“So you figured out the clue?”

The two sixth years sat at the quiet corner of the library, their perimeters bewitched with the Silencing Charm.

Yixing nodded proudly, flipping through the book in front of him with much enthusiasm. “I think it has something to do with the Forbidden Forest.”

“Which part of the Forbidden Forest?” Joonmyeon inquired.

“You heard of the cave full of giant spiders, right?” the Hogwarts Champion said, looking up at his boyfriend now. “I found out from Minseok that the cave is bewitched so that it’s dark in there. No form of light can brighten it. He said it’s so that no one can bring out one of the spiders from their den.”

Joonmyeon gave him a bland look. “What conversation could have led you that topic, I wonder,” he said, tilting his head slowly, brow raising ever so slightly. “You better have not gone in there before.”

Yixing chuckled uncomfortably. “Of course not,” he said earnestly. “I just went to look at it. I don’t love magical creatures that much.”

“That’s what you say, but let’s not forget the summer of our fourth year when you went to Romania with your mom and came back with burn marks,” Joonmyeon said, his eyes narrowing. “I talked with your mom. She said you were trying to pet a baby dragon.”

At that, Yixing could only laugh. While his mother could remove most of the burn scars, there was one patch that wouldn’t go away and it would remind him for the rest of his life what he did as a reckless yet ambitious fourteen year old.

“So you have to enter the cave, is that what you’re saying?” the Ravenclaw summed it up.

“Yeah. I’m not sure what our mission is, but it definitely has something to do with that cave.”

Joonmyeon involuntarily shuddered at the thought of a dark cave filled with spiders.

It was a small movement, but Yixing noticed it and he reached out, dragging his boyfriend into his arms. “You have a phobia of spiders, right?” he said softly, resting his chin on Joonmyeon’s shoulder.

“I told you it’s not that big of a deal,” Joonmyeon muttered, relaxing into Yixing’s grip. “You can’t even call it a phobia.”

“Quite a bluffer, aren’t you?” Yixing chuckled. “Being scared of spiders doesn’t make you any less of a man.”

“If you tell anyone—”

“You’ll skin me, yeah yeah, I heard it all before,” said the Hufflepuff amusedly. “So what are you up to these days?”

“I’m studying as always,” said Joonmyeon. “I visited the Duel Club for a bit. There was a little scuffle between the Beauxbaton and Hogwarts students. I had to take care of that too.”

“Sounds like you were busy.”

“School only opened up two weeks ago and yet everyone is already up to no good.”

Yixing hesitated for a moment, unsure as to whether to tell Joonmyeon or not.

Being the observant boyfriend he is, the Ravenclaw immediately picked up on his discomfort. “What is it?” he asked.

“Did you talk to Luhan?” Yixing said after a few seconds’ thought. 

Joonmyeon nodded, pursing his lips. “Not exactly,” he said. “But I do know of the situation. Minseok filled me in.”

“Are you joining the hunt?”

“Of course,” Joonmyeon said firmly. “The faster we catch whoever is doing this, the safer we’ll all be and in order to do that, we need every capable hand.”

“I... don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“I don’t think I’ll be in the front line of the search, though,” the half-blood reassured him. “My top priority is to make sure Kyungsoo is safe.”

“Ah yes, Kyungsoo. How is he doing?” asked Yixing.

“Not so well,” Joonmyeon admitted quietly. “Seulgi suggested there being several layers in the poison. Kyungsoo’s working with Baekhyun and Chanyeol in hopes of speeding up the process. I don’t really have to worry about those two since they’re adept duellers, but Kyungsoo’s a bit defenceless sometimes.”

“That’s quite true,” Yixing agreed. “You all have to careful with this one, though. I agree with Luhan. I don’t have a good feeling about all of this too.”

“You, my Hogwarts champion, just need to concentrate on the Triwizard Tournament. Leave everything else to us.”

As much as Joonmyeon wanted to reassure the Hufflepuff that this problem they have isn’t that big of a deal, he had to reluctantly admit that they were up against a formidable foe.

Son Seungwan was no pushover and was one of the top cream duellers in the school. The meek-looking Hufflepuff could hold her own even against the most experienced seniors. Hell, even he had a hard time winning against her at times.

Normally, he could brush it off. He was a capable wizard with a large arsenal of spells at his disposal and great duelling instincts. Even if he was jumped by half a dozen opponents, he could probably survive with just flesh wounds.

However, this time around, he felt a very unfamiliar emotion, something he thought he would never feel again. It took him some time to figure it out, but he finally did.

It was fear.

 

---

 

The back room of the library was big, but it was packed with shelves upon shelves of books, just like the rest of the library.

It was charmed to be as comfortable as possible. Minseok, the master of Charms himself, came to put up protective charms around it.

“I want to go and look for the guy too,” Chanyeol whined as he flipped through the thick, leather-bound book. “This is boring work.”

Both Baekhyun and Kyungsoo glared at him from the top of the books they were respectively reading.

“Park Chanyeol, I swear to god, you better shut the up,” Baekhyun snarled, pushing his wire-rimmed glassed up his nose.

The lone Gryffindor tutted, wagging a long finger at his boyfriend, to which the Ravenclaw prefect told him to shove it up his nether regions. “We talked about this. Language, Young Master Byun.”

Studying was usually therapeutic for Baekhyun, but in light of recent events, it became a race against time and those were never fun.

“How are you arguably one of the brightest students in the school when you can’t even sit still for more than three minutes to read a damned passage?” Baekhyun barked at him, eyes looking as if they could spit fire at any moment.

