Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter Twenty Six

Neville entered the ward behind his grandmother and immediately began scanning the room for his parents. Finally, he found his mother sitting on one of the beds, his father in a far corner.  

"Hello Mum." Neville greeted his mother as he usually did. "Happy Christmas."

He sat down on the bed beside her. Alice made no movement to acknowledge his presence for a few minutes as Neville sat awkwardly. Some visits, she seemed thrilled to see him, other days she seemed to be trapped in her own world and she wouldn't even look at him. Neville hoped it wasn't the latter.

He looked over to see Gran speaking to her son, knowing that he wasn't retaining anything she said. Augusta was a tough woman, but whenever she looked at her son, Neville could see the sadness overcome her.

Suddenly, his mother poked his arm. He returned his attention to her to see her hand running over the book that he had brought with him.

Neville smiled and perked up, scooting back on the bed a bit.

"Yeah I brought this for you to see Mum." he said. "My friend Kefi made it for me."

He opened the book up trying to share some of the stories that Kefira had written for him.

"This one is my favorite." he told her as her hands just ran back and forth over the paper. She had a smile on her face, but she was looking out the window that was over the bed.

"It's about how the lion got it's mane."

He began reading the story to his mother, occasionally trying to act out the parts that Kefira had done back in the Gryffindor common room, but he couldn't do it as well as Kefira.

"I'd think you'd guys would really like her if you could meet her." Neville said to his mother once he finished the story. "She's really brave just like how Gran says you guys were. She's not afraid of anything.  She belongs in Gryffindor, not me. But she tells me that I have a lion in me, I just have to let it roar. But I don't know how to do that."

He stared down at the book of the little sketch of a lion, Kefira attempted to draw. 

"I don't want to be afraid but I can't help it."

His mother arose and walked away, leaving him for a few moments before she returned. She lowered herself to his eye level and with a grin took his hand a placed another candy wrapper into his palm.

He smiled back at her.

"Thank you."

The Christmas break went by too soon, and Kefira came down the morning that she would return to school to find her owl tapping against the kitchen window. Rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes, the child shuffled over to the window and opened it.

She had named the owl Loxie, shortly after receiving her. Her mother didn't understand why Kefira kept Loxie out of her cage but Kefira had explained to her on numerous occasions that Loxie needed to spread her wings. She was an owl after all.

Loxie hopped out hooting loudly.

"Shh...you're going to wake everyone up." Kefira said. The sun wasn't even up yet, Kefira had only gone down the stairs for a glass of water when she heard the tapping.

Loxie, however, just seemed to hoot louder making Kefira laugh. "This is why Mum doesn't want you in the house. You make more noise than I do. Well, I don't have any food on me right now..not owl food I should say." She began climbing on the counters as the owl continued to hoot.

"Quiet!" Kefira whispered to the owl as she looked through the cabinets to find something for Loxie.

Suddenly, the lights of the kitchen turned on.

"Uh oh."

Kefira turned around to see Cardel standing in the doorway rubbing his eyes.

"I should have known it was you." he chuckled walking over.

"It's not my fault." Kefira said. "She's the one who had to go hootin' everywhere." 

"And that explains why you are on the counters this early in the morning?"

"I was trying to find her something to eat."

"Kefi," Cardel lifted her off the counter and set her on the floor. "She is an owl, and like great predators, she hunts on her own. I'm sure she hunted all through the night."

Kefira looked over at Loxie. "Then why was she hooting so loud?"

"She's an owl. They hoot. Perhaps she was just very happy to see you."

"Oh. Oops. Well, I'm just going to get my water and go back to bed!"

She did as she said she would and left the kitchen leaving Cardel and Loxie alone.

The father looked over to the owl who was staring at him.

"You know how early it is right now?"