章節 78: Third Riddle, Novellus Accionites, and Hothoof.
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
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The link is also in the synopsis.
.
[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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Now that the A.I.D office and workshop were fortified, Quinn sat at his office desk and read the sheet of paper on the desk.
*
[
You can swallow it.
.
Deep in the Bane of Neptune's home,
Find the forgotten dome.
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It can devour you.
Beware the force or it will crush you,
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Life is something you cherish.
If not careful, you will perish
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Yet, it is the source.
]
*
The riddle to the third vault was written in the paper. Friar had given him the riddle after his stunt at the Astronomy tower.
The Hufflepuff ghost had lectured him a lot before handing over the starting clue. And Friar's worries were reflected in the riddle.
"Life is something you cherish," Quinn sighed and shook his head at the religious ghost's attempt to make sure he didn't repeat things like jumping off the Astronomy tower. "He should know better than anyone that the cursed vaults are more dangerous than a bungee jump without a rope."
Quinn tapped his finger on the paper and read through the riddle over and over again.
"Bane of Neptune, now that is definitely some mythological stuff," Quinn murmured, studying the riddle. "That will need some research."
He took out a small notepad out of his robes; uncapped his pen, wrote Neptune's Bane, circled it a couple of times, made an arrow extending outside, and finished it with the word research.
"... Next, beware of some kind of force," Quinn felt that this was the dangerous part of the third vault because it was followed by, "If not careful, I will perish. Now, that just screams danger."
Quinn nodded appreciatively and praised Friar, "Props to Friar for making it clear. This... this is what I like. Danger clearly specified."
The word force went on the notepad, another set of circles, and an arrow pointing to danger.
Quinn frowned and sighed, "life is something you cherish. This is useless."
Quinn copied the phrase on the notepad, put a line through it and a small cross next to the sentence. "Friar's drabble," wrote Quinn with an arrow coming out of the crossed sentence.
"Come on, Friar. Show some professionalism," Quinn complained to the ghost who wasn't there. "Has he learned anything in his long ghostly life? Well, Myrtle hasn't grown up from her Hogwarts days, so maybe ghosts are incapable of growth."
In the end, Quinn reached the three individual phrases of the riddle and felt some connection existed between the separate lines.
"You can swallow it."
"It can devour you."
"Yet, it is the source."
The three lines were the remaining lines from the riddle, and all of them had something in common between them.
"What is the 'it' mentioned here," Quinn asked himself, hoping to get some random epiphany. "It, it, it... What is it?"
Writing the sentences on a fresh notepad page, Quinn put a circle on all three 'it'-s and connected them with lines.
"Hmm... I think I will target this from the Bane of Neptune's angle to get the things rolling," Quinn closed his notepad with a snap and put it back into his robes along with his pen.
Hogwarts taught the subject History of Magic, and such the Hogwarts Library was equipped with books about history. Not that Binns taught the subject properly, but Hogwarts Library would definitely hold texts on different parts of the history of the magical world.
And the myths of the non-magical world tended to be magical anomalies of the magical world.
It was a start.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Quinn was pleased to get out of the castle after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale gray, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as he set off to his first Care of Magical Creatures class.
Eddie and Marcus walked by his side, talking about the new terrorist group Novellus Accionites.
"This time, they targeted three muggles. Aren't they scared of the Aurors?" Marcus spoke about the latest news that had been circulating across the country. "They have been really aggressive in their approach."
"At least, they are targeting people at night," Eddie commented about the actions of Novellus Accionites. "The only reason the aurors knew about the muggle attacks is because of the clear traces of magic there are on the muggles."
"What do you think, Quinn?" Marcus asked for his other friend's opinion.
"Hmm, if they continue to attack, I think the aurors will set up a task force against them," affirmed Quinn on the new and upcoming terrorist group. "As Eddie said, they only strike at night, so the Muggle authorities are still treating their few attacks as Muggle matters."
