Chapter 42: 1st September 1991, Sunday: Part 5

George and Neville kept running along the path until they reached a small wooden pier connected to a vast lake. The pier was roughly forty feet long and appeared to be hundreds of years old, any one of the wooden panels looked like they would break underfoot. Tethered to the pier were roughly thirty small wooden boats, these rickety old things would be the student's way of traversing the lake. Each boat had its own lantern which was suspended from a metal rod, illuminating the children within. None of the boats had any oars to paddle with, George knew that there had to be some kind of magic to pull them back and forth from the castle.

They caught up to the group just as Hagrid was about to finish distributing the students amongst the boats. By the time they'd run up to the half-giant, the last of the students were climbing down into the boats and getting seated.

Hagrid turned around after noticing George and Neville, "come on you two, get a move on. Can't be having you late on your first day?"

There were roughly four to five people seated on each boat, and there were only two with room for two or more people. Since Neville was giving him the 'don't leave me' eyes, George scanned the remaining two options. One was empty but was reserved for Hagrid, its seat was extra wide and was reinforced for the additional hefty occupant. The other boat had a sulking Hermione with a boy having a one-sided conversation. This wasn't going to be pretty, but for the sake of keeping at least one of his new friends happy, George got ready to jump aboard. Holding Blinkie's cage ruled out the ladder, so he decided to go for the more dramatic option.

"Geronimo!"

Hermione and the boy turned around at the same time to see George confidently jumping down from the pier like a superhero. He plummeted over four feet towards the boat and perfectly landed on top of the back seats. Due to George's weight, plus a well-fed owl, the boat started rocking back and forth. George had overestimated his abilities as he spread his arms out wide, like he was on a tight rope, to regain his balance. Although he recovered and narrowly avoided falling into the lake, the cool factor for his spectators would have been diminished.

The boy appeared to be mightily impressed, as one should in George's opinion, but Hermione just let out a tut before turning her head back towards the castle. If only she was so simple to please. George could tell he would have to make some major sacrifices to regain Hermione's friendship.

The boy stood up and welcomed George aboard, "I like your confidence. I think we'll get on just fine. The name is Theodore Nott, but you just call me Theodore."

George looked the boy up and down. He didn't recognise Theodore so he probably was not important. Theodore was taller than the average eleven-year-old, but not quite as tall as George. He also had quite a weak build which looked like a gust of wind could carry him away. He had long black hair which was combed neatly back, his face was quite anaemic but still generally handsome. The scrawny boy's uniform was of high quality, it was definitely a tailored robe with some fancy enchantments. George didn't find Theodore's appearance particularly interesting, but his surname was quite noteworthy.

The Nott family was one of the sacred twenty-eight, which was one of the few truly pure-blood families in Britain. That meant this boy was a member of the elite, the very top of wizard society. He'd probably been raised with a silver spoon and had the annoying attitude to match it. That would have been enough to put George off befriending this boy except there was one possibility that might make Theodore worth his time. It was a long shot, but there was a chance that the Nott family were pure-blood supremacists. Quite a lot of the sacred twenty-eight were a tad muggle racist after all. If that was the case then Theodore talking to Hermione was quite funny. Clearly, he mustn't have worked out her origins yet.

Theodore came across as quite confident at first, but being such an experienced liar, George could hear a slight stutter. He could practically smell the fear and anxiety. George knew almost instantly that Theodore was putting on a front, he was probably quite nervous and was trying to hide it. If the boy was anything like the offspring of the average elite wizarding family, then he was probably receiving pressure to represent them in a positive light. The consequences of shaming one's family would be worth losing some sleep over for an adult, let alone a child.

All these thoughts went through George's head in under a second while he returned the friendly gesture, "pleasure to meet you. I'm George Linwood, and this here is… Neville?"

George had presumed that his timid friend would have followed after him, but no, Neville was still on the pier. Neville was looking down at them with apprehension in his eyes, George had no idea what could have been bothering him now. Was it the fear of meeting new people?

George gestured towards Neville, "climb down already, you're showing me up In front of my new friend here."

Neville clung onto the mooring post like a child hugging their mother's leg and looked down at his reflection on the calm lake's surface.

His voice stuttered whilst saying, "w what if I fall in, there might be monsters in there?"

There were indeed monsters in there including a massive squid, many of them would quite happily eat little children for breakfast and wear their bones as jewellery. George didn't feel that telling Neville the truth would help the situation. There was nothing to worry about anyway since the lake was covered in protective enchantments. George could see a thin oily coloured film covering the entire lake, it was probably there to stop children from drowning and deter the lake's residents from coming to the surface. Plus, the mermaids were always there to lend a hand. Relatively speaking, the Black Lake was probably one of the safest places at Hogwarts.

George jokingly spread his arms out wide, "just jump as I did, It's only like four feet anyway. Don't worry, I'll catch you so you don't fall in."

That was all said in jest with the hope to relax Neville, a joke was always a great way to put the timid boy at ease. George had been developing his technique for over six hours on the train, so he felt pretty well practised in calming Neville down. Unfortunately, this backfired just like it did with Hermione. Neville seemed to take George's advice literally, he jumped down into his waiting embrace. George didn't have time to react before he was crushed under Neville's body with his head firmly pressed against the ground. He had Neville's rear end flattening his face, whilst his hair was being soaked through on a slimy patch of the boat's hull.

