The Victoria Quinton Saga: The Oleander Circle
Chapter 1: Kissed and Punched
Victoria's hands shook as she waited for Professor Minerva Mcgonagall to disclose the end-of-year results for the Wizardry Module of this year: On a Wizard's Odyessy. She imagined carrying the result slips home, showing it to their parents, getting ready to see their faces of disapproval. She had not been excelling in this module and screwing up tests as usual for the other modules. There was no hope that she would be able to clinch a Marvel for this year.
"Victoria Marie Lily Quinton!" Professor Mcgonagall's voice rang the entire hall.
She jumped off her seat, banging against the table leg. She could hear snickers and murmurs behind her. Blushing, she walked towards the headmistress with her best pride and took the report slip. She then walked back towards her seat without hesitation and looked at the slip.
Victoria Marie Lily Quinton
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry End-Of-Year Results Slip
The following results are calculated according to our new educational decree by Professor Dolores Umbridge, Head Minister Secretary Of Ministry Of Magic, and Head Of Witchcraft and Wizardry Education Decrees.
M- Marvel(Outstanding Achievement)
S-Satisfactory(Fairly Outstanding Achievement)
P- Poor(Unsatisfactory Achievement)
T- Troll(Failure)
Victoria Marie Lily Quinton has achieved:
Astronomy- P
Herbology-S
History Of Magic-S
Potions- M
Defence Against The Dark Arts-S
Charms-S
Transfiguration-S
Arithmancy-S
Care Of Magical Creatures-S
The sight of the results left Victoria dumbfounded. She couldn't have gotten that well, especially for Potions, and getting a few Satisfactorys for most subjects(except for Astronomy, it has not been her cup of tea). She grinned to herself. Hufflepuffs are not that academically poor. She smirked as she turned her head to face Lavina Ravensgood, a girl from Ravenclaw, who had been boasting about Ravenclaw's intelligence and looking down on Hufflepuff's stupidity.
"Don't be proud, you pig brain! I will come back for you!" Lavina glared at Victoria with her brows furrowed as Professor Mcgonagall had announced the end of the results checking.
"Dream on!" Victoria glared back.
Victoria sashayed out of Lavina's way, bringing her breasts up and her body straight and firm. Even Hufflepuffs, considered the most modest and humble of all houses in Hogwarts, have their pride too. And this is seen in Victoria. She took pride in almost anything, even her fancy dresses hidden inside the recesses of her vanishing wardrobe. Every weekend, she would put up one of her lacey dresses and wandered out into Hogsmeade with a Cherry Pink Handbag from Burberry, brought by her mother from the Muggle World. Her mother, Mrs Quinton, worked in the Ministry Of Magic as a lawyer of the secrecies of magic. She had an interest in investigating Muggle handbags and had been constantly travelling around the Muggle World to collect handbags and other woman accessories. Her father considered that a foolish habit and a waste of time. Recently, from a letter written by her brother, Caleb, Mrs Quinton had been arguing with Mr Quinton about some perfume called Chanel, where Mr Quinton had called it as an object of unworthy attention to the Wizarding World.
Lost in her own world, Victoria did not realize that she had bumped against someone, and she felt something soft, somebody's lips. Her heart skipped a beat, hoping that it was not a guy. A whiff of lemons and rosemarys smell filled her nostrils. She starred hard at two pairs of green eyes and a wild mess of red hair and quickly pushed the person apart. He was a boy, to her disbelief, a scrawny teen approximately two years older than her. His green eyes were starring at her wide like saucers, the same expression of disbelief. Then, his eyebrows furrowed with anger and punched Victoria in the face. Ouch! She slumped onto the ground and felt the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. Urgh! Today was probably going to be the worst day ever, and to make things even more greater, Lavina was standing nearby and had seen everything.
"OH MY GOD! Penelope, Chloe, did you guys see that? That was so EUREKA! QUINTON JUST KISSED A GUY! I KNEW IT!" Lavina shouted at her own lungs as she laughed at another stupid act by Victoria. By the time a lot of people gathered around them and were snickering.
Great, Victoria thought, headline in Hogwarts Prophet, Hufflepuff girl seen kissing and get punched by big guy.
