I'm Still Weak.

Leaving the castle with the train, Loki soon reached King's Cross Station. With a simple glance, Loki scanned the crowd and found Kreacher wasn't there to pick him up.

'I guess he finally agreed to my plan of keeping Sirius Black in the dark about me.'

Taping his trunk with his wand, Loki caused it to become light, allowing him to drag it along as he left the station and called for the Knight Bus.

The purple triple-decker bus arrived in front of him, allowing Loki to climb into it and find himself a seat.

"Where do you want to go young man?" Stan Shunpike asked after helping Loki find a seat.

"Erm…could you take me to the Leaky Cauldron? I want to spend some time in Diagon Alley."

"Oh? The world's your family eh? Ernie!! To the Leaky Cauldron!!" Shunpike shouted for the bus driver to hear who just nodded before sending the bus rocketing through London's busy streets.

"That will be eleven sickles, unless for two more you want a cup of hot chocolate and for two more a bottle of hot water and a toothbrush?"

"Hmm…I'll go with the fifteen-sickles option then.", Loki said politely and pulled out Fifteen Sickles from his pocket, handing it over to Shunpike.

"Thank you for choosing us!" Shunpike casually walked over to the shelf at the front of the bus while Loki was holding on for dear life to keep himself from flying off.

Returning with a cult of hot chocolate, a bottle of hot water and a toothbrush packed in a paper box, Shunpike handed the items to Loki who just held onto them with care, trying not to squish them because of the sudden and random turns the bus took.

The bus stopped in five more minutes and Loki breathed a *sigh* of relief.

With Stan's help, Loki deboarded the bus with all his luggage.

Entering the bar that was Leaky Cauldron, Loki walked up to the counter where he spoke to Tom, the bartender.

"I'd like a room here for a week if that's possible.", Loki asked while sipping calmly on his hot chocolate.

"Of course. That will be a galleon and eleven sickles!"

Loki exchanged the money for keys.

"Do you want me to help you with the trunk?"

"Nah, I'll be alright. It's light."

"Alright. That's all then. I hope you have a pleasant time upstairs, your neighbours in room ten are a bit loud sometimes, but they should be out by tomorrow so don't worry about it."

"Thank you."

With his trunk in hand, Loki walked up the stairs, leaving the bar behind him as he reached the room his keys opened.

Entering the room, Loki collapsed onto the bed provided after locking the door behind him.

He looked up at the wooden ceiling and stared at all the rough bumps and burrows in it.

'*sigh* Would I be telling Walburga about what had happened to me at this time if I went to the Black Mansion?'

*Hoot* *Hoot* *Hoot*

'I'll find some time to tell it all to her later.' Loki thought as he looked at the window where an owl was *hooting* to gain his attention.

Pushing open the window, Loki allowed the owl to drop the letter inside and leave.

Picking up the envelope, Loki examined the seal on its back and became slightly serious.

The seal was of a broom flying through the air along with a few bits and bobs around the edges.

It was one that Loki recognised since he had spent plenty of time in the place it represented.

"The Fawleys'? But why did they write me a letter?"

Loki quickly unsealed the letter with a butter knife and pulled out the letter inside it.

"Dear Mr. Loki,

I hope you are doing fine and that this letter has found you at the right time.

If you don't have any pre-arranged plans this summer, I would like to consider an opportunity to study crafting under my mentor for the next two months.

I cannot in this letter reveal his name but I assure you he's not someone you will want to miss learning about the art under.

I hope you clear the schedule for the rest of your holiday because this is going to be amazing for you.

With Regards,

Fawley Sr."

'Hmm…his mentor?'

'Who would that be? He's already a Mid-Sequence Beyonder himself, so a Saint or an Angel then? How do 'they' have nothing else to do other than teach a bunch of kids about enchanting?'

Even with all these questions, a faint feeling of happiness had spread across Loki since he recognised just how much Mr. Fawley was sacrificing by allowing him to attend this opportunity instead of Mr. Spudmore who it must've originally been for.

'Is there anything that might not allow me to leave?'

Loki thought for a few seconds and he immediately had an answer, 'Yes. I still haven't gotten the ingredients to my Sequence 6 Prometheus potion.'

A frown formed on Loki's face and he decided he'd go to the black market the next morning to see if he could find the materials from there. He didn't want to miss an opportunity as important as this one.

The materials this time weren't very unknown and were parts of the bodies of two famous magical beasts, the Zouwu and the Occamy.

Loki had already checked with Hagrid before leaving school to see if the gentle giant had any of the materials he required but he didn't and so Loki was forced to scour the black market for its trails.

Waking up early the next morning, Loki went on a hunt through Knockturn Alley after modifying his appearance to appear older using illusions.

He spoke to street hawkers and camped near several of them, waiting to see if there would be any wizards that came near these vendors to sell these ingredients.

The sun rose and set once but Loki found no gain.

He still had to respond to Mr. Fawley and with no natural solution in sight, he had to go to the one place he detested going into since it felt like he was always being scammed here, R.O.B. 's Warehouse.

Even though the owner hadn't done anything rude to him or anything unexpected, it always felt like the person on the other side of the counter was playing with him.

As if he were dancing in the palm of their hands.

For some reason he always felt like he was being seen through entirely.

'Am I just being paranoid?'

Loki looked at the niffler in his pocket who hadn't done much this year and had hence not digested much of his potion and tickled the little guy's stomach.

*Squeak* "Hey!!" *squeak* "What are you doing!? I'll have to spit out everything if you keep tickling me!!!"

But Loki was relentless until the Niffler finally gave up on changing Loki's mind and vanished into the spirit world.

'What if I jump into the spirit world with the Error Card of Blasphemy accommodated in my spirit body?'

'Won't I come across Error Pathway Beyonders in that case then?'

'....no I'm not strong enough yet to directly 'fight' anything that I come across.'

'I'm pretty weak still huh…'

'Even after I fought multiple True Gods…I'm still weak.'

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