Chapter 349: Weeding Out
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"Did you hear?"
"No, what?"
"Spreck from the Invisibility Task Force announced his retirement yesterday."
"So?"
"That itself wouldn't have been surprising, but he appointed a half-blood as his replacement."
"What?! That Spreck appointed a half-blood?"
"I reacted the same way when I heard it first, but it's the truth."
Quinn smiled as he listened to the conversation between two Ministry employees sitting beside him in the Ministry cafeteria during lunchtime.
Yesterday, Quinn had visited Stephen Spreck after a three-day period as he had promised, and Spreck had all but begged Quinn not to ruin his reputation and that he'd immediately retire. Quinn had generously kept his part of the deal and had called off the disgrace campaign along with giving Spreck a candidate of his(his grandfather's) choice to be his successor.
Quinn cleaned up his fruit bowl and finished up his glass of water. He burnt the tiny receipt into ashes and let it fall and flow down to the ground.
"We have a dustbin here, and more importantly, the Ministry's not the place to burn things carelessly— it can be a massive fire hazard, Mr. West."
Quinn paused. He could see that the crowd in the cafeteria had stopped talking to each other and were now whispering among each other as they looked at him. . . or they were looking behind him. He turned back, and his eyebrows raised by a half to find himself standing face-to-face with Amelia Bones with an entourage of Aurors behind her.
"Madam Minister, what an unexpected surprise."
"Is it a surprise, Mr. West?" asked Amelia. "You have been visiting my Ministry every day for the past few days; it wouldn't be strange to run into me, the Minister."
'I should've just come through the VIP section,' thought Quinn as he said, "What can I do for you, Minister Bones?"
"Should we talk over some food, Mr. West," asked Amelia, but before Quinn could tell her that he had already eaten, she started to walk with the Aurors following behind her.
Quinn shrugged and followed after them. They led him to a door beside the cafeteria, which opened up to a much larger area. The decor was dignified, higher quality, more polished, and much quieter. Unlike the main area, which was a communal setting, this one, which he could tell was a VIP section, was designed to have a private sitting arrangement with every party sitting a respectable distance from each other. They reached another door, and the couple of Aurors that had come inside stopped there with Amelia and Quinn walking inside an even emptier and private room where Amelia sat down on an empty leather chair while Quinn took the chair opposite her, brought in by a waiter.
"This is a fancy space," said Quinn. "Do you always have your meals here?"
"Only when I do not have it in my office," Amelia said, receiving a cup of tea from the waiter.
Quinn refused all and any food from the waiter before saying, "You didn't answer my question. Why this invitation?"
"I wonder why your sudden interest in the Ministry, Mr. West. As far as I know, you have been in Whitehall a handful of times before this week, but now, you've been here every day. It makes me wonder."
Quinn shrugged, "I wasn't expecting that some so busy as you were keeping tabs on the little me, Minister."
"Keeping tabs on various things is what keeps me busy, Mr. West."
"Sounds awfully drab."
"Things are rarely glorious in reality."
"I think that's deep."
Amelia placed her cup down and spoke, "You've visited various departments in the past few days— the Invisibilty Task Force, Beast Division, International Magical Office of Law, Ministry of Magic Public Information Services. . . may I ask why you have been visiting all of these departments."
"Their work interests me. They have such fascinating duties and domains, making me wonder how exactly the inner workings mesh with each other— I simply wish to sate my curiosity."
". . . Mr. West, you do realize that all departments in the Ministry handle official work—."
"You don't have to worry about me disturbing their work. I wouldn't hold it against them if I was turned away because I was disturbing their busy work and would respectfully oblige to their request. Fortunately, all of my visits have bore fruit, and I have gotten to learn a lot about all the departments."
". . . Are you looking to join one of these departments?'
"No. As I said, just sating my curiosity."
Quinn kept smiling in the face of Amelia's questioning.
"How's your grandfather. I haven't met him since our meeting about our. . . incident."
