Wrapping up class McGonagall waited by her table patiently as everyone but the three students she'd stopped waited behind everyone.
Loki, Hermione and Daphne. All three wondered why Professor McGonagall had stopped them but even after giving each other a short glance none of them could come up with a valid reason.
'Is it something to do with Hogwarts' Honest Mill?'
'But we haven't done anything wrong...Does it have something to do with the investors?'
Loki stood in front of McGonagall's desk with the two others and waited for McGonagall to reveal the contents of their current source of confusion.
"I have a proposal for the three of you." McGonagall revealed in a stern voice which slightly surprised Loki since she never used such a stern tone with a student when class was over. Especially never with students she knew quite well.
'Is someone making her do this?'
'But why's she looking at Hermione like that?'
'Did Hermione force her to do this or something?'
"I would like to assign Miss Granger under your care after she takes a potion to become a Beyonder."
Hermione's mouth instantly hung loose and Loki looked at her with his eyebrows raised while Daphne gave Hermione a slightly judging stare.
'She asked Professor McGonagall to become a Beyonder? No wonder she's in a terrible mood.'
'That was awfully brave of her.'
"I've thought this over quite a bit, along with multiple other teachers, and we think you can be allowed to become a Beyonder-"
"Ah! Professo-"
"I understand you want to thank me Miss Granger, but this is a serious. Here is a list of all the starting sequences of the potions the school has. You might choose one of them."
"Profess-" Hermione tried saying something else but McGonagall didn't seem interested in hearing about it.
"Unless you don't want to be a Beyonder, don't interrupt me Miss Granger." McGonagall said sternly and once Hermione closed her mouth shut she continued, "Yes, as I was saying, be careful of the sequence you choose since the corresponding professor will help you."
Hearing McGonagall stop, Daphne asked her a question, "What do you expect us to do Professor?"
"I am not giving you this command as heiress Greengrass, but hope you as Miss Granger's friends help take care of her to your best. And I don't think the Greengrass family would want to reject getting close to a student that I am supporting?"
Daphne's narrowed eyes relaxed as she heard that and she nodded softly. "I shall do my best professor."
"That is good." McGonagall said with the nod of her head and turned to look at Hermione once again. "I hope you can give me your choice before the first Hogsmeade weekend Miss Granger, if you can it'd make things more easier."
"That will be all. You may leave."
The trio of students nodded and left the classroom, with Hermione picking up the folded parchment the professor had given her which contained the list of all starting sequences that teachers at Hogwarts had.
To an untrained eye, Hermione's face looked to be smiling but Loki could easily make out the slight twitches and movements in her muscles that indicated she was worried about something else.
Daphne stopped mid-way through the corridor, turned to Hermione and spoke calmly, "I didn't know you'd be crazy enough to ask Professor McGonagall about this Mione."
"Haha~ Well it just sort of happened when I last met her before summer and she told me she'd tell me if she'd help me after summer….Can you guys help me choose the right potion for me? I mean the two of you know much more about this stuff than me…soo…"
Daphne nodded immediately but said, "Madam Pomfrey is expecting me, so I need to leave right now. Why don't we decide this when we meet each other in room 2-21 in the evening?"
"Sure." Hermione nodded.
As Daphne split from them at the stairs, Hermione was about to walk onto a different set of stairs but Loki's last words froze her in her step.
"What are you worried about Mione?"
"Haha~ what can I be worried about? I'm happy that I'll get to be a Beyonder like you too now!"
"Are you sure? You know you can tell me about anything that's worrying you right?"
Hermione wet her lips and *gulped* a little but said nothing for a few seconds as if she was deliberating over something, yet she chose to put up a fake smile on her lips and spoke calmly-
"I'm just a little worried about if I will be able to do this properly you know, after what you told me back in Diagon Alley. That's all. Nothing big."
"I see." Loki nodded and walked onto a different set of stairs, allowing Hermione to choose one that would lead her to the Gryffindor common room.
'So she's worried about the option I gave her as Mr. Error.'
'She's probably worried that Mr. Error will be angry with her if she rejects him.'
Seeing Loki going towards the dungeons, Hermione stepped off the staircase that took her to the Gryffindor common room and ended up inside the second floor girls lavatory instead.
Her mind buzzed with various possibilities.
'Will it be alright to choose one of the pathways Professor McGonagall has given me?'
'Agghhh!!!! I can't even talk to anyone about Mr. Error!'
'What if he gets angry about me not choosing him?'
'I also remember him saying that the person who wanted to help me has already paid the price to help me too. Wouldn't that be wasted then? What if it was something expensive?'
'Mr. Error probably doesn't even need money, so he probably paid with his soul or something!'
'*sigh* How do I ask for help in this case…'
"Should I ask Loki to help me?"
"No…he probably won't be able to do anything against a literal god… I don't want to drag him into this mess too…"
An unwilling expression appeared on Hermione's face as she looked at herself in the mirror.
She drenched her face in cold running water to get herself calm and kick-start her brain to generate some ideas, but she couldn't figure out a risk-free way to get out of this problem.
'*sigh* the only way is to decline Mr. Error's help.'
'But I can try one thing…'
'I just hope he doesn't take offence and acts calmly like I mean for him to.'
Inside the Room of Conveniences, Loki looked at his wand before thinking up of the new ideas for his new dark magic spells.
'I could tell the True Gods that I can steal their madness for a few seconds as long as I use their spell, can't I?'
'But that would reveal my identity as Mr. Error's blessed…'
'Is there a way I can fool the True Gods about my identity?'
'Nicolas said that there are various guards and restrictions in normal magic that prevent one from being affected by a god…'
'So my answer about keeping my identity hidden is probably inside it.'
'Especially since Death Eaters can use white magic too..which probably means that normal magic has a way of hiding the caster's identity…'
'But how does that work?'
'If your identity is hidden, how does a true god know the intent behind your spell?'
________________________________________________________________________________________________
A/N : Join my Patreon (p@treon.com/hooin_kyoma_au) to read 20 chapters ahead for just $3.