"George, long time no see!"
As soon as George arrived on the first floor, he heard a voice calling from above. Turning his head, he saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron coming down the marble staircase.
"Good morning, Harry, Hermione, and this is?"
"Hi, I'm Ron. Harry told me you helped him escape from Knockturn Alley last time. That's just so cool!"
Ron's tone was excited.
That was the infamous Knockturn Alley—a place his twin brothers dreamt of exploring.
"Oh, not as cool as you and Harry flying a magic car from London to school, making the Daily Prophet, and even crashing into the Whomping Willow."
Hermione added with a sarcastic tone.
Ron's face froze instantly. "Alright, can you please stop lecturing us? It's not like we wanted that to happen."
He found Hermione to be a miniature version of Professor McGonagall sometimes, always giving them life lessons, even though she could be bolder than them at times.
Harry stepped forward, avoiding the squabble between Ron and Hermione, and asked George:
"We missed the Sorting Ceremony yesterday. Which house did you get sorted into?"
"Slytherin," George replied, pulling out the Slytherin badge he had received the previous day but hadn't pinned to his chest yet.
Harry's face immediately showed a hint of disappointment. "I wish you had been sorted into Gryffindor."
Harry held some biases against Slytherin—especially since it included people like Malfoy and his least favorite professor, Snape.
George smiled.
"Any house is fine. I'm just happy to study at Hogwarts."
"Good morning, George!"
This time, a new call came from the marble staircase above. Coming down were Ginny, Colin, and Luna.
"You know each other?"
Harry and Ron were surprised to see Ginny greeting George.
"We shared a compartment on the train yesterday. George took good care of us," Ginny replied, her voice softening noticeably and her demeanor becoming more ladylike when she noticed Harry.
"Thanks for looking after Ginny," Ron said.
Despite his earlier reservations about George being sorted into Slytherin, this expression of gratitude restored Ron's opinion of him.
"Umm... Can I trouble you to help take a picture of me with Mr. Harry Potter?"
Colin handed his camera to Ron, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Harry.
"My name is Colin. I want to send a picture to my dad to prove I met you. He's a milkman, and no one in my family besides me..."
Ron reluctantly took the camera. He understood Colin's excitement, remembering how he felt when he first met Harry.
After the photo, they chatted while heading to the Great Hall.
By then, the hall was already filled with students having breakfast. The four long tables were laden with all kinds of food prepared by house-elves—pumpkin porridge, pickled herring, bread, eggs, and fresh meat.
Students typically sat with their respective houses, so George went to the Slytherin table, Luna to the Ravenclaw table, and the others to the Gryffindor table.
"First-year, you seem to know Harry Potter?"
As soon as George sat down, Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, took a seat opposite him.
Due to Pansy's teasing the previous day, Malfoy had remembered George. Seeing him chatting happily with his nemesis Harry, Malfoy immediately felt irritated.
"We're friends," George replied casually as he picked up a bowl of pumpkin porridge and some fresh meat.
Getting close to Harry inevitably risked offending Malfoy. But George had expected this.
In truth, even without associating with Harry, he would still end up clashing with Malfoy—his goal of becoming Hogwarts' best student and joining the Quidditch team would naturally outshine Malfoy.
"Friends? Slytherin and Gryffindor are enemies. We can never be friends. You'd better stay away from them, or I'll teach you how to be a proper Slytherin wizard!"
Malfoy's tone was filled with warning.
George responded calmly, "Who I make friends with is my business. You'd do well to mind your own."
"I heard that Gryffindor's Hermione Granger was the top student last term, and that Gryffindor snatched the House Cup from Slytherin after six consecutive years. Honestly, you're all a bunch of losers."
His last words were intentionally loud, drawing the attention of students at the other tables.
"What did you say? You dare call me a loser? You filthy half-blood!"
Malfoy slammed his hand on the table in rage, causing the mountain of bread on the table to topple.
George set down his spoon, looking up at Malfoy.
"As far as I know, our head of house, Professor Snape, is also a half-blood. Are you discriminating against him as well?"
"The Head... H-H-He is different! I was only talking about you!"
Malfoy's tone weakened instantly. Disparaging half-bloods was common among purebloods, but openly saying it could provoke the mixed-blood upperclassmen—and worse, Snape himself.
"Such bold words from a first-year," sneered Pansy, walking over from the second-year section.
While she had mocked Malfoy yesterday, she still sided with him. The Malfoy family was prestigious among purebloods, and Pansy saw potential in allying her family with his.
"I agree," George stood up, speaking loudly.
"We Slytherins pride ourselves on strength, not just talk. And I'm not singling him out—I'm saying all of you in second year are losers!"
The entire hall froze. Students stared, jaws agape, as George continued, "If you weren't losers, how could you let Gryffindor end a six-year winning streak for the House Cup?"
"I, George, declare this today: as long as I'm here, Slytherin will always take first place. I will win back the House Cup from Gryffindor."
"But I'm different from you lot. I won't let friendly competition turn me against students from other houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff—I'll make friends wherever I wish."
He concluded, "I'll win honor for Slytherin with dignity and strength. That is the true spirit of our house."