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"Were you the one who saved us in the Chamber of Secrets?"
Quinn, who was planning to brew a batch of muscle-protein nutrient potion and prepare an Essence of Dittany for his wounds, stilled for a split-second; he wasn't expecting this question, the thought that Ivy Potter would ask him this hadn't entered his mind.
There were still sometimes where Quinn didn't associate the decision and actions he had made last year with himself. So when Ivy threw this sudden bomb at him, he genuinely stopped for a moment.
But his acting skills came in clutch as there were no sudden actions from Quinn's side as he gained composure almost instantaneously and glanced up at Ivy, following the eye contact with a confused tilt of his head.
"Pardon me? Ms. Potter, I might have told you about the Chamber's location, but I haven't been to the actual Chamber of Secrets. I only know that its entrance is somewhere inside Myrtle's lavatory, so believe me when I say that I didn't save you," said Quinn before putting on an expression of curiosity. "I actually don't know what happened down in the mysterious Chamber of Secrets. Can you tell me what happened?"
He had no intention of ever telling anyone that he had been down in the Chamber of Secrets. It would raise many questions that Quinn currently didn't want to answer. Even now, there were glass vessels full of Basilisk venom and multiple Basilisk fangs, locked away in his suitcase, secured for the day when Quinn needed them.
Ivy didn't respond and continued to stare at Quinn for a solid few seconds before turning her back to Quinn and walking towards the office door.
"We're leaving," said Ivy to Hermione.
Quinn turned towards Hermione and nodded to her as a goodbye, who returned it before following Ivy to leave.
After they left, Quinn groaned as he got up from his barstool. "That was sudden. At least I handled it smoothly," sighed Quinn. He limped to the workshop and spoke as the door opened. "Now, let's get my body fixed."
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- (Scene Break) -
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Hermione and Ivy walked away from the A.I.D. office. As Quinn had said, there was still some time left in the dinner feast, and both were walking to the Great Hall.
"...Ivy?" probed Hermione, glancing at her silent and contemplative best friend. Hermione could guess it was about her question to Quinn but still asked. "What are you thinking?"
The question had been sudden as most of Ivy's abrupt actions when dealing with Quinn, but Hermione had to give it to Ivy because she asked questions that she was curious about or found useful.
Ivy didn't look at Hermione as she replied, "... He was the one who saved us. It was Quinn West who destroyed Riddle's diary."
"But West said he didn't."
"He did, and he was lying," spoke Ivy, still not looking at Hermione as she continued. "He mentioned something that only someone who has seen the Chamber's entrance would know."
"He did?" furrowed Hermione, trying to recall what Quinn said, but nothing popped out to her.
"Yes, West said that the Chamber's entrance was somewhere in Myrtle's lavatory, and that implies that he had never seen the entrance, but then he slipped up. He asked me what happened to us in the Chamber."
"Yes, but how is this him slipping?" asked Hermione, confused.
"It's the words he used; he didn't use something like 'inside' the Chamber but used 'down in' the Chamber," said Ivy, finally turning to Hermione. "West claims that he had never seen the entrance, so how does he know that the entrance is a tube that goes 'down' to the Chamber?"
Last year's event had led Ivy Potter to think a lot about her interactions with Quinn West. And one thing that she had perceived about Quinn West was his carefulness with words. He chose what to reveal carefully.
"Usually, he wouldn't make such a slip, but West was clearly hurt and uncomfortable. With those injuries, he unknowingly let that slip. From that, we not only know that he has seen the entrance but also has been inside there."
Ivy was convinced that her reason was correct.
"He was the one who saved us. I am sure of it."
And just as she thought last year, this made things complicated.
To Ivy Potter, Quinn West was a person who never did anything without a reason or some kind of self-interest. So why would he come down to Chamber of Secrets when he knew that there was a deadly monster like the Basilisk present there.
After thinking a lot about it, Ivy couldn't think of a reason Quinn would come down to a dangerous place. There was nothing inside there that would be worth it for Quinn to risk his life.
She didn't want to think that Quinn did it selflessly, without any profit, and that made things complicated.
Ivy Potter was conflicted.
.
- (Scene Break) -
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"Come on, run faster; this pace isn't good enough. Show me some spirit. You want to play as soon as possible, right?" said Quinn as he moved behind a slightly panting and sweating Eddie.
"What... are you... doing? Why are you pushing me today?" asked Eddie as he huffed and puffed.
Eddie had attended the Ravenclaw Quidditch team tryouts for the Chaser position. With his daily workouts with Quinn, mixed with his own flying sessions, Eddie passed the tryouts with flying colors and was by far the best Chaser applicant from the lot that tried out.
