Chapter 97: Through the Thicket, Not a Leaf Touches Me

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"So, you sent the giant spider called Aragog into the Forbidden Forest later on?" Harry asked.

Hagrid nodded, saying, "Yes, I even found him a wife named Mosag in the Forbidden Forest, and they now have several hundred offspring."

"As far as I know, giant spiders don't have the ability to petrify people," George added.

Hermione pondered for a moment before saying, "Since Aragog is in the Forbidden Forest, then the creature attacking students from the Chamber cannot be a giant spider. That means Hagrid couldn't have been responsible for that attack.

Unfortunately, aside from us, I doubt anyone else would believe this."

To outsiders, the giant spider in the Forbidden Forest may not necessarily be the one Hagrid had released from the Chamber, and there was no evidence to prove otherwise.

After leaving Hagrid's hut and confirming that he was not the heir of the Chamber, Harry and his friends felt significantly uplifted.

"If Hagrid is innocent, then can we find a way to help him?" Harry suggested suddenly on their way back to the castle.

Hermione seemed to share a similar thought: "If we can lure out that creature and prove it's not a giant spider, we can clear up the misunderstanding and restore Hagrid's reputation."

"But the creature hasn't appeared lately. What if it's already over?" Ron said, sounding worried.

Upon hearing their new ideas, George couldn't help but feel a surge of admiration.

"Impressive as always!"

Which student wouldn't be terrified of encountering the monster from the Chamber? Yet here were the three of them, contemplating how to draw it out.

Although George was impressed by their boldness, he had similar thoughts himself.

However, he was different; he had his own considerations.

He knew that the monster in the Chamber was a Basilisk and that it had a fatal weakness.

The Basilisk was the most fearsome magical creature, hatched through dark magic from an egg laid inside a toad.

Not only did it possess deadly fangs and a massive body, but its gaze could kill anyone who looked directly into its eyes, even reflecting light could result in petrification.

However, this powerful magical creature had a natural enemy: the rooster. If a rooster crowed, the Basilisk would lose almost all its ability to attack and might even die of fright.

That was why Voldemort had manipulated Ginny into secretly killing all the roosters that Hagrid had raised.

When George returned to Diagon Alley for Christmas, aside from learning how to make wands, he secretly bought several roosters and kept them in a box made with the Undetectable Extension Charm.

His plan was to have them ready to deal with the Basilisk if he found himself unable to fight it and in danger.

Of course, if he only wanted to help clear Hagrid's name, he wouldn't need to kill the Basilisk; simply making everyone aware that the monster from the Chamber was a Basilisk would suffice.

Moreover, he wouldn't resort to using the roosters unless absolutely necessary.

This was because both the Undetectable Extension Charm box and the roosters he had raised would be difficult to explain.

However, that was a concern for later. Right now, the diary was still in Harry's possession, and it would be a while before Ginny discovered it was missing and the Basilisk reappeared.

What mattered most to him now was learning the Disarming Charm.

Time flew by, and soon it was February 14th, Valentine's Day.

As soon as he arrived at the Great Hall in the morning, he noticed that the decorations had changed. The walls were adorned with large, dazzling pink flowers, and colorful heart-shaped confetti floated down from the light blue ceiling.

"It looks quite beautiful; no wonder it appeals to witches so much," George remarked, observing the young witches entering the Great Hall, their eyes sparkling with hearts. He couldn't help but admire Lockhart's ability in this regard.

At the same time, he mused that whether they were ordinary people or wizards, most women found it hard to resist such romantic settings.

In contrast, some of the young wizards had less favorable expressions. When Harry and Ron walked into the Great Hall and saw Lockhart dressed in a bright pink robe, they looked disgusted, almost ready to gag.

As for the professors seated at the long table, they too seemed to be in poor spirits, especially Professor Snape, who looked as if he had just been forced to drink a large cup of Essence of Murtlap.

Once most of the young witches and wizards had gathered in the Great Hall, Lockhart launched into his specially prepared Valentine's Day morale-boosting plan.

He had arranged for twelve little gnomes, adorned with golden wings and carrying harps, to deliver Valentine's cards to the students.

If a young witch or wizard had a crush on someone, they could write a card and hand it to the gnomes, who would deliver it directly to that person. If needed, they could even read the message aloud to declare their feelings.

Lockhart even encouraged everyone to consult Professor Snape about brewing Love Potions and to ask Flitwick about charm spells.

George found this entertaining but didn't pay much attention.

After all, for him, this body was still that of a child, and most students in the school were also not of age, so he had no intention of pursuing romantic relationships.

Dating required time, and he preferred to devote his time to learning magic instead.

Romance could wait; opportunities to learn magic weren't easy to come by, and he viewed romantic relationships with indifference.

His past experiences had taught him that love was not a necessity. If there were physical needs, one could find someone for mutual satisfaction, and afterward, everyone could go their separate ways as transient figures in each other's lives.

Since discovering magic, he had come to realize that magic was what he truly sought; everything else could take a back seat.

"Wading through a thicket without touching a leaf" was his attitude toward the opposite sex.

"Disarming Charm!"

In the Forbidden Forest, George waved his wand, and a transparent blade shot from it, successfully hitting a mole that was scurrying away, leaving it severely injured.

Peck, who was flying above George's head, immediately dove down, seized the mole in her beak, and swallowed it in one gulp.

With no classes in the morning, George had quietly ventured into the Forbidden Forest after breakfast to practice the Disarming Charm, using various small animals in the forest as targets.

Just like the Fire-Making Spell, which could produce anything from a small flame to a raging inferno depending on skill, the Disarming Charm worked similarly.

In the beginning, as George was now, he could only conjure one blade at a time, and its power was average.

However, once he truly mastered it, he could fire multiple blades at once, and the size of each transparent blade would exceed that of his initial attempts.

With enough study, he could even split a person in half with a single blade.

So, even after getting the hang of it, he had to practice regularly and not become complacent.

He skipped lunch in the Great Hall and instead ate rock cakes at Hagrid's hut. Honestly, if he weren't so much stronger than the average wizard and had a correspondingly strong bite, he wouldn't have been able to chew through those rock cakes.

But in terms of flavor, they were actually quite decent; Hagrid wasn't exaggerating.

(End of Chapter)