Chapter 21: Ravenclaw, First Impressions, and The Problem

2 September 1990 was a Sunday, which meant that there were no classes, and the first years were free to roam the castle. Quinn got up the next day, and in the morning, and after completing his morning routine, he took off to explore the castle but not before visiting the Great Hall for breakfast.

Hogwarts Castle was a large, seven-story lofty building supported by magic. It had a hundred and forty-two (142) staircases throughout its many towers and turrets and deep dungeons. The castle was built in the late Early Middle Ages (c. 993) by a wizard architect and the four most celebrated wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin.

Quinn started from the Great Hall and then explored the castle for the entire day but could only cover the ground and the first floor. The castle was so large that Quinn wasn't able to move past the first floor. And Quinn was planning to memorize the entire castle. Quinn would live here for the next seven years, and because of that, he wanted to use the castle and the accompanying property as his new mindscape. He knew the transition from the West Manor to the Hogwarts castle would be gradual and a lengthy process. But, Quinn was confident that he would be able to explore enough of the castle in a year or two to build a working model in his mind. And, who knew what level of detail could he accomplish in seven years.

Quinn returned to his dorm just before dinnertime and freshened up by taking a shower. When he exited the shower, Quinn saw Eddie Carmichael in the room.

"Hey, Carmichael. Do you want to go to Great Hall together?" asked Quinn as he exited the bathroom.

Eddie looked relieved at the offer and spoke, "Yeah, I forgot the way to the Great Hall. It would be great if we could go together."

Quinn chuckled and offered, "Don't worry, I will go with you till you get comfortable. Hogwarts is a confusing place."

As the two climbed down the dormitory stairs, Eddie asked, "Where have you been the entire day. I don't think I saw you in the dorms today."

"Yeah, I didn't return to the dorm all day. I was exploring the castle. There were a lot of things to cover, and I lost track of time," replied Quinn as he guided Eddie from the Ravenclaw tower to the Great Hall. "What about you? What did you do today?"

Eddie shrugged and said, "Played a lot of Gobstones, went to the Quidditch field to see some of the older students flying on brooms, and talked to some of the older students about Hogwarts."

"Really? Tell me about it..."

When they reached the Great Hall, a lot of students were already seated. Quinn and Eddie found Marcus Belby sitting at the Ravenclaw table, already eating. Both the guys stopped just before reaching him.

You see, when it came to food, Marcus Belby could be compared to Ron Weasley. They both saw Marcus shoving food down his gullet without care. Eddie looked at Quinn, his eyes asking what to do, almost begging him not to sit next to their roommate. Quinn was of a similar mind, so neither wanted to sit next to Marcus while he ate.

"Let's just sit opposite to him. This way, he won't feel bad, and there would be plenty of distance between us," offered Quinn. Eddie nodded, and both of them turned back to go around the table and sat opposite Marcus.

"Hey, Belby, how have you been today? You seem to be enjoying the food," greeted Quinn and opened up the conversation, and the last sentence caused Eddie to stifle a laugh.

Marcus looked up and spoke with food still in his mouth, "Fwud wis ghrathe."

Quinn didn't understand a word that came out of Marcus' mouth, but he still spoke as he put food on his plate, "Oh yeah? That is great." It surprised Quinn that the sight of Marcus didn't erase his appetite, but Quinn was too hungry.

Eddie continued the conversation at the table, "Professor Flitwick would be coming to the common room today. He will be giving us the timetable and talk with us before we start school tomorrow."

"That is great. I heard Professor Flitwick is Britain's most knowledgeable Charms master. Plus, before he started teaching, he was Duelling Champion with the title of Master duelist. He has been at Hogwarts for around twenty years or so," supplied Quinn as they talked about the upcoming event.

After some more idle chatting, Quinn became silent and concentrated on eating. With today's exploration and Quinn's usual habit of emptying his magical core every day, he needed a significant amount of calories to meet his dietary needs, so he was quite hungry and needed food in his body.

