Trevor's Dilemma
"Oh no, where has Trevor gone this time?" Neville asked in exasperation as he dropped down to look under his bed for his pet toad. He was always losing track of where his amphibious friend was.
"Lost Trevor again have you?" Ron asked as he stepped into their shared room to grab his bag, preparing to attempt to get some of his homework done. He noticed the poor boy looking around the room frantically as if he had lost his head.
"Yes, and this time I'm afraid I won't be able to find him for good," complained Neville. He plopped onto his bed, dropping his face into his hands.
"Oh don't worry Neville, I'm sure he'll turn up sooner or later, he always does," Ron said comfortingly to the poor boy before he turned on his heel to leave the room, having conveniently forgotten his bag of homework.
Trevor looked upon his owner with a bored expression on his amphibious face. He was sitting quite plainly in the space between Neville's bed and night stand. He was quite used to his owner panicking over having "lost" Trevor as it happened almost daily. In the beginning Trevor didn't really know what to think of it, he wasn't lost of course, his owner just wasn't able to find him. Now, however, it has become routine to watch Neville search around for him. He sometimes enjoyed it, making a game of it by finding somewhere to actually hide, but today he was just bored with it.
So, with Neville's back to the door, as he was searching in the same wardrobe for the umpteenth time, Trevor hopped out of the room and into the common room. Trevor surveyed the room. It was usually busy with kids studying or just socializing, but hardly anyone was here. There were a couple students reading in the back, but other than that no one else was here. He started hopping toward the other side of the room where there was a crack in the wall large enough for Trevor to fit through, which was how he got out and explored to his leisure. He stopped dead in his tracks, almost falling on his face. He caught a glimpse of an orange tail slowly swishing back and forth from one of the armchairs near the fireplace.
Crookshanks, Trevor thought with a note of disgust. He had remembered what that crazy cat did to Scabbers and he was not about to let it happen to him. He didn't exactly see the cat eat poor Scabbers, but Trevor assumed he did because of all the fuss the red-haired one put up when he discovered Scabbers was missing and blamed Crookshanks. The bushy-haired one denied her feline having anything to do with it, but Trevor knew that cat ate Scabbers. Cats were evil like that. Trevor remembered Neville's grandmother's cat, it would always chase him around the house, which might be why Trevor unconsciously hides all the time.
Trevor carefully crawled forward, hiding behind the armchair across from Crookshanks. He looked up at the cat. He was sleeping. Trevor breathed a sigh of relief.
He began to hop forward, towards the opening again. Suddenly the quiet room became filled with the shriek of a young girl. "What is that brown thing moving over there?!" the girl screamed, pointing at Trevor.
Trevor gulped as he turned around to confirm his fears. His eyes locked with Crookshanks'; he hardly registered the girl running up towards the girls' dormitories. There was a moment of silence, both creatures staring into the gaze of the others. Suddenly, as if a switch was flipped, the large feline jumped down from his perch and sprinted towards Trevor.
Trevor instinctively started hopping as quick as he could towards the nearest armchair, scuttling under it , away from Crookshanks. He skidded to a halt, avoiding crashing into the wall where the chair was pushed up against. He didn't know how long he sat there, heart beating rapidly, before the feline's owner came down the stairs, calling for him.
"Now Crookshanks, what are you doing?" she asked, looking at Crookshanks as he was reaching for the terrified toad under the chair. His large body prevented him from being able to fit in the space under the chair. Trevor's heart leaped with relief as he watched the bushy-haired girl lift the struggling cat up and carried him up the stairs, towards her room. Trevor sat there, waiting to make sure Crookshanks didn't escape to come back and finish the job.
Satisfied, Trevor started hopping towards the opening again. He squeezed through the crack and ended up in front of the portrait of the fat lady, which Trevor thought was very tacky.
He hopped along the corridor, keeping to the wall to make him less noticeable. He was heading towards the courtyard to enjoy some of the warm weather before the autumn season began. He noticed movement to his left, down another hallway. He feared it would be another student with the snake on their robes. The last few times he encountered them, they would always practice their charms on him, usually making him fly through the air, or transforming him into something else, which he very much did not enjoy.
Luckily it was only that brown cat, Mrs. Norris that belonged to the caretaker. Trevor did not mind Mrs. Norris, even though he believed all cats to be evil for she never made any attempt to chase and devour him like every other cat has. She's probably too worried about the students to notice me, Trevor thought as he began to make his way out into the courtyard again. Don't know why she cares so much about them, he wondered as he found a nice sunny spot near a bush. Trevor awoke to the sound of a young boy bending down towards him. "Wow! I've always wanted a pet toad just like this one!" the boy exclaimed, picking up Trevor. Trevor quickly looked at the boy's robes and was glad that it was a badger and not a snake on the patch.
Trevor's heart leaped with surprise as the boy scooped him up and ran towards the kitchens. Trevor became very concerned; he hoped he wasn't about to be eaten. His fears died out as the boy ran past the kitchens and came upon a pile of rather large barrels. The boy tapped a couple of the barrels a number of times and an entryway was revealed.
Trevor's interest was sparked, he had never been in another house's common room. The room had a very sunny feel, as if they were in a little cottage instead of a huge castle. He gazed around at all the plants hanging around the room, some singing softly or shaking as if they were dancing. Trevor liked it here very much.
