warnings for indirect animal harm/cruelty and scenes of a potentially upsetting nature.

Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year.

At least at Hogwarts it is. The castle comes alive in ribbons of colour, the walls decorated from floor to ceiling in bright shades of purple, orange, and green. Pumpkins float in mid-air, fiery grins and gurns casting dancing shadows on the cold stone walls and floors; and translucent ghosts glide down the corridors like gusts of smoke, cackling elatedly with their friends as unsuspecting students fall prey to the tricks that lay in wait in trap them. The air smells sweet, like cheap candy and sugar; and the Great Hall is practically simmering with energy, the whole castle condensing into one giant mass, attacking plates of delicious food like they haven't eaten for days.

There is no other place in the whole of the United Kingdom that glows as brightly as Hogwarts does on Halloween. If it were visible to muggles, it would almost certainly appear like a brilliant orange flame in the distance, perched on a hill and burning like a torch, a beacon of mischief and mayhem. The windows and doors are carved like a Jack-o'-lantern, and the ringing of screams and laughter can be heard in the chilly winter winds. The moon is big and haunting as she hangs like a spirit in the night sky, surrounded by tiny, flickering stars.

Halloween at Hogwarts is the most wonderful time of the year.

But high up in Gryffindor Tower, far from the chaos, and nestled within the comfort of their dorm, two boys sit in silence.

The clock on the wall ticks loudly, each second feeling longer than the next. Baekhyun watches its path with heavy eyes, corners crusty with tiredness. He is lying on his bed, duvet wrapped around him tightly like a cocoon in a bid to keep warm. No matter how he arranges himself, he can still feel a draught of cold air tickling his feet and ankles. He squirms to pull them closer to his body, but for some reason still feels a little chilly, like a radiator that is just starting to break down. He gives up when the chill reaches his knees, heaving a sigh that rattles through him, making him cough. He buries his face in his pillow when he feels Jongdae looking at him.

Letting out a sigh, Jongdae turns back to his book. Both he and Baekhyun have been handed extra work to do to help keep up with all the classes they've missed, but Jongdae is the only one of the two to have actually started studying what he was given. Their professors may be sympathetic and understanding of their situation, but they have to draw the line somewhere. They're still students after all. With exams on the horizon, they need to concentrate on their studies. Time won't stop for them, no matter how much they want it to.

Baekhyun is lulled by the sound of the pages turning. His own books sit abandoned on his bedside table, gathering dust. He rolls around to look at them, reading the titles in his head and blinking when all the letters seem to blur together, blobs of gold on thick paper and woven fabric. He's tried to read them but they're just so boring; he always ends up getting lost in his head and reading large chunks of text without absorbing any of the information, forcing him to go back and suffer through it all again. There's not much point trying if he can barely get through the first chapter without falling asleep.

He's been sleeping a lot lately, now that he thinks about.

It's been three days since their last attempt to wake Chanyeol. Three very long, very empty days. The boys have tried their hardest to smile and stay positive, to keep each other confident and full of energy, but nothing they do or say seems to work for very long.

They keep to themselves, walking the corridors and grounds with their heads low; or hiding in their dorm room like mice, away from the pitying eyes of their friends and classmates. That's the worst part - the way people look at them like they're the ones that are sick. Jongin makes an effort to apologise to them every time they see him, and they're tired of telling him to stop. Being around people is making them twice as exhausted as they already are.

The clock chimes when it hits the hour. Lunch should be over now. Baekhyun can hear a surge of rising voices as the school files out of the Great Hall, feet tapping on stone as students make their way to their next class of the day.

Neither boy makes an effort to get up. Jongdae sighs and uncrosses his legs to stretch them out, and Baekhyun snuggles deeper into his bedcovers. The irony of skipping classes to make up for missing them doesn't escape the latter and he snorts, blowing dust off the books beside him.

He watches the specks float through the air and land somewhere near Chanyeol's bed. It's still as messy as the day Chanyeol last slept in it. Baekhyun takes in the sight, swallowing the lump in his throat.

Baekhyun likes Chanyeol's bed. It's the most colourful and decorated of all the beds in the room, including the ones belonging to his other two dorm mates, who he rarely sees.

While Jongdae's bed is covered in quidditch and football posters (never one to stray from his muggle loyalties), and Baekhyun's is more dirty clothes than quilt and pillows, Chanyeol's bed is adorned with photographs and drawings, little portraits and polaroid's stuck to every inch of wood within reach. Most of them are of his family - his parents, his sister, and his little dog, Toben - but a lot of them are of his friends as well, snapshots of their lives together at school. Some have been taken on a muggle camera, faces frozen in time; and one of them at the back is incredibly old, yellowing with age - a picture of his grandparents on their wedding day. Chanyeol has always been close with his family, so Baekhyun isn't surprised he'd have a photo like that in his possession.

Baekhyun doesn't get on very well with his own family, but Chanyeol's have showed him nothing by warmth and kindness in all the years he has known them. Their house is like a second home to him. The last time he saw them was when they came to visit Chanyeol a few days after he got sick. He hopes he can see them all again soon.

Baekhyun is trailing his eyes lazily over the photos, taking in the goofy grins and laughing faces, when he spies one photo hidden at the back, concealed between shots of Chanyeol's sister and the three friends making snowmen at Jongdae's house. It's so hidden that Baekhyun almost misses it, and he can only just see it from where he is awkwardly draped across his bed.

It looks quite old, if the curling corners and slightly faded colouring is anything to go by. He shuffles forwards a little on his stomach and squints, and soon the tiny picture comes into greater focus.

The picture is still. It must have been taken on a muggle camera. Two small boys, probably no older that seven or eight years old, stand side by side in front of what looks like a garden; a tall fence is visible on one side, lined with beds of tulips, bulbs blossoming brilliantly in red, yellow, and pink. One of the boys is tall and round, a pair of gold rimmed glasses perched on the end of his nose, large ears floppy as they stick out from under his hat. The other is shorter and skinnier, hair pitch black and cut close to his scalp, a shy smile on his little face. Both are streaked from head to toe in dirt, the largest of them more so, and the shorter has a plaster on his knee that is just visible below the hem of his dungarees. Holding hands, they look sweet together. There's a tree house in the background, only half built.

Baekhyun knows that the larger boy is Chanyeol. He would recognise that dorky-looking child anywhere, having spent all of first year running around with him - albeit a slightly taller and slimmer version. But he has no idea who the other kid is, with his little legs and round white eyes. Something about him is awfully familiar, though. He has a funny feeling he's seen the boy before, passed by him in the corridors or seen his face amongst strangers in a large crowd.

In fact, the other boy looks a little bit like-

"What's that under your bed?"

Baekhyun jumps at the sound of Jongdae's voice. Craning his head over his shoulder, he turns to look at him.

Jongdae is lying on his stomach, book resting against his pillow and head turned in Baekhyun’s direction, but he’s staring at the space under Baekhyun’s bed with wide eyes, lips curled in a way that makes him look as if he's smelt something awful. Baekhyun blinks at him curiously.

“I don't know. Probably clothes, why?"

Jongdae squints. "I don't think it's clothes,” he says.

Climbing out of his cocoon, Baekhyun swings his legs around and rolls onto his back. "Are you sure?" he asks, taking another glance at the other boy before pushing himself up. "It's not , if that's what you're implying." He's not an amateur. Too many tense incidents with his unfortunate dormmates have resulted in him finding much better hiding places for those kinds of things.

Baekhyun snorts when Jongdae shoves a foot out to kick him in the leg. The latter had missed him by several inches, but Baekhyun stops short of responding with a shot of his own when he sees the comically appalled yet slightly uncomfortable look on his friend's face.

"Don't be nasty. That's not what I'm on about."

He is still staring at the spot under Baekhyun’s bed. Frowning, Baekhyun turns to face him, crossing his legs and folding his hands on his lap.

"Then what are you on about? What could possibly be under my bed?”

Jongdae moves in for a closer look. He squints his eyes for a moment and leans forward, gripping onto the side of the bed so he doesn't tip forward too far. He pulls back again after a few seconds, nose scrunching. "I don't know,” he says, bringing his hands up to rub his eyes for a moment before taking another look. “It's… furry?"

"What? Furry?” Baekhyun doesn't even keep at pet at school, let alone something with fur. When Jongdae looks up at him and shrugs, he rolls his eyes and grips onto the side of the mattress to hang off it upside down. Really now, what could possibly be under his bed to have even Jongdae Kim himself on edge?

At first he can't see anything. The lights in the dorm aren't very bright anyway, and it's almost pitch black in the space under the bed, the only thing visible being the shadows and outlines of random items of clothing and his suitcase, pushed up near the wall. He’s about to pull himself up and throw something at Jongdae for being a daft blind idiot, but after his eyes adjust to the darkness, he sees something. A dark shadow, about the length of his thigh, curled up near one of the bottom bedposts, covered in a thick layer of matted fur.

There’s a real life monster under his bed.

Baekhyun pulls back so fast he gets dizzy, his spinning vision forcing him to grab onto the bedposts to stop himself from toppling over. "Merlin!" he screams, scrambling back as far as he can go. "What the is that?!"

Jongdae gestures wildly into the air. "How am I supposed to know? It's your bed!" he yells, pointing an accusing finger in his friend's direction.

