Chapter 65: Madness, Chaos, and Silence
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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A/N: This is the second part of the two-part CLIMAX of the [COLORS ARC].
- [Climax Part 2: Madness, Chaos, and Silence.] -
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Nights at Hogwarts were quiet with comfortable yet eerie silence. Students comfortably slept in their dorms, teachers who were off-duty either went out to Hogsmeade to enjoy some nightlife or stayed in for a quiet day. House-elves performed tasks in the cover of the night. Portraits also went to sleep in their frames, emulating human behavior. Ghosts who were awake and couldn't sleep were few in numbers to bring 'life' to the castle.
In that quiet castle, a boy could be seen dancing in the Hogwarts castle as he moved in the corridors. He was doing nothing but taking a walk in the silent castle, feeling the cool breeze caress his skin.
Today had been another good day in series of good days for him.
Gilderoy Lockhart, the fraud, the person who had tried to wrong him by trying to erase his memories and take his memory, was stripped of his position as the professor of Defense Against Dark Arts.
The official reason was that Gilderoy Lockhart had become sick and was quitting his job because of health reasons.
But he knew better.
Anyway, Gilderoy Lockhart had quit his job, and to soften the blow for his numerous fans, he had announced a sale for the next week, dubbing it the Get-Well-Soon sale week. The Lockhart goods were being sold at never-before-seen prices just so that his fans could show their support in the time of need.
Even in his absence, Gilderoy Lockhart was giving him profits.
A pity that he had to go.
While he was dancing in the corridors, Recon, his trusty map, was floating in front of him, diligently doing its job to show who was present around him.
His walks in the night were a private affair, and he preferred them to remain that way. With no people, elves, ghosts in his sight.
He would occasionally look at the map, changing his direction if he was moving towards someone or they were moving towards him.
It was polite to give people their space. And while they didn't know that he was here, he did know that others were around, so it was only normal to get out of their way so that both he and the other party could enjoy their peaceful night.
When he looked at the map, he found someone ahead in his path. It was a blue dot, meaning that the other party was a student. A rare sight this late in the night.
He was about to follow the usual protocol and avoid them, but the name tag with the blue dot caused him to still in his path.
The map showed that Luna Lovegood was around the corner from him.
This puzzled him greatly. Why was Luna here? She didn't stay up this late. It was past her bedtime; she had told him so.
Worried about his friend, he moved towards the girl. Softly taking steps as he turned around the corner bend and saw her.
She was standing there, at the side of the corner. Looking outside at the bright moon that was illuminating the velvety night sky. She looked like a fairy, admiring natural beauty in a way humans couldn't.
But her appearance caused him to frown.
She was wearing her Hogwarts robe. But there was nothing on her feet, barefoot were her soles.
She looked fine, but that didn't say anything about why she was here so late in the night. So, after some contemplation, he called out.
"Luna."
The younger girl had badgered him to call her by her first name, going as far as not responding to her family name. According to her, it was nice to hear Luna instead of Loony, like everybody had started to call her.
The silvery-blonde swirled her head towards the voice. There she saw him standing there, looking at her with a worried look on his face.
"Quinn," she said. Her feet moved, moving her body towards him.
"What are you doing here, Luna?" Quinn, who saw Luna moving towards him, asked. "It is past your bedtime."
The blonde stopped in front of him and replied with questions of her own.
"What are you doing here? Why aren't you sleeping?"
Quinn's reply was a simple one.
"It is not my bedtime, so I am taking a walk."
To Luna Lovegood, the answer was a fitting one. She got answers to both of her questions.
"So, tell me, young lady. Why are you here and not in your bed, sleeping?" asked Quinn. "And, why aren't you wearing anything on your feet?"
Luna looked down at her feet; her toes moved in nervousness. She spoke softly.
"I was kicked out of the common room, and now I can't enter the common room."
Quinn frowned at the answer.
"What do you mean you were kicked out of the common room?" No person other than the faculty members could kick a student out of the house common room. And he was sure that Flitwick wouldn't kick a student out of the common room this late at night.
