Chapter Two
Ron left the hospital wing an hour later. His black eye was back to normal, but he wouldn't remove his hand from it. Whatever snickers he earned from passerby were silenced soon after they saw the others that had also grown overzealous in mystic martial arts practice. Loosened teeth and pounding headaches had been tended to by the nursing staff, but the nurses seemed actually relieved by the injuries.
"It's far easier to mend a simple bruise than someone wot's got a Bat-Bogey Hex on 'um!" The nurse cheerily called to the moping crowd of students, who were far unused to such an aftermath to a class.
Hermione, in her usual gusto for a new subject, kept reenacting the rolling-parry punch she had learned from Loki. Ron instinctively looked away, mentally avoiding another crack in the ocular receptacle.
Settling into her one-track determination, she said to Ron, "We have a little time before next class. Maybe you can run back to D.A.D.A. class and get your books. You did leave them behind when you ran to the hospital wing."
Ron glared at her.
"Professor Loki can keep them. It doesn't look like we'll be using them, anyhow. We'll probably be head-butting brick walls next."
"But you WILL need your book for Potions." She tugged assertively on his arm in a way that stifled all arguments. "We're going."
When they arrived at Loki's office, they immediately noted it was the same one Professor Lupin had used during his brief tenure at Hogwarts. The door was closed and locked.
"Every Dark Arts professor's had something to hide. It goes with the curse You-Know-Who put on the position. If Loki's using Lupin's old office, I wonder what he's got to hide?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Loki's voice exploded from inside, echoing down the corridor.
"Guess we'll find out." Hermione said with surprise. She leveled her wand at the door.
"Alohamora!"
The door burst open. All the furniture in the office had been arranged in a circle surrounding the center of the room. In the center was a large circle on the floor, drawn in chalk. In that circle was Loki, wearing only loose black pants. He didn't appear to have noticed them. Every muscle in his body was taut and strained. He had the strength and tone of an Olympic gymnast. Both Ron and Hermione's gazes drifted downward, being extremely unaccustomed to seeing a professor in such a situation.
Loki's hands balled into tight fists as he inhaled deeply. His hands came up to his chest, then drew back to just below his armpits. They opened as Loki slowly thrust his arms forward with a hoarse exhalation, expelling all his breath. As he exhaled, his knees bent and turned inward as his body lowered. At the end range of his motion, he looked like he was holding in a severely full bladder.
Hermione and Ron involuntarily flinched as they felt some sort of heavy, dark aura permeating from the circle.
"Is…is that the Dark Arts?" Hermione whispered to Ron.
"I knew it. He's as bad as Snape." Ron whispered back; some of his fear trickling to the surface.
"You're both half-wrong. And half-correct." Loki said without looking at them. With a final deep sigh, he took a more natural posture. As he exited the chalk circle, black smoke appeared to be leaking from his body. "What I'm doing is more Defense Against Darkness itself, than those Dark Arts everyone's so worried about. What I'm up against is far beyond what old Moldywart could conceive of, and he'd probably piss his pants if he ever encountered true darkness. The difference between me and Snape is ol' Severus would've given himself to it without hesitation." He looked at them both with steely eyes that, for a fleeting instant, flashed black. "I'm keeping balance."
"You know Snape and Voldemort?" Ron snapped accusingly.
Loki was not flustered by the outburst.
"I know OF them. Since the EMPs, Moldywart's been pushing to make himself a warlord of the British Isles. My boy's been paying particular attention to that as of late."
"You have a son?" Hermione asked probingly.
"Yes." Loki said, and spoke no more of it. "It was his idea that I come here. Participation in organized systems isn't really my thing. We agreed that the populace wouldn't find a direction fast enough to do much about the Death Eaters. Also, Hogwarts was considering closing down after that fiasco with Albus' death…"
"You knew Dumbledore?" Ron asked, finding it hard to believe this man he had come to loathe would be acquainted with such a saint as Albus Dumbledore.
