Provoking Ire

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"Oh? Greengrass, you say. . . hmm, Greengrass— Sophie Greengrass!" Sirius leaned forward to get a grinning look at Quinn. "It's Sophie's daughter. It's her, isn't she? It is! Oooh, if she's as pretty as her mother, then you got a catch there, kid."

He leaned back into his chair and folded his arms, his eyes taking a faraway look. "I still remember— I tried to pursue her when we were in Hogwarts. A Gryffindor and Slytherin— the forbidden love, right up my alley—

"— she was a Ravenclaw," said Lily

He sighed dramatically, making most eyes roll, "but she never gave me— Sirius Black— the time of the day, it was heart breaking. I even remember bothering Lily—"

"—constantly."

"—about getting a good word because they were bench mates in Arithmancy class, good friends, but she refused to even look at me when I brought up the topic."

"I didn't like you very much back then. You and James were total gits in those days," said Lily bluntly.

"Ah, Lily dear, you know just the words to cheer a man up," smiled Sirius.

On the other hand, James Potter looked to be entirely invested in counting the individual peas on his plate. The Golden Squad, especially the twins, listened and chuckled along with the story. All the while, Ivy didn't let go of Quinn's hand under the table, even while she talked on the table.

"Quinn and Daphne dating each other was a big event in Hogwarts," said Lily, and it sounded weird to all Hogwarts students(including Quinn) when she said: "It even reached McGonagall's ears. I can say on good authority that her ears would perk whenever we talked about it in the faculty office," she giggled. "I heard from Pomona that McGonagall has always been interested in her liked student's relationship— she's quite the consumer of gossip."

Ignoring the looks from the others, Quinn turned to the Potter couple, "I heard that Mrs. Potter was Professor McGonagall's favorite, and I'm sure she was partial to Mr. Potter with him being the Quidditch captain— it seems like she must've been on the lookout on your relationship. I heard it was quite dramatic with Mr. Potter chasing Mrs. Potter for years."

"How do you know that?" asked James.

"Let's just say that Professors really like me," he smiled. "I have an excellent rapport with a certain Scottish witch, and unexpectedly, she tends to get chatty if you find her when she has a drink in her hand."

James looked more interested in his plate than ever, as if he had found gold in his pudding. While Lily looked like she would turn the same color as her hair— having heard that her once professor and now colleague was talking to her students about her quite dramatic relationship.

Sirius threw his head back with roaring laughter. "Oh, that was fantastic!" He turned to Ivy, "Bad luck, eh, Ivy. I remember the last time I met Quinn, I did try to get you together; alas, I, the cherub of love, have failed."

"I am fine, thank you," said Ivy.

And Quinn could tell she was fine. She had been doing all kinds of things with her hand to his hand. Quinn was having doubts if she was really trying to hide the relationship— they were sitting beside a load of people who didn't know about their relationship, and if they didn't know it before, they knew now that he was going out with Daphne. If they got found, he could only imagine what the rest of the evening would look like.

"They have actually come a long way, both of them," said Hermione. "They didn't get along at all when they first met. It went on for a couple years where they— especially Ivy— weren't on the best of terms."

"Really? I couldn't tell." Lily looked at Quinn and Ivy.

"We kept a distance," said Quinn while wondering what was going below the table, 'Oh my magic! It's like she's making up for that.'

"He was a jerk," said Ivy, smiling.

"You started it," Quinn replied. "Those were fun times."

"They were."

Ron spoke with food stuffed in his mouth, "'ow'z zat fhun?"

Quinn glanced at Ron and simply smiled. He contemplated whether he should do something to the Weasley, who really really really bad table manners, but decided against it.

'I am kind, aren't I? I need to be praised; yes, I need to be showered in them.' He didn't want to create any drama in Ivy's home when he was so cordially invited for dinner— and he was trying to make a good impression here.

The conversation continued at the dinner table until they moved back to the lounge, where they started to talk about the real-world circumstances in the country. Quinn was fine with some topics, such as economics and finance, while the other, like politics of the Wizengamot faction, weren't things he liked to talk about— but many things were connected and normal within conversations.

He could tell that James was subtly keeping the topics of conversation closely tied to the Light Faction. He didn't try to stray away from that and listened carefully to what James, Sirius, and Lily spoke, trying to piece together the internal situation of the Light Faction and even the Order of Phoenix, though they didn't really give out any vital information only some tidbits that he used to speculate.

He even had an inkling that James and Sirius, especially James, were trying to hint around him siding towards the Light Faction. Quinn had expected that— he had graduated Hogwarts, stepping into the real world— it was just that he had expected the Grey Faction, even the Dark Faction, to approach him first rather than the Light Faction.

He, of course, restrained to giving any form of commitment to them. He preferred to be faction-less, and if he was to be sided with a faction, he would wait until the very end to make his decision.

After some while, the Potters offered him a drink, but Quinn refused the offer. Right now, any thought of inebriation or any form of drugs made Quinn want to puke out his insides. It was total revulsion.

He took that as a chance to retire for the evening.

"Already?" asked Ivy. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for a little longer?"

"Yeah, it's getting late," said Quinn when he saw that no one was looking at the strangely except Hermione, but that was to be expected.

