Quinn and Alan walked in the gardens of the West manor. It was their last lesson, and both decided that a casual stroll would be the best way to end their correspondence.
Alan had his hands behind his back as he walked with his student of almost three years. "Sometimes I forget you still a little brat. I had completely forgotten that you too would need to attend a school."
Quinn scoffed and retorted, "I will take that as a compliment. So young, yet so talented. Live with it, old man. The younger generation would always surpass the older one."
Alan chuckled but chose not to reply. He knew that if they started, both of them could go back and forth for hours, and even then, none of the two would concede defeat. Instead, he decided to enquire Quinn's future plans regarding mind-arts.
"Do you plan to improve your mind-arts in the future? What are your plans for the future?"
Quinn looked up at his teacher while replying, "The mind, body, and soul. The three most important things for a magical. Magic is connected to all three facets of a being. So it would be without saying that I would continue to develop my mind. There is no harm in developing my mind. It would help me improve my magic and life in general."
Alan nodded and probed, "And, how are you going to improve them?"
"Well, I would be in a place full of people, so training Legilimency wouldn't be a problem. Even though most of them won't have any defenses, I can still train other aspects of legilimency," answered Quinn, explaining his plans to exploit his fellow schoolmates.
Alan didn't comment on the blatant admission of the intended invasion of privacy of dozens of people, "You can train your legilimency with the method I taught you."
Alan had suggested to Quinn a method using which he would be able to train his legilimency alone without requiring a person as a target.
"Ah, yes. Using occlumency to train legilimency. I need to build a small shield system inside my mindscape and then remove the memory of anything related to the new shield and lock those memories underneath the shield system. This way, I won't know how to penetrate that shield and would be able to practice breaking occlumency defenses using legilimency." Quinn recited the method suggested by Alan. He also snapped his fingers and added, "I just need to find new ideas for occlumency defenses so that I could create new scenarios for me to go against. This way, not only my legilimency improve, but even my occlumency skill would also improve. A perpetual cycle of improvement."
Alan nodded in agreement but also asked, "And, what are the warnings that I gave you?"
This method did have a drawback that could harm the mind if used carelessly. "Never isolate a memory for a long period. Willful repressing of memory would always cause problems."
Alan patted Quinn on his back, "Correct, all you need to do is free the memory from its repression for a small period before you could once again suppress it. So, don't be lazy and follow proper procedure."
"Aye," saluted Quinn. He kicked a small pebble in his path and asked, "What about you? What are you going to do next? What is in the future for Mr. Alan D. Baddeley?"
Alan shrugged in response to the question, "I have no idea. There are some jobs lined up that I could take, or I could take another vacation and relax, or I maybe I would write a few research papers for publication. Ah well, I would follow where life takes me."
Both student and teacher fell into a comfortable silence as they continued to walk around the garden before Quinn spoke his thoughts, "You know, I wanted to learn more from you. Your lessons are so fun, and now they are going to end."
Without looking at Quinn, Alan offered, "You can come apprentice under me when you pass out of school."
Quinn turned up to look at Alan with surprised etched on his face, his eye wide, brows pulled up, "I didn't know you offered apprenticeships."
"Indeed, I don't offer apprenticeships. I stopped offering them when I turned hundred years old, but you are interesting enough for me to offer one. Plus, I am interested in how much you could improve. It would be fun to compare the progress from now, to let's say when you turn into an adult." Alan's time with Quinn had shown him Quinn's potential, and it would be worthwhile of Alans' time to teach Quinn at a higher level.
Quinn, without even thinking about the offer, accepted, "I would be honored to apprentice under someone of your caliber. I would come to find you when I think the time is right, so don't die before I do that, old man."
Alan chuckled and retorted, "You better keep on improving because if I find that you have slacked off, I will definitely kick you out before we even start."
"I will keep that in mind," laughed Quinn even though he knew Alan wasn't joking.
Alan fished out a pocket watch from his clothes and spoke after checking the time. "It looks like it is the time for me to leave."
Both of them walked to the floo-connected fireplace, and before leaving, they said goodbye. Quinn raised his hand for a handshake. "It was fun learning from you, Mr. Alan," said Quinn and used Alan's first name for the very first time.
Alan showed a similar smile and shook his student's hands, "It was nice teaching you, Mr. Quinn."
With that, Alan left the West Manor in a flash of green fire from the floo.