"It's okay. You can say it as it is. The abduction attempt by the Death Eaters."
"Yes."
"My grandfather's not in the country at the moment. He has been busy cleaning up the mess the Dark Lord made in Germany, so he hasn't had the time to visit the Ministry. But please don't worry; he has assured me that he has been keeping tabs on the situation."
". . . That's good to hear," but she didn't sound like it.
"It's good that the Death Eaters reached Azkaban. Things would've become complicated if another batch of Death Eater prisoners were freed before they reached Azkaban."
"It would've indeed made things complicated," she sighed, "but the situation is already complicated even without it. . . . You must've heard about it. . ."
"The Invisible Vigilante, correct?"
Amelia nodded. "The Invisible Vigilante and the Death Eaters who came to free the prisoners."
"It is good that there were no casualties on the Auror side."
"But there were deaths on the Death Eaters. A total of three Death Eaters dead," Amelia sighed.
Quinn held his expression. Three Death Eaters had died during the Azkaban transport because of his wind tornado sucking the people in and throwing them out— it turned out that they had not been able to keep hold of their wands. The news had spread like wildfire through the country, splitting the people into two parts— those who defended the Invisible Vigilante and those who condemned him. The result had been DMLE changing its stance against the Invisible Vigilante, turning the internal passive stance to an aggressive curse on sight.
Quinn didn't know how this would affect him. Since then, he hadn't been out as the Invisible Vigilante on the English soil.
As for how he felt having the lives of another three people on his hands? He felt disconnected from the entire situation.
"Better Death Eaters than Aurors," he said.
"Are you in support of the Invisible Vigilante's action?" asked Amelia, touching up her monocle.
"I firmly believe that the law that protects the people shouldn't be broken. Breaking laws that help maintain peace and harmony is a punishable offense," said Quinn with an earnest expression.
"I'm glad to hear that," said Amelia.
Quinn changed the topic, "Minister, you look tired. Is there something weighing on your mind?"
"The situation around Numengard has brought in an entire bag of problems," she sighed.
"But the prison isn't on our soil, and Grindelwald wasn't a citizen of our country. He was under the charge of ICW for the past five decades— why is this any of our problems," said Quinn with furrowed brows. He was genuinely curious about it.
"It's because of Dumbledore. He was the one who caught Grindelwald, so the ICW decided to rope us into it because DMLE was actively involved during those times."
"Dumbledore agreed? That's surprising," said Quinn.
"Surprising; why?"
"It's been half a century since the war, that's a long time, and Dumbledore's pretty involved with the current Dark Lord, so it surprises me that he would go along with ICW. Have you met with him?"
Amelia shook her head, "Not yet. And then, I had to authorize some of our Aurors to the ICW taskforce, which is going to find the two parties responsible for the Numengard's destruction."
"Two parties?"
"Two parties. The prison was scoured by experts, and they were able to conclude that there were two different parties there. The way the magic was used was too distinct— the two groups that were involved were trained to use magic differently from each other, and that was clear from the evidence left."
'Two groups?' thought Quinn, but then realized that the level of damage to a sturdy magically-enforced place Numengard was too much for people to think that it was only two people and not two groups.
"Hmm, curious," said Quinn. He filed it in his mind to check what sort of experts Amelia was talking about and if he needed to prepare himself for things that might point back to him, but he wasn't much worried about it— he had done enough due diligence to keep himself from connections.
"You're very curious, Mr. West."
"It's the only way to learn. You have to have the curiosity if you want to experience all sorts of new things."
"I also have something I'm curious about."
"Oh, what is it."
"Stephen Sperk resigned today."
"I heard that, yes," said Quinn, keeping himself relaxed.
"Didn't you meet him yesterday and three days before."
"I did. Mr. Spreck was the first one I visited. He was so sweet."
"Did he say something about his sudden retirement? I am surprised why he would make a decision so suddenly. I had worked with him a lot during my days in DMLE."
