Baekhyun had to literally force himself to get up this morning.

Understandable, considering he didn't dare to close his eyes while he laid in his bed, his thoughts constantly drifting away. And no matter how hard he'd try to forget about all those crazy things that he had (granted, against his will) witnessed — he'd end up remembering them anyway. The creepy blood lake in the library, Chanyeol and Sehun's ... affair, and them mentioning You-Know-Who ... all of it was just too baffling for Baekhyun to handle.

But Baekhyun knew that he couldn't just stay in bed forever, so he had rushed out of the Slytherin common room in a hurry and entered the Great Hall to eat breakfast with his friends as if nothing had happened the night before. 

"Good morning", Yixing whispers tiredly as he sits next to Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Jongdae. "Wow, seems like Hagrid's balm finally worked for you, huh?"

Kyungsoo grins happily. Baekhyun hasn't really paid attention to the fact that Kyungsoo's head stopped looking green or orange or whatever, and was back to his usual self again. "Yeah, it worked pretty well last night."

"It was about time." Jongdae says, leaning back and staring at his friend Kim Joonmyeon, a popular Gryffindor prefect, wave at him awkwardly. "Anyways", he turns back to the three boys. "So you just applied the balm and that's it? No more weird color-swaps?"

"Well", Kyungsoo thinks. "Madam Pomfrey used something else on me as well, but other than that, that's it. Hopefully no more weird color-swaps!"

"That's amazing", Yixing smiles warmly. "And Jongin will stop feeling guilty, too."

At that, Kyungsoo's smile fades as if the mention of Jongin just forced him to remember something. "Right, I-I should apologize since I blamed him ... you know."

"Oh that, yeah ..." Yixing admits quickly. "Jongin is really sensitive. It's something to take care of as his friends", Yixing shrugs, but the way he speaks reminds Baekhyun of how much Yixing must care for the younger Hufflepuff boy. "Maybe you can talk to him after D-A-D-A."

Suddenly, Kyungsoo turns shy again. "Y-Yeah ...", as if he is trying his hardest to avoid the topic, he quickly says: "The Slytherins and Gryffindors have Defense Against the Dark Arts together, don't they?" He stares from Jongdae to Baekhyun.

Crap, now he has to talk.

Baekhyun picks at his food; resting his head on his palm lazily. "And History of Magic", he says coldly (everybody knows how much Baekhyun hates History of Magic).

"Damn right." Jongdae remembers, giving Baekhyun a playful nudge on the shoulder. "Seems like this is going to be a good day for you, huh?" He adds sarcastically and Baekhyun would've loved to scoff at that, but he was too tired to even look up.

"It's already bad." Baekhyun snarls, sounding just as annoyed as he looks.

"Wow, someone's in a mood", Yixing figures. "Are you tired? Maybe you can sleep in History of Magic, 's not like Professor Binns cares anyway", Yixing explains coolly. "If anything, his voice is the perfect way to get some nice sleep, trust me."

"That will only get him into trouble", Kyungsoo says, sipping on his cup of tea. "Why are you tired anyway? As far as I remember you were going back to the Slytherin common room quite early."

Now, Jongdae and Yixing lean forward, eyeing the small Slytherin in curiosity. "I think I'm starting to get sick", he lies. Yeah, sick of whatever it was that I saw last night. Baekhyun's head falls back, his eyes closing for a short period. Maybe, he thinks, if I wouldn't have seen the blood before I caught Chanyeol and Sehun; if I wouldn't have been so shocked and afraid ... maybe I could've listened to their conversation more attentively. Maybe I could've found this whole thing out then.

"Sick?!" Jongdae frowns. "Oh geez, what's wrong?"

"Maybe I should take you to Madam Pomfrey, she wants to check on me and my face one more time today anyway", Kyungsoo suggests kindly, but Baekhyun shakes his head already. 

"It's not that bad," Baekhyun says, his voice raspy and sleepy. "It's just -", Baekhyun stops, distracted by the faces of his friends. All of them seem to have forgotten whatever it was that Baekhyun wanted to address; staring somewhere else. Or, staring at someone else.

"Wow", Yixing mutters out. "Someone's glowing today."

Baekhyun, irritated, turns back. He glares over the gigantic, magical Great Hall, eyes carefully scanning the room, trying to find whatever it is that his friends seem to be so excited about. And then, he finally understands.

