sicheng feels his consciousness slip back into his body, but for some reason, he’s not able to open his eyes or move any of his body parts. what’s going on? the last thing he could remember was catching those weird, ferocious nymphs and then passing out on the field…

oh.

that’s probably why he can’t move, but… why is his mind awake? is this normal? apparently, sicheng has gotten a concussion several times, but he never remembers his mind waking up before his body does. as sicheng continues to ponder about his situation, he starts to hear a couple of voices around him. he’s not alone.

“... i want you guys to do damage control. we don’t know what type of creatures are in that box, but i can be as sure as to tell you that they are not professor aciosia’s usual woodland sprites. as many of you have learned in your care of magical creatures classes, sprites are subdued when they are in a dark place. the box sicheng constructed should be dark enough for the sprites to quiet down, but the box is still buzzing. we don’t want to open it until we know for sure what they are.”

it was the headmaster’s voice, and he sounded serious.

headmaster cavaleri was always very soft spoken and his authority was held in ways that were unknown to sicheng. sicheng always believed that one would never be a great leader if they weren’t tough and heartless in some soft of way, but headmaster cavaleri was different. cavaleri was extremely kind and was very involved with the students. instead of locking himself up in his office, he often wandered around the school in his freetime and chatted with students, and he ate lunch with a different student everyday. his punishments were never too strict, but one would walk away feeling rather guilty of their ‘crimes’ by the end of the day…

but now his voice was stern, and there was some sort of urgency in his tone, like he knew that something bad was going to happen, and it was only a matter of time that something did happen. if sicheng could furrow his eyebrows in confusion, he would, but alas, he was still in an immobile state.

where was he and why could he hear the headmaster’s voice so clearly?

“headmaster, will sicheng be alright?”

that sounded like yerim.

“it seems like something did bite him. we don’t know if the bite was venomous or not, so we’re waiting to see if madam whittleson’s antidote to common poisons will help him heal, however… we can’t be sure.”

how long would he be trapped like this? sicheng felt exhausted. he used all of that energy, and he hasn’t even eaten breakfast yet. if he could feel his stomach, he would probably be starving by now. no wonder he was so weak. as a hufflepuff, he had the privilege of sneaking into the kitchen and treating himself with leftovers whenever he was hungry, and he had a whole trunk filled with snacks for whenever he needed a pick me up while he was studying. he doesn’t think he’s been this far away from food in a while.

then again, he doesn’t exactly know how long he’s been knocked out.

sicheng eavesdrops on headmaster cavaleri and yerim’s conversation a bit more, before he could hear loud, fast-paced steps disturbing the environment. a sharp clatter vibrates throughout the room, and a profuse and nervous “sorry” slips from the stranger’s lips as the sounds of metal tools being picked up off the ground could be heard. the voice sounds… oddly familiar, but sicheng couldn’t put his finger on who the voice could’ve belonged to.

“kino, what are you doing here?” yerim asks.

if his breath could get caught in his throat, it probably would’ve. kino? did he come… to visit him? why is he here?

“i… well, first of all, marcus needs you to meet him in professor kremlin’s office immediately. you’re the last prefect i could find…”

“why does marcus need the prefects? why did he send you on a goosechase to gather them? we have a prefect meeting tonight.”

“i… headmaster, there was this swarm of… nymphs. but they weren’t nymphs persay, they had these sharp fangs and claws and they had a large slit in their backsides. they were in the lake. they had students… they have… they have jungwoo… i don’t… i don’t know what they are…”

suddenly, there’s the sound of quick footsteps, almost close to running. they travel further and further away from sicheng until he can no longer hear them.

but that was odd. there’s usually nothing in the lake that isn’t recorded in the hogwart’s records. sure, there were some odd sea creatures and even mermaids, but they knew about those. what’s even more strange is that kino described the same creatures that chased after sicheng that morning, however, instead of a large slit, sicheng’s ‘nymphs’ has wings. what exactly… are those things? are they planning to terrorize all of hogwarts?

sicheng is organizing his thoughts when he heards movement near him. strange. he thought that the three left together, but someone must’ve stayed behind. was it headmaster cavaleri? it seems the most plausible. why would either yerim or kino stay with him, when they’re needed in professor kremlin’s office?

there’s the sound of metal sliding across the ground, and if sicheng could wince at the noise, he would. the sound was so terrible. 

