𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫
𝐚𝐮𝐠 𝟐𝟑 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒
it was midday when an owl swooped into yunhee's room, dropping a letter on her bed. she didn't recognise the owl, but she assumed it was from one of her friends so she ripped open the letter to read it.
yunhee,
i'm not sure if you've heard, but the quidditch world cup is on the 25th and i wanted to know if you'd like to come with us. oh, us as in jeno, mark, renjun, and my family. this is jeno by the way!
i've already sent a letter to chenle, so i'm sure he'll accept if you do too. we don't mind picking you up. just tell us a location and we'll come to get you. we'll be picking up mark on the way. also, you'll need to bring spare clothes because we'll be spending the night in a tent if your parents are okay with that. anyway, we miss you a lot so we hope you join us.
- lee jeno
the brunette's eyes lit up at the words she read. she pulled open her drawer where the papers and pens were. she lay on her bed on her stomach as she began writing her response to his invitation. her hand momentarily froze, thinking about how she'd get away from her parents since convincing them wasn't even an option she could pick. she'd have to sneak out.
she continued writing her letter, making sure to inform jeno to pick her up in the late evening at a local park tomorrow. after finishing the letter, she sealed it and handed it to the owl who flew away immediately.
just as she closed the window, her bedroom door swung open. her mother walked in, dumping an empty basket on her bed.
"get the laundry done. now." she demanded with a harsh tone then left as quick as she arrived.
"yes, mother." yunhee mumbled, picking up the basket and following her out the room. as she trailed behind her mother, she decided to give it a shot with asking if she could visit some friends. "um... so... tomorrow i want to sleep over at my friend's house. can i?"
"no." she replied. of course, it didn't come as a shock to yunhee, but she was going to push it anyway.
"why not?" she asked, stopping to fill the basket.
"the house isn't going to clean itself. besides, while you're living under my roof, i make the rules. just because you ran off with the freaks, doesn't mean you get to do what you want." her mother hissed, whipping around to glare at her.
"freaks?" yunhee almost gasped. "no one in hogwarts are freaks!"
"don't raise your voice at me!" the older woman stepped forwards, a hand raised. yunhee closed her eyes, waiting for the impact, but when nothing came she slowly opened her eyes to see her mother storming away while yelling, "clean this shit up!"
in disbelief, yunhee continued doing the laundry, planning her great escape for tomorrow.
⚯͛
𝐚𝐮𝐠 𝟐𝟒 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒
when the next evening arrived, yunhee threw her small bag of stuff she would need for the following days, out the window, hoping the thud wasn't too loud. she then swung one leg out the window, preparing to climb down the pipes, only for her bedroom door to swing open revealing her father who had probably come to yell at her to do more chores. she quickly started climbing down the pipes then threw herself the rest of the way down.
"yunhee!" she heard her father roar as she slipped her bag onto her back, heading towards the park.
she knew when she returned home, she would probably be murdered, but it was a risk she was willing to take so that she could live like a teenager for once. this could be the beginning of her being able to break free from her parent's grips.
when yunhee arrived at the park she was greeted with a blue ford anglia car waiting. one of the windows rolled down and jeno stuck his head out, yelling for her. a smile broke out onto her face at this. she rushed towards the car and got in bedside renjun. she was squished next to him because it was a petite car, but she didn't care. she was just happy to see everyone again. mark was also squished next to renjun, and jeno was sat at the front.
"you must be jeno's father?" yunhee asked the man who was sitting at the wheel. "it's nice to meet you. thanks for picking me up."
"jihoon lee. it's no problem at all. i'm glad jeno has so many friends now." he replied with a sweet smile then pressed a silver button on the dashboard before driving the car.
the car suddenly tilted up, flying into the sky. it shocked yunhee so much that she grabbed onto the side of the car and renjun's arm. she was quick to let go of him and apologise, embarrassed, to which he replied that it was alright.
flying cars shouldn't have been such a surprise to her anymore — heck, they had flying broomsticks — but it was sudden and unexpected so she wasn't prepared.