"Some seventh-year girls came to my dorm room and stunned me," Luna answered while clutching the ends of her robe. "When I came to be, I only had this robe on me and was in the first-floor girls' lavatory."
Quinn's blood went cold as he heard that.
She narrated her story straightforwardly with no cracks in her voice, but he could see the signs she displayed. She hadn't looked at his face ever since she walked near him. Her hands had been clutching her robe so hard that her hands were white.
"When I went to the common room. I couldn't answer the riddle from the eagle, and no one came in or out of the common room, so I was locked out."
"And, why didn't you go to professor Flitwick or any other professor?" Quinn asked. He successfully hid the anger he was feeling.
"I don't know professor Flitwick's bedtime," she answered. Her face still facing downwards. "What if I woke him up from sleep."
Quinn closed because of the anger he was feeling. His anger rose again because even though Luna's words sounded idiotic, Quinn knew that Luna was scared to even ask for help. She was just saying this to hide the real reason.
"Luna," he spoke to the young girl in front of her. When she didn't look up, he used her hands to cup her cheeks. Lifting her head up to such that she was looking at him. "You don't have to be scared to ask for help. You can go to any professor. Even if it is professor Snape in the middle of the night. You can even knock on the headmaster's door, and it would be fine."
Luna stared at Quinn as he spoke.
"And, you can come to me with any problems you have." He showed a comforting smile and spoke. "You are my friend, and I always help my friends out. So, come to me anytime you want, and I would be waiting for you."
"Really?" asked Luna. Her eyes stared at Quinn as if looking for something.
"Really."
Luna's chin quivered a little. She released her robes from her hands and raised them to hug Quinn. Her thin arms grabbed onto Quinn tightly.
Quinn, who was surprised for a moment, snapped out of it and hugged back. He could feel her silent sobs and gently stroked her back and let her cry it out.
Luna didn't have any friends in Hogwarts. Her quirky personality didn't help her make friends.
She was friends with Ginny Weasley, but the Gryffindor girl was in another house and busy with her new friends. The two couldn't meet as frequently as they did before Hogwarts, leaving Luna alone.
Quinn was Luna's friend, but he had been too busy himself. Spending his time in the Restricted Section of Library, Room of Requirements, or the A.I.D office. He was rarely seen in the Ravenclaw common room.
Luna would usually spend her time in the gardens exploring the greens by her lonesome. But she could only do it so much, and after that, any child would want someone to play with them.
So, when Quinn heard that Luna could come to him anytime and that he was her friend. She broke down.
When she woke up in the bathroom, she was scared and alone. It frightened her when she couldn't figure out the puzzle to go inside her common room. She was sure that she would have to spend the night, out, alone.
Quinn waited for Luna to calm down before he spoke.
"Are you feeling fine?"
The girls in his arms nodded but didn't separate from him.
"Good, now let's get you home," said Quinn. It was too late in the night, and it was time to sleep. Even Quinn was feeling sleepy. "It is late, and we should go sleep."
Luna finally released him from her hug but grabbed the edge of his sleeve as if scared that Quinn would disappear if she let him go.
The two walked in comfortable silence until they reached the common room entrance on the fifth floor.
Quinn looked at the bronze eagle knocker and used it to knock on the door. Immediately the eagle spoke the entry riddle.
"A container without hinges, lock, or a key,
Yet a golden treasure lies inside me.
What am I?"
The answer from Quinn came immediately,
"An egg."
Luna, on the side, finally understood the riddle, and her eyes shone when she heard the answer.
There was no answer from the eagle, but Quinn and Luna knew the answer was correct when the door opened, allowing them entry to the common room.
The two Ravenclaws stepped inside. When the pair reached the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Quinn made Luna face him and looked her into the eye and asked.
"Luna, tell me the names of the girls who stunned you."
Luna's eyes widened before she shook her head, refusing to answer.
"Luna, I can help," Quinn tried to explain. "We will go to professor Flitwick together, and he will punish those girls. It will be fine."
Luna still shook her head. She didn't want to go to the professor. Today terrified her, and she was afraid that if she complained, then the girls would do something terrible again.