“Our methods are the same, Baek,” Chanyeol grinned innocently. “We both became smart out of spite. I study out of spite. Also, I already finished reading the whole book. There isn’t anything useful other than the safety hazard warning they gave about Mandrake Plants that we already learned in Second Year.”

“Don’t you just hate naturally smart people?” Kyungsoo sighed, putting his book down. “Absorbing information the second they process it. What a great life that is.”

Baekhyun nodded his head vigorously in agreement, giving Chanyeol the stink eye. “This is why I never go to those honour roll clubs. There’s always someone better and smarter out there.”

The Gryffindor laughed, pleased to see the two put down their books for the first time in three hours. While it was good to be focussed, it would be better if they took small breaks every now and then. “You two should take a nap. You’ve been at this the whole day,” he said.

“There’s no time to rest,” snapped Baekhyun.

There really was no time to take it easy.

The whole situation was getting out of hand. More people were getting ‘petrified’ and they were still nowhere near to finding the right potion to counter the poison the victims were drugged with.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was a hate crime. Only muggle-borns were targeted and out of the many that had fallen victims so far, a majority of them are on the honour roll.

Whoever is behind this is targeting a very specific group of people; smart and talented muggle-borns.

At the top of that list would be Park Chanyeol and Do Kyungsoo who are arguably some of the most important people to Baekhyun.

With that in mind, how could he afford to dilly dally when his boyfriend and best friend could very well be the next victims. 

The golden trio of the seventh years – Minseok, Yifan and Luhan – agreed with his theory and approved of his suggestion of keeping both Kyungsoo and Chanyeol in a safe room away from where all the action is.

“You’ll pass out from exhaustion if you don’t rest,” reasoned Chanyeol softly. “How are you going to help anyone in that state?”

“I’ll manage somehow,” Baekhyun waved away his concerns. “This is nothing. The week before exams is worse.”

“But I think we should rest, too,” said Kyungsoo, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “The words don’t make sense right now. Twenty minutes and then we’ll go back to researching.”

Seeing Kyungsoo’s tired state, Baekhyun couldn’t selfishly push forward his own agenda. He conceded, placing his book atop the rest.

“Do you think the others are having better luck?” Chanyeol asked to no one in particular.

“They’re still digging,” Baekhyun answered, plopping down on Chanyeol’s lap. “I’m sure they’ll hit something soon. They’re really determined people, after all. Luhan’s like a rabid dog. Once he digs his teeth into something, he won’t let it go.”

“I’m slightly worried, though,” Kyungsoo confessed, side-eyeing his two friends distastefully. “They’re always at the scene a second too late. It feels like we’re getting played with here.”

“That bothers me too,” said Baekhyun, sticking his tongue out childishly at the junior. “It’s not as if it’s their first time chasing people after dark. Minseok and Yifan are basically pros at it by now. They’ve been chasing Jongdae and Chanyeol here for years.”

“It’s scary, though,” said Chanyeol with a sigh. “Do you remember that incident? I think it was maybe two years ago? When those seventh years pissed Luhan, Minseok and Yifan off?”

“Two years ago. I was here already,” Kyungsoo noted.

“Yeah, two years ago. Do you remember how scary that was?” Chanyeol asked them, shivering at the very thought. “It’s really hard to set them off. They have incredibly great self-control. But those guys did it and I don’t think anyone would ever willingly anger them if they knew what happened.”

“What happened again?” Baekhyun inquired. Unlike his boyfriend, he didn’t really keep up with the gossip.

“Halloween night and the seventh years were planning on partying all night. They snuck out after curfew and those three chased them all night. They charmed hallways to make it look like a dead end and charm voices to make it sound like a professor or the caretaker was at the next corner.”

“It doesn’t sound that bad.”

“Have you ever had one of those dreams where you’re being chased but don’t know why? You’re just running for your life and you have this unreasonable fear in your heart? It’s like that, but in real life.”

Baekhyun hummed, understanding the feeling. “Those are the worst dreams,” he said. “They really did that?”

“That was the only time they all served detention together. They got scolded so much for the whole thing, but none of them were sorry at all,” said Chanyeol. “They can get really fired up if you provoke them. If they really do snap while trying to find this dude, I want front row seats. Seeing them go all out is something you only get to witness once in a lifetime.”

“Do you think they’ll get serious?” Kyungsoo asked.

“They already are,” Chanyeol said. “But there’s a big difference between getting serious and getting personal. It’ll get really messy when it does.”

“Doesn’t Luhan take everything personally though?” Baekhyun said, chuckling. “There was that one time I didn’t want to give up the pitch for practice and he took it so personal.”

“Everyone takes Quidditch personally,” Chanyeol countered. “You’re just a deviant. How can a Quidditch captain care so little about the game.”

“Because it’s just a game.”

“If Luhan hears you say that, he’ll fight you.”

“I’ll just hide and you can fight him for me,” said Baekhyun, poking a finger into his boyfriend’s chest. “I’m not ready to die just yet.”

“I’m not fighting him alone. We can die together,” Chanyeol said, playfully smacking away the finger.

Kyungsoo gave them both a bland look. “You can both die,” he muttered spitefully, suddenly reminded of his depressingly dry love life. “You can both ing die.”

 

---

 

In a perfect world, he could devote himself to the two things he enjoy; Quidditch and Oh Sehun.

In a perfect world, he wouldn’t have to chase around a psychopath and worry about surviving his final year in Hogwarts. However, he wasn’t in a perfect world and that was exactly what he was doing.

