Quinn stepped out of the Guide's Vault and stretched his hands over his head. Even though the vault was complete and ready to be used, there were still a few things that Quinn thought could be smoothened out. It was crucial that the vaults remained functioning for years to come because he didn't know when he would return to Hogwarts in the future, and that is if he ever returned; as such, ensuring that none of his casted magic would fizzle out for quite some time.
'Well, with time, Hogwarts would assimilate the vault into its ecosystem,' thought Quinn.
Hogwarts was a magical marvel, standing for a thousand years. It housed magicals in growth period with their magic in flux. The castle had long been mutated with that magic, and after thousand years, the castle had become an anomaly. Quinn was sure that after a couple decades, the castle would take in what he had created, and after that, the charms, spells, and runes would be maintained by the castle itself.
"I wonder how the magic would change," Quinn muttered to himself, interested in how Hogwarts would affect his magic. "Maybe a visit to Hogwarts, a couple decades from now, is warranted."
Quinn slipped his hands into his pocket and retrieved his trusty piece of reinforced off-white cloth, magically converted into the Hogwarts-exclusive artifact known as RECON, the massively upgraded version of the Marauder's Map. It was the state-of-art solution to all Hogwarts-related stalking and the key to almost all doors in Hogwarts castle.
He activated the map and watched as the ink bloomed on the threads, taking various colors that formed a welcome screen before turning to the floor map of the sixth floor, which he was on with him illuminated in a blue dot, marking him as a student.
Quinn's travel patterns in Hogwarts changed before and after curfew times. Before curfews, he would usually walk in the hallways and take the stairs on the Grand staircase to go between floors, only using the Hogwarts internal passageways when no one was around. But when the curfew hour struck on the clocks, he would forget the Grand staircase and exclusively travel using the internal passageways built within the walls.
He glanced at the floating map, and a blue directional line mapped itself on the sixth-floor floor map, and Quinn could see alternates and if there was someone present the routes. The line plotted on the map was from Quinn's current position and went to a passageway connecting the sixth and fifth floors and opening near the AID office. The passageway was one he used frequently and was near to another passageway that opened outside the Headboy suite corridor on the fourth floor.
Quinn followed the line and arrived at a wall tapestry— magical and moving— of a tree with birds flying around it. The wall, opposite to the tapestry, however, was Quinn's destination. He knocked on the wall twice before kicking it once for the bricks to move away, revealing a narrow staircase going down.
Before stepping inside the passageway, Quinn glanced at the map and spoke, "Fifth floor." The ink on Recon sunk into the threads, disappearing for a split-second, before it rushed back out and depicted the floor map of the fifth floor. The map under Quinn's non-verbal commands zoomed in on the fifth-floor exit of the passage to see if there was somewhere there that he needed to avoid.
Quinn gave it a cursory glance, finding that the coast was clear. But when he was about to look away, a blue dot popped on the edge of the map— right outside the AID office door.
"Hmm?"
For a moment, he thought it was a Prefect doing their curfew patrols because of the blue dot as neither Astoria nor Luna used the office after curfew. But then his eyes fell upon the name over the blue dot, and Quinn's body froze like ice as if someone had struck him with a body bind.
His eyes blanked out for a good few seconds before they regained intelligent thought, and the shock of what he was seeing started to register and settle in.
「ꟼ߶%֎$℟℺⌧*۞#....」
For the first time since its inception, Recon had failed to recognize someone's name. The map was connected to Hogwarts through piggybacking the runes part in Hogwarts, and not once had Hogwarts failed to recognize someone's name, even if they weren't once a student.
But the gibberish on the map was only a minuscule reason for Quinn's shock. There was another thing that had set his heart beating like a steam engine running at full throttle.
Names, as they appeared on Recon, were made from two words— First names and Last names. The gibberish that was below Quinn's eye was the first name, but Quinn's eyes were transfixed on the last name... that was not gibberish...
... and something he was well familiar with.
「... West」
"I-It must've malfunctioned," said Quinn and grabbed the map in his hand, and let the magic flow into it. The map shut down before restarting again to show the sixth floor again.
"Fifth floor."
The map shifted to the fifth floor.
"...."
Quinn sucked in a breath.
There it was, the blue dot with gibberish and West, once again, on the map.
But now, the dot was inside the AID office.
"W-What is this?"
A hundred thoughts ran through his head, trying to find a reason behind the strange, bizarre phenomenon in front of him.
"It must be a bug, yes, Occam's Razor— the simplest reason is the current reason," said Quinn. "... I just need to go down there to confirm it; yeah, that'd work."
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- (Scene Break) -
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Quinn stood on the corner of the hallway, the AID office in front of his eyes. Recon was still floating beside him, and the blue dot was moving inside the office and had moved to the workshop... as to his eyes, the dot was moving eerily like a human.
