Mostly everyone held their breaths as they stared at the bold Hermione, waiting for something to happen.
While everyone did expect something to happen to her, it wasn't as drastic as her falling over and starting to bleed from every orifice, instead it was of the sort that made her stand out. Perhaps some blessing from Mr. Error himself.
But nothing of the sort happened. At least nothing that they could see like before.
But Hermione's eyes seemed to have widened as her pupils narrowed to display her focus.
Harry, being the closest to Hermione apart from Loki, immediately noticed Hermione doing what he'd termed aptly, the thing, where she'd focus similarly when she'd notice something interesting or important in a book.
Cedric noticed the change not long after, and Astoria, along with Luna, did when Hermione's hands trembled slightly.
"Something wrong?" Astoria asked once again, her self blaming although stopped for now, hadn't left her alone yet.
"Something interesting in there Mione?" Loki asked, trying hard to keep up his confused face as he knew Hermione was just leading people around since she'd read the gospel in her hands.
Probably more than once.
And knowing her, she'd probably already memorised the book enough to be able to recite it from right to left while it was being held upside down in a mirror.
'Her acting skills! When did they improve so much!? Where did my innocent little Miss Magician go!?'
Although Loki was jovial, the question he asked was answered by his own mind by a thought that he did his best to ignore.
Loki knew exactly why Hermione had improved so much. It was likely to be able to pretend about being a devout believer of Mr. Error in front of everyone she wanted to convert to become 'His' believer, so that she could revive Daphne after earning credit points from 'Him' in the Tarot Club.
Leaving the problems such clever acting produced on Hermione's Beyonder journey which Loki was sure he'd have to use the Beyonder Characteristics from Umbridge to cure aside, Loki scanned every other member in the hall.
Cedric looked like he'd been through much but was going to keep trudging through, Harry looked ready to fight whatever was about to come up while Astoria and Luna did their best to prep themselves for another big revelation.
And Hermione didn't disappoint.
"The book is a gospel. But that's not the important part…" Hermione said, her tone careful and perfectly crafted to show her vulnerability.
It really felt like Hermione had discovered forbidden knowledge.
Enough that Loki could see it affect the colourful representations of emotions in her astral body.
It was clear to him that Hermione had practiced this through and through, multiple times, enough times that she could do this in her sleep.
"....that's not the important part?" Astoria prompted, picking up on the thread of curiosity that Hermione had left for her to unravel.
Hermione nodded, then gulped audibly before speaking again.
"The book has spells…spells that will probably cause a lot of chaos in the real world if anyone gets word of them…"
"..really?" Harry asked, a little unconvinced.
Hermione locked eyes with him and then spoke with a sigh, "One of them can disarm a person without them realising it…"
Hermione paused as she let the words sink in, and as she did, everyone realised that none of them truly found it dangerous.
But Hermione wasn't done.
"...if I'm not wrong, the spell can also steal your thoughts…when combined with the next spell that helps you create illusions, which can also make illusory thoughts to confound others, it can give you the ability to control people without them ever realising such a thing had even occurred."
There was an extended silence in the room that both Loki and Hermione let simmer, bringing everyone to the realisation that they had been given a spell that could essentially be classified in a category similar to the imperious curse, an unforgivable…
Especially when the effects of the spell couldn't even be detected, just like its unforgivable counterpart.
Everyone shivered.
Cedric was the first to snap himself out of it as he, along with Harry moved closer to Hermione to look at the page she was holding.
It didn't take them long after that to sigh out audibly, which prompted Astoria to ask them a question-
"What happened? Why do you look so…relieved?"
Harry answered for both of them-
"The spell's a lot more complicated than Hermione's simple explanation. It requires us to learn how to weave our spirituality into completely new patterns that are different from the standard set of spells for starters…and even then,-
"-the spell is of the kind that requires you to sustain your intent for the entire duration, unlike the easy elemental spells. If I had to compare it to something, it would be the patronus charm where you constantly have to keep happy thoughts in your mind."
Astoria's eyes shrank but she still seemed undeterred, "That's still reckless. I'm sure a lot of people won't give up the opportunity to get them into their reflexes…you should know that, given you told me that you've been to Knockturn Alley…a place were each Tom, Dumb, and Harry, no offense, knows how to cast the unforgivables, spells that aren't really supposed to be 'easy' to cast."
Cedric nodded and carried on the conversation from there.
"It is. But we have a unique advantage."
"What would that be?" Astoria asked with a frown, not really seeing the supposed 'advantage'. Even Hermione, Harry and Luna looked at him since they hadn't noticed any true 'advantage'.
'Does he mean that we can keep ourselves safe because we have access to the spells earlier?' Hermione thought to herself.
Cedric looked back at the spells in the book as if confirming something, and then nodded as he explained, "If I'm right. I think that Mr. Error is not an 'evil' god."
"...?"
Seeing the silence around him Cedric smiled since he understood that everyone here had the wisdom to not outright dispose of something simply because it avoided the norm, which in this case was that no one had ever heard of an Error god before, and then elaborated his point-
"Being of the Reader pathway, I've read a lot of books…and since my family's a noble we've got a lot of 'them'…if you know what I mean…" Cedric said with a slight blush.
Seeing this, everyone realised he was talking about books for dark magic, things that ranged all the way from simple cursed books that could turn you into a chicken if you touched it the wrong way, to books that directly invited an evil deity to take control over your body.
"...given that I've read such books, I know exactly how plenty of dark magic that points to 'evil' deities area structured. Each magic that is constructed in such a way, requires a sacrifice, of either a body or a mind. And Mr. Error's magic is clean…almost too pure and perfect for it to be from an Evil God…"
"To the extent that I'd even reluctantly believe someone if they told me that they 'discovered' these spells in the tomb of an ancient wizard like Merlin…I'd believe that these spells have always been part of the world."
Although Cedric's words brought them some peace regarding the fact that they wouldn't be losing their sanity for as long as they used such overpowered spells, Astoria doubled down on her question which everyone had.
"And how does this become an advantage for us?"