Chapter 109    

'Nah…. I'm sure it isn't guilt… After all, I felt nothing when I did it. This weird feeling began when I heard everyone talk about me like I did some unforgivable deed… what is that called? Do I crave acceptance from people…. Oh god, I'm pathetic, aren't I?'

A defeated laugh escaped his mouth as he stood up and was about to cast the disillusionment charm on himself when a short girl stared at him from just a few meters away.

"Luna?"

She nodded and walked towards him, "Did you see one of my shoes here? It went missing a few minutes ago and a friend of mine said that she saw it in the grounds."

"How is it possible to lose a shoe? Weren't you wearing it?"

She shook her head, "I lost it while watching the match. I like sitting barefoot as it feels good when the air brushes against my feet."

Alex sighed not knowing what to say, and sat back down, "Well, I surely didn't see it here but are you sure that you just lost it? Didn't you ever think that someone else might have done it?"

Luna looked confused as she heard the question but she still replied, "Why would anyone want a single shoe? Even if they didn't want it, why would they waste their time in hiding my shoe?"

Alex lay down and patted the ground beside him, "Why don't you sit here for a while? I walked around the whole ground and didn't see any shoe."

"Okay.", she said as she walked over and lay down beside him without questioning his claims.

The two of them stared at the leaves with a calm look on the outside for a while. Luna turned towards Alex before looking back up.

"You played pretty well today. I doubt there was a beater as good as you in the history of Hogwarts quidditch."

Alex slowly turned towards her with a frown on his face, "You're not going to blame me for injuring the Gryffindors?"

"Why? You played well and they didn't. Why should I blame you for injuring them?"

He turned back up when he heard her answer. He felt like a massive weight had been lifted off of his head and he felt so much better. The weird feeling was forgotten in just a moment as he smiled widely.

"Hey Luna, why don't we go search for your shoe? I wasn't really searching for it so maybe I missed it."

"Okay…", she said in her same old drawling bored voice as she stood up and looked at Alex who was still down.

"I thought you wanted to search too…"

"Yes, I'm coming. Just give me a minute and I'll join you."

********

Aman walked out of the dungeons after he was done with potions along with Hannah and Susan when he saw Hermione and Neville standing against the wall.

Neville looked up at the group before meeting Aman's eye.

"Can we talk?"

Aman squinted his eyes before shaking his head, "No."

Hermione shook her head as she walked towards them, "That's not how you do it, Neville." 

She then turned towards Alex with her arms crossed, "We need to talk, Aman."

"Hey, didn't he just say that he didn't want to talk? Just back off, bookworm.", Susan poked her on the chest as she spoke, trying to push her back.

*Pak* the sound of a hard slap echoed through the corridor before Susan's squeal sounded.

Hermione gripped Susan's finger as she pulled, trying to bend it backward as she turned back towards Aman, "I said, we need to talk. Now."

"Okay. Just let her go. Why are you hurting her when it's the Ravenclaws who hurt the Gryffindors?"

"This isn't about that.", She said as she released Susan and glanced at Hannah before taking a step back.

"Just meet me outside. I'll be waiting for you near the quidditch stands."

Aman nodded and walked away with the other two girls while Neville and Hermione walked towards the castle exit.

"Are we really going to do this? What if Alex gets angry?", Neville asked as he put his hands inside his pockets.

"I don't care. He hasn't been attending classes the last three days and I'm worried. I know that he injured a lot of our players but he obviously didn't break the rules. You've seen how people start to talk when he's around and it's just… sad."

Neville simply nodded as he knew that he couldn't change Hermione's mind.

'Maybe he just needs some time to himself…', he thought as he glanced at Hermione and simply shrugged before making up his mind to not tell her that.

They didn't have to wait for long as Aman leisurely walked towards them in a warm wooly coat.

"What did you two want to talk about?"

"Alex. We haven't seen him these past three days and we thought you would know since you're always with him.", Neville said, rubbing his hands together to fight off the cold.

"I wonder if that's true.", Aman muttered before shaking his head, "He told me to keep it a secret but I guess it'll be fine if I tell you guys. He wants me to stay away from him and he told me to start doing it a few days before the match began. 

Apparently, he doesn't want people to hate me just because I'm his friend. As for where he is right now, I have no idea. He told me to give you guys a message if you both come to me asking for him and since you did exactly that, listen carefully. 

You know how to contact me. Don't go bothering people like headless chickens."

Hermione and Neville stared at Aman who stood in front of them with a sneer on his face.

"Heh. Headless chickens. Anything else?"

"Umm… no. Thank you.", Hermione said before dragging Neville back inside hurriedly.

They sat in an empty corridor with their backs touching the wall as they repeated one sentence in their heads.

'Alex, we need your help!'