His eyes rest on a handsome, defined face — a face that everyone would take a second look at, with big, sparkling eyes and a weak smile on his lips. Chanyeol enters the Great Hall as though he owns it (and Baekhyun hates it). He wears his Slytherin tie neatly, the white blouse that he has tucked into his pants exposing a muscular chest. Of course, Park Chanyeol is good looking. 

And Chanyeol's way of walking — a mixture of annoying confidence and staggering certainty — is making Baekhyun feel even worse about himself. 

"Is it just me, or does he look different today?" Kyungsoo blurs out, staring at Chanyeol in envy.

The others nod and Baekhyun glares at Chanyeol again. The tall prefect was heading towards the Slytherin table, already embracing his 'girlfriend' (who Baekhyun feels pretty bad for) in a loving hug. Why am I keeping Chanyeol's secret anyway? I should just tell Yoojung about what her boyfriend likes to do in his free-time ... (or who he likes to do). 

But maybe, after all, Baekhyun is just a coward.

Just as Baekhyun survived the most boring History of Magic lesson with Mr. Binns, he sees a very tall and scary looking Slytherin approach him from behind. It's Kris Wu, he recognizes him by the smell of cigarettes and butterbeer. 

Kris' chocolate-brown hair is pushed back, his hands in his pants pockets. "Hey Byun", he yells, walking across the hallway.

"Hey." He stops lazily, having to tilt his head due to Kris' height. "Where were you in History of Magic?"

"Didn't feel like it", he says casually, stopping once he stands in front of the smaller boy. Kris grins and waves at a crowd of Slytherin guys that pass him by. "Visiting The Three Broomsticks with a couple of other Slytherins just sounded better than History of Magic. You should've joined us man."

Baekhyun smirks, thinking back to the time of his life where he would skip classes every now and then. "Yeah, I should have."

Kris shrugs. "But that's not what I wanted to say."

Baekhyun furrows his brows as he watches Kris grab something out of his bag, a curious look on his manly and demanding face. "I found this earlier and ... seems like it belongs to you."

Baekhyun glares at the white letter in Kris' hand, recognizing the familiar handwriting and ornament of the letter immediately. He gasps internally, freezing in his spot. Baekhyun thinks back to last night automatically — he can't help it, the familiarity of the letter triggers something inside of him.

Baekhyun blinks.

That is the same ing letter.

"Something wrong?" Kris smirks, staring at the letter carefully. "Is it a love-letter? Who's it from?" 

"I ... I don't know, I mean - you found it?" Baekhyun asks. "Where exactly have you found it Kris?"

"Next to the chimney," Kris answers impatiently. "Do you want it now or not?"

Baekhyun snatches the letter away from Kris, even though hesitantly at first, eyeing the same neatly handwritten name of his in disbelief "To: Baekhyun" What the hell does that crazy creep want from him? Why does he get these letters anyway? Why him? Who is that annoying person that won't let him alone?

"You don't seem too happy", Kris narrows Baekhyun, leaning against the wall. "Is someone bothering you? Do you want me to take care of that person?"

Baekhyun shakes his head. "I have no ing idea who this is, I swear", he sighs, letting the letter slide into his bag. "But thanks for the delivery man, that's nice."

"Yeah, whatever", Kris eyes Baekhyun for a long time, almost as if he tries to figure something out. But he quickly let's go of it, patting Baekhyun's back gently. "Well, I gotta go. Have a nice day Byun."

Baekhyun nods, and once Kris is gone, Baekhyun dares to open the letter.

Dear Baekhyun,

There Are Terrible Things Going To Happen

All You Can Do Now, Is Trust Me.

In Love,

Someone That Needs Your Help

"Slytherins! All of you — head to the Slytherin common room! Follow the prefects! Hurry, hurry!"

"What's wrong?" Someone asks, but nobody seems to have an answer to that.

Baekhyun finds himself standing in the middle of the fifth storey, eyes ripped open and heart beating faster than ever. Students are running through the castle, afraid and irritated by the many prefects trying to collect their people on the many floors and storeys. Baekhyun turns left and right, getting confused by the thousands of students running, and ends up following the sound of Chanyeol's deep voice.

"This way, Slytherins, this way."

