Chapter 282: The Necklace's Curse
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After dropping Marcus at Scrivenshaft, Quinn continued on with his day at Hogsmeade.
The walk outside in the Hogsmeade streets wasn't enjoyable, with the cold winds leaving the exposed parts of the skin raw and numb, and though it didn't bother Quinn, he could see scarves covering half of the people's faces. The streets were full of students bent double against the bitter wind, and the shops and stores were boarded up with many more students escaping the weather.
Quinn took out his pocket watch and studied its clicking hands; there was still time until he and Daphne were to meet. He looked around, wondering what he should do before finally coming to the decision to visit Honydukes to place a bulk order of choco-balls, the franchise product of the 'brand' Chocolate West. He had gone through the initial batch he had brought from home quite quickly — no one told him that being a well-liked Headboy who would give out chocolates after reprimanding people would be so hefty on the pocket.
'I feel like the little gluttons are messing with me just to get chocolate; maybe it's my fault. . . is my giving out chocolate after making a mistake reinforcing that sort of behavior. . . no — that can't be it, right?' Quinn thought about the first to third years as he walked out of Honeydukes after waiting in a long line of people buying some stuff to justify staying inside the story.
The High street outside was not very busy; nobody was lingering to chat, just hurrying toward their destinations. Though he did see a group of Gryffindors walking a distance from him — the Golden group in the back with Katie Bell and her friend Leanne in the front, seeing them made a memory surface in his mind.
Quinn's jaw set in place as he followed after them. He didn't know if it would be the same as in his memories, but if it was, then he couldn't ignore it. As they were making their way to their destination through the frozen slush, which seemed to be Hogwarts, his eyes were fixed on the Katie-Leanne pair, and his apprehension only seemed to grow when he saw them bicker with each other.
"It's nothing to do with you, Leanne!" he heard Katie say.
The Golden squad walked behind Katie and Leanne, listening to their voices carried by the wind to them as they increasingly became shriller and louder. They rounded a corner in the lane, sleeting coming thick and fast, blurring Harry's glasses. Just as he raised a gloved hand to wipe them, Leanne made to grab hold of the package Katie was holding; Katie tugged it back, and the package fell to the ground.
Katie hurriedly crouched down to pick up the package, and at once, Katie rose into the air, suspended comically by the ankle, but gracefully, as though she was about to fly. Yet there was something wrong, something eerie. . . . Her hair was whipped around her by the fierce wind, but her eyes were closed, and her face was quite empty of expression.
Harry, Ivy, Hermione, Ron, and Leanne had all halted in their tracks, watching. Harry had finally done cleaning up his glasses, and just as he had got a clear view of the situation, he felt a grip on his shoulder and was pushed to the side and saw Quinn walk past him.
"Quinn?" Harry heard Ivy say; there was a fear in her voice.
They saw Quinn raise both his arms and jutted them forward forcefully, and as if in response, Leanne was pushed back, away from the floating Katie and fallen package. He then raised his arm above and jerked it back for the still rising Katie to be pulled back to the ground.
A terrible scream from Katie pierced the cold street, and her eyes flew open with only whites visible. . . whatever she was feeling was clearly causing her terrible anguish.
She had just started writhing and flopping on the floor when reels of ropes broke out the snow beneath and clamped down on Katie — her arms, legs, torso, even her head, all were bound down to the ground, forcefully stopping the girl from shaking.
"W-What are you doing?" asked Leanne, her hands clutched at her chest as she saw Quinn straddle her best friend.
Quinn didn't respond and placed his hand on Katie's forehead. His jaw was set together as he felt a terrible curse coursing through Katie's body.
«This is a laughable design.»
For once, Quinn agreed with his Sin-voice in his mind, which, if it had been another situation, would have scared him as it was never good when his regular thoughts and Sin-thoughts overlapped. But right now wasn't the time to think about himself.
His magic flew into Katie, and within seconds, Katie's scream subdued to groans and her violent shaking loosened in his twitching. After a few more seconds, when Quinn got up, Katie's terrible responses had gone like they had never existed, and the only thing that remained was that she was unconscious.
"Wha' happened to her?" asked Ron, walking towards Katie, and his eyes dipping down to the silver necklace with glittering green opal jewels peeking out of the package.
Quinn raised his hand, and Ron was sent skidding and tumbling back to the rest of the Golden squad. He turned to the necklace, and it was pushed back into the package, and the package was secured tightly. Only then did Quinn summon the package and pocketed it.
He turned to Hermione and spoke, "Go to the Three Broomsticks, ask Madam Rosmerta to tune her floo to Madam Pomfrey that I'm bringing in an injured student, then call Professor McGonagall and inform her to come to the Hospital Wing."
The Gryffindor Prefect nodded and hurried off to the popular pub.
Ivy stepped forward, "Quinn, listen, I—"
"I will listen to you later, Ivy; right now I have to get Katie to Madam Pomfrey," said Quinn.
"I will come with you," said Harry, the other Prefect.
Quinn opened his arms up, and Katie flew up into them. "Sure, let's get going," he said and walked to Harry. "Hand on my shoulder."
"Ah, okay" Harry looked at Quinn's shoulder and saw some snow. He raised his hand to brush it off, but the second his hand touched the shoulder, both boys, along with Katie, were gone with a pop.
They appeared right outside the Hogwarts gates that opened towards Hogsmeade, and accompanied by the sound of feet hitting the snow was Harry's startled screams.
