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Quinn stared at the talking crowd of DA members with a hint of a smile. He saw them laughing and chatting with each other; the group's vibe had become merrier ever since Umbridge's leave from Hogwarts.
Dumbledore's entry as the new Defense Against Dark Arts had pumped a new life into the students, and DA members who had been ahead of the curve because of their secretly nightly adventures were reveling in the knowledge they knew and could apply before Dumbledore would introduce it. Moreover, there was no need for them to have Marcus breathing down their necks, whispering stringent secrecy rules in their ears.
He sighed. Yes, there was no need to maintain secrecy. With Umbridge gone, DA could now go from its situational secret society status to simply an unofficial student club.
He felt it was the right time. Quinn took out his pocket watch — there was about half an hour before the group would usually disperse for the night. He chuckled; indeed, it was time.
"Everyone," Quinn said, snapping his pocket watch close, "if I can have your attention for a moment, I'd like to discuss something important with all of you."
His words, as they usually did, grabbed everyone's attention.
"I have an announcement to make," he said. "Today will be my last day here at DA," there were audible gasps in the crowd. "The past few months were memorable and definitely one of the highlights of this year and even my time at Hogwarts till now, and I'd like to thank you for the amazing time," he turned his eye over the entire group gathering around him, "but after today, I'll no longer be attending these meets. That's all I had to say, once again, thank you.. ."
The moment his mouth closed, the discordant chorus of questions attacked his ears, causing him to close his eyes for a moment as he raised his hand.
"One moment at a time, please," he opened his eyes and pointed at Marcus.
Marcus took the cue and spoke up, "Why?! Is there a problem? Because we can talk about it and fix it; tell us, we will fix it now."
"Oh boy," said Quinn, a chuckle in voice, "there isn't any problem with DA; the system that we have built here is exemplary, but I don't think there's a need for DA anymore, and that's why I think it's time for at least me to exit."
There were a lot of frowns and upward slanting brows, but the previous raucous of noise was absent. They understood what he was talking about.
"You see it, right? Now that Umbridge's gone, we don't have to sneak around at nights like thieves just so that we can learn some magic. Yet week after week, we meet just at night, and meeting after meeting, we trim minutes on time before curfew to get back to our dorms. It just doesn't make sense anymore for us to behave this way."
Ivy said, "Do you.. . not like this anymore?"
"Nothing like that. It couldn't be farther than that; I enjoy my time here and think all of you're amazing individuals, but I think that the time has arrived for me to exit this group," Quinn tucked his hands behind his back. "Moreover, all of you don't need me anymore. I have already taught you the three basic principles — Knowledge, Intent, and Emotion — and all of you have gained much practice of using these over the months; all you need to do is follow what you've been doing and keep learning what you want."
DA members learned what everyone was learning, which was fine, for it was the necessity of the time, but now that the standard academia was back on track, it was time for individuals to focus their extra time on things they wanted to learn.
"If all of you desire, you can continue to learn as a group. In no way, I'm saying that DA needs to disband; no, that would be wasting an amazing resource," he said. "For instance, if someone wants to learn certain magic, then they can ask around in the DA community if someone can help them learn the spell, which we have been doing — or if someone would like to learn it along with them so that you can compare your experiences and gain additional gains from the other's mistake."
His words didn't seem to lessen the unease the group was feeling. They had become comfortable in their current environment, and Quinn had just pulled the safety blanket, leaving them out in the cold.
"Yes, Hermione," said Quinn, looking at the raised hand, "please go ahead."
Quinn had said that he was leaving DA, so it made her wonder, "If we ask you to teach us something, will you?"
"If I'm free, of course, I'd be more than happy to help out with magic. I would like to make something — let me rephrase something I said earlier — I'm not leaving DA; I'm simply stepping down as an active member. Of course, that's only if you'd accept a passive DA member."
"We accept," Ivy said instantly, "you will always be a DA member." And many others nodded and murmured in acknowledgment. The Golden Squad were the founding member of DA, the house representatives were leaders, and Quinn, the teacher, was the group's backbone — DA couldn't be mentioned without a mention of Quinn in every chapter of the DA annals.
Quinn nodded politely with an upturned face. "That's delightful to hear," he said. "Well, there's still some time before we end for today. Is there something someone would like to ask, doubts you want to clear — or we can sit down and talk if that's what you'd like?"
"I want to duel you!"
All eyes turned to the assertive voice, and there stood Harry Potter in the challenger's spot. Everyone turned their eyes back to Quinn, straining their ears and shushing others to be quiet. In all DA sessions, Quinn had only once practiced with Neville, but other than that, he hadn't actively used magic other than demonstration, much less duel.
"What brought this on?" asked Quinn.
Harry crossed his arms over his chest as he said, "I know I learned a lot, but I want to see if I actually improved."
Quinn squinted, his eyes lit with an inner twinkle as he tilted his head, contemplating how to respond. He nodded, "Alright, that's as good as any measure of improvement. Let's have it — the duel."
The group formed a wide circle as a stage with wands out in everyone's hands for protection as they had been taught — if you were near any sort of spell activity, it was common sense to have your wand out.
