Chapter 79: Third Riddle, Novellus Accionites, and Hothoof.

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

Now that the A.I.D office and workshop were fortified, Quinn sat at his office desk and read the sheet of paper on the desk.

*

You can swallow it.

Deep in the Bane of Neptune's home,

Find the forgotten dome.

It can devour you.

Beware the force or it will crush you,

Life is something you cherish.

If not careful, you will perish

Yet, it is the source.

*

The riddle to the third vault was written in the paper. Friar had given him the riddle after his stunt at the Astronomy tower.

The Hufflepuff ghost had lectured him a lot before handing over the starting clue. And Friar's worries were reflected in the riddle.

"Life is something you cherish," Quinn sighed and shook his head at the religious ghost's attempt to make sure he didn't repeat things like jumping off the Astronomy tower. "He should know better than anyone that the cursed vaults are more dangerous than a bungee jump without a rope."

Quinn tapped his finger on the paper and read through the riddle over and over again.

"Bane of Neptune, now that is definitely some mythological stuff," Quinn murmured, studying the riddle. "That will need some research."

He took out a small notepad out of his robes; uncapped his pen, wrote Neptune's Bane, circled it a couple of times, made an arrow extending outside, and finished it with the word research.

"... Next, beware of some kind of force," Quinn felt that this was the dangerous part of the third vault because it was followed by, "If not careful, I will perish. Now, that just screams danger."

Quinn nodded appreciatively and praised Friar, "Props to Friar for making it clear. This... this is what I like. Danger clearly specified."

The word force went on the notepad, another set of circles, and an arrow pointing to danger.

Quinn frowned and sighed, "life is something you cherish. This is useless."

Quinn copied the phrase on the notepad, put a line through it and a small cross next to the sentence. "Friar's drabble," wrote Quinn with an arrow coming out of the crossed sentence.

"Come on, Friar. Show some professionalism," Quinn complained to the ghost who wasn't there. "Has he learned anything in his long ghostly life? Well, Myrtle hasn't grown up from her Hogwarts days, so maybe ghosts are incapable of growth."

In the end, Quinn reached the three individual phrases of the riddle and felt some connection existed between the separate lines.

"You can swallow it."

"It can devour you."

"Yet, it is the source."

The three lines were the remaining lines from the riddle, and all of them had something in common between them.

"What is the 'it' mentioned here," Quinn asked himself, hoping to get some random epiphany. "It, it, it... What is it?"

Writing the sentences on a fresh notepad page, Quinn put a circle on all three 'it'-s and connected them with lines.

"Hmm... I think I will target this from the Bane of Neptune's angle to get the things rolling," Quinn closed his notepad with a snap and put it back into his robes along with his pen.

Hogwarts taught the subject History of Magic, and such the Hogwarts Library was equipped with books about history. Not that Binns taught the subject properly, but Hogwarts Library would definitely hold texts on different parts of the history of the magical world.

And the myths of the non-magical world tended to be magical anomalies of the magical world.

It was a start.

- (Scene Break) -

Quinn was pleased to get out of the castle after lunch. Yesterday's rain had cleared; the sky was a clear, pale gray, and the grass was springy and damp underfoot as he set off to his first Care of Magical Creatures class.

Eddie and Marcus walked by his side, talking about the new terrorist group Novellus Accionites.

"This time, they targeted three muggles. Aren't they scared of the Aurors?" Marcus spoke about the latest news that had been circulating across the country. "They have been really aggressive in their approach."

"At least, they are targeting people at night," Eddie commented about the actions of Novellus Accionites. "The only reason the aurors knew about the muggle attacks is because of the clear traces of magic there are on the muggles."

"What do you think, Quinn?" Marcus asked for his other friend's opinion.

"Hmm, if they continue to attack, I think the aurors will set up a task force against them," affirmed Quinn on the new and upcoming terrorist group. "As Eddie said, they only strike at night, so the Muggle authorities are still treating their few attacks as Muggle matters."

"If they increase their attacks and act in daylight, the ministry will start a task force of Aurors and Hit-Wizards. The ministry will only move when the pressure from the non-magical world grows," Quinn sighed and finished his opinion on the new terrorist group.

"But why?" Eddie frowned in question. He couldn't understand why the ministry had only issued a lookout notice for such a clear threat. "I mean, what was it called? -"

"-Manifest," Marcus offered the word Eddie was looking for.

