Reason, Invite, Going Home

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"Mr. West, that was unnecessarily risky for you to attack like that," said Dumbledore as he conjured ropes around Barty Crouch Jr. (still in Moody-form).

"I know, Headmaster," said Quinn, "even if I didn't do it, you would have taken care of Mr. Crouch here — you were only trying to get information out of him. . . . But I had that element of surprise and speed at my side, so I took it — no biggie."

Dumbledore nodded. It was easier to get information out of Barty Jr. when he was feeling confident than when he was in captivity. 'Though, I could have just used a little Legilimency to get what I want — well, I'll do it moving forward.'

Quinn turned to Harry, "Harry, even though it was a rough night, I have to say — congratulations on winning the Tri-wizard tournament."

". . . .Thank you," said Harry, and a smile made its way to his face; everybody had been worried sick since he had returned and acted like he was made out of fragile glass. It was nice to be congratulated and treated as usual.

"I actually had a very amazing ceremony planned to crown the winning champion — fireworks, music, the whole gig. It was going to be grand. . . . a pity that we ended up having to cancel it."

"I agree; it truly was a damper on the festivities," said Dumbledore in agreement.

The Potters stared at the two, a little confused by the calm disposition displayed by Quinn and Dumbledore — they were acting as if the canceled winner's celebration ceremony was the biggest displeasure of yesterday night — and between two of them, one of them had lost an eye, and other had to deal with consequences of a ruthless Dark Lord's return.

The Potter family(sans Harry) and Dumbledore were thrown out of the hospital wing by Poppy for making too much noise; she wanted to throw out Quinn too but couldn't because he was under her observation.

Quinn didn't have anything to do to pass his time, so he sat down on Harry's bed to make idle conversation with him. "So, Harry," he started, "what's in your plans for the summers? Anything special planned after the challenging months spent as a champion?"

"I honestly had no idea," said Harry, "I wasn't thinking about the future, you know. I was a little too occupied by what was going in the moment to think about the after," he took in a deep breath, "if I think about it now, probably play a lot of quidditch. . . . but Voldemort is back, so I don't think that's going to work."

"Is he really back?"

"Yeah, he is," told Harry, "saw him with my own eyes and felt it through my own magic," he stared at Quinn, "do you. . . . believe me?"

"I do. I mean, I can't think of a reason you would want to lie about it. If you wanted attention — you just won the Tri-wizard tournament; combine it with your status as the Boy-Who-Lived, and that's got you covered for a good while," said Quinn with a smile while thinking, 'plus, I was the one who allowed your abduction.'

The decision to let Voldemort resurrect himself through Harry's blood was one that Quinn had thought a lot about. It had taken him countless sessions of deep thinking, weighing pros and cons, making sense of his thoughts, and analyzing the risk involved.

Quinn's judgment hinged upon a single moment in the original timeline, the one weaved by the Duchess of Magic herself. It was the moment when Harry Potter surrendered himself to Voldemort and let himself be killed — after repeated encounters with the Dark Lord where Harry struggled with his life, he had decided to stop and let Voldemort kill him because of the deal proposed by the Dark Lord himself in return for the safety of all who rebelled and fought against him.

Voldemort had wasted no time and quickly cursed his prophesized doom dead with the eerie green Killing Curse. The result was instant death, as one would expect. But this great work of fiction was named Harry Potter, and things were far from over — Harry arrived at a kind-off Limbo — a strange between life and death.

The original Harry found himself in a pearly white, misty version of King's Cross Railway Station. He also finds a grotesque being struggling to survive nearby, and of course, all of this could be choked up to be some kind of magic; after all, he lived in a magical world.

But then Dumbledore, who was a hundred percent dead, approaches him, and Harry realizes that this was a place where he could interact with the dead without the power of an artifact like the Ressurection Stone and that he was truly dead — but. . . . this was Harry's perception of the situation, his assumption based on things he experienced.

However, Quinn believed that it was the Ressurection Stone that Harry had with him at his moment of death responsible for his presence at the Limbo and his meeting with the dead Dumbledore.

After all, Harry Potter wasn't dead.

Voldemort, in his greed, his cruelty, had taken Harry's blood to resurrect himself. The Dark Lord could have anyone who fits the description of his enemy to supply the blood for the ritual, but he chose Harry Potter.

Why?

It was because of the blood protection cast by the original Lily Potter through her sacrifice (which in Quinn's timeline was cast by Harry's grandmother: Euphemia Potter). He believed that by taking in the blood of the blessed Harry, he would also receive the protection, thus making the protection redundant.

His thinking, according to Quinn, was correct. . . . but incomplete.

It wasn't Voldemort's fault — he didn't have the complete information. Because the host soul couldn't detect the presence of the cut-off Horcruxes, Voldemort didn't know that his actions of cutting his soul several times had caused it to become unstable. What he didn't know was the day that he went to kill baby Harry, but ended had failed, and when Voldemort escaped, he left with much less than Voldemort thought he had.

