The more Kyungsoo thinks about the clue, the more it scares the out of him. The Triwizard Tournament is like this, not a game for kids but some serious competition for the three best students of the best three Magic Schools. The tasks are no joke, even if wizards and witches overlook the problematic danger when they think about gold, fame and greatness.

The Tournament can mess with your loved ones and there is a record of past incidents, so Kyungsoo is surprised the clue drew his name – it’s not as if Junmyeon loved him, anyways, right?

It’s inevitable that he gets paranoid as the date of the first task approaches. He feels watched, followed, and it may be not just a sensation of his own. Junmyeon notices his agitation, probably because he’s starting to hide himself in the library too often. Considering Kyungsoo never steps into the place, not even during his exams, it’s a very suspicious behaviour.

“I quit,” Jongdae, official bookworm of the sixth year, announces one afternoon in November. There are just two days left for the first task, and of course Kyungsoo is doing his best to keep himself far from a concentrated Junmyeon. “You coming?”

Kyungsoo just glances up for a brief moment, in time to see his friend rubbing his sleepy eyes. “No. I can’t come back, they’ll look for me in our dorm first.”

Jongdae is currently piling the books between his arms, but he dignifies Kyungsoo with a tired sigh. “Who? Who wants to look for you?”

If someone were to look at Kyungsoo, really look at him, he would be sent to the Infirmary right away. His eyes, wide and alert, are bloodshot; the dark circles around his eyes extend beyond where it’s possible, and there’s a constant spasm in his upper lip. “My kidnappers!”

“What? Oh Merlin. Yeah. Whatever.”

Jongdae abandons him before he can spew more nonsense, and all of a sudden Kyungsoo realizes it’s very quiet in the library and he’s completely alone. That is, except for some distant sound of flipping pages.

“I don’t want to die,” he mutters to himself, nervously inspecting the area as if to spot a Dementor levitating towards him. “Too young, too pretty, it’s not fair.”

“Hyung?” A voice behind him calls him, and well, it’s a very familiar one, which isn’t always a good sign. “Are you talking to yourself?”

Chuckling like a madman, Kyungsoo turns around on his seat to get himself under control before the visitor. There Jongin is, between two shelves, grinning down at him as though he has just seen an angel. Within a second, Kyungsoo goes over his security list: Jongin doesn’t have his wand out, no bottles from questionable origins, and he doesn’t have intentions of offering chocolates filled with a Love Potion.

“Isn’t it a bit late to be studying?” Jongin continues, as friendly as ever.

Kyungsoo isn’t going to lose his time or the last bit of sanity dealing with this Hufflepuff. Just no. “What do you want.”

There’s an implied accusation in the tone that makes Jongin blush, and after a grunt, he blurts out, “I’m not in love with you. I’m not stalking you.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

“I’m serious,” Jongin insists, aware that Kyungsoo doesn’t believe a word. The Slytherin flinches back when Jongin takes some steps towards him, thus he stops to not scare him away. Maybe he’s trying too hard not to be creepy, but it’s in his nature and he can’t help it. “I found out there are other Slytherins who are quite interesting. You’re as boring as a Slug compared to them.”

There are two possibilities: Jongin has really forgotten about him, or he’s trying a different tactic to attract him. If it’s the second one, he’s on the bad track, because a Slytherin wouldn’t appreciate insults to their value. Either way, Kyungsoo couldn’t care less about Jongin, yet the younger is smiling as if he’s the one under the effect of a Love Potion. Not that anyone would give Jongin a Love Potion.

“Oh, I have something for you!” he exclaims then, way too enthusiastic. He doesn’t allow Kyungsoo to voice out how he doesn’t want one of his presents, and he extracts something from the interior of his robes. “Take it.”

Jongin hands him a parchment rolled up and with the Hogwarts symbol on it, and Kyungsoo knows right then and there that he won’t be coming back to the Dungeons tonight.









The last thing Kyungsoo remembers is following the instructions on the parchment, and the next thing he feels is himself opening his eyes with a terrible headache.

There is a whole orchestra of screams and altered voices, but he can hardly distinguish anything in front of him. His vision is blurred and he’s not able to move; he knows he’s lying over a hard surface, and that’s as far as his senses go.

“Soo!”

He recognizes the voice, and also the unmistakable touch of hands on his waist. They pull Kyungsoo as to beg him to get up, but all he’s able to do right now is groan.

“Junmyeon, get off him. He has to go to the Infirmary!”

