Chapter 106: Dementor Horde, Time Magic, Free Will (2/2)
Both the girls went into retrospection about the recent events. It took a couple of minutes before Ivy came up with an answer.
”When you refused to move until you heard the words from your past self. Is that the free will you are talking about?” opined Ivy, though not sure if her answer was correct or not.
”Ding dong ding~,” nodded Quinn and sang as the answer was correct. ”I know myself better than anyone else. So I know that in this situation, every Quinn West would use this method because all of them would think this is the best choice. But even though they know that: it is their choice, their free will to start the loop despite knowing that they would have to continue onto a path that won't give them any more free will.”
”... But what if your past didn't make the same choice? What would happen then?” asked Hermione.
Quinn shook his head as he answered. ”I don't know. Maybe we would have disappeared, our existence erased forever; maybe we would have stayed here and we would have two sets of Quinn West, Hermione Granger, and Ivy Potter. Most probably, the Unspeakables in the ministry would detect the disturbance in time and then hunt us down to somehow fix things up.”
Quinn was sure that if the past 'himself' that was healing himself right now didn't go back in time, around the same time he traveled here, then the Unspeakables would notice some form of agitation in time.
”... And you still did this?” asked Ivy in disbelief at Quinn's decision to go through this.
”Yes, I did. I told you, didn't I, Ms. Potter? You need to know what and how you are doing things, and if you know those things, the results will turn out how you want them to be. Every step I took was to ensure that things went smoothly,” declared Quinn with confidence and certainty about his preparation. ”And the fact that it worked for my future self, who helped me out, shows that it is possible for me.”
”But your past self still hasn't gone back to the past? What if he decides not to go back? What if Ivy and I refuse to go back with you?” questioned Hermione, as from what Quinn said, all three of them need to go back in time.
”Oh, he will go back, Ms. Granger. He knows the fact that I am here and that the Time-Turner only allows one-way travel. My past self owes me for saving him; he will repay me by exiting this time, so I can take his place,” laughed Quinn merrily and looked the two girls straight in the eye. ”You thought that I only placed others in my debt? Oh, no, even me, Quinn West, owes myself a debt. He will now go to another time and get another Quinn West under his debt, who will pay the debt, and the cycle will continue.”
Quinn straightened up and softly smiled with superiority flashing in his eyes. ”This might sound corny but, One Mountain Cannot Contain Two Tigers. There can't exist two Quinn West at the same time. There can only be one and, in this timeline, it will be me.”
As much as Quinn loved himself, he wasn't on board with another one of him existing alongside him.
”Ms. Granger, tell me, why do you think I brought you both here?” quizzed Quinn.
”... I know you are expecting to give you a different answer than us trying to stop you from doing things we are uncomfortable with,” presumed Hermione.
”Smart girl. Yes, I brought you two here for a reason beneficial to me. Give it a thought,” smiled Quinn, curious if they would be able to figure it out.
While Hermione and Ivy thought of the answer, Quinn thought something inside his mind. 'Why am I giving them all these questions? I should just tell them the answers. Whatever, this is going well.' Quinn knew he let people ask questions to control the flow of information. But today, he was asking them questions and guiding them to the answers.
”I knew that there was a personal angle,” commented Ivy, as her eyes narrowed a fraction. ”But I can't figure it out. What is it?”
Quinn smiled before looking at Hermione to see if she had an answer, but the holder of Time-Turner too didn't have an answer.
Quinn thought back to the time he was thinking about stealing the Time-Turner. Even though he thought of doing that, Quinn knew that Hermione would be coming with him. Ivy coming with them was decided the moment she decided to step into the office. He wasn't going to let them stay with the knowledge of what he was doing.
”Alright then, I will tell you. The reason I proposed the idea of you two coming along with me was that I wanted to turn you two into accomplices,” revealed Quinn. He wanted them to know what position they were currently in.