"So?" Baekhyun swats Jongdae's hand away. "Whatever it is, it's creepy as hell." Running a hand through his hair, he groans. "I can't have weird under my bed. How do we get rid of it?"

For they know it could be dangerous, some malicious magical creature that he skipped over during his Defence Against the Dark Arts studies or something, and he really doesn't feel like being mauled to death in his sleep because he couldn't be bothered to move it. He'd never rest again with the knowledge that something evil was living just inches beneath him every night. The very thought makes him shudder, a shiver trickling down his spine.

Hopping nervously on the spot, Jongdae takes a moment to look around the room. "There," he says finally, pointing to the abandoned pile of quidditch gear near the bathroom door. "Pass me my broom.” Baekhyun hops off the bed and shuffles over to grab it, giving the bed a wide berth as if the creature will jump out and attack him if he gets too close. Shuffling back, he hands it over to Jongdae, who pulls his jumper up over his nose and drops down to his knees on the floor.

"What are you going to do with it?" Baekhyun asks gingerly.

"I'm going to get it out."

“What if it’s a rogue Monster Book?”

“Then we die.”

It takes a few attempts to catch the fuzzy object. With the space between the beds being so small, under the bed so dark, and Jongdae's broom rather long, he struggles to manoeuvre it just right. He resorts to lying on his front in the aisle between the beds and handling the broom with one hand, swinging it from side to side. Baekhyun kneels crouched on the bed behind him, leaning over and watching with narrowed eyes. Finally, with one big swoop of his broom, Jongdae manages to hit it. With a slow tug, he pulls it out from under the bed.

It’s a dead cat.

Baekhyun chokes, gasping so hard he falls backwards off his bed and lands with a crash onto the floor. Jongdae lets out a petrified shriek and drops his broom, jumping up and running over to the other side of the room to get as far away from the animal as possible, not before whacking his head on one of the bedposts. “Oh my God,” he groans, clutching his head. “Oh my God, there’s a dead cat under your bed, oh , this is happening, oh my God.”

Stumbling up from the floor, with bedsheets curled around his ankles, Baekhyun dives up onto his dormmates bed, almost hitting the ceiling with his crown in the process. "Oh , what do we do?" he cries, waving his hands hysterically in the air. His skin has prickled up in bumps all over his arms so fast it feels like it's about to crawl off his body. There's a dead cat under his bed! "How did it get in here, whose is it?" Why is there a dead cat under his bed?!

Jongdae's response is a full body shiver, his hands flapping at his side. "I don't know!" he whines, the pulsating soreness on his forehead making it difficult to think. How long has it been there? How could it have gotten in the dorm? None of the five boys living there own a cat, so why was there one under Baekhyun's bed? Taking a deep breath, he gingerly edges his way over to peer over the edge of a bed, urging himself to take another look.

"Oh sweet Merlin."

Freezing mid splutter, Baekhyun looks at Jongdae with panic in his eyes. "What? What is it?" he wheezes. Jongdae looks like he's about to have a fit, hands shaking as he brings them up to cover his mouth in a gasp. Slowly, he turns to look at his friend. Baekhyun's heart is pounding so fast in his chest that he feels like he could throw up at any second.

"It's Luhan's cat," Jongdae stutters, voice barely above a whisper. "It's Bao."

Nothing happens for a few seconds, both boys frozen where they stand, struck dumb with shock. Bao? Luhan's cat that went missing a week ago? It can't be true. After what seems like hours of stillness, Baekhyun hops over onto his own bed and glances down, closing his eyes and shooting a hand out to lean against the wall when he recognises the striped brown fur and pointy ears of Luhan's beloved pet. She's curled up on her side, tail tucked in tight and covering her back legs. She looks like she's napping.

Baekhyun looks away instantly, tugging at his hair. Luhan has been distraught for days, Yixing has been searching for her every free moment he has, and she was under his bed the whole time? Taking a few shallow breaths, Baekhyun turns to face Jongdae, who is still frozen on the spot, hands covering his face.

“What do we do?” he asks, voice shaking in his throat. How can he ever face Luhan again?

Jongdae brings his shaking hands up to wipe his hair away from his face. The dorm is silent for a minute as he thinks, and Baekhyun shuffles nervously on his feet.

“We should tell him," Jongdae says finally. "It's his cat, he needs to know."

Groaning low in his throat, Baekhyun throws his head back, letting it bang on the wall beside him. “Luhan is going to kill us." He punctuates every word with a thump, stopping only when he catches sight of Jongdae raising a frustrated brow at him from across the room.

“It's okay, it wasn’t our fault," the other boy replies, rubbing his hands on the back of his head, as if reassuring himself that his words are correct and they definitely weren't responsible for murdering their friend's cat. "We haven't done anything wrong.”

“So? She’s in our dorm. How are we supposed to explain that?”

“Cats do that, don’t they? Take themselves off to die. Maybe she was ill and came here to go without Luhan making a fuss?”

Baekhyun isn't convinced, and he makes Jongdae know by scoffing loudly in distress. “There’s no reason why she would be ill though. She was perfectly fine last time we saw her.”

“That was like four days ago. Something could have happened between then and now.”

Baekhyun throws his hands into the air. “Then I don’t know!" he concludes with a yell that makes Jongdae jump. With another great sigh, he marches over to Chanyeol's bed and throws himself onto it face first, landing with a stunted noise that in any other situation would have made Jongdae laugh. "Merlin, this year keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?” he hisses.

Outside, the howling wind makes the windows of the dorm rattle and shake. Jongdae sighs along with it, watching his friend curl himself up into a ball in Chanyeol's dusty unused sheets. He can't help but feel that the world is against them right now, doing its best to make their lives as miserable as possible. First their best friend gets sick, they're failing their classes, and now a cat has managed to crawl under his bed and pop its clogs under their very noses.

Jongdae finds himself looking at the cat between the beds. Bao was a pampered puss (and often times an unfriendly one) but his heart still pangs at the thought of her no longer being around. She was a good friend and protector of Minseok's kitten, Tan, who might as well be Jongdae's too with the amount that he plays with her; and she gave really nice, warm cuddles - when she let you anywhere near her. Luhan loved her like she was his own child. He will be absolutely crushed when he finds out. Jongdae hopes he can forgive them.

Just then, he spies something that makes his eyebrows shoot up into his forehead. He takes a few steps forward and squints his eyes, staring so hard at the animal below him that he starts to get a headache. He drops to a crouch and inspects her even closer, just to be sure.

“Hold on. She’s not dead.”

The little tuft of hair that is visible beneath Chanyeol's duvet twitches slightly. Baekhyun's head pops out from under the covers like a mole, hair sticking up at odd angles.

“She’s not?”

Jongdae shakes his head. “No. She’s alive.” He can barely believe himself as he says it.

Climbing out of the covers, Baekhyun crawls across the mattress to peer over at the bundle of tabby fur on the floor. “Are you sure?" he says, grimacing. "She looks pretty dead to me.”

Rolling his eyes, Jongdae reaches up to flick his friend on the forehead.

“Shut up, you idiot, she’s still breathing, look.”

Baekhyun rubs his sore brow and sticks his tongue out at the other boy before looking down. At first he doesn't see it, too busy blinking through the pain on his face to notice anything significant about the seemingly dead cat. But after a longer look and significant prompting from Jongdae, Baekhyun just manages to make out the miniscule rise and fall of the little cat's chest. The breaths are slow and shallow but definitely there.

“Oh thank Merlin. I was this close to having a panic attack," he wheezes. A giant weight has lifted from his shoulders and he collapses backwards, bouncing up and down on his back as he hits the mattress. He can't say he's ever been so relieved in his life.

"Wait," he suddenly utters, scrambling back up when a thought crosses his mind. "What’s wrong with her then?”

“I don’t know," says Jongdae. He's still crouched down beside the sleeping pet, staring at her hard. His brow is furrowed and he's rubbing his forehead, as he is mulling over a particularly difficult exam question that he can't figure out the answer to.

"What’s that around ?” he says after a few moments.

Curious, Baekhyun gets off the bed and moves over to stand beside the other boy. He bends down to see what Jongdae is on about, and sure enough there is a strange, thick, dark red gelatinous substance stuck to her teeth and whiskers. It's dotted with little specks of beige, crumbly-looking in texture, making the red liquid look rather lumpy. Whatever it is, it looks vile. Baekhyun cringes, choking down the urge to gag.

Swallowing, Jongdae reaches out to poke at the gooey gunk. He scoops up a bit onto his finger, and Baekhyun shoots out a hand to grab him by the arm, halting him in his tracks.

“Ew, Dae, don’t touch that.”

Jongdae shakes him off. He gingerly brings his finger up to his nose, giving it a few sniffs. He had closed his eyes to smother is repulsion, but they shoot open in surprise when he realises what the substance is. He turns to Baekhyun, eyes wide.

“Cherry," he splutters out. "It's black cherry."

"What? Are you sure?"

Jongdae nods, holding out his finger for his friend to get a whiff of, but Baekhyun just swats it away, disgusted. "Get off, I believe you," he whines. He doesn't need or want proof that the sticky goo is what his friend says it is; Jongdae's word is sound enough for him. With a confused hum, he stands up straight, wincing as the bones in his spine crackle.

