Chapter 240: The Time of Quinn & Quill (2/2)
Daphne stepped closer to Quinn and grasped his hand. Quinn glanced down at her hand and laced his finger through hers, a small smile working its way to his face.
”Enough about me,” Quinn said as they started to slowly walk in their corridors, ”let's talk about you. Now that I have some free time, would you like me to tutor you? OWLs are nearing, and if you'd like, we can get together at the library every day — just the two of us.”
If the proposition was a beautiful and ornate tiara, then the last part was the crowning jewel on it. Daphne had no reason to think, much less refuse.
”Excellent,” Quinn felt that glass was no longer half-empty but half-full with something important, ”starting tomorrow, we'll meet every day at the library. Now, tell me, what's the deal with Astoria? This morning she handed me a letter, strangely it only had a cyan solid circle on it, nothing else, not a single letter, just that circle in the middle.”
Daphne softly chuckled behind her hand, ”She thought you'd be feeling down and didn't want you to dwell on things, so she made that letter to confuse you — she thought you'd try to find it was and distract yourself.”
”Oh my, when did she get so smart? I thought she had somehow picked up Luna's habits. But I guess I do need to thank her for it. Do you think she'd like sweets and chocolates? I actually have an excess and would like to give some out.”
They wandered around aimlessly through the corridors of Hogwarts, their hands still intertwined.
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That day passed in a haze of Quinn spending time in his dorm room, doing what he did in his workshop, just in his room. Quinn's second detention started the same way the first one did, except that after two hours, Umbridge couldn't handle Quinn's dull and dim eyes boring dead into her every ticking second away as he wrote sheet after sheet with his blood.
”That's enough for today,” she said, glancing at him sideways while keeping her head still, ”you can leave. I hope you'd continue to reflect on your actions.”
Quinn wordlessly nodded, took out his handkerchief, and slowly and deliberately wiped the blood off the back of his hand, still staring at Umbridge, who leaned away from him. Only after Quinn was done did he stand up from his chair, slowly and noisily tucked it into the small table, and then he walked out, closing the door behind him.
Umbridge sagged in her chair, dabbing her forehead with her pink handkerchief, but then the door opened up, and she froze to see Quinn standing still at the threshold.
”Ye.. . Yes, Mr. West?”
”Do I still have to return tomorrow?”
There was a clogging spell of silence with both staring eat each other — one had a mechanic look while the other was looking back as if she had no choice and could only grip her robe behind the cover of her desk.
”.. . Yes,” she said finally, her forehead wrinkling. She then raised her chin, ”you'd be returning here for the rest of the month.”
”Understood,” and then the door was shut closed.
Outside the room, Quinn was walking away with a lightness in his step. His attempt at making Umbridge uncomfortable was a success. Other than him, every person who had spent detention with Umbridge had given more or less the same reaction, and those reactions had fuelled the fiendish flames of her sadism. But Quinn had flipped the script and had taken away everything that would allow Umbridge to experience euphoria — he didn't show any expression of discomfort, never stopped because it was painful (irritation for those who took Quinn's potions,) and the constant staring was the accessory that tied the entire attire.
He took out his pocket watch, and it was already around the time the DA meeting was supposed to end. But the group would still be there, he thought and confirmed it by Recon; and thus, he headed to the seventh floor.
Quinn reached the troll painting, and as per the instructions he had given Daphne, he whispered the meetings password to the plain wall for a stone-grey door to grow out in it from the floor below. He pushed forward, and in one step, he went from a deserted-silence to a charged-jabber, though he did cause a stunned dipping-blip only for the gathering raising the bar up again.
”Aww~,” said Astoria, gliding towards him, ”you came here to pick us up? That's so nice of you. You can sit down and wait; we're just about done.”
Quinn raised his hands and grasped Astoria's cheek, pushing and pulling them around without a care.
”Whatchu 're chu doin'? Shtovp!” She raised her hands to free her tortured cheeks but was immediately boxed out by Quinn, who continued to make Astoria's head dance.