Blushing red, she quickly pushed the whole crowd aside and sprinted towards the dormitory, she could hear extracts of Lavina's voice right behind her.
"Proud of herself huh….I am going to tell…this would be exciting!"
One thing she is going to watch out tomorrow-do not read the Hogwarts Prophet and hide in the dormitory until class start.
Chapter 2: Never trust Love At Second Sight
Victoria was right. Judging by the buzz of conversation going on in the common room, most of them must have known about the kissing scene, which they probably knew it from the headlines or by Lavina's big fat mouth which always blabbers nonsense. She curled up on her bed, covering her face with her blanket as footsteps meandered on the steps towards the dormitory.
"Hey Quinton, rise and shine!"
She groaned. She didn't want to see anybody or hear her name. She reluctantly put the blanket off her face and turned towards her friends.
"Vic, is it true? You kissed a guy?" Isabella Clearwater, always the nosy parker.
"Shut up, Isabella! She is already feeling bad about it!" Belinda Brown, another bosom friend of Victoria, said. Belinda and Isabella had known Victoria ever since the first year they had went to Hogwarts. They had saved her from a freezing spell cast on her by a naughty girl, now she knew, was Lavina. Urgh! She did not want her day to be get involved with Lavina the jerk. She still had to face her for Potions Class today.
Just that she had never realized that Potions Class later went on like this…
Professor Horace Slughorn, the potion master who had been working in Hogwarts for many years ever since Professor Dumbledore, the late headmaster, had restrained him back from his old house. Slughorn may looked a nice man from the outside, but ever since the Second Wizarding War, he had completely changed.
"The Second Wizarding War has left a deep scar on every wizard's heart and memory, a trace never to be disappeared like a trace of a wand. Potions had been the most important subject in the Wizarding World. A drop of potion may determine the crucial lives of our survivors. Imagine, your potion can get back what you wanted, what you think is the most important to you, and even stop a tragedy. Imagine how much a potion could do. So, I want all of you to remain focused in lessons and no communication between students, otherwise enjoy your punishments. NOW! GET YOUR BUMS OFF YOUR CHAIRS AND START WORKING!"
Victoria quickly took her potions book and got off. Professor Slughorn had ordered them to conjure a potion that could heal wounds, also known as the Healing Helbug. She moved to get her cauldron. All of a sudden, she met him again.
The guy who had kissed her and punched her.
Their eyes met. It took them a few seconds before they tore away their gaze from each other. For no reason, she was blushing. Her cheeks were getting hot. Her heart was thumping mad. A desire was overwhelming her, a desire to touch him. No! She shook her head. It couldn't be. She couldn't have fallen in love, after what he had done to her the day before.
She continued moving forward, hiding her blush with her hair down. She couldn't see what was in front of her. Then, she slipped over a puddle. Before she could fall and receive another laugh from Lavina, she was held on by hands on her waist.
Instinctively, she quickly freed herself from the hands and realized the person standing behind her was him, him! She was shocked by the sudden impulse. A surge of unfamiliar feelings came overwhelming her. Tears came down her face, for no reason at all. But she was sad. And she embraced him with all her might. She could not control herself. She was not in love with him. But she just wanted to touch him, to feel his heart beating against the linings of his chest, to feel his soul locked away in the constraints of his body.
"OH MY! WHAT WAS THAT?! RUN!"
Everyone in the whole room screamed and scrambled out of the classroom. Regaining consciousness into reality, she quickly pushed him aside and was shocked to see spiders everywhere, and a weird smell of lemons and rosemary. It was that same smell she had smelt yesterday. Weird. There were no lemons and rosemarys here ever since the beginning of the lesson, until she banged against him. No one should be having perfume with them, from Dolores Umbridge's educational decree. The smell must be coming from the spiders. But why did spiders smell like that?
She turned to look at him. Everything that had happened, the mind manipulation and the lemons-and-rosemary smelling spiders, must be related to him.
However, his face was full of the same doubt, confusion and accusation she was facing.
"WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME? YOU PUNCHED ME YESTERDAY AND LANDED ME EMBARASSED AND NOW YOU ARE RELEASING ALL THOSE CREEPY STUFF AND MANIPULATING MY MIND? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? FROM THE REST?"
