“Lost in my scary thoughts.”

     The sound of his steps on the cobblestone roads broke the silence of the night.

He couldn’t say if it were late night or early day. Baekhyun couldn’t tell, but he could feel the cold air beat harshly his fragile skin. Streets were empty, feeling unrealistic. The fog had filled up the place, making the city more sinister. He walked around for hours, without any goal, just walking where his feet led him. As the vapour of his regular breathing faded in the obscurity of the night, his sigh faint in the loneliness of the avenue.

Suddenly, he felt his heart hurt, a lot. As if someone crushes it in their strong hands. The boy gasped, stopping his walking from leaning his shoulder against the cold wall. What is happening to him? He wandered. The brunet grimaced; the uneasy feeling wouldn’t go away. His stare ran along the walls. He saw them, the reason for his current misery.

He stood himself back up. A smirk appeared on his dimly lighted face. He wasn’t scared of them anymore. He would usually be afraid of them as a kid. These Shadows haunted him since forever, growing up by eating all his fear. They had disappeared for a while. Baekhyun thought they left him in peace. He had been trying to control himself, to not feel fear anymore. Was he wrong? Why would they come back now?

“Why would you follow me even here?”, he says in a faint voice.

The boy frowned. He felt something wrong about them, as they became stronger than before. His vital organ started being filled with a great rush of adrenaline, telling him to run for his life. He knew it; they weren’t gone, they were waiting to nibble him little by little. He didn’t think twice and started running at the opposite side of the street, trying to escape from them.

They were fast. Even if Baekhyun sprinted, he couldn’t create a more considerable distance between them and him. It seemed as they also wanted to make fun of him; they switched off the city lights as he passed by. He was perturbed; he was running somewhere, but the boy couldn’t see where he was leading off. As it wasn’t enough, the pavement was slippery under his shoes, taking his disadvantage in the race. Baekhyun his right side avenue, and faced a blind alley. Despite the darkness, the weak light of the moon made a colossal steel structure shining. It was a large portal. With some luck, it would be open. He rushed to it and tried to unblock the doorway with all his strength. But he failed, as his energy is leaving his body.

He laid himself against the steel portal, out of breath. The cold breeze came to embrace the lonely boy, making his brown curls fly in the air, before abandoning him to himself. A cacophony of voice went by his eardrum, and he started to feel abruptly suffocated. He sensed a lot of stares on him. The same ones as before, judging him as they used to. Baekhyun is vulnerable in front of them; they knew all his life, all his fear as they grew with him. They would always overestimate him, pushing him to his limits. The boy felt betrayed, as he thought they left him for years. He could forge his self, but they were there, spying him. Baekhyun became this person full of confidence, who do not let others step on him, someone very proud of himself, but the Shadows know all his weakness.

And now, they’re coming back, to make him feel insecure, and to take down the walls he has built. The boy is bitter. He was trapped, and they were coming closer like they wanted to engulf him. He tried to shout for help, but nothing was coming out of his throat. His heartbeat started to drum against his rib cage as they were very close, as he could feel his life being taken away.

Baekhyun woke up from this nightmare. He sat upon his head, cold sweat running his forehead. He tried to clear his mind. It was too early for his roommates to wake up; they were all sleeping. Discreetly, he got on his feet and went to the bathroom to put some water on his face. He couldn’t believe his dream… since the majority of his dreams are prophetic. What was the meaning of this nightmare, at this period of his life? He felt troubled.

After putting some water on his face, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He seemed very tired. The boy sighed and decided to start to prepare himself for the day. It was now too late to go back to bed. It had been a while he didn’t make some nightmare like this. Most of the time, he didn’t dream, but if he did, it would always be some events that will happen in the week. But for his nightmares, he felt very insecure.

At his birth, Baekhyun had inherited of the Second Sight capacity. Not a lot of wizards have the chance to have this ability. Well, “the chance”.

