Hermione was asleep when Loki returned to her room. She was lying on the bed, uncovered, and in an uncomfortable looking position. Loki walked over to the witch and carefully adjusted her body so she was lying more comfortably before grabbing the blanket at the end of the bed and moving it over Hermione's body, covering her in the fabric. Loki looked down at the sleeping girl with a genuine smile. She looked so peaceful, so relaxed. Perhaps rest really was all she needed. He leaned down over her body and pressed a gentle kiss on Hermione's forehead, careful not to wake her up.

He sat in her room for several minutes, watching Hermione sleep. Every now and then, she would mumble quietly in her sleep. Loki would strain his ears to try and hear what Hermione was saying, but he couldn't understand her.

After awhile, he returned to the throne room and waited for Thor and the others. His hands were clasped behind his back and he was facing away from him. "Finally, you arrive," Loki said as he felt the group approaching him. "I specifically said to meet me back here in twenty minutes, did I not?" He asked, turning to the group. Loki turned his head at Thor's words.

"That's enough, Loki. You aren't in charge of this mission, I am. Be thankful you're even coming with us." Thor grabbed Loki's arm, the group following behind. They all headed out of the castle and down to the village where the meeting place was. Loki had remained silent the entire way there, which the group was thankful for. Once they arrived, they opened the door with no problems whatsoever. It seemed to be just an average building. There was no form of security, making it appear as if there was nothing to hide.

"Loki, is this an illusion?" Thor asked. "Is there some kind of spell on the building?" Loki sensed nothing and shook his head.

"Nothing I can sense. This appears to be all there is," Loki replied, walking around the room. The building was small and almost bare. it didn't seem like anyone lived there or had lived there for awhile. The walls were almost completely bare aside from a few paintings that were barely hanging from rusted nails. There was a shelf in the room filled with books that were covered in layers of dust. Loki used his magic to remove the dust from the old pieces of literature and pulled one of the books from the shelf. As the others continued scanning the room, trying to find anything suspicious or any clues, Loki flipped through the pages of the book he had picked up, his green eyes skimming over the faded words.

"Loki, can you put the book down and help us?" Thor asked. Loki looked up from the book for a slight moment before his eyes returned to the pages.

"If you haven't noticed, Thor, this place is barely a place. The walls are almost completely bare and aside from this bookshelf and that table," he gestured to the small table that sat in the corner of the room. "There is nothing here. Even these books hold nothing more but stories. If anything of importance was here, it is certainly not here anymore."

...

Awhile later, the group returned to the castle. Loki went off to check on Hermione while the others went to report back to Odin about what they had found, which was nothing. Loki had brought back with him the books that were inside the small building, seeing as how both he and Hermione enjoyed reading. He figured that if he didn't enjoy these stories, maybe Hermione would. The books really were nothing special, but both Loki and Hermione would read whatever they could get their hands on.

When Loki returned to Hermione's room, he found her pacing back and forth. Upon hearing Loki enter the room, Hermione looked up from the floor. She walked over to him furiously. "Where have you been?! I looked all over the castle for you. Do you have any idea how worried I've been?!" Loki put the books down and walked over to Hermione. He gently placed his hands on Hermione's shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I would have told you I would be out for awhile, but you were asleep. I didn't want to wake you." Loki gently took Hermione's face in his hands, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice that you weren't there?" Hermione asked softly, looking into the god's eyes. Her own pupils held a look of worry in them, and Loki could tell that Hermione had panicked upon not being able to find him. Loki sighed and pressed a tender kiss to Hermione's forehead, his eyes closing as his lips made contact with her skin.

"I'm sorry, darling. I didn't think it would worry you so much. I deeply apologize for worrying you." A small smile made its way onto Loki's face. He looked at Hermione, his smile quickly fading upon realizing that something was wrong. "Hermione, darling. What is it? What's wrong?" He asked her, grabbing her chin gently and tilting her head up so their eyes met. Hermione sighed and stepped away from him. She turned away, walking over to the window. The witch leaned against the wall beside the window, staring out at the view. Loki quietly walked over and stood behind Hermione. He wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist, pulling her close to him. Loki leaned down and pressed his lips to her the exposed skin between her neck and right shoulder. "Darling, please. Tell me what's bothering you."

Hermione's eyes closed as she took a deep breath before speaking. "When I was looking for you earlier, I overheard Odin say that Faye and Nolan are to be executed tomorrow morning," Hermione said softly. The two had committed a crime, but Hermione would never wish death upon them. Sure, Frigga had died in the process, but Hermione didn't feel they deserved a punishment as cruel as death. Hermione felt Loki's breath on her skin as he sighed. She turned to face him, their eyes meeting.

Loki's eyes flickered down to Hermione's lips. Hermione turned around to fully face him, Loki hands slipping from around her waist and onto her hips. Hermione slid her hand onto Loki's chest, the other coming up to the side of Loki's neck. There was nothing but silence between them. Both were nervous to say the least. Looking into her eyes one last time, Loki leaned down and slowly connected their lips.