"Me? I didn't know what was happening, alright. And I could not control myself and just punched you for no reason. No. I wouldn't have manipulate your mind to love me. Am I crazy? If I do that I will not be Hugo Weasley. And no! I hate spiders!"
"Then…why are these happening?"
Hugo froze. He could not answer. If none of them did those things, then who would have done it? Something must be controlling both of them, but why they both?
"WHAT ON EARTH ARE THE BOTH OF YOU DOING?" Professor Slughorn screamed at them. "Come with me to the Headmistress!"
And they both went with the Professor.
Chapter 3: Beyond Control
Victoria had long known the Headmistress's office. But she had no idea that she was about to step inside here, today. Two gigantic gargoyles stood at two sides of the doors. Professor Slughorn said out two words:" Puking Chocolates!" The doors opened and they climbed the spiraling steps. Victoria was getting dizzy from the spiraling motion of the stairs.
They finally went inside. Professor Mcgonagall sat on her chair, flipping through sheets of paper. Judging by the bright yellow colour, they must have been the O.W.L report slips( O. sheets are yellow in colour). She looked up as Professor Slughorn panted heavily.
"And what happened again today, Horace? Are these two making trouble in your lessons?"
"Yes, Minerva. What happened in class was a totally bizarre sight. These two should explain everything. Victoria, Hugo, what do you both have to say?"
They told the headmistress about the perfume-smelling spiders, the mind manipulation, though it took them some time to think about it, and also what had happened the day before.
"Professor," Hugo then said after," Someone is purposely trying to control us, to manipulate her feelings of hatred into affection, and the spiders too. They smell like…perfume."
The headmistress's eyes narrowed. "Perfume? And what does that perfume smell like?"
Victoria swallowed. "Lemons and Rosemarys…"
Hugo nodded.
"Wait…"Slughorn was stunned."How could the both of you have smelled that? I smelt something else."
"And what was that, Horace?" The headmistress inquired.
"Blood and Dead Corpse…"Slughorn shuddered.
"Weird…"Professor Mcgonagall chewed the back of her quill as she contemplated about the case. Minutes later, she had made a decision.
"Alright. I shall report this to the Ministry Of Magic and let them investigate, must be the doing of a love potion. And the both of you," she pointed at Victoria and Hugo," better stay away from each other, in case something else happens, the person, or something, that was behind this must be targeting both of you when you are near to physical contact. I shall inform the other professors to assign you in separate classes. Horace, you may take them away."
However, Slughorn didn't move an inch. He just stood rooted and froze.
"But…Professor…the Ministry isn't capable of solving this case…"
Professor Mcgonagall stared wide-eyed at him. "Horace, you mean…"
Slughorn nodded," This isn't what a love potion is capable of…manipulating someone's mind from hatred to affection while the person's mind is still conscious, however, with the manipulation beyond his or her control. Love potions make someone's mind unconscious except love and affection, but this one is different, far more dangerous than a love potion."
"And what was that thing, Horace?" Professor Mcgonagall sounded worried.
"I'm not sure. But one thing to be sure, Hogwarts cannot protect them with this spell. This spell is something that Hogwarts staff and students are not capable of. We have to send them to somewhere safer."
"But where? Beauxbatons? Durmstrang? I don't think so, Horace."
Slughorn was at a loss. Victoria and Hugo both looked at each other. Something's going on between them, something that lead them to this state.
"I see then."Professor Mcgonagall nodded."We have to lock them up in their dormitories and be guarded by aurors. They are both suspended from lessons and no physical contact should go on between the both of them."
"Very well then. I shall take them back."
"You are dismissed. And the both of you, I am writing a letter to your parents."
Great. Victoria thought. She is not going back to her parents' during Christmas. Once Slughorn escorted them to their dormitories,she lay on her bed, watching out of the window of the Hufflepuff tower to the Quidditch Pitch. She was feeling very bored. All she could wished was to run out to the Pitch and lay on the soft grass. She imagined how it was like to be flying in the sky with a broom playing Quidditch, though she did not know how to play Quidditch, and freedom. She wished she could be freed and lived on a normal life with her friends.
