Daphne led Quinn to the dance floor as he finished the contents of his goblet and sneakily dropped it down behind him for the conjured goblet to vanish before it hit the ground. As they reached a good starting point, Daphne relinquished the lead back to Quinn for the actual dance.
"Well, doesn't this bring back memories," said Quinn as he held her hand with one and placed the other on her back, "this is just like that Ministry Ball all those years ago — it was also during Christmas."
Daphne nodded as she got into position. "You wanted to dance because it was a waste to learn dancing and not dance."
"I said that, didn't I?" said Quinn smiling widely. "Come to think of it, you're always there when I get to dance in public.. . that Ministry Ball, the Yule Ball last year, and now.. . I always end up dancing up with you. Hmm, I wonder I should dance more — three times in the last few years seems low."
As Quinn spoke, Daphne stared at Quinn. How could he say things like that without understanding what they did to her? How was she supposed to respond to hearing that she was there every time he danced?
"Ah, I have been meaning to ask, how's your progress with healing going on? Taking up healing requires a ton of work, so I wonder if you're set for your OWLs — I know a paper doesn't decide your future, but if you want to get into a good healing program and learn from a good master, you'd need good grades on both your OWLs and NEWTs."
Quinn wasn't looking at Daphne as they danced and was keeping an eye around to make sure they didn't bump into someone, but when he didn't get a response, he looked down at Daphne and saw her crystal blues staring up at him.
"Daphne?"
The girl seemed to snap out of a trance and almost seemed floundered in Quinn's arms as she realized what she had been doing.
"Sorry, what did you say? I missed it," Daphne said a bit too quickly and then reprimanded herself internally for losing composure.
Quinn tilted his head in confusion but repeated himself again.
"They have been going well," she said as she got her rhythm back, "I've been readings the basic concepts of healing magic on my own time. It's not as complicated as I thought it would be. True, there are multitudes of things to cover, so many different types to master, but no matter what I come across, there seems to be a reason for them to be the way they are, and I only need to understand for them to make sense to me."
Daphne wanted to become a healer so that she could heal Astoria of her blood curse one day, and no doubt that was her primary motivation, but as she actually picked up the basics of healing, the subject and magic seemed to suit her — everything she tried to learn seemed to make sense to her, and things clicked her mind — it felt different from the understanding that she gained for the Hogwarts curriculum — healing magic seemed to call out to her. She didn't know if it was because she wanted it so much or just had a sense of healing magic, but everything healing seemed to interest her so much.
"Sounds like you're having fun," said Quinn; the way her shined right now said it all.
"Do you also feel like that?" asked Daphne.
Quinn's reply didn't come for a couple of seconds. "It's the time for me," he said.
"Time? What do you mean?"
"Somewhere along the line, I don't know when.. . I don't think it was a singular point.. . but somewhere, some time, I began losing time.. . or to be more exact, the time seemed to pass quickly when I studied magic.. . I don't know if I'm explaining it correctly, but I get lost when I'm with magic.. . it's like I just got started a minute ago, but then suddenly, it had been an hour or two.. .. That's what it feels like for me.
"It doesn't come every day, but it does come every so often, and I only realize that it came after the fact, but when it comes, I feel good, terrific," said Quinn.
People concentrated when they were doing a task; they would focus on what they wanted to do. But for Quinn and magic, he didn't need to concentrate — magical learning would pull out the concentration for him, and it was damn beautiful to Quinn.
"Ah, I'm sorry if I trailed a bit too much," said Quinn, matching eyes with Daphne.
"No, that was fascinating. I would like to hear more," said Daphne. I would like to know more about you, she thought.
.. .
Outside the dance floor, Jacob Greengrass and Sophie Greengrass watched their daughter slow dance with a boy as they seemed to talk and laugh while holding with each other.
"Look at those two," said Sophie smiling with her eyes, "I feel like it was just yesterday when we first saw them dance together.. . they were but children then, look at them both now, all grown up."
Jacob Greengrass stared at her daughter. "Hmm.. ."
"Don't they look good with each other? Astoria also seems to think that; I remember hearing her teasing Daphne about Quinn."
In the arms of a boy. "Hmm.. ."
"I think Daphne likes Quinn," said Sophie, her eyes sparkling.
They weren't children anymore. "Hmm.. ."
"I think they suit each other. I wonder if I should talk to Daphne to see if she does like Quinn."