"That's a bit weird, though. Do cats even like cherries?”

Jongdae, who is wiping off his sticky hand on a discarded sock, looks up at him. “Apparently so." He pushes himself up with a sigh when he's done, leaning against a nearby bedpost and crossing his arms. "How would she get hold of cherries anyway? They don’t grow on the grounds and there’s no way she could have gotten into the kitchens.”

Bao may be stubborn, but she isn't stupid. The House Elves don't take kindly to intruders; she would have been flattened like a pancake if she even got close to breaking into the kitchens. But how else would she have found cherries?

Baekhyun shrugs his shoulders. “Maybe Chanyeol left some pie out or something. It is his favourite, I wouldn't put it past him to have a secret stash under his bed somewhere.”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, Baekhyun and Jongdae jump to face each other, a spark flickering between them like the crackling of fireworks.

“Wait. You don’t think..?” Baekhyun gasps, eyes wide and glistening, but he doesn't manage to finish his question before Jongdae suddenly spins around and dives back onto the floor. He gently moves Bao out of the way before dropping to his stomach, wiggling his way under Chanyeol's bed.

"Where is it, where is it, where is it…"

Digging around in the dark, he fumbles blindly, hands thumping against everything from old books to a battered cauldron; stacks of chocolate frog cards, dusty magazines, and a smelly quidditch boot (just the left one). When his hand sinks into something cold and slimy, he lets out a muffled "aha!" and wriggles out from under the bed backwards. Pushing himself up, he drops what he found on an exposed part of Baekhyun's mattress.

A cherry pie sits in front of them, half-eaten and as fresh as the day it was baked.

"Sweet Merlin," Baekhyun chokes, gagging into his elbow. “That is absolutely disgusting.” It may look perfectly fine, but Chanyeol has been sick for over a month now. How long has that pie just been sitting there, stewing away in the heat of a sweaty boys dorm? The very thought makes Baekhyun want to jump in the shower and scrub his whole body raw. He looks at it and gags again, and Jongdae sends him a pitying look over his shoulder.

When Baekhyun calms down, Jongdae turns back to the pie. “Look, there’s a slice missing," he states, leaning forward to point at the gap in the pastry. Buried under crumbling crust and thick, gooey cherry is a ruler, most likely the one Chanyeol uses for his Astronomy classes. The end is covered in pie. Chanyeol probably used it as a makeshift knife to cut himself a slice. "Chanyeol must have eaten it.”

Baekhyun glances at him from behind his elbow.

“Are you saying this is how he got sick?" he asks. His voice is shaking slightly. "Someone poisoned him with this?”

Jongdae nods slowly. He feels sick, like his stomach is full of rocks, and not just because of the month old pie sat in front of him. They knew already that Chanyeol was most likely poisoned, but the fact that they are probably correct chills him to the bone. His knees feel like jelly but he doesn't sit down, choosing instead to lean against the far wall.

“Must be. And look at Bao. She clearly ate it and now she looks like an aristocrat’s scarf.”

Across from him, Baekhyun starts to pace again. He swerves around the scattered objects on the floor, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "How do you reckon he got it?" he asks. With all the pieces falling into place, he's starting get excited, blood pumping through his veins. He struggles to stop his lips from twitching at the corners, a grin tugging at his mouth as his brain works a mile a minute.

Jongdae skims through his memories of the day before Chanyeol was found asleep. “Someone must have given it to him after quidditch practise," he theorises. Like Baekhyun, something inside him ignites, filling him to the brim with energy he didn't know he had. He pushes himself off the wall, stepping towards the other boy with his arms raised, as if he's waiting to catch all of the words coming out of his mouth.

"He went ahead without me so I didn’t see them do it, but that’s the only time they could have given it to him without us noticing.”

“Yes! He was asleep by the time you went up to bed, wasn’t he?”

“And he was with us all day besides that one moment.”

The energy in the room is palpable, almost sizzling. For the first time in days, the two Gryffindor boys feel like they've accomplished something; they're one step closer to finding out what happened to their best friend and why; one step closer to having Chanyeol back by their side. Their cheeks bloom with colour, and their smiles are so brilliant that if anyone were to enter the room at that moment they would surely end up grinning too.

"Holy , we’ve done it, Dae!" Baekhyun shouts giddily, throwing his arms into the air. "We have a lead!"

In a fit of enthusiasm, Baekhyun launches himself across the room to pull Jongdae into an embrace. They hold each other close, hopping up and down on the spot like a pair of overzealous puppies. Jongdae is warm and firm in his arms, and he tightens them instinctively, hugging the other boy so tight he can barely breathe. He can't believe they've found something useful to help them solve this mystery. And in his own dorm no less! The only thing convincing him this isn't all a dream is the thumping of Jongdae's heart against his chest.

"We're so close, Dae," he whispers into the curve of the other boy's shoulder.

"I know, Baek," Jongdae says softly. "I know."

The castle is loud that Halloween, but at that moment, Gryffindor Tower is peacefully quiet.

~

Luhan is in the library, hunched down at one of the far desks behind stacks of books and tomes, long lengths of parchment cascading down onto the floor over the edges of the desk. Every inch is covered in dark inky scribbles and notes. Even his hands are dotted with stray blobs of ink. His eyes are dark and heavy, but he keeps on writing. He must have been sat there for a while.

Beside him, pressed up against the wall on Luhan's right side, sits Minseok, his nose buried in a book almost half his entire height. The Ravenclaw is turning a page when he spies the two young Gryffindors shuffling towards them, their eyes shifting around their surroundings suspiciously, as if they are afraid they're being watched. In Jongdae's hands is a large box. He's holding it tightly but gently, carrying it just slightly in front of him like he's nervous about whatever is concealed inside jumping out and crawling up his arms.

Minseok knows that is never a good sign. With a short, resigned sigh, he slams his book shut and rests it on the table, crossing his arms over his chest. He leans back in his chair, face stoic as the younger students come to a stop in front of him. They look glum, a bit scared almost, and he would ask them what was wrong if he wasn't so familiar with their little pranks. Being related to Jongdae makes you wary of these sorts of things, especially when Byun Baekhyun is in the same room.

"What do you want," he asks bluntly. He really don't have time for their silly jokes.

To his surprise, neither boy reacts the way he expected. Jongdae sends him an unimpressed but weak glare, and Baekhyun looks down at his feet, twisting his hands in front of him. They glance at each other briefly, seemingly having a full conversation with their eyes in a matter of seconds, before Jongdae carefully lifts the box and places it on Minseok's closed book. With a subtle hand, he pushes it over in Luhan's direction.

Minseok has half a mind to ask them what's inside, but their pitiful expressions and shuffling feet have him frowning at them instead. This really is suspicious. Minseok has known Jongdae since he was born and he's never seen his cousin look so guilty. Something must be very wrong.

Jongdae clears his throat.

“Luhan?”

The elder Gryffindor doesn't stop scribbling. He doesn't look up from his notes either, merely hums to show that he's listening. When no one speaks, he looks up briefly, flashing the boys a smile before dropping his head back down to carry on with his studies.

“What is it?" he asks a little impatiently. "Aren't you guys supposed to be in class?”

Baekhyun and Jongdae look at each other again. Baekhyun shifts the box even closer.

“We’re really sorry," he says quietly.

Now Minseok is definitely concerned. He turns to Luhan (still scribbling away without a care in the world) and elbows him in the ribs, making him squawk and drop his quill onto the floor. Luhan turns to him with fire on his tongue, ready to berate his friend for distracting him from his notes, when he notices the expressions on the younger Gryffindor's faces. Minseok nods towards the box, gesturing for him to open it.

"Oh, okay," Luhan mumbles. "You should have said something." He stands up and leans across the table, taking the lid of the box in his hands. Gingerly, he opens it. Minseok cranes his neck to see what's inside.

Baekhyun's heart breaks when Luhan lets out a shattered gasp, hand flying to his mouth. He closes his eyes just before Luhan drops like lead into his chair, a dry sob wracking through his body violently. He can feel Jongdae shift awkwardly beside him, and he takes a bit of the other boy's shirt in his hand, fondling it between his fingers.

"I'm so sorry, Luhan."

No one moves or speaks for a long time. At some point, Minseok wraps an arm around his friend’s shoulders, rubbing his back with a comforting hand, holding Luhan's own in the other. The other students around them are starting to stare, peeping over their books and through the gaps in the bookcases, and Minseok does his best to glare menacingly at them until they go away. It's bad enough that Luhan is upset; he doesn't need an audience to make him feel more worse than he already does.

“Where did you find her?”

Baekhyun and Jongdae turn their heads to look at each other. Neither of them want to answer the question, but they know that they have to. They battle with their eyes for a second before Jongdae lets out a shallow sigh and steps forwards, dreading the minutes to come.

“She was under Baekhyun’s bed," he says.

“Under… What? Why was she there?" Luhan sounds lost, confused. Minseok stares at them incredulously, eyes narrowed as he presses them for an answer, but before they can say anything they are cut off by Luhan aggressively slamming his fists onto the desk, making them jump.

"What the did you idiots do to my cat?!”

