Loki woke up with an annoyed expression.
Each time he tried to fall asleep last night a dangerous feeling arose from the Ring of Harvest.
The first time it happened, Loki became worried that Tom was up to something, but only after he spent a little bit of time analysing it above the grey fog did he understand that it wasn't Tom, but the ring itself.
It had grown disobedient.
Only after a round of threatening and beating the ring above the grey fog for some time, did it calm down once again and begin to behave like a nice little pet.
There wasn't much to do for Loki after he'd left the chamber of secrets yesterday so he spent a good part of the morning looking at the note that Salazar had left for him.
'Magical floor? And Lake?'
'Where is this magical floor that can allow me to see the lake?'
'*sigh* I'll solve this later. For now, I need to go and acquire my benefits to fully digest my potion.'
While leaving the Chamber of Secrets yesterday Loki happened to come in contact with Lockhart.
It seemed as if Loki's knees kissing the back of his head had somehow managed to turn him into a moron. He was barely able to string together to make sensible sentences and he could not recognise his students anymore.
'Well nice that I included a clause in the contract that took account of incurable sicknesses.'
'Poor guy though, I feel like I'm robbing him blind. Hmm….maybe I can leave him enough to be taken care of in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries for the rest of his life.'
With a soft skip in his steps, Loki walked towards Lockhart's office where he expected the professor to be.
*Knock* *Knock*
Loki waited for a bit after knocking but heard no response from the inside.
'Hmm….did he leave?'
"Are you searching for Professor Lockhart too!?" A girl in her senior year asked in a sombre tone.
"Huh? Ye- Yes. I'm looking for him. Do you know where he is?" Loki asked politely, wondering why exactly the girl was speaking to him. It seemed like she'd bawled her eyes out since her makeup was all over the place and her eyes looked swollen like someone had punched them.
"Poor Professor. I heard he fought the Heir Of Slytherin in a brave battle and was riddled with injuries. He's in Hospital Wing, recovering." The girl added and with a sniffle and huff buried her face in her hands and ran away sobbing.
"What the heck." Loki lampooned at the girl's behaviour as she dashed past him and almost knocked him over. "Well, at least I know where he is now." Loki mumbled and continued on his way to the Hospital Wing.
Outside the Hospital Wing, Loki found a huge line of girls waiting outside and Madam Pomfrey standing outside the Hospital with an angry look.
"No one gets inside! What do you think of this place?! It's a Hospital! There are actual patients inside who've got recovering to do!! Get out!! Get out!! Before I call the heads of your houses and deduct a hundred points from each of you!!!!"
The girls shivered under Madam Pomfrey's threat and rushed back to their dorms in a hurry, nearly trampling over Loki and causing him to become a patient in the process.
When all the girls left and Madam Pomfrey let out a deep sigh of relief, Loki made short work of the distance between them and walked up to her.
"What're you here for Loki? Professor Snape requested you to deliver a new batch of potions?"
"Erm…*cough* *cough* No, I mean, I'm here to meet Professor Lockhart." Loki stuttered and spoke in between his coughs.
"..." Madam Pomfrey wordlessly raised her eyebrows and gave Loki a questioning stare.
"Well, I need him to sign a few forms regarding the Hogwarts Honest Mill, which he is a business partner in." Loki said without embarrassment and with a straight face.
"I don't think Professor Lockhart is in any condition to sign forms young man."
"Well…isn't that the point?" Loki said with raised eyebrows, causing a small smirk to appear on Madam Pomfrey's face.
She immediately turned away and walked back into the Hospital, all while Loki could swear he heard her say, "Finally that pompous idiot gets what he deserves!"
"Make sure not to disturb any of the other patients Loki." Madam Pomfrey said and walked away to do her work in the Hospital.
Loki looked around a little and found Harry resting on one of the beds with his eyes closed while a few other students remained petrified on other beds waiting for the Mandrake's draught to be administered to them.
Loki stood for a little bit in front of Hermione and made sure to drop his get well soon letter by her side before walking towards the awake and bumbling fool that was sitting on a bed nearby.
"You're here for me I suppose?" Lockhart said with a smile on his face as he stuffed his face with a bar of new chocolate while speaking to Loki.
"Yes, how did you know?" Loki asked wondering if Lockhart still retained some sense of intelligence and might cause his plan to fail.
"Ah! There have been many who've visited me today. Although all of them were women. I seem to be very popular with them and they all had chocolates."
"I see. You are right, but I'm here for a different reason, I'm here for you to sign a few papers."
"Papers? Do you want an autograph?" Lockhart asked with a happy smile.
"Well, not exactly. I need your signature because given your condition, it is not possible for you to exert any more influence over the Hogwarts Honest Mill newspaper, so I will need to assess your assets to provide monetary support to the newspaper."
"Is that so?" Lockhart asked.
"Yes. And I will also need you to sign a form that says I will not have to return them to you." Loki said with a smile and then continued looking at him with his most charming and elegant smile.
"Is that all!?" Lockhart asked with a charming smile of his own.
Loki nodded, "Yes professor. I don't want to make this hard for you, so here, please sign here." showing Lockhart a clipboard with official documents on it.
"Ok!" Lockhart shouted while Loki just smiled and accepted Lockhart's most precious autograph.
After getting Lockhart's smile, Loki fed him a few pieces of chocolate before spotting Madam Pomfrey who was looking at him like he was the devil.
"I almost feel bad for him." Madam Pomfrey said with a frown.
"Oh come on Madam. I'm sure you don't. Or do you not remember the time he turned Harry's arm into a rubbery, boneless appendage?"
"...you might be right. I don't. I didn't see a thing. You can leave if you're done."
"Thank you professor.", Loki said with a polite bow before leaving the Hospital wing with a charming smile.
As he walked away, Loki thought back to all the rules of acting he had deciphered for the Swindler potion.
'When I swindled Lockhart into signing the first contract, I learnt that to swindle a person you must appear reliable.'
'When I swindled the various students and professor of Hogwarts into buying the newspaper and along with it the Arcadia Royale cards, I learnt that one man's trash could be another man's treasure.-'
'-The cards were worthless, only printed on paper and could be used just once. But the demand for this trash turned it into a precious treasure many would not part with.'
'When I swindled Tom and the Hogwarts professors as they dealt with the thief who had stolen the precious diary I learnt that swindling someone is the best when they don't have a trail to catch you.-'
'-It doesn't matter if someone is suspicious, suspicions can be manufactured after all.'
'When I swindled Tom and possibly 'Adam' in the chamber of secrets by appearing as Gehrman Sparrow, I learnt that to swindle a man, you just need to make them think everything has gone according to their plan. As long as they're satisfied with their share, you can take everything else.'
'When I swindled Salazar himself, I learnt that to swindle someone else means I must swindle myself first.'
Walking joyfully as he summarised this year, Loki felt his potion digest fully, giving his smile a radiating glow that caught the attention of the few girls still hanging around for Lockhart.
Too bad for them though, Loki walked away without a care in the world.
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