Wasn't this around the same age he had started dating Sophie? "Hmm.. ."
"She might need her mother's help." Thoughts began building in Sophie's head.
His dear eldest daughter falling into the clutches of a boy. "Hmm.. ."
"A boy like Quinn must have a lot of girls who like him," Sophie thought about when she was young and the time before she and Jacob had started dating. Her husband was very popular among the girls; she had to be assertive to show her interest.
'Boys,' thought Jacob, were filthy runts with their top floors filled with dirty thoughts. "Hmm.. ."
"That girl is shy when it comes to things like these. She needs to be more outgoing if she wants to get what she wants."
His daughter 'going out' with those filthy creatures.. . "Hmm.. ."
"We would have to support Daphne, don't we, dear?"
Yes, we would need to support.. . "Wait, what have you been saying.. . Daphne is too young to be things like that; it's time for her to focus on her future," said Jacob, his mind catching up with his wife's words, "now's not the time to support but to help Daphne understand that she has her entire life in front for things like silly crushes — right now, it's time for personal development.. . yes, that's it," Jacob finished feeling satisfied with his line of thought.
"Oh dear, you're being silly," said Sophie, looping her arm around Jacob's, "she has her entire life to worry about studies and stuff.. . but this time won't come back," she leaned near her husband, "it's time for her to experience this time and leave those worries for a later date."
Jacob grumbled. He wanted to argue, but there was no use doing it. He could oppose this, but Sophie would support it, and he wasn't a fool; he could see his daughter held some interest in Quinn West, and in this situation, Daphne would follow after Sophie's advice, sidelining him.
.. .
"That was fun," said Quinn handing Daphne another goblet after the dance.
"It indeed was," said Daphne, a small smile gracing her lips.
"Zabini, did you enjoy your dance with your mother," said Quinn with a teasing smile.
Blaise sighed. His mother had dragged him to dance despite his opposition and resistance.
"Blaise."
The Slytherin turned to see his best friend Theodore Nott walking towards them.
"Theo," said Blaise in greeting, "you're late."
"My father is always late to these," said Theodore pointing around the ballroom. He then turned to Quinn and Daphne, "Daphne, West, good to see you both here as well."
Quinn raised his goblet while Daphne nodded.
"Zabini here just asked me the same deal I offered you," said Quinn.
Theodore turned to Blaise, who nodded.
"He accepted," said Blaise.
"I did, but don't go spouting out this to everyone," said Quinn, "if you think someone will definitely need what I offered you, then come to me first, and I'll decide if I want to bring them into the loop. I don't want to be swarmed by requests like today from Zabini."
"We'll keep that in mind," said Theodore. This was too important for him to mess it up.
"Good, now chill. It's Christmas, have some fun," said Quinn before looking around the ballroom with a sigh, "now, if you three Slytherin will excuse me," he sighed more, "I'll have to show my face to some people and engage in small talk.. . I swear I'll have to do something that'll give me a lifetime pass from this."
When Quinn left, Theodore turned to Daphne and Blaise and asked. "What did he mean by that?"
"He doesn't like parties," said Daphne.
"And, he came alone, so I guess he needs to chat with some people," Blaise guessed.
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
Cornelius Fudge walked around the ballroom, smiling and nodding to people as he passed them by. He was looking around to see who was talking to who, trying to get the lay of the land and if some new connections were forming that he needed to know about.
'Hmm, everything's looking good,' thought Fudge.
But then he saw a group of people gathered around in a group with great chatter happening in there. It made him curious, what was happening and what were they talking about. Fudge walked towards the group and heard someone speaking to the group.
"It's all about adding value to your business.. . matching what your competitor is doing isn't good enough — giving the public what they have seen before isn't good enough, it's redundant to show them the same thing they can get another place.. . you have to give them something extra, something that would catch their eye enough to sway them away from your competitor."
Fudge moved closer towards the group, and because he was the Minister, he didn't need to muscle his way to the front of the crowd as people gave him the way.
"So, to attract customers to your business, you need something new.. . but that doesn't mean you need to release new products every season to generate that new wave of revenue. Let me tell you something: only around five to ten percent of products every year are truly original; the rest of the new things you might see in the market are little improvements to existing products.. ."
Fudge finally made his way to the front to see the backside of a person dressed in a blue checkered suit talking to the entire group, who all were looking immersed and were hanging to his every word.
