Chapter 44: House Cup Shenanigans, and Dark Lord's Life

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The end-of-year feast was always a hearty process. All the students were in the Great Hall, filling the hall with bustling activity.

The Great Hall was decked out in Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning the House Cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table.

Quinn looked at the emerald green covering the hall and thought,

'I could change it to Ravenclaw colors... no one will ever know, no one.'

The current score on the House point scoreboard was Slytherin in the lead with 482 points, the runner-up Ravenclaw with 476 points, in the third-place was Hufflepuff with 342 points, and in the last place was Gryffindor with 322 points.

Quinn had scored lots of points for Ravenclaw this year, so the difference between the first and second place was just a measly six points.

'Not like I care,' thought Quinn. He looked at the Slytherin colors and banners and thought, 'The Slytherin dynasty is about to end. They did well, six years in the running. Now, the Gryffindor era would start with the golden boy in the lead.'

"Ah, the illusion created by the system," said Quinn, stretching his arms in his seat.

"Man, we were so close. We could've beaten Slytherin this year," said Eddie, clapping Quinn on his back.

"Don't worry about winning, Carmichael. Just be a podium guy. You know, be in the top three, and you would be fine," spoke Quinn, speaking words of wisdom.

"Then you would be fine if you didn't score at the top in the exams?" spoke Eddie.

Quinn made a face and delivered, "What nonsense you are talking about? It makes sense no sense if I don't come out on top." He patted Eddie's head and continued, "You guys are like goldfish to me. Ravenclaws are smart goldfish, Slytherins are sneaky goldfish, but some are foolish, Hufflepuffs are normal goldfish, and Gryffindors are dumb goldfish. I can't lose to you guys."

"That was rude, like really rude," deadpanned Eddie.

"Take no offense. Here have this chocolate; it will make you feel better," said Quinn, opening his hand as a plume of smoke puffed to reveal a chocolate-covered hazelnut.

Eddie took the chocolate and smiled, "Thank you, dude."

Quinn watched as Eddie ate the chocolate, 'Should I experiment with this? No... right?'

Suddenly the hall became silent, and heads turned towards the Great Hall's gate.

Quinn followed everyone and saw Harry Potter standing there with a wide grin on his face. Harry confidently walked to the Gryffindor table with confidence and strutting stride.

'Yeah, this Harry Potter is a different one,' thought Quinn. He had observed Harry the entire school year, at least kept a wandering eye on him, and this one was confident, more outgoing, and didn't shy away from attention.

The Great Hall once again bustled with activity after the sudden dip to silence. They were talking about the rumor that was circulating in the Hogwarts rumor mill.

The story circulating was the golden quartet; Harry Potter, Ivy Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley stopped Quirinus Quirrell from stealing what was inside the restricted section of the third floor.

Students talked about wild stories about their adventure and bravery, all courtesy of the Weasley twins. They spun ridiculous stories; students being students believed everything they spewed in the rumor mill.

"Do you really think Ivy Potter killed a troll?" asked Marcus from across the table.

"She fought a troll during Halloween, so maybe she really did," said Eddie, giving into the rumor.

Quinn shook his head to himself. He had talked to his contacts in Gryffindor and found that Ivy Potter had taken the troll using the same method as during Halloween; bonking it over the head and knocking it out.

It surprised Quinn that troll wasn't knocked out by Quirrell, another event that changed from the canon timeline.

Dumbledore arrived moments later, and the babble died away.

"With another year gone!" spoke Dumbledore cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the entire summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts..."

He looked at the student body through his half-moon glasses and continued, "Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus..."

Dumbledore listed off the points of each house, and a storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table.

"This year, the competition was extremely close; Ravenclaw house was just six points behind the reigning cup holder, Slytherin. A lot of community service made it possible for this close competition," announced Dumbledore.

The entire Ravenclaw table cheered for Quinn, and he raised his hand to acknowledge the cheers.

"And, I made a lot of money," laughed Quinn, but the claps and cheers drowned his voice.

"However, recent events must be taken into account," continued Dumbledore.

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes..." he cleared his throat and announced, "First to Mr. Ronald Weasley. For the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house forty (40) points."

Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!"

"Second to Ms. Ivy Potter, for showing bravery in the face of danger, to the defeater of trolls, I award Gryffindor House forty (40) points," said Dumbledore, looking at Ivy Potter.

The redhead looked proud and embarrassed at the same time.

"Third, I award another forty (40) points to Ms. Hermione Granger for the use of cool logic in the face of fire. I award Gryffindor House forty (40) points."

