Chapter 355: Online Meeting
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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There was a knock on the door.
Ivy turned her eyes away from the mouse she was practicing transfiguration. She pulled out Marauder's Map and checked who was outside. The map confirmed that the people outside were the people she was expecting.
She raised her wand to the door, and the lock clicked open.
"Come in."
The door swung open, and three people dressed in green trims entered the empty room. One girl and two boys— Daphne Greengrass with Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott in tow.
Ivy's eyes narrowed a fraction at the large rectangle of cloth floating above Daphne's hands. It was apparently known as Recon, a magical map with the functions of the Marauder's Map— but better. . . or as Quinn had said. She didn't know something like this existed until it showed up in Daphne's hands. She found out from both(Quinn and Daphne) that Quinn had created the map early in his Hogwarts years to sneak around. It made sense why Quinn had never been caught outside despite it being an open secret that he broke curfew religiously.
"Daphne, Zabini, Nott," Ivy greeted the three Slytherins. "Let's get started right away," she looked at her wristwatch, "he's going to connect anytime now."
"What are you doing?" Daphne walked to Ivy's table.
"Trying out Transfiguration from William's compendium."
"Which one was that?"
"The one Professor McGonagall suggested as extra-extra reading."
"How is it? Anything new?"
"New, no. I'm reading this because Quinn had referenced some concepts from here in the one he gave us. I'm just exploring those references— the language is terrible. . . just as Quinn said it would be. What are you reading these days?"
"I'm alternating between Herbology and Arithmancy. . . . Yes, I know they're far from each other, but that helps me to put a break when I need one."
"I heard Luna's already on the second volumes," said Ivy.
Daphne pursed her lips, "She has an unfair advantage of being with Quinn before us. Moreover, Quinn taught her personally for such a long time. It's not surprising that she's ahead of us."
Ivy nodded before turning to the two boys who were looking at them. "Any idea why he wants to talk with you today?" she asked.
Zabini said, "We don't know. He sent a letter asking to talk to us; other than that, he didn't say much." Not nodded the same. Zabini looked around the room before asking, "How will this happen? Is he going to come here?"
Ivy stood up and walked to the wall where something large stood covered in a blue curtain. She grabbed the fabric and pulled on it to reveal a body-sized mirror.
"This is how he's going to talk to you." As Ivy said that, the sound of chimes rang in the room. "Right on time," she said and retrieved a big hand mirror.
Daphne's eyes followed the mirror as Ivy went and tapped it against the frame of the larger. The mirror shone with a short burst of light, followed by the reflection disappearing away, and what took its place was the image of Quinn sitting on a chair.
"Good evening, everyone," Quinn smiled. "I hope everyone here's doing well and had a great day till now." His eyes turned to where the boys stood and greeted them, "Zabini, Nott, I hope both of you didn't have any prior commitments that you had to miss to meet with me today."
The Slytherin boys shook their heads.
"Good. Now, that was enough pleasantries. I'm sure both of you're busy, and we can always come back to them afterward if we have time. I will come straight to the reason why I asked to meet you like this. . . . I'm curious as to why didn't you contact me, and seeing that both of you're in Hogwarts makes me further curious about what happened."
Zabini and Nott exchanged looks and then glanced at Ivy and Daphne.
"It's okay; they can stay and listen. I trust them, so can you."
"It was all because of Malfoy," Nott took the lead.
"Malfoy. . . Draco?"
"Both father and son. It seems that Draco was given a task that he failed. . . and the punishment for it was given to his father," said Nott. "My father, who was eager to induct me into the ranks of the marked Death Eaters, suddenly changed his mind. It seemed that dear father didn't want a mistake from me to affect him, so he canceled his plans to make me a Death Eater," Nott snorted, "he even went as far as to dress it up as conceding to mum's request— what a farce!"
Quinn looked intrigued. "Is that so. What happened to Lucius Malfoy? What sort of punishment did the Dark Lord bestow upon him."
"Father said that he lost an arm and his wand."
