Side Story (2) : Scmaz.

With a rolled-up parchment in his hand, Loki walked through the dungeons before *knocking* on a door softly.

Loki heard soft footsteps before the door opened and Professor Snape gazed down at Loki. His eyebrows twitched and his lips thinned.

"I'm sorry to disturb you so soon Professor, but I need your help with a contract I'm signing with Professor Lockhart."

The name caught Snape's attention as he looked on at Loki waiting for him to share more.

"I was inviting him to use his fame to popularise the newspaper. I'm sure a lot of *cough* female *cough* students in the castle would love to buy the newspaper if it has something related to him in it."

Snape frowned, but Loki remedies it, "Don't worry Professor. I won't involve you in managing this. I only need your help to be an unbiased third party for our contract signing."

Snape closed the door on Loki's face, before fixing a few potions and turning the heat to a simmer on a few cauldrons so that he could attend to them when he came back.

"Lead the way~." Snape said opening the door once again and stepping out.

"Nowhere special professor. I decided I'd take the deal to his office." Loki said and Snape nodded.

*knocking* on a door once again, Loki waited patiently with Snape for Lockhart to open the door.

Opening the door, Lockhart stood with a smile as he found Loki standing outside.

"Come in my dear student. I suppose you're here for the contract? Ah! Professor Snape, you're welcome too."

Loki walked in and followed Lockhart who sat down behind his table, making Loki stand as he placed the scroll with the contract in front of him.

"Please go through the terms Professor. If there's anything you don't like or are confused about, please let me know. I'm open to changing anything on it."

"Haha~ We won't need that Loki. You should know by now how generous I am to my students."

Loki stuck a sweet smile on his face and nodded swiftly.

Lockhart read the terms and conditions and smiled all throughout the contract, but paused at the last minute.

"*Ahem* this line here, is this…?"

Loki looked at the line Lockhart's fingers were pointing at and read the line out loud, "In case either party A or party B meets an unfortunate circumstance that leads to them being incapable of fulfilling the contract, the other party is entitled to distribute all of the other parties assets freely."

Loki used his charm to fix an expression as if he'd been caught stealing, and Lockhart was for the first time about to wear a frown but before he could, Loki interrupted, "I'm sorry professor! I sneakily pushed in such a rule because I was worried about what would happen to me if I published something controversial in the paper!-"

"-I couldn't imagine who'd lead and take charge of Hogwarts Honest Mill if I was rendered unable to print the truth in the paper. And in such a moment I was only able to think of you being the guiding light, the shining star that could save the Hogwarts honest Mill."

Slowly, Loki faked a few tears as he looked at Lockhart with soft eyes.

There was a soft silence in the room for a few seconds before Loki tried to take the contract from Lockhart as he said, "I'm sorry professor, if you don't want to lead the Hogwarts Honest Mill, it's alright. I'll find someone else to take on the prestigious mantle of running the newspaper officially backed by the Headmaster of Hogwarts."

That was when it clicked in Lockhart's mind and stopped Loki from taking the parchment away by snatching it back.

"Haha~ Don't worry. I was just wondering if you were sure you wanted me to lead the Hogwarts Honest Mill. Are you?"

"Of course, Professor Lockhart. If not you, then who would I offer this prestigious position to!?"

Lockhart smiled and pulled out a quill that had been inked and immediately signed on the contract. And then from his drawer, he pulled out a small pouch that contained a measly sum of thirty-five galleons. He handed the pouch to Loki with a smile.

"I hope you do your best Loki. Prove to the world that you can become as great as me!"

"Yes Professor!" Loki saluted in excitement as he felt five per cent of his potion digest.

As soon as Loki stepped out of Lockhart's office with Snape he found Snape giving him a strange look.

"Well, professor, I'm sure you're aware that Professor Lockhart might not be the best possible professor out there. So you know…I mean do you want the prestigious position of the head of the Hogwarts Honest Mill?" Loki asked casually causing Snape to snort.

Loki laughed too and shook his head, "You go ahead, Professor Snape, I need to drop off a little money for Filch, because his cat, Miss Norris, is our mascot."

Snape nodded and left, leaving Loki to prance through the hallways until he came to the room that Filch spent most of his time in, the disciplinary room.

*Knock* *Knock*

"You there Filch?"

"Who- Loki!? Wait a minute."

There were several low *thuds* that erupted from inside the room before the door opened slowly to reveal a slowly balding man with crooked teeth and nose.

"I brought a gift for Miss Norris." Loki said dangling the bag of gold Lockhart had given him.

"That- No! I cannot accept that Loki. I should be grateful instead that you've given my dearest companion another place in Hogwarts where she's welcome and not chased away or kicked out."

Loki shook his head, "I'm sorry Filch that won't do. If Mione ever finds out I skimped on this, she'll probably kick me out of the room. And anyway, Miss Norris is our mascot, meaning she's working for us to earn this money. I can't in good faith treat my employees so poorly. So don't bother and keep it."

Loki said stuffing the bag full of coins into Filch's hand.

Loki saw tears in Filch's eyes so he pushed him back into the room after giving Miss Norris a few good pats before he closed the door and allowed Filch to sob in peace.

Skipping through the corridors, Loki thought for a second before changing his direction from the Slytherin Common rooms to the special place in the dungeon that he hadn't been able to visit since the start of the year.

Loki freely opened the door of the room he wanted to enter and walked into the slightly hot room.

The ceiling was enchanted similarly to the Great Hall since it mimicked the dark sky beyond. But that was not what Loki was interested in.

Loki walked right up to the sleeping dragon and patted its fluttering scaly nose.

"Noberta! Look who's here!"

The dragoness pulled her head away with a short *grrowl*, but Loki followed it and moved closer before climbing on her snoot and sitting on it.

"Haha! I'm riding you! Would you've thought I'd be able to ride you just a few months ago?"

Seeing the annoying student wasn't leaving it alone, Norberta opened her eyes and focused them on Loki.

"What? Gonna eat me?" Loki taunted.

The Dragoness tossed Loki into the air and opened its mouth to chomp him in a single bite, but Loki wasn't afraid.

As soon as he moved close to her, Norberta skillfully pinched Loki's robes in between her lips and placed him on a tree that Professor Sprout had planted inside.

Norberta then looked at Loki with her eyes in an accusatory manner.

"You can't scare me! I've watched you grow since you used to pee all over the place."

*Snort*

As if embarrassed Norberta snorted, causing a few sparks to escape her snoot and burn a few of Loki's hair, but he didn't mind. A stray thought did cross his mind, about Norberta becoming a spectator or some other Beyonder, but he pushed it away, not letting it show.

Loki then spent a little bit of time talking to the dragoness, before an idea came up in his head.

'Should I swindle 'Adam' too?'

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