Right then, it was lunch time and they were gathered in the courtyard, underneath the shady tree he liked sleeping under.

People were staring and Luhan couldn’t blame them.

It was such an odd combination of people.

It was a repeat of the gang when they watched the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, but this time, Yixing was with them and Krystal and Taemin weren’t. Kang Seulgi and Bae Joohyun sat amongst them.

“Whose idea was it to meet out in the open like this?” Yifan muttered, rubbing his temples. The goal was to be inconspicuous, but here they were, attracting eyes from every corner of the courtyard.

“I didn’t think we would attract this much attention though,” Luhan said in self-defence. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary about friends meeting up to have lunch together. Everyone else does it too.”

“Maybe that’s because we’re not all friends here,” said Zitao, unwrapping his sandwich. “A lot of us are at odds with each other. We’re basically a fight that’s begging to happen and they want to watch it.”

“There’s a charm around us so they won’t hear anything but us discussing the History of Magic textbooks,” Minseok reassured them. “No one but Luhan would be able to listen to more than a paragraph of that stuff.”

“We’re here to discuss updates,” said Baekhyun, already feeling tired. He hasn’t been able to get any decent rest lately and lunch time was usually his nap time. “Let’s move on, shall we?”

“For us that’s doing the research, we haven’t been able to make much progress,” Kyungsoo informed the group. “The information Seulgi gave us about the possibility of it being a layered potion was very helpful, though. We’re expanding our research and I’ve asked a senior who works in the International Potioneer Association for information regarding layered potions and I’m waiting for results.”

“I asked my brother to check out some classified books that has more information about layered potions from the National Archive,” Baekhyun said in a monotone. “We’ve read every book in the library regarding poisons but discovered nothing significantly eye-opening. We’ll get back to you when we have more information.”

Luhan gave a short applause, satisfied with the brief updates given by the two Ravenclaws. He turned to the others expectantly. “Anything new on the suspects?” he asked.

“I have a plausible theory,” Jongdae told them, putting his hands together. “We’re looking at a group of people instead of just one perpetrator. The two victims from Sunday night. They were at opposite ends of the castle and it happened within minutes of each other.”

“There isn’t enough time for one person to be at both scenes,” Jongin nodded, agreeing with the theory. “I have something to add. The people we’re after blend in with the crowd. A student or staff that gives off non-threatening vibes. Some of the victims look as if they were jumped, suggesting that they didn’t expect it.”

“That makes sense,” Joohyun piped in. “An unsuspecting character. Someone you would just pass by in the corridors without looking back on. Meek-looking enough to not count as a threat. Small physique, average face and a friendly association. Possibly female, but we’re not ruling out males just yet.”

“But some of the victims didn’t show any signs of struggle,” said Seulgi. “They were openly approached and lowered their guard around the perpetrator. Two completely different methods are used and that makes it all the more dangerous.”

“Which is why we tightened security,” said Minseok. “Starting today, no student is allowed to be out of the common room after dinner at eight. I wanted to put it into effect earlier, but it would be too sudden and might cause a panic so we had to make better preparations for it. The paperwork was no joke either.”

“I changed the patrol schedule for the prefects,” Joonmyeon added. “The muggle-born prefects take an earlier shift with a senior prefect.”

Luhan grinned, nodding in satisfaction. “This is where we really begin,” he said. “With this, we cut off their pool of targets at their prime time. The possibility of getting another victim attacked at night in a dark corridor lessened considerably.”

Despite the happy news, Luhan sounded a little unsure to them.

“What’s wrong?” Sehun asked on behalf of the others.

Luhan and Yifan exchanged a glanced. “This is also where the problem gets more complicated,” said the latter. “We doubt that tightening curfew will put a stop to all of this. We don’t think they’re desperate enough to do anything drastic at this point, but they’ll most likely adapt and change their hunting time.”

“With that in mind, do you still think it’s best to not tell the muggle-borns what’s really happening?” Chanyeol asked solemnly. “They’re targeting the top-tier muggle-borns, but as you said, they’ll most likely adapt. It’s not impossible for them to just go for any defenceless muggle-born available, right?”

It was a question that they were all thinking, but didn’t want to voice out. They were curious as to why they were still keeping everything under wraps when the situation was steadily getting more and more out of hand.

There was a full minute of silence before Minseok answered him. “If we notify the students about this problem, there will be a huge panic,” he said calmly, choosing his words carefully. “It won’t stop there, but the school’s name will be dragged through the mud and the press will have a field day reporting about Hogwarts’ – supposedly the safest place in Great Britain – breach of security.”

Joohyun had an unsatisfied look on her face. “Hogwarts’ image is more important than the lives of hundreds of students?” she demanded.

“Don’t twist my words,” said Minseok sternly. “I’m doing my best to make sure no one else gets hurt.”

“What a great job you’ve been doing then,” she retorted.

Before the Head Boy could say anything else, Jongdae clicked his tongue, annoyance clear on his face. “Look here, Bae,” he said with a sigh. “A majority of the victims were attacked after curfew. It’s against school rules to be out after curfew because the castle, even without the psycho attackers, is already quite dangerous to roam around in the dark.”

“Shut up, Jongdae,” Minseok said.

Said boy ignored him completely. “Does he blame the victims? Of course not. What does he do? He stretches himself thin trying to keep the number of victims to a minimum,” Jongdae continued without even looking at the Head Boy. “While you’re fast asleep in the safety of your room, he’s out there checking up on the prefects doing their rounds because he feels bad that he made them spend extra hours patrolling the halls. He doesn’t get in till half past five and wakes up again at a quarter past six.”

