Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Fifty Seven

Neville had helped a tired Kefira up to the Gryffindor Tower after the ball ended, he had the biggest smile on his face as the girl held onto his arm as he guided her along. Even though they had both gone to the ball with different dates, both Ginny and Bisera seemed more than understanding as the two spend the rest of the evening together. It mainly consisted of Kefira holding Neville, leaning against him and talking to keep herself awake. Just sharing one dance with Kefira was enough to make the boy's entire evening, but being able to dance with her to the last song that the Weird Sisters played, well he was sure it was enough to last him a lifetime. 

When they reached the Gryffindor Common Room, he was sure that Kefira was just going to want to head up to the girl's dorm and crash, but she claimed that she was only going to change out of her dress robes and then she would be back.

Neville took the opportunity to head up to the boy's dorm and change into his pyjamas. He hummed a few songs to himself, the smile still on his face as he changed. Eventually, he made his way downstairs to find that he had beat Kefira. He waited by the stairs leading up the girl's dorm and a couple of minutes later, he saw Kefira making her way down the stairs slowly, dragging her blanket with her. 

If it were possible, the grin on his face grew even wider as he saw that she had changed into her pyjamas, but had thrown his jumper on over. She offered a smile at him before making her way over to the sofa and plopping down. Neville sat down beside her and instantly found her snuggled right into him. He allowed her to get comfortable before he adjusted himself to get comfortable. 

They didn't say anything but at that point in the evening, there really wasn't much left to say. The two of them were quite tired, so the only thing left to do was indeed sleep. Neville watched as Kefira fell asleep quickly as the warmth of the fire soothed her into a slumber. He remained for a few minutes longer, his hand ran over her hair. He chuckled as every stroke brought one of her curls to reemerge.

He did enjoy seeing a different look to Kefira, it was definitely a surprise to see her with straight hair, but he definitely preferred her with the curls. They were just part of Kefira that without them it just seemed odd, it was like seeing the lion without its mane.

He continued to watch the curls reappear as the serum wore off and eventually fell asleep himself. 

For some reason, Neville assumed that Kefira would probably sleep in. After all, she had been so tired that he figured she could use a few extra hours of sleep.

That was not the case.

Around eight in the morning, he awoke to Kefira shaking him trying to get him to wake up. He opened his eyes, suddenly feeling quite aware of how sore his feet were from dancing so much the night before.

He found Kefira standing beside the sofa, looking quite refreshed and especially energetic as she smiled down at him.

"Morning!" She greeted him. Her curls were damp, resulting in the top of his jumper being wet as she still wore it after her morning shower.

"Good morning," he said sitting up. "I...I'm surprised you're awake."

"Really?I'm not."

"Of course not," he chuckled before rubbing at his eyes and the rest of his face. "Did you sleep well?"

"Do you feel better?"

"Nevs, I'm telling you, I wasn't feeling sick, just tired that's all."

"Right..I know...I just..I was just asking," he said clearing his throat and looking down at his feet. Kefira sat right beside him and leaned against his arm.

"I am feeling alright, thank you for asking," she offered a kinder response. "I was planning on going outside and enjoying the snow! I just wanted to wake you up and see if you wanted to join. But I totally understand if you want to keep sleeping, you were a party animal last night, Mr. Longbottom."

Neville turned a deep shade of red but couldn't deny the small smile on his face as he looked over at her as she still rested on his arm. 

"So...Neville, do you want to go outside?" She asked him again.

"To build a snowman?" He questioned in return.

"No, to destroy Seamus and Dean in a snowball fight!"

"Wait..what?"

"OW! Kefi! We agreed to no face hits!" Seamus yelled as he barely dodged the snowball that was about to clock him in the head.

"I didn't get the memo!" Kefira called back.

"Of course you didn't, that's because you never listen!"

"Why don't you stop yelling at her and put some effort into this fight!" Dean called to him. "We're getting slaughtered over here!'

"This isn't fair, it's three against one!" Seamus let out a screech as he was hit in the back knocking him down to the ground.

Kefira's eyes widened before she glanced over at Neville in surprise. "Nice shot, Nevs!"

"I didn't mean to throw it that hard," Neville said as Dean helped Seamus up to his feet.

"That's okay...do it again!" Kefira laughed. "If we can take down Seamus, that only means we have Dean left. It'll be two against one and by that point, we can't lose."

"You're putting a lot of effort and thought into this snowball fight, Kefi."

"Well, do you want to be on the losing side?" She asked with a wicked smile.

"No," he shook his head.

"Alright then, so wind that arm up and let's finish this."

"Dean...I...I can't go on," Seamus called out to the other boy. "They got me."

"Seamus quit being so dramatic and get up."

"No...I'm done. I'm throwing in the flag."

"I'm going to throw you into the lake if you don't get up, come on..."

"Tell Professor McGonagall that I didn't finish that assignment nor did I plan on doing so. Tell my mam-"

Kefira and Neville walked over to where Seamus was lying in the snow, giving Dean his last words.

"He's so dramatic," Kefira huffed folding her arms. "Look, Seamus, if you're dying to get out of the battle, try dying a little quieter, will you?

"I will die how I please, woman!" Seamus snapped at her. "You're the reason I'm down here in the first place!"

"I'm not the one who hit you with the last ball, Neville has a mean shot."

Seamus looked over at his dorm mate in shock and betrayal. "Neville? But why?"

Neville gave a small shrug. 

"I didn't want to be on the losing team."