"Yes, the manifest. The manifest clearly stated that the Novellus Accionites were the supporters of You-Know-Who," Eddie shuddered in the thought of the Dark Lord. He frowned in disbelief, "Why isn't the ministry being more vigilant against these terrorists?"

Quinn patted Eddie's shoulder and explained to his friend the world of politics.

The war had brought influence on The Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Former Head Bartemius Crouch Senior utilized his powers to permit the usage of the Unforgivable Curses against enemies, among other law changes that seemed atrocious under times of peace.

Crouch Senior was so incredibly popular that he was slated to become the next Minister for Magic. If not for his son, Crouch Junior, being a Death Eater, Bartemius Crouch Senior would be sitting in the minister's office instead of Cornelius Fudge.

"A few years back, at a Wizengamot vote, it was decided to reduce the budget of The Department of Magical Law Enforcement from their war era funding. It was an attempt from the minister's faction to limit the growing popularity of the Auror's Office. The vote was passed with a vast majority because none of the factions wanted the increasing influence of the militant Auror's office."

The Dark-Faction had obvious reasons. As supporters of Voldemort, they didn't want future troubles. A lot of them had bribed their way out of a lengthy stay at Azkaban. But they weren't sure if it would work in the future because the Auror's office was becoming more and more popular.

Light-Faction, led by Albus Dumbledore, also lobbied to decrease the funding in The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or specifically, the Auror's office. Even though James Potter, Sirius Black, the comatose Longbottom Couple and many other Light-Faction members were Aurors, and many didn't like the decision, they still followed the decision because the majority of the Light-Faction was in favor.

Albus Dumbledore actively participated and supported the motion because he wasn't happy with the wartime decision of using the Unforgivable Curses. Dumbledore's forget-and-forgive philosophy didn't support the direction the Auror's office was going.

The Grey-Faction went along with the flow and voted in favor for the motion because they, too, didn't want over-vigilant policing from the Auror's office. Grey-Faction liked freedom so that they could conduct their business in peace.

"Now, let's talk about the present. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement took a short-term hit from the reduced funding, but it was, as I speak, a short-term hit. Even though they had to struggle for a year or two, excellent leadership brought The Department of Magical Law Enforcement back to stability and glory."

Quinn smiled in admiration as he went on.

"Under the direction of DMLE head Amelia Bones, the department recovered and regained their influence. Amelia Bones is so popular among the public that she is believed she will be the winner of the next ministerial election. Even at this moment, Amelia Bones is already far ahead of Cornelius Fudge in popularity."

The world of politics was a complicated and treacherous one.

"So to limit her rising popularity, the minister's faction is trying to downplay the activities of Novellus Accionites. They don't want to add fuel to Amelia Bone's popularity by handing the operational authority to the Auror's office and let them take another victory. So they have been downplaying Novellus Accionites so that Amelia Bones won't start a campaign that might boost her popularity at the next election."

Marcus and Eddie didn't like what they were hearing. A terrorist group was hardly being given any coverage because the ministry wanted to play politics.

"That doesn't sound good. Why isn't anyone doing something?" Marcus frowned in disgust. The two fourteen-year-old boys didn't understand politics. It was their first discussion on politics, and well, they didn't like it.

"It's not like they are doing nothing. Aurors are on the lookout. Aurors won't stop their basic duties because of politics; they will still protect people," Quinn comforted them with some positivity of the situation. "And there is another reason why the Aurors and ministry aren't moving more aggressively."

"What is it?" inquired Eddie curiously.

"Novellus Accionites are public supporters of Vol- I mean, Rid- I mean, You-Know-Who," Quinn stopped himself from speaking the wrong term twice.

In his mind, he addressed the Dark Lord as Voldemort or Tom Riddle. Quinn never addressed the Dark Lord as You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But to keep appearances, Quinn had to call him with the hyphenated pseudonyms.

Plus, he wasn't sure if the Taboo on the name Voldemort would return, so he made sure to keep a habit of using hyphenated pseudonyms to not accidentally get into trouble.

