The Heart Is Not Black or White

Chapter 8

"Oh c'mon, I got Dumbledore again," Fred groaned. Fred, George and I were sharing a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Fred had bought a chocolate frog from the trolley and the trading card that had come with it had a picture of Dumbledore, which disappointed him

Suddenly the door to our compartment slid open. A girl who looked about my age with bushy brown hair was standing in the entrance.

"Have any of you seen a toad recently?" She asked in a seemingly dignified voice with a hint of annoyance. "A boy named Neville lost his toad named Trevor."

"No," Fred and George chorused. Fred went back to munching his chocolate frog and George was inspecting Fred's wand. He was still perplexed by what we told him about the events at Ollivander's.

The girl, still standing there, seemed a bit annoying. But I was itching to make new friends. In an effort to be nice, I asked her, "What's your name?"

"I'm Hermione Granger," she answered. "And who are you?"

"I'm Marissa L'amare. This is Fred and George Weasley. I'm a first-year, and they're third-years."

"Lovely," she said flatly. "What house do you hope to be in?"

"I don't really have a preference."

"Me neither. But I think I'm most likely to be in Ravenclaw. Excuse me, but did you mention that you're last name is 'L'amare'?"

"Yes."

"Are your parents Grumio and Beatrice L'amare?"

"Yes. Have you heard of them?"

"Well when I was at Flourish and Blotts picking up my Hogwarts textbooks, I picked out a couple other books for some light reading..."

I caught a glimpse of the twins rolling their eyes. Hermione continued, "And I read, I recall, a chapter about your parents."

"My parents are in a book?" I asked astonished.

"Yes. I recall reading about them in 'Brave Wizards of the Dark Times'. You must be very proud to be their daughter, in light of their actions of the time."

"Alright," George spoke up. "Shouldn't you be looking for that devil kid's tortoise?"

"For your information," Hermione snapped. "His name is Neville and he lost a toad, not a tortoise."

"How about I help you look for it?" I offered, standing up.

"Of course, thank you."

Hermione and I stepped out. I asked her, "How many compartments have you checked so far?"

"Just yours. I came from the compartment to the right."

"Ok. You check the compartments on the right, I'll go to the left?"

"Sure. Come get me if you find the toad, I'll do the same."

We nodded and headed off in our separate directions.