Chapter 192: Greengrass Dinner, Warning Visit (1/2)
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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”Now, tell me.. .. which of my hands hold the galleon.”
Astoria Greengrass intently stared at the two closed fists in front of her, her eyes moving back and forth between the two trying to figure out the location of the hidden galleon.
”Your right is slightly raised, so I will say that it's in the left,” she said.
Quinn smiled and opened his right hand, ”Too bad, you're wrong,” there sat a golden galleon sitting in his right palm.
”Again?! I've lost ten times in a row,” said Astoria, huffing, ”how are you doing this? You're using magic, aren't you?”
”Of course, I'm using magic, my dear Astoria,” said Quinn with a smile, ”but not the magic that you and I know how to use — this is a different type, and in the hands, just as charming.
”You just have to look closely and ask yourself the right questions,” said Quinn, gazing at the black-haired Greengrass, ”when you eliminate all other possibilities, the remaining answer, no matter how improbable, will be the correct one.”
Astoria narrowed her eyes, trying to deduce how Quinn did it, but — ”I can't tell. You're definitely using magic — the first kind.”
”Do you want to how I did it?”
”Yes!”
Quinn opened his left hand, and there sat another galleon. Astoria gasped while he laughed.
”Whichever hand you chose, I opened the other to show you the coin — and with a little flair, I made sure your attention was off the hand you chose.”
”That's not fair! You cheated,” said Astoria, complaining.
”I didn't, young one. We never set any rules — nowhere did we decide that I couldn't use two coins.”
”If you can use two coins, then I should get two chances to guess.”
”Fair enough.”
”See you denied.. .. wait, really?”
”Yeah, sure,” shrugged Quinn, ”you get two guesses every chance the next time we play this.”
”Next time?” then Astoria saw Quinn smirking and realized that the next time wasn't going to come anytime soon. She exclaimed in frustration at getting her hopes up and threw a sofa cushion at Quinn, who caught it while laughing.
”You two are making too much of a ruckus.”
The two turned to see Daphne enter the lounge, dressed in a white high-collared sleeved blouse and below the knee-length black skirt. She sat down beside Astoria and greeted Quinn,
”Apologies for keeping you wait,” she said while pushing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, ”I was preoccupied with some lessons.”
”It's fine. Astoria is an excellent company,” said Quinn, and as he couldn't wink, he settled for a smile.
Daphne stared at Quinn's face for a good few seconds before asking, ”How's your eye faring?” her eyes still fixed on the red eyepatch, which matched with his shirt and complimented well with his black pants.
”It's coming along just fine. It'll be back in a week,” said Quinn before picking up his glass of elderflower cordial, ”this is delightful; where can I buy this? I would love to have some of this at home.”
”We grow them at home,” said Astoria, jumping into the conversation, ”it's Daphne's favorite, so mum makes sure to grow it whenever it's the season.”
”Oh? Is it now. That's good to know,” Quinn looked at Daphne, ”as expected, Daphne, you have excellent taste.”
”.. . .Thank you,” said Daphne giving her beaming sister a brief glance.
”So, are you guys also going to the Potter twins' birthday party?” asked Quinn.
”I'm going!” said Astoria, raising her hand high.
Daphne nodded with a sigh. It was a given with how close their mothers were to each other. Every year, at least, Daphne and Astoria would go to the Potters on the 31st of August, and vice-versa, the Potter twins would attend Daphne's birthday.
'Wait,' thought Daphne and asked, ”what do you mean by 'also'?”
”Hmm? Oh, I'm invited this year.”
”.. .. Which one of the twins invited you?” asked Daphne.
”Harry did; why?” asked Quinn.
”I know~! I know~!” said Astoria, before Daphne could, ”every year, invitations to birthday celebration go out, but things get interesting as the invitations aren't addressed by Ivy and Harry Potter together — any invitation can only have one name — either Harry or Ivy.”
Daphne sneakily sighed in relief. It wasn't the reason why she had asked.
”Oh, why is that?” asked Quinn, sounding interested.
”It's because of the competition.”
”Competition?”
Daphne took over from there and continued, ”Every year at the Potters' birthday, they hold a competition between the twins — the invitations are a way to gather teams for said competition.. .. taking your case, as Harry invited you, your invitation will have Harry's name on it, and during the evening, you'll be on team Harry.”