"An arm and a wand," said Quinn with surprise— but unlike Ivy, Daphne, and even Zabini— Quinn seemed less shocked by the revelation. "The Dark Lord must be furious to take away Lucius' wand."
"I overheard him talking about avoiding meeting with the Dark Lord for some time. . . it was the worst— he stayed home longer."
Quinn hummed. He turned to Zabini and asked, "What about you, Zabini? How were you able to stay at Hogwarts. What's the reason behind why your mother didn't whisk you away from the country."
Zabini sighed heavily. He didn't look like he wanted to talk about it and even glanced at the others in the room, slight unwillingness in his voice.
He sighed again, "She has found herself. . . a fiance." Eyebrows in the room and in the mirror were raised. "She has moved out of the country for the moment— she wanted to take me with her, but the school isn't as good, and well, she had a talk with Dumbledore," everyone could see him turn into a tomato, "and he assured that I'll be safe as long as I'm in the castle. I still can't believe that I'm still here."
"Everyone thinks the same, Zabini, everyone," said Quinn sighing. "Which one would this be?"
"Eight, ninth, I don't know."
"Let's hope this one hangs on to his life force."
Zabini snorted as if hearing a joke. The track record of the past husbands didn't help Lady Zabini's case— it made people how could she continue to trap more and more people even after such a public record of things not turning out in favor of her partner.
"Did Dumbledore come to your house, or did your mother approach him?" asked Quinn.
"I'm not aware of what happened there. Just that one day, my mother decided that she wanted me to continue going to Hogwarts. I, of course, didn't object one bit. . . rest is history that I'm not interested in. Does it matter if it was Dumbledore or mother who started the conversation?"
"It was just a personal curiosity," said Quinn with a smile. "I'm not going to lie by saying that I'm not disappointed that we weren't able to form a partnership, Zabini, Nott, but I'm happy that you're able to attend Hogwarts for you last year— it wouldn't have been a pleasant experience having uprooted for your school of six years with just one more going.
But. . . if you ever need my help, please feel free to contact me. As you know, I'm always ready to provide to aid those in need of it."
The conversation that Quinn had called Zabini and Nott for had ended. After he had caught up with them, both exited, leaving only Ivy and Daphne in the room.
"They gave us strange looks," said Ivy, looking at the door.
"That is to be expected," Daphne took a seat. "It'd seem odd to anyone why you have a way to contact Quinn like this when I'm his girlfriend," she gave a pointing look to Quinn.
"It's okay. Zabini and Nott are tight-lipped guys. They won't say anything," Quinn seemed carefree. "If they do give you some trouble, go visit Astoria— they both owe AID a favor or two. . . . So, how're you two doing? How's the feeling of being a seventh year?"
"Same as before." "Everything's about NEWTs." "The first years are tiny." ""
"Figured," Quinn smiled. "So. . . I have another question. Who's the new Defense Against The Dark Arts professor? I'm assuming that Professor Slughorn is still teaching potions."
"He is," said Daphne. "As for the new professor. . . it's one of the Weasley brothers— William Weasley."
"Bill Weasley," added Ivy.
"The one who works in Gringotts?" Quinn quirked his brow and asked Ivy. "How did the goblins let him off work to attend Hogwarts. Did he leave his job?"
"He said he's still working with Gringotts and is with Hogwarts for the year. As for how is it possible, I questioned that myself but haven't asked him yet. Maybe Ron will know."
"I doubt it," Daphne said with a snort.
Ivy turned a sharp eye to Daphne. "He's not stupid, you know. He's just a little slow to understand his understanding. He makes it up with his other qualities."
"Those are?"
"Alright, let's stop before this derails into a fight," said Quinn, stopping the discussion. "I was in that school for seven years, and now both of you're in your seventh— and in all those years, all of us have seen different teachers every year. It makes me wonder if there's really a curse on the position and if William Weasley, the cursebreaker from Gringotts, is there to purge said curse.
Or. . . he's there to be another person for Hogwarts security," Quinn tapped the armrest of his chair. "If we're to assume that it was the Headmaster who contacted Mrs. Zabini, then it isn't a stretch to again assume that he's taking steps to fortify the security."
