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[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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The West siblings were walking through the Hogwarts corridors. Quinn showed Lia all his favorite spots.
"From what I've heard from others, they'll usually spend time in a conference room," commented Lia, "and not roaming the halls. Not that I'm complaining; this is a good tour. I always wanted to see where grandfather, Ms. Rosey, Uncle Elliot and you studied."
"You already know how the meetings go?"
"70% of the people you met were our subsidiaries," said Lia, "I asked them how it went. I've to say the deals you gave them could've been more profitable to us. Those guys accepted anything you threw at them. I wonder how the deals would've gone if they didn't know your name."
"Don't say that," chuckled Quinn, "Gary drove a hard bargain. He didn't go easy at all. For a second, I thought he was going to reject my proposal. Imagine how awkward it would've been for both of us, knowing that I made the Lunar developer."
"He was the only one who followed the instructions properly," she said. "But yes, if he had rejected you, that would've been pretty awkward."
"Well, can't say that I didn't take advantage of that," smiled Quinn, "Originally, I was only going to use the 50% of funds from our business, but the plans were coming short with absolutely zero funding, so I had to up that percentage by 20%."
"I should've just come myself for all of them."
"Are you trying to make me fail?"
"Not really, just wanted to have some fun," chuckled Lia.
"Yeah, that doesn't sound fun to me at all," said Quinn, deadpanning.
The two were making their way towards Quinn's A.I.D. office and had just made a turn… when they came across a familiar pair of girls. Lia recognized them immediately and greeted them before Quinn or the girls could say anything,
"I remember you two. Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass, right?"
The bubbly brunette and the usually stoic blonde stilled in their spots, stunned to see an unexpected face in front of them. It took them both a second to recognize Lia, but with Quinn standing beside her, the two girls soon realized who the young woman was.
"You're... Quinn's sister, Lia, if I remember correctly," started Tracey, "Yeah! I remember now, we met at King's Cross."
"You remember me, aren't you nice," smiled Lia. The both smiled back.
"What are you doing here?" asked Daphne, eyeing Quinn.
"Quinn invited me," answered Lia, "I have some business with him. Currently, he is breaking the rules by giving me a tour of the castle. Well, he has always been a naughty child." She sighed at the end, as if she had given up hope.
"And what about it?! I didn't hear you complaining," rebuked Quinn.
"If we get questioned, I'm not the one getting into trouble: you're the one who brought me here; I'm just tagging along," said Lia grinning at her brother, adamant about embarrassing him in front of his friends.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Lia looked at the Slytherin girls. She had something to ask.
"It's good that I came across you two. You two seem to know him—" she ruffled Quinn's hair just to get her hand swatted away "—he doesn't tell us about school much at home. How does he act here? I hope he doesn't remain cooped up in that office all day."
"There is one thing most here at Hogwarts know," said Daphne. There was a factoid that most students knew, "If you want to find Quinn West, then he will either be at his office or at the Great Hall. If he isn't at one of these places, then you can forget about seeing him at all." She gave Quinn an observant glance as she continued, "No one knows where he goes, but even the Weasley twins —and they know the castle very well— know where he disappears to."
"I heard that! I heard that from Marcus! What's with this school-wide betting pool to see if the Weasley twins are able to find where I go!" said Quinn, annoyed, "Do you know how annoying it's to get tailed for an entire month! And those guys became increasingly shameless by the end of the month; they straight out tried to tag along me. No attempt to even hide themselves from me."
Listening to Quinn's mini-rant with his arms crossed made Lia and Tracey giggle and even made Daphne crack a smile.
"Oh! I've something interesting," said Tracey, clapping her hands once.
"What is it?" prompted Lia excitedly.
"There have been rumors, or should I say, definite news, that the French champion has taken a liking to Quinn," revealed Tracey. She coyly snickered behind her hand.
Daphne nodded. The memory of Quinn laughing with Fleur at the Ravenclaw entrance came to mind.
