Chapter 79: Neptune, Scheme(?), and Boggart
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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[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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It turned out that the Roman gods weren't ancient magicals. They were mythology in both the magical and non-magical worlds.
"But Jupiter's thunderbolt, Neptune's trident, and Pluto's pitchfork are real magical artifacts," said Quinn while reading from an ancient tome he had found in Hogwarts library. Then he scoffed at the next piece of information. "Of course, all of them are either lost, missing, or possibly destroyed."
"Maybe they were real and became so powerful that no one believed their existence," considered Quinn about the identity of the Roman gods. "If that is true, then those guys were total legends."
Quinn sighed as he read through Neptune's status in the magical Roman dynasty.
"Neptune is the Roman equivalent of Poseidon. As Neptune, he becomes more disciplined, militant and warlike than his Greek counterpart. For the Greeks, Poseidon was a major civic god and was highly respected for being the god of the sea and earthquakes. However, the Romans, who were not seafaring people, associated Neptune more with fresh water and horses and treated him with fearful respect."
Quinn stopped reading for a second before thinking about a tangent. "Why am I assuming that the riddle is about the Roman god Neptune and not about the planet Neptune." Quinn groaned and took out his notepad, and added a note.
'Do research on Neptune (Planet).'
"Maybe the divination section will help me out in this one." Quinn wondered before returning to the ancient tome and sighed, "Oh well, let's worry about that later. Let's continue on with this."
"The Romans believed in a series of gods associated with the world around them. They designated Neptune as the god of water and the sea, a close parallel to the Greek god Poseidon. As the god of freshwater, Romans prayed to Neptune to provide water for their crops. In ancient Italy, farmers would honor Neptune with a festival in July, when frequent droughts would destroy their fields. He was also a horses' patron and had temples built near racetracks."
Quinn frowned at this paragraph.
'So you are saying that in Greek society, he was a big badass with storms and earthquakes. But in Roman society he was demoted to the god of freshwater.'
Quinn understood that Neptune was still the god of seas, but the Romans didn't know how to build sturdy ships to sail in the violent sea, so the sea was nothing but something foreboding to them. That meant that they didn't pray to the sea god Neptune and associated the god more with fresh water and horses.
'Alright, now this is becoming more and more of a situation where there will be a presence of something like a Bane,' Quinn felt happy about the progress he had made and wrote everything down. 'Now, I just need to find what is the bane in this situation. Is it another god?'
There was only one way to find out, and that was to read more books. And Quinn was really good at that.
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"Hey, what do you think about the hippogriff that attacked Malfoy?" gossiped Eddie over the table. "Some are saying that the hippogriff tried to kill Malfoy."
Quinn wagged his finger and corrected the gossip that had been going around. "That is something Malfoy and his goonies have been spreading around. According to my sources, Malfoy called the hippogriff an 'ugly brute' while he was sitting on it."
Marcus almost spat out his food after hearing that, "He was on the top of the hippogriff?! Now, that is not the poppycock behavior I'm expecting from a Slytherin."
Quinn laughed at Marcus' statement till his sides were hurting, "We're in our fourth year. You should have learned by now that to be in Slytherin isn't synonymous with being cunning nowadays."
He glanced over his shoulder to peek at the Slytherin table and scoffed, "We have been witnessing Malfoy's antics for two years now. Can you expect anything else? Plus, at-present, he's doing something really foolish."
"Foolish?" Eddie turned in his seat to peep at Draco Malfoy, who was sitting at Slytherin's table. Draco's right arm was covered in bandages and bound up in a sling; acting, in Eddie's opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.
"What do you mean by foolish?" Eddie solicited an explanation as he turned back.
"Look at his sling," Quinn brought their attention to Draco's broken arm. Eddie and Marcus, however, didn't see anything weird about the situation.
"The sling in his arm doesn't make any sense. Madam Pomfrey can regrow all bones in an arm in a single day," Quinn pointed his thumb back in the direction of the Slytherin table. "Malfoy's arm is just broken. She could fix him up and then announce that Malfoy's fit to continue his life as normal under an hour. That sling in his arm is just a hoax."
Realization dawned over Eddie and Marcus as they finally noticed the anomaly that was the sling in Dracos' arm.