- (Scene Break) -

After dinner, all the first-year Ravenclaws gathered around the common room to meet Flitwick. On the decided time, Filius Flitwick entered the Ravenclaw common room and greeted the gathered people in his squeaky voice, "Good Evening, children. I hope I didn't keep you waiting."

Filius Flitwick, half-goblin and half-human, had a short stature because of goblin lineage. He tottered to an empty chair and sat on it before asking the students to gather around him. Quinn sat on a chair that was a little distance away from the diminutive professor but at a distance where Quinn could clearly listen to him. Many students opted to sit on the floor to be closeby to the head of the house. They were already acting like little Ravenclaws not willing to miss out on anything that a teacher said.

"I hope all of you have settled down in your dorms and have no problems with your living arrangements because if you do, please do come to me. It is my duty to fix any problems you have, so don't hesitate to share any of your problems," said Flitwick to the new students, trying to get them comfortable.

"Now first, let me introduce myself. My name is Filius Flitwick. I teach the subject Charms. This means I will be teaching you the wonders of all kinds of charms," Flitwick showed a toothy grin seeing the bright-eyed children when he mentioned charms, "But to you children, I am also your head of the house. You will be under my wings during the time you are at Hogwarts, so I once again I say that please don't hesitate and come to me with any problem."

He took a pause before speaking, "My doors are always opened to a ravenclaw in need."

Then he took out his wand and gave it a swing for the Ravenclaw House symbol to appear in the air. The students ooh-ed in awe at the sight of the magic. Even Quinn was mildly surprised.

'Hmm, a light-based magic to project an image in the air,' reflected Quinn as he looked at the glowing house symbol. Quinn wasn't surprised because he hadn't seen anything like this before. The concept behind the magic was simple enough and was a magic from the same line as the Lumos spell, but a lot more complex than the Wand-Lighting charm. The reason behind Quinn's surprise was the detail in the projection image.

'I can see the individual feathers in the raven, and the image is three-dimensional with color grading and shadows,' thought Quinn as he admired the show of magic. Quinn could also project an image in the air, but it would lack the detail present in Flitwick's work.

Flitwick giggled as he took in the joy of his new charges and said, "You all were sorted in Ravenclaw, so I think it is appropriate for you to know about the origins of the house."

With a swish of his wand, the Ravenclaw symbol changed into a woman wearing medieval clothing. Quinn looked past everyone and saw that the white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw. He could see the resemblance between the two.

Flitwick presented a question to the students, "Does anyone of you recognize this lady?" And, every single one of the students, including Quinn, raised their hands.

Flitwick pointed at Quinn and asked him to answer, "Please tell us all your name before answering the question."

Quinn stood up from his chair and answered, "Quinn West. The lady is one of the four founders, Rowena Ravenclaw. She, along with the other three founders, established Hogwarts."

Flitwick enthusiastically clapped while bouncing on his chair and said, "Three points to Ravenclaw! As Mr. West said, Rowena Ravenclaw was one of the four founders, and she created the Hogwarts' house of Ravenclaw. Ravenclaws such as yourselves are characterized by their wit, learning, wisdom, acceptance, intelligence, and creativity. Lady Rowena sought all these qualities in her students, so Ravenclaw students display a number of these traits. I myself was a Ravenclaw during my time at Hogwarts as a student."

"Rowena Ravenclaw prized learning above all else – and so do we. Unlike the other houses, which all have concealed entrances to their common rooms, we don't have that. Ours has no handle but an enchanted bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. When you rap on the door, this knocker will ask you a question, and if you can answer it correctly, you are allowed in. This simple barrier has kept out everyone but Ravenclaws for nearly a thousand years."

