"What the...?"
As soon as Jaemin and Mark enter the former's dorm room, they stop in their tracks, both frozen by their sense of confusion which leaves them exchanging a few glances before refocusing back on the room before them.
Immediately as they scan the space, it feels different. It feels wrong.
From what they can see, there have been no signs of a struggle, nothing to tell them that Donghyuck had been here- but there lies the problem, in that there was nothing of Donghyuck's anywhere.
Whereby the dorm room would usually be more on the messy side- school robes and Quidditch gear lazily thrown over all four beds, knocked over books and empty chocolate frog boxes from their recent Hogsmeade trip on the floor... Donghyuck's section of the room was left spotless.
His bed had been stripped of the bedding, his large trunk at the end of his bed was missing, and even his Quidditch gloves that were thrown onto Jaemin's own bed this morning were gone. It was as if Donghyuck had never been here as if he didn't exist in this room.
His section of the room looked exactly like it would at the end of the academic year, with everything packed away, leaving nothing behind. It was as if he moved out already.
It didn't make sense.
However, as Jaemin takes a step forward to examine the room further, there's a threatening hiss as a black shadow darts across the floor, stopping short in front of the two boys.
"Nova?" Mark questions tentatively, the midnight black ball of fluff looking up at them both with her emerald eyes before weaving in and out of their legs, moving a little slower than she had been before.
Jaemin didn't need to be a creatures expert to know that she was distressed.
"Come here, girl", Mark sings softly, bending down to Nova's level where she then bolts towards him, jumping up quickly into his arms and securing her claws into his robe, as if to say that she's not going anywhere.
Mark gently stroke her fur, giving her a little scratch behind her ear and he drops a kiss to her little head.
If all of his things were gone, then why was Nova still here?
Both Mark and Jaemin knew how precious she was to the Slytherin; he loved her like she were his child. And so, if he left her behind, it clearly wasn't his choosing.
Jaemin looks at the cat in Mark's arms, holding onto the boy's robes tightly, and his brain flounders a moment as he doesn't know what has happened.
"I think we need to talk to Headmaster Lee..."
~~~
Donghyuck felt cold.
Not necessarily physically, but as he curled up into a ball, bringing his arms around his knees, he felt a sudden shiver rattle through his bones.
It was unnerving, being back here.
When he had ventured into Headmaster Lee's office for what he thought was just going to be a quick chat on what is deemed as a safe and acceptable prank, instead he was met with two cloaked figures- both having stern expressions tattooed across their faces.
Donghyuck felt his heart sink.
He was meant to be safe at Hogwarts; he was meant to be free... but clearly, his freedom wasn't so easily bought.
He didn't know why, but now he was back in his family's mansion, his Hogwart's trunk still packed and thrown onto his bed beside him.
He's confined to his room, left alone with his thoughts as he stares up at the dark brown bedposts that reach up to the ceiling, carved ever so intricately.
His room was like some gothic dream from a fantasy fiction novel- all dark colours and heavy silks.
The fireplace was dormant, but Donghyuck didn't even bother to pull out his wand and spell something to keep him warm in such a drafty and old place. When he was younger, his parents had spelled certain rooms in the house to be void of magic- and his bedroom was one.
It used to stop him from escaping when he'd be locked in here for days on end. It would keep him vulnerable and complacent.
Even the house-elves were ordered not to speak to him- and certainly not to give him and food or drink.
He was being punished, and Donghyuck had an idea as to why.
"This is ridiculous! You can't keep me locked in here forever!" He shouts up to his ceiling, growing more restless as for the past hour, maybe two, he's been waiting for his parents to make an entrance, "Are you really going to jeopardise my education after-?!"
And it seems as though he doesn't have to wait a moment more.
"I think perhaps we need to evaluate that 'education', don't you agree?" A voice sounds from the doorway. It was gentle, and yet there was a sharp edge to the words, one that Donghyuck's sure would mercilessly slice through his self-pity and whining.
With the rhythmic clicking of her heeled shoes against the wooden floors, Donghyuck props himself up on his elbows, turning to find his mother advancing into his room.