"Even if Malfoy's arm was weak because his muscles were torn from the hippogriff's talon and needed to recuperate, then it would take maybe two days at most to get it back to full functionality."
Draco had been parading the arm in his sling for just under a week. So there was no reason for his arm to be in a sling.
Heck, Quinn had taken just ten days in the hospital wing, and he had been injured quite severely. There were lots of injuries in his organs, and that kind of thing had taken just ten days to get fixed. Draco's arm was a piece of cake for any decent medic.
"But maybe Malfoy is cunning," Quinn added another outlook to this situation.
"Huh, how?" Marcus looked confused at the sudden counter addition. "You just pointed out that he is doing something foolish by keeping his arm in a sling."
"That is exactly it. I mean, look at you two," Quinn pointed at his two friends with his fork before continuing. "No offense to you guys, but you guys didn't notice anything wrong with Malfoy's arm in a sling. Think how many people will believe the same thing. A sling in his arm creates an image of injury, and with the story propagated by the Malfoy's group, this image will be upgraded to a serious injury. So maybe with this arm sling drama, Malfoy is trying to make the situation seem more serious and portray that he survived a deadly accident. So he's showing traces of cunningness with this ploy."
Quinn thought about the upcoming Buckbeak execution plotline that happened this year. Malfoy Senior lobbied for the execution of the hippogriff who 'almost killed' his son.
If the sling in his arm was a ploy to elevate the situation, Quinn had to admit that this was an excellent tactic, as his two friends didn't see anything wrong with it, and both had come from magical families. Students from non-magical families who were used to the idea of using a sling to heal arms after getting broken would eat this up without a second thought.
"A good manipulation of the public," Quinn nodded in appreciation. "The final question is whether this came from Malfoy or his father, Lucius Malfoy. If it came from Malfoy, then props to him, but if it came from his father, yeah, this guy's still a fool."
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Lupin wasn't there when they arrived at their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. They sat down, took their books out, quills, parchment, and talked to one another when he finally entered the room. Lupin gave a faint smile and placed his briefcase on the teacher's desk.
"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today will be a practical lesson. Only your wands will be needed."
The students and, at some level, even Quinn, were surprised, as the class put away their books. Lots of curious glances were exchanged as they had never had a practical class in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The current third-year students had one memorable class last year when their old teacher had brought a cageful of pixies to lesson and set them loose. But, they, fourth years, hadn't had a practical Defense Against Dark Arts lesson. Not even in their first year, when they had a decent enough teacher, as she never gave them a practical class.
"Right then," said Lupin when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."
Puzzled but interested, the class got to its feet and followed Professor Lupin out of the classroom. He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner into another classroom.
The room was empty, with no chairs or tables.
"Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.
"Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin calmly because a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's a boggart in there."
Quinn knew this was coming. And Quinn would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to this.
After getting in touch with his emotions during the summer break, Quinn understood the importance of negative emotions and their place in his magic. He learned to accept that he had emotions that made him vulnerable, emotions like fear which a creature like Boggart exploited.
With that realization, Quinn felt he needed to really know all his negative emotions, what caused them and, then, accept them rather than outright rejecting them.
A Boggart would be an excellent way to start on understanding his fears.
Most people seemed to feel that the thing inside the wardrobe was something to worry about. Marcus at Quinn's side was eyeing the rattling doorknob apprehensively.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," informed Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks - I once met one that had lodged itself in an old man's clock. This one was moved in here two afternoons ago, so I asked the headmaster if I could use it as a practical lesson for all years."
Everyone knew that permission was granted.
"So the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?" Professor Lupin threw out a question to the class.
Quinn followed his usual routine and looked left and then to the right to see if anyone had raised their hand. Seeing that no one was going to volunteer to answer the question, Quinn raised his hand.
When Lupin pointed at Quinn, he promptly answered.
"A Boggart is an amortal shape-shifting non-being that takes on the form of its observer's worst fear. Because of their shape-shifting ability, no one knows what a Boggart looks like when it is alone, as it changes shape instantly upon encountering someone."
The words amortal and non-being were the words to focus on here.
A Non-Human Spirituous Apparition, also known as a non-being, was a magical spirit created of human emotions. They were notable because they had no equivalent in the non-magical world and their similarity to ghosts, despite never being truly alive. While non-beings were not truly alive and could not be truly destroyed, magic users had invented over the centuries various spells that could drive off these spirits using positive emotions. Their numbers could also be limited by reducing the conditions that would generate them.
