Chapter 215: Round Two? Undefeated

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"Finally," said Quinn with a gleeful smile on his face, "finally on the last chapter.. . just a few more pages and I would be finished."

He sat behind his office desk with Stigweard Gragg's biography in front of him. With no other clue on how to proceed with the pedestal in the Architect's vault, Quinn had chosen to focus on the only lead he had — the biography and had taken upon himself to comb through every paragraph, sentence, phrase, and word written to find some hint, any hint on how to proceed inside the vault.

And how he was on the last chapter after an arduous process of analyzing every page, chapter, and section of the book to see if there was something hidden in words — he even went as far as to check the book for the magic to see if it was hiding something, but no, there was nothing weaved into the book other than preservation charms and traces of shelf-life elongating potions that the pages had been soaked into.

In the dozens and dozens of chapters Quinn had read, he hadn't found a single clue or mention regarding the vault. Yet Quinn was happy; in no way did he think that this book was going to help him — he was simply happy that he would be able to cross this book out of plausible helping resources and proceed to the next step-of-action — finding Architect's tomb and go grave-digging to find the clue.

"I better find a zombie so that I can bash his head in to release some irritation," he smiled while humming a tune. Finally, with one hand on the book and the other hand holding a pen over a sheet of paper, he began reading the last chapter.

But even before his fountain pen's nip could touch the paper and stain it with its glossy black ink, Quinn sighed as he sensed someone out of his office. He closed the book, capped the pen, and put aside his research material just in time to hear the bell chime.

He got up to greet his client/guests.

"Welcome to AID, how may we help you today.. .. Quidditch!"

Angelina Johnson, Roger Davies, and Cedric Diggory, who had entered the office, stopped at the sudden exclamation.

"What?" asked Roger Davies.

"You guys are here for Quidditch," said Quinn, then nodded, satisfied with his guess.

".. . Yes, how did you know?" asked Cedric.

"Three Quidditch captains stepping into my office at the same time, the balance of probabilities dictate as such," said Quinn as he sat down back on his chair and gestured for them to take a seat as well.

"So, what seems to be the problem," asked Quinn; of course, he could guess what they want to talk about.

"The problem," sighed Roger.

"It's Umbitch," hissed Angelina acidly.

"Who else could it be?" said Cedric putting on a wry smile.

"Of course, of course, the usual, huh; the High Inquisitor sucking the fun out of Hogwarts," said Quinn chuckling.

"Yes," Roger rubbed his forehead, "she has allowed the Slytherin team to exist, and they have been practically practicing every free slot they can get at the field.. . which because of Umbridge's ban on us is any time they want, as long as they want.. ."

"We're sure that we will be able to get the teams reinstated eventually," said Angelina, "but it might be too late by then.. . we would be lacking practice, and the Slytherin team would have too much practice," she stared deeply at Quinn, "we need to get this ban lifted as soon as possible."

"I have tried a lot from my side," said the Headboy, "but no matter what I do, Umbridge isn't budging — every time I try, she cites academics and grades as the reason for refusal."

"Hmm.. ." Quinn went silent for a few seconds, and the three captains waited with bated breath — "Can you get the support of the House Heads?" he asked.

"Is that even a question?" said Roger.

"Ever since Umbitch stepped into Hogwarts," continued Cedric.

"She is willing to rebel," added Angelina.

Quinn chuckled as he nodded, "Alright, that is great for you guys.. . Now, all I want you guys to do is gather signatures from a majority of people from all three houses.. . If you do that, then I'm willing to guarantee that I will have all three teams un-banned the very next day you get me the signatures."

"You don't really believe that showing signatures from us 'lowly' students will move the 'High Inquisitor,' do you?" said Angeline, sceptical about Quinn's promise and methods.

"Of course not," said Quinn laughing at the absurdity of the thought, "but the thing is, negotiation isn't a science; it's a strategic conflict, it's persuasion, and persuasion is an art — negotiation means getting the best of your opponent, and it's unwise to take anything personally during," he chuckled, "and with Umbridge's big personality, I'm not sure if she's capable of it.. . even if she's, I don't think she would be able to be objective when I'm sitting in front of her."

"She doesn't like you very much, does she," said Cedric.

"No, she doesn't," smiled Quinn, "from what I've heard from the Ministry; she is in the works to somehow update Educational Decree Twenty-Four, which is blocking you guys to change the definition of Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs from three student bodies down to two student bodies.. . but that isn't going to work, is it? Even she can't stop two people from talking and doing an activity together."

