Chapter 116: Preparations and Warm-Up

[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]

Quinn and Filius exited the hospital wing after Quinn's hands had healed enough. Poppy had bandaged them up and told Quinn not to move them. She finally told him to return after he was done to complete his recovery.

"Professor, would it be alright if we take a detour?" requested Quinn to the diminutive goblin at his side. "I would like to change out of these clothes."

Quinn straightened his clothes to show that the front of his shirt was stained in blood. The bloodstains were from when Quinn had wiped his knuckles that had the Accionites' blood on them with his shirt.

"I wouldn't feel comfortable when I have blood on my clothes. Especially when I am about to visit the Headmaster."

Filius looked at and saw that Quinn's clothes were indeed stained with blood.

"If you want, Mr. West, I can vanish that blood off your shirt," offered Filius, knowing that it wouldn't be good for a child to walk around with blood on his clothes.

"I appreciate the offer, Professor, but I would like to change these out. Even if these clothes were cleaned of the blood, I'll still be uncomfortable in them," replied Quinn.

Filius nodded and accepted Quinn's request, "If that is so, then we can take a detour to change your clothes. I'm sure that the Headmaster won't mind."

'Excellent, he is indeed a good messenger,' thought Quinn. He felt positive that things would end up without any complications.

Quinn and Filius climbed up to the fifth floor, but then, Quinn turned to the opposite direction from the Ravenclaw dorms. Filius asked, "Where are you going, Mr. West?"

"To the A.I.D. classroom, Professor. I have a set of clothes there," answered Quinn. "I don't want to go to the dorms and worry my friends."

"I understand, Mr. West. Let's proceed to your office, then" nodded Filius, empathizing with Quinn.

Quinn and Filius walked to the A.I.D. office and Quinn invited his Head of House inside.

"Professor, please, make yourself comfortable. I'll change my clothes, and we'll be off in no time," said Quinn. He aimed his hand at the client chairs while he unlocked the workshop door and entered inside.

He closed the door behind him and immediately started to move quickly.

'I don't have much time. Let's get everything over with quickly,' thought Quinn, a few things moved in the workshop.

One of the drawers opened, and a few sheets of paper flew out from the ream of paper inside. From the same drawer, a fountain pen flew out after the sheet of paper.

On the other side of the workshop, a cabinet opened, and from inside came a white short-sleeved t-shirt, a grey-and-white dynamic work jacket, and red-grey-black work trousers.

As Quinn started to change his clothes, the fountain pen uncapped and glided across the page. It penned the words Quinn wanted.

By the time Quinn was done dressing up, the pen had penned two-and-a-half pages of words.

The pages flew towards a side of the room, and after two glows of light, Quinn exited the workshop. His work was done.

"Let's go, Professor. I'm ready," said Quinn, dressed in new clothes. His jacket wasn't zipped up, so the white t-shirt he was wearing inside could be seen.

Filius saw Quinn dressed up in new clothes and nodded before he hopped out of his chair.

"Excellent. Let's go, Mr. West."

As the two exited the office, Filius couldn't help but ask, "What are you using to light up the room, Mr. West. I was surprised to see no candles in the room."

"I knew you would ask about them, Professor," laughed Quinn. "I used rune applications on metal platings designed to work as light sources. I used the basic Lumos spell as a base inspiration and then worked up from there. I had to specify the dispersion, color tone, warmth, and intensity. The resulting rune cluster was what you saw up there."

Quinn had already thought of pitching his light-rune designs in the summer break to his grandfather and Lia. This was another thing that could bring a revolution in the existing industry and could replace the standard everlasting (long-lasting) candles that were used everywhere.

Flitwick looked at his smiling student and asked, "Why are you smiling, Mr. West? From what I've told you, you are in trouble."

He was a little concerned because Quinn wasn't showing any of the signs that would be visible after what had transpired. Quinn was cavalier and engaging instead of silent and shocked.

