The stone-grey eyed boy sat on a Hospital Wing bed, with his feet stretched straight and his back leaning against the headboard. He was reading a book on cold-related injuries and maladies.
Quinn had borrowed the book from Madam Pomfrey. She had given it to him because Quinn was bored and was disturbing her by trying to talk to her.
Just in front of Quinn's torso laid a bed table with multitudes of notes and papers on cold-related dangers that Quinn had read in the medical book he was given. If he was going to enter the vault, he needed to know the dangers. Reading upon the medical viewpoint was an excellent place to start as any.
"Hmm... I have to worry about hypothermia, frostnip, chilblains, immersion foot, and frostbite." Extreme climatic conditions didn't suit the human body. The low temperature could do severe damage to the human body.
"Oh, there are more... psychiatric and psychosocial disorders, snow blindness, dehydration,... and constipation?" Quinn heaved a heavy sigh as he picked up another sheet of paper and found the most worrying thing he had discovered while researching.
"Prolonged stay in the extreme frigid cold can cause the magical activity in the body to become sluggish and hindered because of the effect cold can have on the body."
Quinn's primary asset was magic, and if the extreme coldness in the Icy corridor could hinder his magical capabilities, then Quinn was in big problem.
"I need a way to keep my body warm in there, or else I am screwed," murmured Quinn. If he could keep his body from being affected by the cold, he could keep his magical prowess in there to work on getting to the gate and open it.
Picking another paper, Quinn read the core problem he needed to deal with while in the Icy corridor.
"Blood," whispered Quinn.
Blood was the problem and solution to his survival in the vault. Blood was everywhere in the body; it was deep inside the bones, and it was present just under the skin. To keep his body at a proper temperature, Quinn needed to keep his blood warm so that it could flow throughout his body and keep it warm.
When body temperature fell on exposure to cold, several protective mechanisms were recruited to generate additional heat. For example, the muscles produce additional heat through shivering. Peripheral vasoconstriction diverted blood flow to organs, such as the heart and brain. However, as less warm blood reaches the skin, body parts such as the fingers, toes, ears, and nose cool more rapidly. If body temperature fell much below a certain point, these protective mechanisms would stop working, and the body couldn't rewarm itself.
As tissue began to freeze, ice crystals were formed within the cells. Rubbing the frozen tissue would promote cell damage from these crystals, leading to more damage Quinn didn't want.
Additionally, as intracellular fluids freeze, extracellular fluid enters the cell, and there is an increase in the levels of extracellular salts due to water transfer. This caused damage even after exiting the frigid region as when the ice melts, there would be an influx of salts into the tissue, further damaging the cell membranes.
Blood got its heat mainly from the energy given off by cellular metabolism, and the cold in the Icy corridor would slow all down the cellular metabolism throughout his body. The moment that happened, hypothermia would set in, and most of his organs, especially the heart and brain, would become sluggish and eventually stop working.
'Blood magic. I need to research upon blood magic,' thought Quinn. Blood magic was classified under Dark Arts, which meant that they did not teach it in Hogwarts. 'All of these problems could be subverted if I can keep an even flow of warm blood throughout my body.'
'I have some books on Blood magic from the travel collection, two that I bought after that, three medi-healing books,' Quinn thought. Quinn tapped his chin and continued, 'There might be some in the restricted section in the library.'
"I might have to search the Room Of Requirement for books on Blood magic," muttered Quinn as he charmed all the pages with dangerous material so that no one could read them.
"Woa-ho! You have no hair." a voice bought Quinn out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Eddie and Marcus looking at him with big grins on their faces.
"You have no eyebrows," said Marcus, moving closer to his bedside.
Quinn grinned and tapped his fingers on his bald head, "Yeah... all of it was damaged beyond repair. Madam Pomfrey had to vanish all of it. It will grow back to their normal length in a day or two."
Eddie lightly squinted his eyes and commented, "Your skin is peeling, looks mad creepy."
Quinn nodded as he stroked his face, "Yup, that too was damaged, so she had to grow a new layer. The old one is going to come out slowly."
"What else got damaged?" asked Marcus as he sat down.
"A lot of my muscles, outer part of my bones, skin, my vocal cords, ears, and some of my organs," Quinn listed things off.
"Wicked! Here you go," said Eddie, "This is the homework for this week." He handed Quinn a parchment roll with all homework topics listed on it.
Quinn noticed Marcus staring at the bed table with a slight frown on his face.
"What's up, mate. Why the frown," asked Quinn.
"How did you get all this stuff? You are the only person I have seen using muggle quill and parchment," asked Marcus, pointing at the paper on Quinn's bed table.
Quinn smirked, "I asked one of the house-elves to bring them to me." Quinn looked proud and continued, "It took praising them regularly, but now they sometimes respond if I call them. I asked them to bring my stuff here."
Eddie sighed and asked, "How did you even see them. I haven't seen a single one in all my time here."