"If they increase their attacks and act in daylight, the ministry will start a task force of Aurors and Hit-Wizards. The ministry will only move when the pressure from the non-magical world grows," Quinn sighed and finished his opinion on the new terrorist group.
"But why?" Eddie frowned in question. He couldn't understand why the ministry had only issued a lookout notice for such a clear threat. "I mean, what was it called? -"
"-Manifest," Marcus offered the word Eddie was looking for.
"Yes, the manifest. The manifest clearly stated that the Novellus Accionites were the supporters of You-Know-Who," Eddie shuddered in the thought of the Dark Lord. He frowned in disbelief, "Why isn't the ministry being more vigilant against these terrorists?"
Quinn patted Eddie's shoulder and explained to his friend the world of politics.
The war had brought influence on The Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Former Head Bartemius Crouch Senior utilized his powers to permit the usage of the Unforgivable Curses against enemies, among other law changes that seemed atrocious under times of peace.
Crouch Senior was so incredibly popular that he was slated to become the next Minister for Magic. If not for his son, Crouch Junior, being a Death Eater, Bartemius Crouch Senior would be sitting in the minister's office instead of Cornelius Fudge.
"A few years back, at a Wizengamot vote, it was decided to reduce the budget of The Department of Magical Law Enforcement from their war era funding. It was an attempt from the minister's faction to limit the growing popularity of the Auror's Office. The vote was passed with a vast majority because none of the factions wanted the increasing influence of the militant Auror's office."
The Dark-Faction had obvious reasons. As supporters of Voldemort, they didn't want future troubles. A lot of them had bribed their way out of a lengthy stay at Azkaban. But they weren't sure if it would work in the future because the Auror's office was becoming more and more popular.
Light-Faction, led by Albus Dumbledore, also lobbied to decrease the funding in The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or specifically, the Auror's office. Even though James Potter, Sirius Black, the comatose Longbottom Couple and many other Light-Faction members were Aurors, and many didn't like the decision, they still followed the decision because the majority of the Light-Faction was in favor.
Albus Dumbledore actively participated and supported the motion because he wasn't happy with the wartime decision of using the Unforgivable Curses. Dumbledore's forget-and-forgive philosophy didn't support the direction the Auror's office was going.
The Grey-Faction went along with the flow and voted in favor for the motion because they, too, didn't want over-vigilant policing from the Auror's office. Grey-Faction liked freedom so that they could conduct their business in peace.
"Now, let's talk about the present. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement took a short-term hit from the reduced funding, but it was, as I speak, a short-term hit. Even though they had to struggle for a year or two, excellent leadership brought The Department of Magical Law Enforcement back to stability and glory."
Quinn smiled in admiration as he went on.
"Under the direction of DMLE head Amelia Bones, the department recovered and regained their influence. Amelia Bones is so popular among the public that she is believed she will be the winner of the next ministerial election. Even at this moment, Amelia Bones is already far ahead of Cornelius Fudge in popularity."
The world of politics was a complicated and treacherous one.
"So to limit her rising popularity, the minister's faction is trying to downplay the activities of Novellus Accionites. They don't want to add fuel to Amelia Bone's popularity by handing the operational authority to the Auror's office and let them take another victory. So they have been downplaying Novellus Accionites so that Amelia Bones won't start a campaign that might boost her popularity at the next election."
Marcus and Eddie didn't like what they were hearing. A terrorist group was hardly being given any coverage because the ministry wanted to play politics.
"That doesn't sound good. Why isn't anyone doing something?" Marcus frowned in disgust. The two fourteen-year-old boys didn't understand politics. It was their first discussion on politics, and well, they didn't like it.
"It's not like they are doing nothing. Aurors are on the lookout. Aurors won't stop their basic duties because of politics; they will still protect people," Quinn comforted them with some positivity of the situation. "And there is another reason why the Aurors and ministry aren't moving more aggressively."
"What is it?" inquired Eddie curiously.
"Novellus Accionites are public supporters of Vol- I mean, Rid- I mean, You-Know-Who," Quinn stopped himself from speaking the wrong term twice.
