Scheming Boy George

"Professor Snape, we booked the entire Quidditch Pitch well in advance! And Ron only attacked Malfoy because Malfoy called Hermione a Mudblood!"

Facing the terrifying Snape, Wood and the others were furious but did not dare argue back. Harry, however, was unwilling to let it end like this.

Snape's gaze grew even harsher at his words.

"You still dare to lie?"

"Malfoy, did you call Hermione a Mudblood?"

At that moment, George suddenly spoke up before Malfoy could answer.

With Snape present, Malfoy felt that Wood and the others would not dare act up. He raised his chin smugly.

"She is a Mudblood. Hogwarts never should have accepted Mudbloods as students."

"Who Hogwarts accepts as students is not for you to decide!"

Hearing Malfoy's remarks, Snape immediately turned and reprimanded him harshly.

After all, the witch he had loved most—Harry's mother, Lily Evans—had also been born into a Muggle family.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, George quietly stepped back again.

Malfoy, clearly frightened by Snape, who had always been rather tolerant of him, hurriedly shut his mouth.

Snape looked at Harry again.

"The points deducted just now will be restored. But Potter, because you talked back to a teacher, Gryffindor will lose five points."

Harry wanted to argue, but Hermione grabbed his arm.

They had lost twenty points just now. Losing only five now was already far better.

"Bleurgh!"

Ron opened his mouth, and another pile of slugs spilled out.

"Finite Incantatem!"

George stepped forward and waved his wand. A blue beam of magic struck Ron, and the slugs in Ron's mouth immediately vanished.

During tutoring just now, Snape had said that if they encountered Dark Magic whose counter-spell they did not know, they could first try the Universal Counter-Charm. George had given it a try, and unexpectedly, it had worked.

"Thank you, George."

Having returned to normal, Ron immediately thanked him.

Harry and Hermione nodded at George as well. They knew that if George had not spoken up and baited Malfoy into revealing the truth, Gryffindor would have lost another fifteen points.

George gave them a subtle wink, then returned to Snape's side.

"I wanted to try the Universal Counter-Charm I just learned."

Snape replied blandly.

"George helped treat a fellow student. Five points to Slytherin."

The young wizards of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, whose heads had just drooped, raised them again.

"All right, this matter ends here. Next, the Slytherin team will be training two new players. You may leave."

Hearing Snape dismiss them, Wood immediately led everyone away from the Quidditch Pitch.

However, after leaving the pitch, Harry, Ron, and Hermione quietly returned and hid in the stands to watch from afar.

They were not trying to spy on the Slytherin Quidditch Team's tactics. They simply wanted to know whether George or Malfoy would become the new Seeker.

They had learned from Ginny yesterday that George was joining the Slytherin team.

At the time, they had assumed George would certainly become Slytherin's Seeker, just like Harry had been last year. But today, they learned that Malfoy had already become the new Seeker because his father had replaced everyone's brooms with the latest Nimbus 2001s.

So they worried that George might not have an easy time joining the team.

"You should all know about George by now. On a training Flying Broomstick, he can perform difficult maneuvers that even players on international Quidditch teams find hard to pull off.

"So I have decided that he will be the team's new Seeker."

After Wood and the others had left, Snape began announcing George's position on the team.

Malfoy's expression immediately changed.

"Head of House, we agreed that I would be the new Seeker. You promised my father!"

"Adrian Pucey and Terence Higgs will both be leaving the team to focus on their studies. Malfoy, you will take over as the new Chaser."

Snape answered without hesitation.

This was the arrangement he had decided on the previous night.

Young Malfoy did indeed have considerable talent on a Flying Broomstick, and his father's generosity had greatly enhanced the Slytherin Quidditch Team's strength.

Therefore, replacing Terence Higgs, who had lost to First Year Harry in terms of ability, with young Malfoy was perfectly reasonable and served Slytherin's interests.

Now that George, a Flying Broomstick genius, had appeared, the crucial position of Seeker naturally had to go to George.

Still, young Malfoy brought considerable value to the team, so Snape replaced the dispensable Chaser, Adrian Pucey, instead.

"Head of House, I refuse! I want to be Seeker and settle things with Potter!"

Malfoy immediately shouted.

Everyone already knew that he was supposed to become the Slytherin Quidditch Team's Seeker. If George replaced him, he would be utterly humiliated.

Besides, he had always wanted to surpass Harry. Only by being a Seeker too would he have any hope of doing so.

"Head of House, you know George is friends with Harry and close to those Gryffindors. If you make him Seeker, he'll definitely go easy on Harry when the time comes!"

"Malfoy, do you think Slytherin wizards cannot be friends with Gryffindors?"

George walked over to stand in front of Malfoy.

"I think that, let alone being friends, if it is suitable, there is nothing wrong with marrying a Gryffindor witch in the future.

"We are all Hogwarts wizards. Competition between us is perfectly normal, but saying that we cannot be friends or lovers just because we belong to different Houses is a bit absurd.

"Who says only people from the same House can be friends or get married?"

The other members of the Slytherin Quidditch Team were all stunned by George's bold remarks. They felt certain that Snape would harshly rebuke him next.

"Head of House, see? I was right. If George becomes Seeker, he'll definitely go easy on Harry. He even wants to marry one of those Mudbloods from Gryffindor.

"A Slytherin wizard wanting to marry a Gryffindor witch—this is the biggest joke I've heard all day!"

"Shut up! Levicorpus!"

With an ugly expression, Snape directly cast the spell and hoisted Malfoy upside down.

"Either become a Chaser, or get out of the team."

Small fry, trying to fight me.

The corner of George's mouth lifted slightly. He had deliberately said those things to provoke Malfoy into making that statement.

Malfoy did not know that Snape's greatest regret was that, because they had been sorted into different Houses and because he had clung to his Slytherin identity, he had said some excessive things and allowed Potter to take Lily away from him.

Malfoy's words were practically a slap across Snape's face.

"Head of House, Malfoy doesn't seem very convinced. How about this? Malfoy and I can compete. Whoever catches the Golden Snitch first will be Slytherin's Seeker."

He wanted to make Malfoy submit completely, so that Malfoy would never dare provoke him again and so that he could establish his standing in Slytherin.

"Snape's Final Spell!"

With a wave of his wand, Snape lowered Malfoy back down.

Young Malfoy's parents had been close to Snape. Aside from all having once been Death Eaters, they had also been classmates, and Snape had nearly become young Malfoy's godfather.

So if young Malfoy had not kept stabbing at Snape's sore spots today, Snape would not have been so harsh with him.

"Fine. Then compete. The winner will be Seeker, and the loser will be Chaser."