Chapter 330: Ground Rules

The Hogwarts Express chugged along the tracks, making its way through the lush and overreaching countryside. The school was over, and the student population was on the red train, going back to their home.

"The farewell party went straight down the gutter," Eddie grumbled, leaning on his train berth, his leg resting on the front corner of the opposite berth.

Marcus picked his head out of his pork pie and fixed Eddie with a disappointed gaze. "Don't be like that. Professor Snape died protecting the school from Death Eaters. We weren't going to have a farewell party either way."

"You think I don't know that. It just took a lot of time for me to get that big crate of firewhisky," Eddie huffed with crossed arms. "I had to divvy it all out and didn't get a party in return."

"You can come to my house," said Quinn. He was lying beside Marcus with his feet crossed and a book floating over his head. "I will get you good and drunk— grandfather would be more than delighted to start a young man like yourself on his journey alcohol. Though I doubt you'd be getting firewhisky from him."

"Why?"

"Let's just say he has. . . taste. In turn, you will be getting a lot of hand-crafted beverages along with an evening full of responsible drinking habits."

". . . Yeah, that sounds drab. But hey, I won't say no to some expensive stuff. Send me a date and time; I'll be there."

"You say that, but I guarantee that you will be copying him by the end of the day."

Quinn tried to imagine what fun it would be to see Eddie and George together and that too drinking. He could imagine it going in so many interesting ways. Moreover, he would even get a bonus interaction between Ms. Rosey and Eddie— that could very well be more entertaining than Eddie and George.

"You don't anything to with the Prefects?" Marcus asked Quinn. "I thought the bunch of you would be doing something like a posh lunch to mark the end."

Quinn waved his hand. "Nope, not one bit interested in that. Plus, no one was in the mood for it. It didn't help that quarter of the Prefects went home directly with their parents, so we just dropped the idea of doing something as a farewell."

It wasn't just them. The entire seventh-year was bummed as their last days in Hogwarts had taken such a tragic turn. The only positive that had come out of the mess was the postponed exams— though some complained about wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.

Eddie loudly slapped his thighs as he stood. "Well boys, I will see you. . . I don't know when."

"Going to see Tracey?" asked Quinn.

"Yeah."

Quinn grabbed the book and got up as well.

"You— Daphne?"

". . . Yes."

Eddie turned to Marcus and opened his mouth just to close it. He furrowed his brow before quirking one up. "You know. . . we never talked about you, have we? You never told us if you liked someone or who you liked. . . and somehow we never hound. . . asked you about." Eddie turned to Quinn, "That's surprising, innit, mate?"

Quinn stepped beside Eddie and faced Marcus. "It is surprising indeed. Seven years together, and never did you tell us what's your type, much less who you fancy. I think it is high time your best mates know about this sort of stuff."

Both sat down in front of Marcus in unison, leaning forward over their crossed arms.

"No, no, no, don't sit," said Marcus, gesturing them to stand up. "I fancied no one, there that's the answer, happy, now off yo go— you don't want to keep the ladies waiting."

"I don't buy that crap," Eddie shot down the answer. "I don't believe you never got interested. You must have a crush or two."

"Was it someone in DA?" asked Quinn. "Was it Susan Bones? She's pretty, and you two got along."

"Now that you say that, they did get along splendidly."

"Then there were all those meetings."

"He can't be blamed for taking a fancy."

"Maybe she did as well."

"You dog! The Minister's daughter, eh, mate. Now that's ballsy!"

"Never knew you to be so ambitious, Marcus. You know there's still time. It might be late, but you can at least communicate your feelings. You might regret it later if you keep those feelings hidden."

"Go jump her bones!"

Marcus' jaw had long slackened. "No" — he shook his head — "No" — again — "No" — and then again — "none of that. . . how did. . . from where. . . you two. . . . Out!"

"Come on, who better to tell but us," said Quinn.

"Out!"

"Look at him all shy," said Eddie.

"Sod off!"

There was a knock on the door, but before they could even turn their heads, the door slid and shuddered open. Tracey Davis stood at the door with her eyes narrowed at her boyfriend. "I have been waiting for a while, and here you are, laughing it off."

