Mysterious Shortcuts.

Waking up Loki looked at the unfamiliar ceiling as he wondered where he was. It wasn't long after that he'd figured out his location.

'Ah, now I remember, I was making potions with Madam Pomfrey.'

The potions were important because now that Dementors were guarding every entrance and exit in the castle, mistakes were bound to happen and students were bound to become depressed.

Throughout the night Loki had heard Madam Pomfrey curse at Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic for allowing and forcing Dementors into the school. And given how much Madam Pomfrey was cursing, Loki almost felt compelled to give her a flask of the potion they were creating to calm her mind too.

Getting up from his bed, Loki found no one else in the room and relaxed for a moment before he found Hermione entering the Hospital wing and looking around for a bit before resting her eyes on him.

"Loki!!"

"Haha~ What happened? Were you worried about me?" Loki asked with a smile.

"Yes! You never attended the feast and even Daphne didn't know where you were, she said you never came to the common room last night. What happened to you?"

"Nothing serious, a Dementor was on me, sucking away my soul, not in a romantic way even though it was a kiss, but don't worry, Professor Lupin saved me in time."

"Professor Lupin!?" Hermione asked with wide eyes.

"You know him?" Loki asked with confusion since Hermione was a muggle and shouldn't have had the opportunity to meet him before.

"Yes. I saw him sitting in Harry's compartment on the train."

"I see. By the way, where were you on the train? I thought you'd come and find me."

"Ah! I was sitting with Tracey, Daphne and Astoria. Since we already had a compartment, I didn't come to find you. What happened? Did you miss me?" Hermione similarly teased.

"As if! It was extremely peaceful since you weren't there! I was even able to complete reading an entire book!!"

"Awww…poor Loki, you don't have any friends so you had to spend your time reading a book."

"As if! I bet you were reading a book too while surrounded by your friends." Loki said with a smirk. "Poor Mione."

"Argghh, whatever." Hermione said rolling her eyes as she looked at Loki and handed him something, "Here. Daphne gave me your timetable in case I came across you in the Hospital Wing."

"She did?" Loki asked surprised. "How did she know I'd be in the Hospital Wing?"

"I dunno, she told me she divined it, but I think she's just hiding something."

Loki's eyes sharpened slightly as he heard what Hermione said, but he kept his poker face and took the timetable from her hand.

'Although I expected Daphne to be a Beyonder of the Wheel of Fortune pathway, it is still a little surprising to hear her actually be one.'

Loki looked over the classes he had and yelped in surprise.

"Mione! I'm late! Aren't I!?" Loki asked and found Hermione smirking at him.

"You are. But you are also lucky. I told Professor McGonagall I'd bring you if you were fine. She also seemed to know that you were in the Hospital Wing."

"*sigh* I see. That's good. I guess, Professor Lupin told the staff about my situation. But damn it, why didn't Madam Pomfrey wake me up!" as soon as Loki said those words he saw Hermione's eyes widen as she rapidly shook her head and pointed behind Loki with her eyes.

'Damn it, she's behind me, isn't she?' Loki cursed mentally and slowly turned backwards.

"Hello there, Madam Pomfrey. Good to see you. It is a bright and fresh morning. I wonder if you're doing alright? Do you need any more help?" Loki spoke politely even though he felt a shiver run up his spine.

Madam Pomfrey was silent for a moment before throwing a wooden spatula at Loki as she shouted, "Get out!!!"

Loki ducked under her assault, grabbed Hermione hand and dipped out of the Hospital wing with her.

Giggling along with Hermione, Loki ran along with her toward the Transfiguration classroom as they spoke and laughed with each other along the way.

"Loki, I'll be going to the washroom, don't wait for me.", Hermione said as she split off from Loki and went onto a different set of stairs that were moving upwards inside of downwards to where the Transfiguration classroom was. "See you in a bit!"

Just as Loki stepped into the class however he felt slightly shocked because Hermione was in the classroom.

'Huh? How did Mione go ahead of me? Didn't she go to the washroom?'

'Maybe she changed her mind? But still, how did she end up coming to class before me? Is there a shortcut that I don't know about?'

'I'll ask Mione about it later or just check the Marauder's map.'

"Are you going to keep standing there Mr. Loki?" Professor McGonagall's stern voice entered Loki's ears, snapping him out of his thoughts as he blushed a little, feeling embarrassed, and walked with a fixed stride towards an empty seat behind Hermione.

McGonagall started class again but Loki wrote down his question on a small piece of paper before tossing it on Hermione's table.

'How did you get here faster than me?'

Loki couldn't see Hermione's reaction to his question but he did feel that she was confused when he stared at her Body of Heart and Mind as a flurry of thoughts appeared in them before it immediately stabilised.

Soon Hermione passed back a note to Loki while hiding it from McGonagall.

'I'll tell you later.' Hermione wrote back on the note.

Loki furrowed his brows but didn't bother Hermione anymore and continued to pay attention to the class since Professor McGonagall was explaining to everyone about transfiguration animation so that their transfigurations could appear life-like.

Loki occasionally looked at Hermione during class and felt that something was different about her than when he'd last seen her, but since the feeling was only vague and didn't affect him much, he tossed it to the back of his mind.

Although he also noticed the extremely precious item around her neck, he ignored it too, thinking it was some Beyonder item that some professor gifted her to keep her safe since she was a good student and a few people might get jealous over silly things.

The class soon finished and everyone got up from their desks but Hermione was gone before Loki could catch her.

Except when Loki stepped out of class, "Hey Loki!", he found Hermione waiting for him outside the class.

"How did you come to the transfiguration class before me?" Loki asked with raised eyebrows.

"Found a shortcut. But forget about that, I was wondering if you had a few ink pots on you, I forgot to bring mine." Hermione calmly asked, brushing the matter aside like it didn't matter and Loki found himself entangled in a conversation with her once again, though he did think-

'She had an entire ink pot in the Transfiguration class though maybe it leaked or she ruined it by mixing water into it…?'

'How strange.'

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A/N : Extra chapter for crossing a hundred powerstones!!!!!! Let's GOOOOO!!!!!!

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