Quinn shrugged but didn't reply. Quinn didn't want to reveal that he regularly visited them at the kitchens and sometimes found house-elves while he was scouting through Recon and greeted them.
Quinn didn't dare the West family house-elf, Polly, because he didn't want his grandfather to know about his current state. Calling Polly would be doing just that. Quinn was sure she would pop here at Hogwarts, take a single look at him, and then pop back to the Manor to inform his grandfather.
"How long are you going to stay here," asked Eddie as he popped a grape from Quinn's bedside stand.
"Three to four more days, and I will be fully healed, back to my usual charming and remarkable self," replied Quinn as he put all his research material so that Marcus and Eddie won't pick them up for a read.
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- (Scene Break) -
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"You are bald!" Quinn sighed as he looked up again to see the two familiar girls standing in front of his bed.
"And, you have no brows! Oh, Merlin, you look mad hilarious!" said the bubbly brunette as she moved closer to him.
Quinn smiled and greeted the two Slytherin girls, "Davis and Greengrass, what caused you two to come here in the Hospital Wing?"
Tracey put her hand on Quinn's bald head while speaking, "We wanted to see how you were doing." She gave his bald top a good rub, giggling all the time she did it.
Quinn shook his head and said, "Thank you for coming. I appreciate it." He looked at Daphne and said, "Greengrass, I haven't seen you since the ball. How are you doing?"
She nodded in return, but Tracey grinned as she danced her way back to Daphne's side, "Oh, yes! The ministry ball where you two danced. A real pity that there weren't any photos."
Daphne rolled her eyes and simultaneously thought, 'Believe me, mother tried to have the photographer click some, but thankfully father prevented her.'
A silly smile appeared on Quinn's face as he recalled Sophie Greengrass from the ball, but then he felt Daphne's glare and cleared his throat and put on a mischievous expression, wiggling his hairless brows, "Oh, fates! To think it would embarrass the great Daphne Greengrass to be seen with someone like me."
He turned to Tracey and asked, "Aren't I pitiful." Giving his best pitiful expression.
Tracey nodded rapidly, siding with Quinn. She turned to Daphne, giving her the same look.
The blonde Slytherin looked at her best friend and at Quinn, showing the same expression. She looked at them as if asking if their expressions were supposed to do something.
Quinn and Tracey deflated and looked at each other.
"Her defenses are quite impregnable," said Tracey.
"We would have to develop a better attack strategy," replied Quinn
Then both of them shook hands like they were lifelong comrades on a journey towards truth.
"Okay, stop this foolishness," said Daphne as she tapped on her wristwatch. "We need to go if we want to reach the class on time."
Quinn nodded to Tracey, who waved him goodbye. He turned to Daphne, who was looking at him.
The blonde opened her mouth and addressed him for this first time, "Get well soon West."
Quinn smiled and replied, "Thank you, Greengrass. I will."
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- (Scene Break) -
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Ten days after the incident in the Icy corridor, Quinn was released from the Hospital Wing.
He looked at Madam Pomfrey as he held her hands, "Matron, you came to me in time of need. Like a sole orb of brightness in a dark world. Like the relief in the world of anguish, you were there for me. You were there for me. I promise I won't ever forget you and visit you every week. You will wait for me, right?" Quinn's voice was gentle and his eyes warm.
Pomfrey withdrew one of her hands from Quinn's and slapped him on the head that now had black hair.
"Why do you have to be so talkative when you aren't reading?" she said with a sigh. "And, please don't come back here. I fear with you here, I won't be able to concentrate with your continuous talking."
Quinn rubbed his head and replied, "No, I already promised that I will visit you, so look forward to my visits. And, I promised you potions, so I have to take care of that." He put on an expression of seriousness and pride, his eyes looking far away, "I am a man of my word."
She sighed and shooed him away, not wanting to argue with her patient for ten days.
Quinn went to the Ravenclaw common room, answered the eagle's riddle on his first try, and entered the room. There, many students congratulated him on his recovery.
Quinn thanked them with a huge grin on his face but had to cut short the conversation because he was running a little late and had to make his way to his class.
He picked his bookbag from his dorm, packed it for his needs, and ran to the Charms classroom for his lesson with Professor Flitwick.
Quinn was two minutes late when he reached the classroom but opened the door without fear. Flitwick and students from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor all turned to look at him.
"May I come in, Professor," asked Quinn with a smile on his face.
Flitwick jumped on his stack of books and chuckled, "Yes, Mr. West. Come in, come in. Take a seat. You look like you have fully recovered."
Quinn nodded and replied as he took a seat, "Yes, sir. I am back to normal. Madam Pomfrey did an outstanding job."
Flitwick nodded and proceeded with his lecture, "Now, where was I? Yes! We were talking about the Slowing charm. Does anyone know what is the use of the Slowing charm?"
Quinn's hand raised immediately at the speed of light.
Flitwick pointed at Quinn, "Yes, Mr. West."