"Alright," sighed Quinn. He tried, but Luna didn't speak a single word. "Now go up and sleep. I will be waiting for you here tomorrow morning. We will go to breakfast together, okay?"
Luna showed a sleepy smile and nodded.
"Good, now go sleep. Good night, Luna."
"Good night, Quinn." She gave Quinn one final hug before climbing the stairs to the girls' dormitory.
Quinn waited for a while before all expression drained from his face.
"Sorry, Luna." He apologized. "But, if you don't want to go to the professors, then I would have to take this matter into my own hands."
He already knew the identity of the girls who bullied Luna. He had pulled the knowledge when he looked into the eyes using legilimency.
The thing was that the splash of red was present on Quinn's nape from the second Luna told him about what happened to her. It only deepened in color with time, and Quinn only hid the anger because Luna didn't need anger but comfort from him.
"Maximum suffering," Quinn spoke in the empty common room.
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- (Scene Break) -
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The next few days, Quinn stalked the group of three seventh-year Ravenclaw girls.
From his observations, the three girls were high up in the Ravenclaw social hierarchy. The three were below average on the Ravenclaw exam grading scale, which meant they were above average in the Hogwarts exam grading scale.
Two of them had boyfriends, third had broken up with her's two months ago. Not a useful piece of information. But information nevertheless.
What Quinn did in the few days was to find their daily routine. Find their usual routes, timings, people they sit and stand with. When they were in the common room. Places they went to in their free time.
He found things that would help him track them. This time around, Quinn didn't call in his favors to get some blackmail material because he wasn't looking to blackmail the girls. He was going to hurt them they did to Luna.
Tit-for-Tat was the theme.
When Quinn thought that he had enough information and familiarity with their daily routine, he decided to strike.
On the day he was planning to execute the plan, he went down inside his suitcase and retrieved an object that he would use against them.
Quinn looked at the thing in his hand and smiled,
"Maximum suffering."
He pocketed the thing and moved out. After spending the school day attending classes, he was finally free. So were the three girls.
It was a Friday, and on Fridays, these three girls would go to one of the many secluded in Hogwarts with a bottle of Fire-whiskey and drink the fire-inducing booze, alone away from the eyes of anyone who could get them in trouble.
Quinn chose this moment because the area they drank was secluded, and no one would be there to see Quinn or the girls. He could work without any witnesses, so no danger of him getting into trouble.
The girls arrived in the secluded place full of boulders.
Quinn waited behind an enormous boulder till they were settled down, and he was sure no one else was joining them.
With his eyes on the girls, Quinn's hand went into his robes, and when it came out, he was holding something.
He lifted his hand and pointed at the girls. His face had a savage grin on it.
But then something happened, something clicked in Quinn's mind.
Quinn looked at the object in his raised hand and stared at it.
'...What?' he thought.
In his hand was the thing that he hadn't touched for more than two-and-half years, close to three years. He had not looked at it for the same amount of time.
And, the last time he was near it was before the school year started, but other than that, Quinn had no contact with the object.
So, imagine his surprise when he found the object in his hand that he wasn't willing to touch other than the situation where things were on the level of FUBAR.
This situation was nowhere near the level of FUBAR, but Quinn still had it in his hand.
This told him one thing. Just having the object in his hand eliminated all other possibilities and left one single possibility.
Which was... that something was wrong with him.
Why did he come to this conclusion? It was because Quinn was pointing a wand at the girls. Not his fake wand that he made before his first year. The wand in his hand was the real deal.
The wand in his hand was an Ollivander piece. Made from the wood of an Acacia tree. With a phoenix's feather as the core. Fourteen inches and rigid flexibility.
It was indeed like the calm before the storm.
Quinn stayed still for a moment. In that stillness, a clarity befell upon Quinn. A clarity that felt strange to Quinn because he hadn't felt like this in months. It was like something clogging the back of his head was cleaned, and all motors were running smoothly again.
Instinctively Quinn dove into his mind, and the first memory that popped into his mind was when he dropped unconscious in the second vault. From there on out, Quinn introspected the entire school term, and it finally became clear what he had done.
