I. The headmaster’s eleven

“We can’t put them together in one class!”

Honestly speaking Kwon Jiyong was not that keen on the idea either but it’s not like he had a choice.

Not to mention – they were looking for a solution for the past few hours nonstop.

It was the last week of August, just few days before his tenth year as the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will start.

And it started with a speed owl knocking on his apartment’s window with a message that upon reading got him to call an urgent meeting with the rest of the teachers, professors and some aurors sent by the Ministry right away.

It looked like one of the Ministry’s spies, Kris Wu, successfully infiltrated the surroundings of newly raised dark forces, what only confirmed the concerns that the next wizarding war may be coming.

Jiyong predicted this will come – everything that happened during the last ten years was practically screaming it. Plus he simply didn’t want to go to war – especially with her. They both should be on the same side, as expected and as always.

He sighed.

The leader of the dark wave, Sandara Park, supposedly wanted to take a better look inside Hogwarts and its students, trying to find the true gems and recruit them to join her. She, the former Ravenclaw, wasn’t stupid and it was obvious that she wanted to gain followers before making any major move.

Indeed, Kris managed to get a hold on the list of the potential teenagers that were interesting for Sandara and send it to Jiyong with a swift wave of his wand.

And now here they were : looking at the said list of names and thinking of the resolutions how to keep everyone safe but clueless at the same time.

“Are you certain this list is correct?” Lee Chaerin, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, furrowed her eyebrows while scanning the piece of parchment in her hand for about hundredth time today “Sorry, it still seems too damn odd”

“It’s not odd” Park Bom, the Divination professor, raised her finger matter-of-factly “When you think about it the kids on that list make perfect sense”

“I’m not talking about Jeon Jungkook” Chaerin scoffed, knowing well where her colleague’s favoritism laid “The kid is the damn medium, I get it, I’d put him here myself but the rest? No sense at all…Maybe besides Park Jimin, ok, but that’s it!”

The votes were divided, obviously.

The lively discussion between the professors and teachers erupted again, leaving the Ministry’s deputies in the dark. No wonder though – they had no idea who the kids on the list were.

Jiyong could just sigh and massage his temples. According to his birth date he was young but suddenly dreamed of the early retirement.

“Let’s see it again, so our auror friends from the Ministry will keep up on who are we dealing with” finally Jiyong clicked his fingers, not even bothering to use the wand, as the eleven moving pictures hung in the air and the silence filled his office “Let’s continue with the little snake mentioned here moments ago…Jeon Jungkook, Slytherin, pureblood, a seer - although he claims he can’t see the future but sees other things, like magical cores, sacred spirits and auras for example. Probably the last-standing true Slytherin in this whole damn castle”

Truth to be told, there was no one more Slytherinish in Hogwarts than Jeon Jungkook. He was a bit cocky, a bit prejudiced, very sharp and extremely resourceful. Thus, he liked to take advantage of the fact that he had a psychic gift. Fortunately Jiyong quickly learned that if the kid needed to be put in his place it required only one thing – calling him out for his bunny patronus. Somehow Jungkook was truly ashamed of its shape but no one really knew why.

“Later, the Kim twins, Seokjin and Jisoo, purebloods but technically half-breeds since they’re-” Jiyong suddenly stopped and barely controlled himself from rolling his eyes as the aurors, both men and women, gasped in awe “Half-veelas” with that he smirked upon hearing the lifeless silence again and continued “Seokjin is a Hufflepuff, funny and charming kid but pretty known for using his abilities to, for example, skip from year to year without passing a single exam”

Now Jiyong should glare at his subordinates with some kind of reproach if it wasn’t for the fact that he himself was falling for Kim Seokjin’s tactics each time. At some point he though that the young Hufflepuff wasn’t even using his veelan magic anymore; he just knew how to wrap people around his finger without much effort. Jiyong didn’t know if that was cruel or simply genius and truly dwelled on how come Seokjin wasn’t sorted into Slytherin instead.

“Now Seokjin’s younger by minute sister, Jisoo, Ravenclaw…Comparing to her brother she’s not using her magical background at all, giving she’s had massive problems with controlling it when she was younger. But don’t let the good intentions and cute smile misguide you, this lady is a sharp cookie”

Jiyong recalled the moment when years ago Kim Jisoo casted a spell on herself, blocking absolutely everything veelan in her. The whole bunch of teachers went through hell and back to reverse it when her parents finally found out what she did. Not to mention she sneaked out the book with the charm from the forbidden section in the Hogwarts library, and she was barely twelve that time.

Then he went on with the introductions.

“Next, Kim Jennie, Slytherin, pureblood” another picture hung in the air above others “Extremely ambitious, straight A’s, good-mannered, good-looking, incredibly intelligent and aware of it. She prefers books than people but who could blame her?” with that Jiyong snickered to himself but quickly sobered, sensing that no one saw the last sentence as a joke.

Jennie Kim was actually another pretty traditional Slytherin, adding the fact that she was coming from an old wizarding family that, unfortunately, had some shady history linked to the dark magic. Moving gossips and stereotypes aside she was the Hogwarts’ it-girl, crushing year by year with better grades and broken hearts.

