The second of September, the second day back at school for Hogwarts students, and the first day they would attend classes. It was an exciting day for everyone, but for Quinn, it was earmarked in his calendars for him to set up the AID office for business after the day classes.
Quinn stood in front of the glass wall that partitioned the classroom into the office space and workshop. He picked up a canvas frame with a still painting fit inside it, held it against the wall, and the frame stuck to it as if it was glued to it. With that final painting, the office was done being set up.
"Now, I only need to take care of the workshop, and I'll be done for the day," he said with a smile.
He looked at the rectangular door in the glass wall — he hadn't installed the special reinforced door yet. "I would need to teach Astoria to use that," he said to himself as he picked up his briefcase off the floor, which held the entire inventory for the workshop.
Quinn was about to walk into the workshop area when the door chime rang, and he looked over to see Luna enter the office with an assortment of flowers in her hands.
"Done with your classes?" asked Quinn.
"There's only Astronomy at midnight." Luna walked to one of the wall side cabinets with an empty flower pot. She took out a tiny flask that she had made herself and poured water stored in its expanded canteen into the pot — conjured water through spells would eventually vanish and thus wasn't suitable for drinking or flowers.
Quinn gazed at Luna setting the flowers into the pot, then at the empty workshop, and then at his briefcase. He pursed his lips before deciding that it was the right thing to get it done as soon as possible. He set the briefcase inside the workshop by the door and walked back into the office.
"Luna," said Quinn as he sat down on his barstool. When the blonde looked at him, he motioned her to sit down in front of the table. "I would like to talk to you about something."
Luna took out her wand and waved it over the flowers. The flowers bloomed into vibrancy as the color of the petals gained a beautiful contrast, and the leaves looked as if they had been collecting dew overnight. Only after she was satisfied with her work on the flowers did she take a seat opposite Quinn.
"Luna, as you know, this will be my last year at Hogwarts," said Quinn.
She nodded, "Quinn's a big boy now."
Quinn chuckled, "Yes, that's one way to phrase it. Well, because it's my last year at Hogwarts, it entered my mind that I need to address some things before I graduate," he tried to keep his expression bright, "and one of the things that needed to be discussed was AID....
Luna... I'll be leaving AID after Christmas."
Luna's hands that had started to braid a few strands of her hair into braids froze in their work. She stared at Quinn, her eyes that usually held a dreamy gaze, now looked at Quinn with a stunned attention.
"Christmas, but that's..." — so close. Hogwarts school year started late in the year, leaving only a few months to Christmas — three to be precise. The sudden revelation brought Luna out of her thoughts filled with whimsy, and now she was paying a hundred percent of her attention to Quinn. "Can't you stay till the end; why do we have to leave so early?"
"I think it's the right time," Quinn said, keeping his expression and tone comforting, "I finish my time at AID before Christmas, go home for break, and then return after the new year to enjoy the rest of my year.
Also, Luna, there's no we in this... I'm leaving AID, and in no way means that AID will be closing."
"Why does that matter... you'll be gone," said Luna, with a rare frown on her face.
The grumpy tone with the clear notes of anger made Quinn scrunch his face ever so slightly. He was afraid that she wouldn't like his decision at all. It was no secret that Luna didn't have many friends outside of Quinn, Eddie, and Marcus; her time in AID was just so that she could spend time with Quinn, even a lot of it was spent in silence. Quinn leaving AID meant that she would lose that time.
"You won't be at AID alone, you know," said Quinn, trying to get to the good part as soon as possible, "Astoria will be taking my place."
That caught her attention. Luna thought she would be managing AID alone. But according to Quinn, Astoria was taking 'his' place, which meant...
"Astoria becomes the proprietor and not me?" she asked.
The few friends that Luna had outside the Ravenclaw circle came from the DA group. But even before that, Luna had been well acquainted with Daphne, Tracey, and Astoria as Quinn and Co. hung out with the Slytherin girls. Astoria found Luna interesting and, being the extrovert she was, tried to make friends with eccentric Ravenclaw. Luna was a bit cautious at first, but the persistent ball of sunshine didn't stop until she was friends with Luna.
"Yes, you don't have to do all the boring work," said Quinn chuckling, reading between the words. "You'll have to do more work than now because Astoria's new and well... she's not me."
Luna went silent and started to stare at the table with a thoughtful gaze. Quinn stared at his long-time partner with an expecting gaze.
