Chapter 46

Alex first went to Professor Snape's office to look for him. Since the matter at hand was urgent, forgoing the formalities, he barged into Professor's office. But Professor Snape was nowhere to be seen. He waited there for a while before he went looking around the school to find him, but his efforts were futile.

Giving up on looking for Professor Snape aimlessly, Alex went back to his room and grabbed the map Professor Snape has given him.

"Professor Snape," Alex called out. He waited for a few moments before looking all over the map to find his footsteps, but there were none.

'What does this mean? Is he not on the school grounds? Where can he be?' Alex mused by himself. Finding his master was the right course of action.

Now that he could not find Professor Snape, Alex felt a premonition rising in his heart, "What should I do now?" He needed to make a decision.

Thinking for a while, he finally made up his mind, 'Since master has instructed me to protect Potter from the shadows. So I will just follow him around and see what he is up to.'

"Harry Potter," Alex called out. Soon new footsteps appeared on the map. Potter was in the Gryffindor common room right now.

After that, Alex called out Hermione, Nicole, Ron's name. They were all in the Gryffindor tower. 'So far so good,' Alex thought, 'Looks like they won't stupidly walk towards their doom.' Alex felt his shoulders loosen up.

Now all that is left, is for him to check on them every now and then, to make sure that none of them is acting suspiciously.

During dinner, it was after a very long time that Alex was not concentrating on his food. He kept glancing towards the Gryffindor table every once in a while, but none of them showed any sign of poking their nose around. The way Potter and others acted was so perfect that Alex felt it was surreal, and he could not help but be sceptical of them.

Daphne wanted to talk to him, but today he was even less in the mood of idle chatter. Finishing his dinner as fast as he could, he rushed back to his room.

The first thing he did after coming back to his room was to infuse magic into the map and track Potter and the others.

With Erebus in his lap, this time he monitored them continuously, his guts told him that something big was going to happen today.

Alex kept on waiting, and it was soon midnight, but to his shock, none of them left the dormitory, 'Was he wrong? Maybe he was just sceptical after hearing Hagrid and knowing Potter's thirst for fame.' Alex was relieved to see that they were not going anywhere.

'Now that they are not going anywhere today, I can summarise the details to master tomorrow and get him to help them.' Alex thought to himself, but thinking about his master, he was concerned about him. he could not find him anywhere all day.

"It's midnight, they won't go anywhere now, would they Erebus?" Alex embraced Erebus even more and asked.

Erebus looked at Alex, then leapt out of his embrace and landed on the map. With his paws, he scratched where Potter's footsteps were. Alex looked at the map and facepalmed himself.

'How can he expect them to keep themselves away from trouble.'

The trio, Potter, Ron and Hermione, has just stepped out of the Gryffindor tower. Alex looked back at Gryffindor tower and saw Nicole's footsteps there. By looking at Nicole's footsteps pacing too and fro, Alex knew that she was contemplating whether to follow the trio or not.

Since it has come to this, there was no use dilly-dallying. Alex grabbed his robes and the map and left the dormitories. But unknown to him, someone followed.

The first stop was going to be the Gryffindor tower. He needs to make sure Nicole does not take a single step out of the tower tonight.

Just as Alex reached the fat lady, the portrait swung open, and someone stepped out.

Alex recognized the silhouette at once. It was his sister. So she finally made up her mind.

'I think I need to teach her a lesson' Alex thought and crept behind her quietly.

Nicole has just taken her first step down the stairs when Alex pressed his wand on her neck.

"Isn't it late for you to go on a stroll, little missy?" Alex altered his voice and whispered in her ear.

"Aaaahhh...!!!" Sensing something pressing against her neck, Nicole involuntarily cried out in alarm.

"Yell again, and I will slit your throat and watch the blood splurt out of your body like a fountain. What a sight it would be." Alex said in his husky voice and let out a burst of creepy low laughter.

"No... no... no, please don't. I was just... just..." Hearing the man behind her, Nicole pleaded.

Seeing his sister pitifully pleading to him, Alex felt bad, but it was the right opportunity for him to teach her a lesson. So he steeled his heart and continued, "You were just what? You have been on my radar for some time now. I have seen you disrespect your teacher and cause trouble here and there."

Hearing the accusations on herself, Nicole knew that the one behind him really know a lot about her, but she could not possibly agree to them, can she? "You must be mistaken. I... I very much respect my professors, and they like me too. In fact, I am Professor McGonagall's favourite." she bluffed.

"Oh, is that so? Then it looks like I have some wrong information on myself. So I will leave you with a warning alone this time. Remember, nights are for sleep, don't wander around needlessly. You might attract some trouble to yourself."

Nicolle nodded hastily.

"For you to remember me, I am leaving you with a chant, recite it daily in the night until you fall asleep. Nod if you understand."

Nicole nodded softly.

Listen carefully, "Respect your teachers! and cause less trouble! Always listen to your brother!" Alex said, "Do you remember it?"

Nicole nodded.

Even though not getting any reply, Nicole did not dare to turn around. She was scared that he might still be behind her. Finally, after waiting for a couple of minutes, she looked back. Seeing that no one was behind her, she did not waste a single breath and rushed back to the dormitory. Only after she was inside the common room did she sighed in relief.

Now that one obstacle was out of the equation, Alex glanced at the map again. Potter and his gang have already vanished from the map. The last time he looked, they were in front of the room that monstrous three-headed dog was in.

'Most likely, there is some restriction to prevent anyone from spying in that room.'

'If they can set a restriction like this, couldn't they deploy a more powerful restriction to prevent anyone from entering that room? If that Potter wouldn't have found about it, we could have avoided this situation. It's all Dumbledore's fault.'

While cursing the most powerful wizard, Alex arrived at his destination. He was standing outside the door. It brought back memories, 'If only I had not opened the door that day.'

'If I open this door, it would be a point of no return. It's all for you master' taking his master's name, Alex opened the door and went in.

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Inside her room, Nicole covered herself with a quilt and was shivering, not with cold, but fear. She was all excited to follow Hermione and the others on yet another adventure but the thought of her brother made her restless. After a lot of consideration, when she finally made up her mind, she faced yet again a crisis that left her limbs numb.

'Respect your teachers! and cause less trouble! Always listen to your brother!' Nicole kept on reciting these words trying to engrave them on her mind.

'Always listen to your...' suddenly a fuse in her brain sparked, 'Always listen to your brother! Always listen to your brother!' something struck her.

"Ahhh! You smelly brother, I won't leave you." not able to hold herself, she cried out.

"Achoo!" Alex, who just opened the door, sneezed.

* * * * *