บท 73: Opportunity!
"By the way, do you guys have any idea which professor might be taking care of the puppy in the forbidden corridor?" Loki asked randomly.
"Oh? And how do you think we know?"
"Well you aren't denying it, are you? And given how daring you were yesterday and today with trying to prank Snape, I can't believe you've not visited the forbidden corridor already."
"The ickle firstie has some brains brother."
"He does."
"It's not a professor." Fred explained.
"Not a professor at all." George echoed.
"Not a professor huh? Is it Filch? No, but he's a cat person, not a dog person, so who?" Loki threw out his guesses.
"It's Hagrid! He's not a professor but the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."
"Hagrid?" Loki thought but then his memory threw up an image of recognition, "You mean that really tall person on the teacher's table?" Loki asked surprised.
"Yes, him!" The twins congruently agreed.
"I see, I should've guessed since that actually makes quite a bit of sense, thank you for letting me know." Loki nodded.
"Good luck with your adventures ickle firstie." the Weasley twins said and ran out of the washroom to go elsewhere.
Loki shook his head and made his way towards Snape's office.
As he walked towards the office, Loki blew on the whistle that was tied on his wrist. Again there was no sound from the whistle but a nose tore through the spirit world and pushed through until a creature arrived on Loki's shoulder.
"Sunny, I have a job for you, again." Loki whispered in a low voice.
*Squeak* *Squeak*
"No, I won't need to pay you this time."
*Squeak* *Squeak*
"No, I'm not scamming you, this is for your sake, this is to get a potion ingredient for your next potion."
*squeak* *squeak*
"Good, now hide in my sleeves, and when I distract Professor Snape you sneak into the cupboard where all the ingredients are kept and steal a hundred drops of Lethe River Water, it's a blue colour liquid and I'll give you the exact location as I'm leaving. Alright?"
*Squeak* *Squeak*
With their conversation over, Sunny hid inside Loki's robes and since he was small he didn't even show outside.
*Knock* *Knock*
"Professor Snape! Are you in there?"
"Come in." Loki heard a cold voice.
As soon as Loki stepped inside, he no longer felt the strange sensation of being watched as he did before when Snape wasn't in the office.
"Did you come in earlier Mr. Loki?" Snape asked watching Loki closely.
'Damn, how did he know?'
'Did he notice with the help of whatever thing was keeping watch in the office?'
But then Loki remembered the door behind him and then it struck him, 'Oh! I didn't lock the office after I unlocked it while he was away.'
"Yes, professor. I thought something might've happened to you so I broke into your office, I thought to continue sorting the ingredients but then I needed to use the washroom real quick so I left." Loki said using half-truths.
Snape's eyes seemed to peer into Loki's own as he stood there for a few seconds but in the end, Snape broke eye contact and looked away.
"Do not enter my office when I'm not here Mr. Loki.", Snape warned.
"I promise I will not enter your office recklessly professor.", Loki said and moved to the barrel in the corner of the room where the remaining ingredients that needed to be sorted were stored.
Realising he had been holding his breath all this time, Loki exhaled and took a deep breath in and only then did he smell the poopy smell of the dung bombs that had been launched on Snape.
Loki almost gagged but held it in as he asked Snape a question with a strained smile, "Professor, did the Weasley twins get you?"
Snape looked at Loki with a sharp expression and then without answering vanished into his office, perhaps to take a bath or magically get rid of the smell that had overtaken him.
'Thank you twins! I can't believe my luck! Now I can freely ste-'
Loki stopped his plans to steal midway when he felt the same chilling sensation from earlier that had reminded him that he was on someone's radar.
Bringing the barrel over to his table using the Levitation charm, Loki began to sort through the ingredients and place them in their proper place in the cupboard.
And as he did he took note of the position of the Lethe River Water flask and whispered it to Sunny.
'I don't think I'm going to get a better chance to steal. I'm sure if I can distract whatever is watching us Sunny will be able to steal from the flask.'
But just as he was about to let Sunny out to steal for him, Snape entered the office smelling heavily of lavender and with him entering the feeling of being watched vanished once again.