“Kim Jongdae, that’s enough,” warned Minseok, louder now.

“In case you’ve forgotten, he’s the Head Boy and he has more responsibilities than anyone else in the school. He takes a stupidly large number of subjects and he’s sitting for the NEWTs this year,” said Jongdae heatedly. “On top of being a perfect student, he still makes the time to go to the Hospital Wing to visit every single victim and he’s single-handedly setting up a camera network all around the school so it’ll be safer for stupid students to roam around in the darkest corridors after curfew even after being told not to—”

“Silencio,” Minseok muttered, closing his eyes in a mix of annoyance and embarrassment.

Jongdae, unable to speak, took out a quill from his bag and started to write furiously on his notebook. He ripped the page and passed the piece of paper to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol snickered, nodding reassuringly at his best friend. “He also wants to say that Minseok’s the Head Boy and it’ll look bad on his reputation if people knew this mess is happening during his period in office,” he said, squinting at the paper. “After everything he did for the school, it’s not wrong for him to want to save his own this one time. Damn, you really need to fix up on your writing.”

Resigned with his lack of volume, Jongdae merely sighed and calmed himself down.

At the other side of the circle, Zitao snickered into his fist. “She really asked for it,” he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Sehun to hear. The younger boy nodded, agreeing with his best friend.

“That’s true,” Yixing voiced up for the first time since they started the meeting. “Minseok has been running around a lot lately. We study together sometimes and when he finishes his homework, he starts looking into the poison research. Because he asked the prefects to do extra hours, he’s been running errands for them—”

“Silencio,” Minseok muttered again. “Is everyone going to expose me like this?”

“There’s nothing wrong with them telling people what you’ve been doing behind their backs,” said Joonmyeon, taking out his wand. He pointed the magical stick at his boyfriend, muttering a soft, “Finite,” before doing the same to Jongdae, cancelling the charm put on the two.

“As I was saying,” said Yifan, moving on. “They’ll definitely adapt to the change. However, it’s hard to poke someone with a syringe in broad daylight without anyone noticing anything. Which means if they do try something, they’ll most likely make a mistake or trigger a reaction from other people around them.”

“And when that happens, we want you all to be ready for a chase,” Luhan continued, putting his hands together with a big smile. “There will be a window of opportunity and we won’t miss it. They won’t try anything in front of the professors and close-knitted groups won’t be targeted. Loners and big groups of people are most likely it. It’s easier to go by unnoticed when you’re in a big group and if we’re correct, they look non-threatening and it’s easy for them to blend in, which makes it harder for us to find them.”

The others nodded, understanding the situation. They finished up the meeting and the remainder of their lunch before the warning bell rang, signalling the end of their break.

 

---

 

Later that afternoon, Do Kyungsoo was left alone in the research room.

The other two had a class they had to attend and excused themselves several minutes ago. Without the two boyfriends’ bickering, the room became all too quiet.

It wasn’t as if he wasn’t used to silence. He wasn’t much of a speaker himself and he didn’t have many friends to fill in the silence. It was a normal thing now.

However, in light of recent events, the Ravenclaw had been feeling quite jumpy. Every shadow gave him anxiety and every little movement made his heart race. The latter was giving him the hardest time because this was a magical school and everything moved for some reason or another.

There was a knock on the door followed by several scratches and thumps.

Kyungsoo recognized it as the pattern to open the charmed door and wondered who it could be. He still picked up his wand, however, and was ready to fire off curses if need be.

“You’re not the best dueller, but you have really mean spells up your sleeve,” a voice said after the door opened. Kyungsoo recognized it as Jongin’s and felt slightly relieved, but didn’t lower his wand.

“What present did you get me on my eleventh birthday?” Kyungsoo asked, still suspicious of the newcomer.

“I came to your house and tried to make you eggs and toast,” replied Jongin, strolling into the room. It took several turns before he found the Ravenclaw’s stronghold. “Please don’t attack me.”

The Ravenclaw put down his wand with a sigh of relief before turning his eyes towards the younger boy. “What brings you here?” he asked.

Jongin sat down in front of him, moving the books away in order to get more comfortable. “I heard from Chanyeol that you would be alone here because they had class.”

“Don’t you have class too?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine. I didn’t want to go anyways.”

The look in Kyungsoo’s eyes changed and in a flash, he was on the Gryffindor, slapping the boy on his arms. “How. Many. ing. Times. Did. I. ing. Tell. You. To. Not. ing. Skip. Class,” he said, every word punctuated with a blow.

Jongin covered his face in a defensive position. He had expected the reaction, but he forgot how much it hurts. “I get it, you madman!” he yelled in defeat. “Get off me before Joonmyeon comes in and locks you up in a dungeon.”

The Ravenclaw hissed, getting off the boy. He knew Joonmyeon’s Jongin radar was oddly accurate and the older brother would not hesitate to drag him by the hair to lock him up in the dungeon for hurting Jongin.

“And I skipped class because I didn’t want you to stay here all alone,” said Jongin, rubbing his arm. “I know you like to be alone, but I thought it would be nice if you had company.”

“You came knowing I would still beat the out of you?”

“You’re not strong enough to do any damage,” the Gryffindor said with a shrug. “You get scared easily so I didn’t want to leave you alone.”