In his mind, he addressed the Dark Lord as Voldemort or Tom Riddle. Quinn never addressed the Dark Lord as You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But to keep appearances, Quinn had to call him with the hyphenated pseudonyms.
Plus, he wasn't sure if the Taboo on the name Voldemort would return, so he made sure to keep a habit of using hyphenated pseudonyms to not accidentally get into trouble.
Quinn coughed before continuing, "So, as I was saying, Novellus Accionites claim themselves to be supporters of the Dark Lord. Due to that, the ministry doesn't want to spread panic in which 'somehow the Dark Lord is back', because, then, there would be rumors that would spread the idea that Novellus Accionites are actually Death Eaters."
"The ministry is trying to portray a message in which Novellus Accionites aren't a big deal, just some stupid dafts who aren't a huge threat. They are keeping this under the wraps. It is all about maintaining order by avoiding chaos," Quinn shrugged at the end. "They want to leave the Dark Lord's reign behind them."
Eddie and Marcus didn't give any response. Quinn turned to regard his friends and saw contemplative expressions on their faces.
Quinn didn't disturb them and walked beside them in silence as they went down the sloping lawns to Rubeus Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest for Care of Magical Creatures.
Meanwhile, Eddie and Marcus were thinking about the situation and forming their own views. He kept silent so that they could think about the situation. Things were never black or white; there were always shades of grey present in everything.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Rubeus Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat with Fang the boarhound at his heels. He seemed impatient to start.
"C'mon, now, move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for you today! Great lesson coming up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"
The class followed as Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.
"Everyone gather around the fence here!" Hagrid called. "That's it —make sure you can see— now, the first thing you'll want to do is to open your books."
The students were confused as they had no idea how to open the book.
The Ravenclaw students frowned darkly; lots of them even looked frustrated as they hadn't got the chance to open their textbooks before the class.
Eddie also squinted at his Care of Magical Creatures' book before he caught Quinn in his peripheral vision. He snapped towards Quinn and blurted.
"How did you open the book?!"
Quinn, who was in the middle of reading, shook his head slightly, turned to Eddie and said with an accusatory tone, "What is wrong with you! Don't surprise a man when he's reading!"
Eddie's and Quinn's louder than regular argument brought the attention of the rest of the class to them. Everyone saw that Quinn's Care of Magical Creature book was open. And now, everyone wanted to know how Quinn opened the damned book, which tried to bite anyone who tried to open it.
Quinn sighed and looked for Hagrid, but the giant had stepped into the woods and wasn't nearby.
'I guess I have to show them,' Quinn thought as he raised his hand towards Eddie and made a gesture to make him hand over his book.
Eddie handed over his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope.
After watching that some others also took out their books: some, like Eddie, had used ropes to bound their books shut; others, had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.
"Stroke the spine," Quinn announced to anyone who was paying attention. "Look here, like this."
He removed the length of rope from Eddie's book, dodged the book's bite and gently used three fingers to gently stroke the spine. The book shivered and then fell open and lay quietly in his hand.
"How did you know how to do that?" Marcus asked, as he stroked the spine of his copy and opened the book after it calmed down.
Quinn shrugged in reply, "I asked the bookstore manager and he told me." His tone was like he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.
And he wasn't lying. Quinn had to buy The Monster Book of Monsters for this year. He hadn't purchased this book for his British book collection. So when he went to the bookstore, Quinn did ask the book shop manager to demonstrate how to open the biting book.
"I'm back. Look who is here to meet you!"
Trotting towards them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Quinn had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, sparkling orange eyes. The sharp talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly-looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck attached to a long chain. Hagrid, who came out jogging, held the chains that were attached to the collars.
"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures to move toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.
"Hippogriffs!" shouted Hagrid happily, waving a hand at them. "Beautiful, aren't they?"
Quinn tilted his head and tried to see the beauty in the creatures. Once he got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half-bird, Quinn observed the hippogriffs' gleaming coats: changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them of a different color; stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.
