A Boring Detention.

Walking through the long corridors of the castle, Loki's mind wondered about the dinner.

'Tracey didn't look at me with scorn when that white-haired brat talked down to me.'

'Are there factions in the nobles? I mean Walburga hatted muggles but she still loved me.'

'Hmm….but it might also just be because I'm such an amazing pers-'

"I finally caught you!" A voice echoed off the walls and caused Loki to stop in his tracks.

"What are you doing here?" The voice asked from the corner of the corridor. 

It was an old man that had very thin white hair, he dragged his legs while holding a shiny black cat in his arms. His free hand held a lantern which swayed rhythmically to ward away the darkness that seemed to have set in.

"Professor?" Loki mumbled just loud enough for the man to hear causing him to stop and look at Loki with confusion.

"You must be a first-year! Why did you skip the opening banquet!?" The man asked with a crazed smile showing all his teeth that sent a slight shiver down Loki's spine.

"N- no. Professor Snape gave me detention. I'm supposed to wait for him in his office."

The man looked down at his cat as if he could converse with it and then spoke in a bland tone, "I won't let you trick me!"

"Trick you? What do I gain by tricking you? Why don't we do this, why don't you escort me to Professor Snape's office?" Loki tried to reason.

The man looked at Loki with a frown but eventually nodded his head.

"Lead the way.", Loki said with a soft smile on his face while happily celebrating in his mind.

'Haha! Take that Professor Snape!! GPS acquired!'

"May I know your name professor?" Loki asked politely as he followed the old man down the corridors.

"Argus. Argus Filch."

"I see, why weren't you at the Banquet Professor Filch?"

"I'm not a Professor boy. I'm the Hogwarts Caretaker."

"Oh!? How do you take care of the entire castle all alone? I mean I know magic makes things easier, but I'm sure it is hard to clean the entire castle alone every day right!? Do you have an armada of maids!? Battle maids even!?" Loki spoke his thoughts out loud.

Filch turned around and looked at Loki a little surprised and then continued walking as he spoke, "I'm a squib. I cannot use magic."

"What!? No offence to you but isn't that even worse!? That means they're treating you like a slave, making you toil away with labour for a meagre amount of money." Loki said, all while wondering internally if Dumbledore was skimming off the funds a little too much by not even providing a team of cleaners under Filch.

"The House Elves keep the castle clean. My job is to keep the castle safe from students and sometimes even the students safe from themselves." Filch said as he tousled his lantern toward a door.

"Professor Snape's office?" Loki asked softly.

"Yes, go in boy, I will wait for you outside so that you don't entertain any ideas to leave."

"As you wish Mr. Caretaker Filch.", Loki said with a polite smile and moved into the office. "Ah! Before I leave, what would she be called?" Loki said pointing at the cat that was in Filch's arms.

Filch stared at Loki for a bit but then said with a soft smile, "Miss Norris. Her name's Miss Norris."

"Awww…that's a cute name for a cute kitty cat.", Loki said rubbing Miss Norris behind her ear earning a satisfied *pur* from her. "See you later Miss Norris."

Walking in calmly, Loki managed to cover his surprise when the torches on the walls lit up by themselves with a soft blue flame. He closed the door behind him and entered the office that Snape had asked him to wait in.

Several jars with specimens of various creatures and body parts floating inside them were arranged on racks around the room. If Loki didn't know any better he would've guessed that this was the lair of a dark wizard since he found a few human parts in there too.

With nothing better to do, Loki looked around the room, studying the various items in the jar, recognising some, appreciating the value of others while planning a theft where he could rob the place clean.

He felt something eerie stare at him constantly throughout his stay in the room, but Loki paid no attention to it, or at least did his best to.

The door opened forcefully, sucking in a puff of air out of the room and making the torches flicker, causing Loki to pay attention to who had entered.

"Professor Snape?" Loki greeted bowing lightly while standing in the corner of the room.

Snape moved to the centre of the room and paused. He waved his wand and caused the door to shut itself and lock behind him, making the flames flicker for a bit but stabilising immediately after.

He then looked pointedly at Loki and asked, "What were you thinking Mr. Loki."

"I told you already, I was responding in kind, I didn't shout or get upset, it was smart! I did what they did to me!" Loki explained calmly.

"And suffer by making the house you're going to live in, into your worst enemy? Truly smart." Snape sneered.

Loki remained silent for a moment but then he spoke, "If they were going to try something, I would defend myself, I know a little bit of magic too. And I doubt they'd do anything drastic when we're in school."

"And what if they stepped out of line? Accidents involving deaths of students have happened in Hogwarts before." Snape said dully.

"I'm sure my dear professor wouldn't let it come to it.", Loki said with his arms open showing his helplessness. "Right?"

Snape ignored him and calmly walked toward his desk, once behind it he spoke, "Your detention will last until Eleven in the night every day, and only then will you return to your common room."

"What will I be doing professor?" Loki asked with a smile eager to learn more.

"There are ingredients in that barrel, separate them into the different boxes based on their properties.", Snape said pointing at the barrel first and then at a cupboard that was filled with ingredients stacked on shelves that had markers on them.

"I see." Without arguing, Loki nodded, walked to a shelf with books and pulled a book from one of the shelves that was titled, 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, by Phyllida Spore.'

Time passed in the office as Snape spent his time reading a book and going over different papers while occasionally looking Loki's way to see if he made a mistake and casually pointing it out by not so sarcastically telling him to use his brain more.

Soon it was eleven and Snape snapped his book shut with a soft *thud*.

"You may leave.", Snape said and Loki nodded *yawning*, tired of sorting herbs, plants and organs for the last three hours.

"I must be the first person to receive a detention right on the day I arrived at Hogwarts right?" Loki attempted to joke with Snape but he didn't respond and shut the door in Loki's face, leaving him to figure out his way back into the common room on his own.

Stepping out of the office and walking around the corridors, Loki spotted Filch once again.

"Mr. Filch! Could you help me out again?" Loki asked politely.

"What happened boy?"

"The Slytherin Common Room, would you know where it is and guide me to it!?"

"Hmpf. It's my duty to see that students don't linger around after curfew anyway."

Following Filch, Loki ended up at a door on which snakes crawled around waiting to snack on anyone that tried to force their way in.

"The Password has always been Pureblood for the first week.", Filch said with distaste.

"Pureblood.", Loki said standing next to the door, watching in amazement as the snakes curled around and moved into their holes before the door swung open revealing a steady stream of steps leading deeper into the dungeon.

"Thank you Mr. Caretaker! Do let me know if you ever need any help."

"Hmpf." Filch snorted and began to move away along with Miss Norris, with Loki leaving behind a polite, "Goodnight to you too Miss Norris."