Business Of Swindling.

A week passed with Loki and Hermione working overtime after classes, late into the night to flesh out the designs and contents of their paper.

There were several heated arguments and shouts that looked like all hell had broken loose in class 2-21, causing Miss Norris to sometimes step in on them to see if they were unruly students or not.

Of course, Hermione didn't let the thin cat escape her clutches and did her best to feed the 'poor' cat and stuff her up with food Loki brought from the kitchens, which of course led to another argument where Loki wanted his food but the cat kept eating it all.

Eventually, however, Miss Noriss became the unofficial mascot of the paper.

"Are you sure Loki?"

"Yeah Mione. I already told you! It'll be a hit with all the different houses!"

"But isn't this like we're taking advantage of Professor Lockhart?"

"How could we be!" Loki lied as plainly as breathing. "It's a way for him to reach the masses. Imagine! Won't the Hogwarts Alumni appreciate learning from him even after they have graduated from Hogwarts?"

"....I understand what you're saying but the Alumni aren't our main target for the newspaper! It's the Hogwarts students and they already buy his books! Why would they want to read the newspaper!?"

"Wouldn't you want to know the extra behind-the-scenes knowledge about how Lockhart defeated his enemies? Won't you like it if you got to read more about the brave feats Lockhart performed? Things that aren't listed in his books!?"

Hermione was wearing a sceptical expression but she eventually nodded and asked Loki the important question.

"Are we then going to give him a share of our earned money then?"

"Huh? Why would we do that?"

"Huh? Why would he do it for free?"

"Don't worry, I'll handle that part, lets move onto the other sections and see what more we can do there." Loki clarified thinking up a ridiculous plan inside his mind.

Hermione looked at Loki with a confused expression but relented and they began to discuss the next part of their plan. Their discussions lasted well into the night before either of them returned to their dorms to rest.

After a few hours when it was morning and Loki had just finished his DADA classes with Lockhart, he stayed back along with Hermione to talk to Lockhart.

"Excuse me, Professor!" Loki exclaimed with a soft admiring smile.

"What do you need Mr. Loki, Miss Granger!?" Lockhart asked back politely giving them both a practised smile.

"Sir we have a proposal that needs your attention to turn into something fruitful."

"Hmm…what is it? You know I cannot excuse you from writing the essay that you need to submit the day after tomorrow Mr. Loki."

"Haha~ No Professor, it isn't about the essay. It is about a venture that will be profitable both to you and to me."

Hermione's brows raised at that as she thought, 'Didn't he say he wouldn't be giving him any money?'

"Let's hear it. What is it?" Lockhart asked, leaning in to show his interest.

"Sir, Hermione and I are both planning on starting a school newspaper whose target audience is the school's students and its alumni."

Lockhart stared at Loki in silence for a while before he spoke with a smile, "I understand your idea Mr. Loki but how would it be beneficial to me and what do you expect me to do?"

"Sir, we've already received funding from Professor Snape in the form of a printer for the newspaper and some seed funding in the form of ten Galleons for acquiring materials for the newspaper for no returns."

"He's also joined us with the promise to give extra information about potions in the newspaper, and so have many other teachers at Hogwarts like Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick."

'When did that happen?' Hermione complained mentally, 'Did Loki do it without telling me about it all?'

"Hmm…I see. And you want me to help with what exactly?"

"Sir since I am an admirer of yours, I was wondering if we could get some behind-the-scenes tips and tricks that you learnt on your adventures so that everyone could benefit from your great treasury of knowledge.", Loki said with a sincere smile. 

"You could even benefit by advertising which of your exact books contain more in-depth information about the tips and tricks in the newspaper each week."

Lockhart paused for a while as if contemplating something before he spoke again "....And where would these tips and tricks be written?"

"Depending on the content we could write them out on the first page after the booklet cover which contains the index with perhaps a picture of you performing the tip for our reader's convenience."

"Hmm…." Lockhart became silent for a while and began to closely examine what Loki said while Hermione waited beside them patiently, confused by Loki's words.

The extended silence made Hermione worry as she began to think about things a little better, 'Isn't he just saying he'll print the contents in the newspaper?'

'How's that of any value to Lockhart? Isn't he just saying he'll pay the professor in exposure?'

Finally, Lockhart asked Loki a question, "Will I be able to advertise my new books that are not on the syllabus?"

"Of course Professor, you can advertise any book you feel like advertising. Of course, if it is a book that is not on the syllabus we will need a small commission from you so that we don't go out of business while printing the tips and tricks." Loki said with a slightly embarrassed expression.

'Pay? What? Why would he pay us a paper that no one even currently buys?'

"No, no, I understand. How much would you like me to pay?" Lockhart immediately asked.

'He agreed!!'

'Has he always been this dumb?'

"Professor the industry standard is thirty per cent," Loki paused to gauge and understand Lockhart's expression which was slightly hurt so he continued with, "But since I am your admirer I would love to reduce it to fifteen per cent of any sales made and for the advertisement itself, we can do it for three Knuts per copy of the newspaper."

Meanwhile, Hermione was confused.

'Why is he paying us to advertise for him? Aren't we using Lockhart to market our newspaper? When did our newspaper become so big that he needs to pay us to advertise!?'

"Let's do it for one Knut per copy and I'll be on board." Lockhart said but Loki countered. "Professor how about three Knuts but for per copy sold so that you don't have to pay for any copies we might print in extra? Making it fair for both you and me? This reduces the risk you'll have to take with our up-and-coming newspaper."

"Hmm…I agree." Lockhart said and nodded.

"Then I'll draw up a contract immediately and bring it to you. When would you be free to sign it?" Loki asked politely.

"After dinner? After dinner sounds great." Lockhart nodded.

"After dinner it is. Thank you for agreeing to our proposal professor!"

"No worries, after all, I must be capable of doing this much for my students.", Lockhart said, flashing his signature smile.

Outside the classroom, Loki walked with a skip in his step while Hermione walked beside him looking confused.

'I feel that a little bit of the potion has digested, but nothing too big yet. So I should get a professor to witness my deal with Lockhart. I'll do it while signing the contract.'

"What happened Mione?"

"No..it's just why did he pay us to advertise in our newspaper? Don't we need his help to popularise our newspaper?"

"We do, but when I said Professor Snape invested in us and the other professors have already joined us, it gave us strong backing and made us seem legit-"

"-so although we will be taking advantage of his 'tips and tricks' to sell our newspaper, to him it'll seem as if Professor Snape and the other Professors will use their connections to sell and popularise our newspaper. It makes it seem like we're more popular than we are."

"Huh…I don't get it. Isn't that just taking advantage of him?"

"Don't worry. Don't worry. Do you know what's for dinner? I'm starving." Loki said brushing away the questions and the matter.

"No. But Loki do we have another way to advertise our newspaper?"

"Yeah, I have it thought out. Don't worry about it. You work on gathering articles and stories from the Ghosts, and leave the burden of advertising to me."

"Un." Hermione nodded and continued to walk with Loki to the great hall since she was starving too.

'I should send that letter to the owner of Zonkos soon.'

'Hopefully, he accepts after reading what I'm planning.'

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A/N : Extra chapter for crossing two hundred powerstones! We're quite close to crossing three hundred so let's go!!! Thank you for reading!

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