- (Scene Break) -
On the first of August, Quinn and George went out to Diagon Alley to get all the stuff needed for the upcoming school year. It was going to be Quinn's first time coming to Diagon Alley. It surprised that Quinn had never gone to Diagon Alley. He never needed to go shopping as he just needed to tell Elliot, and he would get stuff for him.
When Quinn thought of that, his first reaction was, "Holy Crap! I am a sheltered child! Maybe even a little spoiled." But Quinn managed to convince himself that he wasn't a sheltered child, as he frequently visited the non-magical world with Lia.
Diagon alley was just as it had been described in the books. Quinn saw a Potion ingredient shop and saw a bright stack of cauldrons outside the shop.
Cauldrons — All Sizes — Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver — Self-Stirring — Collapsible, read a sign hanging over them. The shop was named Potage's Cauldron Shop.
He saw a dark-colored building with a sign reading Eeylops Owl
Emporium — Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy.
And, many more shops like,
Slug & Jiggers Apothecary,
Broomstix; a store that sold brooms,
Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour,
The bookstore; Flourish and Blotts,
Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions,
Magical Menagerie; the pet store,
Ollivander's; the wand shop,
And, many more shops of many kinds, but George pulled Quinn, not stopping even at a single one. They walked straight to a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Carved into the white stone was the name of the building,
「Gringotts Wizarding Bank」
Then his eyes found the two figures clad in scarlet and gold, standing in front of the burnished bronze door.
"Goblins."
The identity of the figures escaped Quinn's mouth. They were about a head shorter than Quinn. Had swarthy, clever faces, pointed beards, and very long fingers and feet. Quinn had seen goblin before in his travels.
Quinn and George stopped a distance from Gringotts, and George looked at Quinn before speaking, "Gringotts Wizarding Bank is the only wizarding bank in Magical Britain. This means that goblins have a monopoly over the banking business. In the treaty signed by the Goblin Nation and Ministry Of Magic, it is stated that Gringotts would be the only bank in Magical Britain, and no other bank would be allowed to open and operate in Magical Britain. Failure to comply would, without fail, would lead to a war between the two parties. Plus, in the centuries they have been active, they have cemented their place in the lives of British people. They are too big to fail."
George looked at the building with displeasure in his eyes and spoke with contempt in his tone, "The Ministry Of Magic was foolish enough to sign that treaty and made it binding with no chance for renegotiation. Do you know why this is bad?"
Quinn nodded and stated the obvious, "This kind of monopoly allows them to charge any amount of money for their services. Because of the treaty you mentioned, they have free reign and have no competitor, much less than an alternative." Even though Quinn spent most of his time studying magic, he still was a child of a business owner.
George rubbed Quinn's head and praised him, "Excellent, you are completely right." He looked at the goblins at the door and continued, "Britain's Ministry Of Magic taxes its people a low tax amount, and it is praised all over the world for that, but what they don't know is the reason for such low tax prices. Goblins' charge a lot to maintain the banking system and economy of this country, and that makes the ministry impose lower taxes, to even out the expenditure by the people."
Then George smirked. An unusual expression from the usually stoic man, "That is why I slowly moved all of our family money to Switzerland. It took me ten years to move all our family money out of this damned bank. It was glorious when they realized what I had done, and they couldn't do a single thing about it."
Then George sighed, "Now, we don't use Gringotts for any financial services. It does cause us to spend an amount of money to transfer money to Switzerland regularly, for our business operated in Britain. Even then, it is much less than the amount that it would take to maintain our accounts at Gringotts."
Quinn nodded with an 'is that so' expression, "So, why are we here?"
George revealed the reason with a sigh, "Now that you are going to Hogwarts, you would be needing money for things. Knowing you, you would start ordering extra books and other things like potion ingredients via mail order. It isn't safe for you to have your entire allowance in person without security, and as Gringotts have regular contact with muggle banks because of the muggleborns, they have adopted a cheque service that would allow mail-ordering businesses to retrieve money directly from Gringotts. You could send us the list of things, and we could buy them for you, but it would waste unnecessary time. So, I have opened a student trust vault for you. Now, let's go in and retrieve your key."
The pair entered the bank, and the goblin guards bowed, and as they walked inside, they faced another door of silver, with words engraved upon them:
[
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
]
A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors, and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. Doors numbering an amount laborious to count exited the main hall, and goblins guided people in-and-out of these pathways.
