.
The storm had faded the following morning, though the ceiling in the Great Hall was still gloomy; heavy clouds swirled over their heads as Eddie, Marcus, and Luna examined their new schedules at breakfast. Quinn, unlike them, was reading a book from his personal library.
"Ugh, I should've taken Divination; this is getting ridiculous," said Eddie grimacing about his new weekly schedule, "Maybe I could drop Care this year. I don't want my O.W.Ls scores to suffer."
"It's our O.W.Ls year; it doesn't matter how many subjects you have. What matters is the subjects you prepare for," said Quinn. His hand held a goblet of chocolate-flavored milk. He continued to say with his eyes still roaming the pages, "The O.W.Ls will allow you to take N.E.W.T level subjects. If you think you can't handle all the subjects, then focus on the subjects you want to attend next year and drop the rest. The O.W.L scores don't matter after that, but the N.E.W.Ts will matter when you look for a job, so make sure to keep rethinking the decision about what you want to study. Consult with Professor Flitwick or me if you have any kind of doubts."
Quinn was going to take the O.W.Ls for all subjects this year just for the flex, but others weren't in his situation; they needed to think about their decisions. With the Triwizard Tournament upon them, many students would get swept in the excitement and lost focus. Quinn was going to make sure his friends wouldn't be those people.
"Today's not bad… at least we are inside," said Marcus, looking at the gloomy ceiling. "Charms with the Hufflepuffs and with the Gryffindors we have... Defense Against Dark Arts." He gulped. He was thinking about their new DADA teacher.
"I think Mad-Eye is wicked!" said Eddie, his face showing that he was somehow impressed by Moody's ghastly appearance. "I mean, that eye… the way it rotates in its socket is just… ohoho!"
"If you ever lose your eye to a dark curse, I'll make a special one just for you," chuckled Quinn. He took a sip from the goblet. He then took a piece of fruit that Luna was holding in front of him.
"... I think that it's wicked; never said anything about getting one for myself," shivered Eddie.
There was a sudden rustling noise above them, and a hundred owls came soaring through the open windows carrying the morning mail. Instinctively, Quinn looked up. The owls circled the tables, looking for the people to whom their letters and packages were addressed. His MagiFax, for the most part, had been able to dominate the communication market, but owls were still employed for package delivery. Plus, owls weren't out of the letter business. His own grandfather still used owls to deliver enveloped letters for certain correspondences.
A large tawny owl soared down to Luna and deposited a parcel into her lap.
Looking at Luna opening her parcel, Quinn asked, "Are these this week's Quibbler?"
"Uh-huh," nodded Luna in confirmation as her dainty fingers ripped the wrapping. There were a dozen copies of the magazine, one each for Luna and Quinn while others for Luna to sell to the students. "Daddy published the article you submitted in this issue."
"Really? That's great," said Quinn, taking his copy from Luna and flipped through. The magazine in his hand rotated at unusual angles because of the unconventional page orientations.
"Ah, here it is," smiled Quinn, "Ten places to see when visiting wizarding Denmark."
"Daddy liked the places you recommended and instantly decided to add it to this week's issue," said Luna, her patent dreamy smile gracing her lips. She had been the one who had asked Quinn to write an article for Quibbler. "He says that if you have other things to write, you can send them in, and he will read them over."
"I will see what I can put together," said Quinn. He was reading his published article. He then discreetly glanced at Luna and smiled when he thought about the birthday surprise he had for her. Her birthday was in February, when Silver Moon Printing MagiTech would open its doors and introduce Quinn's developing potion, inks, and printers to the world.
'The Quibbler will be the first magazine to gain colour,' smiled Quinn, thinking about how giddy Luna would be to see her family magazine in colour.
His happy mood lasted all the way across the corridors of Hogwarts until they arrived at a classroom on the second floor (after attending the Charms class). Then, he was put off by Barty Crouch Jr. posing as Alastor Moody. He entered the room which looked strange and frightening. Quinn could just see his clawed, wooden foot protruding from underneath his robes.