Amortality was the condition of never having died and being unable to die, as an amortal entity was never "alive" to begin with. As amortality referred to entities that were never alive at any point in their lives. It was different from "immortality," which described living beings who were unable to die or had an infinite lifespan.
Dementors, Boggarts, and Poltergeist were examples of non-being and amoral entities, as they weren't ever alive and couldn't be killed.
In the distant future, someone with black hair and stone-grey eyes would discover a way to kill various amoral beings, putting the concept of Amortality in need of revision.
"That is actually better than I was expecting," Lupin blinked in surprise as he regarded Quinn with interest. "Well, Quinn," Lupin was pleased with the answer, so he rewarded the answer. "Take twenty points to Ravenclaw for an excellent answer."
Quinn gave a slight nod, and Lupin continued with his lesson.
"So a Boggart that resides in the darkness doesn't assume a form. It doesn't know yet what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but if I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us fear the most."
Lupin raised both his hands and gestured to the students who had become restless. "Please, calm down. The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires mental prowess. You see, the thing that really ends a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape you find amusing."
The professor lowered his hands as he continued, "We'll practice the charm without wands first. After me, please... Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" chanted the class together.
"Good," smiled Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, only saying the word isn't enough. And this is where you come in, Jessica."
Jessica Tring, a fourth-year Hufflepuff stepped forward, while shaking slightly.
"Right, Jessica," said Professor Lupin. "First things first. What would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"
"... Snakes," Jessica answered with a tremble in her voice.
"Right, have you seen one of these rubber balloon animals," Lupin asked Jessica, who nodded.
"Excellent, when the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe and sees you, Jessica, it will assume the form of a snake," Lupin explained at a slower pace so that Jessica would catch every word. "You'll have to raise your wand —like this— and say 'Riddikulus'. Concentrate hard on the image of the snake turning into a balloon version which then deflates while creating a fun noise."
"If Jessica is successful, the boggart will likely shift its attention to another one of us in turn," said Professor Lupin. "I'd like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most and imagine how you might force it to look comical..."
The room went quiet as everyone began thinking about their greatest fear and how to make it comical.
"Everyone ready?" asked Professor Lupin. He looked at Jessica and instructed, "Jessica, we're going to back away. Let's get you a better field of vision, all right? I'll call the next person forward. Everyone, back. Now Jessica has a clear shot."
They all retreated and backed against the walls, leaving Jessica alone along the wardrobe. She looked slightly pale and frightened, but had pushed up the sleeves from her robes and was holding her wand, ready.
"On the count of three, Jessica," said Professor Lupin, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One, two, three - Now!"
A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. A long forest green snake with shiny scales slithered out while making loud hissing sounds.
Jessica backed away, her wand up, and cried, "Riddikulus!"
There was a squeaky noise of a blown balloon being touched, and the green snake turned into a balloon art, and immediately after, it started deflating while making a noise that sounded like a fart.
There was a roar of laughter and as the Boggart kept on leaking air and making fart noises, Lupin shouted, "Carmicheal, next!"
Then the entire class went through the same thing as they faced something they feared and then turned it into something funny.
There were many animals and creatures, a few renditions of Snape, one of Filch, some parents, mummies, zombies, one big eye... but everything was turned into comic relief after a cry of 'Riddikulus'.
Eddie was scared of his mom, who looked furious and had a ladle in her hand. Marcus, on the other hand, feared screaming banshees.
Finally, it was Quinn's turn, who stepped forward after everyone was done and were talking among themselves.
Lupin thought everyone was done, but stopped when he saw Quinn step forward towards a disco-ball-shaped Boggart. He was interested to see what would be the Boggart of the Quinn West. Flitwick had said that Quinn was the brightest student he had ever taught. And the half-goblin had said it when Lily Potter was sitting with them.
His eyes widened when the Boggart turned into a replica of Quinn. But Boggart-Quinn had a wide smirk on his face and a wand in his hand.
'What in the world?' Lupin didn't know what to think. He wasn't sure what it meant when a Boggart turned into the person itself. Lupin turned his face to the real Quinn and thought, 'He fears himself?'
