Chapter 362: Gather Info, Part Beetle
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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Quinn closed the newspaper with a severe expression on his face.
Explosion in the heart of the Ministry. An attack on the Auror Office, a place that most terrorists wouldn't even dream about attacking, but here it was in the paper— the Death Eaters had blown up the bomb inside Ministry.
"How they did do it?"
The article didn't speak much about what exactly had happened inside the Ministry. The entire front page, which was covered in the blast incident, was filled with 'expert' speculations of what could've happened inside the Ministry building. His eyes wandered to the article's byline, where Rita Skeeter was written in the place of the journalist's name. That shocked him more— the water beetle, who wrote really concise articles(even though they were mostly bogus), had written such a vague story— which meant that the Aurors had locked the premises and information so tightly that the master in the business couldn't get a peep out.
"What happened inside," Quinn started to tap on the armrest. The Auror Office was strict in their information flow to the media and public, but this level of lockdown on such a public incident was unprecedented in Quinn's experience in this country.
But one thing was clear. The fragile calmness that had been at the risk of exploding had finally blown up. The Death Eaters had attacked something that shouldn't have been targetted— if it was the canon timeline with weak leadership, Quinn wouldn't have batted an eye, but the current administration was what Quinn considered formidable.
Gawain Robards was a strict man who ruled the Auror Office with respect and strong ethics. The man was from a magical household without any affluential influence in the family; he had gone through the standard Auror pipeline from the academy to every level of the Auror hierarchy with utter hardworking excellence. When the leadership was as militant as Robards, it was bound to bleed down to the grassroots of the department. It was inevitable that Aurors Office would pivot towards a culture that would benefit from Robards' influence.
Then there was the man who ran the entire Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Rufus Scrimgeour was a veteran in both the field and politics— the lion-like man understood how the internals of his department worked and knew how to play the external politics to get his way. Quinn hadn't personally witnessed how Bartemius Crouch Senior ran DMLE, but from what he had heard, it seemed the ex-DMLE head's work was similar to how Rufus Scrimgeour handled business.
Then there was Minister Amelia Bones. In comparison to someone like Rufus Scrimgeour, she seemed tame, but that was when someone from the outside looked at it. Amelia Bones had started her career as an entry-level clerk in the Ministry in DMLE and had risen up to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement without being either an Auror or a Hit Wizard— but had somehow managed to keep all the ambitious ones like Rufus Scrimgeour under her heel for a long and successful career before ascending to her current position.
All three of the most influential people in the Ministry originated from DMLE, and that origin base of theirs had been attacked. In no way were these bigwigs going to twiddle their thumbs and do nothing at such disrespectful discretion against them.
They were going to retaliate.
And Quinn needed to be on top of those things to ensure he knew things as they happened to get the most out of them. He had to know what had happened inside and what was the vibe inside DMLE to understand how to map his next moves.
He got up from his chair and shouted that he wasn't going to have lunch before leaving West Manor to get some answers.
. . .
Rita Skeeter had just entered her go-to diner/cafe for lunch when she heard a voice call out to her.
"Ms. Skeeter."
Skeeter paused in her heels. Took a shallow breath, put on her best smile, and turned towards the source, thinking it was a fan who wanted her autograph, but inside she was already cursing the person who she hadn't even seen yet— the reason she chose to eat this place was that she could eat in peace without getting noticed by pesky dung flies.
But when the 'dung fly' entered her vision, her plastic smile froze on her face. Sitting in front of her was one of the people she disliked most in her life.
". . . Quinn West," she all but whispered.
Quinn raised his glass of rose soda sherbet towards Skeeter with a smile, and even though he didn't ask her to join, she walked to Quinn's table and sat down opposite him.
Quinn waited till the waitress took Skeeter's order before snapping his finger and isolating every single vibration of sound from going outside.
"What a coincidence, Ms. Skeeter," smiled Quinn. "Who knew I would end up running into you at the quaint little cafe I decided to try out today. It was as if we were supposed to meet today."
Skeeter fake-polite-chuckled, "I never thought you'd believe in such things, Quinn."
"What can I say? They can be fun at times," said Quinn. He sipped his refreshing drink before asking, "I have to say, I was surprised reading your article today, Ms. Skeeter. It's much different from what you usually write."
". . . You read my articles, Quinn? I was under the assumption that you weren't interested in such things."
"Rubbish. Why wouldn't I be interested in the news? It's critical to be aware of what's happening in the world, and Daily Prophet's good writers and editors do an excellent job of telling a side of the story, Quinn laughed. "Speaking of, I am genuinely interested in the piece you published today, and I have a few questions about it."
