Quinn closed the door to his room, and the latch snapped into the frame.
He walked into the walk-in closet attached to his room, and the chair from under the study table followed after him. It placed itself in front of the full-body length mirror, where Quinn sat himself down. He took out a circular hand mirror and played with it in his palm.
He looked between the hand mirror and the full-body one. The hand mirror glowed, turning solid yellow— then the full-body mirror glowed in the same hue before both dimmed down to normal. Quinn put the hand mirror back and patiently stared at the full-body mirror.
A sheen passed over the huge mirror glass and stopped reflecting Quinn's image; instead, it showed Ivy from the chest up. Ivy's face bloomed as the two-way mirrors connected, her eyes intently staring at him.
"Are you alone?" he asked with a whisper.
Ivy nodded. "Why're you sitting so far away," she said, "can you even see me from there?"
Quinn softly smiled and pinched out his index and thumb, manipulating the charms in the two-way mirror to change its transmission. "Am I visible now?" he asked. [A/N: Lol. Online Meeting.]
"Much better," Ivy stared at Quinn. "How are you? Were you injured? Did you go to St. Mungos to get checked? What did they say? How—"
"Slow the train," said Quinn. "I'm fine; there were no injuries. . . yes, I went to St. Mungos despite that— Ms. Rosey took me forcefully. . . don't worry about it." He wondered how many times he had repeated the same things to Ms. Rosey and Polly, who seemed incapable of taking his word for it. "How about you? Yesterday must've been a scare for everyone at the Potter House."
"Mum couldn't stop pacing. She wouldn't like the mere thought of Death Eaters near our house, and yesterday it actually happened— even if they weren't coming for Harry, it was enough to set her worries off. You passing past the guards unseen didn't help it. She's in the library now, reading upon protective charms and wards," sighed Ivy.
"Sorry about that. . . . But she's right. The Death Eaters dared to come this near your house must show that they're not apprehensive enough about being near the 'enemy' area— where they knew the possibility of guards being present is the highest. That's not something you want to see from an enemy who wants nothing more than to kill you. It's not exaggerating to say that it might be the time to move houses to somewhere more secure."
"I don't want to."
"Ivy. . . I know it is tough to leave your childhood home, but for the safety of your fam—"
"I know that," she cut him off. The unwillingness was brimming in her voice, "It's just if we move from here, we would be moving to somewhere with much more. . . rules and restrictions. I'm sure I wouldn't even get to go out in the yard."
"I can't deny that, but it doesn't matter, does it? You'll be off to Hogwarts before you know it, and there you won't have those rules even with your mother at Hogwarts with you."
Ivy sighed, "I know, but Hogwarts still isn't for a while. I'd be bored to death before that."
"You'll be turning seventeen soon; you'll have full access to your wand after that. Have some fun with magic— pick up a project, create something interesting. I do it every year. It's really fun," and brought in a lot of money. "Didn't you have fun creating these mirrors? Do something similar to that, and time will pass before you know it— and you have Hermione with you, both of you can work together and makeup something amazing. Tell her she might even get some extra points from the Professors; she'll jump at it."
Ivy almost tumbled back over her bed, laughing.
"Hey, do you have any way we could meet again?" she said. "I won't get to meet you for a long time at this rate. Forget about during the summer; I might not get to meet you during Hogwarts— mum might not allow me to go down to Hogsmeade."
"You can always sneak out— you have the map and the cloak. Tell me when you want to meet, I'll be there, and we can spend some together. It's pretty easy if you can successfully sneak out. We can even go out if we have enough time— without freaking people out, that is."
"Hmm. . . I think that'd be something I could do. Okay, let's see how this turns out."
"Looking forward to it."
"Hey, listen—"
Quinn couldn't see anything except Ivy. She looked up, away from the mirror, and then he heard Hermione's voice from the other side.
"Hey, Ivy, do you have. . . what are you doing?"
"Nothing at all. Are you looking for something?"
The image in the mirror was covered as Ivy shoved it under somewhere, and the voices got muffled because of it, but Quinn could still make out some of the conversation.
"Was that. . . -way mirror. It. . . wasn't it?"
"No."
"Oh my god!"
"Wait!"
Quinn moved quickly and cut the call immediately in case the mirror was seen; his face would come up, and that'd be not optimal, to say the least. He weaved his magic and set up a disturbance in the spell connecting the two-way mirrors so that even if someone tried to connect from the other side, it would seem like the magic were faulty.
"Not a calm day," Quinn chuckled, wondering how Ivy would be handling things with Hermione.
He got up and turned to the array of clothes behind him.
"What should I wear."
.
- (Scene Break) -
.
Quinn sat on the green field, his eyes looking at the cloudless blue sky. His magic moved inside him into the ground beneath, slowly (so slowly) getting expended from his body. The grass around him moved like they were being swayed by the winds even though there was no wind around him.
He focused on a patch of grass that looked no different from its kin around it and sent up more magic to it. The grass grew longer, wilder, lusher, and denser, and the progress could be seen through the naked eye. The grass wilted, turned yellow, withered away before new strands grew, richer than before, and the process repeated until Quinn heard footsteps and turned back.
"Hey," he said with a smile.
