Trevor's Traumatic enTrapment

"It ruined me life, you see. I'd just been given to my new master, a gift from his uncle, you understand, when out of nowhere I'm nabbed. Stolen away. Didn't have the blindest clue what was going on. Thought I was for the great mosquito-ed pond in the sky."

-

Some times he felt guilty. But you have to understand that he'd done it for the best of all reasons. He'd always had a soft spot for amphibians on account of how they were so closely related to reptiles. It nearly broke his heart back in second year when he'd watched the other students ganging up on Bloggs. On Bloggs's toad to be precise. Said it was ugly and stupid and slimy and really not as good as a cat or an owl. Said that you couldn't pet a frog - it was a toad! Didn't they know the difference? - like you could a cat. Said it couldn't carry messages like an owl. Said that made it useless. Useless!

He'd carefully snuck over to Bloggs's bed that night and lifted his toad from his pillow. He had to call it 'the toad' because Bloggs had never even bothered to give it a name. He supposed that the other boy didn't want people to poke more fun at him, but honestly, couldn't he have come up with something secret to call the toad? Because that was something the bullies hadn't mentioned; that toads are very good at keeping secrets. Why, when he grew it and moved into a wonderful huge house where the ceiling was more than a couple of inches higher than his head, he'd make a toad secret keeper. No one'd be able to crack it!

-

"How did it ruin me life, you ask? Well, I was terrified of him thereafter. Couldn't go near the man! Oh, me poor, poor owner. Everyone kept thinking that he was always losing me. He wasn't! I tell you, he wasn't!

"Now my Neville, he might be a bit of a clumsy, forgetful sort, but I won't have no one accusing him of toad abuse! You could really get him into trouble for that. It weren't his fault that I kept having to go off and hide somewhere. Oh, the stress. I can still feel me little legs a-shivering every time I think of that dirty great Toad-napper!"

-

He saw Bloggs put up a cursory search for his toad the next morning, but he couldn't hide the glimmer of relief in his eyes when it failed. When Bloggs came back from his next Hogsmeade trip with a right evil-eyed cat, he knew that he'd done the right thing in taking that poor toad away. He was glad that the toad had decided to leave too. He wouldn't have been able to leave it there by the side of the lake if it hadn't merrily hopped off the palm of his hand and landed in the cool, night water with an easy plop. No, the toad was definitely better off free, even if he had forgotten to warn it about the giant squid. Oh well, it would figure that one out for itself soon enough.

After the Great Liberation, as he'd dubbed it, he managed to work up his courage to go and see the Headmaster. Headmaster Dippet didn't listen much to his tale of cruelty to amphibians, but Professor Dumbledore had been in the room too - there were various lesson plans scattered over the Head's desk - and he seemed more interested in protecting all members of the school. Unfortunately neither of his professors seemed to understand the real urgency in removing toads from the approved pets list. Dippet said that it was tradition, and that, as far as he was concerned, was that. Dumbledore said that people who brought toads along presumably wanted them and would care for them, but that if he saw anyone failing to do so, he should come and find one of the Professors at once and that they would take care of things. Dumbledore always was a great man.

-

"Hearing me master calling out me name, nay, crying it out even! Why, it was as much as me little heart could bare. But there was I, trapped in this great linty pocket, coins and sweets and paperclips all jabbin' at me delicate skin! I just couldn't get out. If I tried, I was just pushed straight back in before I could even let out a pitiful moan.

"That man's a monster, I tell you! I don't care what his motives are, he's pure evil and corrupt now!"

-

Things improved a little for toads over the years, he saw. There were a couple in Ravenclaw how took an especial shine to them - said that they weren't too demanding and that they could aid the concentration. For a while, he felt really quite optimistic about this change in amphibian status and turned his attention away to the rights of other oppressed minorities.

All good things come to an end though, and when he next looked into things it was back to square one. Dumbledore had succeeded Dippet, but still wasn't willing to amend the Pet List. Downright cruel of him that was. He had no choice but to shoulder the task of discouraging people from bringing toads to school without the Headmaster's support. Those that were brought and he saw being tormented, he liberated.

Needless to say, there was quite a colony going down by the lake now if you know where to look. He didn't show people where to look.

-

"How am I recovering? Well, it's hard to say, but I don't like to complain. At first I was just glad to be back with me beloved Neville. Yes, utterly relieved that the entire toad-napping experience had been resolved so peaceably. Of course, he's never told me what he had to do for my safe return. I have nightmares about it sometimes. And about the paperclips..."

-

Well, he'd seen the first year with a toad right away. Over the years he'd developed something of a toad-sense. While it might have been true that you never knew where a kid was going 'til they put the Hat on, he'd seen a lot of Sortings over the years and was willing to put good money on this one not ending up in Ravenclaw. That set off his alarm bells.

He studied the boy more closely and decided that while his parents might have been Aurors, this one really didn't have what it took to defend his toad against all insults.

He waited to for boy to be distracted talking to a woman with a vulture stuck on her hat - the boy's grandmother, if he recalled Frank's family well enough - and made a daring grab for the toad. His move went unnoticed, confirming his opinion that the boy clearly wasn't devoted enough to properly tend to his toad, and he slipped the little amphibian safely into one of his pockets, smoothing his fingers over it in an attempt to quell the wild kicking.

Unfortunately it appeared that he had severely underestimated the depth of Frank's son's adoration for his toad. Of course, affection alone wasn't quite enough to make him into a brilliant toad-handler, but after seeing the boy burst into tears at one point, getting accosted by a bossy first-year with bushy hair no less than five times, and hearing thin wails of 'Trevor, Trevor, where are you?' carry over the waves from one of the boats behind him, he began to feel rather glad that he hadn't taken that extra moment to release the toad before mounting the boats. He resolved to 'find' Trevor the toad in the bottom of his boat when it docked.

Trevor's human looked delighted when he did.

-

"Would I like to see him brought to justice? Of course I'd like to see him brought to justice! It's why I'm talking to you now. Pity you're just my reflection in a bottle of Butterbeer. Still, where else am I going to hide? He's sat right over there looking at me wonderful Master, right now.

"Now why couldn't that Potter have turned out to be able to communicate with toads instead of snakes?"

-

Finishing his Firewhiskey he headed for the doorway of the Three Broomsticks. Neville was sitting at a table with the Lovegood girl and he had to walk past them on his way outside, which he hated doing, because every time he did, he had to fight the urge to apologise; to admit that his problem had gotten out of hand. That there was currently a wave of missing toads in the lower years and that it was all his fault. He kept his head down though. After all, what would Dumbledore say if he found out?

Hagrid walked out without looking at the third occupant of the table. Trevor. That toad always seemed to be giving him evil eyes. Toads aren't dumb, as the Ravenclaws know. But they're very good at keeping secrets.

~*~*~*~*~

A/N: And I know what you're all thinking now! That small hut makes a lot more sense when we know that Hagrid's got a huge house somewhere with its secret kept tightly by Bloggs's toad!