Chapter 264: Return Of Noir (1/2)
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”Quinn.”
”Ivy.”
A silence fell in the room with only the two in it. This was the first time the two talked or even met after their last contact in the Architect's vault.
”I got my results today,” said Quinn, leaning against a display case in the middle of the room. ”Did you get your OWL results?”
Ivy nodded, ”We got them in the morning.”
”How did you do?”
”Nine Outstandings and two Exceeds Expectations.”
”Wow! Congratulations on finally becoming a NEWT student. That's one more OWL than I got,” said Quinn. ”Where did you get double-E subjects?”
”History of Magic and Arithmancy,” Ivy said with a sigh.
”Ah, now that I remember, you're better at practical than theory, aren't you,” said Quinn, causing Ivy to look at him with a glimmer in her eyes, ”well, those nine fat-Os are going to pull up the Arithmany double-E, and History of Magic isn't really considered if you aren't going in a historical research subject. Even then, no one's going to complain seeing at double-E. Except for Professor Snape — he doesn't take anything less than Outstanding for his NEWT class.”
”What about you? How did you do in your OWLs last year?” she asked.
”I got ten Outstandings. Unlike you, I only took ten subjects — no Muggle Studies and Divination for me.”
”Hermione got eleven Os.”
”Oh my, now that's an achievement worth bragging. If she only stuck with Divination, she would have got the entire dozen.”
”How did she do?” asked Ivy.
Quinn's eye twitched. Here he avoided going to a certain topic area, and she just pulled the conversation dangerously close to it.
”.. . I haven't met Daphne today,” he said.
A half-smile of satisfaction appeared on Ivy's face. Quinn knew about her grades than Daphne's — now that was a small victory that she liked very much.
Quinn saw the smile and could practically read her mind off the expression. Did this girl have no tact or subtlety? He internally sighed — this was Ivy Potter; she did things head-on.
He decided to change the subject, ”I heard your father was there at the carnival attack, how's he? I hope he didn't face any unfortunate mishaps.”
”He's fine, thank you for asking. Thankfully, he didn't get injured,” said Ivy, her voice losing its power as her gaze flitted around the room, looking anywhere but at him.
”I see. I'm glad that he's fine,” said Quinn, berating himself for breaching an uncomfortable topic. ”How's the summer going for you? Having fun after OWLs?”
Ivy sighed, ”With Voldemort back.. . mum's a little worried about letting us go out — you know, Boy-Who-Lived and whatnot.”
”True-true, so hold up at home, huh. How're your parents about wands at home?”
”Not allowed,” Ivy said with her lips pinched together.
”Now, that's truly unfortunate,” said Quinn. ”I would've gone mad if I was not allowed magic while isolated in my home.”
After that, both moved out of the backroom when they heard Lily call out from Ivy. They entered the front area of the store, which was still bustling with people (mostly children moving around to browse the stunning variety of products.)
”Yes, mum?” said Ivy.
”Ivy, there you are,” said Lily, heaving a sigh of relief. ”Where were you? I was looking for you!”
”I was in the backroom. You could've asked Harry; he would've told you.”
”I couldn't reach your brother; it was too crowdy and loud, so I couldn't even call out to him,” said Lily before her eye caught Quinn standing behind her daughter. ”Quinn, what a surprise, how're you dear? Congratulations on the ten crowned Outstandings; Professor Flitwick was beside himself when he bragged about the results to us.”
”Thank you, professor,” said Quinn with a polite smile.
”You got ten crowns?!” said Ivy with her mouth slack — she had only got one crown for Transfiguration.
”He's been getting crowns on all his subjects for the past six years, dear,” Lily revealed, smiling at her daughter's expression. ”Another congratulations is in order,” she continued turning back to Quinn.
There was more?! Ivy's eyebrows all but trying to disappear into her hairline.
”It wasn't actually a question, but congratulations for becoming the Headboy,” said Lily smiling. ”It was a unanimous decision; all Professor voted for you — well, Mr. Firenze abstained from voting as he didn't feel like he knew any of the Prefects well enough to vote.”