Chapter 4: The Oleander Circle
Few Minutes Ago…
Hugo sighed, as he was escorted back to his dormitory by Professor Slughorn. Why did he have to land on all these trouble in the first place? He wished he had not met a girl called Victoria…whatever surname she had. He hated her. He lay curled up on his four-poster Gryffindor bed looking out to the Quidditch Pitch. He missed Quidditch trainings, his humourous captain, Felix Wood.(Hugo was a Quidditch keeper.)His father, Ronald Weasley, had joined Quidditch team as a keeper, and since then, he had dreamt of becoming part of the Quidditch team where he could fly with his new Firebolt 4000 his father had bought for him, which was located next to his bed. He went back to the first time he saw Victoria.
A Day Earlier…
Author's note: I know Oleanders are poisonous but let's just make it that wizards are immune to poison of muggle plants.
Hugo had just gotten back his result slips. He had gotten well, 5 Marvels and 2 Satisfactorys for the module. He was ecstatic. He had, apparently, scored better than his father. He smiled inwardly to himself and ran to meet his Gryffindor buddies for celebration.
All of a sudden, he saw an oleander laying on the floor, in the middle of the path. Despite the throngs of people, the flower still looked perfectly elegant and not stepped upon. Weird. Hugo thought. He picked up the flower. It was red, but not the ordinary red, red like blood, as if there were vessels inside the flower that were protruding blood. The petals smelled like lemons and rosemarys.
Alright. Hugo thought. That was weird.
"Eww….Hugo, why are you touching that thing? It smelled disgusting!" Felix Wood, the Gryffindor's Quidditch captain, came scurrying by.
Hugo's eyebrows narrowed. "No. It smelled like lemons and rosemarys."
"Lemons and rosemarys? Are you crazy? It smells like blood and….the smell of a dead corpse."
Lemons and Rosemarys, that was exactly what he had smelled during Potions yesterday with Victoria, from the spiders.
And Professor Slughorn had claimed that the smell was like blood and a dead human corpse.
The oleander and the spider…
There's something related about those two.
And anyway, where was that oleander?
He jumped off his bed. He remembered that he had left it in his leather pouch from the muggle world where his father had bought it for him as a Christmas Gift. He rummaged inside his luggage for the pouch. And there it was safe and sound. He took the pouch and opened it.
The bloody red oleander was still there. However, the sight of if it made him feel disgusted. One of the petals was white, as if the colour was drained off from the petal, and it did literally. Beneath the flower was a pool of red. He dipped his finger inside the pool of red and smelled.
Blood.
Suddenly, the blood was gone. Instead, a roll of parchment lay beneath the oleander. He fished out the parchment, unrolled it. It was blank. Then, a scrawl appeared on the parchment, written in blood.
The Oleander Circle.
The circle in which lay the five realms of death,
May haunt one till his last breath.
You may have passed the first realm…
But the next one shall be more terrifying.
While the oleander amazes you with its beauty,
But its poison may take your life away.
The Circle of Love is not what you think it's the best,
It's the worst.
And we shall haunt you with fears.
R.C.B
Hugo stared at the script, and was shaking, as if the parchment was like a ghost lingering around and spooking him out at any minute. He did not know what was happening. But one thing he knew, the oleander was dangerous.
Just like how it was poisonous.
He had just passed the first page unscathed, which were the creepy spiders. Nothing had happened so far, except for the goosebumps on his skin now. He had to show it to Professor Mcgonagall. But judging by her tendency to practical judgement, it was unlikely that she would believe in an oleander taking someone's life. It would be stupid. There's only one way. He had to show it to Victoria.
But which house was Victoria in?
Well, thanks to his uncle George Weasley, he had the Marauders Map 2.0 Edition, now on sale in his uncle's newly opened joke shop, The Laughing George. George had given him as a Christmas present, and of course on the sly, afraid of Hugo's grandmother Molly Weasley from noticing it and punished him by not letting him open his shop for a week. Hugo snickered. His uncle, though already 40, is still considered as a child for Molly. Poor Uncle.
He took a look at the map. Thanks to George's new spell he had cast on, one can search the person he was looking for by just saying the name of the person and "Engage Search Programme". And within split seconds, the name of the person would be shown and his location. Hugo had never touched the map ever since he had tried it on Professor Mcgonagall after the Christmas Celebration. He decided to give it a try.