"Okay, you can go after Christmas," said Luna. "It's your loss; I'll have fun with Astoria."
Quinn grinned. It would indeed be his loss.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Astoria stood waiting on the fifth floor, just outside the Grand Staircase. She leaned against the wall, looking at her shoes that slowly inched forward as she let her weight skid her foot forward at a snail's pace.
"I'm here. Sorry for the wait."
She looked up to see Quinn walking out of the Grand Staircase.
"What's this?" said Quinn, and Astoria spotted the teasing smirk on his face. "Are you nervous?"
Astoria pushed herself off the wall and bumped he shoulder into Quinn for his teasing. She was indeed nervous. They were about to go meet Flitwick to inform him that AID was changing ownership, and more importantly, ask his permission to move forward.
"What if he doesn't like me?" asked Astoria. "He might want AID to remain in the Ravenclaw house."
Quinn laughed at that. "Oh, dear. That's not how things work between AID and Professor Flitwick. True, we need his permission as AID is his responsibility, and yes, he's the Head of Ravenclaw House, but AID is not a Ravenclaw legacy. I have never portrayed it to be a Ravenclaw exclusive, and Professor Flitwick has never seen it such.
He knows what AID means to me and what I put in to make it work. AID is my legacy, and I get to choose who succeeds me. And I have decided that it would be a student-run operation with the faculty having no power over it. AID will never turn into something like the Prefect group — controlled by the faculty."
They started to walk together to Flitwick's office — not the faculty room, but the Head of Ravenclaw House office.
"How did you even get Professor Flitwick to agree to this?" asked Astoria. "If it was Professor Snape, he would have never agreed to start anything remotely like AID —or maybe he would, it would depend on who was asking."
"Honestly, I didn't do anything special," said Quinn, shrugging. "I sent a letter listing out what I wanted to accomplish with AID and how I was going to accomplish it. My only demands were that I required a classroom to operate and nothing else — and in this humungous castle, Professor Flitwick didn't have any reservations to lend a room to his best student."
After that, Quinn's track record and popularity had carried AID into becoming a mainstay in Hogwarts. He hadn't fielded a single complaint from Flitwick since the inception of AID (the insistent ones from Umbridge didn't count.)
They finally reached Flitwick's office, guarded by a man with a bent nose dressed in a funny set of robes. When they called to him, the man looked up from his perpetually unfinished stone statue and pointed his chisel at them.
"What do thee want?"
"We are here to see Professor Flitwick," said Quinn, "he's expecting us."
The chisel-bearing man squinted his eye at Quinn's Headboy badge before disappearing from his portrait. When he returned, the door opened, and the two of them went inside.
"Mr. West, I wasn't expecting you today," said Flitwick behind his desk, but then he saw Astoria beside him. "Ms. Greengrass, you're here as well. I hope it's not because of some trouble — it's too early in the year for that." He motioned them to sit as his hand flourished his wand to conjure two chairs. "So, what brings you here today?" he asked.
Quinn and Astoria exchanged a glance before Quinn started, "Professor, I have decided to retire from AID, and Ms. Greengrass here is going to succeed me as my successor."
Flitwick squeaked at the sudden news. He leaned stood on his chair and leaned forward onto the table. "Mr. West... this is such big news. I mean, when, how," he glanced at Astoria. "I would like to get some details."
"Astoria starts next week and will work under me to learn till Christmas, which is when I retire," said Quinn. "The reason why we are here is that you're the one who gave me the permission to start AID — and because I'm leaving, the accountability falls onto Astoria's head, so we want to know if you'd be alright endorsing her moving forward."
The relationship of trust that Quinn and Flitwick had built was strong, and that was the reason that Flitwick hadn't interfered with or even supervised AID in any form for all five years. But that wasn't the case between him and Astoria. Quinn wanted to know if the status quo would remain the same — he didn't want any faculty interference with AID.
Flitwick looked at both Quinn and Astoria for a long hard moment. The two students remained stayed still under the watching gaze of the half-goblins. "Mr. West, do you think Ms. Greengrass will be suitable in charge of AID. Can I trust her to maintain the same integrity and standards that you have built, and I have come to expect?" asked Flitwick.
It wasn't Quinn who answered the question.
