While Harry was struggling forward with his heavy suitcase through the crowded throng, Vid had already found an empty compartment and sat down. Taking advantage of the solitude, he changed into his school robe early and pulled out "Monsters and Their Origins" to start reading.
Over the course of a month, Vid had skimmed through all the books he bought, and content-wise, "Monsters and Their Origins" (aka "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them") was his favorite. Of course, part of that fondness was probably due to the author—Newt Scamander, the protagonist of another Harry Potter film series, who loves all kinds of magical creatures and has a magical suitcase that Vid envied deeply.
After a while, the compartment door suddenly opened. A brown-haired girl stood at the entrance, glanced inside, raised her chin, and asked, "Excuse me, is anyone else coming here?"
Vid's gaze swept over her rather noticeable pair of front teeth and said, "No."
"Oh."
The girl dragged her suitcase in, sat down, then looked up and said, "Hi, I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger."
Vid put down his book, reached out his hand, and said, "Vid Gray."
"You're reading 'Monsters and Their Origins'? So you're a first-year too? Me as well! By the way, I've memorized the entire contents of this book, and the rest of the textbooks, too," Hermione rattled off with a bit of pride, "oh, and I've practiced some simple spells, and they worked. Like this—Lumos!"
The tip of her Magic Wand lit up with a gentle glow.
"I haven't memorized my textbooks, but—" Vid pulled out his Magic Wand too. "Lumos!"
The two glowing little bulbs shimmered together, like proof of being kindred spirits. Hermione grinned, and in a soft, longing voice, said, "It's amazing, right?"
Vid nodded silently.
Hermione suddenly remembered something and hastily explained, "Oh, I'm a normal—well, I come from a Muggle family. No one in my family knows Magic. These little tricks must be pretty common for you, right?"
Vid replied, "No, my parents can't use Magic either."
"Then we can help each other at school," Hermione said happily. "I mean, the kids from Wizard families must learn lots of Magic from their parents, right? I really don't want to be the worst student."
"You don't have to worry about that." Vid couldn't help laughing. "I'm pretty sure not many can memorize the textbooks, you might be the only one. Really impressive, Miss Granger."
"Well, actually… um… I mean, some of the contents are pretty tough, and there are spells I didn't dare try at home because the book says messing up spells can have terrible consequences," Hermione said, blushing and stammering.
While she was embarrassed, the compartment door was pushed open again. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and quickly looked toward the door.
A round-faced boy hesitated at the entrance, stammering, "Sorry, may I sit here?"
"Of course, come in!" Hermione replied enthusiastically.
The boy clumsily placed his suitcase, sat down, then nervously twisted his fingers, as though he wasn't used to interacting with people.
Hermione took the initiative. "Hello. I'm Hermione Granger, he's Vid Gray. We're both first-years—what's your name?"
"Neville," he said. "I'm Neville Longbottom. Uh, also a first-year."
"Oh, are you also from a non-magical family?" Hermione asked curiously.
Neville lowered his head, "No… my parents are Wizards."
"So you must know lots of Magic, right?" Hermione said. "I only know spells like Lumos and Reparo, but the Petrification Spell, I'm not sure—should it be Petri-ficus To-ta-lus, or Petrifi-cus Tota-lus?"
Neville looked bewildered, "Pe—Petri what?"
Hermione blinked, as if she didn't understand what he was asking.
Neville, with a miserable face, said, "I… I haven't even mastered Lumos yet!"
"…Oh." Hermione seemed a bit disappointed, but also a little pleased. She straightened up slightly and said, "That's okay, I can teach you—I mean, we can learn from each other…"
Neville looked about to cry.
"Neville," Vid suddenly said, "what's moving in your pocket?"
Neville looked down, "Ah, it's my pet. It always likes to wander off."
He pulled a blackish-grey toad from his pocket, cradled it in his hands, and happily introduced it, "Look, it's called Leif."
Vid and Hermione leaned back at the same time, trying to put some distance between themselves and the ugly creature without Neville noticing.
The squat, fat toad stretched its legs, and with a sudden leap, jumped right out of Neville's hands. Neville hadn't closed the compartment door when he came in, so Mr. Leif wasted no time chasing freedom. After a few bounces, it was gone.
Neville stared at his empty palm, dazed for two seconds, then let out a tragic cry, "Leif!"
He rushed after it, and Vid could hear the boy bumping into the carriage outside.
The two left in the compartment exchanged a glance.
Hermione whispered, "The letter said it—but I thought nobody would actually bring a toad as a pet!"
Vid nodded in agreement. He knew some gold, pink, or jade-green toads could be kind of pretty, but that gray, lumpy kind—who would honestly like it?
Neville really did love his toad.
Quite a while later, the boy came back wiping his tears, sobbing, "I couldn't find it—everyone said they hadn't seen it—"
Vid comforted him, "The train is closed. You can look when we get off, you'll definitely find it." He figured nobody would bother stealing a frog.
Neville wasn't comforted, and the tears kept rolling down.
Seeing how upset he was, Hermione sighed helplessly and stood up, "I'll help you look."
She glanced at Vid, Vid shook his head.
Hermione and Neville left, and the compartment, once a bit noisy, immediately grew quiet. Vid looked out the window, watching the rolling hills slowly drift backward.
He knew that if he went with Hermione and Neville to search for the toad, he'd run into Harry and Ron. Eleven-year-olds quickly become friends. Just like that, the famous trio would turn into a quartet.
But after thinking it over, Vid still felt there was no need to latch onto the main characters, because what fascinated him wasn't this year's schoolkids' adventure against the Dark Lord—it was Magic itself that was interesting enough.