𝐚𝐮𝐠 𝟏 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕
loud music seeped out from the large tent in the middle of a field. it was where the wedding of chenle's cousin and his fiancé was taking place. most people thought it was weird that a wedding was being held at such an awful time, but others thought it was appropriate timing. with a war going on, there were so many uncertainties. a family member or close friend could die the next day and may never get the chance to do what they wanted. that's why the wedding was taking place. it may have seemed rushed, but no one minded because the two were in love. it was the perfect event everyone needed.
yunhee and aerin, although agreeing with this, couldn't help but feel some bitterness. after finding out about hyejin being forced to get married to seonghyun, they felt uncomfortable at the idea of going to another persons wedding, a person who wasn't forced to marry someone they didn't love.
but still, they tried their best to enjoy their time. so when they saw jeno and chenle dancing in the middle of the tent with chenle's younger cousins, they decided to join.
"you suck at dancing." aerin said when yunhee tripped for the nth time.
"i don't." she argued, steadying herself by grabbing onto her arm. "it's these heels. if someone started chasing us right now, i'd die because i can barely walk."
"take your shoes off then." renjun suggested. the two hadn't even realised he was behind them until he spoke.
"wouldn't that be weird?"
"this entire wedding is weird. i don't think they'll mind a barefooted guest." he replied then held out his arm. "come on. sit down and take them off."
"i'll be right back." yunhee told aerin and let renjun guide her to a seat. she sat down, reaching to her ankles to take off the shoe straps, but renjun crouched in front of her, moving her hands away.
"let me."
"oh. okay..."
as he began freeing her feet from the painful heels, an awkward silence engulfed them. yunhee was trying her best not to let her mind wander off onto the events of yesterday, but with the boy being right in front of her it was much too difficult. when she felt his hands brush against her ankle, tickling her, she almost lost her breath.
"you know... about yesterday..." renjun began and she flinched, accidentally kicking him in the stomach.
"i'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, helping him sit back up.
"it's alright." he replied, rubbing his head. "i guess i deserved that after what i pulled. i want to apologise for doing that. it was uncalled for and frankly really odd of me to do. i don't know what came over me. you must have been really surprised."
"yeah, i was..." she replied and he glanced up at her, sighing as he pulled the last shoe off.
"i'm sorry."
"it's fine, it's fine. i won't be mad at you for it. there was something in the air for sure. i mean jeno and chenle did sim—" she paused and let out an uncomfortable laugh. "i mean they..."
"they what?" renjun asked, the icy glare from before returning.
yunhee didn't get a chance to reply as a blue ball of light flew into the middle of the tent, stopping the music and dimming the lights. she jumped out of her seat to see what was going on and everyone crowded around.
"the ministry has fallen. the minister of magic is dead." a voice spoke.
"renjun." yunhee muttered, latching onto his hand.
"don't let go of me." he replied, pulling her closer to his side.
"they are coming. they are coming. they are coming..." the voice continued.
everyone burst into panic, grabbing their loved ones and disapparating or running to safety as death eaters appeared. yunhee and renjun had their wands out, in case death eaters aimed for them, as they pushed past others that were fleeing. they ran outside the tent, assuming it would be safer than inside.
"we need to find the others!" yunhee yelled.
she closed her hand around the pendant on her neck, as she prayed in her head for her friends to be okay and find her. renjun suddenly felt a hot sting on his chest and brought the pendant up to his face. yunhee had given her friends a necklace each because dumbledore had given her six extra ones. she still hadn't figured out what it was for, but renjun had.
"wait. renjun, what is a protean charm again?" she asked, remembering she had heard him say it in her dream about the wedding.
"did you just read my mind?"
"no. i remembered it from my dream."
"we used them for the DA coins." he said and she nodded, realising what it was. "dumbledore must have put a protean charm on these pendants. just now, when you were clutching that, you must have been wanting to communicate with us all and my pendant started heating up like it was notifying me."
"so if we ever get separated, there's a secret way for us to stay in contact?" she asked, hope building up.
"exactly. if you use transfiguration on this, it'll transfigure for all of — i have an idea! transfigure your pendant into a compass." he told her.
"alright..." she took the necklace off her neck and pointed her wand at it. concentrating hard enough, she managed to turn the pendant into a little compass.
inside the tent where chaos was still taking place, jeno had felt a sting on his chest and looked at the pendant that turned into a compass.
"genius." he mumbled, grabbing his bag from the chair he was sitting next to. he then took chenle by the wrist, pulling him as he followed the directions of the compass. as hoped, it led them outside to where the pair were waiting.
"thank god!" renjun exclaimed, hugging them. "where's mark? i can apparate us out of here."
"aerin! what about aerin?!" yunhee asked. she was about to let go of renjun's hand to go search for the younger girl, but jeno pulled her back.
"she's with our parents. she'll be fine." he replied.
mark, who had also followed the compass, appeared in their view, a momentary look of relief flashed across his face. chenle held his hand out to him and he ran over, taking his hand. as soon as he did, renjun apparated them onto the middle of a road where an incoming bus was driving towards. they made it to the pavement just in time to avoid the bus.
"come on." renjun said, leading them through the crowds of londoners.
