Chapter 128: An Evening With The Potter Family
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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The sound of a calming chime reverberated inside the Potter cottage, filling the home of the Potter family with a familiar sound.
Lily Potter, the Lady of the house, Professor of muggle studies at Hogwarts, was setting up the table for dinner with the special cutlery that only came out when special guests were coming to their home. When she heard the chime, which only rang when the knocker at the main door was used.
"Someone open the door!" shouted Lily across the house to her family.
"I will do it!" A voice came in reply to Lily's instructions, and footsteps moved towards the main door.
Lily stepped back from the table and gazed at it to see if she missed something, but the table setting for five people was set up perfectly. She moved her eyes to the kitchen, where food was currently being prepared by utensils autonomously with magic. She observed that the food was close to being done cooking.
It was then when Harry came walking into the dining area to get a glass of water for himself.
Lily looked at her son and immediately questioned him. "Did you clean your room?"
Harry was about to pour himself a glass of water but stopped when he heard her mother's question. "Mum, he isn't going to come up to my room to see if I have cleaned it or not. Why do I have to clean it?" sighed Harry and went back to pouring himself a glass of water.
"Don't give me that and go clean your room," ordered Lily, her eyes narrowing threateningly. "Quinn is already here... go comb your hair a little. It's like there is a bird's nest on your head."
Harry ignored his mother and silently walked out of the room with the glass of water. He wasn't going to clean his room; he, for his life, couldn't comprehend why did he have to clean up his room every time someone visited.
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"Someone open the door!"
Ivy Potter sitting in the living room, reading Witch Weekly, a magazine targeted towards women in the Britain magical community, looked up from her magazine.
"I will do it!" replied Ivy to her mother's call and got up from the sofa and walked through her house towards the main door.
She opened the door, and there stood the person supposed to visit her home for a thank-you dinner for saving her brother from a bunch of abductors. Her deep-green eyes met the stone-grey and saw the smile bloom on his face as he spoke up.
"Good evening."
Ivy Potter had Quinn West a lot while they were in Hogwarts. Even if she only talked to him a little while in a year, all students gathered in the Great hall three times a day for meals. Everyone got to see everyone if they caught the eye, and Quinn was somewhat of an eye-catching figure.
He was popular in the school for running A.I.D and generally famous for helping everyone out. So if any glanced at the Ravenclaw long table, their eyes would briefly stop at Quinn before moving on. And Ivy was no different; she, too, would sometimes have her attention caught by Quinn because of their shared history.
In the near three years she had known about the person named Quinn West. Ivy could recall seeing him in Hogwarts school uniform. The uniform was the same for everyone except the house color, and thus, the school uniform wasn't exciting to look at when every student you knew wore the same thing every day. And Quinn was among the students who would wear the uniform to the T with the robes and all. The only variation she had seen was when Quinn would remove the outer robes inside the A.I.D office.
But now, here he stood, in front of her, in casual clothes. She looked down to see the white shirt, black pants, and green jacket all coming together. Ivy Potter had many thoughts regarding Quinn West. But before today, thoughts like good-looking, handsome, and attractive weren't among them.
Suddenly, she could notice all the things she had seemingly missed. Quinn was tall, not as tall as her friend Ron Weasley, but quite tall. Unlike Ron, Quinn wasn't lanky: he was quite fit under those clothes, something the school uniform robes had hidden. With her mind not filled with thoughts about if Quinn was planning something could finally notice that Quinn was remarkably handsome, particularly with that smile on his face.
"Ms. Potter?" Quinn called to Ivy. Wondering why she was staring at his face without speaking anything.
"... Ivy," muttered the girl with rich red hair and vivid green eyes.
"Pardon?" spoke Quinn, confused.
Ivy matched eyes with Quinn and spoke. "You should call me Ivy. Or are you going to address me as Ms. Potter, Harry as Mr. Potter, mum as Professor Potter, and dad as Auror Potter? Surely not, right?"
"... Now that you mention it. That's a mouthful of Potter," nodded Quinn seeing the Potter-point. He looked at Ivy and smiled. "Alright... Ivy, let's start again... Good evening. I'm here for dinner."
Ivy nodded and stepped back to clear the way for Quinn to enter her house. "Please enter."
Quinn nodded, stepped beyond the threshold of the Potter cottage, and entered the Potter home. He looked around and saw an interior much different from his own home.
The West manor was ornate, and Ms. Rosey, who was in charge, placed everything to form a clear structure and design that screamed a dignified beauty. The only parts of the West mansion under others' control were their own rooms and offices. Quinn himself had only control over his own room, the practice hall, and the piano room. Other than that, Ms. Rosey decided the place of everything.
While the Potter cottage, from one look, was much more personalized to the residents and very homely and homey. Right by the door were photos of family and friends along the walls. A shoe rack by the side, coat hangers on the other side. They painted green and white wallpapers along the walls while the ceiling was white.
Ivy watched as Quinn watched her home and recalled that Quinn's family was exceedingly prosperous. Her father had told her that the West family lived in an enormous mansion in the distant countryside and owned vast land in that area.
