CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

As soon as the team arrives back at the Ministry, Hoseok breaks apart from the rest of them to drop off the lifeless, broken horcrux to a different department who would handle it from there on.

Seulgi continued to lead the others down a set of familiar hallways. "We have to plan our next move because this next horcrux is located on the other side of the country after the Death Eaters had transferred it from its original location when they figured out what we were doing." 

"How did you know that?" Jisoo couldn't help but ask. 

A short moment passed. "Jinyoung saw it," was all Seulgi had said in the end. But she didn't need to say anything more, as the lingering look that she gave Jisoo had confirmed her suspicions.

They had seen it in Taehyung's mind when Jinyoung had done his work on him. Hell, Taehyung must have been the one to have relocated it himself. 

Disappointment settled in the center of her chest, and she is unable to shake it off so easily even when she reminded herself that... perhaps in a way, Taehyung hadn't wanted to do all of that. He was only being controlled, wasn't he? Jisoo's not sure, and she suddenly grows confused at her own thoughts and feelings. 

"It's the farthest location so far, and going by broom would take us too long." Seulgi continues, reeling Jisoo back to their present conversation. "Apparition seems to be the quickest option but we won't stand a chance if we have to fight because it would be too taxing for all of us considering the distance. Unless..." 

Seulgi looks at them from over her shoulder. "Jennie, Jungkook, see if you two can make a portkey for us last minute, If not, then we rest up and apparate." 

The two mentioned Aurors nod like good soldiers. Before turning the other way around, the dark-haired wizard catches Jisoo's eye and he gives her a small smile as he begins to walk in the other direction. 

Jisoo raises an eyebrow at Jungkook's retreating figure. 

Beside her, falling into step, Seulgi chuckles silently to herself. "That one seems to like you," she says, sugary amusement coating her voice. "Jungkook is a bit... eccentric. He was the newest addition to the team a week ago, but he's good at his job and has one too many talents. Be nice to him." 

Jisoo only rolls her eyes and doesn't even bother to reply to that. She only follows Seulgi, seeing as how she has nothing more important to do and Seulgi hasn't assigned her a specific task yet like the others. She knew the captain was going to report their progress so far to Jinyoung, and since Seulgi also hasn't said anything, Jisoo figured she could tag along with her to Jinyoung's office.

When they reached the Aurors' Offices, it was deserted. Nobody was milling around or was even hunching over their desks. Not even their office-only Auror, Nayeon, was there on her post. 

The place was deserted but Seulgi and Jisoo paid little attention to this, as there were less and less of them these days. This was nothing new, sadly.

Not bothering to knock on Jinyoung's door, Seulgi pushed it wide open and let themselves in. 

They hadn't been prepared for what they saw next.

A gasp left Seulgi's mouth and Jisoo felt her blood turn cold as she took in the horrible, horrible sight before them. She wanted to scream but all that came out from was a strangled sound. 

The Head of the Aurors was on the floor, eyes closed, lips pale and chest dangerously still. 

Seulgi immediately dropped on one side of Jinyoung as Jisoo propelled herself forward and landed on the floor on his other side. Her hands flew across the buttons of his undershirt and she pressed two fingers at the base of Jinyoung's exposed throat.

The weak pulse that replied to her touch almost made her weep, but not out of joy. 

He was dying.

Seulgi was crying already, the tears flowing down mercilessly like a dam that had been broken, and Jisoo's hands were shaking badly as she tried to figure out what had brought Jinyoung to this unfortunate predicament. 

Hysterical, Seulgi gripped onto Jinyoung's motionless arm, head swiveling left and right as if she was trying to find the culprit in the office.

She suddenly lurched forward swiftly when something had caught her eye: broken pieces of ceramics that were strewn across the floor a few feet away from Jinyoung's head. She grabbed one and examined it briefly in her fingers. 

Jisoo had not noticed that at all because she was too busy trying to figure out what the hell happened to her boss and how the were they going to save him if they didn't know?!

Her shock and frustration reverberated through her bones as she laid a hand on Jinyoung's chest, and the increasingly low temperature of his body made her wince. 

"Seulgi, he's growing cold —"

Jisoo looked up and saw Seulgi's eyes quickly darting between the piece of broken ceramic in her hand, to Jinyoung, and to the other pieces that had been laid on the floor near him. A sharp intake of breath and the tears in Seulgi's eyes fell silently as she raised the chipped piece between her and Jisoo. "It's from his teacup," her voice was low, and then her eyes traveled down to Jinyoung's face. "Poison," 

Seulgi looked back at Jisoo and held her gaze for a fraction of a second. But in that miniature amount of time, a silent agreement seemed to pass between them and a plan had materialized right before their eyes as the mechanisms of their mind worked together in unison.