“That’s nice,” said Kyungsoo, leaning against the shelf behind him. “This room is probably the safest place in the castle right now, but it’s a little scary too.”

“Well I’m here now,” Jongin said. “When was the last time you slept properly?”

The silence he got in return was enough to confirm his suspicions.

“You can go to sleep,” the Gryffindor Chaser said quietly. “I heard from Joonmyeon that you don’t even sleep in the dorms anymore. This whole thing must have spooked you, right? It’s okay. I’ll keep you safe, so you can go sleep for a while.”

“I have class in an hour.”

“You don’t like Divination anyways so it’s fine, right?” Jongin said, opening up his bag. He put his hand in and the entire length disappeared. After a few seconds of rummaging – it sounded as if something heavy fell over inside – he pulled out a pillow, comforter and blanket.

Kyungsoo numbly received them, trying his best to avoid throwing another tantrum. He tried to think up excuses as to why Kim Jongin would need a complete bed set with him at all times, but came up with nothing reasonable.

“I don’t know why in hell you would have this stashed in your school bag—”

“Stop nagging me. You’re not my mother,” said Jongin quickly, putting aside the books. “Just go to sleep, okay? You look like you could pass out at any minute.”

It was only when Kyungsoo had fully laid down on the comforter, wrapped up in the blanket with his head on the soft pillow that he realized he couldn’t sleep.

Just a few minutes ago, he felt very tired and his eyes were heavy, but now that he was all ready to sleep, he just couldn’t. Instead, his head was buzzing again, but it had nothing to do with the potions he was working on.

His head was filled with various memories of the past.

It wasn’t surprising to see Jongin in most of them, proving that the younger boy had left a deep mark in his life.

“Hey,” said Kyungsoo suddenly, breaking the silence in the room. “If the world was to end tomorrow, who would you spend it with?”

“That’s very random.”

“Just answer it, you brat.”

“With you, of course,” Jongin answered easily. “Is that even a question? And can’t you speak more nicely? Without swearing every two words?”

“You want to get beaten up?” Kyungsoo muttered with no bite to his words. “I’m just really tired.”

“Yeah, I can tell. You get more irritable when you haven’t slept in a while,” said the Gryffindor. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“If the world were to end tomorrow, who would you spend it with?” he asked.

“That’s a very hard decision,” Kyungsoo said vaguely.

“This isn’t the time to test out your non-existent humour,” said Jongin in all seriousness.

“Probably you.”

“Probably me?”

The Ravenclaw sighed and turned around to face the younger boy. “Definitely you,” he revised grumpily, only to soften up at Jongin’s stupid grin.

“Isn’t this a confession of some sort?”

“A confession of who we would spend our last day alive with, yes. Take it as it is, Jongin.”

“With no underlining meaning whatsoever?” Jongin urged.

“I’m going to sleep,” Kyungsoo replied, halting the conversation before it could go any further. “Wake me up when it’s time for dinner.”

“Do you think we’ll always be together like this?” the Chaser asked wistfully.

“I hope so.”

“What would you do if we weren’t?”

“Together? I guess I’ll be sad,” Kyungsoo said quietly. “I can’t really imagine life without you, though.”

“So you always imagined that we would be together?” Jongin concluded. “That we would grow old together?”

“As best friends, yes.”

At this, Jongin laughed, genuinely and wholeheartedly amused. “As best friends,” he echoed with a sigh. “If that’s what you want, sure.”

“Do you not want that?”

Jongin shrugged noncommittally and closed his eyes, an amused smile still carved onto his face. “Go sleep. I’ll wake you up later.”

“Forget it,” Kyungsoo said. “You’re going to fall asleep and we’ll both miss dinner.”

“It’s not like that kitchen is locked or anything,” replied Jongin simply. “If you’re still hungry later, I’ll grab some food for you.”

They fell asleep soon after that and Kyungsoo had never had a more peaceful slumber than he did then.

 

---

 

Just as Minseok was making his way towards the dormitory stairs, he was cut off and before him stood the ever beautiful Bae Joohyun.

“What?” he asked tiredly, readjusting his bag strap into a more comfortable position. “I have to go change and head out again. Make it quick, whatever it is.”

“I want to apologize about earlier,” said Joohyun, a small frown marring her face. “I didn’t know what you were doing and I just said whatever I wanted.”

“It’s fine,” said the Head Boy gently. “I know that this hits close to home for you, being a muggle-born yourself. You have every right to be angry.”

“Yeah, but not at you,” Joohyun said apologetically. “You indiscriminately care about each and every single student in this castle. I’m sure you’re the one who’s the most worried about all of this.”

“It’s just a ty situation,” said Minseok with a tight smile. “We’re all trying our best here.”

“We are, yeah,” she agreed. “But you should really keep your pet on a leash. He was going to rip me a new one earlier.”

“Who?”

“Little Jongdae,” said Joohyun, smiling knowingly at her fellow batch mate. “Did something happen between you two? It felt odd. You would normally be rougher on him.”

“What do you mean?” Minseok asked.

“You told him to shut up first and actually let him run his mouth,” the Chaser answered. “Normally, you’d just use the Silencing Charm and be done with it. Are you finally warming up to our little kitten?”

“Mind your own business, Joohyun,” he said with a sigh.

“But even back then, you went easy on him,” she said. “You didn’t punish him as harshly as you were supposed to and that’s saying something because the kid pulled some horrible pranks.”

“That’s because no one wanted to take his detentions,” explained Minseok. “How can I give out detentions when none of the prefects wanted to supervise it.”

