Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter Ninety Nine

Kefira had never witnessed Professor Snape move so fast even in the pursuit to scold a student, mainly a Gryffindor. But it seemed the professor was on some sort of mission, however, after awhile Kefira couldn't keep up as she felt winded. She decided to take a rest to catch her breath, knowing all too well from past experiences that if she didn't pace herself that she would regret. She had a lot of energy, that was for sure, but her body didn't always agree with her. She leaned against a tree trying to come up with an explanation as to what Professor Snape was doing out after dark himself.

What was he up to that he didn't want Kefira to witness?

She placed her hand to her chin as she pondered through several possibilities.

"Maybe he's on a date." she chortled to herself. "Perhaps, he just doesn't want anyone to know that perhaps he can show someone affection...Professor Snape on a secret rendevouz, I can't wait to tell Neville and the others about that one." 

She rested for a little while, waiting for her body to come to terms with her mind and allow her to move freely. She wasn't sure how long she had been waiting but it had grown significantly darker. She stood up straight and went to walk in the same direction, Snape had disappeared in when she heard a chilling howl in the distance.

"What in the world was that?"

There wasn't much that Kefira was afraid of, despite the idea of becoming sick and useless, she didn't ever find herself fearing animals. But then again, she had never come across a very vicious animal face to face. Whatever animal made the howling noise, did not sound normal and it certainly didn't sound friendly.

Instead of being scared for herself, she found herself concerned over the Professor as the howling noise had come in the relative direction where Snape had gone. Her mind thought of the endless possibilities of what she could do, the most reasonable plan was to return to the castle and report what she had heard. But that would involve getting into trouble for being out past the curfew hours and if she was going to get in trouble, it wouldn't be for something as silly as that.

There was a nagging notion in the back of her mind, telling her to return to the school but she ignored it and moved forward.

There was sounds of yelling and a scream in the distance along with scarier animal noises coming from the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Her mind thought of the dog, and she wondered if something was in fact hurting the dog. Like her father, Kefira was an immense animal lover and the idea of the dog getting hurt, certainly made her feel incredibly worried.

Worried enough that her mind ignored all basic instincts and moved into the direction of the forest.

Kefira found herself somewhat stranded and feeling incredibly stupid as she couldn't figure what was going on. Suddenly, she heard a shout. She moved in the direction and saw Ron on the ground holding onto the lower part of his leg, groggily.

"Ron?" she called out to him.

The boy's head whipped in her direction.

"Kefi?"

"What are you doing out here?" the two said at the same time.

"You first!" they both said.

Kefira shook her head. "I was out here following Professor Snape...why are you out here and what happened to your ankle?"

"There's a lot going on right now, that even if I tried to explain my mind would explode and yours would melt. You need to get out of here."

"And leave you out here with a bloody foot? I don't think so. Come on, I'll help you up."

She lifted him up to the best of her ability and had him lean against her body.

"You're a lot stronger than you look." Ron said.

"Thanks." Kefira said proudly. "Where is Harry and Hermione? I normally never see one of you without the other two."

"It falls into line with the crazy story, but we need to get to the school and get some help...there's a lot going on..."

"Well are they okay?!"

"I hope so! But I don't know! As you can see I was left out here with my leg like this.."

"How did you get that injury anyways? Or is it part of this wild tale?"

Ron didn't say anything.

"Okay, it's part of this wild tale." Kefira huffed. "Goodness, has anyone told you, you're really heavy?!"

"Not recently."