the noise stops and sicheng can hear the person sitting down next to his bed. the person takes sicheng’s hand into theirs. their hand was as soft as silk, albeit slightly sweaty. this couldn’t be the headmaster, and the person doesn’t seem to have nails like yerim does…

“i wished you didn’t have to get injured like this…”

it’s kino.

sicheng feels like he can’t breathe. what was kino doing? was kino actually talking to sicheng’s unresponsive body right now? is this real life or is this a dream?

kino pulls at sicheng’s hand a bit before sicheng feels the back of his hand touch the skin against kino’s cheek. sicheng’s heart is beating so uncontrollably at this point. he wants to wake up. why won’t he wake up?

sicheng feels a pair of lips on the back of his hand when sicheng couldn’t take it anymore. he forces his eyes open and there he was: kino was sitting at sicheng’s bedside in the infirmary, his head facing the floor as he holds sicheng’s hand to his cheek. there was only the two of them in the room. sicheng can see it with his own two eyes and he can feel it. this isn’t a dream. it really is kino.

kino looks up from his position and turns to admire sicheng’s face, when their eyes lock. sicheng has been waiting almost two years for this moment. and now it’s finally happening… if kino were here, this must mean that kino feels the same way, right?

kino’s eyes widen before he lets go of sicheng’s hand and stumbles off the chair. he sprints down the aisle and towards the exit. sicheng attempts to move his body to go and chase after him, but he still couldn’t control his limbs. he might’ve forced his eyes open, but sicheng only has so much energy left in his body. his heart is beating wildly in his chest. his cheeks feel hot. is this the feeling of satisfaction? the feeling of love? the feeling of… hope?

slowly, after what seemed like hours of staring at the ceiling, sicheng is able to gain control of his limbs. madam whittleson came to check up on him, and she pointed out the two sharp bite marks found on sicheng’s shin. sicheng shuddered. he really needs to start buying higher socks. ankle socks make him seem more stylish, but maybe now he needs to think about putting his safety first. 

sicheng regains his energy after choking down some jolt worms and he immediately sets off to find kino. where could he be? or maybe he should see baekhyun first? should he tell baekhyun what happened and ask for opinions before moving forward?

as he walks briskly in the hallway, a hand grabs him unsuspectingly and pulls him into a classroom. when he turns to look at the person, it’s headmaster cavaleri.

“headmaster cavaleri,” sicheng sputters, somewhat caught off guard that the headmaster would just pull him wordlessly away like that, “why…?”

“sicheng, i’m glad you’ve recovered so quickly,” cavaleri replies in a hushed tone, “however, there are very important matters to be dealt with. tell me exactly what happened this morning. no skips, no nothing. there will be no penalties for any of your actions.”

headmaster cavaleri stares at him somewhat desperately, his eyes are pleading for the truth. sicheng has never seen the headmaster in such… a turbulent state. sicheng is conflicted to whether or not he should he should tell him about the time stopping spell, but… maybe he should. if he wanted to get down to the bottom of this problem, he’s going to have to come completely clean. no lies, no hidden methods.

sicheng takes a deep breath before he recalls the morning’s events, “i was walking to class with baekhyun, when i saw that professor aciosia was having trouble with her sprites again. i had to help, so i ran onto the field and flew to gather them. at first, everything went normally, but then when i used the subdue spell on the sprites, they started to transform into these nasty grey nymph-like creatures with large fangs and sharp claws. they broke the spell and then they chased after me. they were really fast and agile, which was quite strange for small flying creatures. normally you could just… trick them into taking different paths, but not these things. so i had to figure out a way to buy myself time… i don’t know how legit this spell is, but when i was younger, my grandfather taught me this time control spell. it stops time for a certain increment of time, but i can never be sure of how much time i get. so i stopped time and i—”

“wait a minute,” headmaster cavaleri interrupts him, “you… you controlled time?”

sicheng nods his head nervously, “yes. i didn't want to use stupefy with the fear of murdering the nymphs, but i didn’t know what else to do. it’s a chinese chant coupled with a couple of wand movements.”

the headmaster seemed to stop to contemplate the new information that was was given to him by sicheng. sicheng swallows, a bit tense about his confession. he has never told anyone about this secret, and now he’s afraid that he’ll get in trouble for practicing some form of chinese dark magic on school grounds. even worse: he could get expelled and then he could never come back to hogwarts ever again.

