"Ughh…my head…" Harry said painfully as he grabbed his head with both his hands.
"You're finally awake!" Harry heard a familiar voice speak beside him.
All of a sudden the memories of what had just happened came rushing back to him as he pushed himself off the ground to look around himself, trying to figure out if the threats to their life still remained.
Although unfamiliar with the place he was inside, Harry visibly calmed down as he realised they were inside the room Luna had brought them into.
The familiar dueling rings were painted on the floor he lay on, and the healing station was located some distance away to treat minor injuries, there was a cauldron sitting on eerie pink flames which hadn't been there before.
Harry blinked a few times, as his surroundings came into focus. His glasses bent because of the awkward angle he had been in when he was pressed to the floor because of the 'famed' Mr. Error.
Finally, as his joints popped back into place, Harry looked at the person who was standing beside him, dropping an eerie green glowing potion near the nostrils of the next person unconscious beside him.
"...Loki?"
"Hm~m." Loki nodded. "I woke up before all of you did so I made use of the healing station to brew up something quick to get you back to your feet."
"....I feel terrible.", Harry concluded after he checked his body for any injuries.
"Hm~m. I'm only doing enough to make sure you can walk yourselves to Madam Pomfrey. Don't want to overextend and step into something I don't know…" Loki said, his voice trailing off by the end as if he didn't want to recall something terrible.
Harry's eyes widened slightly.
'Now that I think about it-'
"-You were't there with us!? In that place!? I didn't see you!!?? In front of Mr. Err- 'Him'!?" Harry asked astonished.
Loki gave out a wry smile.
"I was. I'd just slipped into the room when I was out on my nightly stroll around the castle, disguised by a simple disillusionment charm of course, and then I got sucked into the madness along side you guys."
"Ahh…" Harry's eyes flickered with a little surprise as he recalled Luna continuously looking behind them when they were in this room and the place they'd been whisked off to after the ritual Astoria performed.
In the span of the thin silence that grew between them after that, Harry watched as Loki dripped a few drops of the potion near everyone's nose.
The smell wasn't pungent or terrible in any way.
It was just an unbearable minty sort of smell. One that was bound to clear up your nose if it had clogged up.
And it was effective too, since Harry watched everyone's nose twitch a little before they started to push themselves just like he had a few seconds ago.
Everyone's reaction was almost like his too, they were startled for a few seconds, but they started to calm down when they realised that they were fine.
"Was that just some strange dream?" Astoria asked, her voice trembling a little in fear as she instinctively moved closer to Loki, causing him to pat her head softly before pulling out a slip of paper.
"This was on the floor when I woke up. It's…important…" Loki said, his eyes reflecting a deep blend of worry and sadness.
Harry reached out to grab it but Hermione was quicker, she pulled the paper from Loki's hand as her eyes sped through it all.
And her expression didn't instill any confidence in anyone else, not even as Hermione tried to clench the paper and give them a weak smile.
It seemed like Hermione wasn't convinced by it herself as she finally gave up with a sigh before revealing what was inside it to everyone.
"We are prevented from revealing anything that happened today…in that strange place…"
"That doesn't seem very bad?" Cedric said with his brows raised as Harry nodded along.
To not talk about something traumatic that happened to them? Wasn't that the best? While they might not be able to ask Dumbledore for help, simply getting out alive from that terrible place seemed like a win for everyone.
But Hermione's smile turned into an unwilling and helpless frown that showed her frustrations regarding the situation.
"....not just us. Everyone in the contract that we signed…none of us…"
Cedric's eyes widened in shock while Astroia's knees nearly buckled.
Luna became a little stiff.
Not being able to discuss a True God was normal and more or less expected. No True God would want others to learn anything about them in the first place. As Beyonders, all of them had experience with having to keep their cards to themselves, their mentalities had already shifted to view the world through such a lens.
The true shocker was when Hermione explained that everyone in the seemingly ordinary contract that they had signed was subject to this restriction.
Meaning that whoever it was that they had met in the strange place had some way to enforce it and control their actions.
To do what? They didn't know, yet.
But did they want to do it?
Hell no! Who would want to be a slave to someone else willingly!? Especially for someone to whom their lives were as worthless as ants were to them?
Astoria's already weak knees gave as she collapsed.
It was only Loki's timely support that managed to keep her standing as everyone rushed towards her to help her up.
Being the closest to Loki, Hermione managed to support the girl until Cedric quickly brought a chair for her to sit on.
Astoria looked completely spent, her hair roughed up from the ordeal she had just been through and due to the weight already on her shoulders.
"What happened Tory?" Loki asked with a gentle smile as he slowly pushed her hair behind her ears, revealing the unsightly face that was possibly the first time in history that anyone had seen a Noble make.
Astoria's eyes were red.
Tears kept rolling down her cheeks with no signs of stopping.
It was clear to everyone that Astoria was blaming herself.
She wasn't really wrong to think that she'd just dragged everyone around her into danger, of the kind that they couldn't easily crawl out of.
It was true that she'd been the one to initiate the turning of keys to unlock the door to the mess that they'd gotten trapped in.
But at the same time, everyone knew enough not to blame her senselessly.
How was she to know that the Goddess of Fortune, the one that their house had been following for so long, would 'betray' her so suddenly?
Seeing Astoria not speak a word, Hermione quickly stepped in-
"Don't worry about it, Astoria…who knows? It might be a blessing in disguise?"
Hermione wasn't trying to lie. In fact, she hoped that given what she knew about Mr. Error, that 'He' wouldn't just discard them like pawns.
Perhaps this was just 'His' way of keeping any suspicion away from her as she proselytized everyone in the club with knowledge regarding 'His' spells under the guise of needing to obey 'His' orders?
Astoria looked up at Hermione, her eyes hollow as if she hated Hermione for lying to her, but Hermione remained steadfast as she matched her gaze like steel.
---
A/N : Patreon chapters are so much longer right now...makes me feel a little terrible for you guys slogging through these...I'll try posting as many as fast as I can in the next few days so that you're on the same page.