Looking at a book containing Newspaper clippings, Loki flipped the pages casually as he continued to read the ones with interesting headlines.
'You won't believe how Harry Potter defeated the dark lord with just a sneeze!'
'Find out about the most powerful magic that allowed Harry Potter to defeat the Dark Lord.'
'The dark lord hates this one simple trick that gets him all the time.'
It was clear to Loki who the villain for Harry in Dumbledore's story was.
There could only be one.
'He-who-must-not-be-named or You-know-who or simply, The Dark Lord.'
'Is he also a high-level existence in the level of Angels and the sort?'
'Did people figure out that using his name forms a connection of some sort with him?'
'But how did Harry Potter even defeat him when he was just a baby?'
'Was there someone else that helped him?'
'Surely.'
'Was 'Adam' involved?'
'Perhaps he birthed Harry just to make 'His' prophecy come true?'
Seeing that searching anymore was not helping him, Loki put back the book with newspaper clippings into its shelf and came back to Dominic.
"Done stalking your classmate?" Dominic asked light-heartedly, not lifting his head from the book he was reading.
"As if, now all I need to do is learn the invisibility spell and trail behind him all around Hogwarts and-"
Dominic looked up in surprise and was about to dissuade Loki but then he saw him smirking and sighed.
"Hehe~ Got you."
"Not funny Loki."
"What're you reading by the way? Aurror Training guide? You wanna become an Auror?"
"Not exactly, I want to join the Unspeakable Department in the Ministry."
"Unspeakable?"
"They're a bunch of high-class wizards that delve into the secrets of the world and Magic."
"I see. Sounds like what a nerd would love to do."
"Yeah, probably also for a nerd that likes stalking his classmates."
"Haha~ As if."
"Look me in the eye and tell me that the mystery surrounding them doesn't interest you."
"...alright, it does but not very much."
"Keep telling yourself that."
"Yeah, yeah, see you later Dominic. I'm gonna go and attend my detention with Professor Sprout."
As Loki walked the halls he came across a group of wizards facing off against each other, since it was late in the night and Loki was a little curious he stepped into the classroom and looked at what was going on.
On one side were Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and a girl whose name Loki didn't know. And on the other side were Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville.
Everyone turned to look at Loki who was looking at them and their arguments stopped.
"What are you doing?" Loki asked with a confused expression.
"Something your nut-sized brain cannot comprehend Loki. We're upholding the pride of the wizarding world. We're competing in a duel."
Loki's eyes widened as he looked at everyone.
"Shocked yet mudblood?" Malfoy cursed with a smirk.
Everyone thought Loki was overreacting to the piece of information and suddenly, he bent over and stood holding his knees snorting air, soon it turned into full-blown laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH~ Dueling he said!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH~ What are you going to do toss fireworks at each other!?"
"Shu-" Malfoy tried to say something but Loki stopped laughing and immediately said something.
"Wait! I know what you can do, why don't you play with toy wands instead? I'm pretty sure the fake spells they shoot out are more powerful than what you can do."
Hermione scowled since she didn't like Loki underestimating her but after a few seconds she sighed deeply, because she'd been wondering about the same thing that Loki had just told them about, she didn't know any spells that could harm someone other than Flipendo, and even that was something that she could barely use against an Imp.
Interrupting Loki's laughter, Malfoy brandished his wand and shouted, "Flipendo!" sending a beam of white light right at him.
Loki looked at the spell's speed and causally waved his wand murmuring 'Finite Incantatum' causing the spell to vanish once it made contact with his wand.
"Wait! Let's do this!" Loki said casually as if he had a bright idea. "Why don't all of you attack me at the same time, it'll be fun then I gu-"
"Nobody wants you here you scoundrel." the girl Malfoy had brought with him complained vocally to Loki, so he looked at the faces of everyone present and found them frowning, well everyone except Hermione who looked like she understood what Loki was saying.
"Do as you see fit then, I have detention anyway, good night. Hope you don't let your wands bite your behinds when you embarrass them with your silly wand waving."
Closing the door, Loki left the room and was on his way to the greenhouses where he spent the rest of the night rooting and planting saplings of a variety of plants under Professor Sprout's careful guidance.
"Loki, I've been meaning to ask this and so are the other professors, but don't you hate detention?"
"Huh? Why would I hate it!? I get to spend more time with the thing I love."
"The thing you love?"
"Yeah! Magic, you might not know this but I was a thief before I entered Hogwarts, life every day was rather repetitive and bland." Loki explained mixing his past life and this one. "Magic was a breath of fresh air, and since detention is all about learning magic, how could I hate it!? I'd be mad to want to go back to my normal life."
Professor Sprout gave him a searching gaze and then a smile broke out on her face. "It is rare to find kids like you who treat magic as something magical Mr. Loki. I hope you don't lose this quality as you grow up."
"I promise!" Loki said with a nod, since although he was worried about Voldemort, Aurora Order, Mr. A, Dumbledore and the rest of the crew hunting him down, he still enjoyed his time in the wizarding world.
Detention ended soon after and Loki found himself walking back through the corridors of the castle under moonlight. When he reached the classroom where everyone was going to duel earlier he found Professor McGonagall and Argus Filch handing out detentions.
"Do you not know the dangers of performing magic without an instructor present!" Professor McGonagall said in a stern tone. Everyone looked at her with worry while Hermione was silently crying while looking at the floor.
Loki waited behind a gargoyle for Professor and the students to leave before he caught Hermione's hand, covered her mouth and dragged her off elsewhere.
Hermione fought for a few seconds but once she realised it was Loki dragging her she calmed down instantly.
After a while when Loki knew no one would hear them, Loki released Hermione.
"Loki! What are you doing!? Professor McGonagall just told us off for wandering the halls late at night!"
"It's alright, come with me." Loki dragged Hermione to the tower with the seventh floor and pulled her to the window.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Loki asked with a smile on his face as he observed all of Hogwarts from the window.
Hermione looked happy for a few seconds and then she started sniffling and soon she started bawling on Loki's shoulder, mumbling things like, "I told them it was a bad idea!" "I told them we'd get caught!" "But they didn't even listen!!" "I helped them figure out about the Philosopher's Stone and still they don't listen to me."
Loki's ears perked up at the mention of the Philosopher's Stone but since Hermione was crying he didn't say anything else other than pat her back calmly until she was alright.
"Aww….looks like the rabbit that was crying has gained enough energy to be angry again.", Loki said poking Hermione's fluffed-up cheeks.
"Hmpf. You saw nothing!"
"Sure, sure, I didn't see anything."
"Let's go now." Hermione said, "I don't want to get scolded again."
"Sure."
Dropping off Hermione in front of the fat lady portrait, Loki walked back to the Slytherin dorms with a smile on his face.
'What was that about the philosopher's stone?' he wondered.
'Is it a part of what 'Adam' has planned? The Beyonder characteristic that he hid as a trap?'
'Interesting…maybe I can finish digesting my potion with its help?'
'Probably not. He'd probably have a ton of magical wards monitoring the thing. But I could probably do something else…maybe I could enjoy a piece of the pie…'
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