Chapter 91: 21st September 1991, Saturday: Part 2

George quickly ran over and hurried to throw all of the heavy books burying Flitwick aside. After a mad scramble to uncover his Charms professor, George lifted a particularly massive book revealing the dazed Flitwick underneath. All of the man's white hair, including his beard, was standing on its end. His glasses were missing a lens and his oversized robes were crumpled up, he was caked in a layer of dust from the many books he had collided with. Flitwick's mouth hung open and his eyes were unfocused, George wasn't sure if he was even conscious.

George grabbed the man's shoulders and shook him gently whilst calling out his name repeatedly, he didn't want to have to take him to the hospital if it wasn't necessary. Pomfrey would ask too many questions and George didn't have good answers that wouldn't incriminate him. Luckily within a few seconds, Flitwick's eyes regained their focus and locked onto George. Flitwick then got up unsteadily and dusted off his clothes while straightening his jacket, clearly he was trying to retain some level of professionalism in front of his student. George felt a great deal of relief from not accidentally killing one of his teachers, especially since he placed great value on Flitwick's support in the future.

The following conversation between himself and Flitwick was mainly about questions regarding how George had been able to over-amplify the alarm clock so severely. George was also given a mild telling-off for using the 'dangerous' alarm clock without consulting Flitwick first. Fortunately for him, Flitwick didn't hold him accountable for nearly electrocuting him. Flitwick re-evaluated the clock with a great deal more caution and sadly came to the same conclusion as George, he said that it was far beyond any further modification and it was a miracle it still functioned considering its condition.

Flitwick became insistent that he should dispose of the alarm clock before it could hurt anyone else but George insisted that he needed to keep it since it was a present from a close friend. George used every sympathetic trick he had to emphasise how important the alarm clock was to him and made lots of false promises such as never using it again. In the end, Flitwick uncomfortably agreed to George's request but insisted that he only used it for telling the time. George left that classroom with a whole new approach to interacting with his professors.

From now on, he needed to ask himself, "could this somehow result in instant death?", before every unconventional request.

George's second week of relaxation was less problematic since he neither attended a flying class nor nearly killed one of his teachers, the only new problem was his sanity. Completing his and Neville's homework was far from enough to keep his mind occupied and he was in dire need of more stimulation. George started completing all sorts of mundane tasks such as; increasing his fitness regime to include running around the perimeter of the Quidditch pitch until he started to blackout, and introducing Myrtle to different types of music he had in his collection from the Muggle Museum. Both of these new additions to his schedule were equally painful.

Myrtle's talkative personality hadn't changed as she still used every second of their company to ask questions about music or moan about her life before she died. She particularly liked an old Beatles cassette and insisted on him answering every question she had about the various members of the band. It was after the second hour of describing Ringo Starr's life story that George realised even ghosts were susceptible to Beatlemania. He made a mental note to buy some more Beatles albums at Christmas so he wasn't listening to the same songs on repeat, the album 'Help!' might be appropriate for how he was currently feeling.

Other than thinking about his plans for October which couldn't come any faster, there was little to do in Myrtle's company which was a problem since he was obligated to meet her daily. Because of that restriction, George allowed himself to slightly bend the rules of his holiday, he started practising Disillusionment magic in the girl's bathroom. This was the magic he had acquired from Flitwick during his first Charms lesson and George hadn't had the opportunity to practise it until now.

His progress was slow and by the end of the week, George only managed to turn his hand a sickly green in an attempt to blend in with the cubicle. The Disillusionment magic was more difficult than he had imagined which made the Invisibility book look like a bad investment since, according to Flitwick, invisibility was supposed to be a much harder magic to perform. It seemed George wouldn't be using this magic to transform unnoticed for another month or two.

Also, George killed more time socialising with the few friends he had in Slytherin. Grant and Quinton only spoke to him in their dorm room which was a problem since this only occurred twice a week due to their different sleeping patterns. When he did have a chance to speak to them, George put more emphasis on them finding other opportunities to talk. He had told them about his schedule and they had shown particular interest in his fitness regime and, to George's delight, asked if they could participate.

The cousins told him that they used to be part of a sports club back in the muggle world and wanted to find the equivalent activities at Hogwarts, but, they'd been disappointed by the lack of options. In truth, the only real sport Hogwarts promoted was Quidditch and the cousins said that they had hated their first flying lesson. They had been asking around to see if there were any sports clubs and had been laughed at by the older Slytherin students. On their hunt for like-minded sports fanatics, they had seen George running laps around the Quidditch pitch and had been meaning to ask him about it but had hesitated because of the attention he might bring them if they were spotted.

George was pleased to hear someone, other than himself, addressing the lack of physical education at Hogwarts. The dream of starting his own fitness club was rekindled and these two boys could be the first members. George agreed to reschedule his exercise regime to complement their availability and reassured them that he could hide his identity so they had nothing to worry about. He also changed his running location to areas of the school, such as near the Forbidden Forest, which were least occupied so he would not be seen with the cousins. George was even willing to disguise himself by wearing his robe with the hood up so he couldn't be recognised from afar.

