⚡Chapter 4⚡ 

Jongin felt utterly miserable.
The Ravenclaw was not sure he would ever be able to explain these feelings to anyone who had never shared a bond with another, but he could definitely start with saying that it bloody hurt. He was still in the hallway, looking after a blonde Slytherin who wasn’t there anymore and the longer he waited, the longer he stayed put, the chillier he felt. Jongin pulled his robes tighter around his body in an attempt to banish the cold when he knew deep inside that this was not caused by the wind howling through Hogwarts Castle.

This was solely caused by feeling locked out, the link between them, that was usually a warm presence in the back of his mind, frozen solid. Nothing could be transmitted. No voices, no emotions.
Nothing.

Jongin exhaled shakily, willing his mind to concentrate and his legs to loosen up. He needed to focus, couldn’t let the emotions that started to bile in his stomach get the better of him until he understood what was happening. Why Sehun had left and why he had cut their connection like that.

No, not cut.
Bloody blocked it, that stubborn snake.

Jongin exhaled, trying to reach out to the other. Yet, it felt to him as if the connection trembled, like a brittle leaf in a storm. Their bond was growing more and more fragile and that sent his heartbeat into a frenzy.
Brilliant, he whined out.
But he knew that he would gain nothing from remaining here and so he finally left the scene, descending through the grand staircase, while hoping that they wouldn’t put him through too many detours while going below the basement of the western tower where the Slytherin common room was located. It was the only logical place where Sehun would be and Jongin realised that he never had to really search for the other before. Thanks to their bond he had always kind of known where the Slytherin was – he could simply concentrate on the other’s presence in his mind and follow that feeling until he bumped into him. But now when he tried to reach out… there was nothing but a thick, polished wall between them. The blonde’s presence wasn’t fully blocked from him,luckily. Jongin knew he was there at least – he knew he was alive… but that was basically it.

The brunet didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if…
No.
As soon as that thought had entered his mind had he banished it already. This was not up for debate and simply overdramatic.

So where would you look for a Slytherin student? In the dungeons obviously. There were other places he would consider if the circumstances were different, but if Sehun wanted to avoid him… then this was the only logical call.
The stairs took him down another floor and he passed the Potions classroom that sent another shiver down his body. After that accident he wasn’t sure if he could ever stir a potion again without flinching at the quietest sizzle from the kettle.
His feet eventually carried him to the door of the Slytherin common room where he stopped, exhaling. What was he thinking? Running after the other like that… if Sehun wanted to avoid him he would simply not come out… and as Jongin himself was a Ravenclaw was there no way in hell that he could go inside.
A Polyjuice Potion might work but that involved brewing said thing and at that Jongin was already out. Besides, he wasn’t the best in Potions to begin with. Sehun would-

Sehun.

It had felt like someone had dumped freezing water over him the moment he realised that he could not reach the other, back in the corridor, and now he kept shivering as if his clothes were still wet. This was definitely not good. Jongin remembered how they had felt more and more miserable after the accident had happened until they had finally given in and had spent time with each other, had satisfied the bond through proximity and touches…
And now that he couldn’t touch him at his leisure, satisfy the bond that kept them tied tightly – how long would it take for those headaches to come back?

Bloody hell, Jongin muttered under his breath. He needed to solve this quickly and make up with Sehun. Whatever had happened there would be a logical explanation. And the brunet was a Ravenclaw – he could deal with logic.

What had he done to make the other react like that?
The brunet had thought that they were in this together, and really this had been his fault too! They should have simply ignored those bullies whose names he didn’t even know.
But instead, Sehun was the one who had been taken to the Headmistress office and not them. It had even felt like the blonde was trying to protect him.
But now… he wasn’t even letting him through in their shared link.

He didn’t have to, Jongin would have followed and explained and…

“Are you going to ssstand there all day?”
“Yah!” Jongin yelped as a female voice rung through the empty corridor all of a sudden. Weren’t people supposed to be in class? (Like he himself?)
“Where- Who?” the brunet turned around, looking left and right and even up to the ceiling as he was trying to find out who had spoken. There was no one.
Had it been one of the ghosts?

