His silverhaired friend had packed Andrew's backpack. Andrew had packed his own trunk, but he and his friend had prowled through Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley and had purchased his supplies. And then there were the 'necessities.' Fortunately, they had the same idea about what was essential. And sitting on the top layer of the pack was a gourmet lunch, enough to feed more than a couple, and placed into a Magi-Kool bag so that it would keep perfectly chilled just about past Armageddon. Andrew didn't know what was in it, but he had seen the tin of fudge placed on the very top layer of the backpack. Neither of them saw anything wrong with chocolate as an entree.
The train whistle startled Frog, and when the little green frog went to leap out of Andrew's shirt pocket, his friend had somehow just reached out and snatched him out of thin air.
"How'd you do that?" Andrew frowned.
"Practice, Boy," had been the answer. His friend stroked the little frog to soothe it and handed it back to Andrew. "You're younger--you're supposed to have quicker reflexes. You'd better work on that. Have him jump out at random and practice catching him."
"No," Andrew scowled in defiance, not ready to lose Frog. There was a pause and then some goodbyes, promises to write, and Andrew found himself back again on the Hogwarts Express. He made his way to an empty compartment. He took one of the window seats and put his backpack on the floor for now and drew out a book his friend had given him. Not typical reading, but cryptography wasn't everyone's cup of tea, then, was it?
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