Chapter 191: Going Around, A Letter (1/2)
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Quinn stared to his front with one eye with a charming smile on his face. He was dressed sharply and sat with his best posture — he was trying to be the best he could be, and except the eyepatch, he was.. .. perfect.
”Quinn, dear, do you want more,” said the lady sitting in front of him. She had short brunette hair, wearing an apron over a long light blue midi dress, and Quinn could see the resemblance she bore with her son.
”Yes, Mrs. Carmichael, I would love to have more,” said Quinn, setting his glass on the table for a jug to float over it, refilling it for another serving of reddish-pink punch. ”Thank you, it's delightful, Mrs. Carmichael,” smiled Quinn, ”especially this shortbread.. .. it's so good! No wonder Eddie is always ranting about the food at school.”
”He does, doesn't he,” said Eleanor Carmichael, glancing at her son who was sporting messy bed hair and sleep clothes, staring at the scene with discomfort, ”what would I do with you, Ed? You knew Quinn was visiting today, and look at you — you didn't have the decency to wake up early in the morning even when I woke you up,” she gestured towards Quinn, ”Look at your friend; he's so well mannered and even brought gifts for us. Grow up a little and learn from Quinn.”
Eddie could only nod at his lovely mother's rant in fear of being hit with her mighty ladle. But when he glanced at Quinn, he saw his best friend grinning deeply into his glass. Eddie fought the urge to throw the platter on the table at Quinn — the bastard was acting like he was the best-behaved person in the world.
”How's your eye feeling dear,” asked Mrs. Carmichael.
”It's growing properly, ma'am,” said Quinn, ”though it's a little itchy.”
”This year wasn't good at all,” she sighed, ”first Ed got into that accident playing quidditch, and then you lost your eye — and now, all the news about You-Know-Who and how Dumbledore has been saying that he has returned.”
”Things had been quite chaotic these few days,” said Quinn smiling while picking himself a slice of cake, ”I'm sure it will all settle down quite soon. I'm just hoping that it doesn't get too hot this summer. You know how it gets.. . .”
”Yes, it gets quite bothersome,” Mrs. Carmichael agreed, ”now dear, I hope you're hungry and staying for lunch.”
”Yes, of course, ma'am,” smiled Quinn; he was always ready for food, ”I ate a lot of the food you sent to Hogwarts. I'm pretty sure that Marcus and I ate half of anything you sent.”
Mrs. Carmichael stood up and smiled, ”It's good that you did. I sent it for all you three boys. Now, let me set up the table, and we will be eating soon.”
”Thank you, Mrs. Carmichael,” said Quinn as the woman exited the room. He turned to Eddie and smiled, ”Your mum is nice.. .. and I have to say, a great cook.”
”.. .. You know what's going to happen when you leave,” said Eddie, ”she'll hound me for the entire day about Quinn this, Quinn that and then bring you up time and time again to win arguments.. .. couldn't you have reeled it in a little.”
Quinn raised his hand and wiggled his index finger a little — Eddie shivered a little when he felt his hair stand up before settling down; his sleepwear got ironed, his shirt got tucked in, and the top button tied up. He touched his head to see his bed hair was now combed.
”See, much better,” said Quinn, ”you could've done this before coming down; you would've been fine.”
”Unlike you, you wandless dipshit, I can't use magic without a wand and can't unless I want a letter from ministry up my arse.”
”Oh, I forgot about that,” smiled Quinn, ”it's not like you'll get a letter, you know? The letter won't come if you do magic inside your house.. .. the tracker will classify it as your parents doing the magic.”
”Even so, I can't. My wand is in my luggage, and mum stashed it in the attic.”
”Always keep your wand with yourself with you, mate — you never know when you need that zap of magic,” said Quinn before switching to something of more importance, ”how's it looking? Does it look like your parents will allow you to come to Hogwarts?”
”Hmm? Ah, that, huh.. .. well, as you saw mum, she doesn't think much of it, but dad has been worried a little, but not to the level that they won't allow me to go back to Hogwarts.”
”That's good to hear,” smiled Quinn, ”Hogwarts wouldn't be the same without you there cursing at me daily.”
”You bet it won't, you little bitch.”
”Hey, Woah, Hey.. . .”
”It's already out, can't take it back,” said Eddie quickly, ”what about you?”
”I'm definitely coming. No opposition from my side.”
”Great.”
Mrs. Carmichael entered back into the living room. ”Come, you boys, the table is set,” she asked when she saw them smiling, ”what are you talking about?”