'He must think that the house is too small,' thought Ivy, but Quinn had other plans.
"This is a nice home," complimented Quinn. "When I grow up, I'm going to get something like this for my own. Something personal and cozy. I like my home, but there is just so much walking! I spend a lot of time walking, you know. Not as much as Hogwarts, though: that place is crazy. And think about the cleaning that's needed. Thank Morgana, we have Polly, or we would be so screwed."
He turned to Ivy and asked, "Shall we move in?"
Ivy snapped out of her thoughts and gestured, "Yes, mum is looking forward to seeing you. She hasn't stopped talking about you ever since you sent the reply."
"Not surprising," grinned Quinn. "I'm most teacher's favorite student. They can't love me enough. All of them want some Quinn. Let's go and meet Professor." He winked with a cheesy grin, making Ivy roll her eyes.
The pair went inside the home with Ivy in the lead as Quinn continued to examine and observe the house. The chance to be inside Potter cottage was a rare opportunity, so Quinn was taking in everything he could see with his eyes. The two entered the living room where Harry Potter was sitting with a Quidditch magazine in his hand.
"Mum, Quinn is here," called out Ivy to inside the and turned to Quinn. "Please sit down and make yourself comfortable."
Harry stood up from the sofa and stepped towards Quinn to shake hands with him and greeted, "Good to have you here, mate. Also, I didn't get the chance to say this, but thanks for saving me. Seriously, I don't know what happened, but from what I heard, it could've been gone very wrong."
Quinn shook the Boy-Who-Lived's hand and shook his head, "Don't mention it. It was just luck that I happen to be here. Also, the situation was set up for me to have an advantage."
Being humble and courteous was much better than being cocky and overwhelming when creating an impression. Quinn was definitely going to exploit the fact that he saved Harry in the future, but until then, he would rather be a friendly acquaintance so that when the time came, he could exploit this connection.
Lily Potter finally entered the living room with a smile on her face and greeted Quinn. "Welcome, Quinn. Were you able to find the house easily?"
"Yes, it wasn't a problem. The repellant wards made it easier for me to narrow the houses down," answered Quinn. "And we live in the same Knight Bus area, so it was just a bus ride away."
"That's good to hear," nodded Lily and then gestured around the house to ask. "How did you find our house?"
Quinn looked around as he answered, "It's a lovely home, Professor. I can feel the time and effort you put in to turn a house into a home. But I do have to see one more thing before I can give my final remark."
"What is it?"
Quinn turned to Harry and asked with perfect seriousness, "I want to see your room. You did clean it, right? Let's go see it right now."
Harry's jaw dropped when he heard Quinn, and he started to feel flustered. He glanced to his side towards Lily and saw her mum staring at him like she expected him to show Quinn his room.
"... Okay, let's go see my... room," said Harry, sounding shy with a low voice. In his mind, he was planning on how to convince Quinn to keep quiet about his messy room. 'I will even grovel to Eddie Carmichael if he keeps quiet.'
The other three exchanged looks as Harry turned to walk to his room and burst into laughter. Harry turned to face them and was surprised to see the three loudly laughing like they had heard the joke of the century.
"Harry, d-don't worry, he's joking," spoke Ivy between her laughs. "No one is going to see your room."
Harry turned towards Quinn, who was giving him a thumbs up. "You have a talent, mate. Don't let it go to waste."
Harry Potter, the young prankster, grown under the wing of Marauders, felt embarrassed about getting caught in a prank. He hadn't been caught in a prank since his first year when the Weasley twins launched a week of prankster hazing to show him that they were the prankster general.
"How did you know that mum asked me to clean my room."
"Every mum says that. I was sure that here was the same deal," grinned Quinn. "I know you are a prankster, so I wanted to see if I could pull one under from you."
Now that Quinn was here, he decided to showcase some of his charms and entertain his hosts: a good way to pass his time here.
"Before I forget. I brought you a gift for you," said Quinn as he put his hand down in one of the expandable pockets.
"You didn't have to bring us anything. We are the ones who invited you to thank you," spoke Lily and wanted to refuse, but Quinn had already taken her with surprise, and she was holding an envelope.
She opened up the envelope and took a dense golden straight pressed parchment out of it.
"What's this?" asked Lily and read the bold and sizeable words on the golden parchment. "MagiFax Q1?"
"Yes, Professor, do you know what a fax machine is?" asked Quinn to the first-generation witch. He wasn't sure if Lily knew about the fax machine because she had been in the magical community for so long, and the fax machine wasn't popular in her childhood.
But Lily Potter wasn't dubbed as the smartest witch of her age for no reason and the Professor of muggle studies of two years. "Yes, I know of the fax machine."
"Excellent, MagiFax is the same thing but made from magical technology. It performs the same function using none of the non-magical technology," answered Quinn and then point at the slip in Lily's hand. "MagiFax Q1 is for personal home use. It's compact and is optimized to work in homes instead of the office as our original line of products launched one and half years ago. I think Mr. Potter might know of it because the British ministry approved the use of MagiFax in communications recently."
