บท 60: Calm Day, and Ivy's Heir of Slytherin Theory

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It was a rare moment of peace in the last few months as Quinn laid in the cool grass looking up at the sky.

The past few months had been a rollercoaster for Quinn. His magic has been going through rapid change, not only in quantity but also in control. There were many types of magic that Quinn didn't think were possible for him for a couple of years were now within his grasps.

His magic did his bidding with no complaints, and almost every day, dummies and targets of the Room and Requirements would get annihilated into smithereens.

The Restricted Section of Hogwarts library had also proven to be helpful. The thing about the Room of Requirement was that it had been hidden for so long that nobody knew how it operated, and as such, no one knew how to add books to it.

The books and tomes in the Room of Requirement's knowledge base were extremely old. The books were from the founder's time, and as far as Quinn could tell, they weren't updated from that time, which meant that the Room of Requirement was missing out on a millennium's worth of advancements in magic.

The Room of Requirements had a lot of knowledge that would be classified as lost knowledge. Lost knowledge was the knowledge about fields of magic lost to the magical civilization with time, but the thing about that lost magical knowledge from Room of Requirements was that a lot of it was too complex for Quinn.

While Quinn's magical prowesses grew at an unprecedented rate, his knowledge about magic didn't experience a similar boost. He was still building his magical knowledge step-by-step.

So, the Restricted Section of Hogwarts Library came in as resourceful because Hogwarts did a decent job at supplementing their library with new books throughout the ages.

Quinn did notice that even though there was a lot of information about magic that could be hazardous if not handled or properly understood, there was nothing too crazy in the library.

Dumbledore moderating the books in the library was one of Quinn's theories. Another theory was that Hogwarts was a school for children who came here to learn to control their magic. Those children might not need books that delved into high-level complexities about magic. As such, the Hogwarts administration never thought of buying books above a certain level.

The magical world and not just magical Britain didn't have a university system for higher education. Instead, it followed an apprentice system to gain higher knowledge about magic.

You could buy high-level magic knowledge for the right price, but most people only did it when they gained a master to apprentice under because magic grew more and more dangerous as you dove deeper into its mysteries. Researching esoteric magic without guidance could be fatal, and as such, people needed some form of teaching to get started.

The Restricted Section of Hogwarts library had some fascinating books and tomes. Quinn had been quite busy greedily researching knowledge that would supplement what he already knew.

In Quinn's eyes, Lockhart had finally done something worthwhile with his life by signing the permission note to the Restricted Section for him.

Between studying, having fun, and enjoying himself, Quinn had been quite busy.

Today, he found himself free from everything, lying down in the grass looking at the white clouds slowly floating in the sky. He felt as free as the clouds he was gazing at.

Quinn didn't feel angry when he looked at Lockhart's stupid face.

He didn't feel elated when he received the weekly sales report of Lockhart goods.

His daily run didn't leave him so tired that he wanted to sleep the entire day.

He didn't randomly make his way to the kitchen to stuff his face with food.

Last night's Duelling lesson didn't inspire superiority inside Quinn.

His eyes didn't immediately follow a group of older girls when they walked by, looking all nice.

And he didn't feel the weekly bout of jealousy at Madam Hooch's excellent broom riding skill.

But, even with his calm, Quinn didn't question his behavior this entire school year. He didn't even think that something was wrong with his behavior. To him, his year had been like a fun rollercoaster, but nothing wrong.

It was a peaceful day, and while Quinn enjoyed the time he was having for the past few months, he enjoyed this calm and quiet day.

Quinn peacefully smiled and spoke without looking to his side.

"So, how have you been finding Hogwarts?" he asked his companion, who laid in the grass with him, similarly looking at the clouds, or at least he thought she was.

"It is fun, but I think Nargles took some of my belongings," said the girl beside him, "They are known to be quite the naughty thieves."

Quinn's eyes narrowed, and he felt a bout of anger climb up into his mind. While she thought Nargles were stealing her stuff, Quinn knew better.

"Do you want me to help," he offered, a nasty grin forming on his face, "... If you leave it up to me, then Nargles would return your stuff and never... ever... and I mean it, never will they steal your stuff ever again."

One word from her, and he would tear those shitheads apart, enjoying every - single - moment of the process.

Luna Lovegood turned her head to face him and spoke, "No, it is fine. The Nargles will return my stuff, they might be naughty, but they won't go overboard."

Quinn pursed his lips and took a deep breath to curb his anger, imagining it draining into the vast ground below him.

"Alright, but if the Nargles ever disturb you too much, tell it to me," Quinn spoke seriously, "I will take care of them."

"Uh-huh, I will call you," spoke Luna, raising her hand towards the sky as if trying to grab the clouds in her grasp.

The anger finally left him, and Quinn closed his eyes, feeling the ground below him. He channeled magic into the ground around him and focused on the grass below and around him.

It was a unique sensation of his magic covering thousands of blades of grass, filling them with energy, providing them with another source of vitality other than the sunlight from the glorious sun, the giver of life.