"The French champion?" asked Lia, a hum in her tone, "From what I've heard, isn't she a Veela?" She glanced at Quinn, "You say that she likes him... hmm. Did you do something?"
"... What? I didn't do anything," said Quinn defending himself against... "Wait! I shouldn't be explaining myself. Ms. Delacour and I simply got along well and became friends quickly."
"... Ms. Delacour," repeated Tracey, "hmm... it seems the news was a little exaggerated."
Daphne, too, agreed with a nod, noticing that he still said her last name. It seemed that the Veela hadn't ensnared Quinn yet.
"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Quinn, confused.
"It's nothing," replied Lia, once again ruffling her brother's hair, "don't worry your pretty little head about it."
He swatted her hand once again. "My head is not little... I guess it's pretty; I will give you that."
Eventually, the West siblings went on their way without the Slytherin Duo to continue their journey towards Quinn's A.I.D. office. As they walked away, Lia turned her head to gaze at Daphne's back. She turned back to the front and a smile bloomed on her face. Quinn, walking by her side, looked at his sister, who had started to hum a happy tune.
"What's with you?" he asked.
"Hmm? Oh nothing~," she replied.
The sibling duo reached the grand staircase. The moving staircase surprised Lia as she craned her neck up to look at the stairs upon stairs connecting seven above-the-ground floors of Hogwarts.
"You navigate this every day?" asked Lia, "Also, is the movements random?"
"Every student and faculty member at Hogwarts navigate these stairs every day," answered Quinn, "the movement of the stairs might seem random, but they are far from it. The staircases are charmed to detect the pattern of students' movements throughout the day. With the students following timetables, by the end of the first week, the pattern changes such that students will find the stairs just at the right place at the right time."
"Come on, let's go," said Quinn, stepping onto a flight of stairs, pulling Lia along with him. "W-Wait, wait," exclaimed Lia, grabbing onto Quinn and the railing just in time for the staircase to start moving.
"What floor is your office on?" asked Lia. Being it her first time, she wasn't thrilled about being on the continuously moving grand staircase.
"Fifth floor," he answered.
"Ugh!"
After two floors of Lia's complaints, she quickly got used to the moving stairs, and soon she acted as if she had been a part of Hogwarts for years. She looked around the stairs with curiosity. Then, she spotted a familiar face.
"Quinn, isn't that Eddie?" she asked, pointing at a staircase that set itself at a floor.
Quinn turned his head to see Eddie pulling along a Ravenclaw with Eddie's arm around his shoulders. "... Yeah."
"We should go greet him," said Lia and at once started to move up the staircase.
"Wait, we can go meet him later!" said Quinn trying to stop Lia, but unfortunately, Lia was already running upstairs, and their staircase was moving to the same stop that Eddie had gotten off at.
He clicked his tongue when Lia stepped onto the floor. He knew what would happen, and it could be seen utterly opposite to what it was without context. Skipping steps while climbing the stairs, Quinn ran after his sister to ensure she didn't misunderstand.
Lia turned around the corner and saw Eddie standing face to face with another student. She was about to call out to him, but the words stuck in her throat when she was pulled back.
"What are you doing?!" asked Lia, frowning at her brother.
Quinn placed a finger on his lips and shushed her, "Stay quiet. Eddie is going to do something serious."
Lia felt confused at the vague sentence and was about to ask for an explanation when she heard a dull thud. She turned to look around the corner and saw Eddie grabbing the other student's collar, twisting it up while the student was pushed against a wall, looking uncomfortable.
She blinked in surprise at the sudden turn of events and glanced at Quinn, but he looked at the scene as if it was something commonplace.
Straining her ears, she picked up their conversation as Eddie spoke,
"... do that again, and you will regret it," said the Irish man, "You and I live in the same dormitory, so if I catch you the next time, I'll come to your room at night while you're sleeping…"
She saw the threatened student gulp in apprehension.
