Harry and Neville entered the last car of the train. They had no luck so far in finding Trevor, Neville's pet toad. Neville told Harry that Trevor had been a gift from his Uncle Algie after receiving his acceptance letter to Hogwarts, and was rather important to him as a result.
"Alright, Neville, there's one open compartment down there. We can check with them, and if they haven't seen him, we'll search again compartment by compartment," Harry said as they walked down the car, Harry in the lead. Neville just nodded, still slightly morose, but looking slightly more hopeful than he had at his arrival at Harry's compartment.
Harry softly knocked on the wall next to the sliding door, which was only partially open. A soft voice called, "Yes?" and Harry took it as his cue to push the door open the rest of the way.
The compartment was occupied by two girls, also first years, as evidenced by the lack of house colors on their robes. The one sitting on the left had light brown hair, with eyes to match. She looked tall, though Harry could not really tell since she was currently seated. She had a bright, if somewhat hesitant smile on her face, along with a questioning look at their arrival.
The other girl was currently piercing Harry with her stare. She had vivid, pale blue eyes that were partially hidden by a curtain of white-blonde hair. Her expression was less inviting than her friend's, but not unfriendly. From what Harry could tell, she was even shorter than Neville. She arched an eyebrow, as if waiting for someone to speak.
"Er, hello, my friend Neville and I were just looking for his pet toad. Have you seen one?" Harry spoke, realizing that Neville was not about to speak up.
The girl on the left spoke up. "Oh, this toad?" she asked with a smirk, as she lifted a cage from the floor behind her feet. "It hopped in here a little while ago, I figured I would give it to a professor when we got to Hogwarts, and fortunately Daph is good at conjuration. Here you go," she continued, passing the cage to Neville. "I'm Tracey Davis, pleased to meet you. This is my friend, Daphne Greengrass," she said, gesturing first to herself, then to her companion.
"It's nice to meet you too. I'm Harry Potter, and this is Neville Longbottom. We're both first years, I suppose you two are as well?" Harry spoke, extending his hand towards Tracey.
"Harry Potter? Wow, I knew you were starting at Hogwarts this year, but I didn't expect a visit on the train!" Tracey exclaimed, grabbing Harry's hand in her own and shaking it with a huge grin on her face. When she finally released his hand, Harry turned to the other girl Daphne, and offered it to her.
"It is a pleasure, Mr. Potter. I am pleased to make your acquaintance," Daphne said softly, standing up and shaking his hand with a firm grip. Then she turned to Neville, and repeated the handshake and pleasantries.
"Well, thank you both very much for finding Trevor," Harry said, as Neville still seemed unwilling to speak. "I suppose we'll see you both at –" Harry was cut off by a loud and repetitive banging on the window. He groaned as he recognized the intruder. "Hedwig, what are you doing?" he asked in exasperation. The owl perched precariously on the narrow sill fixed him with a cold glare, as if daring him to continue on that train of thought.
"Um… you know this owl?" Tracey asked.
"Yes, she's mine… though I suppose if you asked her, I actually belong to her," Harry said grudgingly. In response, Tracey pushed the window open, and the white owl rushed in. She quickly settled on Harry's right shoulder, and cuffed the back of his head with her wing. "Look, Hedwig, I'm sorry I left, but you weren't exactly there for me to tell you," Harry complained. Hedwig responded with a nip to his ear, just barely soft enough to avoid drawing blood. "OW!"
The other three children in the compartment were unable to contain their mirth. Tracey was laughing harder than the others, tears leaking from her eyes as she watched the confrontation. Neville looked both amused and terrified, as he was within striking range of the angry owl. Daphne was the most composed, but was unable to stifle the giggle that slipped past the hand over her mouth.
Harry glared back at his owl, though he was clearly not truly angry. "That is enough, Hedwig. It is not my fault you were gone, and you can't berate me for that." Hedwig huffed, then turned her head completely around and stared away from Harry.
