Chapter 102: 31st October 1991, Thursday: Part 4

George turned around and left the corridor whilst slowly lowering the bunch of flowers into his enchanted sack. Luckily, things stayed upright in there so he didn't have to worry about the water spilling. Although George was bold enough to walk up to Hermione in the middle of the Great Hall and hand over the flowers, he had a much better time and place in mind. Regardless, if everything was going according to plan then Hermione wouldn't be in the Great Hall during lunch anyway.

He went to the Great Hall and enjoyed another Halloween-themed lunch, George ate a large pastry in the shape of a tarantula. Everyone in the Great Hall looked to be having a good time and was getting into the Halloween spirit, some of the students had started dressing up in modified uniforms that made them look like the undead. The ghosts all came out as well and told the students about horror stories of their deaths in gruelling detail, they seemed to be taking pleasure out of spooking the younger students.

George's attention however was on the Gryffindor table, his eyes were scanning the table for the absence of one curly-haired girl. The Gryffindor students had their Charms lesson at the same time as George attended Herbology, this meant that Hermione should be currently in the girl's bathroom sobbing after overhearing the mean comments from Ron. The fact that she wasn't present at the Gryffindor table showed that the falling out most likely happened. That being said, George still wanted to make sure since today's activities were going to be potentially life-threatening and he wanted to have every single factor accounted for. Therefore, he wanted to use his reliable source of Gryffindor gossip to check that everything is going according to plan.

After swallowing the final leg of his tarantula beef pasty and downing a pint of blood-coloured grape juice in one gulp, George stood up and walked over to the Gryffindor table. He never liked doing this since it required him to walk directly in front of the teacher's table but weeks of practice had resulted in him getting surprisingly good at blocking them out. Only Dumbledore could get a reaction out of him now and that scary old man rarely attended meals unless it was a special occasion such as the Halloween feast this evening.

Neville seemed to have developed a sixth sense for George as he was first to look in his direction once he reached the table. Perhaps George's way of saying hello had started putting Neville permanently on guard. Harry, Ron Seamus and Dean all noticed Neville and turned to face George as well. Their conversation stopped as they recognised him, they all just sat there and stared at him without saying a word.

To end the awkward silence, George clapped his hands together and asked with a cheery attitude, "you guys got anything planned for Halloween?"

The group looked at each other before turning back to George whilst shaking their heads, they weren't helping to end the awkward atmosphere. He couldn't be sure whether they were withholding information or were simply being honest, maybe they just wanted him to go away. He hadn't talked to these boys often since the quidditch practice, so he hadn't developed a good read on their emotions towards him yet. Either way, their vague answer completely killed that conversation before it even started.

George decided in the absence of small talk that he might as well get straight to the point, it wasn't like he was going to back off just because they were acting odd around him. He leaned over the table, forcing Neville and Seamus to nudge over, and picked up a particularly long and thin sausage that was meant to mimic the shape of an intestine. He shoved the entire sausage in his mouth and swallowed it in one go. The house elves must have put a few spicy peppers in the mince because the grease was burning his lips. Then George picked up the jug of pumpkin juice and poured himself a cup to wash the spice down.

It was at that point that the passive-aggressive comment from Ron finally came out, "is there a problem with the food at the Slytherin table?"

"Not the food, just the company. I'm sure you know all about that, being in Gryffindor and all", George answered whilst licking his greasy fingers.

"And what do you mean by that?", retorted Ron, obviously assuming George's last comment was an insult.

George took a gulp of juice before saying, "Slytherins don't make for the best company, it's as simple as that. You guys, on the other hand, are much better."

Ron seemed to simmer down after hearing his compliment, he clearly couldn't think of a way to disagree with George when it came to insulting Slytherin. Unlike the outspoken Weasley, Harry was normally quite reserved around George and infrequently spoke whenever he came over to their table. It was most likely due to Harry hesitating to jump to conclusions about George's motivations, which would be quite mature for an eleven-year-old. Either that or Harry was too busy thinking about Quidditch to spare George a thought.

That vow of silence was broken today as Harry asked him, "why do you keep coming to the Gryffindor Quidditch practice?"