He, in the obvious trauma of losing his body, hadn't noticed that he had left a portion of his soul behind — in the form of an unintended Horcrux — the Horcrux in the form of the infamous scar defined the Boy-Who-Lived.

Voldemort had tethered his life to Harry's life.

That was the sole reason why Quinn decided to let the event took place.

If Voldemort was to be taken down, Quinn either had to find a way to get rid of the Horcrux in Harry's scar or kill Harry Potter. The latter was something Quinn didn't want to do, and there was no information on how to diffuse a living-Horcrux; at least, Quinn hadn't found one yet.

So, the problem had presented itself, and Quinn needed to do the logical thing — which was to find a solution. So he began from the start and chained all of his knowledge about the original timeline — it turned out that the answer was on the most significant turning point of the magical saga.

It was the day Voldemort regained his body and re-attained his full power.

When Voldemort had taken Harry's blood, he had indeed found a way to bypass the sacrifice's protection. . . . but, it turned out that "he" was the only one who got that advantage.

If someone with perfect knowledge (or even incomplete knowledge like Quinn) was to look back on the fateful day that the Dark Lord met the soon-to-be Boy-Who-Lived, they would find that in the series of events, Voldemort had cast the Killing Curse, followed by Euphemia Potter countering it by the sacrificial protection, which then shielded Harry from the Killing Curse by bouncing it back at Voldemort and maybe it was because that the Killing Curse had reacted with sacrificial protection, its nature had been slightly altered causing Voldemort to lose his body.

. . . . It was only after all that Voldemort's unstable soul fragment had attached itself to Harry.

'Meaning that small soul fragment didn't get the protection of Euphemia's sacrifice,' that was the conclusion that Quinn came to. Voldemort's main soul, the host soul, had gotten protection because of Harry's blood, but the Horcrux inside Harry was still as unprotected as it was from day one.

'Maybe that was why Voldemort's stronger soul, even if it was only a fragment wasn't able to take over Harry's weaker soul — because the protection prevented it from doing so — and because Voldemort's ritual didn't affect the Horcrux, it still couldn't take over Harry.' And even though Quinn classified this chain of thought as a 'maybe,' he was sure that this was the case. . . . because wasn't his case a similar one and his target didn't have any sort of protection.

The Horcrux might have been a part of Harry Potter since that day, but in the end, it was still Voldemort. 'So, when Voldemort cast the Killing Curse in the Forbidden Forest, the protection certainly worked and protected Harry's soul, leaving the Killing Curse to strike the unprotected Horcrux.'

That was the theory that Quinn came up with — Voldemort's action that was supposed to eliminate his weakness was the reason that doomed.

As for the reason why Harry's soul reached the Limbo even though he wasn't dead? Quinn thought that the answer was a mix of Killing Curse's soul-ejecting effect and the thing in Harry's pocket when he died.

Quinn stared at Harry thinking, 'Sorry, man, but it seems you will once again have to get hit by the Killing Curse from Voldemort — but don't worry, Voldemort and I got you covered.'

"So, what have you planned for the summer?" asked Harry in return.

"Hmm, first, I'll have to go to a few people's houses to pacify their worries," said Quinn with a wry smile — his friends were already on the Hogwarts Express to their homes. "I'm not sure what I would do for the rest of the summer; I don't have concrete plans. Like you, I too got a bit too involved in what happened this year."

"Then how about you come to my and Ivy's birthday. We would love to have you there," smiled Harry. Quinn had helped him this year, and he had technically just saved Ivy from danger.

"Your and Ivy's birthday, huh," Quinn brows and nose scrunched up slightly, "it's on the 31st of July, you know. . . . that's right in the middle of the summer break. . . . I am usually very busy at that time," he sighed, "Alright, you have so generously invited so I will come to the Potter Twins' birthday bash."

"Nice," smiled Harry.

"What do you want for your gift?"

". . . . A quidditch team."

". . . . I like you, Potter, but not that much."

"Well, I tried. Get me anything man, I like a surprise."

"Alright, I'll see that you like my gift," said Quinn, "what about Ivy? What would she like?"

"Hmm, maybe a book. Ivy might not be Hermione, but she likes her books."

"That's my specialty. I'll get a good one," said Quinn in complete confidence; when it came to books, he was the boss, plus — 'Project Babel was a success,' he thought.

"Uhm, Quinn. . . ." called Harry.

"Yeah?" returned Quinn, then noticed the expression on Harry's face, "what's wrong."

"It sort of slipped my mind but," Harry pointed at Quinn's eyepatch, "that was caused by Voldemort — by Wormtail. . . . Peter Pettigrew, who got the spell from Voldemort."

". . . . You're saying that the Dark Lord costed me my eye?"

Harry nodded.

"Are you sure, Harry? Are you absolutely sure?"

Harry was a little taken back by the serious tone from Quinn, "Y-Yeah, I'm sure. He said so himself. Voldemort couldn't have me seen disappear, so he had to stop your magic."

Then Harry saw Quinn's hand clench, which worried him, but just before Harry could say something, Quinn raised his fist and shook it. . . . in celebration.