“He’s said something,” Junmyeon whines, sniffing. Immediately Kyungsoo senses bigger arms surrounding him, and the next second he’s being detached from the ground. “He’s awake!”

Just then, Kyungsoo gives into sleep again.




Junmyeon’s still crying when he wakes up, but through the Infirmary’s windows one can tell it’s already past midnight. Although Junmyeon’s tears are an image that shocks Kyungsoo, he allows Junmyeon to cry against his tummy for around fifteen minutes, sobbing and clutching onto him as if Kyungsoo was going to run away from him.

When Junmyeon manages to calm down, he wipes his tears away without a trace of embarrassment. “I shouldn’t have joined the Tournament.”

Kyungsoo isn’t expecting to hear something like that. Junmyeon has been so excited about the tasks, so proud of himself for being chosen to participate, that remorse isn’t something that fits into the puzzle. There must be a reason why he would admit he was wrong, yet Kyungsoo doesn’t want to see him like this because of him. He knows he has been pestering him because the Tournament is dangerous, but he never thought it would get into Junmyeon’s bones.

“What was the task about?” Kyungsoo whispers to him, not able to raise his voice due to a damaged throat.

The Ravenclaw avoids his gaze, ashamed, before revealing it. “Fiendfyre.”

At first, Kyungsoo doesn’t believe him. There’s no way in the world he had just been rescued from Fiendfyre, or the possibility that students of seventh year would have had to face something that important. He knows the Tournament is supposed to be highly controlled, but people died before because of it, and it’s usually these kinds of tasks – when they get excited and throw at them something that usually would be illegal – which end someone’s life.

“You’re kidding.” Kyungsoo pales as Junmyeon just stares at him, apologetic. “Seriously, dark magic?”

There’s a shine on Junmyeon’s eyes that tells him that he’s angrier than anyone, but his actions say otherwise. He takes Kyungsoo’s hand tightly inside his, his eyes still red and his lips dry for the tears. “When I burned the clue, the fire drew your name. Fire that can take form by itself? It had to be Fiendfyre. I thought about it, but it seemed unlikely they would do something so deadly and, at the same time, involve innocent people. I was wrong.”

The Slytherin can’t collect himself to console Junmyeon. In fact, he’s kind of grateful that, despite suspecting what the task was, Junmyeon didn’t tell him a word. He would have thrown a fit, and it wouldn’t have been only for himself.

“Beauxbatons’ Champion needed an intervention,” Junmyeon continues in the silence of the Infirmary. "Sometimes we take this Tournament as a game, but it’s not. It’s just that the last few times the tasks were so easy.”

“Don’t do that to yourself,” Kyungsoo whispers, not letting go his hand even though Junmyeon seems about to do it. The Slytherin feels like he has been thrown off his broom – it happened before – yet he tries to lie because Junmyeon is going to torture himself enough on his own. “I’m alright. And by the way, shouldn’t you be patrolling?”

Junmyeon stares at him as if Kyungsoo has gone crazy. It takes him a several seconds to understand how stupid the question is: of course he has to patrol the castle, given his title, but he isn’t going to while Kyungsoo is in the Infirmary alone. Under Junmyeon’s vigilance, the heat invades Kyungsoo’s cheeks and damn, this doesn’t suit him.

Instead of making sure Kyungsoo isn’t having a seizure that doesn’t let him think, Junmyeon climbs onto the bed with him. There’s barely any space, but Kyungsoo moves so that both of them fit, and the Ravenclaw wastes no time encircling him and bringing their bodies as close as possible.

“See the bright side of life: if you win, you can use the Time Turner to stop past idiot Junmyeon from joining,” mumbles Kyungsoo against his chest, trying not to complain at how even the mere touch and contact is hurting him.

The other boy sighs in exasperation. “Soo, that would leave two me’s in the same temporal line.”

However, Kyungsoo doesn’t get offended at the accusation of dumbness. Much to Junmyeon’s surprise, he laughs, and it’s not the usual relaxed laugh; it’s the kind of sound he releases when Junmyeon is kissing down his neck. He wonders how he’s able to think about that after being thrown to the claws of Fiendfyre, but all his thoughts fade away when Kyungsoo retorts, “Yeah, that’s the point. Two Junmyeons at once.”

Junmyeon is thankful the Infirmary is immersed in darkness, because send him to hell if he’s not blushing right now.




“No! Have you lost your mind? Have you not made me suffer enough? I’m not going to dance in front of the whole school, wait- no, three whole schools while you manhandle me around like your little doll!”

The list of mistakes Junmyeon has made is starting to be quite long. First of all, there is the fact tha