Taeyong knew he was supposed to feel sad when he looked down at his father’s lifeless body but he just didn’t.

He wasn’t disturbed by his lack of emotion either, he was grateful for his emptiness, it would disturb him more if he did feel sad; he wasn’t much of a father to him anyway. The man would curse him and beat him around, and finally he was gone, Taeyong might have even smiled if it wasn’t for his mother who was a blubbering mess beside him. A wake was being held at the Lee manor for his father, a very rich, scary, hateful man. Many other purebloods would slap him on the back with condolences and were impressed by his mental strength, they thought the poor boy was keeping a brave face but little did they know he really didn’t care.

Taeyong let his mind wander and his eyes found a window, he looked out of it and saw the lavish gardens when he spotted his brother’s grave, he frowned when he realised his father’s grave would be placed next to Jinki’s. Jinki deserved better than to be next to that wicked man. Taeyong might not have ever meet his older brother but he knew he was a good soul, anyone with a smile like that couldn’t be evil. He suddenly felt sick just thinking about his father and Jinki, did his father treat Jinki the same as him? Is that how he died all those years ago? Would he have met the same fate?

He sighed and shook his head, ignoring the sympathetic looks people shot him, he wanted nothing more than to run out and sit by Jinki’s grave. So that’s what he did, he sprinted out the door and no one stopped him as they assumed he was too grief stricken, not even his mother tried to stop him, she didn’t care about what he did anyway. Taeyong only felt better when he took a deep breath of fresh air and the sun instantly warmed him, the weather was surprisingly nice and Taeyong smirked; even the sun was happy that his father was gone.

Taeyong strolled through the gardens before ungracefully plonking himself by Jinki’s grave, he smiled and took a whiff of the fresh flowers that were placed there, a different bouquet every morning.

“hey Jinki, how are you?” he asked and waited for a response. He never got one.

“I have to go back to Hogwarts tomorrow, its not too bad though, I think I’ll be excused from homework for the rest of the year” he grinned from ear to ear and didn’t feel bad thinking about taking advantage of his teacher’s kindness, he was a Slytherin after all.

“you shouldn’t be lonely for too long, term ends in two weeks then I’ll be yours all summer, although I’m not sure what I’ll do after summer, I’m nervous about going into forth year, what did you do back then?”

Once again there was no answer but Taeyong nodded his head as if Jinki said something profound. He knew Jinki couldn’t talk to him but it was a habit that he never managed to shake. Taeyong didn’t have any friends before he went to Hogwarts so he spent his entire childhood talking to Jinki. It might have been rude to call his deceased older brother his imaginary friend but that’s what he was, Taeyong had to imagine what Jinki was like because his parents refused to speak about the other boy; Taeyong knew nothing about him but he would play and talk to the boy he thought Jinki would be, kind and funny.

Up until the age of eleven the only way Taeyong would leave Jinki’s grave was if he was dragged kicking and screaming. His parents would do that and try to beat it into him that trying to talk to the dead was ridiculous but he didn’t care. Now he had friends that were only an owl away but in that very moment he need to talk and expect nothing in return, maybe that was why he liked talking to Jinki so much, he could spill his deepest darkest secrets to Jinki and he knew he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone else or even judge him; he was dead after all.

He reached out and let his fingers graze over the engraved “Lee Jinki”

“what happened to you?” he whispered mostly to himself but jumped when a feeble voice answered, “come with me and I’ll tell you”

Taeyong scrambled away from the grave in utter fear but then he realised the voice came from behind him. He whipped around to face his mother, her usually beautiful face was red and blotchy from crying and her blonde hair was starting to turn white from stress. Taeyong glared at her before hissing “what do you mean?”

She didn’t repeat herself and instead turned away from him towards the house, Taeyong took once last look at Jinki’s grave before he stood up and dusted off his clothes, following his mother into the now empty manor. Everyone who came to pay their respects left and Taeyong wondered just how long he was outside for.

His mother started wailing again and it reminded him of Myrtle tormenting the girls’ bathroom. Taeyong started losing interest again after fifteen minutes of following his mother, he got distracted by a portrait that was hanging on the wall, the largest and the most interesting in Taeyong’s eyes. It was a family portrait of the Lees from before Taeyong was born, with only his parents and Jinki, his parents looked stern but elegant as always but Jinki resonated sunshine with a smile he was sure would be ten times better in person. He always noticed an empty place next to Jinki and wondered if it was intentional. The painted family stared down at him and his father’s likeness glared. It was then that Taeyong felt a cold presence behind him, his breath hitched and he turned around slowly to see his mother pointing her wand at him, fresh tears rolling down her already wet cheeks.

For a second Taeyong wasn’t sure if she was going to curse him or not but before he could even try and defend himself she pointed upward and muttered something under her breath. She started at the portrait behind him for a second before she covered her hands over her face and ran off, wand in hand and muttering to herself.

Taeyong was afraid of what he might see but instead of something horrific he was greeted by a beautiful but sad face.

A young teenage boy with wavy blond hair that fell into his eyes and the painted likeness only huffed and tried to blow the strands away, seemingly annoyed from having been hidden for so long, he filled the empty space and Jinki seemed ecstatic to see the other boy. Taeyong didn’t know who this boy was but he started to appear everywhere along the walls, the moody, cherub faced teen was haunting him and he felt overwhelmed.

Taeyong finally caught up to his mother and couldn’t help but let his anger explode out of him “who is he! What does this have to do with Jinki!”

His mother stopped dead in her tracks and took the time to try and compose herself, bracing herself for saying a name she hadn’t said in sixteen years.

“his name is Lee Taemin and he’s your half-brother”