“Nothing!" Baekhyun cries, scrambling up to the table to shush him. They've brought too much attention to themselves already; if they give Madam Victoria an excuse to come over then she will surely kick them all out for sure. Baekhyun doesn't want to make a mountain out of a molehill, especially so with a situation as sensitive as this. "We did nothing, we just found her there, I swear!"

Luhan looks unconvinced, face still aflame with rage. In a panic, Baekhyun gestures over his shoulder for Jongdae to join him, and the other boy steps forward, pulling a bag out from under his robes as he does so.

"We think she ate some of this," Jongdae whispers. Dropping the bag onto the table, he pulls out the cherry pie. It's a little battered from the journey, but otherwise still as perfect as they found it. Baekhyun swallows his repulsion and looks up at the older students' faces, searching them for any signs of understanding.

Alas, there are none. Minseok looks irritated beyond belief and Luhan is, understandably, fuming, cheeks wet and ears an angry red. His hands are gripping the edge of the table so hard that his knuckles are turning white, and it seems that even Minseok's hand on his lower back is doing little to soothe him.

"You two had better tell me what the is going on, or so help me God, you will not live to see Christmas morning."

With one last fearful look to each other, Baekhyun and Jongdae start to explain.

They do their best to mention everything they possibly can. With a whole month to recall and digest, the boys try their hardest to ensure that their retelling of events are quick and to the point. They don't have much time; the clock on the wall is ticking steadily closer to the end of final period, and students of all ages are starting to pack away their belongings and file out of the library, slowly making their way to the Great Hall in preparation for dinner. The library will close soon, and it's the best place to have this conversation. Neither of them want to talk about their experiences in a place where anyone can hear them.

They spare no detail. The elixir, the kisses, the pie; they tell them everything. By the time they finish speaking, Minseok and Luhan look lost for words. The former has leaned all the way back in his chair, free hand holding his bangs away from his face, brow creased. Luhan sits in silence as he stares off away from the group, face blank and eyes distant. The younger boys stand quiet with their hands by their sides. There's a lot of information to process - a lot of which they cannot fully comprehend themselves - and they wait patiently for the dust to settle, sparing each other reassuring glances as he eerie silence of the library hangs around them.

Surprisingly, it's Luhan that speaks first.

“So what you're saying is," he whispers, voice tight in his throat, "they're okay. Chanyeol and… and Bao.”

Jongdae doesn't answer straight away. It must be uncomfortable, Baekhyun thinks, to bend the truth to your captain, to your friend. “Yes," the boy says finally. "They're fine. Just sleeping.”

The library is almost empty now. Looking through the gaps between the bookshelves, Baekhyun can see there are only a few stragglers left. A heavy silence has settled, the sinking sun casting murky shadows around them through the window, making the atmosphere feel all the more melancholic. Baekhyun wrings his hands in front of him, uncomfortably nervous. This really isn't how he wanted this moment to go.

The two young Gryffindors watch as Luhan takes the box in his hands. He holds it on his lap and stares at it for a moment before clutching it close to his chest, cradling it. Minseok sends him a weak smile and squeezes his shoulder with his free hand, and if Luhan noticed the action he doesn't acknowledge it. The older Gryffindor merely blinks, eyes damp as they stare at the sleeping animal in his arms.

With a sniffle, Luhan leans down to place a gentle kiss atop Bao's fluffy head.

Suddenly the air around them seems to surge, crackling and shimmering like fireworks. The hairs on Baekhyun's arms prickle as they stand up straight and he feels really strange, like a storm is starting to gather around him. He turns to look at Jongdae and ask him if he feels it too, but he barely opens his mouth before a shocked and sudden yell has him looking towards his other friends instead.

Luhan has leapt up from his chair, eyes wide and mouth open in a gasp. Looking down, Baekhyun then notices that the box in his hands has started to rattle. It shakes and shudders, jumping around in Luhan's grasp as the older student struggles to keep it still. "What's going on?" Jongdae asks, his voice laced with panic as he takes a few steps backwards, but no one blesses his question with an answer. They're all too busy staring at the shaking box to hear him.

At that moment, just when it begins to slip from his fingers, the once-still Bao suddenly leaps out of the box, dashes through the air like a fuzzy brown lightning bolt, and lands on all four paws on the stone floor like a professional acrobat finishing a complicated routine.

Bao's awake?!

"Merlin's beard!" Minseok startles, tipping backwards in his chair so far he ends up tumbling out of it, landing on the hard stone floor with a pained grunt. No one moves to help him. They're struck dumb with shock, all to stunned to do or say anything. Baekhyun's mind is swirling with so many questions that he feels dizzy, and he rubs his eyes to check that he isn't actually going insane because Bao just woke up what the .

"B-Bao?" Luhan stutters. He looks like he's just seen a ghost, his face a strange mixture of sickly grey and furious red. He's stood with his hands out in front of him as if the box is still in his hand, fingers twitching around invisible cardboard walls. "How did you- what just- what?"

"What the just happened?" Baekhyun shrieks, jumping two steps back in shock. He can't take his eyes off the fluffy beast as she prowls around the table on wobbly, tired legs. Just a second ago she had been as stiff as a rock, and now she's the most alive he's ever seen her! The prickling in the air has mostly disappeared but the hairs on the back of his neck are still standing strong, and his runs a hand over them in an attempt to calm himself and his racing heart down.

Beside him, Jongdae's arms shoot up into the air so fast his elbows crack like a whip. "The kiss!" he cries suddenly, excitement blooming across his face in the form of a dazzling grin. He points at Luhan with a flapping hand. "You must have broken the effects of the potion when you kissed her head!"

"What- how?" grumbles Minseok on the other side of the table. He's still on the floor, subtly edging away from Bao on his bottom as she tip toes towards him to sniff at his shoes. "I thought you said the potion only worked on your true love. Luhan loves her very much, I'm sure, but he's not in love with her. At least I hope not."

In his shocked state, Luhan somehow manages to hit his friend in the face with a quill.

"I don't know. It was a very old book, the definitions might be a bit outdated" Jongdae replies through his sniggers. "And hey, love doesn't have to be romantic. True, unconditional love can come from anyone or anywhere, I guess."

"Magic is ing weird," Minseok frowns.

On the floor, Bao stretches and yawns, her long bushy tail flicking from side to side in the orange light of the window. Besides a little ruffling of her usually-exquisite fur she looks perfectly normal, and not like she's been in a magically induced coma under a teenage boy's bed for several days. With a shake of her head and a hearty chirp, she saunters over to her owner and nuzzles against his legs, lovingly brushing her head against his knees and curling her tail around his calves like ivy climbing a tree.

Eyes glistening, Luhan scoops her up and squeezes her close. Bao settles against him nicely, purring gently, and Luhan's lips sound out silent and illegible words. He must be too bewildered to say anything, and no one blames him. Minseok's staring at Bao from the floor like she'll drop like a stone again any second and Jongdae looks like he's about to explode he's vibrating so much.

"Don't you see?" the young Gryffindor beams, turning to Baekhyun with sparkling eyes and an even more incredible smile. "This is brilliant! We now know for a fact that Chanyeol was poisoned with the Schneewitten Elixir and that a kiss from someone he loves will break its effects and wake him up."

Baekhyun can't help but smile back. "We've been right this whole time!" he laughs, hopping on the balls of his feet. "Everything we've done for the past month hasn't been in vain. We're one step closer to making Chanyeol well again."

"But there's still a big problem," Minseok pipes up. He has scrambled up from the floor and is dusting off his robes as he fixes the two young boys with a concerned frown. "We don't know who poisoned him."

"Or why they would want to in the first place," adds Luhan.

Oh. Of course. In all their excitement, they had completely forgotten all about the reason they were even in this mess. As if someone had just poured a bucket of icy water all over them, Baekhyun and Jongdae's shoulders instantly sag. The brilliance of their hopeful expressions is gone in an instant only to be replaced with bitter, somber scowls.

“We need to find this person as soon as we can," Minseok says, moving to sit back down in his chair. "Before someone else gets hurt."

They all nod in agreement. Now that they know for sure how Chanyeol got sick, they can use the information to figure out who is responsible. They have already caused a significant amount of harm already using some very old, very dangerous magic; who's to say they wouldn't do it again?

"Who do you think it could be?" asks Luhan, Bao still nestled in his arms like a doll, "do you have any ideas?"

"Whoever poisoned him must know Chanyeol well enough to know what his favourite food is," he says slowly, pensively. "A cherry pie isn't exactly the first thing someone would think of to give as a gift. It's rather obscure, isn't it? So they must have known it was of some significance to him, else they would have gone for something more normal, like cauldron cakes or something." He rubs the back of his neck. "His favourite food is not really a fact any random person would instinctively know, you know?"

"So you're saying you think they're someone close to him? A classmate, or a friend?" asks Minseok.

Jongdae sighs, and he looks so defeated. "Most likely," he replies. It's a harrowing thought, one that hangs in the air like the suffocating stank of rotting fruit.

"Sweet Merlin," Luhan curses, dropping Bao to the floor when she starts wriggling. He runs his hands through his hair and sighs loudly, his voice dripping in disbelief. “This is so ed up. I don't even know what to say.”

“Chanyeol knows so many people," whines Jongdae. "It could literally be anyone."

"Are you sure there isn't-"

“What’s going on here?”