George stopped reaching for another sausage and looked up at Harry, this was a question he couldn't just brush aside. He presumed that this question must have been playing on the minds of these boys ever since he kept on turning up with Neville, no one else supported another house's team at this point in time. The answer wasn't complicated since the Quidditch practice served the same role as the Hogwarts Gardens, he used it as a place where he would take an hour to relax his mind.

Due to his first week at Hogwarts, George realised that he couldn't work every single minute without a little time off now and then. Therefore, he scheduled a time to visit the Gardens once a week and go to the Quidditch practice with Neville. It was only two hours a week but it made a world of difference to his mental health, he had reached the end of October without a single meltdown. The time off was also a great opportunity to clear his mind and take a few metaphorical steps back to see the bigger picture. Some of his largest Eureka moments had been while staring at bluebells or watching the Weasley twins attempting to hit each other with the bludger.

This wasn't the answer George would share with Harry since it alluded to his secret activities, the chosen one couldn't be trusted with that information yet. George thought maybe the best solution, for now, was to deflect at first and then open up about his lack of loyalty to Slytherin, to overly exaggerate his bad treatment would garner the best results. That way, the boys could see him as a double agent working for Gryffindor. They could use him to get information only Slytherins would know and George could twist the truth to ensure they followed the right path.

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George leaned forward and asked Harry, "is that a problem? Do you want me to stop coming, is that it?"

"No, not at all. It's just… weird. You're in Slytherin, don't you want to watch them practise instead?", Harry was quick to amend his words.

"Yeah. Why don't you watch the Slytherins practise instead?", Ron said in a much more antagonistic tone.

"Maybe he's smart enough to support the house team that's going to win", Dean suggested in an attempt to defend George.

"And you would know all about that, wouldn't you Dean?", George said whilst raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Dean immediately turned red as he realised what George meant. Then he picked up a biscuit in the shape of a pumpkin and threw it at George in retaliation. George saw the projectile coming a mile away and caught it out of the air and threw it into his mouth, he never turned down a free snack.

He said whilst chewing, "just accept it, your team is gonna lose. Go and support Chelsea instead, their odds are way better than West Ham. Oh, and next time, could you throw something more savoury like a sausage or a pork pie? I haven't got much of a sweet tooth."

Before Dean could throw something else, George looked back to Harry and finally answered his question.

"Getting back on track, I'll be honest with you but I would appreciate it if you could keep it between us…"

Then George leaned forward and said in a hushed voice, "Slytherin is full of slimy gits like Professor Snape, everything the Gryffindors have been saying is true. The less time I can spend around them, the better. In truth, I probably hate them more than all of you put together.

I haven't slept a single good night's sleep since I came to Hogwarts, I can barely stand being in their dorm room. If you guys think it's bad to share Potions class with Slytherin, try sharing every class and the same common room with them, then get back to me. I have to practically live in the corridors just to get some peace.

On the topic of Potions, you guys have no idea how bad Snape is as your Head of House. He is breathing down my neck twenty-four hours a day and one small slip-up nets me a week's worth of detention. I bet if you look over my shoulder right now and see him sitting at the teacher's table, he will be staring right at me. Go on, have a look."

The words that left his mouth seemed to leave Harry and the rest of the boys somewhat stunned, they all were universally staring at him with their eyes wide and mouths open. It appeared to be a surprise for them that he might hate his own house more than the Gryffindors. Of course, George didn't like most of the Slytherin students but he had vastly overstated his emotions. There were even a few students who he was quite fond of but he wasn't about to admit that in front of Ron.

Emphasising his allegiance was just a way of reassuring Harry and his friends that George wasn't some sort of metaphorical snake in the grass waiting to exploit their weakness when they let their guard down. Instead, he was a traitor that wouldn't hesitate to sell out his own kind for nothing other than the pleasure of watching Slytherin suffer. The boys all looked over George's shoulder and, judging by their shrunken pupils, he was right on the money. Snape was looking in their direction but not necessarily at George, he would most likely be looking at Harry and George as a collective. Pairing the boy he hated and the wild card together would definitely draw Snape's attention, hence why George was so confident.

Since the conversation had fallen into a lul, George leaned over to Neville and asked him, "anyway, how were things in Charms? Did you get the hang of the Wingardium Leviosa spell?"

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