Chapter - 11.3

With the discussion with Professor Snape left hanging, Alex left for his room since there won't be any more classes today. But as soon as Alex walked in, he was greeted by the ugliest sight he had ever seen since he left the orphanage. The room was a complete mess.

Alex first thought someone came to his room uninvited and searched through it in a hurry, but when he looked closely, he knew who the culprit was.

"Where are you, little kitty?" With his face twitching in anger, Alex said as he looked around for Erebus. The lamp was lying on the floor, broken. The pillows had scratches with feathers coming out of them, and the packet of food Alex bought for Erebus was torn, with the food scattered all over. This was even worse than what Nicole did to their room.

"Little Erebus, come out to play," Alex carefully took a step further so as to not step on anything on the floor and looked around for Erebus. Soon, Alex looked everywhere, not able to find the little rascal. Along the way, he did clean the room, and soon it was back to normal, the convenience of being able to use magic.

After he was done, Alex gave up on finding Erebus and decided to rest for a while. And just as he pulled the blankets, there he was, the prime accused.

Erebus was enjoying himself under the blanket, ignorant of the suffering he caused Alex. Just as the blanket was pulled away, Erebus swallowed something he was nibbling upon.

"Is that a butterfly?" Alex asked in bewilderment when he saw the tiny blue wing-like thing sticking out of Erebus's mouth.

"Flup!" And in one fell swoop, it was gone.

"You little rascal. Is this the reason you caused this mess?" Alex picked up Erebus by his neck and asked, bringing the latter close to his face.

But Erebus looked at Alex with those innocent eyes and licked the sides of his mouth. The poor guy did not even try to fight back.

"Don't you dare try it on me," Alex warned Erebus to act cute, "God knows how many times you have gotten away with that?" Alex said, but there was no change in Erebus's tactic. Erebus continued to back the innocent look on his face.

"Auhh..." Alex sighed, "This is the last time," Alex finally gave in. And this made Erebus happy. As if understanding Alex's words, just as Alex decided not to pursue the matter anymore, Erebus lifted his front legs, trying to reach out for Alex. Maybe to give him a nice, tight hug.

And complying with Erebus's demand, Alex put him on his shoulder, and he himself climbed the bed, sitting with his back against the bedrest.

"how long do you think I need to follow him, Erebus?" Alex thought out loud, staring into nothingness.

"Do you think someone like Potter needs my protection?" Alex grabbed Erebus, who was licking his ear, and brought him face to face, "He was the one who defeated the strongest of the wizards, the dark lord, when he was just an infant. Others might need his protection, to be honest."

Alex then put Erebus on the blanket just over his stomach and caressed his head.

"Then there is Nicole. Should I just go and talk to Nicole now?" Alex continued with his worries, "She has been kind of down lately."

"How good it would have been if you could talk" Alex continued to talk with Erebus, and the latter just licked Alex's fingers, "Wait a minute, the map. Let's see what's she up to."

Who could have imagined that the guy who hardly conversed with anyone in the school would chat nonstop with himself when alone, or to be precise, talk so much with a cat?

Alex grabbed the wand from his bedside table and gave it a wave, and soon, his robe came flying towards him from the stand. Alex pulled out the folded piece of paper from the robe and put the robe aside. He also picked up Erebus, and he himself sat straight.

"So, how was it done?" Alex sat cross-legged with Erebus in front of him and the two staring at the piece of paper in front of them.

"Infuse the magic, first step," Alex remembered what Professor Snape said. He put the tip of his wand on the paper and poured some of his magical powers into it.

Not much of the magic was required, and before long, the paper began to unfold itself. Lines started drawing on their own, and words began to appear. And in no time, the whole of Hogwarts was on the piece of paper. Alex looked for the Slytherin dormitory and found his own footsteps, along with some others.

'Now, the next step is?' Alex had no idea how to find others. Professor Snape never got to that part.

'Should I write it on the paper?' Alex thought and tried to do so, but nothing happened. Then he tried doing it with his magic pouring out of the wand, but the result was the same.

"I wish he had at least told me how to use it. How am I going to track the great Harry Potter with that?" Alex sighed and was about to close the map when he saw a couple of steps appear on the map with Potter's name above them. It was easy to notice because they were bolder than everyone else's names on the map. And only Alex could compare to that.

"Do I have to speak?" Alex thought. He looked at Potter's footprints, and they had just left the Great Hall, moving towards the Gryffindor tower at a rapid pace. He must be running.

"Nicole... Ashbridge," Alex paused, a bit hesitant. He did not know if the name would work. He then looked at his own name, and over his footprints, it was Alex Ashbridge itself.

"So it's indeed the names registered with the school," Alex felt relieved.

After he had confirmed that, he looked around, trying to find his sister. He looked in the Great Hall, the library, Gryffindor tower and everywhere on the map, but he found her nowhere.

"Have I done something wron..." Alex was confused when he did not find Nicole anywhere. Alex began to think that he might have done something wrong. Maybe the pause while saying the name should not have been there, but before Alex could think more about it, he found Nicole.

And she was not alone. Hermione, the girl with curly brown hair was with her as well. But they were not supposed to be where they were.

Alex had no time to waste. He jumped off his bed and, leaving Erebus behind, dashed out of the room. There were more than usual Slytherins in the common room. They chatted among themselves as they walked out of the Slytherin dormitories in groups. Something interesting was going on.

"Why don't you understand? I don't want to enter your secret dormitory either, just call him out for me," As soon as Alex walked out of the Slytherin common room, he heard Nicole.

Earlier, Alex saw Nicole and Hermione's footprints outside the Slytherin dungeon. And they were not alone. A bunch of Slytherins have had them surrounded.

"You can either wait for him to come out or leave," One of the Slytherins spoke up, "But if you are going to wait, don't ruin our sight. Go and scooch in that corner." And hearing the guy, everyone in the corridor laughed. Slytherins really enjoyed tormenting others, flaunting their superiority.

"Why are you all making a fuss for nothing," Alex heard another familiar voice. It was that girl constantly following him around, Daphne.

"She just wants to meet her brother. It's not like she wants to barge in the Slytherin dormitory," Daphne spoke up for Nicole.

"You stay out of this, Greengrass. Your family is already losing its grace among the noble families. Don't make it even worse," Alex recognised this voice as well. This guy was the most authoritative in Slytherin right now, Malfoy.

"How can two filthy mudbloods just walk up to the Slytherin dungeon?" Malfoy yelled at the top of his voice, and silence prevailed in the corridor. After Malfoy had spoken, no one else dared to say anything else.

"Do you want to die so bad, silver head?"

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