Ivy's surprise melted away — it really wasn't a question. But she did give an impressed nod to Quinn for the unanimous decision.
”Thank you, professor. I'm honored with the trust that all of the faculty has shown towards me and will ensure to stand up to the standards,” said Quinn with a short bow.
”Now-now, no need to be so formal,” said Lily.
”Ivy!” The three turned to see Hermione walking towards them with an older couple following behind her. Hermione raised a small pink pot to show it to Ivy, ”Look, what I found. Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher — Fred says that it works on everything from boils to blackheads.”
Ivy nodded, gently took the pot from Hermione's hand before saying, ”Quinn got ten crowned Os.”
It took a moment for the brain of the smartest witch of her class to catch up, but when it did, her jaw dropped, ”T-Ten c-crowns!”
”Dear me, that's a lot. Hermione got three crowns,” said the woman behind Hermione. She had mid-length curly brown hair and big bright brown eyes.
Seeing that Hermoine was busy gaping at Quinn, Lily decided to do the introductions. ”Quinn, this is Dr. Mary Granger and Dr. Richard Granger. Hermione's parents.” She then turned to the Granger parents, ”This is Quinn, a seventh-year at Hogwarts, the school Headboy, and the top student of his class.”
”Good afternoon, Dr. and Dr. Granger. Hermione has told me about you,” said Quinn.
”May I ask what she said?” asked Richard.
”That you're a Dental Surgeon while Dr. Mary is an Orthodontist,” said Quinn.
”So you're also a muggleborn, Quinn. Where do you live?” asked Mary.
”No, ma'am; I come from a household with a long history of magic,” said Quinn. ”I would be what you call a pureblood.”
”Then.. .”
Quinn smiled, ”The non-magical is part of the world, and I wish to take whatever this world has to offer me.”
Mary and Richard exchanged looks. It was the first time they had seen a Pureblood who actually knew what a dentist meant, much less terms like Dental Surgeon and Orthodontist being thrown out like they were the norm. Their only other experience were the Potters, Weasleys, and, unfortunately, the Malfoys — two out of the three had no idea what the non-magical world was actually like.
”That reminds me,” said Quinn, taking out two cards from his pocket, handing them to the Granger parents. ”I don't know if you have been approached, but my family runs a modest warding business,” the Potter mother-daughter quirked their brows at the word modest coming out Quinn's mouth, ”we offer a service to ward non-magical households and deliver a wide range of options that you can choose from.”
Richard looked down and the card and did a double-take when he saw a phone number listed on the card. ”.. . Your family business use telephones?” he asked in disbelief.
”Yes, we do. You can call that number to have a company representative come to your house and explain to you about our services, and you can also use the same number for customer services. You can also MagiFax or owl your requests, but we prefer MagiFax and calling.”
Mary and Richard stared at Quinn, who seemed an oddity to them.
”May I also get a card,” said Mama Potter, looking extremely interested in the warding service.
Quinn was more than happy to provide one, but as his hand went back after handing the card, a shrill sound went off in his head. He sucked a shuddered breath as his hand slowly dropped below.
”Quinn?” Ivy said when she saw Quinn's smile drop.
Quinn immediately pulled himself together and faced everyone. ”It was lovely to meet all of you today, and I would love to continue to talk, but I have to, unfortunately, leave now.”
Without waiting for a response, Quinn pushed his way through the crowd out of the store, disregarding Ivy's calls from inside the store. He ran through the Diagon Alley, ignoring the seedy amulet seller, who shouted at him and entered the same dark corner to which he had apparated into.
He detached his special pockets from his clothes, and immediately after, all of his clothes came undone from their seams, falling down to the floor. Quinn kicked his shoes off and pulled his socks off, leaving him only in his underwear. He stuffed all of his removed clothing into the special pocket and took out a white triangle patch made from stiff cloth, the size of his fist.
He slapped it on his chest, and a blue ripple went through the white patch as it expanded and stretched until Quinn's body was covered in spandex. Another blue surge and the spandex transformed into cargo trousers and a hooded military-style jacket over a skin-tight full-sleeved shirt that covered his head, hiding all of his hair, with black compression pants under the cargo pants.