Closer
Orchideous
It was the twin's birthday and Jonghyun was miserable but hopeful. After forming a makeshift alliance with the Slytherin ice princess, Jonghyun's will to live came through. Jessica had become obsessed with trying to get her fiancé back and after she corned him in the corridor the other day she revealed her plans. Jonghyun sighed at the recent memory.
She dragged Jonghyun to the dungeons and ignored the stares and whispers from the common room; she ordered all her dorm mates out and pulled a trunk from under her bed. There were clippings of newspapers, letters and a map that spread all across the floor, certain areas were crossed out and others were circled.
"I've been collecting for weeks and I think I have a lead" she dropped to her knees and analyzed her map again, she tied her hair back and Jonghyun saw brown roots peaking out from months of neglect, her lips were chapped as she was constantly biting them out of worry. Jessica was always flawless but now it became clear that she cared more about Kris than she did about herself. She frowned once she noticed his gaze "what are you staring at me for? Look at this" Jonghyun then joined her on the floor and payed full attention to her findings. It was a map of Europe, small notes and names were on each country. The most prominent scribble being Yifan plastered on Bulgaria in large letters and Taemin in the South east of England.
"Smell this" she shoved a letter in his face and Jonghyun did everything but, he saw it was a ransom note addressed to the Jung family. "I said smell it not read it" Jonghyun warily brought it closer to his face and couldn't find anything specific or suspicious. "It j-just smells like a tree? Regular parchment?" Jonghyun finally spoke but he was scared into silence again by Jessica. "It is a tree! And it isn't regular, It's homemade parchment that I assume was made from a tree in the area" She began rubbing her hand and brought out small jars with samples of leaves and bark. "See I thought it was beech and I got a few opinions and they thought the same which frustrated me, do you know how common those ers are!" Jonghyun shrugged "anyway I couldn't leave it at that so I started reading and I found a family of trees known as Betulaceae, being specific I found a tree called Carpinus betulus better known as hornbeam. I compared the leaf of a beech to that of a hornbeam and....."
She rummaged around for a moment before she held almost identical leaves in front of him "can you tell the difference?" Jonghyun shook his head and Jessica seemed overly excited "exactly! It's a common mistake to mix the two up, so I stole a sample of hornbeam from the herbology lab and-smell this!" She shoved bark and his face and a light went of in Jonghyun's head "it's the same as the letter!?" Now he finally understood what she was trying to say. "It's the same!" She pulled out different maps of other continents, all of which had huge X's scratched onto.
"Now with regards to location there are many in east Asia however there are only two species in Europe and one native to the UK. It is naturally found in oak woodland, so I've narrowed down the whereabouts of that psychopath to England but other than that" she scratched her head "I'm completely lost"
Jessica leapt forward and grabbed Jonghyun's shoulders, her nails were painfully digging into his skin but she didn't seem to notice nor care "that's why I need you" at that moment Jonghyun was confused again, he couldn't possibly see how he would be useful when Jessica herself came so far. "I know Kris and I are not the only ones who have the special 'bond'- ah , let's not dance around it. I know that you and Lee can hear each other. I know you feel what he feels and vice versa. I understand the panic you went through when you couldn't feel that anymore" Jonghyun's eyes widened but he still didn't see how he could help at all; She said so herself they couldn't communicate the way they used to.
"I'm not sure how this whole telepathy thing works but I have my own theories. Not long ago I dreamt with Kris. Not about him but with him, anyone else would call me crazy or assume that I'm just desperate but you understand don't you?" Jonghyun nodded, he remembers sharing dreams with Taemin however they all evolved into nightmares that scared them both. "I tried to talk to him but I don't think he heard me and I couldn't hear him. I just saw those gorgeous lips moving without any sound" Jessica seemed to have lost herself as she closed her eyes and sighed fondly, it must've been her most resent memory of her missing fiancé and she cherished it.
All of a sudden she snapped back into her serious mood "we've been seperated for months and managed to achieve that. You and Lee have only been apart for a few weeks, I know it's difficult but please, you have to try. I know you want this as much as I do"
Jonghyun was shaken from his memory by a random fourth year he didn't know wishing him a happy birthday. He thanked them graciously and continued his long walk to the great hall. It was a surprise to see such a variety of colours seated in his usual place at the Gryfinndor table, the twins would usually celebrate by themselves with the exception of Minho but now he saw Kai and Krystal patiently waiting for him, his dorm mates Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongdae, even the head boy, Jinki had a bright smile plastered on his face. They all greeted him with a large shout of "Happy birthday!" And didn't seem to mind that they were disturbing other people's dinner conversations. Despite the circumstances the people who were closest to him made him feel the slightest bit better.
It still didn't stop him from imagining Taemin sitting there amongst all his friends, his heavenly smile being a good enough present However it would be too selfish to express his loneliness now. At the same time Jonghyun felt overwhelmed with the attention, it was Kibum's birthday as well but all eyes were on him instead. His brother could always tell when he was uncomfortable and clasped Jonghyun's hand in his "technically it's not my birthday for another two hours and by then it'll be late so I thought I'd celebrate in the morning" he added with a wink and pulled Jonghyun to come and sit down "you really need this right now"
Jonghyun received seven kisses to his cheeks but felt the absence of one on his lips, he smiled through, Jonghyun didn't want his friends to think he was disappointed with the gesture when he was only ever grateful.
Kibum handed him the present his parents sent and Jonghyun was overjoyed; a small dog collar with the announcement that Roo would be expecting puppies, and a set of writing quills. His twin gave him matching ink that could change color depending of what he wrote. Minho gave him a muggle CD, Krystal and Kai gave him a joint present of a rather expensive book he wanted and his dorm mates saved up and bought him multiple bags of his favorite sweets from Honeydukes.
