to fight any sort of injustice. Of course, it just had to be their fifth year that the pink demon decided to infiltrate Hogwarts and causing a fire to stir in Kefira even more. Normally, she just had to deal with Professor Snape and the usual bullies, now she had to try to hold herself back against someone who appeared to be much worse. 

Neville wasn't so much upset with her, but he didn't like the idea of her getting into trouble, he knew that Kefira didn't mind it. But he did because he wasn't sure when the time was going to come where she pushed too far and got herself into trouble that she couldn't get out of. He was going to have to talk to her and reassure Kefira that he wasn't upset with her, he just wanted to protect her and keep her safe. 

She had spent the last four years of their schooling protecting and standing up for him in their classes, against a professor and their peers. Now that he was gaining confidence in himself, he knew he had to do the same thing for her. Not because he had to but because he wanted to. When it came to tackling issues, he and Kefira were very different with how they handled things. Over the years, they were learning from each other. Neville learned how to speak up for himself while Kefira was learning to tone it down. 

But the two still had their moments where they reverted back to their old ways, while Neville shied away, Kefira was quick to leap and defend. But this was a bad year for Kefira to do all this, he was now aware of what really happened over the summer, illegal activity right under the Ministry's nose. Neville wasn't sure what Bandile was thinking, especially since he wanted Kefira continue her work at the school. It was just asking for trouble and they certainly didn't need to bring any more attention to themselves. 

The boy waited around the common room the next morning for quite a bit of time, waiting for Kefira to come down but h began to wonder if she wasn't coming down or if she had already left to the Great Hall. He only waited for a few minutes longer before heading down to the Hall to grab some breakfast. As he entered the Hall, he was somewhat surprised to see Kefira already there, sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table with Loxie, who was dropping off the morning mail. 

Kefira had a piece of toast in her hands allowing the owl to pick at it while she looked down at the newspaper in her hands. She had a frown on her face which didn't make Neville feel any better as he approached her. He thought about sitting across from her but he didn't want to and he made it a point to sit right next to her. But she didn't look up right away until he reached his hand out and placed it on her shoulder.

At first, she flinched before glancing over at him.

"Morning," she greeted him softly. "Sleep well?"

He nodded but he really hadn't slept much and judging by the tired look on her face, she hadn't slept well either. He bit the inside of his cheek waiting for her to say something else but as she became occupied by Loxie biting at her fingers to get a better bite at the toast.