”Where did the sweet, bubbly girl who I met all those years back go?” he asked, letting go now that he had his fill.
Astoria all but apparated away from him, cupping her face on both sides as she did. ”She died with her cheeks!” she spat, tears pooling in her eyes. ”Daphne, he's bullying me!” Astoria yelled.
”Tattler,” said Quinn, jabbing.
”Stop it, you two,” said Daphne, shaking her head. She turned to Quinn and spoke, ”Astoria's right. We are almost done. You shouldn't have come in today.”
Quinn shook his head, ”It's okay. I'm here actually here for something else.” He looked at the group towards a girl with strawberry-blonde hair, ”Susan, would you please stay behind. I'd like to talk to you something with you.”
Every pair of eyes in the room simultaneously turned to Susan Bones, who suddenly felt that there were roots shooting down from the soles of her feet, digging into the floor. Everyone, including Susan, had the same thought. The last time Quinn had asked someone to stay back, one of those people had stopped coming to DA.
After the meeting ended, and Quinn sent everyone away, including Ivy, who he had to assure that this wasn't related to DA, he faced Susan Bones in the empty room.
”Uhm, may I know what's this about?” she asked.
Quinn calmingly smiled and relaxed his body language as he replied, ”You don't have to be nervous, Susan. You're not in trouble. So please relax.”
Susan perked up as the light in her eyes did a complete change, ”Oh, then why.. .”
”Actually, I need your help.”
”My help? Sure, what can I do for you?” There was barely anyone in DA who wouldn't help out THE Quinn West; most would be proactive if a situation like this came along.
Quinn reached into his robes and took out an envelope along with a matchbox-sized box wrapped in brown paper and what looked like a tiny ring. ”I would like if you'd send these to your aunt,” he said.
”Auntie Amelia?” she asked, tilting her head.
”Yes, Amelia Bones,” said Quinn, ”or to be clear, I want you to send this to Amelia Bones, Head of DMLE.”
The curtain of confusion lifted from Susan's eyes almost instantly at Quinn's last few words. She now knew what Quinn was actually doing.
”Quinn, any letter to the Head of DMLE must go through proper channels,” Susan said as if reading from a script.
”I'm aware of that,” he said, ”but if I do that, it will take weeks for my things to reach her desk. But, if you were to send it, it'd reach her desk would reach her desk no later than tomorrow afternoon. This is of importance and needs to reach her as soon as possible.”
Susan bit her lip, contemplating what to do. It had been ingrained in her to avoid precisely this sort of thing. She was not to become a channel to get to the Head of DMLE, and that personal and professional lives were different and needed to be kept that way.
”Just this time,” she said, ”I'll do it just this time, but you have to promise not to let anyone else know about this,” because if others knew that she had done it, then it'd open a potential dam of requests in the future.
Quinn smiled and put his hands on his chest, ”I assure you that this will stay between us, and if someone asks, you can say that I wanted to talk about Cedric's farewell party that I'm planning.”
The next day, before breakfast, Susan went to the Owlery to ready her owl, Sacrum, for flight. She secured the matchbox-sized box and an envelope with her name on it to Sacrum's feet.
She took out the petite ring just big enough for an infant's finger and pulled it for it to snap open from a point. ”Put it around the feet,” she muttered as she clipped the ring around Sacrum's feet and gasped when she saw the long-eared owl slowly starting to vanish.
Susan hurriedly took Sacrum to the balcony of Owlery and whispered into his ear, ”Go to auntie, Sarcrum. Fly swiftly,” and by the time she let the owl fly, it had vanished from sight, turning the silent flying owl to become completely invisible.
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Quinn West - MC - Can pull dead stares when he wants.
Dolores Umbridge - High Inquisitor - Met a different breed of student.
Susan Bones - DMLE Head's only living relative - Sacrum's hooman.
Daphne Greengrass - RoR Manager (Temp) - Got herself a personal tutor.
Eddie Carmichael - Wheezing and coughing - Hahahahahahahahahaha!
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