...
Quinn, who was looking at his Boggart, immediately knew what his greatest fear was.
'That smirk and the wand in his hand,' Quinn thought as he observed his Boggart, and he knew that this was his greatest fear, as his heart was starting to beat slightly faster.
Quinn's current biggest fear was him never escaping the sin's curse and giving in to the temptation of his wand. He feared how he would have turned out had the curse continued to have a hold on him. Quinn had even erased Lockhart's memories and was going to cause pain and suffering to Luna's bullies. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if the curse had continued to change him.
He feared that if the curse continued, then he would've been replaced by someone who looked like him but wasn't him. The fear that the base of his existence, his identity would've been erased without anyone knowing.
'Just like I replaced the original Quinn,' thought Quinn as he stared at the Boggart-Quinn and tightly balled his hands in a fist.
Quinn also dreaded the possibility that one day he would give in to the temptation that posed his wand, abandoning all the hard work he had done to develop his wandless magic. Quinn knew better than anybody else that if he started to use his wand, he would never be able to put it down. The temptation of power would be too much for him, a fatal flaw that would ruin him.
Those two things were Quinn's greatest fears.
He took a deep breath and raised his fake wand, and softly chanted, "Riddikulus."
Immediately, the Boggart-Quinn turned into green slime that tried to stay upright but then collapsed into a puddle.
He turned back and informed a bemused Lupin, "Professor, everybody is done."
Quinn's voice brought Lupin out of his thoughts, as he waited for a second and replied in a delayed manner, "... Ah, yes, Quinn. Please, join your classmates. I'll lock the Boggart back into the wardrobe."
Quinn didn't notice the oddness in Lupin as he was occupied with thinking about his fear.
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Quinn West - MC - A lot of introspection.
Draco Malfoy - Slytherin - Cunning genius or Daddy's boy
Remus Lupin - Werewolf - [Boggart = Full moon.]
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Chapter 80: New Employee, and Hogsmeade Attack.
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis.
.
[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
.
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"So you're looking for a job at A.I.D."
Quinn was sitting behind his desk in the A.I.D office looking at a sheet of parchment in his hands.
"No. I don't. You called me here," answered Luna, sitting in front of the desk, her legs swinging in the air while she sat in her chair.
"Then what about this resumé?" asked Quinn as he raised the sheet of parchment to show it to Luna.
"You asked me to write this and bring it to you," Luna replied, picking up a transparent golf-ball-sized glass spheroid from the desk. The second she picked it up, the glass spheroid gained colors, which took on the appearance of the earth globe.
"Of course, of course," Quinn nodded as he pretended to interview Luna. He set down Luna's resumé and asked, "Tell me, Ms. Lovegood, why are you suitable for this job?"
"Tell me, Mr. West, why does this job deserve me?" Luna counter-questioned Quinn as she tossed the glass globe up and down. "And what is the job exactly?"
"Oh, well, we offer excellent benefits; state-of-the-art tools, raw materials of all kinds, personal tutoring from me if I am free..." Quinn clapped with a proud smile and added, "We also have a library with guides written by me, Quinn West. Finally, we also provide a batch of cookies a day, courtesy of the kitchen house-elves. They are quite good."
Quinn's guides contained his understanding of some magic branches he had obtained from different magical cultures. The books that would be available to Luna would be about the Hogwarts subjects because he didn't want to share the other things he had been cooking.
"As for the job, you'll have to sit in the office for some time to take in the requests from anyone who comes in. Plus, you will be my assistant."
Quinn's motive for taking Luna to A.I.D was to improve her communication skills. If she talked to the students who came in for requests and asked them for their requirements, it would help her develop her communication skills. With time, Luna would get better at talking to people and she would become more confident in herself.
Luna's ears twitched, and she took her eyes off the glass globe.
"Cookies? You have cookies?"
Quinn leaned down in his chair, opened a drawer in his desk, and took out a glass jar full of cookies.
"Please, take one," Quinn offered the cookies, removing the lid from the jar.
Luna picked one from the jar, looked at the cookies, then the cookie jar, and finally raised her head to peek at Quinn, "Can I take another one?"
"Hmm," Quinn pretended to think before negotiating with his interviewee. "Only if you take the job."