"... you won't like me very much when you wake up the next day," continued Eddie, "so take this as the last warning, If I hear those words out of your mouth again, it won't be a happy experience... Quinn is very particular about this, so believe me when I say he will tag along next time. Dipshit."
Eddie pulled the guy forward before pushing him back into the wall once again. He grabbed his broom, which he had brought along, and stepped over a big window ledge, jumping out with his broom underneath him, flying away from the scene.
"What?" uttered Lia, but Quinn pulled her away, and soon they were back on a moving staircase. Lia focused on Quinn and asked, "What was that? Why did Eddie say that next time you'll tag along? What was he doing?"
"You remember Luna?" sighed Quinn.
Lia nodded.
"Well, Luna is a unique person. Eccentric and quirky are the closest adjectives I can think of to describe her. She is a charming person when you get to know her, but her first impression isn't great; most of the time, she comes out as weird," he sighed before his eye twitched in annoyance, "Just because she doesn't say anything, some idiots try to have fun bullying her. Eddie Marcus and I have repeatedly told people not to call her that, but we scraped the request and turned to warnings when things didn't improve. If they mistreat her, we will sometimes return the favor by making them not so comfortable."
Lia stared at her brother. He rarely showed actual displeasure in others' presence, preferring to smile and laugh.
"... I would like to meet Luna once more. She has become something akin to a little sister to you, it seems," she said and continued with a Cheshire grin, "I would like to meet my new little sister as soon as possible."
"She isn't—!" but he stopped thinking it through. His relationship with Luna had indeed grown to be like a brother-sister relation.
"I guess you can say that," he sighed before glancing at her, "you can meet Luna right now. She's in the office."
"Oh, my, isn't that lucky," she smiled.
"Don't coddle her."
"I won't."
"Really?"
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- (Scene Break) -
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Finally, the siblings reached the AID office, and seeing the door, Lia read the plaque out loud, "773H? What does that mean?"
"It's not a secret, but I can't tell you," he smiled, "anyone who wants the answer will have to find it on their own."
Lia stared at the plaque and memorized the alpha-numerical wanting to solve it later.
Quinn turned the doorknob and opened the door to his office, entering inside while keeping the door open for Lia. "Enter the place where problems get solved, and questions get answered."
Lia stepped inside, and the office interior greeted her. Even just with a single look, she could tell that this was designed and built by Quinn. Everything inside the office exuded her brother's craftsmanship. Glancing at the top, she could see MLE attached to the ceiling. She realized that she stood in the birthplace of Quinn's inventions.
"You copied grandfather's desk," she commented, tracing a finger over the table, "same wood, color, and even the design is similar."
"I always liked the table," he smiled, "when I got enough funds to get a new one, I bought the same wood and materials to build my own, though I did add my own touch and flair to it."
"You said that Luna was inside, but I can't see her here," asked Lia.
Quinn pointed at the red door in the glass wall. "Luna! please come out; we have a guest."
"What's inside there?"
"My workshop."
The red door opened up slowly, and from inside stepped out barefoot. With her hair weirdly curly today, Luna looked at Quinn with a half dreamy-half sleepy look in her eyes.
"Guest?" she asked.
Quinn jutted his chin towards the size. Luna turned her eyes towards Lia and tilted her head. She hadn't seen the young woman in Hogwarts, and this confused her, but then, slowly, recognition dawned on her.
"Sister," she said, stepping towards Lia, "You're Quinn's sister, Lia."
"I am," replied Lia before asking, "why is your hair like this?"
"Because of Quinn," replied Luna.
When Lia looked at Quinn, he raised his hands: "Again, I didn't do anything." He turned to Luna and asked, "What did I do?"
"The potion to grow hair without using Pechimin didn't work, and it poofed in my face," she played with her hair, "I tried it three more times, but it still didn't work, and with each time, my hair got more like this."
He nodded and walked near her. Taking out her fake wand, Quinn performed magic to fix her hair, turning her hair back to normal.
