All out of sorts
Trevor had spent the Summer after first year looking forward to going back to Hogwarts. Neville also seemed to be looking forward to going back. There certainly weren’t the same trepidations as the last time he prepared to go to school. In fact Neville had been delighted to receive his Hogwarts letter with the book list for second years.
His gran had mellowed considerably over the Summer, when news of her grandson’s special commendation for standing up for himself and his house had spread through the wizarding world.
Augusta had of course always loved her grandson, but now she had an additional reason to be proud of him. Proud enough to show him off to her friends at every opportunity, much to Neville’s dismay and Trevor’s delight, as he now had even more wizarding homes to explore, careful of course not to venture too far or to get Neville in trouble.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The start of second year did not go completely according to plan, at least not to any plan Trevor might have had.
Neville entered him into the Toad Choir trials. If Trevor and Neville had been able to communicate properly, Neville might have asked him in advance about his thoughts on this and Trevor would have told him in no uncertain terms that this was a waste of time, as he suffered from the toad equivalent of being tone-deaf. However, as neither of them had communicated these thoughts to each other, Trevor had to suffer the indignity of the choir selection process, being put through a series of croaking exercises, before Professor Flitwick took Neville aside and kindly told him that Trevor would not be a good fit for the choir.
‘The acapella nature of the choir,’ he explained kindly, ’calls for very specific ranges of croaks, and I’m afraid Trevor does not quite have the correct ranges. I hope you understand,’ the professor added kindly, putting a consoling hand on the boy’s shoulder.
While somewhat disappointed, Neville understood.
Trevor gave the professor a croak of thanks, as he hopped back into Neville’s pocket. It was nice of Professor Flitwick to let the boy down easy, rather than proclaiming that his toad was tone deaf.
The other slight unforeseen hitch about returning to Hogwarts was the arrival of a number of additional pets, one of which took up residence in Gryffindor Tower and had taken an instant dislike to the already resident rat.
Trevor had never particularly liked Ron’s pet, Scabbers, but the new cat Crookshanks really had taken a dislike. Trevor had to regularly hop out of the way to avoid being knocked down when Crookshanks chased Scabbers around the dorm. Trevor was therefore in a constant state of vigilance, as he valued his pleasant existence as Neville’s pet. Unlike some toad owners, Neville actually never used Trevor to try spells on or subjected him to potions to test their strength or effect. So, compared to some of his kind, his life was pretty darn good and he was treated as a true companion.
Trevor sometimes wondered whether Crookshanks and Scabbers were actual domesticated animals. They had certain feral qualities that were decidedly not pet-like, but their humans appeared to be besotted by them regardless.
Hermione, in particular, would not hear a bad word about her cat, and this led to many squabbles between the two Gryffindors and to a lot of tension in the common room, normally a reasonably tranquil place, as befitted a home away from home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
If the regular cat and rat chase around the common room wasn’t bad enough, Trevor’s peace was utterly disturbed one day by the unlawful entry of a huge black dog.
Trevor managed to hop under the furthest corner of Neville’s bed, where the snarling dog could not reach him.
When his eyes met those of the black canine, he relaxed slightly. Those piercing dark eyes conveyed that the dog meant him no harm. Whatever he was searching for, it wasn’t a trembling toad.
From his hiding place he could hear the dog tearing the place apart, especially the area near Ron’s bed.
After searching the dorm for some time, the barking was joined by the distinct meowing of a cat, much to Trevor’s surprise, as he recognised that particular sound.
Neither the barking nor the meowing sounded antagonistic, and even to Trevor’s tone deaf ears, it appeared the two animals were having a conversation.
How on earth was Crookshanks, who would chase the resident rat with murderous intent, friendly with a dog who had moments ago forced his way into the dorm and torn it apart? What in Merlin’s name was going on? A cat befriending a dog was not really in the nature of either animal, and certainly not in Crookshanks’ nature, or so he would have thought.
Before Trevor could ponder this conundrum any further, both dog and cat had disappeared.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Shortly afterwards, all hell broke loose.
Trevor did not have much interaction with the Lady who guarded Gryffindor Tower, as he generally was inside Neville’s pocket when they entered or exited the common room, but he was familiar enough with her to understand the distress the slashing of her portrait was causing.
It was very satisfying though, to see the relief on young Neville’s face, when he found his toad hiding under his bed.
‘Trevor, I’ve been so worried about you. I thought Sirius Black might have killed you,’ his human exclaimed, scooping up his beloved pet.
That black dog was Sirius Black? Seriously? Did the Ministry know that Sirius was an animagus? Was that why the dog and Crookshanks were all pally? Was Crookshanks an animagus also? Trevor’s small toad brain was beginning to overload. He must be completely out of sorts to be entertaining these thoughts. Humans did not have animagi for pets.
He rolled his toad eyes at himself at these ridiculous notions. Next he was going to imagine that Scabbers was an animagus too.
Get a hold of yourself, Trevor, he scolded himself and then relaxed under the stroking fingers of Neville’s small hand.