NOVEL WEB Chapter 461: Haunted.
There were two soft knocks on the door that grabbed Umbridge's attention.
She put down the teacup she was using with a soft clink and looked at the door with a practised smile.
"Come in."
The doorknob turned slowly before the people on both sides of the door heard a soft click loosen out of place the latch that was keeping the door closed.
The door, however, didn't open slowly after that.
It almost felt like a miniature storm had been kicked off as the door opened with force enough to blow the fuzz on Umbridge's cardigan along with the bow clip on her short hair which loosened a little as it bravely fought against the wind until it was laid to rest in her teacup with a satisfying plop.
Umbridge's smile turned into an invisible frown, one which looked like a smile that only your best of friends would be able to decipher was a call for help, not just because of the losing fight of her hair bow clip, but also because she laid her eyes on a person she didn't like to see very much.
But her frown transformed into a smile, it wasn't good to let your previous mistakes haunt you forever after all.
"Good evening Professor! Am I on time? Or am I on time? I mean I'm sure you know I'm on time since I've come to share tea with you!" Loki said in a jovial tone as he quickly flicked his wand and closed the door behind himself.
"You must not use magic in the halls Mr. Lo- Black." Umbridge said trying to gain a hold of the rapidly sinking ship of respect in the situation as she tried to command Loki into being what she desired him to be.
Loki's head snapped in her direction, but just as Umbridge was about to feel happy that she'd finally gotten under his skin, to drag him into her playing field, he spoke again.
"Ah! I'm sorry professor, I didn't think I would frighten you with my wand…I understand that your skills aren't as good as mine. It's alright. Nothing to be shy about."
Umbridge's cheeks turned as rosy as her dress. Her hands trembled and her palm tightened its grip on her wand-
"Seventeen points from Slyther-"
Before Umbridge could finish her sentence, Loki's wand flicked.
"Ooops~! I'm sorry Professor, that was a mistake! I was trying to shut that annoying fly that's flown in through unfair means…I didn't mean to use it on you!!! Oh dear! I apologise from the bottom of my heart Professor!" Loki said with a smile as he sat down in the chair opposite to hers.
"I hope you understand your position, Madam Umbridge.", Loki said folding his hands and resting his chin on his fingers.
Umbridge immediately frowned after freeing her mouth.
"You are overstepping your boundaries-"
"Do you not get it, Madam Dolores Umbridge?" Loki interrupted again. Leaning even closer to Umbrdige's face while she stared into his eyes with a sharp glare.
Loki got up from his seat, walking slowly around the table until he was behind Umbridge where he relaxed with his hand on the table as he stared into her eyes blankly.
Umbridge saw Loki's polite smile directed at her which caused her to feel a little uneasy, but she quickly switched to her calm state as she began to act as a spectator.
The change didn't go unnoticed by Loki, but he completely ignored it.
Instead, he leaned in closer to Umbridge's face as he spoke in an eerily calm tone which caused small ripples of palpitations in Umbridge's heart.
"Madam Umbridge. I have a proposal for you."
Umbridge kept her eyes steady and locked with Loki as he continued to speak while she analysed him.
'He is confident.'
'Very confident.'
"No, this is not a proposal. It's a choice."
'No. That is wrong.'
'This is arrogance. He is arrogant. To the point that he disregards me as a worm. As something that cannot affect him in any way.'
"It's a choice for you to switch sides. Either you chose my side willingly, or you lose your ability to make choices from now on."
'Such disgust…it feels like I'm back at the ministry once again…back to the time when I had freshly graduated out of Hogwarts.'
'How disgusting.'
'I decided then that I'd never let anyone make me feel like this again!'
'And so he has to pay!'
Umbridge had finally had enough of Loki's arrogance as she quickly transformed a part of her hand into one covered by dragon scales, increasing its hardness as she grabbed Loki by his neck and slammed him face-first into her mahogany table.
Loki's nose cracked under the pressure as did the table, but Umbridge's grip was relentless. It held Loki with force enough to stop any air from going down his lungs, which forced him to open his mouth and try and take large gasps of air to feed his burning lungs.
A sinister smile showed up on Umbridge's face as she saw Loki struggling in her grip.
She enjoyed the view for a few seconds as she heard Loki's gasps for air and felt a glimmer of joy burst forth in her chest but it soon stopped and turned into a frown when-
"How dare you scratch my precious table!!" Umbridge seethed with rage when she saw Loki's nail dig into the table when he tried getting himself a breath of fresh air.
Loki tried to helplessly kick her as she kept pushing on his head, causing Loki to hear several cracks from his skull as he desperately fought against his vision darkening.
Loki's thoughts slowly started to devolve from clear-headed thoughts of ways to escape his situation by fighting against Umbridge into a mental panic that bordered on insanity and hopelessness.
'No!'
'Don't lose consciousness!'
'You can't give up!'
'Just push her away and it'll all be fine!'
'She's weaker than you! She can't be stronger than you!'
'!#)!#U$)&!$)#(@!'
Umbridge gained great joy from watching Loki's thoughts spiral, especially when the light in Loki's eyes slowly dimmed as she continued to cut the circulation to his brain, her eyes glowed ominously and within moments, Loki was still.
He had clearly fainted, but it wasn't clear if Umbridge had also smashed his skull enough for pieces to be stuck inside his head and damage key blood vessels.
Umbridge finally pulled back and slowly wiped her hands using Loki's robes.
Trying to get rid of all the surface level scratches that had appeared on her hands as Loki tried to tear her dragon hands away, and all the blood that had stained her hands from smashing his head so hard.
'Huh?'
'Bloo-?'
Before Umbridge could do anything else, her eyes widened as she looked at Loki.
Loki's blood was already pooled all around him.
She'd killed enough people to know that this was not normal! She hadn't nicked any of his arteries! There shouldn't have been so much blood around him!
His eyes, although hollow and totally white, were staring right into her panicked eyes.
Loki's head had turned a full hundred and eighty degrees while Umbridge took quick steps backwards to distance herself from Loki as he floated away from her desk and followed her.
When her back touched the wall and the cool tiles touched her neck, Umbridge snapped out of her shock as she quickly stretched her hands outwards and snapped her fingers.
"Mind storm!"
Umbridge attempted to trap whatever was coming after her in a storm that would obliterate its mind had it been a normal student.
For perhaps, Loki had turned into a wraith because of sheer force of will?
It had not happened to her before, but there was a first time for everything, right?
Umbridge calmed herself as the case was clearly supernatural and it mattered not if a silly student was going to be erased because of her cunning plans being an impetus that set these actions and reactions into motion.
Except-
The Zombie/Wraith form of Loki still rapidly floated her way.
A few marks of the mind storm that Umbridge had created did show up on its body, with blood leaking from its orifices, but its speed never slowed down.
In fact, it only sped up.
Within moments, Loki was on Umbridge. His blood leaked onto her pink cardigan, staining it red as she desperately tried moving through the wall that was stopping her while blanketing her in fear as the undead started to shroud her in darkness.
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