It was bright and early – much too early – when Junmyeon burst through the doors to the Hospital Wing. A cursory glance around the room had his focus promptly zeroing in on Yixing, who lounged on a chair next to the bed with Sehun. 

“I don’t know what you two were doing last night,” Junmyeon hissed, “but I know this,” he gestured wildly towards Sehun’s sleeping form, “was your fault.”

“Good morning, Junmyeon,” Yixing drawled.

Closing his eyes, Junmyeon pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He asked, “Will he be okay?”

“Madam Pomfrey believes so,” said Yixing. “She said it was sinister magic, but that he’d be right as rain in a day or two. No lasting repercussions.”

Junmyeon nodded to himself. “Okay. That’s good.”

The ensuing quiet beckoned Junmyeon’s gaze to Yixing, who, for all the world, seemed as unruffled as ever, except Junmyeon recognised the tightness in his expression and the tired slouch of his shoulders. 

Stupid Slytherins.

“Did you sleep at all?”

“Of course,” Yixing said. “Madam Pomfrey threatened me with a sleeping draught last night if I didn’t scurry off. Had you shown up fifteen minutes earlier, you would have been the first.” He tipped his head backwards to arch an eyebrow at Junmyeon. “How did you know to come here?”

“Yifan told Chanyeol.”

“Ah,” was all Yixing said, until, “Should have known, love-sick fool that he is.” He sounded entirely too fond for Junmyeon to take offence on Yifan’s account. Besides, Yifan was a bit of a love-sick fool.

Footsteps from the hallway drew their attention to the doors, which opened to admit Jongin and Zitao, and Chanyeol. 

“Lovely,” Yixing drawled, keen eyes moving between the four of them, “all the Hufflepuffs have arrived. Sehun would certainly revel in the attention if he were awake to do so.”

“If you hadn’t lured him into the Restricted Section, that is,” said Chanyeol cheerfully. “Uh-oh,” he said when Junmyeon spun around to pin Yixing with a glare. “I may have forgotten to mention that.”

“Yixing, really?” Junmyeon groused. Yixing pouted and didn’t look at him. “Sehun is only fifteen. You should know better than to take – don’t glare at Chanyeol!” He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Yixing. “You should have known better.”

Yixing waved a dismissive hand. “Sehun wanted to come. Why should I not have let him? He’s not a child, Junmyeon.”

“Yixing’s right,” Zitao said. He shrugged when Junmyeon turned to stare at him. “Sehun can look out for himself, you know. He let his curiosity get the better of him this time, but next time he’ll be smarter.”

“Next time,” Junmyeon said through grounded teeth. “If there’s a next time –”

“You’ll tell a professor?” Yixing hummed. “Sehun won’t be happy.”

“I’m not supposed to just let you go gallivanting into the Restricted Section whenever you so please!”

“You never stopped Yixing,” Chanyeol said. 

Yixing finally deigned to meet Junmyeon’s eyes, albeit it was only to pout forlornly up at him. “It’s because Junmyeon doesn’t care if I get burned. If Sehun comes to any harm, however, regardless of severity –” 

“You never touch anything that could harm you because you’re smart enough to know what might,” Junmyeon said and rolled his eyes when Yixing preened. “Sehun does not.”

“I didn’t realise,” Yixing said. “It was only when he cried out that I noticed.” Quieter, he said, “I meant to keep an eye on him, but I got distracted by a book.”

“It’s fine,” Jongin said, and stared hard at Junmyeon as he did. “Sehun will be fine. Just… be more careful next time. Both of you. The Restricted Section is restricted for a reason.”

“Of course,” Yixing said airily. 

🦡

At lunch, Junmyeon followed Han and Minseok to the Gryffindor table, plopping down next to Minseok with a put-upon sigh. Minseok chuckled and patted his head. “Tough day?”

“Sehun is in the Hospital Wing,” Junmyeon muttered.