The last sentence did cause some first-years to worry, but Flitwick assured them, "I can see some of you who are scared by having to answer the eagle's questions but don't worry. Ravenclaws learn quickly, and you will soon enjoy the challenges the door sets. It is not unusual to find twenty people standing outside the common room door, all trying to work out the answer to the day's question together. This is a great way to meet fellow Ravenclaws from other years and learn from them – although it is a bit annoying if you have forgotten your Quidditch robes or books and need to get in and out in a hurry. In fact, I would advise you to triple-check your bag for everything you need before leaving Ravenclaw Tower." Flitwick was laughing hysterically by the end. He truly was as eccentric as people made him out to be.

Flitwick disappeared the projection and continued, "Sometimes our pursuit of knowledge may come of a being as bookish, and my peers at my time at Hogwarts as a student called me a bookworm among other things." When Flitwick said this, many students showed sad faces as a lot of them had been called similar words.

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Flitwick smiled gently and spoke a little louder, "But don't let any of those words deter you. They are just jealous of our knowledge and wisdom and say mean things because we have things they don't have. So, be proud of being smart, and don't feel embarrassed by your love of knowledge. Wear it like a badge of honor. Know that if Rowena Ravenclaw was alive, she would have chosen you all from all the students. Be proud because you are the smartest of the bunch."

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He stood upon his chair and exclaimed, "Always remember this; Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure! Repeat after me; Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure!"

"WIT BEYOND MEASURE IS MAN'S GREATEST TREASURE!" Every student in the common room repeated after Flitwick, and the collective voices of the students sound like a war chant. Even Quinn chanted the infamous quote with his fellow students and could feel the confidence that Flitwick given many students. It made Quinn think that Flitwick could have a great career as a motivational speaker.

After everybody calmed down, and Flitwick was sitting on his chair rather than standing on it, he took out a matchstick-sized stack of parchments and waved his wand above the stack, and the stack enlarged to a standard stack of parchments. With another wave, a sheet each flew to every student in the room.

Quinn gracefully received the sheet and read it. On the parchment was a timetable.

"These are your timetable for the year. You will all follow this schedule every week till the end of the year. Please note and remember the room numbers as they won't change and I would recommend that you reach your class five minutes before time," said Flitwick as Quinn read the timetable and he was surprised to see that in a day he only had to attend two to three hours of classes. Quinn calculated, and the time allotted to classroom studies was only fourteen (14) hours a week, fifteen (15) if you added the weekly flying lesson with Madam Hooch.

Quinn was totally down with this schedule, as it would give him more time to study magic on his own. He was sure that the workload would increase from the third year onwards, but he would worry about that when the time came.

Quinn looked up when he heard Flitwick clap his hand and asking the students to look at him. "If you would turn your sights to the library in the common room." Quinn and the rest looked at the library present inside the Ravenclaw common room, a feature unique to the Ravenclaw common room.

"The library has many books that would help you increase your knowledge. I am in charge of selecting the books on the shelves of the library. I constantly keep note of the progress of every class that is taught in Hogwarts. So I know what is being taught to every student of the school, because of that I place complementary and supplementary material related to the topics currently being taught in your classes in our library. For example, if first-year students are learning how to brew the Sleeping Draught in Potions class. Then I would place books related to the Draught and its ingredients in our library for students to read. Then there are my weekly and monthly recommendations, which are not related to the course material but are always an interesting read. There is also a rule that the books often change on the shelves of our library, to keep those who want to learn on their feet, so even if you can't read them, please note the titles, as you would be able to find all these books in the Hogwarts library."

Of all the things Flitwick had said today, this interested Quinn the most. Supplementary material and additional reading were always in better understanding things. Quinn made a note to take full advantage of the in-house library.

At the end of the talk, Flitwick asked, "Now, other than Mr. West, who gained Ravenclaw their first points of the year, congratulations to you, Mr. West -- all the first years, please introduce yourselves. I want to match the names to the faces, and it would also help your housemates to know your names."

Quinn looked at Eddie and said, "Yeah~."

Then Quinn paid attention to his year mates introducing themselves. Quinn too wanted to match faces to names. It would not be well if he could not recall his housemates' names.

