HP: A Magical Journey
chapter-109

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Quinn opened his eyes and, once again, he was in the water. That didn't surprise him. It was the last thing that would surprise him.

He looked to his side and saw that he was lying on a white marbled floor.

'What's the deal here?' asked Quinn to himself and tried to get up, but then things changed.

The second Quinn tried to get up, the entirety of water around him glowed artic-blue, and Quinn's eyes widened because of an emotion he couldn't describe.

All thoughts of getting up from the floor disappeared, and Quinn laid back, not moving a single muscle in his body.

'... What is this?'

A warm and comfortable feeling enveloped Quinn, and it was like nothing he had ever experienced. Quinn felt like he had been living in unrelenting conditions, struggling with the harsh realities of the world, and now he was at the end of the road, finally able to rest in peace.

His taut muscles all over his body relaxed as the magic in the water made him relax.

Without Quinn knowing, the injuries he had healed to completion somehow healed some more and then went even further.

Quinn didn't realize it, but his body was going through a process of healing so thorough and miraculous that it wasn't something he had ever experienced. Things that Quinn's own body didn't realize needed healing were healing.

Every single part of the body was going through healing.

Every system in the eleven organ systems, including the integumentary, skeletal, muscular, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, urinary, and reproductive systems was covered.

Not a single cell in Quinn's body was left behind. Every cell in his body was being filled with a never seen before vitality.

While all this happened, Quinn was busy feeling his magic.

For someone like him, who used all his magic every day, it was needed to know how much magic he had to plan for consumption. Quinn had an excellent awareness of how much magic was there in his body.

Right now, Quinn was feeling something mysterious and enchanting.

'My magic is being regenerated, but at this speed...'

Every magical human had a magical core that held all their magic, and one could increase the capacity of said cores by using more magic. Quinn did that every day by using all his magic and was absolutely confident in declaring that he had the best magic growth in the entire world.

When someone used magic, they also regenerated it back, and everybody had their own magic regeneration speed.

It depended on a few factors:

The size of the magical core: as the capacity increased, so did the recovery speed.

A person's health: if a person was facing injury, was sick because an injury, or facing some kind of affliction, their rate of recovery would be on a down low.

A person's lifestyle: if one lived a healthy lifestyle, the recovery speed would be higher than a person with an unhealthy lifestyle.

Rest: the recovery speed increased when a person was resting. Activities like relaxing or sleeping would exponentially increase the rate of recovery.

And currently, Quinn was feeling his magic recover at a rate that he hadn't ever experienced before. It was even faster than when Quinn was asleep at his best health.

'At this rate, I could recover from zero to hundred within three hours, no, maybe even faster.'

Quinn closed his eyes and immersed in the fabulous feeling. Quinn felt that he could stay in here for his entire life and wouldn't regret a single second of it.

He was feeling so absolutely fantastic that it was borderline euphoric.

Then Quinn felt a very gentle nudge of mental magic against his occlumency shields. It wasn't trying to break into his mind; its intention was different. The mental magic was asking for permission to enter.

Quinn thought for a moment before deciding to send a legilimency probe towards mental magic poking against his shields. He wanted to see if he could find something out before allowing it entry, and the response Quinn got was that it was some kind of memory.

'A memory, how surprising!' thought Quinn, feeling very intrigued.

He had no idea who had constructed the Ivy vault or the Sin vault because of the lack of any kind of trace indicating their creator's identity, so to see a memory made Quinn think he would be able to find who created this vault.

Quinn rescinded the legilimency probe and opened his occlumency shield to let the mental magic carrying a memory come in.

Inside Quinn's mindscape, a mental representation of him looked up to see a glowing water orb followed by various shades of blue manifest, from the lightest of baby blues to the darkest of the midnight blues.

And with that, the memory was revealed with a bright flash of blue.

