NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 283: Tricked?
Clap Clap
"Alright Miss Granger, if you could show me what your friends have been teaching you for the last week." Professor McGonagall said with a slight smile.
"Yes, Professor.", Hermione said and from the corner of her eyes noticed Daphne and Loki cheering for her.
Taking a deep breath in and letting out a warm puff to cool herself, Hermione pulled out the quartz pendulum that was wrapped around her left arm, something she'd picked up from Loki who always had one wrapped around his own arm.
The pendulum was allowed to freely come to a standstill after which Hermione used cogitation to enter a half-sleep-like state and speak her statement for divination seven times.
"The result of the next coin toss that Professor McGonagall will perform will be heads."
Keeping her eyes closed until she repeated the sentence Hermione slowly opened her eyes and returned from cogitaion.
And much to the expectations of everyone in the room, the pendulum in Hermione's hand began to spin anti-clockwise.
"Anti-clockwise means a negative outcome so that means the next toss will be a tails." Hermione confidently stated.
But just when McGonagall was about to speak, Hermione interrupted her by mumbling something Loki had told her, "But divination is not all-powerful. So unless you're interfering with my divination Professor McGonagall the coin could also land on tails or its side."
McGonagall smiled and sent the galleon in her hand for a free toss.
The coin flipped multiple times in the air and in front of everyone landed in a perfect crack in the wooden teacher's desk.
It was neither heads nor tails.
"It seems like you've gotten a little bit of divination down already Miss Granger." McGonagall nodded and looked at Hermione affectionately.
"Have you been hearing any murmurings or seeing things you should see Miss Granger?"
"No Professor. Although I do hear such things occasionally, I make sure to ignore them."
"Good." McGonagall praised and then looked at Loki and Daphne who were standing off to the side. "You've both done well to teach her."
Loki and Daphne smiled at the genuine praise and nodded.
"Seeing the three of you together I think it is the right time for me to reveal my purpose of including you in taking part in Miss Granger's teachings," McGonagall said in a little stern tone.
"There was a reason?"
"Yes." McGonagall nodded, "And it seems like Miss Greengrass has figured out my purpose."
Loki looked at Daphne and saw her nod when she met his gaze. As Daphne looked at McGonagall she spoke softly, "Professor McGonagall wants us to form a team and participate in school missions?"
"You couldn't be more right Miss Greengrass. The three of you will be forming a team and helping senior students on missions they are given for as long as it is deemed ok for you to do so."
Hermione felt a burst of excitement at being involved in the Beyonder world, but Loki's next question put a dent in her blossoming plans.
"What are these missions like? Will we be working for or with nobles? Sorry, Daph I don't mean to offend you."
McGonagall looked at the trio and released a soft sigh but spoke while pinching her nose.
"Unfortunately for you, Mr. Loki a majority of the Beyonders are from noble houses so it is unavoidable to work with them. But I would like you to also know that the Hogwarts staff maintains strict standards for those allowed in these missions."
Loki nodded and looked at McGonagall with the rest of his new team.
"Your first mission is during this upcoming Hogsmeade weekend where you'll be investigating a series of supernatural attacks that have been taking place in the muggle world."
"Shouldn't this be something the aurors or the unspeakables do?" Loki asked again.
"Yes. It is something they will do, you will only be assistants who do simpler tasks. Your aim is to learn to use your Beyonder abilities and the best place to do so is on the field."
"I understand."
"All details of the mission will be handed over to you on the day of the mission itself, so you may leave right now. Make sure to be in my office early on Sunday. Be no later than seven in the morning or you'll be penalised for delaying everyone else." McGonagall said with a stern face.
Loki stepped out of the classroom with Hermione and Daphne and spoke to them.
"Seems a bit unreal doesn't it." Loki said with a soft smile.
"Yes, I'd never thought that joining a simple newspaper-making club would drag me into the Beyonder world.". Hermione said softly.
"Hey, no point complaining now that you're a part of it. And weren't you the one that asked Professor McGonagall to become one in the first place?"
Loki, Hermione and Daphne split up after that with Loki and Daphne heading towards the dungeons.
It was a mostly silent walk until Daphne spoke up, "What do you think our first mission is going to be about?"
"Didn't Professor McGonagall say it was about some attacks in the Muggle world? Perhaps we're dealing with someone who is acting out one of the corrupted pathways?"
Loki knew Daphne had a lot of mysticism knowledge being someone from a noble household so he didn't have to explain to her about the 'corrupted' pathways, although she did look at him with raised eyebrows when he said that.
"Possible. But that makes it more dangerous for Hermione to be involved in. Professor McGonagall wouldn't involve Hermione so recklessly in such a troublesome matter.
"I know. But I think she's hurrying because…"
"Because?"
"I think it's because she thinks you-know-who is coming back. That incident at the World Cup camp, signifies his return doesn't it?"
Daphne remained silent as she walked beside Loki and eventually, when they reached the Slytherin Dormitory door she spoke, "I'm worried Hermione will do something that goes by her sense of justice."
"I don't think that'll happen. She's surprisingly good at keeping her secrets." Loki stated causing Daphne to raise her brows.
"Haven't you seen her help Harry and Ron each year with random stuff while keeping everything a secret? I'm sure she'll temper herself with time." Loki tried explaining his reasoning.
"I hope it is as you say. I don't want to work with a fussy newbie on our team. Any mistake she makes will reflect badly on the Greengrass family."
"There's a simple way to avoid that, just ask Professor McGonagall to assign you the position of the leader for our team."
Daphne appeared to ponder on Loki's suggestion for a minute before she nodded and said, "That's a nice idea. I will ask Professor McGonagall about it. Thank you."
"It was nice talking to you Princess Daphne.", Loki said with an exaggerated bow before he spoke the Slytherin password for the week. "Salazar."
'Does 'He' get notified of this place each time someone says the password?'
Returning to his room, Loki entered the Sefirah Castle and looked at the small illusion he had created, which was holding a new topaz pendulum hanging from its wrist.
This was a special topaz pendulum, it was tied to Hermione's pendulum through runes and when Hermione passed her intent into it using magic, this pendulum performed the same task using the soul of the Mystery Pryer in the Ring Of Harvest.
For now, this made it so that Loki couldn't divine much about anything himself. However, it was only a temporary setback since Loki was working on making another pair that was connected to the same contraption.
'Daphne didn't say anything about Mione's connection with the Sefirah Castle while using her spirit vision...'
'This could mean that either the connection is near invisible since it managed to also fool Professor McGonagall...or that Daphne chose to ignore our connection for now…'
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A/N : For the first time, we've crossed four hundred powerstones! Let's goooo!!!!!!!! Thank you for your support everyone!
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