"by the way, where's chenle?"
"he said he was already planning to go to the quidditch world cup with his cousins so he'll meet us there."
"make sense." she hummed, then glanced out the window to see they were flying over people. "hey, can't muggles see a flying car? wouldn't that be bad?"
"dad installed an invisibility booster," jeno explained, pointing to the silver button his father had pressed before driving. "so no one can see the car."
"that's awesome." yunhee said, her eyes widening. although she was now in her 4th year, she was still unaware of so many things. each day she was learning something new.
⚯͛
𝐚𝐮𝐠 𝟐𝟓 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒
"hee... yunhee... yun— i give up." mark sighed, after having called for yunhee to wake up several times.
she had spent the night at jeno's family's burrow and slept in jeno's little sisters, aerin's, room who she found to be very amusing. the younger girl was a hufflepuff like her brother. all of jeno's family were hufflepuffs.
"yell in her ear or something." renjun suggested as he passed the room to get to the bathroom.
"no! don't do that!" jeno yelled, poking his head into the room to see mark standing in the middle of it with his arms crossed. "just shake her. if she doesn't wake then, i'll send my sister to figure out a solution."
"i've been awake for a while actually." yunhee groaned, moving the blanket from her so she could sit up. "you're all so loud."
"why didn't you say anything sooner?" mark whined. she only shrugged her shoulders and let out a big yawn while rubbing her dry eyes.
"yunhee, the bathroom is free now. you better start getting ready. we're already late because mark and jeno overslept and they forgot to wake you." renjun said, leaving the bathroom and walking into the room to see her almost fall asleep again.
"don't fall asleep again! dad will be upset." jeno exclaimed when she fell back onto the bed, drowning in the warmth of the sheets.
"alright, alright. i'm awake i promise." she responded, getting up to leave the room.
⚯͛
on the way to the quidditch world cup, the group met up with a boy and his father. yunhee recognised the boy because he was a hufflepuff prefect. cedric diggory. very handsome, intelligent and athletic. he had greeted her with a genuine smile that made her a little cheery.
she also discovered something new: a portkey. it transported them to their desired location in only seconds. it wasn't too pleasant when they landed harshly on the grass. however, the most pleasant thing so far was when she entered the tent. it looked tiny on the outside, but when they walked inside, it was huge. even mark seemed astonished by it. yunhee had completely forgotten that he, too, was new to all this.
as the group climbed up the steps in the quidditch arena, bumping into chenle on the way, yunhee could no longer hide her excitement. she kept pointing out things to mark and him agreeing with how strange and interesting it was. but their moment of joy came crashing down when they encountered some unfortunate people.
draco malfoy, jisung park and their fathers.
yunhee didn't know what surprised her more: jisung being there or being there with the malfoy's. jisung avoided eye contact as always and draco went about boasting, which infuriated her. jisung's father glared at yunhee so intensely that she thought she was about to start sweating. she turned away, pulling mark with her, but both stopped when malfoy's staff landed on mark's arm, holding him back.
"do enjoy yourself, won't you? ...while you can." the cruel man said, resulting in yunhee knocking his staff away and sending nasty glares at the men.
"don't let them get to you." chenle whispered, as they continued climbing up the steps.
"yeah, of course."
⚯͛
after the game, they all returned to the tent and jeno's brothers began singing and teasing jeno while yunhee and aerin sat by the beds, pillows in hand.
"we need to have a pillow fight." yunhee told the younger.
"and i'd definitely win." aerin replied, picking up another pillow, already getting ready to fight. she lifted one, about to hit yunhee.
"wait! don't attack me." yunhee quickly yelled, raising her hands to protect herself. "i say throw it at one of the boys."
"good idea." aerin smirked, aiming for her brothers that were singing and dancing, instead it hit the table, knocking it over.