"I'm alright, Professor. I understand the situation I was in and how things could have turned out if things had gone differently. If you are thinking why I am so casual about the situation," said Quinn as the smile drained from his face. "This is my attempt at self-preservation through disassociation. I'm detaching myself from the situation by acting like it's nothing serious. I wanted to change clothes because they made me think that blood could very easily have been mine."

Quinn sneakily glanced at Filius to see if his lie worked. From the moment Quinn had opened the door, he hadn't been scared in the least. He had assessed the situation and made sure to secure his safety before taking any action.

All of them would find that Quinn's behavior was consistent throughout the ordeal, as from the very first words in which Quinn had joked about disturbing the conversation between the Accionites and Marauders to him acting goofily with Poppy he had acted in a similar way.

"... I see, Mr. West," said Filius after a pause. "Please be assured that those people will be brought to justice, and the faculty will do its best to improve security. I personally will make sure that none of my students are harmed."

"Thank you for your kind words, Professor. They mean a lot," smiled Quinn. He chuckled as he continued. "I'm guessing that the Shrieking Shack passage will be closed down."

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"Definitely, Mr. West," smiled Filius. "No more outside castle visits for you."

"Aw, that's lame!" laughed Quinn, not worried about it because he knew many more passageways that would allow him to sneak out of the castle.

As the student and Professor continued to talk, the pair arrived at the Headmaster's office.

'Alright, let's see how this goes,' thought Quinn as Filius said the password. The entrance opened.

- (Scene Break) -

Lily and Ivy Potter practically rushed to the hospital wing. They had been told that Harry had come close to being kidnapped by the terrorist group called Novellus Accionites, who had infiltrated Hogwarts and had captured Harry in broad daylight.

They were semi-relieved to hear that the attempt was thwarted because the Marauders had been partying in the Shrieking Shack.

When they heard that Harry was resting at the hospital, both mother and sister ran to see Harry.

Inside the hospital wing, they saw Poppy tending a sleeping Harry while casting some spells at Harry's head.

"Poppy, how is he?" asked Lily, her eyes stuck to her son.

Poppy turned to her colleague and gave her the same answer that she had given the father.

"He hit his head on the ground. Other than that, he is fine. He's sleeping and will wake up in a while."

She waved her wand, and two barstools came gliding for Lily and Ivy to sit down.

"This was close, wasn't it?" said Poppy as she herself took a seat. "To think they used the tunnel made for Remus. I used to guide him to that house every month when he was still a student here."

Everything from the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack, including the passage that joined the two, had been added after Remus Lupin had sent back the reply in which he said he would be attending Hogwarts.

The school had added these landmarks to ensure that Remus could go through his lycanthrope transformation in isolation and continue to study at the school with no one knowing about his condition.

Every evening, Poppy would guide the then-teenager Remus to the Shrieking Shack. The house had been commissioned by the school and got its name because, in the absence of Wolfsbane potion, Remus would bite and scratch himself due to a lack of humans to infect.

Albus Dumbledore encouraged the rumors about the house being haunted because they would keep people from approaching the building, making it a safe haven for Remus to go through his monthly transformation.

"James, Sirius, and Remus were lucky to be there. To think Remus's condition would help thwart the attempt," sighed Lily as she ran a hand through Harry's hair.

"They were indeed lucky," Poppy, too, sighed. "To think not only those three were at the shack for Remus, but the kidnappers also used the same route… and finally Quinn also used the same passage."

Lily and Ivy both looked up at the Matron, who was shaking her head at her semi apprentice's antics.

"... Quinn?" asked Ivy, surprised to hear that name in the current situation.

"Yes, apparently that child had been sneaking in-and-out of the castle to visit Hogsmeade outside of the Hogsmeade weekend. He used that passage as his sneak route. Today, after he was returning from Hogsmeade, he chanced upon the tense situation and saw wands pointed from both parties."

"How's he?" asked Lily with wide eyes, looking around to see if Quinn was lying on another bed.

"He's fine. Filius took him to meet the Headmaster. Quinn punched the man who was holding Harry hostage," sighed Poppy, thinking about Quinn's hands. "That child's hands were in bad shape. He, a fourteen-year-old, hit an adult enough times to draw blood and break his bones. Despite this, he smiled the entire time."

