The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired lady in dark maroon robes stood there. She had a very stern face which reminded Quinn of his grandfather when he was serious. And Quinn knew who this lady was.
"The first years are here, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
The stern lady, now identified as Professor Minerva McGonagall, Hogwarts' transfiguration teacher, nodded and spoke, "Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide to the entrance hall, which was absolutely enormous. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
The gaggle of first years followed behind Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. They reached a doorway, and Quinn could hear the drone of hundreds of voices.
'That must be the Great Hall,' thought Quinn as Professor McGonagall lead them into a small, empty chamber off the hall. Quinn felt a little uncomfortable as the first years huddle together with each other a little too close than he was comfortable with. All of them were peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said McGonagall as she spoke to the nervous first years. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a crucial ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend your free time in your House common room."
She stood a little straighter, and with a hint on her face, she continued, "The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history, and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."
Quinn resisted the urge to snort in McGonagall's face. The house point system was a rouse implemented by the school administration to keep the students in check through peer pressure. No student who cared about their social life wouldn't want to lose points and face the wrath of their fellow students, and even those who didn't care about what others thought trod lightly in fear of being bullied. All in all, it was a fantastic system that kept in check most people other than a few exceptions like the Weasley Twins.
Even Quinn wasn't an exception, as he didn't want to stand in the limelight among his peers. The life of popularity wasn't Quinn's cup of tea. He just wanted to learn magic in peace. And the popularity would hinder his ability to move around the castle, though the twins had no difficulty moving around, so maybe there was a workaround.
'Well, they do have the Marauder's map,' thought Quinn as he paid attention to what McGonagall was saying.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered on a few peoples' clothes, silently telling them to smarten themselves up.
"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." finished Professor McGonagall before leaving the chamber.
Quinn looked at his clothes, and with a slight use of magic, his clothes straightened up. He then turned to Katie and Cho, "Hey, how do I look?"
Both the girls looked over Quinn. He had jet-black hair and stone-grey eyes; he styled his hair in a simple-yet-neat Ivy League hairstyle. He had been taught to take good care of his body, so nothing felt out of place. He was tall for his age, and because of years of posture training, his body language exuded confidence. His clothes, even though a simple school uniform, looked good on him. Finally, Quinn was comfortable with his own skin, and that added another layer of charm.
Both girls nodded and gave him thumbs-up, and in return, Quinn complimented them.
"You two also look good. So, please don't be nervous. Everything will be fine, and every house would be happy to have guys. I am sure that you would get into the house you want." Quinn complimented the girls and said words of comfort to calm them down. He could see that most of the first-year were nervous being sorted in front of the whole school, and some didn't even know the sorting process.
Quinn's words did work to some extent as he saw both of them calm down a little, but there was still a little nervousness left which was natural knowing that they would be walking inside the hall while the entire school would be looking at them.
Then came the parade of ghosts, followed by screams from several students who had never seen a ghost. Quinn found ghosts interesting as they were conclusive evidence of the existence of the soul. A ghost was the imprint of the soul of a once-living wizard or witch. And as such, they were a type of spirit who are either afraid of death or have some powerful connection to the locations they haunt.
McGonagall returned to the chamber and shooed away the ghosts, "Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
She turned to the students and commanded, "Now, form a line and follow me." With McGonagall in the lead, the new students exited the chamber, went back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
Quinn had read the books and had imagined what the Great Hall would look like, and he had seen the movies, but nothing matched the sight in front of him. The hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that floated in midair over four long tables. On the tables sat the entire schools' student body. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. McGonagall led the first years up here and came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Among the students, ghosts could be seen in their ghostly silver glow.
Quinn looked up at the ceiling and saw a glossy black ceiling dotted with stars. He could imagine Hermione Granger reciting the lines from the books, "The ceiling is bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."
Removing his eyes from the mesmerizing ceiling, and looked ahead. He saw McGonagall silently placing a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a raggedy pointed wizard's hat.
Quinn waited, and then it happened, a mouth-like crack opened up in the hat, and it began singing.
[
I may be old and frayed
but don't let that betray you
stitched and bewitched
over a thousand years ago
The four greatest witches and wizards of the time
United by one single desire
The wish to inspire
and help young minds.
