Everyone Present is Trash

"George, long time no see!"

George had just reached the first floor when he heard a shout from above. He turned to look and saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron coming down the marble staircase.

"Good morning, Harry, Hermione, and this is?"

"Hello, I'm Ron. Harry told me you helped him escape from Knockturn Alley last time. That was so cool!"

Ron's tone was a little excited.

That was the famous Knockturn Alley, the place his two twin brothers dreamed of exploring.

"What's so cool about that compared to you and Harry? You flew a Magical Car from London to school, got into the Daily Prophet, and even smashed up the school's Whomping Willow."

Hermione, at the side, mocked them in a rather sarcastic tone.

Ron's face stiffened at once when he heard that.

"All right, can you stop lecturing us already? It's not like we wanted that to happen."

He had discovered that Hermione really was sometimes a smaller version of Professor McGonagall. She was always fond of preaching at them, when in fact, sometimes she was clearly even braver than they were.

Harry stepped forward, avoiding Ron and Hermione's quarrel, and asked George, "We missed the Sorting Ceremony yesterday. Which house were you sorted into?"

"Slytherin."

George took the Slytherin badge from his pocket, the one handed out yesterday that he had not yet had time to pin to his chest.

When Harry saw it, a look of regret immediately appeared on his face.

"It would've been great if you'd been sorted into Gryffindor."

Deep down, he still had some prejudice against Slytherin, especially since Slytherin had annoying people like Malfoy and his lot, and their head of house was Snape, whom he hated most.

George smiled.

"Any house is fine. As long as I get to study at Hogwarts, I'm already very satisfied."

"Good morning, George!"

At that moment, another shout came from above. This time, the ones coming down the marble staircase were Ginny, Colin, and Luna.

"You know each other?"

Harry and Ron were both stunned when they saw Ginny greeting George.

"We sat in the same compartment on the train yesterday. George took good care of us."

When Ginny saw Harry was there, her voice immediately became much softer, and her movements turned more ladylike.

"Thanks for looking after Ginny."

Ron, whose attitude had shifted a little when he heard George had been sorted into Slytherin, restored his impression of George again and even made a point of thanking him.

Compared with Harry, he actually had an even deeper prejudice against Slytherin. Before coming to Hogwarts, he had once believed that all bad wizards came from Slytherin.

"Um... could I trouble you to help me take a photo with Mr. Harry Potter?"

Colin handed the camera to Ron, looking at Harry with shining eyes.

"My name's Colin. I want to take a photo with you and send it to my dad, to prove that I met you. He's a milkman. No one in our family besides me is..."

Ron took the camera somewhat helplessly. When he first met Harry, he had not behaved much better than this, so he could understand.

After the photo was taken, the group chatted as they walked into the Great Hall.

At this time, there were already quite a few young wizards eating breakfast in the Great Hall. The four long tables were also piled high with all kinds of food prepared by the House-elves: Pumpkin Porridge, Pickled Herring, bread, eggs, fresh meat, and so on.

Students from different houses generally did not sit together for breakfast, so George went to the Slytherin table, Luna went to the Ravenclaw table, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Colin went to the Gryffindor table.

"A First Year, and you seem to know Harry Potter and the others?"

George had just sat down when the blond-haired Malfoy came over with his two lackeys, Goyle and Crabbe, and sat opposite him.

Because of Pansy's teasing yesterday, he had an impression of George. Just now, seeing George chatting so happily with Harry, whom he hated most, had instantly put him in a foul mood.

"More or less friends."

George took a bowl of Pumpkin Porridge and a plate of fresh meat, replying casually.

Getting close to Harry would inevitably offend Malfoy. He had known that long ago. In fact, even if he did not get close to Harry, he would still offend Malfoy all the same.

Because he wanted to become the most outstanding student in all of Hogwarts, and even join the Quidditch team. He would definitely steal Malfoy's limelight.

But it did not matter. Little Malfoy was not his father, Lucius Malfoy. He posed no threat to him.

"Friends? Slytherin and Gryffindor are enemies. They can never become friends. You'd better stay away from them, or I'll properly teach you how to be a Slytherin wizard!"

Malfoy was clearly very dissatisfied with George's attitude, and his tone was full of warning.

George merely replied calmly, "Who I make friends with is my freedom. You should just worry about yourself.

I heard the top scorer in last year's final exams was Miss Hermione of Gryffindor, and our Slytherin House Cup streak of six years was lost to Gryffindor too. You really are a bunch of trash."

When he said the last sentence, he deliberately raised his voice, so much so that even the young wizards at the other tables looked over.

"What did you say? You actually called me trash? What right does a half-blood like you have to call me trash?"

When Malfoy heard George's words, he instantly flew into a rage. He slammed a hand down hard on the table, making the little mountain of bread piled on it collapse.

George put down the spoon in his hand and looked up at Malfoy.

"As far as I know, the head of Slytherin is also a half-blood. Are you discriminating against our head of house?"

"The—The head is naturally different from you. I was only talking about you."

Malfoy's tone immediately weakened.

Pure-bloods discriminating against half-bloods was very normal, but that sort of thing could not be said openly, because there were quite a few half-bloods among Slytherin's upper years, and the head of house was likewise a half-blood.

He had simply been too angry to think straight just now.

"A little first-year newcomer, but you talk big. We Slytherins compete by strength, not by glib tongues."

At that moment, Pansy, who had been sitting with the second years, walked over.

Although she had teased Malfoy yesterday, that did not mean she was not on Malfoy's side. The Malfoy family was a well-known pure-blood family, and in the future she might very well marry Malfoy and bring her own family to greater heights.

So when she saw Malfoy being put in a difficult spot, she naturally had to come over and help.

"This young lady is quite right. Slytherin's excellence is proven by strength, which is why I'm not targeting him alone. I'm saying that everyone here, your entire second year, are all trash!"

George elegantly wiped his mouth and rose to his feet, then declared loudly in a tone that left countless young wizards dumbstruck.

"If you weren't trash, how could you have let the House Cup, which we had won for six years straight, come to an end in your hands?"

"I, George, will make myself clear today. With me here, first place will always belong to Slytherin, and I will win the House Cup back from Gryffindor."

"But I am not like you trash. I won't become hostile toward students from other houses because of this kind of healthy competition."

"Competition is competition, and friends are friends, whether they are from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff."

"I will make whatever friends I ought to make. I will win honor for Slytherin openly and fairly with my strength. That is the bearing we Slytherins ought to have."