Despite her bossy sounding voice, Neville was immediately awestruck by Hermione Granger.

For one thing, she was the first and only person to go out of her way to help him out.

And she didn't even know him.

Before he had ran into Hermione, Neville had asked several people if they had seen a toad. Some of them had snickered. Some of them had looked at him as if he was some previously unknown creature that had suddenly chosen to surface. Others had told him that eventually he would find his toad, but none of them had offered to help. They had just remained sitting, and he had walked off feeling more and more like an idiot with each compartment that he had left.

And then Neville had found Hermione.

As soon as he had told her about his missing toad, she had immediately gotten up from her seat (even though she had clearly been busy with reading a book) and had offered to help him search.

And for once, Neville had not felt like an idiot.

Neville had then followed Hermione as she had immediately took charge of the situation. She had entered compartment after compartment, without even bothering to knock first. Perhaps that was a bit of arrogance on her part, but Neville saw it as boldness rather than arrogance.

Neville wished that he could have Hermione's boldness. He always felt nervous and insecure whenever he approached people.

That was not the case at all with Hermione.

So what if she was a little bossy. At least she knew how not to make a complete idiot out of herself whenever she did something as simple as opening her mouth.

Neville's admiration of Hermione only continued to grow as he watched her ask student after student (none of which she knew) if they had seen a toad.

And unlike Neville, she had never sounded like she was asking about something that was silly. In fact, her voice had reflected nothing but confidence and strength, despite the fact that she was merely inquiring about a toad. She somehow managed to make the inquiry sound important.

Hermione was truly different from anyone else that Neville had ever met before. It was truly amazing how she was able to take charge so quickly and so efficiently. Neville had never been able to do that. He had always tried his best to avoid being noticed.

Hermione, on the other hand, had no problem with being the center-of-attention. It was clear that she believed in herself.

Neville wished that he could have the same confidence in himself.

Hermione was definitely someone he wanted to be more like.

To put it simply, Hermione was amazing.