So, a place of education
was the creation.
The founders four
Helga Hufflepuff of valley broad
Rowena Ravenclaw from the glen
Godric Gryffindor of wild moor
Salazar Slytherin from the fen.
From these noble names
four houses were born.
Gryffindor, which houses the bold and brave,
Ravenclaw selected those filled with cleverness,
Hufflepuff welcomed the loyal who loved to toil
Slytherin chooses only those who are pure.
Their differences are what defined them
Together they stood, never to be divided
but what brought them together
soon sought to tear them apart.
Battles were fought
over Hogwarts
soon the time had come
for one to depart
So four became three
Which house will it be?
Put me on, and I will see.
] [Credits: Rowling_Games, Link in the paragraph comment.]
The entire hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
Murmurs went spreading through the first-year students like wildfire. Many were relieved to hear that they only had to put the hat on their head.
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward, holding a long roll of parchment, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."
Then started the sorting ceremony of the students. Quinn heard a few recognizable names, and their houses were the same as canon.
Marcus Belby, Eddie Carmichael, Cho Chang, Marietta Edgecombe went to Ravenclaw. While Katie Bell and Cormac McLaggen went to Gryffindor.
Finally came Quinn's turn. He was the last person to be sorted because Quinn's last name was West, and W was the last letter in this year's list, with no surnames from letters X, Y, and Z.
McGonagall looked at Quinn and announced, "West, Quinn." Students who had gotten bored because of the long process once again focused on the ceremony knowing Quinn was the last student.
Quinn climbed the shallow ladders and nodded to McGonagall before sitting down on the stool. The last thing Quinn saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was most of the students looking at him, and the moment the hat covered his eyes, Quinn closed his eyes and pulled up his occlumency shields to the limit.
"Hmm," said a little voice in his ear, "It has been quite a while since I had countered this level of resistance from occlumency shields, and that was when one of the previous headmasters had put me on his head. But, never I have seen this level of occlumency shields from a child of your age."
Quinn fought the urge to smile. He felt he had beat the infamous hat from entering his mind. But the next moment, the hat shattered his misunderstanding as now he heard the hat's voice inside his head, 'But, you see, when the founders created me, they truly went overboard, so Mr. West, your level of occlumency shields aren't enough.'
Quinn gritted his teeth as someone had once again entered his mind, and he couldn't do anything about it. He could remove the hat and rip it to threads with magic, but that would be the last thing Quinn wanted to do, so he just sat tight.
'Oh my, aren't you a little devil, Mr. West? So much talent for magic. I haven't seen anything like this, and I have been around for a thousand years. You don't use a wand and yet have this level of magical abilities. There was one who I can think of, but even he wasn't as ridiculous as you. Seeing the wand in your luggage shows that you are taking a different approach from him and everyone else.'
Quinn helplessly controlled his emotions as the hat went through his memories, 'Now, let's see where to put you. You are ready to showcase plenty of courage when it comes to the pursuit of magic. You have already shown hard work and tolerance by learning magic the way you have. The immense thirst for knowledge is evident from your personal library. Finally, you have some grand ambitions, dear child. The greatest wizard of all times.'
Quinn was getting impatient, so he just came out and said, "Put me in Ravenclaw so that we can end this. I am extremely uncomfortable with you on my head. Your mere presence in my mind displeases me like never before."
The hat laughed in his head and spoke, 'If that is what you wish for. Don't worry, Mr. West. Your secrets will remain safe with me. No one will ever know what I saw in your mind. Not even my creators, the founders would know if they appeared in front of me.'
The next moment the hat shouted to the entire hall, "RAVENCLAW!"
It took every single drop of Quinn's self-control to normally remove the hat from his head and not rip it from his head. He took a deep breath before moving to the Ravenclaw table and smiled when he reached the table that was clapping for him and congratulating him for being a Hatstall as the hat took some time to make his decision.
He sat down and turned to look at the high table while trying to calm down his turbulent emotions. He didn't like when his mind was invaded like now. It reminded him of the time when he started his lessons with Alan and how helpless he felt when Alan would just walk into this mind without batting an eye. He could still do it, but Quinn had learned to trust Alan and had gotten used to his teacher breaking into his mind, but the hat bought out emotions of the time when he didn't trust Alan.
On the plus side, Quinn's secrets were safe with the hat.
'If he didn't tattle on Voldemort's messed up memories, he won't divulge my secrets,' thought Quinn as he calmed himself down and slowly lifted the emotional aspect of occlumency to once again feel fully connected to his now calmed down emotions.
Quinn looked around the Ravenclaw and thought about his decision to join Ravenclaw. Even if Quinn said that he was okay with going to any of the four houses, Quinn preferred if he didn't get sorted to Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. In Gryffindor, he would be in the eye of trouble in the future. With Hufflepuff, Quinn didn't think he would have much privacy because of the houses' teamwork attribute.
The remaining two options were Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Quinn had thought hard about where he wanted to end up, and Ravenclaw was his final decision. Slytherin would have been alright, but Quinn was afraid that he would instantly gain a negative reputation among the other three houses. And, if someone got suspicious of what he was doing, they would immediately categorize it as dark, and it took little to blow things out of proportion. Even inside the Slytherin, blood purists were always in power, and in the future, Voldemort would start recruiting mini death eaters from there, and Quinn didn't want to face the harassment known as recruitment.
So, Quinn came to a logical conclusion to join the house of bookworms who had their heads into books and where he could operate in peace with no politics, disturbances, negative reputation, and needless nosy people. He just needed to blend in as your average Ravenclaw, which was too easy for Quinn.
A loud clinking of cutlery broke Quinn from his thoughts and looked at the head table where he saw Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Welcome!" he started. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are, Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"
Quinn wondered if the strange words in Dumbledore's speech were Hogwarts house-elves names, as the moment he said those words, food appeared across the tables. Various dishes like roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and peppermint humbugs were cooked for all to indulge.
Quinn's grooming triggered, and he began eating with impeccable table manners. Gone were the days when Quinn used to feel stiffed while eating with strict table manners. Now, he felt right at home when eating like this. Quinn a little of everything and then took part in idle banter with his new housemates.
A well-fed Quinn looked around, and his eyes fell upon the High table. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. McGonagall was talking to Dumbledore. He immediately recognized Snape dressed in all black, and Quinn felt Snape was lucky to look like his movie actor rather than his book description. He moved his eyes to another teacher and saw Quirinus Quirrell without a turban and was currently wearing a wizard's hat.
'If I remember correctly, he is currently a Muggle Studies Professor. Poor guy would give into Voldemort and agree to house Voldemort's soul in his body,' thought Quinn. He saw Quirrell happily chatting with a squat little woman who wore a patched hat over her flyaway hair, who Quinn could identify as Pomona Sprout, the herbology professor. Quinn figured out the names of the other professors with the help of a senior.
When the desserts disappeared from the tables, Dumbledore stood up from his chair and asked for the student's attention in the hall. He cleared his throat before speaking, "I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, also asks me to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors."
He pointed at Rolanda Hooch and continued, "Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch."
The dinner ended with Dumbledore urging students to stand up for the school song. After which, Quinn followed behind the Ravenclaw Prefect with the other first-years to the Ravenclaw Tower. Quinn made sure to memorize the path they took, as he would need it from tomorrow onwards.
The entrance to the Ravenclaw common room was on the west side of Hogwarts. At the top of a spiral staircase was a door without a doorknob or keyhole. But there was a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle that asked a riddle for gaining entry to the common room; if they answer incorrectly, they must wait for someone else who gets it right.
The Prefect explained the system to the first years and then led them inside. The common was a circular room with arched windows hung with blue and bronze silks and a midnight blue carpet covered in stars, which reflected onto the domed ceiling. The room was furnished with tables, chairs, and bookcases, and by the door leading up to the dormitories stood a tall statue of Rowena Ravenclaw made of white marble.
Before the Prefect sent them off to their dorms, he told them the roles to be followed while in the common room and the dormitories. He closed with, "You will find your luggage in your rooms, and please make sure to store the clothes that you want to be cleaned in the cupboards provided to you because any clothes in your trunk or luggage won't be taken for cleaning."
Three people rather than the five-person arrangement in the Gryffindor shared a room in the Ravenclaw dormitories.
Quinn found his luggage on his assigned bed. He looked at his two roommates, who looked quite nervous, so he broke the ice.
"Hey, my name is Quinn West. What about you guys?" he asked with a smile on his face.
The other two looked at each other before one of them spoke, "Hi, I am Eddie Carmichael." Then both of them looked at the third boy in the room, who stuttered through his introduction. "M-My name is Marcus Belby."
Quinn nodded and spoke, "Excellent, Carmichael and Belby. We would be sharing this dorm for the rest of the year, so if you guys have any problems, don't hesitate to ask. Now, I am sure all of us are quite tired, and I would very much like to sleep, so let's continue in the morning, alright." Quinn directed the conversation, and the other two could only nod along.
Quinn made himself on his new bed and closed his eye, and his last thought before falling asleep was about tomorrow.
-*-*-*-*-*-
Quinn West - MC -Ravenclaw - "I wonder how many riddles does the Eagle know?"
The Hat - Hat - "This year's song was exquisite. Truly spectacular."
-*-*-*-*-*-
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2 September 1990 was a Sunday, which meant that there were no classes, and the first years were free to roam the castle. Quinn got up the next day, and in the morning, and after completing his morning routine, he took off to explore the castle but not before visiting the Great Hall for breakfast.
Hogwarts Castle was a large, seven-story lofty building supported by magic. It had a hundred and forty-two (142) staircases throughout its many towers and turrets and deep dungeons. The castle was built in the late Early Middle Ages (c. 993) by a wizard architect and the four most celebrated wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin.
Quinn started from the Great Hall and then explored the castle for the entire day but could only cover the ground and the first floor. The castle was so large that Quinn wasn't able to move past the first floor. And Quinn was planning to memorize the entire castle. Quinn would live here for the next seven years, and because of that, he wanted to use the castle and the accompanying property as his new mindscape. He knew the transition from the West Manor to the Hogwarts castle would be gradual and a lengthy process. But, Quinn was confident that he would be able to explore enough of the castle in a year or two to build a working model in his mind. And, who knew what level of detail could he accomplish in seven years.
Quinn returned to his dorm just before dinnertime and freshened up by taking a shower. When he exited the shower, Quinn saw Eddie Carmichael in the room.
"Hey, Carmichael. Do you want to go to Great Hall together?" asked Quinn as he exited the bathroom.
Eddie looked relieved at the offer and spoke, "Yeah, I forgot the way to the Great Hall. It would be great if we could go together."
Quinn chuckled and offered, "Don't worry, I will go with you till you get comfortable. Hogwarts is a confusing place."
As the two climbed down the dormitory stairs, Eddie asked, "Where have you been the entire day. I don't think I saw you in the dorms today."
"Yeah, I didn't return to the dorm all day. I was exploring the castle. There were a lot of things to cover, and I lost track of time," replied Quinn as he guided Eddie from the Ravenclaw tower to the Great Hall. "What about you? What did you do today?"
Eddie shrugged and said, "Played a lot of Gobstones, went to the Quidditch field to see some of the older students flying on brooms, and talked to some of the older students about Hogwarts."
"Really? Tell me about it..."
When they reached the Great Hall, a lot of students were already seated. Quinn and Eddie found Marcus Belby sitting at the Ravenclaw table, already eating. Both the guys stopped just before reaching him.
You see, when it came to food, Marcus Belby could be compared to Ron Weasley. They both saw Marcus shoving food down his gullet without care. Eddie looked at Quinn, his eyes asking what to do, almost begging him not to sit next to their roommate. Quinn was of a similar mind, so neither wanted to sit next to Marcus while he ate.
"Let's just sit opposite to him. This way, he won't feel bad, and there would be plenty of distance between us," offered Quinn. Eddie nodded, and both of them turned back to go around the table and sat opposite Marcus.
"Hey, Belby, how have you been today? You seem to be enjoying the food," greeted Quinn and opened up the conversation, and the last sentence caused Eddie to stifle a laugh.
Marcus looked up and spoke with food still in his mouth, "Fwud wis ghrathe."
Quinn didn't understand a word that came out of Marcus' mouth, but he still spoke as he put food on his plate, "Oh yeah? That is great." It surprised Quinn that the sight of Marcus didn't erase his appetite, but Quinn was too hungry.
Eddie continued the conversation at the table, "Professor Flitwick would be coming to the common room today. He will be giving us the timetable and talk with us before we start school tomorrow."
"That is great. I heard Professor Flitwick is Britain's most knowledgeable Charms master. Plus, before he started teaching, he was Duelling Champion with the title of Master duelist. He has been at Hogwarts for around twenty years or so," supplied Quinn as they talked about the upcoming event.
After some more idle chatting, Quinn became silent and concentrated on eating. With today's exploration and Quinn's usual habit of emptying his magical core every day, he needed a significant amount of calories to meet his dietary needs, so he was quite hungry and needed food in his body.
- (Scene Break) -
After dinner, all the first-year Ravenclaws gathered around the common room to meet Flitwick. On the decided time, Filius Flitwick entered the Ravenclaw common room and greeted the gathered people in his squeaky voice, "Good Evening, children. I hope I didn't keep you waiting."
Filius Flitwick, half-goblin and half-human, had a short stature because of goblin lineage. He tottered to an empty chair and sat on it before asking the students to gather around him. Quinn sat on a chair that was a little distance away from the diminutive professor but at a distance where Quinn could clearly listen to him. Many students opted to sit on the floor to be closeby to the head of the house. They were already acting like little Ravenclaws not willing to miss out on anything that a teacher said.
"I hope all of you have settled down in your dorms and have no problems with your living arrangements because if you do, please do come to me. It is my duty to fix any problems you have, so don't hesitate to share any of your problems," said Flitwick to the new students, trying to get them comfortable.
"Now first, let me introduce myself. My name is Filius Flitwick. I teach the subject Charms. This means I will be teaching you the wonders of all kinds of charms," Flitwick showed a toothy grin seeing the bright-eyed children when he mentioned charms, "But to you children, I am also your head of the house. You will be under my wings during the time you are at Hogwarts, so I once again I say that please don't hesitate and come to me with any problem."
He took a pause before speaking, "My doors are always opened to a ravenclaw in need."
Then he took out his wand and gave it a swing for the Ravenclaw House symbol to appear in the air. The students ooh-ed in awe at the sight of the magic. Even Quinn was mildly surprised.
'Hmm, a light-based magic to project an image in the air,' reflected Quinn as he looked at the glowing house symbol. Quinn wasn't surprised because he hadn't seen anything like this before. The concept behind the magic was simple enough and was a magic from the same line as the Lumos spell, but a lot more complex than the Wand-Lighting charm. The reason behind Quinn's surprise was the detail in the projection image.
'I can see the individual feathers in the raven, and the image is three-dimensional with color grading and shadows,' thought Quinn as he admired the show of magic. Quinn could also project an image in the air, but it would lack the detail present in Flitwick's work.
Flitwick giggled as he took in the joy of his new charges and said, "You all were sorted in Ravenclaw, so I think it is appropriate for you to know about the origins of the house."
With a swish of his wand, the Ravenclaw symbol changed into a woman wearing medieval clothing. Quinn looked past everyone and saw that the white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw. He could see the resemblance between the two.
Flitwick presented a question to the students, "Does anyone of you recognize this lady?" And, every single one of the students, including Quinn, raised their hands.
Flitwick pointed at Quinn and asked him to answer, "Please tell us all your name before answering the question."
Quinn stood up from his chair and answered, "Quinn West. The lady is one of the four founders, Rowena Ravenclaw. She, along with the other three founders, established Hogwarts."
Flitwick enthusiastically clapped while bouncing on his chair and said, "Three points to Ravenclaw! As Mr. West said, Rowena Ravenclaw was one of the four founders, and she created the Hogwarts' house of Ravenclaw. Ravenclaws such as yourselves are characterized by their wit, learning, wisdom, acceptance, intelligence, and creativity. Lady Rowena sought all these qualities in her students, so Ravenclaw students display a number of these traits. I myself was a Ravenclaw during my time at Hogwarts as a student."
"Rowena Ravenclaw prized learning above all else – and so do we. Unlike the other houses, which all have concealed entrances to their common rooms, we don't have that. Ours has no handle but an enchanted bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. When you rap on the door, this knocker will ask you a question, and if you can answer it correctly, you are allowed in. This simple barrier has kept out everyone but Ravenclaws for nearly a thousand years."
The last sentence did cause some first-years to worry, but Flitwick assured them, "I can see some of you who are scared by having to answer the eagle's questions but don't worry. Ravenclaws learn quickly, and you will soon enjoy the challenges the door sets. It is not unusual to find twenty people standing outside the common room door, all trying to work out the answer to the day's question together. This is a great way to meet fellow Ravenclaws from other years and learn from them – although it is a bit annoying if you have forgotten your Quidditch robes or books and need to get in and out in a hurry. In fact, I would advise you to triple-check your bag for everything you need before leaving Ravenclaw Tower." Flitwick was laughing hysterically by the end. He truly was as eccentric as people made him out to be.
Flitwick disappeared the projection and continued, "Sometimes our pursuit of knowledge may come of a being as bookish, and my peers at my time at Hogwarts as a student called me a bookworm among other things." When Flitwick said this, many students showed sad faces as a lot of them had been called similar words.
Flitwick smiled gently and spoke a little louder, "But don't let any of those words deter you. They are just jealous of our knowledge and wisdom and say mean things because we have things they don't have. So, be proud of being smart, and don't feel embarrassed by your love of knowledge. Wear it like a badge of honor. Know that if Rowena Ravenclaw was alive, she would have chosen you all from all the students. Be proud because you are the smartest of the bunch."
He stood upon his chair and exclaimed, "Always remember this; Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure! Repeat after me; Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure!"
"WIT BEYOND MEASURE IS MAN'S GREATEST TREASURE!" Every student in the common room repeated after Flitwick, and the collective voices of the students sound like a war chant. Even Quinn chanted the infamous quote with his fellow students and could feel the confidence that Flitwick given many students. It made Quinn think that Flitwick could have a great career as a motivational speaker.
After everybody calmed down, and Flitwick was sitting on his chair rather than standing on it, he took out a matchstick-sized stack of parchments and waved his wand above the stack, and the stack enlarged to a standard stack of parchments. With another wave, a sheet each flew to every student in the room.
Quinn gracefully received the sheet and read it. On the parchment was a timetable.
"These are your timetable for the year. You will all follow this schedule every week till the end of the year. Please note and remember the room numbers as they won't change and I would recommend that you reach your class five minutes before time," said Flitwick as Quinn read the timetable and he was surprised to see that in a day he only had to attend two to three hours of classes. Quinn calculated, and the time allotted to classroom studies was only fourteen (14) hours a week, fifteen (15) if you added the weekly flying lesson with Madam Hooch.
Quinn was totally down with this schedule, as it would give him more time to study magic on his own. He was sure that the workload would increase from the third year onwards, but he would worry about that when the time came.
Quinn looked up when he heard Flitwick clap his hand and asking the students to look at him. "If you would turn your sights to the library in the common room." Quinn and the rest looked at the library present inside the Ravenclaw common room, a feature unique to the Ravenclaw common room.
"The library has many books that would help you increase your knowledge. I am in charge of selecting the books on the shelves of the library. I constantly keep note of the progress of every class that is taught in Hogwarts. So I know what is being taught to every student of the school, because of that I place complementary and supplementary material related to the topics currently being taught in your classes in our library. For example, if first-year students are learning how to brew the Sleeping Draught in Potions class. Then I would place books related to the Draught and its ingredients in our library for students to read. Then there are my weekly and monthly recommendations, which are not related to the course material but are always an interesting read. There is also a rule that the books often change on the shelves of our library, to keep those who want to learn on their feet, so even if you can't read them, please note the titles, as you would be able to find all these books in the Hogwarts library."
Of all the things Flitwick had said today, this interested Quinn the most. Supplementary material and additional reading were always in better understanding things. Quinn made a note to take full advantage of the in-house library.
At the end of the talk, Flitwick asked, "Now, other than Mr. West, who gained Ravenclaw their first points of the year, congratulations to you, Mr. West -- all the first years, please introduce yourselves. I want to match the names to the faces, and it would also help your housemates to know your names."
Quinn looked at Eddie and said, "Yeah~."
Then Quinn paid attention to his year mates introducing themselves. Quinn too wanted to match faces to names. It would not be well if he could not recall his housemates' names.
Before sleeping that night, Quinn wrote a letter to his family. He described his first day at Hogwarts, his sorting ceremony, what he found in the castle, his living arrangements, among other things. Sealed the letter in an envelop and put it into his dorm's desk drawer, ready to be mailed tomorrow via a school owl.
- (Scene Break) -
During Quinn's first week at Hogwarts, he attended all the lessons and performed all the tasks taught to him. They were easy or him, and like the typical Ravenclaw, he was among the first ones to complete the practicals. Actually, he was the first every time, but he jusst didn't raise his hand to show that he was done with a task.
Unlike Hermione Granger, he didn't jump to every answer that the professors asked. He only answered the questions that were too easy or when nobody had the answer to the question. It did cause some teachers to call out Quinn to answer questions which didn't bother him as Quinn knew all the answers, and because he didn't jump to answer all the questions, he wasn't tagged as a Know-It-All.
Because Quinn already knew all the stuff in the classes, he would efficiently make use of his time by sneakily completing all his homework in class time itself, so he had more time to himself. He even completed his potions homework in Snape's class itself, which Quinn thought deserved at least fifty (50) points.
But, Snape did pay attention to Quinn because his potions were way better than the rest of the class, and by a huge margin. When Quinn told Snape that he had learned about potions at home, he just sneered but said nothing as this practice wasn't uncommon for magical households.
But Quinn didn't know that Snape was now paying extra attention to him. Even though learning potions before coming to school wasn't uncommon, the quality of potions that Quinn brewed was not common at all, especially for someone his age.
Even the other professors remembered Quinn fairly well, and he was among the students that stood out from his batch; Quinn's practical work was just too good for a student who had been in school for a single week. But because Quinn did nothing extra other than what was asked, he was just seen as a very talented child and not the freak of nature that Quinn was. Plus, being a Ravenclaw helped Quinn's image as Ravenclaws were always good at academics.
Quinn had no idea what was going through his professors' minds because he was too busy with another problem.
A major problem.
Quinn's current capabilities were on the level of a fourth-year student. His level of ability to focus magic was stuck at his current level for a half year and had improved little. So, he had begun working at more efficiency and speed of casting, hoping that it would help, but nothing particularly helped. He did everything to improve what he already knew and could do with his level of focus, but his focus didn't improve by much.
This was the reason that Quinn was excited about turning eleven and getting a wand. But both of those events caused him disappointment.
The reason why a child started attending a magical school at age eleven was that the magic inside a child switched from a turbulent state to a state of growth. A person with magic entered a time of exponential growth from age eleven that continued to age seventeen, and a magical's ability to focus magic would increase naturally. The ability to focus magic would increase even if they didn't use magic, and if they worked hard during this time, they would reap added benefits.
The term 'Magic is Muscle,' applied heavily from ages eleven to seventeen as a person saw the most growth in this time period, and that applied to the ability to focus magic. But, nothing happened when Quinn turned eleven, there was no jump in focus for him. Time passed, but nothing changed in his magic.
Then he looked forward to getting a wand. He wanted a wand to aid him by supplementing his focus, but it turned out that if he used a wand, he would become dependent on it, and it would take an exponential amount of work to perform focusless magic. Now, his wand was encased in a block of wood and locked inside a room in a suitcase.
But, Quinn was forgetting an important event. A date that came every year, and after so many years Quinn had forgotten about it, but this year it was going to be different. Quinn didn't know it but this day would be a turning point in his life.
-*-*-*-*-*-
[
A/N [1]: Just to clear a confusion that I have been noticing popping in the comments. Quinn West is one (1) year older than Harry Potter. The current year is 1990. Harry Potter joins Hogwarts in 1991. The Weasley twins and Cedric are in the second (2nd) year right now. Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley would enter Hogwarts when Quinn is in his third (3rd) year.
]
Quinn West - MC- Hogwarts (Ravenclaw) - Worried about his magic.
Eddie Carmichael - Ravenclaw - Is bad with directions.
Filius Flitwick - Charms Professor - "You may have heard that I was a Duelling Champion!", said Flitwick, drawing his wand on misbehaving students.
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