Quinn was a sixth-year this year, and this was AID's fifth year of operation; in all that time, he had handed out plenty of favors, helped a ton of students, and made many 'friends' — students who had graduated from Hogwarts and were now working in all parts of society — several of Quinn's 'friends' had joined the Ministry as their careers as such Quinn had contacts in Ministry who could provide him with information.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Angelina, still a little doubtful.

"It's going to work," said Quinn relaxed, "you just need to get me those signatures."

"We can do that," said Cedric, "I will work with the willing Prefects to streamline this — I'm guessing.. . it will take a couple of days for the stack of signatures to be in your hands."

"Excellent," said Quinn smiling, "you guys can relax now and start working on building your teams — I will have the Quidditch season started in no time."

After thanking him, the three captains left, and of course, Quinn asked them to help him out in return in the future. When he had started AID, Quinn had only aimed to increase his influence inside Hogwarts and hadn't thought of the future after that, but after the first 'batch' of his debtees left Hogwarts, he realized that his network had now expanded up from the closed-world of Hogwarts to the big, open, real world.

"Now, let's continue," he took out the Architect's biography and his pen and paper.

Time passed in silence with only the clock's ticking and turning of pages audible in the room. After a while, Quinn finally capped his pen, neatly stacked his notes, and then raised them up high in the air, as high as his hand could reach up.

And then.. . the flash-burned into nothingness, not even ashes remained.

"I hate this guy," he said, "I absolutely hate this guy."

The Architect's biography — which Quinn was now sure was an Autobiography — was open on his book and on the second last page of the book, in tiny font, written on the last line of that page was.. .

「Magic of Earth shall let the Mast sink and reveal the Secret.」

It was utterly unrelated to the contents on the page, and if someone didn't know the context, they wouldn't understand the line — but Quinn was different, he knew the context, and he knew it well.

Quinn groaned. He had spent a lot of time analyzing the Autobiography — more time he had spent on some magic books — but all his hard work was for naught as it turned out that he only needed to read one single line.

"Nasty bastard wasting all my time," he grumbled heatedly. And the biography wasn't even interesting; Stigweard Gragg might have been a great Architect, but he couldn't write for shit.

"Alright, calm down, calm down," sighed Quinn, "he's dead, dead for centuries.. . don't let the dead guy rile you up.. . I'm the best, he sucks, I'm the best, he sucks.. .. that's right."

He finally calmed down.

"Damn, Earth magic, huh," but then he grinned, "oh boy, it's time to buy new books! Such a treat!"

He got up and exited the office, heading towards his dormitory. He needed to see what he had and what more he needed.

"I love the Architect!"

- (Scene Break) -

A few days passed, and as promised, Quinn had signatures from seventy-five percent of the school. A big majority of Slytherin refused to sign because it had nothing to do with them, and they knew that the more time the other three teams remained disbanded, the greater chances would have at winning.

Of course, as expected, students from the three houses refused to sign, fearing retaliation from Umbridge.

"We thought there would be more," said Cedric as he, along with Angelina and Roger, walked with Quinn as they walked to the Headmaster's office.

"This is more than enough," said Quinn, flipping through the sheets they had given him this morning, updating the information in his hands of who signed and who didn't. He did notice a few names he was expecting to see in the list but were missing.

"It's true that a number more than eight percent would've looked better," Quinn smiled, "but that is if we tell her about the number."

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"What do you mean?" asked Roger.

"We don't have to put a number to the signees," Quinn waved the stack of parchment, "instead of telling her a quantity, if we used the physical thickness of this stack and the lines after lines of signature to smack Umbridge in the face, then the voice it would make be resoundingly loud."

He turned to the three and smiled, "While holding the truth is definitely essential, it's more important to know how to say that truth.. . even the greatest ideas are worthless if you can't present them to garner interest.. . communication is the key to success.. . If you want to be successful in life, out of one-hundred, you only need twenty points in competence and other in eighty in people skills."

The best-case example for this was Gilderoy Lockhart. He might not have done all of the deeds written in his books, but he knew how to weave a storyline, knew how to present it, was aware of precisely what people wanted and thus knew how to provide it.

The group reached the gargoyle that protected the door that protected Headmaster's office. Cedric stepped forward and spoke the password.

"Turkish Delight."