"Didn't everyone?" Loki asked matter-of-factly. "Wish I could've made the funeral, but I was entrenched in a secret war at the time. The funny thing is, the creatures I was facing would have probably taken Voldemort down themselves if they weren't focused on me. He was drawing too much attention to the world in the shadows. The Nocs would consider him a rogue, and they had resources Voldy didn't. He would've been toast."
"Then you damned us." Ron snarled. "Voldemort's rising to power because of you!"
"Perhaps I'm partially responsible for that. But keep in mind what I just said. I took down a far stronger enemy than Voldemort, who is really a petty warlord that's being kept in check by all his competition who want to plunder the cataclysmic aftermath of technological genocide."
Ron opened his mouth to speak again.
"POINT IS…" Loki interjected fiercely, stopping Ron in his verbal tracks. "What's past is past, and I've just told the both of you a lot more than you came here for. What did you need?"
"Ron left his books." Hermione said, gesturing to a pile of them on one of the desks.
"Ah yes." Loki gathered Ron's volumes and handed them back. Ron snatched them away. "You weren't the only one. Several people were so shocked by the lesson they forget their supplies."
"Are they all going to be like that?" Hermione asked, wondering what else Loki had to offer.
"Hardly. Defense Against the Dark Arts is going to cover a multitude of areas no other professor at Hogwarts has ever delved into. Being seventh-years, this will most likely shatter your educational momentum. This is the way it's going to be. All the students need it to get by in the world today."
Loki was on the verge of a smile, when his face tensed painfully. He clutched a hand to his head and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Aren't you two late for class?" He forced through a clenched jaw. He stepped back into the circle and began to inhale deeply.
Ron and Hermione took that as their cue to leave.
The door slammed closed behind them, even though no one had laid a finger on it. They quickened their pace away from the office and sprinted to Charms.
After class, Ron and Hermione decided to take what they had learned to Headmaster McGonagall. She already looked flustered when they arrived at her office.
"Is it about Professor Loki?" She asked wearily as the pair entered.
"Well…yes." Hermione answered.
"I've been fielding a lot of controversy today about him. I knew this would happen when he was accepted to the faculty. But the Ministry was convinced he would ultimately prove beneficial to the school. Then I find he's not even teaching magic in his class…Was one of you injured?"
"Not badly." Ron said, surprising Hermione. "What we're here about is Professor Loki seems to have a lot of knowledge about You-Know-Who and his activities around Britain. With Harry out there, and the Ministry of Magic doing what it can to beat back the Death Eaters, whatever he knows might be of help to the cause."
"That's surprising to hear, Mister Weasley." McGonagall said, tipping her spectacles downward. "The other students I have seen today from your class say that you and Professor Loki have already commenced a feud."
"Regardless of how I feel about someone…if he can help Harry, then that's what matters."
Hermione looked at Ron with admiration. She had nothing to add.
"Very well, Mister Weasley. I am already going to be speaking with Professor Loki later today. He and I had an extensive interview before he was taken on as a teacher, so I know more than you would guess. But I shall see if I can find out anything more."
"Thank you, Headmistress." Hermione said as they left the room. In the hallway, she punched Ron's arm. He winced.
"Good to see you acting like yourself again, Ron. That jealous streak seems to finally be subsiding."
"Harry's more important than anything here. He's more important than our graduating. Fred and George didn't graduate, and they're doing smashing!"
"THEY are, Ron, but I don't foresee you opening a joke shop at any point. What ARE you going to do with yourself after this year?"
"I don't rightly know. At Bill's wedding, Harry made us promise we'd finish here and make ourselves useful to the world at large. I'm not sure what to do with the world as it is."
"You haven't really lost anything, Ron. Your family never used Muggle technology. Mine did. I'm the one who's scared to face the world outside."
Tears started welling in Hermione's eyes as suppressed worries bubbled surfaceward. Ron pulled her close. For a moment, they held each other as they each comforted the other's woes.
When they broke the embrace, it felt like pulling out deep-set roots.
"I've…I've got Potions." Hermione stammered.
"I've got…yeah." Ron stammered back. "See you later."