"When I visited him first, he didn't look like he wanted to retire to me."
"Is that so, a pity. I guess I'll need to have a talk with Stephen."
"It'd be best to ask the person himself," said Quinn before patting his knees. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Minister. I'll take my leave. I still have some work to do."
"Please, don't let me hold you back," said Amelia and saw Quinn get up, button the front button of his coat, and exit the VVIP room to enter the room. From where she was sitting, she saw Quinn walk up to another man, who looked surprised to see Quinn. While she couldn't hear what they talked about, she saw the man hurriedly get up and walk away with Quinn.
She glanced at the Auror standing at the door and silently beckoned her.
"Did you find something?" asked Amelia.
"Yes, as you asked, I looked into the people Quinn West met in the past few days, and it was as you expected. They have been on the list of people we suspect connected to the Death Eaters."
"Do we suspect them to be marked?"
"No, ma'am. None of the people he met are suspected Death Eater, just associates of Death Eater."
". . . Stephen resigned today."
"Ma'am."
"In the coming month, a lot of department heads are going to resign, and others will replace them. Then there will be those who stick on and raise a commotion," Amelia sighed and massaged her shoulder. "Another bloody mess that we will need to keep an eye on."
"Your orders, ma'am."
". . . Get me everything we have on the people Quinn West has met and will be meeting. Do the same with those who are replacing the Departement Heads; I need to know everything we have on them."
Amelia sighed, "Wests have begun digging their fingers in the Ministry.'
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Quinn West - MC - Meeting people about to retire, left and right.
Amelia Bones - Minister - The busiest she had been since taking her chair.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - What should I write tomorrow?
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Chapter 350: Sneaking On
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis.
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Ivy boarded the red Hogwarts express with an excited expression.
Today was the first day out since she had been out of her house. She had spent the entire summer vacation trapped inside her house with no access to the outside. But today was the first of September, and there wasn't an active Hogwarts student that wasn't at the Kings Crossing Station.
"There are a lot of people," said Hermione, looking around the platform. "I wasn't expecting these many people to come."
Ivy looked around, and while Hermione said there were a lot of people, there wasn't that much of a difference from the previous years. However, after last year's break-in, neither of them was expecting the turnout to be the same. The last time they had seen, the parents were pulling their children away with declarations of never letting them return. But here they were, seeing those very people standing on the platforms.
"They must be pressured by the attacks," muttered Ivy.
"The attack outside your house might've been what made all consider Hogwarts safer than their own homes," Hermione narrowed her eyes towards her best friend.
"Don't give me that look. We have already gone through this, and I do not want to talk about it," said Ivy dismissively.
"All you have done is avoid answering my questions."
"I will answer all your questions if you stop being so judgemental."
"How can I not be doubtful if you don't answer my questions."
"Let's not do this. Or this will end up going forever."
Hermione sighed. She fixed her Headgirl badge before boarding the train behind Ivy. They made their way to a compartment where Hermione unloaded her luggage and went away to the Prefect compartment, leaving Ivy alone in the compartment. Harry and Ron had gone to meet their friends after such a long time, leaving their shrunk luggage with Ivy.
Soon, the train jerked into motion and began moving. Ivy crossed her legs and turned her gaze outside as the scenery gradually left the urban behind, welcoming the vast expanse of the natural landscape. Her eyes remained glued on the scene. . . for the past two months, her only window to the outside had been the two-way mirror that she shared with Quinn, who carried it with him while outside, visiting places. She still remembered the view from the mirror when Quinn had floated it above the buildings to get an overhead shot, which then had turned into a tour through the narrow streets and even close-ups of many people engaged in their daily activities who couldn't see the presumably invisible mirror floating near them.
But even despite that, nothing beat watching with her own eyes, knowing that it was just a glass pane away. As she was blankly watching out, something entered her vision, piquing her attention.
She squinted to focus, "Is that a bird?"