Hermione buried her face in her arms, and Gryffindor students were beside themselves. They were a hundred and twenty (120) points up.

"Third, to Mr. Harry Potter..." said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. "... for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house another forty (40) points."

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and eighty-two (82) points, the same as Slytherin. They had tied for the House cup... if only Dumbledore had given Harry just one more point.

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to enemies and, more importantly, to friends. I, therefore, award ten (10) points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Harry, Ron, Ivy, and Hermione stood up to yell and cheer as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before. In fact, he was usually the prime target of Snape's point deductions.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "We need a little change of decoration."

In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet, and the silver became gold; the Slytherin serpent vanished, and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand with a forced smile.

Quinn, on the other hand, was laughing so hard that his sides hurt.

"The system is broken," he cackled.

He looked over to the Slytherin table and saw the tragic and shocked faces at the sudden change of events. He felt joy seeing the Slytherin defeated by the system that they had exploited for six straight years.

Snape had helped Slytherin with house points by offering them plenty of house points and cutting house points from the competition. Now, Dumbledore had injected Gryffindor with a hundred and seventy points, giving them the House cup.

The broken system that kept Hogwarts students in check being exploited bought laughter to Quinn.

His eyes caught the eyes of Daphne, and that made him stop laughing and start whistling cluelessly. The Slytherin blonde glared at the whistling fool with a scoff.

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The day the students boarded the Hogwarts Express for returning home, all students except fifth and seventh-year students got their exam results.

Quinn looked at the sheet of parchment and casually looked over it.

All Os showed on the report card with asterisks on every subject except Potions and History of Magic, showing that he scored over a hundred percent on the tests.

He created a dozen copies of his report card with the Doubling charm and packed the original with his luggage. With report card day in Ravenclaw, he knew his year mates would want to see his results, so to avoid the whole interrogatory session, he made the copies to hand out.

As he predicted, the moment he came down from his dorm room, second years surrounded him.

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"Okay! Aye, wait - wait! You hooligans! Here, take these, and leave me alone," he handed the copies to the mindless second years.

"Oh, come on! How do you score more than a hundred percent?!" asked one of them.

Quinn lifted his hands and showed it to them, "These hands have magic in them. Whatever they write turns to pure intellectual gold."

Marietta Edgecombe raised her hand and asked, "Quinn, I have a job for you."

Quinn tilted his head, "Now?"

She nodded and took out a sickle, "Let me kick you, and I will give you this sickle."

Quinn joined his hands in front of him and politely bowed, "I would like to inform you we at A.I.D reserve our right to accept requests and would like to politely refuse this task."

Edgecombe snorted and crossed her arms in amusements.

Second-year at Hogwarts was over, and Quinn was returning home.

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Quinn got off the red train and looked around the platform. He saw the reporters scattered around. They were waiting for the Potters to come down from the train. Students needed to board the Hogwarts Express without exceptions to exit and enter Hogwarts.

He didn't take a few steps, and a reporter stopped him.

'Why is he stopping me?' thought Quinn, puzzled at the situation.

"Hey little buddy, can you tell me something about Harry Potter?" asked the reporter.

'Ah, of course,' realized Quinn.

Not wanting to entertain the reporter, Quinn pointed to his left and yelled, "Look, Ivy Potter just came out of the train!"

When the reporter looked to the side, Quinn slipped by and letting the horde of deboarding students act as his camouflage.

Quinn looked for the one who was picking him up and immediately found the person. It was Uncle Elliot, the West family butler. He still looked perfect, with not a single thing out of place. Clothes perfectly ironed, shoes polished, hair combed perfectly, and his patent kind expression on his face.

"Uncle Elliot!" Quinn yelled, beaming as he hurried towards the older gentleman.

Elliot looked towards the voice and smiled as he saw Quinn hurrying towards him, "Young master."

"It has been too long, Uncle," said Quinn, hugging Elliot. Elliot hugged Quinn back before saying,

"Young master, let's leave from here. The platform is getting a bit too crowded."

Quinn nodded, and the two walked to the apparition point.

"How was school, young master?" asked Elliot.

"It was quite eventful. I learned a lot, and a lot of interesting stuff happened this year," answered Quinn.

"Oh, tell me all about it," asked Elliot, interested in Quinn's experience.

"You won't believe me if I told you," Quinn chuckled as he looked up towards Elliot.

"Try me," responded Elliot.

