Chapter 41: 1st September 1991, Sunday: Part 4

For the next six hours, the entire journey going from King's Cross to Hogwarts was spent socialising with Hermione and Neville. George had initially planned to have a short conversation with the two of them to leave a good impression. Then he would spend the other five hours or so quietly practising some magic now that the Ministry couldn't touch him. Catching up on some sleep would have been nice as well, but no, George wasn't allowed to have that either.

Unfortunately, George underestimated the effect of his charisma because, at some unknown point in time, Neville had become his best friend. How was it possible to become so familiar with someone within such a short period of time, had this boy never had a friend before in his life? All Neville ever wanted to do was eat sweets and talk to George about Herbology, he had really opened up after the first hour. George had no idea this boy could be so talkative. From what he could tell, Neville hadn't even recognised that his toad had gone missing.

Even Hermione wouldn't let George have a second to relax without interrupting him to ask a question about Charms or Transfiguration. He would instinctively answer the question from his backlog of knowledge which only encouraged Hermione to ask more questions. The effect would only snowball until George wouldn't have a single moment of peace. But unlike Neville, Hermione's conversation wasn't completely a waste of time. She had practised magic that George hadn't had the opportunity to try yet. Seeing Hermione demonstrate various spells, such as the repair spell, acted as a very intuitive lesson for George.

It was only when the train finally stopped at Hogsmeade station that Neville finally noticed that his toad had escaped. His calm and happy mood flipped on its head as he went into a blind panic. Neville tried looking for the toad inside the sweet packets and underneath the seats whilst shouting the name 'Trevor' repeatedly. George learned that apparently magical toads come when they are called, although Trevor might be an exception since he didn't come back. For whatever reason, that toad wanted to run away even more than Blinkie did.

Hermione and George agreed to split up and go along the carriages whilst asking to see if anyone has seen the toad. George only performed a cursory inspection, his real attention was directed toward Hermione's hunt for the toad. He could see that she'd started going into every compartment and asking where the occupants had seen Trevor. If she kept on heading in that direction, then everything should work out just fine. The future should not change much if she still met those two particular individuals, even if that important event was occurring a little later than it ort to.

They reunited after five minutes having not found the toad. Neville was not willing to leave the train until he found his pet, but Hagrid could be heard outside calling for the first years to leave the carriages. Having run out of time, George came up with some excuse to encourage Neville to leave with him.

"Hey, Neville. You shouldn't get so worked up. This won't be the first time a pet has got loose on the Hogwarts Express. The professors will have precautions to find Trevor. We should just worry about getting off this train before it sets off back to London."

Neville looked back at George, "really? So they'll be able to find Trevor."

George nodded confidently and put his arm around Neville's back, "of course, they will. This is Hogwarts after all. Finding a measly toad will be easy as pie. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Ain't that right, Hermione?"

Hermione gave George a look which suggested that she was aware he was making this up. She seemed to understand why George lied and decided to go along with it.

She looked at Neville and smiled, "yes, Neville. I'm sure the professors will be able to find your toad."

Neville being so incredibly gullible, believed every word they said. George didn't feel too guilty since he knew Neville would be reunited with his pet soon enough. It just wasn't going to be until they arrived at the castle.

Neville gave a massive sigh of relief, "oh, okay. If they'll be able to find Trevor, then I guess…"

"We should leave. That's indeed correct", George finished the boy's sentence whilst practically pushing him out of the train.

In the end, Neville, George and Hermione were the last first-years to leave the train. They stepped out onto Hogsmeade station and saw the other first-years had already formed a messy line on the platform. George and his new friends positioned themselves so they were standing at the back of it. At the front of the queue was Hagrid who towered over the children. The half-giant was organising the students whilst holding a large lantern that illuminated the platform. The time was currently five in the afternoon, and the sky was pitch black. Neville was still looking around the platform as if Trevor was going to pop out of thin air. George decided to leave him to his hopeless exploration as long as he kept up with the crowd.

Hermione's attention had been utterly stolen by Hagrid. She wasn't even trying to hide the fact she was staring. George did not doubt that Hermione was confident enough to walk directly up to Hagrid and ask him what he is. Potentially offending the man wouldn't have even crossed her mind. George wouldn't know whether that demonstrated bravery or stupidity, he would leave that for the Sorting Hat to decide. Hermione looked like she was going to push through the line just to sate her curiosity, but she ended up hesitating. George followed her line of sight and noticed two boys already talking to Hagrid with a certain degree of familiarity.

