Chapter - 024 Hello again everyone, hope you all are doing fine confined to your homes. Those from the USA and India, I hope you are paying extra precaution in your daily life. Well, we can only pray that this situation ends soon so that we can enjoy our lives again. Until then Stay Home and Stay Safe "With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." -Eleanor Roosevelt Getting off the train, Alex and Nicole bid their farewell to Hermione and Daphne. To fetch Hermione a couple in their late forties was there. Most likely, Mr and Mrs Granger. On the other hand, there was an ancient, feeble looking old man, who looked as if was from the time of the French revolution was on the station to pick Daphne. After watching the two of them leave, Alex picked up their luggage and exited the King's Cross. In less than an hour, they were standing in front of the orphanage. As they entered, the children playing around noticed them. The younger ones surrounded Nicole, while the older ones just stood on the sides. As usual, none of them tried to approach Alex. Even the nuns came around hearing the commotion. Alex greeted them like usual and went towards his room, leaving Nicole, who was happily chatting with the crowd. Alex entered his room and after leaving his luggage in the corner, sat on his bed. This is where he spent five years of his life and coming back for the first time in about four months, left an impalpable feeling in his heart. After some time he grabbed his clothes from his bag and went to freshen up. After that, he left the room to meet the Reverend Mother. He needed to know if everything in the orphanage was going fine or not. Alex reached her office and knocked. "Come in", Reverend Mother's voice came from the inside, "Ohh... you are back". As she looked at Alex, she said. Alex nodded and sat on the chair opposite her. "How is your new school? Have you made any friends? How's the food there? Do they bully you or something?" Reverend Mother went on asking questions in a single breath. "Everything is fine". "That's good then. Is Nicole back too?" Alex nodded. "Good". "How is everything here? Are the supplies and donations on time?" Alex asked about the orphanage. "Of course they are, the man even visited me once. He told me not to worry about the two of and that both of you were doing fine". she said. "He came here?" Alex looked surprised. There was no need to come here personally, now that they won't be here for long. "Yes, both you and he are truly the benefactors of this orphanage". Then Alex and Reverend Mother chatted about different things they faced during these four months. *Knock! Knock! "Come in". The door opened slightly, and Nicole's head popped out of it. "My child you are here, come here give me a hug". Reverend Mother's eyes shone as soon as she saw Nicole. "Reverend Mother I missed you so much". Nicole said as she jumped into Reverend Mother's bosom. "I missed you too". The Reverend Mother said as she caressed Nicole's hair. And pretty soon both of them forgot about the other guy who was in the room. After chatting with Reverend Mother for a while, both of them came back to their room. Soon Nicole came out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel. Lunch was sent to their room by the Reverend Mother. After they were completely stuffed and free, Alex looked at Nicole with a questioning gaze, "Now it's time for you to come clean with me. Why were all of you looking for Nicolas Flamel?" Nicole knew, she can't get out of this by making excuses, so it's better, to tell the truth, "Harry and Ron were talking with Hagrid, and it kind of slipped out of his mouth that whatever the dog was guarding is related to Nicolas Flamel". "So how did you got involved?" "They came to Hermione for help, and I happened to be there, one thing led to the other, and I ended up helping them". Nicole said as she showed him a helpless expression. "So, did you find anything?" Alex asked. "Nothing even Hermione didn't know about him, but I don't know why but I feel like I have heard this name before". Nicole said as she explained the subtle feeling she had in her heart [ She forgot about the books Alex made her read before the schools even opened]. "Don't dig into this too much". Alex advised. "En..." Nicole nodded. Days went by and Alex would spend most of the time either reading books or lazying around in his room. Nicole, on the other hand, either was with the orphanage children or was helping out nuns. She would also write daily to Hermione and Daphne. Nicole and Daphne grew close during their trip back home. Nicole found that Daphne was not like other Slytherins, who would look down on others. Daphne, on the other hand, wanted to have an amicable relationship with Nicole. On the day of Christmas, Nicole got letters and gifts from Hermione and Daphne. Alex too got gifts from both of them. Nicole has also sent her gifts to them the day before. "Brother, did you send gifts to them?" Nicole asked as she saw Alex looking at the gifts he got. "No" "What about the letters?" She asked. Maybe he just wrote them letters wishing Christmas. "No" "Why? look they sent you gifts, are you going to accept them shamelessly?" "Are we on such terms where we send letters and gifts to each other? I don't think so?" "Uhh..." "And about the gifts, you can have them". "How dumb can you be?" Alex ignored her and grabbed the gift packed in black. He took out the letter with the gift which read, " Merry Christmas". There was nothing else written in the letter except for an 'S' at the end. Alex smiled looking at the letter. "Brother is this gift from the man in black?" Nicole who still did not know the identity of the man asked. Alex nodded. "Did he come to meet you after you went to Hogwarts?" Nicole asked. Now that she was not there with him she didn't know whether they met or not. "Yes..." Alex said as he thought that Snape was practically a teacher at Hogwarts, and they meet almost every day. "Brother what does he want from you?" Alex did not want her to be roped in his affairs, so he just asked her to not mind about these matters, "Nothing special and you don't need to know the details". "Brother you better be careful, you can't just trust a stranger". Nicole knew that her brother was not someone to be easily swindled, but she still asked him to be cautious. "I know". "Ohh... brother I forgot to tell you, we are going to Hermione's house today, so you better be ready in the evening". Nicole told him. Since she and Hermione have been exchanging letters they made the plan. "Why?" "We promised her we will visit, and today is Christmas a perfect occasion". "They might be having family and friends at their house. It won't be considerate of us to barge in there, let's go some other day". Alex who did not want to be associated with anyone else too much thought of an excuse. "We are going back the day after tomorrow we don't have time". Alex was asked by Snape to come back a little earlier than others, so he was prepared to go way before the new term starts. Nicole after hearing this although wasn't too glad but still she insisted on going back with him. After much deliberation, Alex finally gave in, "Fine! let's go in the evening". * * * * *