Chapter 24 - Potters, Twins, And A.I.D

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In the second week of August, Quinn decided to go to Diagon Alley for his annual visit. He didn't have to buy the books, but he did want some potion supplies like cauldrons of different sizes and materials and Rune equipment.

Near the Floo-fireplace in the West Manor, Quinn stood with George and Elliot.

"Are you sure you would be fine on your own?" asked George as he was worried about Quinn going to Diagon Alley alone without any supervision.

Quinn nodded and assured him, "Yes, I will make sure to be careful. I have the portkey that you gave me," Quinn fished out a thin silver chain necklace from under his shirt, "I will immediately activate it if I get in trouble."

"Alright. And, you have your wand? Don't worry about the underage magic restriction; use magic in case of emergency. I will handle the ministry if they send you a notice." George didn't know that Quinn's real wand was locked in his suitcase, and the fake wand with him didn't have a trace on it. As long as Quinn was considered, he could do magic all day long in public, and he still won't get a single notice from the ministry.

Finally, George nodded and nudged his chin towards the fireplace. Quinn acknowledged, and with a last look of goodbye, he threw the floo-powder in the fireplace, watching it turn green, and spoke, "Diagon Alley." Then he stepped in and disappeared from the West Manor into the green jets of flames.

Elliot looked at George and comforted, "He will be fine. Quinn is a responsible child and wise beyond his age."

George sighed and replied while staring at the flames of the fireplace, "I hope so, old friend. I am just nervous because it is his first time going out on his own."

Elliot smiled and recalled, "If his letters from Hogwarts are any indication, then he loves to roam around the castle, exploring. It was just a matter of time before Quinn would have explored outside. And you are forgetting how much he pulled us during our travel with him; he wanted to see everything."

George fondly remembered the memories and chuckled, " I thought I was getting on with the age because the little fella never got tired and always wanted to do something new."

Elliot and George exited the room while reminiscing about the past.

- (Scene Break) -

On the other side, Quinn was walking among the crowd of people in Diagon Alley. It was nice to be among this many people after being at the West Manor for a month. He missed being able to just look at a person and read their surface thoughts. Now, in Diagon Alley, Quinn had access to so many unprotected minds.

'Mr. Alan was right; this can get addictive.' Quinn smiled as he heard random stranger's thoughts. Quinn had discovered that people's thoughts at a market could be a fine source of humor. Some ladies were bitching about other ladies, children and men were pinning after quidditch brooms, and vendors/shop owners were mentally smirking about ripping off customers. Quinn could hear all sorts of fun things from the crowd as he weaved through the waves of people.

First, Quinn went to Gringotts to withdraw money and then went to the potion store to order cauldrons of different configurations and crystal vials. Crushers, made from different metals. Mortar and pestles of specific stones. Quinn was in the process of expanding his potion repertoire, and the ingredients and preparations were getting complicated.

After bargaining the price to the lowest price by reading the shop owner's mind and getting free shipping, Quinn skipped to the Rune supplies store.

Runes was an application of magic that utilized magic by means of language. Runes were symbols, graphemes, morphemes, logograms, hieroglyphs, and all kinds of scripts that supported magic. Each rune had its own name and a variety of esoteric meanings that represent the metaphysical concepts, the so-called genetic code of the universe. The user must understand the meanings of the runes and how they apply to their intended use.

But, you couldn't just take a pen and write runes on paper and expect it to work. No, you needed specific materials to make runes work. If you were writing runes on paper/parchments, you needed special parchment that sustained magic and specific ink blends that conducted magic. If you were etching runes into metals or wood, you needed carving tools that would help precisely etch symbols into the material. Staining solutions that would bind magic into the wood or mixtures that prepared metals for sustaining and holding runic magic.

Quinn also realized that a lot of magic branches crossed each other at some point. Charms coincided with Potions in ingredient preparation. Transfiguration concepts were used in Transmutation and vice versa. Dark Arts and Defense Against the Dark Arts were two sides of the same coin. Arithmancy was used in almost every field of magic. You needed to know how to brew potions for solutions to draw runes so on and so forth. Herbology was used in Potions and then in turn in Runic magic. Alchemy was even more complicated, but that would be a discussion for a different time.

After yet another victory in bargaining by employing legilimency,

Quinn happily exited the rune equipment store in Horizont Alley. Thanking the lax behavior of the magical world. He pitied the people who didn't know occlumency and were clueless to the dangers of being their minds read.

'ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ Novel(B) in.ᴄᴏᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴀsᴛᴇʀ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ sᴘᴇᴇᴅ.',

He looked around and thought, 'Well, I am done. I guess walking around wouldn't hurt. See if something catches my eye.' As he was walking the street, Quinn saw a crowd standing in front of the Flourish and Blotts.

