𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙦𝙪𝙖 ➪ 𝗆𝖺𝗋𝖺𝗎𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑅𝑇𝐸𝐸𝑁

➪ SEAFOAM  ➪

"THANKS FOR THIS."

Peter returned the smile to Loki. The pair had been walking in silence for only two minutes, but neither felt uncomfortable.

"If you don't mind me asking," Peter looked to the girl beside him, who's gaze was locked on her shoes now, "how did you meet the other boys?"

"Oh," Peter seemed pleasantly surprised about the question. He turned to Loki and began. "Well, Remus was the first one I met. I ran into him on the train, and he seemed just as lonely as I did so I asked if he wanted to sit with me."

"Ran into him like...?" Loki trailed off, and Peter sighed and nodded. "I--I guess it could have been worse?" It was meant to sound reassuring, but it certainly didn't come out that way. "And, uh, and Sirius?"

"He and James were chased out of their cabin, and they joined us," Peter answered. "I mean, Remus asked them first when he saw them wandering around. He's, uh, he's nice like that."

"Yeah," Loki nodded, the corners of her mouth turning up into a smile. "Sirius is really cheeky, isn't he?" Loki laughed slightly.

From the corner of his eye, Peter peered at the girl. He couldn't help but wonder what was going through her head to give her a happy smile like the one on her face. Perhaps Loki admired his friends? That must have been it. Remus and Sirius were rather admirable people, so he wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

"You really like Remus and Sirius, don't you?" Peter laughed and smiled innocently at the girl, meaning something completely different to what Loki had interpreted it as.

"I--I--I--me? Psssh! What? Hehe, no." Loki stuttered, trying, and clearly failing, to persuade the boy.

"But..." Peter frowned in confusion, "I thought you guys were friends?" At once, Loki stopped her sputtering. She turned to Peter, her face redder than both of them thought humanly possible. "What did you think I meant?"

"Hahaha, nothing," she chuckled nervously, wiping her palms on her robes to rid them of the nervous sweat. "Um, sorry. Yeah, we--we are friends. We are. Yeah, I--I like them, I guess. They're nice."

"Hmm," Peter hummed.

Once again, the pair fell into silence. Loki knew she was probably making it more awkward than it had to be, but she couldn't help it. She was used to hanging out with Nicolas, but that was before she had her unfortunate first meeting with Remus and Sirius. Now she'd been pushed into the shallow end of their world. The chaos that resided within it was slow-rising water,  raising up until it was almost suffocating her. She didn't feel panicked, however, letting it wash over her just like it wanted to.

"Loki?" Peter leaned forward, waving his hand in front of her face. She blinked, turning her attention to him. "You okay? You kind of, uh, zoned out a bit there. We, uh, we're at your common room."

"Oh!" Loki turned to the barrels. "Would you mind just turning away for a second? We're not supposed to let anyone else know how we get in." She smiled at the boy. He nodded, quickly turning to face the opposite wall.

Loki lifted her hand up to the first barrel, quickly glancing back to check Peter wasn't trying to look, before beginning the knocking. She was sure she and many other Hufflepuffs would be able to knock the pattern with their eyes closed. It was complicated, sure, but it had been burnt into their memories. Especially after the countless times they had vinegar spray over them from knocking the wrong barrel. Loki couldn't help but shiver at the thought.