Outside, Quinn's eyes snapped wide open, and his eyes —both his irises and the sclera— turned a solid glowing arctic blue. His chest raised up as the water surrounding him lifted Quinn up from the white floor, and as he lifted up, his body glowed in different shades of blue.

The incoming memory engulfed his entire being.

...

The memory started with a vision of extremely hot bubbling water. To match that, the water surrounding Quinn heated up, not to the point in the vision, but enough for Quinn to feel the heat.

There was nothing at first, but slowly things started to change as microscopically small organisms emerged and developed in the extremely scorching water. Then the vision seemed to fast forward at an incredible speed as the water started to cool down, and with time which seemed to be eons, different mysterious creatures roamed those waters.

...

The vision switched, and now Quinn saw a gigantic huge Tsunami wave coming right towards him, and within seconds, it crashed against him. The water outside turned turbulent to match the memory and rode all over him.

Rain and storm accompanied the Tsunami waves, creating a tandem whose sole aim was to cause destruction.

The enormity of the Tsunami waves was more terrifying than whatever Quinn had ever seen, and it caused his heart to race in fear. Against the titanic waves, Quinn felt they could erase him like an insignificant bug.

...

The vision shifted, and Quinn found himself among a myriad of fishes swimming underwater. There were all kinds of aquatic creatures that swarmed around and past him; he saw both magical and non-magical creatures gliding around. He looked down to see beautiful coral reefs below him.

He felt a shadow cast upon him and the reefs, and when he looked over, he saw a large blue whale swimming over him. But then what Quinn recognized as a Leviathan appeared above the whale, and the gigantic serpentine dragon dwarfed the whale and cast an even deeper shadow over both him and the blue whale.

...

The image dissolved, and Quinn was suddenly in the air overseeing a forest full of lush and vibrant trees. Then, Quinn heard a rush of water; he turned and saw a horrifying flood trampling towards the woods. Within seconds, the angry flood crashed against the lush tree forest, and he could hear the shaking crunch of trees breaking through the roaring waves of water.

Suddenly, the vision made Quinn descend into the forest, and there he saw the sickening sight of animals that lived within the forest struggling against the flood. Quinn heard the screams and witnessed the death of a beautiful ecosphere rich with flora and fauna, something that would take the area years to recover from.

...

The scene once again disappeared like sand in the air to show a drastic change in the scenery.

Quinn stood at the bank of a river stream, and on the opposite side of the stream was a herd of deer drinking water, and it was not just the deers but all kinds of animals near it that relied on the river.

He looked into the clear water and watched fishes swimming by. Quinn followed a fish with his eyes, and suddenly a heron bird, who was standing by the bank, swooped in with its beak, picked a fish out of the river, and flew away.

...

The vision again went through a change, and now he stood near a pond of steaming water. Quinn stood still for ten seconds staring at the steaming water before, without warning, the water started to bubble, followed by an eruption as a water geyser emerged from the pond.

The water from the geyser came down, steamy mist filled with the area, obstructing Quinn's vision. In the foggy mist, the atmosphere changed from humid wetness to a chilly cold.

And when it cleared, Quinn stood on an icecap over the vast, cold, unforgiving ocean. He was facing a spanning glacier that stretched across the horizon.

Unlike the violent and noisy geyser, the glacier and ice caps were silent, reserved, and deadly.

The icecap beneath Quinn's feet abruptly cracked and, just as abruptly he had appeared, he sank down into the bone-chilling water.

Quinn splashed around in the water; he tried to move and was unexpectedly successful. He raised his body and Quinn found himself coming up a stream of running water.

At the end of the stream, Quinn heard a roaring noise, and when he reached the end of the stream, his eyes popped out because he was flung down from an edge of what seemed to be a gigantic waterfall.

Quinn fell into the blasting water at the base of the waterfall, and suddenly there was no wild water. It became calm, and the model of serenity surrounded him.

He felt his back touch and settle against a surface, and when Quinn opened his eyes, he was back in the Aquatic Vault, his back against the water marble, while staring at the light streaming through the water.