"The slip in your hand is a discount coupon that will get you a fifty-percent discount in our store in Horizont Alley on MagiFax Q1. Take this to the store, and they will explain to you about our entire line of products."
"You replicated a muggle item, and it got ministry approved?" asked Lily, stunned about what she was hearing.
"It might function as the non-magical fax machine, but as I said, it's nothing like the non-magical fax machine. Unlike the Hogwarts Express and Knight Bus, our product isn't based on the fax machine, so there was no way they would flag it. There was some resistance because we released the first MagiFax nearly two years ago, and it took the ministry more than a year to decide to introduce this in their offices even though we launched it here first."
The British ministry was forced to integrate MagiFax into their offices because other ministries were finally getting used to their MagiFax system. And they would ask to be communicated via MagiFax because it was so much easier this way. But British ministry wasn't able to do so because they were showing resistance to the system.
"Where is Mr. Potter?" asked Quinn after everyone settled down in the living room.
"He was called to the office because of some important work," answered Ivy.
Quinn nodded, and inside his mind, connected it to one particular thing. 'It must be because of the Tri-wizard tournament.'
Quinn turned to the Potter twins and started to converse with them. "So, what have you two been doing? How is the break going?" asked Quinn.
The Potter twins exchanged glances because they felt a bit awkward. The boy in front of them wasn't their friend particularly, and both of them had their own relationship with Quinn. Before the abduction, Ivy never got along with Quinn, and it was touchy for her to talk to Quinn as those things never happened. Harry didn't have much of a relationship with Quinn except for the one time he went to get information. The fact Harry and Eddie hated each other with such passion made Harry never initiate a talk with Quinn because of his close friendship with Eddie.
And yet, he was here talking to them like it was nothing. So the two twins felt lost on how to talk to Quinn.
"I keep my business and personal life separated," spoke Quinn startling the twins. "You don't have to worry about your respective dealings with me because I won't bring them up. There is a time and place for everything, and right now isn't time to talk business. I came here because Professor Potter asked me to, so I will be the perfect guest and have a good time. I suggest that you do the same time and given this is your house, you should relax."
Quinn picked up the glass of mixed-fruit juice that Lily had offered him and observed the twins. He already peaked into their mind to see that Harry had spilled his side to Ivy, which he didn't mind. As long as Ivy kept her side a secret, Quinn didn't mind Harry sharing. If someone came to him, Quinn would deny everything they threw at him because that was the deal made with Harry.
"Dad has been busy, so we decided to stay in for this year," answered Ivy deciding to take Quinn's advice. If he was so relaxed in her home, why shouldn't she be? "What about you? What did you do?"
"I went to Denmark for a week, alone."
"Alone?" asked Ivy.
"Yes, it was my first solo trip... well, kind of. But yeah, you can say it was a solo trip. It was an excellent trip."
Quinn turned to Harry, saw him reading the quidditch magazine, and decided to rope him into a conversation.
"Are you excited about the world cup game?" asked Quinn, pointing to the magazine.
"Yeah, it will be a fun game," nodded Harry, and his eyes shined, thinking about the upcoming game.
"Who are you supporting?"
"Ireland, of course. They are the ones who be winning the game," declared Harry with utter confidence.
"Not Bulgaria with Viktor Krum. His season record has been way better than any of the active seekers," asked Quinn. He had little idea what was going in the quidditch world, but Quinn read enough of everything that he could hold a conversation if he wanted.
"... He isn't that good," humphed Harry, feeling competitive with a pro player while being a student-athlete.
"You like quidditch, any plans to go pro in the future," asked Quinn, genuinely curious what this version of Harry Potter wanted to be in the future.
"Hell yeah, I'm going to be a pro in the future," responded Harry as if there was no other thing he wanted to do. "I'm going to apply for the teams when I turn sixteen."
"Yeah, right," Ivy snorted and held back a laugh, but a lot of it escaped out.
"What?" questioned Harry, looking at his twin.
"Like mum is going to let you go professional before graduation. Dad might agree, but mum will close the door on that before you could even suggest it."
"You don't know that."
"I know it. You know it. And even he knows it," said Ivy to Harry and pointed at Quinn.
Quinn raised his hands to separate him from the conversation, even though he was the one who started.
The twins started to argue, and as they did, Quinn's mind wandered to the Tri-wizard tournament, but with the quidditch talk going on, his mind connected those two things.
"Oh, shit..."
Harry and Ivy looked at Quinn, who was suddenly holding his face in his hands.
"Aah, this isn't good. This isn't good at all. How didn't I connect those two?" groaned Quinn.
"What happened?" asked Ivy.
Quinn raised one hand and waved the question off while his other hand was still hiding his face.
'Eddie is going to kill me when he hears they will cancel quidditch this year,' thought Quinn. 'He is going to try to kill me.'
Quinn had run Eddie hard all year long in the preparation of the next year. But if Eddie hears that there won't be quidditch because of the Tri-wizard tournament, he would come after Quinn to release the frustration. Eddie could be exceedingly single-minded when he put his mind to it.