It turned out that Eddie was like a game character who completed all the side-quests before attempting the main boss because the result from three months of persistent workouts, broom training, and the daily grind had allowed Eddie to breeze through anything that was put in front of him.
Eddie was innately tough and didn't seem to scare away from incoming Bludgers and didn't dodge too early, which could lead to missing opportunities and was one the biggest problem with new Chasers. During the tryouts, Eddie's Bludger dodges were so close yet so smooth that the people watching were in awe while sweating at the sheer fearlessness that he displayed.
It had prompted Quinn to yell out, "Mad Lad!" a ton of times from the stands.
But that wasn't even the crazy part about Eddie's tryouts. It was his Quaffle-throwing skills that had everybody in shock.
It turned out that Eddie had a way with the Quaffle. He was able to swing the Quaffle in every possible direction. Eddie was so damn good that none of the Ravenclaw Keeper applicants couldn't block a single throw from Eddie.
And it didn't get any better when the official Ravenclaw Keeper switched in to test him. Eddie, the Quaffle-bender, successfully scored every single time he threw the ball.
In fact, Eddie's performance was so good that he was already better than the three starting Chasers. And the only reason he wasn't on the team was that the Chaser position required teamwork.
Unlike Seeker and Keeper, Chasers and Beaters had to work together to keep the Quaffle and Bludgers moving.
Eddie needed to be inducted into the Chaser system to function on the team. The team was already planning to make Eddie the primary scorer because of his Quaffle throwing skills.
Eddie thought that now that he had joined the team, he could relax a little, but it seemed Quinn had different plans.
"You passed the tryouts, but if you want to be the best chaser, you need to be able to handle the beating from other chasers, who will try to fly into you to knock the Quaffle out of your grasp. You need stamina and strength to withstand those blows, so we are upping your training," replied Quinn while still following behind Eddie. "Don't think now that you have made the team, you can relax. Nope, to attract the ladies, you need to shine, and I am going to make you shine on that field."
Eddoe turned his head back towards Quinn and looked down at Quinn's feet. "And what the hell is that?!"
Quinn was 'following' behind Eddie, but he wasn't running like Eddie was. Beneath Quinn's feet was a dark-blue skateboard deck-shaped structure with bronze streaks, but without the other components like the truck and the wheels.
And Quinn was standing on a wheeless skateboard that hovered off the ground and gilded behind Eddie as he ran.
"Oh, this? This is a hoverboard," smiled Quinn, leaning forward that made his speed increase and overtook Eddie.
He rotated after he got past Eddie and faced him while moving and was now moving along the board's breadth instead of the length.
"It uses similar charms employed to make brooms. Though I have made changes to them. This baby isn't as fast as a broom and can only hover a few feet above the ground, but it has much better control with a silky smooth ride. And if you can hold onto it, you can scale any surface as it can grip onto surfaces while hovering over them. It is pretty easy to control it by shifting your weight to change speeds and brake."
Eddie looked at the hoverboard painted in Ravenclaw colors with fascination and wonder.
"Holy shit, this is amazing! Are you planning to sell these? I want to buy one," asked Eddie as he continued to run.
"You can have one," smiled Quinn before saying. "But, I am not going to sell these."
Eddie looked up at Quinn's face and spoke in surprise. "But why?! This will probably sell more than brooms. I think parents would buy these instead of toy brooms. You have to sell these."
"Don't you think I thought of that? I already know if I sell these, they will fly off the shelves. But I can't sell them," sighed Quinn before revealing his reasoning. "If they go out, people will stop walking. And that is how people get fat." He looked at his feet and declared. "This invention of mine is too dangerous for the magical kind. I'm doing this for the sake of the world."
Brooms were big and long, so people didn't use them in their daily lives. But Quinn's hoverboards were small and compact. If he sold them, Quinn was sure that obesity would increase among the magical kind. People would stop walking and literally stand on his invention to get places.
"Also, this looks almost exactly the same as the non-magical skateboard. I'm sure that most of the governments would ban it because if people bought these, one of them could easily get into the hands of a non-magical person."
"Then change the shape into something else, problem solved," shrugged Eddie, without realizing that Quinn was very slowly increasing his speed, and he was subconsciously trying to keep up with it.
"I know that, but as I'm not going to sell these, I don't need to. I will change the shape of the one I'll give you, so it won't cause you trouble."
The only reason Quinn had brought the hoverboard out was that he was injured and needed to act like nothing was out of place. The first thing he did in the morning was the workout with Eddie. And Quinn never skipped a workout, so to make sure that Eddie didn't notice anything was wrong with him, Quinn decided to sacrifice Eddie's comfort by pushing his workout intensity up a notch while pretending to be a trainer monitoring him.
