The second lesson this day was History of Magic. To say that this lesson was dull would be a massive understatement. Loki fell asleep after about five minutes of the monotone droning of the ghost teacher Professor Binns. He sat there his head resting on his left palm while he muttered something about sweets in his sleep.
Harry and Neville who sat on either side of him, exchanged a look after about five more minutes before Harry gently pushed Loki. Just enough to destabilise him. It was like slow motion when Loki's head slid from his hand, and he hit the desk before him with his nose ungently waking him up.
"Ouch!" came the not very eloquent reaction together with some curses from him while he rubbed his nose.
"You fell asleep," Harry chuckled.
"I don't sleep!" was the retort from him.
"Ah okay how would you call it then? Eye preservation?" Neville now also started trying to suppress his laughter.
"Okay, okay the great Loki has fallen asleep. But what other would you expect if one has to listen to the monotone droning of a ghost about goblin wars? I can't even hex him for that!" Loki growled quite loudly while he threw a ball he conjured at the ghost. It flew straight through him. After that, he slid down in his seat, conjuring up some chocolate for him and his friends.
Professor Binns, in the meantime, didn't even look up when the ball flew through him. He just continued his lecture. Only a few classmates looked at him dispraisingly, most from Ravenclaw who had the lesson together with them.
"Why can't you hex him?" Harry cocked his head.
"How shall I explain that...? Ah yes, there are two kinds of ghosts in the world. Normal ones are souls who didn't pass over to the afterlife, heaven or hell, respectively.
"Then, there are magical ones. Magical ghosts are like a footprint. You know all those pictures around here which can talk and seem to be like the real person? Those ghosts are pretty much the same only that those are corporal, can move freely and to some extent through magic interact with the world.
"While a normal ghost someday goes crazy because they are souls stuck here, these ghosts are just images of the original person. They have the memories and their individual behaviour but are images nevertheless. Because they have no physical form, I can't tamper with them," Loki sighed.
He didn't register that everyone around him listened to him instead of the professor because his information was fascinating and useful in life than something about wars long ago.
"Hmm I have never heard about those other ghosts," Seamus muttered from behind.
"That might be because those mainly appear in America and only very rarely here in Europe. In America, there are also people called hunters who hunt those ghosts down and forcibly send them onwards. Because as I said, those ghosts go insane after a while and then mostly start to kill people."
"Hunters...I have heard they hunt everything supernatural without mercy even the harmless ones," Neville stated. Purebloods tended to tell their children that, shouldn't they behave, hunters would come after them. It was their version of the boogeyman.
"Well, most of them don't. The hunters are more like the Aurors here in Europe who only hunt those who hurt or kill people without the paperwork. But as always, you have extremists who shoot first and ask questions later. Luckily most of these don't live long enough to do any real damage because they often are on their own. The other "normal" hunters hate such a philosophy and give them a wide berth. But if one of you ever goes to America, you should have them in mind. Because most of them know only the demon witches who made a deal for their powers. Hence, they are quite suspicious about magic."
"Demon witches?" someone from his right side asked.
Loki sighed and started to explain the difference between demon-deal witches and natural-born ones. After that, some more about demons in general while providing sweets. At the end of the lesson, the Gryffindor half of the class learned more from Loki's stories than they ever would have by listening to Professor Binns. Even some Ravenclaw joined them after seeing that Loki shared some genuine and useful information. They would never be able to look up those in the library other than all this history stuff.
On the way to lunch, they all chattered excitedly about what they learned from Loki.
The trio sat at the Gryffindor table when the twins joined them.
"We heard that you fell asleep in History of magic-"
"-and that you hit your nose when Harry pushed you," they said with a wide grin.
"Ah, so you have been the one who pushed me" Loki growled at Harry who only smiled innocently.
"Well the good thing was after that he told us some quite interesting things about magical and supernatural beings," Neville told them.
Loki huffed at that when suddenly Professor McGonagall stood behind them.
"Professor Binns informed me that you have been disturbing his lesson, Mr Laufeyson. Detention this evening with me and five points from Gryffindor. I'd ask you to pay attention next time" McGonagall said.
"How often do we have History?" Loki asked.
"Twice a week on Monday and Thursday, why?" Harry replied.
