As Harry struggled to drag his heavy suitcase through the crowd, Wade had already found an empty compartment and sat down.
Taking advantage of the empty space, he quickly changed into his school robes and took out [Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them] to start reading.
In the span of a month, Wade had skimmed through all the books he bought. Content-wise, [Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them] was his favorite.
Of course, this fondness might have something to do with the author—Newt Scamander, the protagonist of another series in the Harry Potter universe.
Newt had a deep love for all sorts of magical creatures, and he also owned a magical suitcase that Wade envied greatly.
After a while, the compartment door suddenly opened, and a young girl with brown hair stood at the entrance. She looked inside and, with her chin raised, asked:
"Excuse me, is anyone else coming here?"
Wade's gaze briefly passed over her rather prominent front teeth before he replied:
"No."
"Oh."
The girl dragged her suitcase inside and, after sitting down, looked up and said:
"Hello, I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger."
Wade put down his book and extended his hand, and said:
"Wade Grey."
"You're reading [Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]? So, you're a first-year student too? Me as well!
By the way, I've already memorized the entire content of this book, as well as all the other textbooks." Hermione said rapidly with a hint of pride.
"Oh, and I've also practiced a few simple spells, and they worked. Like this—Lumos!"
A soft glow appeared at the tip of her wand.
"Though I haven't memorized the textbooks, I can do this—Lumos!" Wade also drew out his wand.
The two small lights glowed, reflecting off each other as if in mutual recognition. Hermione grinned and, with a bit of longing, softly said:
"It's really amazing, isn't it?"
Wade nodded silently.
Suddenly, Hermione remembered something and quickly explained, "Oh, I'm a Muggle-born... which means I come from a non-magical family. No one in my family knows any magic. This little trick must be quite commonplace for you, right?"
Wade replied, "No, my parents don't know magic either."
"Then we can help each other out at school," Hermione said happily. "I mean, those kids from wizarding families have probably been learning magic from their parents since they were little, right? I don't want to be the worst student."
"You don't need to worry about that," Wade said with a smile he couldn't suppress. "I bet not many people could memorize the textbooks. You might be the only one. That's really impressive, Miss Granger."
"Well, actually... not really... uh... I mean, some of the content is quite difficult, and there are some spells I didn't dare to try at home because the book says that mispronouncing them can have terrible consequences," Hermione stammered and her face turned red.
As she was feeling embarrassed, the compartment door was pushed open again. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and immediately looked toward the entrance.
A round-faced boy stood hesitantly at the door and asked timidly, "Excuse me, can I sit here?"
"Of course, please come in!" Hermione said warmly, taking the lead.
The boy clumsily placed his suitcase down and, after sitting, nervously fidgeted with his fingers, as if he wasn't used to interacting with others.
Hermione took the initiative to speak, "Hello. I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Wade Grey. We're both first-year students—what's your name?"
"Neville," he said, "I'm Neville Longbottom. Uh, I'm a first-year too."
"Oh, are you from a non-magical family as well?" Hermione asked curiously.
Neville lowered his head. "No... both my parents are wizards."
"Then you must know a lot of magic!" Hermione said. "I only know a few simple spells like Lumos and Reparo, but I'm still not sure about the Full Body-Bind Curse. Is it Petri-ficus To-ta-lus or Petrifi-cus Tota-lus?"
Neville looked confused. "Pe—Petri what?"
Hermione blinked, as if she didn't understand what he was asking.
Neville's face fell. "I... actually, I haven't even mastered Lumos yet!"
"Oh," Hermione said, looking a little disappointed but also a bit pleased. She straightened up slightly and said, "Well, that's okay. I can teach you—I mean—we can learn together..."
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 likes to run around."
He pulled out a blackish-gray toad from his pocket, holding it in his palm as he happily introduced it to the two of them. "Look, its name is Trevor."
Wade and Hermione instinctively leaned back, trying to subtly distance themselves from the ugly creature without Neville noticing.
The squat toad stretched its legs and suddenly leapt out of Neville's hand. Since Neville hadn't closed the compartment door when he entered, Mr. Trevor wasted no time in making a break for freedom, bouncing twice before disappearing from sight.
Neville stared at his now empty hand, stunned for a couple of seconds, then let out a horrified scream, "Trevor!"
He rushed out of the compartment, and Wade heard the boy accidentally bump into something in the corridor.
The two remaining in the compartment exchanged glances.
Hermione whispered, "Even though it was mentioned in the letter... I never thought anyone would actually keep a toad as a pet!"
Wade nodded in agreement. He knew that some golden, pink, or emerald green toads could be considered quite pretty, but how could anyone really like that dull, warty one?
But Neville genuinely loved his toad.
After a long while, the boy returned, wiping tears from his eyes and sobbing, "I couldn't find him—everyone said they didn't see him—"
Wade tried to comfort him, "The train is enclosed. You can look for him when we get off; you're bound to find him." After all, who would want to steal a toad?
Neville wasn't comforted at all; his tears kept falling.
Seeing how heartbroken he was, Hermione sighed helplessly and stood up, saying, "I'll help you look for him."
She glanced at Wade, silently asking if he would join them, but Wade shook his head.
With Hermione and Neville gone, the once noisy compartment instantly grew quiet. Wade looked out the window, watching the rolling hills slowly move past.
He knew that if he went with Hermione and Neville to search for the toad, he would inevitably run into Harry and Ron, and it wouldn't take much for eleven-year-old kids to become friends. The golden trio would turn into a quartet.
But after thinking it over, Wade decided there was no need to cling to the main characters.
What attracted him wasn't the adventure of schoolchildren taking on a dark lord, which seemed more like a game.
Magic itself is already fascinating enough.