Worst of all, whether due to shock or sheer ignorance, Neville showed absolutely no signs of moving. George's patience started running thin real quick, as he tried to free himself without tipping the boat.

He shoved the butt to one side and locked eyes with Neville, "comfortable as I'm sure you are, I would really appreciate it if you could get off me. Right. Now. Neville!"

George's infuriation had leaked out with desirable effects, Neville didn't take much longer to get back on his feet. Once there wasn't a child sitting on top of him, George stood back up and dusted off his clothes for the second, and hopefully the final, time today. The most irritating problem to deal with was the green slimy water dripping off his head. Without giving it much thought, George clicked his fingers and summoned a grape-sized flame to act as a hairdryer. He waved the flame around his head, and steam could be seen rising from his hair. After a few seconds, he was back to looking moderately presentable.

Everybody on the boat seemed to find George's impromptu drying technique fascinating. Even Hermione had temporarily turned around to have a look.

Theodore appeared to be the most surprised as he said, "my father told me that only very powerful wizards can cast wandless magic. I never thought I would meet one."

George realised his error instantly, he had forgotten to get out his wand in the heat of the moment. He was planning on keeping his wandless magic a secret for a little longer, but everything seemed to be going wrong today.

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He decided to make the most of it, "your father sounds like a very smart man. You will have to introduce me one day."

Just like Dominic had said, George knew having more contacts was never going to be a bad thing. He might even get lucky and Theodore's father will be a Death Eater. If that were the case, George would have a contact on the 'dark side' to parlay with. His patron would almost certainly reward him if he completed the mission and got a contact with the Dark Lord's inner circle. There were all sorts of juicy information George could leak to his patron via using the contact as an alibi. There might even be enough to barter his way into doing more missions in the future. Now that really would be a dream come true.

Theodore twitched slightly, a bit like Amanda did, before responding, "erh yes... maybe. My father... he's very busy. He has a very important job in the ministry. What does your father do, George?"

George thought about it for a second, "he's an investor."

"Does 'investing' earn a lot of money?", Theodore enquired.

"You could say that. My father can be rather affluent", George answered smugly.

The conversation halted as Hagrid boarded his private boat.

"Right then, everyone. Remember to keep your arms and legs inside the boats at all times. Other than that, just sit back and enjoy the ride", the half-giant shouted over all the murmuring children.

Without any prompting, all the boats started to sail to Hogwarts by themselves. George and Neville quickly sat down at the end of the boat whilst Theodore and Hermione remained at the front. Blinkie's cage was left in the middle to act as George's footrest, at least until the owl started to chew through his shoelaces. It only took a few minutes before they were in the centre of the lake. All of the children's eyes, except for George, were glued to the castle ahead of them. The Hogwarts castle was exceedingly grand as its silhouette cut through the night sky. The building's lights illuminated every tower and steeple to mesmerising effect.

However, George was distracted looking elsewhere. He considered himself to be a rational individual, but he did acknowledge he had some flaws. Some of which were irrational fears. Just as he had a natural affinity toward fire magic, George found large bodies of water repulsive. He was well aware that the Black Lake was completely safe, and that nothing would attack Hogwarts students without being provoked. Regardless, the feeling of helplessness only caused George's heart to beat faster and faster. Staring at the black void surrounding him was triggering some sort of claustrophobic panic attack.

He needed something to distract himself before his facade began to fall apart. The last thing George wanted was for people to realise his fears. He looked around the boat for a diversion until he saw Hermione, perhaps this would be a good time to fix his mistake. At this point in time, all George wanted was to be familiar with Hermione but not necessarily a friend.

George swiftly formulated an apology, "Hermione, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. You know I didn't mean it. It was a bad joke."

Hermione did not move and kept looking towards the castle just like everyone else. George knew that she'd heard him and was simply choosing to ignore him.

George insisted, "come on, please forgive me. I need to know that we're still good. Don't make me resort to begging."

Hermione flinched, but after a little shuffling, she didn't turn around. He could see that this was still not enough.

Theodore turned towards George whilst trying to offer some advice, "I don't think she wants to talk to you right now."

George was already losing his composure due to Neville's stupidity and the fear of the Black Lake. No matter how nice the gesture may be, George had been overcome with irrational anger and no longer had any patience.

George snapped back, "it's none of your business, Theodore. So stay out of it."

Theodore looked surprised by the overreaction, he was probably quite confused why George was so on-edge. George took a deep breath to calm his mind, and once again remembered why he was here. He had a job to do and he'd be damned if he didn't complete it. The was no room for this sort of emotional behaviour in the plan now that he was so close to the school. There was still the Sorting Hat Ceremony coming up and he needed to keep his cool in front of Dumbledore.

"Sorry, Theodore. It's been a long day and I'm just a little tired. Forgive me if I seem a little pent-up", George said remorsefully.

Theodore still looked confused but ended up giving George a nod of acceptance. Perhaps that boy wasn't a stuck-up pure-blood after all.

George continued his plea, "alright Hermione, you win. What if I give you all of my notes on Transfiguration, including how to conjure a flame? Will that be enough to get your forgiveness?"

Hermione took a moment to consider before turning back around to face George, she looked him dead in the eye. Her expression was blank, neither showing any joy nor disappointment in his offer. If she said no, then George had no idea what else he should use to win her over.

Hermione opened her mouth to say only one word, "okay", before turning back around.

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