When he was about to leave, Quinn asked to go to the bathroom. Ivy led him there and took the moment of privacy— a moment where she knew that they wouldn't be seen by the others in the house, and if someone came, she would be alerted about it. But Quinn didn't know about that, so when she pulled him into a snog session, his eyes went wide, and he didn't know what to do with his hands until later when he responded back.

"You have been really confusing today," said Quinn between a kiss. "Didn't we decide not to do something risky?"

"Risky?"

"Like— this."

"You don't like it?"

"It's not not nice."

"It's exciting."

". . . I can't deny that."

Ivy kept him until it was about to get suspicious, and it was the right moment to let go as Harry sprung up just moments later. "Hey, are you two okay?" he said and came upon Ivy standing outside and the door to the bathroom opening with Quinn coming out with a handkerchief in hand.

"Is something wrong?" asked Quinn.

"No, it's nothing," said Harry.

Quinn and Ivy exchanged glances when Harry turned. Ivy winked at him, making Quinn think that this wasn't good for his heart.

Quinn bade farewell to the Potter family along with Sirius, Hermione, and Ron, who say them out to the door. He refused to use the floo, instead of choosing to apparate home(personal choice). He stepped outside the Potter House ward boundary, he waved again to the guards outside, still hidden— they were hidden better since early evening, but not enough. Quinn smiled when he felt them shift a little to his wave; some hid themselves better while others exposed themselves.

He chuckled and walked out of Gordic Hollow. It was the township rules that apparition wasn't allowed within the town borders if it wasn't inside the house wards. And because Quinn wasn't part of the Potters, he wasn't keyed into the house wards, and this couldn't apparate from within the Potter House.

He stepped outside Godric Hollows. The sky had already gone dark, and the moon was glowing brightly with stars clearly visible. The night sky was one of the perks of having the house in the countryside; it was always clear, with the celestial bodies visible.

Quinn stared up at the sky for a while, contemplating if he should fly his way home. But decided that it would be better to apparate and lay on the roof to admire the stars in still-calm.

As he was about to apparate, he felt a flow of magic trigger around him. It was sudden and flowed all around him like a great river, forming a dome.

It took Quinn a surprised-beat, but then his magic flowed outwards, as aggressively as he could pump it. His eyes turned grave as he felt the fluctuation of spatial magic— the space around him was being solidified.

It was an anti-apparition ward.

Quinn straightened up and looked around when he heard the crunching of grass and the turn of stone gravel. Suddenly, figures came out from the dark, all dressed in black robes and silver masks— surrounding him.

"Death Eaters," said Quinn as he counted a dozen of them. "Oh, come on, I just had a really nice evening; let's not ruin it."

"Surrender," said one of the masked Death Eaters.

Quinn turned to the speaker and smirked, "Not a single one of you has their masks down. You don't want someone to know that you're attacking Quinn West. That's not a confident outlook, gentlemen." Behind the smirk, Quinn analyzed the situation. He could now feel isolation wards, blocking sound, and any form of disturbance from going out— they were trying to keep this under wraps— different from the usual Death Eater modus operandi.

"Surrender," the speaker said again and raised his wand with other Death Eaters.

Quinn didn't grace them with an answer. He cracked his neck and unbuttoned the buttons on his vest. "I ate a bit too much," he said, "you guys came at the right time; now, I can exercise it off a little."

He didn't waste a beat, turned to the sole speaker, and let out a gnarly shearing spell. The Death Eater wasn't expecting the attack. There was no wand in Quinn's hand after all. A shield was pulled up, but the half-baked shield was sheared through like a hot knife against butter. Quinn didn't stop and charged another powerful spell towards the same Death Eater. There was solid contact, and he went flying back like a cannonball, smashing into a tree.

The other Death Eaters responded and let a blinding array of spells, all different colors with varying effects. Quinn's magic dumped into the ground, and the earth around him rose up like spikes, forming a rough dome.

The magic ripped the earthen dome apart, but no spell made it through.

Quinn's mind zapped with activity. He triggered his spells, and the flying chunks of the earth all transfigured into pure steel. The lumps of stell froze in-air and warped into spears.

The Death Eaters all pulled up their protective spells to guard.

Quinn was expecting that and welcomed it. He now had a moment to assess the situation. It was the first time since he had been aggressively attacked by multiple opponents. He was experienced with facing multiple opponents, but that was when he had prepared for it, when they weren't expecting him.

This time they had prepared for him.

And they had prepared indeed.

As Quinn was concentrating on the eleven Death Eaters, a spell came from within the woods just outside Godric Hollows. Quinn noticed the spell, but just in time. He turned, and out of instinct, ice crystalized between him and the spell.

The ice seemed to have not entirely crystallized as the silver spell melted through the ice and struck Quinn.

It was like a jolt of electric current coursing through his body. Quinn felt himself lose control of his body and fell down onto his knees, and for a moment, there wasn't anything he could do to stop his fall.

A fear bubbled inside him, gripping his heart. He didn't like it. Losing control of his body. He wasn't going to go through that ever again. An obscene amount of magic burst out inside Quinn's body. The effects of the spells were purged.

Quinn got up on his feet, and he only had a few words for the Death Eaters.

"You guys are lucky. So lucky that I don't have my mask and gear."

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Quinn West - MC - I loathe being not in control.

FictionOnlyReader - Author - Let's start the next mini-arc. 2-3 chapters at max.

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The link is in the synopsis!