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After explaining the idea to Grant and Quinton, they went away and discussed it privately before returning and agreeing to meet three times a week. This quiet conversation in George's dorm room started the secret exercise club, he now had two highly exclusive clubs to his name. During their first meeting, the cousins were ultra-competitive and attempted to outdo him in everything ranging from strength to athleticism. George quickly deduced this must have been some sort of test they had concocted to see if he was worthy of their time, therefore he made sure not to disappoint them.

George beat them in every activity, but he made sure it was by a slim margin so that they weren't discouraged. Luckily, his outstanding physique impressed them greatly and they insisted on him becoming their coach by the end of the week. They seemed to respect his strength and were keen to learn his methods so they could no doubtedly challenge him again. Sadly, they would never have that opportunity since he wasn't even the same species. If anything, his strength and stamina would keep explosively increasing until he was fully grown, leaving them no chance to catch up.

George had to admit that having two underlings listening to him give exercise advice provided him with an unusual sense of accomplishment. Their strangely-high motivation to improve physically helped distract him for an hour and focus on getting the most out of their bodies. He ran them ragged until they could barely walk, they would have kept going if he didn't insist on stopping. This gruelling exercise program George had invented on the spot was also a good opportunity to talk to the cousins privately. Just like Neville, they were also a superb source of information, except they specialised in information relating to Slytherin.

With relative ease, George was able to acquire regular updates on his perception from the other students, at the moment it was still terrible according to Quinton. He also found out how Theodore was getting on after his apology, that news was also just as negative but not unexpected. Apparently, Theodore avoided talking about George and would change the subject whenever the cousins brought his name up. He wasn't deluded enough to think an apology would change Theodore's opinion of him from Devil to Angel overnight. George could only hope that Theodore would eventually start seeing him in a new light, only time would tell.

Even with all the extracurricular activities filling up his week, George was still itching to start more productive tasks. He's satiated this urge by planning out his transformation at the end of the week since it would be his first at Hogwarts. When he wasn't exercising with the cousins, he jogged past the Whomping Willow and evaluated his plan of attack discreetly. Three weeks ago, George had been advised by Remus to transform in the Shrieking Shack because it was where he had transformed whilst he attended Hogwarts twenty years ago. The werewolf had been kind enough to tell George about the secret passage beside the Whomping Willow which directly led outside the school's grounds and into the basement of the Shrieking Shack.

George had been privy to all of this information before he met Remus but he still needed to hear the location of the secret passage nonetheless. In the event he was ever caught whilst going to the Shrieking Shack by a professor or student, George could easily use Remus to remove any doubts about the origin of the information. Nobody would think he had another source when it turned out he was friends with one of the few people aware of the route outside the castle. Even Snape would be inclined to believe George since he was already extremely suspicious of Remus's involvement.

This easy excuse wasn't without issue because throwing Remus under the bus could easily result in his secret being exposed. Therefore, George had to find an air-tight method of remaining undetected whilst using the secret tunnel before he needed to transform. Whilst analysing the Whomping Willow, George concluded that there were three ways to navigate past it without being smashed to a pulp. The first method was recommended by Remus and was considered the safest option. This involved slowly crawling towards the Whomping Willow whilst avoiding making any sudden movements or noises.

The tree can't see or hear so it uses its roots to detect trespassers, footsteps would create vibrations in the ground and give away your location. If you keep your movements to a minimum, the tree would not notice your existence until you were practically touching its trunk. This was the method Remus had used when he first attended Hogwarts until he learnt how to cast a specific spell. Whilst on that topic, the second option was to cast the Immobulus spell which prevents the tree from moving for a short duration. Provided you are well-practised in performing the spell, this is by far the simplest option and doesn't require you to roll around in the dirt. George however, didn't like either one of those suggestions.

The first was unnecessarily risky and the second was impossible since George didn't know how to cast the spell, he had considered learning it but quickly realised it would take longer than a month to master. After running past the tree from different angles and recognising the exact location the hole must have been hidden, George did some maths and made up his own third option. This new method involved sprinting toward the tree and diving into the hidden hole before it could react to him. He estimated that he could run to the hole at least one second faster than the tree could react and hit the ground with one of its branches.

A confident mind and dexterous body were all that was required to avoid danger because George knew that the tree's main disadvantage was its speed and reaction time. His confidence came from the knowledge that Hermione and Harry would conflict with the Whomping Willow in the future and will, mainly due to dumb luck, survive. The tree was more of a deterrent than a weapon since Dumbledore didn't want children to die for the sake of preserving the tunnel's secret, its true purpose was to scare students into not going near. Now George was going to exploit that deterrent by calling its bluff.

Even if something went wrong, like tripping over a root, George would still be in a position to dodge the branch and abort the mission before getting hurt which would've been impossible if he was lying down like in option one. Putting his confidence aside, George's decision-making hadn't been up-to-scratch since his arrival at Hogwarts so he made sure to spend several days contemplating the benefits and risks of this plan. Only after many hours of running hypothetical simulations in his head did he commit to his method.

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