The Confectionary Chronicles || HP/SPN

Lollies and Loki- CH40

CHAPTER FORTY:

Gabriel had witnessed some terrifying things in the many, many years he'd existed; the chilling figure that was Death, the monstrous hunger of the Leviathan, the twisted humor of the cosmic entity that existed in the Empty, his Father's sister, dear old Auntie Darkness, throwing a tantrum, the final battle between Michael and Lucifer– and Hermione during examinations. 

Honestly, he would have done more to calm her down except watching the unholy terror she was transformed into be unleashed on her parents really warmed his black heart. He also didn't want to take anything away from her achievement in any way. Not only was it not his place, but he wanted her to be able to look back on this time and know that she conquered her A-Levels entirely on her own merit. And conquer them she did, only starting a few small fires in the process (okay, he did interfere that one time, to make sure the invigilator forgot about being set on fire). Since she'd bonded with Vashti, Hermione's magic had definitely taken on an affinity for fire– Gabriel wouldn't deny that it pleased him, considering one of the aspects that Loki was god over was fire.

After her last exam, he didn't hesitate to whisk Hermione off to celebrate her success with his family. They had dinner in Henningsvær with Hati, Sköll, Astrid, Fenris, Váli, Eris and her shapeshifter counselor, Mia. He snapped up a feast for the occasion and Hermione's face glowed rosy with pride and embarrassment the whole time, especially when the mead came out and Gabriel, Váli, Eris and Fenris started getting a touch... overly enthusiastic with their praise and affection– at one point, Váli composed some sort of ode to her defeat of Geri and Freki that had Hermione burying her face in her hands and refuse to come out from behind her hair. And then a curious Vashti got into the mead, decided she quite enjoyed the taste of the strange liquid and a lot of things started to catch on fire. All in all, a very good night– what was a party without any arson?

Hermione and her cousin, Ina Macleod, didn't linger in London once the examinations were over. Hermione's thoroughly terrorised, traumatised parents were only all too eager to get their daughter off their hands, especially considering her newfound addiction to black tea,  the most highly caffeinated of all the teas. Honestly, Gabriel thought it was adorable how a tea-deprived Hermione's hair crackled like live flames, sending off actual sparks into the air, but Hermione's parents had a much weaker constitution. Ina, who was just as addicted to the caffeine as Hermione, had entirely failed to notice due to her own distraction before her first morning cuppa. It was actually both amusing and impressive that she'd managed to stay ignorant of Hermione's magic with the sheer number of accidents it had been causing during the exam stress.

Gabriel did have a newfound appreciation for Hermione's cousin Ina, though, after the time the teenager had spent in London. Apparently Ina approved about as little as he did of her Aunt Helen and Uncle Richard, and she had no problem expressing her disapproval and dislike in a variety of creative, mostly passive-aggressive methods, from the strongly accented brogue she affected after observing how Hermione's accent unconsciously seemed to shift to match, to her sly little comments about moments during Hermione's childhood that the Grangers had missed out on due to their absence the last few years, her smile sweet as honey while her words stung more painfully than a bee.

The pièce de résistance of Ina's one-woman war, in his opinion, was her admirably petty act of tipping newly-purchased weed killer all over the Grangers' lawn and garden beds in the middle of the night. Knowing how much the Grangers cared about appearances, it was a particularly low blow– Gabriel felt a sincere pang of affection towards Hermione's cousin for her many efforts and made a note to do something nice for her in return.

As much as he enjoyed the show during the many occasions he swung by to check up on Hermione (he got mildly paranoid about the combination of London, Hermione and her parents, especially with the added stressor of the examinations) he was glad to see them returning to Fraserburgh. Ina didn't stay long– she'd had a backpacking trip planned with three of her best friends until she suddenly learned she'd "won" a raffle she didn't even remember entering, with the first prize being a 'round the world' cruise package for her and three others of her choice (Gabriel had really, really enjoyed the despair on Helen Granger's face when she saw her precious roses, and Richard Granger's futile attempts to fix his lawn were frankly hilarious)– but Hermione was back in Fraserburgh to stay until she headed off to Hogwarts.