Courage {Neville Longbottom} (ON HOLD)

Chapter Seventy Six

Kefira was thankful to get away from the castle when it came to Christmas time, with no drama following her own, she was ready to relax among her family. She was also quite excited to have the Longbottom family come over and celebrate Christmas with them, along with Bandile and Sedi. There was also the promise of going to St. Mungo's and visiting Alice and Frank. It had just become a natural part of Kefira's life to expect travelling to St. Mungo's to visit them too. She enjoyed Frank's company quite a bit as he always seemed to be full of laughter and amusement, especially when it came to her hair. And it always made her incredibly happy to see Neville spend time with his mother. 

He would sit with her and talk for hours and of course, as the Healers and Augusta often reminded him that Alice didn't comprehend what he was saying or even knew who he was, it didn't matter to Neville. Deep down, the boy believed that his mother understood what he was telling her, the two just hadn't found a mutual way of communicating yet. Her form of talking to him was through the sweet wrappers. 

With Dean and Seamus leaving for the holidays on non-speaking terms, the train ride had been nothing but awkward but Kefira had refrained herself from calling the boys out. She had called enough people out on their rubbish that year and she was just getting tired of repeating herself. If the two boys weren't willing to talk, she really couldn't force them. So Dean sat with Ginny in a separate compartment with Luna, while Neville, Kefira, and Seamus sat together. 

It felt incredibly silly that they all had to sit separately for the sake of the two but no one said anything. 

Kefira was just imagining her mother's cooking, the family Christmas traditions, the presents and everything else that had to do with Christmas. She was looking forward to seeing Neville's reaction to his Christmas gift as she had been planning it for quite some time. With the help of Bandile, of course, and his many connections in the world. Neville wouldn't know what to do when he was presented the gift. It brought a smile on her face just thinking about it. 

Ever since Slughorn's Christmas Party, she had to admit, she felt closer to Neville more than she ever did, which was the oddest thing to her considering he was the closest person to her. Even though she loved her family more than anything, she didn't get to see them as much as she used to and Neville had been there for her for pretty much everything. Every time he looked in her direction, she felt her cheeks turn warm, whenever he spoke to her she listened to every word, whenever he held her hand she didn't want him to let go. And whenever he kissed her, she never wanted the kiss to end. 

She made no mention of it to anyone, Neville included, fearing that it sounded borderline obsessive outside of her head. 

It was something she would probably discuss with her sisters while she was home as they would probably have better insight on the matter. At least, Rosemary would, the rumour was that her boyfriend, Bernard was coming over for the holidays as well. It was certainly going to be a full house in the Walsh household that Christmas. But that was the best part in Kefira's mind, lots of people around sharing in a good time. It was perfect. 

"I wonder who's going to be at the station to pick us up?" Neville said glancing down at Kefira as they neared King's Cross, none of the adults had mentioned but they were sure it was long planned before Christmas as to who was going to pick them up. 

"I hope it's Sedi!" Kefira said excitedly before lowering her voice as she looked over and saw that Seamus was still asleep. "I mean...I hope it's Sedi."

"It could be," Neville nodded his head. "I wrote to Gran and she said that she would meet me at your house, so I don't think it's her. So it has to be someone in your family."