Thankfully, he had heard Victoria's full name on the day when Professor Mcgonagall released the results slip.
"Victoria Marie Lily Quinton, Engage Search Programme."
As expected, Victoria's name appeared on the map. She was at the Hufflepuff dormitory.
As if she was really friendly enough to join Hufflepuff.
He called for his owl, Bumblewig, which was in a cage hanging from the ceiling. He only allowed Bumblewig to be in his dormitory during lesson time. He took out the parchment and tied it on Bumblewig's feet, together with another note he had scribbled on with his quill.
Apparate into my dormitory immediately once you had read the parchment. I am in the Gryffindor dormitory. Quickly, as both of our lives matter.
P.s Bring my owl back too, with the parchment.
Hugo Weasley
"Bumblewig, bring this to the Hufflepuff dormitory. There is a girl lying over there. You will know, she's the only one there." Bumblewig hooted in reply and flew out of the window of the tower.
Chapter 5: A minute of trust
Victoria rolled herself into a ball, sighing. It has only been half an hour and she was now feeling bored. She stroked her cat, Ninny, as it purred, cuddled inside her hands. She sighed again.
Just then, she heard a pecking sound on the window. An owl was outside, in its feet tied two pieces of parchment. It must have been for her, since she was the only one in the dormitory. She opened the window to allow the owl to enter.
The owl flew in and landed on the edge of her bed. Victoria untied the pieces of parchment on the owl's feet and read it.
The Oleander Circle.
The circle in which lay the five realms of death,
May haunt one till his last breath.
You may have passed the first realm…
But the next one shall be more terrifying.
While the oleander amazes you with its beauty,
But its poison may take your life away.
The Circle of Love is not what you think it's the best,
It's the worst.
And we shall haunt you with fears.
R.C.B
One thing to be sure, whoever writing this must not be a good poet. But there are so many things she was unsure. What is an oleander circle? How is it deadly? Is it because they are poisonous? But wizards are immune to its poison. It must be something else. She turned towards her head to another roll of parchment and reached out her hand to grab it. Maybe this could explain what was happening.
Well, it sort of explain everything, by, surprisingly, Hugo Weasley.
Apparate into my dormitory immediately once you had read the parchment. I am in the Gryffindor dormitory. Quickly, as both of our lives matter.
P.s Bring my owl back too, with the parchment.
Hugo Weasley
Victoria smirked. He was in Gryffindor? More like a Slytherin. Why should she trust him?
But he sounded serious. Maybe she had to do it. She groaned. She did not want another serious trouble because of him again. Maybe just this time.
She tied the parchments back on the owl's legs, instructed the owl to fly back to its owner, released it, stood on the spot, and apparated.
Chapter 6: It all turns seductive
It took split seconds for Victoria to apparate into Hugo's room.
"Well! At least you Gryffindors are civilized enough!" Victoria smirked, scanning the walls.
Hugo smirked too. "What do you think of us? Unstylish, disgusting boys? No, you muggle baggy girlie."
Victoria turned and glared at him. How on earth did he know that she have bags from the muggle world.
And Hugo knew that look well. "Haha, don't worry, I just used the Marauders' Map 2.0 for a little bit of a teaser fun, just to learn more about you. Looks like this thing was sort of a mind reader."
Maybe that's why he knew she was in Hufflepuff. Stalker instincts. Maybe she shouldn't have came here.
"Alright! Enough with that thing, teaser brain. Now what was it you want from me? According to you, we are going to die. So? What do you have?"
Hugo took the leather pouch now lying on his bed. He zipped open the pouch and took out the oleander. Victoria took a peek at it. It was a Burberry cobalt blue leather pouch. Looks like he also bought stuff from the Muggle World too. Hugo showed the oleander and explained.
"Listen, Victoria. On the day when the results are released, the day I punched you, before I even met you, I saw this oleander lying on the floor. It was red, bloody hell red, and I tell you, it was creepy. This thing, to me, smells like lemons and rosemarys, but to the others, blood and dead corpse. Something wrong is going on with this flower, and the parchment proved so. Smell this flower, Victoria. What do you smell?"
