บท 62: The One With Lambs and The Devil

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The link is also in the synopsis.

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Ivy Potter groggily opened her eyes and saw herself staring at her lap because her neck wasn't supporting her head. She groaned and tried to lift her head, but maybe because she wasn't completely awake, she ended up throwing her head back and found herself staring straight up.

The redhead squinted because of the bright light on the ceiling, and her dilated pupils couldn't let so much light into her eyes, causing her to squint so that her eyes could adjust themselves. Of course, the green-eyed girl wasn't thinking about any of this and just ended up groaning because of the bright light going into her eye.

Her head swiveled to the side to remove her line of sight from the direct contact to the bright light, and when her eyes acclimated to the light, she saw her friend Hermione.

Ivy's eyes opened wide when she saw Hermione's hands and torso tied to the chair she was sitting in with ropes.

"Hermione!" she called out and tried to leave her chair to free her friend, but when her hands didn't move, she looked at her own body and saw ropes around her torso, forearms, and she could feel ropes binding her legs together.

"What in the bloody-" shock could be heard from her voice as she struggled against the ropes while simultaneously tried to wake up her friend. "Hermione, wake up! Hermione!"

Her words seemed to work as the bushy-haired brunette groaned and moved her head, showing signs of regaining consciousness.

Hermione went through the same routine as Ivy and panicked a little when she felt her body bound to the chair she was sitting on.

She struggled against her bindings until she finally heard Ivy's voice.

"Hermione!"

When she looked to her right, she saw Ivy similarly bounder to a chair, just like her.

"Ivy!" exclaimed Hermione, immediately feeling a little better to see her friend with her, "What happened? How did this happen?"

"I don't know," Ivy replied. She tried to think back to what happened before she was knocked out, and her eyes widened as she remembered. "It was Wes-."

"You two seem lively."

That sentence cut Ivy off, and both girls stilled when they heard the words spoke in a grave tone.

The girls finally looked to the front and saw the grand table in front of them. On the table, they saw two hands resting on it. When their eyes looked up, they saw that the rest of the person was hidden in the dark, and they could only make out the person's silhouette.

"You two are either really brave or extremely stupid to break into my office," said the person.

The two girls immediately knew who the person was, and a moment later, it was confirmed as a light shone from the ceiling, illuminating the person sitting behind the table.

Quinn West was staring at them with an apathetic look.

If Ivy and Hermione weren't panicking, they would have noticed that the light in the room wasn't yellow but white, and it wasn't coming from a type of everlasting candles like it usually did in magical places.

A light bulb in Hogwarts? That question would have been their first thought. But right now, all their attention was on Quinn West staring at them.

"It has been maybe five minutes since I stunned and bound both of you," started Quinn, placing a pocket watch on the table. It was a silver timepiece with roman numerals written on black with blue for indicating time. The mechanism was exposed in the center. The hour, minute, and second hand were a similar blue, with the clock mechanism made of a golden material.

"I gave myself five minutes to calm down before I spoke to you two," he continued, "But believe me when I say that those five minutes didn't help much. I am pretty much at the same level of anger I was before."

Ivy and Hermione felt the ropes around them tighten a smidge. Both girls fidgeted in their seats.

"So, I will give you some free advice that will help you here," he leaned forward. "Don't lie, don't bullshit, don't give me some lame excuses. I want to know why did you guys break into my office."

After that, he went quiet and simply stared at them like he was waiting for an answer.

Ivy and Hermione looked at each other and communicated with their eyes before they came to a decision which was to remain quiet.

But the second they decided to remain silent, Quinn spoke up.

"Not saying isn't an option. You will be in deep trouble if you don't speak up," Quinn warned. "Don't force my hand because it won't end well for both of you."

Quinn reached into his robes and took out two wands: Ivy's and Hermione's wands.

"The Reverse Spell, Prior Incantato is a charm that forces the wand to create an echo of spells that were performed through it," he explained while he put the wands on the table, and they stood up straight, pointing towards the ceiling.

"I tried it out and found that both of you used Alohomora recently, which means you tried to open my office door," Quinn stared right into their eyes as he spoke. "I have charmed my door against the unlocking charm, which means you most probably have the key, and only Filch has duplicate keys to all rooms. So I am confident to deduce that you girls stole the key from the caretaker."