It was indeed a bird. As the small dot flew close, the shape of broad wings became clear. With each flap, the black bird would come closer to the train until it was flying just beside it, moving in the same direction.
"A crow," Ivy muttered. It was the biggest of its kind she had seen. She was also surprised the bird was able to keep up the train that chugged forward at full speed, making her guess that it was a magical species of the crow family. "I don't remember studying about this particular one," Ivy tried to recall the identity but failed. "Maybe Hermione will know."
The crow flapped its wing in rapid succession and left Ivy's window behind, speeding ahead. Just when Ivy was about to return her focus from the bird, the crow did a surprising and unexpected happen— the bird pivoted back and faced the opposite. Ivy's confusion soon turned into surprise as first, the crow flew towards her suddenly, the glass pane too vanished as it never suggested. Ivy raised her hands to protect herself, but the next second, she felt the fluttering winds stop.
She peaked out from behind her eyes to see the black crow staring at her from the opposite seat. She hurriedly glanced at the glass pane, but it was intact and present. Ivy looked back at the crow— she gulped— the bird was larger than when she had seen it before. And as the bird was nearby, she could finally see that crow's black feathers had a purple shine that'd only turn visible at specific angles when the light would splash on them.
"How did you get in?" she asked, tilting her head, slightly scared because of the size.
The crow's response was something she didn't expect. The crow twisted and turned, and suddenly, Quinn was sitting in front of her.
"That was exciting, not going to lie," said Quinn, fixing his cuffs underneath his suit. He waved his hand, and the compartment door locked up.
"Quinn!" Ivy stood up and hugged him. He hugged her back and pulled her into a snog session that both sides craved. "How did you? You're an animagus?!"
"I have been a couple for a few years, a long but interesting story."
"You didn't tell me. I want to be an animagus as well."
"It didn't come up naturally. As for becoming an animagus, it's quite the lengthy to become an animagus— but if you want to, we can work on it. . . ah, we should've done it during the summer break. . . ah, but then you wouldn't have been able to complete it while locked inside. But whatever, we can think of something while you're in Hogwarts."
"My dad's an animagus. Sirius as well."
"Oh?" Quinn, of course, knew that. "That's neat. What form does he take?"
"Stag. You're a crow."
"Technically, a raven. But yeah."
"What do you think I'll become?"
"It's mostly the same as Patronus, so there are chances that you'll be a blue jay."
"Ah. . . blue jay is small."
"Believe me, smaller size for a bird form is better. You might not be able to fly in stronger winds, but in an ideal environment, smaller birds are great. I have been in many great flights in my animagus forms."
Ivy felt envious of the prospect of a new experience.
"Why are you here?" she asked. "I thought we agreed to meet outside of Hogwarts after I reach the castle."
"I missed you, so I came. The plans we had decided earlier are still on."
"Does Daphne know you're here?"
"Nope, I came only for you."
"Aww, how sweet." Ivy was still straddled upon Quinn and gave him a reward. "Hermione would blow up if she walked in upon us."
"She's still not happy?"
"No, she is not. But her pestering has gone down at least."
Quinn sighed, "I'm not popular with best friends. Both Tracey and Hermione aren't thrilled about our relationship."
"It bothers you that much?"
"Yes, it does," said Quinn, surprising Ivy. "They're the only two who know about our relationship, and both of them aren't supportive— it makes me wonder if anyone else would be."
Ivy didn't have an answer to it. She, too, wasn't worried about the same.
"Let's forget about it," Quinn smiled, "while it does bother me, it's not to a level where I'll lose any sleep."
"Mnmm," Ivy nodded.
"I heard there are professors and even Aurors onboard today," said Quinn. "They really want this to go well."
"I heard"— heard from an Order of Phoenix— "that Dumbledore wants Hogwarts to be seen as a safe place, and the Hogwarts Express getting safely to Hogsmeade is important for that. If any Death Eaters came, which they're expecting them to come, the professors and Aurors are going to retaliate in defense."