All the things he did, which he would usually steer clear of. His attitude towards things, slight changes in his personality, and substantially lowered inhibitions.
Time passed as Quinn stood in his hiding spot. It was like a Basilisk had petrified him as three girls he was going to target drank the booze, had a fun time, and left the place.
Finally, Quinn reached the part where he obliviated into forgetting everything about his identity, and now, as he looked at the real wand in his hand, Quinn's heart started to beat quicker.
"What have I done?" Quinn's tone was grave and remorseful. "What was I going to do with those girls."
There was a clear sound of glass shattering in Quinn's mind. The sudden sound startled him, and he turned towards his back. And while there was no one behind him, Quinn's magic moved on its own and froze the rocks behind him.
"Huh?"
He didn't mean to use ice magic to freeze the rocks. It just happened on its own. Then Quinn heard the sound of sizzling behind him, and turning, he saw that half a boulder had been turned into dust.
"W-What?"
Suddenly, Quinn's hands felt hot, and when he looked down, he saw veins of blood magic on his forearm.
At this point, Quinn was experiencing a full-blown panic attack, and with those erratic feelings, the magic around started to become more and more unstable.
More and more of the area froze and melted at the same time. Rocks transfigured and transmuted before everything turned into dust or exploded. Lacerations and deep gashes made from destructive and dark magic appeared on the rocks and boulders around him.
With labored breathing and sweating from all over Quinn's body, he looked around as his vision blurred and his ears buzzed.
"S-St-op," Broken words came out of Quinn's mouth as he clutched his head and attempted to stop his magic from lashing out without his will.
It took a while, but the magic stopped, leaving the horrid destruction around him. But, the trouble wasn't over as Quinn stood up on his feet and immediately ran inside the castle.
He was holding magic, but he was hanging on a thread, and the magic, was pushing against his control, rampaging his body, threatening to break out.
Quinn somehow got to the seventh floor. His entire journey to the seventh floor had been rough as some of his magic had leaked out, leaving patches of magical damage in his path.
'A strong room... a strong room... a strong room.'
Quinn desperately thought about wanting a strong room as he paced up and down to activate the Room of Requirement.
When the door finally appeared, Quinn directly ran into the door, opening it with his body. He stumbled into the Room of Requirements, falling within a few unstable steps.
"Aaaaaaaah!" A scream pierced the room as Quinn finally couldn't stop the bubbling magic inside him, and instantly, the surrounding room shook.
Whips of fire, layers of ice, streaks of lightning, quaking floor, lacerations, and cracks appeared along the walls and floor. The room descended into pandemonium as Quinn's magic wreak chaos in the room while the Room of Requirement fixed the damages continuously.
After an unknown period, Quinn gained some semblance of control. Quinn once again tried to stop his magic, which wasn't following his will and order, but nothing worked. It lashed out without his lead.
Quinn had no control over his rampaging magic. Any effort to direct his magic was met with failure.
The rapid expulsion of magic started to hurt his body as Quinn felt like his veins were on fire. In that desperate time, an idea struck him, and he reached into his mind.
He used the emotional aspect of occlumency to reach out to all his turbulent emotions, and at that moment, he cut all his connections to his emotions.
He disconnected his emotions from his body, and instantly his face went blank.
Next went the emotional connection to his mind, and everything he was feeling become distant and like a buzzing in his mind, annoying but manageable.
Finally, Quinn cut the emotional connection to his magic. His wandless focus ability heavily depended on emotions and his will to perform magic. The lack of magical focus made Quinn's emotions and will crucial to his ability to cast magic.
Now, without a single ounce of emotional connection from Quinn, the magic stopped. The room went silent as Quinn sat on his knees, his hands hanging loosely to his sides.
There was not an expression on his face or a look in his eyes.
He opened his mouth, and words came out in a monotone.
"I screwed up. I need help."
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Blue - S L O T H <-- > A C E D I A
Pink - L U S T <-- > L U X U R I A
Red - W R A T H <-- > I R A
Yellow - G R E E D <-- > A V A R I T I A
Violet - P R I D E <-- > S U P E R B I A
Green - E N V Y <-- > I N V I D I A
Orange - G L U T T O N Y <--> G U L A
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Quinn West - MC - !!FUBAR!!