The kiss was slow and gentle, almost as if the two were afraid they would hurt each other. In all honesty, Loki was afraid that he would hurt Hermione. As strong as she was, Loki knew that her heart was fragile and he didn't ever want her to worry about him. She meant far too much to him to ever want to hurt her. The thought of doing that hurt him more than anything. Hermione could imagine hurting him either. Things between them had gotten far too complicated. This wasn't their first kiss, but it was a lot more romantic than the first one had been.

She knew that if Ron ever found out about her feelings for Loki, he would be heartbroken. Their romantic relationship had barely begun when she was brought to Asgard. Now, she couldn't imagine being with anyone other than Loki. Any romantic feelings she had had for Ron were nonexistent now. Her heart belonged to Loki and Loki alone. There was no point in even thinking about how Ron felt about her because she wouldn't feel the same way. After a few moments, the kiss was broken. The two stood there, breathless and in silence, other than their heavy breathing of course.

"Where did you go anyway?" Hermione asked after her breathing was back to normal.

Loki was hesitant to answer, not knowing how Hermione would react, but he knew that he couldn't lie to her. He didn't want to. "I went with Thor and some of his friends to the place where the Dark Elf attack was planned. Odin believed that there would be things there that could be useful to Asgard," Loki said, looking into the girl's eyes. Her own eyes widened.

"You went where?! Why?! Because Odin told you to? Loki, what if there had been Dark Elves there? What if you had gotten hurt? Or died?" Hermione continued going off on him. She was silenced though when Loki put his hands on her shoulders.

"Hermione. I'm alright. We're all alright. There's no reason to worry. Odin didn't even want me to go, but i refused to stay. I wanted to go in order to avenge Frigga, and because you almost died during that attack as well. I had to know if there was more to come."

"What did you find?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Loki shook his head and sighed.

"We found nothing," he told her truthfully. "The building was stripped bare when we arrived. If there was anything there before, there surely wasn't when we got there. However, there were some books left at the scene that I brought back with me. I figured that if you were getting tired of the material in our library, I would bring you some new material." He gestured over to the books that he had set down. Hermione walked over and began looking through them. "I don't know if you will find any interest in them, but I know how much you enjoy reading."

Hermione looked over at him, a small smile appearing on her face. "I appreciate it." She closed the book she had been looking through and sat down on the bed. Loki joined her, taking a seat next to her and wrapping his arm around her. Hermione sighed and laid her head on Loki's shoulder. He leaned down, kissing her temple and rubbing her arm gently.

"It'll be alright, Hermione. Everything will be alright."

...

Hermione hadn't been able to sleep that night. Knowing what was to come the next morning did nothing but put her in a bad mood. Loki had stayed with her that night, lying next to her on her in her bed. His arm had been wrapped around her tightly in a protective manner. When she started to toss and turn, he would whisper softly in her ear and plant gentle kisses on her skin. He knew that Hermione was having a hard time dealing with this and he just wanted to help her relax.

The events of that morning had been kept a secret from everyone in the village. Only Odin, Thor, the warriors three, Sif, Jane, Loki, and Hermione were present for the execution, aside from a few guards who were there in case of an emergency. The executioner stood in silence as Faye and Nolan were brought out in chains. Faye made eye contact with Hermione, who stood beside Loki. She was trying hard to keep her face blank of emotions. Loki knew how hard Hermione was trying to keep a straight face. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, reassuring her that it was okay. Hermione looked up at Loki, who smiled at her gently. He leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"It's alright, Hermione. You don't have to watch." Loki turned back as the executioner began speaking. Nolan was the first to be executed. Hermione's eyes had closed, but she could hear the decapitation of Nolan's head as the axe sliced through his skin, the head thudding onto the ground and rolling away. She heard Faye cry out at the sight. Hermione's eyes opened and she thought she was going to be sick. Faye was put in the same position as Nolan, and as the executioner raised the axe, Hermione turned into Loki's body, squeezing her eyes shut. Loki held her tightly in his arms. The sound of Faye's head dropping onto the concrete ground was muffled by the coat Loki was wearing. It had been colder lately in Asgard, so everyone was bundled in furry coats.

Hermione noticed that Luna was not here and when she asked Loki about why Luna had not attended, he told her that Luna had no reason to be there as she had not been part of the attack. Hermione simply nodded and made a mental note that she needed to speak with Luna and tell her about what had gone on between her and Loki.

Despite Jane wanting to get closer to Hermione, she still felt that Luna was the person she could talk to the most about Loki. She trusted Jane, but Luna was one of her greatest friends.

Loki nudged her a bit, pulling her from her thoughts. He gestured with his head that it was time to go and the two walked off in silence, wandering back into the castle.