HP X LOTM : Please Call Me Mr. Error.

Each team got a copy of the drawing using the Gemino charm and split to scour different directions.

Moving east, Loki and Hermione walked silently as they carefully trotted through the dirty alleys searching for a single sane witch or wizard who would've known the old woman.

Eventually after searching for an hour or so, Loki and Hermione got tired.

Most people were drugged to escape the boorish pain and couldn't give out a coherent response, and the ones that could, commented that they thought the woman had died a few weeks ago.

Some kids recognised the old woman but they all cursed the woman for experimenting with magic on their friends and left without giving any more information. Even after Loki used his charm and manipulation on them to loosen them up with money.

After a few more minutes, Loki stopped Hermione and told her, "I'll be back in a second, need to use the loo for a sec."

Hermione nodded and Loki moved towards the closest store, hoping to use the bathroom to enter the Sefirah Castle.

'Is the most entered location of the Sefirah Castle the bathroom?'

Loki shook his head to push away unnecessary thoughts as he entered the store with the name, "Borgin and Burkes.".

An old gentleman stood behind the counter when Loki entered. He had a surprised expression on his face when Loki did since he was wearing Hogwarts robes.

But he quickly controlled his expression and spoke in a professional tone.

"What may I do for you today sir?"

Loki looked at the man and then at the rows of charms in the shelf behind him.

"Could you give me a slumber charm?" Loki asked politely.

The man's eyes widened but only for a second as he pulled off one of the silver charms from the backboard and presented it to Loki.

"Anything else sir?"

"No that will be all. Can I use the washroom for a minute?"

The man nodded but didn't direct Loki to go anywhere. So Loki placed a Galleon on the front desk so that he could move on the conversation.

"You can keep the change."

"Ah…thank you very much sir.", the man said with a smile as he quickly swiped away the coin to place into his pocket after which he nodded and pointed Loki in the right direction towards the back of the store.

Loki thanked him and entered the washroom before locking it behind him so that he wouldn't be disturbed.

Performing the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth ritual, Loki entered the sefirah castle where he immediately performed a dream divination.

"The location where the old woman in this portrait is currently at."

Repeating the sentence seven times Loki slipped into sleep using cogitation.

His vision shifted and soon his eyes took on an eagle's view of Knockturn Alley. The vision shifted again and moved towards the eastern part, specifically to a dilapidated house that Loki didn't recognise.

The vision shifted once again and Loki found himself looking directly at the old woman who was arranging a ritual.

'A ritual? For whom? And why?'

Loki immediately studied the entire ritual. His eyes scanned each and every ingredient that was being used along with all the structures and formations they were arranged in.

'Sacrificial ritual?'

'To the Chained God?'

The vision shattered at the point when the coin box suddenly grew eyes and looked at Loki. Hissing at him like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Loki spent some time mulling over everything he'd just seen in his vision, before leaving the Sefirah Castle and walking out of the store with his slumber charm.

His mind buzzed with questions.

'Is the ritual aimed at sacrificing the residents of Knockturn Alley? Is it related to 'Her' currently controlling the Chained God and the corresponding pathway?'

'But why is a mystical item performing the ritual?'

'Either way, I need to help the others stop the ritual.'

Loki remembered the exact route to the house that he was shown and decided to 'accidentally' let Hermione discover the house.

When Loki walked out of the store, Hermione walked up to him and said with a frown, "What took you so long?"

"The guy inside wanted me to buy something just to use the washroom. Got caught up in that. Let's continue searching." Loki said and Hermione nodded.

Along the way, Loki chose the closest streets so that they could reach the house where the old lady was performing the ritual faster.

"Why is it so quiet here?" Loki suddenly asked out of nowhere while using his powers as a swindler to affect Hemione's unprotected mind.

Hermione looked around as if a placebo had acted, and then spoke with a slight chill. "Do you think there's something wrong going on here?"

Loki remained silent for a minute before he spoke to Hermione again, "That house…there's a wall of spirituality around the room in there in my spirit vision. Why don't you try it out too?"

With Hermione turning on her spirit vision, she noticed the Wall of Spirituality too, "We should call everyone here."

"Mione, you go to the meeting spot and bring everyone here. I'll stay here and wait so that the person in that house doesn't leave while you're gone."

Hermione nodded, feeling Loki's logic was reasonable as she spared him one last glance before rushing towards the shack they'd promised to meet up at.

Once Hermione was gone, Loki moved closer to the house.

He stayed a sufficient distance away from the house to not alert the possessed lady inside it. But he couldn't understand what was going on inside the house.

'Is someone really trying to use the sacrifice of all the people in Knockturn Alley to cause a deity's descent or something?'

'But why would a Beyonder item of all things perform such a ritual?'

'Was it someone's wish?'

'Perhaps the wish of the old woman?'

'What pathway was she anyway?'

'Hanged man?'

Loki used his topaz pendulum to confirm and his argument instantly fell short.

'She's not a Beyonder at all.'

'Let's review the case once again.'

'A merchant possessed by the coin box was selling ritualistic ingredients. He surely knew about the Beyonder world since he had an entire cupboard in his room dedicated to those ingredients.'

'But when he was caught the coin box escaped from the house after possessing the old woman who lived in the same shack.'

'Yet, it didn't go into hiding. Instead, it started to perform a ritual?'

Loki frowned.

'This doesn't make sense.'

'Did the merchant change his wish when he was about to die?'

'Wait a minute!'

'Isn't the coin box collecting souls as payment for each wish?'

'Perhaps it gathered enough souls after killing the man for its eventual goal?'

'But what would a mystical item want to do with souls?'

'It's not like it can advance in Beyonder sequences or even gain more strength.'

Loki felt stumped. It was like he'd reached a wall that couldn't be jumped or even climbed across.

Minutes later, everyone else in their team arrived and Loki explained his discoveries to them.

"The old lady inside isn't a Beyonder at all. At least if no one has interfered with my divinations. So our only enemy should be the coin box. And from my divinations, I can confirm that she's currently performing a ritual close to completion."

"What type of ritual is it?" Daphne asked.

"A sacrificial ritual under the domain of the Chained God but I don't know what it is aimed towards.", Loki responded honestly.

Daphne nodded and looked at Ethan.

"We have to go in. Can we count on you for cover?"

Ethan nodded and said, "I'll call Laura to back us up.". He pulled out a two-way mirror and directly sent a message to Laura. "Come to our location, we're in Knockturn Alley, need help stopping a ritual aimed at the Chained God. Some lunatic's at it again."

Laura appeared in the mirror and with a small flash she spoke seriously-

"I'll be there."

Everyone was relieved when they learnt that Laura would be arriving but Loki was feeling uneasy in his mind, 'Something feels off…'.

"Harry you'll be handling the frontal assault, while Hermione and Loki will remain outside to prevent any outsiders from entering the area…or preventing anything from the inside leaving outside."

Hermione was a little unhappy but she couldn't participate directly in the fight without revealing her true sequence.

When everyone was satisfied with their roles, Daphne looked at the house and then at Ethan.

"Let's go."

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