Brave { Neville Longbottom}

Chapter One Hundred Fifty Six

Kefira and Neville returned to the table where their friends and dates were waiting on them, Kefira took her seat beside Bisera, while Neville sat beside Ginny. However, despite sitting away from each other, the two continued to steal glances and smiles in the direction of one another.  She wasn't a big fan of pork chops, but Ginny seemed to be a big fan so she offered hers up to the girl and decided to snack on the Christmas pastries and sweets that were all over. The Great Hall was buzzing with students, some extremely happy to be all dressed up, while some seemed miserable to be there.

"I don't get why people came if they didn't want to be here in the first place," Kefira said. "Why would you go to a party if all you were going to do was pout all night?"

"Sounds like a lame party to me," Ginny piped up.

"Like a pity party is more like it," Kefira huffed before Lavender turned to them.

"It's all about the social aspect, if you don't show up, everyone is going to be talking about it."

"Everyone?" Kefira repeated. "I highly doubt that, Lavender. My mum told my sisters and me when I was younger that people around our age tend to think the world revolves around them. It's ego...ego...egocentrism!"

She clapped together her hands in triumph that she had remembered something her mother had lectured them about.

"Anyways, she said that people tend to think that things are far worse because they think everyone is watching them and judging them, when in reality, no one really cares."

"Well, some people do care!" Lavender huffed.

"But why? Why would it concern anyone because someone didn't show up versus someone who did?" She questioned.

"Because it just does, Kefi!"

Kefira rolled her eyes, knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere when it came to arguing with Lavender.

Luckily, the conversation ended as the Weird Sisters took the stage and began playing a slower tune for the champions and their partners to dance to. Eventually, other students joined and Kefira turned to Bisera.

"Come on, Bizzy, let's dance!" Kefira grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her up from her seat. Bisera looked nervous about heading to the dance floor but allowed Kefira to drag her along. 

Kefira began to dance but Bisera stood still in the middle, looking around for any judgemental looks.

The girl's dancing came to a stop as she placed her hands on her hips and looked at the Durmstrang student.

"Bizzy, you really don't have to worry about anyone judging you. Trust me, I'm pretty sure everyone is looking at Harry's dance moves rather than anyone else's here."

They heard Parvati let out a yelp as Harry stepped on one of her feet again.

"See?" Kefira pointed out. "You have nothing to worry about, besides, if anyone says anything I'll take care of them."

"You really are a little lion, aren't you?" Bisera chuckled.

"That's my name!"

Finally, Kefira's words seemed to settle in Bisera's head as the girl relaxed and began to dance with her date.

Perhaps it was from the excitement from it being Christmas or getting ready for the ball, it might have been just getting so worked up over all the day's events, but an hour later, Kefira found herself feeling extremely tired.  She wanted to keep dancing to the upbeat music that the Weird Sisters were playing, but her body was just begging her to sit down and relax for a moment.

She excused herself from Bisera, who was also dancing with her fellow peers from Durmstrang. She asked Kefira if she wanted company but Kefira told her that she just wanted to sit down for a bit.

Sitting at the table, Kefira found herself alone and found herself still trying to gather her breath.

"Kefi?"

She looked over to see Harry sitting at another table across the way, with a really grumpy Ron next to him.

'Hey Harry," she greeted the boy.

"Are you alright?" He asked her.

"Who me? Oh yeah, I'm fine, I'm just tired from dancing, that's all."

"You? Tired?" Harry raised a brow.

"It happens on the occasion."

Neville looked around for Kefira on the dancefloor after dancing quite a bit with Ginny but didn't see the girl anywhere.  He saw Bisera dancing with the other Durmstrang students and figured Kefira would be around them. Finally, he did spot the girl and saw her resting at one of the tables. However, she had her arms and head resting on the table, it looked like she was asleep. 

He excused himself from Ginny and walked over to where Kefira was resting.

"Kefira?" He sat down beside her, scooting his chair closer to her. The girl's eyes were closed and didn't respond right away to him calling her name.

"Kefi?" Reaching out, he touched her shoulder lightly and gave her a small shake. Kefira's eyes opened slowly before she looked over at him.

"Nevs," she smiled at him as she lifted her head. "Hi."

"You were asleep.." he said with a surprised tone to his voice.

"Y-yeah," she said stifling a yawn. "I think I wore myself out with all the dancing. Plus, with Christmas..."

"Are you sure? You're not sick , are you?"

"Don't be silly, Nevs. I feel fine, just tired. But now that I've had a short nap, I feel a lot better," she reassured him. "Do I still get a dance with you?"

Neville was about to come up with an excuse as he wanted Kefira to continue resting, but luckily the Weird Sisters transitioned to a slower song. He knew he still owed her a dance or as Kefira put it, as many as she could get.

He offered his hand out to her, it shook slightly with nerves but the shaking came to a stop as soon as she grabbed it.

He was thankful for the slower song as the dancing involved Kefira leaning against him with her arms wrapped around his neck. 

"I prefer this dancing a lot more than the earlier dancing," Kefira admitted to him.

"Me too," Neville smiled. "Although, if you're tired we can go sit down again."

"No, I'm okay with this...as long as it ust stays like this."