A fourteen-year-old wasn't developed enough and had low strength. Poppy realized that, and when Quinn told her that he broke the man's jaw, she imagined from checking Quinn's hands how many times Quinn had to punch to break a person's face.

Quinn's knuckles would've been injured way before accomplishing what he had. So Poppy realized that Quinn had ignored the pain and had kept hitting.

While Poppy was thinking about Quinn, Ivy, too, was thinking about him.

She couldn't believe that Quinn had once again saved Harry from another dangerous situation. Ivy had just managed to put aside the thoughts about Quinn's slip about the Chamber of Secrets, but now this happened, and she again thought about Quinn.

From her very first year, Quinn West had been a part of her school life one way or another. He would always be connected to the bizarre and wild incidents that happened to her and her friends.

In the first year, he had warned them about the Philosopher's stone's chambers, and she was sure that he had been inside those chambers.

In the second year, he had caught her trying to sneak into Slytherin's common room; he had told them about the Basilisk and the Chamber of Secrets and saved them from the monster inside the chamber. He had found things before anyone else and seemed to know everything about what was happening.

In her third year, he had made Hermione take him to the past because he wanted to save himself by creating a time travel loop. How did he get injured? She still doesn't know because Quinn was somehow able to avoid that entire line of questioning. Then she saw Quinn produce the biggest Patronus she had ever seen.

She thought that those few hours completed the yearly quota of interaction with Quinn West, but now that she heard this, Ivy realized she was wrong. He had saved her brother and had gotten injured while doing it.

Ivy remained silent in her thoughts as Lily and Poppy continued to talk about the incident that took place today.

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- (Scene Break) -

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Quinn walked inside the Headmaster's office and he had to say that Dumbledore's office was interesting, to say the least.

It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. Several curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables. They whirred and emitted little puffs of smoke. Portraits of old Headmasters and Headmistresses, some gently snoozing, covered the walls of the office. Every headmaster (or headmistress) had their names and their period of tenure on their frames. He also saw an enormous, claw-footed desk and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered wizard's hat— the Sorting Hat.

Quinn's eyes were also attracted to the shelves-after-shelves of old tomes and books that graced a knowledgeable presence to the Headmaster's chaotic office. If Quinn had been left here with no supervision, he would've definitely opened every book and read through every page.

As Quinn walked in, he looked over his shoulder and saw a golden perch beside the room's entrance. Quinn identified the golden perch as the Phoenix's resting place.

After taking in the interior of the Headmaster's office, Quinn nodded in satisfaction.

"Mr. West, would you like to share your thoughts with us?"

Quinn looked to his front and saw Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, clad in purple robes with stars, sitting behind his desk. He was looking at him through the half-moon glasses with a smile on his face.

"Certainly, Headmaster. I was thinking that, after observing your office's interior, my office on the fifth-floor is better," a relaxed smile on his face as he spoke.

A chuckle came from the right, and a deep hum from the left came in response as James Potter chuckled and Severus Snape looked at Quinn warningly.

"Is that so? It saddens me a little to hear that. I have put in a lot of work to make my office unique and fun." The owner of the office smiled through his beard. "I even had to suffer from the nagging of the previous owners for years before they settled down."

Dumbledore roamed his eyes at the sleeping portraits of previous Headmasters and Headmistresses who occupied this office before him.

"I'm not saying that your office isn't unique and fun, Headmaster. I agree with you. Your office has a charm that sets it apart from others. It's just that mine is better," smiled Quinn.

Dumbledore smiled and then looked at the other three men in the room.

"James, Severus, Filius. You three can leave. James, you should join your family down in the hospital wing. My dear professors, it's almost dinnertime, I'm sure you all are hungry. Please, proceed to the Great Hall," said Dumbledore before turning Quinn. "Mr. West and I will have a short talk before joining you at the Great Hall."