'I need to fix that somehow. I really need to fix that somehow,' thought Quinn before he looked at Harry, who was looking at with confusion. 'Alright, I would've to pull the biggest pitch of my life.'
Harry and Ivy seemed confused to see Quinn hide his face, groan, and then pat his thigh as if deciding something. They exchanged looks of confusion, wondering why Quinn was suddenly acting weird.
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"So Quinn," spoke James Potter, finally home from work after the sudden call to the office. "This year is going to be your O.W.L year, isn't it? Are you nervous about the end-of-year examinations?"
"Yes, it's my O.W.L year the coming year," answered Quinn as he sat down at the dinner table for dinner. "But no, I'm not worried. Exams are easy if you study regularly."
"As expected of a Ravenclaw," smiled James as he too sat down.
"Oh, no, no, no," chuckled Quinn, wagging his finger in refusal. "Ravenclaws aren't good at handling examinations. For Ravenclaw, the examination period is really stressful. Most of them turn into backward savaged when the time for exams come."
"... Backward savages?" All four Gryffindors: former and current, turned to Quinn for an answer.
Quinn laid a napkin down on his lap before he answered, "An average Ravenclaw wants nothing more than to score well on an exam and want to score more than anybody, and that includes other Ravenclaws. During exam times, it's every man for himself as the house unity is thrown into the trash. Then there are betrayals, backstabbings, fake notes, fake leaked papers, bogus potions, and herbs that are supposed to sharpen the mind, and so on..."
He looked up at everyone on the table and continued, "One thing that every Ravenclaw has in common is that they study regularly. Meaning that when exam times come, they are already on revisions. So to get that competitive edge, they try to mess up with their competition. Employ any means that would reduce even a single mark of others would mean that their rank would increase by some number."
"My notes eliminated the fake note problem because mine is the best, and no other notes are needed," spoke Quinn as if stating a fact. "But other than that, Ravenclaws are known used to employ laxatives to make each other miserable. When exam time comes, Ravenclaw gains the ambitiousness of a Slytherin, the courage of Gryffindor, and the hard work of Hufflepuff. Of course, every one of those traits is used in not-so-positive ways."
Quinn looked at the food in front of him as the four Gryffindors looked at him because he spoke of tales of betrayals, backstabbings, and sabotage as if he was already used to it.
"Do you also do it?" asked Harry.
"Hmm? Oh no, I don't do any of that. I don't need any of that. My grades are the result of simple and pure intellectual superiority," said Quinn before turning to Lily and complimented her. "Professor, all of this food looks absolutely appetizing and stunning. I can't wait to get started."
"Ah, please start," gestured Lily, and the meal started.
As everyone ate, Ivy continued the previous conversation. "Has anyone tried to sabotage you... during exams?"
"Plenty of times," answered Quinn between bites. "They have tried to give me foods laced with laxatives, vomit-inducers, bloating potions, and a lot more things that would cause trouble if it got out of Ravenclaw walls, so I'm not at liberty of disclosing any of that. Have to keep the darkness inside the walls."
"Did they succeed?"
"Not once. I know to check my food around that time." Then Quinn chuckled at a thought, "If we ever show all those sabotage potions to Professor Snape, he would be stunned to see the quality of potions that we Ravenclaw can produce when we are motivated. They are fantastic."
Quinn looked up at Lily and once again threw a compliment at her. "Professor, I didn't know you could cook this good. Have you ever thought of changing professions? If you have, please contact me so we can set something up because this... this will be an overnight success."
Lily brightly smiled and seemed happily embarrassed because of the repeated compliments. The twins looked at their food and then at Quinn's plate, wondering if he was eating something else because what they ate was the usual cooking of Lily, who was an average cook, and that was with magic.
James, though, understood what Quinn was doing. He could see the deliberate charm talk that Quinn was laying on. He had done this a lot back in the day when he was pursuing Lily.
"Lily flower, this is really good." James complimented his wife's cooking.
"Huh? thank you, dear," replied Lily shortly before turning back to their guest. "Quinn, would you like something else? You aren't eating enough." Lily was getting excited because Quinn's charm was working, and she reciprocated by being more friendly and hospitable.
"Yes, Professor. I would like some mashed peas. I never liked mashed peas, but these are delectable. I can't get enough."
Lily happily passed Quinn some mashed peas, and he ate them as if they were the most delicious thing he had ever eaten.
'Oh, come on, enough with that. Reel some of it in,' thought James as he couldn't believe how thick Quinn was laying it and how well it was working.
Then he saw Quinn look at him and winked before going to talk to Lily.
'This kid!' thought James, flabbergasted.
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After spending some time with the Potters after dinner, it was time for Quinn to leave.
"Thank you for the wonderful evening, Professor," smiled Quinn towards Lily and kissed the knuckles of her offered hand. "I had an excellent time in your company."
"Oh Quinn, stop it. You are embarrassing me," replied Lily. If before today she was the fan of Quinn West, the student, today Lily had become a fan of the person known as Quinn West.
