Courage {Neville Longbottom} (ON HOLD)

Chapter Eighteen

"How did you manage to get out of a detention with Professor Umbridge and then with Professor Snape?!" Dean's eyes were wide as the boys gathered around Kefira. It didn't take the girl long to inform them that she had been able t escape both detentions and they didn't believe her right away. The questioning began as she sat at the Gryffindor table trying to enjoy the pork chops as much as Ginny was further down the table.

While it seemed like a major accomplishment, Kefira wasn't feeling so great about it and Neville looked paler than ever with the fear that she would get into further trouble later on.

"I don't know," Kefira said. "I showed up to detention and Professor Umbridge and Professor Snape were already there...along with Harry. I was confused until she said that I was going to be serving detention with him. He thought I would be happy about it or something and I told him I wasn't ...well he decided to be a git and insult my parents. I was not about to let him get away with that. I called him out on being a bully...again. Then I ended up in Professor Dumbledore's office."

"What did Dumbledore say to you?" Seamus asked leaning across the table.

"He told me that it was time for dinner and that we were having pork chops," she answered. 

The boys looked at her in confusion.

"I know, I thought the same thing but I wasn't about to stand there and start complaining, that would have just been stupid."

She rubbed at her forehead, she dared to look up to see where the professors were sitting and spotted Professor Snape sitting with his dinner. Except the man wasn't eating and he still looked just as angry as he did when he brought her to the Headmaster's office. In fact, if Kefira was being honest with herself, she believed he looked even angrier in that moment. A few seconds later, the man looked up and made eye contact with her.

Not trying to draw any more attention to herself that evening, Kefira quickly looked away and focused on her plate. However, the awkward moment between the two didn't go unnoticed as Neville had seen the reaction of the two of them. 

He didn't like the way that Professor Snape was looking at her, it was full of anger and that obviously didn't mean anything good for Kefira. When the professor looked over at Neville, the boy held his breath for a moment before narrowing his eyes in the man's direction, as if he was almost challenging Professor Snape to do something in that moment. It was one thing for the Potions master to torture him endlessly by making him incredibly uncomfortable, but Neville wasn't going to let anyone hurt Kefira.

He remembered how fearful he was when Kefira became sick and they had no control over that, but he wasn't going to let Professor Snape hurt her, or anyone for that matter. 

It was odd to have a quiet Kefira sit beside him as she poked at her food with a fork. He looked up at Dean and Seamus that seemed to be thinking along the same lines as him. They seemed nervous as Professor Snape had never resulted to bringing Kefira to the headmaster before, they had a feeling she wouldn't be so lucky if it happened again. 

"How did detention go?" Elizabeth asked as she saw Kefira coming up the steps with her friends.

"I actually didn't end up serving detention tonight," Kefira answered her. "But I have a feeling that I should have just kept my mouth shut and put up with it because it's probably going to get worse from here on out."

"I heard you ended up in the Headmaster's office," Elizabeth said after Seamus gave the password to allow them to walk in. Kefira decided to stay back for a couple minutes to talk with the portrait.

"Yeah well...wait a second, where did you hear that from?" Kefira asked folding her arms. "You heard it from Godric, didn't you? You're the fair lady he was meeting up with?!"