Gasping for air Neville breached the Lake's cold surface and with horror, flailed through his wet robes for his beloved Trevor. With his head sinking periodically and his hands coming up empty Neville felt the sting of tears, as he choked for air. To his relief a hand triple the size of his head grasped the collar of his robes and effortlessly lifted him aboard. The large guide didn't even look back at him; instead concentrating on orchestrating the movements of the boats, Neville was left to chough and splutter in the back of the boat alone.
They bumped to a stop in some kind of underground dock, and Neville found himself unceremoniously picked up and dropped on solid ground. 'Ri' there?' boomed the huge man with a kindly smile and Neville nervously nodded looking around to see if any of the others had seen his disgrace. They had. Amid chuckles at his misfortune Neville stood and attempted to appear collected and calm whilst wringing out as much of his sopping robes as possible. Plastering a nonchalant façade over his shame Neville waited until everyone had passed and again joined the end of the line.
As they approached the towering front doors of Hogwarts itself Neville caught a glimpse of his amphibious escape artist as he disappeared up the front steps.
Without a thought to his appearance Neville cried out to him 'Trevor!' and raced up the stair to scoop him up just before the toad snuck through the front doors, which were opening.
His heart skipped a beat as he peered up under his hair with trepidation, for standing before him with a stern look upon her face was Minevera McGonagall; Deputy Headmistress, Head of House of Gryffindor, matriarch of the McGonagall Clan and his Grandmother's frequent tea guest. With his heart fluttering in his throat Neville ran back down the stairs and shivered, he'd be getting a letter from his Gran sooner than expected by the looks of it.