Quinn got curious and walked to a person in the crowd and asked, "Hey, what is going on?"

The adult took a single glance at Quinn before turning back to look into the bookstore, "They are saying that the Boy-Who-Lived is in the store. People are waiting for him to come out."

Quinn raised his eyebrows at this piece of information, 'Potter, huh?' The reputation of Potters was much more prominent than canon Harry's fame. Potters have been active in the Britain magical world, so they had been in the public eye, unlike when canon Harry was isolated from the magical world.

Quinn thought about what he should do, and after thinking for a few moments, he smiled and yelled, "Make way, Hogwarts student incoming! Let me through... Yeah, I am talking to you; get out of the way... Hogwarts students, Hogwarts students. A Hogwarts student wants to buy some books! Get the hell out of my way, people!"

Quinn shamelessly pushed his way through the crowd and knocked on the door to get the manager's attention. The manager looked at the door, thinking it would be a person from the crowd, and wanted to scold them, but then he saw Quinn waving his hand at him with a smile.

The manager cracked the door a little and heard Quinn speak, "Hogwarts, want to buy books. I am alone, so don't worry about me bringing someone in the store."

The manager smiled apologetically and let Quinn in and spoke, "Sorry about all of this. I can't do much about the crowd outside."

Quinn shook his head and said in understanding, "Don't worry, I understand. Your business would go under if you refused to sell to the Boy-Who-Lived."

The manager smiled a little before asking, "Do you need help with finding something?" Quinn shook his head and replied, "Na, I am fine. You should stay here at the door; I would rather take time in peace than shop with people flooding into the shop."

After conversing with the manager, Quinn headed into the bookshop and made his way to the magazine section. He wanted to grab a copy of the magazines; Transfiguration Monthly and Popular Potions before taking a look at this world's Harry Potter, and if he was here, then the rest of the Potters would be here too.

He grabbed the magazines and was going to go search for the Potters, but the cover of Popular Potions caught his interest. "Ooh, they found a use for Doxy's saliva! So interesting!" but then Quinn stopped and reprimanded himself, "No! What are you doing man? You can read this later." Quinn slipped the magazines under his arms and then set out to get a look at the Potters.

The first person he found was surprisingly not a Potter, but a Weasley. Quinn saw Percy Weasley browsing through a bookshelf, and it made him wonder, 'Are Weasleys friends with the Potters? Both the parents were in Dumbledore's Order Of Pheonix.'

Quinn slipped past Percy and shifted the shelves to find a Potter and found a Potter. He found the smartest witch of her generation, Lily Potter. She was just as the books had described her; a beautiful woman with dark red shoulder-length hair and almond-shaped green eyes. Quinn has once wondered if the green eyes were such a big deal, but looking at Lily Potter's green eyes made him realize that Harry Potter's green eyes might just be his greatest feature because Lily's green eyes were really mesmerizing.

She was reading a book, so she didn't notice Quinn staring at her. And he also decided that he had stared enough and moved on to find his next target and once again found the Weasleys, and this time he found three of them; Arthur Weasley, Molly Weasley, and their youngest son, Ronald Weasley. Quinn stopped and heard what they were talking about, and the conversation was about Ron whining about wanting new books while Molly was having nothing of it and saying that he would use the twins' books, while Arthur was standing there silently, not saying a word.

Quinn could understand Ron not wanting hand-me-downs from his brother. No young child wanted to use hand-me-downs. But with the Weasley family's financial situation, new books were not an option. Education was an expensive affair, after all.

Quinn sidestepped the heated family discussion and walked to the next row of shelves. He immediately came face-to-face with the Weasley twins, and they recognized him. They walked close to him and spoke, "Quinn West." "Ravenclaw." "Smartest in his year." "Top of his class." "And, we meet him here at the bookshop." "Not a surprise at all."

Quinn smiled at the twin talk and greeted, "It is nice to meet you two as well. The crowd outside is insane, isn't it?"

The twins nodded and answered, "The Boy-Who-Lived is here." "The people want to see their savior." "To think they don't tire of surrounding him after ten years." "Speaking of." "Did you see him?"

Quinn shook his head answered, "Not yet, but I did see Mrs. Potter. She was reading a book. Who else is here?"

"Potter Twins." "Mr. and Mrs. Potter." "Us, Weasley Twins." "Percy, our brother." "Ron, our younger brother, and our parents." spoke the twins with perfect synchroneity

"Do the Potter-Twins speak like you two?" asked Quinn, to which they snorted in unison, "No, those two are opposite to each other." "You will understand when they come to the school." "We are one of a kind." "It is a pity." "We could have used them to prank McGonagall." "Alas, it is not possible."