George and Quinn made for the counter.
"Morning," said George to a free goblin teller. "We have come here to retrieve the keys and other items for Quinn West's student vault."
The goblin looked down at the pair from his high desk, and Quinn could almost hear a snarl in the goblin's voice as he spoke, "West."
"Yes, West." Once again, Quinn could almost hear the smugness in his grandfather's voice. And, Quinn had to say, he was loving this adventurous side of his grandfather.
Quinn silently watched as the goblin glared down at his grandfather, and his grandfather smiled up at the goblin.
"George West," the goblin identified George with a scowl on his face.
"Goblin," replied George with the smile on his face deepening.
After continuing the staring contest for another while, before the goblin harrumphed, "Papers."
George retrieved some documents from his robes and handed them to the goblin. The goblin studied them with the intent for a while before snarling something over his shoulder in Gobbledegook. The goblin turned to the human pair and said, "Wait, you will have your items shortly." Then he ignored them completely.
George and Quinn stood to the side to wait for their items, and while they were waiting, Quinn asked. "Grandfather, are you sure that they won't make trouble for me when I use their services?"
George shook his head and explained, "Gringotts make sure that their services are always on point. Goblins work hard to make sure that there are minimal mistakes. They know if they make mistakes, the ministry will breathe down their necks because the ministry doesn't like the treaty and are actively trying to find issues to put the Goblin Nation and Gringotts on the back foot."
While they were waiting for the goblins, Quinn heard someone call out, "Mr. West." Both George and Quinn turned to see who had called them out, to find a man and a teen walk towards them.
George looked at the man walking towards him and said, "Diggory, Amos Diggory."
The two men shook hands, but Quinn wasn't listening to them as he was too busy staring at the teen in front of him.
'Holy! He is Cedric Diggory, isn't he? So, the characters will look like their movie actors, huh,' thought Quinn as he observed a young Cedric Diggory.
Cedric Diggory sensed someone staring at him, and when he turned to find out, it was the kid who was standing with the man his father was talking to. He decided to talk to the kid and introduce himself,
"Hello. My name is Cedric Diggory."
Quinn snapped out his thoughts and introduced himself, "Morning, My name is Quinn West." He put out his hand for a handshake which Cedric shook.
"So, Quinn, how old are you?" asked Cedric.
"I am eleven years old," replied Quinn, and from the question, he could guess where this conversation was going.
Cedric perked up as he found something to start the conversation, "So you must be attending Hogwarts this year."
Quinn nodded with a smile, "Yes, I will be a first-year this year. What about you?"
"I will be a second-year this year. Have you decided which house you want to be in? I am in Hufflepuff," asked Cedric as they chatted.
Quinn shrugged and replied, "I haven't thought about what house I want to be in. I actually don't know how houses are assigned. My grandfather wouldn't tell me anything about it."
A full-blown smile appeared on Cedric's face as he said, "Then it is best if you get to know about it on the day itself. I assure you it will be a fun experience."
Quinn nodded as he already knew the sorting ceremony and was just asking so that the conversation would go on.
"So, did you buy your wand?" asked Cedric, knowing that getting a wand was the one thing all new students got excited about.
Quinn shook his head, but Cedric could see the excitement in his eyes, so he gave Quinn a piece of advice, "When you to Ollivanders, the owner, Ollivander would try to surprise you, so look out for him, okay."
Quinn tilted his head in confusion for show and nodded.
By then, Amos Diggory and George had caught up with each other and turned their attention to their children.
"And, who might you be, little man?" asked Amos Diggory.
Quinn turned to face Amos and introduced himself. "Morning, My name is Quinn West. It is a pleasure to meet you." Quinn once again put out his for a handshake, and Amos shook his hand with a smile.
Amos looked at George and asked, "Dear Merlin, Mr. West, I didn't know you had another grandchild."
George chuckled and said, "This one doesn't like to get out of the house."
The goblin teller called for Quinn and George to take their items, and after that, they parted from the Diggorys.
As they exited the bank, George told Quinn about Amos Diggory, "Amos Diggory, pureblood, works at Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic. Amos is actually part of the Goblin Liason Office. Though it is quite fortunate that he isn't the head of the Liason office, with his overly emotional personality, the goblins would have eaten him alive." George paused for a moment before stating, "He is barely competent at his job."