"That is one strike against you guys. Stealing from the staff," he looked at them and scoffed. "And, I thought you would learn your lesson. What would McGonagall think when I reveal these adventures to them."

Ivy felt heat rush to her face because of the humiliation she was experiencing.

"Let's talk about Ms. Potter," Quinn continued. "You used Diffindo: the cutting spell for damaging my other door and then forced your way through..." Quinn looked at the broken door to his left and spoke, "... by kicking the weakened wood."

"That, my pitiful intruders, is what you call the destruction of personal property. I crafted that door by myself, it is not the school's property," Quinn spoke with a leveled voice. "The second strike."

"For the last strike, I am going to use the Polyjuice incident," Ivy's and Hermione's eyes widened with those words. "Ms. Granger was stuck in the hospital wing for weeks before the mishap passed, so we clearly established that she brewed the Polyjuice potion. Madam Pomfrey would attest to that."

"The ingredients stolen from Professor Snape's storage were for multiple doses of the potion. Believe me, I checked, but you already know that, don't you?" he scoffed once again. "So, if I spin my story right and bring in Draco Malfoy, he will gladly tell that his two companions, Crabbe and Goyle, were acting very suspiciously that day."

Quinn put his hand on his chest and talked, "Plus, my own account about catching Ivy Potter as Daphne Greengrass would be very damning. The Professors would believe me because first, I am a model student. And second, I have the high ground here. I will bury you guys into the ground."

He had one more card, and that was Prefect Percy Weasley meeting the two Polyjuiced Gryffindor while they were disguised, but because he was busy blackmailing Ivy at that time, he wasn't sure if that event happened.

Quinn tapped his table with his right-hand index finger and asked, "Now tell me why you are here, or else I would have you guys in deep trouble."

Ivy gritted her teeth in humiliation, frustration, panic, and slight fear. She didn't want to say anything, but when she thought that Ron, Harry, and Hermione would get in trouble because of her, she spat out.

"I thought you opened the Chamber of Secrets," she sounded defeated. "I thought you were the Heir of Slytherin."

The answer bought the anger in Quinn to a still. He, for a moment, didn't know what to think. Quinn had assumed that the two were here to get back at him for blackmailing Ivy.

If he wasn't so angry, Quinn would have used legilimency on Hermione to dig out the information, but the red spot on his nape was so dark that Quinn wasn't thinking straight out of rage.

But, the bewildered feeling didn't last long before anger returned, and he pounded on the table.

"Why in the shitty world would you think that?!" he yelled at the two girls, who recoiled because of the loud shout.

Ivy, who didn't like the shouting, snapped back with her reasoning.

"You are famous for staying out after curfew. And no prefect, teacher, ghost, or even portraits have seen you outside after the curfew, despite that, everyone knows you roam outside," she explained, "So, I thought you were looking for the Chamber of Secrets last year and found it. And, this year, you released it upon the school."

"Oh, come on!" Quinn rolled his eyes, "So, now anyone who breaks curfew is the Heir of Slytherin. I thought you were, I don't know, what is the word, SMART?! What kind of idiotic reasoning is that?!"

The redhead glared at her capturer and bit back, "Then what about our conversation when I was Polyjuiced into Daphne?! Everything from your first words to me there was a test to see if I was the real deal or not. How did you even assume that I wasn't the real one?! I thought that Heir of Slytherin could recognize Slytherin students."

Quinn made a face that could only be described as 'I am looking at stupid.'

"I taught Daphne and Tracey for a week, plus I have known them since last year and as I told you, my memory is excellent. I knew you weren't Daphne because even though you looked like her, spoke like her, and even your expression was on point, you didn't walk like Daphne. You didn't have the feel of Daphne Greengrass. She has a really refined way of holding herself, and the moment I saw you, I was sure that you weren't the real deal."

Even though Quinn was angry, it was righteous anger, so he was able to lie right through his teeth and speak the bullshit about posture and gait, which, even though true, Quinn didn't notice at first glance.