'Damn, bad timing.' Loki thought but remained calm since he knew he just had to wait for an opportunity to steal a hundred drops.
"You smell much better Professor.", Loki said with a smile that caused the nerves on Snape's forehead to twitch in anger.
As Loki continued to sort through the ingredients, he made sure to occasionally loosen the cap of the flask that held the Lethe River Water so that Sunny could access his target more easily and without any mistakes.
As Loki neared the end of his sorting process, he became more and more worried about getting an opportunity but he held strong and kept a positive attitude.
But his positivity didn't last long since there was no opportunity magically created to help him.
'Damn, I need to create my own window of opportunity to steal, I can't rely on luck this time.' Loki thought as he sorted the last few pieces of ingredients.
With the last of his ingredients that he took to the cupboard to fill, Loki borrowed a pipette from a table and placed it beside the Flask that contained the Lethe River Water and deemed his preparations complete.
"Professor Snape, I'm done.", Loki stated informing Snape that he'd completed sorting out all the ingredients.
Snape looked up and walked over to Loki, he gave him a scrutinising look and then turned to the cupboard which he opened and looked inside for any mistakes.
After picking up a few jars and looking at a few more, Snape deemed everything perfect with a nod.
But like always, Snape found something to ruin Loki's mood, since he picked up the pipette that Loki had left on the shelf beside the flask containing his prised ingredient and placed it back onto the table from which it had been picked up.
"Oh, I must've left that unknowingly." Loki acted innocent outwardly but felt very frustrated on the inside.
Snape only nodded and turned to go back to his desk.
"Aren't you going to leave?" Snape asked once he sat back down.
"Oh!? I can leave professor!?"
"Do you want me to extend your detention?"
'Yes!!' Loki screamed in his mind.
"Oh no professor, I was just surprised.", Loki said forcing as much happiness as he could on his face to hide his immense disappointment.
"Bugger off." Snape scolded, clearly his mood was less than agreeable today.
As Loki walked to leave the office, he let Sunny slip out of his robes into a corner of the office under the cover of darkness.
Stepping out with measured steps, Loki suddenly turned around and asked Professor Snape a question.
"Professor, why are the clockwise and anti-clockwise turns of a potion treated differently? Does it have anything to do with Arithmancy where the meaning of the circle is inversed when drawn anti-clockwise?"
Snape looked up from his book, his brows forced together as he looked at Loki who was asking a random question.
"And why do you know about Arithmancy Mr. Loki?"
"Ah, well I read about it in Professor Flitwick's class and was just wondering if the reverse meanings had anything to do with the steps of the potions we brew."
Snape stared at Loki judgingly before deciding to answer his question, "It does. For example in the boils cure potion, one has to stir the potion in the cauldron anti-clockwise so that it sends the extracted puss from the boils into the excretory system and not the digestive-"
Before Snape could finish his response there was a light glass *CLINK* that Loki and Snape both heard come from the cupboard.
Snape stood up with a frown on his face as he walked in the direction of the cupboard.
"What were you saying professor?" Loki asked, stepping in Snape's path while pretending to be hyper-interested in the topic at hand.
Snape looked at Loki suspiciously but decided to answer his question.
"A Clockwise stir of the potion in the cauldron would instead cause the excess puss in the boils to be directed toward the digestive system instead of the excretory system."
After Snape finished explaining, Loki bowed deeply and said, "Thank you, professor! That was truly enlightening."
And after straightening his back, Loki said a light, "Good night professor." and walked away from the office.
After Loki walked away, Snape walked up to the cupboard and opened the doors only to find nothing had changed on the inside and once he closed it, he looked in the direction of his office where the darkness morphed into a set of deep red eyes.
"Did you notice something wrong?" Snape asked the terrifying creature.
"N~o~~" A veiny voice spoke, the voice sounded like it had emerged straight from the depths of hell and would send any those who heard it into the abyss.
Meanwhile, in the distance, Loki clicked his feet together as he pulled out a small vial from his pocket, attached to which was a Niffler who was looking at him with smug eyes expecting praise.
"Good Job Sunny."
*Squeak* *Squeak*
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