BOOK, TEXTBOOK AND RAVEN'S WHISPER

“Soo.” Someone – his voice oddly familiar – shouted in his ear, making him flinch out of his sleepy haze. He half opened his left eye and peered up at the person leaning over him, not at all surprised to find Baekhyun staring at him with a disapproving expression on his face. “Wake up.” he continued in the same – or maybe even higher - volume, forcing Soo to throw a hand over his ear while grimacing. “We are going to be late.” A second or two of silence. “Well, you are going to be late. I’m not waiting for you.” At that he finally straightened himself up and moved away.

Soo let out a small sigh of relief and removed his hand off the ear to run it through his hair before he finally fully opened his eyes. He blinked a couple of times to get rid of the blurry vision and slowly propped himself up in the sitting position, his eyes travelling across the bedroom and stopping on his best friend. Baekhyun gave him a single glance full of disapproval and pointed on the old leather-covered book that sat on the nightstand.

“Already?” he asked sternly. “It’s our first night back. Couldn’t you at least give it a week before you started to break the school rules?” He made two calculated steps towards the nightstand before he - not at all carefully - wrapped his fingers around the book and lifted it into the air in precisely the same manner one would lift a dead rabbit; he held it away from himself, his face a mask of disgust.

“What even is that?” he asked, obviously not even a little bit bothered by a lack of response. “It doesn’t have a title. And it looks like it has been soaked in blood - as if I need another confirmation that you snatched it from the restricted section.” At that he threw the book back on to the nightstand and wiped his fingers in the sheets of Soo’s bed. “Well?” he asked in annoyed tone after realizing his best friend still hadn’t uttered a word.

Soo rolled his eyes. Typical Baekhyun, always reprimanding him for petty rule breaking as if they didn’t both know that was more likely to encourage him than make him stop. He enjoyed his friend’s semi-disappointed, annoyed and exasperated reactions – they were a small, but still important part of the thrill.

“No one patrols the halls during the first night.” he nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. “I obviously had to grab the opportunity.”

Baekhyun huffed. “Of course you did.” he said dryly, turning his back on Soo to pick up his bag. He was – Soo only noticed this now - already dressed in his black robes with a ravenclaw’s crest on the chest and the shinny prefect badge fastened a few inches beneath it.

Soo took a quick glance at the clock on the nearest wall, realizing Baekhyun was not kidding – as if he even knew what that was, honestly – when he said they were going to be late. Just his luck.

He hastily jumped off the bed and opened up his trunk, yanking his neatly folded uniform out and beginning to get dressed. He was done in two minutes – possibly his record – and was now trying to decide what to take with him to the classes. After a moment or two he settled with his old scruffy quill and a roll of parchment paper. It was the first day; he doubted he would need any of the textbooks.

Before he walked out through the door he took one last glance across the bedroom, his eyes almost immediately landing on the book. He picked it up and gently put it in his trunk. It was probably better not to leave it in the open.

Baekhyun was waiting for him in the already empty common room, his face pretty much a mask of annoyance. He certainly didn’t like being late (which would encourage Soo to stall even further if it wasn’t the first day).

“So what is that book about?” asked his best friend after the portrait that led out of the common room closed behind them.

Soo shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea.” he admitted. Given the leather that seemed to have been soaked in blood he assumed it was probably connected to the dark arts. But he wasn’t sure. He was so tired when he returned to the bedroom in the early morning hours that he fall asleep practically as soon as his head touched the pillow, so he had no time to check.

“You have no idea.” repeated Baekhyun in a tone that clearly implied he didn’t believe him - the theory that was further confirmed by the annoyed glance he sent in his direction the moment later.

“Your disbelief is making my heart ache.” responded Soo, flashing his friend an amused smile that only deepened at the sight of Baekhyun furrowing his eyebrows.

“You don’t have a heart.” immediately retorted the later.

Soo slightly raised his left eyebrow. “Really Baekhy?” he asked half-mockingly and half-amusedly. “If I didn’t have a heart…”

“Yeah, yeah.” interrupted Baekhyun dismissively, obviously not in the mood to listen to a science lecture he knew was coming. “Just tell me about the book.”

“Well, I can see you’ve woken up on the wrong side of the bed today.” commented Soo, before proceeding to address the issue Baekhyun was quite obviously most worried about. “No, I did not develop an interest in the dark arts.” he rolled his eyes to point out how ridiculous that assumption was. “I only picked up the book because I found it in the secret corridor.”

