Chapter 153: West Siblings Roaming Hogwarts
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[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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The West siblings were walking through the Hogwarts corridors. Quinn showed Lia all his favorite spots.
"From what I've heard from others, they'll usually spend time in a conference room," commented Lia, "and not roaming the halls. Not that I'm complaining; this is a good tour. I always wanted to see where grandfather, Ms. Rosey, Uncle Elliot and you studied."
"You already know how the meetings go?"
"70% of the people you met were our subsidiaries," said Lia, "I asked them how it went. I've to say the deals you gave them could've been more profitable to us. Those guys accepted anything you threw at them. I wonder how the deals would've gone if they didn't know your name."
"Don't say that," chuckled Quinn, "Gary drove a hard bargain. He didn't go easy at all. For a second, I thought he was going to reject my proposal. Imagine how awkward it would've been for both of us, knowing that I made the Lunar developer."
"He was the only one who followed the instructions properly," she said. "But yes, if he had rejected you, that would've been pretty awkward."
"Well, can't say that I didn't take advantage of that," smiled Quinn, "Originally, I was only going to use the 50% of funds from our business, but the plans were coming short with absolutely zero funding, so I had to up that percentage by 20%."
"I should've just come myself for all of them."
"Are you trying to make me fail?"
"Not really, just wanted to have some fun," chuckled Lia.
"Yeah, that doesn't sound fun to me at all," said Quinn, deadpanning.
The two were making their way towards Quinn's A.I.D. office and had just made a turn… when they came across a familiar pair of girls. Lia recognized them immediately and greeted them before Quinn or the girls could say anything,
"I remember you two. Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass, right?"
The bubbly brunette and the usually stoic blonde stilled in their spots, stunned to see an unexpected face in front of them. It took them both a second to recognize Lia, but with Quinn standing beside her, the two girls soon realized who the young woman was.
"You're... Quinn's sister, Lia, if I remember correctly," started Tracey, "Yeah! I remember now, we met at King's Cross."
"You remember me, aren't you nice," smiled Lia. The both smiled back.
"What are you doing here?" asked Daphne, eyeing Quinn.
"Quinn invited me," answered Lia, "I have some business with him. Currently, he is breaking the rules by giving me a tour of the castle. Well, he has always been a naughty child." She sighed at the end, as if she had given up hope.
"And what about it?! I didn't hear you complaining," rebuked Quinn.
"If we get questioned, I'm not the one getting into trouble: you're the one who brought me here; I'm just tagging along," said Lia grinning at her brother, adamant about embarrassing him in front of his friends.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Lia looked at the Slytherin girls. She had something to ask.
"It's good that I came across you two. You two seem to know him—" she ruffled Quinn's hair just to get her hand swatted away "—he doesn't tell us about school much at home. How does he act here? I hope he doesn't remain cooped up in that office all day."
"There is one thing most here at Hogwarts know," said Daphne. There was a factoid that most students knew, "If you want to find Quinn West, then he will either be at his office or at the Great Hall. If he isn't at one of these places, then you can forget about seeing him at all." She gave Quinn an observant glance as she continued, "No one knows where he goes, but even the Weasley twins —and they know the castle very well— know where he disappears to."
"I heard that! I heard that from Marcus! What's with this school-wide betting pool to see if the Weasley twins are able to find where I go!" said Quinn, annoyed, "Do you know how annoying it's to get tailed for an entire month! And those guys became increasingly shameless by the end of the month; they straight out tried to tag along me. No attempt to even hide themselves from me."
Listening to Quinn's mini-rant with his arms crossed made Lia and Tracey giggle and even made Daphne crack a smile.
"Oh! I've something interesting," said Tracey, clapping her hands once.
"What is it?" prompted Lia excitedly.
"There have been rumors, or should I say, definite news, that the French champion has taken a liking to Quinn," revealed Tracey. She coyly snickered behind her hand.
Daphne nodded. The memory of Quinn laughing with Fleur at the Ravenclaw entrance came to mind.
"The French champion?" asked Lia, a hum in her tone, "From what I've heard, isn't she a Veela?" She glanced at Quinn, "You say that she likes him... hmm. Did you do something?"
"... What? I didn't do anything," said Quinn defending himself against... "Wait! I shouldn't be explaining myself. Ms. Delacour and I simply got along well and became friends quickly."
"... Ms. Delacour," repeated Tracey, "hmm... it seems the news was a little exaggerated."
Daphne, too, agreed with a nod, noticing that he still said her last name. It seemed that the Veela hadn't ensnared Quinn yet.
"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Quinn, confused.
"It's nothing," replied Lia, once again ruffling her brother's hair, "don't worry your pretty little head about it."
He swatted her hand once again. "My head is not little... I guess it's pretty; I will give you that."
Eventually, the West siblings went on their way without the Slytherin Duo to continue their journey towards Quinn's A.I.D. office. As they walked away, Lia turned her head to gaze at Daphne's back. She turned back to the front and a smile bloomed on her face. Quinn, walking by her side, looked at his sister, who had started to hum a happy tune.
"What's with you?" he asked.
"Hmm? Oh nothing~," she replied.
