Chapter 27 : The Boy Who Forgets

The compartment door slid open once again, revealing a round-faced blond boy standing nervously in the doorway. His robes were slightly rumpled, his cheeks blotchy with tears, and his breathing still came in uneven little hitches.

Tyson recognized him instantly.

The Unchosen One.

The Boy Who Forgets.

Neville Long Bottom!

"S-sorry," he sniffed, glancing anxiously between the three of them. "Have... have any of you seen a toad? H-he's called Trevor. He's my pet."

Harry's expression softened immediately at his pitiful appearance. He shook his head. "Sorry. We haven't."

"A toad?" Ron repeated, sounding genuinely surprised. "Blimey... That's a weird choice for a pet, mate."

Tyson glanced sideways at him.   That was rich coming from a boy carrying around a middle-aged balding uncle disguised as a rodent.

Neville's already drooping shoulders seemed to sink even lower.

"I've lost him," he said miserably. "He keeps getting away from me. I keep finding places where I thought he might've gone, but..."

His voice cracked before he could finish the sentence, and for a moment it looked as though he was about to start crying all over again.

Tyson pushed himself to his feet before Harry or Ron could respond.

"Hey, easy, buddy," he said gently, raising both hands in a calming gesture. "We'll help you look, but panicking isn't going to make Trevor any easier to find. Just breathe for a second."

Neville nodded a little too eagerly and inhaled with all the force his lungs could manage.

"HRAAAAAACK—!"

The sound echoed through the compartment.

Tyson stared at him for a moment before deadpanning, "...Perhaps with a bit less enthusiasm."

Harry turned away, unsuccessfully hiding a laugh behind his hand, while Ron looked torn between concern and amusement.

"In through your nose," Tyson demonstrated, taking a slow breath himself. "Then out through your mouth. Nice and steady."

Neville copied him. The first attempt was shaky, the second a little better. By the third, the tension in his shoulders had eased and his breathing had settled into something much more normal.

"There we go," Tyson said with an approving nod. "Feeling a bit better?"

Neville rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve, looking embarrassed now that the panic had passed. "S-sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," Tyson replied. "If my little brother disappeared on a train, I'd probably end up searching underneath the engine."

Ron looked confused by the example while Harry just let out a sigh.

Neville managed a small, grateful nod. "My grandmother's going to be furious if I can't find him."

"Then you've got to make sure it doesn't come to that."

The nod Neville gave this time was firm enough to surprise even Tyson. He held out a hand. "I'm Tyson, by the way. These two are Ron and Harry."

"N-Neville. Neville Longbottom." Neville shook his hand before giving Harry and Ron a small nod.

"I'll... keep looking," he said, sounding noticeably calmer than before. "But if you happen to see Trevor..."

"We'll let you know," Ron assured him.

Tyson nodded, then another thought occurred to him. "Actually... hang on a second. There might be a quicker way."

Neville stopped halfway out of the compartment and turned back, hope flickering across his face. "There is?"

Tyson nodded. "There's a charm that's very good for finding lost things. If Trevor's close enough, it might work."

The hope on Neville's face faded just as quickly. "I... I don't know any charms."

'Damn. This kid was truly pitiful.' Now Tyson was feeling bad for the names he'd called him earlier.

"That's fine." Tyson smiled as he reached into his robes and drew his wand. "I happen to know this one."

Harry's eyebrows rose slightly, immediately guessing his intentions. "The Summoning Charm?"

"Yeah. Accio," Tyson confirmed.

Harry didn't look convinced. "I'm not sure about that... The last time I saw you practice it, you nearly stabbed your own eyes with a pen. Maybe it'd be safer if we just split up and searched the train. With the four of us, it shouldn't take long to find Trevor."

"That happened because I was trying it wandlessly," Tyson replied without missing a beat. "I can cast it just fine with a wand."

He shot Harry a meaningful look that clearly said 'let's not talk about that'.

"Besides, that was weeks ago. I've gotten a lot better since then. Give me a few more days and I'll have it completely mastered."

Harry shrugged.

Ron had been following the exchange with growing confusion before he finally interrupted.

"...Hang on a second. What do you mean by wandlessly? You were trying to cast a charm without a wand? Is that even possible?"

Tyson blinked. The question made him wonder if Ron had truly been living under a rock until now. Well, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but as a wizarding world native, how could he not know about wandless magic?

It was like a Muggle not knowing there were guns other than pistols.

"It's not part of the Hogwarts curriculum, buddy," Tyson replied, trying to swiftly divert the topic. He wasn't keen on explaining an exceedingly advanced casting technique to an eleven-year-old Ron. It would eat up the whole journey. Though he doubted Ron would be able to sit still and listen for that long anyway.

"You don't need to worry. Nobody's going to ask you to learn it."

"But how is it even—"

"Nothing is impossible," Tyson cut him off with a grin as he raised his wand once more. "Now then, let's see if Trevor's anywhere close enough for—"

The compartment door slid open before he could finish.

"Excuse me!" A bright, confident voice cut cleanly through the compartment.

Every eye turned toward the voice.

Standing in the doorway was a bushy-haired girl, slightly out of breath from making her way through the train. Her brown eyes immediately found Neville, and a look of relief spread across her face.

"Oh! Neville!" she exclaimed. "Did you find Trevor?"

Neville shook his head, his shoulders drooping again.

"Not yet," he admitted. "But Tyson, Harry and..." He faltered, glancing awkwardly toward the third boy. "...Um..."

A brief silence followed.

Ron sighed theatrically before pointing a thumb at himself. "Ron."

Neville winced. "Right! Sorry."

"It's fine," Ron replied, waving it off with far more generosity than Tyson had expected from him at this point in the story. Still, Tyson caught the tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth.

The Unchosen One was brutal for that one.

Neville was naturally forgetful, but somehow the only name that had vanished from his head was Ron's. Poor bloke hadn't even survived five minutes before being ranked below Harry Potter and the mysterious American. And that was when the other two didn't even know Harry was the Boy Who Lived yet.

"That's alright. At least you've found people willing to help." Hermione let out a relieved breath. "More people means we can cover more of the train."

Only then did she finally look toward the rest of the compartment. Her eyes swept past Harry, lingered on Ron for the briefest moment, then settled on Tyson.

For a heartbeat she simply stared, recognition flashing in her eyes. "You are..."

A brilliant smile spread across Tyson's face. "Well," he said, folding his arms, "if it isn't Miss In-a-Hurry."

...

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