Loki suddenly looked embarrassed as he gave Hermione a wry smile.
"What happened?" Hermione asked with some confusion since Loki was completely normal just a few seconds prior.
"I mean…" Loki looked at Hermione and then shied away once again by sending her a slightly embarrassed smile.
Hermione's frown deepened but then her eyes suddenly widened. "No way! You already!?"
Loki nodded as his tone sank into a whisper so that McGonagall wouldn't come knocking on their table to dock their points.
"Don't tell this to anyone, ok? Promise?" Loki asked stretching his hand over the table.
Hermione looked at it and placed her hand on it firmly.
"I promise I will never tell it to anyone else."
Loki nodded and spoke in an ever softer tone, so low that Hermione had to lean in closer to hear him.
"I tried once, but the Great Sage stopped me."
Hermione's eyes narrowed for a few seconds before her eyes widened in shock and absolute horror.
"Grea- Great Sage!? Like The Great Sage!?"
Loki nodded. "Yeah, I've only told this to Professor McGonagall before but the Great Sage helps me on my path as a Beyonder and he told me earlier that going to the moon wasn't a very good idea. I don't know why…since not even Professor McGonagall could tell me anything about it…but I think it's better I follow them."
Hermione frowned in thought but then a vague memory struck her.
'Didn't Mr. Moon tell us that the True Goddess of his pathway asked Mr. Error for help in clearing her of corruption!?'
'This!!! Could it be this is why the Great Sage stopped Loki!?'
"You know something?" Loki asked casually.
Hermione quickly shook her head and spoke calmly, "I'll try looking in the library to see if I can figure it out. I'll tell you if I find out more."
Loki nodded and they fell silent after that for the rest of class.
The week soon passed and it was finally the school's first Hogsmeade Weekend.
Loki moved to Professor McGoangall's office since she had sent him a private letter to tell him that he would be informed of his new teammates there and that he had to be early.
Loki gathered there and without counting Harry and Hermione who were also in the same office, he spotted five new members!
Two of which he hadn't expected at all.
"Mr. Loki and Miss Granger, these are going to be your new teammates, you are being assigned as their team leader and you will look after them-" McGonagall said, pointing at the five people on her side.
Astoria was the first one to step forward and introduce herself, she seemed to be enjoying the look on Loki's face when he noticed she was there.
"I'm Astoria Greengrass, you can refer to me as Astoria. I'm of the Monster pathway. I don't bite though."
The redhead stepped forward after that-
"I'm Ginny Weasley. Glad to be under your tutelage."
'She won't reveal her pathway?' Loki asked McGonagall with his eyes and she simply shook her head.
"You can assume she is of a pathway that enhances her physical abilities." McGonagall continued out loud.
Loki nodded but his eyes instantly switched to spirit vision as he scanned Ginny Weasley and if he hadn't immediately switched to his illusory mask, everyone would've seen exactly how Loki looked when he was shocked beyond belief.
'This!!!'
'Did Tom do so much damage to her!?'
'I didn't even think that Dumbleman would let something like this happen!'
'They never removed the excess Beyonder characteristics that were implanted into her back in her second year…she's been a Beyonder all this time…?'
'sigh...I'll have to learn to deal with her…'
Loki then looked at Luna, but she only raised her hand and waved at Loki like she was greeting an old friend and he didn't mind at all, even though Professor McGonagall seemed a little offended, but before she could say anything, the last girl stepped up.
"I'm Susan Bones." The girl said, while looking a little unsure of herself as she looked at Loki.
Loki didn't need to peek into her mind to understand what was going on in it and so he spoke calmly after extending his hand to shake hers.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, madame." Susan blushed since Loki was by no means average-looking, and so simply being greeted by him in such an intimate manner that followed Noble tradition sent the freckled girl blushing.
And to her fortune, Astoria interrupted.
"Where's my 'Pleasure to meet you, madame'!?" Astoria teased with her hand extended, mocking Loki as best as she could.
Except Loki held her hand too.
But before Astoria could blush, he spoke-
"I hope you're alright, madame Malfoy?"
Everyone's eyes widened and Astoria quickly pulled her hand away from Loki's with a glare.
Loki knew just how to push her buttons and so he laughed lightly before Professor McGonagall chased away the strange atmosphere between everyone by clearing her throat with a soft ahem.
"Miss Granger these two will be part of your new team.", McGonagall said pointing at Astoria who looked a little dissatisfied to be separated from Loki, and the other new person-
Loki looked at Hermione, whose nose had clenched up in a frown of anger and annoyance, and then at Harry before finally looking at the last person in the room, Ron.
Ron looked a little guilty and embarrassed.
"Ronald Weasley…I'm from the Spectator pathway." he introduced himself to Loki.
Loki was surprised to say the least and so he blatantly looked into Ron's Body of Heart and Mind to understand why Hermione looked so annoyed with his presence regardless of his position as a spectator.
'Oh my god!'
'He seriously told that to her in the face!?'
'And then didn't even apologise!?'
'How rude!!!!!'
'But for Mione to keep hating him for so long~! There seems to be something suspicious brewing in the teapot~!!'
'Kyaaa~~!!!! Should I expend a worm of time to parasitise some random item I can gift him and then spy on this teenage drama!?'
'....I'm sure Tory will appreciate the news about gossip.'
"Here's the portkey planned for your schedule.", McGonagall said, handing over a small broken magnifying glass to Loki who simply stuffed it into his pocket.
The students then left the office in silence under McGonagall's careful watch, which ended with her speaking out her well wishes for them out loud.
Once they were a sufficient distance away from the castle and on the path to Hogsmeade's shrieking shack Astoria broke the awkward silence between everyone.
"So? What's the deal with you two love birds!?" Astoria whispered with a sly smile as she nudged Hermione while eyeing Ron.
Loki screamed in his mind, 'I knew it! I knew Astoria had a sharp nose!'
Hermione simply rolled her eyes and looked at Loki, asking him to get Astoria off her back, but Loki only smiled in return, which caused Hermione to feel betrayed as Astoria continued to gossip with her one sidedly.
Once they reached Shrieking Shack and out of view from everyone at Hogsmeade, Loki pulled out the magnifying glass that was already buzzing with energy.
"Hands on this thing everyone.", Loki said with a smile as everyone quickly placed one of their fingers to make sure they left the place for their fellow comrades as they gathered around it with Loki.
Once Loki was satisfied that everyone would get transported properly he simply allowed the portkey to work as it could.
Everyone was forced to spin around as they were all sucked down into a single point before vanishing from the place along with the Magnifying glass itself.
It took a solid few seconds as everyone saw the world spin around them before things started coming into focus.
"Blimey! That was worse than any portkey I've ever used! Is it broke-"
"Shut up Ron." Hermione said without regard for his feelings or emotions before she walked out of the room as usual and moved to Ethan's room for their assignment.
Loki patted Ron's back lightly and moved ahead with Hermione, opening the door for her as he spoke to everyone.
"This is where you'll take your missions each time you leave Hogwarts. Ethan is your handler so you better respect him or he might just send you on a mission that no one's ever returned from ever before~!" Loki added in a scary whisper which sent a chill down everyone's spines.
Luna was the only one who looked confused as she mumbled-
"Isn't that nice? Since it means that we will come back from every other mission?"
To say the least, the mood Loki had built up tanked in a moment.
***
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