Chapter 101: Aquatic Trials, Friendships, Rat (2/2)
Luna also turned towards Quinn. ”Quinn, why didn't you make the horsie move forward. Why can it only move one way?”
Quinn, who was in his mindscape sorting and strengthening his memories using occlumency, opened his eyes and looked at his two friends.
Marcus was trying to teach Luna how to play Chess on the wizarding chessboard that Quinn had made for Marcus as a birthday present. The board and pieces could change colors and shapes.
The chessboard was a box with a grid on the top, and within the chessboard were number dials that could be used to alter the animation used by chess pieces to destroy each other when eliminating other chess pieces.
He had also crammed a copious amount of chess strategies inside the Chess set to advise inexperienced players. Quinn had ordered tons of Chess books from both the non-magical and magical worlds because both worlds had different chess strategies and philosophies. Using that data, Quinn had given his Chess set a more diverse recommendation/advice system than any other Chess set on the market.
It was an elaborate set with extensive charm work that Quinn had devoted time to create for his friend's birthday. But it seemed that even he had failed to take Luna Lovegood into consideration.
Quinn turned to look at the white chess pieces, who were holding his head while trying to think what it should do. Then he looked at Luna and gave an explanation.
”Luna, you see, the horse can charge straight ahead. But the knight on the horse doesn't want to move straight ahead; it only wants the horse to move a certain way. The horse belongs to the knight, so the horse will only listen to the knight. There is nothing we can do.”
Luna furrowed her brows and turned to stare at four knights on the chessboard, who stared back while stroking the back of their horses, making them neigh and nicer.
”I see. If that is the case, then that's fine,” shrugged Luna, as she accepted Quinn's reason quite easily. She stood up and spoke to Marcus. ”I'm parched. I'm going for water; do you two want anything?”
Marcus politely refused while Quinn, who had once again closed his eyes, silently shook his head.
When Luna went away, Marcus turned to Quinn and asked. ”What are you going to do when she finds a Chess set with only a horse as a knight piece?”
”Let's worry about that when the time comes,” replied Quinn without opening his eyes.
Marcus sighed before flipping a switch on the side of the chessboard that made the chess pieces stick to the grid so that when the box opened, they wouldn't fall off. He looked at the array of dials and switches that customized the playing experience and turned off the destruction feature when attacked.
He didn't want to answer Luna's questions —which were full of curiosity— on why the chess pieces were acting mean to each other.
Quinn, who had his eyes closed, smiled very softly at the sight of his friends getting along.
Marcus was the one to invite Luna to play Chess when he saw her sitting by Quinn's side, drawing random scribbles. And Luna had accepted the offer with enthusiasm and without doubt or skepticism.
It had taken a lot of time for Marcus and Eddie to warm up to Luna because of her eccentric personality, and even though Quinn was still the connection between the two parties, the two boys and one girl had become friends.
And Quinn felt happy because of that.
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After learning the whereabouts of the Potter family from Pettigrew, Voldemort traveled to Godric's Hollow on the fateful night of October 31, 1981. After breaking the protections on the house, Voldemort was able to enter the residence and blasted the front door open, catching its inhabitants off-guard.
Fleamont Potter, who had left his wand on the sofa, was murdered quickly trying to defend his wife and grandchildren. After Voldemort killed Fleamont Potter, he preceded to go up-stairs to Harry's and Ivy's nursery, where the grandmother and the twins were trapped inside.
Cornered in the nursery, Euphemia Potter was murdered after trying to oppose Voldemort and defend her grandchildren, the green light from this act actually lighting up the entire upper floor.
When the Dark Lord then attempted to murder the one prophesied to defeat him, the protection laid down by his grandmother's loving sacrifice caused the Killing Curse to rebound. It destroyed Voldemort's corporeal body but unfortunately also took out a significant chunk of the cottage's upper floor.
Harry was left with nothing but a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, and Ivy miraculously came out unscathed from the incident while Dark Lord Voldemort's powers were temporarily destroyed. Henceforth Harry was known as the ”Boy Who Lived” and was marked as Lord Voldemort's equal, thus sealing his fate.
But there was someone else there, who waited outside, and saw the entire upper floor roof blew up.
Peter Pettigrew, who nervously stood outside, was feeling ecstatic on the inside. He was the one who led the Dark Lord to the Potter cottage, and for that, he was going to be rewarded. But then he saw the roof blew up, and immediately Pettigrew knew something was wrong.
The rat Animagus cautiously entered the cottage, and on the ground floor, he saw Fleamont Potter on the ground. But after a short glance, Pettigrew ran up the stairs, and there he saw the dead body of Euphemia Potter and two crying infants.
Pettigrew was stunned out of his mind. He couldn't believe the sight in front of him. He looked at the floor of the bust-up room and saw the unique wand of Dark Lord Voldemort lying down in front of him.
'The Dark Lord is dead. And Lily and James aren't here.' Those thoughts scared the life out of Peter. He had betrayed the Order of Phoenix and 'corrupted to the evil side. That decision was made because Peter thought that he was choosing the winning side.
He had stacked a stable life where he lived comfortably to risk it for a life of luxury and superiority. And the scene he was seeing screamed at him that the dream was over and he had destroyed his life.
As Peter panicked from his innermost being, he heard the sound of Sirius's motorcycle from outside the house, with several pops of apparition following.
'They are here!'
In that moment of trepidation and fright, Peter picked up the wand from the floor, and because of the broken wards, he apparated out from the room itself and faded away from the scene. From there on he started following the events that led him to be captured and imprisoned in Azkaban.
And now, twelve years later, Peter was inside his old house, sold to some old couple, who were dead from killing curse cast from a wand that he had stolen from a chump who had left it on a table of a pub while refilling his drink.
Peter, still as sickly and gaunt as he was when he got out of Azkaban, looked down on the bathroom floor and waved the wand to perform magic: violently, every single tile was pulled out from the floor. The foundation then was butchered by blasting curses until three feet in depth and a wooden chest surface out on the top.
The large chest levitated out of the dirt onto the floor. Two snaps of unlocking, and Peter used his skeleton hands to open the lid to reveal the sole object inside the wooden chest.
”... Here you are,” said Peter, his voice wispy and coarse, but his eyes shined with vigor and tinge of mania. Peter picked up the object and stared at it with fascination. ”The lord's wand. The symbol of his power.”
In his hand was a 13½ inches long, crafted from yew, and affixed with a phoenix feather core.
The phoenix feather wand showed its pickiness and didn't react to Peter's touch and magic. In the hand of Wormtail, the yew wand would be the same as a stick.
From his pocket, Peter took out a rat and watched the familiar creature stunned and unconscious. ”It is time to bring him back,” declared Peter as he clutched the wand in his hand, closed his eyes, and imagined the day he would've his revenge.
After covering up the mess in the bathroom, Peter left his old house and silently yet determinedly looked into a particular direction as a plan formed in his mind.
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Quinn West - MC - The water is always deeper than what it reflects.
Marcus Belby - Likes to play Chess - Owner of the only Chess set crafted by Q. West.
Luna Lovegood - Learning Chess - Likes activities that require more people.
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[A/N: Sorry about the no chapter yesterday. I faced some technical issues and wasn't able to upload. So two today. See ya~!]
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