Chapter 24: Potters, Twins, and A.I.D (1/2)

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The link is also in the synopsis.

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In the second week of August, Quinn decided to go to Diagon Alley for his annual visit. He didn't have to buy the books, but he did want some potion supplies like cauldrons of different sizes and materials and Rune equipment.

Near the Floo-fireplace in the West Manor, Quinn stood with George and Elliot.

”Are you sure you would be fine on your own?” asked George as he was worried about Quinn going to Diagon Alley alone without any supervision.

Quinn nodded and assured him, ”Yes, I will make sure to be careful. I have the portkey that you gave me,” Quinn fished out a thin silver chain necklace from under his shirt, ”I will immediately activate it if I get in trouble.”

”Alright. And, you have your wand? Don't worry about the underage magic restriction; use magic in case of emergency. I will handle the ministry if they send you a notice.” George didn't know that Quinn's real wand was locked in his suitcase, and the fake wand with him didn't have a trace on it. As long as Quinn was considered, he could do magic all day long in public, and he still won't get a single notice from the ministry.

Finally, George nodded and nudged his chin towards the fireplace. Quinn acknowledged, and with a last look of goodbye, he threw the floo-powder in the fireplace, watching it turn green, and spoke, ”Diagon Alley.” Then he stepped in and disappeared from the West Manor into the green jets of flames.

Elliot looked at George and comforted, ”He will be fine. Quinn is a responsible child and wise beyond his age.”

George sighed and replied while staring at the flames of the fireplace, ”I hope so, old friend. I am just nervous because it is his first time going out on his own.”

Elliot smiled and recalled, ”If his letters from Hogwarts are any indication, then he loves to roam around the castle, exploring. It was just a matter of time before Quinn would have explored outside. And you are forgetting how much he pulled us during our travel with him; he wanted to see everything.”

George fondly remembered the memories and chuckled, ” I thought I was getting on with the age because the little fella never got tired and always wanted to do something new.”

Elliot and George exited the room while reminiscing about the past.

- (Scene Break) -

On the other side, Quinn was walking among the crowd of people in Diagon Alley. It was nice to be among this many people after being at the West Manor for a month. He missed being able to just look at a person and read their surface thoughts. Now, in Diagon Alley, Quinn had access to so many unprotected minds.

'Mr. Alan was right; this can get addictive.' Quinn smiled as he heard random stranger's thoughts. Quinn had discovered that people's thoughts at a market could be a fine source of humor. Some ladies were bitching about other ladies, children and men were pinning after quidditch brooms, and vendors/shop owners were mentally smirking about ripping off customers. Quinn could hear all sorts of fun things from the crowd as he weaved through the waves of people.

First, Quinn went to Gringotts to withdraw money and then went to the potion store to order cauldrons of different configurations and crystal vials. Crushers, made from different metals. Mortar and pestles of specific stones. Quinn was in the process of expanding his potion repertoire, and the ingredients and preparations were getting complicated.

After bargaining the price to the lowest price by reading the shop owner's mind and getting free shipping, Quinn skipped to the Rune supplies store.

Runes was an application of magic that utilized magic by means of language. Runes were symbols, graphemes, morphemes, logograms, hieroglyphs, and all kinds of scripts that supported magic. Each rune had its own name and a variety of esoteric meanings that represent the metaphysical concepts, the so-called genetic code of the universe. The user must understand the meanings of the runes and how they apply to their intended use.

But, you couldn't just take a pen and write runes on paper and expect it to work. No, you needed specific materials to make runes work. If you were writing runes on paper/parchments, you needed special parchment that sustained magic and specific ink blends that conducted magic. If you were etching runes into metals or wood, you needed carving tools that would help precisely etch symbols into the material. Staining solutions that would bind magic into the wood or mixtures that prepared metals for sustaining and holding runic magic.

Quinn also realized that a lot of magic branches crossed each other at some point. Charms coincided with Potions in ingredient preparation. Transfiguration concepts were used in Transmutation and vice versa. Dark Arts and Defense Against the Dark Arts were two sides of the same coin. Arithmancy was used in almost every field of magic. You needed to know how to brew potions for solutions to draw runes so on and so forth. Herbology was used in Potions and then in turn in Runic magic. Alchemy was even more complicated, but that would be a discussion for a different time.

After yet another victory in bargaining by employing legilimency,

Quinn happily exited the rune equipment store in Horizont Alley. Thanking the lax behavior of the magical world. He pitied the people who didn't know occlumency and were clueless to the dangers of being their minds read.

He looked around and thought, 'Well, I am done. I guess walking around wouldn't hurt. See if something catches my eye.' As he was walking the street, Quinn saw a crowd standing in front of the Flourish and Blotts.

Quinn got curious and walked to a person in the crowd and asked, ”Hey, what is going on?”

The adult took a single glance at Quinn before turning back to look into the bookstore, ”They are saying that the Boy-Who-Lived is in the store. People are waiting for him to come out.”

Quinn raised his eyebrows at this piece of information, 'Potter, huh?' The reputation of Potters was much more prominent than canon Harry's fame. Potters have been active in the Britain magical world, so they had been in the public eye, unlike when canon Harry was isolated from the magical world.

Quinn thought about what he should do, and after thinking for a few moments, he smiled and yelled, ”Make way, Hogwarts student incoming! Let me through... Yeah, I am talking to you; get out of the way... Hogwarts students, Hogwarts students. A Hogwarts student wants to buy some books! Get the hell out of my way, people!”

Quinn shamelessly pushed his way through the crowd and knocked on the door to get the manager's attention. The manager looked at the door, thinking it would be a person from the crowd, and wanted to scold them, but then he saw Quinn waving his hand at him with a smile.

The manager cracked the door a little and heard Quinn speak, ”Hogwarts, want to buy books. I am alone, so don't worry about me bringing someone in the store.”

The manager smiled apologetically and let Quinn in and spoke, ”Sorry about all of this. I can't do much about the crowd outside.”

Quinn shook his head and said in understanding, ”Don't worry, I understand. Your business would go under if you refused to sell to the Boy-Who-Lived.”

The manager smiled a little before asking, ”Do you need help with finding something?” Quinn shook his head and replied, ”Na, I am fine. You should stay here at the door; I would rather take time in peace than shop with people flooding into the shop.”

After conversing with the manager, Quinn headed into the bookshop and made his way to the magazine section. He wanted to grab a copy of the magazines; Transfiguration Monthly and Popular Potions before taking a look at this world's Harry Potter, and if he was here, then the rest of the Potters would be here too.

He grabbed the magazines and was going to go search for the Potters, but the cover of Popular Potions caught his interest. ”Ooh, they found a use for Doxy's saliva! So interesting!” but then Quinn stopped and reprimanded himself, ”No! What are you doing man? You can read this later.” Quinn slipped the magazines under his arms and then set out to get a look at the Potters.

The first person he found was surprisingly not a Potter, but a Weasley. Quinn saw Percy Weasley browsing through a bookshelf, and it made him wonder, 'Are Weasleys friends with the Potters? Both the parents were in Dumbledore's Order Of Pheonix.'

Quinn slipped past Percy and shifted the shelves to find a Potter and found a Potter. He found the smartest witch of her generation, Lily Potter. She was just as the books had described her; a beautiful woman with dark red shoulder-length hair and almond-shaped green eyes. Quinn has once wondered if the green eyes were such a big deal, but looking at Lily Potter's green eyes made him realize that Harry Potter's green eyes might just be his greatest feature because Lily's green eyes were really mesmerizing.