Hagrid was going through the shelves when he heard someone calling out for him from behind. "Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?" Ron's loud remark grabbed everyone's attention in the library. Madam Pince walked up to him and deducted five points from Gryffindor. Even Alex, after hearing this looked in the direction of Potter and his gang. Although the library was not as peaceful as it used to be and Alex was not pleasant as he used to be when he visited the library, but Alex still loved to come here and sit in one of the corners which had turned into an exclusive spot of his. And for the past few days, he had seen Hagrid visiting the library more often, which made him a bit curious too. Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat. "Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up ter?" He looked suddenly suspicious. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?" "Oh, we found out who he is ages ago," said Ron impressively. "And we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's St —"Ron was about to blurt out something, but he was shushed by Hagrid as he covered his full face with his big hands. "Shhhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?" "There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy —" "SHHHH!" said Hagrid again. "Listen — come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh —" "See you later, then," said Harry. After that, Hagrid shuffled off. Hearing them talk, Alex could only shake his head in disappointment. How naive can they be? Talking about such an important matter out in public, that too loud enough for everyone to hear. When Daphne saw a slight smile on Alex's face she was confused, "Why are you smiling like this? Did you hear anything funny?" "Nothing just some naive children trying to show off and carrying the burden of popularity and trying to live up to their fame" Alex replied. "What are you talking about?" Daphne asked confused listening to Alex's riddled remark. "Nothing, let's get back to the dorms". Alex looked in the direction of the shelf Hagrid was going through and then stood up to leave. "Okay". Daphne kept the book she was reading on the shelves and followed behind Alex. It was after dinner that Alex was in his room playing with Erebus when he heard a knock on his door. Alex opened the door only to find a boy from the first year itself standing there nervously. Alex waited for him to say something, but the boy stood still fidgeting with his fingers. Finally, when Alex had enough of the suspense he asked, "How may I help you?" When the boy heard Alex, he instinctively went two steps back. Alex looked at the boy in surprise, he knew his reputation among the students of the Slytherin's and even across the borders of houses was not something to be proud of, but to be afraid of him to such an extent was not something he liked either. "Now that you are so far away, will you tell me why did you knock at my door?" Alex asked again. "It was not me, bu-but Daphne who was looking for you in the common room," The boy said stammering. "You should have come to the matter at once, why are you dragging it and making me angry?" Alex tried to fake some anger. "Sorry! Sorry! I di---didn't mean to dis---disturb you" "Fine, I will be there in a moment," Alex said. The boy nodded and sprinted to the common room without looking back, Alex could only shake his head in amusement. When Alex came to the common room, he found Daphne sitting in one of the corners. He walked up to her, "Why did you call for me?" Daphne raised her face to look at Alex. When Alex saw the frown on her face, he could sense the anger budding inside her ready to boom. "What happened?" Alex asked. "Do you know where Malfoy is?" Daphne asked. "How would I know where he is. It's not like we are buddies or anything. If I have to be honest, we are more likely to be adversaries at best" Alex said as he shrugged. "Even you don't know? No one knows where that idiot has gone wandering off to, even his lackeys Crabbie and Goyle don't know about his whereabouts" Daphne said gritting her teeth in anger. "But why are you searching for him?" Alex asked. "That idiot asked me to help him study until the exams, we were supposed to meet after dinner, but I have been waiting here for two hours now, and he is nowhere to be seen. I swear if he comes in front of me right now, I will scratch his face and pluck out those platinum hairs of his" Daphne told him as she clawed her hands in the air. Alex was amused hearing the way Daphne wanted to teach Malfoy a lesson, he thought of something and said, " Wait here I will go out and look for him". "Why would you do that, leave him be. Why should I care even if he fails in the examination? I am going to sleep now, you also go and hit the bed, it's getting late" Daphne said as she marched towards her room. Alex just nodded and went back to his room, as he entered the room he took out the map professor Snape gave him and called out 'Malfoy'. Soon Malfoy's footprints appeared on the map, Alex saw him running towards the school building from the direction of Hagrid's hut. Alex calmly observed the footprints until they stopped in front of Professor McGonagall's office. Alex called out the professor's name and found that she was still in her office working so late. Alex continued to observe Malfoy for some time, it looked like Malfoy and Professor McGonagall were having some kind of a discussion. After half an hour or so finally, Malfoy walked out of her office, but to Alex's surprise instead of coming in the direction of the Slytherin dorms, he walked outside of the school castle. Confused by his behaviour Alex climbed out of his bed grabbed an overcoat and was on his way out of the dorm. * * * * *