Quinn didn't say anything and silently lay against the white marble floor. His mind was going through the scenes he had seen in the memory and contemplated what he had seen.

His initial hope of seeing the creator of the Aquatic Vault had been dashed, and what he was shown had left a deep impression on his life.

Quinn closed his eyes and let the feelings he was experiencing sink in.

It was an indefinite time after which Quinn opened up his eyes, and they showed tranquility, unagitation, and peace.

The teleportation insignia on Quinn's arm flashed with a blue light and whisked him away from the place, leaving behind a ripple.

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- (Scene Break) -

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The Kraken watched one of its tentacles as it swished back and forth and was about to add another tentacle to create a double swish when its yellow eye caught the special human coming out of the dangerous place.

Kraken's eyes sparkled when it saw the special human, because it had decided today that it was going to push the tiny human a whole seven times before letting him go.

But then the Kraken noticed something odd with the special human. Through its mighty eyes, the Kraken could see a noble blue aura around the special human, something that hadn't been around the tiny human before.

It had seen the same aura once before.

It was a time before the Kraken had come to rest in this place and lived in the oceans. During those times, no creature of water dared to go against its mighty self; all of them bowed their heads to it and feared him.

But one day, a traveler came to its territory, simply passing by, as if he was looking for a place to rest. The traveler had the same appearance as the fish-people (merpeople) that lived along with him now.

But unlike the weak fish-people, the traveler was strong.

The traveler had the same blue aura around him, and the water seemed to talk to him. The water seemed to enjoy moving along the traveler's will, enjoyed his touch, and seemed more lively when the traveler was around.

The Kraken didn't know what the blue aura meant, but it knew that the blue aura was special.

And now it was seeing it for the second time on the special human.

In Kraken's mind, the special human just became more special. More special than almost any human it had ever seen.

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- (Scene Break) -

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Quinn stood on the lakebed in the center of the lake with his eyes closed.

Water was one of the mysterious gifts of nature that supported and held life on earth. Many indigenous communities had known the value of water for a long time. On the surface, water could be seen as food, a means of transport, an element for cleansing, purification, and initiation in cultural ceremonies.

But deep down, water was something much more important, and while everybody knew it, Quinn became aware of it on a deeper level.

'Yet, it's the source,' thought Quinn back to the sentence in the riddle. 'Friar was right; it was the source.'

'Water is The Cradle of Life.'

If the sacred gift of the earth was life. Water was the custodian of life.

Water was sacred because it held life on earth. A seed in the soil does not germinate until it receives water. No life on earth could live without water.

But at the same time, there was a duality to water.

'It can give life, but it can also destroy it at the same time.'

While rain brought life to the earth, storms uprooted the same life that it nurtured.

If water was life, then the absence of it was death. Without water, drought and famine would overrun the earth.

Tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, tidal waves could wipe out all life in its path with no regard. They were the destructive phenomenon of nature that harnessed the power of the thing that covered seventy-one percent of all earth.

No matter how much any species on earth tried to avoid it, they wouldn't be able to come out of it unscathed. Even humans, who built structures that tried to stand up to these agents of destruction, couldn't come out of it without suffering massive losses.

In many mythologies across the world, floods were seen as divine retribution from higher powers sent to destroy the corrupt civilizations so that rebirth could start from those waters.

Water was the driving force of all nature, good or bad.

Quinn had been looking at water from the perspective of magic. He thought about how it could be manipulated, how he could use it for his advantage. To Quinn, it was just something he could use magic on.

The visions he had seen inside the vault made Quinn realize how small his view of water was.

The visions had caused him to gain enlightenment of sorts.

And from the bottom of his heart, Quinn wanted to showcase that enlightenment.

Quinn deeply desired to show what he had experienced. For him, magic was the best way in which he could display his understanding, and the Great Lake was the best canvas, on which the brush of magic would showcase its charm.

