Long before she was sorted into the Gryffindor house, Kefira Walsh was known as the "little lion" in her family. The youngest of the four Walsh girls, Kefira wasn't supposed to survive long after birth, but as she celebrates her eleventh birthday, t...
Severus remained as still as a statue as the girl held onto him sobbing into him. Children made Severus uncomfortable, but a crying child? That was the worst.
Several times he tried to pry her arms off of him, knowing it would just be his luck that someone walking down the corridor would see them. But each time he tried to move away the girl held on tighter. He had no idea what had made the girl cry so hard. As if she didn't make him feel uncomfortable enough, he couldn't get a word in as her sobs echoed in the empty corridor.
"Miss Walsh!" he used a stern tone to grab her attention, but as she looked up to see the glistening green eyes, he immediately looked away from her.
"I'm not weak!" Kefira cried into him.
"I never said you were!" Severus said. "Now remove yourself-"
He was interrupted as she began hiccuping from crying so much.
"Calm yourself, Miss Walsh before you make yourself sick."
His words didn't seem to help at all as she continued crying. He awkwardly attempted to pat her back but it did nothing.
"Everyone knows what I'm afraid of now." Kefira told him.
Severus looked down at her, curious as to what the fearless loudmouth could possibly fear.
"Is everything alright here?"
Severus turned to see Minerva walking in their direction. She seemed confused as to why Severus was standing in the middle of the corridor until she caught sight of the young girl crying.
Severus didn't say anything, but nothing was needed to be said as Minerva walked over and help move Kefira off of him.
"Come with me, Miss-"
"Professor!"
The three turned around to see Neville running down the hall, but as soon as he realized that he was running in front of the professors, he slowed his pace. He gave a quick glance to Professor Snape before looking to the head of the house.
"Come along, Mr.Longbottom." Professor McGonagall said directing Kefira to her office to sit and calm herself down.
She gave the few minutes to sit alone as she left to speak with Professor Lupin to figure out what had caused the girl to become so upset.
"Kefi?" Neville said her name softly. "Are you...well I know you're not alright."
He frowned unsure of how to comfort the girl.
Kefira said nothing, but instead she just held onto him in a hug resting her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." she mumbled to him.
"I don't understand why you of all people are sorry, Kefi. For what?"
"Because you were doing so well in the class and I just ruined it. I'm sorry, Neville."
"You shouldn't be apologizing at all, Kefi. I...to be honest. I really didn't think you were afraid of anything, but I wasn't expecting to see the boggart turn into that."
"I wish it didn't turn into that." Kefira said. "But...it did."
"Are you afraid of getting sick?" Neville asked her.
"No...it's..I was sick...when I was born...the doctors told my parents that I wouldn't live for long. Then when I continued to live longer than they expected they just kept telling my parents that I wouldn't be able to do things that most kids could do."
"Why not?"
"Because I was born prematurely and I wasn't as developed as I should have been. My lungs weren't strong and all this other stuff."
"But I don't understand how they could tell you that and yet here you are..."
"That's because when someone tells me I can't do it...I do it anyways. I didn't want to grow up with people telling me I couldn't do something. They told me I wouldn't live through the night, I didn't listen to that. They told me I shouldn't run much, but it only made me want to run around more. I'm just afraid of the day where I can't fight what people tell me I can't do."
"I don't think you have to be afraid of that anymore Kefi." Neville said. "You've already proved them wrong by far. I mean, they said you wouldn't make it through the night, but you're thirteen years old. You're the fastest person that I know and you can do pretty much everything from what I've seen."
She chuckled with a slight sniffle. "Well, there's still one thing I can't do just yet. I'm working on it though."
"What's that?"
"Can't seem to be able to lick my elbow."
When McGonagall approached Remus, it brought him back to his time at school and for some reason he was waiting for her to scold him.
Instead the woman directed him to her office where she said Kefira was currently trying to calm down. He explained the boggart lesson to her as they walked side by side towards the office.
"I didn't expect that after seeing vampires and snakes."
"Yes well is one of a kind, isn't she?" McGonagall said before opening the door to the office.
Remus walked in to see Kefira resting her head on Neville's shoulder. The two students looked up at him.
"Uh, Miss Walsh, are you feeling better?"
Kefira looked to Neville and smiled.
"Yeah, I'm feeling much better."
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