Leo and the others looked at the chubby boy who had suddenly appeared at the door, glancing at each other.
"Is that your pet? Did you lose it somewhere on the train?"
It was Hermione who asked the question. Although Miss Granger always spoke with a tone of confident arrogance, she was still warm-hearted enough and willing to help others.
However, upon hearing Hermione's question, the chubby boy didn't respond immediately. As if he hadn't reacted, he was slow for several seconds before saying sluggishly:
"I, I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom. Trevor is my pet toad. I remember, I remember..."
Neville pulled at his blonde hair in distress, his round face scrunching up entirely. "Sorry, I can't quite remember. When I got on the train, I think I saw Trevor..."
As he spoke, Neville's voice grew smaller and smaller, finally lowering his head. His memory was too poor... he was always forgetting things, and now he couldn't even keep track of his own pet.
Hearing Neville's account, Hermione was quite helpless. She wanted to help, but Neville seemed so dull-witted that he couldn't even remember when his pet went missing.
Ron spread his hands helplessly, clearly indicating he had no idea how to help. Harry felt inclined to assist Neville with the search, but hesitated to be the first to volunteer. Instead, he glanced around at the others, waiting to see what they would suggest.
Harry saw that Leo had already pulled out his silver-black wand and was looking down with lowered eyes, seemingly thinking about something.
Leo gently twirled his wand, his thoughts racing. Neville, the future Gryffindor sword saint. His memory was indeed poor, but losing a toad wasn't a big deal... it would come back on its own later.
If he were to search for objects, what methods could he use? When encountering problems, regardless of difficulty, Leo habitually thought about solutions. Keeping the brain active at all times was the foundation of learning knowledge.
Leo's first thought was the Summoning Charm (Accio). This was incredibly convenient for finding things, especially for locating one's own lost items. Given the strong connection between owner and object, as long as the spell succeeded, one could basically just wait for the item to fly back on its own.
But... Leo glanced at Neville, not believing this child had already mastered the Summoning Charm. If he were to cast it himself, he would need to know the toad's exact appearance characteristics to increase the success rate.
Uh, with Neville's memory, could he really tell me what Trevor looked like?
With a "nothing to lose by trying" attitude, Leo still asked: "Ahem, Neville, could you describe Trevor's appearance?"
Hearing Leo's question, Neville's eyes lit up. He felt this classmate was going to help him find his toad.
"Trevor… Trevor has very big, round eyes, yellowish-brown skin, and bumps all over his back."
Leo laughed with a resigned smile. What he said wasn't wrong, but all toads in the world looked like that! A poorly aimed Summoning Charm might end up calling over other students' pet toads, which would be embarrassing.
Well, if the appearance wasn't distinctive, then when casting the spell, he'd emphasise that it was specifically Neville's toad. Magic in this world was quite idealistic... it operated on "if I believe it's right, then it's right."
As long as a wizard's conviction was firm enough and their emotions rich, many spells would gain tremendous power out of nowhere. Worth trying... it was also an opportunity to practise spells anyway.
Having an idea to test and the ability to put it into practice, Leo would naturally attempt it. Practice makes perfect... without practical experience, how could one claim to truly master knowledge?
With a turn of thought, Leo's wand was already moving according to his will.
"Accio Trevor!"
Just as Leo's voice fell, some intermittent voices came from outside the compartment.
"Merlin's beard, there's a flying toad!"
"Ah, a flying toad? Is it a magical creature?"
"..."
"Ribbit!"
Accompanied by a loud croak, a yellowish-brown toad flew straight into the compartment, finally stopping in front of Leo's wand.
Looking at the toad slowly rotating in the air, Leo asked Neville: "Take a look. Is this your Trevor?"
Neville eagerly stepped forward, his face almost touching the toad's belly.
"Trevor?"
"Ribbit."
"Trevor, Trevor?"
"Ribbit ribbit."
Neville looked excited and reached out to catch the toad. "Yes, yes, this is Trevor!"
Witnessing the interaction between Neville and Trevor, Harry and the others were quite amazed. Leo internally complained: How is there even voice-activated unlocking?
Neville held Trevor in his hands, looking at Leo with gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you, thank you for helping me find Trevor. What's your name?"
Leo put away his wand. "Don't mention it. I needed the practice with the Summoning Charm anyway. I'm Leonardo Grafton."
Neville nodded repeatedly, his tone excited: "Oh, oh, Leonardo, thank you; I'll definitely remember you!"
Neville couldn't imagine what would happen if, without Leo's help, he hadn't found Trevor and his grandmother found out he'd lost his pet... how harshly she would scold him.
"By the way, you used the Summoning Charm so well! My grandmother said that using the Summoning Charm to call your own things is easy, but unfamiliar items you've never seen are very difficult."
Neville scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed. "Grandmother taught me the Summoning Charm, but I could never learn it, so I had to trouble you, Leonardo..."
Leo waved his hand, stopping Neville from continuing to thank him. "Don't worry about it... spells just need practice."
Neville chattered on for a while longer, even bowing to Leo at the end. After Neville left, the other three suddenly stared at Leo with bright eyes.
Hermione finally couldn't help asking: "Leo, how did you manage that Summoning Charm just now? And, and, did you learn these spells by reading books yourself?"
However, before Leo could answer, Ron interrupted Hermione's questions: "Ahem, Hermione, it's very difficult to learn spells just by reading books, and self-study couldn't achieve the proficiency Leonardo just showed. I believe Leonardo's family definitely has excellent wizard elders providing instruction."
Faced with Ron's impolite interruption, Hermione glared at him and raised her chin slightly. "Hmph, who says it's difficult to learn spells from books?"
As she spoke, Hermione drew her wand and pointed it at Harry, who was watching and eating snacks, giving it a gentle tap.
"Reparo!"
Harry was still confused when he saw Hermione use magic on him. "I..."
Harry instinctively wanted to dodge but found that the crack on his glasses had disappeared! Harry took off his glasses in surprise, carefully feeling them all over, confirming that the glasses were really fixed.
Leo watched Hermione's performance from the side, nodding almost imperceptibly. Worthy of being Miss Know-It-All... her studious persona was well-established.
Hermione came from a pure Muggle family and had mastered spells through self-study. Her talent and effort were indeed praiseworthy. The Mending Charm was really useful... when anything broke, just wave a wand and it would be as good as new.
It made Leo wonder: did all wizard families handle repairs this way? You'd end up with heirloom cookware lasting centuries. "One pot passed down through three generations, outlasting the people who used it." With magical repairs eliminating the need for replacements, whole sectors of manufacturing and commerce would become obsolete.
No wonder the wizarding economy appeared so underdeveloped compared to the Muggle world...