Chapter 80: New Employee, and Hogsmeade Attack. (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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”So you're looking for a job at A.I.D.”
Quinn was sitting behind his desk in the A.I.D office looking at a sheet of parchment in his hands.
”No. I don't. You called me here,” answered Luna, sitting in front of the desk, her legs swinging in the air while she sat in her chair.
”Then what about this resumé?” asked Quinn as he raised the sheet of parchment to show it to Luna.
”You asked me to write this and bring it to you,” Luna replied, picking up a transparent golf-ball-sized glass spheroid from the desk. The second she picked it up, the glass spheroid gained colors, which took on the appearance of the earth globe.
”Of course, of course,” Quinn nodded as he pretended to interview Luna. He set down Luna's resumé and asked, ”Tell me, Ms. Lovegood, why are you suitable for this job?”
”Tell me, Mr. West, why does this job deserve me?” Luna counter-questioned Quinn as she tossed the glass globe up and down. ”And what is the job exactly?”
”Oh, well, we offer excellent benefits; state-of-the-art tools, raw materials of all kinds, personal tutoring from me if I am free...” Quinn clapped with a proud smile and added, ”We also have a library with guides written by me, Quinn West. Finally, we also provide a batch of cookies a day, courtesy of the kitchen house-elves. They are quite good.”
Quinn's guides contained his understanding of some magic branches he had obtained from different magical cultures. The books that would be available to Luna would be about the Hogwarts subjects because he didn't want to share the other things he had been cooking.
”As for the job, you'll have to sit in the office for some time to take in the requests from anyone who comes in. Plus, you will be my assistant.”
Quinn's motive for taking Luna to A.I.D was to improve her communication skills. If she talked to the students who came in for requests and asked them for their requirements, it would help her develop her communication skills. With time, Luna would get better at talking to people and she would become more confident in herself.
Luna's ears twitched, and she took her eyes off the glass globe.
”Cookies? You have cookies?”
Quinn leaned down in his chair, opened a drawer in his desk, and took out a glass jar full of cookies.
”Please, take one,” Quinn offered the cookies, removing the lid from the jar.
Luna picked one from the jar, looked at the cookies, then the cookie jar, and finally raised her head to peek at Quinn, ”Can I take another one?”
”Hmm,” Quinn pretended to think before negotiating with his interviewee. ”Only if you take the job.”
Luna, without hesitation, dipped her hand into the cookie jar and took out another cookie. ”When do I start?”
”You start tomorrow,” Quinn smiled, shook hands with Luna, and said, ”Welcome to A.I.D.”
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- (Scene Break) -
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”I really thought you would ask some girl out,” Eddie asked as he settled an arm over Quinn's shoulders as he, Quinn, and Marcus walked to Hogsmeade.
”Now, now, why would you think that?” Quinn asked as he and his two friends entered Hogsmeade on the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year. Which was the following day after Halloween.
”You know more girls than both, Marcus and I, combined,” replied Eddie as he tightened his hold over Quinn. ”And you talk to them regularly. I really thought you would have asked one of them out.”
”You're thinking small, Eddie,” Marcus chirped in as he eyed Quinn. ”This guy could have asked out almost any girl, and they most probably would have said yes to a date.”
Eddie clicked his tongue and grumbled, ”Yeah, this guy is annoyingly popular.” He removed his arm from Quinn's shoulder, grabbed his cheeks, and turned his face left to right. ”I mean, yeah, he's a good-looking bloke. He can be funny sometimes. No one is smarter than him if a girl wants that. Polite? Sure.” Eddie sighed and released Quinn's face from his grasp, ”Yeah, I get it.”
Quinn smiled with an exhale, bumped his shoulders into Eddie's and Marcus's shoulder, and claimed, ”I didn't ask a girl out because, then, I thought you two would end up lonely. I'm honoring our friendship. Be grateful.”
A picture of him pulling Daphne close flashed through Quinn's mind. He shook his head to shake that image. He had been pretending that incident never happened because he had no idea how to approach that situation.
”If you want us to be grateful, then get a girlfriend and then set us up with her friends,” Eddie suggested. Quinn realized both his friends looked sincere enough to know they weren't joking.
”Good man!” Marcus looked particularly enthusiastic about Eddie's suggestion. ”Let's make a pact. If one of us ever has a girlfriend, then the person who gets it first will have to ask his girlfriend to introduce her friends to us.”
”How about you guys first try to ask out a girl? Then we'll talk about this pact,” Quinn spoke while shaking his head, not believing that they were making a girlfriend pact when they hadn't even asked out a girl on their own.
”Sure, sure, we'll do that, but let's make the pact just in case,” Marcus stopped, and so did Eddie. Both put out one hand forward and brought them together.
They looked towards Quinn and saw him walking away while looking at them. He was shaking his head.
”So you're saying that we are not good enough for your girlfriend's friends?!” Eddie shouted at Quinn. He pointed his finger at him and yelled, ”You have changed ever since you got a girlfriend, man! You were a decent bloke who honored our friendship before!”