“Hence why you had to supervise the detentions yourself. I have to hand it to him. That’s a smart plan. I wonder how he managed to convince the prefects to do it though,” Joohyun said. “You probably spent more time in detention with him than you ever had with your friends. That’s probably why you have such a soft spot for him.”

“I do not,” Minseok said firmly, mildly upset. “He was just really annoying.”

“And smart,” added Joohyun. “He snuck under your radar without you even realizing it. That’s some next level skill he has there. I gotta go now. Sorry about earlier and keep your boy toy in line, okay?”

“He’s not my boy t—” before he got to finish the sentence, Joohyun had already sped past him and up the stairs.

As if summoned, Jongdae came out of his room and trudged down the steps with one eye still closed.

“Let’s talk,” Minseok said when they caught each other’s eyes. “Outside.”

“I’m not awake yet,” Jongdae complained groggily. “Can we talk later?”

“Walk it off,” said the senior. “Let’s go.”

Still half-asleep, Jongdae followed him out, narrowly missing bumping shoulders with the others in the common room on his way out.

They walked down the moving staircase and out the castle where the sky was slowly turning dark.

The two Gryffindors made their way down to the gardening patch standing alone in the middle of the clear grassland. It was away from both the castle and the Forbidden Forest and they could clear see if anyone was coming their way.

“Are you awake now?” Minseok asked.

“I was awake after nearly falling into the empty step for the third time,” answered Jongdae with a yawn. “What’s up?”

“About earlier,” the older boy started. “Did you apologize to Joohyun about it?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Is that all you have to say? You dragged me out here just for one question?” Jongdae asked, making a face. He had just woken up from his regrettably short evening nap and was going to start on his essay due first period the next day. “You could’ve just asked me in the common room.”

“Are you normally this slow when you’ve just woken up?’ Minseok asked rhetorically. “No, that wasn’t the only thing I have to say to you. We need to talk about what happened over winter break. It’s long overdue and I would have done this sooner, but I’ve been busy.”

“It’s fine. I get it,” said Jongdae with a grin. “I’m not that clingy. I don’t mind you ignoring me for weeks because you were busy.”

“I didn’t ignore you.”

“No, you just don’t say more than two words to me before vacating the area. Yeah, I get it.”

Minseok frowned. “You said you weren’t clingy just a second ago!” he said exasperatedly.

“It was sarcasm. I’m the clingiest around. You could have at least dumped me if you suddenly had cold feet,” Jongdae retorted, just as exasperated. “Shame on you for leaving me hanging like that.”

“Okay, fine, it’s my fault,” admitted Minseok. “But I was honestly very busy. Every time I come back to the common room, you’d already be sleeping. I didn’t want to bother you or anything. Our schedules don’t match and you’re busy for your OWLs. I couldn’t find the right time to talk to you.”

Jongdae had a thing where he couldn’t stay mad at anyone for more than five minutes before giving in and Minseok was no different. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s talk. Chanyeol’s right. Not talking puts us back 10 steps instead of moving forward.”

“You’re taking relationship advice from Chanyeol now?” Minseok asked disbelievingly.

“Yes, that’s how desperate I am. Let’s move on.”

They sat side by side on the grassy sloped terrain and the sun was setting fast. Minseok, noticing that the fifth-year had followed him in a thin tee and shorts, gave him his cloak. Jongdae accepted it gratefully, regretting his choice of wear almost immediately after leaving the common room.

“So let’s get this straight,” the Head Boy said, glancing at the boy next to him. “You like me—”

“Understatement of the century, but okay.”

“—and I have feelings for you. So what should we do now? What’s the next step?”

Jongdae shrugged, pulling the cloak tighter around him. “Let’s date,” he suggested carefully. “That’s the normal thing to do when you mutually like each other, right?”

“Are you sure you want to date me?” Minseok asked, feeling his fingertips go cold. “I mean, we’re opposites. I’m uptight and you’re not. You like having fun while my definition of fun is telling people off.”

“We can make it work,” said Jongdae firmly. “But that’s only if we want to make it work. A relationship takes two.”

“I’ll be busy with exams and school security,” Minseok informed him. “I won’t have much time to spend with you.”

“I have exams too,” Jongdae said. “We can work on the little details later. I know I said I’m clingy, but I’m not stupid. I know you have your big responsibilities. I won’t die if I don’t see you every day. I survived this long, haven’t I?”

“I’m not very affectionate,” said the seventh-year. “It might be difficult for you.”

“You can work on that. I don’t have to be petted every few seconds. I’ll live without you being lovey-dovey. It’s fine.”

“I feel like I’m doing more taking than giving here,” Minseok said, feeling a little guilty. “Is there anything you want?”

“Get more sleep,” Jongdae said. “Take care of yourself better. You’ll pass out from exhaustion if you don’t pace yourself.”

“Anything else?”

“Smile at me more.”

“You sure have big demands,” Minseok chuckled. He doesn’t smile all that much at school since there wasn’t really anything to smile about.

Jongdae almost looked embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck – a gesture he used only when he’s feeling uncomfortable – and took a deep breath. “I don’t really know what to ask,” he admitted quietly. “None of my relationships were very serious, you know? And I don’t want to annoy you, because, you know, I really like you.”

“I know,” Minseok said, heat rushing to his cheeks. Hearing the fifth-year say those words with such sincerity made him feel a little shy. “But it doesn’t hurt to be a little selfish. I won’t think you’re more annoying than you already are.”

