Casual.

"You felt terrible today too?" Hermione asked Loki after sitting beside him in the Transfiguration class.

"Yes, just like everyone else. Why?"

"Hmpf. It just goes to prove that you aren't a seer. How didn't you figure it out and keep yourself safe!?" Hermione spoke indignantly and folded her hands with a smirk on her face.

Loki's eyes widened and his mouth hung a little loose.

"You're still on that?!" Loki asked with surprise in his voice but Hermione wouldn't respond to him and soon the class started after all the seats were filled.

Loki did his usual and put up an illusion to make everyone think he was paying attention to the class while really he was thinking about several other things at once.

'What do I put into those bowls?'

'Something related to Salazar Slytherin?'

'But what?'

'Maybe the library will help. I should be able to find out more about the things he left behind.'

'Maybe even look inside the chamber of secrets more thoroughly to check if I missed something important or related to him.'

Loki pulled out the Marauder's map and began to scour through it, searching for the name Peter Pettigrew on it.

'*sigh* not here. Is he not going to come back? But all the divinations I've done says he'll be here soon.'

Soon the class finished and after a couple more classes, Loki arrived at the Great Hall where he sat down for lunch.

'Hmm…'Adam' isn't here for lunch?'

'Ah. Is he working on solving the problem of the sudden sickness among the students in the school?'

Loki and everyone else in the hall noticed the absence of Dumbledore but they paid no attention to it, thinking that he was busy for some reason or the other.

"Loki did you know?" Astoria said with a dreamy look on her face.

"What, my dear princess?"

"There are several girls performing a variety of rituals to become prettier! You mustn't get entrapped by them alright!?"

Loki looked at the little girl and laughed a little while shaking his head.

"Sure. I won't. I don't intend to be entranced by artificial beauty. Natural is the best!"

"Umu. Umu. My sister is the bes-" Astoria was about to complete but Daphne flicked her wand to silence her and Loki ignored the statement.

Eventually, however, everyone saw Dumbledore step into the Great Hall.

A prominent frown painted his face and it became clear to all the students that he did not like whatever it was that kept him.

Stepping behind his seat Dumbledore took a deep breath to calm himself and when everyone looked at his eyes they looked firm and didn't sway.

"I have a short announcement to make to all the students.", Dumbledore started solemnly grabbing everyone's attention. "Students will be escorted in and out of their dorms and to classes by teachers from tomorrow."

There was a momentary silence.

"WH-"

Students began to shout and whisper loudly, talking to each other or making their dissatisfaction apparent in any way they could without resorting to throwing food at Dumbledore's face.

Even the staff looked strangely at Dumbledore but they remained much more civil and courteous, attesting to their table manners and general maturity, even Snape.

Dumbledore swiped his wand and silence fell in the hall once again. Even though students were making a ruckus there was no sound being produced. It made everyone feel suffocated and yet Dumbledore stood calmly before restating himself.

"I repeat. Students will be escorted in and out of their dorms and to classes by teachers from tomorrow. Anyone breaking these rules will be expelled."

Seeing the seriousness on Dumbledore's face and the grim tone he was using, everyone fell silent, dragging the atmosphere in the great hall to a depressive dive.

Dumbledore waved his wand returning the subtle sounds of cutlery but even in this newfound freedom the students didn't protest.

It took time but slowly everyone began to find their friends and whisper to each other about what this order from Dumbledore meant.

"What do you think Loki?" Astoria who was sitting across from Loki asked with excited eyes and a small adventurous smile.

"You never let the excitement in you die down, do you?" Loki asked, feeling Astoria's infectious smile cause his lips to pull.

"Of course! I've been given a new life and I don't want to waste it behind closed doors aga-" Before she could finish her sentence Daphne jabbed Astoria in her ribs but it was too late.

'...she finally did let the reason Daphne took those few drops of blood out…'

'I was wondering when she would 'accidentally' reveal it.'

'I guess she couldn't stomach her gratitude for much longer.'

"New lif-" Loki's eyes suddenly widened, "No way…" he whispered as he looked at Daphne who was looking at him with annoyance.

"Well, now that you know about it, can we continue our conversation?!" Astoria calmly said, ignoring the previous interruption.

"Damn….I didn't know Daphne took that for you…" Loki mumbled in shock… "*sigh* Whatever it is, I won't ask.", Loki said out of consideration but then looked at Astoria with sharp eyes. "But value your life more. Things like that don't come by very often."

"..." Everyone around the table stared at Loki, captured by his expression.

"....I mean yes…" Astoria started and her shoulders trembled, causing Loki to worry he had saddened her.

'Did I go too far!?' Loki asked himself.

'Of course you did you fool! She's not your sister!!' Good Loki whispered in his mind.

'No! What if Elane acted like this!? What if she got caught up in mischief that threatened her life!?' Bad Loki whispered countering the previous one's viewpoint.

But then, "...Pfft!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!" Astoria burst out laughing causing Loki to get confused.

He turned to look at Daphne and Tracey and found both of them covering their mouths and holding back their laughter.

"What happened?" Loki asked calmly putting down the cupcake in his hand on to the table.

'Wait…cupcake?'

'Ah…'

Loki looked at the shiny silverware and found his reflection in one of the spoons.

He had a cream moustache on his lips.

"Damn.", Loki mumbled, he thought of wiping it away but stopped as a devious idea came into his mind.

"Why are you laughing!? This!? How can you laugh at this!? This is creme de la creme!!!" Loki said owning his look and putting on the elegant posture of an English noble drinking tea with his pinky finger out.

Daphne and Tracy looked at Loki's actions and burst out laughing freely.

Slowly everyone in the hall saw how Loki was acting and the mood grew out of its depressive dive. The Weasly twins joined Loki and added a creamy handlebar moustache to themselves and jumped on the table to proudly show it off.

Very soon most students were jumping on tables or drinking tea while copying Loki by adding creamy moustaches to their faces.

Some students even began to dare their friends to lick it off their faces.

Loki noticed it all and found himself smiling.

But sneakily he glanced at the teacher's table and saw just how grim all their faces had become.

'It seems like Dumbledore has told them what's going on, or at least hinted at it.'

'And it is not good…'

________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N : Join my Patreon (p@treon.com/hooin_kyoma_au) to read 20 chapters ahead for just $3.