Chapter 105: Jumping Back In Time (2/2)
He took out his fake wand for show and transmuted the ground to rise up to form three plateaus before transforming them into stone.
Quinn plopped himself down on one of the flat stones and gestured to the girls to take their seats as well.
Ivy and Hermione looked to their surroundings and saw that they were barely inside the woods, which had the Great lake on one side and the Hogsmeade station on the other.
From the way Quinn was sitting, they could deduce that whatever was about to happen was going to happen at the Great Lake's side.
After the two finally sat down on the transfigured stones, Quinn spoke up, ”We have time before I have to start working, so to pass the time, I would like to make some things clear.”
Ivy and Hermione glanced at each other while thinking that Quinn was about to tell them what was about to happen, but what followed differed completely from what happened.
”First, Ms. Potter,” addressed Quinn. He took a short pause before continuing. ”You were at the wrong place at the wrong time. I was going through a bad time when you came across me. And well, you know what followed.”
Ivy silently stared at Quinn with a totally expressionless face. It was clear she was using occlumency. She knew that Quinn was talking about the Polyjuice incident.
”If times had been better, even though I wouldn't have condoned your actions— I would've simply ignored you and moved along minding my own business. But the circumstances lead to what happened. And I truly and from the bottom of my heart am sorry that I threatened you and your family.”
It was true; Quinn would have ignored Ivy in Daphne's form and would have walked away because of his then reluctance to get involved with the events. The sin curse had decreased those inhibitions, and he vaulted into the incident with a particular savageness.
Emotions could be peeked from behind Ivy's occlumency barrier as surprise appeared on her face. She wasn't expecting this from Quinn when he said that he wanted to pass the time.
”Next, I don't really mind you breaking into professor Snape's ingredient inventory to get the potion ingredients. To me, it just showed that you guys were resourceful. I probably would have just mail-ordered the ingredients, but I'm sure you didn't have that option.”
Quinn knew he was saying that he didn't mind identity theft and breaking and entry. But the truth was that he truly didn't mind it.
Quinn was what you called a serial Legilimens, which meant that he regularly used Legilimency. Every mealtime while he was in the Great Hall, Quinn would use Legilimency to peek into the unsuspecting mind of numerous students. Tens of students had no idea that their minds were being read while they chatted and ate their meals.
In his second year, Quinn had drugged Ron Weasley to get information out of him, which was again a tremendous violation of privacy. His first meeting with Ginny Weasley had turned into a walk where he tried to go through the girl's recent life.
He had practically hacked into a computer system to get the private passwords of numerous accounts. Recon was just that as he even had the passwords to the professor's private quarters that were practically like their apartments.
So when Quinn said that he didn't mind the stuff that he had held against them, he was speaking the truth.
”... Nonetheless, I vehemently oppose you breaking into MY office. That wasn't cool at all. The reasoning that you girls based your opinion were —pardon my language— idiotic.” Hermoine was about to speak, but Quinn stopped her and continued, ”I know what I am saying is highly hypocritical, but the truth of the matter is that I am somewhat of a hypocrite.”
Another example of Quinn's hypocrisy was his thoughts about the Lockhart incident. He felt that Lockhart got his punishment but didn't like the fact that it had come from himself: Quinn would have been fine if it came from anyone else than him. And that was classic hypocritical behavior.
When Quinn stopped and Hermione said what she was planning to say, ”You know that what you said makes things worse.”
”I know, but the thing is, what I said is the honest truth. The only reason I am telling you guys this is because, at that time, I was going through a tough time, and telling you guys just lets me get a load off my chest.”
Hermione Granger and Ivy Potter stared at Quinn, who had an honest smile on his face. Both of them knew what Quinn said was in some ways a lot worse, but the tone and delivery of his words made them confused if they should take it positively or negatively.
”If you are sorry, then why did you call us to repay?” asked Ivy. She had dropped her occlumency.
”Hmm? I said that I didn't appreciate you breaking into my office. That thing is still pretty much entirely on the table. And while I never wanted to ask you guys to repay the debt, Ms. Granger's debt was my best option. If I had something that would help me resolve this on my own, then I wouldn't have given her a single second of thought.”
Quinn shrugged and referenced. ”I praised you guys for being resourceful because I like to think I am resourceful as well. This was just me being resourceful. So no hard feelings, alright.”
Quinn was now done with what he wanted to tell them. He had said everything he wanted to say; he had apologized for threatening the Potter family, about staining James Potter's reputation, getting them expelled, among other things.
