𝐚𝐮𝐠 𝟏 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕
"do... donghyuck? jaemin?" yunhee repeated, tears building up in her eyes. she ran around the counter, throwing her arms around jaemin first and he quickly responded, his arms around her waist.
jeno and chenle had to hold mark back when he tried stopping yunhee and attacking the two. he still thought of them as friends, he wanted them back and didn't blame them for what happened, but he had this sudden urge to attack purely because they were death eaters and because they had disappeared on them for so long after what happened.
"god. i missed you so much." yunhee said, her hands on jaemin's face, squeezing his cheeks. she got on her toes and placed a kiss on his forehand, then turned to donghyuck doing the same and pulling him into a hug.
"i missed you more." donghyuck whispered, his head resting on her shoulder. she ran her hands through his knotted hair and he leaned in more, finding it soothing.
"lock the door and get the lights." mark told the others when he was back to not trying to kill his friends.
chenle used the deluminator, dumbledore had left for him in his will, to put out the lights while the others closed the doors and windows.
yunhee had finished greeting the two slytherins and jeno went over to them. he first punched their arms softly, then hugged them.
"you idiot! you idiot!" renjun shouted, constantly slapping donghyuck who was trying to escape.
"what?! do you want to die?!" he yelled, catching renjun's wrist before he could hit him again.
"am i watching a drama, right now?" jeno teased, still holding jaemin in a side hug, not wanting to let go.
"you and jaemin would make a better couple." yunhee joked, holding her hands up like a camera pointing at them.
"no. i think you and i would." jaemin said and everyone paused, turning to stare at him. he nervously avoided eye contact. "i'm joking. i'm joking."
"why are you guys here though?" chenle asked, back hugging donghyuck and resting his chin on his shoulder.
"you lot are so dumb! do you even realise..." the slytherin exclaimed.
"wow. thanks." mark rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"you-know-who's name is taboo! you can't say it anymore! they know that the order uses his name the most, so they used a jinx on it. we all got alerted that someone used his name, that's why those other death eaters were here. we came as quick as we could to help you." jaemin explained.
"good thing you did. we had no idea about that. we got so used to using his name carelessly."
"well, it's time for you to stop. we had to get out of our cosy beds to come and save your arses." donghyuck sneered.
"don't lie. i'm sure you were dying to come to see me. you missed me too much." chenle teased, doing a kissing face at donghyuck who stretched his neck to get away from him.
"gross!"
"but... where's jisung?" yunhee asked and they all fell silent.
"you see... us two may have a bit more freedom to go places, but jisung hasn't left his house since that... day. his parents won't let him and he doesn't want to himself. he's been drowning himself in guilt and depression. we're worried about him and we're going to visit him tomorrow." jaemin said.
yunhee took out the remaining three necklaces from her pocket, giving one to donghyuck and then two to jaemin.
"promise me you'll give this to jisung. i'm begging you." she said, forcing him to clasp his hand around it.
"what? i mean i will, but why?"
"it has a protean charm on it. i want to be able to stay in contact with you all. so please always wear it and try to hide it because it can't be found out."
"if the wrong person gets ahold of it, we'll be discovered. it'll lead them straight to us." renjun added and the two put their necklaces on.
"we promise." donghyuck mumbled, holding the pendant between his fingers. he knew it would be perfect for constantly reminding him of her.
"guys... we forgot about these death eaters." mark said, kneeling in front of one of them. "this one's awake. he probably heard everything."
"i'll wipe his memory." jaemin said. jeno let go of him and he took out his wand, performing the spell.
"where are you going now?" donghyuck asked.
"we don't know. we can't stay here or on the streets." mark replied. "what about you two?"
"we'll have to go back before our parents realise we're gone. i live with jaemin now."
"right, because my sisters best friend was forced to marry your brother." renjun scoffed, a bitter taste in his mouth.
