Chapter 81: Returns, and Patronus vs. Dementors (1/2)
If you want to read ahead, you can check out my Patreón @
[ ]
The link is also in the synopsis.
.
[The chapter is edited by my Editor: Alan_Loo/AlanL]
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
Quinn entered the Great Hall, where the students were being directed by the prefects, Head Boy and Girl, and the professors. The Great Hall emptied out its four long house tables, and the entire student population gathered inside it.
Looking at the hordes of students, Quinn made his way towards the students clad in blue. Towards the gathering of the Ravenclaw house. Quinn walked at a slow pace; all the sprinting, climbing, and jumping he did at Hogsmeade had left him physically exhausted.
Just a second before Quinn reached the Ravenclaw gathering, a blonde blur slammed into him and wrapped its slim arms around his waist.
”Oof!”
Quinn stumbled to his back feet, and when he looked down, he saw his dainty little employee, junior, and friend: Luna Lovegood.
”Don't worry, I'm one hundred percent fine,” Quinn smiled and gently patted Luna's hair in an effort to comfort her. ”I actually had a fun time. Had a delicious beverage. I even bought one for you, you know.”
Luna stayed like that for a moment before separating from Quinn. She wasn't done as she eyed his body to audit if there were any injuries. Her eyes caught a torn patch on his right arm, and she immediately shifted to Quinn's right and carefully used her hands to look under Quinn's torn sleeve at his skin and saw a shallow cut.
Quinn sighed when Luna examined him.
”Okay, I'm ninety-nine percent fine. This was caused by random rubble from a building struck by an explosion spell.”
He took out his fake wand and cast a healing spell to heal the cut on his arm. He fixed his clothes after his healing results satisfied Luna.
Quinn looked up from Luna and saw Eddie and Marcus standing a few steps away from him.
”Nice haircuts. You guys look good,” Quinn gave them a lop-sided smile. He was happy to see both of them safe. He didn't go and check them because, first, they were in the opposite direction to Novellus Accionites' travel direction; and second, both of his roommates were inside a building, safe from stray spells.
Eddie and Marcus wordlessly hugged Quinn, happy to see their friend safe. They were terribly worried and stressed when the two didn't see him in the castle when they arrived. The anxiety crept every minute they waited in the Great Hall, peeking at the entrance to see if Quinn was there or not.
Quinn closed his eyes as he hugged his roommates. The tiredness was setting in; the adrenaline previously coursing in Quinn's body during his sneak attacks at the Accionites was now taking its toll, making him feel exhausted.
”Let's make that girlfriend pact, alright?” chuckled Quinn as he said the words while hugging them, eliciting laughs from the two boys.
After separating from the hug, Quinn made walked around the Great Hall, checking on his friends, regular customers, friendly acquaintances, and A.I.D-related acquaintances.
Starting with Ravenclaw, Quinn greeted everybody he knew in his own house. He checked on some of his juniors and peers who had come to him when they had a doubt.
He went to see Katie Bell at the Gryffindor table and checked on her. Quinn greeted the Weasley twins and swept a lazy eye over the golden squad.
At the Hufflepuff gathering, Quinn said hello to Cedric Diggory, who he sometimes chatted. He also talked to his frequent Hufflepuff customers. He made small talk before finally moving to the Slytherin table.
At Slytherin, he directly went to Daphne and Tracy and saw the two girls standing with Astoria.
”Are you two alright?”
The three Slytherin girls turned to come across Quinn, who was standing there with them.
”Y-Yeah, we are fine,” Tracy spoke, still shocked at what happened at Hogsmeade.
”Where were you guys during the attack?” Quinn asked as he observed the girls, looking if there were any signs of injury.
”We were inside the Three Broomsticks,” answered Daphne, who was, similarly, observing Quinn.
Quinn sighed in relief and nodded, ”Then you were in one of the safest places in Hogsmeade.”
Astoria tilted her head and questioned Quinn, ”A pub is the safest place at Hogsmeade? What makes you say that?”
Quinn chuckled and tossed a chocolate cube towards Astoria, who caught it and wondered how did Quinn suddenly make chocolate appear in his hand.
