"Well now that we have all the depressing news set aside, I would like to give you some good news!" Prenelle exclaimed happily.
"Good news?" Loki asked confused.
"Yes! You are being awarded an Order of Merlin second-class medal by the Mistery of Magic himself for saving all the people in the camp!"
"Huh? What's that?"
'Why does it sound so familiar?'
'Wait I remember. Didn't Lockhart get that same medal?'
Nicholas was about to explain but Loki interrupted him and asked, "Is that thing even any good?"
"Well, it gives you prestige and fame.", Nicholas said after some thought.
"That's all? That's pretty useless isn't it?" Loki complained.
"Way to go! How did the two of you make ten thousand pounds seem so meaningless!!" Prenelle complained.
"Wait! Ten thousand pounds!!!?" Loki asked pushing himself up with shock but his muscles burnt and forced him to remain in an awkward half-up half lying posture as he looked at Nicholas and Prenelle with wide eyes.
Seeing Loki excited Prenelle got even more excited, "Yes! Ten thousand pounds! The original amount was only five thousand pounds but the French Ministry matched the amount since you helped Nicholas and Me come out safely from the incident."
Loki's mouth hung loose.
"You guys…did you guys pressure them to match the amount?"
"Pftt! As if we'd do something so vain." Prenelle waved off the matter and continued, "A few newspapers also want to interview you about the incident and how you solved it."
"They're going to make knowledge about Beyonders public?" Loki asked with a frown.
"No. It's not like that. The current running theory among everyone there that didn't know about Beyonders is that it was all the work of some dark wizard who wanted to gain power by sacrificing all the people present there." Nicholas briefed.
Loki's frown only deepened, "No mention of you-know-who? It clearly has something to do with him."
Nicholas shook his head softly and spoke with a *sigh*, "Although everyone important knows 'He' had something to do with it. No one wants to leak the matter right now. No one wants to create panic about 'His' return until things can be confirmed."
Loki's brows furrowed and he asked, "I feel like you're hiding something from me. Don't want to create a panic about his return? That feels like an excuse."
Nicholas and Prenelle looked at each other and spoke after having a silent conversation.
"It's because Albus is supporting the current Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge."
"Huh?" Loki was confused by the response he got. "Why does that matter?"
"Using his ability as a spectator, Albus is going to help the current Ministry of Magic become a Sequence 4 Saint."
Loki's eyes widened at the information but he still didn't understand why Nicholas was telling him this.
'I get why 'Adam' is doing such a thing. He probably wants to firm the Minister's position in the Ministry so that the Nobles faction can be curtailed a little given how you-know-who is back on the rise.'
'But why does this mean that information about you-know-who's return must be hidden from the public?'
'Unless…'
"It is the ritual for becoming the Sequence 4 Demigod of his sequence?"
Nicholas smiled as soon as Loki said that and explained with a nod.
"Precisely. Your Minister, Cornelius Fudge is going to become a Sequence 4 Earl of the Fallen. And to become one, society needs to follow his rules perfectly. And introducing you-know-who to the common witch or wizard would cause panic. Making things unpredictable."
Loki's expression turned sour when he heard that.
"Is there no other candidate for the position of the Minister? The Lawyer pathway has everything to do with corruption and disorder, is there no one from the Justicar pathway that can become the Minister?"
"Unfortunately not. There is a candidate from the Justicar pathway who can become a demigod too, Miss Amelia Bones, but she doesn't have much support from the other purebloods in spite of Fudge not being a noble. Fudge has the support of the White Faction because he isn't a noble.-
"-And Amelia being very stringent with following rules and regulations is also something to consider.", Prenelle added.
"Huh…fine I understand. I just have to pretend like I know nothing about you-know-who's involvement right?"
Nicholas nodded.
"Wait a second…the Order of Merlin second class! Am I being given that to keep me silent?"
Prenelle nodded with a smile as she spoke softly, "Now you're catching on, aren't you? Good."
There was soft pause in their conversation before Prenelle clapped lightly to change the mood as she asked Loki a simple question, "How are you feeling? Is there still pain?"
"...a little bit, since my back still hurts, but other than that I don't think there's anything else wrong. What even happened to my back? How did I get hurt?"
"Hehe~ It was Sirius Black, he fell down when he caught you and you landed on a thick root instead of his hands."
"...I don't know if I should be happy about not having been caught like a princess or if I should curse him for not using his wand to slow down my fall and catch me."
"It's alright. You'll be fine by tomorrow. Then you can go and tell him thanks yourself." Prenelle happily cheered on.
"Easy for you to say when I feel like my back's on fire."
"It's not that bad! It's ok!" Prenelle said and then Nicholas interrupted. "By the way since we don't know your standing in the Black house, we didn't tell Sirius Black about anything you told us."
"Yeah, you did the right thing. I was a little embarrassed to live with him, so I hadn't told him Walburga adopted me. Is he also getting an Order of Merlin medal?"
"Yes, everyone that managed to stay awake and fight back is being given one."
"By the way, how did the two of you figure out that the Death Eaters were under the imperious curse?"
"That wasn't me, that was all Prenelle.", Nicholas said causing Loki to turn to her for answers.
"That was simple. What set me off was the fact that none of them were the Beyonders of any corrupted pathways. There was even the fact that I saw Lucius Malfoy in the crowd behind us. If the Death Eaters were actually doing something, he couldn't have ignored it."
"But what truly alerted me was that they were going to sacrifice themselves. Death Eaters wouldn't do that. It's already hard to find lunatics who would want to support the Dark Lord. Why would they reduce their own numbers?"
"That…that actually makes sense. Why hadn't I thought of that.."
"Obviously because I'm the only one in this room that's got any brains." Prenelle joked causing everyone to look at each other and burst into a short round of laughter.
"Don't worry about anything else, Prenelle and I will be back in a few minutes, we still have a little bit of paperwork to settle. Once we're done we can go back." Nicolas said while patting Loki's back even though he flinched each time his hand landed on it.
"Thank you for helping me!" Loki said with gratitude as he gave them a short bow, doing the best he could while not straining his back.
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A/N : You guys are already pushing close to three hundred powerstones....and I still haven't uploaded the remaining extra chapter...I guess four chapters on Monday? What do you prefer? Three Monday, three Tuesday? Or Four Monday?
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