George could tell that his brother was excited. He tried to feed off of his energy but it was difficult. However, he wasn't exactly nervous either. Fred always brought out the more reckless free-spirit in him for which he was grateful. At Fred's nudge to the ribs, George glanced up and smirked at him.
"You ready?" Fred prompted.
"As I'll ever be," George finished.
The doors to the Great Hall creaked open and the boys snapped their heads towards the newcomer. Breathing a sigh of relief, George saw that it was only Harry.
Surprisingly to most people, The brunette boy plopped down next to the twins. He earned confused and suspicious looks from the other two-thirds of the Golden Trio. Ignoring them, Harry began shoveling food onto his plate.
"You sure you guys wanna do this?" Harry asked through mouthfuls of toast.
Fred smirked condescendingly down at the younger boy, "Most definitely."
Before George could finish rolling his eyes at his brother, his breath caught in his throat as their target walked through the door.
This is not good….
The entire school was seated at this point. The staff table was filled with every professor, including Trelawney. No one was aware of what was about to take place. George's eyes roamed around the hall as kids carelessly shoveled food into their mouths and chatted with their friends before afternoon classes. Thoughts swirled one thousands miles a minute in George's head. Were they about to publicly humiliate a man in front of hundreds of people? Or were they going to save the school from a disastrous fate?
Before he could even contemplate answers to those questions, Fred began to stand up as Quirrell inevitably got closer. George thought of stopping him, but it was already too late.
Everything happened so fast. Yet George was still able to vividly recall every single detail as if taking time to stop and replay a movie over again.
Quirrell noticed too late what Fred was about to do and George could have sworn he knew the exact moment in which his face changed from naive bliss to sheer horror.
As Quirrell's turban was yanked off his head, the surrounding students' mouths dropped. At first because of their shock at Fred's audacity to do such a thing, but then because of what they saw.
Some girls nearby started shrieking which alerted the rest of the hall. All turned their heads and laid their eyes upon what should have been the back of Quirrell's head. A face adorned the bald surface. White like a ghost with the most red eyes. The nostrils were small slits.
George would have glanced at the head table but couldn't seem to remove his eyes from the horrifying sight. For a few moments nothing happened.
Quickly, Quirrell's shock turned into burning rage. Before anyone could move, the face screamed, "KILL HIM!" Quirrell's hands found themselves wrapped around Fred's neck within seconds.
George grabbed his wand to help his brother but was beaten by the first year next to him.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry screamed.
George bitterly noted that he missed by a fraction of an inch. Even worse was when the Quirrell-demon abandoned Fred and started making his way towards Harry and himself.
Quirrell stopped halfway towards them and turned around to reveal the face.
"Harry Potter…. We meet again," the ominous face hissed out.
"Who are you?" George thought Harry said rather calmly.
The face chortled, "Oh Harry, just as brave as your parents were. They would be so proud."
Harry's perplexed look became wary.
The dots finally connected for George.
Is that…..?
"See what I have become? I am only able to survive attached to another's body. Like a parasite… all. Because. Of. YOU!" Voldemort screeched.
Harry flinched back and blinked. His wand was no longer poised for battle but rather hanging limply at his side. George knew the boy didn't realize who he was facing and just wished that he himself could overcome his own paralysis to save them all. Where were the professors when you needed them? Were they just sitting and watching this encounter as well?
Voldemort continued, "I killed your father first. He put up a good fight. Your mother didn't need to die but she was trying to protect you. I thought I had succeeded in destroying you until-"
His last words were cut off by the young Gryffindor punching him in the face. Everyone took a collective gasp as his little fist made contact with Voldemort and produced steam. Voldemort stumbled and cried out in pain, Quirrell's hand reached back to cup the melting flesh.
For an instant George could see Harry's confusion. However, the boy didn't stop to think about his unusual power and placed both hands forcefully onto Voldemort's face.
The teachers finally came running just as Harry fainted and Voldemort's spirit fled the hall. All the sounds flooded back into George's ears. He stood still and looked around. He could see his brother kneeling on the ground and gingerly rubbing his neck a few yards away. Harry's body lay on top of a clearly dead Quirrell and was surrounded by Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape. Most of the younger students were crying and screaming and Ron and Hermione tried pushing their way past everyone to get to Harry.
George took a seat on the bench as Seamus walked up to him, white in the face. The first year stuck out his hand for George to take. George accepted and stood up as Professor Sprout was yelling instructions at the prefects and shoving everyone out of the hall.
Luckily, McGonagall and Dumbledore allowed the two to accompany them to the infirmary with Fred and Harry as everyone else was ushered back to their common rooms.
~.~
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