”That.. .. sounds really interesting,” said Quinn, ”what kind of competition are we talking about here?”
”It changes every year,” said the blonde, ”we have put on plays, done fishing competition, trivia contests, and so many other things.”
It turned out that the Potter twin didn't celebrate their birthday at home, but at different destinations, because their house was in a mixed neighborhood and there wasn't enough place to host all the guests. Moreover, unlike the usual parties, it was a whole day event.
”Oh ho. Now, I'm looking forward to attending the birthday,” said Quinn, ”then, what about you guys? Whose team are you two on?”
”I'm on Harry's,” said Astoria.
”Ivy's,” said Daphne.
”Then it looks like Astoria, and I will be winning this time,” said Quinn, high-fiving Astoria.
Then there was a pop, and a spotty green house-elf wearing a tan pillowcase appeared in the lounge. The house-elf stared at the three with his big, watery eyes,
”Food is ready. Master be calling,” he said.
”We will be there, Barley,” said Daphne in acknowledgment, and the house-elf popped away. She turned to Quinn, ”let's go; mother and father must be waiting.”
Quinn nodded and stood up at once, ”Let's. We can't keep Mrs.,” he caught a glare forming and quickly improvised, ”and Mr. Greengrass waiting.”
”Let's hurry. I'm hungry!” said Astoria and ran ahead.
”Don't run!” Daphne called out as she stood up, ”she's going to get herself hurt,” she sighed.
”Well, we can't do anything about that,” said Quinn, falling into step beside Daphne, ”her energy levels will remain high for the rest of the day,” he had just treated Astoria, ”she'll be back to being her usual relatively-manageable self tomorrow.”
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”So, Quinn.. .. bad luck, eh?” said Jacob Greengrass, ”an excellent year throughout, but it ended up with a hiccup — quite a serious hiccup.”
”I wouldn't say a big hiccup,” smiled Quinn, ”temporarily losing an eye isn't that serious. I have been through worse.”
”Oh, like what?”
”Like dunking himself into freeze potion,” said Daphne, ”freezing his entire body to the point that he had to stay inside in the hospital wing for ten days.”
”What she said,” said Quinn.
”Tracey told me that Quinn was bald during that time,” said Astoria, chiming in.
”That I was.”
”But as dear said, it was quite an eventful year for you, wasn't it, Quinn,” spoke Sophie Greengrass, ”whenever I was with my friends, I think I heard your name more than I heard the champions'. When we heard that a student organized the tournament, everyone was impressed, and the result just deepened the amazement.”
”True,” said Jacob, ”I think I even heard that because the tournament was so successful, many in the quidditch world are talking about adopting the Quinn-format as a new format.”
”Thank you, but I would like to correct you on one thing,” said Quinn, ”it wasn't me alone who made the tournament as successful as it was,” he gazed at Daphne, ”Daphne and my helpers aided me every step of the way to make things possible; as such, I can't take all the credit.”
”How humble,” smiled Sophie.
”I would actually like to thank you for including Daphne in the tournament,” said Jacob, ”it was a good experience to have, which I'm glad that Daphne and Tracey both got to be a part of.”
”I only chose those I thought were capable — Daphne is one of the most capable people I know, so selecting her was a no-brainer.”
The girl in question felt her cheeks flush, which she tried to push down. But not before her mother caught a glance of it and a knowing smile made onto her face.
That evening, Quinn went on to say many things that made Daphne flush a lot while Sophie almost had a permanent knowing smile on her face as she observed her daughter from the side.
”So, Quinn, what do you think about the Dark Lord?” asked Jacob suddenly out of nowhere when they were having dessert.
”Jacob!” exclaimed Sophie at her husband's abrupt inquiry. Daphne and Astoria, too, looked a little uncomfortable.
”It's fine, Mrs. Greengrass,” said Quinn, putting down his ice cream bowl and spoon. ”The Dark Lord, hmm.. . .”
The Greengrass family all turned to Quinn with varying levels of surprise.
”Magically talented,” said Quinn, ”the dark lord is a generational talent when it comes to magic,” he noticed the looks his hosts were giving him and shrugged, ”just because he went down the path he took doesn't mean he isn't great — and you of all should know my views on magic.