Chapter 110      

Alex sat on the cold, hard floor as he drank his potions before he continued to breathe heavily. 

'Hmm? Help huh…', he thought as he felt a piercing pain in his head. He took off his clothes urgently and with a good burst of cold water from his wand, he felt better. He didn't have the time for a relaxing shower so he simply dried himself up and wore his robes before leaving the room of requirements.

He could feel their general location and jogged toward the area. He spotted the two of them sitting in the third-floor corridor and slowed down to a walk until he reached them.

"So? What kind of help do you guys need?"

The two of them stood up and observed him for a few seconds before Hermione took it upon herself to start the conversation.

"We simply wanted to talk to you. Actually, it's about something very important."

Alex groaned as he felt his muscles ache, "Just… go to your dormitories and enter the room. I'll wait for you guys there. Anything you want to tell me can be done there. No. No questions allowed here Neville. Just go and don't talk."

The two of them looked at each other's faces before shrugging and leaving Alex alone in the empty corridor. After they were out of his sight, he turned around and walked back, almost limping.

When he walked back into the room of requirements, he took out a wooden hat from his ring and wore it for a few seconds before he felt his environment change.

He stood in the large empty room as he waited for the other two. A few minutes passed and Neville appeared a few seconds before Hermione.

"Okay, tell me what you wanted to say. I am quite busy right now."

"Ron is in the hospital ward. We don't know what happened but I have a feeling that Ron and Harry did something in the Christmas holidays. We went to visit him but he could barely even look at us."

"Yeah… he looked like a statue.", Neville quipped.

"Oh, and also, Harry has been visiting the library a lot these days and I'm certain that it's related to Ron or whatever happened to him."

Alex nodded, "Okay. Anything else? Like, did you see him with a diary or some random book?"

Hermione shook her head but Neville frowned, "Not Harry, but Ron. I saw him with an old-looking diary before Christmas. I don't know if Harry has it now."

"All right, try confirming your suspicions. If you find Harry with that book, I want you to inform me as soon as possible. No one should know about this and also, try reading books on Herpo the foul and the founders of our school. I have a feeling that they will help us out in the near future."

The two of them nodded and stood still as they stared at him as if waiting for something.

"What?", he asked.

"We simply want to know what you have been doing the past few days."

"….. I've been… doing things. Trying my best to survive. Don't ask me to explain as I won't. Now is not the time for that. Anything else?"

"Not really…"

"Good. Now get back to whatever you have been doing.", he said with a smile as he erased them from the room. He didn't leave the room and instead, sat down.

'Ron huh… this is not a butterfly effect. This is complete randomness. I need the basilisk corpse for myself but I don't want to face it myself and the chances of me getting Godrick Gryffindor's sword is almost non-existent. 

I can only consider that if the sorting hat would mysteriously present itself in front of me. Sending Toffy to get the hat would be a foolish idea since the hat is usually in Dumbledore's office. 

Looks like I'll have to bring Harry on board and once I do it and expose him to Voldemort, it will be hard to keep him away. That paranoid idiot will attach every bad thing to the snake so I have to make plans instead of recklessly trying to force him into that chamber.

Ah so annoying. I wish I could just kill Voldy now but ugh. I really don't like this. Why should I let him get back to power in two more years when I can just kill him now if I find him. I really, really hate this. I guess I'll think it over while working out…'

With just a thought, he was back in the room of requirements. He stood up with quite a bit of effort and began pushing himself.

**************

Hermione sat in the great hall and stuffed herself as she read a book titled "Biography of Helga Hufflepuff", while Ginny sat beside her with her head in her arms like she was fighting a skull breaking headache.

"Hey, where's Neville? Isn't he always with you?", she asked, her hands still supporting her head.

"Oh Neville? He told me he has a few things to do. He's probably in the common room or his dormitory right now."

Ginny said nothing while Hermione went back to reading. A few minutes passed and Ginny stood up, her eyes almost teary.

"I'll go check up on my brother."

Hermione nodded while Harry simply glanced at his friend's sister before going back to his food.

"You're not going to join her?"

"No. I already visited him before coming here.", Harry replied and Hermione nodded.

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor second year boys' dormitory, Neville searched everywhere for the diary and found nothing. 

'Just where is it… wait!', his eyes widened as he took a step forward and lifted Ron's mattress.

"Nothing here…", he muttered went for Harry's next. 'Nothing here either. I guess I'll just keep an eye on Harry for now.'

He walked out of the room as he put his wand back in his robes and a few seconds later, a distorted transparent silhouette entered the room and stopped near Harry's bed.