Daphne looked down at him. She was dressed in a summer skirt with a black top that complemented her usual elegance with its gracefulness.
"The fact that you called me here must mean you heard what happened yesterday," said Quinn getting up and dusting himself. It was expected that Jacob Greengrass would hear about the sudden late-night activity in the Ministry. He had gotten a MagiFax from Daphne early in the morning, wanting him to come near the non-magical village down the hill from the Greengrass residence.
She didn't speak and continued to watch him with the same gaze he had gotten from all his family since yesterday, so he repeated the answer before the question came— "I'm alright. The Death Eaters, though, I can't say the same for them. I heard that they got some nasty injuries."
Daphne stepped forward and hugged without saying a word. Quinn wasn't surprised by her reaction and embraced her gently into his chest with his chin over her head. He stayed silent as he felt her stronger than usual hold over him.
"Calm now?"
Daphne nodded into his chest but didn't let go.
"I hope this thing didn't cause you too much worry."
"I got worried sick when father told me. Death Eaters! Thirteen!"
Seeing that Daphne was getting anxious the more she spoke, he stopped her and got back to calm her down. When she calmed down, Daphne separated from him.
"Tell me everything," she said.
Quinn went through the events, but unlike what he told George, he toned the things down for Daphne and only gave her the rough details of what happened. He saw her eyes narrow when he glossed over the details a couple of times, but he got by.
". . . and that's about it."
"Your grandfather must not be happy," she said. "Father thinks he's going to retaliate in one way or another."
"Your father is absolutely right," he sighed and told her the conversation he had earlier in the day. "He was already in a meeting with some when I was leaving to come here."
"He's going to participate in the war?" she asked with worry.
Quinn shook his head. "He's not— wants us to stay away."
"That's a wise decision." It looked like Daphne was in full agreement.
Quinn didn't comment on that situation.
After some conversation, the two roamed around the area hand in hand, with Daphne telling Quinn all her favorite places. It seemed that Daphne loved to just walk to places from her home and see if she could find new places.
As Daphne was sharing all these things with him, Quinn decided that he wanted to do the same.
"Would you like to know something about me that I haven't told anyone," he asked, not knowing why he was asking.
"Yes," was the instant reply.
"It might be a little heavy."
"I don't mind."
"Okay, then. Only my family knows about this, but I am a. . . Legilimens."
They stopped in the middle of a dirt road with Daphne's wide eyes staring at him.
"Surprised? Horrified? Repulsed?" he asked.
"Surprised. . . yes. Scared. . . more than a bit. But the other two? No."
"That's good to hear."
"Since when?"
"Before Hogwarts, actually. I told you about my apprenticeship— it's with my mind magic master— he taught me Occlumency, and because I had the potential for it, I also learned Legilimency. I have been using it ever since then."
"Even in Hogwarts."
"Mostly in Hogwarts— every day during breakfast for seven years. When I had just joined, I used to listen to everyone's surface thoughts to see what was going on," he paused as he stared at her, "even you were included in those times because I lacked control, and when you didn't have your barriers primed, I would hear your surface thoughts." He felt her hand clutch, his hand firmer— he could feel her worry, but he continued, "There was a time when I liberally used Legilimency whenever I could get away with it. . . somewhere along the line, I grew. . . or just realized what I was doing, so I implemented rules upon myself.
Never to use any form of Legilimency on my friends. If someone seemed safe the first time, I wouldn't use Legilimency to hear their thoughts. . . . I continued the breakfast ritual, but limited it down to emotions and excluded friends."
He then stopped and let Daphne decide what she thought of it. Her reaction? She resumed walking and pulled him along.
"Have you ever looked into my memories?" she asked.
Quinn shook his head, "I haven't, not with our friends. I rarely dove into memories during Hogwarts."
"And outside Hogwarts?"
"Well, I need a way to practice, so when during the summers, whenever I would go to the non-magical world, I would take some time and sit down in a crowded place like train stations and feel memories, listen to thoughts, and even dive into memories. I justified it to myself by thinking that I would never meet those people ever again. . . and it worked because I never felt I was violating my values."
There was another spell of silence before Daphne spoke and asked, "Did you feel my emotions before asking me out to ensure that I. . . ."
"No," Quinn said before she could finish, "I had done a good job with my self-imposed restrictions. I'm not going to lie that I wasn't tempted to check, but they were just fleeting thoughts that I paid no regard to."
". . . I see," said Daphne before asking. "Would you like to check now? If I love you."
Quinn softly shook his head. He didn't need that.
"Would you like to know if I love you?"
"It'd be great if my girlfriend loved me."
Daphne stopped and faced him. "I have a much better way than reading minds to let you know if I love you."
"Oh, what is it?"
"It's straightforward," she said, tipped toe as she pulled him down.
Quinn found himself kissing her. It was soft and slow but at the same time burning. His head was filled with thoughts of how she was right— it was straightforward and effective.
.
-*-*-*-*-*-
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Quinn West - MC - A secret is strongest when known only to one. . . but sometimes, secrets are better when they're weaker.
Daphne Greengrass - Loves to find unknown places - Saw a different side.
Ivy Potter - Wants to get out of her house - In a bit of trouble.