"Yeol, what's happening?" Yoojung asks loudly, following her boyfriend in a hurry. "I saw Snape's face and - what happened?" Baekhyun doesn't miss the change of her voice while she speaks, almost as if she knows something (something that sparks Baekhyun's interest).

"Not now." Chanyeol responds coldly, leading the Slytherins through the staircases without even looking at the girl next to him. 

"But -"

"Not now."

With that, he shuts her up.

Baekhyun hides behind Kris' tall frame, turning back to see what Professor Hooch and Professor Flitwick, the only two professors that are standing behind them, are up to. They are being suspiciously secretive, constantly looking if someone follows the students. They behave oddly, Baekhyun thinks as he catches Professor Hooch boiling her fists and longing for her wand as if she wants to protect herself from something.

Hogwarts is a mess — students are running through the big castle, helplessly looking for a teacher or a prefect. Something is clearly going on and yet nobody seems to think that the students need to know what it is that they have to hide from.

Baekhyun has been on his way to his friend Jongdae when he heard the sudden screams and kicks. And then, out of nowhere, the students have started to run. The last thing he recalls is Dumbledore's voice shouting through the air: "Follow your prefects. Follow their advices." Dumbledore has obviously tried to calm the students down, which worked for like a second until the Hufflepuff prefect Huang Zitao broke down crying in front of a couple of other Hufflepuffs (which caused even more panic).

And as Baekhyun had stood there and watched all of it happen in slow motion, he had connected the dots.

It is as simple as it sounds.

The weird letters that he receives and the blood-lake in the library have to be connected to what happens right now. He is almost entirely certain that the letters aren't part of a prank anymore. And the blood ... god, he wishes he wouldn't have ran off like an idiot last night. If I would've stayed there ...

"What the ? Are you ing stupid, Byun?" Baekhyun flinches as the sudden voice of Chanyeol roars in his ears. "What are you doing up there? Are you deaf? I said 'follow me', not 'stand still', moron."

Snapping out of his trance, Baekhyun notices that he does, in fact, stand still. He looks up to the Slytherin prefect, wishing he'd just leave him alone. Judging by what he knows about the case, he should talk to Dumbledore. Urgently. Going back to the dormitory and keeping his mouth shut only to stay save would be a Chanyeol-thing to do (probably), but Baekhyun's better than that.

"Baekhyun", Chanyeol says. "It's ing dangerous, follow me."

Baekhyun stares. He got two simple options. Either he follows Chanyeol and is being rational for once — or he runs away and tells Dumbledore about what he had witnessed last night (and completely ignores his safety because who the cares anyway).

"Byun. Baek. Hyun."

" off", Baekhyun hisses suddenly, and before he can realize it himself, he is already running away, passing the two suspicious Professors and a crazy crowd of Hufflepuffs by. Baekhyun knows exactly where Dumbledore's office is; he's been there quite a lot (sadly, a lot more than he's been to the library).

At first, Baekhyun feels brave.

Yeah, watch me. I am not a coward. I'm going to tell everyone! I am going to ... -

What the hell?!

(That didn't last long).

He turns back to see if Chanyeol has left already, but oh my god, how could he possibly know that that freak of a long-legged prick would start following him like his life depended on it? And damn, he is fast. Baekhyun tries to run faster, catching his breath, but Chanyeol already grabs his wrist and pushes him away. The taller boy frowns and shakes his head. "What the do you think you are doing? Do you think this is a game? It's my duty as a -"

"Oh off", Baekhyun pushes Chanyeol's strong hand off of his way smaller wrist, staring at him angrily. "I give a flying about your duty as a prefect."

Chanyeol looks disgusted for a split second, pressing his lips together tightly. "If something happens to you, it's my fault."

"Well, I need to talk to Dumbledore." 

"I don't care. Every Slytherin must be safe in the common room, don't you get that?"

"Well, but I - " Baekhyun gets cut off as Chanyeol presses his palm against his mouth, stopping him fron talking. "Shh", Chanyeol makes and Baekhyun stares at him cluelessly.

"No, Severus, I think we both know", at the sudden voice of Albus Dumbledore, coming from the other side of the wall that Chanyeol had pressed Baekhyun against, both Baekhyun and Chanyeol widen their eyes in utter shock and confusion. Baekhyun gasps and sees Chanyeol close his eyes as though he fears getting caught by Professor Dumbledore.

"We both know what killed this boy, Severus."

Now, Baekhyun