"What did you use instead of Pechimin?" he asked.
"Livèche de Chagrin," replied Luna
"That isn't going to work." Lia chimed in. "Livèche de Chagrin is too volatile. It won't work with human hair. Try using Bechiraway instead; it's much more gentle and has the advantage of being a great blending agent."
Quinn smiled and lightly clapped. His sister was right on point. If Luna asked him for the answer, he would've given the same solution and reason.
Luna stood still for a moment before silently walking back the workshop to go brew another batch of potion.
"What happened?" asked Lia.
Quinn cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know if it's my fault, but ever since I started teaching her, whenever she gets an answer to the problems I give her, she drops everything and starts working on them. At times, she walks away mid-eating just so that she could try out a charm."
Lia looked at Quinn and pointed out something. "Why are you smiling?"
"Oh, it's nothing," he laughed, "her behavior at these moments makes me really proud... Wit beyond measure, the man's greatest treasure. Though Luna did get in trouble trying to get out of a Potions class because she thought she had the answer."
"We should probably leave," he continued, "I don't want to disturb her while she is concentrating."
"Already? But we just got here," whined Lia.
"How about we go meet Madame Maxime. I'm sure she would be surprised to meet you."
"Oh! That's a good idea! Let's go!"
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- (Scene Break) -
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The half-giant, Olympe Maxime, was sitting in one of the Hogwarts lawns. The Beauxbatons carriage was parked behind her. She picked up a very large teacup from the garden table beside her and took a sip while reading a French newspaper through thin-rimmed glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose.
Today was a rare free day for her. With the first task getting progressively closer, she had been swamped with work, so having a day without a full schedule felt great. She decided not to do anything and simply relax outside and catch up on what was going on in her homeland.
She allowed her students to roam the castle without her escorting them. All of her students, without fail, took the chance and ran away to explore the castle. After living on Hogwarts grounds, Maxime had decided that the school was safe enough for her students.
"The Ministry is adding unnecessary steps to their hiring process," she sighed, "Can't they see that if they keep doing this, it will get difficult for them to hire good candidates."
"Isn't that great? This way, I will be able to get more people into my business."
Maxime looked up from her newspaper to look at the person who commented, and her eyes widened comically.
"Lia?!" said the half-giantess, standing up from her chair.
"Good morning, Professor," smiled her student, "you look like you're enjoying your Saturday."
"What are you doing here, child?"
"I had some business with my brother," said Lia, and Maxime looked at the boy standing two steps behind his sister.
"Business?"
"Yes, I'm here regarding the quidditch tournament."
"Ah, yes," nodded Maxime, recalling her talk with Dumbledore, "I didn't expect you two to come here. Isn't it just a simple school tournament?"
"Oh, no," chuckled Lia, "He has overdone it. The tournament is going to be something special."
Just when the student and teacher were catching up, they heard a voice call out.
"Headmistress?"
Lia and Maxime turned their heads to see a silver blonde standing there looking at them.
"Oh!" smiled Maxime and beckoned the girl forward, "Fleur, come here, you know Lia West. She has dropped by. Lia, this is our champion, Fleur Delacour."
Lia West and Fleur Delacour met eyes, and Quinn, standing at a distance, sneezed lightly.
"Am I getting a cold?"
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Quinn West - MC - Something is off... I just can't tell what it is.
Lia West - Big sis - This place sure is big...
Tracey Davis - Rumour enthusiast - Wait, wait, wait, let's analyse this.
Daphne Greengrass - ... - *Nod* *Nod* *Nod*
Luna Lovegood - Student of Magic - The researcher inside her is growing.
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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"Ah, Fleur, dear. You remember Lia West, right" called Maxime, beckoning the champion Veela towards her.
"Yes, headmistress," nodded Fleur. Looking at Lia, who she had only seen twice or thrice from a distance so closely made the Veela, for once, a little conscious of herself.
