Doors.

"Oh! Don't worry about it." Prenelle brushed away the matter in a hand-wavy manner. "I don't care about you being adopted by anyone even if it is the Blacks. All I care about is that you aren't one to beat around the bush."

Loki nodded a little stiffly since he had something he wanted to ask the two people in front of him about but he couldn't think of a 'proper' way to say it or even bring up the topic.

'Let's think about it for a while.'

'The idea just popped into my mind and hasn't taken its final form yet.'

'I'll ask them about it when my idea becomes something more concrete.'

Shaking away the idea to the back of his mind where it would be marinating for a while, Loki asked something else.

"So when will I get to learn under you? And what will you teach me about? I know about runes and have studied them intensely. I even know quite a bit about wards, well not quite a bit compared to you, but at least more than some beginner…."

Loki started rambling immediately and began telling everyone about all the things he had learnt, causing the Flamel's to look at each other and smile softly while Fawley shook his head with a sigh.

Prenelle snapped her finger causing Loki to pause and look at her with full attention.

"Huh? What happened Misses Flamel?"

"I don't want to get into the minefield that is alchemy! And neither will I let Nick fall into that trap today!-"

"-The two of you can get lost in alchemy once you win the remaining tests we have planned out for you and the other people."

"-Today is purely for you to get to know us and build your anticipation to learn under us!"

Teacups and kettles emerged from somewhere in the house as they flew over to the side of each person in the room.

"So let's start, I'll ask the first question." Prenelle said with a smile as she spoke, "I heard from Fawley in his recent letters that you performed a play at Hogwarts? What was that about? Can you perform the play for us?"

"Ah…!" Loki became a little embarrassed but nodded.

Spending the rest of the time talking about various things at Hogwarts and how Loki was involved with helping prove Sirius's innocence they ended the day with Loki performing the play for everyone.

It wasn't as detailed as when he did it with Hermione but he did his best and it was enough if the tears on Prenelle's face by the end were any indication.

At the end of the evening, Loki was escorted back to the 'testing' area and the dorms attached to it with Fawley through the same ever-changing door that the Flamel's had.

Loki was a little intrigued by the door since it represented the properties of the Door pathway but didn't get a direct chance to study it. So he pushed it to the back of his mind for now.

Fawley eventually left Loki and went to sleep in the companions' dormitory, leaving Loki to join the other participants who had already fallen asleep in their beds in the large hall.

'About twenty-five people here…'

'So I have to best them all?'

'How interesting…'

Loki slipped into the bed that had his label on it and closed his eyes since he was already tired because he hadn't eaten in the afternoon, but he was even more tired now because of the play that he had to perform for the Flamel couple.

'Hehehe~ Elane~ I'm coming to meet you~~~!'

'One Elane, Two Elane, Three Elane, ….oh?! So many Elan- Bzzz'

'Hmm…? What was that? A fly? Well, whatever.'

'One Elane, Two Elane, Three Elane, Four Elane...so many Elan- Buzzz'

'Hmm? Again? Why is the fly flying so close to me? Do I smell bad? Whatever…' 

'One Elane, Two Elane, Three Elane, Four Elane, Five Ela- Buzz'

Loki wasn't able to sleep.

The bed was already too stiff for his taste and it was his first time there so the constant buzz that he could hear every time he tried to sleep annoyed him very much.

It forced him up and made him frown as he looked around with bloodshot eyes, trying to figure out who or what was making that god-forbidden noise.

Loki stood up and walked out of his bed in frustration.

But now that he was awake he couldn't hear any sound. There was no buzzing anywhere.

'Huh?'

'Did I hallucinate all that?'

Loki was about to go to sleep again but he froze as an idea came to his mind.

'The sound only came about when I was in a half sleep half awake state…'

'What if I used cogitation?'

Loki didn't want to spend the rest of the night awake to study a random mystery, but he didn't have the strength or the courage in him to fall asleep and then be forced away because of the stupid buzz so he used cogitation.

He wasn't afraid of staying up all night but was just worried about himself being 'rude' to Nicolas and Prenelle if he met them again.

'Cogitation it is..'

Loki entered cogitation and was about to look around himself but he didn't have to do a thing.

BBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Almost instantly, as soon as he entered Cogitation, Loki started to hear an incessant buzz begin to hum in his ears.

Loki looked around the dormitory and found that there was nothing particularly of note in there. Everyone was sleeping, except for in one of the beds which was empty.

'Is this a test of some sort?'

Loki's eyes widened when he realised that.

'And someone's already noticed?'

'How stupid of me!?'

Loki quickly rushed towards the source of the sound which had dragged him outside the dormitory. He walked as silently as he could so that he would avoid disturbing any of the remaining participants.

'Not like they're going to wake up if they didn't wake up after that Buzz.'

As soon as Loki stepped out of the dormitory and closed the door, he turned around and found himself absolutely lost.

There was an unending tunnel in front of him that was lit occasionally by a diffused light that had no source.

Loki frowned and then turned around to look at the door that he had just come out of.

'The door is no longer here…'

'...'

'What is this? Some cheap horror show copy?'

'The backrooms?'

Loki began to walk in the direction of the incessant BUZZ once again which was the only way the corridor in front of him extended.

Loki held his wand close to himself as he walked, wondering if he would have to use them in case there were any jump-scares or the like and kept it primed with spirituality while keeping his spirituality shaped in the perfect shape to execute the Velox Acus spell if needed.

Loki continued to walk in the seemingly endless corridor and soon found himself losing track of where he'd begun.

After a while, Loki quietly paused and asked himself a question.

'How many years has it been since I started walking here?'

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