Luna, without hesitation, dipped her hand into the cookie jar and took out another cookie. "When do I start?"
"You start tomorrow," Quinn smiled, shook hands with Luna, and said, "Welcome to A.I.D."
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- (Scene Break) -
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"I really thought you would ask some girl out," Eddie asked as he settled an arm over Quinn's shoulders as he, Quinn, and Marcus walked to Hogsmeade.
"Now, now, why would you think that?" Quinn asked as he and his two friends entered Hogsmeade on the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year. Which was the following day after Halloween.
"You know more girls than both, Marcus and I, combined," replied Eddie as he tightened his hold over Quinn. "And you talk to them regularly. I really thought you would have asked one of them out."
"You're thinking small, Eddie," Marcus chirped in as he eyed Quinn. "This guy could have asked out almost any girl, and they most probably would have said yes to a date."
Eddie clicked his tongue and grumbled, "Yeah, this guy is annoyingly popular." He removed his arm from Quinn's shoulder, grabbed his cheeks, and turned his face left to right. "I mean, yeah, he's a good-looking bloke. He can be funny sometimes. No one is smarter than him if a girl wants that. Polite? Sure." Eddie sighed and released Quinn's face from his grasp, "Yeah, I get it."
Quinn smiled with an exhale, bumped his shoulders into Eddie's and Marcus's shoulder, and claimed, "I didn't ask a girl out because, then, I thought you two would end up lonely. I'm honoring our friendship. Be grateful."
A picture of him pulling Daphne close flashed through Quinn's mind. He shook his head to shake that image. He had been pretending that incident never happened because he had no idea how to approach that situation.
"If you want us to be grateful, then get a girlfriend and then set us up with her friends," Eddie suggested. Quinn realized both his friends looked sincere enough to know they weren't joking.
"Good man!" Marcus looked particularly enthusiastic about Eddie's suggestion. "Let's make a pact. If one of us ever has a girlfriend, then the person who gets it first will have to ask his girlfriend to introduce her friends to us."
"How about you guys first try to ask out a girl? Then we'll talk about this pact," Quinn spoke while shaking his head, not believing that they were making a girlfriend pact when they hadn't even asked out a girl on their own.
"Sure, sure, we'll do that, but let's make the pact just in case," Marcus stopped, and so did Eddie. Both put out one hand forward and brought them together.
They looked towards Quinn and saw him walking away while looking at them. He was shaking his head.
"So you're saying that we are not good enough for your girlfriend's friends?!" Eddie shouted at Quinn. He pointed his finger at him and yelled, "You have changed ever since you got a girlfriend, man! You were a decent bloke who honored our friendship before!"
"I don't have a girlfriend!"
"Whatever, you suck!"
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- (Scene Break) -
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A group of individuals dressed in thick robes covering their entire bodies stood in a circle in a room with stone-covered walls. Ominous dark maroon candles on the stone walls cast a dim light on the room's occupants.
"Today is a Hogsmeade weekend at Hogwarts," One of the robed figures spoke to the rest of the group. "A lot of people will be present in Hogsmeade, there will be plenty of activity."
He swept his eyes around and went on, "Parents dropping by to meet their children. Shops full of Hogwarts students, stalls set specially for the Hogsmeade weekend." The person who was speaking smirked and continued, "A lot of filthy mudbloods walking around in the open."
A wave of malicious chuckles and savage smiles streaked across the room.
"Those filthy mudblood children must be eradicated before they enter our prestigious society. So today we will descend on Hogsmeade and purge our community from the mudbloods," the speaker, who seemed like the leader of the group, announced their objective.
"How will we distinguish the mudblood from the others," asked one of the other robed individuals.
"The clothes they wear will be their undoing. Target anyone who wears muggle attire."
Another person asked, "What if someone that is not a mudblood wears muggle clothing."
"Then they are blood traitors," the leader's words came without hesitation. "This is a crusade. In the pursuit of what is right and pure, there will have to be some sacrifices. We are doing good for our society, so don't hesitate and raise your wands against all that is evil."
He raised his wand and voiced.
"Novellus Accionites!"
All the others raised their wands and chanted in unison.
" "Novellus Accionites!!!" "
The leader immediately disapparated from the stone chamber. The others followed behind, disapparating one by one, leaving behind an empty room.
