Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Twenty

Kefira was all snuggled in the living room of her home, surrounded by her sisters on the floor as the Walsh daughters had all fallen asleep after a long movie night the evening before. She was nestled into Nellie's side, the two had complained about stomach aches for the majority of the night after finishing a good amount of Kefira's birthday cake from the celebration. The sound of someone knocking abruptly at the door, stirred the youngest daughter from her slumber.

Lifting her head up and allowing all her curls to fall into her face, Kefira turned her head to face the door when she heard the knocking again. Feet began shuffling in the back hall as her father came into view a short while later and walked over to open the door, in only his morning robes.

Kefira climbed onto the sofa and looked over the back as her father answered the knocks. She immediately groaned and ducked down as she saw Professor Snape on the other side.

"No..." She said under her breath after catching sight of the man. "What is he doing here?"

Of course, Cardel greeted the man politely and also questioned what the professor was doing there, only to learn that it was Professor Snape who would be escorting Kefira to get her school supplies.

"What? No." She didn't understand why he couldn't have just sent it in the post as he normally did. She prayed that her father would come up with some horribly lame excuse to keep her home, but it would have been all too easy.

"Kefira, sweetheart, you're awake, I see you. Go get dressed." Cardel instructed her.

"Aww man." Kefira whined before picking herself up from the sofa and glaring in the direction of the two men as she left to her room.

Cardel scratched the back of his head with a nervous laugh. "Teenagers...am I right?"

Throwing on a light long sleeve and slipping on a pair of jeans, Kefira proceeded to slip her feet into a pair of shoes before deciding to pull her hair up to keep it from tickling her face throughout the day. She eventually wandered back downstairs, taking her sweet time as she approached the professor, who was standing near the doorway of the home.

"Professor..." she greeted with a cold tone, as she folded her arms over her chest.

"Miss Walsh." Snape replied with the same coolness to his voice.

Cardel glanced back and forth between the two before trying to brighten things up with a smile.

"Well, I hope you two have fun today. Kefira, I've given Professor Snape here the money and-"

Kefira made a face before walking out the home. 

"BYE!"

Since leaving the home and arriving to Diagon Alley, Kefira had yet to say a word to the man as they walked through the street of shops. She completely ignored him unless it was absolutely necessary as they headed towards Gringotts to exchange her money to the rude little goblins. Once she had her money, the two walked out but Kefira was going to speak her mind finally.

"Why did you even bother coming in person?" She asked him suspiciously. "For someone who claims that I'm nothing but annoying and trouble throughout the school year, I would think you'd want to keep the most distance between us."

When Snape didn't answer her, Kefira jumped in front of him blocking his path. "Answer the question, Professor, or I won't take another step with you. In fact, I'll make a scene."

"I suppose this here isn't making a scene?" Snape responded with a slight eye roll.

"This doesn't even come close to what I'm capable of."

Severus eyed the feisty little red head that was making the trip much more difficult than it needed to be as she glared up at him. Over the summer, she had actually grown in height, not too much, but it was noticeable as she didn't have to throw her head back to completely look at him. Her hair was frizzed out, escaping the hairband that kept the majority of the poof ball back and her eyes were narrowed directly at him.

"Miss Walsh, it is as simple as you needing school supplies and I am the one assigned to bring you to gather your school supplies. If you cannot wrap your head around something as simple-"

"But why you?" She cut him off. "Of all people? Why you? You don't like me. You've made that clear plenty of times over the years.  You don't like anyone for that matter! So why you?"

"I am the only one that is probably capable of handling such a foul-tempered ill-mannered being such as yourself." He responded in irritation.

"A grown man insulting a teenage girl and you want to talk about me being ill-mannered?!"

Several people passing by, glanced over at the scene of the two.

"And you know what, you can dislike me for whatever silly little reasons you have, but at least I have proper reason to dislike you!" She countered.

"Oh I would love to hear that." He jeered at her.

"I've already told you numerous times." Kefira told him. "You're nothing but a bully and I don't want to associate myself with a bully."

"I am not a bully, you don't even know what a true bully is." Severus said darkly.

"Oh I don't? You know what, Professor Snape, I think I do. Neville has been through so much in his life and he has the right to fear many things, but last year during the boggart practice, the fact that you're what he saw when the boggart took form, that said enough for me. You're so mean to him that he fears you above all things! You're mean to everyone except for your little chosen favorites like Draco Malfoy and his little circle of friends. They're just as mean as you are. You are a professor, a student shouldn't fear you. They should turn to you for guidance not cower in fear. It says a whole lot about you as a person. And you're not the type of the person I want to be around. I can shop on my own, thank you very much."

She turned on her heel and walked away disappearing through the crowds of people. 

Severus went to make a remark that she didn't have the money on her to buy the supplies, but as he dug into the pocket of his robes, he realized at some point during the midst of the argument, she had been able to snag the money from him. 

Cardel's voice sounded in his head.

"Teenagers...am I right?"