Eddie stood up and all but flew to Tracey's side. He kissed her cheek and took her hand into his. "We got busy trying to make Marcus' love life successful. Turns out that he likes Susan Bones."

"You do?!" asked Tracey, surprise replacing irritation.

"No, I don't! Don't listen to them!"

"So he says," said Quinn laughing.

Tracey's eyes turned to Quinn, and her eyes narrowed yet again. She fixed him with a glare.

Eddie noticed Tracey's change. He looked between his girlfriend and best mate and asked, "What-what? Did something happen? Something happened. What happened?"

"He cheated," said Tracey, making Quinn's heart skip a beat, "me out of money in a bet using a trick."

"So it wasn't just me. He cheated in a race against me; used some bloody magic to rush off like a horse."

"Is that so," she hummed, "sounds like him."

Quinn thinned his lips bitterly. Daphne had told Tracey as she said she would. As one would expect, Tracey wasn't happy with what she had heard and had come for Quinn with her wand in hand. The incident (fortunately unseen) was Tracey bombarding Quinn with her most offense-heavy curses, with Quinn blocking them while hearing her hurling the non-magical type curses from her mouth. After she had tired herself out, Tracey switched to yelling at him for forcing Daphne into a horrible relationship.

When he tried to give an explanation — which was difficult as Quinn didn't have a solid explanation for the situation Lust and Greed had dropped him in — and that might have shown as Tracey had huffed and sneered and walked away mid-explanation.

"It's lovely to see you as well, Tracey," said Quinn earnestly. Tracey was one of his close friends, someone he had gotten along with from the get-go, and this was the first time they had turmoil between them.

She raised her hand and threw something at him. It glinted golden as Quinn caught it out of the air.

"Let's go," she pulled Eddie along while giving Quinn one last glaring side-eye.

Quinn looked at his palm, and there sat a golden galleon.

When the door was slid close, Marcus spoke up, "Wow, she's in a bad mood. How much did you take from her. . . it must be a lot if she's still paying it now."

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Quinn could only heavily sigh in response.

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Quinn rubbed the galleon with his thumb. He glanced down at the face of the coin, peering near the circumference, where a string of words swam as if on a long stripe display showing stock prices. The fake galleon was used in DA to communicate the meeting details, and every member had retained the coins with them for communication.

He had one as well, but he didn't keep it in person.

He glanced up at the compartment he was asked to visit, communicated by the coin. He furrowed his brow and stepped back from the curtained-off glass-windowed wooden door to take in the full picture.

There was a focus-averting charm laid on the whole front of the compartment. The charm worked the same as the "Muggle-Repellant" charm, but for magicals— it wasn't a widely used spell as it would fail if someone was actively looking for the thing that the spell had been cast on.

The spellwork in front of him, as Quinn judged, was skillful with decent power behind it. He glanced around the train corridor— there was no one present but him— and had noticed how half of the compartments in the section were empty because of the lack of students that had boarded the train today. It was a suitable place to ward off a compartment with such spell, away from the frequent pair of eyes that would pass by.

He knocked on the door but didn't enter. A second later, the curtain parted a sliver, and green eyes peered from within. The door opened, and he was pulled in by a dainty hand.

Quinn found himself in the room with two girls he was well familiar with. He peered at Daphne and Ivy as they stared back at him, making him nervous. It felt like a long time, but it was just yesterday that he had entered into a relationship with both of them.

It wasn't nearly enough time for him to gather his thoughts.

"Hello," he said. Then proceeded to scream at himself for the slight off-tone. He pretended to clear his throat and said again, "Hello," this time normally.

Both greeted him back. Ivy greeted him with a smile and a wandering eye (which he thought was because of yesterday) while Daphne greeted him as if nothing had happened.

"So, how are you two doing? Any change of thoughts since yesterday," he said jokingly.

The joke didn't hit. Quinn knew it as it was coming out of his mouth.

Daphne's eyes sharpened, threatening to turn into a glare any second. Ivy, on the other hand, looked a bit hurt. Quinn immediately realized what had gone wrong.