Baekhyun shrieks like a banshee and leaps about three feet in the air at the sound of the voice behind him, so close he could feel their breath rustle the hairs on his head. He trips over his own feet and tumbles over, crashing into Jongdae, who lets out a cry of his own that turns into a pained grunt when he ends up whacking his head on the corner of a nearby bookshelf. He struggles to stop himself from falling on his friend any more by gripping onto the edge of the desk, and when he finally rights himself he spins around to confront the person who had unwarrantedly snuck up behind him.

"What the hell do you-" he starts to grumble before he comes face to chest with none other than Kris Wu, Slytherin quidditch captain and least student-looking student in the whole of Scotland. Baekhyun instantly stops mid-sentence and replaces his confrontational scowl with one glazed in warmth and nonchalance as he leaps backwards to pull more space between them.

“Hey there, Kris," he laughs awkwardly. Kris may be a relatively nice guy but he's seen how the Slytherin commands his team and the thought of being on his bad side is incredibly unappealing. "Nothing, nothing is going on. Nothing at all.” He clears his throat. "How you doing?"

He can practically hear Jongdae rolling his eyes at him behind his back.

"Hi, Kris," Minseok says, sounding equal parts exhausted and amused. He crosses his arms and fixes the taller boy with a raised and unimpressed eyebrow. "You're like an hour late."

"I was helping Sehun fix his form," Kris mumbles, walking over to the desk and dropping his bag down onto it. He starts to take parchment and quills out from his bag, and Baekhyun realises that he was supposed to be studying with them. Since when did the three captains form a study group? Was the Hufflepuff captain in on it as well? "I knew you'd just start without me anyway so I figured you wouldn't mind."

Minseok looks like he very much does mind, but he doesn't say anything.

The atmosphere is incredibly tense as Kris continues to unload his bag. The four boys stare at each other over his hunched frame, asking a flurry of panicked questions between them with just their eyes. How long had he been standing there? How much of their conversation did he overhear? Would he ask them about it? What would they say? An uncomfortably quiet silence hangs around them. Whether Kris feels it or not, he doesn't acknowledge it.

After a minute or so, the tall Slytherin finishes emptying his bag and goes to sit down. He's just above the chair when he suddenly pauses, hovering for a second before pointing at the object in the middle of the table, brow furrowed.

“Is that a cherry pie?”

“…Yes," Jongdae says after an awkwardly long pause. When Kris reaches out a hand to take it, Jongdae launches himself across the distance between them and snatches it out of his reach, to much of the Slytherin's surprise. "But don’t eat it! It went off ages ago." He hides it behind his back, smiling innocently. "Don’t want you to get sick.”

Sitting down, Kris grimaces. He doesn't seem suspicious of Jongdae's strange actions, which is good. “It’s not the one Chanyeol got last month, is it?" the Slytherin frowns, "cause that would be disgusting." Bao paws at his leg and he bends down to give her a scratch behind her ears. "Also food isn’t allowed in the library so I’d get rid of it quickly if you aren’t going to eat it.”

Kris' words hit him so fast he almost knocks himself over again. “What did you say?” Baekhyun gasps, his heart beating like a drum in his chest. Did- did Kris just say what he thought he did?

“Food isn’t allowed in the-“

“No, not that. Chanyeol got a pie a month ago?”

“Yeah. I bumped into him on my way back from the library and some girl was giving him a pie." He shrugs his shoulders. "An odd gift but oh well.”

No way. There's really no way. In his desperation for answers he must be hearing things. He looks at his friends and sees them all staring at Kris like he's grown five heads, confirming that he wasn't going insane. Kris knew who poisoned Chanyeol. He had seen it happen right in front of him. Baekhyun's palms begin to sweat and his shoulders feel heavy as his back muscles tighten in anticipation.

“Was he in his quidditch kit?” presses Jongdae. He looks how Baekhyun feels, all wide eyes and hair messy from running his hands through it so much, like a bolt of lightning has coursed through them both and left them buzzing.

“Um, I think so," Kris hums in reply. "I remember him mentioning something about practise being over."

“Would you be able to recognise who the girl was?” asks Luhan.

“Potentially. It was a while ago but I think I could.”

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm- what’s with all the questions?” Kris snaps, casting curious glances at his friends through narrowed eyes. "You're all acting really weird. What's going on?"

Baekhyun and Jongdae turn to look at each other. This is it, they think. The thing they have been searching for, the answer to all their questions, is right in front of them. With Kris’ help they can put a stop to this madness and find the person who hurt their best friend. Jongdae’s eyes seem to sparkle and Baekhyun’s fists clench tightly, sobered for the first time in many, many weeks.

“Kris," Baekhyun says. "We need to tell you something.”

~

There are less students out than usual when Jongdae and Baekhyun enter the Great Hall for breakfast. It's not an uncommon occurrence the day after Halloween, with students are still feeling full from yesterday's dinner and therefore more likely to stay in their dorms before classes start, but it is inconvenient. They send each other mildly peeved looks before shuffling over to their usual spot in the middle of the Gryffindor table, unable to stop their eyes from glancing around at the students around them. After all, any one of them could be the girl responsible for Chanyeol's sickness. They try not to look too suspicious as they sit down in silence, thighs bumping against each other under the table.

In the hour or so they had left in the library before it closed, the group had decided to wait until morning to confront the girl Kris had seen with Chanyeol all those weeks ago. As eager as they all were to find out the truth behind this series of unfortunate events, they knew that causing a scene in the middle of the Halloween feast would create more problems than it would solve. With the whole school under the watchful eyes of the professors, they'd be flat on their arses and out of the castle before they even left their seats! The older students insisted on keeping it a private affair, and the young Gryffindors reluctantly agreed. Going in guns (or rather, wands) blazing would do them very little favours indeed.

Jongdae's fingers tap nervously on the edge of the table. The table is spread from end to end with plates of delicious food but he doesn’t feel like eating. Baekhyun, however, is already tearing into a bread roll and shoving as much of it as he can into his little mouth, smacking his lips together as he chews loudly and unabashed. Jongdae elbows him in the ribs in an attempt to get him to stop, but in typical fashion Baekhyun just chews even louder, picking off a chunk of bread to flick it at Jongdae's face in retaliation.

The younger Gryffindor is just reaching for a roll of his own to throw back when Minseok and Luhan arrive, settling down on the bench across from them on the other side of the table. Luhan strikes up a conversation about the weather while Minseok fills up the plate in front of him, spacing out the scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, and toast so that none of them are touching each other. He slides the plate across the table, and it bumps off of Jongdae's fingers when it lands right in front of him. Jongdae raises a questioning brow, but his cousin isn't looking at him, too busy spooning black pudding onto another plate.

With a sigh, Jongdae picks up his knife and fork and starts to eat. His cousin knows him too well, it seems.

Time ticks on slowly. More students start to file into the Great Hall, and with every one that walks through the giant wooden doors the more awkward and shifty the four boys get. They try to stifle the tension that has settled around them by talking about everything but The Plan; Jongdae asks Luhan how Bao is doing and Minseok chastises Baekhyun for eating with his mouth open and getting ketchup on his tie. With only half an hour left before breakfast ends - and still no sign of Kris - they quickly come to face the reality that they might not be able to get this over and done with before classes start.

It was always a possibility that they wouldn't be able to find this mysterious girl right off the bat, but Jongdae can't help but feel a little disappointed. The sooner this nightmare is over the better; any longer and they may all start to lose what little hope they have left.

They're just about to call it quits when finally, with fifteen minutes to spare, Kris saunters through the door. Minseok looks like he's seriously considering thwacking the Slytherin over the head with a bread basket for being so late, but Jongdae is too relieved to share in his annoyance. There's still time, he thinks, and he looks down at his food and pokes at it with his fork as Kris grabs a water jug and pours himself a drink, wondering how long it will take Kris to recognise the girl he had seen with Chanyeol on that fateful day.

The answer, it seems, is seconds.

"Found her."

Jongdae's heart jumps into his throat. So they won't have to wait until lunch after all. "Where is she?" he mumbles, picking at his food as nonchalantly as he can.

"Hufflepuff table. Near the middle. First or second year. Ravenclaw. Black hair in pigtails. She's eating pancakes."

Taking a deep breath, Jongdae lifts his head up in feign of asking Minseok a question. His eyes flicker over to the Hufflepuff table, scanning it for the girl that fits Kris' description.

He finds her in a matter of seconds, huddled between a small group of friends that look awfully familiar, and it takes him a few moments to recognise her as one of the small army of girls that stalk Jongin and his friends around the castle. In fact she was there behind a tree when Jongdae and Baekhyun went to ask the young seeker for his help four days ago.

What would he have done back then if he had known that the person they were looking for was mere metres away? He tries not to dwell on it as he leans over to his right to grab a spoonful of baked beans, whispering Kris' message into Baekhyun's ear.

They rise at the same time, stumbling up from the benches and hitching their school bags onto their shoulders. Upon seeing this, Minseok and Luhan stand up as well, the latter taking a second to stack up all the dirty plates and cutlery and wipe clean the little puddle of orange juice Baekhyun by accident had made several minutes ago.