"Well that was certainly… interesting," Daphne said, laughter still in her eyes. "If you are as good with other animals as you are with your owl, Mr. Potter, our magical creatures class will be entertaining, at the very least."
"I'm glad I could amuse you, then," Harry said as a blush crawled up his face. "Uh, Neville, you ready to head back?"
"Yeah, sure. Um, thank you both for finding Trevor, I really appreciate it," Neville responded, his eyes staying focused on the floor.
"It was not a problem, not at all," Tracey answered. "See you both at Hogwarts, then?"
"I'm sure we will. It was nice to meet you both," Harry said as he stepped back into the hall and slid the door closed.
A few minutes later, Harry and Neville had returned to Harry's original compartment, pockets filled with sweets from the snack trolley. Harry normally ate pretty healthily, but figured that one splurge wouldn't hurt, not to mention he had no idea what most of them were. Hermione looked up as the pair walked in, and immediately began speaking.
"Are you really Harry Potter? I know all about you, of course. You're written about in several of my books. I'm so sorry I didn't ask for your name when I came in, that was incredibly rude of me. How many spells do you know? Have you actually fought a chimera? That seems a little unbelievable to me, I mean those things sound absolutely vicious."
Harry and Neville were momentarily stunned by the barrage of words. She had apparently been able to say all of that without taking a single breath, and was now looking expectantly at Harry.
"Um, yes, I'm really Harry Potter. And I can't say I remember fighting a chimera, though I've run away from a pretty angry cat once if that counts?" Harry said with a smile. A blush rose on Hermione's cheeks as she realized how she had come across. "No need to apologize," Harry said as she opened her mouth to speak. "It's alright, really."
Hermione shook her head quickly, bushy hair flying about. "Sorry about that, I just got rather excited. I've never met a celebrity before, and you're written about in quite a few of my books…"
"Don't worry about it," Harry replied, sitting back on the bench across from her. Hedwig leaped into the air and fluttered onto the racks above them. "Neville, this is Hermione, she's a first year as well." For his part, Neville smiled shyly at Hermione and mumbled a greeting.
"So, Hermione, Neville and I were just discussing the houses at Hogwarts. Do you have any opinions on them?"
"Well, from what I've read, it seems as if all of the greatest witches and wizards come from Gryffindor, so that's where I'm hoping for. Though I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be bad either. What about you guys?"
Harry turned to Neville, who looked flustered, but began to speak. "Well, I told Harry earlier, I really want to go to Gryffindor, but I'm not sure if I'll really fit in there… the head of Hufflepuff is a world renowned herbologist though, so maybe that would work out well," Neville said quietly. Harry nodded, having already heard this.
"Well, Harry? What about you?" Hermione asked.
"To be honest, I don't really mind where I end up. The traits that each house is known for are all positive, so I think I'll be alright wherever. Probably not Slytherin, though…"
"Good call, Harry, that's where all the dark wizards come from," Neville said nervously.
Hermione looked suspicious. "All the dark wizards? I can't imagine that the school would just lump all of the future bad guys into one house. I mean, we're all just kids…"
Harry nodded. "I think you're right. I mean, I've met some pretty bad kids in school but I wouldn't say any of them are evil."
Neville remained unconvinced. "Harry, You-Know-Who was in Slytherin. So were all of his Death Eaters. And from what Gran has told me, all of their kids go there too."
Harry shrugged. "I guess we'll find out when we get to Hogwarts." He shrugged, and Hedwig fluttered up to the trunk racks. Harry took his book from his trunk, sat, and reopened to his bookmark. "You know, Neville, you could bring your trunk here if you'd like to sit with us. There's plenty of room."
"Yeah, I think I will. I'll be right back," Neville said as he moved back into the corridor and slid the door shut.
Author's Note: Hi everyone, sorry about the (very) long break, it's been a rough semester so far, not to mention job and grad school applications. Things are calming down now, though, so hopefully I'll have more time to update. As always, please drop a review if you have any questions or suggestions!