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Chapter 66: Grandfather and Grandson Talk
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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George West looked around the room he was in. It was a plain room that clearly been cleaned recently to make it presentable. Presentable to whom? His best and probably correct guess was for him. He owned the building of which the room was part. Actually, this building was owned by the West family business, and he was the owner of said business, so technically, he owned this building.
Back to the room, he was in; It had a single wooden table and two chairs, sitting opposite to each other on opposite sides of the table. On the table rested a pitcher of water with two glasses, courtesy of the manager of the small, West-financed ventures operated in the building.
There was no decor on the walls, and the walls were painted in a simple white color that looked dull because of the time it had been since the room was given a coat of paint. Other than the table and the chairs, the room was bare.
He got and walked to the window and looked outside the window. Through the glass, he could see the view of the all-wizard Hogsmeade village. People who lived in the settlement went on with their lives as George watched them from above. Not knowing that the richest man in the country was looking at them.
George thought of the reason he was here. Quinn, his younger grandchild, had sent him a mail through the machine they were calling MagiFax.
The MagiFax was a big hit in the offices of the West business. In the past year, MagiFax was introduced to almost all of the West family offices and ventures. And as it was expected, the addition of the machines was a big hit everywhere. The memos were being sent faster than ever before.
Just by employing the instantaneous feature of the MagiFax, the business all around the world had gained major profits. The information was being exchanged much faster than their local competitors, that West business was faster and better at everything because they had more time to plan and act.
George smiled when he thought about the profits that the MagiFax brought them. Soon, the MagiFax would be rolled out for all to buy and bring in more profits.
His grandson, Quinn, didn't know it, but George had opened an account for him that would hold a part of the profit for every MagiFax sold. His grandson didn't know it, but he was about to get very rich in the coming future.
George walked back to his chair and sat down. He didn't know why Quinn had called him here at the Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop at Hogsmeade, but the letter said that he needed to get here as quickly as possible even if it meant to drop everything he was doing.
George did what he was asked for and immediately replied that he would meet him the next day, and here he was, sitting in a room in Hogsmeade, waiting for his grandson to arrive.
"But, today isn't a Hogsmeade weekend," murmured George. He had asked the shop manager, and he was told that today (a Saturday) wasn't marked as a Hogsmeade weekend. "I wonder how Quinn will get out of the castle."
George didn't know that there were hidden passages to get in and out of the castle, and Quinn knew every one of them.
He picked up a glass from the tray and placed it on the table, took out his wand, and cleaned it himself with magic before pouring himself a glass of water. Just as his glass was full, the door to the room opened.
George looked up to see his grandson, Quinn, standing at the door.
"Grandfather," greeted Quinn. George noticed the flat tone in which Quinn spoke and the slump in Quinn's shoulders, and the tiredness in his posture.
"Quinn, you look..." George greeted back but couldn't finish his sentence as there was something off about Quinn. George couldn't know what it was, but something about Quinn looked unnatural.
Quinn sat down on the opposite chair and looked at George. When the eyes met each other, George's widened when the unnatural feeling disappeared, but what remained wasn't what George was expecting.
George saw Quinn's face distort, and gone was the unnatural feeling and what remained was heavy bags under Quinn's eyes and sickeningly pale skin. His tired face didn't have an expression on it.
"Quinn!" George exclaimed in worry as he reached out his hands towards Quinn's face and held it against his cheek. "Oh my dear child, what happened to you?"
Quinn stared at George with the same expressionless face he had on since the last two days and spoke monotonously.
"I got into trouble. I am in big trouble and need help."
George frowned in worry as he noticed the monotone in Quinn's voice and no expression.
"Quinn, why are you using occlumency to hide your emotions?"
After another stare, Quinn spoke, "Please, step back and keep your wand at ready."
"What?" George was confused. Quinn's words didn't answer his question. His words only confused him more and caused more worry.
"If you push your chair back and make some distance between us, I would be properly able to explain what is happening," The flat tone seemed to be the only tone that Quinn spoke in. "And, please keep your wand ready to protect yourself."