Ivy, on the other hand, was feeling angry at being captured. Plus, she just heard Quinn imply she wasn't as refined as Daphne Greengrass.

"Then what about your expression during the time when Mrs. Norris got petrified? You looked relieved, and I saw it clearly, so don't deny it!"

Quinn was taken aback at that. He didn't think that someone was paying attention to him when there were more shocking things to see like, words written in blood on the wall and a possibly dead cat.

"I thought the bloody cat was dead and was relieved that it wasn't a student!" Quinn fought back with his reasoning. "Come on."

He looked at Hermione and asked, "Don't tell me she convinced you with this kind of clearly idiotic reasoning! I expected better from you, Ms. Granger."

Ivy felt more pissed from that and yelled, "Oh yeah?! Then what about the ring that you are wearing? What is the deal with that? It is clearly some kind of artifact. It is abnormally eye-catching for a normal ring. I am sure that it controls the Slytherin's monster."

Quinn laughed a laugh full of mocking, "Oh my god, you are clearly dumber than your brother. I can't believe I made a mistake judging a person."

Hermione, who was on the side, wasn't sure how to feel. She sat in a chair, bound by ropes, as she looked back and forth between her best friend and her captor. Those two were exchanging words with each other, as she didn't exist at all.

Don't get her wrong, she didn't want Quinn West to yell and mock her, but being completely ignored when she sat just an eye glance away was a little bit hurtful.

As she looked at the two yelling at each other, and even though their conversation was mainly Quinn shut down Ivy's accusations, Hermione thought they would get along in another setting.

Quinn stopped laughing mockingly at Ivy as he raised his left hand with the gold ring on his middle finger and pointed at it with his other hand, "This ring you so stupidly think is a monster controlling artifact isn't actually a ring at all!"

Ivy and Hermione frowned at those words.

"Look carefully," as Quinn said that the ring disappeared from his finger. "Now, both of you, look at your left hands."

The two girls looked at their hands, and two pairs of eyes widened as they saw identical gold rings on their middle fingers.

"The ring was an illusion made from illusion magic that I have been keeping up the entire year," Quinn explained. "And the reason it is so eye-catching is that I made it so it would catch eyes." [A/N - 1]

He rubbed his temple as he continued, "It is a way for me to practice magic. If the ring was eye-catching and noticeable, then more people would stare at it, and that would increase the difficulty as the eyes stay at the illusion longer and increase the probability of someone figuring out the illusion."

Ivy opened her mouth a couple of times, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Plus, when she looked at her finger, she didn't know what to say. She could clearly see the ring, but there was no feeling of metal against her skin. This clearly was the sign that the gold ring was an illusion.

Quinn was now feeling too tired to be feeling angry. He was exhausted from all the yelling and feeling furious.

'Ugh, this a stool, why couldn't it be a chair with a back to it,' Quinn sighed as a faint blue color graced his nape.

He looked at the two bound girls and thought what to do with them when an intensely deep shade of yellow. Quinn suddenly took a deep breath before his eyes become laser-focused.

"I will confirm this from my side," Quinn spoke. "I am not the Heir of Slytherin, and I didn't open the Chamber of Secrets. I have no relation to the incidents happening."

"Plus, if I was the Heir of Slytherin," he smirked and slackly pointed at the two girls. "You two would be dead by now."

Ivy and Hermione felt a chill go down their spines as they thought about the scenario. Quinn had stunned them without breaking a sweat, and if he was the Heir of Slytherin, they might not have woken up.

"If we don't return, you would be in big trouble," Ivy tried to bluff in case Quinn tried something. "I have told Harry and Ron that we would be coming here, and if we don't return, they would know where to find us."

The bluff didn't even stand up for a single second.

"No, they don't. Given Harry Potter's and Ronald Weasley's personalities, they would have been jumped me by now."

Ivy's lips twitched at the swift reply.

"I will tell you the thoughts which are in my head right now. Right now, nothing will give me more satisfaction to throw you guys to the wolves and see them chew you out. Believe me, it will make me very, very happy," Red flashed momentarily before the yellow came back. "But, that won't do me any good in the long term, and I really like the long-term game. So, I going to do you both a favor."