“this… this time control spell. you said you learned it from your grandfather?” headmaster asks, and sicheng nods his head, a bit too quickly, “yes sir, he did. he taught it to me when i was six and i didn’t really know what it was until i tried it again during my third year. but i promise this is only my second time using it! i would never use an unknown spell on campus grounds on purpose.”

headmaster cavaleri grabs sicheng by the shoulders, his grip strong and needing, “sicheng, you have the fleur de méchant broom in your possession, right? and you said that your grandfather also gifted you that broom?”

“yes… yes sir,” sicheng is feeling a huge pit forming in his stomach, like he’s about to hear some type of life changing news. the look that the headmaster is giving him frightens him. it feels like he’s being scanned by his eyes, every part of him is getting read and every single one of his secrets are being found out. he’s not used to seeing his headmaster like this. his usual calm and caring eyes have been replaced with ones that are filled with concern and small slivers of distress.

“and you mentioned that your grandfather taught you a time control… chant?”

“yes sir.”

“is…” the headmaster seems a bit hesitant, “is your grandfather’s name, by any chance… dong yanlei?”

sicheng pauses. sicheng’s grandfather’s name was dong yanlei, but… how did headmaster cavaleri know of that name? sicheng didn’t think he came from a line of powerful wizards or anything… his wizarding life was quite normal. he just figured that chinese wizards had more experimental spells and charms that didn’t comply with the british wizarding laws and standards. why did the headmaster know who his grandfather was, and why does it make him feel… uneasy? like there was something about his existence that he didn’t know?

“yes sir, my grandfather’s name is dong yanlei, but… how did you know that?” sicheng decides to ask for more information. there’s no harm in asking for more information, is there? after all, sicheng feels like headmaster cavaleri knows something he doesn’t… the feeling is so strong.

headmaster cavaleri takes in a sharp inhale, before he takes sicheng by the arm and he starts to drag sicheng through the classroom and out a secret exit. it leads through hidden passageways before they end up outside, right next to the lake. looking into the water, one can see the gaggle of forest green fanged nymphs swarming the depths of the lake. sicheng takes in a sharp inhale. what are those things?

sicheng starts to feel self conscious about the bite in his ankle. if these creatures really are venomous, sicheng is ed. he can’t get bitten again, can he?

headmaster cavaleri sighs a bit to himself, before he turns to sicheng, “i have a grave request for you, sicheng. i hope i never have to ask you to do this again. i’ve built a trap for them at the bottom of the lake, but no matter what spells i’ve done, i couldn’t subdue them or weaken them. i couldn’t even kill them, or well, not without harming the students. since time is an issue, the main mission is to rescue the students down below. we will attempt to save them from the poison before it’s too late. after the students, try to trap some of the nymphs in the trap. i’m counting on you, sicheng.”

sicheng stares at him in a bit of shock, before he snaps back to reality. the lives of some students are in his hands. can he… can he really handle this type of pressure?

no, sicheng thinks, sicheng has no time. there’s no time to waste. he can’t just think about if he can or cannot do it, he has to do it. wordlessly, sicheng takes his wand out of the sleeve of his robe and takes a deep breath. he does the time control spell and the world around him stops. the nerves begin to overcome him when he slips off his robe and grips onto his wand tightly. he has to do this for the students trapped in the swarm, there’s no doubt about that. go, sicheng thinks to himself, go!

he jumps into the water and the splash moves the frozen nymphs away from him. he puts his wand in between his mouth as he fights the freezing cold water and swims towards the students. there’s tracy from potions, drake from the gryffindor quidditch team, irene the ravenclaw prefect, and… jungwoo? isn’t that one of daniel’s friends? sicheng swims closer and decides to take them up one at a time. going back and forth from the water to the dock, he pulls tracy by her torso, drake from his limbs, and irene by her legs. 

as he dives back in for jungwoo, time resumes. bubbles begin buzzing around him as the sounds of muffled screams fill his ears, the nymphs are on his tail, the water is getting colder, darker, he forgets he’s holding his breath. he attempts to take a gulp of air when water begins to fill every cavity of his body, choking him from the inside out. he gags, but with every movement, it invites the nymphs to come for him. the cries for help get louder. and louder. and louder. and louder.

they’re coming from inside his head.