"The Slowing Charm is a charm that could be used to slow the velocity of an object, and if performed with enough mastery, the spell can even cause the target to completely stop," answered Quinn.
"Three points to Ravenclaw. Now, who would tell me the incantation for the Slowing charm."
Quinn's arm shot up once again, showing that he wanted to answer the question. When Flitwick gestured to Quinn, he explained, "The incantation for Slowing charm is Arresto Momentum."
"Excellent, take another five points. Next, who would tell me the wand movement for the Slowing charm."
Once again, Quinn's arm shot up, prompting Flitwick to ask him.
"The wand movement is in the shape of the alphabet {M} with sharp corners, and all the lines are slanting," replied Quinn with no breaks in his voice.
"Excellent, seven points to Ravenclaw," announced Flitwick, sounding extremely happy.
Everybody looked at Quinn, wanting to know what was happening. Usually, Quinn would only answer when the teachers asked him to or wait till no one answered.
Quinn looked at the class and grinned, "I missed the classes. Wait for a day or two; it will pass." He winked and returned to raise his hand for another question.
He kept the behavior for the entire day and answered every question in every class. He was sure that he annoyed a lot of people for the day.
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- (Scene Break) -
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Quinn opened the door to his A.I.D. office and entered it after whole ten days. There was some dust, but with a wave of his hand, the office became clean instantly.
"Now, that is more like it," he smiled and then turned to the door in the glass partition that led to the workshop, but before entering, he checked the safety measures he installed every day before exiting the workshop.
He first checked if the charms on the doors had been triggered. The result came out negative as the charms were still intact. Then Quinn crouched down to see if someone had ripped the strip of paper he pasted between the door and the frame, but the strip was still intact.
Satisfied with his finding, Quinn opened the door, ripping the strip and triggering the charms, and entered his workshop. Once again, the room was cleaned the instant Quinn stepped into the shop.
He walked around the shop, his hand gliding on the tables set up along the shop's walls. He smiled at the various tools hanging off the walls, cabinets, and cupboards holding notes and files on the work he had done here.
Quinn looked up at the ceiling, and with a blink of his eyes, the everlasting candles lit up, illuminating the shop in yellow light. He placed his hands on the center island, looking around the shop.
Quinn took out the cloth on which he built Recon and placed it on the table. He unfolded it and unshrunk it on the center island. He put his hand on the cloth, funneled just a tiny bit of magic into the cloth, and said, "Sun is up, time to wake up."
Quinn's face scrunched up as he saw broken words and lines appeared on the cloth. The cold below the stairs in the Icy corridor had damaged the map.
"Oh, buddy. The cold did a number on you, didn't it," said Quinn as he checked on the damage within the rune clusters in the layers of the map.
After a while, Quinn stood up straight and spread his hand. The next second, various cabinets and cupboards opened up, and numerous vials and tools flew out and set themselves on the table.
Quinn put on his gloves and spoke, "Let's fix you up."
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- (Scene Break) -
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The same night, Quinn walked to the fifth-floor corridor with Recon floating in front of him. He was going to the entrance of the Icy corridor. Quinn wanted to see the Icy vault once more before starting his research on Blood magic.
Upon reaching the wall, he funneled magic into the wall, and just like before, the bricks appeared from below the paint and started to shake before giving way to create a square opening.
Quinn took a breath and stepped inside, immediately twitching upon coming in contact with the cold. As he walked inside, the walls starting freezing over, and icy-blue ice covered the walls.
Finally, Quinn reached the corridor's opening, where the corridor opened up to the extreme cold zone with the vault gate visible just below the short steps. He didn't climb down the steps, not wanting to experience the killing cold.
Slowly Quinn's expression turned furious, and he growled in rage as he shot the vilest and damaging magic he knew on the snowflake icicle in front of the vault gate.
The rage-fueled magic was the strongest Quinn had ever produced.
"F**king vault! You almost killed me, you frozen piece of shit!" yelled the boy who had almost died here before. Quinn kept shooting magic blindly, not even stopping to check if it was working. Gradually, a mist filled the corridor, decreasing the visibility, but Quinn kept shooting spells with accompanying slurs.
He only stopped when Quinn felt exhausted from his magic expenditure. Quinn was quite angry at the incident that almost killed him, and even though it was his fault for being careless. But Quinn needed something to blame, and he chose the Icy vault to take out his anger.
Slowly, the mist lifted, and the gate and snowflake icicle stood unscathed. Not a single scratch could be seen on any surface of ice around the vault.
None of Quinn's magic was able to damage the ice.
"If I can't break you open, then I would learn how to open you." Quinn pointed at the snowflake icicle and the gate and decreed, "Just you wait, I will get to the thing that you are hiding and make it mine."
Then he left without looking back at the vault.
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Quinn West - MC - No hair and a whole lot of emotion.
Madam Pomfrey - Matron/Medi-witch - Worries that Quinn would come back every week, and she is right in her worries.
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