on both days when tragic events occurred: mark falling during quidditch resulting in a broken broom, and him finding out that sirius black was his parent's friend when he betrayed them, it had been extremely cold and eerie.
𝟖 𝐧𝐨𝐯 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟑
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐲𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐟𝐟.
after mark was taken to the hospital wing and presented with the destroyed nimbus 2000, the hufflepuff duo, who had been anxious the whole time, sat on his bed, questioning him.
"what should we do with the shattered pieces of the broom?" yunhee asked, swinging her legs off the side of his hospital bed.
"should we get rid of it?" jeno asked, clutching the pieces that were wrapped up in some paper wrapping.
"no!" mark exclaimed, his voice raised, startling everyone. "don't throw it out. just don't. i'll keep it."
"okay, we won't do anything with it. jeno, leave it by his bed." yunhee told him. "anyway, how are you feeling, mark? lightheaded? do you need water?"
"no." he shook his head as he adjusted himself under the blanket. "i'm alright. but what about you and chenle?"
"us? why would we not be okay?" chenle asked, tilting his head to the side.
"i mean because hufflepuff won. you two, even jeno, must be happy." he said and the duo glanced at each other, frowning.
yunhee faced the injured boy again. "it's whatever. i'm not that interested in quidditch. mark, we're more worried about you."
"i'm fine, really."
he was trying his best to convince them, but deep down he was mortified by the fact that gryffindor had lost the match, and on top of that, his broom was broken. he shook his head again, disregarding the constant thoughts that kept popping up.
"don't beat yourself up over what happened today." renjun said, picking up on his habit of shaking his head every time he was thinking of something he didn't like.
"i'm not." the gryffindor argued, despite knowing that his friend could read him like a book.
"i can tell what you're thinking. i'm not dumb."
"well, obviously. you're a ravenclaw." yunhee said, rolling her eyes.
renjun elbowed her softly, a teasing smirk on his lips. "not all ravenclaw's are smart, but if you really want to go by that logic... hmm... what was it the sorting hat said to you, not really a ravenclaw?"
she could feel her whole face turn a bright red as she grabbed his shoulders, shaking him.
"y-you heard that?! no, more importantly, you remember that?!"
"i didn't hear it. i had already been sorted. someone told me." he laughed at the same time as another person, but the other laugh was loud and dolphin-like. definitely familiar.
she looked at her best friend who laughed even more at her flustered face. she leaned over mark, smacking the laughing boy on the back of his head.
"chenle, you traitor!"
"yeah, chenle." mark added, agreeing with the girl. "can i smack him too?"
"what?!"
"yes, all of you can beat up chenle for me. he deserves it." she said and mark hit him softly on the back. his hand rested there for a second and then he suddenly started tickling the younger.
"no! no!" chenle cried out as he slid off the bed, trying to escape mark's hands, but was met with renjun who attacked him as well.
"this is hufflepuff abuse!" jeno cried as the ravenclaw and gryffindor then turned to him.
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𝟏𝟖 𝐝𝐞𝐜 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟑
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐩 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞.
yunhee wanted to be mad at mark. he promised he'd find a way for both of them to go hogsmeade and he had found a way... only he didn't take her with him. she spent the whole day bored out of her mind, waiting for him to keep her company. however, her anger was short-lived when she found out what happened when he was there. she tried many ways to cheer him up, but he wasn't feeling up to sneaking into the kitchens or even talking a lot.
⚯͛
𝟐𝟓 𝐝𝐞𝐜 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟑
on the morning of christmas, yunhee woke up extra early. here's the thing: no, she would most likely not receive any christmas presents, but yes, she still woke up hoping she'd receive at least one. maybe from her friends or maybe, just maybe, her parents woke up one day thinking 'we should get our wonderful daughter something for christmas'. there was always a chance it could happen.
if they were delusional.
she was sat by the tree digging through the piles of presents hoping to find her name written on any. most students had gone home for the holidays so there weren't that many presents. still, she was struggling.
"find anything?"
startled by the voice, she jumped, and looked over her shoulder, her hand on her heart. "blimey! jeno! you gave me a heart attack."
"sorry. didn't mean to scare you. i came down to check for my presents and saw you looking for yours. find any?"
"no." she sighed. "i found a bunch for chenle. he has a lot of cousins so it makes sense. i think i found a few of yours, but i'm yet to find mine."
he crouched down next to her and placed all his presents to the side, there were at least six. yunhee had given up and sat on the sofa by the fire, warming herself up.
"hey, i think i found one of yours." jeno said.
"no way." she mumbled, taking the small wrapped box from his hands. she didn't hesitate in ripping it open to reveal the velvet red box. she opened it and inside was a silver necklace with an owl pendant.
"what is it?" jeno asked, noticing the sudden heavy silence.
"this..." she paused, examining the pendant. "this is a necklace i've been wanting to get since first year but it was so expensive i couldn't afford it."
"woah! that's so cool. who gave it to you?" jeno asked, now next to her on the sofa with all his presents.
"there's no name or letter. it's anonymous." she replied, flipping the box around to double-check.
"anonymous? that's strange. do you have any idea who it might be from?"
"i was going to say chenle because he knew i wanted this, but he'd definitely put his name in bold... there's no one else that would get this for me." she looked at her feet, thinking.
"something tells me you might know someone despite saying you don't." jeno said, noticing how deep in thought she was.
"i just think it couldn't possibly be them. it would make no sense." she stood up, holding the necklace. "never mind that. go wake up chenle."