"Wait-wait, I can practically see your thoughts," he said hurriedly. "I am not regretting this and have no intention of going back on what was decided yesterday." He could only blame things on Greed so much, and it was time to take responsibility.

"Then don't say things that make us think like that," said Daphne, snappily, but much less than yesterday.

Ivy nodded.

"I apologize; I wasn't thinking," he said. "But I can sense that both of you have some thoughts since yesterday."

"We have," said Ivy. "I think it would be better if we have some well-defined rules between us to ensure that this," she pointed to everyone, "doesn't collapse."

"Agreed," nodded Quinn.

"We have talked between us two what we expect from you. We will tell you those. And because it goes two ways, we want to hear what you wish from us."

That was good, Quinn thought. He could definitely work with some guidelines. He hadn't even heard their expectations, but he was already feeling good about it.

"First, and maybe the most important part rule," started Daphne. She pointed at herself and Ivy, "We aren't involved with each other. We are involved with you and you alone. As it stands now, we aren't interested in pursuing anything with the other— so don't expect us to do so or ask us to do. Ivy and I will work on our relationship— but it won't go farther than friendship— not romantically, and definitely not. . . ."

"Sexually," supplied Ivy and followed with a very blunt. "So no threesomes if you somehow had that in mind."

Daphne nodded conservatively.

"Wouldn't think of it," Quinn agreed with them without missing a beat.

"Next rule," Daphne continued. "We are fine with spending time together," she flushed a bit, "even living together when it comes to that" — Quinn held back his surprise of Daphne talking about living together; they hadn't talked about a living situation, this being the first time— "we are willing to share some trips and outings, but there must be some single dates, and during those personal one-on-one times, there must not be ANY mention of the other.

I personally want that you don't take Ivy to places that I deem special between the two of us— for example, the small handicraft muggle market that we visited before this year."

Quinn's eyes shined in recognition. It was his first time taking Daphne to the non-magical world, and instead of overwhelming her with all the glitz and glamor, he took her to a quaint street-side handicraft bazaar.

"I want the same," said Ivy; there was a competitive light in her eyes. "So, you can't take her to the Architect's Vault." Her shoulders slumped, and she mumbled, "We don't have any place else, and you're already not returning. . . ."

Quinn was quick to rescue and promised her about building places with time. He did get a look towards Daphne, but she was as serene as night.

"Now, this is the last thing we could think," continued Daphne. "It's about what and how much to share. I am open to hearing about what you did with Ivy if you're looking to share that. I might ask you about it, or you might want to share it on your own— in either case, I will leave it up to you how much you want to share and how much Ivy would be fine with me knowing."

"I don't want to hear anything you do with Daphne," said Ivy. "As long it is not something we three did together, I only want to listen to the bare minimum. If it is not something I must know, then please don't let me know about it."

Quinn again agreed. And not it was time for him to share his side of the expectations. "I only have one," he said. "I want an appropriate amount of alone time where I don't spend time with either of you. Daphne already knows it, but I need— demand— an amount of alone time alone, which borders just at the limit of what's permissible in a normal relationship. But that's not going to work if I'm going to spend time with both of you— so while I will be cutting down on my alone time, I still want a fair share of it.

So, I request that you respect my time alone."

His ask was taken in immediately.

They then continued to talk and agreed that a calendar was needed to mark the plans from all three sides. The discussion ended with defining what was to be shared outside— all three were in unison that (with the exception of Tracey) they weren't going to make the relationship public, with Daphne and Quinn still a normal couple in the eyes of the public.

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- ( Volume 8: Year Seven) - HAS ENDED -

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Quinn West - MC - Let me write that down.

Daphne Greengrass - In part of a V-relationship - Wants to move in with Quinn. . . when she graduates Hogwarts.

Ivy Potter - In part of a V-relationship - Wants to catch up with Daphne in terms of her relationship with Quinn.

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Tracey Davis - Angry friend(?) - Furious well-wisher.

FictionOnlyReader - Author - I forgot about Luna. Let's just say she was hanging out with Astoria.

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