SHINee was on their second round of drinks when Minho stepped out of the bedroom. Key immediately jumped up rushing to him.

“What are you doing out of bed, you shouldn’t even be able to walk!” He said his voice somewhere in-between a reproachful whine and a yell.

Minho reached under his shirt and pulled out the necklace he had grabbed in his brief physical encounter with Omathan. "It's got a healing charm on it, pretty good one too apparently.”

“And you just slipped a necklace with an unknown enchantment around your neck?” Key asked incredulously.

“I checked it first of course, stop nagging and just be glad I’m still alive. Thank you by the way,” He directed the latter part of his statement towards all of SHINee, not just Key.

The rest of them waited patiently for Minho to take a seat easing himself gingerly into a chair around the small dining room table. One of their Auror body guards sat on the sofa in the living room and the other was presumably by the front door. “I guess I owe you guys an explanation now, huh?”

“Yes, I believe you do.” Stated Onew in a matter of fact way.

With a sigh Minho took a deep breath and launched into his explanation. His mother, his search for Omathan and his meeting with Omathan's sister, “...and then I went back to ask her about Voldemort’s recruitment of Omathan, or lack there of, and he was waiting”

“How did you learn the magic?” Asked Taemin, who was still in awe of the finished, yet shortened version of events Minho had just told them all.

“What?” 

“Well, you said that he is possibly the most powerful wizard alive today, and since I followed you there I know you were there fighting him for at le…”

“YOU WHAT?!” Shouted Minho angrily glaring accusingly at the rest of SHINee.

“We were curious as to where you kept disappearing to, and since Taemin was the best at the Chameleon charm we figured you probably wouldn’t notice him” Onew informed Minho his tone daring the other to make a bigger issue of it. Taking a few deep breaths Minho answered Taemin’s original question.

“The room of requirement.”

Only Jonghyun seemed to know what he was talking about, as his face held a slight smile. Minho could guess why. During their school days Jonghyun had been notorious for shagging everything in sight, Minho had always assumed he used the room as well.

“What is that?” Asked Key, his tone curious.

“It’s a room in Hogwarts, you walk past the entrance three times thinking about what you need and it creates a room tailored to that purpose. I would think “I need to learn how to find and defeat him” over and over again and when I entered the room there’d be books filled with old spells and instructions on how to enchant things. Most of it I've never been able to read, I only got about a fifth of the way through by the time we graduated.”

“So that’s why you went back to Hogwarts on the night You-Know-Who died.” Jonghyun said as if he had won a prize for figuring it out

“Yeah, imagine my surprise…”

“What are you planning on doing next?” Onew asked calmly

“What?!” Minho said totally surprised, he had expected outrage, anger, and wrath, not a benign question about his next move.

Onew smiled, “I think we all agree you’re like a brother to us, we will help you. We may not have read a magically conjured library to learn advanced combative magic. But we are all able wizards and will help if we can.” 

Minho was touched. He had known his fellow band mates cared for him, but never had he guessed that after seeing the power Omathan had, they would be willing to help him. Minho then realized that they were more than just friends, more than just band mates and work colleagues, they were his family and it had taken them saving him from death itself to realize that.

Tears streaking his eyes Minho said with a lump in his throat “Thank you.” And suddenly he was wrapped in a large group hug.

“Ok, so what do we do now?” Jonghyun asked after the awkward hug was over

As one, SHINee looked to Minho for the answer. “I need to go back to Hogwarts and talk to Headmistress McGonagall”

“Why?” asked Key with a slightly confused expression on his face.

“I need to ask her how to get to Willast”

“Willast?” Jonghyun and Onew asked in unison

“It’s a school in America, and according to his sister that’s where Omathan went to school.”

“Ah...” Onew said standing up, glancing to the Aurors in the room Onew stated “Thank you for all of your help, I know you haven’t had the easiest time," that part was said with a smile, “but we no longer need your protection.”

The Aurors looked like they would protest for a moment, then, sharing a glance, they each their heel and apparated out of the small dorm and back, presumably, to the ministry of magic. 

Minho stood with the rest of SHINee shortly. They shared a look and once again Minho had that sense of family, love even after all he had done, all the danger he had put them in. Turning on his heel he apparated, arriving at the gates of Hogwarts within seconds. The rest of SHINee appeared next to him, and they started up the hill towards the gates. 

“...never get used to that feeling” Muttered Taemin getting a chuckle from every body.

Reaching the gates Minho drew his wand and waved it causing them to open. Walking up the hill towards the entry he was greeted halfway by Professor Flitwick.

“My dear boys what are you doing here, if I remember correctly you’re already graduated?” Flitwick smiled, Minho had always been one of his favorite students.

“I’m here to talk to the Headmistress, Professor, the others are here to say hi to some old teachers and visit…The grave” Minho hoped the rest of SHINee didn’t mind him pushing them off but he doubted highly any of them were proficient in blocking their mind from Legilimancy. 

“Of course of course, I should have realized” Flitwick said bouncing on his heels, the rest of SHINee seemed to get that he had a reason for not including them and drifted off in separate directions.

Minho followed Flitwick through the castle halls until they reached the statue of the gargoyle. 

“Dumbledore.” Flitwick said clearly causing the gargoyle to jump aside to reveal a spinning spiral staircase.

“Thank you professor,” Minho smiled and spontaneously hugged the smaller man

“Well, well my dear boy, you are welcome!” Laughing slightly Flitwick turned and disappeared down the hall

Stepping onto the stairs Minho rode them to the top and then knocked on the large wooden door, hearing a muffled 'come in', he entered, taking stock of the room. It was much as he remembered it, McGonagall seemed to have wanted to honor Dumbledore by keeping it the same. He already respected the woman highly, however, now she was in the top ten. Glancing around he realized the Headmistress and himself were not the only ones in the room. 

Sitting in one of the two chairs in front of McGonagall was a tall well built man with shockingly white hair and deep set grey eyes. He wore deep green robes and a large belt with a heavy buckle into which his wand was stuffed. A wedding band lay on his right ring finger and a small locket hung from his neck. What really caught Minho’s attention however, was a tattoo on the inside of his wrist. A Sphinx, wings spread, fangs bared in front of two wands crossed in front of each other. It was the sigil of the Sphinx King and suddenly, Minho felt cold.

“Hello Mr. Choi, maybe you could explain to me why this man has been waiting for you?” McGonagall said crossly.

As one both men went for their wands, Minho however was not quite fast enough as his wand was farther from his hand. The mans silent disarming spell sent his wand spinning away and a second disarming spell prevented McGonagall from cursing him into a blob on her office floor. 

“Alright, now that we are done trying to kill each other, or rather you kill me. Let’s have a chat, please sit.” He flicked his wand again causing a chair to appear where he could easily keep an eye on Minho. 

“So, now that we’re all comfy let’s get to it….” The man’s face was impassive and Minho was slightly confused plus a bit worried. 

However this finished he had the feeling that if he didn’t control what he said he and Minerva would both be dead before the hours end…