Her slick black hair was pulled back into a neat bun, and her lips were drawn into a tight line. She did not look like she was in the condition to entertain Donghyuck's mood today.
She walked with her head held high, with a strong sense of purpose, and when she stopped halfway into the room, Donghyuck got onto his feet, feeling so small in her presence.
"I should've done something after your... well, after the incident a few years ago", She continues, gesturing dismissively with her hand at the mention of ostracising Donghyuck's brother.
Her nonchalance irritated him more than it usually did.
"You mean when you abandoned your own son-"
"I will have no child of mine tainting themselves and our family name with such... impulses", She snaps, and immediately Donghyuck shuts his mouth. It was a reflex. "It's barbaric", she scoffs, turning on her heel to inspect her son's room, having not actually stepped foot in it for many years.
"No, locking me in this room is barbaric..." Donghyuck mumbles under his breath. It was only for him to hear; however, he forgot that she had a particular talent for hearing whispers- the room seemed to speak to her.
"Donghyuck, this room is twice the size of your shared dorm back in that forsaken place", She responds, spinning around to face him again, a displeasing look on her face, "You have books adorning every wall, beautiful glass windows-"
However, this time it's Donghyuck's turn to scoff, "That you've charmed, so I can't open them."
"We're taking precaution", She explains coolly, wandering over to the large arched windows, almost as if she were to check that her enchantment was still working.
"In case I try to run away?" Donghyuck guesses, and both of them know he's right, and so his mother treats it as a rhetorical question, not dignifying it with a response.
Instead, she draws in a sigh, rolling her shoulders back.
"You may not believe me, but this is for your own good."
And she's right, he didn't believe her.
"Depriving me of my education, forcing me into solitude- how can that be for my own good?"
Almost as if she was waiting for such a question, she turns from the windows and walks back over to Donghyuck and his bed, her demeanour still calm and relaxed. She was still in control.
When she reaches him, she drops a folded up piece of parchment onto his bed- Donghyuck hadn't even realised she'd been carrying anything.
He looks up at her, but when she doesn't even look his way, he then reaches out for the paper, unfolding it and glancing at the scribbles covering the worn material.
It was a letter.
"Why couldn't you be as diligent as Mrs Zhong's boy?" She asks him, her voice clear and steady, yet she doesn't look at him as she speaks.
Confused at the mention of Chenle and what he has to do with any of this, Donghyuck turns his attention back to the letter- or letters- in his hand, scanning over them silently, and as he does, he feels his heart drop.
It's all here.
Donghyuck's friendship with Jaemin- a Veela. His relationship with Mark- a muggle-born. His dream to become a Healer, turning away from his parents' dark legacy.
Chenle had reported it all back to his parents.
"Your letters were always very scarce. I often wondered what you had been keeping from us..."
He had taken Chenle under his wing, a favour to his parents... and all this time, there had been a bigger plan at play. There had been a reason as to why he was asked to do such a thing. He should've questioned it... but Chenle was only eleven when they had first met, and he seemed so familiar, he seemed so trapped, and Donghyuck saw himself in him.
Chenle wasn't a bad person. He'd never mean to damn Donghyuck like this- not if he didn't have to.
"And how did you puppeteer Mrs Zhong to get her son to report on me in this depth?" Donghyuck questions back, watching as his mother hides a small smile, pleased her son possessed at least the fraction of intelligence she wished he did.
"Your father and I still hold a lot of sway over the pureblood community" Again, she spoke so flippantly that Donghyuck wondered if she truly understood the gravity of her actions, "To our friends, we can be very generous... to those who stand in our way, well, they always find a way to see the light, let's say."
And Donghyuck understood what she meant immediately.
"You threatened her using her son."
"We persuaded him using his parents", She corrects swiftly, "See, unlike you, Donghyuck, at least the Zhong boy still has respect for those who raised him"
Donghyuck was snarling back before he could fully understand what consequences he'd face, "You don't deserve any kind of-!"
"Everte Statum!"
Before Donghyuck could finish, his words were forcefully pulled from his throat as his body was lifted into the air and thrown across the room. He tried to let out a scream when he hit the stone wall before falling to the floor, but the air had been stolen from his lungs. Sprawled out on his front, without the strength to pull himself up onto his knees, Donghyuck couldn't make a sound as his whole body seemed to groan.