”I don't have a girlfriend!”
”Whatever, you suck!”
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- (Scene Break) -
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A group of individuals dressed in thick robes covering their entire bodies stood in a circle in a room with stone-covered walls. Ominous dark maroon candles on the stone walls cast a dim light on the room's occupants.
”Today is a Hogsmeade weekend at Hogwarts,” One of the robed figures spoke to the rest of the group. ”A lot of people will be present in Hogsmeade, there will be plenty of activity.”
He swept his eyes around and went on, ”Parents dropping by to meet their children. Shops full of Hogwarts students, stalls set specially for the Hogsmeade weekend.” The person who was speaking smirked and continued, ”A lot of filthy mudbloods walking around in the open.”
A wave of malicious chuckles and savage smiles streaked across the room.
”Those filthy mudblood children must be eradicated before they enter our prestigious society. So today we will descend on Hogsmeade and purge our community from the mudbloods,” the speaker, who seemed like the leader of the group, announced their objective.
”How will we distinguish the mudblood from the others,” asked one of the other robed individuals.
”The clothes they wear will be their undoing. Target anyone who wears muggle attire.”
Another person asked, ”What if someone that is not a mudblood wears muggle clothing.”
”Then they are blood traitors,” the leader's words came without hesitation. ”This is a crusade. In the pursuit of what is right and pure, there will have to be some sacrifices. We are doing good for our society, so don't hesitate and raise your wands against all that is evil.”
He raised his wand and voiced.
”Novellus Accionites!”
All the others raised their wands and chanted in unison.
” ”Novellus Accionites!!!” ”
The leader immediately disapparated from the stone chamber. The others followed behind, disapparating one by one, leaving behind an empty room.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Quinn came out of the Three Broomsticks with a big mug made of glass of cherry syrup and soda with ice and a paper parasol. He had conjured a big glass in order to take his drink out so he didn't have to drink it inside the pub.
He drank the beverage from a conjured straw and roamed around Hogsmeade. Quinn was alone because Eddie and Marcus were getting their haircut at the barber.
He had offered to cut their hair, but they hadn't accepted the generous offer. He had been cutting his own hair at Hogwarts. It was easy when you had magic and knew exactly what needed to be trimmed.
”Their loss,” Quinn said as he put his mouth on the straw. He was walking around to see if something caught his eyes, and something did catch his eyes when a group of robed individuals apparated ten feet right in front of him. All of the robed individuals were wearing masks with a symbol that was clearly a derivative from Voldemort's Dark Mark.
'Novellus Accionites,' Quinn recognized immediately the symbol from the newspapers and turned around without wasting a second.
”Need to get away from them. ASAP,” Quinn muttered with the straw in his mouth, his hands raising the glass mug, the cherry beverage still being sucked through the straw.
The leader of Accionites noticed Quinn and saw that he was wearing muggle clothing. Plus, the way he turned on the spot showed that he recognized them.
”Get that kid.” the leader ordered the two other members, pointing at the retreating Quinn. ”We'll use him as an example.”
Quinn, who was walking quickly, didn't know that the only reason the terrorist group was targeting him was that he was wearing a comfortable jumper.
The two Accionites smirked under their masks when they saw Quinn turn into an alley. He just made their jobs easier by separating from the crowd. The duo of Accionites entered the dark alleyway and saw that Quinn was walking to the end of a closed alleyway, probably thinking that if he hid, they wouldn't be able to find him.
One of the Accionites raised his wand and shot a spell on Quinn's back, smirking at the easy target, but the spell just passed through Quinn and hit the wall in front of him.
Both Accionites looked at each other with bewilderment on their faces. When they returned their eyes to Quinn, he stopped. The other Accionite had just pulled his wand out to cast another spell at Quinn when they heard a thumping noise at their back.
When they turned back, they witnessed Quinn standing behind them, and before they even had the chance to widen their eyes in surprise, their wands were expelled from their hands.
The next moment, four chains with cuffs came out of the ground beneath them and clamped on their wrists, pulling them to the ground.
”Wha-!”
”Oof!”
The Accionite duo couldn't accept the sudden turn of events and were wide-eyed as Quinn removed their masks.
”You guys are lucky that I finished my drink. You were this close to getting to me before I emptied out the mug,” Quinn brought his fingers closer to emphasize how close they were.
”Release us, you filth -.” one of the unmasked individuals growled at Quinn, but Quinn slapped him hard before he could complete his sentence.
”Shut up,” Quinn promptly explained his actions after slapping the guy.
”You! Do you know who -.” the other one spoke to get the same slap from Quinn.
”I won't repeat myself, shut up.”
Quinn sighed and decided to get them over. He stepped forward and placed one palm on both of their heads and immediately used Legilimency on the Accionites. After under half a minute, Quinn had a general sense on why Novellus Accionites were there at Hogsmeade.
”Rid Britain of muggleborns, blah, blah, blah... Targeting students. Yup, checks out.”
He stepped back, and then ice spikes pierced one shoulder and one thigh of both the Accionites.
”AAAAAAHH!!!!”