They head in opposite directions; the two sixth years head right towards the entrance hall, while Minseok and Luhan turn left, both couples circling around each end of the long wooden table to meet the girl on both sides. They had planned this out meticulously, each step covered in the most detail possible to ensure that she wouldn't be able to escape. She may be several years younger than them but she has already caused some serious magical damage to completely innocent people. The worst thing they could do is underestimate her, especially when so much is a stake.

They're a few metres away when the girl suddenly looks up and away from her friends. Her face instantly blanches at the sight of Baekhyun and Jongdae coming towards her and she scrambles up from the bench, not bothering to grab her bag before she attempts to scuttle away in the opposite direction. Jongdae sees Baekhyun smirk out the corner of his eye when she runs straight into Minseok's chest, jumping away from him with a little yelp and squeaking out an apology before spinning around to run the other way.

She only manages to take a few steps before Luhan's hand taps her on the shoulder, making her freeze on the spot. When Baekhyun and Jongdae come to a stop in front of her she is well and truly trapped.

“Excuse me," Luhan says in a polite but firm manner, his eyes I was wondering if we could borrow you for a second.”

“It wasn’t me!”

At the sound of her frightened voice, Luhan slams his mouth shut. Across from him and behind her back, Baekhyun's brow furrows. “What?” he asks, confused. It wasn't her? What does she mean by that?

“I didn’t do it!" she replies with a terrified squeak. "My brother told me to give him the pie and I did, I didn’t do anything to him, I swear! If I knew your friend would get sick I wouldn’t have done it! I'm sorry!”

“Your brother? Who’s your-“

Before he can finish his sentence, a flash of bright light hits him straight in the shoulder, sending him crashing to the stone floor. Even before he hits the ground, Baekhyun’s arm is growing, stretching like dough to almost twice its normal size and flopping around in all directions like a limp noodle as he tries to lift it. Shocked and bewildered, Jongdae freezes in place, staring at his friend's quickly distorting body in horror.

“Behind you!” Baekhyun yells out suddenly, and Jongdae breaks out of his daze just in time to duck as another hex comes shooting over his head. It explodes against the far wall in a burst of icy blue, and the group of students below scream as they are sprinkled with sparks. Jumping back up, he spins around to search the Great Hall for the attacker. Everyone is either sat down or milling between the aisles, but there is one person that stands out amongst the rest. They’re running away from the group and towards the Entrance Hall, wand in hand and Gryffindor robes billowing out behind them. They turn to look over their shoulder, most likely to see if they are being followed, and Jongdae almost drops his wand when he sees who it is, shock, betrayal and hatred coursing through his veins so violently that he feels the urge to vomit all over his shoes.

It’s Shim Jaewon, the boy who replaced Chanyeol on the quidditch team.

Jongdae doesn't even think before taking off after his fellow Gryffindor as fast as his can, pushing and shoving through the small groups of students that are unfortunate enough to be loitering in the aisles at that moment. "You bastard!" he growls, a deep and terrible sound, and he barely hears the sound of his own name being called somewhere behind him as he breaks through the crowd and untangles his wand from within his robes. All this time, all this goddamn time, it was Jaewon who was responsible for poisoning Chanyeol and sending him to sleep. Shim Jaewon, seventh year Gryffindor, who is to play by Jongdae's side in the first match of the year that week. He seemed to nice, so agreeable to the point that Jongdae felt guilty for protesting to replace Chanyeol's position so harshly. The had even given his condolences to him after practise had ended. Jongdae is so enraged that tears start to prickle in the corner of his eyes, and he wipes them away angrily as he ducks out of the Great Hall and breaks into a sprint, hell bent on teaching Jaewon a lesson he'll never forget.

He can hear footsteps behind him as he dashes across the Entrance Hall and towards where Jaewon is sprinting up the Grand Staircase. Jongdae elbows a random Ravenclaw out of the way as another spell comes flying through the air, missing them both by inches. Mumbling a quick apology to the poor student, Jongdae rushes forwards and raises his wand, shouting the first spell that comes to his mind: "Densaugeo!" Violet light shoots from his wand and hit the step just below Jaewon's foot, missing his target by a long shot. Cursing, Jongdae chases after him, narrowly avoiding the hex that Jaewon sends his way by ducking behind the nearest bannister.

"Impedimenta!"

Jongdae recognises Minseok's voice as a flash of red shoots past him, only to be successfully deflected by Jaewon. He uses the moment of distraction to run up the first and second staircase before they move and fire as many spells as he can think of in Jaewon's direction, hoping that at least one of them will hit. Minseok covers him when he runs out of breath, crouching behind the third stair bannister. Looking over his shoulder, he can see that Luhan and Baekhyun are close behind, the latter having draped his two-metre long arm around his neck like a macabre scarf. Kris rounds the corner and fires a jinx that hits Jaewon in the back of his leg, sending him tumbling down the stairs like a rag doll.

Jongdae rejoices for all of five seconds before Jaewon is up on his feet and sprinting up the stairs again, hiding behind the bannister of the fourth staircase as it moves away from them, blocking him from view.

"Why, Jaewon?" Luhan yells from the first staircase, his voice dripping in anger and disgust. He fires a spell that hits the stone just above Jaewon's head, making him scamper away as purple sparks fly around him. Jongdae runs up onto the third staircase when it aligns with the second, Minseok coming up behind him. "Why did you do it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Jaewon shouts as he throws a spell over the edge of the bannister. It hits Luhan in the chest and sends the captain flying backwards into Kris, who had reached the staircase at the most inopportune moment. Baekhyun runs up the steps and retaliates with a jinx that makes Jaewon shriek as the skin of his arms suddenly bursts into a flurry of horrendously red and purple boils. With a horrified yelp, the pimpled Gryffindor scampers up the nearest staircase and disappears through the entrance to the fourth floor corridor.

Jongdae and Minseok race up the staircase, wands gripped tightly in their hands as they make their way up to the fourth floor. Following Jaewon, they enter the fourth floor corridor just as the rogue Gryffindor is about to turn the corner at the far end and vanish from sight completely. With the swish of his wand, Minseok has Jaewon freezing mid-run like an ancient Olympic statue, instantly stopping him in his tracks. He topples over and lands on his face with a grunt, and Jongdae knows for sure that they have finally caught him. They make their way over, thankful that the corridor was mostly empty by the time they got there. Who knows what damage they could have done had they arrived just a few minutes earlier.

Jaewon stares up at them with wide eyes as they come to a stop beside him. When Minseok removes the effects of his Petrificus Totalus charm with just the single swish of his wand, he immediately goes to kick the Ravenclaw in the shins. Minseok barely has to move to avoid it, and he bends down to grab the Gryffindor by his collar and heave him up onto his feet.

A few metres away sits Jaewon’s wand, the object having fallen from his hand as he fell. Jongdae picks it up as Jaewon writhes in Minseok’s grip, scratching at Minseok’s fist with his nails in an attempt to escape. Minseok merely swings him around and presses him to the wall, pointing his wand at the boy’s throat.

"There's no point trying to get away, Jaewon," Minseok says. “You’ve already lost."

At the sound of footsteps behind them, Jongdae looks over his shoulder to see Luhan, Kris and Baekhyun running up to meet them, the latter arm still hanging around his shoulders. “Sorry we took so long,” Luhan says dryly as he side eyes Baekhyun. “Someone thought it would be funny to trip over their own arm.”

“Didn’t do it on purpose,” Baekhyun mumbles, looking rather sheepish. He shrugs an apology at Jongdae and Minseok before turning his eyes on the boy pressed against the wall under the Ravenclaw’s fist. “You can thank Mr Guilty for that.”

“I’m not guilty of anything,” Jaewon snaps. He looks miffed, even a little angry, but his eyes betray a level of panic that is damning. “You have no proof.”

“Oh, we have proof,” Jongdae says, triumph laced into every word. “Enough proof to make sure you never hurt any innocent people ever again.”

Jaewon opens his mouth to reply, but whatever words that were about to come out are cut off when every single one of them is lifted off their feet and sent hurling backwards, slamming against the far wall with a crash. Pain ripples up and down Jongdae's spine, and when he tries to stand up he realises that he is pinned to the wall, held against the cold stone by an invisible force. All along the corridor walls, his friends are stuck as well, struggling against invisible bonds. What on earth is going on?

Grunting in pain beside him, Minseok lifts his wand to set them free, but that too, along with everyone else's wands, ends up flying through the air in the direction of the fourth floor corridor. Jongdae turns his head to see where it went, only for his blood to run cold at the sight of Junmyeon and Yixing stood about halfway down the corridor, the former's usually warm eyes now burning with a fiery intensity the likes of which Jongdae has never seen.

Oh Merlin, not again.

“What the bloody hell is going on here?”

For what seems like hours, no one moves. No one speaks. Jongdae can't be sure he's even breathing. What he is sure of, however, is that he is terrified. Junmyeon is practically shaking with anger, the many wands in his hands threatening to snap at any second with how tight his tiny hands are curled into fists. Steam might as well be billowing from his ears. To see his friends breaking so many rules must be a rather traumatic experience for the poor Head Boy.

Adjacent from him, held down by Junmyeon's spell as opposed to Minseok's strength, Jaewon starts to protest. Despite the pressure of Junmyeon's scrutinising gaze, Baekhyun makes sure he gets his word in first.

