A Harmless White Lie

"Do I really have to lie?", Neville asked timidly whilst trailing behind George.

They had been walking through the Library for over five minutes and neither of them had said a word until now, George had been distracted by how elusive Gemma was proving to be.

George kept walking whilst looking down the mostly empty corridors, "not necessarily. With a bit of luck, you won't have to open your mouth. I'll carry the conversation and direct the attention on myself, you just have to sit there and look excited to start our new club. That shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"Err, yeah. But I didn't mean it like that. I meant to say… Well, the thing is...", Neville responded with ever-growing anxiety permeating his voice.

George stopped walking and turned around to address Neville eye to eye, "what's the problem now?"

Neville's eyes desperately avoided George, "do… do we have to lie, about me starting the club? It just seems like a bad idea to lie to a Prefect, we could get into a lot of trouble."

George chuckled, "lying to figures of authority is Gemma's bread and butter. She would have to be a real hypocrite to punish us for that. "

"Are you sure that Gemma's a Prefect? She sounds nothing like Percy", Neville questioned.

George shrugged his shoulders, "apparently she is. It's as much a mystery to you as it is to me, but I can't complain, it works to our advantage."

"It just feels wrong. Lyings bad, that's what my grandma always tells me", Neville said disheartened.

George realised that Neville's grandmother must have been the problem, her rules contradicted his orders.

"Do you honestly think your grandma has never lied to someone? Because if lying is universally bad then that must mean that she hasn't lied even once before", George said suggestively.

Neville looked aghast as he spluttered, "no… well maybe, I don't know. She's an adult anyway, they're allowed to lie. We're children so we can't yet."

"And why do you think adults are allowed to lie and children are not?", George questioned.

Neville was at a loss for words, questioning his authoritative grandmother's logic had probably never gone through his mind before.

George gave a very leading answer to his rhetorical question, "maybe, growing up helps us understand when lies are good and when they are bad. That's why adults know when it is sometimes right to lie. Do you know what grown-ups call that, Neville?"

Neville shook his head in response but looked eager to hear him out.

George continued, "they call it a white lie. It's when you lie to someone for non-selfish reasons, to make someone other than yourself feel better. It's like when you tell someone that everything's going to be ok when they are badly hurt and in lots of pain. You don't know if they're going to be alright, but you say it nonetheless because you know it will make them feel better. Does that make sense to you?"

Neville nodded his head.

"Well, that's what we're going to tell Gemma, a white lie. The only reason why we're telling her you started the club is to guarantee the club's survival. Think of all the people who could benefit from this club's existence other than us, we're not the only ones who get bullied."

"Our club could be a salvation for all the outcasts, a place where we can be ourselves without the world judging us. Lying to a Prefect is a small sacrifice we have to make for the betterment of all the bully victims throughout the school. I've found that personally, the hardest decisions to make are more often than not the right thing to do", George quietly declared.

"Are we doing the right thing, by lying?", Neville asked.

George held his hands up in response, "who's to say? There's not a single person on the planet who can definitively say what is right and what is wrong, it's all a matter of perspective. But, what I can say is right here and now, lying feels like the right thing to do. The question is, do you feel the same way?"

Neville brooded over George's words for a few seconds before looking at him, "okay. Maybe lying isn't always bad. Where's Gemma so we can get this out of the way?"

George looked down the Library's many corridors, "now that's a good question. I know she's in here, but God knows where."

At that moment, George heard too familiar voices arguing with each other coming toward him.

"Admit it, I was right and you were wrong. It's nothing to feel ashamed of", spoke a girl with an air of self-satisfaction.

"I never said that you were wrong, you're twisting my words", a boy's voice responded defensively.

"Oh pardon me, I may have paraphrased. I believe you said that going to the creatures section was a 'waste of time'. And yet here you are, carrying the fruits of my genius", the girl said with an exaggeratedly posh voice.

There was a brief silence as the boy presumably had nothing to retort.

The girl tutted before continuing, "accepted reality, have we? That's a good boy. Now don't drop any of those books, we need every reference we can find."

"You speak to me like I'm your pet sometimes, it's very diminutive", the disheartened boy said.

"You're my boyfriend, same difference. You're lucky to have someone who will put up with… George, what are you doing here?", the girl said as she rounded the bookshelf.

George looked at the two sixteen-year-old Slytherin students he'd come to befriend over the past couple of months. The boy had grey hair and a distinct scar on his chin, he was currently struggling to carry over two dozen books which were sliding over each other like they were blocks of ice. The girl had flowing brown hair that came down to her hips and dull green eyes that matched her robes. She was carrying a single tiny book that must have had less than fifty pages.

These two were none other than Lloyd and Joanne, they are members of the Gemma friend group and often sat with her in the Great Hall. They first met when George accidentally made Lloyd faint from his bleeding hand and Joanne rushed over to try and wake him up. Since then, George has spoken to them briefly on a weekly basis and had a general understanding of their dysfunctional relationship.