Quinn chuckled and thought about something before fishing out a business/calling card from his pocket and handed it to the twins. The card was black in the background with gold writing. It was the card for Quinn's consultation service that he named as A.I.D. It was a simple card with the letters A, I, and D, and under it was the room number and floor of Quinn's new room of operation.

"What is this?" asked one twin.

"If you want a solution to a problem or any task that needs assistance, or if you want any information you want to know, come to this room, and I would help you for a price. It doesn't have to be money; I can work with IOUs (I owe you). Just make sure to only come to this room when there is a golden {IN} written on the backside of the card," explained Quinn. He had charmed the card to show an {IN} when he was available for consultation.

The twins tilted their heads and asked, "How do we know you can get the job done." "And, keep things a secret." "How will you gather information?" "Are you any good?" "Why should we come to you?"

'',

Quinn smiled and motioned them to come closer and whispered, "I am good. Do you know why? Because I know about the map that you guys have. What was it? Marauder's map, and ah, what were the words?" Quinn smirked and quoted, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Quinn felt elated seeing the twins' stunned and silent faces and continued, "Think what would happen if one of the people you pranked know about the map and tattled to the teachers. The map must be quite important to you, right?"

The twins looked at each other, and one of them spoke, "The map is useful, but we don't need it that much." They had turned defensive and were trying to not seem nervous.

Quinn's smile widened and continued, "Oh well, then you won't mind if McGonagall knew about the secret passages, would you? Or, are they also not important?"

The twins sucked in sharp breaths and blurted, "Okay, we understand!" "You are good." "No, you are great!" "We kneel before your prowess." "We will come to you if we have any problems."

Quinn chuckled and finished, "Good, now if you see someone having a problem, come to me, and I will give you one of these cards to give to them. Only people with the card would be able to enter the room." He patted them on their shoulders and said, "Now I will go and get a look at the rest of the Potters. See you later. Let's hope we can work together in the future."

He walked past them and waved them goodbye without looking at them.

In one aisle, Quinn came to find the Potter father and son duo. Quinn could see the stunning similarity between them. The only difference Quinn could see was their eyes.

The father-son duo was looking at the book, Curses, and Counter-Curses. [Bewitch your friends and befuddle your enemies with the latest revenge: Hair loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying, and much, much more.]

It was a classic book for a prankster, and from the look on their faces, Quinn could understand the personality of this iteration of Harry Potter.

'He is going to be a pain in the ass, isn't he?' If Harry Potter was anything like the younger James Potter, then there were chances that Harry would go around the school pranking people.

'I wonder if this Harry would have a saving people thing,' wondered Quinn. Harry Potter's willingness to help people and charge into dangerous situations was one of his good(?) qualities, but Quinn also thought, 'But... if he doesn't head into those situations, maybe it will be easier to solve those problems all by myself. One less variable less to worry about.'

He left them alone and headed to find the brand new unknown addition to the Potter family. Lily and James were dead in the canon, but this one didn't exist at all. And, in the deepest corner of the bookstore, Quinn found her. He had seen photos of her, but all of them were black and white in color, so Quinn noticed she had the same dark red hair but longer than her mother's and stopped above her mid-back, and her eyes were startlingly green.

Ivy Potter, the twin of Boy-Who-Lived, the Potter Princess, was sitting on the floor holding a book in one hand and imitating wand movements with her other hand. She was engrossed in her book, just like Quinn had seen her mother do a few minutes ago.

If Harry Potter was going to be like James Potter, then from Quinn's first impression of Ivy Potter, she was definitely going to be Lily Potter.

Quinn didn't say and just observed the anomaly in front of him, wondering what role she would play in the future. But if one thing was for sure, then it would be that she would be an integral part of the future, all Potters would be. They were at the center of things in Britain.

Quinn snapped out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps heading his way and decided to leave the spot and walked away. He didn't notice that the red-haired girl also heard the footsteps causing her to look away from her book. When she looked up, she was able to get a clear look at Quinn as he was leaving.

She wondered who he was, but her mother's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Ivy, it is time to go." And she wouldn't recall the black-haired boy until she would see him at Hogwarts.

Time passed, and it was once again time for going to Hogwarts. Time for Quinn's second year had come.

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End of Volume 2: Hogwarts: Year One

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Quinn West - MC - Created the consultation service A.I.D (Assistance In Distress)

Weasley Twins - Masters of Twinspeak - Holders of First-Gen A.I.D cards.

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The link is in the synopsis!