"where are we?" chenle asked, as yunhee held his hand, afraid that he would get lost.
"shaftesbury avenue. jia used to bring me here a lot when we were younger, said it was one of mum's favourite places, so i guess it holds a place in my heart." renjun replied, feeling a tug in his chest. "this way."
he led them into a dark and empty alleyway where they could rest for a moment. yunhee let go of chenle's hand so she could check her bare feet.
"we can't walk around in these clothes anymore. we need to change." mark said, gesturing to his suit.
"would anyone happen to have spare shoes?" yunhee asked. renjun's eyes widened as he looked down at her feet, realising he had helped take her shoes off at the worst possible time.
"shit. you should've told us before. are your feet okay?" chenle asked as she showed him one to check she hadn't stood on anything gross. she hadn't, but the bottom of her foot was covered in dirt.
"i came prepared." jeno told them, pulling a heavy bag off his back. "mum said some of the other kids were going to go swim in the local lake after the wedding and made this bag of fresh clothes for us all."
"your mum is truly the best!" mark exclaimed, opening the bag. he pulled out the first clothes he could find. "everyone change."
"i don't really feel comfortable changing like this." yunhee told them, taking out some jeans, a white top and shoes.
"we can change in this café's bathroom." chenle suggested. he had seen that they were next to the back door of a café.
"good. don't want any creeps watching us." jeno muttered.
⚯͛
after changing into fresh clothes, they sat down at one of the tables. yunhee rested her head against it, fiddling with her pendant that had turned back into an owl.
"by the way, how did you do that with the necklace?" mark asked and she lifted her head. he handed her a grey hoodie that he was previously planning to wear over the top of his long sleeve. "it's cold."
"thank you. renjun figured out that it has a protean charm on it. so when i transfigured mine into a compass, it happened for all of yours." she explained and turned to chenle, noticing he didn't have his on. "where's yours?"
"oh... here." he took it out from his pocket and placed it on the table. she quickly picked it up and put it around his neck.
"never take it off, okay? now we'll always be able to find each other." she said, her hands resting on the back of his neck after closing the hook clasp.
"alright." he replied, staring into her eyes, losing himself in them for a moment.
mark let out a cough and they shuffled away from each other. "what about all the people at the wedding? do you think we should go back?"
"you're the main person they're after. if we go back we'll put everyone in danger." jeno told him.
"but, yunhee, did you not have any dreams about the wedding?" renjun asked.
"that's the thing... it's really weird. overtime, my dreams have lessened. i don't get those intense, mind-destroying ones anymore. i get snippets. like i'll hear someone say something important or i'll see one thing only. i don't really know if i should be speaking about it, but last night, i heard you mention the protean charm and i saw flashes of black fog — must have been the death eaters — but i didn't think much of it. do you think... voldemort is preventing my dreams?"
"how could he do that? it doesn't really sound impossible, but at the same time..." mark trailed off when a waiter stopped next to their table with headphones in her ears.
"coffee?"
"mocha, please." yunhee replied. it was one of her favourite drinks. on a hot day, she'd have an iced mocha with some cream and on warm days, a normal mocha.
"me too." chenle and mark said, not really caring about the drink. renjun and jeno asked for green teas.
"he might be doing something to your dreams. we'll try figure it out. maybe there's a spell to block him out." mark continued.
"you're right, but for now, where do we go? leaky cauldron?" chenle asked.
"it's too dangerous. if the ministry really has been taken over, then nowhere we've been to before is safe. everyone would have gone underground to hide." renjun said.
"my rucksack with all my things, i've left it at jeno's house." mark exclaimed and jeno pointed to his bag.
"good thing i was smart enough to pack anything else we might have needed." he said, showing his eye smile. "i had a feeling something might happen.
"jeno, you are brilliant." yunhee mumbled as two men walked past their table. "but how on earth does anything fit in there. i mean, i understand the clothes, but everything else?"
"i actually put an undetectable extension charm on it." renjun whispered, keeping his voice low so the men wouldn't hear. "jeno's mother asked me to."
"ah... now it makes sense why my hand disappeared in the bag." jeno laughed and chenle patted his head, finding him cute. they all thought jeno laughing and smiling was the most precious thing ever, but yunhee didn't have time to admire it. her eyes were focused on one of the men who was reaching into his pocket.
"mark." she tapped his hand and he caught onto what she was looking at.
"down!" he yelled just as the men turned around with wands in hand. they barely missed a spell that was shot towards their table.
"stupefy!" yunhee yelled, knocking out one of the men and smashing the glass he was next to. she then ducked behind a tilted table when the other man aimed for her.
"petrificus totalus!" a voice shouted, hitting him. yunhee furrowed her brows, unsure if she had heard right.
the waiter walked out from the other room she was in, looking around at the mess and the men on the floor.
"get out of here!" renjun told her and she was gone in a second, shutting the door behind her.
"who hit that man with the spell...?" yunhee asked, walking towards the displays of food at the front.
"be careful!" jeno said.
two people stood up from where they were crouching behind the counter and yunhee lifted her wand, threateningly. but after getting a good look at the two, she lowered it again.
"donghyuck? jaemin?"
"surprise?"