A thought grew and dug its claw in his mind, making Quinn stand on the corner, his eyes fixed on Recon, following the blue dot, waiting for the dot to come out of the office.
His breathing quickened when the blue dor moved towards the workshop door and came into the office. Quinn gulped when the dot arrived at the office door, and his being stilled when he heard the sound of a door opening.
Slowly, Quinn turned his neck up, removing his eyes from the map to the office door.
A figure stepped out from the office, dressed in black overalls— the style of clothing was not something that Quinn could put his finger on, yet it seemed oddly familiar to him.
The hallway was dark, situated in the inner region of the castle, with no open windows insight, and the fire torches had been extinguished after the curfew hour. Quinn focused magic into his eyes and, just as he had done in the Darkness of the Forbidden Forest, modified them to take in more light in night as many the animals who could see in the dark.
With the adjusted eyes, Quinn could finally see the figure's appearance.
It was a man, and from its looks, the man was young— young enough that Quinn could tell that it was a teen and not someone who had reached the age where their aging slowed down to match the lifespan of a magical human.
'... It was not a malfunction?'
Quinn took a brief glance at Recon and then at the figure, who was walking away. His eyes turned determined. Quinn pocketed Recon and stepped out into the hallway.
'Whoever it is. I have to find out what is going on here.'
Deciding that, Quinn took action.
"Hello," he said and saw the unknown man jolt and turn towards him with a jerk.
The unknown man's eyes widened as he saw Quinn and took a step back, seemingly in surprise.
"... Yes?"
"It's already after curfew, you know," said Quinn, keeping a calm smile on his face. "You're not allowed to roam around after hours. Which house are you in?"
"... S-Slytherin," said the unknown man.
Quinn's eyes narrowed. He remembered every student in Hogwarts by name and face, much less Slytherin, and he had profiles stored in his mindscape. And one thing was for sure, he sure didn't know who this person was in front of him.
However.... according to Recon, the man in front of him was a student of Hogwarts, indicated by the blue dot, which only showed up when for Hogwarts students.
"Slytherin, you say," said Quinn. "I'm sorry, but it seems my memory is failing me, and I can't seem to recognize you— would you mind telling me your name."
The man stayed silent for a moment before the answer came,
"My name is Damon."
"I see. Damon is it. What are you doing here on the fifth floor instead of the dungeon?" Quinn asked.
"N-Nothing, I was just here to see if I could find Professor... Flitchnick."
"You mean, Professor Flitwick?" asked Quinn, keeping his voice constant.
"Yes! Professor Flitwick!" said the unknown man.
Quinn hummed silently. It wasn't that late after curfew, and he knew that around this time, the professors were usually in their personal offices, wrapping up their work for the day. The Head of Ravenclaw's office, which Flitwick used as his office, was on the fifth floor.
'Recon shows him as a student, and he seems to know things about Hogwarts.... but that doesn't explain it,' thought Quinn.
"Sorry to say this, Damon, but I find it a little hard to believe that you're out to meet Professor Flitwick. I mean, you understand, right?"
"Sorry, I will go back to the dorms immediately!"
"Damon" turned and started to walk away with haste.
But Quinn couldn't let the man leave.
Quinn snapped his finger, and magic gushed out of him, spreading out in every direction. Magical barries, glowing with yellow light, suddenly appeared on both ends of the AID hallway, blocking the unknown person's path and trapping him with Quinn.
The figure stopped in his tracks just before the yellow barriers appeared, his head turning up to look at the barrier.
He turned slowly back as Quinn spoke.
"I didn't say you could leave, did I, Damon," said Quinn, staring dead at the man. "I lied to just now."
"What?"
"My memory doesn't fail me ever, and I'm quite sure I have never seen you in Hogwarts, ever... so I will ask this only once— Who are you?"
Damon stared at Quinn for a moment before immediately turning towards the yellow barrier. He raised his arm, and an emerald spell shot out of his hand, hitting the yellow barrier, putting a deep crack into it.
Quinn blinked his eyes in surprise. 'He didn't use a wand, but that power.'
Quinn commanded his magic, and before Damon could shoot another spell, which would've broken the barrier, the yellow barrier repaired itself and the color deepened by several shades.
"That was surprising," said Quinn. "That barrier should've stopped any Hogwarts student, but you managed to put a crack on it. It seems you aren't a normal student, are you."
Damon turned to Quinn, his brows furrowed. "Listen... just let me go, would you? It will be good for both of us."
"Sorry, but that isn't going to happen," said Quinn. "You're not going anywhere until I have answers to all my questions, which you're going to answer— willing or unwillingly."
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
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Quinn West - MC - Now, let's have a nice talk, shall we?
Damon - ??? - Just let me go.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - I don't know if it is obvious or not.
