Chapter 426: Plan of Action
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The lake exploded, and the water burst upwards like a thermal geyser, spraying water everywhere. Dumbledore swept his hand to create a barrier that stopped the errant water from soaking him, Daphne, and Ivy.
The spraying mist settled, and a white mist lingered over the lake that quickly thinned and showed the figure of Quinn walking on water's surface. He wore no clothes other than his underwear as he stepped onto land and raised his hands towards Ivy.
"Clothes, please," he said.
Ivy, who was about to hand the Noir patch to Dumbledore, silently handed the white triangle back to Quinn.
"Your wound," said Dumbledore, eyeing the exposed red gash that looked like the shallow crater blown away from an explosion and the grey and purple skin surrounding it that extended all over his left chest and front shoulder. "It looks better than before," he glanced at the Great Lake.
"It only looks better," Quinn had a very faint furrow between his brows. "I can still feel the magic corrupting and corroding my body." Even after spending three-quarters of an hour inside the Aquatic Vault's last room hadn't gotten rid of the effects of the dark curse. "I have only revered the damage a bit, but the curse is still firmly there. My body will continue to suffer the more I use magic," he spat.
"I believe I can help with that," Dumbledore raised the vials. "Drink these two. . . and apply this one on the wound, cover it up."
Quinn didn't even ask what the potions were or what was in them; he consumed and applied them as Dumbledore instructed. It wasn't the time to discuss(or argue) medicine with Dumbledore. As he was healing, so was Voldemort; the more they waited, the more time they were giving for him to recover.
"I can feel it working," noted Quinn as he felt a warmth spread through his body while the searing hot wound cooled down.
"The faster a dark curse ailment is treated, the better chance it will recover without complications. Whatever you did in the lake seems to have pushed the curse's effects back— it has made it like you were treated the very moment you got hit by the curse," said Dumbledore. "What I gave you won't cure you completely; that will take a long course of treatment to get rid of the dark magic seated in your body. . . but it will do for now."
"We will worry about that later," Quinn fused the end of the bandage he put on himself into the rest of it. He gently placed the Noir patch in the middle of his chest, and it sprung into the combative gear mode. The hole where he had been hit was still there, but Quinn tapped the triangle again for the corrupted and damaged to fall off before Noir used extra fabric charmed into it to fix itself. "Right now, we need to strike Voldemort while he still has the Basilisk venom in his body. I don't know the exact physiology of his body, but seeing how much he loves snakes, I'm sure he will eventually recover from the venom. Now is the time; we should kill him while he is at his weakest."
Quinn glared at Dumbledore, daring him to say otherwise.
". . . You seem angry," said Dumbledore.
"I am," said Quinn directly. "I almost died. I am absolutely livid." Moreover, because he drew power from anger, the emotion was still bubbling inside him even after he had taken the time to cook himself. Because of it, he could feel and hear a heavy heartbeat thumping in his chest. He needed the power he was feeling right now. "I have a plan. I want you to occupy Voldemort while I weak—"
"Unfortunately, we have another problem at hand," said Dumbledore.
Quinn scowled, "What possibly could be more problematic than Voldemort?"
"The Death Eaters," said Dumbledore, confusing Quinn. "Aurors have infiltrated Hogsmeade," Quinn knew that because he was the one to give them passage, "Voldemort must have found out because he withdrew the ward over the village and then summoned his allies."
"Allies, who?"
"I could clearly see Giants and Trolls. Other than that, I believe he has summoned Vampires and Werewolves."
Quinn's frown deepened. He had overlooked the possibility of other species being part of the equation after he had only seen human Death Eaters in the village. 'Death Eaters couldn't win against the combined forces of Aurors and Hit Wizard, but I thought he was confident in tipping the advantage in his favor all by himself,' he thought, knowing Voldemort's personal battle power, but it seems Quinn hadn't thought things threw. "Are you sure they can't handle it by themselves?" he asked— he wanted to end Voldemort as soon as possible.
"I don't believe they can. . . at least they can't without substantial casualties."
Quinn's mouth turned into a white line. He looked at Dumbledore and asked, "What do you suggest?" Dumbledore had experience with wars and had life experience much richer than Quinn; he was better equipped to handle the current situation than him.