"Ok now Mr. Toad," the boy holding Trevor said, grabbing Trevor's attention. The boy took Trevor and held him at arm's length, looking into Trevor's face. The boy was very scrawny with sandy blond hair, his face covered in dirt. "This is where you're going to live now, little guy. This is the Hufflepuff common room," the boy said, casting his gaze around the room once before returning it to Trevor. "And my name is Jeremy." The boy's goofy smile fell as he seemed to remember something important he had forgotten.
"Oh no!," Jeremy exclaimed, setting Trevor down in the nearest armchair, "I almost forgot to finish helping Professor Sprout repotting the Flitterbloom! I had forgotten my gloves and was on my way back here when I spotted you," he explained to Trevor.
Trevor watched Jeremy as he ran to his room and back. "Now," Jeremy began, placing his gloves in his bag. "You stay here and wait for me to return. I don't know how long I'll be, so go ahead and roam around the place." He noticed Trevor glancing around the room suspiciously. "Don't worry, there are no cats here," Jeremy said, smiling. "Everyone has owls, although one person does have another toad. Don't worry though, they keep him locked up in their room. I would never to that to you though." Jeremy reached down to pet Trevor gently on the head before heading out.
Trevor just sat there for a while, contemplating what had just happened. Someone had just made them their pet. But he was Neville's toad, not this Jeremy's. Trevor looked around the room again. But it's so nice here, Trevor thought. There's no cat to chase me around. It's so sunny and warm in here that I don't think I'll ever need to go outside to enjoy the sunlight. He obviously will always know where I am considering he spotted me in the courtyard even though I was in a pretty hidden place.
He jumped down from the chair to further explore the room. There were two large round doors, which Trevor guessed is where the students went to go to sleep. He didn't even have to worry about hopping up and down stairs, which was very tiring for him. But...
An image of Neville crying flashed through Trevor's mind. Could he really abandon Neville because this place was nicer? He heard footsteps behind him. He turned around.
It was an older student. She had a bowl of something and was walking towards Trevor.
"Hey little guy," she said, "you must be hungry, I noticed Jeremy bring you in here and leave without even feeding you!" She sat the bowl down in front of him. It was full of all sorts of flying insects. "I put a charm in here that leads any bugs to this bowl. The bowl has another charm on it where it prevents the insects from leaving. They eventually die due to starvation," she explained matter-of-factly. "We get a lot of insects in here, as you can imagine." She swept her hand towards the plants hanging from the ceiling. "And many of us do not enjoy the constant company of creepy critters." She glanced down at the now empty bowl. Trevor licked his lips. "I usually just throw these guys in the trash, but now I can see I won't be doing that anymore," she said with a laugh.
Trevor watched her return the bowl to a nearby table before she left towards the girls' dormitories. Trevor became very tired, having eaten so much. Just another reason to stay, he thought dreamily. He hopped toward the same table the enchanted bowl was sitting on and fell asleep under it.
"Look Gran, my very own toad!" a younger Neville exclaimed, clutching a trembling brown toad to his body.
"Thank your Great-Uncle Algie for getting it for you, Neville" Neville's grandmother told him.
"It's no problem, Augusta," the elderly man said. "What with the worry about him being a Squib and all, I think he deserves it!" Augusta smacked the back of Algie's head. "Ouch woman! What'd you do that for?!" he exclaimed.
"You know are not to talk about Neville not having any magic ability in front of the boy!" Augusta replied, adjusting her hat. The toad stared at the vulture atop it with fear.
"But he ain't no Squib now is he?" Algie replied, rubbing the back of his head. "Thanks to me now we know he does have magic in 'im!"
The terrified toad squirmed in Neville's hands as Neville retreated from the argument erupting between his family members. "I think I'll call you Trevor, is that all right?" Neville asked the still squirming toad. He paused his squirming to look up into Neville's eyes. He seemed to be happy, but Trevor saw a glimpse of sadness in his gaze. Trevor croaked happily in response, wishing for the sadness to disappear.
Tears slowly leaked from Neville's face. "Thank you Trevor, thank you so much..."
Trevor awoke to the sound of a bunch of students entering the common room. "Cedric you're going to be the winner for sure!" a young girl exclaimed, plopping down on one of the sofas. "You're so great, much better than the other Champions, especially that Fleur girl," she said haughtily. "Strange about that Harry Potter's name coming from the Goblet though..."
Trevor was not paying them any attention though. His thoughts were still on the dream. Well, the memory. That was when he had become Neville's pet. No, he felt as if he were more than that. He was Neville's friend. Probably Neville's first friend.
Trevor mentally kicked himself. How could he even think about leaving Neville? Even though this place was like heaven. Trevor was Neville's friend, even if that did mean having to live in fear of being chased by a cat, eating mostly old potion ingredients, and your owner constantly lose track of you, which then results in him frantically searching everywhere for you.
He waited until the room was cleared out again. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out. He didn't see any openings in the wall leading to the rest of the castle.
Suddenly the entryway opened and Jeremy came tumbling in. Trevor used this to jump outside into the corridor. Jeremy called after him, but Trevor quickly hid behind the barrels. He watched as Jeremy raced out of the entryway and down the corridor searching for Trevor. He then jumped out from his hiding place and raced back towards the Gryffindor common room.
He squeezed in through the crack and noticed most people had already gone to bed. He looked around and did not see Neville. Trevor hopped up the stairs to the room Neville shared with four other boys and found him already sound asleep, looking distressed.
Trevor then hoped up on the bed with Neville and fell asleep in the crook of his neck like he used to do when they were both younger. Even in the darkness, the smile that spread across Neville's face was unmistakable.