II. The Dark Lady’s crown

“Mr. Wu, how could you be so stupid?” Sandara asked and took a sip of red wine before coming back to carefully slicing a piece of semi-rare steak on the plate before her “As for the ministry’s spy I would have expected more from you than such novicey”

Kris simply gritted his teeth, feeling his mouth being the only part of his body he could move. Sandara sighed and waved her finger nonchalantly, what suddenly gave Kris the control over his hands back.

“Please, eat” she gestured at the cutlery and porcelain plate in front of him, filled with exactly the same dish she was having. He simply scowled at it and then looked back at her.

“What? You don’t like asparagus? Or is it the wagyu beef?” she crossed her fingers before her, holding his stare as if nothing was happening “Mr. Wu if I’d have wanted you dead then you’d be within seconds, not to mention I think of poisoning food as the bottommost way to make that happen so please, enjoy the dinner and stop being ridiculous. Would you like some wine as well?”

Kris clenched his jaw and took a deep breath. He knew he was stripped out from his wand, what wasn’t giving him enough options to break free. What chances he had?

Before thinking further he got a hold of the steak knife and threw it at Sandara in one solid move.

Regrettably, the blade stopped in the air right before her face.

She closed her eyes and sighed, before laying down on her chair more with crossed arms.

“Mr. Wu, it’s rude to interrupt someone in the middle of the meal” she stated while the knife turned around, now pointing with its edge at Kris and slowly drifting in the air towards him “But since you’re urging to have a conversation so much then I guess it must be important so…What’s happening to the kids from the list?”

Kris felt his body going completely numb again as the knife stopped right before his forehead.

“Screw you” he snarled instead and Sandara only smiled.

Suddenly the very end of the blade sank in the flesh right in the middle of Kris’ eyes. He winced a little, feeling the blood pouring down his face.

“No Mr. Wu, I can’t make that request happen…Once again – what is happening to the kids from the list?”

Kris felt the blade digging deeper in his skin, this time making him scream in pain.

“ you!” he cried and Sandara just shook her head.

“Mr. Wu, I already told you it’s a no” with that she reached for her glass of wine as the knife went even deeper “Shortly this blade will penetrate your skull so better spill. I don’t have much time as the dessert should be served soon” another push and Kris felt like his head was about to explode because of the slow-burn agony he was feeling “What is happening with the kids from the list?!”

The final push and Kris lost it, his tears mixing with blood.

“They put them in one class and one dorm together, under constant supervision and the flame tracking spell…There’s also an auror is disguise watching them”

“What auror?”

Another push and another cry.

“Bang…Yong...Guk”

Sandara grinned happily upon hearing the words, as the knife drew back from Kris’ skin just to land freely on the table.

“Good job Mr. Wu! I knew we can find a common language” she said and then came back to her dinner “You see, there’s also something I’ve been meaning to ask…It’s about Kim Taehyu-“

Suddenly the doors to the dining room flung open, as the new person dressed in black and holding something that looked like a book made the way along the long table.

Kris felt the strange but familiar jolt of fear running through his spine. It was a natural body reaction to the supreme being, after all.

“I found it!” the newcomer cried happily but then looked at Kris with disgust while passing him by “ dude, you look terrible. Your face is all bloody and crying…Are you allergic to asparagus or what happened?”

Kris put the pain away as the anger exploded inside him.

There went Luhan - Sandara’s right-hand man, a vampire, a former auror and former Ravenclaw, as well as Kris’ former good friend.

When Kris firstly saw him amongst Sandara’s followers and roaming around her mansion he wasn’t even that surprised – these two were friends since the very early school years after all.

Luhan, the first ever vampire attending Hogwarts, made other students terrified with fear and agony just by the fact he existed. He was a nice kid but truly ostracized because of what he was and what he fed on.

Vampires were slowly making their way towards the so-called normal life after the second wizarding war but still, having one as your schoolmate was a petrifying experience.

Not to mention the revelation stating that some vampires had magical cores – namely the born ones, like Luhan – was a huge and kid of disturbing news that broke to the world back then.

Sure, Luhan fed on synthetic, alchemic blood but no one wanted to give it a second thought - no one but his housemate that time, Sandara Park, who grew to be his only one, understanding and not scared friend.

Apparently, that bond lasted.

With that Kris focused on the book the vampire had in his hand, before it landed next to Sandara and her plate.

She widened her eyes and looked from her steak to the tome and then to Luhan with a big smile.

“You did it!”

“Well, obviously” he shrugged “This is the one of two last copies in the world…The other one is in the Kim mansion’s library…Unfortunately the wards are impossible to break”

“No wonder” Sandara reached for the napkin and wiped softly before putting her hand on the book “The Kims are paranoid when it comes to dark magic since the second war so they pretend to fight it”

Kris, as much as he could, narrowed his eyes to concentrate the vision. The book – evidently old and wrapped in black leather cover – had some sawn letters on its surface.

Suddenly he panicked, the pain from the wound forgotten once again.

No, Kris didn’t know Cyrillic but decoding those exact letters wasn’t impossible for any magical folk knowing a bit of a history.