“Later, Kim Namjoon, Ravenclaw, muggleborn, the brightest wizard of age” Jiyong could not help the proud smile forming on his face “He takes the best of both worlds, using both magic and muggle technology on daily basis. He also has this weird rectangular buzzing thing with him, um, how is it called?”

“Smartphone?” someone in the back of his office offered.

“Yes, that!” Jiyong clicked his fingers in sudden recognition and mouthed quick thanks. Kim Namjoon definitely stood out from the other students, especially those coming from the muggle world as they still, no matter what, tended to have some insecurities because of that. This boy was the epitome of the Ravenclaw house, being very curious, inventive and logical. Jiyong still remembered the project Namjoon presented somewhere in the third year, explaining how internet could be used in the magical world.

“Next, Park Chaeyoung, Hufflepuff, half-blood” Jiyong pointed with his thumb at the picture of strawberry blonde “She has some unexplainable healing abilities and uses them accurately, taking unofficial training in the hospital wing when possible. The flowers tend to grow around her and the magical creatures absolutely obey her. Before you’ll ask no, she’s not a fairy, we’ve checked”

Park Chaeyoung, also known as Roseanne or Rose for some reason, was one of those students definitely more skilled in some fields – in that case it was herbology, the care of magical creatures and being a truly decent and good person. Jiyong wasn’t sure if he ever met anyone as golden-hearted as this seventh year Hufflepuff. In times like this it really was astonishing and more magical than the magic itself.

“Finally the last Hufflepuff from the list, Jung Hoseok” Jiyong moved forward “Yes, from the Jungs, the dragon breeders and trainers. He’s probably the only one member of his family that wasn’t sorted into Gryffindor but honestly, if Park Chaeyoung could’ve had a male counterpart that would’ve been be him. The kid is just too good and nice to be real and breathing”

Yes, Jung Hoseok, with the whole dragon legacy awaiting, was one of those people that no one could stay mad at for longer than five seconds. Always kind, prepared, smiling and humble, not bragging about his family name or the fact that he had his very own Hungarian Horntail dragon, named J-Hope. As much as Jiyong thought that name was ridiculous he couldn’t help but smile at the memory of young Hoseok, age 12 that time, who was running around the school and hugging everyone because he got a message from home stating that his dragon egg hatched.

“That leaves us with the Gryffindor trio” Jiyong looked up, this time three pictures hanging higher in the air “Kim Taehyung, muggleborn, the captain and chaser of the Quidditch team. The main prankster, popular with girls, absolutely out of control when it comes to charms so things tend to explode around him. Somehow never managed to break even a nail and don’t ask me how’s that possible because I don’t know”

Kim Taehyung was the true irregularity for Jiyong, never before described in any book or study. The auburn-haired Gryffindor had an abnormally extended magical core, giving him the endless amounts of energy and power - what also caused nearly a catastrophe each time he tried to cast a spell more advanced than basics. But Taehyung was also lucky – his normal troublesome self was pushing him into every kind of misfortune but he never got hurt, caught or harmed in any way.

“Then, Lalisa, or rather Lisa, Manoban, pureblood, also in the Quidditch team, coming from a very old, practically ancient family that is known for studying Buddhist magic for centuries” Jiyong continued “She’s the first of her lineage to learn magic outside the Golden Temple located on some secretive island practically no one knows about. Lisa is absolutely fluent in Thai, ancient witchcraft but she’s prohibited from using it outside her motherland. Apart from that she’s pretty troublesome, too”

Jiyong’s jaw clenched at the memory of Lisa Manoban throwing a massive party during her fifth year in the room of requirements. It happened that she was very familiar with muggle culture as well, providing everyone with something called ‘rum’ what affected attendants worse than firewhiskey. The day after almost every student came to the hospital wing with a gigantic hangover and all the classes needed to be cancelled. Sure, Gryffindor lost around 50 points, but Lisa became the rebellious hero nonetheless.

“And the last of the trio. Park Jimin, Quidditch team as well, prankster as well, muggleborn and…werewolf”

At that every auror in the office gasped, not expecting this kind of bomb to drop. Jiyong just nodded at them as he himself thought that being a muggleborn wizard and a werewolf at the same time was a match made in the kingdom of irony. As Jimin’s wolf powers manifested at the very young age his family wasn’t even surprised when they saw the letter from Hogwarts – at that point they seemed to be supremely unimpressed by anything. Jimin himself was a likeable kid but he also managed to keep being a werewolf a secret. How? No one knew. Thus every month he was coming to the dungeons where Jiyong, Chaerin and Madame Hyorin from the hospital wing were locking him up for two days, while constantly checking on his health and overall well-being.

“And finally, the last on the list, Min Yoongi” Jiyong pointed at the last picture “The only one ever muggleborn Slytherin, also in the Quidditch team. He’s attending Hogwarts since he turned 15, before that he was homeschooled”

“By muggle parents?” someone asked.

“No, by us” Jiyong corrected “Yoongi’s magic manifested at the very late age of 12, almost 13. He needed a lot of time to catch up before being able to attend the school on regular basis”

With that Jiyong finished the introductions from Sandara’s list, hoping that no one from