Now Baekhyun actually seemed worried. “I think we should give it to a professor.”

Soo couldn’t help rolling his eyes. Typical Baekhyun - always making a big deal out of nothing. “You do realize this is a school full of teenagers right?” he politely inquired, getting one of his friends most irritated so’s as a reply. “So teenagers like to experiment with things. It doesn’t necessary mean that there is another dark lord on the rise.” It theoretically could, but the possibility was very very small. Too small to part with a perfectly good book because of it.

“Besides…” he continued, keeping silent until two seventh years passed by before speaking up again; “We don’t even know if the book is actually about the dark magic. It might end up being a book about fluffy bunnies or something.”

“Unlikely.” murmured Baekhyun. “I give you a day with it but then we are turning it over.” he decided.

Soo just shrugged his shoulders.

They arrived in to the great hall around five minutes later, immediately realizing that there would be no time for breakfast - the head of Ravenclaw was already handing schedules to their classmates. She peered up as they approached and gave a glare that instantly made them regret being late. They quietly murmured their apologies as they sat down at the far end of the table, next to Joonmyun who nodded in place of greeting.

“It’s really good to be back, isn’t it?” he asked, not waiting for a reply before continuing; “Did you see our new DADA professor? I hope she is as stern as she seemed yesterday. Some of our classmates…” he sent a meaningful glance towards Mephisto Hignes who was currently napping with his head on the table, his hair resembling a bird’s nest. “…certainly need someone to show them their rightful place, don’t you think?”

“Yap.” agreed Soo as he took his schedule out of Ms. Delaney’s outstretched hand, his eyes swiftly traveling over it. “Even more so since we are apparently lucky enough to have DADA with Slytherins. Again.”

Baekhyun beside him took a deep exasperated breath, which resulted in Soo flashing one of his usual amused smiles towards him. He knew his problem wasn’t really with slytherins. No, his friend was much more concerned about Soo and Kai stuck in the same room together.

It was going to be brutal – Soo looked forward to it already.

“Sorry Baekhy.” he whispered quietly, making sure Baekhyun was the only one who was able to hear him. “But your nightmare starts now.” He tapped his finger over the first section on his schedule that read DADA. Apparently that was the subject with which they were going to officially start their sixth year on Hogwarts.

Baekhyun gave him a glare but refrained from saying anything.

When they arrived, the classroom was already open, their new professor – Mrs. Jamerson – nonchalantly sitting on the chair in front with the daily prophet in her hands. She didn’t send a single glance towards the mass of very loud students that flooded into her classroom.

Baekhyun and Soo luckily managed to obtain their usual table in the third row. “I bet…” began Soo as he threw his bag on the floor next to his chair. “… that the table in front of us is getting occupied by our favorite Slytherins.” He planted himself on to his seat and leaned back. He was completely convinced that Kai was going to do everything in his power to end up sitting right in front of him so he could effectively throw around insults.

The theory turned out to be correct only a couple of shorts minutes later, when the four chairs in front of them were forcefully pulled away from the table and soon after occupied by loud – and very annoying – Slytherins. Kai nonchalantly plopped on to the seat right in front of Soo before he turned around with a big grin on his face. “Hello princess.” he said mockingly. “Missed me?”

Soo could hear Beakhyun murmur a quiet; “Here we go again.” but he certainly didn’t have time to pay any attention to that. He was way too busy staring at his arch enemy, his eyes slightly narrowed. “Not in a million years.” he said sweetly. “But you apparently missed me since you’re forcing your company on me – again.”

Kai’s smile became even more radiant – if that was even possible – as he leaned closer. “I missed seeing you all frustrated by my presence.” he said confidentially.

Soo rolled his eyes. “You should get your sadistic tendencies under control before you actually end up in an Azkaban.”

Kai let out a small chuckle before he leaned a little bit closer. “Between you and me…” he began quietly “… you’re far more likely to end up in a prison. We both know that your sheep’s skin is going to fall down eventually and reveal the wolf underneath it. I just hope I’m going to be there to see it.”

Soo huffed. Kai always enjoyed reminding him that he could exploit his weakness. Soo didn’t think he would actually do it – no, his arch nemesis loved the game they were playing way too much to end it with something as lame as that – but he sure liked pointing out that he could.

“You mean you hope you’re going to be the one to pull the sheep’s skin down?” he inquired with a slightly raised eyebrow. “Don’t you think you should get yourself an easily achievable goal?”

