Loki slipped through the corridors searching for the Fat Friar until he was stopped, not by the Fat Friar mind you but by the twins.
"Froge."
"Gred."
"We found him brother."
"Yes we did."
"Hello…to you too?" Loki said unsure why the twins had stopped him.
"Hello indeed." Fred said.
"Hello indeed." and George echoed.
"What do you need?" Loki asked with a puzzled expression.
"We need some help."
"Some help in fixing a few items."
"What sort of items?"
"These." Fred said pulling out a pouch with an undetectable extension charm attached to it to show Loki.
"Hmm….what are these? Alchemical items?" Loki asked confused as to why he was being shown such items.
"Yes, and we made them." George said happily as he continued to go off on a tangent to explain them, "This is an extendable ear, work in progress but should help you listen to far away conversations. This here is a toffee that will turn your tongue long enough to weigh a ton, work in progress of course…."
"Wait wait! I think there's been some misunderstanding, why have you brought these to me?" Loki asked stopping George.
"Because you are a master at runes!? Aren't you!?" George asked with a smile.
"Huh? What gave you that idea!?" Loki asked.
"The cards! Were they not your work in the newspaper?"
"I told you it was that girl who did it brother!"
"No! It was me that guessed it right!!"
Fred and George started to argue but Loki cut through them and spoke with slight laughter in his tone.
'I mean it wasn't me who made the finished product of runes, that was all Bilton Blimes.'
'But wait a second, is this an opportunity I sense?'
'I mean….as long as I can do what they ask me about I shouldn't blow my cover, right?'
'I mean how far advanced can they be? Aren't they just in their fourth year?'
"Damn. Looks like our idea was a bust." George said deflated but Loki's next words revived their spirit.
"Although I don't think I'm as great as you make it out to be, I should be able to help you out.", Loki said covering up the fact that he already said he wasn't a master at runes.
"Can you!?" Both Fred and George immediately asked with excitement.
"Yes. I think I can help you, tell me what you need though." Loki said with a smile on his face.
Fred and George began to talk about their inventions and then asked Loki if he could help fix them, for a fee of course.
"What will you give me if I manage to fix all of them?" Loki asked with a smile that promised to beat them up if they didn't make this worth his time.
'Even if I am on the winning end of a deal I should exact a good price from my opponent so that they don't take me lightly, totally not because I want to rob them blind, totally.'
"Oh! We have something that will shock you alright." Fred said with a smile as he eyed George and smiled along with him.
George pulled out a parchment from his back pocket and Fred pulled out a wand.
"Watch this!" Fred said with a smile and tapped the parchment with a little bit of his spirituality only to say not a spell but a sort of activation phrase, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Surprising Loki ink began to appear on the parchment as it all coalesced into recognisable forms and words which Loki read.
Messrs Moony, Wormtail,
Padfoot and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to
Magical Mischief-Makers
Are proud to present
THE MARAUDER'S MAP
Underneath it all was the Hogwarts castle drawn in all its glory, but the thing that caught Loki's attention the most was the tiny dots that were moving all around it, buzzing like bees moving from flower to flower or in this case room to room.
"What do you think?" George asked with a smile on his face.
Loki, with his mouth agape, whispered, "Does it show the live positions of everyone in Hogwarts?"
But his mind had something else on it.
'Marauders?'
'As in my Sequence 9?'
'No way…'
"Everyone." Fred said and George complimented, "Even the Headmaster." as he opened the parchment a little to point out Dumbledore who was pacing around in his study hidden away from the world.
"Wow…I don't suppose you're going to give it to me for free?" Loki asked immediately enamoured by the object in front of him.
'Perhaps it's a clue to my Sequence?'
'But I don't feel any spiritual connection to the item.'
"We will give it to you if you help us with everything that's in the bag!"
Loki sighed a cold breath as he eyed the bag that Geoeger was holding with a certain glint in his eye.
"Alright.", Loki nodded. "I'll do it."
"Told you!" George said with a smile and Fred grimaced pulling out a coin and handing it over to his brother.
"Any conditions you want me to satisfy while fixing them?" Loki asked.
"We'd like it if you could write down notes about the things that were wrong with it in the first place."
"So you need any notes on how I fix these items?" Loki asked to confirm.
"Yes, we'd like to learn from the best." Fred said and George nodded.
"Since you're flattering me so much I'll include my own notes about runes along with your projects."
The twins became happy and thanked Loki before he asked them, "Why don't you need the map anymore?"
Fred and George wiped away fake tears as they said in sync. "The OWLs. Mum told us if we didn't pass it all she'd confiscate all our things. We hope to open a prank shop in the future so that would be a nogo. Hence we're reducing our pranks. Meaning we no longer need this."
Loki nodded and took the bag after deciding on a timeline with the twins for about a month.
"We'll find you in a month. In case you want to find us before that, you can send someone to fetch us from the Gryffindor Tower."
"Alright."
Then Loki resumed his search for Fat Friar by asking the Twins for his location on the map.
'I can already feel my potion digesting a little by acting as a swindler for Fred and George. I think I'll gain a few per cent by the end of it all.'
'*sigh* I hope the Fat Friar also has a similar opportunity for me to work on my acting skills to digest my potion.'
Walking through the halls Loki arrived at the last known location of the Fat Friar and began to look around.
"Erm..excuse me, have you seen where the Friar is?" Loki asked a painting about his doubt.
The person in the painting was an elegant lady sipping on tea who gradually raised her finger and pointed it in a direction that Loki followed.
Finally arriving at the edge of the tower Loki could see a pale white translucent floating ghost watching over Hogwarts from the window.
Loki almost didn't want to disturb the ghost because of the solemn tone its gaze held. It looked like it was thinking about something dear to it as it gazed at the Ravenclaw tower.
"Friar?" Loki interrupted doubtfully causing the ghost to break out of his reverie and look at Loki.
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