Some weeks they seem truly infatuated with one another and barely paid any attention to the world around them. On other days, they acted like this. Lloyd just about managed to look over the stack of books he was currently carrying and saw George and Neville in front of him, a look of relief could be seen forming in his eyes.

"George, how's life? I heard about that scuffle you had with the troll the other day, sounded nasty. Nice to see that you're still in one piece, not many other students could blow up a bathroom and live. And who's this, one of your friends?", Lloyd asked excitedly.

George scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "I'm fine thanks. I got off lucky really, both with the professors and the mountain troll. I will never fight a troll again for the rest of my life if I have any say in it."

Then George looked over his shoulder and saw Neville hiding in his shadow, he didn't appear particularly keen on meeting these new people. He had this look in his eye that was telling George to let him stay at the back and out of trouble. His pitiful expression was begging for the opposite of the limelight. Against the boy's wishes, George grabbed hold of Neville and forced him forward.

George gestured toward Neville and said, "this is my good friend, N…"

Lloyd held up one hand and almost dropped all the books, "wait wait, let me guess. He's not Hermione, so that rules her out. He's a Gryffindor as well so that means he is not Grant or Quinton. That only leaves one possible name, you must be N…"

"Neville Longbottom, it's nice to finally meet one of George's friends from Gryffindor. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he's been hiding you from us", Joanna butted in right as Lloyd was about to finish his deduction.

Joanna took a step forward and reached out a hand toward Neville. The timid boy merely looked at George as if he was asking for permission from a parent. George nodded his head whilst gesturing with his eyes to Joanna. Neville took a deep breath and then turned back to Joanne whilst weakly grabbing her outstretched hand. Joanne smiled ominously and grabbed Neville's hand firmly whilst shaking him as if she was trying to shake out loose change. Then Joanna abruptly let go of him and Neville timidly retreated toward George.

Joanne looked over to Lloyd and saw his pained expression, "what's your problem now?"

Lloyd looked at her in disbelief, "why couldn't you let me just have this one thing? You knew I was about to say Neville, but you had to steal it from me, didn't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about", Joanne returned snarkily before turning back to face George.

Her sinister expression turned into a jolly smile, "now, what are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be resting after what happened? It's only been two days. You must still be feeling exhausted."

Lloyd looked like he wanted to desperately continue the argument, but in the end, he chose to remain submissive.

"It's funny that you asked that, Joanne. We're here looking for you guys. Well, not specifically you two but Gemma instead. You wouldn't happen to know where she is right now?", George asked casually.

"Yeah sure, she'll be in Private Lounge Three. We're going back there now so you guys can tag along", Lloyd happily answered before Joanne could speak.

Lloyd appeared to have been gunning for the next question George asked, but his girlfriend's expressions suggested that his eagerness to level the playing field might have backfired. Joanna didn't look happy in the slightest as she gave Lloyd a very intimidating stare, causing him to take a step back in panic.

She looked back toward George and politely said, "it's for the best if you didn't see Gemma right now. She's not in the best of moods, you know how she can be sometimes. Perhaps you could come back and see her another day, just not today."

George gave her puppy dog eyes, "but it's very important. It shouldn't take long and then we'll be on our way before you know it."

"Come on Joanna, let them come with us. Gemma has been kind of a... you know, the past few days. Seeing George again might cheer her up a bit", Lloyd insisted.

Joanna rubbed her eyes and declared, "fine, they can tag along. But if Gemma starts kicking off again, I'm telling her it was your idea to bring them back."

Joanna pointed at Lloyd menacingly before turning her back on the group and walking deeper into the Library. She'd disappeared behind a bookshelf before anyone could react.

Lloyd turned back to George and Neville, "sorry about her, she didn't mean to be so... on-edge. It's the assignment Professor Binns has given all the fifth years. We've been putting it off for the past two weeks, and now we have only this weekend to finish it. We've already been here for over six hours and everyone's getting a little tired."

"No problem, Lloyd. We fully understand your circumstances, don't we?", George responded whilst looking at Neville.

Neville nodded frantically in response which seemed to put Lloyd at ease.

"Right then, we better follow after Joanna before the librarian finds us. Goodness knows we would have gotten her attention with all this talking. Rumour has it that she can hear a whisper from the other side of the Library", Lloyds said as he adjusted the stack of books he was carrying and hobbled in Joanne's direction.

George and Neville silently complied as they followed behind him, they helped carry some of the books he dropped along the way. The trio walked through the never-ending bookshelves until they reached a small wooden door at the far side of the Library. It was one of four similar doors except this one had a Slytherin crest carved into the handle. Lloyd used his elbow to lift the lock whilst pushing the door open with his shoulder. The door swung open and exposed the interior of the private Lounge to George and Neville.