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Quinn came out of the Three Broomsticks with a big mug made of glass of cherry syrup and soda with ice and a paper parasol. He had conjured a big glass in order to take his drink out so he didn't have to drink it inside the pub.
He drank the beverage from a conjured straw and roamed around Hogsmeade. Quinn was alone because Eddie and Marcus were getting their haircut at the barber.
He had offered to cut their hair, but they hadn't accepted the generous offer. He had been cutting his own hair at Hogwarts. It was easy when you had magic and knew exactly what needed to be trimmed.
"Their loss," Quinn said as he put his mouth on the straw. He was walking around to see if something caught his eyes, and something did catch his eyes when a group of robed individuals apparated ten feet right in front of him. All of the robed individuals were wearing masks with a symbol that was clearly a derivative from Voldemort's Dark Mark.
'Novellus Accionites,' Quinn recognized immediately the symbol from the newspapers and turned around without wasting a second.
"Need to get away from them. ASAP," Quinn muttered with the straw in his mouth, his hands raising the glass mug, the cherry beverage still being sucked through the straw.
The leader of Accionites noticed Quinn and saw that he was wearing muggle clothing. Plus, the way he turned on the spot showed that he recognized them.
"Get that kid." the leader ordered the two other members, pointing at the retreating Quinn. "We'll use him as an example."
Quinn, who was walking quickly, didn't know that the only reason the terrorist group was targeting him was that he was wearing a comfortable jumper.
The two Accionites smirked under their masks when they saw Quinn turn into an alley. He just made their jobs easier by separating from the crowd. The duo of Accionites entered the dark alleyway and saw that Quinn was walking to the end of a closed alleyway, probably thinking that if he hid, they wouldn't be able to find him.
One of the Accionites raised his wand and shot a spell on Quinn's back, smirking at the easy target, but the spell just passed through Quinn and hit the wall in front of him.
Both Accionites looked at each other with bewilderment on their faces. When they returned their eyes to Quinn, he stopped. The other Accionite had just pulled his wand out to cast another spell at Quinn when they heard a thumping noise at their back.
When they turned back, they witnessed Quinn standing behind them, and before they even had the chance to widen their eyes in surprise, their wands were expelled from their hands.
The next moment, four chains with cuffs came out of the ground beneath them and clamped on their wrists, pulling them to the ground.
"Wha-!"
"Oof!"
The Accionite duo couldn't accept the sudden turn of events and were wide-eyed as Quinn removed their masks.
"You guys are lucky that I finished my drink. You were this close to getting to me before I emptied out the mug," Quinn brought his fingers closer to emphasize how close they were.
"Release us, you filth -." one of the unmasked individuals growled at Quinn, but Quinn slapped him hard before he could complete his sentence.
"Shut up," Quinn promptly explained his actions after slapping the guy.
"You! Do you know who -." the other one spoke to get the same slap from Quinn.
"I won't repeat myself, shut up."
Quinn sighed and decided to get them over. He stepped forward and placed one palm on both of their heads and immediately used Legilimency on the Accionites. After under half a minute, Quinn had a general sense on why Novellus Accionites were there at Hogsmeade.
"Rid Britain of muggleborns, blah, blah, blah... Targeting students. Yup, checks out."
He stepped back, and then ice spikes pierced one shoulder and one thigh of both the Accionites.
"AAAAAAHH!!!!"
Bloodcurdling screams filled the alleyway but didn't get out because Quinn had warded the area so that noise didn't get out.
"You both have killed others, and even though I'm not comfortable with murder, I am not above inflicting pain," said Quinn with almost no expression on his face.
Quinn ignored the screams and went on, "I'm leaving those spikes in there but don't worry, you won't bleed to death because I have frozen the entry points. You will still feel pain and cold on your shoulders and thighs..."
He looked at the two and saw that both of them were kneeling.
"... and your calves. I wasn't aiming for those. I apologize. Or not."
Quinn once again placed his palms on their foreheads, ignoring their begging and whimpers.
"Time to forget about me," whispered Quinn and wiped their memory of him from their minds.
The two Accionites were near the opening of the alleyway and clearly visible, so it was easy for them to be found.
If anyone was paying attention, they would have noticed three people going inside the alleyway and none coming out.