He interlocked his fingers and spoke to Ivy, "Ms. Potter, I will offer the same deal as before. I am willing to forget this slight behavior action of yours if you owe me big time." He glanced at Hermione and added, "The same goes for you, Ms. Granger."

He turned back to Ivy and continued, "Before this, I wasn't going to make you do anything uncomfortable when I cash in what you owe me, but this time..." Ivy felt suddenly felt nervous at Quinn's words. "... With what you just did, be ready for being forced into some really uncomfortable situations in the future because I will not hold back. And, don't even think about getting out of this anytime soon because you messed up big time."

Quinn looked at the two and spoke.

"So, what is your decision? Just know that if you accept now and refuse responsibility later, I would make your lives miserable," he paused for effect before speaking. "And, I assure you, you will regret every moment, so think carefully. You can accept my proposition and get a chance to escape the consequences of your actions, or you can go down now as I involve the professors and really stack the cards against you. And even if somehow you got away with a slap on your wrist, I will start a campaign to ruin your reputation among the students."

When Quinn was done speaking, he raised the fake wand for the first time since entering the office and waved it so that the two chairs of his captives were close to each other. Quinn was allowing them to have a private conversation by whispering to each other.

But he did sneakily sent a probe into Hermione's unprotected mind to monitor her thoughts.

The thoughts and emotions were pretty standard ones like fear, nervousness, unwillingness, and some hopelessness. But added to that was the quick-thinking nature of Hermione Granger, she was thinking about the pro and cons of the situation, and Quinn was happy to see that she considered taking the deal would be better than to let it go to the professors.

After a minute of muffled conversation, Ivy spoke up with unwillingness apparent in his voice.

"We accept," the answer was brief as she didn't want to speak anything else to Quinn.

Quinn nodded and pointed his wand at the broken workshop door.

"Are you sure? Because the second I repair the door, the deal would be set in stone. The second I release the spell, you both would be under my debt. I will not listen to words like we changed our minds, and if I did hear those words, then the response would be welcome to hell, and I hope you hate your stay."

Hermione nodded with a defeated sigh, "Yes, we agree."

"Good," said Quinn as he waved his wand and spoke the incantation. The broken part of the door floated back to the main body, and all three people saw the door repair itself back to its form before it was brutally smashed.

"The deal is set," smiled Quinn, feeling good about increasing his influence upon the brains of the golden squad.

Hermione and Ivy looked down at their bodies and watched the ropes loosen before vanishing into the nothingness.

"You guys are free to go, and please take your wands," said Quinn, once again feeling some mental exhaustion, plus his throat was a little sore.

Ivy carefully extended her hand and took hold of her's and Hermione's wand before handing her friend her wand.

The two girls looked up before they stood up, ready to leave.

As Ivy turned around, she had a random thought and recalled Quinn's words the first time she had come here.

'Information is always available at the right price.'

She didn't know what possessed, but she turned back and bluntly asked,

"What can you tell me about the Slytherin's monster and Chamber of Secrets?"

Hermione was about to say something, but Ivy clasped her hand to stop her from talking.

Quinn made a face and said, "Didn't we just go through this whole farce? I am not the Heir of Slythe-"

Ivy cut him by asking, "I am asking for information about it," she took a breath before saying. "I am employing your services. I am willing to pay."

Quinn would be lying if he said that this didn't surprise him. He wasn't expecting this question from Ivy at this moment, and he let it show on his face.

If Ivy wasn't completely serious, she would have felt the triumph of surprising Quinn, but right now, she wanted an answer.

A vain violet flashed, and Quinn decided to go for it, showing that he indeed knew everything. He stared at the redhead girl before saying, "Give me a minute."

He stood up, entered his workshop, and returned with a sheet of paper in his hand. He put the sheet of paper upside down on his office table and gestured them to sit.

When the girls sat down, Quinn spoke up, "The price for this information is simple. I want you to get me the Marauder's Map."

Ivy's eyes widened when she heard the word Marauder came out of Quinn's mouth.

Quinn caught the look of recognition in Ivy's expression, "You know about them; they are related to you."

"Yes," Ivy nodded. "But, I have no idea what is the Marauder's Map."

