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Chapter 124: George and Snape
Mrs. Norris lay there stiffly, like a dried specimen.
"I remember something very similar happening in Wagadu," Lockhart said, unwilling to be ignored as he continued trying to draw attention. "I recorded that entire series of attacks in my autobiography. Afterward, I provided the locals with various protective charms, and all the problems were solved."
No one paid attention to what he was saying. Lockhart nodded at the photos on the wall, and the room seemed to brighten as the figures in the pictures reappeared.
At last, Dumbledore stopped prodding Mrs. Norris and straightened up.
"She is not dead, Filch," he said softly.
Lockhart, who had been counting on his fingers how many murders he had prevented, froze.
"She's not dead?" Filch choked out. He peeked at Mrs. Norris through his fingers. "Then why is she stiff as ice?"
"She has been petrified by magic," Dumbledore said firmly. "But exactly what happened is still unclear."
Hearing the word "petrified," George was slightly surprised. After all that acting, you still went with the obvious explanation? Who are they even putting on a show for? he thought.
"It was him!" Filch screamed, glaring tearfully at Harry.
"A second-year student could not have done this," Dumbledore said without hesitation. "This must be extremely powerful dark magic."
"He did it! He did it!" Filch was almost hysterical. He didn't care whether Harry had actually tried to kill anyone. "Didn't you see the writing on the wall? He was in my office—he found out—and then he knew I was…" Filch's face twitched violently. "He knew I'm a Squib!"
"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" Harry shouted. He had no idea why Filch was so desperate to blame him. He didn't even know how to petrify anything. "I don't know anything about it! What does 'petrified' even mean?"
"Headmaster, if I may," Snape said coldly from the shadows, making Harry even more uneasy. He felt certain Snape would seize any chance to attack him.
"I believe Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time," Snape said smoothly, his expression full of mockery and suspicion. "However, one must wonder why they were not at the Halloween feast—and why they went upstairs to that corridor."
Harry and Ron hurried to explain that they had been attending Nearly Headless Nick's deathday party. "There were hundreds of ghosts there—they can all testify for us."
"But afterward?" Snape pressed on, his deep eyes glinting in the candlelight. "Why did you not return to the feast? Why go to the upper corridor?"
"Because we heard something unusual and suspected danger, so we went to investigate," George said, stepping forward beside Harry. He had no intention of listening any longer.
Snape treated Harry like a rabid dog, seizing every chance to strike at him. He didn't care whether Harry was the culprit, nor whether Harry even had the ability to petrify anyone. He didn't care who the real culprit was or whether the school was in danger. All he wanted was to attack Harry—at any cost.
"What did you hear? Why didn't you inform a teacher? Why investigate on your own?" Snape snapped, annoyed that George had interrupted him just as he thought he had Harry cornered.
"Precisely because the situation was unclear, we needed to investigate," George replied with a faint, strange smile. "And precisely because it was unclear, it wasn't convenient to report it immediately."
Harry couldn't help but smile at that "perfectly reasonable" answer. It really did make sense.
Ron and Hermione stood to the side, covering their faces to hide their laughter. Their shoulders trembled slightly—they were trying very hard to hold it in.
Lockhart nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly! That's how an excellent wizard behaves. It reminds me of my experience in Wagadu—at first I didn't understand the situation, but with a slight adjustment in thinking, I quickly uncovered the truth."
He launched into another long-winded story, as usual tying everything back to himself and his books. Seeing no one was listening, he eventually fell silent.
Snape looked proud and superior—until suddenly it was as if someone had grabbed him by the throat. He couldn't find a response, his face clearly saying, Are you serious?
But thinking it through, he couldn't find any flaw in George's logic. When encountering something unusual, the first step is to assess the situation before deciding whether to handle it yourself or report it.
"Then why did you remain at the scene after discovering the anomaly?" Snape demanded angrily, unwilling to give up.
"Because we were preserving the scene," George replied calmly. "We didn't want the culprit returning to destroy evidence—or careless students interfering."
"Y-you…" Snape faltered, his thoughts interrupted. He couldn't come up with a better question, but he refused to let it go.
"You are evading responsibility," Snape said sternly. "Do you believe you made no mistakes? As students, you left your proper place, abandoned your group, and skipped the Halloween feast. Instead of reporting to a teacher, you acted recklessly, assuming you could handle danger yourselves."
"You are both lawless and arrogant," Snape concluded, raising his voice.
"Professor, you're right. We'll take that lesson to heart," George replied sincerely.
(To be continued…)