Chapter 40: 1st September 1991, Sunday: Part 3

"Don't listen to him. He's a fraud", Hermione rudely butted in.

George ignored her, "come on, Neville. Don't you want to know who you'll grow up to be? The dangers you'll face, the people you'll befriend.

It's all up here. All you have to do is ask?", George tempted the boy while tapping his head.

Just as Neville was on the verge of opening his mouth, Hermione had to go and spoil the fun.

"He has done this to me before. It's nothing more than an elaborate trick. You'll see", she said snarkily.

George glanced over at her, "pardon me, officer. I didn't realise the fun police were on board."

"I just think it is wrong to lie to people", Hermione responded.

"Okay, have it your way", George turned back to Neville, "sorry, your future will have to remain a mystery."

George held his hand out, and Neville reciprocated the handshake like he was wrestling a snake. George wondered if Neville had ever shaken someone's hand before.

Neville spoke with excitement in his voice, "I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom. That was so cool, swallowing the fire like that. Could you do it again?"

Neville was still shaking his hand frantically, it took George to pull his arm away forcefully to awkwardly end the handshake.

George gracefully declined, "it's nice to meet you, Neville. I'm sorry, but if I did that trick again, then I wouldn't be able to taste anything for a week.

Enough about me and my silly fire magic, what sort of magic are you interested in?"

Neville looked taken aback, "err, I  haven't really thought about it. I've read a few books that my nan gave me about Herbology, that's pretty interesting, I think?"

George pretended to be enlightened by that revelation, "really, Herbology. I have to admit that Herbology is an area of magic I know scarily little, so you'll have to recommend some good books for me to read.

It's funny that you should say that you're into Herbs-n-stuff, Hermione and I have already met Professor Sprout. She's the Head of Herbology at Hogwarts."

Neville looked incredibly excited to hear George talk about Herbology, he seemed very keen to find someone who shared his interests. It was clear to see a spark had already been lit, and there was already a relationship starting to form. Befriending this boy was going to be a walk in the park. George had no idea how much simpler it would be to manipulate children. Compared to talking with Remus or Dominic, Neville and Hermione are proving to be significantly easier to read. Neville just needed reassurance, whereas Hermione wanted her ego stroked.

Just as George finished speaking to Neville, he suddenly tossed the owl cage onto the seat and fell to the ground. He then grabbed the oily toad that was about to hop out of the cabin. Neville hadn't noticed its escape attempt since he was distracted listening to George. He gently lifted the toad off the floor and returned it to its owner. Neville's face was filled with equal part worry and relief. Blinkie however looked furious by George's betrayal, how dare he disregard the owl for another pet. That bird was just going to have to suck it up. When it came to impressing his targets, George would abandon Blinkie in a heartbeat.

"You better keep an eye on that toad of yours, he had been eyeing the door ever since I entered", George said whilst wiping the toad's slime on his trousers.

Neville placed the toad beside him before saying, "thank you, I don't know why Trevor keeps running away."

George looked at the shelf above Neville, there was a trunk and a small cage, both were labelled with Neville's name.

He pointed at the cage before asking, "why don't you just put the toad... I mean Trevor in that cage?"

Hermione chipped in at that moment, "that's exactly what I told him to do, but Neville thinks it's cruel."

Neville shook his head shyly and said, "it's not like that. It's just... I don't like leaving him in a small cage for hours when he should be jumping around freely in a pond."

George held up the cage with the annoyed owl inside and said jokingly, "Blinkie here doesn't seem to mind."

To show its 'love', the bird forced its beak through the bars and 'kissed' one of George's fingers. George kept up the fake smile, but in the back of his head, he was wondering if Ellie would forgive him if he tossed the bird out of the window of the train. He could always say it was an accident. Neville smiled at George's comment, but he didn't look like he was going to change his mind. Trevor was undoubtedly going to get many more opportunities to escape. Since George wanted Hermione to meet two important individuals on this journey, he didn't mind letting the toad run free at some point.

Hermione looked at Blinkie and asked, "oh, so you've brought an owl with you. I read that the owls sold at Diagon Alley are far more intelligent than wild owls. Is it okay if I say hello?"

George sat down on Hermione's side, but he placed the cage alongside Neville.

"I wouldn't if you want to keep all your fingers. Blinkie can get really nasty around strangers", George lied.

Neville looked at the owl beside him and shuffled along the bench whilst Hermione appeared to be disheartened and went quiet after that. George guessed that she probably wanted to get an owl at Diagon Alley, but didn't have time since she had spent so long in the book store. A pet wasn't required at Hogwarts but owls were very common to bring. She would have to use one of the Hogwarts' owls if she wanted to send a letter home.

The train then jutted forward, and George checked his watch to find it was indeed eleven o'clock. The Hogwarts Express had officially set off and was now moving out of the train station. Hermione and Neville both looked out of the window and watched as all the parents waved the students goodbye. There was a mixture of witches and wizards, some were crying and others seemed excited on behalf of their children. Neville waved at a grumpy-looking old woman in a hideous dress, whilst George waved at Remus who was standing right at the end of the platform. There was no one for Hermione to look out for, but she kept watching the crowd until they left the station.

George gave Hermione a gentle nudge, "hey, Hermione. Did your mum cry when you said goodbye?"

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Hermione turned away from the window, "no, but my father did. He'll cry over anything."

"I don't think I've ever seen my grandma cry before", Neville contributed.

Hopefully, this new void in these children's lives should give George an opening to insert himself as their best buddy.