Usually, Second Sight is a natural gift which was given by a genetic way, from one member to another, but no one in the Byun’s genealogy had manifested such a rare capacity. Baekhyun would always keep this for him because he had already tried to show his parents he wasn’t wrong about his premonitory dreams, but they didn’t want to believe their son. They even made it suppose to their relatives that is was his child’s imagination that led him.

At first, the boy didn’t understand why they would hide such a fantastic speciality. But later, as he red a lot of historical wizard books, he came to discover that his capacity was still a taboo in their society.

People who had inherited this power before him were all considered like crazy and ill persons. In an antecedent period, when Muggles and Wizards lived in the same world, magic persons would hide their identity. Well, it had always been like this; ordinary people were already chasing after witches. This Second Sight ability was the thing that revealed the existence of Wizards on Earth. When Muggles found it, they started to search for them, and when they succeed to catch the first one, a very young wizard with his power of divination, they burnt him alive on the public place. This event marked the separation between magic people and Muggles.

This part of history made Baekhyun thinks of himself, had the mentality change since all those events or will he be shamed for having this power? People had a good image of Baekhyun in Hogwarts, even if he was so quiet and always discrete. For some students, he was literary shining in the eyes of the academic team because of his hardworking attitude, and his high average in all subjects. Son of the great Byun’s household, who had been loyal to Salazar Slytherin, they were a strongly rooted family in the Wizard World. So, Baekhyun would always behave for the image of his name.

Baekhyun finished to prepare himself as the other boys of his chamber had just wakened up from their sleep. The brunet left his dorm to guide himself to the Great Hall. Some early students were already striding along the corridors. At this hour, the Great Hall wasn’t noisy and overcrowded as usual, so Baekhyun took advantage of such a peaceful atmosphere to take some fruits for the day. When he finished his supplies, the Slytherin went to the library to wait until the first bell rings.

There, he felt like being home more than home. It was warm and filled with the things he likes the most: books. When he got there, some other students were already there for the same reasons as Baekhyun: reading to relax in the morning. The boy didn’t bring the book he was reading on the train the day before, because he wanted to search here for some essays about the same topic.

Baekhyun walked between the bookshelf, wandering in the alley while searching for the books he needed. He might know to which shelf these writings may belong to, as he knew the place by heart. His feet led him where he wanted to go. There, he checked the section, one by one, until he put a hand on it. There weren’t a lot of books about the subject of “Soulmates”, maybe about five. He decided to take the most interesting one to begin, and the time started to run off, he went by the desk of Madam Pince. But, it wasn’t her behind the counter. The new person was certainly some intern here to replace the librarian. The Slytherin boy gave his book for her to make a contract of credit. But the miss wasn’t very used to the process and did it slowly. Baekhyun was afraid to be late for his first hour of the year since he could hear the opening bell rang through the entire school. Luckily, she managed to finish her work and gave back the book back to Baekhyun, who didn’t lose the time to get off the library to lead toward the Dungeons.

Fortunately, Baekhyun almost came late to the Potion Class, but he was the last arrival. All the seats were taken, except one. He wished not to have a clingy classmate for this hour. He sighed while scanning the entire room to find the latest free chair. The only place left was… Well, what was worse than a clingy classroom? A shared lab bench with Park Chanyeol.

“Oh great”, says the boy ironically to himself.

He didn’t really have the choice, right? The boy installed himself quickly at the desk, beside the other Slytherin, without exchanging a word with him, even though he could feel the taller’s heavy stare on him, again. And so, the lesson began.

Today, the class had to team up with their deskmate to make the potion they had to learn by heart during the summer holidays.

Sixth-year students of Hogwarts weren’t playing anymore, they were two years apart from the final BUSES tests, so they have to work very hard, so it included having a lot of homework, even during rest days. The professor wanted to prepare them for the decisive moment of their life. Entaming the new school year by a potion-making exam was a part of the training, and the students were ready for that.

The recipe was Felix Felecis’ one. Also called “Liquid Luck”, this elixir makes the drinker lucky for some time, during which everything he tries to do will be successful. It turns an ordinary day into an extraordinary one. Since it was a tough and long one to prepare, the young people have to compose a small amount. One of the students of each desk had to take their cauldron while the other has to collect the ingredients for the potion.