“We heard,” said Han. “He’ll be all right, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Junmyeon said as Minseok started piling food onto his and Han’s plates. “He’s sleeping off the effects of the curse.”

Han whistled lowly. “I overheard Kyungsoo telling Zitao and Jongin that Sehun has been given three evenings’ worth of detention for being in the Restricted Section.”

“You were eavesdropping, you mean,” Minseok said.

Junmyeon frowned. “What of Yixing?” 

Minseok nudged him, so Junmyeon grabbed a fork and started stabbing his food. Satisfied, Minseok answered, “They didn’t say.”

“He probably managed to talk himself out of detention,” Junmyeon grumbled.

“Probably,” said Han blithely. “He’s a spectacular liar. I need him to tutor me.”

“No, you don’t,” said Minseok. “Eat up. I want to pay Sehun a visit before Potions.”

🦡

After dinner Junmyeon joined up with Kyungsoo and headed for the Hospital Wing. Surrounding Sehun’s bed already were Jongdae, Baekhyun, Zitao, and Jongin, and, just as Yixing had predicted, Sehun seemed immensely pleased with the attention. 

“It’s a party,” Kyungsoo said dryly as he marched up to Sehun’s bed. He had brought sweets from the kitchen that he offered to Sehun. “How are you?”

Sehun happily accepted the sweets. “Ooh, nice. Thanks.” He looked up from the small package and gave a little shrug. “I’m good, but I think Madam Pomfrey is going to insist I stay here for the night.”

“It’s probably for the best,” Junmyeon said. “At least you won’t have to serve detention today.”

“I was the one to tell Madam Pomfrey where I’d been,” Sehun said. He arched a brow at Junmyeon’s surprise and snorted. “I was awake, albeit in pain, when Yixing brought me here. I left him out on purpose. It’s obvious that’s why you’re upset.”

“I’m not,” Junmyeon protested.

“Are too!” Baekhyun trilled.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jongdae said. He was grinning slyly, which was never a good sign. “Yixing earned himself three evenings of detention starting tomorrow. I guess it won’t be so lonely after all.”

“Oh,” said Sehun, then looked delighted. “I suppose.”

Junmyeon needed new friends.

(He wouldn’t trade them for the world.)

Theme: Magical World. Writers were to include the magical world somehow, so I decided to go for a Harry Potter AU because I've wanted to write that for EXO for a while.

I started writing with only the hazy idea of something to do with the Restricted Section, and ended up still fighting the word limit despite not knowing for the first 800 words where exactly I was headed. Sigh. I also aimed for general with this fic, before I started writing, and somehow I ended up with hints of Yifan/Chanyeol, and sliiiight Sehun/Yixing and/or Yixing/Junmyeon. Sehun is pretty taken with Yixing, at least, partially because they’re both old-blood, partially because it’s Yixing, and Sehun and I both are weak for Yixing.

I digress.

If you are curious, here’s my lineup of EXO members' Houses and stuff:
Gryffindor: Minseok (pure-blood, Year 7), Baekhyun (pure-blood, Year 5), Han (pure-blood, Year 7)
Hufflepuff: Junmyeon (half-blood, Year 6), Zitao (pure-blood, Year 4), Jongin (muggle-born, Year 4), Chanyeol (half-blood, Year 5)
Ravenclaw: Sehun (old blood, Sacred Thirty-One, Year 4), Kyungsoo (muggle-born, Year 4)
Slytherin: Yixing (old blood, Sacred Thirty-Nine, Year 6), Yifan (Pure-blood, Year 7), Jongdae (pure-blood, Year 5)
(Ages have been upped by 1 and 94'- and 93-liners have been merged into one year because I've got that power)

Fun fact #1: Sacred Thirty-One and Sacred Thirty-Nine are my Korean/Chinese versions of British Sacred Twenty-Eight. Whoop.

Fun fact #2: Yixing spent a lot of time in the Restricted Section reading up on wandless magic. He's pretty proficient with it now.