'Polyjuice sure is a handy potion,' thought Quinn. He wondered how he would replicate Moody's unusual appearance with illusion magic. To make his disguise believable, he would have to add all the tiny details, like Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps. Something Barty Jr. didn't have to worry about, as he simply had to strap the wooden leg to his modified limb and be done with it.
"Mhm!" growled 'Moody', stumping over to his desk and sitting down, "All books, you really like books, eh? But let me tell you… they will be useless in my class. Put them away; you won't be needing them."
Quinn's eyes twitched when he heard books are useless. If he had been cautious of Barty Jr., now he straight-up didn't like him. How dare he say books were useless?!
The students returned the books to their bags. The Gryffindors seemed excited..
'Moody' took out a list, shook his long mane of grizzled gray hair out of his twisted and scarred face, and began to call out names, while his normal eye moved steadily down the list. In contrast, his magical eye swiveled around, fixing upon each student as they answered.
"Right then," he said, when the last person had declared themselves present, "I've received a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures."
There was a general murmur of assent.
"But you're behind —far behind— on how to deal with curses," said Moody.
"I'll have one year to teach you how to battle other wizards. Specially, Dark —"
"You'll only teach for one year?" asked Eddie.
Moody's magical eye spun around to stare at Eddie. Eddie looked highly delighted that the magical eye was focusing on him. After a moment, Moody smiled— the first time anyone had seen him do so. His heavily scarred face looked more twisted and contorted than ever.
"I'm retired, lad," said Moody. "Yeah, I'm staying for just one year. Special favor to Dumbledore… One year, and then I'll be back to my quiet home."
He gave a harsh laugh and then clapped his gnarled hands together.
"So! Let's get into it. Curses. They have forms and uses. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in sixth year. You're supposedly not mature enough to deal with them till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves; and he reckons you can cope..."
Really? It surprised Quinn that Dumbledore would give his approval to this. On a second thought, Hogwarts was Dumbledore's school, so it made sense that Moody would take permission from Dumbledore.
"...and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to be friendly and polite about it. You need to be prepared. You need to be constantly alert and watchful."
Quinn internally debated that. He could be friendly and polite and still curse someone with some colourful spells. Get into their personal space without making them suspicious and strike when they weren't expecting it. Ambush 101.
"Mr. Belby, put that away when I'm talking," said Moody.
Marcus jumped in his seat and blushed in fluster. He had been reading the book under his desk.
'X-ray, huh,' noted Quinn.
"Your uncle did a great deed to wizardkind, so I'm going to let that go. Make sure it doesn't happen again," said Moody, and Marcus shyly nodded, embarrassed.
"So... Do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by Wizarding Law?"
Every Ravenclaw raised their hand, and even several Gryffindors hands rose tentatively into the air. Moody pointed at Katie Bell, but his magical eye was still fixed on Marcus.
"The Unforgivable curses, sir," answered Katie.
"How many are there, Ms. Bell?"
"Three, sir."
"Correct. Mr. Carmichael, can you name the curses?" asked Moody.
Eddie got up and answered, "The Imperius Curse, Cruciatus Curse, and… the Killing Curse." He gulped nervously at the end.
"Yes, be scared, lad. The three unforgivables aren't nothing to sneeze at." Moody's regular eye and magical eye moved in all directions to look at the entire class, who became uncomfortable under his gaze. "All of you should feel fear at those names. Fear will keep you sharp. CONSTANT VIGILANCE," he barked, and almost everybody jumped. "That's what you need to do to be safe."
Moody then opened his desk drawer, and took out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were scuttling around inside it. He reached into the jar, caught one of the spiders, and held it in the palm of his hand so that they could all see it. He then pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Imperio!"
The spider leaped from Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretched out its legs rigidly, then did a backflip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it began to cartwheel in circles. Moody jerked his wand, and the spider rose onto two of its hind legs and went into what was unmistakably a tap dance.
Everyone laughed— except a few, like Moody, Quinn, and Marcus.
"Think it's funny, do you?" Moody growled. "Total control, I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats... You'd like it then, if I did it to you?"
The laughter died away almost instantly.
"You are in your O.W.L. year. Already big boys and girls, old enough to be responsible. Any volunteers who would come here and show the class what it feels like to be cursed with the Imperius?" said Moody, and with his magical eye constantly turning, he loudly asked. "The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone can do it."