It wasn't beauty that made Fleur uncomfortable; she was a Veela, only other Veelas and those from the Succubus race could match her in terms of beauty. No, Fleur felt that, except for physical beauty, Lia West was someone superior to her. Her position, way of dressing, and even presence, seemed to be lacking in front of her. Even her latest accomplishment as a Triwizard champion seemed pale in the face of Lia West.
"Congratulations on making it a champion, Fleur," said Lia in French. She didn't have her brother's habit of addressing others by their last name. "I heard you've already become friends with my baby brother."
Fleur had been so focused on Lia that she overlooked Quinn, who was standing at a distance, looking at the serene lake.
"Yes, Quinn has been most helpful," said Fleur, "recently, he has been taking time to show us around the castle."
"What? So it wasn't special. I feel hurt, brother mine."
"Oh, stop it," sighed Quinn. He was used to this. This sister of his was adamant about quipping jokes whenever she saw an opening.
"Fleur, back me up, would you?" said Lia. "At my home, all have attended Hogwarts. I alone went to Beauxbatons, and whenever I try to say that our school is better, they all shut me down, saying that Hogwarts is better. Don't you think that ours is better?"
"Beauxbatons is better, no doubt about it," replied Fleur instantly.
"Of course, that was never even a question," added Maxime.
The three ladies looked at Quinn, daring him to say anything against their school. Quinn read the room and didn't reply, though inside he did think, 'We have the Room of Requirements, Absolute Zero, a Sin vault, a Kraken, Water vault, Forbidden Forest. . .' he realized that only one(possibly two) of those things were safe, '. . . whatever it's better.'
"Yeah, take that," smirked Lia, asserting her newly found dominance.
He just gave her an eye roll.
Lia and Maxime decided to catch up, and as they talked, Fleur walked beside Quinn.
"Good morning, Ms. Delacour," greeted Quinn, "May I ask why are you here alone with your schoolmates exploring the castle?"
"It's nothing," she replied, and Quinn noticed the quick and short reply.
"Apologies if I'm wrong, but I did feel some tension between you and the rest of the group when we went on their castle tours."
The French champion stayed silent for a brief moment before speaking up, "I can't control my allure; it sometimes gets in the way."
"Are you sure? It didn't seem like that when we first met," commented Quinn giving her a side glance.
The girl didn't look abashed at all. "Letting it out isn't difficult. Letting out our Allure is the easiest thing for a Veela. It's keeping the Allure hidden and restrained that gives me trouble." She sighed before continuing, "Veelas my age already have the allure completely under control, but I just can't seem to get it under control."
The fact that the boy beside her could shrug of her Allure on full force made her comfortable enough to talk about her problem. She had tried to tell this problem to other people, but all of them just treated it like an excuse or turn into a blubbering fool.
"Hmm, what does your mother say?"
"She tells me that I should practice," she sighed, "it has been getting better, but I still have a long way to go."
Fleur glanced at Quinn, and seeing that the other two were still talking, she asked a question that Quinn had evaded every time she had brought it up.
"Why can you ignore my Allure so well? Do you have someone you like so much that it doesn't affect you?"
There were two ways non-magical ways by which one could ignore the effects of Allure. The first was to have an iron will to brute force shake away the impact of Allure. The second was to be wholeheartedly in love with someone so that the Allure never attracted them.
"Love? I don't think so," said Quinn nonchalantly, "I just can, so I do. Nothing more, nothing less."
Will and Love were to non-magical ways. Magical methods like occlumency were also effective against Allure. Quinn had used a mix of will and assimilation to become indifferent to Allure.
"Nothing much. . . most people wouldn't term it as nothing much," said Fleur.
Quinn shrugged in response. He couldn't say that he had done some crazy stuff to get to this point.
"I wonder if you would be able to shrug off my mother and grandmother's Allure. Their Allure is much more potent than mine, especially my grandmothers'," wondered Fleur aloud.