James Potter rolled his eyes at that. Even Ivy had caught up with what Quinn was doing and sighed with an eye roll just like her father. Harry knew that something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Harry, meet you at school," spoke Quinn to Harry. "Tell me about the world cup game. I won't be able to attend because of some previous commitment."
"Yeah, sure. Let's do that." Harry nodded and was okay with that, even looked forward to it. As long as it was quidditch, he could talk about it for days. Quinn had given him an impression that he liked quidditch, and it helped that Quinn commentated on most Hogwarts games.
Next in line was Ivy, who Quinn spoke to briefly. "Ivy, it's always fun talking to you. Let's talk some more when we meet again... and if you need any help, you know where to find me."
Ivy nodded but didn't reply in words. She had a fun evening with Quinn West, and that thought seemed unreal to her some time back. She never thought she could even speak to Quinn politely, forget about having fun.
"Mr. Potter, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to host me. I'm sure that the current time is hectic for you," spoke Quinn to James, who was the final member.
James gazed at Quinn and wondered if the West child knew about the reason behind his business. And after thinking about it, he concluded that Quinn knew about the upcoming Tri-wizard tournament.
"Are you excited about it?" asked James, making Harry and Ivy confused while Lily understood what her husband was talking about.
"Oh, yes. It will be mighty fun," nodded Quinn with a small grin.
After saying goodbyes, Quinn left. He exited the boundary of Godric's Hollow, and after looking around for a second, there was a pop, and Quinn disappeared.
Back at the Potter cottage, the Potter family entered their homes after seeing Quinn off.
"What were you two talking about?" asked Ivy about the small talk that her father had with Quinn.
"It's a surprise," grinned James but didn't reply.
Ivy didn't seem satisfied with the answer and tried to pester her father for an actual answer, but the Auror refused to answer.
The Tri-wizard tournament was on its way.
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Quinn West - MC - Perfect guest. His charms work well on older ladies.
Lily Potter - Lady of the house - Fan of Quinn. Thinks he is an excellent child.
Ivy Potter - Girl Twin - For the first time, she noticed Quinn and...
Harry Potter - Boy Twin - Wants to be a pro-quidditch player before Hogwarts ends.
James Potter - Auror - "Oh, come on. Now that's too much, right?! How is that working?!"
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Chapter 129: Q.W.A.S.P.P.: Development In Picture
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis.
.
[This chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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"What do you think he is going to show us this time?" asked Lia West to her grandfather and career mentor about the upcoming event that she was so excited about.
George West glanced at his beloved granddaughter and faintly beamed the excitement the young woman was showing. Two years ago, she had been reluctant to sit at the same spot in the same room and complained about why she was called back home while working on another project.
But the success from the meeting's result had charmed Lia and George as well. While he didn't show it, George was equally excited about the meeting that was about to start. The result of the first meeting was by far the best product that West business had ever created. It had revolutionized a majority of the mail industry, bringing in massive profits by the day.
"I'm in the same position as you, my child. I have no idea what he will show us today," smiled George and thought about how blessed he was to have Lia and Quinn as his grandchildren.
He had taken Lia under his wing when she graduated from Beauxbatons Academy Of Magic and had been guiding-slash-grooming her to be the next head of the business and his successor. George had some expectations of his granddaughter because Lia had always been an intelligent child ever since she was young. She was the top of her class, had excellent communication skills, and held a genuine interest in joining the business and being a part of the family legacy.
However, Lia had surpassed his expectations. She displayed grit and a hard-working attitude towards the work she was assigned, something George thought Lia would lack at the start and gain with time. She actively took on responsibilities, and even though she made mistakes along the way, her tenacity to learn and implement what she learnt had seen that Lia grew at a steady and rapid rate.
As things were going now, George was confident that the future of the West family and his own legacy would flourish under Lia's hands, and when the time came, he would step down and let the next generation take the lead.
Then there was Quinn West, his amazing grandson. Unlike his sister Lia, Quinn wasn't interested in the family business. George knew that Quinn ran a successful mini-business/service inside Hogwarts, something the ancient school had never seen before. And Quinn was the main contributor to the most significant product that had seen the West business and in the entire magical world in decades.
Regardless, Quinn was interested in magic rather than running a business. Quinn's passion had been clear from a very tender age. Ever since Quinn had performed his first accidental magic, he had been hooked on magic, always looking at magic with starry eyes and with a young curiosity. Besides that, Quinn showed overwhelming talent in the field of magic, a talent level that George had never seen before.
The fact that Quinn could practice wandless magic since the age of five (Quinn's own account) had stunned George and the entire family. At that point, everyone in the family realized how talented Quinn was in magic. All of them came to the anonymous decision that if Quinn wanted to pursue a life in magic, they would fully support him to the best of their ability.
'Oh... Maria, if only you were here...' thought George about his late wife, the love of his life, and felt sad that he couldn't share his happiness with the person he had loved the most.
A knock on the door snapped George out of his thoughts. Lia perked up in her chair.