"I will head out and aid the Aurors. . ."
"What about Voldemort? He won't sit back and let you take care of his forces."
"I will deal with him as well. Right now, you need to let the potions work and rest—"
"Not happening. I can't rest now; it's not the time," Quinn shut Dumbledore down. He thought for a moment before continuing, "This is what we do. You help the Aurors while I hold back Dumbledore. When you're done with the clean-up, come join me."
"No, I can't support that. I can't let you face him by yourself," Dumbledore looked where Quinn had been hit. "Seeing that you refuse to rest and stay out. . . I will hold him back, and you can help the Aurors."
Quinn clenched his fist. He wanted to face Voldemort so that he could vent some anger and take revenge for the mortal injury he had given him. But Dumbledore holding Voldemort while he helped the Aurors made more sense. "So be it," he said, "but don't blame me for not holding back against the Death Eaters." He had to vent somewhere; they were just in the wrong place.
Dumbledore made no comment.
". . . Go ahead, and I'll be there in a minute," said Quinn, glancing towards Daphne and Ivy.
"Take your time; I will be instructing the professors," said Dumbledore, and Quinn nodded.
When Dumbledore was out of earshot, Quinn spoke to his two girlfriends. "How are both of you doing?" he asked, looking at his hands as he pulled up his gloves. "This will end soon, so sit tight and don't take on stress; it's not good for you—"
"What is this?" interrupted Ivy. "What are you trying to do right now?"
"Nothing, just stay—"
"Look at me!"
He stopped fiddling with his gear and looked up at furious Ivy. Her eyes were wide, her shoulder rose up and down, and she had her hands clenched into fists. He didn't want to face this confrontation right now, but it didn't look like he could escape it.
"What do you want me to say?" he asked. "All of this. . . all of the things I did had to be done for things to move forward so that this misery could end. A future that's bright instead of bleak. . ."
"By lying to us?" said Daphne. "You used me to get into Hogwarts."
"I—"
"Yes, I know, you had to. But is this how it is going to be always? You, lying to us, keep us in the dark every time things get tough? Do you not trust us at all?"
"I was trying to keep you safe."
"At the expense of losing our trust?"
Quinn couldn't say anything in rebuttal. He wanted to say it won't be like this after Voldemort was dead, but there was nothing he could say to back up his claim. But there was one thing he could do. "I. . . I promise to explain everything when this is over," he said. "I will come clear with everything; please believe me one last time," he pleaded.
Ivy and Daphne exchanged looks, and neither looked pleased; he had given them nothing to be pleased about.
"Alright," said Daphne, and Ivy nodded.
Quinn bowed his head in gratitude.
After they left, Quinn headed to the Entrance Hall, where Dumbledore was instructing the professors (sans Lily Potter). Before he entered the hall, Quinn conjured a mask over his face when he noticed the crowd of Hogwarts students standing at a distance, looking at the professors. The moment he stepped into the sight, the entire student body gasped and began to chatter and gossip so loudly that it drowned all other noise.
"Ah—" Dumbledore turned towards Quinn and was about to say something but paused, "— Mr. Vigilante, I see that you're doing well."
Quinn nodded and snapped his fingers to form a silencing ward around them. "Professors," his voice was still distorted, "I hope you have kept my identity a secret from everyone else," he glanced at the students, "I would hate to force the memory charm on them."
"No one has said anything to anyone, Mr. West," frowned McGonagall.
Quinn turned to Dumbledore, "Are they coming out?"
"No, the faculty will stay in the castle with the students in case Voldemort tries to break the ward and target the students," Dumbledore shook his head.
"Smart decision," said Quinn— no children would die today.
"Are you ready for this?" asked Dumbledore, looking at Quinn's chest.
"Your potions are working."
Poppy scoffed, "You shouldn't be going out there. Facing the Dark Lord while having a dark curse in your body is plain stupidity. I am the Hogwarts medi-healer, and no student of mine can leave my care without my permission."
"I'm not a student anymore. I will be fine out there, Madam Pomfrey," said Quinn.
