Chapter - 17.3

Now, only Alex remained in the washroom aside from the three Professors, out of which one's presence was useless.

Now finally turning her attention towards Alex, Professor McGonagall took a deep breath, "Mr Ashbridge, I can neither punish you nor reward you. But let me say this. It's not like you to do as your heart pleases."

'Wait a minute... Why does it feel like a deja vu? Life has come full circle in just a few days. Wasn't I disappointed with the Professor not too long back?' Alex thought. But Alex was not surprised. Instead, he was rather amused by it.

"That being said, Petrification? I don't suppose Professor Flitwick or anyone else would have taught you that," Professor McGonagall said as she looked at the troll. This time, it was still standing like a statute, unable to break the spell.

"To use it brilliantly..." Professor McGonagall was impressed.

But Alex did not say anything in return. He continued to stand there, listening to her.

"Minerva, if I may," Professor Snape interrupted.

"Sure, Professor," Since Alex belonged to Slytherin, it was only right for Professor Snape to handle the matter.

"... But please... Do use correct prefixes when we are in front of students," Professor McGonagall said.

But Professor did not care to reply, like always.

"Ashbridge, care to explain why is this floating around? Amidst all this chaos," Professor Snape asked as he grabbed the chocolate cupcake floating around. No one else paid much attention to it, "And what about these stools? I don't think we have them in the washrooms."

Now, this was a dilemma for Alex. On one side, everyone before him had lied. But no one asked them such hard questions. And now that he is the only one left, they want to know more. Now there were two options in front of him. Either cook up another lie and continue with what Hermione and the others did or just tell them the truth and get done with it. And to be honest, both of them were a hassle to him. He didn't want to spend time explaining every event. Now Alex regretted not asking Hermione to leave. They could have easily avoided the troll. It was all because of Nicole that he was in this mess.

But what Alex missed was the slight smirk on Professor Snape's face. Don't know what he was thinking, but he wanted Alex to tell the truth.

"Alex, I ask you to tell us the truth," Professor Snape said.

And as soon as he did, the expression on Alex's face changed a bit. The calmness was replaced by a frown for an instant before regaining the tranquillity on his face.

'He did make the choice easy," Alex looked at Professor Snape, 'But it's always painful.'

What happened was quite simple. Just as Professor Snape ordered Alex to tell the truth, the latter was slow to retract the thoughts about lying to them. And since he had those thoughts about lying to his master, the snake around his heart tightened its grip. The good thing was that his thoughts were nowhere close to harming Professor Snape. Otherwise...

So now that he was subtly ordered by Professor Snape to tell the truth. He could only comply.

"Hermione was hurt by some things in the afternoon."

"She cried all day here, in this washroom."

"I brought her food."

"When we were done, the troll came."

"It attacked, and I defeated it."

"Then the red hair and Harry came."

"Just after that, all of you came."

Alex was short and concise with his explanation. He skipped a part between the last two events, but since he did not lie. It did not matter.

"They lied to me," Professor McGonagall felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Did she give Gryffindors ten points for doing nothing?

"Ten points each from Mr Potter and Mr Ron for lying," Professor McGonagall said, "And nothing for defeating this troll."

So you brought these stools with you..." Professor Snape did not care for what Professor McGonagall said. He just wanted to show off Alex.

"Finite," Alex pointed his wand towards the two stools, and suddenly two turkey legs dropped on the floor.

"Is that really..." Professor McGonagall was moved. It was such a good transfiguration. She had never seen someone in their first year use it to such perfection.

"What a treat to the eye," Professor Snape said, "What do you think, Professor McGonagall?"

It was too much for Professor McGonagall to handle. Not only was she embarrassed because of her students, but now Professor Snape was going against her character to show off.

"Five points to Mr Ashbridge," Professor McGonagall said nothing more and left. Professor Quirrell also hurriedly followed behind her, not wanting to be left alone with the scary troll and Professor Snape.

"Come with me, Ashbridege," Professor Snape said and turned around to leave.

"About this troll..." Alex wanted to ask if it was alright to leave the troll alone.