He stared into George's eyes and asked, "Do you understand?"
George observed Quinn with a critical eye before following his grandson's instruction. He pushed his chair away from the table and readied his wand to defend himself.
"I am going to undo my occlumency." Quinn's voice cracked a little. "Be ready."
George didn't know what to expect, but what happened blew his mind.
A pained expression appeared on Quinn's face. It was the first facial expression he had shown since entering the room.
Then it all started.
The walls of the room changed. Some of the patches of the wall turned into liquid and dripped. Spikes jutted out from other patches. Paint on the wall caught on fire, but at the same time, the walls became whiter than ever.
George gripped his wand as he felt the room getting colder and colder, but when he looked up at the ceiling, it was on fire. The table shook violently before floating up in the air. Deep gashes and horrid laceration tortured the floor.
George removed his eyes from the bizarreness around, looked at Quinn, and saw multicolored veins all over his face.
The rampant magic stopped after ten seconds, leaving a panting Quinn, who slowly went back to becoming expressionless within the following few seconds. The room, on the other hand, didn't go back to normal. It remained damaged from Quinn's magic.
"Please do damage control," came Quinn's request in the same monotone.
George didn't respond for several seconds and just stared at Quinn before he finally used magic to extinguish the fires, repairing the destroyed table and fixing the walls to a certain degree. The room didn't go back to before Quinn's magic bruised it, but it was much better than the mess when Quinn cut the emotional connection from his magic.
"What happened," George pulled his chair towards the table and put his hand on Quinn's hand, which was shivering. "What was that?"
Quinn held George's hand. George felt the nervousness in the grip.
"Then, I should start from the beginning."
Quinn pulled his hand back and took out a wooden cuboid from his clothes, and placed it in the middle of the table. The cuboidal box had crude runes carved on its surface.
"What is this?"
Quinn stared at the box with a blank expression, but no one but him knew what was going inside his mind.
"Inside that wooden block is my wand."
George frowned as he asked, "Your wand?" He couldn't comprehend why Quinn would keep his wand in a wooden box.
He wasn't expecting the answer that Quinn gave him.
"Grandfather, I have only held my wand two times since the day I bought it. The first time was on the day we bought the day and the second time was before this week. Other than those two times, I haven't touched the wand with any part of my body."
"That doesn't make sense," George spoke, not believing what Quinn said because his situation didn't allow Quinn to leave his wand. "Child, you are learning magic; you can't perform magic without a wand."
Quinn's hands were palm-faced down on the table. He slightly raised his index finger on his right hand, and immediately George's wand expelled from his hand and twirled in the air before falling over the table.
"I don't need a wand to use magic."
George looked at his wand on the table, which was snatched from his hands. He couldn't believe that an unarmed child had just disarmed him.
Then came the story that explained to George what just happened.
"Grandfather, if you remember, I showed my first sign of magic when I was four." there was a pause before Quinn continued again, "When I fell from my room's window, and that triggered the accidental magic to save my life."
George, of course, remembered the day. All the people had a scare followed by joy because of Quinn's fall.
"It was exactly one year after that I gained deliberate control over my magic," Quinn narrated the event where he first used magic. "It was frustration-induced, accidental magic. I sent a rubber ball across the room. That allowed me to control my magic on smaller levels."
Quinn remembered the days he would play with glass marbles and rubber balls.
"I moved small objects by using magic for an entire year before I got my hands on one of Lia's books." If Quinn didn't have a tight grasp on his occlumency, he would have smiled. "From that day onwards, I learned about magic theory and how it worked."
George recalled the days when Quinn would carry Lia's book with him all around the house.
"Then came the time when he left for the world tour. That was the start of my magical journey. Lia had given me books of my own as a gift, and I had you buy books from every country we visited. Unlike what everybody thought I didn't buy them because I enjoyed reading, I bought them because I wanted to learn more about my magic."
George's eyes widened at the revelation. He couldn't believe that his grandson had been doing wandless magic since he was five years old.
"I learned on that trip. To this day, I consider those years were the best time of my life. I traveled the world while learning magic. At that time, it was everything I wanted from my life."