James Potter and Severus Snape walked past Quinn. Both had different thoughts in their minds.

James was thankful to Quinn for knocking out the Accionite, who was about to get away with his son. If Quinn hadn't interfered, James didn't know what he would be doing now. He wasn't sure where his son would be or if he would even be safe.

Snape looked both pleased and conflicted. He was pleased that his attempt to convey that Remus Lupin was a Werewolf was successful because, from what James had said, Quinn already knew about it and had understood what he was trying to do. Snape was conflicted because Quinn hadn't outed Remus as a Werewolf to the school or family.

Their eyes met and they immediately became hostile towards each other. Before Quinn had entered the office, they had been exchanging taunts to each other. They only stopped because Dumbledore scolded them both.

Filius tagged along with his former students, so the three men exited the Headmaster's office. They left behind Quinn and Dumbledore in the office.

"Please take a seat, Mr. West," said Dumbledore, and with a wave of his hand, a chair was pulled back for Quinn.

"Thank you, Headmaster," said Quinn as he sat down.

"You can call me Professor like your other teachers, Mr. West," said Dumbledore as Quinn made himself comfortable.

"You are the head of the school, Headmaster. I like to use the proper title when I address people," smiled Quinn. "Maybe if you teach the Alchemy class in my sixth and seventh year, I'll call you professor."

Dumbledore looked interested at the mention of Alchemy. He asked with his eyes shining with interest.

"You are interested in Alchemy, Mr. West? I haven't seen many students who are interested in Alchemy. The lack of interested students is the reason we have to cancel the Alchemy subject every year."

"Alchemy is magic, Headmaster. I'm interested in anything that is magic," stated Quinn as if he was stating a universal fact.

"Your grades certainly show that. They are truly impressive, Mr. West," said Dumbledore as he turned parchments on his desk. "Other than Potions and History of Magic. You have scored more than a hundred percent in every exam of every subject in your four years at Hogwarts. Even in the two mentioned subjects, you haven't once scored anything less than an Outstanding."

Quinn shrugged and smiled, "I do well in class, Headmaster. It's what I like to do."

Dumbledore continued to turn parchments, stopped at a certain parchment, and said.

"Your establishment of an office on the fifth-floor, allowed by Filius. You've called it the A.I.D., and if I recall correctly, it has been a huge success. The notes that you release every year have been a great success; even though I haven't read them, the faculty have told me that they are excellent. You have been known to create interesting knick-knacks that see great sales, and interestingly, none of them have been banned by our caretaker, something that I consider a big accomplishment. The A.I.D. has become popular for helping other students which is another great and unique accomplishment."

"Tell me, Mr. West. Why did you start this initiative of yours?" asked Dumbledore, curious about the birth of the A.I.D. He hadn't seen something like this in Hogwarts before.

Usually, Prefects, Headboys, and Headgirls would be the students who helped the other students. If they couldn't solve the problem, they would go to the Professors. But ever since A.I.D. had opened up in Hogwarts, there had been a steady increase of students relying on Quinn to help them.

In one of the faculty meetings this year, the faculty had noted that they had seen a dive in the number of younger students coming to them for help. They connected it to the presence and ever-growing popularity of A.I.D. Every year the A.I.D. would gain a new batch of students.

After the professors exchanged their experiences, they realized that the A.I.D. had been equally popular in every house: no student, regardless of their house, had ever turned away from the door of A.I.D. If they had a problem, A.I.D was the space.

Pureblood students who had a strong sense of blood supremacy used A.I.D's services because Quinn was a pureblood himself. Muggleborn students, who were on the opposite side of the spectrum, didn't shy away from the A.I.D. because it was a place that would explain anything they wanted to know about the new and unknown magical world.

The A.I.D. was an establishment that reached every type of student present in Hogwarts.

Dumbledore, who got informed about what was happening in the school from the faculty meeting, became impressed and curious about the A.I.D. and how it was able to rise up to this point in only three years.