The younger boy gave an indignant hey, but laughed it off nonetheless. “Maybe we can go on dates. If you’re comfortable with it.”

Something about the way he spoke seemed off and Minseok almost let it go.

Almost.

Normally, he would just leave it be, but then he realized that this was his boyfriend and if he didn’t confront whatever issues he has now, it would only cause tension between them.

“If I’m comfortable with it?” the Head Boy asked. “Why wouldn’t I be comfortable with it?”

“You know, I’m me. Kim Jongdae, the most annoying brat that ever stepped into Hogwarts. If you don’t want people to know we’re dating, it’s fine. We don’t have to go on dates. Just seeing you is already good enough.”

Minseok stared at him for a good minute. “What are you going on about?” he said, slightly dumbfounded. “Why wouldn’t I want people to know who I’m dating? Why wouldn’t I want people to know I’m dating you?”

“I mean, you’re an icon. You’re one of the greatest wizards of your age. I don’t want to tarnish your reputation or anything,” Jongdae mumbled, burying his face into his knees. “We’re not really on the same level, right?”

“That’s absurd,” Minseok snapped at him. “What does all of that have to do with us dating? I’m somewhat offended that you think so lowly of me.”

“I don’t—”

“Honestly, I’m not even all that great. You think too highly of me, Jongdae,” said the seventh year, his tone finally softening. “I appreciate it, really. I’m not the type to regret my decisions. If we’re dating, there’s nothing to hide. We’re not doing anything wrong, are we?”

With his face still buried in his knees, Jongdae smiled, feeling relieved. He heard some rustling and then felt an arm being put around him.

“There’s a limit to how selfless you can be,” the older boy said. “And what happened to the usual confidence? You’re usually the number one advocate for self-love.”

“I should really start taking my own advice, right?”

“Yes,” Minseok replied simply.

Maybe Joohyun was right – he did have a soft spot for Kim Jongdae. He was stone cold at times, but seeing Jongdae sad and insecure – a rare, rare sight, to be honest – it tugged at his heartstrings.

Gloomy Jongdae just felt really wrong to look at and Minseok hoped that the younger boy would only have happy days ahead of him.

 

---

 

Like Minseok, Luhan made it a habit to go patrolling around the school after hours too.

He was the one who started poking his nose into this first, after all. It was only reasonable that he did his fair share of searching after all the trouble he put his friends in.

The new curfew rule was being reinforced and there were no students out after dinner. He occasionally ran into the patrolling prefects, but other than that, the hallways were empty.

It was when he stepped onto the fifth floor that he felt something off. Luhan, a man who trusted his gut more than anything, gripped his wand inside his cloak pocket and prepared himself for confrontation.

“You noticed us,” a warped voice resounded throughout the whole corridor. Maybe it was a bad choice to go to one of the most desolate parts of the school alone, after all. “That was quick.”

“Yeah, hi,” Luhan said, keeping his voice level. “I’m asking on the off chance that you might say yes, but can you stop attacking the students of our school? Please?”

In return, he only got amused laughter.

“I guess not,” the seventh year sighed. “What is that you want? There isn’t really any reason for you to talk to me.”

“We came with a proposition,” the garbled voice said softly. “A win-win situation for us all.”

“Sounds interesting. What is it?”

“Stop meddling.”

It was Luhan’s turn to laugh. “Now I see how ridiculous my own request was.”

“This isn’t a request, Lu. This is an order and you will follow it if you don’t want any further trouble,” they said.

“I don’t know if you heard this, but trouble is my middle name,” Luhan scoffed, looking around warily. “I have guts of steel. Come at me with all you’ve got. You can’t scare me.”

Laughter rang through the corridor once again. “As expected from one of Hogwarts’ best,” the voice said, amused. “I don’t intend to hurt you, but I’m aware that you hold several people close to your heart. It would be… unfortunate if anything were to happen to them.”

“They have nothing to do with this,” said the Gryffindor, reeling in his temper. “There isn’t a need for you to go after innocent people.”

“Are they also not a part of the pursuit team?” the voice said. “You’re a very skilled wizard, Luhan, but they are not.”

“I thought this was some pureblood agenda? You wouldn’t hurt a fellow pureblood, would you?”

“If you’re referring to your little lover boy, the Ohs have been branded as blood traitors. Mudblood sympathizers have no place in our ranks. That includes the bastard son of the Baeks.”

“So you want me to stop? Is that it? Just back down and pretend like I never saw anything?” Luhan demanded, his anger rising by the second. He reined it in and took a short breath. “Can I assume that you did the same to Minseok and Yifan? Threaten them with loved ones?”

“Kim Minseok is unreasonably righteous. He wouldn’t even listen even if we tried,” the voice said.

Luhan grinned. That’s true. Minseok wouldn’t even bat an eye at something like this. He was much too poised to be intimidated by something so silly.

“Wu Yifan will get his reminder soon,” the warped voice continued. “If you don’t stop, you will see the consequences.”

“Like I said, try me. You touch anyone I love and that will just make me more eager to catch every single one of you behind this,” the Gryffindor said. “I’m telling you this now, but the people after you aren’t pushovers. The moment you meet Kang Seulgi down a dark hallway, you’ll see why you shouldn’t have started this at all.”

The heavy feeling that was pressing down on him just seconds ago subsided and he his heels, not quite running, but walking rather fast towards the moving staircase.

He bolted down the stairs, narrowly avoiding the missing steps only to be stopped when he missed the next set of steps.

True to its name, the moving staircase moved very conveniently several seconds before he could step on it.