The entire class looked uncomfortable; no one wanted to get an unforgivable cast on them. Moody turned towards where Gryffindors sat but suddenly stopped as his magical eye rolled over into the back of his head.
"Mr. West, do you have a question to ask?" he said, turning towards the Ravenclaw to see Quinn raising his hand.
"No, Professor. I would like to volunteer… for the Imperius Curse, that is," answered Quinn.
Every person, including 'Moody', opened their eyes so much that it seemed they would almost pop out. They couldn't comprehend or believe what they were seeing and hearing. Him raising his hand and confirming his decision to volunteer was mind-boggling to them.
"Quinn!" whispered Marcus harshly, something not usually seen from the gentle Ravenclaw. "What are you doing?! Put that hand down; have you gone mad?!"
Marcus's words went ignored as Quinn and Moody stared at each other.
"All right, lad, come on then," nodded Moody and looked at the rest of the class. "You don't know, but you're lucky that you are fortunate to have a classmate like this. You'll be able to witness one of the unforgivable curses in a classroom without any danger."
Quinn stood up, patted an anxious Marcus's shoulder, and stepped outside to the front with several pairs of eyes following his every move. The disguised Death Eater and the volunteering student stood facing each other. One had a scarred and weathered face and the other was young and handsome.
"Are you sure, lad?" asked Moody. "You might regret it."
"As you said, Professor. It's a golden opportunity for me to see how the Imperius works. Better experience it now rather than at an unfortunate time."
No one in Quinn's life would willingly cast an Imperius Curse on him. His family would shut it down before he could say the "un" of the "unforgivables." Quinn was sure that he would be harshly reprimanded on even bringing the topic up. The only person who would remotely be willing to cast an unforgivable on him would be his teacher, Alan D. Baddeley. If Quinn asked Alan to cast Imperius (not sure about Cruciatus Curse) on him, the old man would do it without hesitation and quite happily. But Alan wasn't nearby, and Quinn couldn't ask Alan to drop by so that he could cast an Imperius on him.
'Moody' was the perfect opportunity to get exposure to the Imperius Curse.
"Remember, you asked for it," said Moody, and his wand went up pointing at Quinn. "Imperio!"
It was a most wonderful feeling. Quinn felt as if he was floating, a sensation where all worries were wiped gently away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable happiness. He stood there feeling immensely relaxed, only dimly aware that everyone was watching him.
And then he heard Mad-Eye Moody's voice, echoing in some distant chamber of his empty brain: Give me all the monies you have to me… Give all the money you have on you to me...
'Hmm, yeah, right! Like I would do that!' Quinn enjoyed the floating sensation but scoffed at the part where the voice asked him to fork out his money.
「Give me all your monies to me...」
'Hey! It's my money; I earned it! This relaxing feeling is nice! Besides, who says 'monies' nowadays?
「GIVE THEM TO ME RIGHT NOW!」
'Aight, this got old pretty quickly,' thought Quinn, and his magic moved at his command. Like a glass dropping on the floor, all the fluffy goodness Quinn was feeling shattered.
Quinn raised his hand and fixed his already in place necktie. "Thank you for that, Professor. It was a unique experience," internally thinking, 'next time, I'll shatter the effects the second I start feeling good'.
"Look at that... West fought the curse! He fought it, and he beat it!" growled Moody in a happy voice. "We'll try that again, West. The rest of you, pay attention —watch his eyes, that's where you see it— that's perfect, West, outstanding indeed! Anyone will have trouble controlling you!"
Quinn exited the class feeling happy, as Moody cast the Imperius five more times to him, making Quinn more familiar with the curse. His confidence was high; he had fought off Barty Jr.'s Imperius without any effort. Which made Quinn feel like if someone more powerful than Barty Jr. cast Imperius on him, he would have high chances to escape its effects with some struggle and would have a chance to resist it, rather than to instantly lose control of himself.
"Quinn? How are you feeling, mate? Do you feel sick? Should I take you to the hospital wing?" asked Marcus, his face etched with deep worry. He wasn't comfortable with his best friend being subjected to the Imperius Curse.