Quinn coughed before continuing, "So, as I was saying, Novellus Accionites claim themselves to be supporters of the Dark Lord. Due to that, the ministry doesn't want to spread panic in which 'somehow the Dark Lord is back', because, then, there would be rumors that would spread the idea that Novellus Accionites are actually Death Eaters."

"The ministry is trying to portray a message in which Novellus Accionites aren't a big deal, just some stupid dafts who aren't a huge threat. They are keeping this under the wraps. It is all about maintaining order by avoiding chaos," Quinn shrugged at the end. "They want to leave the Dark Lord's reign behind them."

Eddie and Marcus didn't give any response. Quinn turned to regard his friends and saw contemplative expressions on their faces.

Quinn didn't disturb them and walked beside them in silence as they went down the sloping lawns to Rubeus Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest for Care of Magical Creatures.

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Meanwhile, Eddie and Marcus were thinking about the situation and forming their own views. He kept silent so that they could think about the situation. Things were never black or white; there were always shades of grey present in everything.

- (Scene Break) -

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Rubeus Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat with Fang the boarhound at his heels. He seemed impatient to start.

"C'mon, now, move on!" he called as the class approached. "Got a real treat for you today! Great lesson coming up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!"

The class followed as Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.

"Everyone gather around the fence here!" Hagrid called. "That's it —make sure you can see— now, the first thing you'll want to do is to open your books."

The students were confused as they had no idea how to open the book.

The Ravenclaw students frowned darkly; lots of them even looked frustrated as they hadn't got the chance to open their textbooks before the class.

Eddie also squinted at his Care of Magical Creatures' book before he caught Quinn in his peripheral vision. He snapped towards Quinn and blurted.

"How did you open the book?!"

Quinn, who was in the middle of reading, shook his head slightly, turned to Eddie and said with an accusatory tone, "What is wrong with you! Don't surprise a man when he's reading!"

Eddie's and Quinn's louder than regular argument brought the attention of the rest of the class to them. Everyone saw that Quinn's Care of Magical Creature book was open. And now, everyone wanted to know how Quinn opened the damned book, which tried to bite anyone who tried to open it.

Quinn sighed and looked for Hagrid, but the giant had stepped into the woods and wasn't nearby.

'I guess I have to show them,' Quinn thought as he raised his hand towards Eddie and made a gesture to make him hand over his book.

Eddie handed over his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope.

After watching that some others also took out their books: some, like Eddie, had used ropes to bound their books shut; others, had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.

"Stroke the spine," Quinn announced to anyone who was paying attention. "Look here, like this."

He removed the length of rope from Eddie's book, dodged the book's bite and gently used three fingers to gently stroke the spine. The book shivered and then fell open and lay quietly in his hand.

"How did you know how to do that?" Marcus asked, as he stroked the spine of his copy and opened the book after it calmed down.

Quinn shrugged in reply, "I asked the bookstore manager and he told me." His tone was like he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.

And he wasn't lying. Quinn had to buy The Monster Book of Monsters for this year. He hadn't purchased this book for his British book collection. So when he went to the bookstore, Quinn did ask the book shop manager to demonstrate how to open the biting book.

"I'm back. Look who is here to meet you!"

Trotting towards them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Quinn had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, sparkling orange eyes. The sharp talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly-looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck attached to a long chain. Hagrid, who came out jogging, held the chains that were attached to the collars.

"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures to move toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.

"Hippogriffs!" shouted Hagrid happily, waving a hand at them. "Beautiful, aren't they?"

Quinn tilted his head and tried to see the beauty in the creatures. Once he got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half-bird, Quinn observed the hippogriffs' gleaming coats: changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them of a different color; stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.

"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if you want to come a bit nearer -"

No one seemed to want to. But Quinn, with a mischievous grin on his face, grabbed Eddie's and Marcus's robes above their shoulders and dragged them closer to the fence.

"W-What are you doing?!" Marcus whimpered as he stammered in his words.

"Have you gone mad?!" Eddie croaked back as he tried to stand his ground, but Quinn was stronger than him.

"I still remember how you pushed me forward during last year's dueling club," Quinn cackled as he brought them to the fence. "Come now, don't be scared, but do remember that if the hippogriffs attack, I will use you as meat shields."

"Now, the first thing you gotta know about hippogriffs is, they're proud," warned Hagrid. "Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Never insult one because it might be the last thing you do."

