Decrescendo No. 1: Ravenclaw Wit, Slytherin Cunning

Thor and Loki Odinson have always been two entirely different entities. Though brothers, not only their houses are different, but their very personalities as well.

Where Thor is jolly, Loki is… errrr… for lack of better word, reflective; where Thor is sunny, Loki is moony; where Thor is bright, Loki is all dark and brooding; and most of all, where Thor is all Gryffindor courage, Loki is resplendent of Slytherin cunning.

Every girl in the school has talked about their repressed fantasies of being fought over by the pure blooded brothers. Every girl. Well, perhaps save from little miss Jane Foster.

Jane Foster is a Ravenclaw amongst the Ravenclaws. She may not be Grade A neat and extremely passionate of rendering other houses speechless out of ignorance, but she has the greatest love of knowledge. Never has there been a student as "in love" in knowledge as Jane Foster. She could stay up all night, discerning the stars; she could burn the whole Sunday away in the library, reading books; and she could remain isolated in the potions dungeons, forgetting breakfast, lunch and dinner until muggleborn Hufflepuff Darcy Lewis shoves a good-old poptart into her gaped mouth.

Jane had remained in anonymity for quite some time. She aced her tests occasionally- she was the name who comes out second to the less sunny Odinson- a feat no one applauded her for. And she was quite fine with that, for her more competitive side cannot bear to be second of anything.

Everything was peaceful for Jane. That was until the Gryffindor Quidditch captain and brother of the eternally-number-one-Loki-Odinson, showed his interest on her.

It had been an adorable infatuation. And Jane, as any warm-blooded witch would have, fell for it. Perhaps it was the idea of Thor- in all his blondness and warm smiles- waiting for her class after class and carrying her things. It was an innocent sort of relationship- a game they willingly played and went around in circles for, until his seventh year (Jane's sixth) when Thor woke up to the obvious fact of his worship to Sif and Jane had enough of the doting kind.

They broke up without much qualm and remained friends even after then.

Now, at seventh year, Jane goes back to what she does best- discerning the stars, burning Sundays in the library and "trapping" herself in the potions dungeons, forgetting breakfast, lunch and dinner. Darcy is only more-than-happy to go back to her "poptart duties" too. She's only being sentimental… Jane reckons.

One particular Sunday afternoon in the library, near the restricted section- her usual spot, a rather unusual person chose to sit at her table. Without permission, the chair directly in front of her slides back.

Jane averts her gaze from the book of Ancient Runes, only to meet the blank stare of a certain green-eyed, night-haired Odinson.

She doesn't particularly like Loki. In fact, in all her nicety and forgiving nature, she can even go as far as to say that she loathes the ground he walks on. Whilst she remained invisible to the rest of her batch mates, Loki noticed her. The moment he saw her name below his on first year, he (he didn't confirm this, but she is quite sure) made it his personal interest to spite her and goad her.

Back then, he was the scrawny, hateful existence shrouded by the shadow of his Golden Boy of a brother. (It's still a mystery to Jane how this came to be as from experience, she can attest that the older Odinson is not exactly the sharpest pencil in the case.) But now, the boy grew out of all the awkwardness, becoming the charming little snake with the looks, the wit and the skills.

She would need loads of Firewhisky to deal with the shit that he's about to throw.

"Hullo, Jane", he greets after settling down the seat. He pulls a book from her stack and begins aimlessly browsing through it. For the love of… Did he not choose any reading material? Why does he have to steal from mine?

Jane tries to ignore him for a few minutes, but the annoying rustling of the pages and the penetrating look he's been throwing at her coaxes her to look up from her book.

"What do you need?" she manages to ask through gritted teeth.

He smirks. He has the gall to smirk! Can Slytherins even manage to just "smile" and not "smirk"? "Now Miss Foster, there is no need for display of such an… ah… animalistic nature. Do wipe that charming grin off your face. I only want to properly talk to you. I believe we have not conversed in civility yet."

She grumbles under her breath, "And whose fault do you think that is?"

"Pardon?"

"No. Nothing… I never took you for the civil talking kind."

"You never took me for anything. See, you only dated my brother… you never thought of meeting his family."

"And now, isn't it a tad bit too late to even try and meet his family? Why don't you divert your unwanted attention to Sif? Your brother's dating her now."

A slam. The voluminous tome shuts, so does her book. Wandless magic… He can do wandless magic? Great. Now, it's ticking her.

Loki folds his hands atop the tome, crouching a bit to level her shorter line of sight. "I hope you don't mind. I got rid of the distractions for a while. Now… where was I. Oh… To answer your wonderful question; No. I don't want to. I'm not interested in Sif."

Interested? So what am? Some type of bizarre specimen?

A low chuckle bubbles from the young man in front of her. "For lack of better word, yes you are."

"You can read minds?"

He considers her- as if trying to unravel the mystery that is her hypothesis. "Nope. You are just… a bit far too vocal of your thoughts. You should try and manage that."

She rolls her eyes.

He withholds the urge to pinch her. He clears his throat, "Don't get me wrong, Jane Foster. I just want to talk to you. I've been wanting to for some time now. My brother did tell me that I should try to do so… We are very much alike- you and I."

"We are nothing alike."

"Whatever you say", Loki shrugs. "I can see though… that you are as passionate as I in pursuit of knowledge."

She waves him off, still not biting his pointless attempts of reconciling the two of them.

"Are you not curious of my wandless magic?"

Jane's mouth opens to say something. No. She should remain steadfast. She should remain strong. She closes her mouth once more.

The scene makes Loki grin- a not so good kind of grin… it's the type that conspires.

"Of course you are… curious", he enunciates every word slowly. He lets each sink into the girl. "And you have every right to be. In fact, I would give you the opportunity to examine it closely. I could even teach you."

And… wait for it…

Loki pats himself inwardly.

Jane faces him fully, pure delight lighting up her face. "You would? You could?"

He feigns disinterest. Well, not too much disinterest, as she could lose interest as well. "Why yes… I would and I could."

"But? What's the catch?"

"There's no 'catch', Jane Foster", he rolls his eyes.

"Great! When do we start?!"

"Eager are you? Sunday. Room of Requirement… you've been there before, right?"

"Once. I can still recall where it is though."

"Very good. See you then. Now if you'll excuse me, I still need to go to Quidditch practice… wouldn't want to give you nerds the chance to kick my brother's sorry ass."

A raise of an eyebrow, "Oh yeah? I bet we will trample you to the ground."

He grins, "Want to make a bet?"

"I'm listening…"

"If I win, you ought to wear my house colors in the champions. If you win, you get to make me do anything. You have me at your every beck and call for a whole week."

"Aren't you getting the shorter end of the deal? You are a Slytherin, you should think of getting the better end no matter what."

"And you know this because..?"

She gives him a blank look. There it is... the Ravenclaw in her- the part that saddens in the lack of wit.

Loki peels himself off the chair. "Just be thankful of my benevolence, Jane Foster. I should really go now."

And he leaves the library with a wide grin on his face.

He was not only able to trick her into spending a day with him. An opportunity far too good to pass up came and he only did what should be done. He grabbed it. He has always wondered how she would look, covered in his house colors. He has always wondered about plenty of things concerning her. Loki chuckles to himself. But yes… this should do for now.

He makes his way straight to the Slytherin dorms. He needs to prepare his jumper and his scarf, for her to wear. He's not only winning their bet. He is sure that he will win.