“Jae Won poisoned Chanyeol-"

"And he my ing cat!" adds Luhan.

"-he tricked him into eating a pie spiked with sleeping potion."

“ you, that's a lie!” snaps Jaewon. He turns to Junmyeon with eyes wide and pleading. "They were harassing my sister so I jumped in to help her and they attacked me. I have no idea what they're on about!"

"You're the liar," Baekhyun yells, "you're a guilty as they come!"

Jaewon curses back a rely, and then everyone is screaming and shouting, all six students' voices raised so loudly that they start to ring in the quiet of the corridor. Jongdae can barely hear his own thoughts over Minseok throwing in his two cents to defend Luhan, let alone the curses and insults he's barking out himself. Their scrimmaging doesn't last long before Junmyeon waves his wand and the six of them are forced to be silent, their mouths held shut by invisible gags.

“Enough!" Junmyeon shouts. "This is absolutely ridiculous. You've broken at least a dozen school rules, endangered innocent students, even full on injured them in some cases-," he eyes Baekhyun's floppy arm and Jaewon's blistered skin warily, "-and yet you still insist on acting like complete and utter fools. Some of you are in line to work at the Ministry next year, and this is how I see you behaving? You are wizards, not children. This is entirely unacceptable and you should all be ashamed of yourselves."

A long pause follows. Jongdae wants to protest, but he says nothing. No one is brave enough to argue with the Head Boy after an outburst like that. Eventually Junmyeon lets out an exhausted sigh. With a flourish of his wand, the charm keeping the students stuck to the wall is lifted. The Head Boy fixes them with a dangerous look before saying, "would you all follow me, please.”

He waits until everyone has stood up and dusted themselves off before turning around and heading deeper into the corridor. Slowly, they all follow after him, Yixing waiting at the side until the last person has passed to bring up the rear. Jongdae shares a look with him as they shuffle onwards, one that he reads as a form of comfort. He shrugs defeatedly at the Hufflepuff before facing forwards again, leaning in to Baekhyun to help the latter maintain his balance with one largely overgrown limb.

They walk for a few minutes before Junmyeon comes to a stop outside an empty classroom. He opens the door and gestures for everyone to head inside. Jaewon, who had been practically glued to the Head Boy's side the entire time, shuffles in quickly whilst the rest of them follow suit, all keeping their heads down to avoid Junmyeon's stern and disapproving eyes.

The classroom is on the small side, most likely used for one-on-one or small group sessions with a teacher in private. Baekhyun and Jaewon are forced into chairs by Yixing (Baekhyun near the door and Jaewon in the corner of the room, as far away from everyone else as possible) and Jongdae takes one next to his best friend, bumping his ankle against Baekhyun's own. Everyone else remains standing; Minseok and Luhan lean against the wall, and Kris situates himself just behind Jaewon, an obvious warning. Junmyeon stands right next to the door, behind Baekhyun, and Yixing does the same on the other side. Yixing flicks his wand, and the resounding click that echoes in the tiny room tells Jongdae that the door is now locked.

There's no going back now.

Junmyeon surveys the room like a general inspecting his troops. “You have five minutes," he says once the room is settled. "I don’t care who it is, but someone had better tell me what the bloody hell is going on to justify a six person duel on school grounds before I get the Headmistress involved.”

There are a few beats of nothing but the sound of people talking beyond the door before Jongdae bucks up the energy to speak first. “We found out how Chanyeol got sick," he says. "Jae Won poisoned him with a forbidden sleeping potion that-"

“That’s complete bollocks.”

“Liar!”

“Shut up!” Junmyeon snaps, smothering both Jaewon and Baekhyun into silence. When they seem to have gotten the message, he turns back to Jongdae. “Those are serious accusations. What proof do you have?”

"We found the potion in a book in the Restricted Section. And the pie he used to poison him under Chanyeol's bed. Luhan's cat had eaten some and got sick too, that's why she went missing."

Junmyeon looks at Luhan, who glumly nods his head. "It's true, Myeon. They brought her to me when they found her. She was in the dorms the whole time."

"Kris said he saw a girl giving Chanyeol a pie the day before he got sick, so we went to talk to her and she said her brother was the one who told her to give it to him-"

“Bull," says Jaewon, cutting Jongdae off. "I would never do such a thing! Why would I want to hurt someone I barely know?”

“Cause you’re a dickhead, that’s why.”

“ you, Byun, stop talking out your arse!”

"A guilty man wouldn't run! Or attack random people for no reason!"

"You were harassing my sister, what else was I supposed to do-"

"Be quiet, all of you!" Junmyeon bellows. Sparks fly out from the ends of all their wands, still held tightly in his hands. The room is swallowed by silence, as if Junmyeon had charmed their mouths shut once again. The Head Boy runs his hands through his neatly styled hair and down his frowning face before turning back to his fellow students, sighing heavily. "Yixing, could you get Jaewon's sister for me, please?"

"Leave her out of this, she hasn't-"

Junmyeon fixes him with a look that shuts him up instantly. With a weak smile, Yixing unlocks the door and slips out of the room.

It doesn't take long for Yixing to return, ten minutes at most. The time is filled with Baekhyun and Jongdae's retelling of the past month and their efforts to discover the truth behind Chanyeol's mysterious illness, an almost exact rendition of the one they told Minseok and Luhan the previous day, upon Junmyeon's request. The Head Boy doesn't say a word the whole time. He doesn't even react when they mention kissing Chanyeol themselves, much to their surprise. He looks drained, however, Jongdae thinks, taking note of the purpling rings on the Ravenclaw's cheeks and eyes.

A knock at the door signals Yixing's return before the Hufflepuff enters, Jaewon's sister pressed to his side. She looks like a rabbit caught in headlights, clutching tightly to Yixing's robes and staring at her shoes like they're the most interesting thing she's ever seen. Guilt swirls in Jongdae and Baekhyun's guts; they had ambushed her just minutes ago, and now she was being forced into the same room as them. No wonder she's so frightened.

When the door clicks shut, Junmyeon bends down a little, bringing himself closer to her height. "What's your name?" he asks, his voice soft and reassuring. The girl looks up at him through wet eyelashes and sniffles a little before swallowing the lump in .

"J-Jae-eun," she stutters quietly.

"Hi, Jae-eun," Junmyeon says with a smile. Always so charming, even in a situation as sensitive as this. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. We just want to ask you a few questions."

There's a brief pause before Jae-eun nods her head timidly, curling deeper into Yixing's side. Junmyeon sends her another soft, thankful smile before turning to face the whole room, straightening his back as he fixes them with a stern expression.

"These boys say that you were seen giving Park Chanyeol a pie several weeks ago. Is that true?"

It's a while before Jae-eun replies. "Yes," she says after a few seconds, her voice just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Junmyeon nods slowly. "Why did you give it to him?" he asks.

"Jaewon asked me to."

At this, Jaewon starts to shift uncomfortably. He looks like he is about to protest, taking a step towards his sister with his hands held out in front of him defensively, but a simple hand on the shoulder from Kris keeps him from moving any further. Junmyeon side eyes the interaction briefly before turning back to the matter at hand.

"Did he say why?" he asks.

A pause. Jae-eun looks at her brother before shaking her head.

"Did you know that it was spiked?"

Once again, she shakes her head. "I'm sorry," she squeaks, hanging her head low as her shoulders start to shake. "I didn't want to make him sick. If I knew, I wouldn't have…"

She starts to sob, and it quickly becomes clear that they won't be able to get much more out of her. She must be terrified, surrounded by older boys and speaking out against her own brother. Jongdae feels bad for bringing her into this, but her word is important in making sure Jaewon doesn't get away scot free. Junmyeon sighs and runs his hands through his hair as he observes the quivering girl.

"Thank you for your help," he smiles softly. "Yixing, why don't you take Jae-eun to the Hospital Wing. I think some Calming Draught will do her some good."

With a reserved smile and cautious glance towards the hunched over figure in the corner, Yixing leads the crying girl out of the room. For a second the room is filled with the chattering and laughter of the world outside, but then the door clicks shut, and the room is smothered in silence once again.

"There’s no point lying now, Jae Won," says Baekhyun, just when the quiet becomes unbearable. He sounds tired, like he's just run a marathon, and Jongdae feels the same. "You might as well tell us the truth.”

Until now, Jaewon had been mostly unreadable. He had looked panicked at times, annoyed at others, but overall his face betrayed no major emotion to give away what he was thinking. But now he looks furious, his cheeks red and eyes dark like storm clouds as he glares at Jongdae and his friends with a look of pure anger. “How dare you use my sister against me,” he snarls, hands shaking. "How dare you!"

“Why did you do it?" Luhan ignores him. "He’s never done anything to hurt you.”

At this, Jaewon scoffs. “Me, no," the boy hisses. His bitterness doesn't go unnoticed, and Jongdae finds himself sharing wary glances with the people around him. Sweat trickles down his spine, and he feels nervous, but doesn't quite know why.

“Then what?" questions Minseok. His eyes narrow. "What has he done, who has he hurt?”

“He’s done nothing, that’s the point," Jaewon spits. The tone of his voice is venomous, and it startles Jongdae so much he takes a step back. "He’s a useless waste of space and a burden to everyone in our house.”

