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

Chapter Twenty-Six: Hermione's Bright Idea

"Oh," Loki said, his expression blank as he finally claimed a seat. "You must be joking!"

His witch frowned, glancing about at the group. Even Bucky was staring at her as though she'd just spouted some unintelligible dialect.

"I . . . I don't understand the looks." Hermione shook her head. "It's simple. The power of the room can allow the user to rewrite one thing in existence, correct?"

Thor and Loki exchanged a quick, uncomfortable look. "Those were not my precise words . . . ."

She rolled her eyes so hard her lids fluttered. "To rewrite a single moment of time. To change a single decision of Fate, itself." When he blinked rapidly a few times, she tacked on, "I have a stunningly good memory."

Loki scowled. He was certain that probably came in handy on many occasions, but when she was using it to recall details that supported a mad plan to endanger herself, not so handy, at all.

"And this business about body and mind being joined there?"

Bucky tipped his head, looking past her to meet Loki's displeased gaze. "What?"

"Part of the spell she translated." Loki sighed and shook his head. "Good thing, too, or she might have accidentally unlocked the room's power, right then."

"She'd have to be in the room, physically, then project and read the spell for it to work, wouldn't she?"

Loki's brows shot up at Bucky's grasp of the situation. "She would."

Hermione's jaw fell. "That is so obvious, now. Why didn't that occur to me?"

Bucky and Loki answered in the same breath, "Because it was obvious."

She glanced around the table at the collective snicker from the rest of the group. They'd all been watching the conversation between the three with rapt attention. If they weren't going to chime in to be helpful, then they should just bloody well stay out of it, all together. "Oh, shut it, the lot of you."

Loki and Bucky each seemed to be waiting for her to return to their discussion. Hermione looked from one to the other and let out a sigh as she refocused her attention

"Look, back to what the spell actually does—it's the same meaning," she said, reaching out to place one of her hands over each of theirs. Their expressions softened a little at her touch. "The power allows us to force Fate's hand. So, we use that to tell the room to cease to exist."

"Except that you need to be inside the room or the spell won't work." Bucky was not the slightest bit happy about any part of this. He continued, speaking through clenched teeth, "And, oh, yeah, let's not forget the whole having to sacrifice yourself thing!"

"Okay, now . . . ." She paused, licking her lips nervously—yes, she was sure of her plan, what she was unsure of was their reactions. "That will be where you two come in."

Loki slapped the palm of his free hand against his face while Bucky let his head fall back as he uttered a miserable groan.

Nat shifted in her seat to lean back against Steve. "You should be happy we're here to see this play out," she said in a whisper.

Steve winced, uncertain how being spectators to this scene could be anything other than awkward. "Why's that?"

Turning her head, she caught his gaze. "Because I see how much of a hassle it is to have more than one boyfriend."

For the first time since he'd watched Bucky jump to protect Loki, Steve cracked a grin.

They pair looked up to see the trio had all turned to look at them—as had their fellow Avengers.