'Feels good,' thought Quinn, a calm bliss spreading through his body and mind. He tapped into his magic core, and more ground was saturated with his magic.

Quinn's magic did nothing to the ground or the grass. He didn't make his magic do anything. He was just extending his magic, nothing more or nothing less.

But, in a few years, there would be a few trees growing here in the same spot; a holly tree, the tree of luck; a Rowan tree, the wizards' tree; and an Alder tree, the fairy's favorite tree.

The relaxed boy didn't know that last night, the stars in the night sky had aligned in a special arrangement, providing him ease against the condition he was facing. A condition he knew nothing about or even knew that he had said condition.

It was just the calm before the storm.

- (Scene Break) -

Ivy Potter looked outside the window in her dorm room. She shared the dorm room with Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and Hermione Granger.

The presence of the four girls divided the room into four different styles.

Parvati's section was all girly and a little messy. Lavender's section was similarly girly pink but a lot cleaner than her best friends. Hermione's side was filled with books and faintly smelled of parchment and ink.

Her part of the room was practical. She had textbooks but didn't have as much as Hermione. Her room was neater than Lavender's but less than Hermione's. She also possessed things that a normal teenage girl would have but didn't go overboard like Parvati.

Distinct from her roommates - Ivy had many pictures of her friends and family on her side's walls and table. Many happy memories were captured in the framed photos, all of them magically charmed to move, showing the happiness of the moments.

The redhead's mind was filled with thoughts about the past few months. Ever since the day she and her friends have drunk Polyjuice potion to get some answers, things had gone downhill.

She was caught and blackmailed into owing an enormous debt to a guy she didn't want to owe anything at all. Ivy had felt helpless when he took her wand, even without her knowing, and trapped her inside a wall.

Hermione had mixed Tracy Davis's pet cat's hair into her Polyjuice potion, and it caused a reaction, turning her into a furry cat girl. Ivy's best friend had to spend a lot of time in the Hospital wing, hiding from others.

Her brother had found a diary with the initials T.M. Riddle. Ron had led them to the Trophy room to show that the guy was a Head boy and won an award from the school for his meritious services.

The same diary had given them a clue about the Chamber of Secrets. It turned out Tom Riddle had gotten the award because he caught the person who opened the Chamber of Secret fifty years ago.

Shockingly, it was someone she knew. Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, and one of her dear friends had opened the Chamber of Secrets when he was attending Hogwarts.

But, ever since getting the diary, Harry had gotten quiet and talked little to anybody and spent a lot of time alone. He wrote in the diary a lot, apparently talking to Tom Riddle's diary was her brother's newest obsession.

But that all changed when Harry lost the diary and became irritable, taking out his anger on random people in Gryffindor. He looked for the diary a lot but couldn't find anything.

Eventually, he stopped looking for the diary, and his behavior improved, but he still acted as the world owed him money.

Just when Ivy thought things were improving, another attack happened, and they found a muggleborn Ravenclaw girl petrified in one of the bathrooms, lying on the floor. She was found the next day after a search when she didn't show up for any classes.

Then things took another dip for the worse because the minister came for Hagrid and took him away because of all the petrifications. On top of all that, Malfoy and the board of Governors suspended Dumbledore from his position as the Headmaster.

Then her brother and Ron did something stupid and went into the Forbidden Forest and almost got killed by Hagrid's deadly human flesh loving pet, Aragog the Acromantula. An Acromantula was a giant magical species of spider. They were spiders the size of carthorses, eight-eyed, eight-legged, black, hairy, and gigantic.

"Ivy?"

Hearing her name broke her away from her thoughts, and when she looked back, she saw her best friend, a worried look on her face.

"Yes?" asked Ivy, turning her body to face Hermione.

"What is happening? You have been looking stressed in the last few days," asked Hermione, moving closer and sitting on Ivy's bed.

Ivy looked down at her hands, contemplating something before looking up at Hermione and saying,

"I-I think I know who opened the Chamber of Secrets," Ivy carefully spoke, thinking about her every word, "I am not completely sure, but I think I know the identity of Heir Of Slytherin."

Hermione's eyes widened to the size of golf balls, and her brows disappeared up her hairline,

"Who is it?"

Ivy gulped before saying, "I think it is Quinn West."

Hermione's wide eyes immediately turned into a frown, "Ivy, I know you don't like him, but you can't just blame-"

Ivy grabbed Hermione's hand and cut Hermione off, "I am not saying this because I don't like him. I have some reasons behind the accusation."

"And, what are they?"

Ivy looked uncomfortable for a second before steeling herself and revealing the thing she had kept a secret,

"The day we used the Polyjuice potion, do you remember how I said I didn't make it to the Slytherin common room because I got caught up in something."

Hermione nodded, not knowing where this was going.

"Well, West was the one who caught me," said Ivy and watched Hermione gasp.

Everybody knew that Quinn West was Daphne Greengrass's friend. If Ivy met Quinn while she was transformed into Daphne, then...

Ivy confirmed her doubts,

"He immediately recognized me and then trapped me." Ivy gritted her teeth and continued, "He trapped me in a damn wall and took away my wand after a simple exchange of words."

