Toilet Toad. My Favorite~...

"So. What's your name?" I ask her as we step out of the compartment.

"Hermione Granger."

"I'm Harry Culver." I stick out my hand.

She looks surprised but shakes it anyways.

"Nice to meet you, Harry."

"Same to you." I smile. "What compartments have you already asked about the toad?"

"I was going one by one down this way." She gestures to the right.

I nod, and we walk over to the compartment next to mine.

Knocking on the door, I ask them about the toad.

They say they haven't seen it...

This is going to take a while.

--- 20 minutes later ---

Hermione and I finally found that darn toad...

It was hanging out in the bathroom... in a toilet.

We were walking by the door to the bathroom when we heard a shout, and a girl came running out of it, screaming. We asked what's wrong and she said there was a toad in the toilet.

Seems she doesn't like toads.

Neither do I.

Now, we are deciding who is going to get it out and how. Hermione refused, and I considered just reaching in and grabbing it, but that is gross. The other option is to levitate it out. That would mean using my magic... my severely overpowered magic.

While I don't think there is any problems to overpowering a levitation charm while using it on a living being, it is still Neville's toad I would be experimenting that on.

I would care, but...

I just don't care. It's only a toad.

I fwip out my wand.

Before Hermione has a chance to ask what it is I'm doing, I cast the levitation charm.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

The toad floats out of the bowl, and into the air, following my wand's movements. It's wiggling around, flailing its limbs, trying to get ahold of something stable.

I breathe a sigh of relief.

No problems with levitation.

Hermione stares at the act with her eyes wide open.

"How did you do that? That was the levitation charm, wasn't it?! I read about it in the Standard Book of Spells! Did you practice much before, at home?!"

I cut in before she can escalate her interrogation any higher.

"Wait!" Finally, she stops. "How about I tell you later. We should go give Neville his toad." I gesture to the flying animal that looks like he is practicing his breaststroke.

Hermione blushes and nods. Walking out of the small bathroom, she guides me to where she believes Neville should be.

We find him a few moments later, with his head down as the door to the compartment he is in front of slams shut. Very forcefully.

'...?'

Jeez. So rude.

I shouldn't jump to conclusions, but as far as I know, Neville should have just been asking if they had seen his toad, and it looks like they slammed the door in his face.

But who knows? Maybe he said or did something they didn't like?

Maybe they said or did something he didn't like?

I have too little information.

I shake my head.

Hermione and I walk up to him. The toad following closely behind me.

He looks up when he notices us approach. I can see and feel him trying to hold back tears.

He wipes his damp eyes with his sleeves and faces us fully.

"H-Hermione. Did y-you find Trevor? W-who's this?" He chokes out as smoothly as he can.

"Yes. Harry helped me find him." She gestures to me, letting Neville know my name at the same time.

Neville looks over and looks with widened eyes at the toad floating behind me. I levitate it over and set it gently into his hands.

"Thanks." He says somewhat quietly, but sincerely. "He keeps running away."

"No problem, spud." I say with an accent.

Hermione raises an eyebrow at me.

Neville is confused.

"What?" I say normally as I look at both of them.

They shake their heads.

"Whatever." I shrug. "If it keeps running away, maybe it's trying to get somewhere more comfortable for it. Toads typically like cool damp places, and we found it swimming around in a toilet."

"That... may be true..." He says to himself in realization.

I nod.

"Maybe you could owl-order an aquatic tank to keep it in, or something."

He nods in understanding.

"I'll ask my gran about it."

"Do you two want to go to my compartment? We can hang out until we get to the castle." I ask.

"Yes! Let me go get my things, and I'll head over!" She says excitedly as her eyes sparkle at the thought of me teaching her what I know.

"Okay. See you there." I call out as she runs off to wherever she stowed her belongings previously.

I look at Neville.

"How about you?"

"N-no, I'm alright. I've already got a cabin for myself."

"Okay." I nod.

---

I am sitting in my compartment, starting to read my potions book, waiting for Hermione to arrive.

I'm not kept waiting long, as not 3 minutes pass before Hermione shows up at the door.

I open the door just as Hermione raises her hand to knock on the door. I knew she was there because I was spreading my empathic awareness to see when she would arrive.

"What? How did you know I was here? You couldn't have seen me." Hermione looks to the closed blinds.

I look at her seriously.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes!" Hermione nearly shouts.

"Too bad." I speak.

"Wait? What do you mean?" She asks.

"We just met. This is something pretty personal." I say plainly. "I'll tell my friends about it."

She gets confused at my words but accepts it and moves on.

I gesture her to come into the compartment.

"Come on in." I speak.

She walks inside and tries to heft her luggage up into the rack overhead. Her chest seems especially heavy. I wouldn't be surprised if it is full of books.

I watch her struggle for a few seconds before I act.

"Here, let me."

I stand up and grabbing the pieces of luggage one at a time, I extremely easily set them up into the rack. She freezes, staring at the sight. Did I break her?

You're looking at an 11-year-old that can deadlift 500 lbs.

"What?! How did you do that? Was that a spell? I've not read of that before!

"No. It wasn't magic." I say to her, and wait a moment for what I say to sink in.

"Then... how?!" Hermione says confusedly.

"I work out." I shrug.

She looks at me with dull eyes.

Looks like she doesn't believe the truth...

"Believe it or not, your choice." I shrug again. "Sometimes truth is fiction."

"Don't you mean 'Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction'?" Hermione asks.

"Nope." I say bluntly. "I meant what I said." I stare her dead in the eyes.

'I thought things like magic and the Phoenix Force were fiction... but they're most definitely true. I've seen it myself after all.'

Leaving her to ruminate, I flip open my book again.

I think she'll need a little time to process before an intelligent conversation can be held...