Astronomy•Neville Longbottom

Chapter 1: Hm I Guess

My mother holds my hand gently as she usually does but this time more so than usual. Her grip, light as a feather and like I would slip from her at any moment as the heat pooled between our palms.

This is the first time I would be on my own without her, it's nerve-wracking. As we cross the border of platform nine and three-quarters, the chaos that once surrounded us multiplied by ten they're were parents and students everywhere.

The large crowds make my mothers grip tighten, I glance up at her as we walk to where I'll board the train our feet clicking at the same pace. All around me I hear sobs and squeals of delight, my nerves slowly diminish into small butterflies in my chest.

"Be good, I know you may find it hard, but please try." My mother says crouching down to eye level with me.

"When am I not?" I question, shooting her my famous dazzling smile and she returns it briefly before returning to her usual frown. Her hand reaches to stroke my hair and a fond smile crosses her lips. I lean forward and place a kiss on her cheek and she stands back up before lightly shoving me ahead of her.

"You'll see me soon, mum" I say quickly trying to make the split easier for her, it doesn't work, I walk a head to the train but when I turn around she has tears leaking from her eyes.

"Goodbye, darling" she whispers before i'm too far to hear her. My father will comfort her when he returns from work so I'm not too concerned.

I face back around and head to the Hogwarts Express, the crowd is almost unbearable as I try to push myself through and onto the train. When my foot finally makes it onto the first step I've said sorry nearly one hundred times and probably broken twelve toes.

I stroll down the packed corridor until I find an empty compartment and sit down. I pull out the book I've been reading recently "Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them" by Newt Scamander, and begin reading.

I manage to get through two chapters before someone knocks on the compartment door, it slides open and a brown haired boy pops his head in. His teeth are four sizes to big for his rounded face and he looks panicked.

"M-may I sit in here?" He asks nervously, I smile gently and nod at him as he sits down. He reaches into his front pocket and glances at me briefly as if checking to make sure of something before he pulls out a large green toad. My eyes widen as he begins to explain.

"Oh um I'm sorry, M-my name's N-neville L-longbottom, i'm a f-first year. Oh, a-and this is T-trevor, my t-toad." He rambles quickly making it seem nearly impossible to understand.

"Well, hello Neville" I giggle at the nervous boy, "I'm Rosalie Pines, you can call me Rose" I reply, trying to calm him a bit.

I close my book in hopes of making conversation, just as I do so Trevor makes a leap of faith. Neville rolls his eyes and groans but quickly stands up to chase after him. I sit contemplating it for a second before I stand up and chase after Neville.

I spot him a few feet in front of me chasing the large toad. He looks up and around sweating, I make eye contact with him and rush toward him, when I've reached him he seems to calm down a bit.

"He's a real git sometimes." He says frustrated, a small giggle slips from my lips and we begin looking for the overgrown frog.

I begin knocking on the compartment doors and asking people if they had seen a large monstrous toad anywhere hoping they would get the idea. I pop my head into another compartment ready to give up.

"A boys lost his toad, have you seen it?" I ask scanning the small room. "You also may want to change into your robes, we'll be arriving soon." When my eyes settle on the people sitting in the small seats they widen a bit, it was Harry Potter. He and the red head sitting next to him in the compartment shake their heads.