"Hmm, originally, I wanted to do something different. Create something that nobody in Hogwarts had ever done and something different from what my schoolmates were currently doing," answered Quinn, not telling the real reason about A.I.D.s' founding. He still provided Dumbledore with some actual facts, though. "I wanted to create something of my own and, in-process, use magic. I wasn't expecting it to get this big. But well, I guess I'm happy how things turned out."

'I have more than a hundred students who would do what I ask of them, students from all houses on every step of the social ladder. Indeed, I guess I'm happy how things turned out,' thought Quinn.

"I see," said Dumbledore and once again started to turn the parchments and stopped when he saw something that interested him. "Hmm... this here says that you had access to the Restricted Section of the Library for the entire year, last year." He looked up at Quinn and said, "It was given to you by Professor Lockhart."

Quinn nodded and confirmed the statement from Dumbledore but didn't say a single word in response.

Dumbledore waited for a moment for Quinn to speak something, but when he didn't say anything, Dumbledore asked, "May I ask why did you ask for the pass to the Restricted Section?"

"I was interested in the books there, Headmaster," replied Quinn, keeping it short.

"... And Professor Lockhart gave you the pass for the entire year? Not a particular book, but an entire year?" asked Dumbledore.

Quinn shrugged in reply, "I established his fan club at Hogwarts. I was the reason for his popularity in the school, so I guess he simply allowed me to browse through the library because of that."

"Yes, I recall hearing about Professor Lockhart's fan club," said Dumbledore before asking with a pause. "... Did you have contact with Professor Lockhart after he left the school?"

"Unfortunately, I lost contact with Professor Lockhart after he left his post. He was a fun person to listen to and hang around. He had fascinating stories to tell," answered Quinn.

"What books interested you, Mr. West," asked Dumbledore as he observed Quinn through his half-moon glasses.

"Hmm, there were many, but mostly some advanced applications of what I was studying at the moment," answered Quinn, and he didn't lie. Dumbledore didn't know what level of magic he was studying at that point.

Dumbledore once again waited for Quinn to explain what he meant by the vague answer, but Quinn didn't say a single more word.

He once again looked down at his desk and turned some sheets before once again asking.

"You've been learning Healing Magic from Madam Pomfrey," stated Dumbledore as he looked at Quinn with surprise.

"Yes," answered Quinn with a single word.

The third time around, Dumbledore finally caught up with what was happening.

"... Do you want to become a healer, Mr. West?"

"No, sir. Not at all. Healing is a type of magic, and I'm interested in anything that's magic," smiled Quinn.

The Headmaster stared at the student while the student looked around the office with a curious gaze.

"Headmaster, my view of your office is improving by the minute. It's growing on me," complimented Quinn.

If Dumbledore didn't want to get straight to the point, Quinn also didn't mind stretching things along. Plus, he employed his usual strategy of letting the other person ask questions to control the flow of information.

"It seems I have gone off the topic, Mr. West," said Dumbledore and closed the file of parchments. "It's just that I don't get to talk to students often. So whenever I do get to talk to a student, I get a little distracted as I want to know more about them."

"It's fine, sir. You are a busy man; the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the Supreme Mugwump of the I.C.W., and the Chief Warlock of Wizengamot. All these titles and the responsibilities that come with them are time-consuming," said Quinn and then suggested as he looked at Dumbledore. "If you aren't enjoying your current workload and if it makes you feel uncomfortable... perhaps you could drop a position or two and concentrate on fewer things."

Dumbledore watched Quinn, and as Quinn said the last sentence, the Headmaster smiled widely, more widely than he had smiled since Quinn had entered the office.

"Let's get to the point, Mr. West. Let's talk about what happened at the Shrieking Shack."

Quinn held back the smile that was threatening to break out on his face and nodded.

"Let's."

Quinn West - MC - Let's get started.

Albus Dumbledore - Headmaster - Yes, let's get started.

Ivy Potter - Has a Quinn-encounter quota in her mind - *Sigh.*

Poppy Pomfrey - Matron, healer - I repeat, Quinn is troublesome.

Severus Snape - Conflicted - I knew that brat knew!

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