”I was determined to get the Time-Turner from you, Ms. Granger. And when you decided to allow the use of a ministry-restricted artifact, given to you for education purposes, for something not even closely related to education made you an accessory to a crime. But when you made the decision to accompany me, your status jumped to an accomplice.”
Hermione's eyes widened because she knew that allowing Quinn to use the Time-Turner could get in her trouble. Hearing that her original reasoning of making sure Quinn didn't do damage had turned against her.
Quinn turned to Ivy and told the redhead about her contribution. ”Ms. Potter, if you, on a side note, didn't accompany me, you would be, at first, what we can call an 'abettor'; someone who allowed the crime to happen, although didn't help in the crime. Now though, you turned into an accomplice by accompanying me back in time.”
While Hermione's jump was from an accessory to an accomplice, Ivy's jump was wider, as she turned from an abettor to an accomplice.
The reason Quinn allowed them to come with him so readily was that he wanted to implicate them with him. So, if a time came where the two girls were feeling loose-lipped, they would remember that the secret they were about to slip could get them in trouble.
”I'm sorry if this hurts, but I had to do it. I can't allow this to get out. This is something very private to me,” apologized Quinn.
Hermione's Time-Turner was the resource that had allowed him to maintain anonymity. If it wasn't an option, Quinn could potentially have to reveal the existence of the third vault.
”You were a great help, so I do feel sorry for chaining you down like this. But just as I promised at the office, this doesn't affect anyone other than me. Ms. Potter made sure that no one saw us inside the castle, and our location made sure that no one saw this event.”
”... We can forget about this, and it won't matter,” muttered Ivy, staring at Quinn, who nodded.
”Yes, I'm not planning to tell this to anyone, and if you don't, it will remain a secret between us three.”
The three fell into silence, with none of them wanting to speak. The two girls contemplated the events that had transpired while Quinn observed them.
After some time, Quinn noticed that his past self got up. He silently cast a minor mental illusion on the two girls, so they wouldn't see him getting up from the ground and clothe himself with conjured clothes without a wand.
When his past self was done, Quinn lifted the mental illusion and alerted the girls. ”He's done.”
Ivy and Hermione turned their heads to see the clothed 'past' Quinn limping towards the castle.
”What's next?” asked Hermione.
”We wait for Luna to enter the office. When she leaves the office, we go to the office,” responded Quinn, looking at Ivy as she possessed the Marauder's map. ”I want to be in the castle the less the better before our past selves leave. Minimum footprint, minimal interference.”
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- (Scene Break) -
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Quinn, Ivy, and Hermione reached the A.I.D. office while making sure they weren't seen.
”Are they gone?” asked Hermione to Ivy, who had the Marauder's map open in front of her.
Ivy nodded to affirm that their past selves were no longer in the workshop, which prompted Quinn to limp towards the red workshop and open it to check inside, to confirm that the workshop was empty.
”They are gone,” smiled Quinn, turning to the girls. ”Congratulations! The mission is complete and successful.”
He limped to the barstool behind his table. Quinn looked towards the girls and spoke. ”If you hurry, you can still get to the feast with enough time to get a quick bite.”
Hermione nodded with a sigh. She was definitely feeling both tired and hungry.
”Thank you once again. Both of you helped me out a lot, and I'm grateful for that,” smiled Quinn.
Hermione looked at Ivy and was about to gesture to her best friend that they should leave, but then saw that expression on her face, and for some reason, it reminded her of the time when she asked Quinn about the information on the Basilisk after they had been blackmailed by Quinn.
'Oh, no, what is she about to do,' thought Hermione with worry, and then Ivy spoke.
”Were you the one who saved us inside the Chamber of Secrets?”
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Quinn West - MC - ”Yeah, even me owes me a debt.”
Ivy Potter - Abettor to Accomplice - Next time on HP: AMJ! What answer will she get?
Hermione Granger - Accessory to Accomplice - Thinks today was more stressful than the night before an examination.
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