The room had to be one of the smallest at Hogwarts with only enough space to hold around a dozen students. The walls were lined with dark wooden panels with many alcoves housing shelves stacked with luxurious books. The far corner of the room had a fireplace which was small and modern for the medieval architecture of Hogwarts, the tiles were decorated in an American art deco style. The floor was surprisingly carpeted with a thick brown felt that felt satisfying to walk on.

There were a dozen brown leather chairs studded with silver pins scattered around the room with small tables accompanying each. Sitting at one of those tables was Gemma reading a book and taking notes on a piece of parchment in the green glow of the lamp. She didn't appear to have noticed anyone entering the room.

"Where's Rebecca? She should have been back way before us", Lloyd asked whilst looking around the room.

Joanne, who was sitting opposite Gemma on a chair near the fireplace, looked up at Lloyd from the book she was reading, "you didn't honestly believe her when she said she needed to go to the toilet, right?"

Lloyd looked even more confused than normal as he stared at Joanne. She shook her head whilst placing her book down on the table.

She stood up and walked over to him with a look of disappointment, "use your brain, Lloyd. Rebecca was just using the toilet as a weak excuse to run off and do something less mind-numbing. You should know what she's like by now. How many homework assignments have we sat through together where she suddenly seems to feel a little sick or peckish? Then we never see her again until we finish the assignment, at which time she magically reappears to benefit from all of our hard work."

"What are you trying to say about Rebecca?", Lloyds said whilst Joanne started taking the books off him one by one.

"Rebecca is many things, but being patient isn't one of them. If a homework assignment takes more than a few hours to complete then she won't complete it, simple as that. Bone idle, that's what my mother would call her. I can't wait to hear what excuse she comes up with on Monday", Joanna explained.

The last book was taken from Lloyd, but his arms remained in the air and his expression was fixed like a statue.

"She's been leeching off us for the past five years, and you've known all this time. Why haven't you said anything before? If I had known...", Lloyd asked while still reeling in disbelief.

Joanna flicked his forehead, "don't be so cynical, she's still our friend. She is funny at times and is there for us when we need her. A person like that is bound to have some faults. I'm quite happy for her to copy off my work if it means she can scrape through her OWLs, we're all in this together after all. If she failed everything then we wouldn't have her around to complete our NEWTS with, would we?"

"I guess not. I still don't like her copying off me though", Lloyd responded.

Gemma chuckled whilst finishing her notes, "you don't have to worry about that. Even Rebecca is smart enough to know that she would fail every assignment if she copied you."

Then Gemma lifted her head and looked at George. Her expression remained dispassionate as if his entrance was of no significance.

"So you didn't get kicked out of Hogwarts, lucky you", she said to him in a monotone voice.

George smiled cheekily, "I guess I have a knack for getting out of trouble. I couldn't imagine who I got that from."

Gemma stared intensely at George for a few seconds before she finally uttered, "Joanne said that you had something important to tell me."

George put on his door-to-door salesman act as he whipped out the club poster and unfolded it, "I'll cut to the chase, your time is exceedingly valuable after all and I would hate to waste a second more than I needed to. Myself and a few friends are starting a new club at Hogwarts and we would like you to be its president. The members have deliberated and couldn't think of a better candidate than your esteemed self. Would you be willing to take up the mantle?"

Gemma thoroughed her brow slightly.

Seeing this as a confirmation to elaborate on his speel, George continued, "there's no need to worry about responsibilities or obligations, you will be president in name only. I and Neville here as founders will organise everything on your behalf, you won't have to lift a finger. There are truly no downsides. I would have taken the position myself, but I felt you were more deserving of that honour."

There was another awkward pause where no one said anything as Gemma just continued to stare at him like an unimpressed business investor. It may have been his imagination running wild, but George felt that there was a wave of bubbling anger building up inside of her and was on the verge of bursting out.

"Is that all?", Gemma asked him nonchalantly.

George nodded his head, "pretty much, yeah."

Gemma only responded with a, "huh", before returning to reading the book in front of her.

George and Neville looked at each other and shared a similar expression of confusion, neither of them fully understood what exactly Gemma was playing at. He even looked over at Lloyd and Joanne, but both of them had conveniently started minding their own business at opposite ends of the room. George decided to walk up to Gemma's table and placed the poster down on it. Then he pulled out a smaller piece of parchment that looked a little like a contract and held it out in front of her.

"I need you to sign this to formally appoint you our president. It shouldn't take a second and then we'll be out of your hair", George said enthusiastically whilst blocking Gemma's line of sight with the contract.

Gemma's unfocused eyes looked up from the contract and stared back at George, "thanks for the offer, but I'm not interested."