"Yes, I have read about that. The older a Veela gets, the more potent their Allure gets," said Quinn, "Your grandmother's Allure must be quite strong for her hair to be able to be used in your wand. I would love to sit down with her to ask some questions."
"Hmm, if you ever come to France, I will see if I can set up a meeting with her. She usually doesn't meet with people outside of the coven."
"Heh," a chuckle escaped Quinn, "same with my grandfather. He also doesn't meet people out of a select group of people."
As the two students talked, Lia and Maxime were gazing at them.
"Your brother is quite different from you," commented Maxime.
"How so?" asked Lia.
"He's a little cold."
"That doesn't sound right," said Lia quirking her brow, "my brother's entire thing here in Hogwarts is networking and communication."
"Not like that; he networks just fine," replied the headmistress, "there is something about you that makes people warm up to you instantly. Unlike you, your brother keeps people at a distance. Do you know he didn't give his family name when meeting me?"
"My brother is wiser than me when I was his age," claimed Lia, "My identity was revealed pretty quickly while I was in school; you remember it, right?"
"I do," nodded Maxime, "you were swamped for an entire year before it somewhat died down."
"Yeah, I was an idiot in those days," she sighed, "my brother, on the other hand, has somehow made sure that people don't know about our family. He has hidden that behind his AID service. People don't see beyond it. Ugh, I should've done something like that. Simply playing quidditch would've done the job."
"From the looks of it, he is going to join the business when he graduates."
"Oh no," chuckled Lia, "my brother is more interested in magic. Grandfather and all of us in the family already know about it. The higher-ups in the business know that they won't be seeing Quinn West as much as they see me."
"A child of West not going into business? That's rare, isn't it?"
"Money, Wisdom, Magic," stated Lia, the three qualities of the West house, "the Wests along the ages have leaned towards the first two qualities, Quinn leans towards magic and wisdom. He takes money as if it's something fun and game."
Lia stared at her brother, talking to Fleur, and asked, "Fleur Delacour, what can you tell me about her?"
Maxime glanced at her former student and smiled, "Asking for your brother? Worried that he will be charmed by a Veela?"
"While I'm confident in my brother's occlumency, there is nothing wrong about keeping tabs," shrugged the big sister, "He is still a kid. I'm just worried that he will be taken by her looks and let her guard down."
"It's fine; she isn't like that," assured Maxime, "she can't control her Allure well. That makes it difficult for her to make friends. None of those few friends made it in the delegation. There are some friendlies, but they are acquaintances at best."
"Hmm, that's sad," but there wasn't a matching expression on Lia's face. A sad story wasn't enough to let down her worries. "Well, whatever, he will probably be fine, but if something does happen, I can always give them a visit. Delacour, was it?"
Lia dove into her mindscape and searched for some information on the last name. "Hmm, oh my, Bureau de la Justice Magique with a background in Bureau des Aurors. That's impressive. Her father is Pierre Delacour, correct?"
". . . Yes," sighed Maxime. She was slightly amazed Lia had that level of information filed in her mind.
"Great, I can work with that," nodded Lia, making a mental note to find more information about the man.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Quinn and Lia felt behind the Beauxbatons camp and had made their way into the quidditch stadium. They sat in an upper deck of the stands, overlooking the green pitch untouched from flyers skidding and crashing down during a game.
In the silence of just the two of them being there, Li asked, "So this is going to be the construction site?"
"Yeah, the stands are too small for my likings. I need you to make it bigger," answered Quinn.
"How many people are you planning to invite to the games?"
"Let's see. . . at least six times the current capacity," answered Quinn, "I think that's just the right amount of people who will come down to Hogwarts. Of course, I added a healthy amount of error margin."
"Hmm, I see, I see," said Lia humming, "well, reconstruction isn't going to be difficult. Given a week or two, I can turn it to your likings."
"I don't want a complete remodel," spoke Quinn in explanation, "I want this stadium to return to this state after my tournament closes by the end of this year."
