Chapter - 13.1

"Brother? What are you doing here?" Nicole, when saw Alex coming toward them, cried out in surprise.

"Shhsshhh..." Alex was quick to cover Nicole's mouth and mouthed everyone to keep quiet, "Follow me," Alex said and took the lead, with Nicole still struggling in his arms.

Though Ron was displeased with Alex taking the lead role, none of them complained. Following Alex, they hurriedly tip-toed their way towards the other side of the corridor, away from Filch's voice. And just as they had made their way around the corner to leave the trophy room from the other door, Filch entered the room, sniffing the air. With a cat in his arms, Filch himself acted more like a tracking dog.

Filch was the creepy caretaker of Hogwarts. One would hardly come across him during the day, and even if they did, it would be in one of the dark, remote corners of the school. Because the nights belonged to him. With a lamp in one hand and his precious little cat in another, Filch would go on a hunt at night.

"They're in here somewhere, aren't they, Mrs Norris?" The group heard Filch mutter, but the echo was loud enough for everyone to hear, "Probably hiding. Hehehe..." Filch laughed in his coarse, crackling voice.

"Why is everything so creepy here?" Nicole whispered, "Is this a school or some haunted house?"

"Don't you speak a word," But as soon as Alex heard his sister, her foolishness came to his mind.

"This way," Alex mouthed to the others and led the way for everyone else down a long gallery full of suits of armour. Filch was getting closer their way, but they could not hurry away. Otherwise, it might give away their position.

"We just need to leave this room," Hermione whispered. She knew the ins and outs of Hogwarts.

But who would have thought, just as Hermione finished her words, Ron stepped on Potter's long robes that Potter was wearing over his pyjamas?

"Yaa..." Potter cried out in surprise. And to not fall hard, Potter tried to grab something and, in the process, ended up grabbing the hand of one of the armour.

But even in that short couple of seconds, when Ron saw the armour fall on Potter, he jumped up on Potter and took the brunt of all that metal, trying to hurt the legend. But Ron could not prevent the obvious, and the clanging and crashing in the dead of night was loud enough to wake everyone in Hogwarts.

"Shit," Alex could not stop himself from cursing. But with no time to waste, he held Ron by his arm and tried to pull him up, but like dead meat, Ron lay on Potter with his face buried in Potter's crotch.

"Get up, you moron," Alex had no time to appreciate the artistic way in which both Weasley and Potter lay over one another, burying their faces in each other's crotch. And so, Alex kicked Ron right in his buttcrack to wake him up from the stupor.

"You, BASTARD!" The pain had finally awakened Ron. The armour was so heavy that the moment it crashed on him, Ron almost lost consciousness.

"Get up, you weasel," Now that Ron was awake, Alex pulled him up, finally letting Potter breathe, "We need to leave," Alex said.

"Who made you the boss, anyway?" Ron jerked off Alex's hand and was ready to fight, "Who knows, this might be a plan of that Malfoy and yours."

"... I will take the lead," Ron said and dashed to the left.

"Hehehe... I finally found you," On the other side, Filch was closing in.

"Where should we go?" Potter turned towards Hermione and asked, "Didn't you say you knew the way?"

"Let me think," Hermione said.

"Hurry up," Potter urged Hermione.

"I can't think with you yelling in my ear," Hermione tried to hush Potter. She was panicking to the point that Alex could see her hands shake.

"Darn it," Potter finally gave up on Hermione and ran behind Ron.

"It's alright," Alex took a step forward and held Hermione's shaking palms, "Let's follow them for now." Saying so, Alex followed behind Potter and Weasley, leaving Hermione and Nicole behind.

But this small gesture of his calmed down Hermione to a greater extent. She looked at Alex's disappearing figure and then at her hand. Miraculously, the shaking had stopped.

"Let's hurry up," Nicole tapped on Hermione's shoulder and brought her out of her thoughts, "We will be left behind.

And so, all five of them sprinted down the gallery without even looking back to see if Filch was following them or not. They swung around the doorpost and galloped down one corridor after the other, with Ron in the lead, followed closely by others.

Alex had no idea where they were going. He was not that familiar with the outline of Hogwarts yet. But he had to follow Potter, hoping he could save him from some unwanted trouble.

This was also the first time he was doing this sort of work, and even if he did not like it, he wasn't going to mess it up.

After running non-stop for a good couple of minutes, when they finally stopped, they had already crossed several passageways. Right now,

they were standing in front of their Charms classroom, miles away from where they started.

"I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. On the other hand, Ron was on all his fours, trying his best not to vomit his dinner.

"I... told... you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I... told... you."

"It's not the time to play the blame game," Nicole hurriedly said as she stole glances at her brother. She did not want Hermione to spill the beans about what was happening. At least not now. She just reconciled with her brother and had no desire to have him go silent on her for one more week or so.

"You all need to get back to the Gryffindor tower," Alex said, "As quickly as possible." Even Alex knew this was not the time to nitpick with Nicole. After all, there was always tomorrow.

"Let's go..." Nicole was relieved to hear Alex. And happy that Alex was not going to pursue the matter, she was on her feet in no time.

But how can it be so simple? They had hardly taken a few steps when something came shooting out of a classroom, scaring the shit out of them.

"Oh, Hello there, my cute little troublemakers.”

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