Before sleeping that night, Quinn wrote a letter to his family. He described his first day at Hogwarts, his sorting ceremony, what he found in the castle, his living arrangements, among other things. Sealed the letter in an envelop and put it into his dorm's desk drawer, ready to be mailed tomorrow via a school owl.

- (Scene Break) -

During Quinn's first week at Hogwarts, he attended all the lessons and performed all the tasks taught to him. They were easy or him, and like the typical Ravenclaw, he was among the first ones to complete the practicals. Actually, he was the first every time, but he jusst didn't raise his hand to show that he was done with a task.

Unlike Hermione Granger, he didn't jump to every answer that the professors asked. He only answered the questions that were too easy or when nobody had the answer to the question. It did cause some teachers to call out Quinn to answer questions which didn't bother him as Quinn knew all the answers, and because he didn't jump to answer all the questions, he wasn't tagged as a Know-It-All.

Because Quinn already knew all the stuff in the classes, he would efficiently make use of his time by sneakily completing all his homework in class time itself, so he had more time to himself. He even completed his potions homework in Snape's class itself, which Quinn thought deserved at least fifty (50) points.

But, Snape did pay attention to Quinn because his potions were way better than the rest of the class, and by a huge margin. When Quinn told Snape that he had learned about potions at home, he just sneered but said nothing as this practice wasn't uncommon for magical households.

But Quinn didn't know that Snape was now paying extra attention to him. Even though learning potions before coming to school wasn't uncommon, the quality of potions that Quinn brewed was not common at all, especially for someone his age.

Even the other professors remembered Quinn fairly well, and he was among the students that stood out from his batch; Quinn's practical work was just too good for a student who had been in school for a single week. But because Quinn did nothing extra other than what was asked, he was just seen as a very talented child and not the freak of nature that Quinn was. Plus, being a Ravenclaw helped Quinn's image as Ravenclaws were always good at academics.

Quinn had no idea what was going through his professors' minds because he was too busy with another problem.

A major problem.

Quinn's current capabilities were on the level of a fourth-year student. His level of ability to focus magic was stuck at his current level for a half year and had improved little. So, he had begun working at more efficiency and speed of casting, hoping that it would help, but nothing particularly helped. He did everything to improve what he already knew and could do with his level of focus, but his focus didn't improve by much.

This was the reason that Quinn was excited about turning eleven and getting a wand. But both of those events caused him disappointment.

The reason why a child started attending a magical school at age eleven was that the magic inside a child switched from a turbulent state to a state of growth. A person with magic entered a time of exponential growth from age eleven that continued to age seventeen, and a magical's ability to focus magic would increase naturally. The ability to focus magic would increase even if they didn't use magic, and if they worked hard during this time, they would reap added benefits.

The term 'Magic is Muscle,' applied heavily from ages eleven to seventeen as a person saw the most growth in this time period, and that applied to the ability to focus magic. But, nothing happened when Quinn turned eleven, there was no jump in focus for him. Time passed, but nothing changed in his magic.

Then he looked forward to getting a wand. He wanted a wand to aid him by supplementing his focus, but it turned out that if he used a wand, he would become dependent on it, and it would take an exponential amount of work to perform focusless magic. Now, his wand was encased in a block of wood and locked inside a room in a suitcase.

But, Quinn was forgetting an important event. A date that came every year, and after so many years Quinn had forgotten about it, but this year it was going to be different. Quinn didn't know it but this day would be a turning point in his life.

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A/N [1]: Just to clear a confusion that I have been noticing popping in the comments. Quinn West is one (1) year older than Harry Potter. The current year is 1990. Harry Potter joins Hogwarts in 1991. The Weasley twins and Cedric are in the second (2nd) year right now. Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley would enter Hogwarts when Quinn is in his third (3rd) year.

]

Quinn West - MC- Hogwarts (Ravenclaw) - Worried about his magic.

Eddie Carmichael - Ravenclaw - Is bad with directions.

Filius Flitwick - Charms Professor - "You may have heard that I was a Duelling Champion!", said Flitwick, drawing his wand on misbehaving students.

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