Chapter 52: 2nd September 1991, Monday: Part 7

George found a comfortable space at the end of the Slytherin table not too far from where he had been seated the night before. There were no two ways around it, lunch is not going to be a smooth experience after yesterday's fiasco. As long as the first years would sit towards his end of the table and the later years sat at the opposite end, everything will remain relatively calm. Even in the Slytherin house, the first years shouldn't have the conviction to start something with him. It was only their first day, and none of them will want to pick a fight this early. Maybe there was one exception, but George could always put him in his place if needs be.

At roughly the same time George sat down, some noisy older Slytherin students started to enter the hall in small groups. George checked his watch and realised it had gone four minutes past noon, this meant the lessons were over and the crowds should start pouring in. Although barely noticeable, a little apprehension made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. This slight waiver in his control over his emotions acted as confirmation that the Draught of Peace was starting to wear off. It looked like it was time for drugged-up George to take his meds. The emotional George didn't have good memories in this room and should sit this one out.

He carefully pulled out the pouch from his pocket and removed one vile from inside. The Calming Draught was an unappealing dull blue colour and the vial contained about two tablespoons worth of liquid. Hopefully, the flavour would be better than the appearance suggested. He swallowed the liquid without hesitation, it went down smooth with a cold refreshing sensation. The liquid was tasteless but left a minty fresh tingly sensation on the back of the tongue similar to the experience after brushing his teeth.

The effect kicked in the moment the liquid hit his stomach, and the previously stirring emotions levelled out after a couple of seconds. George noticed another small but welcomed change, the optimism he had been feeling since waking up at the hospital was beginning to fade. He instantly realised how severely he'd been underestimating the danger he was in. There was still a good chance that Dumbledore was aware of his secret and his memories may be vulnerable. There had been absolutely no reason to assume everything was going to be ok. The effect of the Draught of Peace must prevent the user from having any negative thoughts regardless of how justified they are.

In this regard, George was quite relieved that the Calming Draught differed from the Draught of Peace. That dangerous level of optimism he'd been feeling this morning had come at the price of his caution. Walking into every problem with the 'everything's fine' outlook would have gotten him caught sooner rather than later. He found that his only problem now was finding the motivation to overcome the lethargy induced by the new potion. Luckily, being in constant jeopardy always served as an excellent incentive to keep him going. George was just hoping that his body didn't reject the long-term usage of this potion because he truly didn't have any alternative.

George was satisfied to find these justifiably scary realisations did not create any negative emotions or any emotions at all for that matter. The potion was working just as intended, he was as emotionally numb as a human-like monster could be. Just as he placed the empty vial back into the pouch, food started appearing on the table like during the Sorting Hat Ceremony. The options differed slightly, they mimicked what one would normally eat during a picnic, there were sandwiches and scones as well as orange juice and small pork pies. George wondered what determined the choice of food on offer, surely it wasn't left for the house elves to decide. He would have to ask those slaves later when he needed to collect some cheese.

Yesterday's stress and lack of evening meals had consequently resulted in George having an inefficient amount of energy, this extravagant meal should be sufficient to replenish. He picked up one of the pork pies and ate it in one gulp, this helped show him one of the negatives of the potion. George did enjoy eating, it was one of the highlights of the day. Whether it be a hearty breakfast or a Sunday lunch, as long as the portion was large enough he was satisfied. George felt absolutely nothing when he ate the pork pie, he tasted the flavour and swallowed it for nutrients. There was no sense of pleasure or desire to continue indulging.

He was now eating not to feel full but to instead avoid starving, dining was just a chore like everything else on his to-do list. For the sake of maintaining his sanity, George considered this a worthy sacrifice. After all, he can't enjoy food if he's dead, or living with his patron. He was about to swallow another pork pie when Gemma sat down beside him. She pulled one of the metal plates towards her and began stacking food from the centre of the table onto her plate. He knew that she was in the fifth year and would normally be sitting towards the opposite end of the table, only other first-years should be sitting anywhere near him. Why was she here taking his ever-fleeting supply of nutrients?

George asked her while she was filling up her goblet from a jug of orange juice, "why are you sitting next to me? Don't you want to be sitting next to your friends?"

Gemma looked toward George like he was asking a stupid question, "I am sitting next to my friend, you idiot. Or are you saying that you're not my friend?"

George realised why she was sitting there, but for the sake of his innocent act, he decided to maintain his childish ignorance.

He was quick to answer her, "I think we're friends. You're nice to me and you are cool to hang out with.

Ahem... but don't you want to sit with your other friends? Like your real friends, the ones you've had for more than just a day."

George acted embarrassed while admitting to liking Gemma's company, he already knew that she would enjoy seeing him like that. She was about to smile but ended up stopping herself as she clearly remembered something. Gemma's face looked serious for the first time as she stopped what she was doing and looked directly at him.