"So, remember to be greedy.. . not about money. That's actually secondary. You need to be greedy about progress and not stop in a spot and think that you can relax now that you're ahead of the pack. If it takes effort to get ahead, then it'll take more effort to stay ahead. You all need to add value to your products, to your process, to your employees, anything you do better will help you better your business, and if you're better, your customers will line your coffers with their pockets very much happily."
Fudge watched as the person turned toward his direction and saw a familiar face.
It was Quinn West.
'Wests are at the Ball?!' thought Fudge surprised and taken aback. It was a critical time for him — he needed all the time he could get — and here he was standing, staring Quinn West in the face having no prior information about his presence.
He looked around to find George West, but there was no sign of the man with the most gravity of anyone invited.
"Ah, Minister didn't see you there," said Quinn, "I wish you a Merry Christmas and hope you're having an auspicious Yuletide."
"Thank you, Quinn," said Fudge, "I wish the same to you and hope your good health."
"That's kind of you, Minister," said Quinn smiling.
Seeing that the Minister had occupied Quinn, the crowd dispersed with only a few hanging around, but at a distance.
"What were you doing there, Quinn?" asked Fudge.
"So you heard that," Quinn sounded shy, "that was just the little ol' me trying to see if I could share something that I learned from hanging around family shops.. . though I don't think I have something of use to offer in this regard."
Fudge recalled how everyone was listening to Quinn's words and shook his head.
"It looked like everyone was deeply interested," said Fudge.
Quinn simply smiled.
"Quinn, I didn't know you were here. I must've missed the announcements," said Fudge, and even if he did, some of his people should've informed him — someone was getting fired today, "I would like to greet your grandfather, if you'd guide me towards him."
"My grandfather isn't here today, Minister," said Quinn happily, "he got occupied with something and has been busy for a few days, so he couldn't attend today, and I came in his place because I was free."
"Ah, is that so," Fudge tried his best not to sound disappointed.
"Yes, but if you'd like me to pass along a message, I'd be happy to do so," said Quinn courteously; of course, if it was some bullcrap, his grandfather wouldn't hear a word of it.
"No, it's fine. I'll talk to him myself."
"Alright."
"How's Hogwarts going? I'm hearing good thing now that Dolores is at the castle."
"Madam Umbridge?" said Quinn and then just smiled, refusing to comment.
Fudge looking for all things positivity from his initiatives, took that as a glowing recommendation.
"Minister, if you see Madam Umbridge, tell her that I wish her a Merry Christmas and that the remaining of her Yuletide goes well," said Quinn before taking his leave.
After a while, Umbridge, who was also present at the Ball, came strutting towards Fudge.
"Cornelius, so this is where you were. Lucius Malfoy wants to talk to you," she said.
"Oh, Dolores, I'll be there in a minute," said Fudge, "also, I just met Quinn West."
".. . What?"
"Yes, he said to wish you a Merry Christmas. What a sweet and intelligent boy he is. Please make sure that you take care of him at Hogwarts. I'm sure Quinn personally will do great things in the future; you should've listened to his words; they were insightful," Fudge then went onto pile praises for Quinn onto Umbridge as she stood there turning to stone with every word that came out of Fudge.
After Fudge left to talk to Lucius Malfoy, Umbridge remained rooted in her spot. She wasn't expecting to hear praises of Quinn from Fudge's mouth. She wasn't expecting to hear anything about Quinn — the winter break was supposed to be the time free from the mention of the boy's name.
But now this happened. Umbridge could read between the lines. Fudge wanted to maintain a positive relationship with Quinn. But that was the last thing she wanted.
'I must reveal his true face to Cornelius,' she thought.
Umbridge felt someone looking at her and turned to look up towards the second floor to see a figure leaning towards the railings.
It was Quinn West.
When their eyes met, Quinn raised the goblet in his hand towards her with a smile on her face before pushing himself away from the railings and walking away while still looking at Umbridge, to whom that smile looked one of mocking.
Her breathing heaved as anger started to build inside her. Her eyes remained affixed at the place where Quinn stood as her eyes turned red with fury.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
.
Quinn West - MC - Creating jobs, Dancing, Dishing advice, Raising glasses — overall mad lad.
Daphne Greengrass - Daughter - Is now gathering courage.
Sophie Greengrass - Mother - Guiding her daughter is her duty and pleasure.
Jacob Greengrass - Father - "Hmm.. . what?!"
Dolores Umbridge - Furious - Oh so, furious.