Quinn smiled and asked, "What do you know about the Philosopher's stone?"

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When Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter, Helena, stole her mother's diadem, she hid it in an Albanian forest. The Bloody Baron came to the forest to retrieve her but ended up killing her on impulse when she refused and then himself in repentance.

The diadem remained hidden for several centuries until Tom Marvolo Riddle discovered Helena was the Grey Lady, the House Ghost of Ravenclaw, and managed to get the information about its resting place from her. He recovered it, murdered a peasant, and turned it into one of his Horcruxes.

Following his downfall in 1981, Tom Riddle, now known as Lord Voldemort, fled to the forests in Albania in his weakened state.

In 1991 he encountered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell, who was looking for him so that he could at the very least try to capture him, or at best learn from him. However, Quirrell overestimated himself, and Voldemort completely overpowered the man, thus leaving Albania.

And, now following his failed attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort had returned to Albania, weaker than ever. Voldemort lost his physical form and magical powers, but he remained alive in ghostly form. The Horcruxes he had created kept his spirit bound to the physical world.

His one remaining power was possession. Voldemort gained physical form by inhabiting animals, mainly snakes. Though he disliked doing so because the bodies of such animals were ill-equipped to perform magic and because his possession significantly reduced their lifespans, none of his hosts survived for too long.

After his downfall against the infant Harry Potter, Voldemort had lived like this for a decade, possessing animals, corroding their bodies with his unfitting soul, and at the same time fighting the animalistic instincts from his host bodies.

In 1981, he was angry when he had lost his physical body, raged at the thought of being bested by Euphemia Potter and her use of ancient magic, and it angered him greatly when he found his demise had been publicized by the hands of a one-year-old babe.

The great Dark Lord Voldemort had lost to a one-year-old child. There was no greater slight on his honor and reputation.

Grindelwald had lost to Albus Dumbledore, but an infant had bested him? It made Voldemort's blood boil thinking about it.

Quirinus Quirrell had made a voyage to Albania, where his foolish and gullible mind was vulnerable to Voldemort. He latched onto Quirrell's body and came back to England with him. It was a ray of hope for the first time in a decade.

He ordered Quirrell to steal the Philosopher's stone from a Vault 713 in Gringotts Wizarding Bank so he could make the Elixir of Life, creating a body for himself. Voldemort discovered the stone had been removed earlier that same day, and through Quirrell's connections at Hogwarts, learned it was hidden at the school.

It turned out that even a human's body wasn't resilient enough to host two souls and needed external help. Thus, Voldemort ordered Quirrell to prey on unicorns in the Forbidden Forest and drink their blood so he could gain strength from the unicorn's healing abilities and keep Quirrell alive.

After an entire school year of trying to get to the stone, Voldemort ordered Quirrell to send a fake letter to Albus Dumbledore, asking him to go to the Ministry of Magic. Voldemort moved forward with his goal, moving through the security barriers to the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell saw himself presenting the stone to his master but could not figure out how to get it.

Then Harry Potter arrived, and when Quirrell attacked Harry, Euphemia Potter's ancient magic struck again. It burned Quirrell's body, and Voldemort barely fled from the harm. Now here he was for a second time, without a human body, back to inhabiting animal bodies.

This time around, Voldemort's emotions weren't of anger but of despair. His first and only hope in ten years had gone down the drain. Now, he didn't know when would the next chance come along.

He slithered in his current snake body, moving to the familiar area of the Albanian forest. The place that he had spent a lot of time in his body less exile.

When he entered the area, Voldemort hissed with all his might, trying to message someone in Parseltongue. It took a minute before Voldemort picked up vibrations from his inner snake ears. He turned his snake body and saw an enormous, green snake, roughly twelve feet long and as thick as a man's thigh.

"Oh, Nagini," hissed Voldemort, moving closer to the green snake.

He liked Nagini; she was rather cunning and deceptive and understood how humans behaved. Possessing a powerful bond with Voldemort, Nagini alone did not fear his wrathful moments, as he never punished her for failures nor took it out on her when misfortune struck him.

He was as close to her as he could be to any living being. Voldemort didn't fear her betraying him, she was loyal to him with all her life, and that point provided him with comfort.

The only comfort in the hellish life he was living.

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Quinn West - MC - System stinks! And he likes that.

Elliot Dalton - Sebas-... Butler - Gentleman, through and through.

Voldemort - Dark Lord - Spectre - Snake body - At a low point.

Nagini - A female Maledictus - Curse has run its course...

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