"Could you not shout so loudly," Quinn said to Harry, "it's only apparition."
"Tell me before you do that!" Harry wasn't having it; he placed his hand over his mouth. "Oh, crap. . . I feel like I'll puke. . ."
"You take your time; I will go on," said Quinn.
He lowered his hand, but Katie remained afloat and straightened out; her unconscious body floated beside him as he looked at the castle.
"Ugh, this wouldn't have happened if you gave me a second to prepare myself," Harry took in a deep breath. "I will come with you."
"Then make sure to keep up," Quinn streamed a bit of body magic and began his sprint journey to the Hospital Wing that he covered without breaking a sweat, though that couldn't be said about Harry.
"You-you. . . how do you. . . run so fast. . . for so long," Harry heaved on his knees and then laid down on Hospital Wing's floor.
"Madam Pomfrey!" Quinn called.
The matron came hurrying out from inside her office, where her floo was located and pointed at one of the empty beds when she saw Quinn.
"I just got Ms. Granger's floo-message," she said. "Potter, lay on a bed if you want to sleep. I don't want to treat you if you got a cold from lying on the cold floor."
«Damn, I was slower! Ugh, slowpoke Potter screwed me over!»
Quinn bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from grimacing. These petty thoughts whispered into his mind were the most annoying thing about the Sin-curse; they were frequent and ticked him off massively.
"She says Ms. Bell suddenly started to scream and writhe on the floor, but she didn't know what caused it. Did someone cast a spell? Do you know?"
Quinn laid Katie on the empty bed and stepped back to give the matron space to operate. "It was a cursed item that Bell was carrying. She touched it just before she was levitated by her ankle and started to scream and writhe. I have secured the item in question."
Pomfrey glanced up at Quinn and her gaze swept over him.
"I am fine, Madam Pomfrey. I didn't touch the item directly," said Quinn. "As for the curse, it's a terrible yet simple one; I undid it before it did some long-term damage. She'll be back to top shape in around one week." Then he told her about his discoveries which she took into consideration while treating Katie. "Also, she was Imperiused, so please take note of that."
Poppy's wand halted for a moment before she continued her treatment in silence.
McGonagall came rushing into the Hospital Wing but came to a startled stop when she saw Harry on the floor. Her eyes popped out, and her breathing hitched before she took a closer look.
"Mr. Potter, please get up from the floor. It's middle of the day and no time to sleep," she said and stepped over him to get inside the Hospital Wing.
"What happened to Katie Bell?!" asked McGonagall.
"The girl's been hit by a curse from a cursed item and under the effects of Imperius," said Poppy as she replaced her wand in her holster. A wide-eyed McGonagall gasped in horror as she glanced at the sleeping Katie. Poppy continued, "Fortunately, Quinn was there to handle the situation and undid the curse before it could cause lasting damage. She'll wake up in a few hours and will be back taking hits from a Bludger on the field in a week."
McGonagall glanced at Quinn, who had taken a seat on a barstool beside the bed.
"Excellent job, Mr. West," said McGonagall. "Where's the cursed item?"
Quinn took out the brown paper package tied up with twine. "There's a necklace inside. Don't let it touch your skin; it's how the curse is transferred."
McGonagall took out a thick woolen glove and placed it over her right before taking the package. "I'll have Severus take a look at it. . . . Where did Ms. Bell get the necklace?"
"You will have to ask Leanne Paige about it. She was there with Bell when it happened and before it," said Quinn, getting up from his chair.
"I will," said McGonagall before sighing. "Albus would be shocked when he returns on Monday."
Quinn raised an eyebrow at that. "The Headmaster not in the castle?"
"No, he's been out since yesterday morning."
Quinn hummed nonsensically. He caught sight of the Headmaster only twice over the past few weeks. He rarely appeared at meals anymore. And now McGonagall had said that Dumbledore was out overnight.
'He must be out there looking,' he thought as his hand went his chest, feeling for the pendant piece beneath his clothes.
After leaving the Hospital Wing, Quinn made his way to the AID office. There was no use to go back to Hogsmeade now, and spending some time in the workshop would do him good.
When he reached the Grand Staircase to change the floors, Quinn caught the sight of Draco Malfoy on a moving staircase as he stood on another one.
«Oh, it's the Junior Death Eater!»
Quinn's eyes went to see if there was someone else on the Grand Staircase. There were only him and Draco in the Grand Stairwell.
«There's no one here. . . one shot and no one will know.»
His fingers resting on the railings of the staircase twitched. But then Quinn sucked in a sharp breath and looked away from Draco.
'Control, Quinn, control. . . '
There were petty whispers, but then there were whispers that would, at times that would, momentarily make him take physical action. They came far in-between, and Quinn had only experienced them a couple of times.
'I have to find a way to make this go away, quick,' Quinn thought as his hand went to feeling the pendant piece the second time in the day.
He arrived at the office and was thinking of cooling his mind when he saw the redhead he knew well standing outside his office.
Ivy noticed when he came to a stop and pushed herself off the wall to face.
"Can we talk?"
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Quinn West - MC - The voices in his mind come in different flavors.
Harry Potter - Boy-Who-Tired - Damn. . . I workout enough, right?
Ivy Potter - Awaiting to talk - What does she want to talk about you?
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Hmm . . . throw your suggestions at me. I'm going through a thinking phase right now, so be my think tank [this was written during the public release and NOT the Patreon release.]
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