Courage {Neville Longbottom} (ON HOLD)

Chapter Thirty Six

With Christmas morning underway, St. Mungo's appeared to be relatively quiet. The workers had decorated the wards with all sorts of Christmas decorations, in order to lighten the mood of those who were visiting. But even with the mistletoe and tinsel, there was still a solemn mood to the building as no one wanted to be there to visit a loved one, especially on Christmas.  Neville was feeling an assortment of mixed emotions as they arrived, feeling happy that Kefira was going with him again to visit his parents, but he definitely wished his mother was feeling well. He didn't want to see her in a sickened state.

"It'll be alright, Nevs," Kefira said. "I think we all get into those moods where we don't want to get out of bed. But I'm sure as soon as your mother sees you, she'll be feeling much better."

It was a nice thought to have, however, Neville wasn't counting on it. On so many of his previous visits, there were times where his mother didn't even acknowledge his present. She was better about it, offering him her little sweet wrappers, but there were times where it was as if Neville wasn't even sitting next to her. He wasn't going to hold out his hopes, although he hoped that Kefira was right.

Upon entering the ward, Augusta had decided to wear her new Christmas hat and while plenty of the Healers looked on at the ridiculous fashion statement, it definitely brought a genuine smile to one face. Frank had been fussing with the knitted vest he had on that morning, pulling at the little Christmas decorations that had been sewed on. He kept ripping off the pieces of "snowballs" and throwing them onto the floor. But as he glanced up at the sound of noise and spotted his mother, he immediately dropped his hands from his vest and walked over. 

Of course, Augusta was aware that he wasn't happy to see her, but he was happy to see her hat. Seeing her son smile, she couldn't help but smile as well as she sat down. Frank reached his hand out and touched the fabric, completely occupied for the time being. 

Across the way, Neville spotted his mother, still lying on her bed, with her back facing the rest of the room.  The boy made his way over to Alice's bed, with Kefira following behind him slowly. He sat down at the end of the bed, greeting his mother with a quiet voice.

"I heard you haven't been feeling well the past couple of days," Neville said. "I wanted to visit you and make sure that you were alright. It's Christmas and I brought Kefira with me too. She made her hair extra fluffy for Dad, but he seems really busy with Gran's hat."

He wasn't sure what to say or talk about with his mother, especially since the conversation was one-sided. 

"Why don't you tell her about all the great things you've been doing at school this year?" Kefira said, sitting on the floor across from him. "I'm sure she would love to hear that."

Neville wasn't so certain about Kefira's statement but he didn't seem the harm in trying. Glancing over his shoulder, he checked to make sure that no one was nearby. However, as he did, he saw Lockhart making his way over.

"Oh no," he muttered, but Kefira spotted the man too and jumped up.

"Don't worry, I'll distract him," she said with a wink before approaching their once professor. "Oh my Merlin, is that...is that Lockhart?!"

"Oh, it's a fan!" Lockhart squealed in delight. "Are you here for an autograph?"

Distracted for a few moments as Kefira stroked the man's ego, Neville eventually turned back to his mother, who was currently staring blankly at the wall. There were no emotions on her face, except for perhaps a tired look in her eyes. The dark bags reiterated that she probably wasn't sleeping any and her cheeks looked sunken in more so than usual.