"It could be any of those," said Daphne.
"I think it's the latter," Ivy gave her opinion.
Quinn quirked his brow, "You think, or. . ." Ivy fixed him with a glare that made him end the sentence before it could. ". . . okay, I'll not ask." Both Quinn and Ivy had made an agreement that Quinn wasn't to ask questions involving Order of the Phoenix. The agreement was placed to ensure no awkward conversation would ensue between them.
"I, too, think that it's the latter," said Quinn. "I think Dumbledore is trying to rebuild Hogwarts' image of being safe, which has been damaged in the previous year— Harry's almost abduction, Crouch impersonating Alastor Moody, Umbridge, the Death Eaters. . . there have been one too many incidents. . . . huh, I've been part of the first three. . . . I punched Harry's abductor's face in, he ended up in jail— I stunned Crouch, and then kicked him a couple time, he ended up in jail— I filmed Umbridge, capturing her misdeed, she ended up in jail. . . . I had nothing to do with the Death Eaters thought."
"Sending people to jail must be your thing," Ivy smirked.
"That's not my thing," said Quinn. "My thing is magic, resourcefulness, intelligent and playful charm."
"Of course, it is," said Daphne.
". . . I feel you're making fun of me."
"Rubbish," Daphne smiled before asking, "How's your grandfather doing?"
"The load has begun to decrease. The rebuilding in Germany has finally entered a stage where he doesn't feel warranted to be overlooking every single aspect of the operation."
"I don't think he ever needed to do that. I'm sure he has people to handle something like this."
"He has, but it turns out that Germany was his personal project when he was coming up, and I guess he feels sentimental enough to get involved. I'm going to try to keep him at home."
". . . So you're going to jail him in his own house," said Ivy.
Quinn and Daphne looked at Ivy and said in unison,
"That wasn't funny."
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Quinn West - MC - I have sent a lot more people to jail. . . indirectly. Also, I was involved in all four incidents. FOMO not getting me, bro!
Ivy Potter - Holder of the two-way mirror - Has sat in OotP meetings.
Daphne Greengrass - Holder of Recon - Has a pulse on what's happening through her father.
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Chapter 356: Recalling Past Events
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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Dumbledore stared at the gold and green locket sitting on his table. A beautiful ruby snake was inlaid on the top cover, with its serpentine body forming a red 'S' over the surface.
He picked it up, and his fingers fiddled with it distractedly. He knew it was fake— a 'letter of UNauthetication' came with it to prove that it was a replica. Dumbledore wasn't happy to find a replica when he went had set out to find the original— he had bled for it, drank poison for it, fought Inferi while suffering from a cursed poison for it, and then had to face a disgruntled student out to kill him, had to come to a hard realization that he had lost a close friend and a closer confidant. . . and the aftermath that followed was something he would've like to deal with a clear and not tired mind.
And the worst part of it, it was only after everything that he had only found that the locket was a fake.
All of his effort for naught. . . bar one single thing. One thing that he had been able to get out of the entire debacle. He had found a clue to the real Horcrux. . . Voldemort's Horcrux.
RAB. Regulus Arcturus Black. Scion to the prestigious House of Black. Voldemort's loyal Death Eater. . . or it had seemed so as Regulus Black had betrayed Voldemort and had switched the locket when he had realized what it actually was.
Meaning, while the Horcrux was still there, it was out of Voldemort's reach, and he had no idea that the piece of his soul wasn't the place he had left, under the protection of the various protective and lethal magic.
It gave him a chance. As the situation stood now, neither party knew the location, but that was more of a disadvantage to Voldemort as the Horcrux user didn't know if his soul container was still active— if he would still depend on it for keeping himself alive. And if he could find it before Voldemort, it would be a strain on Voldemort's heart.
Fortunately for him, he had a clue, while Voldemort didn't. Unfortunately, Dumbledore had followed the clue that came in the form of a letter of powerful spite but wasn't able to find any lockets in places where one could find Regulus Black would go. . . sadly, the looking had turned out to be a dead-end as every place he went, he got opposite to what she accepted.
