Chapter 69: Home, Potion, and Cure
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Quinn turned back and closed the door behind him. He nodded to George and Elliot, who were standing there as he closed the door. "I will be back in a few."
Turning back towards Alan, Quinn slowly walked to the chair in front of the old man and took a seat.
"Hello, Mr. Alan," greeted Quinn. Alan could see the clear signs of occlumency from Quinn's face.
"So, I hear you messed up," Alan spoke, and Quinn just stared at his mind-arts teacher's usual, almost ever-present smile.
He hadn't changed a single bit in the three years. Alan D. Baddeley was still the joyous old man who had a penchant for peeking into other's mind,
"I did. I really did." Quinn nodded in response. Alan was here to help him, so Quinn didn't gain anything from lying or hiding things. And, currently, with his occlumency operating full time, he had a serious edge of logic in his thoughts.
"I want you to ready your bracelet and get ready to defend yourself." Quinn got straight to the point. "This is what is happening with me."
"Ah, yes. The rampaging magic I was told about. I think that is a good place to start." Alan brought his hands together and touched his focus bracelet with his other hand. "Go ahead. I am ready."
The two people in the room didn't waste any time catching up after three years of separation. Both knew that they could do it afterward. Quinn desperately wanted to know what was happening to him and solve it to get this crisis behind him. While Alan could see that Quinn wasn't having a good time.
"Okay, here I go."
The next second, Alan immediately pulled up a transparent shield just as a spell was hurled towards him. "Oh, that was close."
He watched with keen attention as various activities of magic manifested into the room. There was nothing to be observed from the out-of-control magic. As the name suggested, it was out of control.
After Alan was satisfied seeing this unusual sight, he turned his eyes to his young student, who had his eyes squeezed shut and struggle on his face.
Immediately Alan sent a mental probe into Quinn's mind, and he was a little surprised to see that Quinn's shields were fully down. Right now, he was no different from a person without an occlumency shield.
Alan dove into Quinn's mind and saw that the mindscape had changed in the last three years.
"Oh my, now that is a magnificent structure," Alan smiled as he saw the enormous building in front of him.
Hogwarts castle stood in all its magnificent glory. Even the surroundings were changed to look like the surroundings of the real Hogwarts.
"He built this in three years? Impressive." Alan was impressed because of the sheer size of the castle. He could tell that the castle was functioning memory storage and not a work in progress before a memory gateway initiation.
But right now, he didn't have time to admire the structure, neither did he need to go through Quinn's memories.
'Let's go check his emotional status,' said Alan, and instantly, he was not in the mindscape with the enormous castle.
The space he arrived in was grey, with the color tending towards black rather than white. Inside the grey, there were dark distortion-like vortexes littered around the space.
"Well, with his magic out of control, it makes sense that his head is not right," noted Alan as he looked around. "He loves magic after all."
Alan was standing in Quinn's emotional representation. An experienced legilimens or occlumens could access their own or someone else's sentimental representation. You couldn't influence emotions from here, and this was just a place you could judge a person's emotions.
Emotions were a complex concept that every mind-arts user studied extensively. And if they were serious about learning about mind-arts and the mysteries of the mind, then there would come a time in every mind-art user when they would have to confront their emotions.
The dark greyness in Quinn's emotional representation clearly showed that Quinn was in a darker state of mind, and the darker vortexes that he was struggling with some mental problems.
Take Alan for an example: he was an avid advocate of mental health, and if anyone got the almost non-existent opportunity to get a look inside Alan's emotional representation, then they would find that it was a very light color of grey, a color very close to white.
The lighter the color of the space, the better mental condition they were in.
Alan took care of his mental condition and didn't have any delusions about himself. He confronted almost every issue about himself and got to the root of the problem. In doing that, he would attain closure and help his mental situation.
A complete white emotional space was only present in infants, toddlers, or very young children. Any age above that would have different shades of grey because such was life, and they were sentimental beings; no person was perfect.
The distortion-like vortexes were the real cause of problems; they were what messed up with Quinn's mind and, in turn, his magic.
Removing his eyes from the grey space, Alan gazed at the bright and colorful arrangement in front of him.
What Alan was seeing was a vast network of light orbs of various sizes connected to each other. The connections between them were of varying lengths and pulsed from time to time. Alan could think of every color he knew, and he would find it in the bright and colorful network.
There were so many connections that, to the naked eye, it was a complex network of lines and orbs. But, to a mind-arts specialist like Alan, it was nothing but an open book.
"No matter how many times I see this. It never ceases to amaze me," murmured Alan as he looked at the complex network.
This was the core of Quinn's emotions. Every emotion he had ever felt connected to each other in a complex network.
This was a core part of Quinn West's personality. Personality was defined as the character sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors.