George didn't act perturbed, "don't be so quick as to throw away this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There is always room for negotiation. Just tell me what I have to do to get your signature on this paper and I'll make sure it's done pronto."

Gemma acted like she was considering the proposal before she said passive-aggressively, "well… no. I'm good. Just remember not to blow up the room on your way out. Thank you goodbye."

George lowered the contract, "what makes you think I'll blow up this room? I'm not some sort of walking time bomb."

Gemma looked back down at her parchment and started writing on it, "you could've fooled me."

George slammed his knuckle against Gemma's table, startling everyone in the room, "you don't understand. I didn't want to fight that troll and I certainly didn't want to blow up the girl's bathroom. It just kind of happened, I had no idea what I was getting myself into from the start."

Some of Gemma's real emotions finally leaked out, "do you honestly expect me to believe that? Everything that happened on Halloween was just some unfortunate coincidence? I would have believed you just like everyone else did if you were a normal innocent boy like you pretend to be, but you're way smarter than that. You can lie so well that even I can't tell when you're telling the truth."

A little bit of Gemma's emotion subsided, "but you know what, I respect that about you. You use your youth to your advantage and there's nothing wrong with that, I wish I could have been that clever at your age."

Then the fire in her eyes reignited, "what really annoys me is the fact you can't trust me, someone who's willing to risk getting expelled for you. I thought that you were taking me seriously when I told you to keep your head down, but you didn't listen to me and look where it got you. And now look at you, trying to trick me once again into going along with another one of your schemes. Well, I'm done. You can continue on this path of self-destruction as long as you like, but I'm not going to be a part of it any longer."

George gave a heavy sigh and let his arms sag to his sides, "you're right. I've lied and tricked people to get what I want, even to people I care about. I know that it is terrible to treat people like this and I don't deserve half of the kindness I've received, especially from you. I know that this sounds incredibly condescending considering I've been the antithesis of the 'Boy Who Cried Wolf', but this club is different from the rest of my schemes."

"Fighting the troll seemed like a cool idea at the time, but in reality, it nearly got me expelled. I did a lot of self-reflection after Halloween, and I realised how wrong my outlook had been. I'm hoping that creating this club will help me become a better version of myself. I just need your help to make it happen."

Gemma was quick to retort, "and how am I meant to believe that? How am I meant to believe anything you say anymore?"

"If you don't believe me then you can ask him, that's why I brought him along. It was Neville's idea to come up with the Herbology club in the first place, I have nothing to do with its inception", responded George whilst taking a step to the side and gesturing toward the boy cowering behind him.

Gemma looked at Neville with a very intimidating expression, "Neville Longbottom I presume, George has told me a lot about you. Is he telling the truth? Did you come up with this…"

Gemma looked down at the poster on her table before returning her gaze to Neville, "Herbology Club?"

At that moment everyone in the room was looking at Neville. The poor boy froze under the spotlight and didn't move a muscle like a deer surrounded by a pack of wolves. Neville's eyes kept darting left and right until they eventually landed on George who attempted to express his thoughts exclusively through eye contact. Then Neville gulped and looked back at Gemma before anxiously nodding his head.

Gemma didn't appear to be one hundred per cent convinced, "just to make it crystal clear. You came up with this club first and told George about it later. Not the other way round."

Neville licked his dry lips before sputtering out, "y yes. I came up with the Herbology Club idea and told George about it. He thought it was a good idea and told me that you would be a good president."

Gemma reclined back into her chair and appeared to be contemplating something before she clicked her fingers toward George. He didn't know exactly what she wanted at first, but he quickly followed the direction of her finger and realised that it was pointing at the contract in his hand. Understanding what she meant, George excitedly ran over to her and handed her the contract. She signed the paper and threw it back at him.

"Just understand the one hundred favours you owe me have increased to one thousand. Any more requests and you will officially become my slave, do I make myself clear? Now the two of you should leave before I change my mind", Gemma said before picking up the book off the table and suggestively holding it as if she was about to lob it in their direction.

Within a matter of seconds, George and Neville packed up their things, scuttled out of the private lounge, and were back in the Library. George felt exhilarated after accomplishing a task that he believed only had a fifty per cent chance of succeeding, but on the other hand, Neville looked like he had lost ten years of life to stress.

He looked at George with sweat dripping off his forehead, "that was awful. I never want to lie ever again."

George, now in a particularly merry mood, wrapped his arm around Neville and pulled him close in a tight embrace. He was experiencing a massive amount of pain from his disintegrating muscles and bones, but the joy of succeeding overpowered his discomfort.

He said in a delighted voice, "but now we've done it, partner. Your sacrifice is going to benefit so many people, just you wait."

Neville looked up at the gleeful George and found himself smiling with him.

George started walking through the Library with Neville still in his tight embrace as he declared, "your task is over now. You can just sit back and relax and let me do the rest."