He knew that what he was about to do would garner a lot of attention, and if he was found out, it would be a giant pain in the future.

But Quinn couldn't hold it back. Quinn could feel his magic demanded that he do it now; his ego desired it more than anything in the world; every cell inside Quinn's body urged him to do it.

His mind, body, and soul wished for it.

So Quinn let his restraints go.

For this one time, Quinn let desire trump logic and let his ego overtake his identity.

Quinn's eyes opened, and instead of the stone-grey, two orbs of glowing purple greeted the world.

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- (Scene Break) -

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Ivy, Harry, and Lily Potter walked together through a corridor to Lily's private quarter in Hogwarts.

"How are your studies going?" asked Lily as they walked.

Harry, looking at the chocolate card of Flavius Belby and trying to remember why it seemed familiar, shrugged in response.

"Except potions with Snape, everything is fine."

Lily furrowed her brows before sighing, "I have tried to talk to him, but he doesn't seem to want to listen. And Harry, it's Professor Snape."

Harry rolled his eyes in response and shook the card in his hand, hoping that would jog his memory, but he drew a blank.

"What about you, Ivy, dear?" smiled Lily, looking at her daughter. While her son took after his father, her daughter took after her.

Ivy had better grades than Harry, and Lily liked to think it was because of her.

"Everything is fine. Hermione and I are already on revision," answered Ivy smoothly.

The redhead Potter twin took her studies seriously. Unlike Hermione, who seemed to have made books of her daily sustenance, she liked to learn by doing; she enjoyed the practical experience rather than the extensive reading that her best friend enjoyed. That didn't mean that she didn't read; Ivy still read much more than the average person; she just enjoyed casting magic more.

"Bookworms," muttered Harry at the mention of revision.

"Whatever, four eyes," retorted Ivy at the quip.

Lily smiled at her two children's antics before asking, "On the subject of revision, did any of you two buy Quinn West's notes this year? If you haven't, I'll give you the money to buy them; they are quite a good buy."

The Potter twins stilled for a second and didn't reply. Both thought about their interaction with Quinn.

Harry still hadn't talked about Peter Pettigrew with anyone other than Ivy. The twins had decided to research Peter on their own and to simply wait for the day their parents would talk to them about Peter on their own.

Ivy, on the other hand, thought about the time travel events. It didn't help when the events had taken place just a few days ago. She still couldn't wrap her head around what happened that day. Not to mention when she found that Quinn was the one to save her and Harry from the Chamber of Secrets.

As Lily didn't hear a response from her twins she assumed that the two hadn't bought the guides. "If you two want to buy it, I highly recommend them. Come to me for the money if you decide to buy them."

"Yes," replied the Potter twins at the same time.

Ivy sighed and decided to look out at the scenery to distract her from her thoughts, but lo-and-behold, she saw the Great Lake in full view.

'Lovely,' sighed Ivy, but then she stopped in her tracks when she saw ripples on the surface of the lake.

Lily and Harry also slowed when they saw Ivy suddenly stop.

"What is it, Ivy?" asked Lily and walked towards her daughter.

"There are ripples in the lake," replied Ivy and pointed at the Great Lake in the distance.

The mother and son followed Ivy's directions and saw rapid ripples on the surface of the lake.

But the situation changed very quickly when they saw some very drastic changes in the lake.

Their eyes widened to the limit when they saw a drain right in the middle of the lake. It started with a narrow point, but then, the water sank down in a line, and in a few seconds, the water started to split in the middle.

"... The lake is splitting?" spoke Harry, trying to put the scene in front of him in words.

The girls didn't say anything and just stared at the bizarre scene in front of them, and within a minute, the entire lake was split into two parts, and they could see the lakebed path in the middle of the lake.

Lily finally snapped out of it and realized that she had to do something. "I-I have to alert the other professors." She turned to her children and ordered, "You two go to your common room."