"I will be looking out for him out there, Poppy," said Dumbledore.
Poppy didn't look any better. She hmphed and turned her head away.
"I volunteer to assist you, Headmaster," said Flitwick. "I might be out of practice, but I can at least handle a few Death Eaters by myself."
"I need you here with the students, Filius. I feel relieved to go out and face Voldemort, knowing the children are safe with you," said Dumbledore.
"Come on, let's get moving," Quinn ended the conversation and made Dumbledore follow him out of the castle. As they were walking out, Quinn
made them stop in the middle of the path.
"What is it? Are you feeling something in your body?" asked Dumbledore.
"No, stop asking me about that," Quinn took out a transparent glass box and showed the gilded gold cup with studded jewels inside.
"Is that. . ."
"Hufflepuff's Cup. Now, I've been preparing for this for a long time. We are going to use his own Horcrux to bring him down."
"What do you mean?" Dumbledore eyed the Horcrux.
Quinn opened his other palm and revealed an obsidian stone. "This is the Resurrection Stone," he said.
"Resurrection. . . you mean— ?! Deathly Hallow's Resurrection Stone!!"
"Yes, the same. Just like your Elder Wand."
"You know about that. . . how?"
"Just like I know how Potters have the Cloak of Invisibility. But that's not the point right now. I have researched the topic intensively and found a way to weaken him through the use of Horcrux. Not only do I think so, but I also found proof that it would work. When Voldemort hit Harry with the Killing curse, he was knocked out for a moment. He was definitely affected in some way. I have found a way to severely harm using soul magic—"
"Soul magic, that is dangerous magic, Quinn. It's very dark magic."
"Now is not the time for that discussion. There was a connection between Harry and Voldemort, and when he cursed Harry, he felt some backlash. Horcrux is essentially a piece of soul. . . the Resurrection Stone is a soul artifact. . . I can use soul magic. . . Voldemort and Horcrux clearly have a connection; I can turn them into a connection similar to his and Harry's, but one that would harm him much-much more when the Horcrux is destroyed," Dumbledore listened closely as Quinn proceeded to tell him some intricate details of the magic and how things would progress. "He's already weaker because of the Basilisk venom; we can use Horcrux to pull him down even more— and when that happens, we can kill him for good."
". . . How. . . How long have you been planning this?"
'My entire life,' thought Quinn. He put the Horcrux back and said, "Hold Voldemort back until I'm done with the Death Eaters. Don't get injured because this plan's success hinges on you."
He paused before staring intently at Dumbledore,
"And one more thing. . ."
As Quinn continued, he saw Dumbledore's eyes blow up much wider than he had ever seen.
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Quinn West - MC - Let's kill.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Things are going to move very fast now. Very fast.
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Chapter 427: Second Match-Up
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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"Take cover!" yelled Sirius as he ducked behind a building. He shrunk his shoulders when the bricks exploded, chewing out the wall, leaving only a few inches of the wall beside his body. "This wasn't in the information I was given!"
Kingsley whipped his wand, and the ground rumbled and rose up to form a stampede of horses running towards the Death Eaters around the corner. He waited a second before stepping out of his cover and shooting two Death Eaters in the face and chest. "Deal with it, and start clearing."
"But, how?!" said Sirius over the explosions. "The spells are bouncing of Giants!" He could see the hulking red monstrosity that towered over the buildings; they dug their beefy hands into the buildings and rained the rubble all around. If it was just the Giant and a couple of the guys from his team, they could've taken the Giant out, but it wasn't that scenario— while they targetted the Giant, there were other Death Eaters dumping magic over them.
"Deal with it, he says," Sirius spat as he stepped out and pointed his wand over the building at the Giant that waved its tree trunk size club over the buildings and streets. "Avada Kedavra!"— he cursed, but as the killing green flew towards the Giant, it passed through a ward that rippled and the next moment, a silver shield conjured in the air that blocked the instant kill magic. "Shit!" Another problem — every Giant seemed to have a ward around them that appeared to detect the Killing curse and conjured silver shields to protect them.
The Giant, who had just been shot at, turned to look towards Sirius and, with a roar, began to stomp his way toward him; every step brought about an earthquake that shook the village.