Quinn thought about the discrimination in the ministry and the purebloods occupying most of the high-ranking positions. The half-bloods occupied the rest of the high-ranking positions and no muggleborn representation.
Quinn was a pureblood because neither of his parents and grandparents were non-magicals (muggles) or first-generation magicals (muggleborns). But unlike most of the British pureblood families, West Family wasn't on their way to inbreeding. Quinn's grandmother was from France, and his mother from Italy and that had provided the family with sufficient gene diversity.
George looked at his grandson and smiled, "Come on, let's get to you all the stuff needed. Especially your wand."
Quinn grinned broadly in response.
-*-*-*-*-*-
[
A/N [1] - Now, let's make some things clear. Quinn West is ONE YEAR OLDER than Harry Potter. He was born in 1979 (Harry - 1980) and is starting Hogwarts in 1990 (Harry - 1991).
*
A/N [2] - Now, despite the speculations about Quinn following Harry, he won't be doing that. He will be a bit too busy learning magic. But, there will be some interactions that are inevitable. Now, I HAVEN'T actually revealed Quinn's current magic capabilities, I will reveal them when he officially enters Hogwarts.
*
A/N [3] - I am trying to keep this SEMI-realistic. He won't be as powerful as Dumbledore and Voldemort right off the bat. It would take time. Plus, Quinn WON'T solely focus on COMBAT MAGIC.
My design for Quinn is of an innovator/researcher. Combat Magic is NOT the only magic available. I know there is a war coming and combat magic would be important, but I still want to focus on "PRODUCTION MAGIC".
]
-*-*-*-*-*-
Quinn West - MC - 11 years Old - About to join Hogwarts.
George West - Grandfather - Dunked on Gringotts.
Alan D. Baddeley - Teacher - Has offered an apprenticeship.
Amos Diggory - Ministry Employ - Generally happy, but is quite emotional
Cedric Diggory - Hogwarts Student - 2nd-year student -Looks like his movie actor.
-*-*-*-*-*-
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As they exited Gringotts, Quinn turned to George and advised, "Grandfather, I want to go to the wand store at the end. If we go there first, I am sure that I won't pay attention to anything after. I want to go home straight home after we get my wand. Can we do that?"
George chuckled and replied, "Alright, then we will get your wand at the end. Let's get you all the stuff needed. Tell me what do we need to buy."
Quinn looked at the list of things from his mindscape and listed off things, "First of all, we need cauldrons. The Hogwarts list only asks for a pewter cauldron, but I require a copper and brass one as well. Similarly, we also need to buy stirring spoons of all the same materials. And all the other preparation equipment like knives, crushers, mortars, and pestles. Oh! We also need potion and ingredient vials of different shapes and shades. And at last, we need potion-grade protective gloves and safety goggles."
George nodded, and the pair went to Potage's Cauldron Shop to buy the potion supplies. George ordered all the things and told them to deliver them to the West Manor. He also showed Quinn how to use his cheques and pay for things.
They came out, and George asked, "What is next?"
"Robes. I need five sets of plain work robes in black, two plain pointed hats in black, and three winter cloak in black with silver fastenings. In addition, all clothes need a tag with my name on them," replied Quinn.
"Alright, let's go to Madam Malkin's. That shop the best when it comes to Hogwarts uniforms," replied George before supplying, "Do you know Madam Malkin's has been open since the time of my grandfather."
When they entered the store, an assistant greeted them, "Welcome to Madam Malkin's. How may we help you today?"
"We need five sets of standard Hogwarts robes and uniforms; please make them in raw silk. Two black pointed hats, made from a raw silk and cotton blend, and five pairs of white socks. Three sets of sweaters, made from a wool and silk blend. Three sets of winter robes made from your best material." George paused for a moment before adding, "Please line the insides of both summer and winter robes with pockets, and I want individual threads to be charmed with suitable charms instead of the final product."
The assistant jotted down all the requests and replied, "Certainly, there is a five-minute wait. Please, wait in the seating area. I will call you in when it is your turn."
George and Quinn sat in the seating area, and Quinn asked, "There was nothing of that mentioned in the letter." George smiled and answered, "If you go to any clothing store, the employees will walk you through the entire process when you ask them for Hogwarts robes. But, it helps if you know the things to expedite the process. Now, all we need for clothing are leather belts. We will get them at another store in Carkitt Market."
The assistant called Quinn for the measurement, and Madame Malkin used her charmed-measuring tapes to take measures and then asked them to return in half an hour to get their clothes.