"I never stopped practicing magic after that." Quinn stared at George's face and continued, "I have over eight years, closer to nine years of experience with wandless magic. I can use magic without a focus with no problems. I don't even notice it anymore."
Quinn stopped talking to let George absorb the information. After a while, George put up a question.
"Why didn't you use your wand after we bought it for you?"
Memories of the day he bought his wand passed through Quinn's mind, "As I said, I had been using magic without a focus since I was five years old. That was six-year of experience of wandless magic. By that time, I had a solid connection to my magic. But when I held the wand, what it did was try to divert the connection between me and my magic through the wand. Meaning that if I kept using my magic, then there would come the point where I would reach a point where I would have to use the wand as a link between me and my magic."
Quinn did a robotic shrug as he explained, "I didn't want my solid connection to my magic to wither away with time. But the wand made me feel so powerful. Just holding the wand in my hand increased my magical capabilities by several levels. I struggled with the temptation of the power it made me feel, so to escape it, I locked the wand in a woodblock and threw it in one of the rooms in my suitcase."
George couldn't understand what Quinn was talking about as magic theory wasn't his forte.
But, George did have another question for Quinn.
"Quinn," he looked at his grandson with a slightly hurt look on his face. "Why did you think you needed something like this hidden from me or anyone in the family?"
Seeing the hurt look on George's face shook Quinn. He almost lost control over his occlumency. The look of vulnerability was not something he had seen on George's face. The older man always had a stern and stoic exterior. Quinn knew that George was a caring person, but the hurt expression on his face something Quinn had never seen before.
There was a long pause before Quinn replied.
"I didn't tell anyone because I thought you would stop me from using magic."
Quinn was grateful for the occlumency that kept his magic at bay because it made his voice sound absolutely flat with no emotion in it. If Quinn wasn't using occlumency right now, he wasn't sure if he would have been able to lie to George.
It was a complete lie when Quinn said that he thought they would stop him from using magic.
The real reason was something entirely different.
The five-year-old Quinn didn't consider the Wests as his family.
He didn't trust them even a single bit.
He didn't see George West as his grandfather, nor did he see Lia West as his sister.
He was dropped in this world with no warning. He had suffered from a panic attack within minutes of coming to this world.
Quinn found himself in an unfamiliar body and lived in a house with the original Quinn's family. At that point in time, they were complete strangers to him. And, they weren't any strangers, who were family to the original owner of this body, who was now dead.
He didn't dare to reveal that he could do magic without a magical focus because it scared him that they would somehow know that he wasn't their family and just somebody possessing their family member's body.
If they ever found out, he was sure that he would be dead, with no one ever finding of his death.
It was the reason why he acted as the perfect child so that they won't get suspicious. Quinn did what every child would do and behaved as a well-behaved child so that they won't have any reason to become suspicious.
For the first two years, Quinn wore a permanent mask of a perfectly behaved child. A method actor as he had once called himself.
It was all an act to maintain his life in this world.
It took time before Quinn learned to see them as his family. It took spending years with them to finally see them as his family. To finally look at George West as his grandfather, Lia West as his sister, Elliot Dalton and Ms. Rosey as his all-but-in-blood family, and Polly as the dependable house-elf who completed his family.
It took time to finally consider himself as a genuine member of the West family and not some imposter.
But by the time he finally accepted them, it was already had been years since he started practicing magic. He felt guilty for not telling them and decided to keep it a secret until he got a good chance to reveal that he could do magic without a wand.
Losing control over his magic wasn't the lemon he imagined about, but it was the one that life gave him, so he made lemonade with it.
There was a long silence between George and Quinn as they stared at each other. Neither of the two said a single word.
"I am sorry," spoke Quinn. He apologized for being so late. "I am sorry for hiding it this long."
"I will not lie and say that it didn't hurt me to see that you thought I would stop you from doing something you so clearly loved," George spoke, his voice softer than Quinn had ever heard from the man. "But I am glad that you told me about this. And Quinn, I would say this: I would never ever stop you from doing what you love."
"Thank you," said Quinn.