The sibling duo reached the grand staircase. The moving staircase surprised Lia as she craned her neck up to look at the stairs upon stairs connecting seven above-the-ground floors of Hogwarts.
"You navigate this every day?" asked Lia, "Also, is the movements random?"
"Every student and faculty member at Hogwarts navigate these stairs every day," answered Quinn, "the movement of the stairs might seem random, but they are far from it. The staircases are charmed to detect the pattern of students' movements throughout the day. With the students following timetables, by the end of the first week, the pattern changes such that students will find the stairs just at the right place at the right time."
"Come on, let's go," said Quinn, stepping onto a flight of stairs, pulling Lia along with him. "W-Wait, wait," exclaimed Lia, grabbing onto Quinn and the railing just in time for the staircase to start moving.
"What floor is your office on?" asked Lia. Being it her first time, she wasn't thrilled about being on the continuously moving grand staircase.
"Fifth floor," he answered.
"Ugh!"
After two floors of Lia's complaints, she quickly got used to the moving stairs, and soon she acted as if she had been a part of Hogwarts for years. She looked around the stairs with curiosity. Then, she spotted a familiar face.
"Quinn, isn't that Eddie?" she asked, pointing at a staircase that set itself at a floor.
Quinn turned his head to see Eddie pulling along a Ravenclaw with Eddie's arm around his shoulders. "... Yeah."
"We should go greet him," said Lia and at once started to move up the staircase.
"Wait, we can go meet him later!" said Quinn trying to stop Lia, but unfortunately, Lia was already running upstairs, and their staircase was moving to the same stop that Eddie had gotten off at.
He clicked his tongue when Lia stepped onto the floor. He knew what would happen, and it could be seen utterly opposite to what it was without context. Skipping steps while climbing the stairs, Quinn ran after his sister to ensure she didn't misunderstand.
Lia turned around the corner and saw Eddie standing face to face with another student. She was about to call out to him, but the words stuck in her throat when she was pulled back.
"What are you doing?!" asked Lia, frowning at her brother.
Quinn placed a finger on his lips and shushed her, "Stay quiet. Eddie is going to do something serious."
Lia felt confused at the vague sentence and was about to ask for an explanation when she heard a dull thud. She turned to look around the corner and saw Eddie grabbing the other student's collar, twisting it up while the student was pushed against a wall, looking uncomfortable.
She blinked in surprise at the sudden turn of events and glanced at Quinn, but he looked at the scene as if it was something commonplace.
Straining her ears, she picked up their conversation as Eddie spoke,
"... do that again, and you will regret it," said the Irish man, "You and I live in the same dormitory, so if I catch you the next time, I'll come to your room at night while you're sleeping…"
She saw the threatened student gulp in apprehension.
"... you won't like me very much when you wake up the next day," continued Eddie, "so take this as the last warning, If I hear those words out of your mouth again, it won't be a happy experience... Quinn is very particular about this, so believe me when I say he will tag along next time. Dipshit."
Eddie pulled the guy forward before pushing him back into the wall once again. He grabbed his broom, which he had brought along, and stepped over a big window ledge, jumping out with his broom underneath him, flying away from the scene.
"What?" uttered Lia, but Quinn pulled her away, and soon they were back on a moving staircase. Lia focused on Quinn and asked, "What was that? Why did Eddie say that next time you'll tag along? What was he doing?"
"You remember Luna?" sighed Quinn.
Lia nodded.
"Well, Luna is a unique person. Eccentric and quirky are the closest adjectives I can think of to describe her. She is a charming person when you get to know her, but her first impression isn't great; most of the time, she comes out as weird," he sighed before his eye twitched in annoyance, "Just because she doesn't say anything, some idiots try to have fun bullying her. Eddie Marcus and I have repeatedly told people not to call her that, but we scraped the request and turned to warnings when things didn't improve. If they mistreat her, we will sometimes return the favor by making them not so comfortable."
Lia stared at her brother. He rarely showed actual displeasure in others' presence, preferring to smile and laugh.
"... I would like to meet Luna once more. She has become something akin to a little sister to you, it seems," she said and continued with a Cheshire grin, "I would like to meet my new little sister as soon as possible."
"She isn't—!" but he stopped thinking it through. His relationship with Luna had indeed grown to be like a brother-sister relation.
"I guess you can say that," he sighed before glancing at her, "you can meet Luna right now. She's in the office."
"Oh, my, isn't that lucky," she smiled.
"Don't coddle her."
"I won't."
"Really?"
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- (Scene Break) -
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Finally, the siblings reached the AID office, and seeing the door, Lia read the plaque out loud, "773H? What does that mean?"
"It's not a secret, but I can't tell you," he smiled, "anyone who wants the answer will have to find it on their own."
Lia stared at the plaque and memorized the alpha-numerical wanting to solve it later.
Quinn turned the doorknob and opened the door to his office, entering inside while keeping the door open for Lia. "Enter the place where problems get solved, and questions get answered."
Lia stepped inside, and the office interior greeted her. Even just with a single look, she could tell that this was designed and built by Quinn. Everything inside the office exuded her brother's craftsmanship. Glancing at the top, she could see MLE attached to the ceiling. She realized that she stood in the birthplace of Quinn's inventions.