Hermione could see the anger and frustration in Ivy's eyes as she continued, "It was like he already knew I wasn't Daphne even before we talked."

"Every sentence he spoke was a test to see if I was Daphne," Ivy told Hermione about their conversation before Ivy was trapped, "How did he know I wasn't Daphne with a single look! He then somehow deduced that Crabbe and Goyle were Ron and Harry!"

"It made me think, what if Heir of Slytherin could tell if a student was from Slytherin house or not," Ivy put down her theory, "West saw us and immediately could tell we weren't Slytherin students and were just imposters."

"He blackmailed me into owing him a favor in exchange for not talking about the incident," Ivy heavily exhaled before saying, "I agreed."

Hermione squeezed her friend's hand and said, "Ivy, I am sorry you had to go through that," she paused for a moment before continuing, "But, this is just a theory."

Ivy shook her head and shifted in her spot.

"I know, but let me tell you about Mrs. Norris' petrification," Ivy explained what she saw that day. The look of recognition in Quinn's eyes and the relief while he saw the scene. "It was like he already knew this was about to happen. Who else but the Heir of Slytherin, the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets, would know about the attack?!"

Hermione was about to say that this was still not enough and just Ivy's dislike for Quinn West clouding her judgment, but Ivy raised her hand and continued,

"Do you know West is famous for staying outside after curfew," said Ivy, elaborating on her reasoning, "I asked around, and everybody in the Ravenclaw house knows that West stays outside after curfew. He only comes back later late in the night."

She grabbed Hermione's shoulders and continued,

"He did it the entire last year, and from what I heard, he did it every day, and not once was he caught," her voice raised as she continued, "What if West was looking for the Chamber of Secrets the entire last year and found it. He didn't get caught because no one knew the Chamber's location, and he stayed inside. And this year, he released Slytherin's monster."

Ivy licked her lips and looked Hermione in the eye, "And, I don't know how this adds up but do you remember about West's ring?"

Hermione frowned before nodding, "Yes, the gold ring, what about it?"

"He didn't have it last year, and he started wearing it this year," Ivy thought about the gold ring, which caught her attention every time she looked at Quinn West, "What if the ring controls the Slytherin's monster?"

Listening to Ivy listing off points against Quinn West did make her believe her friends, at least somewhat,

"I don't know, Ivy," said Hermione, "There are too many what-ifs in there."

"I know. That is why I think that we should go to West's A.I.D office," said Ivy, "He spends a lot of time in there. Maybe there is something in there. We may find something there that connects him to the Chamber of Secrets."

Hermione bit on her lower lip, thinking about the petrified students. She didn't want anymore to get petrified, so if they could find a lead, that would stop this...

"Alright, I will go with you," she stood up and said, "Come on, we should tell the boys."

Ivy grabbed her arm and stopped Hermoine.

"No! We can't do that. The boys would be reckless and maybe even jump West without thinking. We should do this alone."

Hermione needed no more convincing, "Agreed. Let's do this alone."

"Alright, when should we do this?"

"We would need the third year schedule for Ravenclaw," Hermione thought out loud, "After that, we would need to find an hour when he has a class, and we don't, so we would have time to get in his office and exit without him knowing."

Ivy felt relieved when Hermione started to build a plan. Hermione taking the lead to help her friends was normal, and currently, Ivy was craving normal.

It was decided,

Ivy Potter and Hermione Granger were going to break into the A.I.D office owned and operated by Quinn West.

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[

A/N [1]: So, as you can see. I introduced many changes in the canon events. So, if you commented about me messing up, I didn't because I changed the events on purpose.

A/N [2]:

There is another muggleborn student who got petrified. I added her. Hermione wasn't the next target. [Change 1.]

Hermione didn't figure out about the Basilisk because the diary-Horcrux affected Harry and withdrew into himself, not talking to people, so he didn't tell them he could hear voices, and such Hermione didn't connect his Parseltongue and voices. [Change 2.]

Harry still hasn't figured out about Moaning Myrtle being killed by Slytherin's monster, so the timelines have been skewed. He will figure it out in maybe the next chapter or one after that [Change 3.]

A/N [3]: If you can remember any more changes, do comment!

]

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Blue - _ _ O T _ <-- > A _ _ D _ _

Pink - _ U _ _ <-- > L _ X _ _ I _

Red - _ R _ T H <-- > _ R _

Yellow - _ _ E E _ <-- > _ _ A _ I T I _

Violet - _ R I _ E <-- > S _ P _ _ B _ _

Green - _ N V _ <-- > _ _ V I _ I _

Orange - _ L _ T T _ N _ <--> _ U L _

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Quinn West - Third-year Ravenclaw - Experiencing a calm day.

Luna Lovegood - First-year Ravenclaw - Struggling from Nargles.

Ivy Potter - Second-year Gryffindor - Heir of Slytherin = Quinn West.

Hermione Granger - Back from Furry-ness - Planning for yet another infiltration.

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