"Shit!" Sirus cursed again; he could feel the tremors in his hear
"Move out!" he heard Kingsley shout.
Sirius didn't need to be told twice. He immediately apparated out, and the image in his mind was the place that he used to visit many a time during his time at Hogwarts. The broken house, Shrieking Shack, was still as horrific as it had been all those years ago— still one of the most frightful-looking things he had seen. Unlike the rest of the village, Shrieking Shack was calm and without conflict— it felt nice, but he knew he couldn't stay here. He needed to back to support his fellow Aurors against the Death Eaters.
He cracked his back and apparated back into the village right outside Three Broomstick, and immediately he was in the middle of the battlefield. He saw a lanky man not in Death Eater robes turn towards him. Both of them immediately upped their wands, and magic craked the air. Sirius stepped forth, and his magic grew a level to overpower his opponents, pushing him back without restriction.
But then he sensed something to his right. He pushed his magic forward to push back his opponent before conjuring a wooden shield to his right, a correct decision as it stopped a green glow.
"Two against one, eh," he flicked his wrist, and the dust around the street settled, and his two assailants moved closer to each other. "Don't do that," he grinned and ripped an area-wide fire spell that threatened to engulf them. Screams scratched the street as Sirius waited a couple of seconds before canceling the cursed fire from over his opponents.
"That's two down," he grinned, but then it jammed on his face.
*Creak*
He heard the sound of wood being strained. Sirius turned back and saw a figure squatting over the Three Broomstick, looking down at him. The next moment, the figure jumped, and at that moment, he saw the fangs and sharp nail claws barred toward him.
It was a Vampire.
*Boom*
A spell struck the jumping vampire and sent him flying to the ground. The Vampire yelped and screamed as a yellow spell dragged him through the dirt until half of his body was inside the ground.
Sirius turned, and his nerves turned taut at the sight of Invisible Vigilante standing a few paces away from him. He immediately pointed his wand towards him.
"You— !!" he hissed.
"Hmm. . . what? Why are you wasting your time pointing your wand at me? Point it at Death Eaters. Take care of that Vampire before you leave," came from the masked vigilante before he turned away.
"Wait!"
The masked man turned and asked, "What?"
"Were you at the resort today?"
". . . As I told your superiors, I do not have time to play with Death Eater's children. To make myself clear, I was not there. Now do your job," saying that he flew away.
Sirius watched as the Invisible Vigilante flew towards the Giant, and multiple glowing red chains appeared from his body and stabbed into the Giant's body, making it shriek in pain. It tried to smash him with its club, but an explosion knocked back its arm before ice grew over the Giant's body in various spots. Within a minute, the Invisible Vigilante had taken down a Giant.
"Damn it!" Sirius felt he need to contribute too. He stepped towards the Vampire only to be thrown to the side by a shockwave caused by a massive explosion. He groaned in pain but got to his feet, focused his blurry eyes towards the north of the village, and saw lights flashing somewhere, bright enough to be visible above the houses.
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Quinn had just knocked out the Giant and the Death Eaters supporting it when he felt the whiplash of some powerful magic approaching him. He exerted his own magic and canceled out the incoming force.
'They already started fighting,' he thought, peering at the exchange of magic happening in the distance. "You're fighting too close to the village," he muttered, "move away. . ." He knew what kind of damage could happen if those two fought. There were people nearby who would be caught up in their fight as collateral damage, which would defeat the process of him helping the Aurors.
Quinn removed his eyes from the fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort; he lowered himself to the ground and made sure to put enough magic into the Giant to ensure he wasn't waking up for at least a day or two. As for the other Death Eaters, he had struck them hard enough that they were in no condition to be doing anything. He would've used Tetani Nervum, but the spell took time to complete its effect, and he didn't have that kind of time— he was going to knock them out and let Aurors do the clean-up.
'Business as usual—'
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt magic behind him and conjured a physical shield to have the best chance of blocking whatever it was. The metallic shield was struck with a spell, got dented, but retained its integrity.
"Found you~," said a gruff voice in a sing-song voice.