She spoke to him in a quiet voice so that no one other than him could hear, "there's been something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now but I've been putting it off. Slytherin is cool in a lot of ways, we win in Quidditch all the time and the House Cup has been ours for I don't know how many years on the trot.

But there are some things you should know about that aren't so cool. People here are going to treat you differently."

Gemma seemed to be hesitant to continue talking, she appeared to be very uncomfortable as she was thinking of what to say to him next. Her pained expression was like a window into her mind, George could practically hear Gemma's thoughts. He guessed that she was referring to the outright racism that Slytherin harbours towards muggle-borns. Most of those privileged morons would probably prefer George to use the term mud-bloods. This was why he found Gemma interesting and was worth investing his time into, she was one of the few anomalies that liked muggle-borns and yet were still a prefect.

Gemma scratched her head before continuing, "Slytherin is kind of known for having a lot of pure-blood wizards and witches, well I mean to say a lot of bad wizards and witches. It's not all pure-bloods though, just some have pretty nasty views towards muggle-borns.

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They don't like people who aren't born to magical parents, and some of them don't believe they should be allowed to be taught at Hogwarts. Of course, I think it's all bull-shit but a lot of students are pretty serious about it."

George just shrugged his shoulders whilst eating another pork pie, he really wanted to ram the innocent act down her throat. Gemma appeared to be offended by his nonchalant attitude, she knocked the pork pie out of his hand and grabbed him by his wrist.

She leaned over until her mouth was only an inch away from his ear and whispered, "everybody already knows that you're a muggle-born, don't you get it? After what happened yesterday, people started asking questions. Nobody's ever heard of the Linwood family before so it didn't take a potion master to work out that you have muggle parents."

George corrected her whilst picking up the fallen pork pie with his free hand, "they're actually my adopted parents, I don't know who my real parents are."

Gemma's mood seemed to worsen as she thought George was not understanding the severity of his soon-to-be problems. She then grabbed his other hand which prevented him from putting the pie in his mouth.

She continued to angrily explain, "nobody gives a shit if they're your adopted parents. You're still just another mud-blood to them."

George pretended to be saddened by her words, "my mum told me that you shouldn't swear."

Gemma appeared to realise that she may have been going a little overboard for an eleven-year-old.

She released his arms before she continued to speak, "sorry for swearing, I just don't want to see you getting into trouble with the wrong people. You don't get many mud-b… I mean muggle-borns in Slytherin. You're the only one in the entire school, I checked last night. That means people are going to try and make life hard for you. Please tell me that you get what I'm saying?"

Gemma looked to be pleading with George for him to understand what she was implying. He of course completely understood what she was referring to. Salazar Slytherin himself didn't want muggle-borns to be accepted into Hogwarts, he would be rolling in his grave if he knew there were any in Slytherin. The whole reason Voldemort was able to gain so much power and influence was due to the sheer quantity of people who shared Salazar's opinion, and practically all of these people went to Slytherin. It was like the dumping ground for the most narrow-minded members of wizarding society.

George could think of many people, such as a white-haired individual, who would see him as a stain tarnishing the good name of Slytherin, a stain that needed to be 'removed' as soon as possible. Confrontations were inevitable, his negative attention from Slytherin might even eclipse Harry's. All that being said, George couldn't care less. As long as the other students were not going to try and kill him, there wasn't any point in him worrying about it. A bit of minor bullying was never going to cause a problem in his plans. Any students who decided to overstep George's bullying threshold would have to be forcefully hammered back in line like the good little pawns they were.

There were only two types of people in his mind, those who were and weren't part of the mission. He didn't need a single person from Slytherin, except Snape, for what he had planned. Anyone he picked up along the way like Theodore and Gemma would be just a plus, they could still be thrown away if they stopped being useful. Speaking of Gemma, George felt it would be a good time to cash in the goodwill he had hard earned.

He turned towards her and smiled, "I'm not worried about being bullied, I've got my big sister looking out for me anyway. What could I possibly have to worry about with you around?"

George delivered some emotional blackmail when he accepted her as a sister. This should not seem like a foreign concept to her since it's what she had been implying for the past hour. It came in the form of constant teasing, but he could tell she meant it. Gemma obviously perceived him as a weak little boy with the world against him, someone in desperate need of a guardian of sorts. Even this act of sitting beside him was a confirmation of her care for his welfare. So if Gemma was going to give him an inch of friendship, he was going to take a yard.

Gemma seemed taken aback for a moment before she returned a warm smile to George, "silly me, how could I have forgotten? Of course, you've got your big sis looking out for you. Sorry if I made you worry over nothing. You should just focus on getting on with your studying and I'll keep an eye out for anyone looking for trouble."

George performed his ultimate special smile, "you've got a deal, now can you finally let me eat this pork pie? Having a stroke and walking around the castle has made me build up an appetite."

Gemma nodded her head and patted George on the back, "agreed. I'm starving too. I hope the sandwiches don't have prawns inside again, they ruin everything they're put in."

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