Immediately after saying that, she ran off to alert the other faculty.

Ivy and Harry, of course, didn't listen to their mother; they stepped closer to the edge of the corridor and stared at the lake.

Ivy thought about who was causing this, and only one person came to her mind. The person who had come out of the Great Lake, heavily injured.

But just like her previous many suspicions and conjectures about the person, she had no proof that he was the one causing this.

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- (Scene Break) -

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Friar, the Hufflepuff ghost, was gliding his merry way through the walls of Hogwarts. It was just another day of his ghostly life, but that changed when he got out a wall, and right in front of him was the view of the Great Lake.

"In the name of Helga herself! What..." exclaimed Friar as his belly jiggled in shock.

He stared at the spit that was right in the middle of the Great Lake.

The single body of water was turned into two with a clear and visible divide in the middle as the water tried to come back together but couldn't because something was stopping it.

And just when he thought that his ghostly self couldn't be more shocked today, another change happened in the Great Lake, and two whirlpools appeared in the lake, one on each side.

Anyone who could see this would assume that it was because of magic, and Friar was no different. So his next thought was that whose work was this.

Then the answer struck, and he uttered the name.

"Quinn... Is this because of the cursed vault down below?"

At first, he thought it couldn't be Quinn, this feat of magic was too much for a child of Quinn's age, but when he thought about it more, the more the possibility of it being Quinn got stronger.

'If it's indeed Quinn, then how is that child capable of splitting the lake? How strong is that child,' such thoughts revolved in the mind of the ghostly being.

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- (Scene Break) -

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Albus Dumbledore stared out of his window in his office, which was located on the headmaster's tower, and at a height only second to the Astronomy tower.

The headmaster with a long beard, who was over a hundred years old, stared at the Great Lake with his aged eyes full of wisdom.

He had just returned from the ministry after handling some business, and when he was passing by his window with a bowl full of sour candy in his hand, he saw the Great Lake divided into two with a whirlpool on each side.

And now, as Dumbledore continued to stare at the strange and out of the place phenomenon, he saw two massive masses of water come out of the center of whirlpools, floating up into the air.

"Oh my, that's some impressive magic," chuckled Dumbledore in an impressed tone, but his eyes weren't portraying the same emotions.

The blue eyes shined in a calculative and analytical light as Dumbledore stared at the Great Lake.

The holder of the Elder Wand thought about who was doing this and where did they come from.

Dumbledore first eliminated the possibility of the person being a student because the reserves and knowledge of water magic required was something he believed a student couldn't achieve. He knew of a few smart students in the castle, but even the smartest of them couldn't possibly achieve this.

Dumbledore was so sure of it because the brightest student he had seen Hogwarts produce was the one named Tom Riddle, and even he couldn't do this while he was in his school years.

So the remaining options were a professor, a resident of the Great Lake, or an unknown outsider.

He eliminated the Great Lake resident because only merpeople in there could manipulate water, and he was sure that none of them was this capable.

The remaining options were professors or an outsider, and he was leaning towards intruders because none of his professors were this powerful.

"It's an outsider, then. I have to make sure the students are safe," said Dumbledore, and the bowl in his hand levitated to the nearby table as he walked out of the office with the Death Stick in his hand.

But it turned out that by the time he got to the Great Lake, the waters had gone back to normal. Even after investigating, he didn't find anything but rich and heavy traces of advanced water magic.

He talked to the merpeople inside, and the only unusual thing they told him was that the recent upheavals in the lake had been caused by the Giant Squid.

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-*-*-*-*-*-

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Quinn West - MC - Moses!

Ivy Potter - Girl twin - '... This is him, isn't it?'

Harry Potter - Boy twin - Rapidly blinking in confusion.

Lily Potter - Professor - Fan/promoter of the A.I.D. guides.

Friar - Hufflepuff ghost - His belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly.

Albus Dumbledore - Headmaster - Going through a sour candy phase.