Neville made a strange croaking sound, as if attempting to communicate with his toad in some primitive toad language, pleading with it not to run away.
But clearly, his toad communication skills were severely lacking, or perhaps the toad Trevor was simply rebellious and disobedient. With one graceful leap, it bounded directly out of their compartment.
"I'll catch it."
Sterling rested one hand against his forehead while spreading the fingers of his other hand, making a subtle hooking gesture toward the compartment door.
Immediately, dreamy silver mist began swirling in the centre of his palm. From this shimmering vapour, several deep emerald thorns as thick as three fingers shot straight out past the compartment doorway.
After a brief moment, the thorns began retracting slowly. At their tips, tightly but carefully wrapped, was one thoroughly dazed-looking toad. Sterling thoughtfully withdrew the sharp points from around the creature, being extremely careful not to injure Neville's beloved pet.
Only when the thorns gently deposited Trevor back into Neville's waiting hands and fully retracted into the mist surrounding Sterling's palm did both Neville and Hermione finally snap back to their senses, as if awakening from some enchanted dream.
They stared at Sterling's now completely normal hand, making him feel distinctly uncomfortable under their intense scrutiny.
"Sterling... you just performed magic without using your wand!"
Neville stammered in complete amazement, temporarily forgetting about Trevor, who was now contentedly rubbing against Sterling's robes.
"It's not just that! What he accomplished was obviously not any standard spell! That was silent, wandless magic!"
Hermione practically shrieked with excitement.
"Our Charms textbook specifically mentions this phenomenon. Some exceptionally skilled wizards can cast magic without using their wands, and others who possess deep understanding of spellwork can cast without speaking any incantation aloud. We call these techniques wandless magic and silent charms, respectively. If a wizard masters both abilities simultaneously, they can perform silent wandless charms. Neville! This is absolutely beyond what any young wizard should be capable of!"
She recited this lengthy passage without pausing to breathe, then turned to stare at Sterling with obvious shock. "How did you possibly do that, Sterling?"
Sterling felt equally shocked by her performance. Though he had read ahead in their textbook, who actually studies by memorising entire passages word for word? He had only noticed that silent wandless magic was mentioned briefly. She had recited it perfectly.
Sterling considered his options carefully. First, the dream world absolutely could not be discussed. Not because he didn't want to share it, but because he physically couldn't. He had once attempted to reveal the dream world to Andrew and had nearly "died" that terrifying day.
When he had tried talking about the dream world, his body had rapidly turned misty and translucent. The dream and waking worlds overlapped confusingly in his vision until Fairy Godmother's wand emerged from his ghostly form, completely erasing Andrew's memory of everything he had heard. Only then had Sterling returned to solid form.
According to her grave explanation, if Sterling ever revealed the dream world to anyone in the waking world, as punishment for blurring the boundaries between dream and reality, he would vanish forever from the waking world with absolutely no possibility of return.
Lady Maleficent called this protective mechanism the "final safeguard". When facing despair, with death reaching out its hands, as long as Sterling spoke the words "dream world", the dream realm would grant him a second chance at life.
So... disguising this ability as some special inherited magical talent wasn't entirely impossible.
He had read in several magical history books that certain ancient wizarding families possessed miraculous natural talents, like Salazar Slytherin's legendary Parseltongue ability, or their current headmaster Dumbledore's mysterious connection with phoenixes.
That became his reasoning and his careful explanation. Hermione seemed genuinely convinced. Compared to believing that a young wizard who hadn't even enrolled at Hogwarts had somehow mastered the exceedingly difficult art of silent wandless magic, she much preferred accepting that this represented some sort of innate magical gift.
Neville, perhaps because of his pure-blood family background, possessed slightly more theoretical magical knowledge than Hermione. He was also the one who had first noticed Sterling's extraordinary Transfiguration skills. Hermione had only previewed their required textbooks without actually practising the highly dangerous Transfiguration techniques that their textbook specifically warned should only be learnt under proper teacher supervision.
She understood that Sterling's Transfiguration work was impressive, but Neville truly comprehended just how remarkably advanced it actually was.
Neville looked at Sterling with wonder, completely unaware that Muggle-born wizards with such extraordinary talents could exist.
Still, Neville trusted his new friend completely. After all, he hadn't read extensively about magical theory. Perhaps Muggle-born wizards could indeed awaken miraculous inherited talents? Just because he didn't know about it didn't mean it was impossible.