Quinn leaped onto his feet, ”We were talking about the OWLs.. .. Eddie was telling me—”
”Oh, OWLs! How did you do on your OWLs, Quinn,” asked Mrs. Carmichael.
”I think I did great,” smiled Quinn, ”though I'm a little worried that I didn't get enough time to study with the quidditch tournament.. . ”
Eddie watched as Quinn walked with his mother while giving him a wink. Quinn had just made the aftermath that much worse.
”Motherfuc—”
”EDDIE CARMICHAEL!” yelled Mrs. Carmichael.
”Quinn kissed the French Veela champion in front of everyone!” blurted Eddie for no reason.
Quinn turned to Eddie and threw his hands up with a 'what' expression before turning to Mrs. Carmichael. ”Eddie has gotten very close to his Yule Ball date, Tracey Davis,” he turned to Eddie and maliciously grinned, ”I have pictures.”
The expression of pure curiosity that bloomed on his mother's face caused Eddie to let out a soundless scream.
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- (Scene Break) -
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The British summer was at its peak with the sun throwing its death beams of heat at the habitants, making their life quite miserable. The non-magical media declared the summer of 1995 as the hottest summer, breaking all records and setting new ones.
”Marcus.. . .” hummed Quinn, his voice flowing with pleasurable delight.
”Hmm?” came the reply.
”Why didn't you say that your house had a pool?” asked Quinn.
Currently, he was floating weightlessly on his back inside the pool in Marcus's home's backyard. He had sunglasses with a blue tint on and was dressed only in a conjured pair of swim trunks.
'I should ask Ms. Rosey to build a pool at home,' he thought, 'or maybe I should do it on my own.'
”You never asked,” replied Marcus in a similar state as Quinn.
”This is the life, my friend,” said Quinn.
”.. .. don't pee, okay,” said Marcus, but where he didn't hear a reply, ”don't pee in the pool!”
”I won't, I won't, don't worry~.”
”Quinn, which NEWT level classes are you going to take? Didn't you give OWLs for all twelve subjects?”
”Yeah, I did,” even though Quinn didn't study Muggle Studies and Divination, he gave the OWLs for both of them — he wanted twelve Os on his diploma, ”I'm going to take all NEWT-level classes except Divination, Muggle Studies, and maybe Care of Magical Creatures.. .. I will study Care after Hogwarts as that will be more extensive, but I'm not sure if I want to learn it in Hogwarts.”
”But you're going to give NEWTS for all, correct?”
”Yeah, that goes without saying.”
”What should I take?”
”Just take whatever subjects that interest you.”
”Subjects that interest me.. .. I'm not big on Care, Divination, and Herbology.. . , but brewing potions can be fun, so I can't discard Herbology.”
”Then take whatever you think you want to study, and then you can decide in the seventh year if you can keep it up or not,” said Quinn, ”and as long as you don't want to become something like an Auror or Healer, you don't have to score Outstanding across the board, as long as you have Exceeding Expectations, you'll be fine.. .. marks on your degree becomes redundant after a few years.”
Of course, as Marcus was Quinn's friend, Marcus would get admission to any apprenticeship programs funded by the Wests or a job in the business. Quinn left that unsaid as he didn't want Marcus to become lax — he would tell Marcus this near the end of their seventh year, during the career counselling period.
”Okay,” said Marcus, ”do you have any plans for next year. Anything grand like the quidditch tournament?”
”No, oh no,” replied Quinn, ”the quidditch tournament was too much work to be done in a year. I don't want to do that amount of work for a while.”
Then Quinn groaned. He put his hands on the surface of the water and pushed himself up, pulling his body out of the water, and soon he was standing on water. It was okay because Marcus and Quinn were alone at Marcus's home as his parents were out shopping for the Belby family's trip to Turkey.
”That won't get old no matter how many times I see it,” commented Marcus.
”You want to do it?”
Marcus stirred in the water, ”I can do that?”
”Well, you can't do it on your own, but I can make it so you can stand on water.”
”Really?”
”Yeah,” Quinn pointed at a place of water near Marcus for it to glow in an aqua-blue color, ”that lit-up spot is essentially solid, so use it to pull yourself up.”
Marcus was doubtful, but when he touched the aqua-blue, it really seemed solid, and even when he put some weight, it didn't collapse or let his arms slip into the water. He gingerly used the glowing platform to pull himself out of the water.
”W-Woah,” chuckled Marcus amid balancing himself on the water. But his eyes widened in shock when the glow vanished, and he instinctively closed his eye, but he didn't enter the water like he expected.
”That glow was just for marking purposes,” snickered Quinn, ”you can walk anywhere inside the pool.”