“The Romanov book” he shivered, the words burning down his tongue “No…no…It means…”

Suddenly the attention of Sandara and Luhan was at him again, as the realization hit Kris to the core of his distress and sanity.

That list of hers made terrifyingly huge sense now.

“You don’t want those kids to join you…You want to use them for the ritual! For that ritual!”

“Oh, Mr. Wu, it looks like you’re not that stupid after all” Sandara giggled and reached for her wine again.

“You’re ing mental!” Kris yelled “You can’t play god Sandara! You can’t do th-”

“Avada kedavra!”

With that Kris’ sudden corpse fell on the table, his forehead hitting the dinner plate.

Sandara lowered the wand and adjusted her sleeves, no emotion painted across her face.

“Damn, such a waste of good meat…” Luhan commented, not giving it any bigger emotion either.

“You’re right” Sandara stood up and rolled her eyes, scolding herself for acting so fast “You should have fed on him”

Luhan just laughed sinisterly before moving to stand above the ministry spy’s body.

“I was talking about the wagyu beef steak, not Kris” with that he dipped his finger in the pool of Kris’ blood made by the knife cut earlier, before putting it to his mouth and carefully sleeking it “He was type O anyway, yuck”

NEXT DAY, HOGWARTS

“Good morning Jennie! Coffee?”

Jennie nearly got a heart attack upon seeing the smiling face of Kim Seokjin right before her.

“Um, sure?” she offered awkwardly, not certain how to react.

She just woke up and just went down the stairs to actually make a cup for herself and by herself. Not to mention – it was rather early so she didn’t expect any of her dormmates to be up just yet. The first night in her new surroundings went rather well, giving the fact that none of her three roommates was a snoring type.

Suddenly another person came through the main portrait and therefor to the view, apparently coming back from the bathroom as the scent of shampoo and shower gel tickled Jennie’s nose.

“Hi Jennie!” Jung Hoseok, already dressed in the uniform, waved his hand enthusiastically, the towel still wrapped around his presumably wet hair.

“Hi?” she blinked her eyes in puzzlement at the boy, who passed by her with a big smile.

Then Jennie turned around, hearing another person coming down the stairs. It was Park Chaeyoung, yawning widely and with a red pillow mark gracing the half of her face.

“Good morning guys…Oh, hey Jennie, good morning to you too! Slept well?” the strawberry blonde asked and then rubbed her eyes.

Jennie said nothing but simply gaped instead.

“What is wrong with you people?” she asked and then got startled by the cup of coffee that Seokjin charmed to her “Whoa, um, t-thanks”

“Sure, no problem” Seokjin called from the kitchenette, busy with coffee percolator to make another round of cups. Jennie got a hold of her mug and looked between the Hufflepuffs, still in some kind of shock.

“You guys are ing weird, really” she finally stated and took a sip. It was tasty, at last.

“Why ‘weird’ ?” Hoseok raised his eyebrow, genuinely curious.

“I don’t know. You’re so…nice” Jennie wrinkled her nose, still trying to wrap up that odd morning situation she was in.

Hoseok and Chaeyoung exchanged the stares before looking back at her.

“Wishing someone ‘good morning’ is weird?”

“Someone you don’t know!” Jennie reassured herself, sensing that she suddenly felt and sounded idiotic “And, and…And making them coffee?”

Hoseok and Chaeyoung both laughed, while accepting the cups levitating their way.

“What are you Slytherins, savages?” Chaeyoung rolled her eyes playfully before looking at Hoseok “Listen, I know we’re not close but I’ve been thinking-“

Apparently the three Hufflepuffs didn’t know each other well so decided to break the bread and go to feed thestrals together after classes. What was even funnier – none of them was able to see them but they didn’t seem to mind that small issue.

Also it looked like Chaeyoung was actually doing it from time to time, as she already knew that thestrals liked raw meat the best.

What shocked Jennie the most however was the fact that they invited her to join.

The Slytherin just smiled clumsily from behind her mug while searching for the right words to turn them down before the new voice roared from the stairs.

“Why are you guys so loud?! It’s 6:30!” said Lisa Manoban, with incredibly messy hair and flushed face from anger “I was just having the best dream ever whe-wait…Is that coffee I’m smelling?”

Before anyone could react Lisa ran the remaining distance and grabbed a mug, practically drinking everything in one gulp and nearly knocking Jennie off the sofa’s bolster.

“Man, I love coffee” she flashed them a content grin, the anger from seconds before gone “And sleep. My two fave things that don’t make sense together”

The Hufflepuffs burst into hearty laughter and Jennie just snickered awkwardly, back to her own cup and to her thoughts about how long this upcoming year will be.

The rest of the morning went rather uneventfully - just students roaming around the dorm, going to the showers and back, tying ties and drying hair with spells, sipping coffee or going for tea instead.

It also gave Jennie a clear view on who was the morning person and who was the complete opposite.

Two people who woke up as one of the lasts were Yoongi and Jisoo - they even collided with each other while spilling the coffees on the