Chapter 191 - Safe!

'Damn…even Lupin's office wasn't the right place for the ritual.'

'What am I missing?'

"Mr. Loki, do you know the answer?"

'Is there something I'm missing? Perhaps an extra step that I haven't figured out yet?'

"Mr. Loki! Do you have something to say?"

Suddenly Loki felt someone drive their elbow into his diaphragm causing him to bend over in pain as he looked at the person sitting beside him.

"Mione! What was that fo-"

Hermione immediately indicated with her eyes, pointing to the front of the class.

Loki slowly turned around and met eyes with a positively fuming Minerva McGonagall.

"Just because you're ahead of the class Mr. Loki, you cannot start to daydream."

"Ah…Sorry, Professor, I was a little out of it because I couldn't sleep well last night. With all the chaos surrounding Sirius Black invading the castle and all the students being called to the Great Hall to sleep, I was a little tired."

McGonagall stared at Loki sternly and then *sighed*, "I understand. But please don't let it happen again."

Loki nodded and went back to paying attention to the lecture yet in the back of his mind, Loki was still thinking about the puzzle Salazar Slytherin had given him.

Slowly seeing he wasn't getting anywhere, Loki decided to take a little rest and think about something else, especially what he'd heard while sleeping in the Great Hall.

Loki was lying inside his warm and comfortable sleeping bag while keeping his eyes closed when he heard someone walk by him and stop a couple of steps away.

'Professor Lupin? I thought you'd be inside Hospital Wing.'

As soon as Loki heard Professor McGonagall say 'Professor Lupin.' his ears shot up.

'Is he here because he's caught me?' Loki pondered with sweat starting to appear on his palms. The very comfortable sleeping bag had suddenly started to become a little warmer, making him grow more uncomfortable by the minute.

He began to feel itchy but forced himself to somehow stay still, which only made the problem worse.

'Ah. It must be a surprise that I'm here. I'm sorry but I had to urgently report something to Headmaster Dumbledore.' Lupin continued making Loki's heart beat faster.

'....the Headmaster is busy going over the wards right now, to see if there have been any intrusions made on it and if it needs to be repaired.'

'Way to go Professor McGonagall! Tell him how the Headmaster is busy and you don't want him to disturb you!' Loki cheered on.

'I understand Professor McGonagall. Could you deliver him my message then?'

'....Yes, I can do that for you.' McGonagall paused a little before replying causing Loki's heart to come up into his throat and then fall to the pit of his stomach in disappointment.

He then clenched his hands while pretending to remain asleep like a sloth but unbeknownst to anyone, his ears were paying attention to every squeak in the Great Hall, hanging on to the conversation between McGonagall and Lupin like his life depended on it.

'I wanted to report an intrusion in my office.'

'An intrusion!!?' McGonagall's voice turned sour and sharper as she looked at Lupin. 'Why hasn't anyone heard of this sooner?'

'I'm sorry Professor, I was checking if everything in the office was in order. I reached the office as soon as the alarm alerted me while I was in the hospital Wing. But it seems like the intruder was gone before I could arrive there, I couldn't find anyone inside.'

'...it wasn't a student?' McGonagall threw a reasonable guess.

'No. The ward on my lock was skillfully disabled, or rather the right word would be it was destroyed.'

'The ward was destroyed?' McGonagall's voice pitched a few notes higher.

'Yes. Which was why I was very careful and took my time studying for any changes throughout the office. I couldn't find anything. Perhaps Headmaster Dumbledore can if he takes a look?'

'I will let him know.' McGonagall nodded and there appeared to be a hint of conviction in her voice that she hadn't got before.

Their conversation ended there and Loki calmed down a little.

'If they haven't found anything yet, then that means I should be safe later. I doubt any divination can find me since I had the Cards of Blasphemy on me but it doesn't hurt to be safe. I should just act as if nothing ever happened in front of Professor Lupin.'

With the short resolution, Loki fell asleep once again until he was woken up by a soft whisper.

'Clearly, he's been colluding with him.' Loki heard Snape's voice but the person he was talking to remained silent.

'There was no clue even after you checked. There can only be one pathway with such perfect concealment.' Snape chided yet the person on the other end remained silent.

'How could you allow him to teach even after knowing how close they were!'

The other voice *sighed* and then finally spoke, 'You are right that I couldn't find anything Severus and I have already spoken to Lupin. My only advice to you is that you don't look at people with a biased lens.'

Soon the second person walked away and Snape huffed and walked away in a different direction, clearly unhappy about the result of his argument.

A sense of relief washed over Loki at that moment, 'Clearly they didn't find anything wrong about me. That's good.'

Breaking out of his thoughts on the incident Loki analyzed the words exchanged between Snape and Dumbledore to infer information from their conversation.

'So Professor Snape doesn't like Professor Lupin?'

'But why? Did he already figure out the fault that Professor Lupin has? Like the last two DADA teachers?'

'But what could be wrong with him?'

'Does the reasoning have something to do with the reason Professor Lupin was in the infirmary yesterday?'

Loki wondered for a while until he remembered what Professor Lupin's boggart had turned into before he'd turned it into a balloon and caused it to fly back into the cupboard.

'An orb…? Maybe a full moon?' Loki thought.

'But why would he be afraid of the full moon?'

'Does he know about the corruption of the moon?'

'Better not think about this stuff outside the sefirah castle.'

With not much to go off of, Loki shifted his thoughts back to the classroom.

At the end of the class was Professor McGonagall shouting over students packing their things, "All students that have gotten their Hogsmeade form signed please hand them over to me!"

Having no form to hand over since he was an 'orphan' Loki walked out of the classroom without worrying about it while moving to his next class, Defence Against the Dark Arts.

His thoughts lingered on the conversation he had with Sirius Black, 'I wonder what's the Aurora Order planning. It's about time I lay out my trap for them.'

'I just hope Sirius will do exactly as I asked him to…if he doesn't it'll be a shame for Peter Pettigrew to escape right in front of his eyes…'

'Poor Sirius, he'll have to search the entire planet for a rat.'

'....damn I can't let my intrusive thoughts win!'

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A/N : Extra chapter for crossing two hundred powerstones last week people!!! Let's gooo!!!!!!

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