Courage {Neville Longbottom} (ON HOLD)

Chapter One Hundred Six

The sadness of the funeral seemed to linger in the air, long after it was over, but Kefira was no longer mourning the death of the Headmaster, she found herself in her own state of fear. She had to wonder how many other lives would be lost during the time of war because happy endings were not guaranteed like in the books she was read to as a child. She had cried and cried during the funeral, as a way to release all of her pent-up frustrations that had been building up for so long. But even then, she didn't feel better because there was one thing gnawing at the back of her mind that left her inner-lioness restless.

The fact that Snape had escaped had left Kefira furious with herself and while Neville told her time and time again not to blame herself, Kefira couldn't help it. She had done the justice of calling Snape out multiple times and even calling Dumbledore out, but that had been only half the battle as she came to realise far too late. It was one thing to bring the issues to light but she had failed to do anything about them.

Dumbledore was gone, so there was nothing she could do about that, but Snape was still out there and she wanted nothing more than to hunt him down. Maybe Harry had his own personal vendetta against the professor, but for Kefira, she felt like it was so much more personal that she saw to the end of the man herself. He had been the one to introduce her to the Wizarding World, from the day he came at her doorstep trying to explain to her that she was a Muggle-born. He hadn't done it in the best way, but he had been her introduction into the world of magic.

Yet, he had been the first to show her that there was such a darkness to magic and it didn't even involve the Dark Arts initially. It involved prejudice views and Kefira thought she had experienced enough of that being a mixed child. She had muggles judging her parents and for her sharing "mixed" blood, only to find out that the Wizarding World was just as screwed up with their blood prejudices too. The man who had brought her to Diagon Alley was among those that didn't think her kind should practice magic, let alone exist. He didn't think her kind was worthy and witches like her and Hermione, well, they were probably better off dead as he teamed up with those that actually didn't hesitate to take a life.

But it didn't make sense and that's what left Kefira feeling so frustrated about all of it. If he hated her and her kind enough to join Voldemort and his followers, then why had he shown her a side of kindness? It wasn't exactly a shining example of it, but Kefira had witnessed it, from the times where he helped her or even sent her the needed textbooks over the summer. If he was so against her then why even bother? Surely, she should have been treated worse than Harry and Hermione put together in his eyes as she was always fighting him and calling him out on his nonsense.

Yet, Kefira was certain there was something else behind it all. There had to be, there had to be some reason that Snape had treated her differently and she wanted to know why. For him to act like he cared in some moments, she wasn't sure if it was an act or something else driving the man's actions.

However, her hunt was going to have to wait as she owed it to her family to return home and prove to all of them that she was alright. But they weren't only requesting to see her, they wanted to see Neville too, he had become just as much part of the Walsh family. He was to come back to the Walsh household and while Kefira thought Augusta would put up a fight, she actually seemed to appreciate the idea. Augusta had it in her mind that Neville would be safer staying with muggles for the time being, rather than in the wizarding world where danger was taking place almost around every corner.

There was no telling what was to come following the death of Albus Dumbledore and she wanted her grandson to be safe above all. She recalled the slip-up she had made just before the funeral, calling Neville and Kefira the boy's parents, Frank and Alice. She, of course, didn't mean to do such a thing, she couldn't imagine how it had probably bothered Neville, but at the same time, Augusta couldn't help herself. It seemed as though history was set on repeating itself in horrible ways and she didn't want anything happening to Neville or to the girl that made such an impact on his life.