"I hope everything's peaceful."
"Are you going to help if they come?"
Quinn shook his head. "I'll defend as long as I can stay anonymous. If I reveal myself, my grandfather is going to get angry, and I don't want to anger him right now. He's prickly these days," said Quinn, pausing before continuing. "Please don't go out and try to actively fight them. I support self-defense, but don't pick a fight with them— leave that to the Aurors."
"Yes, yes," Ivy sighed, "I have heard that so many times in the last couple of days— mum's been harping on and on about it. If they're so worried about it, why can't they just let us come directly through Hogsmeade."
"It's a show of confidence. Hogwarts and even the Ministry can't have people thinking that they're scared of the Death Eaters by stopping a long-time tradition. It's risky because of the young children involved, but I see where they're coming from."
Ivy hummed, "They want to keep up the traditions, but they moved Ollivander out of the shop."
That caught Quinn's attention as he asked, "I am curious, what's going on with the wand situation?"
"The first years don't have their wands yet. Mum said that Ollivander and his shop are going to be present at Hogwarts, and the first years are going to get their wands in the school itself."
". . . I see this becoming the norm."
"I think so too. Someone in the Ministry will think that it's safer for the children to have their wands when they enter Hogwarts, and then somehow it'll become part of the sorting ceremony."
"You know. . . that actually sounds cool, but I wouldn't want it to happen. Parents need to get used to their kids having a wand— and the time before Hogwarts where kids can't do much with them is the perfect time for that purpose."
"Tell that to Hermione's parents," Ivy giggled. "They told me that Hermione almost broke everything in her room."
"What about you? I'm sure you weren't any less."
"Please," Ivy rolled her eyes, "I had mum with me— she would allow me my wand one hour in the morning and one in the evening." She narrowed her eyes, "You got to do magic without care, didn't you, you spoiled brat."
"Spoiled brat?" Quinn quirked his brow playfully. "I was anything but spoiled. I will have you know I did my chores and completed my tasks before I could do use magic," he said proudly, puffing up his chest.
"Aren't you a good boy," said Ivy, her voice a bit husky.
"I am," Quinn nodded deeply.
"Then let me give you a reward," she said and leaned forward.
But before they could get into another snogging session, a loud explosion disturbed them. Both of them looked outside the window, and they saw black trails flying through the sky— looking closely, they saw people inside, flying on brooms.
"They came," he sighed.
"They did," Ivy got up from Quinn. "What are you going to do?"
Quinn stood up and stared out of the window. He saw a flying Death Eater shoot a spell towards the train, but it was deflected by a shield spell, thus crashing into the ground, exploding the mud and grass that did hit the train.
". . . I'm going to go to the roof in case a spell slips past the Aurors and professors. I'm sure the train has its own enchantments, but prevention is better than cure."
Quinn turned away from the window and pulled Ivy into another kiss before saying, "I'll see you in a couple of days. We will go out then."
"Be safe," she said.
"I will. Have your wand at ready— in the immortal words of Mad-Eye Moody—"
"Constant Vigilance," Ivy sighed again. She had heard that phrase so much during the summer that her ears bled.
Quinn laughed.
He snapped his fingers and turned invisible. Next, the window again vanished from its frame before it returned again, and Ivy could tell that Quinn wasn't in the room.
At that moment, the door rattled. Ivy unlocked it and let in Hermione, Harry, and Ron inside.
"Did you see it?" asked Harry.
"I did."
"What should we do?"
Ivy took out her wand. "We stay ready and wait. If they come inside, we teach them a lesson."
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Quinn West - MC - I hitch-hicked to get a ride with my girlfriend.
Ivy Potter - Potter Twin - Likes exciting situations.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Corporate sucks!
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If you have any ideas regarding the magic you want to see in this fiction or want to offer some ideas regarding the progression. Move onto the DISCORD Server and blast those ideas.
The link is in the synopsis!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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