Chapter 12

"Well? We're waiting," Eric glared at Alex.

Alex leaned back against the table.

"Fifteen years ago, Harry came up with a plan to fake his death," he said finally. "You did hit him with the killing curse, but the only thing you killed was his body. He survived because he had a Horcrux."

"A Horcrux? The same thing your father had?" Ginny asked.

"Yes, but Harry only made one, unlike our father who had seven," Alex said. "Essentially, after Harry's body was destroyed, his soul attached to the container of the other half of his soul, Hedwig."

"Hedwig was a Horcrux?" Ron asked.

"Yes, and she's still alive," Alex said. "Harry only had to disguise her eyes and you all knew her as Shadow until now. And now...Harry has taken Hedwig with him."

"Why would he commit such an atrocious act of magic? Horcruxes are the worst and darkest of all magic," Eric said.

"I know that; Harry knew that," Alex said.

"What reason does he have to remain alive? He said he wanted to die to end the war and because he had nothing else to fight for!" Eric exclaimed. "Why did he create a Horcrux in the first place?"

"How would I know what he thinks about?" Alex asked. "The only reason he gave me for creating a Horcrux was he needed it in the fight against our father. He said nothing after that."

"You're his twin brother! You spent your entire life with him! Only you would know how he thinks!" Ron shouted.

"Perhaps that is true, but Harry is a highly secretive person. He doesn't trust very easily; at times I doubt he trusts me, even after all these years," Alex said.

"Doesn't he tell you everything?" Hermione asked.

"He eventually does," Alex said. Then he sighed. "But this time...I have no idea what he is planning to do."

Alex held up the black notebook still in his hands.

"Even this has very limited information of his plan," he said.

"What does it say?" Ginny asked.

"It is mostly research of various objects, including the pendant he stole from the bank. There are a few pages on Horcruxes, but that's it."

"How do we know you're telling the truth? For all we know, you could be lying to cover for Harry," Eric accused.

"You're going to have to trust me," Alex said, giving a hard glare at Eric. "No translation charm will work on this notebook; you'll only end up dead."

"What are you talking about?" Eric growled. "You just don't want us seeing what your twin's plans are!"

Alex tossed the notebook on the table.

"Go ahead then," he said. "If you die, it's not my problem."

Eric opened the notebook and frowned.

"What the hell is this? There's just scribbles and lines," he said. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"Nothing of the sort," Alex said. "That notebook contains all of Harry's notes and other things. Of course, in order to read it, you have to be of a certain bloodline."

"What?! You're lying!" Eric snarled.

"Calm down, Eric," Ginny exclaimed.

"Last time I checked, none of you are direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin, so you can't read Parselscript, which is what that is," Alex said, nodding at the notebook. "So you can either trust me about what it says or risk dying to translate it."

"You're hiding something; I know it!" Eric growled, starting forward.

"Eric, wait!" Ron exclaimed.

"Everyone, stop it!" Hermione snapped, bringing everyone's attention towards her.

She turned back to Alex.

"Alex, do you have any idea what Harry could be doing right now? Why he decided to do all of this?" she asked.

"I don't know anything."

"That can't be true!" Eric exclaimed. "Harry always told you everything! I find it hard to believe he wouldn't tell you about this either!"

"You don't know Harry at all if you think he always tells me everything," Alex said coldly, his magic starting to crackle angrily around him.

Eric took a step back involuntarily.

"Yes, I knew more things than anyone else did because Harry told me them or I worked it out myself." Alex said, glaring at everyone. "But this? I never knew Harry was planning anything like this. He doesn't want me involved this time because he knows that if I had known about this, I would've stopped him immediately."

"So, you have no clue what he's doing," Ron said.

"Unfortunately, no," Alex said.

By the next day, the news was everywhere. The whole world was in panic.

Harrison Riddle Still Alive! Ministry of Magic on the Move!

That was the main head title. While the whole world didn't know Harry as well as they did Voldemort, the fact that Harry was Voldemort's son was enough to cause panic.

Every newspaper was focused on Harry now. It was rare to see anything on Alex, but there were still a few articles on how the manhunt for Alex was going, all of which were unsuccessful.

"This is bad," Hermione said, setting the newspapers down on the table. "He's attacked both the Magical Congress and the Ministry of Magic now. There'll be a manhunt for him."

"This is what Harry said would happen," Alex muttered.

"And what did he say?" Ginny asked.

"Once he reveals himself as alive to the whole world, even if it was unintentional, they would be more focused on him than me. After all, Harry is a bigger threat than me any day." Alex said.

"You're not upset by that, are you?" Ginny teased, trying to lighten the dark atmosphere in the room.

"Ginny, this isn't the time to joke around," Ron said.

Ginny sighed.

"Sorry. What are we going to do?" she asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Hermione asked.

"Are we going to go after Harry? Or are we going to go back home and forget all of this happened?" Ginny asked.

"What are we going to do? We're going to get the kids back home and make sure they're safe," Eric said. "That should be our first priority."

"And after that?" Hermione asked. "Alex, what are you going to do?"

Alex sighed.

"Harry wouldn't want me to go after him," he said.

"I didn't ask what Harry wants you to do. I'm asking what you want to do," Hermione said.

Alex stared at her for several long seconds.

"...I want to go after him," he said finally.

"Are you going to?" Ginny asked.

"I know Harry would be angry if I went after him, but he knows me well enough to know I would still go after him," Alex said. "He's an idiot if he thinks I'm going to lay low and let this pass over without doing anything."

"You can't just go by yourself," Hermione said.

"And just what are you suggesting, Hermione?" Eric asked. "You want us to help Alex find someone that's supposed to be dead? Are you insane? We'll be imprisoned!"

"I'm not insane, Eric. I just want to help a friend," Hermione retorted.

"A friend that only befriended you to manipulate you!" Eric exclaimed.

"What's gotten into you, Eric?!" Ginny demanded.

Eric rubbed his forehead.

"This is just overwhelming, all right? First, we find out Alex has been lying to us all along about his job and most importantly, that Harry's still bloody alive! I mean, for fifteen years, I've been living with the fact that I killed Harry. I'm kind of freaking out right now! The entire world is freaking out right now that a dead person is still alive because Harry is up to something again!"

"I'm not expecting any of you to help me. I can do this myself." Alex said emotionlessly. "Harry is my younger twin brother. He is my responsibility; he's always been."

"You'll be up against the entire world, Alex!" Hermione exclaimed. "America and England and who knows who else; they'll team up with each other to get Harry and they won't stop, not until they get him and put him in Azkaban and he gets the Kiss. Not only is that a problem, but you don't even know where Harry is right now!"

"Someone has to keep Harry from doing reckless things," Alex said. "That someone has always been me."

He sighed tiredly for what felt like the hundredth time.

"I swear," Alex muttered, irritated. "When I get my hands on him, I'm going to wring his neck."