Chapter 78: Third Riddle, Novellus Accionites, and Hothoof. (1/2)
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
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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.
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You can swallow it.
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Deep in the Bane of Neptune's home,
Find the forgotten dome.
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It can devour you.
Beware the force or it will crush you,
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Life is something you cherish.
If not careful, you will perish
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Yet, it is the source.
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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.
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- (Scene Break) -
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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.
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.
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