"Well, then Professor McGonagall make sure you have free evenings every day we have History of Magic. Because I definitely won't stop. At least until Professor Binns decides to tell us something useful and not about wars long ago" Loki deadpanned.
"History is important so that we can learn from it and avoid making the same mistakes again" McGonagall explained upon which Loki started to laugh.
"Professor, had you really looked into history you would know that the same mistakes tend to repeat over and over again sooner or later with or without history lessons. Besides that, I doubt knowing that Urg the Unclean lead a Goblin Rebellion helps you in any given way. Should you, for example, strive through a forest in America and suddenly face a Wendigo," Loki stated. Yes, he had listened to Binns while explaining things to the others, well partly.
"I don't know how this should be of any relevance. We are in England and not America, we don't have any Wendigos or whatever these creatures are here."
"Ah, yes, I forgot. All you English wizards do is sit in your homes with your wards never leaving the comfort. No wonder you all run around like a headless chicken when a Dark Lord rises."
Loki shook his head about this ignorance.
"Five more points from Gryffindor and three more evenings with detention. You should remember who you are talking to!" With that, Professor McGonagall left.
"Idiots...all of them. Hey Mandy!" he called over to one of the Ravenclaw's whose name he remembered from the History lesson, having an idea.
The girl came over to them. "Yes?"
"Professor McGonagall was mad with me because I disturbed the History lesson. Since these lessons don't get any better, I thought, why don't we meet in an empty classroom instead during those? Then I can tell you some more about the magical and supernatural life outside Europe without 'disturbing' the history lesson. It seemed you are more interested in my 'lesson' than in his" Loki explained.
"To be honest, that sounds a lot better than History of Magic but won't we get detention when we don't show up?" She asked.
The history they could read in books instead of listening to Binns. The hell, most of the students did it that way while sleeping in class but doing or learning something useful during that time was even better.
"Let them try. What could the teachers do when most of the class refuses to go there? Mass detention? They will have to take it, or it'll drive them nuts quite quickly, and I have my methods to achieve that" Loki laughed.
"Okay, I'll tell the others."
"And I'll look for a room we can use. Thursday at lunch I tell you where we meet since we have History afterwards."
Mandy nodded and went back to the Ravenclaw table to tell others about Loki's plan. At the same time, Loki started to sing "Another brick in the wall" from Pink Floyd, which gave him laughter from the Muggle-born.
He even hadn't stopped singing while they went down to potions class. They waited in front of the room because it was locked when the first Slytherins arrived lead by Draco Malfoy.
"You..." he growled at Loki. "I assume you had something to do with the...incident yesterday?"
"If you would enlighten me. There were several 'incidences' as you put it so aptly, beginning with you falling into the lake" Loki started to laugh at which Malfoy grew angry.
"I meant that you let me look like that Weasley" he retorted.
"Ohhhh that," he said stretching the words. "What makes you think that it was me?"
"Because you seem to be the only one stupid enough to antagonise me. Have you any idea who I am or who my father is?"
"Let me guess. You are the imbecile brat of some blond idiot who is also called Malfoy?" Loki replied with a mock thought on his face.
"My father can make your life hell so be careful who you insult" Malfoy growled.
"Oh yes, that's something I'd like to see especially since your daddy has no idea what the hell is like...but I'd gladly show him."
"You wanted it that way so don't cry when my father gets to you" replied Malfoy turned on the spot and left to his friends with his head high.
"Do you think this was a wise thing to do?" Neville asked carefully. "His father is pretty influential in the wizarding world and the Wizengamot itself. He could get you thrown out of school with one owl."
Loki laughed at that. "Let him try. First, he has to find out who I actually am. After that, he should carefully think about whether he wants to cross me or not. If he is stupid enough, I show him what Hell is really like...I hate idiots like him who think that power and money are all you need and think that everyone is beneath them."
Harry and Neville shook their head. They didn't know whether they liked that or not, but it was Malfoys's own problem when he got on the wrong side with Loki.
Just then, the door to the potions classroom flew open, and Professor Snape called them in with a sneer. Everyone went in and sat down, Loki again between Harry and Neville.
Professor Snape took out a parchment and started to call out the names. It went fluently until he reached Harry Potter.
