The Gryffindor Common Room held the emptiness perfect for doing all sorts of against-the-rules-behavior. The fire crackled only distantly, its former blaze decreased only to the occasional random spark. There were only three people left in the Common Room now, and the skinny, dark-haired boy was whispering the other two—a girl with an untamed brown mane, and a tall boy with vibrant hair. The two listening were hunched over excitedly. Whatever the boy was saying must have been interesting, for the girl's brown eyes shone with a thousand unspoken thoughts, and the tall boy was biting his lip nervously. Every now and then, the boy who spoke would glance over his shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping. Apparently secret as well as exciting was this information, because when he looked over for the fifth time, the green irises nearly vanished as the black of his pupils took over.
There were now four people in the Common Room. The newest edition was a rosy-faced boy, who looked to be half asleep. He didn't seem to notice the others' shock, and instead chose to wander the Common Room. He must have been searching for something, for he was removing cushions from their chairs and flipping over tables to get a better look at what lay below them.
"Don't tell me you've lost your toad again, Neville," the bushy-haired girl said.
The boy tried to smile. It turned out to be more of an embarrassed grimace. "Well, yeah, Hermione, I have."
The boy with startling hair held back a chuckle, and glanced at the boy sitting to his left.
"Ron, you weren't so happy when you lost your rat!" the girl scolded.
The boy was no longer grinning. Instead, he frowned, not appearing to savor the memory of this rat.
None of three who had been interrupted offered his or her help to Neville, who was apparently coming out of his sleepy daze. Instead, each chose a piece of red-and-gold carpet to focus their attention on until the toadless boy left them alone. The raven-haired boy coughed awkwardly and shifted in his seat, while the boy to his right fiddled with some loose thread. Their female companion seemed set on memorizing every detail of the fabric from its careful design to the number of fibers it contained.
"You best not wander out," Hermione said wisely. "Otherwise, you'd get Gryffindor in trouble, and I would like to win the House Cup."
Neville muttered something that sounded oddly like "hypocrite" and returned to the dormitories. Trevor couldn't get that far while he slept, he supposed.
The instant the intruder was out of sight, the three went immediately back to their topic. Still as silent as they could be, the two listeners held back their reactions while the other boy told in whispers of things much more exciting than a clumsy boy's lost toad.
The next day, Neville awoke early to search for Trevor. He knew that Trevor would probably show up eventually, as he always did, but Trevor was getting older... His reflexes had been getting slower, and if he wasn't careful, the toad might not return in the best condition. Sure, Neville did have a lovely book on Herbology to study, but he had a certain attachment to this toad that he just didn't have for the book. Sure, it was a love-hate relationship at times, what with Trevor running off all the time and Neville dropping him every so often. But, it was a good relationship nonetheless, and Neville would find Trevor no matter what it took.
He first tried to check in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory. Trevor might have followed some innocent Gryffindor girl, and ended up spending a night in the dormitory, Neville decided. It made enough sense.
That was his first mistake. Apparently, while girls were allowed in their dormitories, boys were not allowed access to the girls'. Figures. The instant his foot touched a stair, the stair vanished, it and its sisters replaced by a long slide. So much for that idea.
Next, he supposed, would be the bathrooms... Assuming that toads enjoyed water, a bathroom would be the most logical place for one to hide out in, wouldn't it be?
Feeling nervous, Neville walked slowly into the bathroom, and peered into the first stall.
"Trevor?" he called desperately.
To his great surprise, a high voice came in response. "Don't you knock?" The semitransparent figure of a girl spiraled from the toilet bowl, hideous glasses askew, frown on her face. "I was trying to get some beauty rest!" she huffed angrily.
Neville thought she rather needed it, but didn't say so for fear of offending her. If this was Moaning Myrtle—and he was quite sure it was—he wouldn't want to cause any flooding. He settled on saying, "Sorry, but I was under the impression this was a boy's bathroom?"
Myrtle's cheeks flushed a deep shade of silver. "It is," she said sheepishly. "But the toilets are very comfortable."
"I'll bet they are."
"Of course, they'd be much more comfortable if I could get some rest."
Thankful for a reason to escape, Neville said, "Okay, I won't hold you up much longer. Sorry for the confusion."
Concluding that no living thing would be able to survive in such circumstances, he left without searching for Trevor any more in that particular area.
And so he found himself walking throughout the grounds of Hogwarts once more. Thinking of nowhere better, he set off toward the Great Hall. Maybe he could get breakfast while he was at it.