“Where are you looking at, little sssparrow…”
Jongin swallowed, his heart thundering in his chest as this was too spooky… why was it now of all times that a ghost was trying to pull a prank on him?
“Go away! Whoever you are I don’t have time to play with you!!” he tried and stepped closer to the Slytherin door, hoping that the ghost would not pop out of any wall.
“I can’t, little sssparrow. I’m kind of made of ssstone…” said the voice in an exasperate tone. Jongin blinked at that, realising that the voice was coming from his right.
And then things finally moved into place as he realised that the pattern of the door that he hadn’t paid much attention to, was actually the body of a snake.
And the head… was detached from the wood of the door, looking at him with tiny emerald eyes.
“Rowena’s brains…” he muttered, staring.

The snake shook its head, tilting it.
“Sssparrows do not nessst here. Ssstate your businesss or leave.”

Okay. No problem. He was in a magical castle for magical students. A talking stone snake should not take him by surprise. But he should seriously consider asking Sehun why he had never mentioned this… peculiar door.

“I…” he narrowed his eyes, eying the head of the snake with interest. How did it work? Wondered the ever curious Ravenclaw in him. Not that he would get an answer to that – Hogwarts was full of enchanted things and his skills were probably far too undeveloped to even understand the first step of such complex magic.

“You are ssspeechless at my presssence, I reckon.” Said the snake and Jongin pouted at that. That thing was poking fun at him! Just great. Exactly what he needed right now.
“I am not! I am looking for someone!”
“And who might that be?” the stone figure asked, waiting for him to continue.
“A Slytherin student. Sehun. Oh Sehun. Tall, blonde, mute-“
“You do not need to dessscribe my ssstudents to me, sssparow…” the snake hissed, placing its head on the handle of the door as if to emphasise that Jongin could not enter.
“The one you ssseek is not home.”

Jongin blinked.
“What? But- he has to. Are you sure?”
“Are you tesssting my patience, bird?” the statue pressed, unmoving except for its tongue that came slithering out repeatedly.
“N-no I just…” Jongin bit the inside of his cheek. This was definitely not good. If Sehun was not in the dungeons then…

“Very well, young sssparrow. Your bounded is not here. Try your luck elsssewhere.”
“But-“
Too late.
The stone lay still. Nothing gave away that the figure had been moving, had been brought alive by magic.
And Sehun was not here. He doubted that the snake had lied to him – she could have simply announced that he did not want to speak to him, which was exactly what he had expected. But now he was left without any clues, though it meant…
Sehun could be anywhere in the castle.

Jongin sighed, trying his hardest to ignore the ache in his chest and set his foot in motion again. It would take him some time to get all the way up to the Ravenclaw common room and it would get him in trouble with his teachers tomorrow, but he simply did not feel like going back to class right now.
Dropping face first onto his bed sounded alluring though and that was exactly what he did, after another detour thanks to the stairs and a riddle he barely had a mind for solving.

⚡⚡⚡

After that small nap he had taken the day had dragged on tediously. In the late hours he had gone to see Madam Kwon and asked her for some potion that would make him sleep fast and deep. She had eyed him with worried eyes and as she was informed about his … special circumstances, offered to excuse him for today’s lessons he had missed.
He had been so thankful that he nearly hugged her.

But she was still school staff and so he had refrained from that. The potion had been quite potent, he had found out later when he was clad in his pyjamas and ready to just ignore the annoying pull he felt for Sehun. If he could – if only he could – he would have given in immediately, searching proximity with the Slytherin student that would not only ease the bond but also his mind.
They were friends, bloody hell! Even if they weren’t tied together like that he worried for the other. And he didn’t want the blonde to be cross with him for whatever reason…
If only he knew what was wrong in the first place…

Thoughts like that were the very reason he had unstopped the phial, chugging down the clear liquid as fast as he could without choking on it.
And before he had placed the now empty container on his bedside table did his vision already begin to get hazy.
He closed his eyes, curled into a b