"Someone will take care of it,"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Hey, what do you think that Ashbridge guy was doing there alone with Hermione?" Ron whispered to Harry as they walked up the stairs towards the Gryffindor dormitory. Nicole and Gemma closely followed them.

"I don't know," Harry, on the other hand, was not interested in talking to Ron right now.

"But man, that guy sure is strong," Ron said without thinking, "He took on a troll on his own."

And this finally made Harry look at Ron. He felt displeased with Ron praising Alex. But, since Gemma and Nicole were not far behind, he could not say anything.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"You don't have to escort me all the way to my room, you know," Nicole told Gemma, who was walking side by side with her, "We are already at the tower."

"Since we are already here, let me walk you a few steps more," Gemma said and smiled.

"... That way, I wouldn't have to worry about not following Professor Snape's instructions. And if your brother asks me about you, I won't have to make excuses."

"Are you also close to my brother?" Nicole squinted her eyes and looked at Gemma with suspicion.

"Close? I have hardly ever talked to your brother," Gemma laughed as she placed her hand over Nicole's shoulder, "Don't be vigilant of everyone."

Nicole knew what Gemma was implying. Gemma made it sound like she was the insecure one. And on top of that, the laugh made it even worse.

"I don't need you to tell me that," Nicole pushed Gemma's hand away and ran towards the fat lady's portrait, "You can leave now," Nicole yelled from afar and walked through the door, vanishing in no time.

"Kids these days," Gemma smiled as she turned to leave, 'Wait, I am not that old. I need to stop taking these prefect duties to heart. They are not my kids...'

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After getting rid of Gemma, as Nicole walked into the room, she found Hermione sitting by the window. She was lost in her thoughts, staring into nothingness, smiling ear to ear like a fool.

Hermione, smiling like a fool despite losing points? If Nicole were to tell this to anyone, they wouldn't ever believe her. But she was seeing it live, firsthand.

And the fear in Nicole's heart began to feel real. She had hoped it all to be a misunderstanding. She knew her brother. Alex was never interested in such stuff. But that smile on Hermione's face told a different story to her. What if she was wrong about her brother?

With her detective instincts going rampant, Nicole walked toward Hermione.

"You look awfully happy for someone who just got into trouble," Nicole said as she sat in front of Hermione.

"It's Al... Ummm... It's nothing like that," Hermione almost blurted her inner thoughts, but she reacted in time and held herself back, "When did you come?"

"Just now. While you were lost in thoughts, thinking about someone," Nicole said.

"Ohh... Come, let's sleep. It's already late," Hermione said and tried to stand up, but Nicole pulled her back.

"Not so fast," Nicole said, "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

"Me... To you..." Hermione averted her eyes, "Like what?"

"Look, I don't want to beat around the bush. What was my brother doing there with you?" Nicole asked straightforward.

"Ahh... Your brother?" Hermione felt relieved. She thought Nicole might pressure her to tell what she was thinking.

"Yes, my brother?" Nicole felt something was wrong with Hermione's tone. Hermione almost sounded non-bothered, "What were the two of you doing?"

"He brought me food," Hermione was no longer defensive, "He said it was his way of saying thank you."

"Thank you?" Now Nicole was confused, "Thank you for what?"

"For being your friend," Hermione helplessly threw her arms, "Apparently, it's not an easy job. But there are some perks every now and then."

"Are you telling the truth?" Nicole asked suspiciously. Well, it was indeed something her brother would say. But was it all?

"Of course, do you think I am lying?" Hermione said as she teased Nicole, "But why do you sound so jealous?"

"Me? Jealous? Huh... Not in the least," Nicole denied right away, "I just found it odd that my brother was all alone with a girl other than me."

"Well, even if you were jealous, don't be," Hermione shook her head, "Your bother loves you a lot. You are certainly the most important person to him."

"Why? Did he say something to you?" Nicole asked. Hermione's words suddenly got her curious. All the uneasiness went down the flush in a second.

"He certainly did," Hermione nodded and told her all about what they talked about.

After Hermione was done narrating the events from her dinner date, Nicole found herself teary-eyed as she looked out of the window.

"It is so like him," she whispered.

* * * * *