Hermione's curiosity vanished as her face flushed red. George was happy that she recognised the boys, but he wasn't sure what could have garnered this unusual reaction. After seeing that all the first-years had left the train, Hagrid told everyone to follow him as he walked away from the platform. George advanced with everyone else and kept one arm behind Neville's back to prevent him from falling behind. Neville was so distracted that he didn't appear to have noticed Hagrid, whereas Hermione had gone very quiet.

George leaned over as they walked and whispered, "is something wrong?"

Hermione attempted to hide her face from George, "it's none of your business."

George had no idea why she would be so embarrassed, perhaps acting silly may get him some answers.

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George nodded his head with a knowing smile, "you don't have to be embarrassed about it, I'm sure plenty of people find him intimidating. His name is Hagrid, and I think he's a half-giant, that's just my assumption so I might be wrong. I can introduce you if you like, I already met him before in the Leaky Cauldron."

Hermione's brow furrowed as she glared at George, "I'm not scared, I was actually planning on asking him until..."

"You noticed those two boys", George finished her sentence and decided to have some fun with her, "was it love at first sight? I wonder which one stole your heart, or was it both of them? You will have to remember to invite me to the wedding."

Hermione was briefly shocked by George's assertion before becoming furious. She then gave him a hard push in retaliation. George was fine because he had anticipated her outburst, and Neville behind him had absorbed most of the impact. Poor Neville almost lost his footing, but George quickly pulled him back to his feet.

Hermione showed no sign of guilt as she reprimanded George, "don't say such ludicrous things so loudly, you'll spread rumours and I'll never hear the end of it. I'll have you know that one of those boys is thee Harry Potter."

George snapped his fingers and pointed towards Hermione, "oh, so you're a fangirl. Did you get his autograph?"

Hermione was gritting her teeth so hard that she might chip a tooth, "do you want me to hit you again?"

George held his hands up in a gesture of surrender, "okay, okay. So what's the problem then? Maybe I can help."

Hermione paused for a moment before giving George an answer in a hushed voice, "for some untenable reason, those two had forgotten to put on their uniforms before the train arrived at Hogwarts.

I could hear voices inside their cabin, and the door was slightly ajar, so I went straight inside. I wanted to ask them if they had seen Neville's toad but they were in the middle of getting dressed."

Hermione looked as if she'd been traumatised by the event, her body shivered as she finished speaking. George stroked his chin in contemplation whilst looking towards Hermione, he knew exactly what to say.

He crossed his arms and gave Hermione an ominous smirk, "it all makes sense now. I was an idiot for not seeing it clearly. Of course you're not the sort to fall in love so easily and you're not a fangirl, that's completely out of your character..."

Hermione was visibly relieved to see George finally see sense, however, he hadn't finished.

"It's simple, you're a peeping tom. To be fair, I don't blame you for being embarrassed. It's not something I imagine you want people to know about. But don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

George managed to accomplish something quite impressive because, although he hadn't even arrived at Hogwarts Castle yet, he had managed to get the attention of every first-year. It turned out that being wailed on by an extremely angry girl with a massive textbook could make a lot of noise. George had dropped Blinkie's cage and hunched over, covering his head with his hands until it stopped. For a little girl, Hermione sure knew how to wield a book to great effect. Neville attempted to hold Hermione back, but she didn't stop until she'd landed a good couple of hits.

The assault ended almost as quickly as it had begun. Hermione paused mid-swing and her face relaxed as if nothing had happened, then she resumed walking in Hagrid's direction. Everyone who had stopped to watch the show copied Hermione and kept walking after the giant. Although, the crowd didn't stop murmuring about the incident whilst continuing to follow Hagrid who had been none the wiser. George was reeling in shock, he only lowered his hands after hearing Hermione walk away. Had that really been the same girl he'd just been eloquently discussing magical theory with on the train?

Neville looked very concerned as he asked, "George, are you ok? I thought she was never going to stop, Hermione looked like she had gone mad. What did you say to her to make her freak out like that?"

George just shook his head as a response, he was never going to repeat those words just in case Hermione ever found out. He realised that day that he was inept when it came to picking up certain social cues. Perhaps he should avoid banter in the future. Upon reflection, George didn't even know why he started winding up Hermione in the first place. There was nothing to get out of it, and George had no real justification outside of having a little fun. He had to remind himself he was not here to have fun, the mission needed him to keep Hermione close.

George straightened his beaten-up uniform and fixed his tie, Amanda would not have been impressed if she saw him like this on his first day. Then he picked up the even angrier owl, being thrown twice in one day must have been really ruffling up its feathers. Without wasting any more time, George ran with Neville to catch up to the group. The first years were about to board the boats, it wouldn't be good if they were left behind.

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