Billywigs were small insects that caused a funny little reaction when you got stung. “I wanna get stung, and fly!” I chuckled a bit while petting Val’s head. “Well, it says here that it could last for days. You might not stop even when you want to. That means no baths.” Over the course of time we spent together, I found that Val really enjoyed being in water. It surprised me for being a cold blooded animal, he liked the chill of the water, truly fascinating.

Val then looked at the page solemnly while his tail down my shirt flicked back and forth in thought, and sadness. “Maybe not…” I turned the page with a smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a spell to have you fly.” Val’s tail swished more excitedly while he yelled at me. “Really!?” I chuckled a bit while patting his scaly head. “Really. I’ll just look through some of the spells we got in this book.” I then placed the beast book away for the moment to see if there were any flying spells in our first year books.

I skimmed through the pages, reading the names of the spells. Most spells had the name of what the spell did in the name, I assumed so it was easier for the wizard to recollect the spell’s name later. I made it to chapter 7, and found a spell called Wingardium Leviosa. “Says ‘Wing’ in the title…” I said while I read what the spell did, and the wand movement required. “I think I found one. You want to try?” I asked Val, while she slithered out of my shirt. “Yea!! I wanna fly!” 

I gave a soft chuckle, and took out my wand. “Wingardium Leviosa!” I chanted while focusing on the power that I felt run through the wand. I directed that power towards Val, and felt something. I could feel Val’s weight? His heft? I could feel the need of Power being used through me to lift Val up with my charm. I fed the power, and slowly raised Val up to see outside the window to look at the landscape. “Wow! I like it! I like it!” He cheered while he rolled in the air, and asked to be flown about the cabin.

I happily complied, while making sure to only hover him above the seats for as long as I could so he would have a soft landing. He kept yelling with glee of being so high, and I couldn’t help but show my real happy smile that I had hidden for so many years. This was almost a dream come true. That was, until I heard someone knocking on the door. I quickly stopped the spell, and caught Val in my hands. He knew to slither up my sleeve to hide. I told him that the only way for him to come with me was to hide from humans, and he really wanted to come with me.

The door then opened while I sighed with relief at the close call. ‘Good thing I picked a room with curtained windows on the door.’ I then glared at the intruder for ruining the moment. “What do you want?” I sighed while I plopped on the seat. It was a girl with brown frizzled hair that refused to be tamed. She seemed to almost ignore my hostile tone, while pushing her own agenda. “Have you seen a Toad?” I looked at her with confused, and annoyed expression. 

“Not since Toads learned how to operate doors.” I said in a slightly mocking tone while pointing at the door she was holding open. She frowned, and tried to explain herself. “I was just trying to help him find his pet! Although I suppose not as if I would get much help from you any-” Her voice was then cut off from hissing. Specifically Val hissing in anger. “I can find that stupid boil covered toad! Watch us find him better than you!!” The girl seemed confused why she heard hissing, while the black haired boy she pointed to, just kept looking around, seemingly unaware of the noises inside this cabin.

I sighed from Val yelling presumably from having his flying time cut short by her, but I couldn’t help but worry for a pet wandering on his own. I knew I would tear everything upside down looking for Val. I got up, and whispered to Val in my left sleeve. “Smell him out if you can, and let me know if I’m close.” He gave a chirp, or that note I first heard when I met him while I walked through the door. The girl looked at me confusedly, while the boy looked at me with hope. I held my hand down one end of the hall for Val to see, and he chirped the seal of approval.

I walked with a quickened pace to end this quickly and made my way down the corridor with both the girl and boy following closely behind. I then made it to the end of the train car, and stopped. I held my hand over the floor, and stopped when I heard the chirp again. I then looked at where my hand was pointing, and found the outline of a toad, hiding in plain sight beside the wall, using his coloring in that one spot to camouflage himself. I grinned a bit seeing the intelligence he had to find such a good hiding spot, and quickly scooped him up in my hands.

I knew Val wouldn't eat him, since I just fed him before the train ride started, so I investigated the toad a bit. However before I could try to look into the toads eyes, the boy took him from me with a happy expression. “Trevor!” I sighed from having him taken too quickly, but decided to get back to my cabin. I walked past the girl who was frozen from shock, just staring at the boy and his toad.

“Hah! Don’t look down on us! You stupid girl!” Val yelled to her, causing her to jump from fear of the hissing emanating from me. ‘I have to steer her away from thinking I have a snake pet…' I thought, a pit sinking into my stomach, worried that Val's outburst would reveal him before the train ride would even end. “Try not to assume yourself better than others, only to be proven wrong seconds later, in the future.” I murmured to the girl snidely, trying to anger her enough to forgo Val's hissing, before quickly walking away while admonishing Val. “You have to learn that words are just words. You can’t get riled up by them.” Val whimpered a bit while explaining himself. “But she was being mean!” 

“I know, but you can’t attack every mean person. The point of a snake is to lay in wait, and to strike back when it is the right time. Besides… I think she isn’t a bad person. She did want to help find that boy’s toad.” Valdemar’s tail swished while he pondered what I whispered to him. I didn’t want to let it be known that I was speaking parseltongue, because soon it would beg the question of what I was speaking it to.

Hermione watched the young brown haired boys back with a mix of emotions. She had felt anger, yet intrigue, however that intrigue only fed into her anger of him. After she found out she was a witch, she did as much studying as she could with the small amount of time she had the books in her possession. The boy that angered her, she didn’t even know his name, neither did he know hers. But that boy seemed to be doing something she couldn’t explain. Granted she was a first year, but so was he. ‘He must be some rich kid that had studied this from tutors earlier.’ 

With those thoughts in her mind, her anger towards his conceited way of acting, and almost cheating in comparison to her, only grew while she went back to another cabin where she had met some nicer students. She walked past the door without a window. She knew the boy would be inside, and put her ear to the door. ‘I bet he is mouthing off about me behind my back.’ She only heard that hissing that she randomly heard coming from him. At first she thought it was the train hissing weirdly, but after the second time she heard it beside her, she knew it came from him.

It only deepened his mystery, and her belief that he had some enchantment she was unaware of. But she was going to figure it out, and prove to him that she was better than him even without having his backing. With a determined outlook, Hermione went over a few cabins to go back into where she met the red-head, and the famous boy.