"I'm serious. To have gotten off from there without a scratch, I'm sure you also know that it's nearly miraculous. For a True God to let us be means that 'He' truly sees something in all of us that 'He' thinks deserves 'His' attention."
"....what if 'He' just sacrifices us for some strange ritual?"
Hermione shook her head as Cedric stepped in to give Astoria more confidence by showing her that he supported her too-
"If 'He' wanted us dead, 'He' would've just captured us. Not sent us back. If 'He' truly wanted to sacrifice someone, 'He' could've just picked anyone from Knockturn Alley, plenty of wizards there at whose disappearance no one would even blink an eye at."
Harry nodded and stepped forward too.
"And…if 'He' just wanted to control us, I'm sure 'He' could've done something worse. Why give us free will? If we humans can cast the Imperius curse, what's stopping 'Him' from doing the same? Or even something worse?"
Astoria gulped. Everyone's arguments seemed perfectly logical.
Logical only as long as the True God they were dealing with didn't just want to have some fun by seeing them writhe in agony as the situations around them tortured them.
Everyone knew this point and had strayed away from it deliberately.
Except Astoria wasn't so easy to fool. She was a Slytherin and cunning flowed in her veins. She could easily see what they were all trying to do.
And so, Astoria turned towards Loki.
But unlike what everyone expected, for Loki to give up and feel scared for himself, he smiled.
It gave a sense of deceit and threat, leaving them all to wonder if he was going to lie just like them.
"Tsk. Seriously? You guys are too impatient." Loki said with a smile.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Astoria asked, her voice croaking.
Loki grabbed Hermione's hands as he pulled the small piece of paper that he'd just given her.
"Mione only read one side of the paper.", Loki said, showing the side Hermione read.
On it were the words-
"I accept your payment, all of you."
It conveyed the meaning in a simple sentence.
Just as everyone was confused about what Loki meant by it, Cedric's eyes widened, his sharp eyes spotting what Loki was leading onto.
Loki noticed it and nodded in Cedric's direction, "You're right, there's something else on the back too."
Loki flipped the page with a simple twirl of his fingers and on its back was something else-
"You may use Hogwarts as you please without anyone being able to peek."
The sudden surprise that there was text on the other side of the paper did surprise everyone a little, but Harry and Hermione soon frowned as they stood confused about what it meant.
"What does it mean?" Harry voiced his confusion for both of them.
"Of course!" Cedric laughed. His laugh was too weak, clearly an attempt at trying to uplift his spirits but failing because the trauma of their most experience still lingered.
Harry and Hermione turned towards Cedric and he explained calmly.
"The bargain was never about our lives as we believed it to be.", Cedric said, and that was enough for Hermione to get it as her eyes widened as she slammed her hand into her forehead with a smack.
"How did I miss this!?" Hermione cursed at herself, causing Harry to look at her with confusion before he looked at everyone else, as they seemed to have caught onto what was going on.
Astoria was surprisingly the person to speak up this time-
"It means that 'He' never intended to take our lives…if I understand correctly, that was just our misunderstanding…"
"Misunderstanding?" Harry asked, still confused but Astoria had shut up, her lips thin as she looked at Loki who nodded and continued.
"Yes. Mr. Error started off our 'bargain' by saying- I work on the principle of equivalent exchange. And since we were talking about leaving alive, we assumed that it was our lives that we were talking about…" Loki explained and paused to see if Harry understood what was going on.
"So it wasn't our lives? What did we get beat- I mean fight for them!?" Harry asked bewildered.
Loki smiled as he spoke again.
"The note just revealed it, didn't it?" Loki said, pointing at one particular word on the note-
"Hogwarts?" Something suddenly clicked in Harry's mind as he nearly exclaimed! "He was only bargaining with us for our rights to use it!? Doesn't this mean 'He' owns Hogwarts!?"
Loki just shrugged casually and nodded, "That is what it would imply and is probably why Astoria's ritual had the effect it did. What True God would decide to mess with the domain of another?"
Harry sighed in exhaustion as a wave of relief passed through his entire body. His shoulders slumped, just as did everyone else's as they all fell to the floor.
They rested in silence for a few seconds before Cedric, who desperately needed a distraction, turned to Loki.
"How did you even hide yourself? I never heard a single noise. The Disillusionment charm doesn't stop sound from spreading out, does it? Another modified spell?"
Cedric didn't truly mean to intrude on Loki's prowess with his spells, but just like everyone else he didn't want to be left alone with his thoughts after having had such a close brush with what he thought was certain death.
And Loki naturally complied, "It is a modified spell, but not the one you guessed. The Disillusionment charm only stops your physical body from being seen. I made one that hides everything about you in the shadow dimension. Of course it has its flaws, which is why Luna could still see me." Loki bulled.
"So the soul then?" Cedric asked and Loki nodded softly, ending the conversation since he couldn't be bothered to be asked to display a spell which actually did that.
As such, just as silence started to settle in once again, he let one of his runes reform the item it held.
In front of everyone, a modest book flickered through the air as it dropped onto Hermione's head.
Everyone looked at the book that had fallen onto the ground as their senses quickly read the title-
A Compendium Of Errors.
-Mr. World.
Everyone's eyes widened but Hermione was the most surprised, albeit for a different reason.
'I was right!'
'Mr. Error has problems communicating with us!'
'He's very shy!'
'Which is why he took the chance to help me out so much!'
Hermione was beyond overjoyed regardless of her shocked expression outwardly.
Luna looked at Hermione with slight confusion but chalked it to Hermione simply being overjoyed that whatever had happened wasn't an attack.
"Is that what I think it is?" Cedric asked with a wry smile, causing everyone to gulp.
"Could it be cursed?" Astoria asked, there was a strange gleam in her eyes that reminded one of a greedy dragon.
But Loki spoke, "No. I don't see any curses on it from here, I would have to pick it up for further examina-"
But Hermione seemed to have a different mind.
She immediately picked up the book without worry and flicked its pages open under everyone's surprised gaze.
A sigh of relief left her as she said with a smile, "No curses."
Harry was about to question her recklessness, but remembering just how fearlessly Hermione had acted while bargaining for their 'lives' with Mr. Error held him back.
Perhaps whatever had happened to Hermione was for the best after all?
---
A/N : Thank you for reading.