As we entered, however, it became clear that the odds were against either goal being accomplished in this setting. Nearly Headless Nick seemed to be in an important discussion about the Headless Hunt with the Grey Lady, who was listening intently.
"—but, of course, each application I have sent in has been denied! My greatest ambition—"
The Grey Lady nodded sympathetically. "I can't imagine how difficult that must be," she said.
Nearly Headless Nick looked from the conversation to Neville. "Ah," he said merrily. "A young Gryffindor prepared to start the day bright and early. How refreshing it is to see such an eager student!" He made an attempt to pat Neville on the back in a sort of fatherly gesture, but gave Neville the feeling that a hundred ice cubes were rushing down his back.
Repressing a shiver, he stuttered, "You wouldn't have seen a toad round here by chance? Goes by the name of Trevor…"
The two ghosts looked at each other. "Have you seen him?" Nearly Headless Nick asked the Grey Lady.
She smiled. "Not recently, though last night I saw him headed off toward Ravenclaw Tower."
"Thanks." Neville nodded, and darted off to find his toad.
"He wouldn't be able to get in, you know—" the ghost called after him. "He can't answer the question!" The boy kept running from the Great Hall, giving no sign of acknowledgement whatsoever. The Grey Lady sighed. She seemed to have decided it was not worth her time, for she made no further effort to remind him of this problem. Instead, she turned back to Nearly Headless Nick.
"So, where were we?"
Neville ran until he was out of breath, by which time he had made one right and three left turns through the corridors. Several portraits had given him lectures ("Children these days! No manners whatsoever!") he chose not to listen to. The sudden thought hit him that he had no idea where he was supposed to go in search of the home of Ravenclaw students. Luckily or unluckily, he discovered another student.
"Er, hello. You're in Ravenclaw, aren't you?" He remembered the girl only for her bizarre sense of style that had been just as present at the Sorting as it was today. She wore a long necklace of Butterbeer corks that she seemed never to take off. Behind her left ear there was her wand, supposedly keeping it from harm. Her silvery eyes looked him up and down, trying to figure out exactly who he was.
"Only those of sharpest mind were taught by Ravenclaw," she said in a singsong voice.
Neville merely stared at her and gave a feeble "yeah".
"I don't know who you are," the girl concluded.
"It doesn't matter, really. I'm just looking for my toad. He answers to Trevor. Maybe you've seen one?"
"I don't think I have. You wouldn't have seen a History of Magic textbook lying around, have you?" she asked.
"You need it?"
The girl nodded seriously. "It contains my most valuable theories on nargles." In a whisper she added, "I think that's why they've taken it; they think I'm becoming a threat."
"Really? Well—"
"It's silly of course," she went on. "I don't want to hurt them."
"—if you see my toad—"
The girl didn't seem to be all that interested in Trevor, because her large eyes were flickering around the hallway. She must have been looking for nargles or something of the sort, because she seemed very determined. "Is that it?" She pointed toward the ceiling.
To his great amazement, she was right. There, perched on a support beam was Trevor. "Yes," he said, stunned.
"That's an odd place for a toad to rest."
"Indeed it is. Come on, Trevor." He held his hands out in hope to catch his toad should it jump down.
The toad jumped. Neville didn't catch it.
There was a brief moment in which Neville thought Trevor had fallen victim to the unforgiving floor, crushed by the impact. "TREVOR!" As several portraits shouted their complaints to Neville from their frames, he darted about in search of the toad. Where was he? Did he want to see what had become of his poor pet?
"Here," the girl said in her musical voice, hand holding a toad outstretched. "Try not to lose him again. If he'd gone in the water and the dabberblimps had found him, he wouldn't be here anymore."
"Yeah, right."
AN: I find it kind of awkward that I was able to write as much about a lost toad as I was able to write about the death and torture of a character. And I seemed to have a certain fondness for ghosts in this story, didn't I? Moaning Myrtle and two House ghosts. Wow. Well, I sort of like it. Definitely fun to write... Luna seems to like wandering the halls in my stories, doesn't she? Theodore... Neville... She's so fun to write, I just have to include her when I can. This takes place before the fifth book, thus neither knowing the other's identity. (The reason Neville knows Luna is in Ravenclaw is because he'd have witnessed her Sorting. As I mentioned, she stands out, so it wouldn't be easy to forget her... Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed.