Chapitre 44: Change In Mindscape, and The Sales Pitch
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A few days into the summer break between two school years, Quinn laid in the bed in his room. The room had changed little in the years Quinn had occupied it. The only changes were the larger study table and pictures on the wall, accumulated over the years, capturing precious memories in their frames.
Not all of them moved like the magical photographs did and remained still like non-magical photography. There was something in still photos that Quinn liked, and some shots were stripped off their magic, leaving the exact moment they were clicked.
The room's occupant had his eyes closed, laying on his back, away from the real world, and inside his mindscape.
The same mindscape that once had been a white space and was turned into a vast green grass field with clouds above, gracing the blue sky with their pearly white contrast.
On the grassy field stood a manor, a building that acted as a gateway to the place in the mind where the memories resided, bringing them into the mindscape for better access. Inside the manor, memories manifested in the form of books.
Thousands of books sat on hundreds of shelves, each book representing a memory, memories from all over Quinn's life. Be it something as trivial as what he ate at dinner over a month ago to vital things like the proper method for channeling Blood magic without harming the body.
Outside the mind-replica of the West manor stood Quinn, gazing at the building that he had built years ago and had since spent hours upon hours changing the sorting scheme of the memory books, creating and developing methods of crafting new memory books.
Sorting memories so that they would be easier to find and access and, at the same time, the configuration scheme of the books would make it difficult for a legilimens to see his memories.
Quinn turned away from the West manor replica and looked in the opposite direction, suddenly the scenery shifted, and Quinn stood in a much larger building. A building that outclassed the West manor in every size aspect; it covered more ground and stood much taller than the West manor.
A complete replica of Hogwarts castle stood in Quinn's mindscape, exuding the grandeur like the actual one in the real world. He had modified the grassy terrain of the mindscape to suit the castle's surroundings. Rocky canyons, lakes, and trees were now part of the fabricated ecosystem in Quinn's mindscape.
It had taken Quinn two years to complete this replica in his mindscape. Hundreds of nights and days of exploration of the castle, several miles/kilometers of foot mileage, tons of memorization, and hours of immersion in memories of the castle to construct a stronger image of the building and its interior.
Quinn took a step forward, and the scenery once again changed. He stood inside the castle; In the Great Hall, looking at the charmed ceiling, which now showed a clear sky. The same as Quinn's simple fabrication of the sky.
With each step Quinn took, he was in a different room in a distinct part of the castle. There were quite a few differences between the real and replica of Hogwarts.
The portraits in the actual version weren't present here, and the walls were now covered with empty frames. Quinn's variant didn't have a Room of Requirements as he didn't have the time to create a working version of Room of Requirements, so he left it out for now.
Professor's offices and housing were omitted from Quinn's version. Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff common rooms and dorms were just copies of Ravenclaw common room. Even Ravenclaw girl's dorms were a replica of the boy's dorms because he had never been there. Despite all these differences, the Hogwarts replica was a stable structure with no breaks or fissures.
After Quinn was satisfied with the final audit of the castle, he turned away, and he was outside the castle replica.
"Okay, let's do this."
Quinn closed his eyes, and at the West manor replica, the gateway for his memory to appear in the mindscape closed.
"Connection closed," whispered Quinn.
He took a deep breath and focused on the Hogwarts castle.
The castle started to rumble as termors filled the building, and the surrounding areas shook with quakes. A new connection to the memories opened up, and the Hogwarts castle became a gateway for memories to gather in Quinn's mindscape.
The whole process took a few moments and consisted of lots of groaning and grunts from Quinn.
"Phew... well, that wasn't any easy than the last time," sighed Quinn.
"New connection established."
He raised his hand and swung it down towards the castle. Quinn turned away from the Hogwarts replica and looked at the sky. Within seconds, thousands and thousands of books fluttered across the sky and entered the castle through windows and gates.
"Memories injected into the replica, complete," noted Quinn.
With Hogwarts standing in his mindscape, he now had a larger space to work with. He could also experiment with new sorting techniques that could use the expanded space, rooms, and floors. The architecture and floor plans of Hogwarts were also much more complex than the more simplistic West manor.
Quinn took a step away from the castle to instantaneously arrive at the West manor in his mindscape.
He looked at the manor with nostalgia and entered the building to find it empty without any memory books; all left in the buildings were vacant bookshelves.
Quinn touched one of the walls in the building and said, "Don't worry, buddy, I still have plenty of use for you."
He had no intention of destroying the West manor replica in his mindscape. He had other plans for it,
"I am going to store all my happiest memories in here," smiled Quinn, feeling sentimental about the first structure in his mind.
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- (Scene Break) -
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"Uncle Elliot," said Quinn, calling out Elliot, who was drinking his tea in the living hall.
Elliot looked up from the book he was reading and asked, "What is it, young master?"
Quinn sat on the sofa in front of Elliot and cleared his throat, "I have something I want you to do."
Elliot put down his cup of tea and closed his book, "Yes, what do you want me to do?"
Quinn put on a slight smile and asked, "I want you to arrange a meeting for me with grandfather."
"... Young master, what do you mean by arranging a meeting? You can go and see your grandfather anytime you desire. He won't turn you away." Quinn's request greatly confused Elliot; he wasn't sure what Quinn was asking for from him.
Quinn shook his head in response, "I don't want to meet my grandfather for a personal reason." He took a short breath and continued, "I want to meet George West for a business proposition. So, my meeting is not for a personal motive, but a professional reason."
Elliot's brows raised as he leaned forward, "A business proposition?"
"Yes, I want to sell grandfather something and thought if I arranged a meeting via you, it would seem more professional," grinned Quinn.
"But, doesn't all this sound a bit silly?" asked Elliot, observing Quinn, interested in the direction of the conversation.
Quinn nodded, but at the same nodded, "Yes, but as grandfather says, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and ..."
"... while many make a good first impression, only a few will make a good lasting impression," finished Elliot, smiling as he remembered the words often spoken by George.
Quinn nodded and spoke, "If I do this, it will create an impression on grandfather, and it will help me out when I go and put my proposal out in front of him."
Elliot stayed silent for a moment before saying, "Alright, I will do it. I will set up a meeting with your grandfather."
Quinn smiled, but Elliot continued,
"But, if I am going to do this, I would have to know that what you are planning is worth it."
Quinn paused listening to that and blinked in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
Elliot crossed his leg over the other and rested his hands on his lap.
"If we are taking this seriously, then by setting this meeting, I am vouching that you are a legit opportunity and not some waste of time. If I am going to use my name for this meeting, then I have to be sure that you are not wasting your grandfather's time."
Quinn pursed his lips and asked, "Alright, what do you want from me?"
"Opportunity is a haughty lady who wastes no time with those who are unprepared," quoted Elliot, before continuing, "Before the meeting, we are going to clear out the kinks from your proposal."
Quinn nodded. He could certainly use some help on this matter.
"But before that, I have to hear your plan. I have to see what you are building on and if it is useful enough," said Elliot.
Quinn nodded and revealed his idea,
"So, you know about..."
Elliot listened as Quinn spoke about his plan, and as Quinn talked more and more about his idea, Elliot became increasingly interested.
"... Young master, if you can deliver what you are saying, then this would be big," said Elliot, his eyes shining with eagerness, "enormous, a game-changer."
Quinn smiled and spoke while nodding, "Oh, believe me, I can deliver."
Elliot nodded, leaned forward, and looked Quinn in the eye, "Alright then, let's make sure that this goes perfectly."
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- (Scene Break) -
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George West sat in his study, doing work when he heard a knock on his door.
"Come in," he said, knowing who it was from the knocks.
Elliot entered the study and closed the door behind him. He sat on the chairs in front of the desk and waited for George to speak to him.
George asked, not looking up from his papers, "What is it, Elliot?"
"I have a person who I want you to meet," started Elliot.
He and Quinn had been working on his presentation for quite a few days, and Elliot thought that Quinn was ready, so here he was setting up a meeting for Quinn.
"Hmm? You want me to meet someone? Who?" asked George.
"A person with a product that I think is great. He contacted me hoping to get a meeting with you," answered Elliot.
"That is rare, a reference from you, that is," said George as he continued to work.
"Well, I have a certain standard to maintain, and this one passed the criteria I set up," responded Elliot, with a smile on his face.
"Alright, look up a spot on my calendar and set up a meeting in one of the free spots. Within the usual timings," said George.
Elliot nodded and stood up, "It will be done."
As Elliot walked to the door, George asked, "What is the name of the person?"
Elliot looked back with a grin and answered, "Oh, it is Quinn West."
George stopped his pen and looked up with his eyes wide, "What did you say?"
Elliot's grin was so broad that it split his face, "I said the name is Quinn West, and I was thinking that we would set up the meeting here. It will be easy to meet for both parties."
George stared at Elliot and uttered, "... What?"
Elliot sat back down, enjoying the look on George's face.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Lia and George sat in one of the rooms in the West manor. The room was turned into a conference room. The room had two chairs behind a table for Lia and George to sit. In front of the table was an empty place for the presenter to stand and present.
Lia looked at her grandfather and spoke, "Grandfather, please tell me more about the person we are meeting. You know I don't like going to meetings without knowing what I am here for."
She sighed irritably and continued, "I don't like to be unprepared."
Lia wasn't feeling positive about this meeting. Her grandfather has called her while she wasn't in the country on brief notice and didn't give her an option to refuse. And, he didn't tell her anything about the meeting.
"Be patient. Elliot is the one who recommended this person," said George, not revealing who the meeting was with.
Lia sighed and just looked at the empty display stand in front of the room.
The door opened, and the grandfather-granddaughter pair watched as Elliot stood with the door wide open.
"He is here," said Elliot with a smile on his face.
Lia rolled her eyes and said, "Finally."
Elliot turned his face to outside the room and called out, "You may enter."
Lia's eyes widened as she saw her little brother enter the room, dressed in formal wear. He had a big envelope in his hand and was dragging a small trunk on wheels behind me.
"Quinn?!" exclaimed Lia, not sure what to make of this. While George sat in his chair, not a single expression on his face.
Quinn sat the envelope on the display stand and set the trunk a little behind the display stand. He brushed his clothes and confidently walked towards the table.
"Good morning. My name is Quinn West," greeted Quinn with a smile on his face, his hand extended for a handshake with George.
George shook Quinn's hand and said, "George West."
George grinned when it came to Lia, "Nice to see you, Lia." Taking her hand and kissing her knuckles.
He stepped back and moved towards the stand. Taking out his fake wand, Quinn used magic. A thin white cardboard sheet floated out and set them on the display stand. With another swing, the cardboard sheet expanded to its full sizes, fitting the size of the display stand.
Quinn turned around to his family members and spoke,
"My name is Quinn West, and I believe what I am about to show you will change the way we communicate with each other," he paused before smiling, "I am here to present what I perceive as the future of communication in the magical world. Something that will change be conceived as a great change in the world."
Quinn waved his fake wand, and a picture letter envelope appeared on the cardboard.
"When we communicate with people who aren't close to us, we write and send them letters," said Quinn as the picture of the letter envelope shrunk and two stick figures appeared on the white. The letter went from one stick figure to the other, depicting that the mail was sent.
"Now, how do we send that letter to another person. We use owls or eagles as the carrier of our message," as he said that the cardboard went blank before an owl appeared on it clutching a letter in its claws, flapping its wings as if flying somewhere.
"Owls and other carrier birds have been in the magical society for centuries. We have been using these trained birds to deliver messages of trivial gossip to important documents for as long as we can remember."
Quinn stared at George and Lia and asked, "But, is this the best we can do? We have the power of magic at our fingertips, and messenger bird is the best we can manage? No, I think we can do much better."
Quinn waved his wand, and the Ministry of Magic's symbol appeared on the white cardboard.
"British ministry of magic stopped using owls for in-house memos because of all the mess that the owls made and the commotions that our trusted mail birds caused."
Small paper airplanes appeared on the white as they flew around the ministry symbol.
"Now, they charm their documents so that they would fold themselves into paper airplanes and fly to their destination."
Quinn made a 'meh' expression and commented, "A somewhat interesting solution, but it has a major shortcoming. What happens if some jerk is having a bad day and decides to mess up someone else's day. He or she would yank a random airplane out of the air and tear it to pieces."
The picture on the cardboard depicted an angry-looking man shredding the paper plane into pieces.
Quinn cleared his throat and spoke, "We got a little off-topic. Let's return to owls," he walked around the room with his hands behind his back.
"What are some shortcomings of owl communication," Quinn uncurled his pinky finger from his fist, "They take time to deliver the letter as it takes time to fly to places, and the time increases with the distances, owls make a mess as every bird does. It takes time and money to raise mail owls. Owl mail is not totally secure as they can get in trouble with other birds and can get distracted," with every point, Quinn uncurled another finger.
He stopped in the center of the room and spoke, "And anyone can capture owls to see the message inside; there is very little security when using owls." Quinn stared at George and said, "Our very own ministry has the authority to monitor owl messages... the big brother is always watching."
He slowly walked towards the table behind which Lia and George were sitting and declared, "What if I can solve every single of these problems. What if I can provide you a solution that would change the way people send letters to each other."
A smile slowly emerged on Quinn's face as he spoke, "Today, here and now, I have a product that will allow a person to send a message to another person." Quinn snapped his fingers. "Instantly... eradicating the need of any wait time for getting a letter. With excellent security that no one wouldn't allow people to snipe the owls and read our messages. A product that would cover all the shortcoming of owl mails."
George and Lia watched Quinn as he spoke about his product. While George still had no expression on his face, Lia's eyes showed curiosity about this product.
Quinn turned away from the table and walked to the trunk, and rolled it towards the table.
Quinn spoke while crouched down to open the trunk, "I am going to show you something that will convince you that I can break the long-running usage of owls to deliver messages."
He took out two wooden objects; they were the size of a shirt box. Each wooden box had a slot on one of the short sides. On the top of the side of the wooden boxes, there was a rectangular copper plate in the size of A-4 size sheet embedded in the wood.
He took out two sheets of paper and set one sheet in front of Lia, and while handing a pen to her, Quinn said, "Would you write something on this paper. Anything would do; you can ever draw on the paper if you like."
Lia took the pen from Quinn. She uncapped it, and in the middle of the page, she wrote her name in fancy handwriting.
"Good, know would you place it upside down on the copper plate and tap your wand on the paper," instructed Quinn with a smile. As he said that, Quinn put the other sheet in the other box's slot in front of George.
Lia followed the instruction and put the sheet down upside down on the copper plate. She took out her wand and tapped the page.
George and Lia watched as the copper plate under Lia's page glowed blue before turning green. On George's side, a blue light came from the paper slot before turning green.
Quinn smiled and looked at George, "Mr. West, would you take out the page from the slot."
George took out the paper from the slot, and his eyes widened as he saw Lia's name in the same handwriting on the page he just pulled out.
When Lia looked at the page in George's hand, she gasped to see her handwriting on another sheet.
"I give you instantaneous mail," said Quinn with a smile on his face.
Quinn had invented the magical equivalent of the fax machine.
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[
A/N [1] - The fax machines became popular in the late 1980s. Quinn developed a magical version when the fax machines in the prime of the muggle fax machine.
*
A/N [2] - I will explain the working of the magical fax machine in the next chapter.
]
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Quinn West - MC - Invented the fax machine.
Elliot Dalton - Sales Pitch Guru - Actually has a really high position in the West business.
George West - Big Boss - Proud of Quinn's presentation skills.
Lia West - Small Boss - In awe of the artifact in front of her.
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