Emotions heavily influenced a person's personality and attitude toward things. The more you experienced various situations, the more you form opinions, and with those opinions would come emotions regarding those experiences.
"Hmm... this isn't out of coordination," noticed Alan. There was nothing wrong with Quinn's emotional network. "He isn't feeling unnatural bouts and spurts of emotions or nothing else."
"Well, Quinn did state that whatever was done to him came undone."
Alan remembered the day when George West personally had come to his door to request his help. It was a shock to see the influential man contact him personally and not through someone else.
George had told him that Quinn had requested his help. The initial information given to him was that Quinn's magic was out of control, and it was because he was under the influence of some kind of magic.
Quinn stated when the magic came undone, his magic went out of control.
"This enough for now," said Alan.
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- (Scene Break) -
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When Alan came out of Quinn's mind, he spoke to his student.
"Alright, you can stop, Quinn," spoke Alan.
With a sudden, sharp, and erratic intake of air, Quinn clamped down on his occlumency. Immediately, all magic stopped, and Quinn went expressionless.
Quinn's eyes remained closed for around a minute before he opened them and flatly asked, "What is wrong with me?"
"Other than a darker state of mind, I have found nothing wrong with your mind," replied Alan. "Of course -."
But a shout from Quinn cut Alan's explanation.
"What!" Immediately, Quinn's occlumency cracked slightly under the bout of anger. "Did you just not see the rampant magic?! How can you say that nothing is wrong with me?"
Rampant magic once again manifested in the room as the temperature rose.
Alan sighed before he cast magic, and immediately Quinn's pupils dilated, and he calmed down.
"I am using mind magic on you to calm you down," spoke Alan. "How are you feeling now? Calmed down?"
Quinn nodded as he patched up his occlumency and detached his emotions from himself. Alan also retrieved his magic as Quinn brought himself under control.
"As I was saying, that there is nothing wrong with your emotions right now. They are functioning like a normal person, albeit a normal person under a lot of stress," Alan spoke in a calming voice, making sure that he didn't agitate Quinn. "But, we have only started. There is a good chance that I might have missed something, so have patience. You have already been like this for a few weeks; you can wait for a little while."
Quinn nodded in reply and patiently waited for Alan's instruction.
"I will need some memories," Alan said as he crossed his on his lap. "I need to know what actually happened to you."
Alan didn't even ask for Quinn's account of the entire situation and went straight for the memories. He was sure that his student would recognize that showing memories would be much more efficient and resourceful than Quinn telling him things using words.
"I expected that," replied Quinn. "It took me days under this condition to create a collection of memories that will get you up to speed."
"Oh ho ho, you are prepared. That is nice," Alan remarked at the news from Quinn.
"I had weeks to think about this situation. Even though I wasn't able to get myself better, I did make sure that I had everything in hand for you."
Alan tilted his head and asked, "What would you have done if I had refused?"
Quinn mechanically shrugged, "I wasn't thinking about that. I am sure that if you refused, grandfather would have brought in someone else. But, if I am being honest, I knew you would come."
If Quinn didn't have his occlumency detaching his emotion from him, then he would have been smiling, but he couldn't even do that as his magic would have come alive and shot out fireworks into the air at the very least.
Alan laughed at that statement, "Well, it turned out you were right. Here I am sitting in front of you."
The old man rubbed his hands before saying, "Alright, show me those memories."
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A mental representation of Quinn waited inside his mindscape with a book in hand. He looked up to see Alan manifest into the mindscape.
"Let's get started," said the representation of Alan as he walked to Quinn. He looked at the book in Quinn's hand and asked, "Is that the collection?"
Quinn nodded as he raised his hand. "Put your hand on it."
Alan followed, and without a break, put his hand on Quinn's memory-book, and immediately the memories, snippets from the time Friar told him the riddle to the memories of a few days back, greeted Alan.
It took Alan just over a minute to go through every single memory present in the compilation. It would have taken Quinn at least a couple of hours to do the same.
"Meet me outside," Alan said and promptly disappeared from Quinn's mind.
When Quinn opened his eyes to return to the real world because right now, to do anything inside his mind took his entire concentration, and he couldn't operate in the real world and his mindscape at the same time.
Alan sat in deep thought about what he had seen. The memories had given him a lot to think about, a lot of information to process.
"Well, did you find something?" Quinn asked in impatience.
"Hmm... there were a lot of snippets," said Alan as he stood up. Quinn looked up at the standing man, waiting for the mind-arts master to tell him some good news.
"I have some ideas. Give me some time to analyze." Alan walked to Quinn and put a hand on his head. Ruffling his hair. "Until then... sleep."
Quinn was confused to hear it, but the next second, darkness took over him.
Alan looked at his sleeping student and sighed.
There were a lot of things to go over in Quinn's compilation. He needed some time to think those through, and he needed some hours for preparation, so he just put Quinn to sleep until then.