"Where did you hide it, Regulus?" Dumbledore muttered. He had to try to put himself in Regulas' mind but hadn't gotten much from it.
The problem with Regulus Black was that there weren't left who knew the man. His own brother, Sirius, didn't know much about him because of the differences in childhood. Those who knew Regulus, and were still alive, wouldn't talk to Dumbledore.
"This isn't getting anywhere," he sighed and pushed the locket away. He popped his favorite lemon pop into his mouth, feeling the pleasant sourness that let the made way for sweetness.
He leaned into his chair with thoughts about Horcruxes pouring into his mind. Seven. The number which held power with magic and something Dumbledore suspected Voldemort to aim for his Horcruxes.
'He's going to aim for six pieces. . . with the seventh being himself,' he thought. 'But. . . he doesn't know that the number he's going to have seven Horcruxes.'
He got up and walked to a portrait and pulled for the frame to open up like a door on its hinges. Dumbledore tapped his wand against the wall, and a portion vanished as if it was never there, leaving behind a square cavity in it. He stared at the black diary— half-melted, half-burnt, with a stabbing hole in the middle. He picked it up and brought it to his table.
Tom Riddle's Diary, what Dumbledore considered to be the first Horcrux. It was the only. . . one of the two Horcruxes he had within his grasp, and as far as he knew, the only Horcrux that he knew to be destroyed.
He sank into his mindscape and went back to the memory of the Potter Twins and Hermione Granger telling him about the Chamber of Secret incident. He recalled them telling him about the Basilisk and how a young Tom Riddle had appeared by using the diary as the medium. But as he recalled the memory, a frown appeared between his brow. He remembered how Harry recalled that the diary had been stabbed with the Basilisk fang when he woke up.
"Epsy!" A house-elf popped up in the office and stared at Dumbledore with her doe eyes. He wrote something on a parchment slip and gave it to Epsy. "Please give this to Professor McGonagall and tell her to bring them now."
Epsy popped away with the slip and left Dumbledore staring at the burnt diary with a hole in the middle.
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"Why did you want to see us, Headmaster?" asked Ivy as she took a seat in the Headmaster's Office. She had been playing cards with some of the fifth years when McGonagall came in to tell them that Dumbledore wanted her, Harry, Hermione, and Ron in his office. Harry and Hermione hadn't been pleased to have their snogging session interrupted. On the way, they picked up her mother.
Dumbledore retrieved a diary that was well familiar to her and placed it on the table. "About this," he said.
Ivy stared at Tom Riddle's diary. . . or Voldemort's diary. Her pupil shrunk when she recalled the memories of that day inside the Chamber of Secrets.
"What about it?" asked Harry with an edge in his voice.
"Harry, you told me when you woke up, you found this diary stabbed with the Basilisk fang. . . and it wasn't you who stabbed the diary," said Dumbledore. "I was wondering if you could think back to that day and try to see if there was something else that you might've missed." He turned to Ivy and Hermione, "You two as well. Please try to recall if you remember something from that day before you got petrified."
Ivy nodded and tried to remember that day, starting from the morning, but she couldn't find anything odd other than the horrifying yellow eyes. Then her mind wandered to what Harry had told her happened in the Chamber of Secrets.
Her body tensed.
It wasn't what Harry had told her that tensed her, but what she had done to find the truth. Ivy closed her eyes and pretended to use Occlumency as if she was going through her memories. She didn't want to match eyes with Dumbledore, and neither did she want to open her mouth— it was better if she kept her mouth shut.
"I. . . I think I know who stabbed the diary," came a voice from beside her.
Ivy's eyes flew open in shock. She turned to Hermione, who had just spoken. Ivy bit the inside of her cheek— it had slipped her mind that Hermione was there with her when she had asked.
Hermione glanced at Ivy, who couldn't give her a look to stop. Any attempt to stop Hermione would be caught by Dumbledore, and over that, her mother was in the same room.
"That year, Ivy and I were trying to find the identity of the Slytherin's monster, but we weren't able to find the identity. . . so we decided to seek some help. . . ."