The door opened, and Quinn entered the room. He was smartly dressed in a well-fit white buttoned-up shirt with faint light blue strips tucked into light gray pants under a darker stone-grey sleeve suit vest. The craftsmanship of the clothes looked non-magical, showing his penchant for buying clothes from the non-magical world and modifying them to his tastes. Though the light brown shoes on his feet were of a magical origin, made from the leather of a Re'em, a magical creature that resembled a giant Ox with golden hide.
Quinn looked calm and relaxed as he entered the room with a comfortable smile on his face. George and Lia immediately felt confident about the upcoming hour because of how Quinn held himself. They both were business people and knew how big MagiFax was and knew that expecting something as notable as MagiFax wouldn't be unreasonable. Their expectation from today was to enjoy what Quinn created, and if it was marketable, they would put it into production. Quinn's relaxed demeanor showed them that he was confident in what he was about to show them, and that raised their confidence in Quinn.
"Good afternoon," greeted Quinn as he closed the door behind him and walked towards the table George and Lia were sitting behind; interestingly, he didn't have anything in his hands. He effortlessly waved his hands for the barstool at a corner which slid across the room, and stopped beside Quinn.
To this day, George and Lia still felt surprised when Quinn used wandless magic. Last summer, Quinn didn't have control over magic, and when he regained it, it was time for him to go back to Hogwarts. They didn't get to see wandless magic from him until Quinn returned home for Christmas and Easter breaks. Quinn entertained their requests during those breaks and showed him what he could do without a wand or a focus.
It boggled their minds how great at magic Quinn was; he, without a wand, was leagues better than children his age were with wands. He had shown them enough magic to confirm that Quinn was way better than most adult magicals and could be considered well versed in magic.
"I hope I didn't make you two wait," spoke Quinn as he sat down on the barstool and faced them. "It's good to do this after so long; a shame that we had to skip out on this last year. Unfortunately, my health didn't permit me to conduct an event like this." Quinn didn't look sad as he summarized the events of last summer: although a tough time, he had gained essential lessons from it.
"I'm healthy this time and I had a lot more time to create some interesting items and products that might intrigue you," continued Quinn making eye contact with his grandfather and sister. "And with some luck, let's hope that the items I show you today will bring prosperity to our family and, in turn, all the people around the world who work for us."
Quinn felt good sitting in front of George and Lia. He then introduced some of his inventions to them. His inventions were practical applications of the magic he learned; Quinn strongly believed in applying whatever he studied. Theoretical knowledge was incomplete if it couldn't be used in real life to create something. Of course, Quinn couldn't use everything he learned, but he tried to utilise whatever he could apply.
"Welcome to Quinn West's Annual Summer Product Pitch Meetings, abbreviated as QWASPPM," grinned Quinn. He had coined his pitch meeting with a new title and a long, nonsensical abbreviation.
George lightly chuckled while Lia softly giggled; if it was someone else, they wouldn't have shown this reaction, but this was Quinn, and they were family, so being decompressed like this was acceptable. And even if Quinn spoke like this to someone else, he wouldn't have gotten in trouble after the success of MagiFax.
One product had turned into multiple lines of products with various specifications for diverse customer bases. The profits that MagiFax brought were enough for Quinn to act any way he liked. Of course, except for the family, no one knew that Quinn had developed MagiFax. The designs for MagiFax were under the name of the West business, and Quinn was simply granted a share of profits that George had set up for him.
"So what do you have for us today?" inquired Lia; her excitement peaking in anticipation.
Quinn gazed at Lia, slipped his hand inside his vest, and took out a potion vial from his detachable expanded pocket. After placing the vial with the translucent red potion on the table, Quinn's hand once again went into the pockets and took out a rectangle, long policy-styled envelope, placing it on the table beside the vial.
"As you know, I usually frequent Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop in Hogsmeade during my time at Hogwarts," started Quinn, and the other two nodded. Quinn had been caught in between the abduction of Harry Potter when he was returning from Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. It was safe to say that Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop was the store that Quinn visited the most in Hogsmeade. "The shop, being a stationery-cum-printing store, provides many printing services when not serving the students of Hogwarts with their stationery needs. And one of the services that the manager Gary provides is developing film to produce photographs..."
The cameras that were used by magical society were analog film cameras and were non-magical products from the early nineties. These cameras didn't need a single spell to take photographs; everything from the camera components to the film used was non-magical in origin. This was the reason why they weren't flagged by the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, which regulated the use of magic on non-magical objects and tried to keep items that had been bewitched away from non-magical folks.
The magic behind the signature moving photographs of the magical world didn't come from the camera but from the developing method. The developing solution was a potion that, when used in the developing of photographs, allowed the pictures to move. And because of that developing potion, the magical world could use non-magical equipment to add photography into their culture.
"... Let's put the moving photographs aside for this talk and focus on color," continued Quinn while talking out three more objects from inside his suit vest, placed them on the table, and faced them towards Lia and George. "Now, let's see what we have here."
The three objects that Quinn took out were two pages and one photograph. The two pages had one photo on them; one colored and one black-and-white. The third photograph was a colored print like any other shot printed on a photo paper. This one was a 3R(3.5"X5" / 8.89cm X 12.7cm) size.