"hey, hyejin is my sister. as much as i love being family to donghyuck — not really," jaemin said and the latter elbowed him. "i didn't want my sister marrying a git. he treats her terribly and they're always fighting."
"my parents are expecting her to fall pregnant, but she won't let him anywhere near her. we won't either. we're doing our best to keep them away from each other. he's my brother. i know what he's like..." donghyuck added.
"tell hyejin i love and miss her very much and to stay strong because i'm going to get her out of there. i swear." yunhee said, balling her hands into fists.
"i will, but i'm sure she knows that. she misses you, aerin and jia just as much." jaemin replied, wrapping his fingers around her fist and opening it so he could slip his hand into hers.
"we should go." jeno said, peering out the window.
"we have to as well." donghyuck told them. "if you're ever in danger, alert us. we can try our best to hold back the death eaters or if we know they're going to attack you, we'll alert you."
"thank you." yunhee sighed, bringing the two into a hug.
"i'm allowing you guys one chance to group hug." donghyuck said. chenle cheered and wrapped his arm around them, dragging mark with him. jeno and renjun joined as well and they stayed like that for a few seconds before separating.
"we'll go now."
"one more thing!" yunhee grabbed jaemin's arm. "let jisung know i'm still here for him and he's not alone, so he shouldn't give up. and you two, remember, we'll fix this and everything will be okay soon."
"we believe you, yunhee." he said smiling, then took donghyuck's wrist and disapparated, leaving the others in sorrowful silence.
mark headed for the door, pushing it open and letting in a cold breeze. they followed him out onto the streets, wrapping their clothes tighter around them.
"i know where to go."
⚯͛
𝐚𝐮𝐠 𝟒 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕
the group were all settled in one of the rooms in grimmauld place, still waiting for kreacher to return. three days ago they found him hiding downstairs. he had verbally attacked yunhee and mark was quick to let him know not to do that again. he also asked the elf to find the person who stole the locket from RAB, but hadn't returned yet.
"how come you get a cool gift like that?" jeno complained to chenle who was sprawled out on the sofa beside mark as he put the lights out then brought them back with his deluminator.
"what did dumbledore leave you?"
"the sword of gryffindor. i'm not even a gryffindor!" he exclaimed and yunhee started laughing. "plus, the minister wouldn't even give it to me because it's not dumbledore's to give away."
"that may be... but there has to be a logical explanation for why he wanted you to have it. we'll see." she said, hoping that she'd find the explanation in her dream.
"i guess..." he replied as she laid on the sofa, resting her head on mark's knees. they fell into a comfortable silence as renjun pressed notes on the piano he was sitting in front of. as time passed he began playing a song.
"renjun, you're really good at playing the piano."
"i'm better though!" chenle rolled off the sofa and joined renjun in front of the piano. he took over, playing a skillful piece of music that blessed all their ears.
"i haven't heard you play in so long. it's refreshing." she hummed, closing her eyes as she listened to him play.
over the music, they heard a bang and loud yells. mark tapped yunhee to get off him and when she did, they rushed out the door and into the kitchen to see kreacher and dobby holding onto a man. yunhee grinned at the sight of the elf.
"mark lee, miss yunhee, so long it's been." dobby greeted.
"likewise dobby." she replied, but the smile on her face dropped when she realised who the man was.
"as requested, kreacher has returned with the thief..." kreacher said. "mundungus fletcher"
"expelliarmus!" yunhee said when she saw he was taking out his wand. it flew towards her and she caught it, frightening mark.
"what you playing at? setting a pair of bleeding house-elves after me." mundugus said, walking around the table to put distance between them. yunhee followed him, holding her wand as anger grew in her. he was the reason moody was dead.
"dobby was only trying to help. dobby saw kreacher in diagon alley which dobby thought was curious. and then dobby heard kreacher mention mark lee's name."
"i just—" kreacher tried to interrupt.
"and then dobby saw kreacher, talking with the thief, mundungus—"
"i'm no thief!" the said man yelled as the other three friends entered the kitchen.