After he was done, Quinn stepped behind them, shot ropes from the seize-and-pull spells towards the rooftops, and pulled himself towards the roof of the buildings. Just as he reached the top, two bricks protruded out from the sides of the building to act as foot support and Quinn used them to climb onto the roof. He turned himself invisible and then climbed some more till he was near the very top of the building's chimney.
"Let's see. Where are the other ones?"
Quinn was high enough so he could see a decent part of Hogsmeade that wasn't obstructed by other buildings. He judged from the frightened, running people that a sizable group of Accionites had headed towards the south.
"Let's slow them down till the Aurors get here," Quinn decided and jumped off the rooftop. He cast Arresto Momentum to kill his falling speed just before landing on the ground.
A map of Hogsmeade appeared in Quinn's mind as he moved south, running through alleyways and taking shortcuts to get there faster.
The frightened screams alerted Quinn that the group of terrorists were nearby, so he once again climbed up a nearby rooftop and got a clear view of a trio of Accionites with their wands out. From what he could see, the Accionites were trying to spot muggleborns students, but since the majority of the students were wearing Hogwarts robes over their casual clothes, it was difficult for the assailant to get a clear look.
"Lucky for me, you're wearing masks."
While saying that, three ice spikes manifested in the air - cold air emitting from the surface of the spikes. The spikes were long and had pointed edges on both sides.
Quinn locked his eyes on the three terrorists, and with a flick of his wrist, the three long ice spikes whistled towards their targets. All three were pierced in their thighs or calves, which forced them to drop to their knees.
" " "Aaaaaaaaaaah!" " "
The three Accionites screamed, causing the panicked public to scream more since they thought the shrieks of pain were from someone attacked by the terrorists.
Quinn winced at the raised commotion.
'Maybe I should have simply stunned them.'
He sighed and cast Depulso towards their upper backs, forcing their bodies to slam against the ground and stunned them the next second.
Jumping from the roof, Quinn ran towards the unconscious terrorists, removed their masks, stuck the removed masks to their backs, took their wands, and similarly stuck them to their backs. He didn't snap their wands because wands were a crucial piece of evidence.
After he was done, chains with cuffs shot out from the ground and firmly clamped their wrists and ankles around, snugly contacting every part of the skin. With the Accionites being chained to the ground, they wouldn't be able to apparate without tugging on the chains and getting splinched in the process.
Finally, to make sure they wouldn't be going anywhere, Quinn transmuted the ground to engulf them and trapped them into the ground.
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
"Oh ho, Harry Potter..."
The golden squad, who had just become aware of the conflict and the commotion, were about to return to the castle when they heard someone call out to Harry with a chuckle in their voice. It wasn't the voice of someone in panic or hurry.
On reflex, the golden squad turned toward the voice's source. When they turned around, they saw a robed individual with a mask on their face. He stood facing them and had his wand out in his hand.
"To think I would come across the boy-who-lived," the masked person slowly stepped towards them as he talked. "I wasn't expecting to meet the one who vanquished our lord."
All four Gryffindors stumbled to get their wands out and readied them, pointing them at the masked terrorist. But the Accionite didn't react. He didn't seem scared of the four wands that pointed at him.
"So courageous. Gryffindors, heh." The masked individual laughed at the four third-year kids. "Children shouldn't play with wands. You could get hurt."
He regarded the four with disgust. "Two Potter half-bloods, one mudblood, and one blood traitor; a good mix of filth that needs to be taken out from this society."
Harry growled while raising his wand threateningly, "Who are you?"
The Accionite spread his arms in grandeur and introduced himself.
"We are the new generation of the pure. The sacred revived order that fought for pure supremacy."
There was a faint devotion in the person's voice as he went on.
"We are the knights that protect the world from the foul mud. We denounce the evils of impure blood. We eradicate those who act superior and hide they are inferior."
The golden squad could hear the smile in the voice that chanted something like a motto while leering at them like they were bugs.
"The Dark Lord was the bright light that was going to lead us, wizards, to a greater height and show the unworthy muggles that they were nothing but bugs in front of us." He glared at Harry and spat. "But, you somehow defeated him, so today I am going to kill you and protect the legacy of our great lord."
He took a deep breath before announcing.
