Chapter 54: 2nd September 1991, Monday: Part 9

All the students in the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses were minding their own business, they didn't seem to notice George walking past them. He reached the Gryffindor table easily enough and scanned it to spot his targets. The layout was identical to the Slytherins table with the first years closest to him and the later years furthest away. None of the first years was paying attention to him, but some of the older Gryffindor students had keen enough eyes to notice a Slytherin in their presence.

It wasn't against the rules for students from other houses to talk to each other during dinner, so George shouldn't be harassed by any of the Gryffindor prefects. Besides Ron's older brother Percy, all the Gryffindor prefects were known for their kindness and shouldn't try to make his life difficult. Just as he had anticipated, the attention from the older Gryffindor students lingered only for a few moments until they lost interest and went back to their private conversations. George then spotted Hermione quite quickly because her hair as well as the large book she was reading made her stand out. She was also the only one not happily eating their meal and talking with their new friends.

Luckily, George didn't have to look much further because Neville was sitting right next to Hermione. Neville was talking to another brown-haired boy on the opposite side of the table. That boy happened to be a face George recognised, it was Seamus Finnigan. George was happy to see that Neville hadn't become dependent on his relationship, and the timid boy was able to integrate into Gryffindor comfortably. Neville would be useless as a substitute if he didn't have a close relationship with his dorm mates, he needed to be friends with two of them in particular.

George walked down the table, passing Harry and Ron, until he reached Hermione who still hadn't noticed his presence. George felt it would be in character for him to introduce himself to Neville first since he was much closer to being his friend than Hermione's.

George crept up from behind Neville and suddenly grabbed his shoulders while saying, "BOO!"

George didn't want his personality to completely change in Hermione's and Neville's views. Continuity was the first rule of creating a believable facade, a persona's characteristics can not be changed on a whim. So, to his annoyance, George needed to mimic a portion of the cheeky and confident behaviour he had exhibited on the train. The scare caused Neville to jump out of his skin and throw the apple he had been about to bite into the air. To prevent Seamus from being hit in the face, George quickly reached over and caught the apple.

He then polished the apple against his robes before returning it to Neville, "you've got to be more careful, Neville. You could've had someone's eye out."

Neville looked towards the offered apple and followed the arm up to George's face. Upon realising who it was, Neville's expression lit up, he then proceeded to stand up and hugged George. George was a little surprised by the overwhelming positivity as his body froze in Neville's embrace, he wasn't sure how to reciprocate the gesture. Before George could think where to put his hands, Neville composed himself and ended the hug awkwardly.

The boy sat back down before saying, "when I saw you in the hospital this morning, I thought you had died. Madam Pomfrey said you were still recovering but she didn't say when you would wake up."

George pretended to feel around his body to check if he was still alive, "I'm pretty sure I'm still breathing. Thanks for the card by the way, super cool of you to check in on me whilst I was in a coma. Anyway, how are things in Gryffindor?"

Neville enthusiastically answered George's question, "it's really good, all the other students are really nice and friendly."

Neville's face seemed to recall something and looked concerned as he asked, "the older students were telling us about Slytherin last night. They said bad things like everyone in there is evil. I told them about you but they said you would turn evil eventually. I don't believe them but you should watch your back, some of it might be true.

Why would the Sorting Hat put you in Slytherin anyway? And why did it take so long? I think you should have been put in Gryffindor like us. Maybe it made a mistake and put you in the wrong house."

George was quick to reassure Neville whilst picking up a sandwich off his plate, "not everyone is evil in Slytherin. I can't say I've met many, but, I've met at least two that seem quite nice. Although, Gemma is quite annoying. It's not too bad anyway because I think Slytherin and Gryffindor share some of their classes. We can still be friends if you want."

Neville nodded eagerly before he looked to his side. George turned his head and saw that Neville was staring at Hermione while pushing her hand to get her attention. Hermione stopped reading her book and glared back at Neville, she appeared to be annoyed by the interruption. All the while, she kept acting like she hadn't noticed George.

Neville clearly hadn't understood the flimsy relationship between Hermione and George yet, "Hermione, look, George is out of the hospital."

Hermione's face was without emotion as she looked toward George, this confirmed to him that his more subtle approach was indeed the right choice. One measly book full of notes was never going to fix the mess he had made. Emotional George had been an idiot yesterday, forcing her to forgive him on the boat was never going to earn him true affection. She needed to believe that she was the one in control of their friendship. Therefore, he needed to sculpt a scenario where she will take the initiative to 'forgive' him.

She spoke to him completely deadpan, "hello George. I see that you've recovered."

George allowed the smile to fade from his face, "yeah, the stroke kinda sucked. Apparently, I got myself a bit too worked up during the Sorting Hat Ceremony. Madam Pomfrey gave me these calming potions to take every day for the next week."

George pulled out the pouch with the Calming Draught inside and removed one to show to Hermione. At least that physical evidence will prove that he wasn't lying or exaggerating like she had no doubts assumed. Also, George knew that Hermione had an interest in all things magic, so in theory, she should show some intrigue towards the potion. Her level of interest could be used to gauge how upset she was with him.

She briefly looked at the potion, and mumbled "huh", before returning her eyes to the book she had been reading.

That was about what he had expected. Neville looked even more awkward after that, so George decided to end this conversation here. He had nothing left to do besides give Hermione the book. In this case, less is more. Just like in quick-sand, trying too hard would only dig himself deeper. George pulled the Transfiguration book from underneath his arm and placed it on the table in front of Hermione.