Even without conversating with each other, Chanyeol and Baekhyun established by themselves their role on the preparation of the philtre. The taller absented himself for an instant and came back with his potion-making pot, and at the same time, the smaller started to prepare the ingredients needed for the recipe. Things went right for the duo.

In fact, the brunet was a little nervous about this teamwork. He felt like either the other Slytherin or him will make a small mistake, and it will liberate this constant tension between them. It would lead to an argument, like they usually do. So, Baekhyun tried his hardest to keep up the recipe he had learnt in his head.

Both worked quietly. Baekhyun was cutting the anemone-like growth that they collect from the back of a Murtlap. It’s a kind of marine beast, resembling a lot a rat, and it wasn’t the most pleasant creature to see. From the corner of his eyes, he watched Chanyeol’s gestures. He was adding the squill bulb juice to the potion. It started to boil as the heat of the water was increasing. The smaller felt as it was the moment to add the element he had been cutting a while, and inserted it into the cauldron.

“What to do you think you’re doing Byun?”, the deep voice of his teammate had startled Baekhyun, and he almost dropped the knife.

“Isn’t that obvious? Just adding the ingredient for the potion. What’s the deal- “

“Have you waited for four minutes after I put the juice to add your nasty anemones?”

“Of course I did-“

“No, you don’t. You did not wait four minutes before putting your fuc-“, Chanyeol prevented himself from cursing as the professor passed by their lab, and then leaving as quickly as he arrived.

“ You didn’t respect the tim-“

“I did respect the timer Chanyeol”, the smaller answers, not wanting to lose this nth argument. “You were just too busy by something else to count right. Feel happy I’m here to save your potion-“

“To save my potion you said?”, he lets out a small sarcastic laugh. “I do have better grades than you in Potion. You don’t have the right to be at variance with me. It’s not someone like you that will teach me how to make a potion, ok? Now, would you step aside so I can finish preparing this potion, alone, cause’ you will ruin it.”

Baekhyun wasn’t the person that will let others step on him. He prepared himself to answer to the giant idiot, but he was cut off but the Potion Master. Professor Snape stopped at their desk longer than before, examining the philtre in details, with a frowned on his face. The two Slytherin students expected a bad review from him since they argued on the recipe.

“You’re doing very good here”, he says while looking at the two boys, who were really surprised by his words.

“You’re so far the best duo today. Some didn’t make it until this step. I’m surprised by you two. It’s an advanced difficulty level. I will make this appear somewhere on your final average. Seems like this combination of persons is actually efficient. Make sure to team up together next time.”

And the Professor left them in their awkward tension. Baekhyun sighed, and threw a stare to Park Chanyeol. He was right; he was doing good with the potion. The other kid didn’t say anything to him since the end of this class. Baekhyun considered he won this argument.

The smaller’s entire following weeks went peacefully, without any interactions with the giant. Those great weeks went really fast. It was already the last Friday of the month. This Friday was a little unusual since it was the first Quidditch match of the year. Ravenclaw vs Slytherin.

Baekhyun hates Quidditch, and even events of this kind. It was some wasting time activities, and he didn’t feel like being part of the festivities.

As we walked down the corridor after his N.E.W.T History lesson, he faced a mass of people, with on their lead, well guess who; Park Chanyeol. All the students of their house were behind the Quidditch team to accompany them to the Pitch, since school schedules were all removed for Friday afternoon. They were all full of enjoyment, prepared to encourage their players.

Baekhyun lets his stare locked itself with Chanyeol’s. Their exchange seemed like an eternity for both, but as they passed through each other, their eyes’ contact broke.

The smaller sighed as he didn’t see and lend some attention to the Park kid for weeks. And now, he had seen him with his big idiot smile. Inconscienly, he wished the boy to fall from his broom.

As the group left the corridor, it became as quiet as it was, and the brunet could come back to their house dorm peacefully.

❃