Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter Fifty Nine

Neville had the best summer of his life at the Walsh home that summer, despite stepping out of his comfort zone several times, he couldn't find himself complaining about anything. Of course, his grandmother wrote to him frequently, even though most of her letters were reminding him to behave in the presence of the family. Not that he needed those reminders.

Cardel and Alana were parents to four girls, however, they were very laid back parents, especially Cardel. The majority of the summer when he wasn't working he was out playing with Neville and Kefira, bringing them all over the place to explore new areas. Also, whenever Kefira was in a tree climbing mood, Cardel assisted in helping the boy up into the tree so he wouldn't miss out. But as the summer was coming to an end, it seemed Neville was getting the hang of climbing the tree on his own.

It was Kefira's thirteenth birthday that day, and the Walsh household was throwing quite a large celebration for the girl. Neville had experienced how the Walsh's celebrated birthdays as he celebrated his among the family for his thirteenth birthday. He wasn't expecting gifts from the family considering he had only just met them, but they had thrown a party for him. Cake, presents and a nice bonfire that roared into the night.

When Kefira awoke on the morning of, her family had been up for quite sometime and she could smell breakfast downstairs. Cardel was preparing to head upstairs and wake her when she appeared walking down the steps. 

"There's the birthday girl!" he greeted. "Oooh wait, or should I say birthday teenager?"

"Dad." she chuckled as she reached the bottom step. He pulled her into a hug and it was at that moment that Cardel had realized that while Kefira was still on the small side, she was actually getting taller.

"Come on, everyone's getting ready to eat breakfast, we've been waiting on you, sleepyhead." he said ruffling her hair that was seriously wild that morning, curls were poking out in every single direction possible.

Kefira walked into the kitchen to find her mother still finishing up her cooking with her sisters at the table along with Neville. With a yawn and a stretch, Kefira walked over to Neville and sat beside him.

"Morning." she greeted him.

"Morning. Happy Birthday, Kefi."

"Thanks, Nev." she smiled. "Oooh!"

Trevor jumped from Neville's lap to hers and settled himself down. "Well good morning to you too Trevor." she giggled.

Alana glanced over her shoulder and made a face. It was bad enough that Kefira's owl entered the kitchen, but then the toad had been on the kitchen table more times than Alana liked.

"Once the food reaches the table, I would appreciate if all animals were removed from the kitchen." Alana said.

"I guess that means you have to leave the table, Lottie, sorry." Kefira laughed before Lottie balled up a napkin and threw it in Kefira's direction. However, the younger girl dodged it easily.

"Very funny Kefi, but the only wild animal here in the kitchen is you. Have you seen your hair this morning?"

"Looks great doesn't it?"

Neville listened as the sisters went back and forth, eventually dragging Rosemary and Nellie in to break up the bickering, but instead it turned into all four sisters bickering. Alana and Cardel got involved and it went on for ten solid minutes while Neville sat there quietly with Trevor in his lap trying to register what the hell had just happened.

"Come on, Neville!" Kefira called to her friend that evening as the entire family was outside around the fire.

Neville looked at the fire and began to shake his head but Kefira walked over and dragged him over.

"It's going to be fun, I promise." she said as they neared the fire.

"What are we doing?" Neville asked curiously.

"We. Make. Fire." Cardel said pounding on his chest.

Neville laughed as Cardel handed Kefira a small pouch of something. Kefira reached her hand in and grabbed a handful of some sort of powder before tossing it into the fire. Immediately, the flames grew bigger as Neville jumped back.

He was completely confused as to what they had thrown into the fire to cause the fire to grow.

"Open up your hand, Nevs." Kefira instructed him, but he didn't do so right away. 

"What is that stuff?" Neville asked curiously as Kefira grabbed his hand and pried open his fingers to reveal his palm.

"It's sugar Neville." Cardel smiled. "That's all."