They exited the store and talked about the next course of action, "So, where to next," asked George.
Quinn thought about it and said, "I already have a telescope, so we don't need to buy that, so let's get the leather belt and then pass some time at Flourish and Blotts till the clothes are done, and then go buy me a wand," finished Quinn with a smile on his face.
"You and your obsession with books," said George while looking at his grandson. "Alright, let's do that."
The pair went to a leather accessory store to have their belts made and then went to Flourish and Blotts, where Quinn got the biggest shock of his second life.
- (Scene Break) -
Quinn entered Flourish and Blotts and left behind George to browse the collection of books in the store. Till now, he had been buying supplementary books with the help of catalogs of various bookstores around the world, so he never needed to visit a bookstore, so he decided to take his browsing through the books.
While he was browsing through the books, he reached the fiction section and found some books that made him laugh as they were fictional books on Harry Potter and his supposed adventures. It was a completed series sold in a set of seven books.
With a smile on his face, he turned around and saw a stand of newspaper and magazine. He picked up Daily Prophet, which his grandfather termed as 'A joke of a newspaper.' When he looked at the first page, his body and brain froze.
On the first page of the Daily Prophet, in bold words, the headline said.
「POTTERS SEEN AT THE MINISTRY.」
Quinn's jaw dropped when he saw the accompanying photo and in it, he saw four people; two adults and two children. He immediately recognized the boy child in the photo as the golden boy, The-Boy-Who-Lived, Chosen One, Harry James Potter, with his glasses and the lightning bolt scar on the forehead. He looked like a near-spitting image of the man in the photo who Quinn guessed was the supposed-to-be-dead, James Potter.
Quinn focused on the other two people in the photo, and while he couldn't make out the color of the lady's hair in the black-and-white photo, Quinn was ready to bet his whole book collection that the lady was Lily Potter (nee. Evans). The only one he didn't recognize was the girl in the photo. He didn't know if the girl was a twin or a little sister, but he had to find out about this whole situation,
'Merlin's balls' is this an AU or parallel universe. No wonder things were going too smoothly; fate was waiting to be a b*tch, and now she struck me with a sledgehammer like this,' thought Quinn, as he stared intently at the paper.
He clutched the paper in his hands, and with a quick-thumping heart, power-walked around the store to find books related to the Boy-who-lived and You-know-who.
'I knew these hyphenated bastards were going to make problems for me, but this is ridiculous.' Quinn came to a sudden stop as he found the book he was looking for.
「Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.」
He nearly ripped the book out of the shelf, opened it to find the index, and found the heading, 'First Wizarding War.' Quinn sat down in front of the bookshelf and flipped to the chapter about the First Wizarding War.
As he read it, the book helped clear his doubts. The events were the same canon, but things changed when the war reached the date October 31, 1981.
On Halloween, in Godric's Hollows, it wasn't James and Lily Potter that died, but Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, the grandparents of Harry Potter, who had died. James and Lily Potter were out of the house when Voldemort struck, and in Potter's house were the grandparents with their grandchildren, the twins, Harry and Ivy Potter.
Albus Dumbledore declared Harry Potter as the Boy-Who-Lived. The reason wasn't stated, but Quinn knew it was because of the prophecy and the scar that marked Harry and Voldemort's equal.
'Fleamont and Euphemia Potter didn't die earlier, so they lived till the war. They died, so the remaining Potters are alive, Harry Potter will no longer be the abused boy in the books. By the looks of the photograph, this isn't a Wrong-Boy-Who-Lived scenario or a neglect-plot. Now, Harry Potter has a twin sister,' thought Quinn as he stared at the words in the book.
He clutched his head and groaned in a whiny tone, "I should have gone to Beauxbatons!" Alas, the time had passed, yesterday was the last day for booking a seat at either of the institutes, and Quinn couldn't do shit now.
Quinn decided to think about this whole situation later as he heard his grandfather call out to him. He put the book back on the shelf and was about to put the newspaper back, but decided to take it with him to the counter. He had questions, and his grandfather was going to answer them.
Quinn walked to George with the issue of Daily Prophet and showed it to him. "Grandfather, who are these people?" He faced the front page towards George.
George looked at the paper but showed no particular interest in seeing the Potters in the paper. He stared at the headline and the photo for a moment before saying, "They are the Potters. Don't worry about them. I was going to tell you about the political landscape of Magical Britain this week. We will discuss them during our lessons."