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the day went by pretty quickly. they hung out in their common rooms. at christmas dinner, the house tables had been pushed aside and only one table was in the middle of the room. it was being occupied by a few of the teachers and seven students, mark being one of them. it was odd seeing the school so empty. everyone was off for the holidays, spending time with their family's and yunhee was stuck at hogwarts because she'd rather spend christmas alone than with her parents.
however, it was a miracle that chenle, jeno and mark had stayed as well, but renjun had gone home. while spending christmas at hogwarts wasn't yunhee's most favourite time of the year, she was glad she could spend it with friends.
"merry christmas, mark." yunhee greeted, sitting beside him. "get any presents?"
"merry christmas. actually, i did. i got a firebolt." he replied and she quickly shoved the necklace she had gotten into her pockets to hide it.
"a firebolt?!" jeno exclaimed. "who got it for you?"
"i don't know." mark replied in a hushed voice, in case anyone was listening in. yunhee furrowed her brows, finding it suspicious that they both had gotten presents from unknown people.
"you don't know?" an unfamiliar voice chipped into the conversation. the four looked over at the girl across from them: hermione granger, a girl with bushy brown hair and brown eyes. she tended to listen in to mark's conversation and pipe in. the group all shared a knowing look before mark nodded.
"maybe let's continue this later, yeah?" jeno suggested. "i'm full now. anyone joining me to go for a walk in the snow?"
they all said they would, so got up to leave the dull christmas dinner, except they failed to notice the nosey girl who had gone over to professor mcgonagall to have a word.
they were sat on the bridge discussing what presents they had gotten. mark couldn't help but gush over his firebolt that he wanted to try out as soon as possible.
"chenle, did you get me a present? i got you one." yunhee said, picking up some snow from the edge of the bridge.
"i did... oh uh. i have it. here." he took out a small box that was very similar to the one with the necklace.
"thank you so much. what is it?" she took the box from his hand and opened it. her front teeth bit down on her lip when she saw what was inside. "you didn't happen to buy this necklace twice, did you?"
"no. what do you mean?"
she pulled out the other box, from the unknown person, and put the two boxes together, showing what was inside.
"it's the exact same necklace as the one the anonymous person gave you." jeno gasped.
chenle's shoulders slumped. "what the hell? someone else bought the same present as me."
"i'm not surprised you bought this for me since you knew how much i wanted it. that's the thing though. the only other person who would know that... you don't think...?" yunhee observed his face as it morphed from annoyed to shocked.
"it could be possible." he replied, nodding his head.
"hey, let us in on the secret. it's like you two are having half the conversation with your eyes." mark said.
"sorry, it's nothing."
"you sure?" he asked even though he knew there was much more to it. he didn't want to pressure them if they weren't comfortable.
"yeah. anyway, i'm sorry for not buying you lot presents. i meant to, but i only had enough money to buy chenle something." yunhee admitted, glancing down at her hands.
"it's alright. makes me feel less guilty for not getting you two anything. i had no idea what you would have liked." mark answered, sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"it was the same for me. sorry. i promise i'll buy you something later to make up for it." jeno said.
"no, no, no need." yunhee shook her hands quite aggressively. "might as well wait for next christmas."
"good idea."
it was silent for a bit as the sky was slowly getting duller and they grew tired. it wasn't that it was late at night because then they would have to be in their rooms for curfew, but it was the atmosphere of hogwarts that made them tired. it was so empty and lonely.
"anyone up for a snowball fight?"
"you are crazy if you think i'm about to—" a snowball hit yunhee in the face. "mark lee! get back here, right now!"
⚯͛
𝟏𝟏 𝐟𝐞𝐛 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒
"i still can't believe professor mcgonagall won't give you the firebolt back." yunhee said as the group made their way to the lake where hagrid was.
the brunette was dressed in a smocked waist button up baby blue dress and a pair of white trainers that she found were not only cosy but something stylish. when she met up with the others, renjun had complimented her clothes which brightened her day a little. but... today was not a good day.
"all because of hermione granger." the ravenclaw scoffed. "if i had been there, i'd have put some spell on her to shut her up."
"well, she sort of had a point that it could have been from sirius black." jeno said.
"still, it was a firebolt!" chenle exclaimed. he seemed more annoyed than mark was.
"it's alright guys." mark told them even though it wasn't. "look, there's hagrid."
"hi, hagrid!" jeno called, waving his hands above his head.
"how'd the hearing go?" mark asked. the group hovered near the lake, some sitting on rocks, some standing, as they watched hagrid throw rocks into the water.
"well, first off, the committee took turns talking about why we were here? and then i got up, said my piece about how buckbeak was a good hippogriff. always cleaned his feathers and then lucius malfoy got up. well, you can imagine that he said buckbeak was a deadly and dangerous creature who would kill ya as soon as he look at ya."
"and then?" yunhee asked, bouncing her leg where she sat next to renjun on one of the large rocks.
"and then he asked for the worst, did ol' lucius." hagrid sighed, momentarily stopping throwing his rock.
"they can't sack you!" chenle exclaimed, in disbelief.
"no, i'm not sacked." he said before throwing another rock. they couldn't see his face, but saw the way his head tilted downwards. "buckbeak's been sentenced to death!"
yunhee abruptly stood up. "they can't do that!"
"it's the committee for the disposal of dangerous creatures... they can." renjun told her. "they were most likely threatened by draco's father."
"no, but he's not even a dangerous creature. buckbeak never meant to hurt anyone. he was so gentle with mark and i. it's draco's fault. for all i care, he should be sentenced to death!"
"the decisions have been made. it'll happen soon."