Little Brave Hearts || Neville Longbottom

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

With Harry out of the Hospital Wing, everything went back to normal again. Everyone thought that everything was now finished and done, however Maykha knew otherwise.

She had been trying to shake off the thought of Voldemort coming back for Harry again. Ever since Professor Dumbledore revealed that the Dark Lord was yet defeated, it had her feeling uncomfortable and scared, not for her own but for Harry. Of course, she tried her best to hide it from her friends as much as she can, but her façade can only do so much.

It was a Saturday morning when she decided to go on morning walk. Others were still sleeping soundly and she didn't bother waking them up like what she normally does because for some reason, she wanted to be alone that moment.

She wanted to retrace the places Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone through, hoping to see the things that they mentioned in their stories. However, there was no three-headed dog guarding the trapdoor, no Devil's Snare as she passed through the trapdoor, no flying keys for the door that was already opened, and no more giant chess pieces on the large chess board-like floor. She was not even sure if she was allowed to be in there, but just as if her body was moving on its own, she entered the chamber where Harry had fought against their professor. The place was kind of dark and chilly and the remnants of Harry and Professor Quirrel's battle were no where to be found. She must admit though, they have cleaned the place very well.

After walking a few steps, she was surprised to see a familiar mirror. The mirror that was the root of her confusion.

She stood in front of the mirror and again, her reflection came with two strangers.

Strangers? She thought. Were they really strangers? The embrace of familiarity and nostalgia were once again began wrapping around her and she was feeling emotional without her knowing why. She stepped one foot forward and unconsciously touched the mirror. The man reached for her hand and so did the woman. She felt it. She shut her eyes tightly and desperately tried to remember who those people were but no matter what she did, nothing happened.

"Who are you?" She whispered as a single tear fell from her eye.

"I suggest you stop now, Maykha."

Maykha jumped in surprise and immediately turned around the moment she hear a voice. It was Professor Dumbledore, she was no longer surprised to see him anymore as she figured that whenever something happened to her, Professor Dumbledore was always there, appearing from out of nowhere. However, the thing that caught her off guard was the man called her by her first name.

Professor Dumbledore walked towards her and patted her back gently, "This mirror... I told you what this one is for, right?"

She nodded, "To show what your heart truly desire."

"That's right. Our hearts carry a desire that even we do not understand, making us fall in the despair of desperation. This mirror gives an illusion, a thirst for satisfaction even by any means, just like what happened in Professor Quirrel's case. See, desire can often make us desperate, it can make is lose our minds on what really matters, and that's the present. Now child, I want you to stop looking for this mirror from now on, stop dwelling on whatever you see on this mirror. You will know who those people are if you are meant to know who they are," the professor smiled kindly at Maykha and gave a gentle embrace to the girl before telling her to now go and prepare for the End of Term feast.

As she exited the chamber and walked back to the common room, she found herself feeling better. Perhaps, it was because of their headmaster's words as she was indeed becoming desperate to understand and know who those people were, or perhaps it was because she saw those people again.

Trying to follow the headmaster's advice of not dwelling on the reflection any longer.

Entering the common room, she saw Harry sitting on one of the armchairs with his eyes still half closed, looking sleepy.

The boy had not seem to notice her presence so, she smiled wickedly as she tiptoed her way towards the boy and when she reached the his back, she tapped him harshly and pointed at the floor, "HARRY, THE FLOOR IS LAVA!!"

Harry then jerked awake and panickly raised his feet up off the ground. When he realized that he was being pranked, he slowly turned his head and glared at Maykha who was now smiling innocently.

"What?" the girl asked, "I thought you were still sleepy so I did you a favor and woke you up. I'm such a caring friend, I know," Maykha said and winked jokingly.

"Yeah, I was but you could have just woken me up in a norma- you know what? Nevermind, I know it's just pointless telling you this."

"You know me very well, my boy", Maykha laughed and proceeded on sitting next to Harry. Oddly enough, she felt her friend fell silent so when she looked at him, she caught him just staring at her.

"What?"

"I'm just glad"

"Why?"

"Because you're happy?"

"I'm always happy, Harry."

"Not for me," and with that, it was Maykha's turn to be silent. She did not expect Harry, of all people, to see through her.

The only thing Maykha could mutter was, "Oh."

"What's the matter?"

Maykha was hesitant to speak at first but when he saw the sincerity of Harry's concern, she gave in. "I was just worried, I think."

"I do not understand, what are you worried for?"

"I'm worried of you, nitwit! I'm worried that Voldemort might do something to you again, I'm worried that I won't be able to be there if that happen again, I'm worried that he'd be much powerful than us and we wouldn't be able to defeat him. Harry, I'm worried that I might lose you. What happened between you and Quirrel was already enough to make me sick worried, what more if Voldemort himself would come for you?" Maykha had expected that she would burst like that, she began crying without her noticing, as the days-worth of bottled up thoughts and emotions started to spill like a waterfall, and Harry was just looking at her dumbfounded before laughing his arse off.

Maykha was pissed with her friend's reaction about her concern and hit his arms as hard as she could, "Why are you laughing, you git!?"

"Ouch! Stop hitting me! And I couldn't help it, alright? I just don't see the point of you being worried over me," Harry said, preventing from any laugh to slip off of his mouth.

"Why not?"

"Because, I am not alone. Dumbledore is with me, you guys are with me. Why would I be afraid of him? I have a lot of people who love me, and that's probably already an advantage. Stop worrying over something that's not happening yet, I've got this, okay? We've got this," Harry smiled. "But really, I hadn't got any idea of what I've done to deserve this kind of friendship. Thank you Maykha, for worrying about me."