Bewitched by You (A Marvel/Harry Potter Crossover) COMPLETED

Chapter Twenty-Three: If You Knew What I Knew

During the debriefing the next morning, Steve wasn't certain if Hermione and Bucky were allowing the rest of their traveling party do the talking because they were tired—though, he was pretty sure he had an idea what would've kept them from sleeping, what with how they were around each other—or if there was something else, entirely, distracting them. They both appeared . . . listless, for lack of a better term, darting their gazes about, seeming to respond to things with nods or shakes of the head that appeared afterthoughts, at best.

He really wanted to ask what the hell was going on with them, but he didn't want to draw undue attention to issue, in case it was just a matter of exhausting private activities being the source of their mutual blaze demeanor. Loki was still as source of tension for them, so that hadn't changed.

In fact, it seemed the only time they each roused from their stupors to pay full attention was when Loki's name was mentioned. But then, when the subject drifted to something else, so, too, would their attention drift.

Steve hated the weighty sense that Bucky was hiding something from him, but then Bucky's entire past had been laid bare before every person in this room, quite without his consent. Perhaps he deserved to keep some things to himself.

"I need the locator stone," Hermione said, abrupt and sounding very much like one coming out of a daze.

Whether it was her words or her voice, Bucky seemed to pull out of his daze, as well. It was only as he turned his head to look at her that he realized the state they'd been in all morning. The state that, apparently, resulted from them feeling Loki's mysterious sadness in the middle of the night.

But so, too, had the rest of the conversation around the table stopped. The unexpected silence rang in his ears as Hermione met his gaze. They had not revealed any part of what Loki had shared with them, because they hadn't known how to without coming clean about the koblet tre, and he could not begin to imagine what her plan was in asking for the orb.

Though, with the frantic energy he could feel ebbing from her, despite the haze that had consumed them until seconds ago—God, he was never going to get used to this connection they had, was he?—he could guess she had probably come up with something.

"We still need to study that thing and figure out how it works," Tony said, his voice surprisingly reasonable, despite that the preceding conversation had included several things he hated to the pit of his stomach—Loki, Bucky, off-world travel, and creepy alien monsters.

"By the time you manage to understand how the stone functions, Loki could accomplish whatever it is he's looking to do and be done, and we'd be none the wiser."

Shoulders drooping, Tony met the witch's gaze. "You said he needs you to unlock the room, though, didn't you?"

Hermione barely resisted the temptation to grind her teeth. Why did this one always have to be difficult? "Yes, but that doesn't mean there isn't another way, it only means he hasn't found another way. When one finds a solution for something, they don't keep looking for answers, they settle for the answer they have already learned. This may be the same—where I'm not the only key to figuring out that room, I'm only the first key he found."

Bucky pursed his lips together, his eyes narrowing as he watched her face. They both knew perfectly well why she was the only key that existed to the room. Could she always lie so smoothly, or was it just something she was capable of under strained circumstances?

It was a troubling question, and so he decided to put it out of his mind for now. They had enough troubles, already, and thanks to their connection he could tell when she was lying, even if he hadn't known the truth of the situation, so he supposed he should not let the question bother him.