Under stares from everyone, Loki entered the great hall to have lunch and went to sit down beside Dominic.
"Heard you fought off a dragon last night." Dominic started the conversation.
"And then what? I defeated it by stabbing its heart with a sword?"
"No, the rumours say you rode on the dragon and used its fire-breathing ability to defeat an immortal dark wizard."
"That's actually surprisingly close." Loki commented under his breath making sure that only Dominic heard his words.
Dominic had raised eyebrows but did not ask further since he could sense Loki was still guarded and needed a little time to rest.
After finishing his meal, Loki moved to the dungeons and collapsed into his bed.
But forcing himself to get up, Loki did the ritual for the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth and landed in the Sefirah Castle.
"*Phew* that was difficult.", Loki said out loud heaving a refreshing sigh of relief after he stepped into his seat.
"Let's analyse everything.", Loki muttered as he remembered the events of the particular night even though he didn't particularly like them.
"Someone wanted to drink the blood of a Unicorn to gain a longer lifespan even if it comes at the cost of a cursed life which probably means that someone is close to dying and is forced to resort to extreme measures? Or they have some way to counteract the curse?"
"In the forest, after I knocked out the man who was drinking Unicorn Blood, he moved as if he was being possessed and still came after me and the Unicorn probably desperately wanting to drink its blood or to kill me?"
"When Hagrid and the rest of the students came back they were all sick in one form or another that required Madam Pomfrey's immediate assistance to help them."
"Hermione was the only child that harboured thoughts of attacking the robed man and she was the one that was hit back the hardest."
At this point, Loki remembered what Dumbledore said.
'They've been cursed with sickness after they attempted to attack whatever attacked you.'
"If 'Adam' was not lying then this means that the opponent is off the Abyss pathway and can detect who is trying to attack him and he used this premonition to form a connection and curse them instead."
"But this is only possible if the enemy is a Sequence 3: Blatherer in the Abyss pathway." Loki noted and shivered a little.
'A high sequence Saint already.'
"But if it is a Sequence 3 why didn't it do such a thing to me and make me fall sick and then capture the Unicorn anyway by making it weak?"
Loki thought for a while and came up with certain peculiarities in the scenario.
"I attacked the man drinking the unicorn blood and caused him to fall unconscious. And when the man woke up again he was behaving strangely like a puppet."
"What if the man who I attacked was just a vessel that was being possessed by an Angel of the Abyss pathway? Meaning, I never truly had the intention to attack the angel? So 'He' couldn't do anything to me."
"And the Unicorn would explain how I was not affected by 'His' powers that would have killed me or led to the loss of control immediately. Since the Unicorn's blood has the effect of counteracting curses, it protected me when I was so close to it."
"But who is this Sequence 3 Angel? You-know-who?"
"It being You-know–who would also make sense since then 'Adam' could've set up a scenario where he fights Harry Potter and loses, or to make Harry want to become stronger by seeing just how powerful You-know-who really was…?"
"The Beyonder being Voldemort would make a few more things make sense, such as why he might need the Bloody Skull that Dumbledore hid inside the Mirror. That Bloody Skull is possibly the Beyonder Characteristic of Sequence 2: Bloody Archduke."
Loki rested his back on the chair, letting himself relax a little as he had just thought hard about multiple things.
"This is getting very dangerous."
"How did I get involved with a Sequence 3 of all things?"
"And I still have to be wary of Mr. A who's searching for me in the castle."
"The worst part is I don't know how Mr. A knows that I am here at Hogwarts. If I knew how, I could use some loophole to fool him by preparing a counter plan or a distraction."
'It all started with that damn ring.' Loki thought and smiled a little out of pity for himself.
Loki picked up the ruby ring he'd stolen and concluded a new maxim, "When you steal things, you also steal the destiny of the object, making things more complicated than they need to be sometimes."
After that Loki performed a simple divination, "The blood that drips out of the Sequence 2 Bloody Archduke Beyonder Characteristic can cure curses."
The clockwise motion of the pendulum told Loki all he wanted to know and edged him closer to the decision he wanted to make.
Over the next few days, Loki attempted the exams diligently like a good student showing no outwardly hate towards Dumbledore.
Professor Snape's test was for everyone to make a cure for boils potion that was twice as effective as the recipe in the book.
Loki did exceptionally well in the test and made a potion that was thrice as effective, courtesy of the Half-Blood Prince's book.
The Charms potion was to cast a modified version of the Levitation charm on pineapples to make them dance around on the table.
Herbology was an easy test with the students just having to repot and plant various harmless magical plants without harming them and Loki scored well in the test since he'd received many tips and tricks from Professor Sprout herself since he used to help her doing this during detention.
History of Magic was a written exam where Loki did decently since he loved hearing stories while the Defence Against Dark Arts exam was easy since Loki often fought Dominic and developed good combat reflexes which he used to fight the Imp that was prepared for the exam.
The transfiguration exam was another easy exam where all Loki needed to do was turn a common mouse into a snuff box, which he perfectly did and even gave the box a few fancy cat designs that Professor McGonagall liked.
"Poor Hermione, I'm sure she'd have prepared and read through the books and notes for the exams multiple times, it is sad that she won't get to attend the exams." Loki wondered out loud as he was walking toward the Hospital wing.
Entering the Hospital Wing and giving Madam Pomfrey the last batch of potions that Professor Snape had just brewed, he then looked toward Hermione's bed.
Everyone else had already left the Hospital Wing, including Harry. Now it was only Hermione on her bed alone.
She was still unconscious and Loki was a little worried but Madam Pomfrey put her hand on Loki's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I will not let anything happen to her. Hogwarts has its ways to help everyone in need."
"Un." Loki gave a firm nod and made up his mind about what he was going to do next.
'All I need to do is hijack 'Adam's' story.'
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