"Alright, Harry Potter. How do you want to do this?" Quinn took out his fake wand and held it with hands behind his back.
"Standard rules," Hary said, pulling his sleeves up, "the one who gets disarmed or stunned first wins."
"Are you sure? We can make it the best of three if you want."
Harry's eyes narrowed. He stuck his chin up and shook his head. "No, one or nothing will do."
"You said it," Quinn looked to the crowd and called, "Astoria, if you'd tose a coin or something to start us off."
Astoria beamed and shuffled to the center of the stage between Harry, who held his wand in front of him, while on the opposite side, Quinn still had his behind his back.
"Ready?" she asked and held out a silver sickle in her and her wand in another, which raised my brows. She looked at both of them, and then with a flourish of her wand, the coin flew up.
Astoria ran back to the crowd as Harry and Quinn stared at each other — one was smiling while the other severely gazed. A second passed, then two.. . and the staring contest passed ten clicks.. .
Quinn and Harry turned to look up and squinted their eyes to see the glimpse of a floating sickle. They turned to Astoria, who was swaying in mischief and raised their hands. Astoria stuck out her tongue, and with a wave of her wand, the sickle stopped hovering and dropped.
The coin passed through Harry and Quinn's sight, rotating as it passed by and towards the floor. Harry gripped his wand and stretched his ears, and then the tinge of the coin hitting the floor came. Harry lunged forward with his forefoot and waved a stunner to zap towards Quinn.
Quinn released his wand hand's wrist from his other hand, and with a shove of his shoulder and the flick of the wrist, a shield blocked the stunner. He didn't stop, and with his wand hand rising up with the momentum, he worked his wrist to shoot a blue pellet-sized orb — not towards Harry but towards the floor.
The silver sickle that had dropped from a ridiculous height had just reached the peak of its bounce, rotating on two different axes, was suddenly hit by the blue, glowing magic pellet on the (current) lower face and shot up because of the physical push form the spell.
Like launching a throwing knife, Quinn cocked his hand above his shoulder and flung his wand arm forward, and shot a yellow pellet towards the coin. The yellow light pellet enveloped the rotating coin, which launched it towards Harry at a blinding speed.
The coin was met by a shield cast by Harry in the two spell worths of time and stood confident behind them. He raised his wand to cast his next spell, but his hand halted when he saw another yellow pellet crash from Quinn crash into the coin.
He dropped his eye to the coin, and they bulged when he saw a rapidly spinning coin pushing against his shield, distorting it inwards as if trying to tear through it. He jumped when another yellow pellet enveloped the coin in yet another burst of yellow light, and his shield bulged deeper inside and rippled at three-sixty rpm (ripples per minute.)
Then without further warning, like a water balloon popping, Harry's shield tore, and the glowing coin stuck him square in the chest.
"Ugh," Harry groaned as his hand went to his chest, feeling the dull pain — did the coin crack a rib?
"Come on, Potter," said Quinn, unhurriedly walking across the stage, "I know my magic is interesting, but don't stand there admiring it during a duel."
Quinn looked to his left, raised his free hand, and curled his finger back and forth in the beckoning finger sign. On the receiving end, Eddie cracked his neck before stepping onto the stage.
"You should know better," said Eddie, twirling his wand. "Why waste time with Potter when you know that I'm the only one who's able to take you out."
"Oh really?" Quinn smirked. "And when was the last time you supposedly took me out?"
"Oh, you know.. . right now!" An electric arc zapped out of the tip of Eddie's wand — him aiming to take Quinn out with the support of the fabled element of surprise.
Quinn chuckled as he lazily waved, and the electric arc fizzled out of all its crackling juice.
"Come on, Carmichael, that was weak. Where did that punch go? Or does it only come it with repeated loosing?"
Eddie showed no reaction other than peering eyes — "BOMBARDA!" — he chanted suddenly and sent the yellowish-orange explosion spell barreling towards Quinn, who pulled up a specific spell more suitable for non-physical attacks that took the heavy brunt of Eddie's cannon blast.
He turned to Harry, who was no longer clutching his chest and was now following them with their eyes.
"What are you doing, Harry?" Quinn swiped to create a spinning air burst that crumbled Eddie's conjured rock spikes.
Harry looked at Quinn with confusion flashing in his eyes: "What?"
"You asked for standard rules, remember? You're neither knocked out nor disarmed, so why are —" Quinn shot a stunner towards Harry, which he blocked startled "— you standing there like a statue and not dueling."
"But—"
Eddie cut him off and shouted, "Less chatter, Potter, if all you're going to do is daydream in between a duel, then the at least you can do is to buzz in his ear like a housefly." He finished with a fully charged reductor towards Quinn's feet, who had to receive it into a shield for the onlooker's safety.
Harry gritted his teeth, gouged a chunk of the floor below his wand tip, set it ablaze in white fire, and hurled it towards Quinn.
Quinn blocked a disarm from Eddie — "Now that's more like it." — turned to Harry's fiery ball of rock and redirected it towards Eddie — "Thanks for the help," he said.
