All aboard
‘Don’t lose Trevor’, Neville’s grandmother shouted after him, as Neville boarded the Hogwarts Express.
Of course Trevor was the only one who knew full well that Neville never lost Trevor, as the toad was never actually lost.
Trevor liked to go on adventures, but he always felt duty bound to come back, out of a sense of compassion for the young lad.
Grandma Longbottom had bought Trevor in the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley, when Neville was very small, thinking that having a pet to look after would help Neville to deal with his grief.
Of course it wasn’t really Neville’s grief that she was trying to deal with, but her own.
Neville was only a tiny tot when his parents ended up in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Neville had no real memories of his parents before they ended up there, and his love for Trevor was more a transference of affections for his absent parents.
Trevor often wondered if losing parents wasn’t in some ways easier than having parents who, for all intends and purposes, did not know they were parents.
Darling Augusta, though very strict and regimental, did her very best to be parent to Neville as well as grandparent. She desperately clung to the memories of Frank and Alice, before Bellatrix and her cronies tortured every ounce of sanity out of them, and spent hours telling Neville about his wonderful parents. This made it even harder for the young boy to reconcile the two zombie-like people he visited every week in St Mungo's Hospital with the young, vivacious, brave people from his Nan’s stories.
Neville could not talk to his grandmother about his feelings, so he talked to Trevor. The fact that Trevor could not reply did not matter. Having a friendly ear was enough. So Neville talked and Trevor listened for hours on end.
So, while Trevor craved adventure, he would never leave Neville for too long, but you can’t blame a toad for wanting to see a bit more of the world than just Neville’s bedroom.
At first is was just exploring the house, until he would be spotted by Augusta and carried back to Neville’s room with a stern warning to look after his pet.
Then he started exploring the garden, careful not to fall pray to some owl or heron lurking about.
Later he started jumping out of Neville’s pocket, when out for walks or visiting the hospital, until Neville would come looking for him in a panic.
Their recent trip to Diagon Alley had been a little more dicey, as he could quite easily have been trampled there, but is was nice to see the old street again, after all those years and now he was determined to explore the train.
Of course from his vantage point, it was just a lot of feet and trunks and bags and crates with owls and other pets. He nearly got run over by some food trolley and only for the Trolley Witch shouting ‘Anything from the Trolley, Dears?’, was he able to hop out of the way in time.
‘Anyone see a toad named Trevor?’, he heard a rather proper voice ask, as she popped her head into one of the compartments.
Neville obviously had noticed his disappearance.
Well, he would just have to wait a little longer, Trevor thought.
He had not explored the entire length of the train yet and he was enjoying himself.