Quinn nodded as he could wait till tomorrow to get the complete picture. But, there was a discomfort in the back of his thoughts.
He decided to move on from the current topic and spoke, "Okay, let's go collect my clothes and then go buy a wand." Quinn thought that getting a wand would cheer him up.
George agreed, and the pair collected Quinn's clothes and moved on to Ollivanders. Ollivanders was narrow and shabby. Even the golden sign on the place was peeling.
「Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.」
A single wand sat on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.
When Quinn entered the shop, a tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop greeted them. He forgot about every warning and scene he had read in various fictions and just took in the quiet vibe of the shop and the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. The thought of thousands of wands in this store was a sight of awe.
It took a soft, "Good Morning" from behind to snap Quinn out of his daze. Quinn shivered, hearing the voice, and with a frown, looked back to see an old man with wide pale eyes that shown like moons through the gloom of the shop.
"You must be Mr. Garrick Ollivander. Good morning to you as well. My name is Quinn West, and I am here to buy a wand," like a champ, Quinn stuck out his hand for a handshake.
Ollivander stared at Quinn's hand for a moment before shaking it. Then he turned to face George and spoke, "George West. Redwood, thirteen and a half quarters long, flexible, with a dragon heartstring core." Ollivander smiled, thinking about the wand he crafted.
"Redwood a rare wood which is always in demand because of its reputation for bringing good fortune to its owner, and if we look at Mr. West's success in business, that reputation might be true," spoke Garrick Ollivander.
George took out his wand and said, "It has served me well all these years."
Ollivander turned back to Quinn and said, "Now, let's get you a wand, Mr. Quinn West."
In response to that, Quinn only said, "Your occlumency skills must be fantastic." It really was the top thought that came to mind.
Garrick Ollivander stilled for a second before replying, "Indeed they are Mr. West. I need to remember every wand so that I know how they were crafted. It helps me in maintaining wands crafted by me and is also mighty helpful when I help people find their wands. It helps me when I remember all the thousands of presets to which I can refer to."
Ollivander stepped closer to Quinn and asked, "You wand arm?"
Quinn held out his right hand, and Ollivander measured Quinn from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and round his head. As he measured, Ollivander said,
"Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. West. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and dragon heartstrings. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such excellent results with another wizard's wand."
Ollivander stepped away from Quinn to retrieve some wands as his measuring tape continued to do its thing.
"That will do," said Ollivander as the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. West. Try this one. Elm and hair from a unicorn's mane. Eleven inches. Nice and rigid. Just take it and give it a wave."
Quinn took the wand in hand and swung, but nothing happened, and Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.
"Ebony and unicorn, flexible. Please, do try." Once again, there was no feeling from Quinn. And, Ollivander snatched it back and put it back into its box.
He offered another wand before snatching it away, "Unicorn hair doesn't work for you, Mr. West."
Quinn shrugged in response, and Ollivander moved around Quinn to find something before handing him another wand, but it also failed, and after a lot of giving and snatching from Ollivander, he finally offered Quinn a wand that worked.
"Please try this one. Acacia wood with phoenix tail feather. Fourteen inches long, rigid flexibility," offered Ollivander and the second Quinn held the wand, the wand glowed.
Ollivander smiled and started with his patented line, "The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. West. And, this wand has chosen you. Acacia is a very unusual wand wood, which I have found creates tricky wands that often refuse to produce magic for any but their owner and also withhold their best effects from all but those most gifted. Whereas Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike. Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken, one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalize, and their allegiance is usually hard-won."
Ollivander stared without blinking at one of his works in Quinn's hand and spoke, "This results in a wand with the stringiest condition to master, and that kind of wand has chosen you. Be proud, Mr. West."
George simply smiled as they saw Quinn stare at his wand. It was his grandson's first wand and if, Quinn was lucky, the only wand.
But Quinn was not smiling. He wasn't even feeling happy. Quinn's current feeling could be most closely described as pure dread. The moment he held the wand, it filled him with an intoxicating feeling. The wand provided him with magic focusing abilities far more potent than his natural capabilities. But, he also felt the threat the wand brought him.
Quinn's entire being was screaming at him, warning him that if he continued to use the wand, his natural focus would stop growing at his current speed, and it would come to a plateau. With time it would become more and more difficult to perform focusless magic. His instincts were screaming at him to drop the wand at the very moment.
