'Hmm…' Loki looked as Miss Norris trotted past him without smelling him and continued walking down the corridors under the directions Tom fed his body magically.
No teachers were patrolling and even Filch had fallen asleep by this point giving Loki free rein during the night as he walked carelessly towards his destination.
Arriving in front of the girls' washroom on the second floor Loki stepped through all while thinking, 'Huh? Why does he want me to meet Ginny in Myrtle's bathroom? Why not an abandoned classroom?'
'The entrance to the chamber of secrets is in the Girl's washroom? She did vanish here when I first noticed her turning into Tom…'
'Slytherin surely was a pervert if that's the case.'
Stepping into the lavatory Loki found a girl standing while facing away from him and looking at the black lake from the small window built to circulate fresh air.
"You're finally here!" Ginny or currently Tom exclaimed while turning around to look at him.
Loki stayed silent and didn't speak since Tom hadn't given him a command and he could still feel the control he was exerting over him.
"You can drop the disillusionment charm now." Ginny said waving her hand after which Loki pulled out his wand and tapped on his head wordlessly causing the charm to shatter.
'Damn! That was close! I nearly forgot to cover my wand in an illusion! Good that I did it while it was in my pocket, or he'd have recognised me with my wand given how unique it is.'
'Phew.'
"Finally! Finally, I see you, Gehrman Sparrow. It took me forever to find you."
But with Loki not responding the situation felt somewhat comical with Tom talking to himself like a madman.
"I would've normally gotten rid of you, but I think I can still make use of you so I shall let you live."
Ginny then walked over to Loki and took back the diary in his hands with a simple swipe.
"I don't know how you got this diary, but now that I have it back with me, nothing can stop me anymore.", Tom said lifting up the diary and looking at it with a feverish look.
Once he was done admiring it Tom turned to look at the round sink that was at the end of the bathroom and once he moved towards it he looked at a particular tap and spoke in a strange Hiss that Loki did his best to memorise.
*Hiss~SS~sss~s*
The porcelain top of the sinks levitated up into the ceiling as the sinks themselves split from the seams and caused wide gaps to appear in between them.
Loki was startled but he kept his calm outwardly and held normalcy.
Tom looked at Loki after the chamber opened and then spoke in a commanding tone. "You may leave."
Loki followed the compulsion that had popped up in his mind and made his way back to the Slytherin common room, this time slipping through shadows so that Miss Norris wouldn't catch him easily.
Only once Loki was back in his room did he let his face break out into a small smile.
'Who knew I'd gain such a bountiful harvest today?'
'I digested five per cent of my potion from today, bringing me to sixty per cent in total.'
'All that is left for me to do now is to explore the chamber of secrets so that I can gain the knowledge that one of the founders would've left behind in his chambers.'
'...but what if Tom kills a student?'
'No, he probably won't kill anyone just yet since he needs to help Ginny absorb all his Beyonder characteristics so that she can become the perfect vessel for his resurrection.'
'So will they all only be petrified?'
'Most likely, but I should check this using divination while I'm above the Grey Fog.'
Loki finally collapsed into the bed and after an adventurous night slept like a baby.
Waking up the next day, Loki first checked if Ginny would be killing any students and once he confirmed that she or Tom wouldn't he went about his day with a happy smile.
Loki spent the rest of his days perfecting the new spell he'd made. It was potent and made to kill anyone targeted directly by it. But its complexity made Loki have to flick his wand for around a second as he cast it.
'But why was Tom hellbent on me using a few runes instead of the other more standard ones?'
'Of course, I didn't do it when I noticed how he particularly wanted me to pick them. But still…what's up with runes in magic?'
'Is there some truth to the differences between Dark magic and White magic and such?'
Occasionally Loki also dropped by the forbidden forest to practice his duelling skills so that he wouldn't become rusty when he'd finally have to face off against Tom by the end of the year.
Finally, on the day the next attack occurred where two people fell victim to Tom's plans causing morale at Hogwarts to be at an all-time low, Loki pulled out the Marauder's map to check how Ginny was doing.
'Hmm…she seems to be inside the Gryffindor common room. I don't think she'll come back out today since she's already attacked two people.'
'I guess I can go dungeon diving and finally see if Salazar Slytherin has left anything of worth behind.'
Folding back the Marauder's map after he'd used it, Loki dove through the dark corridors and found himself back in the second-floor girls' lavatory from where after asserting that there were no women or girls inside he stepped in and walked to the sink he remembered Tom walking to.
*Hiss~SS~sss~s*
Loki said replicating the noise he remembered and to his surprise, Loki found the sink lifting and splitting away just like he'd remembered.
'Huh? I guess I can go into it now.'
Loki dangled his legs at the edge of the hole and finally smoothly slid into the tunnel pipe that looked like it was part of the sewage system.
Going through the rollercoaster ride that was the tunnels, Loki slowed down as he finally arrived at the end of the tunnel.
'Wha- What is that!?' Loki thought looking at the gigantic snake body that was in front of him.
'Is that just the skin? So huge?!? How does something like that even stay alive and not just collapse into its own weight!?'
'Is this the snake that Mione said Harry heard during Halloween?'
'Should I go deeper into the chamber?'
'I don't want to risk stepping into the chamber without knowing all that could be in it.'
'But I didn't find there to be any risk when I divined about it earlier.'
With a little fear, Loki slipped into the large cavern that had opened up and began to carefully trot around the skin that had been shed and was rotting.
Stepping over the little bones and carcasses of the various rodents and animals under his feet, Loki moved towards the skin and pulled out his wand.
With his wand out Loki began to use several Diffindo charms to cut out a small piece of skin to carry back with him to his dormitory.
Except it was quite hard to even damage the skin by making a small cut.
It was only after an embarrassingly long session of using the Diffindo charm that Loki was able to get even a small piece.
'This should be good potion-making material, I'll take a little to see which creature the skin belongs to. Better know all I can about what's inside the chamber before stepping deeper into it.'
'I don't want to be in a position where I cast a charm and the snake just ignores it like I would an ant. God forbid step on me for being annoying or kill me by mistake.'
Loki then sacrificed it to himself and went above the Grey Fog with the Skin and started a dream divination.
'Which creature is this skin from?'
'Which creature is this skin from?'
'Which creature is this skin from?'
…
'Which creature is this skin from?'
The vision of a small snake appeared in Loki's mind as it slithered around the forest floor and hunted animals by killing them just by looking at them.
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A/N : Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
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