"Really, why?" asked Lia. "Isn't having a bigger stadium better for the school?"
"If we planned to invite people to the school, then it would've been better," answered Quinn with a shake of his head, "but Hogwarts quidditch house cup is for the students and no one else. Occasionally, parents show up, but other than that, the audience is just students. I don't want to blow up the seating capacity just to be stuck with a stadium that looks empty at every game. It's not good for morale."
"Ah, the makes sense."
"So, make temporary adjustments that can stand for the entire year and yet can be easily removed," then he continued with a juicy piece of information, "the third task is going to be a magical maze. As such, this stadium is going to be broken down to make space for the said maze. My tournament is set to end before the third and final task with ample time to grow the maze."
"A magical maze, you say. . . well, it's not going to be a problem to build the stadium," she said.
"I've already sent you the design briefs. I'm not an architect, so you can make the necessary adjustments, but I want the stadium to look something close to my image. The banners and all will be designed to maximize the real estate I will have in the new stadium."
"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything," said Lia, "you just need to make sure that our construction firm gets enough exposure in terms of advertisement."
"That will be taken care of, no problem."
"Good, let's shake on it," she said, and the siblings exchanged a handshake to seal the deal.
"Now that we're done, I wanted to ask," said Lia, "why are you doing all of this? Professor Maxime told me that the justification you gave for starting this tournament was international relations, but do tell me the real reason behind all of this."
"Who says there is another motive except for international relations," grinned Quinn, "we of all know how vital international relations are. Almost all of our business abroad is built on positive interaction with the ministries and local people."
"Okay, and?" said Lia, not buying it.
". . . I wanted to do something different this year," answered Quinn, "the regular AID work had gotten repetitive, same people with same problems year after year, all year long. So when the headmaster announced the Tri-wizard tournament and with it the cancellation of the quidditch cup, I decided to work on it. At first, it wasn't going to be this big, but it had reached this stage by the time I pitched it to my professor. Other than that, Eddie had been training very hard for the quidditch season this year, so I had to do something that won't waste his year. I'm sure if this wasn't happening, he would've dropped quidditch and moved onto doing something else without getting a closure of sorts about what he had trained for an entire year."
"Aren't you a nice friend," said Lia poking Quinn's cheek with a cheeky smile, "just don't overwork yourself, okay?"
"Yes, mum," replied Quinn rolling his eyes.
"Don't take that tone with me, young man," returned Lia, playing on with it.
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- (Scene Break) -
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After a couple of hours in Hogwarts, it was time for Lia to leave the premises. Both she and Quinn were busy people with their own commitments and needed to get on with their day.
As they moved towards the castle entrance, Quinn heard a voice call out to him,
"Mr. West."
The pair of siblings paused and turned their heads to look towards the source of the voice to see the headmaster of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.
He was tall, thin, and old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He wore long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles sitting on his nose.
"Headmaster," greeted Quinn.
Dumbledore walked to them with a smile on his face. "I heard that your sister was coming by today, so I had to take this chance to meet the family of the smartest student in the castle. I went to the assigned room, but it seemed you didn't use it today."
"The smartest student; Headmaster, you flatter me," said Quinn continuing the conversation while inside thinking what Dumbledore meant.
"You must be Lia West," said Dumbledore observing the elder child of the Wests.
"Yes, and you're Albus Dumbledore," said Lia, engaging in conversation with the widely famous man. "I've heard a lot about you, Headmaster Dumbledore."
"All good, I hope," smiled Dumbledore beneath his beard.
"Indeed, your reputation precedes you," said Lia putting on a smile. She knew the most famous man in all of magical Britain, along with magical communities all around Europe.
While Lia hadn't been given the talk about being vigilant of Albus Dumbledore as Quinn had gotten, but Lia knew an anomaly when she saw one. For a person of his position, Albus Dumbledore had too much of a positive image. Except for the occasional scathing article from Rita Skeeter, Dumbledore was as clean as a whistle. Even the businesses owned by Wests weren't as clean as Dumbledore.
