Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Sixty Eight

As promised, Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati escorted Kefira to the Hospital Wing that evening. However, they didn't even make it halfway before Professor McGonagall caught them out of bed past curfew. She was about to question what the four Gryffindor girls were up to, but she was quick to note how quiet Kefira was. Normally, the loud-mouth child would be the first to speak up to come up with some horrible excuse as to why they were caught doing something they weren't supposed to, but it wasn't the case that evening.

The girl was quiet as she leaned her body against Lavender who stood the closest to her in that moment.  Hermione explained their concerns that Kefira was sick which seemed to register with the professor right away. She allowed them to continue on their way to the Hospital Wing while Professor McGonagall alerted Madam Pomfrey.

Once inside the Wing, Kefira was sat on one of the beds as she held her blanket tighter around her. She was struggling to stay awake so the girls decided to try and keep her up by talking to her about all sorts of random topics. 

"I don't feel so good," Kefira confessed as Lavender began discussing planets as if that would keep Kefira awake in that moment. Her eyes began to close and much to the relief of the girls, before Kefira could fall back asleep, Madam Pomfrey arrived. The woman looked slightly flustered and confused until her gaze came to rest on Kefira.

The girl didn't even have the strength to keep her eyes open which was such an odd sight from the girl she had seen bouncing around in the Wing and around the castle. She couldn't believe it was the same girl that had climbed right out of bed once she had woken from her petrified state.

Madam Pomfrey reached out a hand to touch the girl's skin and flinched at how cold she was to the touch.

"Merlin, she's as cold as an old corpse," Pomfrey muttered to McGonagall.

"I'm fine," Kefira insisted in a sleepy voice. "I just need some sleep that's all-"

"Sleep isn't going to fix this, Miss Walsh," Madam Pomfrey told her. "You're staying here for the night, so I suggest you get comfortable."

She went to stand in protest but a strong hand was placed on her shoulder, forcing her to sit back down. Lifting her head weakly, she saw Professor McGonagall staring down at her. 

"This is not something you can talk yourself out of," The woman told her. "Now lie down."

The other girls were sent back to the dorms, leaving Kefira in Madam Pomfrey's care for the night.

The next morning, Neville learned what had happened during the night as Hermione and Ginny approached him, Seamus, and Dean in the Great Hall during breakfast. He immediately went to leave to head up to the Hospital Wing but Ginny told him that when she tried earlier that Madam Pomfrey wasn't allowing the girl any visitors as she was still tending to the girl. Of course, that made Neville upset as he felt guilty for not picking up on her being sick sooner.

"I should have noticed when she was falling asleep earlier and that she was cold all the time," Neville said with a shake of his head.

"We all should have realized it, Neville," Seamus said. "But it's not something that Kefira would let us dwell on, she's not that type of person. She's quick to cover stuff up. This is probably one of those things."

"Yes, but we all noticed it," Dean said. "She's been the same Kefi this year that we all know, but we've noticed her...slow down a bit, right?"

"This is all my fault," Neville sighed. "All I've been doing is offering her my jumper and she needed more help than that."

"It's no one's fault," Ginny said. "Kefira's sick and no one had control over that, not even Kefi. I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey will take good care of her and she'll back on her feet in no time."

"Although, it had to be bad for her to spend the entire night and still have Madam Pomfrey want to keep her there-"

"Seamus!" Ginny scolded him. "Shut it!"

To make things even more miserable for Neville, he had to face Potions class with Kefira sick in the Hospital Wing. However, he didn't care at all about facing Professor Snape that day. He just wanted to get through class and hope that Madam Pomfrey was allowing Kefira visitors by that time. As he walked into class and took his normal seat, he looked to the empty seat beside him and swallowed. The class felt so empty and seemed so much quieter in a negative way. 

He took out his things and sat there with a blank expression as the other students filed in.

"Heard your girlfriend's sick, Longbottom," Pansy smirked in his direction as she walked in. Something burned inside Neville, it was one thing where people picked on him, but to pick on the people he cared about, especially when they weren't there, that sparked something in the boy.

"You're right, she is sick, but I'm sure she'll back on her feet quite soon to put you back in your place," He told her. 

Dean's eyes widened from where he sat behind Neville and as he looked over at Seamus, he could see the dumbest grin on the boy's face as he tried to hold back his laughter.

"Seems Kefi is rubbing off on him," Dean said. "In a good way, though. Neville needs to stick up for himself."

"Yes, it's incredibly entertaining when he does," Seamus agreed. "Did you see her face? Okay, don't hold me to this, but I think at this rate, Potions is becoming my favorite class this year. "

Severus walked in and quickly noted the empty seat near Neville as he was preparing to tell the class to sit down and be quiet. He took the opportunity to approach the Longbottom boy.

"Mr. Longbottom, if you happen to know where Ms. Walsh is while skipping my cl-"

"She's in the Hospital Wing," Neville cut him off sharply. "She's sick, not skipping your class."

The class fell quiet as the boy looked away from the professor and focused down on his textbook. 

"She wouldn't miss your class unless she absolutely had to and you know it."