So he stopped overthinking and joined Hermione in curiously examining the thorns Sterling summoned once again.
"When I poke them, the thorns retract automatically!"
Hermione seemed to be conducting experiments, poking the magical thorns from different angles and even withdrawing her own wand, apparently eager to try casting some spells on them.
Sterling hurriedly retracted the thorns completely, desperately hoping he could restrain their natural aggressive instincts.
He absolutely didn't want the thorns to run wild and potentially hurt these two new friends. Yes, Sterling genuinely felt they had already become friends.
Especially considering one of them was apparently a devoted fan of his work.
Sterling yawned deeply.
The previous night, Lady Maleficent had insisted he continue studying advanced magic. Since it was his final night before school began, Lady Maleficent hadn't allowed him a single moment of rest.
After completing his packing, he had laid down, intending to try his luck at reaching the Kingdom of Eternal Winter once more. But the instant he appeared there, magical flames wrapped around him protectively, teleporting him directly to Lady Maleficent's tower, where he studied magic continuously until his alarm sounded at 8 AM.
It had been absolutely exhausting. Sterling decided to wait until at least the third day of school before returning to the dream world. Until then, he intended to sleep peacefully for three full days.
As long as Sterling desired it, he could visit the dream world while sleeping, but the cost was never getting proper rest there. If he chose not to go, he would simply have beautiful, ordinary dreams.
He decided to take a comfortable nap on the train. After all, there would be the Sorting Ceremony at school. If all students were tested together, that would be manageable, but if they were called one by one...
Leaving everyone with dark circles under his eyes as a first impression? Completely unacceptable.
Just as he was about to drift into peaceful, baby-like sleep, Neville called out loudly.
"Trevor's missing again!"
He didn't even seem surprised by this development.
Sterling groaned, opened his tired eyes, and sat up slowly. Hermione, who had been quietly reading their spellbook, also set it aside and joined the renewed search for Trevor.
After several minutes of thorough searching, they reached the unanimous conclusion that Trevor had escaped their compartment yet again. Since Sterling didn't know which direction or how far the toad had travelled, his magic was essentially powerless to help.
Hermione suggested taking Neville to search compartment by compartment throughout the train. After checking systematically, they would surely locate the runaway Trevor.
Sterling politely declined to join their "Find Trevor Mission", citing exhaustion. He watched Hermione march off boldly with Neville in tow, suddenly feeling genuinely worried.
A painfully socially anxious boy and a girl with admittedly low emotional intelligence, currently nervous and hiding her deep insecurity behind excessive confidence...
He sincerely hoped they would be safe and also hoped that whatever compartments they knocked on would contain friendly occupants.
Sterling offered devout prayers for their safety, then laid his head down on the small table and fell into deep sleep.
In his dreams, he glimpsed a massive blizzard. At the centre of the swirling storm, a witch wearing an elegant deep blue gown sang hauntingly, using powerful magic to create a breathtaking ice castle.
"Hey! Sterling! Wake up!"
Something shook his shoulder firmly.
Just as dream-Sterling attempted to approach the magnificent icy castle, Hermione's urgent voice rang clearly in his ear. He instantly awakened.
"You've been sleeping for quite a while. We're almost at Hogwarts now. Change into your school robes quickly... we're about to disembark."
Half awake and still dazed, he reluctantly changed clothes. Hermione and Neville chattered excitedly as they squeezed back into their compartment. The entire train car filled with cheerful, anticipatory voices.
"You know what? Harry Potter is in the same year as us! The famous 'Boy Who Lived' mentioned in so many magical books. I never imagined I'd have such a legendary classmate, but honestly, he looks completely ordinary compared to other young wizards. No unique magic or special talents that I could observe..."
"Neville's toad is still missing somewhere. We searched the entire train from end to end. We must have walked right past Trevor, but he's so small and there are countless places to hide..."
Sterling listened attentively, occasionally offering brief responses.
He noticed that as the train drew nearer to Hogwarts, Hermione's nervous tension peaked dramatically. Her hands trembled slightly beneath her new school robes.
Neville hung his head sadly, still wondering where poor Trevor had wandered off to this time.
Finally, the train's announcement system crackled to life.
"In five minutes, the train will arrive at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please leave your luggage on the train. It will be delivered directly to the school."
Sterling gently patted Neville's shoulder reassuringly. "You heard that announcement, right? Someone will take proper care of all our belongings. I'm certain they'll find Trevor and return him safely to you."
Neville looked up and smiled gratefully for the first time in hours.