He passed it to Victoria. She smelled it.
"It smells like…Lemons and Rosemarys."
"That's the point. Only both of us can smell this, but for Professor Slughorn and the rest, it was a totally different smell. This flower is trying to kill us, no to be exact, the person who created this flower, by forcing us to fall into some kind of love, an attraction. Long enough, the mastermind will probably do something beyond our control, maybe something that destroys the whole world without us knowing it, or forcing us to drop off a cliff under the illusionist's spell. So any minute, we will fall into some kind of spell that is highly disastrous. Trust me, Victoria. We have to stop this. But I don't think the Ministry Of Magic will probably believe this kind of lame joke that we made up."
"Yes, the Ministry Of Magic is untrustworthy. But how does it manipulate? That was the thing I still don't really get it."
"It manipulates hatred into...affection." Hugo shuddered at that thought.
"But why hatred?"
"This is all the basic muggle psychology study, hatred is when it lacks of affection and...trust me, it is a dangerous material, hatred may lead one to doing many horrible things, beyond your own control. Like...Lord Voldemort, he wanted power, and he hates when he has no power at all. But affection does not have to be not dangerous, it depends on how you control it, like how you control your own broom during Quidditch. Some people may take it...seductive..." There was a slight tinge of excitement at that word, as Hugo slowly got nearer and nearer to Victoria, his eyes looking at her as if he was about to eat her, his mouth was smiling, that smile when he was about to touch someone. No! Hugo tried to stop himself,but he couldn't. All he could do was to stare at her like she was a hot chick, and inched towards her closer and closer, and kept cornering her to a corner where she could not escape. He remembered a song he used to hear that make his heart beat, the first time when he had ever thought of women, a pleasant desire, a thirst for her, or he will never be contented. He hated it, and he never thought that this would be happening to him.
My Patty, my own Patty, you are my chicken Patty...
Heart goes pitter-patter, you are my chicken Patty...
Even if the world ends, you will always linger around...
My Patty, my own patty, you are my chicken Patty...
Victoria shuddered. His eyes, his smile, the way he walked, he was under that spell again. She needed to stop this. But she, also seemed to be dazed under the spell. She could only blankly stare at him and be spellbound at his eyes. Never had she seen his eyes so bright, so green and beautiful, never had his smile been so wide, so free, so splendid, so beautiful. She could not break free of his beautiful gaze. The world seemed to stop as his enchanted gaze bore into her like the most beautiful thing in the world. Before she knew it, she hit onto something. She was being cornered into the wall.
She broke free of Hugo's gaze when she was back into reality. She was panting. She could not believe it. She had just fallen into the spell again. And they had almost touched each other. Suddenly, there was a whisp of cold air, a black gust of smoke blew over, shaping into a woman. Her golden eyes stood out, cold and expressionless. She was wearing a locket shaped like a flower, red like blood, the bloody oleander Hugo had. Her hair was all coloured with dried blood. Victoria shuddered at her look. The woman muttered out a few words, which was a hoarse voice and did not sound like a woman at all.
"Don't. You will be sorry."
The smoke evaporated, the golden eyes were gone. Everything had disappeared except for the oleander locket on the floor.
"Victoria?"
Victoria looked at Hugo. His smile was gone, his eyes did not have that look anymore. His face was written with confusion.
"We have another clue, Hugo." Victoria said as she picked up the locket on the floor and showed it to Hugo.
Victoria was right. The locket was a bloody red oleander and carved in the middle was a circle of the oleander. The Oleander Circle. Behind the locket were the inscriptions carved in fancy handwriting.
Regina Carol Black(R.C.B)
Keeper Of The Oleander Circle
R.C.B...it was on the parchment.
Victoria and Hugo looked at each other.
"Looks like we had to search more for this topic."Hugo looked at the locket.
"But how are we going to look for it without anyone knowing?"
"We don't have to."Hugo smirked."The Invisibility Cloak. We can go to the restricted section of the library."
"Without the aurors knowing?"
Hugo nodded his head."Yes, without them knowing..."
Author's note: Please help to submit reviews to help me edit the story where necassary. I will try hard to further develop the story