"Help?" said Lily, confused. Not only her but all others than Hermione and Ivy looked confused.
"We went to AID to see if we could find an answer there."
Dumbledore leaned forward, "AID. . . you mean Quinn West?"
Hemione nodded, "We asked Quinn if he knew about the Slytherin's monster, and he knew who the monster was."
"He knew!" McGonagall exclaimed.
"He pointed out the facts surrounding all the petrifications that had happened throughout the year, and the only magical beast he could equate all of them to was the Basilisk. He pointed us to a book in the library and sent us away. . ."
Ivy began praying that Hermione would stop, that she wouldn't continue, but it seemed that luck wasn't with Ivy today.
". . . but before we could leave, Ivy asked another question," Hermione glanced at Ivy as she continued. "She asked Quinn if he knew where the opening to the Chamber of Secrets was?"
Lily gasped, "He knew?"
"Yes, he knew. Or at least, at that time, we thought he had a guess where it was. He told us the entrance was in the Moaning Myrtle's lavatory. . . but as you know, we both never made it there. Because of Quinn, we weren't dead and only petrified— he had pointed out the presence of reflective surface near every petrification victim."
Both of them had been caught by the Basilisk's glare through their mirrors, turning their body to stone. . . the next thing they remembered was waking up in the Hospital room with aching and sore bodies.
"But how does that make Mr. West the one who stabbed the diary?" asked Dumbledore.
"We asked him if he was the one who did it."
"He admitted it?" asked Dumbledore with surprise.
Hermione shook her head, "No, he denied it outright. But he had let it slip in his wording that he had been inside the Chamber of Secrets." Hermione then explained how when Quinn had asked them what happened in the Chamber of Secrets, he had used the wording 'down' as if he knew the chamber was somewhere beneath. "And in his own wording, Quinn had said that he never saw the opening, only that he knew it existed there."
"Ms. Granger. Just this. . . just the wording isn't enough to say that Mr. West was the one inside the Chamber of Secrets," said Dumbledore, but his tone and eyes were one of thought and contemplation. "But it does make him one of the most likely suspects. . . . If we could only have someone who could have witnessed what had happened."
"Fawkes!" suddenly Harry yelled. "Fawkes was there. We should ask him if Fawkes was there."
The Pheonix had been the main reason why the Basilisk was slain with such less effort. The immortal bird has plucked the deadly eyes of the Basilisk, ridding him of its most lethal weapon.
"Unfortunately for us, Harry, we can't ask Fawkes," said Dumbledore.
"Eh, why?!"
"I have communicated with Fawkes about it, and from what I gathered, he didn't know what had happened because of the sudden burning day, which reverted him back to his chick form."
Harry's shoulder slumped. "Then we don't have anyone who could answer our question."
Ivy internally sighed with relief. She was petrified, Harry was knocked out, the Basilisk was dead, Teen-Voldemort was purged, Hermoine wasn't inside, Ron was far away from the actual chamber. . . making no one who could confirm if Quinn was inside. Even she herself couldn't as she hadn't had that conversation with Quinn yet.
But then. . .
"Ahem, perhaps I could help you all with this problem."
All eyes, even the ones on the Headmaster/misteress' portraits, turned to the speaker.
Ivy blinked in surprise as she looked at the speaker. At first, she was confused, but then Harry's recollection of events started to ring inside her head. She realized what she and everyone had missed.
Two people, one Phoenix, one Basilisk, and one ghost.
That's who everyone thought was inside the Chamber of Secrets that day. . . but all were wrong.
There had been another.
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Quinn West - MC - Hmm, strange. . . lately, it feels like I'm not getting appropriate screentime.
Ivy Potter - Wants to keep secrets - Stunned.
Albus Dumbledore - Headmaster - As stunned as the one above him.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - You guys can either think/find out who's the unknown speaker at the end— it's not going to be challenging to find it all my fanfiction, the books, or the movies. Or you can shut your brain down and wait for the next chapter.
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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
FictionOnlyReader
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Just like always,
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