The gargoyle rotated on its axis, and its massive wings that blocked the entryway retreated into its back to clear the way for them to enter. They entered the office, and as planned, present inside was Albus Dumbledore sitting behind his desk, to the right of his desk sat the three House Heads (Flitwick, McGonagall, Sprout) to the left of the desk sat Umbridge with a small purse on her lap, and in the corner of the room stood Snape like an edge lord. Leaving the front of Dumbledore's desk clear for Quinn, Cedric, Angelina, and Roger to stand.

The three captains looked at Quinn to lead, who was looking around the office.

"Headmaster," started Quinn, "I can now safely say that except the gargoyle guarding the door, I have the better office," he smiled, "I would suggest that you make some changes if you wish to stay in the competition."

Dumbledore, sitting behind his desk, smiled through his long white beard.

"I haven't seen your office, Mr. West," said Dumbledore, "but if it's as fascinating as you say, then I'm fine with conceding defeat. Somethings need to be passed on to the younger generation."

Quinn smiled deeply but didn't extend an invitation to the Headmaster. He was about to continue with some chit-chat, but there was an interruption in the form of "hem, hem" that made everyone look at the pink-loving mass of personified evil sitting in the chair.

"Now that you all of you are finally here," said Umbridge with a humph, "let's get this farce over with.. . what do you want to talk about? If it's nothing important, I suggest that you stop at this instance; my duties as THE High Inquisitors keep me extremely busy — this school has many faults that need to be fixed."

'Why does her hubris surprise me?' though Quinn and many others had the same unspoken thought in their minds.

"We are here to talk about reinstating the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams," continued Quinn, "I think it's high time that the Quidditch season starts, but for that to happen, we need the four teams to be ready for the games."

Dumbledore nodded and was about to speak up, but Umbridge interrupted him.

"That's unfortunate, but the poor performance by the students and the utter lack of discipline doesn't allow leisure for all of you until I see some improvement," she said smugly.

"Well, I don't think the students share the same thought," said Quinn and took out the stack of signatures, "the entire school demands that Quidditch is returned to Hogwarts."

"Of course, you all would say that. You delinquent children can't see your faults and what I'm doing is for your good," said Umbridge instantly and then put her hand out. "Give those to me, and I will think about it when to reinstate the teams.. . You all should learn from the Slytherin house; they are excellent children and thus have their Quidditch team."

Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall didn't like the tone and content of Umbridge's words, but they didn't say anything as it was within her power to ban the Quidditch team. So they settled on glaring at her openly.

Quinn smiled, stepped forward, placed the signature stack on Dumbledore's table, and then stepped back, leaving Umbridge's raised empty. The pink woman didn't look happy at all as she put her hand back down.

Quinn knew that this would happen, and the signatures were just a piece to set up the foundation and scene of his argument.

"It's not just the students who are unsatisfied with Quidditch season being delayed. There are the Quidditch businesses in the Hogsmeade who get orders for gear every year and depend on our school for some revenue," said Quinn and once again ignored Umbridge as he handed in the letter of support from mentioned business to Dumbledore.

Quinn had written to the broom and gear maintenance shops in Hogsmeade that students went for maintenance work to show how the community was supporting the students.

"If we stop Quidditch, then our relationship with Hogsmeade might degrade, and we can't have that. Both parties depend a lot on each other. and the village residents look after us and help with the safety of the young ones during Hogsmeade weekends."

There were murmurs of approval from the three House Heads and a nod with a hidden smile behind his beard.

"And because we don't need to protect ourselves," said Quinn, staring at Umbridge as she was the one who preached this, "in case something like Novellus Accionites incident happens again in Hogsmeade, we need the assistance of village residents for protection."

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Umbridge's expression darkened at Quinn's words.

"The terrorist group has been dismantled by Auror's office," said Umbridge. "They won't be coming to Hogsmeade anymore."

"Hmm," he looked at Cedric and asked in a wondering tone, "how many people died during the attack.. . wait, I remember, yes.. . three people died."

The room was silent, and everyone looked at Umbridge, who looked like someone had fed her shit. The Novellus Accionite incident was a taint on the Ministry's reputation and lack of response that led to the deaths — they had to essentially rely on the Invisible Vigilante because if he wasn't there, the deaths count would've been much higher.

Quinn then took out another series of letters from his pockets.

"These are the letter from various eateries and watering holes. Last year, I had radio equipment installed to transmit the game commentary over a magical radiofrequency," Quinn smiled widely. "It seems that many of those restaurants and pubs would like to continue to get Hogwarts Quidditch games broadcasted and have shown their support by offering donation funds to set up Hogwart's own broadcasting system so that they can continue to get game commentary that their customers liked so much."

