Chapter 110: Music, Scheme, and Promise (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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It was a time of the year that Quinn really enjoyed. Just as his second year when he completed the Icy Vault; this year, he had completed the Aquatic Vault, and now he was feeling as cool as a cucumber.
There was spring in his steps and dance in his moves. At random times, he would break into a dance and enjoy the vibe he was feeling. The same thing happened when he finished the Icy Vault.
While he very much enjoyed going through the vaults, there was always a sense of urgency in the back of Quinn's head in which he needed to complete one vault a year.
So when he wrapped up the Aquatic Vault, Quinn felt he was done for the year. If he had to draw a very loose parallel, then the cursed vaults to him were what examinations were to students. When they ended, students rejoiced like they were part of a nation that just got independence from an oppressive power. The only difference was that Quinn enjoyed the time he spent down in the vaults, unlike many students who didn't enjoy exams.
And for the first time in months, Quinn was free, so he took out his violin, and with it, decided to cast some magic to lighten up that extra-high tension exam mood that plagued the Ravenclaw house every year.
He rested the violin on his shoulder and his fingers on the strings; the other hand grasped the bow. He then gently descended on the strings to play a vibrant tune with sweet calm tones.
At first, the sound was only audible inside Quinn's dorm room and partially audible to the nearby rooms, but as the minutes progressed, the fiddle of the violin traveled all across the boys' dorm.
Some of the boys didn't appreciate the sudden disturbance when they studied for the exams, which were close, but no one got up from their seats and asked the player to stop; something in the sound made them keep still and listen.
In his room, Quinn smiled with his eyes closed. Seeing that no one was here to stop him from playing meant that the magic was working and, thus, he could increase the radius.
Streams of magic traveled down from Quinn's arms to the violin and bow, and the sound started to flow with an extra something behind it. The slow tempo mixed with magic carried all the way to the common room and the girls' dormitory on the other side, and filled the entire Ravenclaw dorms with Quinn's music.
Anyone who heard the music felt the tension drain from their bones, and calm seep into their minds and bodies. The slow sound made them forget about the stress of the incoming exams. That moment made them stop running, stop and kick back to get a relaxing pit-stop.
Quinn, who had his eyes closed while playing the violin, mixed two types of magic together to create his desired effect.
He blended mind magic together with the enchanting sorcery of sound and music to create magical melodies. Using the wings provided by the harmonies, Quinn spread the influence of the mind arts to sway the mood of those who listened.
This idea came from two sources: the first was, of course, the dreaded Sin vault, which had messed with his mind and emotion on a deep level; the second inspiration was from his mind magic teacher, Alan D. Baddeley, who had once used mind magic to forcefully calm him down.
Like Alan, Quinn subtly altered the listeners' present mood. It wasn't as intrusive as the Sin Vault, but did reside on the same mental magic line.
The use of sound magic was to increase the range and effectiveness of magic. Quinn, who had studied illusion magic, knew how to influence the human senses and recognized its efficacy while manipulating a target.
People would subconsciously concentrate on sounds, and this was especially true for magic. So when Quinn laced the music with mental magic, the listeners got quickly influenced because their minds were concentrating on the music. Of course, there were downsides to this usage— it wasn't particularly effective when people were at guard against it, or if they had earplugs on and couldn't listen to the music, or were outright deaf.
'Alright, let's hype up this performance,' thought Quinn, and the tune went through a drastic change. The rhythm started to build up, and the sound turned from gentle and calming to upbeat and exciting.
Everyone in Ravenclaw started to tap their feet and bob their head to the rhythm of the cheerful tune. Slowly they were being guided from the calmness of the earlier piece to the bop of the current one.
The person who felt the most was Quinn himself, who channeled his current spirit into the animated funk. His moves while he played the violin were wild and crazy.
'Oh, yeah, let's blow the roof off this place. Come on, move it~,' thought Quinn as he continued to play; the more he got into playing, the more freely his magic flowed, making everyone who was listening to the melody, felt their hearts beat faster with excitement and exhilaration.
'Rum, pum, tum, and we are done~,' thought Quinn as he finished his piece and bowed to no one.
”WOOHOO!!!!”
”I'm going to ace these exams!”
”Bring it on! I'm going to smash the O.W.L.s!”
”I'm going to get a girlfriend!”
”Exams are nothing! I'm the smartest girl alive!”
”Wrackspurts!”
”I will recreate Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem!”
”Where is Professor Flitwick. I challenge him to a duel!”
Quinn's piece had left the people in a hyped-up state and filled with confidence and enthusiasm. It caused them to feel exhilarated and happy.
Quinn smiled at the shouts coming from the common room and the dorms around him and knew that his showcase of mental and sound magic was a huge success.
Looking at the violin and bow in his hands, Quinn nodded with a grin, ”Yeah~, I still got it.”
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- (Scene Break) -
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A shady figure stood under the shade of a tree looking at the abandoned house with the windows and doors boarded up.
”The Shrieking Shack,” muttered the figure looking at the building, which was supposed to be the most haunted in Britain. ”To think this shack would be hiding something of such importance.”
Rivers Lock smirked at the thought, ”It seems this building is just like me. And that's why it's going to get me what I want.”
The smirk from his face dropped like it was never there, and he thought about the circumstances that brought him here.
”A bunch of cowards, they are. How can they be scared when I'm planning their moves.”
Rivers Lock was the one who created and managed the group known as Novellus Accionites. Just within a couple years, he had been able to gather people together into his banner, and he did it without ever showing his face.
But the series of raids from the Auror Office had instilled fear in the members of Novellus Accionites, and when he tried to bring down the order, he didn't get much of a favorable response.
”I didn't ask them to go to those gatherings,” Rivers clicked his tongue in distaste. ”If they wanted to mingle together like fools, they could've at least made sure they weren't tracked.”
The disadvantage of being a hidden leader was that he couldn't be involved too deeply without being in danger of revealing his identity. As such, he couldn't control what his followers did outside of the plans he drafted for them.
He wanted people to be good with the Disillusionment charm. People who would be able to get around without others noticing. But all he got was some dumb bozos who were absolutely shit at magic, who were complete rock brains and didn't have an ounce of cunning in them.
But this opportunity was too critical for him to miss. The school was about to end soon, and if he didn't act, he would've to wait for the next few months to get the next chance.
Rivers didn't have those months. The Aurors were striking hard on his minions, and he couldn't be sure what would be the situation down the line.
And this opportunity was what he needed to gain the momentum back. If he could pull this off, then the world would know about Novellus Accionites, and all the members who refused his calls like cowards would come scurrying back.
”I guess I will have to do this on my own. This is too important for me to leave it to the idiots,” muttered Rivers. He decided that he would be going inside on his own with a couple more members that were at his disposal.
The gears in his mind turned as he continued to stare at the abandoned and decrypt shack.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Quinn shimmied his way to the hospital wing with a rabbit in a cage. The rabbit had been very sick, infected with rabbit calicivirus, which was an illness that had an incubation period of 48-72 hours.
Poppy had given him the brown rabbit and told him that he had a day and a half to return with a perfectly healthy rabbit. He knew nothing about calicivirus; it was a type of hemorrhagic disease virus. So he had only 48-72 hours to learn everyone about the disease and then heal the rabbit before it died.
The research had been easy but lengthy, so by the time Quinn was done learning about the rabbit calicivirus, the rabbit was suffering from lethargy and fever.
Quinn eradicated the disease from the brown rabbit and then healed the fluffy bunny. He did it within the confines of the time Poppy had given him; the rabbit was back to new in twenty-four hours.