Kai already opened his mouth to reply when he got interrupted by Mrs. Jamerson who was now standing in front of the class; “Good morning students.” she said, her dark eyes full of disapproval directed towards Jongin. He curved his lips upwards and gave his shoulders a quick shrug before he turned around, probably giving their new teacher an apologetic smile in the process.

“I am obliged to warn you that the work in this classroom might be a little different than what you are used to.” said their professor after the buzz of chatter quieted down, her eyes slowly traveling across the room. “I strongly believe in efficiency of independent study.” she continued. “Which is why most of our work through the year is going to be done in pairs I am going to assign based on your abilities.” 

At that Baekhyun and Soo exchanged quick glances before fixing their eyes back on to the professor who was now directing her wand towards the pile of papers on her table. They flew in the air one by one, each landing in front of a student. “You have twenty minutes to solve this.” said Mrs. Jamerson as she sat down on her chair, completely ignoring the groans that escaped some of the students. No one liked tests, especially not on the first day of school. “Good luck.”

Soo peered at the sheet and then at Baekhyun who was already furiously scribbling dawn his answers. He found the whole idea of testing their abilities with a test stupid – this wasn’t going to show how able they are, it’s going to show the quality of their memories. Nevertheless he wrapped his fingers around the quill and began to write. 

After twenty minutes their sheets flew off their tables and formed a pile on the professor’s desk. “Now please…” she said as she slowly stood up “…get up.”

It turned out Mrs. Jamerson didn’t plan to only test their knowledge, but also how good they were at casting spells. They spent the rest of the hour in pairs, trying to disarm each other with as many curses as they could think off. Soo at one point – accidentally of course – sent a babbling curse towards Kai who immediately returned the favor by trying to hex him with calvario. The whole thing would have probably ended with one of them having to visit the hospital wing if the bell hadn’t signaled for the end of the class at precisely the right moment.

Luhan was staring at his potion textbook with an increasing sense of horror. No matter how many times he closed it and opened it again, the name on the first page was still the same. Oh Sehun it read, written in big letters and silver ink.

He shut the textbook closed once again, thinking whether he should put it back into his bag. It would probably seem weird, but it was certainly safer than leaving it in the open where one of his friends could grab it at any moment. His heart beat faster and his hands began to sweat if he as much as thought about that. There was just no way he could explain why Oh Sehun’s name was in his textbook. None. 

He forced himself to take a deep breath. It was fine. Everything was fine. No one was going to notice. He nonchalantly put his left hand on top of the book and kept it there just to feel a little safer.

He would lie if he claimed that he knew how that happened. How did they manage to switch their books? Their rooms were practically on the opposite side of the house and neither of them brought any of their textbooks out after they bought them. At least Luhan couldn’t remember doing anything like that.

“Earth to Luhan.” He winced as Alina waved her hand in front of his eyes.

“What?” he asked, slightly angry at himself for not paying attention to his surroundings.

She motioned towards Ms. Vaughan who was busy scribbling ingredients for the draught of living dead on to the blackboard. “Our target; yes or no?”

Luhan was so engrossed in worrying about the textbook that he needed a couple of moments to comprehend her words. After he finally registered what she was asking, he nodded. Pulling a prank on Ms. Vaughan was probably not the best idea under the sun, but he decided that it was worth a chance. After all… she did accuse him of stealing her ingredients and brewing a pollyjuice potion despite knowing he couldn’t possibly pull it off (he hated to admit it but he really did at potions) and he still didn’t forgive her for that. It was a time for the retribution.

“Okay.” murmured Minseok quietly. “The only thing we need now is an idea.”

“I might have something.” whispered Alina. “We could…”

“Khm.” Ms. Vaughan finished writing the list of ingredients and was now glaring at them with lips pressed into a worryingly thin line.

“I’ll tell you later.” quickly murmured Alina as she hastily turned her head towards the front of the classroom.

With all the distractions gone, Luhan couldn’t stop his thoughts from wandering back to the textbook on his desk. He had to find Sehun. He had to find him as soon as possible.

Unfortunately however, that wasn’t as easy as it might seem. It was only the first day so Luhan had no way of telling in which part of the castle Slytherins were at a specific time. And even if he somehow obtained that information, he probably wouldn’t manage to find Sehun alone.

He needed to think of something - soon.

“What is with you today?” asked Alina as they were climbing up the stairs to the ground floor around half an hour later. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

Luhan gave her a confused look.