Skeeter's smile faltered for a split moment before coming back full force. She 'ho-ho-ho' laughed with her hand covering her lips. "I'm glad you liked my work, but unfortunately, because of the sensitivity of the situation, I can't talk about it outside of work— moreover, everything I know is already in the article, there's no need for you to talk to me."
"Surely you must be jesting, Ms. Skeeter. The written word is my favorite, and I don't believe that you don't have something other than what was written on it. Come one, Ms. Skeeter. . . there must be something in there that you couldn't fit inside the packaged article that you posted, the other things that were left on the planning board— tell me things you couldn't put out for everyone to read."
Skeeter narrowed her eyes a fraction as she stared at Quinn. She knew this was coming. There was no way this was a coincidence— she would retire and put her pen down for good if someone could prove it wasn't planned— that she ended up meeting Quinn during lunch. His asking about the article so bluntly made everything clear behind the question of why Quinn had interjected her here today.
Additionally, she noticed how Quinn hadn't said a single word of compliment in the form of a 'please.' He wanted her to answer the questions, and from what Skeeter knew, he wasn't the type to take a refusal especially with their particular past.
". . . It all started with a fire in the muggle world," she said. "There must've been some news about there being magic involved because the Aurors were sent out to the scene. They must've brought something back from the arson because something exploded down there, and I suspect it was something that they had brought in."
Quinn leaned forward. "It wasn't an infiltration?" he asked.
"Doesn't seem like it. The Auror Office would've said something if there had been an arrest. They would've tried to push the faulty security measures to another department. But the entire DMLE has been abnormally quieter as if everything knows something others don't— and no one wants to open their mouth."
Quinn leaned back, and his thoughts began churning. The Death Eaters had sneaked a bomb into the building, right under everyone's nose, sneaked in an object. If it wasn't a Death Eater suicide bomber, then how did it happen?
"Who might know this, Ms. Skeeter," he asked.
"Someone high enough in the hierarchy, but none of those people I tried to talk to would even meet me. . ."
". . . and you couldn't use your usual methods, why?."
"They're persistent," Skeeter spat. "The entire department doesn't look like they have the key to the fountain of youth."
". . . I see," Quinn hummed before asking, "What's about the Minister's reaction on this, anything on that front?"
Skeeter shook her head.
Quinn sighed and settled down. The information was truly short. Even Skeeter only knew so little. . . . But he had found something new, and it was time to take that small lead and try to find more.
Quinn got up from his chair and spoke, "That'd be all for now, Ms. Skeeter. It was intriguing to talk to you about this, but now I must leave." He unceremoniously got up with no words of warning— Skeeter knew what would happen if she tried to use their meeting to spin another story. And was about to step away when he stopped and faced Skeeter. "I'll be keeping in touch, Ms. Skeeter. Who knows when someone might find some interesting facts. . . and who better but you to write about them."
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Sirius Black exited a floo and stepped onto the Vertic Alley. It was already evening, and his workday was over, and with the blast, everything had been a heavy rush of things stampeding over him— and that beating made him want to have a drink, so after a hectic day, he ventured towards his favorite bar in the country.
He walked in the empty street without fear. It looked like the perfect place to get mugged, but Sirius walked confidently without care— would some petty mugger dare to even breathe in front of him.
As he was thinking about his day and all the heaviness that was floating above the office, a distorted voice called,
"Sirius Black."
He looked back, and if yesterday had been a surprise, this was another version of it. It was not because of the distorted voice— sure, it played a bit part— but what shocked every other thought from his mind was the figure covering him from head to toe, staring at him with deep violet eyes.
It was the Invisible Vigilante
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Quinn West - MC - Information is very important.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Sorry for the slightly shorter chapter, but this seemed like the perfect spot.
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Chapter 363: Peace, Not For Long
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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Sirius stood staring at the figure donned in black for a moment. His wand was already in his hand by instinct, ready for action, but it took him a beat to register what was in front of him.
". . . Are you mad?" Sirius pointed his glowing wand towards Quinn. "Or are you looking to surrender? If it is the latter, then I'll gladly take you in right here, right now. What do you say, want to come in? We're renovating right now, so it'll be a little rough, but I assure you, I'll put you in the best one we have."
Quinn would've good-heartedly laughed if he wasn't under his mask. But Noir wouldn't laugh in any situation, so he went straight to the point, "About the attack in the Ministry, what is the Auror Office's stand on it? How will you and your people handle the Death Eaters now?"