He didn't mean any of those things, and those kinds of threats would only be true if they had done something that Quinn couldn't reverse or get out of easily. Because even though his grandfather and Lia would support him and he would inadvertently gain the support of the Dark Faction, the whole spiel would be a tremendous pain in the ass for Quinn.
The party of three sat in silence, with Quinn monitoring the lakeshore while Ivy and Hermione contemplated the words that Quinn had spoken to them.
After half an hour, Quinn suddenly stood up from his stone and garnered the attention of his companions.
”It is time,” said Quinn as he stared at the lakeshore.
Quinn's abrupt stand surprised Ivy and Hermione, who were sitting silently for the past half hour. They followed his eyesight, and their eyes widened in shock when they saw a heavily injured Quinn West come out of the lake.
They were sitting at a distance, but even from there, both could clearly see the wounds on Quinn's body. The gashes on his body were deep and broad, and only their distance from the 'past' Quinn dissociated them from the gory scene.
”W-What happened to you?!” exclaimed Ivy as she removed her eyes from the 'past' Quinn to their companion, Quinn.
”... I got injured and am currently in the process of healing myself,” replied Quinn, who had his eyes fixed on his 'past' self.
”Should we help you out? What should we do? You should've told us about this earlier!” rapid-fired Hermione as she frantically looked back and forth from both Quinns.
Quinn raised his arm to motion them to calm down. ”You two don't have to do anything. Please remember that you are only here to keep an eye on me. You two simply need to stay put. I will take care of everything.”
Hermione and Ivy had stood up from their seats and were now looking at the 'past' Quinn.
Both waited for Quinn to do something, but he just stood still and kept on staring at his past self.
”Why aren't you doing something?! You are going to die,” exclaimed Ivy, anxiously looking at the injured 'past' Quinn. With every second that Quinn didn't respond, she grew more uneasy, and after some time, she couldn't hold it back anymore. ”You are mad! I'm going to help him. He is going to die!” And stepped forward, fully intending to help the 'past' Quinn.
Quinn glanced at Ivy and sighed. With a slight twitch of his finger, a white dome force field appeared around Ivy, causing her to halt within the confines of the magic.
There was a sudden and sharp jump in tension between the group. Ivy threw a wary look at the dome around as she took out her wand. Hermione, who was still standing near her stone, also took out her wand in apprehension.
”Ms. Potter, nothing will happen to him. He will not die from his wounds. The fact that I am standing here is proof that he will come out of this alive,” spoke Quinn, attempting to pacify Ivy as he threw a glance towards Hermione. ”He is currently healing his wounds. I'm proficient in healing wounds. I'd like you to calm down. I assure you that he won't die.”
Neither Ivy nor Hermione at this point knew how time worked, so it wasn't unusual that they would be stimulated by the sight of a badly cut-up person.
'People with lawful-good alignments can be a hassle sometimes,' thought Quinn. But he was a little surprised: even after what had happened between them, Ivy would readily try to save him...
The force field around Ivy disappeared, freeing her from the confines.
”And please try to remain quiet. I had to cast a silencing ward around us to stop the voice from reaching him. We need to complete this stealthily,” instructed Quinn before going back to observing his past self.
Hermione gingerly walked to Ivy and stood by her friend. ”Did you notice him casting a ward? Because I didn't.”
Ivy shook her head in response, her eyes locked on Quinn, who didn't look worried at all. ”Do you have any idea what is happening? Why isn't he doing anything? Didn't he say that he wanted to reduce his injuries? Why isn't he helping his past self?”
”I don't kno -” started Hermione, but her voice came to an abrupt stop.
Ivy watched as Hermione's face took an expression of horrified shock.
”... What?” spoke Ivy and turned towards where Hermione was looking and saw the thing that had Hermione stuck in frightening shock.
A flying tornado of dark cloaks descended from the dark evening sky. Hundreds of gliding wraiths gathered above the 'past' Quinn, circling in the sky as some of them silently flew down towards the injured boy.
The hundreds of creatures had a grim effect on the surroundings as Ivy and Hermione felt the temperature drop around them.
”It's time.” They heard Quinn speak as he calmly looked at the hundreds of hooded-cloaks nearing his past self.
”The Dementors are here.”
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Quinn West - MC - I am a hypocrite of a high-order.
Ivy Potter - Pathfinder - Lawful Good
Hermione Granger - Tensed - What is happening?!
FictionOnlyReader - Author - Alright, Dementors, 3..2..1. Go! Go! Go!
AlanL - Editor - This is getting interesting… (^_^)
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