"Yeah! I knew it!" exclaimed Quinn loudly, "I knew my magic wasn't faulty! My magic can never be faulty," he then laughed, "take that, Madam Pomfrey," the matron was, of course, not present.

"Huh?" uttered Harry, "What—"

But before he could continue, Quinn brought down his hands onto his shoulders and gripped them tightly, "You can't tell this to anyone, Harry. Not your family, not your friends, and especially to Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Eh, why?"

"If my grandfather gets a whiff of this. Not only will he take me out of Hogwarts and move me to another school out of the British Isles, but he might also move against Voldemort as retaliation, and I don't want that to happen," Quinn pulled his most severe tone.

"I-I get the first part, but why the second. . . ."

"I've read about the First British Wizarding War," sighed Quinn, "a lot of people died, Harry. The Dark Lord's reign was full of blood and death for those who opposed him. During that time, the Wests remained neutral — my grandfather neither supported nor opposed the Dark Lord and even went as far as to flee the country during the high point of the way," he looked straight into Harry's eyes to get his point across, "my family is powerful Harry. They could hire ample security to ensure their safety, but my grandfather or anyone in my family won't do that; they'll flee the country if the Dark Lord gains control and establish his reign. . . . but if they know that my injury was caused by the Dark Lord, my grandfather will get involved. . . . he'll invest our family resource to enact revenge. I don't want that. . . . I don't want my family to be involved in the war. . . . you know what I'm talking about, don't you, Harry?"

Harry nodded. He would hate it if something happened to his family. Ivy getting dragged into the Chamber of Secrets was one of the worst experiences of his life; he wouldn't have that kind of experience for anyone.

"I understand, mate," he assured Quinn, "I'll keep this a secret. I promise."

"Thank you, Harry," smiled Quinn — as Barty Crouch Junior had said, it was easy to manipulate decent people.

The West family might not get involved, but he had every intention to get involved.

. . .

After talking to Harry for a while, the Boy-Who-Lived expressed his desire to get some sleep, he hadn't slept last night because of the stressful experience, and it seemed that the talk with Quinn had somewhat helped him calm his nerves.

Quinn excused himself before going into Poppy's personal library to see if something interested him. He found a book related to his current eye injury and started reading it to upskill his knowledge. He walked back and forth across the hospital wings' floor with the healing book in hand.

"Quinn."

The call of his name made him turn around to see a well-suited man standing with Poppy, who seemed to be acting strange.

'Is she blushing?' thought Quinn, but threw that thought out as it seemed absurd. Instead, he focused on the man and smiled, "Uncle Elliot."

The perfect example of a gentleman removed his fedora as he gazed at Quinn with his eyepatched eye. He had already got the gist of Quinn's situation from the matron who had guided him in, but seeing Quinn with his own eyes did put him to ease.

"Young master. . . .You should be careful about experimenting with magic. You were lucky this time, getting out with only losing an eye, and that already is too much in my book," sighed Elliot Dalton, walking near Quinn to get a good look at him.

"Sorry to worry you," said Quinn, looking at the taller Elliot, "I'll be careful moving forward."

"See that you do," Elliot moved Quinn's head by the chin, "how're you feeling? Any discomfort?"

"Nothing except for the missing eye messing with spatial perception and that I have a huge blind spot on one side," replied Quinn; he could only imagine who this would affect his daily Muay Thai training.

"Hmm, I already have a medi-healer waiting for you at the manor."

"There's no need for a healer," said Quinn, "I can grow it back on my own. It's—"

" "No!" "

Quinn backed up a step from the in-sync response from Poppy and Elliot.

"You'll get treated by a proper, trained, certified healer — not buts and ifs," said Poppy in a no-nonsense tone, and Elliot nodded in support.

". . . . Okay," said Quinn, sounding defeated.

Quinn had already packed all of his things into his suitcase the day before yesterday; thus, after picking up luggage, Elliot and Quinn immediately left.

"So. . . . did you talk to grandfather?" asked Quinn as they walked through the Hogwarts ground, heading out so that they could apparate back to the West estate.

"He was in a meeting when I gave him the news," replied Elliot, "he'll meet you tonight," he turned to Quinn, "we all realize that magic can sometimes be dangerous, and injuries like this will come in future — but do try to be more careful."

Quinn could nod in response. He couldn't tell that Voldemort was the reason and not his magic. 'One day, I'll show the world. Mwahaha, ahem, yeah,' he thought.

"What about Lia?" he asked.

"Get ready to get yelled at a lot."

"Ugh, shouldn't have done this entire thing — not worth it."

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Quinn West - MC - Summer, huh. Well, need to book the 31st of July on my calendar.

Harry Potter - Boy-Who-Lived - I'll keep a secret.

Albus Dumbledore - About to get real busy - I don't get paid enough for this.

Poppy Pomfrey - First time meeting Elliot - Oh my, what a gentleman. . . .

Elliot Dalton - Perfect Gentleman - Can absolutely rock a fedora.

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