Courage {Neville Longbottom} (ON HOLD)

Chapter Sixty Eight

The detention seemed to have paid off in a mighty way that allowed Kefira to feel confident returning back to Potions when it came time. No matter how harsh Professor Snape's words were or how he acted during the detention, Kefira couldn't deny that it had helped her a great deal. During his time as a Potions master, it seemed Professor Snape had kept plenty of tricks up his sleeves from his students which could have further benefited them. She could have told him that he was a jerk for not sharing with them before or she could be thankful that she was learning it now. She had the ability to share the information with her friends too. The problem was, the majority of them had bothered not to take potions for N.E.W.T levels. 

Trying to share it Hermione would be useless as the girl was very by the books and she wasn't even sure if Ron would listen to her. But she made sure when she returned to the Gryffindor tower that she would write everything she learned down and stow it away in her notes for future reference.

 Neville seemed more than happy when she returned, his jumper was clean as she promised, but of course, the girl looked incredibly tired. He wanted to ask her how it had gone but instead, Kefira just wanted to rest on the sofa. And by that, she meant pass out against his shoulder in front of the fireplace. Sixth year was proving to be the most tiring of years for everyone except Neville.

The boy found himself at peace with all of his classes with the exception of Defence Against the Dark Arts, but the rest he found enjoyment. He was learning non-verbal with Professor Flitwick who had seen a drastic improvement in the boy since Neville had acquired a new wand. Professor Sprout had noticed from an earlier time that Neville held a specialty in Herbology and she wanted him to focus on that strength. During most of his free time when his friends and Kefira were in classes, he would spend a longer time in the greenhouses. Profesor Sprout even allowed him to continue some of his own work as she worked with students in the younger years. 

Anyone who had paid attention to Neville from first year to sixth year had definitely seen such a beautiful change as the boy was coming into his own. He held a lot more confidence in his voice and in his work. Neville was glad to have found his voice too as he was able to speak out when he wasn't comfortable about something or when he wanted to be heard, he made sure that his point made it across. 

There were bad things going around them and not everything was a hundred percent in the school but Neville couldn't deny that he was quite happy. He glanced down at Kefira, who was snoring lightly nestled into his side and smiled contently. She would probably be in better spirits at the quidditch tryouts when she was given the bat once more to hit some bludgers around. 

However, for other students, things weren't going so well. For the Patil twins, their parents were at the verge of taking them out of Hogwarts, fearful for their children's safety. But then came the terrible news for Hannah Abbott as she was pulled from Herbology class one afternoon to learn that her mother was dead. The students hadn't seen her around since then. The time of war had rattled the nerves of many but they couldn't just give in, Neville knew that. As much as he didn't want to face what was happening outside of the castle walls, in his head, he knew exactly what was happening.

People were trying to run away and that wasn't going to get them anywhere but killed. He could have easily said "no" last term when Harry and the others went to the Department of Mysteries. He could have backed out of it all and stayed with the false pretenses that he would remain safe at the castle. But Neville was proud of himself for doing the complete opposite, despite his own fears, he had gone with the group and battled Death Eaters. He had faced one of the Death Eaters that had tortured his parents to the point where they couldn't recognize him. They couldn't function properly and would live out the rest of their days in St. Mungo's but Neville didn't run away.