"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if you want to come a bit nearer -"
No one seemed to want to. But Quinn, with a mischievous grin on his face, grabbed Eddie's and Marcus's robes above their shoulders and dragged them closer to the fence.
"W-What are you doing?!" Marcus whimpered as he stammered in his words.
"Have you gone mad?!" Eddie croaked back as he tried to stand his ground, but Quinn was stronger than him.
"I still remember how you pushed me forward during last year's dueling club," Quinn cackled as he brought them to the fence. "Come now, don't be scared, but do remember that if the hippogriffs attack, I will use you as meat shields."
"Now, the first thing you gotta know about hippogriffs is, they're proud," warned Hagrid. "Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Never insult one because it might be the last thing you do."
"Always wait for the hippogriff to make the first move. Give the proud bird the initiative," Hagrid continued. "It is polite, see? You walk towards them; then you bow, and finally, you wait. If they bow back, you are allowed to touch them. If they don't bow, then walk away, but keep an eye on their talons."
"Now, who wants to go first?"
Most of the class backed farther away in answer. The hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their mighty wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.
"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.
"I'll do it," volunteered Quinn, raising his hand high as Eddie and Marcus slowly inched back away.
Don't get Quinn wrong, while he volunteered for a one-on-one with a hippogriff, he did feel fear. Quinn guessed he could defend against hippogriffs. No problem on that front; he could instantly injure the half-horse, half-bird, and get away, but that didn't mean that Quinn wasn't afraid.
He still feared that he could get injured. But in Quinn's mind, it was a waste of an opportunity to not try out new things. If he avoided risks, then he would miss out on a lot of fun stuff in his life.
"Good man!" roared the half-giant, his voice booming with joy. "Right then, let's see you get on Hothoof."
Quinn jumped over the fence as Hagrid untied one of the chains, pulled the bronze hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath.
"Easy, now," whispered Hagrid quietly. "You have to make eye contact, but don't blink too much. They don't trust you if you blink too much."
Quinn immediately moistened his eyes with magic he learned from Alan when he was learning Occlumency.
Hothoof turned his great, sharp head and stared at Quinn with one fierce red eye.
"That's it," Hagrid guided from the side, "Now, bow, bow..."
Quinn followed the instructions, even though he wasn't a fan of exposing his nape to the hippogriff. He gave a short bow and then looked up.
The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move.
Quinn was about to give the hippogriff the same haughty look, but then the hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.
"Alright," Quinn beamed as he swiftly walked his way to Hothoof and patted the hippogriff's beak. He patted the beak several times, and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though it was enjoying it.
The class broke into applause.
"Who is a good boy?" Quinn cooed as he used his other hand to stroke the feathers, but then he turned his head to Hagrid and asked. "Hothoof is a boy, right?"
"Nay, Hothoof is a lady," Hagrid shook his head in correction.
"Oh, my," Quinn turned back to the female hippogriff and cooed once more. "Who is a good girl? You are, aren't you?"
Hothoof titled her neck to better guide Quinn's hands to the spot that felt better.
"Right then," clapped Hagrid. "I reckon she might let you ride her!"
"Hmm..." Quinn voiced as he looked into Hothoofs red eyes and gave it a thought. "Uh, why not? I could always jump off if things get wild. Ooh~, maybe that would feel the same as skydiving."
"You climb up there, just behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "And mind you, don't pull any of her feathers out, she won't like that..."
Quinn put his foot on the top of Hothoof wing and hoisted himself onto its back. He used sticking charms to stick himself to the hippogriff's back.
"Let's go, big lady," Quinn gently patted Hothoof's nape, and Hothoof stood up.
"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the hippogriff's hindquarters.
Hothoof's wings flapped open on either side of Quinn, and before he knew it, he was soaring into the sky. The hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably, catching him under his legs and making him feel he was about to be thrown off.
'Maybe this is like life bull riding,' Quinn thought as he looked below at the trees that made up the forest.