"We know that adding color to a picture is possible as seen on this paper and photo," noted Quinn while tapping on the paper with the colored picture and the colored photograph. "But the problem is that it is costlier to achieve colour in photographs. Colour photographs are only seen in framed photographs or family albums because we can't achieve it in mass production."
Quinn placed his finger on the page with the black-and-white picture and pushed it towards Lia and George. "Pictures like this are what we see in books, newspapers, and magazines. Only a few very costly books and magazines with high subscription costs showcase colored pictures, and even those have a limited number of colored pictures."
Lia and George stared at the three pictures on the table, and they were well familiar with what Quinn was talking about. Both of them had subscriptions to a few magazines that showcased colored pictures, but they were priced much higher than something like the Quibbler that Quinn was subscribed to.
"The cost of the ingredients used in the developing solution that enables colored pictures to move is just too high for mass production printing like newspapers. That's why the market is filled with black-and-white images and lacks the gift of vibrant colors which, when combined with moving pictures, really catches the eye."
George and Lia's eyes immediately went to the potion vial as they took a guess about the vial's contents. Quinn, who saw their reactions beamed, they were correct in their guess about the vial contents.
"Yes... you're guessing correctly. It's exactly what you think it is," said Quinn, causing George and Lia to look above at him. "Once again, I present to you a product that will revolutionise the world of printing."
Quinn picked up the vial and shook it in front of them. "This one potion can be used to develop films with color and can be used to add color to mass printing like newspapers. If you put this potion into the developing tank of photo films it will give color to moving pictures. If you mix this potion with any of the cheapest of the coloured inks that don't support moving photos, the inks will move, so we'll get coloured photos."
Lia and George waited without speaking a word because the main issue still wasn't addressed. If the main problem for why colored moving photos weren't more prevalent wasn't solved, then all of this was useless.
"... I got estimates from Gary about how cheap the potion must be for printers to turn a profit by selling colored newspapers and books." The confident smile on Quinn gained then a bit of smugness. "This potion is below the price that Gary quoted, and thus, I, Quinn West, will provide the world's cheapest colored developing potion."
Lia and George stared at the potion vial on the table and the translucent red solution inside. The possibilities flashed inside their brains, and if what was promised was true, then this was huge. They would once again hold a monopoly over print media supplies because before anyone figured the recipe or created a recipe with similar effects, they wouldn't have any competitors.
This product was also perfect for a business like Wests. They operated in multiple countries and would directly spread the product without a middleman in numerous countries. Even the countries they didn't have a base in would be a targeted market if they could figure out transportation logistics.
"With colour will come the need for new printing press," explained Quinn. His potion had the potential to revolutionize the printing industry and push them into the color era in one push, but to accomplish that, the world needed infrastructure. "The black-and-white printing machines that can print fast for newspapers and books won't work anymore. We need printing machines that print fast and in color."
Unlike George and Lia, who had just heard this, Quinn had worked on this for a few months. He had time to think about what would be needed to make the item a widespread success and not a modest one.
"During the Easter break, I went to some non-magical places, and even though it took some searching and magic, I found the blueprints of some of the colour printing presses that existed before computers," revealed Quinn. Whenever he went to non-magical places, Quinn would leave while informing that he was going to a non-magical zone; Quinn never specified where he was going except if it was to the gym. That's why none of his family had any idea when he got his hand on blueprints for the printing presses.
Quinn saw a confused look on George's face, while Lia knew what he was talking about. "It's okay, grandfather, you don't have to know what a computer is. I'll explain it to you some other day. It's quite fascinating. We'll have to take a trip to the non-magical society, though."
Quinn had made sure that Lia was normalized with the non-magical culture, and that included the computer. If she was to do business in the non-magical world, she needed to know what a computer was and how it worked. It was lucky that Lia was adaptive, if nothing else, and knew how to follow up to keep up with the development in the non-magical world.
"In any case, I found a printing press that could work without a computer, but did work on electricity, so I had to strip the electrical components from the design from it and had to modify it so that it would work with magic instead," sighed Quinn.
He thought about the hours upon hours he had spent for months to figure out how the printer worked and study the mechanics so that he didn't mess things up. It had taken Quinn a hell of a lot of time because he had to build it up from a blueprint and understand every single problem, including troubleshooting the hiccups that he faced along the way.
"After figuring out how to get electricity out of the equation, the rest of it was easy. Replacing electricity with magic was mighty easy because I know magic better than I know electricity. And I know what you're thinking; the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Offices from across the globe banning this press. Don't worry, while it works on magic and is automated to a large extent, I made it so that in the hands of a non-magical, it would be a large useless waste of metal."
"I will give you the final design later, and you can have it checked later. Though you would have to move the prototype built in my suitcase out of there to take it away." Finally, Quinn pushed the envelope towards the front and tapped on it for emphasis. "This here is the recipe for the developing potions. But I have a few simple demands before I allow the family business to use these."
"Demands?" repeated George and leaned away from the envelope. He studied his grandson while trying to deduce what he wanted in return for the potion recipe. "... and, what are these demands?"