"Always wait for the hippogriff to make the first move. Give the proud bird the initiative," Hagrid continued. "It is polite, see? You walk towards them; then you bow, and finally, you wait. If they bow back, you are allowed to touch them. If they don't bow, then walk away, but keep an eye on their talons."

"Now, who wants to go first?"

Most of the class backed farther away in answer. The hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their mighty wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.

"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look.

"I'll do it," volunteered Quinn, raising his hand high as Eddie and Marcus slowly inched back away.

Don't get Quinn wrong, while he volunteered for a one-on-one with a hippogriff, he did feel fear. Quinn guessed he could defend against hippogriffs. No problem on that front; he could instantly injure the half-horse, half-bird, and get away, but that didn't mean that Quinn wasn't afraid.

He still feared that he could get injured. But in Quinn's mind, it was a waste of an opportunity to not try out new things. If he avoided risks, then he would miss out on a lot of fun stuff in his life.

"Good man!" roared the half-giant, his voice booming with joy. "Right then, let's see you get on Hothoof."

Quinn jumped over the fence as Hagrid untied one of the chains, pulled the bronze hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath.

"Easy, now," whispered Hagrid quietly. "You have to make eye contact, but don't blink too much. They don't trust you if you blink too much."

Quinn immediately moistened his eyes with magic he learned from Alan when he was learning Occlumency.

Hothoof turned his great, sharp head and stared at Quinn with one fierce red eye.

"That's it," Hagrid guided from the side, "Now, bow, bow..."

Quinn followed the instructions, even though he wasn't a fan of exposing his nape to the hippogriff. He gave a short bow and then looked up.

The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move.

Quinn was about to give the hippogriff the same haughty look, but then the hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.

"Alright," Quinn beamed as he swiftly walked his way to Hothoof and patted the hippogriff's beak. He patted the beak several times, and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though it was enjoying it.

The class broke into applause.

"Who is a good boy?" Quinn cooed as he used his other hand to stroke the feathers, but then he turned his head to Hagrid and asked. "Hothoof is a boy, right?"

"Nay, Hothoof is a lady," Hagrid shook his head in correction.

"Oh, my," Quinn turned back to the female hippogriff and cooed once more. "Who is a good girl? You are, aren't you?"

Hothoof titled her neck to better guide Quinn's hands to the spot that felt better.

"Right then," clapped Hagrid. "I reckon she might let you ride her!"

"Hmm..." Quinn voiced as he looked into Hothoofs red eyes and gave it a thought. "Uh, why not? I could always jump off if things get wild. Ooh~, maybe that would feel the same as skydiving."

"You climb up there, just behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "And mind you, don't pull any of her feathers out, she won't like that..."

Quinn put his foot on the top of Hothoof wing and hoisted himself onto its back. He used sticking charms to stick himself to the hippogriff's back.

"Let's go, big lady," Quinn gently patted Hothoof's nape, and Hothoof stood up.

"Go on, then!" roared Hagrid, slapping the hippogriff's hindquarters.

Hothoof's wings flapped open on either side of Quinn, and before he knew it, he was soaring into the sky. The hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably, catching him under his legs and making him feel he was about to be thrown off.

'Maybe this is like life bull riding,' Quinn thought as he looked below at the trees that made up the forest.

"Oh, yeah. I should do that," Quinn put his hand over his head, and conjured a cowboy hat over his head. He also made it stick to his head so it wouldn't fly away.

"Yee-haw!" Quinn's voice was drowned by the wind, but his grin was still present on his face.

Hothoof flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground. With a thud, Hothoof's four ill-assorted feet hit the ground.

Quinn looked at the rest of his classmates, pushed up his cowboy hat, and jutted his chin towards them, "Howdy, people."

"Good work, Quinn!" roared Hagrid as everyone cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?"

Emboldened by Quinn's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one, and soon there were people bowing nervously all over the paddock.

Eddie and Marcus practiced on the inky black hippogriff named Stormswift, but they had to run backward repeatedly because Stormswift didn't seem to want to bend its knees.

Quinn stayed back and watched his classmates; his conjured cowboy hat still on his head.

"What a good day."

Quinn West - MC - We ride, never worry about the fall. Guess that is just the cowboy in us all. *Click-Click*

Hothoof - Hippogriff - Big Lady of the sky.

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