"Sir, I personally assure that AID will remain at the reputation it has built," said Astoria. "Even without Quinn, I'm confident that I will be able to operate AID at an elevated level — that room won't turn into anything apart from what it was given for. AID's motive is to help Hogwarts students, and it will stay that. The students will continue to come to the office because I'll be effective in solving their problems.
I'm a Slytherin, Professor Flitwick, and ambition is one of our traits. Forget about maintaining the reputation; I'll raise it to something greater."
Quinn, who sat beside her, smiled. He made no moves of his own and let Astoria take charge.
Flitwick stared at Astoria, and this time didn't give a glance to Quinn. His goblin-eyes remained fixed on her face as if trying to look past her confident words to find a hidden falsity. It was only when Astoria didn't falter under his gaze that Flitwick, who had been standing on his chair, sat back down.
"If that's the case, I have no reservations towards the changing of ownership, as you have put it. When the new year arrives, Ms. Greengrass will be in charge of AID."
Astoria's expression set in her most dignified and confident evaporated into one of bubbly joy. She turned to Quinn, and he gave her an approving nod on her performance.
Astoria Greengrass was set to take over AID.
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- (Scene Break) -
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The next day, during breakfast, the Hogwarts gathered in the Great Hall to start their day with a hearty meal before proceeding to a new day of classes. Among the sound of clattering cutleries and talking students, Flitwick turned to McGonagall, who nodded.
The Charms Professor stood up on his chair and put his wand on his throat. "Ahem, if everyone would give me your attention for a minute," Flitwick's voice traveled throughout the Great Hall, making all students and ghosts look towards the staff table.
Flitwick peered over the entire Hogwarts student body before speaking, "There's an exciting announcement to be made, which I'm sure all of you wouldn't want to miss, so please listen with your ears peeled. The Headboy will be taking it forward from here."
All eyes went to Quinn, who climbed the steps to the staff table to gain a little altitude. He faced everyone and could feel the hundreds of pairs of eyes on him. He tapped his throat with his fake wand and began his announcement.
"Before I start, I would like to make it clear that this announcement isn't made in my position as the Headboy, but in my position as the proprietor of AID."
As Quinn said that people got more interested. Those who had been in Hogwarts for a few years hadn't seen Quinn speak to make this sort of announcement — this was new, and they were interested in what Quinn had to say, expecting to hear about some big event that Quinn would set up this year.
"As you all know, this is my last year at Hogwarts," said Quinn, "and I'll be leaving at the end of this year, so the question arises what will happen to AID when I leave. It has been decided that AID won't be closing after I leave. Instead, I'll be passing it onto another person, who will become the second proprietor of AID."
A lot of eyes went to Luna and found her sporting a large headpiece that resembled a patch of long grass.
Quinn looked at everyone. It was time — this was an AID announcement, and it would be incomplete without some theatrics. "If you'd all lift up your plates, you'll find something very interesting stuck to the bottom."
Instantly, everyone looked at their plates; it looked normal to them. They lifted them to see what Quinn was talking about. Those who had food on their plates slipped their hands underneath the plate to feel around for the surprise, while others flipped theirs over.
It was an AID card, the words AID were written on it, but it was a card different from the usual cards they had all become accustomed to seeing. Gone was the black background, replaced by a deep, luxurious shade of magenta velvet and written on it with striking silver words, the successor's name.
Somewhere on the Gryffindor table, a certain girl with bushy-brown hair screamed behind her fist as she took out her wand to conjure a box and a pair of gloves that she put on to carefully transfer the card into the box.
"I present you," all heard Quinn's voice again, and they were surprised to see the person whose name was on the card standing beside Quinn, "Astoria Greengrass of AID."
Astoria raised her wand above her head, and the many House Banners hung in the Great Hall all turned to velvet color with the letters A - I - D written in silver words.
"I hope all of you would visit," said Astoria with a composed smile, "we have answers to all your problems..."
Quinn turned to the staff table and the professors while sporting a grin. He pointed at Astoria before giving her a thumbs up and mouthed the words:
'She's good!'
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Quinn West - MC - His Hogwarts Legacy.... ?
Astoria Greengrass - The Next Proprietor of AID - She's going to fit right in.
Luna Lovegood - AID First-Gen Member - Master headpiece crafter.
Filius Flitwick - Faculty-Liason - Will see generations of proprietors of AIDs.
??? - Collector - Panting at the stunning new design.
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