“And why would that be?” asks Junmyeon.

“Ever since he’s been on the team, Gryffindor has lost more matches than ever. We’ve had to give away the House Cup more times than I can count, all because of him.”

The realisation strikes Jongdae like a slap to the face. His heart seems to shudder in his chest and he feels sick, terribly, terribly sick, like his stomach is full of slugs and eels. Looking around, he knows he isn't the only one. Baekhyun's face is frozen in a picture of pure horror, eyes impossibly wide and mouth hanging open like a corpse, and Luhan looks like he is seconds away from throttling Jaewon with his bare hands, if not for Minseok's hand wrapped around his forearm. Even Junmyeon looks disturbed, gripping the back of Baekhyun's chair so hard his knuckles have turned white.

“Quidditch?" Jongdae chokes. "You did this…because of quidditch?”

Jaewon scowls at him, unabashed. “He’s the worst player the team has ever seen," the Gryffindor hisses. "He can barely sit on a broom, let alone hit a bludger. The only reason he’s even on the team is because he’s friends with the captain." He turns to Luhan and sneers disdainfully, almost wickedly. "And I’m not the only person that thinks this, you know. Everyone knows you have favourites.”

Minseok just manages to catch Luhan as the latter suddenly lunges forwards. “I should hex your nose right off your face, you piece of !" the older Gryffindor growls as he fights against the hands holding him back. Even without his wand he still looks like he could beat Jaewon to pulp with his bare hands, or die trying. Not even Junmyeon makes an effort to discourage him; the Head Boy barely bats an eyelash at the unfolding scene. Jaewon at least has the intelligence to shrink away and keep his mouth shut until Minseok manages to restrain his friend by wrestling him into a chair.

“I thought when Jongin joined everything would be fine, but Gryffindor were still completely humiliated last year. A toddler could have played better than Park did. He’s the worst member on the team and doesn’t deserve to be part of it.”

The way he spits Chanyeol's name like it's dirt in his mouth makes Jongdae's blood boil. “And you do?" he snaps, drawing the attention of the room. "Is this why you did it? So you could take his place?”

“I’m five times the player he is," Jaewon drawls. "You know it’s true. You should be thankful you have me instead of him." The look of smug pride on his face makes Jongdae’s stomach churn. "At least Gryffindor stands a chance of winning now.”

“Why not just hex him?” asks Kris. “Or curse his broom? Why poison him with a forbidden sleeping potion, why go to that extreme?”

“I needed to get him off the team for good. I’m no murderer, I don’t want him dead, just out of commission. I needed something more than just a hex, so I did some digging and when I found that elixir, I knew I had struck gold. It was powerful and obscure enough that I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about him bouncing back before I passed tryouts. All I had to do was keep him asleep until we won the cup and then I’d give him the antidote. I’d show everyone how much better off we are without him.”

For a long time, no one says anything. Jongdae can feel acid in his throat. "You're- you're insane," says Luhan, "you're actually insane," and Jongdae thinks that truer words have never before been said. He can feel Baekhyun shaking beside him, his legs bouncing out of rhythm and making the legs of his chair rattle on the ground, but whether it's because of anxiety or rage, Jongdae isn't sure. He wants to comfort him but he doesn't think he can move, too shocked to do anything but stare in horror at the boy across from him.

"You would willingly murder an innocent kid," he finds himself saying, although his voice sounds funny to his ears, like he's underwater, "just to play quidditch?"

Jaewon looks at him like he's stupid. "I haven't murdered anyone," he says. "Park will be perfectly fine when you get someone to kiss him. You said so yourself-"

"You idiot," Baekhyun snaps suddenly, rising from his chair. Tears have started to bead in the corners of his eyes, spilling over as his entire body quakes. "Haven't you been listening this entire time? We cannot find the person to break the effects of the potion. It is literally impossible."

"You're wrong," Jaewon shouts. The smugness on his face has started to ripple away, replaced with fear when the reality behind Baekhyun's words is slowly realised. "There's definitely a cure, there's-"

"Shut up!" Baekhyun is screaming now, his voice broken and hoarse, and it tears through Jongdae's heart like a thousand sharp knives. "There is no antidote. There is no cure. Chanyeol is as good as dead. He will die, and by the look of things, pretty soon. All because you wanted to make the team.”

Panic now seeps into Jaewon's features. “No. There’s always a cure." He turns to Junmyeon, hands out and pleading, as if sudden remorse would change his mind about what he had done. "I’m not a murderer. I promise!”

“I’ve heard enough," Junmyeon sighs. The Head Boy runs a hand through his hair and clears his throat, visibly shaken, almost disgusted. "Minseok, Kris, could you help me take Mr Shim to the Headmistress please?” he says finally.

“No!" Jaewon shouts as Kris grabs him by the shoulders and drags him from his chair. "I’m not a murderer! I didn’t want to kill him! I didn’t mean it!” He writhes around in Kris' grip, swinging his legs at Minseok when the Ravenclaw helps to restrain him. “Stop, let me go! Let me go, I’m not a murderer! I just wanted to be on the team!”

They drag him kicking and screaming out into the corridor, Junmyeon leading the way. The remaining students file out to watch them, but neither Jongdae nor Baekhyun make any effort to move. Through the door, Jongdae can see Jaewon fighting against Kris and Minseok's combined strength, and it is clear that his efforts to get away are futile. They disappear from view, heading off down the corridor and away from the little classroom, but his panicked pleading still rings in the air, hollow like the sound of distant bells. The only other person with them is Yixing, who is standing in the doorway, staring at the two boys in a way that has Jongdae feeling somewhat worse than he already is.

That's it, isn't it? It's over, for the most part. They've caught the person who made Chanyeol sick, and they know for such that they'll be punished for what they have done. Justice has been served. They should be happy, right?

Jongdae doesn't feel happy. Or angry, or sad, or gobsmacked. He doesn't feel much of anything, really, besides tired. The battle may be over, but the war is still going strong. Chanyeol is still sick, and they're no closer to bringing him home. Jongdae knows he should be happy, should be jumping for joy, and he desperately wants to be. But instead his shoulder sag and his head droops, and he sighs, exhausted and unsure what to do with himself.

The classroom is eerily quiet, besides the chirping of the birds outside. For a long time all is still, but then Jongdae hears something beside him. He looks up to see that Baekhyun is crying, sniffling silently, and without saying a word he reaches down to slip their hands together. Baekhyun's hand is warm and a little sweaty, and Jongdae finds comfort in the way their fingers slot together, even though he can feel every sob that wracks through the boy beside him.

“I understand how you feel," Yixing says. His voice low, soft, and warm, but there's an element of caution, or maybe pity, to his tone that has Jongdae looking up from his and Baekhyun's hands. "And he deserves whatever comes to him. But don’t forget he’s human too. His father is head beater for the Falmouth Falcons. I also hear he’s not the softest of men. There was probably a lot of pressure to make the team.”

“I don’t care," Baekhyun whispers. He sounds broken, and Jongdae squeezes him gently in an attempt to keep him from falling apart entirely. "He hurt my best friend. Nothing will ever justify that.”

They remain there, hand in hand, until the sound of Jaewon's voice, and the vibrating of the world outside, vanishes completely.

just a few things i thought i would mention:

- in case you were wondering, Luhan's true love is definitely /not/ his cat lol. when i originally planned this fic, Bao was never supposed to wake up and it would be hinted that she died later on in the year, probably in the next couple weeks or so. after all it makes literally no sense that she would be woken by her true love seeing as the idea of 'true love' is a human thing and thus doesn't really apply to animals and pets. however, soon after i posted the last chapter of this story, two of my own cats passed away within weeks of each other. this is just one of several reasons why it took me so long to write this chapter, and i eventually decided that Bao should have a happy ending as much as the other characters. Luhan doesn't love his cat romantically or anything, it was just my way of keeping Bao in the story without messing with the plot so much. i hope it didn't cause too much confusion when you were reading or anything.

- Shim Jaewon is a real dude. you may know him as Beatburger Jae (i think) or the guy that hangs out with Chanyeol in a lot of his studio vlives. he's also an SM choreographer. it's very clear that Jae and Chanyeol are very good friends irl, but i didn't know how/want to make any of the EXO members the villains of this story so i used Jae instead. he seems like a very lovely man! i'm sure he wouldn't want to hurt Chanyeol in any way. also as far as i'm aware he doesn't have a sister, so Jae-eun is completely made up.

- i'm not saying this fic ships baekchen......but some of you in the comments are very convincing.....they're definitely not getting together.....but i maybe put in a lot more than i ever intended to.....this is entirely you guys' fault....i hope you're happy....

this chapter is kinda a mess lol. i apologise if there are any mistakes, i wanted to get this out asap so i might have rushed a few sections. i know that a lot of you would have come here for a chansoo story only to receive 0.1% chansoo, but i can assure you that our boys WILL end up together in the near future. you'll just have to wait a little bit longer. i'm sorry about that.

i can't promise when the next update will be as i have major deadlines and exams cropping up at various times over the next couple months, so it will probably be some point after that. i hope you can all be patient with me!

as always, thank you for reading! please tell me what you think! feel free to come yell at me on tumblr or in the comments if you have any questions or simply just want to scream about stuff, i always reply and i'm always up for a chat!