"aw you missed." yunhee said, going to fix the table and getting hit by the pillow jeno's brother, hwan, was swinging that was meant for jeno.
"sounds like the irish have got their pride on." jeno's other bother, hyun, said as yells could be heard from outside.
"stop! stop it!" jeno's father rushed into the tent. "it's not the irish. we've got to get out of here. now!"
yunhee glanced at her friends, worried, then followed jeno's father out of the tent where people were running around, screaming because of the fire.
"get back to the portkey, everybody, and stick together! hyun, hwan, aerin is your responsibility. go!"
everyone started running, following after jeno's brothers, but stopped as it started getting too crowded. they could barely run with the number of people pushing them around. suddenly, it dawned on yunhee that her best friend wasn't with them. he had gone back with his cousins and she had no idea if he was safe or not.
"i need to find chenle!" yunhee yelled.
"don't be silly, yunhee. there are death eaters here. we need to get back to safety. chenle is with his cousins, so he'll be fine." renjun told her, holding her arm to keep her in place.
"come on, you lot!" hwan shouted.
"mark!" jeno called out, realising that said boy had been carried away by waves of people. "mark!"
"we'll find him! don't worry."
they arrived at a nearby wooded area to wait for things to die down since they couldn't go find the portkey without mark. as soon as the fire had calmed down, renjun took off running. yunhee and jeno nodded at each other then followed after him.
"come back! it's still not safe!" hwan called after them, but were unable to chase after them because of their little sister.
"mark!" the three yelled, looking around for their lost friend.
"where are you?!"
"i see him! mark!" yunhee pointed out to the boy who was hiding behind a ruined tent with someone else.
"we thought we lost you!" jeno said, throwing his arms around mark.
"chenle!" yunhee exclaimed, doing the same to chenle who was hiding next to mark. "you're alright!"
"of course i am. did you think i'd die that easily?" he asked, placing a hand on his hip once she pulled away. "i lost my cousins, but i found mark laying on the floor over here."
"good thing you found him before any death eaters." jeno sighed.
"what is that?" mark asked, staring up at the sky where a misty green skull and snake were. he suddenly cried out, placing his hand on his scar as he staggered back a bit.
"mark?" yunhee held his arm in case he fell.
there were sudden crack sounds from every side of them. they all looked around, frantically, to see who it was. a group of men had them surrounded with wands out.
"stupefy!" the men yelled and the group ducked. mark's arms were protectively wrapped around yunhee to shield her from the spells. she gripped onto his clothes, afraid that they had been found by death eaters or worse.
"stop! that's my son!" they heard jeno's father cry out as he rushed towards them. "you kids, you alright?!"
"we came back for mark." jeno explained, helping his friends onto their feet.
"which of you conjured it!" barty crouch, a ministry of magic official, asked, pointing his wand at them.
"crouch, you can't possi..."
"do not lie! you've been discovered at the scene of the crime!" barty interrupted, hovering his wand in front of yunhee's face. she felt very threatened and scared by a wand being so close to her, thankfully, chenle pulled her back and closer to him.
"crime?" mark asked.
"barty, they're just kids!"
"what crime?"
"it's the dark mark." renjun whispered.
"the dark mark?" yunhee echoed, slightly unfamiliar with what that was. she had definitely heard about it before, she just didn't know where from. mark did fulfil her question though.
"what, voldemort?" he questioned. "those people tonight, in the masks, they're his too, aren't they? his followers?"
jeno's father nodded his head and turned to barty crouch. "yeah. death eaters."
"follow me." barty said to the other men.
"there was a man, before. there!" mark told him, pointing in a direction.
"all of you, this way!"
"what man?" yunhee asked, rubbing her shoulders to create some warmth. despite the area having been on fire just moments ago, an eerie coldness from the death eaters had surrounded them.
"i don't know..." mark replied. "i didn't see his face."