"I'm fine, Marcus," said Quinn, putting his arm over Marcus' shoulder. "If you see me acting funny, just sock me in the face and take me to a faculty member, preferably Madam Pomfrey, then Professor Flitwick, followed by Professor McGonagall, and finally Professor Potter."
"I'll be happy to do that," grinned Eddie.
"You two...!" Marcus couldn't believe how lightly they were taking the matter.
"Marcus… this is just the start. Today he only showed the Imperius on a spider. He will show the other two in the next class. Be ready for it," said Quinn.
"B- But..."
"Don't worry about it. I will be there, mate. You don't have to worry about anything. I'll take care of you if anything goes wrong."
"Quinn... thank you, that means a lot."
Eddie gagged on the side and spoke.
"Get a room!"
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
It was after curfew, and Quinn was sitting at his office's table. His hands held a pair of stainless steel micro tweezers with tiny metal gears gripped at the end. In front of him was an open timepiece with gears and springs inside. It was Quinn's new timepiece, and he was currently building it from scratch.
*Knock* *Knock*
The knock on the office door startled Quinn, and he ended up jamming the tweezers inside the mechanism, screwing his progress, rendering it null and void. He pursed his lips, held back a groan, and finally licked his lips to hold back his frustration.
He looked at the work-in-progress timepiece. He could assemble the mechanism in under ten seconds with one call, and Quinn was tempted to use magic but held back. He wasn't one to give up.
"Come in," he called, placing the tweezers down.
To his surprise, Minerva McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress, entered the office. And from the looks of it, she wasn't happy.
"Professor, what can I do for you today?"
"Mr. West, may I know why aren't you patrolling your assigned area for curfew-offending students," she asked, feeling a little strange that she was saying this to the prime curfew offender in Hogwarts history.
"But I'm patrolling, Professor. I'm patrolling my area," smiled Quinn. "I handle everything from my office, which is the entire west block of the fifth floor."
"... I don't see you patrolling, Mr. West."
"I don't need to patrol physically, Professor," grinned Quinn and pointed to his forehead. "I have layered my entire area with wards. If someone walks inside my area, they will trigger the wards." Quinn's office was on the edge of the west block, so Quinn would know if someone walked five meters west past his office.
"Working hard is good, Professor, but that is if you work smart. If someone enters the area, I can simply get up and chase them down instead of aimlessly roaming a fixed route."
"And what if you don't get this area again?" asked McGonagall.
Quinn chuckled and interlinked his fingers over his table. "We Prefects along with the Head pair have already distributed the castle, and I got this area for the rest of the year. If they reassign me, I can ward the area again and set my base in another classroom. Though I doubt I'll be losing this area anytime soon… I can be very persuasive."
"Of course, I know that, Mr. West," sighed McGonagall. She was surprised by the patrolling approach, but when she took Quinn West into consideration, it wasn't surprising at all.
"Mr. West... I heard about you volunteering for Defense Against the Dark Arts. How are you feeling? I heard that you broke through the Imperius, but I don't think it would've felt good."
"On the contrary, Professor. Being under Imperius is quite relaxing. As long as you ignore the commands... it's quite nice, actually."
McGonagall seemed relieved to hear that. If Quinn wasn't happy and he informed George West, Hogwarts, especially Moody and Dumbledore, would have a lot to answer.
After conversing a little about the O.W.Ls and other things McGonagall said farewell and took her leave. When the Professor left, Quinn took out Recon and switched to Moody and Barty Jr.'s place.
"Hmm, now that's surprising, is it?"
Barty Jr.'s red label had turned to purple.
"Well, he did teach, so it kind of makes sense. Anyway, let's get back to it," said Quinn and returned to building the timepiece for his new pocket watch.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
Quinn West - MC - "Work hard, work smarter."
Marcus Belbly - A good friend - Will punch Quinn, if necessary.
Eddie Carmichael - Ravenclaw Jock - Like Quinn, he loves Moody's fake eyes, but for different reasons.
Luna Lovegood - Hogwarts Quibbler supplier - D.O.B: February 13, 1981.
Barty Crouch Jr. - Alastor Moody - Feeling doubt in his magic capabilities.
