𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙦𝙪𝙖 ➪ 𝗆𝖺𝗋𝖺𝗎𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌

𝐸𝑋𝑇𝑅𝐴 𝑆𝐶𝐸𝑁𝐸 𝑇𝑊𝑂

➪ XANADU ➪

"MOTHER OF MERLIN."

"You know, I've always been curious to know what she looked like," Nicolas lowered the broom in his grip slightly as he turned his head to Loki with a thoughtful look. "Do you think she was a pretty witch?"

Loki blinked, turning to Nicolas. Her brows were furrowed in confusion, mouth opening and shutting several times. Her hands lowered the cricket bat she held, all thoughts on the spider on the wall two metres from them gone.

"What the heck, Nic?" Loki queried. The boy shrugged, gripping the handle of the household broom tighter.

"What are you two doing?" The pair turned around to Sirius, Marlene and Remus, who stared at the best friends with inquiring looks on their faces. "Why are you holding a bat and a broom?" Sirius frowned.

"Oh, I'm trying to convince Loki to kill that," Nicolas replied, gesturing to the wall behind them with his thumb. The trio turned their gaze to the area.

"What the hell?" Marlene jumped at the sight of the spider, stepping behind Remus and placing her hands on his shoulders, pushing him forward. If anyone was going to be sacrificed, it was going to be the tall one. At least, that was what Marlene had settled on.

"Merlin's beard!" Sirius's eyes widened, and he followed Marlene, copying her stance, except on the girl herself. "Hurry up and get rid of it!" Sirius whined, his eyes flicking between the arachnid and Loki and Nicolas.

"I can't," Loki replied. She, now fully aware of the creature, glanced back at it nervously. "I'm afraid it's going to jump on me when I get too close. I don't want it to jump on me." Loki swallowed, glancing at the spider again as she, too, whined.

Remus let out a sigh. "I'll kill it."

Loki grinned, dropping the bat as she quickly moved closer to the taller boy and wrapping her arms around him. She muttered 'thank you's into his shirt. Remus gave her a kiss on the top of her head. Loki broke away from him, stepping next to Marlene and Sirius. She beckoned them to the front door at the end of the hallway they were in, which the pair hastily moved to, none of them wanting to be anywhere near the spider any longer.

"I already feel like it's crawling on me," Loki murmured, scratching the bottom of her neck before shuddering almost violently. Sirius came up to her, hugging her from behind.  Loki paused, glancing back at him, and frowned at his smile. "What are you doing?"

"Just thank me for killing the imaginary spider on you," Sirius replied, pressing a kiss to her cheek. He chuckled, pulling away. "We were going to ask you something before the whole spider incident, Remus and I," Sirius spoke, frowning, "but I forgot what it was. All I remember is Marlene was going to talk with Nic, so that's why she was there."

"Maybe you should just wait until Reus returns. See if he remembers what it was," Loki suggested. He hummed. "Speak of the devil."

The trio turned their heads to the door as Remus emerged. He placed the broom that Nicolas previously held down, leant against the wall, then directed his attention to the group.

"It's dead. I tossed it out, too."

Loki gave the male a thumbs up, glancing back to the home nervously. "Thanks, Rem," she smiled.

"My hero," Sirius dramatically placed the back of his hand against his forehead, his other hand resting against his heart. "Thank you for saving us from the foul beast. We shall forever be in your debt, o great knight."

"Ew, Sirius, what are you doing?" Marlene walked past him, shoving him with one hand, but not hard enough to cause him to stumble. "I'm getting second-hand embarrassment."

"Pads, stop," Remus rolled his eyes at his best friend. He glanced over at Loki. "You know, no one's going to judge you if you break up with him." Loki snorted at Remus's words. She gave his chest a light slap, and he grinned.

"Oi! What are you two laughing about?" Sirius narrowed his eyes at the pair. He strode over, and wrapped his hand around Loki's waist, looking at Remus. "What were we going to ask her, again?"

Remus sighed. "We were going to ask you..." he trailed off. His gaze flicked from the girl to the ground, then to Sirius. "Um... we were..." He furrowed his eyebrows.

"And you sigh at me when I can't remember," Sirius scoffed. "Well, I'm sure it will come to us eventually."

"Too bad if it was important, I guess," Loki laughed softly, hiding her mouth with her hand. "Hey, I heard there was an art museum opening in the next town over. Nic is already planning to go with me, but he said he wanted me to ask if either of you two wanted to go? I think he's inviting Lily as well. We'll be going on Thursday. Oh, and honestly, if you don't want to go, you don't have to."

"I feel like your comment is aimed at me," Sirius frowned, using his free hand to run through his hair. "I probably won

"I meant it for both of you," Loki replied.

"I probably won't go, if I'm being honest," Remus replied, grinning sheepishly. "I made a plan for myself already. Sorry, Love."

"That's alright," Loki smiled. She turned to look at the dark-haired boy beside her. "Sirius, what about you?"

"Hmm," the Gryffindor thought it over, biting his lip. "What's going to be in it?"

"Well, what one would expect from an art museum, I suppose. Paintings, sculptures, there's a tapestry or two, I think, and some photographs. There's some, like, cool perspective art that's going to be displayed."

Sirius wasn't entirely sure about Loki's definition of 'cool', and it wasn't a word he would usually associate with a museum. "I'm... going to have to turn down this one, Princess. Sorry."

"That's fine! Just had to check, you know. Don't feel like you've upset me." it was true, Loki wasn't upset. After all, there was only a fifty-fifty chance either would say yes, and she would have Nicolas and Lily with her. "I'll be sure to tell you if anything awesome was there once we get back."

"Just don't go hitting on any artsy dudes that try and chat you up with facts and opinions on artists and stuff, alright? I don't trust them." Sirius narrowed his eyes at the thought.

"I'll let them know I have standards, don't worry," Loki grinned, patting the boy's chest. Sirius smiled back, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.

"If he's the standard, I don't think that's going o be enough," Remus spoke up, poking fun at Sirius.

Loki's eyes widened at his comment. "Remus!"

➪ AUTHOR'S NOTE ➪

wow, okay, so this is going to be the last part of this book. no more. even though I can't let it go, I don't want to let it go. I'm going to miss writing for them so much :'(

thank you all for reading and caring and for all the votes and funny comments on this book. I'm so glad so many people got to see them through to the end. I'm going to miss seeing the comments of excitement when I post another chapter.

well... we always have their sons' stories, so... I'll see you later. bye!! :D