The team captains and even the House Heads looked surprised that Quinn had gotten these letters. They all loved it! This was perfect reasoning for continuing Quidditch.

Umbridge looked red with embarrassment and anger and was about to say that they were a school, a place of education, and not some entertainment center for filthy eateries and watering holes, but then she saw Quinn take out another letter.

"This is the letter of commendation from the Head of Magical Sports," said Quinn, pulling out a letter from Ludo Bagman(who had sent the letter back in two hours after getting Quinn's demands). "He believes that Hogwarts without Quidditch isn't Hogwarts at all. He urges that Quidditch shouldn't be stopped and that Quidditch teams should be exempt from Education Decree Twenty-Four to keep the tradition with such rich history to continue existing."

Baam, a letter from someone in Ministry itself supporting a decision in opposition to Ummbridge's (the Ministry representative) decision. Now, even Snape looked impressed in his corner.

Umbridge wanted nothing more than to blow up and scream bloody murder at how she was the Senior Undersecretary to the Ministry, and her decision was final, but then her words died in her throat before she could even open her mouth as Quinn took yet another thin stack letter.

"These are the letters from the eight of the twelve members of the Hogwarts Board of Governors," said Quinn, "they have all supported that Quidditch should return to Hogwarts and that the game helps promote unity between students and is essential for relaxation from the studies. They have individually written their recommendations with their seals and signatures and demand that this problem be solved immediately."

While Education Decree Twenty-Three gave the High Inquisitor substantial power and even exempted her from answering to the Board's authority so they couldn't touch Umbridge, but they still held plenty of power, and while they had penned the letters as 'recommendation' it was clear that they were demanding Quidditch teams to reinstated.

Quinn had sent out letters making them aware of the situation under the AID letterhead, and because of the last year's tournament, that name now held some weight in the Board members' eyes and his name that he had put along with his name at the end of every one of the letters helped. Eight people that Quinn was sure weren't in cahoots with Umbridge received the letters, and as he expected, they replied with these glorious letters.

He once again ignored Umbridge and handed the letters to Dumbledore. He was done — he had started with pulling out the tickling feather in the form of student signatures; then a slap in the face in the form of Hogsmeade letters; the restaurant and pub letters were Stunning spell; a Cruciatus curse with the Ludo Bagman's glowing letter; and finally, cast a Killing curse with Board members' recommendation/demands.

"Now, Madam High Inquisitor," said Quinn as he took yet another stack of letters, "the Board members have asked me for your decisions because if you're not comfortable with continuing Quidditch, they are thinking to directly approach the Minister to see if he can do something about this problem.. . so, should I send them in, or would you be taking their 'recommendations' into considerations?"

Everyone watched the very still Umbridge sitting in her chair. Fudge had issued Education Decree Twenty-Four to thwart any 'rebel groups' that he feared Dumbledore was building. If people started to go complain to Fudge that she had been using the Decree to shut something like Quidditch, he wouldn't be happy, and if the news went out and the 'uncontrolled' reporters caught the whiff of what she did, it would give Dumbledore the chance to creep back some control.

".. . Seeing so much support for Quidditch warms my heart," said Umbridge with a thin smile and extra sweet smile, "I will accept the Boards' recommendation and reinstate the three Quidditch teams.. . effective immediately." She raised her hand to ask for the letters that Quinn was going to send to Board members, but Quinn pocketed them with a smile.

Umbridge's face couldn't be any more darker than it was now. She immediately excused herself as she was 'busy.' When she exited, the three captains and their House Heads outright celebrated loudly as Dumbledore smiled and Snape frowned at the noise.

That day, Quinn received word of thanks, gifts from every Quidditch team member from all three houses, and many kisses on checks from many girl members. Eddie said that even he was very tempted to kiss Quinn, but both decided that it was enough to hug it out.

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Quinn West - MC - You. Have. Been. Served!!!

Albus Dumbledore - Headmaster - That was entertaining; nicely done.

Dolores Umbridge - Pink & Red - Didn't even have time to pull up the Suprised Pikachu face.

Three Captains - Captains yet again - 'In your face, Umbitch!!!' they thought.

Three House Heads - Happy - Spread the entire thing to the rest of the faculty and had a celebration party.

Severus Snape - Fourth House Head - Noisy.. .

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