Sirius scoffed, taking one step closer to Quinn. "What are you, a journalist? Why would I tell you a single thing to a criminal like you?"
"I want to know the Ministry's stance on- criminals- like Death Eaters. Is the Auror Office going to stay still like cowards after the Death Eaters came into your house and bombed it? If so, I will lose all the respect I have for your occupation."
". . . Cowards?" Sirius' voice went as cold as a grave. "You're calling us cowards when you're then one who hides behind that mask? How dare you say that you fucking nobody. Unlike the rest of my peers back in the office, I respected you for rescuing Amelia from Voldemort— but to think I was giving respect to someone who doesn't respect it."
Quinn narrowed his eye behind his mask.
"I could not care less what you think of me, Sirius Black," said Quinn. "Get to the point. What is the Auror's stance on the Death Eaters? If you do not want to tell me, then say so, and I will leave."
"Do you think I'll let you walk away just like this?" Sirius, his wand taking on an angry glow.
Quinn didn't believe words were an appropriate response. So he turned to what he considered an appropriate response and flared up his market. The doors and windows of solitary street rattled, and even the dust on the ground floated to rise up.
"I am not a pushover," said Quinn. "I did not want this conversation to go this way. But if you want to go down this path, I will very willingly follow through with it."
"You didn't want to go this way? What did you expect would happen between an Auror and a wanted murderer?" said Sirius.
"A cultured conversation."
"Cultured conversation with a bloke who has taken body parts out of people? Yeah, right! Have some self-consciousness."
Quinn could tell this conversation was going nowhere. He wanted to get some information, but it didn't look like Sirius was going to give it to him willingly. He could take it out of the Senior Auror's mind against his consent, but that was something he was looking to avoid because of how messy it could get and become a rolling snowball. Right now, he was more willing to take a risk on a Junior Auror, who might or might not have the crucial information he was looking for.
"This was a waste of time," said Quinn and started to back away while keeping an eye on Sirius.
A wise decision as Sirius immediately shot a spell towards Quinn, who blocked it with a shield and returned with a magic-heavy spell. Sirius moved to block it with his shield and was sent back flying as the spell made contact with a shield.
"Oof!"
A blue glow appeared around Sirius, and all the momentum was killed, bringing him to a halt. The Senior Auror landed on the ground skillfully as if he had practiced a hundred times. But as Sirius regained his footing, another spell appeared in his peripheral. He raised his wand, and a hasty shield spell blocked the attack, but Sirius was sent flying once again. The same blue glow of Arresto Momentum cut Sirius' momentum and brought him to a halt, with Sirius physically maneuvering himself to land on the ground.
*Pop!*
Sirius looked up just to see the sole of a black combat boot smash into his shoulder and slam him to the ground, rattling his entire body.
"Gah!"
Even in this situation, Sirius' mind worked with perfect calmness and awareness of his situation. He channeled his magic through his wand, a dome manifested above him. Crack! But the next second, the dome was broken by a heavy blunt attack. Then Sirius saw the black sole come down, and this time instead of landing on his shoulder, it squarely pressed into his chest and rammed into the ground.
"Think about it before calling me a good-for-nothing, Sirius Black," said Quinn. He extended his gloved hand, and Sirius' wand went flying to the side of the street, in a shady corner, making it difficult to be seen. "I do not wish harm upon those who do not deserve it. You do not deserve to face the harm I inflict upon the deserve. I still respect the Aurors, and the country can not lose any more Auros, so I'm going to leave you, so make sure you lie here like a good boy."
Quinn passed a light vibration spell through Sirius' body which did not hurt him, but it didn't hurt but did heavily disorient him. When Sirius recovered from the spell that shook every part of his body, Quinn turned away and was already turning the corner of the street.
"War."
Quinn stopped and turned towards Sirius.
"The Aurors are at war with the Death Eaters."
'War. Now that is something,' thought Quinn. He didn't know what war meant in the context of the Aurors; they could be simply starting an arrest hunt for the Death Eaters, or maybe it was more along the lines of avenging their fallen ones. But whatever it was, Quinn knew that this was the advent of what was called in the canon as the Second Wizarding War.
"Take care of yourself, Sirius Black," said Quinn. "Wars do nothing but damage to everything involved. Stay alive; the world needs more people like you in it."
After throwing some pleasant words, he turned the corner and apparated out, leaving behind a relatively unharmed Sirius Black.
. . .