"This is what I promised you on the boat, I hope you find it satisfactory."

The information George collected inside the book would only be worth something to Hermione for the first year at Hogwarts. After that, she would have already surpassed it with her research from the library. George could not think of a better occasion for giving up this intel, everything had its value and information was only as expensive as its rarity. The book's current value to Hermione, plus the note inside, should be enough to buy him a little consideration in the distant future.

Hermione glanced at George's book before saying, "I've changed my mind. I don't want it anymore, you can take it back."

Neville didn't seem impressed by Hermione's attitude as he butted in, "Hermione, shouldn't you at least…"

Neville stopped when he felt George's hand pressing down on his shoulder, the grip was gentle but firm. George didn't want Neville to mess up this fragile conversation just as he was about to begin repairing his relationship with Hermione. If Neville made Hermione feel obligated to be friends with George, then that guilt trip would do nothing more than add to the effect of his blackmail from earlier. Hermione would only come to resent him even more. The gesture was nice, but Neville just needed to keep his mouth shut this time.

George spoke quietly and calmly to Hermione, "just read the first page before you make up your mind. The book is useless to me, so if you don't want it you can just throw it away. I don't care if you burn it with the very fire magic it teaches you to make. I've got to go back to the Slytherin table now so, see ya later."

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George made a hasty retreat without allowing Neville the opportunity to say goodbye and Hermione the ability to refuse again. He subtly glanced over his shoulder once he was almost out of view, he saw Hermione opening the book and reading the note he left on the first page. As long as she read that note, his blunder yesterday could be considered patched up. If everything went according to plan, October would be a very pivotal moment in George's and Hermione's relationship.

After another short walk back, George returned to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Gemma in the same place as before. She was pretending to act like she hadn't been paying attention to him as he went back to eating his pork pies. After a minute of silence, Gemma couldn't hold it in any longer.

She turned around to face George and asked, "so how did it go?"

George nodded whilst picking up another pork pie, "good."

"What did she say to you?", Gemma didn't seem to be satisfied with his all-too-brief answer.

George shrugged his shoulders, "nothin' much."

Gemma grabbed George's hair and shook his head left and right, "details. I want details. Tell me word-for-word what she said to you when you apologised?"

George stopped eating and waved his hand above his head to force her to let go. He couldn't understand why she had so much insistence on knowing about his personal life. George was wondering if Gemma was somehow Dumbledore's informant. He quickly threw that idea away because Dumbledore would never choose someone so air-headed to get information out of him. The idea of having such an incompetent spy keeping an eye on him would be nothing short of an insult. He decided to indulge her just so she would leave him alone. They only had ten minutes before he had to be at Snape's office, and he still wanted to eat a few more pies before they set off.

George looked towards Gemma with an irritated scowl, "if you really have to know. I said hello, and she said hi. She asked me how I was, and I said ok. I gave her the book, and she accepted the book. Then I left. That's it, end of the story, Fin."

Gemma looked to be in deep thought after listening to George's riveting story. She kept smiling to herself whilst making 'ahh' and 'ooh' noises as if she had made some grand revelation. George initially thought that he could be left in peace, but Gemma had to go and ruin his meal by asking an outrageous question.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

George paused his movements as he realised what all of this questioning finally meant, he was ashamed to think that this had any connection to Dumbledore. Why was Gemma so interested in something so trivial as a romantic relationship? This attitude didn't make any sense, he was only eleven after all. Didn't children his age not care about the opposite sex at least for another couple of years? He certainly never overheard anything about romances at his primary school. This must be another case of Gemma self-projecting all over again, except this time she couldn't be more wrong.

George did not allow his momentary stupor to show as he formulated his persona's reaction. He determined that shock and embarrassment should be a suitable response to such an outlandish claim. The pie fell from his hands, deliberately of course, and he looked at Gemma with his mouth agape.

"Why would you think that?", he asked in bafflement.

Gemma smiled teasingly and said, "because boys your age don't normally think about apologising to girls unless they like them? So, am I right?"

Gemma was half-right, George did like Hermione but probably not in the sense that Gemma was most likely thinking. Hermione was a tool, an annoying pawn at best. George would never consider wasting his finite time on primitive courtship.

"I've known her for less than a day?", he responded with another question like he couldn't understand how she could come to this conclusion

Gemma shrugged, "could've been love at first sight?"

The similarity this conversation had to the way George had teased Hermione yesterday was startling. Perhaps this was karma for his mistakes.

George placed his pork pie back on the table and stuck out his bottom lip, "now you're just being mean."

"Oh, did I hurt little baby George's feelings? I'm so sorry. I promise I will never bring up your girlfriend ever again", Gemma mockingly apologised.

George exaggerated his 'anger' as he slammed his hands down on the table, "she's not my girlfr… Nevermind. It's twenty-five minutes to one so we should be setting off to Professor Snape's office now or we'll be late."

George stood up from the table and began to walk towards the Great Hall's exit, he wasn't going to let this pointless bullying go on any longer. This Hermione debacle had already taken up too much of his time. This week was going to be intense, his relationships will be taking a back seat from now on unless it helps him brew calming potions. Gemma quickly put down her sandwich and chased after George, she matched his fast pace whilst walking beside him.

She leaned over and whispered, "you can't half get grumpy sometimes. I was just having a little fun. It's my responsibility to escort you to Professor Snape's office so you better not go running off just because you're angry with me.

Just imagine what your girlfriend would think if you got detention for not listening to a prefect."

George realised his journey to Snape's office wasn't going to be a quiet one.

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