"Ah, Mr Potter...our new...celebrity," he said before he went on with the rest of the names.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making" Professor Snape told the class. His voice was only a mere whisper, but he caught the attention of the students with ease.
"I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
The class was utterly silent during the speech. Only Loki flinched especially on the last part. He hardly doubted that he would survive this class for very long without pranking that professor through and through.
"Potter, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Snape asked.
Harry was just about to tell him that he had no idea when suddenly a voice echoed through his mind.
-It gets you a sleeping potion so powerful it is also called Draught of the Living Death- Loki told him. He knew very well that this was knowledge not taught before the fourth or fifth year because of said potion's sensitive nature.
Harry turned around and looked at him, shocked. But Loki just nodded towards Snape, who looked at him expectantly. He turned back and repeated everything Loki had told him.
"Hmmm, perhaps that was just a lucky guess. Let's give it another try. Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Loki growled.
-You can find a bezoar in the stomach of a goat. It cures most of the known poisons- Loki again supplied Harry with the necessary information that Harry repeated word for word.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "What's the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
Loki now grew quite angry because this was another question from a higher level than theirs.
-These are questions for fifth-grade students what is he trying to achieve? Nevertheless, both plants are one and the same also known as aconite. While the flowers and roots are excellent potion ingredients, mainly used for the Wolfsbane Potion, the leaves are highly toxic, which can easily be cured with a bezoar by the way.-
Harry repeated everything except the first part, which earned him a sneer from Snape before turning around and waving his wand at the blackboard. He told them that they now had to brew a cure for boils.
Harry was paired with Loki while Neville had Seamus Finnigan as his partner.
"How did you do that?" Harry asked Loki curiously while preparing the first ingredient.
"What? The telepathy? You forget who you are talking to." Loki grinned.
"You are right, why have I even asked," Harry replied, shaking his head. "Thank you anyway, you saved me because I doubt Snape would have been happy if I couldn't give him the answers. Well, he wasn't anyway but have that really been questions from the fifth grade?"
"Except the one about the bezoar which indeed was a question for a first grade, yes. The knowledge about bezoars is required for brewing potions because of the many toxic ingredient ones has to work with. But the other ones really are higher grade knowledge," Loki explained.
At the same time, he stopped Neville from putting in the porcupine quills without taking the cauldron from the fire. The result would have been catastrophic, like exploding and melting down the cauldron.
"I think Snape hates me, but I don't know why. I mean, I don't know him, so why would he hate me?" Harry confusedly asked while stewing the horned slugs.
Loki sighed. "I may know the reason, but I tell you later" Loki whispered because in just that moment Snape approached them looking at them with a sneer.
While the rest of the lesson, they both silently brewed their potion. Harry prepared the ingredients while Loki did the actual brewing. From time to time he intervened in Neville's and Seamus' work to prevent any catastrophes. In the end, both groups had some pretty good potions which they put into bottles, named them and gave it to Snape.
After they left the classroom to go to dinner, Harry spoke up again.
"What did you mean you might know the reason why Snape hates me?"
"Well, I think it has to do with your parents. You have to know your father was in a group called 'The Marauders' who pranked nearly everyone in school and they worshipped me hence why I know" Loki told him.
"Snape was together with them at school and was friends with your mother, Lily. Your father was quite envious about that. That's why Snape was one of your father's favourite pranking targets. But from time to time, and that grew quite worse in the upper years, he went overboard with his pranks up to outright bullying him, something I don't like at all. On top of that, Snape loved your mother, and you can imagine how happy he was when she married your father.
"I think the reason why Snape hates you is that you resemble your father and that Snape sees him in you. That's also the reason why I didn't prank him during the lesson because I highly doubt that this would do any good..." Loki explained.
"Hmmm, I see what you mean. Do you think it would be a good idea to talk to Snape in private? Showing him that I'm not my father?" Harry wondered.
"I don't know how he would react, but you can give it a try. In the meantime, I'll keep a low profile within his class, so he doesn't attack you for my doings, but outside class, I can't promise anything" Loki snickered.
With that they went to the great hall ending a good day with a good dinner, well for Harry and Neville it was the end of the day. On the other hand, Loki had detention with Professor McGonagall.