“It’s a muggle saying.” she explained. “You know, when someone looks scared…”When she noticed Luhan still didn’t seem to understand, she dismissively waved her hand. “Ah, just forget it.”

They walked in silence after that. Luhan was too busy pondering what to do about the current situation to keep an eye on his surroundings, which was why he almost bumped into Jamie and Minseok who apparently thought that stopping in the middle of the hallway was a good idea. Luhan raised his head to see what was going on, his eyes almost immediately landing on Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Joonmyun who stood next to the transfiguration classroom and seemed to be in a middle of a heated discussion with the Lancaster twins.

Joonmyun noticed the Gryffindors first, his lips immediately forming a grin. “Oh hi.” he said. “Long time no see.” Then he motioned towards the sheet of paper one of the twins – Luhan honestly wasn’t sure which – clutched in her hands. “Have you seen it yet? It’s quite amusing for the first edition of the year.”

 “It’s not amusing.” Baekhyun’s lips were pressed into a very thin line. “It’s invasive. And against the school rules.”

Soo rolled his eyes. “Please ignore him.” he said as he stretched his hand towards the twin to take the sheet and offer it to Alina, who immediately began reading out loud; “The raven’s whisper.”

“I never liked the title - it doesn’t make any sense.” quietly commented Minseok.

“A lot about it doesn’t make any sense.” agreed one of the twins – Victoria? “But it’s fun, so who cares.” She gestured Alina to continue.

“I am happy to welcome you back for another year that is hopefully going to be just as packed with your mistakes as the last one - mistakes I can write down and share with your friends, classmates and teachers.”

“Sounds terrific, doesn’t it?” grinned Joonmyun, earning a disapproving glance from Baekhyun.

“It’s sounds as an early work of a sociopath.”

“Oh come on Baekhyun.” said Kyungsoo exasperatedly as he rolled his eyes. “It’s just some harmless gossip.”

That was something Luhan wasn’t entirely sure he agreed with. The raven’s whisper was certainly amusing (until you were the one featured in it - then the whole thing suddenly became much less innocent) and almost definitely a work of a student – a sheet of paper full of gossip, speculations and revealed secrets, appearing once a month for the last three years. No one knew who wrote it or how he or she gained the necessary information and that was probably the only reason it was still around. Teachers and prefects had been definitely working hard to put an end to it.

“Is there anything about anyone we know?” wondered Luhan partly to distract his friends from bickering and partly because he was actually interested. 

“Hm…” murmured Alina as her eyes quickly traveled down the paper. “Jongdae is apparently breaking his record in the amount of girls he fools around with at once.” she said finally.

Soo grimaced. “You should have rephrased your question in; is there anything interesting about anyone we know.”

“I have very interesting news about you...” suddenly said someone from behind, forcing the whole group to turn around in annoyance, anger or surprise. Luhan’s primal feeling was surprise – he certainly didn’t see nor hear the slytherins coming, but here they were - all five of them -, standing a couple of meters away with mocking expressions on their faces.

“Wolf.” finished his sentence Kai, his eyes boring holes into Kyungsoo who let out a small sigh. “Go to hell Jongin.” he said in a bored voice.

“That’s so sweet.” retorted Jongin with a contemptuous grin plastered on his face.

“What is?” suspiciously asked Kyungsoo, his eyes slightly narrowed.

“You not wanting to leave my side.”

Kyungsoo huffed. “Don’t be so smug Jongin. We are obviously going to reside on a completely different levels of hell - I’m going to leisurely sit on a throne while you’re going to burn with the rest of peasants somewhere far away from me.”

Luhan took a side glance at Minseok who returned his gaze with a shrug. Kai had a strange power of transforming usually kind and considerate Kyungsoo into an impertinent narcissist. They were all pretty aware of it by now, but it nevertheless still managed to take them by surprise.

After a while Luhan stopped listening to their bickering and instead directed his attention towards Sehun. His facial expression was as usually completely emotionless and he didn’t as much as glance towards him. Luhan had no way of telling whether he had already figured out that he had the wrong potion textbook and he also had no way of attracting his attention without someone else noticing. He will obviously have to find a better opportunity.

Or not. When the slytherins finally decided it was a good time to be on their way, Sehun brushed his shoulder against Luhan’s while passing by, discreetly pushing a small piece of paper in his hand.

It said; Lunch break, library.

I would really love to know what you guys think about this. Thank you for reading.