Confidant

Neville's first pet is a fat, ugly toad. He was never really interested in having pets. There were the old toads out in the garden pond that he used to play with as a kid, until one year the toads didn't come back after the snows went away. Every once in a while he plays with Mrs. Next-Door's cat, a scrawny little creature with tufts of hair sticking up off its ears, but most often it hisses and slaps at him so he leaves it alone unless it comes to him. Besides, petting the cat makes his nose itch.

But Great Uncle Algie is so proud that Neville managed his first sign of magic that the next time he comes by the house - nearly three weeks later because Gran is so furious at him for dangling Neville out of a window in the first place - he brings the toad as a present. It's a squirmy little thing that shifts around in his hands while Neville tries to hold onto him. Neville wishes it was an owl, because he's going away to school in a few months and owls are more useful, but he doesn't want to be ungrateful so he gives his uncle a hug and takes the toad out into the garden to play.

At first the toad doesn't move around a whole lot when Neville puts it down in the grass. It stares at him with its big brown eyes and puffs its body up and down while it breathes. Neville wonders if maybe the toad is scared at being put in a new place. He sits down in front of the toad and gives it a nice smile. Gran says smiling makes people feel better, even though she doesn't seem to do it much herself. The toad just gives a low ribbit and keeps staring.

"C'mon little toad, I'm not going to hurt you," Neville says softly, trying not to frighten it. "We can be friends. My name's Neville." The toad blinks. "I should give you a name. Would you like that? What about George?" The toad stares. "Hmm, no, maybe Roger?" The toad still stares. "Something else then. What about Trevor?"

The toad abruptly lets out a loud ribbit and jumps onto the top of Neville's head. He laughs and grabs the toad, setting it in the grass again. "Alright, Trevor it is," he says. Trevor the toad ribbits again. "C'mon Trevor, I wanna show you the pond." He scoops the toad up and carries him across the garden to the little pond in the corner. He sits on the grass and sets the toad down next to him, and after a few minutes Trevor the toad wanders down to the water. His long tongue snaps out and grabs a dragonfly buzzing over the water and Neville giggles with delight.

Neville sits and talks to Trevor the toad for a long time. He tells him about his family, and how he did magic for the first time, and how he's waiting for his letter from Hogwarts. He talks about how he's scared to go away to school, and what if no one likes him or he's bad at magic. The longer he talks the more he realizes that he really likes having Trevor the toad to chat with. He thinks that at least if he doesn't make many friends at school, he'll still have Trevor the toad to talk to.

Trevor jumps up into the grass again, and starts hopping across the yard. Neville chases after him, following the toad as he jumps all around the yard. He races him around the greenhouse and to the back door and all the way across to the fence at the rear of the gardens. Neville treats it like a game of tag, chasing Trevor the toad and trying to catch him. When he finally does catch Trevor at the back fence, he's panting and out of breath but grinning.

As time passes, Neville finds the game of tag less entertaining. When his letter comes and he goes away to Hogwarts, Trevor the toad makes a bid for freedom on the Hogwarts Express and Neville spends the whole trip wandering up and down corridors, checking in compartments to see if Trevor is hiding in there. He is distraught on the boat trip to the castle, thinking that he's lost his new friend, and they only actually find Trevor when they've reached the castle and the giant man Hagrid sees him in the bottom of a boat.

The escapes continue to take place all year long and Neville spends most of the time he's not in classes hunting down his runaway toad. Trevor the toad hides under the other boys' beds or beneath the furniture in the common rooms. One time when he slips out into the main castle it takes Neville three days to find him, lurking in the toilet on the sixth floor.

But as much as it's a hassle, Neville doesn't mind playing hide-and-seek with Trevor the toad. Because at the end of the day there's always someone there to listen to his troubles and he realizes that maybe it's a good thing to have a pet after all.