Eddie, who had already had another reductor on his tongue, bit it down and cast a shield, and even then was pushed back a couple steps due to the brute force of the rock, not to mention the white fire came near melting his shield.
"Hermione!" The girl jolted at Quinn's call. "Get in here!"
"W-What?"
"These two are useless. Come on and show that you're the one who most improved."
Hermione turned unsure eyes to both Harry and Eddie and saw them unleashing magic after magic towards Quinn, trying their best to take his head off — This was useless? she thought.
She stepped out from the crowd and immediately felt her heart jump out of her throat when a disarming spell came galloping towards her. She eeked, but her hand moved instinctively and blocked the spell.
"Good, now get to work," she heard Quinn speak before he pulled up a giant block of the floor as a shield before turning it into wolves that went howling towards Eddie.
The DA crowd watched as three people dueled against a solo Quinn, who continuously switched between attack, defense, and the occasional parry. It was a showcase of skill — people with knowing eyes could tell that Quinn was pushing the three while keeping them in the running; there were many opportunities, but Quinn would always turn away and target another.
"Nott, step in!"
Everyone gasped as Quinn called for another. Everyone looked at Nott, who froze for a second before stepping out from behind a couple people into the ring and began taking part in the five-person play of flying spells.
"Hannah, it's time. Come on."
Hannah Abbott fidgeted onto her way into the ring, and her output wasn't what Quinn was expecting when compared to what he had seen in practice, so not half a minute later, he called again.
"Luna, let's see if you actually listen to me."
Luna shrugged, glided into the ring, and started to aim all of her spells towards.. . Quinn's legs — making him sweat a little as six people that Quinn was trying to give a chance to disarm or knock him while not trying to disarm or knock them out — Luna strictly aiming for his legs (which he did teach her.. . technically) was a bit worrying.
But it was only worrying a bit. "Diggory," he said, "do you want to see if you can win with all this help?"
And so joined the Headboy and began the seven verses one dance. Quinn, the masterful conductor, lead the seven unknowing instrumentalists in a masterful orchestra. It was a beautiful show of skillful magic — matching attacks with specific defenses, timing attacks with just enough power to keep them out of offense while he took care of the others, and playing with some showboating with some parrying.
"Alright, time to end this," Quinn said after dueling with the seven people.
He turned to Hannah and shot a disarming spell, timing it perfectly to hit her just when she pulled down her shield. Quinn turned to parry a glowing red stunner from Eddie, but this time instead of sending it up, he sent it towards Nott, who felt the brunt of some heavy magic and dropped like a sack of potatoes. His next option was Eddie himself, who he decided takeout with a heavier stunner than Eddie's own and sent him flying back onto the ground.
Now remained Luna, Cedric, Harry, and Hermione.
Quinn turned to Harry and blew out a little puff of air towards Harry, who suddenly felt like he was standing in a storm. Harry's hands went up against the wind, and he never saw the stunner coming. Quinn turned to Hermione and shot his first depulso of the day — at her feet — which knocked off her feet with only her arms saving her face from kissing the floor — she too never saw the disarming spell coming.
"Diggory, sorry, but you're next," said Quinn grinning, "Luna's my best friend, so she can't go before everyone else."
"Eddie went before," said Cedric — "BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"
Quinn pulled a shield against that, and Luna's full-body bind.
"He's used to it," said Quinn and ripped a spell that emulated punches and assaulted Cedric's joints, making him fall with a grunt and then deflected another one of Luna's full-body bind to finish him.
In the ring, Quinn and Luna remained. They both watched each other. Luna shrugged and put her wand into her robe, and walked and stood beside Marcus.
"Well, forfeit is always a legit option," said Quinn, shrugging.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Quinn turned and saw Tracey clapping and then Daphne; soon after, everyone was clapping. Quinn did an exaggerated bow and then faced a lot of questions asking him to teach them that — especially young ones like Dennis Creevey.
When the session came to an end, and everyone was moving out, Quinn wrapped around Astoria's shoulder.
"What?" she asked, snuggling in a bit.
Quinn took out the sickle she had tossed and placed it in her hand, "Sorry about the sickle, it sort of bent."
Astoria stared at the coin, and it was indeed bent into a crumpled piece of metal. "I would like to be paid back," she said.
A light shined in Quinn's eyes, and he nodded. He wrapped his bigger hand, wrapping Astoria's smaller hand with the bent sickle completely, and blew on it.
"What's that supposed to do?" she asked.
Quinn winked at her as he removed his hand. "I have paid my debt," he smiled, removed his hand from her shoulder, and walked ahead to join her sister.
Astoria tilted her head in confusion before looking at her hand. She opened her palm, and her mouth opened up like a gaping fish — there was a gold galleon sitting there with no signs of the useless sickle.
"How did you do that?! Also, do you want me to toss more sickles? Because I will do it if this is what I get!"
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Quinn West - MC - Goodbye, DA.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - No chapter tomorrow, as it is New Years, and I'd be spending the day sleeping for the entire day. And I'll jump on the new year countdown, so I'm not on earth when the year changes. I urge that all of you do the same.
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