Quinn dropped the Noir patch on his bed and plopped down beside it flat on his back.
"War, he says," muttered Quinn.
He was expecting some big news today, and what he heard was right up the alley he was expecting. And it did bring him some nervousness and a little bit of anxiety. As he had said to Sirius, wars brought good to no one involved. There was destruction, loss of life, and distress on the entire spectrum of emotions.
"War," Quinn muttered again.
It was already here. Quinn knew that it would come sooner or later, but now that it was here, it seemed that there wasn't enough time to prepare. There had been things he had been preparing for a very long time, and they still weren't complete.
'Especially, the main part on which everything depends upon.' His hand went to the chain around his neck where the Ressurection Stone lay. He hadn't had enough time to work on it and desperately wished he had gotten his hands on it sooner.
But there was no use complaining. All he could do was move his plans faster and hope that they had progressed enough to work.
Quinn stood up from his bed. Picked up the Noir patch and walked down the stairs of his suitcase.
If he wanted to make his plans move faster, he needed to put in the work to make that happen.
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The door opened, and Sirius entered the room as silently as possible.
"You're late, Auror Black."
Sirius looked a bit embarrassed as he looked at the table of important people sitting at the same table— the Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones. . . Head of DMLE, Rufus Scrimgeour. . . Head Auror, Gawain Robards. . . Head Hit Wizard, Cillian Parry, among many other important personnel from the DMLE.
And Sirius was late to that meeting.
"I'm sorry," Sirius said to Scrimgeour. "I encountered two drunken parties fighting each other in the street about Quidditch, creating problems for everyone. There was no Junior in the area, so I had to take care of it."
He sat down in a seat near the walls of the room.
"Welcome to the meeting," James Potter whispered as he leaned toward Sirius.
"Don't start," Sirius sighed.
"Did you really find people on the street?"
"No, I met the Invisible Vigilante," said Sirius. "He beat me to the ground. I got late because of that."
James tried to hold back his laugh, but it leaked out, gathering eyes from everywhere in the room.
"Is there something you find funny, Auror Potter?" asked Amelia.
"No, nothing Minister," James said hurriedly with a serious face. After he was sure no one was looking at him, he whispered to Sirius, "Seriously, what happened?"
"I met the Invisible Vigilate."
"Did you meet a girl and lose track of time."
"I met the Invisible Vigilate. He asked me what had happened. We got into a fight. He barely beat me to the ground, barely. We agreed that I could've won if he didn't get a drop of me and then parted ways like civil gentlemen."
James wanted to scoff, but it died in his throat when he looked at Sirius. The smile drained from his face, and he grabbed Sirius' arm, "Did you really? How did that happen? What happened?!"
Sirius nodded.
"You are fine, right?" asked James.
"Yeah, I'm fine," sighed Sirius. There was a silence before he said, "He was strong."
"What?"
"He was strong. I made sure to charge up my shield plenty, but I was still blown away. And you know what? He blew me away twice at that. I couldn't adapt the second time as well. It was like there was a gulf of power that I couldn't cover."
"What did you say to him?"
"Nothing much, but then he didn't kill me. . . so I just said that we were going at war."
"You did what?! That's not supposed to go out! What happens if Scrimgeour and Bones shut down Robards proposal?"
"Like that's going to stop him."
"I know it won't, and that's why we have to keep it under wraps. You shouldn't have told him even if this goes through."
The two stopped talking when Amelia got up along with the other bigwigs.
"I have listened to what DMLE Head Scrimgeour and Head Auror Robards had to say. . . and given the circumstances, I have come to a decision," Amelia looked around the room and spoke after a pause,
"We are going at war with the Death Eaters. This is going to be a covet operation, so whatever we discuss here moving forward is not to be talked about outside."
Sirius looked at James, "Well, there you have it. It's not as bad as before, is it?"
James opened and closed his mouth before shutting it and looked ahead, his expression covered in shock.
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Quinn West - MC - Just a few days, I was talking about getting lazy. . .
Sirius Black - Senior Auror - I did nothing wrong, per se.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - I'm back. Not a fracture, but serious ligament damage(tore 'em up pretty badly.) 5 days of bed-rest. After that, if the swelling and pain have improved, I can commute carefully with a support splint without worsening the injury. Then with care and DIY physiotherapy for 1-2 months, I will be able to regain full mobility. Not going home, at least not as of now; let's see how I'm doing on Monday.
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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
FictionOnlyReader
Just like always,
Review, comment, add to the library, and share this fic.
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