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*****
October 31st, Halloween Eve.
As George walked into the castle's main hall that morning, he was greeted by the sweet, tempting smell of roasted pumpkin.
Today's breakfast consisted mostly of pumpkin dishes, likely using ingredients sourced by Hagrid. To be honest, the house-elves' cooking was quite impressive. No wonder Tonks always talked about missing the food at Hogwarts.
Even George, who wasn't particularly fond of Western cuisine, occasionally found himself pleasantly surprised.
If he had the chance, he thought about getting a house-elf of his own to serve as a personal housekeeper someday.
After the last class of the afternoon, the young witches and wizards gathered in groups and headed to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. As a Slytherin star, George was, of course, surrounded by his classmates.
"Did you hear? Dumbledore invited a Skeleton Dance Troupe for the Halloween banquet!"
"Wow, is that the one entirely made of skeletons?"
Amid the excited chatter, George stepped into the Great Hall.
The hall was decorated brilliantly, with a thousand live bats fluttering around the walls and ceiling, and another thousand resembling dark clouds, swirling above the tables.
Huge floating pumpkin lanterns hovered overhead, each big enough to hold two or three young wizards.
Those were the pumpkins Hagrid had made using the Engorgement Charm, and George had been there when he cast the spell.
However, George wasn't particularly interested in pumpkins—what intrigued him was the Engorgement Charm.
The Engorgement Charm was a spell that could cause something, or someone, to inflate like a balloon, making them float. It worked on objects too, though it needed careful control to avoid over-inflation, which could lead to explosions.
George's fascination with the charm stemmed from the thought that, if he'd known it back when he was escaping the base, he could have inflated a few grenades tenfold when tossing them away.
That wouldn't have just blown up a couple of rooms; it might have leveled the entire base.
But mastering the spell wasn't easy. Even after asking Hagrid for advice, George hadn't fully grasped it yet.
Of course, the main issue was that there were so many other magical theories and spells he wanted to learn. The Engorgement Charm wasn't the most important one, so it was lower on his priority list, meaning he hadn't devoted as much time to it.
If he focused on just this one spell every day, with two bodies working together, he would have mastered it by now.
Hogwarts' Halloween party did not disappoint George. The mountain of delicious food prepared by the house-elves, the professors' dazzling and amusing magic displays, and the Skeleton Dance Troupe's comedic performance were unlike anything he'd experienced in the regular world, opening his eyes to new wonders.
It was far more amazing than watching a movie. Immersing yourself in the moment was far better than relying on words or images to convey it. Without firsthand experience, you'd only get a fraction of the feeling from written descriptions or film.
No matter how tall Everest looks on TV, you won't truly understand until you stand before it why it's the tallest peak in the world.
After the feast, everyone dispersed, and the Slytherin students, George included, chattered noisily as they headed toward the dormitories in the dungeons. But just as they rounded a corner, they all froze.
Hanging upside down from a torch bracket was Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, her body stiff and eyes vacant. Next to the torch, scrawled in large letters on the wall, were the words:
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
Enemies of the Heir, beware!"
Across from the wall stood Harry and his two friends, equally stunned.
"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You're next, you Mud—"
Malfoy stepped out from the crowd and gleefully started mocking the trio. But before he could finish, George grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Malfoy, this isn't the time for that. Go alert the Headmaster and the professors."
Malfoy glanced back at George, hesitated for a moment, but then shut his mouth and ran off toward the Great Hall.
It wasn't long before Dumbledore, Snape, Lockhart, McGonagall, and a group of other professors arrived, including Filch.
When Filch saw his beloved Mrs. Norris had been petrified, he immediately started shouting in fury.
He was convinced that Harry had done it as revenge, but it took Dumbledore's personal explanation—that no first-year student could cast such a spell, and that Mrs. Norris could be saved—to calm him down.
George didn't make a scene or mention anything about the "basilisk" at that moment, even though it could earn him some recognition. He wasn't ready to get involved just yet.
After Dumbledore escorted Harry and his friends away, George returned to the Slytherin common room with the other students. While most of them were discussing the Chamber of Secrets, George quietly found a corner to continue studying his spellbook, earning the silent admiration of his classmates.
After Halloween, the castle returned to its usual calm, though the topic of the Chamber of Secrets remained a hot subject. Many students began to suspect that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin.
One day, while George was reading in the library, Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached him.
"You suspect Malfoy is the Heir of Slytherin? That he wants to kill all the Muggle-born students?" George asked.
"His whole family's in Slytherin, and he's always boasting about it. I think it's possible they're descendants of Slytherin," Harry said with conviction. "His father's evil enough, so Malfoy has to be the Heir."
Ron chimed in, "Maybe they've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries, passing it down from father to son, and now Malfoy has it."
"I mean, who else hates Muggle-borns that much? He called me a Mudblood just the other day," Hermione added, supporting their theory.
"Even if your theory makes sense, how do you plan to prove it? You can't convict someone based on suspicion alone, especially with the kind of power his father holds in the Ministry," George replied with a smile.
Of course, George knew Malfoy wasn't the Heir of Slytherin—Voldemort was. But he wasn't about to share that information with the trio.
"So, George, we need your help," Harry said as the three leaned in closer.
"We need you to help us get some hair from Goyle, Crabbe, and Millicent Bulstrode. And we need the password to the Slytherin common room," Hermione explained.
"That's not too difficult. But what exactly do you plan to do with it?" George asked, even though he already had a good idea.
Harry, trusting George, didn't hesitate to answer. "We're planning to brew Polyjuice Potion. We'll disguise ourselves as those three and get Malfoy to reveal what he knows in the Slytherin common room."
"That's quite a clever idea," George nodded in approval. "But you do realize this plan breaks at least fifty school rules, right? Whose idea was this?"
Harry and Ron simultaneously pointed at Hermione. They couldn't have come up with such a plan themselves—they didn't even know what Polyjuice Potion was.
(End of chapter)