Chapter 034 Professor Quirrell however, must have been braver than they'd thought. In the weeks that followed he did seem to be getting paler and thinner, but it didn't look as though he'd cracked yet. Alex could spot Harry, Ron, and Hermione lurking around the third-floor corridor every now and then. They would press their ears to the door to check that Fluffy was still growling inside. Harry and Ron tried their best to morally support Professor Quirrell whenever they could. Whenever Harry passed Quirrell these days he gave him an encouraging sort of smile, and Ron had started telling people off for laughing at Quirrell's stutter. Apart from spending his alone time in the library, Alex has started to keep an eye on Harry and his company. Alex could sense from Professor Snape's tone that whatever Harry heard in the forest was a notably serious matter. He needed to keep an eye on them, he was sure they might end up creating an upheaval sooner or later. While Harry and Ron were busy trying to find out ways to help Professor Quirrell and not let Professor Snape anywhere near the Sorcerer's Stone, Hermione was in a frenzy. She had started drawing up study schedules and colour-coding all her notes. Today, Hermione has dragged Harry and Ron to the library. Reluctance could be seen clearly on their face. "Hermione, the exams are ages away" Ron complained. "Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel." "But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it all." "What am I studying for? Are you crazy? Do you realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me. "Aren't you freaking out a bit too much? We also have other important matters to care about?" Ron told her. "What can be more important than passing the exams?" "Sorcerer's Stone!" Ron said with a soft tone. "Do you think you are more qualified than the professors and the headmaster to safeguard that stone? You can't even perform a levitation spell" Hermione rebuked Ron, leaving the latter with nothing but a red face full of shame. "You---" Ron wanted to rebuttal but was cut short by Harry. "Let's leave this matter aside". "What do you think Harry, do they post the result for everyone to see?" Hermione asked. "Maybe," Harry said without lifting his head. "Do you want to brag in front of everyone in the school that you are the "Know it all Queen"? Ron said as he sniggered trying to scorn Hermione. Hermione ignored the scorn in his tone, " I think there is one more person who could easily score more than me in the exams" She said without a hint of displeasure in her tone, in fact, there was a bit of admiration there. "Who?" Ron asked. Even Harry raised his head and looked at Hermione. It was a surprise to find her admiring someone. "I think it can be Alex," Hermione said. "Him? Are you kidding me?"Ron asked with surprise and displeasure. "Why not? He is better than me in almost everything. It's just that he never tried to stand out" Hermione explained her reason behind her claim. "Humph... I don't know why you hold him in such high regard, from what I know he is no better than me" Ron said without an ounce of shame on his face. Hermione did not reply back but just continued to look at Ron with disgust on her face. Even Harry who heard Ron could not help but look surprised by this sudden declaration of facts from an obscure source. Harry was amazed by the hollow confidence Ron had while Hermione was disgusted by his shameless attitude. Alex was left amused listing to the group. He stood from his chair and walked towards them. He placed the book he was reading on the shelf near them. Hermione who saw him called out, "Alex!" "Do you think I will be afraid if you call out his name? huh..." Ron said scornfully as he turned around only to find Alex looking at him with a sweet smile. "Yo---you---you were really behind me?" Ron asked stammering. Now he was afraid that Alex might have heard what he said moments back. "Why can't I be?" Alex asked calmly looking at Ron, but Ron felt he was being pierced by that gaze. "Well you can... obviously you can... how can you can't..." Ron did not know what he was saying himself. "I just heard you say something". Alex ignored the gibberish and asked. "What did you hear? I did not say anything about you, you must have heard it wrong". Ron was quick to defend himself. "Are you saying I am deaf?" Alex asked, with his eyebrows raised. "How can I say that? How can someone like you be deaf? Maybe I said something wrong. Oh... look at me blabbering around when George and Fred asked me to come and meet them. I will be on my way then". Ron could not take the pressure from Alex anymore, so he ran out of the library. Harry, who saw Ron storming out of the library grabbed his books and followed him. Hermione, on the other hand, could not hold it anymore and finally burst into laughter. "You scared the shit out of him. He brags a lot but could not hold a candle in front of you" Hermione said, still giggling. "This is because of the fear I slowly infused in his heart. The fear which is instilled slowly over a period of time is hard to get rid of" Alex said this emotionlessly, but Hermione could feel the temperature drop around her. Hearing Alex, even Hermione felt goosebumps all over her body. The coldness in his eyes was different from that emotionless expression he carried around on his face. "I will be off now, I have some matters to attend to," Alex said and turned around to leave. Hermione just nodded drowned in her thoughts as she saw Alex leave the library. * * * * *