"Nothing serious. I'm not going to ask something outrageous... I'd like the subsidiary where we'll release the potion and printing presses to be named Silver Moon Printing Magitech."
Whenever the West family business entered a new sector, they would create a new subsidiary with a new name. The West family business would act as the parent company to all their subsidiaries that spread across diverse markets.
"And the developer potion to be named 'Lunar developer 1'" smiled Quinn, remembering the day he decided to start this project
. . .
Quinn walked into his A.I.D. workshop the week after the Christmas break and felt the festive spirit die down, as the Christmas/New year decorations were removed.
Inside the workshop, he found Luna sitting by the center aisle workstation with her painting set opened up on the worktop. Quinn smiled after he saw the paint set. He had been the one who had gifted her that paint set along with many other supplies to Luna a short while back.
"Good evening, Luna," greeted Quinn. He removed his robe and took out a hanger from a cupboard to hang his outer Hogwarts robe. "What are you painting today?"
"Good evening, I'm painting the Quibbler," replied Luna shortly, not looking up at Quinn.
"The Quibbler?" repeated Quinn in surprise and confusion as he turned towards his assistant and saw this week's issue of Quibbler opened in front of her.
"Uh-huh," nodded Luna as he picked up pink paint on her brush from the color palette. "The Quibbler doesn't have color. I asked daddy to add color to the pictures and pages, but he said it wasn't possible. All these creatures in the articles are so pretty and happy, but they don't have colour. So I decided to paint all my Quibbler issues to give them colour."
Quinn sat down opposite Luna and stared at the blonde as she hummed a tune while continuing to paint and swinging her legs under the desk. He looked at his assistant/junior/dear friend and knew that out of everybody he knew, Luna was the person who held the greatest interest and love towards the fine arts.
She would regularly take on new projects like paintings, drawings, mosaics, caricatures, portraits, calligraphy, and other types of visual arts. It was the reason Quinn had brought her the paint supplies in return for her incidental but much-appreciated disturbance while he was talking to Daphne, Tracey, and Astoria about him being sighted by the Slytherin common room lake windows.
'Colour, huh...' thought Quinn as he stared at the half uncolored page of The Quibbler magazine and Luna's color palette. 'Let's make something new, shall we?'
From that day onwards, Quinn started to research why coloured moving pictures were so costly and found that the existing recipes spread across the market were too high for mass production. The ingredients that were used took time to grow, and the potion took time to brew.
Hence, Quinn took some books inside his ever-growing library and started to read on pigment potions and the range of ingredients that could be used to brew the various types of development potions. The answer to the solution was present right in front of Quinn; his books from across the globe held snippets of knowledge that, combined, could create a cheap potion recipe that stood above the colour standards of the current market.
He used the preferred colour pigments and developing-solution potions of different magical cultures since the times of ages-old paintings and murals. He studied their composition, contacted Gary to get his opinion, wrote home to Elliot to get samples, and conducted experiments to create a modern alternative to them that was cheaper and took less time to brew.
It took months of research and development while working on other projects but Quinn successfully developed a potion recipe that worked with photographs, paints, inks, and a few other types of pigments.
...
Luna had been the inspiration and reason behind creating his potion recipe, so he decided that Luna must be mentioned in some way. Quinn knew how the West family business operated and how they built subsidiaries for every new industry and since he was the creator of the product, he should have a say in the name.
So here he was, demanding that the inspiration behind his creation be honoured.
Lia and George looked at each other, and Lia shrugged in acceptance. She didn't mind naming the new subsidiary what Quinn wanted, and because the product name matched the company name, it was all good.
"Lunar developer 1?" asked George, wondering about the number in the product name.
"You can use the number one (1) in the internal records and remove it from the marketing name," answered Quinn and then crossed his arms as he stared at the potion vial on the table. "This potion recipe still has a lot of room for development. I'm sure that after some time, the potion recipe will improve, so Lunar developer 1 is the current product; the future might hold a better product than this."
Quinn knew that it wouldn't take time to figure out the potion recipe when it spread across the world, and alternates would rise given time. In those times, the Lunar developer would need to grow to stand apart from the competition.
"Set up a research and development department inside the new company and ask them to find ways to constantly research improvements to the recipe," said Quinn and removed his eyes from the vial to look up. "With all the other things I'm doing, it will take maybe a couple of years before I can revamp the entire recipe and give you a new version that will be much better than this one. So until then, employ potioneers and herbologists should add subtle improvements to remain at the top of the industry."
Quinn didn't have time to keep working on the potion recipe, and there was no need to create a better one while the one he had was the best on the market, and nothing else was even close to it. He was going to pause his research of pigment potions for a while until it was time to develop a new one, which would be a major improvement.
"Do you agree?" asked Quinn.
"We agree," nodded Lia, and George, too, nodded with a smile.
Quinn had provided them another product to put them on the top of yet another market and bring in rolling profits.
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Quinn West - MC - Inventor extraordinaire.
George West - Grandfather/Big boss - Happy that his legacy is secure.
Lia West - Sister/Rising in ranks - Thinking about how this will change the advertisement and marketing game.
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