"Oh, yeah. I should do that," Quinn put his hand over his head, and conjured a cowboy hat over his head. He also made it stick to his head so it wouldn't fly away.
"Yee-haw!" Quinn's voice was drowned by the wind, but his grin was still present on his face.
Hothoof flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground. With a thud, Hothoof's four ill-assorted feet hit the ground.
Quinn looked at the rest of his classmates, pushed up his cowboy hat, and jutted his chin towards them, "Howdy, people."
"Good work, Quinn!" roared Hagrid as everyone cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?"
Emboldened by Quinn's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one, and soon there were people bowing nervously all over the paddock.
Eddie and Marcus practiced on the inky black hippogriff named Stormswift, but they had to run backward repeatedly because Stormswift didn't seem to want to bend its knees.
Quinn stayed back and watched his classmates; his conjured cowboy hat still on his head.
"What a good day."
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Quinn West - MC - We ride, never worry about the fall. Guess that is just the cowboy in us all. *Click-Click*
Hothoof - Hippogriff - Big Lady of the sky.
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章節 79: Neptune, Scheme(?), and Boggart
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis.
.
[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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It turned out that the Roman gods weren't ancient magicals. They were mythology in both the magical and non-magical worlds.
"But Jupiter's thunderbolt, Neptune's trident, and Pluto's pitchfork are real magical artifacts," said Quinn while reading from an ancient tome he had found in Hogwarts library. Then he scoffed at the next piece of information. "Of course, all of them are either lost, missing, or possibly destroyed."
"Maybe they were real and became so powerful that no one believed their existence," considered Quinn about the identity of the Roman gods. "If that is true, then those guys were total legends."
Quinn sighed as he read through Neptune's status in the magical Roman dynasty.
"Neptune is the Roman equivalent of Poseidon. As Neptune, he becomes more disciplined, militant and warlike than his Greek counterpart. For the Greeks, Poseidon was a major civic god and was highly respected for being the god of the sea and earthquakes. However, the Romans, who were not seafaring people, associated Neptune more with fresh water and horses and treated him with fearful respect."
Quinn stopped reading for a second before thinking about a tangent. "Why am I assuming that the riddle is about the Roman god Neptune and not about the planet Neptune." Quinn groaned and took out his notepad, and added a note.
'Do research on Neptune (Planet).'
"Maybe the divination section will help me out in this one." Quinn wondered before returning to the ancient tome and sighed, "Oh well, let's worry about that later. Let's continue on with this."
"The Romans believed in a series of gods associated with the world around them. They designated Neptune as the god of water and the sea, a close parallel to the Greek god Poseidon. As the god of freshwater, Romans prayed to Neptune to provide water for their crops. In ancient Italy, farmers would honor Neptune with a festival in July, when frequent droughts would destroy their fields. He was also a horses' patron and had temples built near racetracks."
Quinn frowned at this paragraph.
'So you are saying that in Greek society, he was a big badass with storms and earthquakes. But in Roman society he was demoted to the god of freshwater.'
Quinn understood that Neptune was still the god of seas, but the Romans didn't know how to build sturdy ships to sail in the violent sea, so the sea was nothing but something foreboding to them. That meant that they didn't pray to the sea god Neptune and associated the god more with fresh water and horses.
'Alright, now this is becoming more and more of a situation where there will be a presence of something like a Bane,' Quinn felt happy about the progress he had made and wrote everything down. 'Now, I just need to find what is the bane in this situation. Is it another god?'
There was only one way to find out, and that was to read more books. And Quinn was really good at that.
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- (Scene Break) -
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"Hey, what do you think about the hippogriff that attacked Malfoy?" gossiped Eddie over the table. "Some are saying that the hippogriff tried to kill Malfoy."
Quinn wagged his finger and corrected the gossip that had been going around. "That is something Malfoy and his goonies have been spreading around. According to my sources, Malfoy called the hippogriff an 'ugly brute' while he was sitting on it."