Luhan felt his blood rush and he tapped his foot on the marble stairs impatiently before he turned around again and climbed the steps, grumbling about having to take the longer way down.

As he was walking briskly down the corridor five minutes later, he bumped into a pair of prefects; a sixth year Slytherin and Hufflepuff.

“What’s the password to your common room? Luhan asked the Slytherin and then decided to add a soft, “Please.”

Probably surprised by his presence, the Slytherin gave him a perplexed look, “Snape hate,” she said uncertainly.

“Thank you. Stay safe. Don’t go to the fifth floor,” the seventh year said, waving them goodbye.

 

---

 

In the Slytherin common room, Yifan was reading the essay Zitao had written about the Unforgiveable Curses.

As Defence Against the Dark Arts was his best subject, the Huang heir had asked him to proof read what he wrote. Despite his frivolous exterior, he was quite serious about his education and studied furiously behind everyone’s backs.

After writing the essay, Zitao turned to his textbook and did his notes, which were very neat and detailed. While Yifan was finishing up his own school work, the boy had fallen asleep on the book, his quill poking a hole through the paper he was writing on.

It must have been around one in the morning when the common room door suddenly opened up and gave him a scare.

There was no prefect scheduled to come back at one a.m. and every Slytherin student was accounted for and were resting in their respective dormitories.

However, his body reacted faster than his brain did and without realizing it, he was pointing his wand threateningly at the newcomer.

Luhan held his hands up, his instinct telling him to not make any sudden movements. He grinned at his best friend, lowering his hands slowly. “It’s just me. Calm down,” he said.

“You just barged into the Slytherin common room at one in the morning and you’re telling me to calm down?”

“Yes,” Luhan said, inwardly agreeing that he didn’t enter on the best terms. “I need to see Sehun for a second. Won’t take long. Just a second.”

Yifan lowered his wand, sensing the urgency in the Gryffindor’s voice. He didn’t sound particularly worried or anything, but Yifan had learned to pick up the small indicators after their years of friendship.

When he’s anxious, Luhan tended to smile more and his eyes would wander.

“Left staircase. Second door on the right,” said Yifan, nodding to said staircase. “Then you come down and tell me why you would come here in the dead of the morning instead of waiting for tomorrow.”

Luhan gave him a grateful look and sped off to the staircase, disappearing up the steps.

During that time, Yifan took the opportunity to wake Zitao up, ushering him to his room.

“Essay… are you… reading… done?” Zitao muttered, half awake. He didn’t bother opening his eyes after sitting back up. “Essay…”

The seventh year smiled fondly. “It’s done,” he said curtly, packing Zitao’s things. “Go up and sleep in your bed. You’ll have a sore back if you sleep down here.”

Zitao mumbled something incoherent and stood up, expertly avoiding the furniture and making it to the stairs without opening his eyes. He grabbed onto the railing and trudged up the steps tiredly, not even noticing Luhan was there.

As for Luhan, he was at Sehun’s door. He peeked in and saw that the younger boy was peacefully asleep, blindfold and all. He almost felt betrayed by how at peace the boy was compared to his own current state.

He didn’t go in nor did he stare at the lump of blankets that long. As promised, he looked for only a few seconds, enough to confirm that the boy was safe under his covers.

Luhan came back down the stairs and saw Yifan waiting.

“We were right,” Luhan said, chewing his bottom lip. “After tightening security, they would come after us personally. It’s working. They’re feeling threatened.”

“Yeah, we expected it,” said Yifan, nodding. “Why are you so panicked?”

“Going after us is fine,” the Gryffindor ran a hand through his hair, “we can handle them. Those kids are walking targets.”

“We already expected them to target people we care about,” Yifan reminded him gently. “It’s unavoidable.”

“I know,” said Luhan, mildly frustrated. “But it didn’t really feel real till I heard it from their own mouths. Do you think they would actually do it though?”

“Without a doubt,” the Slytherin replied. “We have to be prepared for anything. It’s difficult, but we have to find these people before it gets too big to handle. By having them change their targets to us, it’s easier to catch them. One slip and they’re done.”

“This is going exactly to plan, but it still doesn’t sit right with me,” said Luhan. “Minseok has some twisted ideas going on in his head.”

“He does what it takes to get the job done,” Yifan shrugged. “It’s for the greater good, Lu.”

“The last time someone said that, they were imprisoned for life,” Luhan sighed. “I just wanted to come and check on Sehun. The brat is sleeping like nothing’s happened.”

“Nothing did happen,” Yifan reminded him again.

“To him. I just had a talk with the devil!” Luhan said dramatically. “Also, they said something about giving you your wakeup call soon.”

“I don’t look forward to that,” admitted Yifan, making a face. He glanced at his best friend again and saw the small indications of his anxiousness. “Are you okay, Lu?”

Luhan sat down on the sofa, deep in thought. “I confirmed one of my suspicions. We need to talk to Minseok ASAP.”

“What is it?” Yifan asked,  feeling the hair on the back of his neck sticking up. That was never a good sign.

“I think we have a mole in our midst.”

 

---

 

OKAY SO WE'RE REALLY SORRY ABOUT NOT UPDATING!! so both val and i, baku, have entered our first year of university (EYYYY) so we have been beyond busy im so sorry. i just recently changed unis also so its been real hectic and val and i are having a hard time trying to adapt. we're so far away from each other and we barely get to talk too. yeah, i know, sob stories and excuses........ but we really are sorry. however, on a better note, we hope you enjoyed the chapter.