It didn't surprise Quinn that she didn't know about it. The original map was confiscated from the creators years ago. It wasn't exaggerating to say they thought it didn't survive. [A/N - 2]

"You will find it with the Weasley twins," informed Quinn. "Get it to me before the end of this year. Do you agree?"

Ivy thought about it before agreeing.

"I will get it for you."

"Good," Quinn smiled, "Remember, it is the Marauder's Map."

He opened a drawer in his table and took out a parchment roll, a pot of ink, and a quill.

"Copy the content in your handwriting. You aren't to tell anyone that you got the information from me," said Quinn. He didn't want any physical connecting it to him. "I have written the sources of everything I am giving you. You can find everything in the Hogwarts library. So, nothing comes back to me."

Ivy nodded before hurriedly flipping the paper and reading the contents with Hermione.

The girls were shocked to see the answer.

"Basilisk?"

"Uh-huh," spoke Quinn, "Salazar Slytherin was a Parseltongue, so I made an assumption that it would be a serpentine creature. Did a little digging, and the Basilisk was sitting right there. Plus, all the roosters are dead."

Hermione frowned and read the contents, "Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. The students who were targeted aren't dead."

"None of them saw the Basilisk's eyes directly," explained Quinn, "Mrs. Norris, the cat, had a puddle of water near where we found it. Colin Creevy saw it through the viewfinder of his camera. Justin Finch-Fletchley saw it through Nearly Headless Nick's ghost body, and the ghost can't die because he is already dead. And, finally, Susanna Hesleden, the latest victim, saw it in the bathroom mirror."

"So, even though they didn't die, everyone still got petrified," Quinn ominously smiled, "So, when you go out, remember to look around the bends through mirrors because petrification is much better than death."

Ivy and Hermione felt cold go down their bodies at the words and that scary smile.

As Ivy started to write everything down, Hermione asked, "What about the Chamber of Secrets?"

Quinn glanced at her and said, "You would have to ask Moaning Myrtle about it. Just ask how she died and lead from there." Quinn had actually talked to the dead girl, so the information really came from her, and it covered him from all bases.

After the girls were done with copying the contents, they stood up and proceeding to leave. No goodbyes or even looks were exchanged. The two parties weren't on friendly terms after what happened in the room.

When the two girls walked to the door, Quinn waved his finger and made some slight changes.

The Gryffindor girls closed the door behind them, and when Ivy looked back at the door, she saw a plaque with the 「773H」written on it.

Ivy frowned as the plaque wasn't there when they entered, "Hermione, was this here before?"

Hermione turned her attention from the paper, thinking that she needed to conjure some mirrors to look around the corners. She looked at the plaque, and it immediately understood the wording.

"Read it backward and upside down," said Hermione.

Ivy tilted her head and thought about the wording backward and upside down.

"HELL," she spoke. It was just like their experience just now. It was hell for them, and they only escaped from it by making a deal with the devil.

Inside the office, Quinn smiled as if he could see through the door and stare at the two lambs, who just lost their souls to the devil.

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Blue - S L O T H <-- > A C E D I A

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

Red - W R A T H <-- > I R A

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

Violet - P R I D E <-- > S U P E R B I A

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

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

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Quinn West - MC - Devil in the office.

Ivy Potter - Lamb #1 - Has guts to do business after all that.

Hermione Granger - Lamb #2 - Sidelined during the whole ordeal.

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[

A/N [1]: It goes two ways. It attracted the attention of many people, and then it attracted the reader's attention... if you get what I mean.

A/N [2]:

So my reasoning behind downplaying Marauders is because first, it was something they called themselves in school. I mean, who carries their school group name to their adulthood.

Second, one Marauder betrayed them by defecting to the other side, and led to the death of one member's (James) parents to die protecting the Potter Twins. Plus, it is said that Sirius was always welcome to the Potter house, which meant he was also close to the Potter parents. That is the parental figure of at least two members... dead.

So, I don't think they would like to call themselves Marauders in their adulthood because it would bring bad memories.

At least, that is my reasoning. Tell me what do you guys think.

A/N [3]: Longest Chapter yet! YEET!

]

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The link is in the synopsis!