Marcus almost spat out his food after hearing that, "He was on the top of the hippogriff?! Now, that is not the poppycock behavior I'm expecting from a Slytherin."
Quinn laughed at Marcus' statement till his sides were hurting, "We're in our fourth year. You should have learned by now that to be in Slytherin isn't synonymous with being cunning nowadays."
He glanced over his shoulder to peek at the Slytherin table and scoffed, "We have been witnessing Malfoy's antics for two years now. Can you expect anything else? Plus, at-present, he's doing something really foolish."
"Foolish?" Eddie turned in his seat to peep at Draco Malfoy, who was sitting at Slytherin's table. Draco's right arm was covered in bandages and bound up in a sling; acting, in Eddie's opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.
"What do you mean by foolish?" Eddie solicited an explanation as he turned back.
"Look at his sling," Quinn brought their attention to Draco's broken arm. Eddie and Marcus, however, didn't see anything weird about the situation.
"The sling in his arm doesn't make any sense. Madam Pomfrey can regrow all bones in an arm in a single day," Quinn pointed his thumb back in the direction of the Slytherin table. "Malfoy's arm is just broken. She could fix him up and then announce that Malfoy's fit to continue his life as normal under an hour. That sling in his arm is just a hoax."
Realization dawned over Eddie and Marcus as they finally noticed the anomaly that was the sling in Dracos' arm.
"Even if Malfoy's arm was weak because his muscles were torn from the hippogriff's talon and needed to recuperate, then it would take maybe two days at most to get it back to full functionality."
Draco had been parading the arm in his sling for just under a week. So there was no reason for his arm to be in a sling.
Heck, Quinn had taken just ten days in the hospital wing, and he had been injured quite severely. There were lots of injuries in his organs, and that kind of thing had taken just ten days to get fixed. Draco's arm was a piece of cake for any decent medic.
"But maybe Malfoy is cunning," Quinn added another outlook to this situation.
"Huh, how?" Marcus looked confused at the sudden counter addition. "You just pointed out that he is doing something foolish by keeping his arm in a sling."
"That is exactly it. I mean, look at you two," Quinn pointed at his two friends with his fork before continuing. "No offense to you guys, but you guys didn't notice anything wrong with Malfoy's arm in a sling. Think how many people will believe the same thing. A sling in his arm creates an image of injury, and with the story propagated by the Malfoy's group, this image will be upgraded to a serious injury. So maybe with this arm sling drama, Malfoy is trying to make the situation seem more serious and portray that he survived a deadly accident. So he's showing traces of cunningness with this ploy."
Quinn thought about the upcoming Buckbeak execution plotline that happened this year. Malfoy Senior lobbied for the execution of the hippogriff who 'almost killed' his son.
If the sling in his arm was a ploy to elevate the situation, Quinn had to admit that this was an excellent tactic, as his two friends didn't see anything wrong with it, and both had come from magical families. Students from non-magical families who were used to the idea of using a sling to heal arms after getting broken would eat this up without a second thought.
"A good manipulation of the public," Quinn nodded in appreciation. "The final question is whether this came from Malfoy or his father, Lucius Malfoy. If it came from Malfoy, then props to him, but if it came from his father, yeah, this guy's still a fool."
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- (Scene Break) -
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Lupin wasn't there when they arrived at their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. They sat down, took their books out, quills, parchment, and talked to one another when he finally entered the room. Lupin gave a faint smile and placed his briefcase on the teacher's desk.
"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today will be a practical lesson. Only your wands will be needed."
The students and, at some level, even Quinn, were surprised, as the class put away their books. Lots of curious glances were exchanged as they had never had a practical class in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The current third-year students had one memorable class last year when their old teacher had brought a cageful of pixies to lesson and set them loose. But, they, fourth years, hadn't had a practical Defense Against Dark Arts lesson. Not even in their first year, when they had a decent enough teacher, as she never gave them a practical class.
"Right then," said Lupin when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."
