Courage {Neville Longbottom} (ON HOLD)

Chapter Sixty One

Kefira was enjoying her time in the company of Neville, Harry, and Luna, but it was relatively short-lived as girls seemed to swarm the compartment, looking to talk to Harry about his brave adventures in the Department of Mysteries. It annoyed Kefira to no end as none of the students paid any mind to Neville and Luna, even though they had been there and fought bravely. It was as if none of it mattered and she could see the uncomfortable look on Harry's face as people like Romilda Vane decided to intrude.  

"Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane," Her voice was loud with confidence which Kefira didn't mind until she decided to get nasty. "Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them..."

She gestured towards Neville first and then to Luna but before she could even think to look at Kefira, Harry interrupted her.

"They're friends of mine," he said with a cold tone to his voice, rendering the girl practically speechless. Her confidence dwindled leaving Kefira to smile before she stood up and hip bumped the girl out of the compartment and slid the door over.

They didn't face any more interruptions until Hermione and Ron returned to the compartment. He seemed to be complaining about being hungry, waiting for the Trolley Lady to make her rounds through the train. Kefira dug into her pocket and pulled out some food that her mother had forcibly shoved into her clothing to make sure that she didn't hungry.

"It's not much, I think it's a sandwich," she offered, " if you don't want that, I'm sure if I go through my other pockets, there's bound to be other snacks."

"How many pockets do you have?" Hermione asked with a bewildered look as Kefira continued to pull out the wrapped food, one after another.

"I would quite like a clothing line that provided endless snacks," Luna claimed, " One could never be hungry and I'm sure you would make a lot of friends that way. Food is a great ice-breaker."

Before the conversation could continue, the compartment door slid open, revealing a breathless third year that seemed to be in awe as she stared up at the older students. 

"I'm supposed to deliver these," she said trying to catch her breath as she looked around, " To Neville Longbottom, Kefira Walsh, and Harry P-Potter."

Her little face turned a bright red as she mentioned Harry's name and she couldn't bring herself to look up at the boy for more than a couple of seconds before looking away bashfully. Kefira never received any sort of letters aboard the train as she was let puzzled by the parchment scroll that was placed in her hand. She watched as Neville and Harry opened theirs first as she looked over Neville's shoulder to read.

"Who's Professor Slughorn?" Neville asked after the invitation read that they were invited to share lunch with him in Compartment C.

"New professor," Harry answered quickly. "Well, I suppose we'll have to go, won't we?"

Neville seemed to fall back into a fit of paranoia as he wanted to know what the new professor wanted with him. He looked over to Kefira, who offered him a smile and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Who doesn't want to meet Neville Longbottom?" She told him. "You're practically a legend now."

"You're going to go too, right?"

"Of course," she nodded her head. "I don't want to miss out on the mystery either and I could use some lunch. I gave all my snacks to Ron and now my stomach is waging war with me for being a traitor."

Before they could leave, Harry advised that they go under his invisibility cloak, so he could spy on Draco Malfoy. Normally, Kefira would have questioned it since Draco never really came across as a threat in her mind, but after Neville informed her of Lucius Malfoy being present at the battle that took place at the Department of Mysteries, she didn't blame Harry for having his suspicions of the boy. Her mother had told her that the apple didn't fall far from the tree in a lot of cases.