"You copied grandfather's desk," she commented, tracing a finger over the table, "same wood, color, and even the design is similar."
"I always liked the table," he smiled, "when I got enough funds to get a new one, I bought the same wood and materials to build my own, though I did add my own touch and flair to it."
"You said that Luna was inside, but I can't see her here," asked Lia.
Quinn pointed at the red door in the glass wall. "Luna! please come out; we have a guest."
"What's inside there?"
"My workshop."
The red door opened up slowly, and from inside stepped out barefoot. With her hair weirdly curly today, Luna looked at Quinn with a half dreamy-half sleepy look in her eyes.
"Guest?" she asked.
Quinn jutted his chin towards the size. Luna turned her eyes towards Lia and tilted her head. She hadn't seen the young woman in Hogwarts, and this confused her, but then, slowly, recognition dawned on her.
"Sister," she said, stepping towards Lia, "You're Quinn's sister, Lia."
"I am," replied Lia before asking, "why is your hair like this?"
"Because of Quinn," replied Luna.
When Lia looked at Quinn, he raised his hands: "Again, I didn't do anything." He turned to Luna and asked, "What did I do?"
"The potion to grow hair without using Pechimin didn't work, and it poofed in my face," she played with her hair, "I tried it three more times, but it still didn't work, and with each time, my hair got more like this."
He nodded and walked near her. Taking out her fake wand, Quinn performed magic to fix her hair, turning her hair back to normal.
"What did you use instead of Pechimin?" he asked.
"Livèche de Chagrin," replied Luna
"That isn't going to work." Lia chimed in. "Livèche de Chagrin is too volatile. It won't work with human hair. Try using Bechiraway instead; it's much more gentle and has the advantage of being a great blending agent."
Quinn smiled and lightly clapped. His sister was right on point. If Luna asked him for the answer, he would've given the same solution and reason.
Luna stood still for a moment before silently walking back the workshop to go brew another batch of potion.
"What happened?" asked Lia.
Quinn cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know if it's my fault, but ever since I started teaching her, whenever she gets an answer to the problems I give her, she drops everything and starts working on them. At times, she walks away mid-eating just so that she could try out a charm."
Lia looked at Quinn and pointed out something. "Why are you smiling?"
"Oh, it's nothing," he laughed, "her behavior at these moments makes me really proud... Wit beyond measure, the man's greatest treasure. Though Luna did get in trouble trying to get out of a Potions class because she thought she had the answer."
"We should probably leave," he continued, "I don't want to disturb her while she is concentrating."
"Already? But we just got here," whined Lia.
"How about we go meet Madame Maxime. I'm sure she would be surprised to meet you."
"Oh! That's a good idea! Let's go!"
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- (Scene Break) -
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The half-giant, Olympe Maxime, was sitting in one of the Hogwarts lawns. The Beauxbatons carriage was parked behind her. She picked up a very large teacup from the garden table beside her and took a sip while reading a French newspaper through thin-rimmed glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose.
Today was a rare free day for her. With the first task getting progressively closer, she had been swamped with work, so having a day without a full schedule felt great. She decided not to do anything and simply relax outside and catch up on what was going on in her homeland.
She allowed her students to roam the castle without her escorting them. All of her students, without fail, took the chance and ran away to explore the castle. After living on Hogwarts grounds, Maxime had decided that the school was safe enough for her students.
"The Ministry is adding unnecessary steps to their hiring process," she sighed, "Can't they see that if they keep doing this, it will get difficult for them to hire good candidates."
"Isn't that great? This way, I will be able to get more people into my business."
Maxime looked up from her newspaper to look at the person who commented, and her eyes widened comically.
"Lia?!" said the half-giantess, standing up from her chair.
"Good morning, Professor," smiled her student, "you look like you're enjoying your Saturday."
"What are you doing here, child?"
"I had some business with my brother," said Lia, and Maxime looked at the boy standing two steps behind his sister.
"Business?"
"Yes, I'm here regarding the quidditch tournament."
"Ah, yes," nodded Maxime, recalling her talk with Dumbledore, "I didn't expect you two to come here. Isn't it just a simple school tournament?"
"Oh, no," chuckled Lia, "He has overdone it. The tournament is going to be something special."
Just when the student and teacher were catching up, they heard a voice call out.
"Headmistress?"
Lia and Maxime turned their heads to see a silver blonde standing there looking at them.
"Oh!" smiled Maxime and beckoned the girl forward, "Fleur, come here, you know Lia West. She has dropped by. Lia, this is our champion, Fleur Delacour."
Lia West and Fleur Delacour met eyes, and Quinn, standing at a distance, sneezed lightly.
"Am I getting a cold?"
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Quinn West - MC - Something is off... I just can't tell what it is.
Lia West - Big sis - This place sure is big...
Tracey Davis - Rumour enthusiast - Wait, wait, wait, let's analyse this.
Daphne Greengrass - ... - *Nod* *Nod* *Nod*
Luna Lovegood - Student of Magic - The researcher inside her is growing.
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