Puzzled but interested, the class got to its feet and followed Professor Lupin out of the classroom. He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner into another classroom.
The room was empty, with no chairs or tables.
"Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.
"Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin calmly because a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's a boggart in there."
Quinn knew this was coming. And Quinn would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to this.
After getting in touch with his emotions during the summer break, Quinn understood the importance of negative emotions and their place in his magic. He learned to accept that he had emotions that made him vulnerable, emotions like fear which a creature like Boggart exploited.
With that realization, Quinn felt he needed to really know all his negative emotions, what caused them and, then, accept them rather than outright rejecting them.
A Boggart would be an excellent way to start on understanding his fears.
Most people seemed to feel that the thing inside the wardrobe was something to worry about. Marcus at Quinn's side was eyeing the rattling doorknob apprehensively.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," informed Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks - I once met one that had lodged itself in an old man's clock. This one was moved in here two afternoons ago, so I asked the headmaster if I could use it as a practical lesson for all years."
Everyone knew that permission was granted.
"So the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?" Professor Lupin threw out a question to the class.
Quinn followed his usual routine and looked left and then to the right to see if anyone had raised their hand. Seeing that no one was going to volunteer to answer the question, Quinn raised his hand.
When Lupin pointed at Quinn, he promptly answered.
"A Boggart is an amortal shape-shifting non-being that takes on the form of its observer's worst fear. Because of their shape-shifting ability, no one knows what a Boggart looks like when it is alone, as it changes shape instantly upon encountering someone."
The words amortal and non-being were the words to focus on here.
A Non-Human Spirituous Apparition, also known as a non-being, was a magical spirit created of human emotions. They were notable because they had no equivalent in the non-magical world and their similarity to ghosts, despite never being truly alive. While non-beings were not truly alive and could not be truly destroyed, magic users had invented over the centuries various spells that could drive off these spirits using positive emotions. Their numbers could also be limited by reducing the conditions that would generate them.
Amortality was the condition of never having died and being unable to die, as an amortal entity was never "alive" to begin with. As amortality referred to entities that were never alive at any point in their lives. It was different from "immortality," which described living beings who were unable to die or had an infinite lifespan.
Dementors, Boggarts, and Poltergeist were examples of non-being and amoral entities, as they weren't ever alive and couldn't be killed.
In the distant future, someone with black hair and stone-grey eyes would discover a way to kill various amoral beings, putting the concept of Amortality in need of revision.
"That is actually better than I was expecting," Lupin blinked in surprise as he regarded Quinn with interest. "Well, Quinn," Lupin was pleased with the answer, so he rewarded the answer. "Take twenty points to Ravenclaw for an excellent answer."
Quinn gave a slight nod, and Lupin continued with his lesson.
"So a Boggart that resides in the darkness doesn't assume a form. It doesn't know yet what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but if I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us fear the most."
Lupin raised both his hands and gestured to the students who had become restless. "Please, calm down. The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires mental prowess. You see, the thing that really ends a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape you find amusing."
The professor lowered his hands as he continued, "We'll practice the charm without wands first. After me, please... Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" chanted the class together.
"Good," smiled Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, only saying the word isn't enough. And this is where you come in, Jessica."
Jessica Tring, a fourth-year Hufflepuff stepped forward, while shaking slightly.
"Right, Jessica," said Professor Lupin. "First things first. What would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"
"... Snakes," Jessica answered with a tremble in her voice.
"Right, have you seen one of these rubber balloon animals," Lupin asked Jessica, who nodded.
"Excellent, when the boggart bursts out of this wardrobe and sees you, Jessica, it will assume the form of a snake," Lupin explained at a slower pace so that Jessica would catch every word. "You'll have to raise your wand —like this— and say 'Riddikulus'. Concentrate hard on the image of the snake turning into a balloon version which then deflates while creating a fun noise."
"If Jessica is successful, the boggart will likely shift its attention to another one of us in turn," said Professor Lupin. "I'd like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most and imagine how you might force it to look comical..."