He felt winded. He was clawing at his throat, praying for relief as stars began to dance in front of his eyes.
"You need to learn some of that respect, boy", A deep voice boomed from across the room. Donghyuck couldn't make out a figure as his vision goes blurry, either from the tears gathering in his eyes or the lack of oxygen circulating, "You dare talk to your mother like that?"
That voice- that spell. Donghyuck knew it well.
As he gasps for air, his throat raw as he coughs and splutters on the floor of his room, he sees his father tuck his wand away.
"You will stay here, in this house, until we are sure that you can be trusted", His father announces, no trace of remorse at what he had just inflicted upon his son, "Until you're back to yourself."
Back to yourself, Donghyuck was himself. That scared people-pleasing coward he had once been was long gone. He would never bow down to his parents again and align himself with such vile views.
"This... this nonsense is just teenage rebellion, yes?" His mother asks, once again not requesting an actual response, "You will grow out of it eventually."
Donghyuck knew better than to look to her for sympathy at his father's actions. Her spells were just as ruthless.
However, if they wished for a show of how Donghyuck suddenly became enlightened due to their torture, then a show they shall get. As long as he gets back to Hogwarts, back to his friends, he'll roll over and sing whatever script they want to hear. Then, after he's graduated, instead of returning 'home', he'll be free to stay with Doyoung, or maybe he'll even find a place with Mark. Either way, he'll never have to come back here again. He'll never have to see his parents again.
For the sake of a lie, he could play the part.
"And after coming to my senses, I'll be allowed back at Hogwarts?" He asks; however, the answer he receives is not a favourable one.
"Don't be ridiculous!" His father spits, and Donghyuck's eyebrows furrow.
"No, your place there has been revoked", His mother announces, fuelling Donghyuck's confusion, "Instead, we think the Durmstrang Institute will be a better fit."
"Durmstrang?!" He echoes, shock and disbelief present in his voice, and yet his parents pay no attention to his outburst.
Instead, his mother just continues, "It places emphasis on the more important classes-"
"The Dark Arts", Donghyuck finishes, shaking his head as he laughs to himself.
Of course, he wasn't going back. What was he thinking?
However, something just seemed off about all this. He shouldn't find the fact that they're going to enrol him into Durmstrang surprising, but it is. They never did that with Doyoung. With him, they kicked him to the curb and never looked back, never spoke of him again... and so why were they trying so hard to change Donghyuck before the inevitable happens?
"And it rightfully doesn't accept those mud-bloods that have seemingly infested Hogwarts", His father cuts in, ignoring Donghyuck, who very obviously flinches at the horrid term.
"And the Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, is a very respectable man, unlike that child running-"
"He was a death eater!" Donghyuck roars, his hands flying up in the air as he stares back at his stone-cold faced parents, "And Headmaster Lee isn't a child, he-"
"Enough!" His father declares, casting a disappointing look towards his son before he turns his body to face the door of which he entered through, "I don't wish to hear it... you will go to Durmstrang, or you will rot in this room."
At the ultimatum, Donghyuck can't help but voice his previous questions.
"Why don't you just disown me? Huh, why don't you do to me what you did to Doyoung-?!"
"You will not speak his name!" His mother screams, to which Donghyuck ignores her warning, fed up with pandering to their demands.
"My brother!" He shouts back, loud and clear, revelling in the stunned faces of his parents, "My brother, Doyoung! My brother and your son, your own flesh and blood! But don't worry, he did it, he got out, and now he's happy with his boyfriend and his job and his house-!"
And then Donghyuck's cheek was stinging, tears pooling in his eyes.
His mother had slapped him.
Her usual calm and collected demeanour had slipped. Donghyuck had never challenged her like this before, and she wasn't having it.
But it wasn't in the words he spat that had her shaking. No, it was what they meant.
And Donghyuck realises too late that he had revealed too much.
"And you know this about him how?"
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Notes-
so hyuck has been abducted by his own parents 👀
I figured I'd post this chapter earlier than usual considering I was late on my last update- I hope you enjoyed ☺️