Chapter 43: House Cup Shenanigans, and Dark Lords Life (1/2)

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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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- (Scene Break) -

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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.