Quinn turned, and for a moment, he thought someone had cast an illusion spell on him, but that thought was ridiculous and only lasted half a second before he realized he was staring at reality. The reality of Fenrir Greyback standing in front of him, standing on his two feet and holding a wand in his hand.
"How?" he asked. He usually only took arms, but in the case of Fenrir Greyback, he had taken the Werewolf's arms and legs when he had infiltrated Hogwarts. . . it was a decision to make sure the Werewolf had no mobility.
"Dark Lord's favor," said Fenrir, spreading his arms wide, flexing his fingers. "I have been waiting for this for so long. . . I can taste my desire to rip your arms off your body, pull off your legs, wring out your guts, and feed them to the young ones. . . a treat!"
"If I knew you would be spouting this bullshit, I would have killed that night," said Quinn. Dark Lord was able to reverse Tetani Nervum; that wasn't a good sign, not a good sign at all.
"Too late for that now."
"Any other dear victims I need to be aware of?"
Fenrir hmphed. "As if anyone else could be as miraculous as me. I'm the great Fenrir Greyback, a Werewolf, superior to your kind. Magic wanted me to wield and thus allowed the Dark Lord to heal me. No one else was worthy of this honor."
"You speak too much," said Quinn. No one else was cured? That was excellent. 'There must be something in the Lycanthrope physiology that was able to shake off my curse,' he thought. It made him curious and made him want to keep Fenrir alive for experimentation, but— "You will be dying today," he preferred for this insanity to be dead.
"We will see about that!" Fenrir raised his wand and shot a Killing curse at Quinn, who didn't even move and conjured a wooden square to block it.
"I defeated you that day; what makes you think today will be any different," said Quinn as he kept on dodging, deflecting, countering Fenrir's magic effortlessly.
Fenrir grunted in frustration. He stuffed his wand into his pocket and retrieved a potion vial.
"What is that?" asked Quinn, cautious.
"Another favor," said Fenrir, grinning. He popped the cork and downed the liquid in one gulp. He threw the vial, breaking it on the ground, and started laughing maniacally. "He was right; I can feel it! I CAN FEEL IT!"
There was a terrible snarling noise. Fenrir's head lengthened. So did his body. His shoulders hunched down. Hair spouted visibly on his face and hands, which then curled into clawed paws. The Werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws.
Quinn straightened his back. He glanced up at the sky; the moon in the evening sky wasn't a full moon. Fenrir shouldn't be able to transform. He then glanced at the broken vial on the ground.
"The Dark Lord is becoming an annoyingly growing problem," said Quinn. Voldemort had created a potion that could trigger the Werewolf transformation without the presence of the full moon. "He is going to be killed today."
"Fool! The Dark Lord can't die," growled Fenrir. It was impressive that he could speak while in his current form. "And you need to worry about yourself because I'm going to kill you right now!" Saying that he charged toward Quinn, who calmly raised his hand and shot a dark curse. Fenrir crossed his arms and received it. "It's no use! I'm invicible—" but before he could complete the sentence, Fenrir collapsed to the ground.
Quinn looked down at his feet, at the convulsing Fenrir, who shook violently.
"W-What did-d you do-o-o?"
Quinn shrugged. He said, "You were never a threat. I just had to get some information out of you," he tapped his temple. "It is pitful that you did not notice. If not, do you think I would have not struck you down the moment you opened that maw of yours?"
Even though he couldn't find how Voldemort had fixed Fenrir, he could see flashes of Voldemort brewing the potion that Fenrir had used to transform, and only him. Which was good because it meant that Voldemort was the only one capable of brewing it. He also had the location of the base.
'I will go and eradicate that house afterward,' he thought.
"Time to rest, Greyback," said Quinn as he faced his palm towards the Werewolf.
"NOoooOOoooO—" . . . with the last yelp, the might Werewolf drew his last breath.
Quinn looked down at the dead Fenrir for a moment, and a plan formed in his mind.
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Quinn West - MC - Damn magical geniuses, always causing trouble.
Fenrir Greyback - Werewolf - Second chance; never stood a chance.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Oh boy, that was a long foreshadowing.
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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.
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