”The pub is usually filled with adults, so there surely were plenty of wands to protect students,” Quinn explained, smiling as he saw Astoria observing the chocolate in her hand and glancing at Quinn's hand.
”Apart from Madam Rosmerta's Three Broomsticks, Abeforth Dumbledore's Hog's Head Inn would be the safest place in Hogsmeade. Nay, Hog's Head beats out the more busy Three Broomsticks. The clientele of the Hog's Head is much more interesting than the one of the Three Broomsticks.”
The people who visited Hog's Head liked to keep their faces covered, and the inn was famous for being shady. If someone hostile entered the place, then they would faced a barrage of spells from the clientele who liked to spend their time quietly and without disturbance.
”Where were you? Were you near those men?” Daphne inquired in worry.
Quinn laughed and waved his hand to dissuade their worries, ”Fortunately… and weirdly, I didn't come across a single of those rowdy characters that use to visit Hogsmeade today.” Quinn raised one finger and added. ”I did come near an exploding building wall, so maybe that counts.”
Daphne's and Tracey's eyes widened as they immediately looked to see if Quinn was injured.
”Did you get hit?” Tracy asked with worry heavy in her voice.
”Nope. Not a single scratch,” Quinn rotated on the spot to show them that he had no injuries on his bodies. ”I bounced the second the wall exploded. Right into the opposite direction.” He extended his hand forward.
Quinn's chill attitude made the girls feel relieved. They put their worries aside and calmed down.
”How did you toss me this chocolate? Did you have it already in your hand?” Astoria was weirdly interested in how Quinn gave her chocolate without taking anything out of his clothes.
Quinn chuckled and showed the younger Greengrass his empty hands. Then, he extended her hand behind her ear, and when he pulled his hand back, there was a chocolate cube in hand.
”Like this,” he smiled, wiggling his eyebrows.
Astoria took the chocolate from Quinn's hand with a surprised expression and blurted in amazement, ”Now, how did you do that?!”
”My apologies, little lady. But a magician never reveals his secrets.”
”Huh? What do you mean?” asked Astoria in confusion. She didn't recognize the famous phrase.
Quinn just laughed and didn't reply, which confused Astoria even more.
...
That day, the students were allowed to return to their regular lives after professors did a roll call and made sure that no student was missing.
Everybody was relieved to know that no student was missing after the terrorist attack. They learned the full details of the incident the following day when the morning owl raid brought the newspapers to the students and professors.
Two people dead, eleven Novellus Accionites caught by the Aurors, and eight of them were found incapacitated when the Aurors found them, littered across Hogsmeade. Then there was a section on the mysterious invisible vigilante, who aided in stopping the terrorist group before the Aurors arrived.
The newspapers portrayed a positive image of the invisible vigilante, a hero who helped the public and then vanished without claiming any credit.
The Aurors put a message in the newspaper asking for any information about the invisible vigilante. They were after this invisible vigilante for having used harmful magic in public.
Quinn, who read the newspaper, faintly smiled when he saw that the Aurors had no clue regarding his identity. He didn't care about his image in the newspaper. The invisible vigilante wouldn't be making an appearance anytime soon.
But he did keep clippings from the Quibbler magazine, which did a whole article on the invisible vigilante's identity. It was an entertaining read with a whole lot of wild theories.
Heck, even Luna asked Quinn for his opinion on the future articles on the invisible vigilante since she was a co-writer on the future articles on the invisible vigilante. Quinn enthusiastically helped her by suggesting more theories far away from the truth.
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
”Good people of Hogwarts, welcome to yet another entertaining game of Hogwarts Quidditch. We are here to watch an exciting game between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.”
Quinn sat behind the microphone in the commentators' seat, smiling at the crowded stands with a beaming smile. A smile that didn't match the weather. The noise of storms thundered above in the dark sky. The grey clouds darkened the usually bright sky that appeared in the morning time.
”By popular demand, I, Quinn West, have returned as the commentator. First of all, I would like to thank you all for the support you people showed to me. Your push to have me as the commentator made me wonder if I should do this for a living.”
Quinn heard a few chuckles at his back. He turned to see Lily Potter, Filius Flitwick, and Aurora Sinistra laughing at Quinn's words.