"you are a murderer though." yunhee hissed, lifting her wand. chenle wrapped his fingers around her hand, lowering it for her.
"listen, i panicked that night, all right? could i help it if mad-eye fell off his broom?" he sat down on one of the sofa chairs and kreacher prodded him with a fork.
"tell the truth." jeno said
"when you turned this place over — don't deny it — you found a locket, am i right?" mark asked.
"why? was it valuable?"
"you still got it?" chenle asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the table behind him.
"no, he's worried he didn't get enough money for it." renjun sneered.
"bleeding give it away, didn't i? there i was, flogging me wares in diagon alley... when some ministry hag comes up and asks to see me license. says she's a mind to lock me up. and would've don't it too, if she hadn't taken a fancy to that locket."
"who was she? the witch. do you know?" mark questioned.
"no. i—" he stopped, bending down to pick up a newspaper. "well, she's there. look. bleeding bow and all."
they gathered around to take a look at the newspaper he placed on the kitchen table. chenle sighed when he saw the picture of dolores umbridge and her sick twisted smile.
"that bitch." renjun mumbled, tossing the newspaper aside.
"get out of here and don't come back." yunhee told mundungus, handing him his wand. he quickly disappeared without saying a word.
"tomorrow, we'll start monitoring the ministry of magic. we need to find a way to infiltrate it." mark said. "for now, let's sleep."
⚯͛
𝐚𝐮𝐠 𝟐𝟐 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟕
they had spent several days watching the ministry of magic entrances, every person that went in and came out and what they were doing. but it was on this day that reality had hit them hard.
they were in disguise, walking past a building people apparated from when yunhee picked up a newspaper from the daily prophet that she found on the floor. when they were out of sight, in a random alleyway, she opened it up to read the contents. her eyes skimmed the words that were written, but froze when she saw her name. not only was her name in the newspaper, it was in the section for muggle-borns wanted for interrogation.
yunhee's heart began racing and her hands shook uncontrollably. the sound of the newspaper rustling had caught jeno's attention.
"what's wrong?" he asked, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. he heard her struggling to breathe and his eyes widened. "uh... guys! get over here!"
the others, who were peering around the corner of the alleyway, heard their friends shouts and rushed over to find him trying to calm down a trembling yunhee.
"she's having a panic attack." chenle said, recognising the symptoms from the times she had them before. he snatched the paper out of her hands and handed it to mark. he then placed hands on her arms, rubbing them.
"holy shit." mark cursed as he read what she had been reading. "we need to get her out of here now. renjun—"
"no. if we apparate while she's in this state, i don't know what could happen." renjun cut him off, watching chenle trying to help her.
"shit. guys, i don't know what to do. it was jisung who was the expert at helping her when she was having an attack. i'm starting to panic myself!" chenle exclaimed, still rubbing her arms.
at the sound of jisung's name, yunhee managed to grab onto thoughts about him, distracting herself from thinking about not being able to breathe properly.
"wait. she's calming down." mark said, stepping forward. "yun, focus on me and count from one to ten."
even though she knew it was mark speaking, she heard jisung's voice from that time he helped her at hogwarts. she nodded, counting to ten and gradually her shoulders relaxed and she could speak again.
"let get out of here." she said, taking renjun's arm. they all grabbed onto him and he apparated them outside of grimmauld place. they entered and yunhee rested her back against the hall in the corridor.
"are you alright now?" jeno asked, brushing some hair out of her face.
"yes. this feeling of being chased just increased so much. first, it was only you-know-who and his followers... now the ministry." she replied.
"okay, stop thinking about it." he said, pinching her cheeks. "think positive thoughts."
"it's hard to." she told him and he started pulling her cheeks to which she yelped in pain — it wasn't actually painful though.
"show me your gummy smile. come on..." he pleaded, letting go of her face. she finally gave in and smiled, pushing away the sick feeling in her stomach that would return in only a few days.