"But, this still doesn't explain why you are in this condition," asked George. While his talk with his grandson had brought them together, it said nothing about the condition Quinn was currently in. "What happened to you that you lost control of magic."
Quinn poured himself a glass of water from the slightly deformed pitcher before continuing.
"There exist a few secret mysteries in Hogwarts that not many know about." Quinn was starting the cursed vaults explanation to his grandfather. "The castle is a thousand years old with generations of magical humans starting their magical journey with Hogwarts. So, it is not strange that there are unidentified areas in the castle. I just so happened to come across one of those mysteries."
Quinn reminisced about the day he met Friar and how it changed his life in Hogwarts.
"In my second year at Hogwarts, I found that there are these five vaults hidden across Hogwarts. Only the ghosts remember about them because some of them have been here for centuries. The Hufflepuff ghost, Friar, shared with me the knowledge about these vaults."
George listened to Quinn, who spoke with a flat tone and blank expression, but George could see how these vaults would have excited Quinn.
"I cleared the first vault last year." There was a pause in which Quinn thought if he should tell George about how he got hospitalized for ten days because he almost died. Quinn decided that if he was going to tell George about the vaults. Then he should just opt for full disclosure, sort off. "I got hospitalized for ten days, had to grow most of my skin, all of my hair, heal my bones and plenty of organs."
"What?!" George screamed. "Why wasn't I told about this?!"
Quinn expected that reaction. He was just glad that he didn't use the words like death or almost died in his sentence.
"It was nothing to worry about." Quinn lied to lessen his grandfather's worries. "Madam Pomfrey fixed me up in no time. Plus, she is a great company."
"Moving on, I solved the first vault and found what was behind it. No problems, it just took a lot of time and effort." Quinn looked George in the eyes. "The problem started this year when I found the second vault, and in my first and only exploration of the vault, I fell unconscious."
George sharply inhaled. He didn't like where this was going.
Quinn took a deep breath before continuing.
"Something happened to me that day. And whatever happened was undone before this week because I now have no control over my magic." Quinn's hand shivered as some emotions started leaking. "I went from feeling on the top of my game to having no control over my magic. It actively tries to escape my body and cause rampage."
George could feel that Quinn was struggling because he could feel the slight temperature dropping in the room, and there were small glimmers of facial expression on Quinn's face.
He took Quinn's hand in his and spoke.
"But, you just used magic when you disarmed me."
Quinn shook his head and explained,
"I can still do minor magic that I find easy. My magic is seriously limited right now. Plus, right now, I feel stifled when I use magic. Using magic without a connection to my will feels extremely wrong."
He pointed to the time just a few minutes ago.
"You remember when I come into this room, I was hiding my face with magic? That was illusion magic, at least a physical illusion, not a mental illusion. I am not in the condition to perform much mental magic, and your occlumency defenses are too much for even the normal me to use a mental illusion."
Quinn looked at George's face and realized that he had gotten off the point. "Ah, anyway, I saw your face and noticed that you found something wrong. The current me wasn't able to pull off a physical illusion with my magical capabilities. I am not having a good time with my magic. I don't feel good."
"It is alright, Quinn," George spoke in a comforting voice. "Everything would be alright. I will find a way to fix whatever is wrong with you. So, don't worry. Everyone in the house would help."
George meant it as he already started to plan to hire the best healers money could buy. He needed to find the best in the fields and provide his grandson with the best healthcare.
"Help! Yes, help." Quinn's eyes shined, and he gripped George's hands. "I need help with this, and you can help me with this."
"Of course, anything you want, Quinn." George didn't deny any request. While he couldn't see any expression on Quinn's face, he could tell that something was wrong with Quinn. His emotions were all over the place.
"I want you to call someone," Quinn said. "I want you to get them to West manor the day I return home."
The request confused George. He didn't know who his grandson wanted to meet so eagerly.
"Who is it?"
Quinn took another deep breath before speaking in a flat monotone.
"I want you to call Alan D. Baddeley."
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Quinn West - MC - More stone-faced than a certain blonde.
George West - Grandfather - Extremely worried about his grandson.
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