"In the name of the Dark Lord, we of Novellus Ac-"
The Accionite didn't get to complete his sentence as he sensed something to his left and barely had the time to conjure a shield against the curse that bolted towards him. The curse tore through the shield and still had enough magic to force the Accionite to take a few steps back.
His sudden predicament wasn't over when another curse followed after the first one and made full contact. The curse blew up in a contained but forceful explosion, throwing the Accionite against the wall of the building to his right.
"Oooof-!"
The Accionite spurted some blood as he crashed into the building. His ears rang and his vision blurred. His impaired vision noticed two more curses speeding towards him. The two curses made contact, and two more contained, powerful explosions contacted his body. Rendering him unconscious and badly hurt.
Harry, Ivy, Hermoine, and Ron stood there stunned. They gawked at the broken, bloodied, and bruised body of the masked individual. There they were listening to the bloke telling his agenda, about how he was going to avenge Voldemort, etc., and the next second, the man was blasted into the building wall, followed by two more explosions that battered the man's body.
If things didn't happen so quickly, their first reaction would have been sickening revulsion from seeing the bloodied appearance of the masked man, but impulsively they looked in the direction from which the curses came... but there was no one there.
The assailant, who had just beaten a man to a pulp, wasn't even aware that his victim was targeting the golden squad.
No, Quinn was just too busy jumping around rooftops, attacking any masked individual he could see. Parkour wasn't his specialty; he was stumbling to get around Hogsmeade before the Accionites spread too much and were out of Quinn's reach.
He wanted to get more of them while they were still together in big groups and before they moved in different directions in small duos trying to kill more and more muggleborns.
"There, two more spotted," Quinn caught sight of two more masked individuals, so he immediately jumped off the rooftop, ran across the street from one alleyway towards another, and cast Dark-Diffindos towards their legs, making them drop to the ground with horrid screams.
"Who is there?!"
Quinn, who was running across the street, still invisible, turned his head towards the shout and saw two wanded people running in his direction. He noticed the coat of arms on their clothes, and his eye twitched.
'Shit! Aurors. Time to bounce!'
He knew the disadvantages of turning invisible. When running at full speed, the invisibility spell would not effectively hide the person and show a transparent silhouette.
Quinn sprinted and ducked into an alleyway.
"You check out those two. I'll follow the assailant," one Auror spoke to her partner and sprinted towards the alleyway.
When the Auror arrived at the opening in the alleyway, she saw a transparent silhouette rushing out from the other opening of the alleyway. She gritted her teeth and sprinted to follow.
"Auror, freeze!"
In the empty alleyway, Quinn looked down from the building wall he was sticking to and thought.
'Alright, she is gone.'
The transparent silhouette that the Auror saw exiting an alleyway was an illusion that he cast to get her away from the alleyway, so he could escape.
He shot ropes from the seize-and-pull spell towards the rooftop and pulled himself up. Quinn walked across the sloped rooftop, dropped in the next alleyway, and walked out looking scared and clutching his clothes, so he would mix in with the current situation.
As Quinn walked near the Hogwarts entry of the Hogsmeade, he came across Auror guards guiding the students towards Hogwarts. The person who attacked numerous members of Novellus Accionites, some to the point that they needed to be rushed to the hospital immediately, exited Hogsmeade, the site of the attacks, with Aurors guiding him to safety.
...
The Novellus Accionites' attack at Hogsmeade concluded with two muggleborn deaths. None of the casualties were Hogwarts students; the two fatal victims were adults who came to Hogsmeade for work.
After the attack eight members of Novellus Accionites were found incapacitated; the authorities had to rush three of the injured Accionite to St. Mungo's hospital because of the critical nature of their injuries.
According to witness statements collected by the Aurors, no one saw the person who attacked the Novellus Accionites members. The two Aurors who did notice a transparent silhouette running out from the scene weren't able to catch the prime suspect.
At the end of the investigation, the Aurors ended up having no identification of the mystery assailant that put eight people in the hospital.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
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Quinn West - MC - Invisible / Mystery Assailant - Because I can...
Luna Lovegood - A.I.D Employee - Takes cookies for her salary.
Eddie Carmichael - Bro #1 - "Quinn sucks!"
Marcus Belby - Bro #2 - "He broke the sacred bond!"
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-*-*-*-*-*-
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