It took Quinn every ounce of his self-learned emotional aspect occlumency to detach himself from his overflowing emotions to look up at Ollivander. He did not forget to put up a smile before asking, "Do you sell wand holster and wand maintenance kits, Mr. Ollivander?"
After Ollivander sold Quinn his wand, holster, and maintenance kit, he shooed them out of the shop.
Quinn could still feel the wand in the holster on his side. All he wanted to do was to reach the West Manor and get away from the wand.
- (Scene Break) -
Quinn and George reached home, and after showing everyone the wand, every second of which was very despairing for Quinn.
The second Quinn reached his room, he shut and locked the door, then threw the wand with the holster on the bed, and stared at it from a distance while sitting in front of his study table.
His heart was still beating at a higher rate than usual.
Quinn was feeling two opposite feelings at the same time. He was feeling despair from the consequences of using a wand, but at the same time, he still wanted to hold the wand and feel the heightened control over his magic.
For Quinn, the wand was a poison. A sweet poison, but a poison nevertheless.
At that moment, Quinn realized why magical focuses had taken over the world.
After what felt like days but were only a few minutes, Quinn made his decision. He opened the window to his room and then ran out of his room to the backyard. In the backyard, Quinn retrieved a small log of wood. He levitated it to the area outside of his room window. Then he sent the log of wood into his room via the open window.
In his room, Quinn set the log of wood on the floor. He was going to use his favorite branch of magic on the log of wood,
「Transmutation.」
Transmutation was the magic of altering the state of a substance. By using Transmutation, one could manipulate and alter matter by using magic. Transmutation was a two-step process; Deconstruction and Reconstruction.
Unlike Transfiguration, where you could change an object into another completely different object regardless of the material, Transmutation only allowed to change the structure of a material. This meant that it could only turn a log of wood into a wooden object.
But, the advantage of Transmutation over Transfiguration was that transmutated objects didn't sacrifice structural integrity and quality and the magic was permanent. Transumutated objects remained in the new shape indefinitely, whereas transfigured objects always turned back into their original form when the magic wore off.
Quinn knelt in front of the log of wood and touched it to use the magic. He knew the inherent structure and properties of the wood.
Quinn used deconstruction to break down the physical structure of wood into a more malleable state to be easily reshaped into a new form. Then he used reconstruction to reshape it into a wooden box with the same shape as the wand boxes at Ollivanders, with an indent in the exact shape of Quinn's new wand inside the box.
[A/N: Similar (key: similar) to Transmutation in Full Metal Alchemist, but I will be limiting the capabilities. A watered-down version of FMA's Transmutation. I am not categorizing it under Alchemy. Harry Potter's Alchemy is closer to potion brewing.]
He looked at the wand on the bed and levitated it into the wooden box, fitting it inside the wand-shaped indent, wincing while doing it as his magic coming in contact with the wand was enough for Quinn to feel the temptation of the wand's abilities.
He shut the lid on the new housing for his wand, picked it up, and placed it in the deepest corner of his cupboard.
Quinn exhaled a sigh of relief, but he knew that the work wasn't complete. He needed to craft a replacement for his wand. With the remaining log of wood, he crafted a replica of his wand.
Quinn's new wand had an extremely simple design. It was a relatively thick wand with a very low difference in the radius of the tip and butt of the wand. The only design on the wand was a criss-cross pattern etched into the wood for better grip. Other than that, the wand was bare.
Quinn picked his replica and casted the color-changing charm to complete the look. Now, he held a blank piece of wood shaped into a wand that he bought today and had held for just a few minutes. On the very first day of buying a wand, Quinn had locked the real wand into a box and placed a replica into his newly bought holster.
As Quinn collapsed on his bed, he only had a single thought,
'Today was a terrible day.'
-*-*-*-*-*-
[
A/N [1]: I have corrected Cedric's age in the previous chapter.
A/N [2]: Once again, FMA's Transmutation is not the same as my version of Transmutation. And, I am not classifying it under Alchemy. Harry Potter's Alchemy is more like potion brewing.
]
-*-*-*-*-*-
Quinn West - MC - 11 Years Old - Current thoughts, "Fate is a B*tch".
George West - Grandfather - Rosewood wand = Super rich.
Garrick Ollivander - Wandmaker - "Wand chooses the Wizard."
-*-*-*-*-*-
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