"Were you leaving?" asked Dumbledore, seeing that they were towards the gate.
"Yes, I came here to see the construction site for the quidditch tournament," replied Lia, "from the looks of it, it's going to be an exciting year at Hogwarts; first Tri-wizard and now this. A lot of eyes on the school."
Dumbledore glanced at Quinn, who stood beside his sister with a small smile on his face, the same smile that he had seen in his office, "With how things are proceeding, it's going to be bigger than I expected."
"The moment you read out Harry Potter's name as champion, the attention that the Tri-wizard tournament gained rose to another level, headmaster," commented Quinn.
"That's an understatement, Mr. West," sighed Dumbledore. Then he smiled as he spoke towards Quinn, "I was surprised by your initiative, Mr. West. In all my years at Hogwarts, I haven't seen a student initiative of this magnitude. This is going to be the first of its kind."
"You can't take quidditch out of Hogwarts," laughed Quinn, "I just made things more interesting. This year's theme is international relations, after all."
Dumbledore nodded. "I was skeptical at first, but when you started to send me those detailed progress documents, I couldn't say anything, could I?"
"The need to report the progress arose when Professor McGonagall started to look anxious every time we met. I had to do something to ease her worries."
"Mr. West, if you pull this off, you'll get a unanimous vote Special Award for Service from the Board of Governors," said Dumbledore smiling.
"Isn't that great, Quinn," beamed Lia, happy for the recognition of her brother's hard work.
"It is," nodded Quinn humbly.
Three people had gotten the reward in the history of Hogwarts. Tom Riddle for his alleged capture of the student (Hagrid) who had opened the Chamber of Secrets. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley for defeating Tom Riddle and the Serpent of Slytherin in the Chamber of Secrets; the information about Tom Riddle was omitted from the record.
Dumbledore faced Lia and asked, "Would you be coming to the games, Ms. West?"
"If I'm free, I would definitely be here," answered Lia with a smile, "it's my baby brother's big project, after all."
Quinn just smiled in response.
"What about your grandfather?" asked Dumbledore, getting to the point, "Will he come? I would love to meet him. I haven't met him in a long time and would like to catch up."
"I can't comment on his behalf," answered Lia, "if he's free, our grandfather will definitely come to every game. Unfortunately, he has been busy lately," George was busy working on Quinn's latest products, "though I will relay your desire to meet him to grandfather."
"That would be much appreciated."
"It was nice talking to you, headmaster Dumbledore, but I must take my leave," said Lia ending the conversation.
"Of course, of course," said Dumbledore and then spoke to Quinn, "Mr. West, please escort your sister out."
"Yes, of course," said Quinn, and the Wests exited the castle, leaving behind Dumbledore alone.
When they reached the boundary, Lia asked. "Why do you think he wants to meet grandfather?"
"Probably about some political agenda; looking for his support," replied Quinn, "tell grandfather, he will decide if he wants to meet Dumbledore. Though if he does come to the games, I'm sure Dumbledore will corner him for a talk."
"Well, I'm sure grandfather will handle himself," shrugged Lia.
"No doubt, no doubt."
. . .
As Quinn returned to the castle, he thought about going to the Room of Requirements to get in a workout. When he entered the castle, he was surprised and came to a stop.
"Headmaster?"
Dumbledore turned his gaze away from the ceiling to Quinn, and with a twinkle in his eyes, he spoke.
"Walk with me, Mr. West."
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
Quinn West - MC - Aren't we meeting too many people today?
Lia West - Elder sister - She still has that protectiveness for Quinn.
Fleur Delacour - Poor control over Allure - Wants Quinn to meet her grandmother.
Olympe Maxime - Headmistress - Beauxbatons is better.
Albus Dumbledore - Headmaster - Spotted two Wests in the wild.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
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