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Quinn opened his eyes with a groan. He sat up on the bed and just stared forward towards the wall. Quinn frowned when the wall ahead wasn't part of his dorm room or his room in the West Manor.
'Where am I?' he thought, and immediately he recalled what happened before he went to sleep.
He was in the training hall sitting across Alan when he put his hand on his head, and then everything went black.
"He put me to sleep, didn't he?" spoke Quinn. He ruefully smiled at the old man's actions. It fit Alan's personality, dropping him without warning.
But then immediately, Quinn's eyes widened as he recalled he wasn't using his occlumency. Every morning since the accident, Quinn would wake up, and within a few seconds, he would be assaulted with pain that would function as a reminder to pull up his occlumency.
Right now, there was no pain and, more importantly, no outbursts of magic.
"Good morning."
Quinn moved his head to see Alan sitting in a chair with a book in his hand. A small table with tea and snacks stood beside him as he enjoyed the treats while reading his book.
"Did you cure me?" Quinn asked with hope. For the first time in weeks, his voice wasn't flat and had emotion in it.
"Of course not, child." Alan smashed the hope within seconds. "You should know better that your condition is much more serious to be cured overnight."
Quinn closed his eyes in shattered hope and felt miserable that he wasn't cured but opened his eyes to ask the question.
"Then why isn't my magic acting up? What did you do?" Currently, he was feeling as normal as he had ever been. His magic wasn't acting up, his emotions weren't detached, and he felt whole again.
Alan sipped some tea from his cup before answering, "I gave you a magic dampening potion ten minutes before I woke you up."
"A magic dampening potion?" Quinn exclaimed. He felt around for his magic and felt that his connection to it was weak. "Something like that exists?" If he had known that something like this existed, he would have used it a long time ago.
"Oh yes, magic dampeners exist." Alan chuckled and took a bit of a scone before continuing. "They aren't used that much, so it is not strange that you haven't heard of them."
Quinn didn't care that he wasn't aware of something like a magic dampening potion. He was just glad that something like this existed. "Thank magic. At least with this, I won't have to keep using my occlumency to keep my magic under control."
"... About that," Alan closed his book and looked at stared at Quinn. "I am afraid that things aren't that simple."
"What do you mean?" Quinn felt dread build up in his ribcage.
"The reason that the magic dampening potion isn't famous or widely known is that it is harmful to the drinker," Alan dropped a bomb on Quinn.
"What? W-What do you mean it is harmful?"
"If someone is put under the effects of magic dampening potion every day, all day, then their body starts to malfunction." Alan imparted grim knowledge to Quinn, who was under the effects of magic dampening potion. "Tumors form in various parts of bodies, the immune system starts to weaken, multiple organ failures, degradation of senses, and overall the body starts to give up."
"Then why did you give it to me?!" Quinn screamed at his teacher, who just that he had given him a potion that could kill him.
"One dose of the potion won't do anything like that. You would need multiple doses every day for a certain period will cause what I was talking about." Alan waved his hand in dismissal as it wasn't a big deal.
Then he dropped a bomb.
"But yeah, you will be taking it every day."
Quinn wanted to shout and scream, but he was just too much in shock to do so. He had just woken up, and this was the first thing he heard. He already knew how this day was framing out to be.
"...Please, explain."
Alan cleared his throat before starting, "You can sense your magic, right? It is not completely cut off from you."
Quinn nodded. The connection to his magic was weak, but it was there.
"The potion I gave you is a diluted recipe. It just weakens your connection and doesn't hamper it completely." Alan raised one finger in his right hand. "This is the first thing that will reduce the negative effects of the potion."
He raised another finger and continued, "The dose you will be given will only work for maybe six to seven hours. So, the rest of the time, your magic will still be rampant, and well... you will have to use your occlumency. That also reduces the progress of negative effects of the potion."
Alan smiled and finished, "That way, I can keep giving you the potion for an extended period, and the effects won't creep on you like they are supposed to do when given the full treatment." Alan made air quotes as he said treatment.
"Wait, wait, wait," Quinn raised his hand to speak up, "All the things regarding the potion are fine, well...no, it is not fine, but let's put that aside for a second. I want to know the cure for this. I can keep taking the potion, but it will not help me cure anything."
Alan put down his empty teacup and said, "Quinn, there is nothing to cure with you. You are fine. There is nothing wrong with you."
Alan enunciated every sentence to stress them.
Quinn stared at the mind-arts teacher with an expression that was a mix between shock, confusion, and disbelief.
"What do you mean there is nothing wrong with me?"
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Quinn West - MC - What the hell is the old man talking about? Has he finally gone senile?
Alan D. Baddeley - Master of Mind-arts - I am not old... well I am, but I am not senile.
FictionOnlyReader - It is a cliff SuckerZz - Eh, the word count was reached.
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