Eventually they reach said compartment. A tall, lanky boy as violently redheaded as Ron looks up from a book when he sees them. "Ron? What is it?"

"Neville here has lost his toad. We were wondering if there might be a spell to make finding him quicker."

"...hm. There might be one—"

"Chapter seven of the sixth year charms book," says a Ravenclaw prefect without looking up from the book she's reading.

"—thank you." He fetches that one and starts leafing through it.

Sarah waits patiently.

"Hmm, I've never tried this one before... shouldn't be too hard, though. What's your toad's name?"

"Trevor."

He waves his wand, and a shower of sparkles leads the way out of the compartment.

"Thank you that's pretty cool."

"You're welcome!"

"Let's go find Trevor."

Off they go! He finds Trevor in a compartment with some third years. "Trevor!"

Sarah waits for Neville to retrieve his toad then asks "Do you want to sit with us?"

"...okay." Pause. "Are you Sarah Potter?"

"I am, but I haven't done anything particularly special since the night I'm famous for and I doubt that night went the way it did because of anything I did."

"...still."

Back to the compartment.

"So, what house do you want to be in Neville?"

"Grandma would be disappointed if I wasn't Gryffindor but I think I'm not anything."

"We're all pretty young, I think to a degree your house has to be about what you want to be almost as much as what you are."

"I want to be a Gryffindor but I'm a coward."

"What do you mean by a coward?"

He shrugs. "I'm—I'm afraid of everything. I'm not brave."

"Being a coward in my mind is more about what you do than what you feel."

"Being brave is about overcoming your fears, yeah? You can't be brave if you aren't afraid of anything. And you looked pretty afraid of—everyone—when you lost Trevor but you still went door to door to talk to people. That's pretty brave to me."

"That's what I meant in better words."