He loved all the gifts but the best was by far Jinki's as it wasn't really Jinki's gift. It seemed Taemin had prepared long in advance for Jonghyun's birthday and had entrusted the gift with the head boy for safe keeping; Obviously Taemin couldn't give it now so his brother took his place.
It was Taemin's first snitch. The snitch his father threw to Jinki when he was young and Jinki passed it on when Taemin became old enough to play quidditch. It was attached to a long, thin golden chain and it seemed so old it could no longer fly. "He wanted you to have it so I suppose it's yours now" Jinki smiled warmly and dropped the ball into Jonghyun's shaking hands. He really didn't want to cry in front of all his friends but it was all too much.
Everyone seemed to understand, Kibum rubbed his back and told him "you can leave if you want to. None of us will mind" everyone nodded and cooed at him, when Jonghyun tried to gather his gifts Minho stopped him "I'll bring them up to you later" Jonghyun sniffed but refused to let the tears fall "thank you. Thank you all, I really just need to be alone now" with that he calmly walked out of the great hall leaving behind his friends and his brave face.
The moment he reached his bed in the Gryfinndor dormitory he broke down and began to sob uncontrollably. He didn't bother to even try and be quiet, he didn't care if others heard or complained. No one else mattered in Jonghyun's mind; no one but Taemin.
He felt cold metal burning his hand and knew exactly what to do.
Jonghyun reached for his sleeping potion and drank twice the recommended amount. He didn't even bother to unrobe as he cocooned himself with his covers and wrapped the chain around his neck, the snitch squeezed in his hand. Jonghyun brought his fist to his lips and grazed over the couple rings; he was now wearing both his own and Taemin's. Within seconds sleep overtook Jonghyun and he slipped away hoping to see a familiar face not just a night time illusion.
*
Taemin was taunting Yunho, or rather Taemin was yelling profanities at the ex-auror but he remained silent. Yifan even hissed at him to stop "this isn't going to achieve anything! It's not like he's gonna help us when he's under the imperius curse!" But Taemin didn't listen to him and continued swear.
Yunho stood tall and firm as if he was a statue but when Taemin moved his insults to the mastermind and his now revealed half brother, Jaejoong, Yunho snapped. He grabbed Taemin by his now greasy hair and slammed his head against the wall of the dungeon; not enough to kill him but enough to knock him out. Taemin lay unconscious on the floor while Yifan tutted and Yunho returned to his guarded stance.
*
Taemin was definitely dreaming, however this was different. He could feel damp grass and leaves under the palms of his hand. He was on his back outside Jaejoong's protected mansion, everything felt real; even the icy air that filled his lungs. He wondered for a moment if he had tried to escape again but amongst the sound of the wind howling and his own heartbeat, he heard the sound of his own name.
"Taemin?" And that's when he knew it must be a dream. Jonghyun was laying next to him, his eyes were both brown this time and it was obvious he hasn't been sleeping or eating well. Despite all this he still looked beautiful.
"Hey gorgeous" Taemin mumbled as he tried to scoot closer to Jonghyun. He always dreamt of Jonghyun so seeing him now was no surprise, the surprise however was plastered on Jonghyun's face and he seemed shocked to even see Taemin. Jonghyun was never like this in his dreams, he always greeted Taemin with a bright smile, a small kiss and whenever he dreamt of something more explicit Jonghyun would do something else. Taemin frowned and tried to calm his boyfriend down "what's wrong?" But Jonghyun ignored him and stared at Taemin in disbelief.
"I can't believe this actually worked! It really worked right? I can really see you. You see me too?" Taemin rolled on his side and nodded slowly "of course. This is my dream after all and I always dream about you" Taemin never had to explain this to dream Jonghyun before but this one seemed more realistic, a more accurate depiction of his Jonghyun, he even softened after Taemin said that.
Jonghyun placed his hand on Taemin's cheek and he felt the warmth he hadn't felt in weeks. This was even more confusing; this was becoming too real, he really was beginning to question what was a dream and what was his reality. Perhaps being with Jaejoong really was all just a nightmare.
"Tae, where are you?" "I'm here with you?" Jonghyun shook his head and he changed his calm demeanour to an anxious and impatient one. "I need to know where you are" Taemin looked back at the looming darkness of Jaejoong's manor, it was the only thing he saw as all that was surrounding them was the dark aura while Jonghyun noticed a hornbeam tree behind them and sprang to his feet towards it. Taemin tried to follow but was thrown back by the glass-like barrier that kept him from escaping. Jonghyun tried to go back for him but was also stopped by the barrier that suddenly appeared. Jonghyun then knew he had only a limited time to do this and had to leave Taemin behind. "I'll be back for you, I promise and thank you for my gift; I really love it" he then sprinted in the opposite direction, looking for anything that could give away their location.
After what felt like hours of running Jonghyun was ready to collapse, his lungs were burning and his limps felt numb but the sound of a muggle car gave him even more energy. Jonghyun found a road leading to a small muggle village, as he ran along the road he frantically searched for any signs with the towns name. Then he found it, small, insignificant and scratched into a damp wooden slab by the side of the road. Jonghyun had to squint as his vision was fading and everything began to blur.
Jonghyun woke gasping for air and covered in sweat, he looked as if he ran a marathon. His dorm mates stared at him strangely and Minho grabbed his shoulder "Jjong, are you okay?" Jonghyun spluttered and coughed for a moment before finally speaking.
"I know where they are"
Comments