"Now, come on. Move those legs. I want to see enough sweat to fill a glass, but remember to stay hydrated."
Eddie groaned as he picked up the pace. "This sucks!"
"Yeah, show me that spirit! Whine more if it helps, I don't care."
"You suck!"
"Aww, thank you for the compliment."
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- (Scene Break) -
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Rivers Lock returned from his low-level clerk job at the ministry to his humble home. He opened his letterbox to check to see if he had some mail waiting for him. Taking out the contents, Rivers shuffled through the various pamphlets, s, subscriptions and some personal letters.
"Hmm?"
Rivers looked at a cheap envelope with nothing written on it, not even the sender's name or who it was addressed to.
He opened the envelope and retrieved a folded parchment with words written in untidy scribbles.
As Rivers read the parchment and his eyes widened in shock. He immediately folded the parchment, looked around the street, and hurriedly entered his home.
...
Inside his home, Rivers sat down on his dining table. And once again read the letter that was left in his letterbox.
"This is fascinating. I didn't know this existed," muttered Rivers to himself as he re-read the contents. "The Shrieking Shack has a secret passageway that opens up beneath the Whomping Willow!"
Rivers Lock, pureblood, was a man in his mid-twenties who worked at the ministry as a low-level clerk. His daily job was collecting the memos from his office area and charm them into airplanes, so they would reach their destination across different parts of the office. A job that caused him to face a lot of abuse when someone didn't get the memo or pretended to not get the charmed memos.
It was a menial and repetitive job that had no scope of future progress, and Rivers only did it because he needed to pay the bills.
On the personal side of his life, Rivers lived a lonely life, alone without a significant other or even a pet. He didn't have much contact with his family because they liked his older brother better because of his more noteworthy ministry job, while he was stuck as a lowly clerk.
That was the Rivers Lock, which was presented to the public for everyone to see. A person with low self-esteem, who didn't stand up for himself, let others walk all over him, let others take advantage of him, didn't know how to socially navigate a work environment... someone others wouldn't give a single look of significance.
He was just another face in the crowd, forgotten after a single glance.
In actuality, Rivers Lock was anything but how he showed himself to the world.
A person with low self-esteem? No, Rivers Lock was a person with overflowing confidence in himself and pride that he was better than others.
He wasn't a person who didn't stand up for himself. If you crossed Rivers Lock, he would make sure that things would come around to bite them back. He didn't forget easily and held grudges.
It would seem that others were taking advantage of Rivers, but it only was because Rivers did nothing about it. If he wanted, they would end up losing instead of taking advantage.
He wasn't a socially inept person. Rivers knew exactly what he was doing. He made sure that people wouldn't give him another glance, that they wouldn't think of him as competent. It was all just for show.
All of it was a façade so that people wouldn't find the real him. The real him that the world wouldn't accept because they couldn't understand him.
So Rivers Lock hid away and put on a mask, something that wouldn't gain him much attention, so that he wouldn't have to pretend much. He didn't make friends because that would be more pretending. He didn't get into relations because he wasn't interested. His family didn't seem to take an interest in him, and that was fine with Rivers.
But, unfortunately, or fortunately, Rivers found that he couldn't hide his authentic self. He needed an outlet that would let him vent the things that were locked away.
To achieve that, he created Novellus Accionites.
Somewhere he could be himself but at the same time remain in the shadows.
Rivers knew what he was doing, and because of that, some Aurors or even some members of Novellus Accionites knew who he was.
He was able to control an entire terrorist group without ever revealing his identity, not a single aspect that would point out that Rivers Lock was the one who started Novellus Accionites.
And right now, the anonymous leader of Novellus Accionites was sitting on a vital piece of information that allowed him to get inside the castle, which was said to be the most secure place in the country.
Rivers rubbed his finger over the bottom of the parchment, and while he considered the information in the letter extremely useful, he didn't like the fact that this letter was delivered to his home.
The sender had somehow figured out his identity that he had been able to hide from hundreds of people and the authorities that were out to get him.
"Peter Pettigrew," muttered Rivers with a flat voice as he stared at the sender's name at the end of the letter, with not a single emotion on his face.
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-*-*-*-*-*-
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Quinn West - MC - Rolling on a hoverboard with style.
Ivy Potter - Smarter of the Potter twins - Conflicted with the knowledge.
Eddie Carmichael - Passed the tryouts - "I hate moving!"
Rivers Lock - Leader of Novellus Accionites - Anonymous
AlanL - Editor - So Quinn doesn't want people to get fat, huh? He's soo noble…
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