While Harry struggled to drag his heavy trunk through the crowded train, Wade had already found an empty compartment and settled in. Taking advantage of the solitude, he quickly changed into his school robes and pulled out Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to read.
Over the past month, Wade had roughly skimmed all the books he'd bought, and in terms of content, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (also known as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) was his favorite. Of course, this fondness might also be due to the author's influence—Newt Scamander, the author of the book, was the protagonist of another Harry Potter series, and he had a deep love for all kinds of magical creatures, as well as a magical suitcase that Wade envied immensely.
A little while later, the compartment door suddenly opened, and a brown-haired girl stood at the entrance, looking in. She lifted her chin and asked, "Excuse me, is anyone else coming here?"
Wade's gaze swept over her rather prominent front teeth as he replied, "No."
"Oh."
The girl dragged her trunk inside and, after sitting down, looked up and said, "Hello, I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger."
Wade put down his book and extended a hand, saying, "Wade Grey."
"You're reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? So you're a first-year too? Me too! By the way, I've already memorized the entire contents of this book, and the other textbooks too, of course." Hermione rattled off, a hint of pride in her voice, "Oh, and I've also practiced a few simple spells, and they all worked. Like this—Lumos!"
A soft light illuminated the tip of her wand.
"Though I haven't memorized the textbooks, I..." Wade also drew his wand. "Lumos!"
Two small, light-bulb-like glows shone, reflecting each other, as if proving their shared kind. Hermione grinned, her voice soft with a touch of longing, "It's amazing, isn't it?"
Wade nodded silently.
Hermione suddenly remembered something and quickly explained, "Oh, I'm a Muggle-born... I mean, no one in my family understands magic. This little trick must be commonplace for you, right?"
"No," Wade said, "my parents aren't magical either."
"Then we can help each other at school." Hermione said happily, "I mean—children from wizarding families must have learned a lot of magic from their parents since childhood, right? I don't want to be the worst student."
"You don't need to worry about that," Wade couldn't help but chuckle, saying, "I'm sure not many people have memorized the textbooks; you might be the only one. That's truly impressive, Miss Granger."
"Well, this... actually, not really... um... I mean, some of the content is quite difficult, and there are some spells I didn't dare try at home because the book said mispronouncing spells can have terrible consequences." Hermione stammered, her face flushed.
As she was feeling embarrassed, the compartment door was pushed open again. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and immediately looked towards the door.
A round-faced boy stood hesitantly at the entrance, stammering, "Excuse me, can I sit here?"
"Of course, come in!" Hermione said enthusiastically, taking the lead.
The boy awkwardly put down his trunk and, after sitting down, nervously wrung his fingers, as if he rarely interacted with others.
Hermione proactively said, "Hello. I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Wade Grey. We're both first-years—what's your name?"
"Neville," he said, "My name is Neville Longbottom. Uh, I'm a first-year too."
"Oh, are you also from a non-magical family?" Hermione asked curiously.
Neville lowered his head. "No... both my parents are wizards."
"Then you must know a lot of magic?" Hermione said, "I've only mastered a few simple spells like Lumos and Reparo, but I'm still a bit unsure about the Petrificus Totalus. Is it Petri-ficus To-ta-lus, or Petrifi-cus Tota-lus?"
Neville looked bewildered. "Pe—Petri-what?"
Hermione blinked, as if she didn't understand what he was asking.
Neville's face crumpled. "I... I haven't even mastered Lumos yet!"
"...Oh." Hermione sounded a little disappointed, but also a little pleased. She subtly puffed out her chest and said, "Well, that's okay, I can teach you—I mean—we can learn from each other..."
Neville looked like he was about to cry.
"Neville," Wade suddenly said, "what's moving in your pocket?"
Neville looked down. "Ah, it's my pet, it always likes to run around."
He pulled a grayish-black toad from his pocket, cupped it in his palm, and happily introduced it to them. "Look, its name is Trevor."
Wade and Hermione instinctively leaned back, trying to distance themselves from the ugly creature without Neville noticing.
The chubby toad stretched its legs and suddenly leaped, jumping from Neville's hand. Just then, Neville hadn't closed the compartment door when he came in, so Mr. Trevor unhesitatingly bounded towards freedom, disappearing after two hops.
Neville stared at his empty palm, frozen for two seconds, then let out a wail: "Trevor!"
He chased after it, and Wade heard the boy accidentally bump into the side of the train car.
The two in the compartment exchanged glances.
Hermione whispered, "Even though it was in the letter... I never thought anyone would actually have a toad as a pet!"
Wade nodded in agreement. He knew some golden, pink, or emerald green toads were indeed quite pretty, but how could anyone genuinely like one that was dusty gray and covered in warts?
Neville truly loved his toad.
After a long while, the boy returned, wiping tears, and whimpered, "I couldn't find it—everyone said they didn't see it—"
Wade tried to comfort him. "The train is enclosed. You'll definitely find it when we get off." Surely no one would steal a toad.
Neville wasn't comforted, tears still falling.
Seeing how upset he was, Hermione sighed helplessly and stood up, saying, "I'll go look with you."
She questioned Wade with her eyes, and Wade shook his head.
Hermione and Neville left, and the previously somewhat noisy compartment immediately grew quiet. Wade looked out the window, watching the continuous hills slowly move backward.
He knew that if he went with Hermione and Neville to find the toad, he would run into Harry and Ron, and eleven-year-olds easily become friends. Thus, the Golden Trio would become a quartet.
But Wade pondered for a long time and still felt he didn't need to curry favor with the protagonists, because what attracted him wasn't the childish adventure story of elementary schoolers fighting a great demon lord this year; magic itself was interesting enough.
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