He clapped his hands together to get their attention and asked enthusiastically, "alright then. What are we all looking forward to the most? Oh wait, don't answer that."

George held his index fingers to his temple, "my future vision powers are telling me that... Hermione is looking forward to scouring the Library, and Neville wants to see the greenhouses."

Neville gasped, "wow, how did you know that?"

George gave him a wink and said, "I've already told you. It's because..."

Hermione tutted, "it's because you already know our interests and made a simple deduction. Nothing more, nothing less."

George conceded, "okay clever clogs. But I wasn't wrong, was I?"

A slight smirk formed on Hermione's face, "well, I am maybe a little excited to see the famous Hogwarts Library. I read in 'Hogwarts: A History' that the library has over a hundred thousand books. It's not as many as the British Library in London, but the Hogwarts collection will be full of exclusive copies unobtainable anywhere else in the world."

And with that minor push from George, the conversation got underway. As the journey progressed, they predominantly talked about Hogwarts and what they thought it was going to be like. George could tell the children had bought into the hype surrounding the oh-so-famous school, they were so excited that they didn't seem worried about being taken away from their homes. Hogwarts could be a concentration camp for all they knew. Most of what Neville came out with was second-hand knowledge, nothing more than inaccurate and exaggerated Chinese whispers. And Hermione was relying on all the propaganda she had read and the biased word of Sprout.

To fix their flawed expectation of Hogwarts, George pretended to have found some interesting notes about the school to contribute to the conversation. He tried to skirt a thin line between knowing everything and not appearing suspicious. He told them all about the Houses and the stereotypes surrounding them, as well as the current teachers' dodgy histories. The gossip was kept nice and spicy, there was even a few 'bending of the truths' mixed in there to colour their opinions. The consequence of this was having two enraptured children engrossed in every word that left his mouth.

George felt like he was directing a symphony of lies, controlling others' opinions and first impressions were pretty addictive. The truth is that most pure-blood eleven-year-olds wouldn't even know a fraction of what George was telling Hermione and Neville. That being said, he was careful to keep the facts trivial. He made sure not to give them too much of an advantage over the other first years. George also needed everybody to stay on track with his 'great expectations' so that everything remained predictable.

That's why he allowed Neville's toad to jump out of the compartment and disappear down the corridor when the boy was distracted. Neville lost his toad in George's memory, therefore, it had to happen again here. If he could avoid damaging the continuity, then he absolutely must do so. Knowing the future will turn into knowing 'a' future real quick if he just started changing everything right off the bat. The less of a footprint George could leave on this world whilst completing his mission, the better.

Just as Hermione was discussing the scientific principle of making an object levitate, an old woman's voice could be heard coming from down the corridor of the carriage.

The same short phrase kept on being repeated, "anything from the trolley."

Moments later an old woman with a trolley full of exotic sweets appeared at the entrance of their compartment, "anything from the trolley dears?"

Neville didn't look very happy as he whispered, "nan says that I shouldn't spend my money on sweets."

Hermione was much more confident in her refusal, "my parents would never approve of me eating sweets. It's bad for maintaining healthy teeth and gums."

George found their reactions quite funny, "you guys have got to live a little. I'll have three Chocolate Frogs, three boxes of Bertie bott's every flavour beans, three packs of Drooples best-blowing gum and three Liquorice wands, please."

The old woman's cheeks wrinkled as she smiled, "that will be three galleons and fifteen sickles, please."

George pulled out his Gringotts pouch and gave the woman the requested amount of money. Dominic had filled the pouch back up to its maximum so George could pull a 'we'll take the lot' if he truly wanted to. But the continuity needed another boy on this train to do that, therefore, he couldn't.

Hermione was quick to say, "thanks for the offer, but I don't think it would be wise for me…"

George interrupted her as he was receiving all of the sweets, "nonsense, I've already paid for them anyway. These are all magical sweets, they're not going to rot your teeth. What do you think we should do, Neville? Should we eat them or just throw them out the window?"

Neville appeared to be in his own world, he was completely distracted by the pile of sweets forming on George's lap. George didn't hesitate to pass him his portion of the sweets, Neville's face was glowing as a mound of treats was thrown his way. Whilst Neville was indulging, Hermione was being quite obstinate about her refusal. George kept on trying to tempt her by exaggerating how tasty all the sweets were. He was letting out groans of pleasure after swallowing every bean. She continued to sit in her corner with her arms crossed whilst looking out the window. Hermione was trying to resist, but George knew how to tempt her.

George poked her with a liquorice wand before saying, "is this your way of saying you don't want to be my friend? That would be really sad because I had so many things I wanted to discuss with you.

Well, I guess I'm going to have to study Advanced Transfiguration all by myself now, it's such a shame. Neville and I will have to eat all these tasty sweets alone and talk about Herbs instead."

George let his head slump down to his chest, and he stuck out his bottom lip with an exaggerated tremor. It was a very hammed-up performance, but it wasn't intended to be believed. Hermione just had to realise what would happen if she choose to bite the hand that was feeding her, metaphorically speaking that is.

George could feel Hermione's gaze burning a hole in the side of his head, "well, if you're going to be like that?"

Hermione snatched the liquorice wand out of his hand and started chewing on it aggressively. Her attitude might suggest otherwise, but her eyes were clearly showing that she was enjoying the sweet treat. After finishing the liquorice wand, her damaged pride had settled which allowed her to join in eating with the boys. George hid the smug grin forming as his little test succeeded. He now knew that even if it was to a small extent, Hermione had already started to have some dependence on him. If he could keep this up, the part of the mission that involved her would be ready well in advance.

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