The moment broke when Jisoo blinked, but by then, she already knew what to do as one hand was already gripping her wand and the other was grabbing her small pouch. 

Seulgi's gaze hardened and Jisoo clenched her jaw, determined. The two women wasted no time. 

"Accio venenum remedium!" The bottle of purple liquid flew to Jisoo's palm from the depths of her magical pouch at her booming command. She had barely even held the cure as she instantly threw it to Seulgi, who caught it with one hand while the other hand had already parted Jinyoung's lips so he could drink. 

Jisoo bolted out of the office and ran for the dungeons where Taehyung was being kept. 

Nobody had been around at the office. And the poison had been in Jinyoung's tea. 

Jisoo already had a bad feeling as to where this was going, but she kept running as she pushed herself forward before it was too late and Taehyung would escape with whoever had poisoned Jinyoung's tea. 

When she rounded the corner, she almost collided into Hoseok's broad chest if the other warlock had not shot his arm out to stop her momentum. "Jisoo!" He took in her panic and frantic state. "What's —"

She vigorously shakes her head, hands gripping onto the side of Hoseok's arms as she panted slightly from all the spontaneous running so far. Her heart rammed wildly inside her ribcage. "Jinyoung, poisoned," she managed to wheeze out and Hoseok's eyes widened at those two words. "Ring alarms, now!" She lightly shoved him aside as she continued to run. 

She had to get to him, she had to make sure he was still being kept behind bars. She knew something like this would happen, but when it finally did, they were defenseless and unprepared despite the numerous security measures they imposed and the back-up plans they had prepared. How could they have been so vulnerable? 

She ran along the long hallways and past confused Ministry employees whose faces were illuminated by the red glaring lights that warned them of danger. Everyone was trying to make sense of what was happening, but Jisoo was already slowly piecing it together in her head. 

Someone is rescuing Taehyung. 

"!" Jisoo cursed out loud in frustration when she saw the bodies of the guards that lay across the stairs leading to the dungeons where Taehyung had been held captive probably just minutes ago. Now, he was probably somewhere in the building, trying to find a way out and be reunited with his master. 

No, Jisoo thought to herself. He won't go back, but he's being forced to by whoever is saving him. 

Jisoo tried to think of where to go next. If she were Taehyung, which exit would she take? The nearest one was to the grand lobby, where the floo powder network could easily take them to one of the chimneys of the family mansions that the Death Eaters owned and ransacked if they tweaked the portal a little bit. The network would be gated by now since Hoseok managed to commence lockdown prodecures, but still, they might have a few tricks of their own just to escape.

She started to move towards the direction of the lobby with a silent prayer in mind: please let Jinyoung be alive, but a loud explosion somewhere to her right blows her away and her back collides against the wall with a sickening crunch. 

Jisoo grunts, trying to get up as the ground shakes beneath her feet and the walls underneath her hands crack and the ceiling above her head begins to form a million fissures.

Her eyes widen in horror as she pushes herself off the ground despite the searing pain. She dives forward before the ceiling from where she had just been standing collapsing down in a pile of dust and rubble behind her.

Coughing out the dust that had seeped into her lungs, Jisoo tried to get up again as the shaking subsided and the view of the fountain from the grand lobby heightened her senses. With a determined scream, Jisoo pushes herself off the ground and sprints forward.

Two figures dashing across the lobby confirms that she is on the right path. As she enters the lobby where the low-hanging ceiling gradually expands into a steel-covered roof that no kind of magic can penetrate through, she sees dozens of wizards and witches sprawled on their backs or lay motionless on the ground as ash fell down on them like rain and her vision remained red as the alarms went off. 

He can't get away. 

"No!" Jisoo ran after them with all her strength, exerting every last bit of effort and energy into every leap she took. She gripped onto her wand and followed the two figures, jumping over piles of rubble as she tried to close the distance before they could reach the floo powder networks. Her eyes bore into the back of their heads as she was gaining on them, on Taehyung and...

It's like the air had been knocked out of her lungs. "Nayeon," she choked out as she saw the same pair of familiar brown eyes that were so kind to her during her days at Hogwarts, look back at her right now, steely and unrecognizable through the foggy haze that had settled after the explosion she had probably caused. 

It felt like a punch to the gut, and if that was how Jisoo felt about Nayeon's betrayal, then she cannot even begin to fathom what Jinyoung and Seulgi would feel if they knew. They had known each other for years, worked together for a long time, and yet, how could they have forgotten that Nayeon had still been descended from a pureblood family? 

"You traitor!" Jisoo yelled as she shot her a curse, but it had only hit the wall as Nayeon and Taehyung ran faster with Jisoo right at their heels now. She dodged the body of a wizard sprawled on the floor, hoping that the dark stain on their head only l