The room went quiet as everyone began thinking about their greatest fear and how to make it comical.
"Everyone ready?" asked Professor Lupin. He looked at Jessica and instructed, "Jessica, we're going to back away. Let's get you a better field of vision, all right? I'll call the next person forward. Everyone, back. Now Jessica has a clear shot."
They all retreated and backed against the walls, leaving Jessica alone along the wardrobe. She looked slightly pale and frightened, but had pushed up the sleeves from her robes and was holding her wand, ready.
"On the count of three, Jessica," said Professor Lupin, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One, two, three - Now!"
A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. A long forest green snake with shiny scales slithered out while making loud hissing sounds.
Jessica backed away, her wand up, and cried, "Riddikulus!"
There was a squeaky noise of a blown balloon being touched, and the green snake turned into a balloon art, and immediately after, it started deflating while making a noise that sounded like a fart.
There was a roar of laughter and as the Boggart kept on leaking air and making fart noises, Lupin shouted, "Carmicheal, next!"
Then the entire class went through the same thing as they faced something they feared and then turned it into something funny.
There were many animals and creatures, a few renditions of Snape, one of Filch, some parents, mummies, zombies, one big eye... but everything was turned into comic relief after a cry of 'Riddikulus'.
Eddie was scared of his mom, who looked furious and had a ladle in her hand. Marcus, on the other hand, feared screaming banshees.
Finally, it was Quinn's turn, who stepped forward after everyone was done and were talking among themselves.
Lupin thought everyone was done, but stopped when he saw Quinn step forward towards a disco-ball-shaped Boggart. He was interested to see what would be the Boggart of the Quinn West. Flitwick had said that Quinn was the brightest student he had ever taught. And the half-goblin had said it when Lily Potter was sitting with them.
His eyes widened when the Boggart turned into a replica of Quinn. But Boggart-Quinn had a wide smirk on his face and a wand in his hand.
'What in the world?' Lupin didn't know what to think. He wasn't sure what it meant when a Boggart turned into the person itself. Lupin turned his face to the real Quinn and thought, 'He fears himself?'
...
Quinn, who was looking at his Boggart, immediately knew what his greatest fear was.
'That smirk and the wand in his hand,' Quinn thought as he observed his Boggart, and he knew that this was his greatest fear, as his heart was starting to beat slightly faster.
Quinn's current biggest fear was him never escaping the sin's curse and giving in to the temptation of his wand. He feared how he would have turned out had the curse continued to have a hold on him. Quinn had even erased Lockhart's memories and was going to cause pain and suffering to Luna's bullies. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if the curse had continued to change him.
He feared that if the curse continued, then he would've been replaced by someone who looked like him but wasn't him. The fear that the base of his existence, his identity would've been erased without anyone knowing.
'Just like I replaced the original Quinn,' thought Quinn as he stared at the Boggart-Quinn and tightly balled his hands in a fist.
Quinn also dreaded the possibility that one day he would give in to the temptation that posed his wand, abandoning all the hard work he had done to develop his wandless magic. Quinn knew better than anybody else that if he started to use his wand, he would never be able to put it down. The temptation of power would be too much for him, a fatal flaw that would ruin him.
Those two things were Quinn's greatest fears.
He took a deep breath and raised his fake wand, and softly chanted, "Riddikulus."
Immediately, the Boggart-Quinn turned into green slime that tried to stay upright but then collapsed into a puddle.
He turned back and informed a bemused Lupin, "Professor, everybody is done."
Quinn's voice brought Lupin out of his thoughts, as he waited for a second and replied in a delayed manner, "... Ah, yes, Quinn. Please, join your classmates. I'll lock the Boggart back into the wardrobe."
Quinn didn't notice the oddness in Lupin as he was occupied with thinking about his fear.
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Quinn West - MC - A lot of introspection.
Draco Malfoy - Slytherin - Cunning genius or Daddy's boy
Remus Lupin - Werewolf - [Boggart = Full moon.]
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