Chapter 23: Returning Home, Dueling, and The Request (2/2)
”What the-!” was all Quinn could say when the yellowish-red cord of light pulled Quinn into the dark mist.
On the other side of the mist, Elliot was waiting for Quinn to appear on his side so he could disarm him, but what came out of the mist was a huge chunk of ice that headed right towards him. The huge chunk of ice made Elliot drop his seize-and-pull charm and cast a shield spell to protect himself.
Just behind the ice, Quinn got up from the ground. 'Whew! That was some quick thinking I did.' When Quinn was pulled, he used the ice hex to create a block of ice and shot it towards Elliot.
Quinn looked around and saw the mist disappearing and decided to get aggressive. He stepped outside of the disappearing mist, and the moment he saw Elliot, he casted a spell chain of Full-body Bind Curse (Petrificus Totalus), Stunning Spell (Stupefy), and Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus).
Elliot had just recovered from his surprise when he saw Quinn's spell chain; he side-stepped the Full-body Bind Curse, deflected the Stunning Spell, but the Disarming Charm caught him dead-on and forced the wand out of his hand.
Quinn was so happy to see the wand out of Elliot's hand that he cheered while jumping madly, ”Woohoo!” Quinn had won his first duel, and it bought him a whole lot of joy. After jumping in joy, Quinn collapsed onto the ground, spread-eagle. He felt the adrenaline slowly leaving his body as his chest heaved up and down.
Elliot walked to Quinn after collecting his wand and said, ”Congratulations, young master. That block of ice was masterfully placed.”
Quinn looked up at Elliot from his position on the ground, ”The Ice hex was just an impulsive action. I have to say, the seize-and-pull spell caught me by surprise. Can we do this every day? Because this was thrilling!”
Elliot sat beside Quinn and looked thoughtful. ”Well, I see no harm if we take proper security measures, but just to be safe, let's ask your grandfather.”
Quinn sat up and replied, ”I will ask him when he gets home.”
That evening, George gave Quinn and Elliot the permission to duel, though not after some stoic and silent consideration. He also talked with Elliot to make sure Quinn wasn't overdoing things, and he was to make sure Quinn wasn't injured.
- (Scene Break) -
From that day on, Quinn would duel with Elliot every day for some time, getting used to casting spells on the move while looking out for Elliot's movements.
Elliot also helped out Quinn with his words of wisdom.
”Young master, I am no dueling champion, but I can point out some obvious things that are common knowledge while dueling,” spoke Elliot as the two met in the backyard for their daily dueling sessions.
Elliot waved his wand in a pattern, and slowly, a substantial amount of ground transfigured itself into a real-life lion that roared at Quinn, causing him to flinch and back away a few steps. Just as the lion came to life, Elliot canceled the transfiguration, and the lion turned back to dirt.
”Transfiguration can be used in a duel to cause harm or buy time, but let's say I used this transfiguration in a duel. If I chose my opportunity, I could order the lion to attack my opponent, and it would at the very least serve as a distraction. But, what if I did this?”
With a much simpler wand movement, the same ground changed into a lion, but it was not a real lion; it was the ground in the shape of a lion. The mud lion roared all the same and once again caused Quinn to flinch.
When the lion collapsed back into dirt, Elliot asked, ”Young master, did you notice something different?”
Quinn nodded and pointed at Elliot's wand and spoke, ”The wand movement was much simpler,” he pointed at the pile of dirt and continued, ”and the mud lion came to shape much quicker than the real lion.”
Elliot smiled at the answer, ”Yes. While dueling someone, there isn't a place for flashy moves. If you can accomplish what you want to do with less, then learn to do it. Saving energy and quickly finishing the fight should be the aim. Get in ready and get out quickly.”
Quinn nodded as it made sense when magic was involved; a single killing curse (Avada Kedavra) could end someone's life instantly. There was no merit to draw out fights when a single spell could seriously injure you, or worse, lead to death.
Sometimes, Quinn also dueled against Lia, and he had to say, dueling against Lia was much challenging than Elliot. But that was just because she enjoyed toying with him while Elliot made sure that Quinn was learning something.
But she did teach Quinn something of importance.
Quinn and Lia were dueling, and Lia was rapidly firing spells in his directions. Most of the spells were not even hitting Quinn and passed by his sides. But, it was the barrage of spells that restricted Quinn's movement; he was too busy evading and block the incoming spells to attack.
A solid attack from Lia didn't come in the form of a head-on spell but as a trap. Quin moved a couple of steps to the left when his left foot sank into the ground and stumbled to the ground. Immediately after that, he was hit by a Disarming Charm (Expelliarmus) from Lia and was stripped of his fake wand.
”Dammit!” Quinn pounded the ground as he stood up and removed his foot from the soft patch of land.
Lia giggled in victory as she walked to Quinn and casted a Cleaning Spell on his clothes. ”Did you like that? It was clever, right?”
Quinn stared at the soft ground before looking at Lia, ”All of those spells were just a cover-up for this trap.” When Lia nodded, Quinn once again spoke, ”What if I had gone to the right?”
Lia smirked while answering, ”As long as you didn't go back, you would have still fallen for my trap. I set up multiple of these all around you.” She casted at multiple patched of ground, and all of them sank. ”See? Any direction, and you were toast.”
Quinn groaned but also thought that disrupting the balance of the opponent was an excellent strategy. 'But, I could do it better,' thought Quinn while he walked towards his fake wand to retrieve it.
- (Scene Break) -
In the first week of August, Quinn wrote a letter to Flitwick regarding a request. He wanted sole access to one of the empty rooms in the castle. He wanted a base of operations in Hogwarts; the common room was too much of commonplace, his dorm room was too small and had the same problem of being a shared place.
The Room Of Requirement was the perfect private place, and it catered to his every need, but he needed a place that could be accessible to anyone. The Room Of Requirements was his secret, and he would like it to remain as a secret as long as possible. He needed a personal place for himself, but he could invite people there without causing a problem.
Quinn was going to a service where he would help the students of Hogwarts for a price. He would take in requests and ask for something of equal value in exchange. Quinn had the plan for starting out small by helping out people with housework, then move up and take more important requests that would put people in his debt, and slowly he would cultivate a network of people who owed him.
The main objective of this service was to build connections with people in all four houses. The Potters were different in this world, and he needed to adapt to that change. He needed eyes and ears to know what was happening in Hogwarts and stay ahead of the curve. Quinn was going to use this service to accomplish that.
It was a week later when Flitwick replied with a letter. The response bought a smile to Quinn's face. In his letter, Flitwick agreed to provide Quinn sole access to a Fifth-floor room as long as he assured it was to be used professionally and no improper activities would take place in the room.
Quinn immediately replied with a stern promise that he won't misuse the room and would honor the trust Flitwick was placing on him.
Quinn eyed the letter and smiled, 'With this, I am one step closer to becoming the most influential student in Hogwarts.'
Now, he just needed to wait for the school year to start.
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Quinn West - MC - At Home - 3, 2, 1, Let it Rip!
Elliot Dalton - Butler - Dueling Partner - Ah, the youth.
Lia West - Elder sister - Messing with Quinn is fun.
Filius Flitwick - Hogwarts - Professor of Charms - New Session. Busy. Request Approved.
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